Project Car Hell: Silver Shadow or Bagheera?

Normally, I stay away from the eBay cars for this series, since we really can't tell what the final bid price is going to be. For a 1973 Matra Bagheera, however, we must make an exception. It's probably a safe assumption that such a nightmarishly difficult unique project car will sell for something spittin' distance from the six grand mark, however. What can we say here? This car is flat-out awe-inspiring! Once you've pried your eyes away from the batshit seating arrangement, take a squint at the instruments- yeah, you can tell the French dug Philip K. Dick back in the day. And it's a lightweight mid-engine machine that, by all accounts, sticks to the road like a collection agency sticks to your debts. Replace the wimpy Simca mill with, say, a 4A-GZE and tell your co-shotgun passengers to hang on tight! This one is missing the rear glass, so you'd probably need to head straight to France to get a replacement. Oh yeah, while you're there you'd be wise to pick up some other spare parts, since they might be absolutely friggin' impossible somewhat difficult to find here; we'd suggest you get one of everything.

I'm seriously yearning for that Bagheera, of course, but if I'm gonna blow north of fifty hard-earned Benjamins on an insane project car, I also want the neighbors to know I'm a goddamn high roller. I want their pathetic bourgeois ambitions to fade ingloriously in the thermonuclear glare of my across-the-board superiority, and for that you need a Rolls-Royce! All you need to do is whip out your fat roll, peel off $6500, and this fine 1972 Silver Shadow will be yours! It's got 8-track. It's got right-hand drive. It's got an interior that took fourteen hides to make! And it runs... well, sorta. Actually, the seller claims it needs some carburetor work... or maybe it's the fuel pump. Hey, no problem- just run down to the junkyard and find the Rolls section and... uh... never mind. There's some rust around the "rear edges," whatever that means, but the interior is perfect (except for "two minor spots"). And you get a 412-cubic-inch V8, which we're betting would sound mighty good through straight pipes. Better hurry, though, because the owner has dropped the price from ten grand and buyers are sure to be beating down his door to snap up this bargain!