One-off Cadillac owned by Dean Martin up for sale

A Cadillac custom-built for Hollywood actor and singer Dean Martin is up for sale in Melbourne, more than 12,000km away from his California home.

A custom Cadillac built for Hollywood acting legend Dean Martin is set to go under the hammer at Donington Auctions on 25 February in Melbourne.

The one-off 1969 Cadillac Eldorado Sport Wagon was created for Martin, the famed actor and entertainer best known for starring alongside Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Junior as part of the legendary ‘Rat Pack’.

Car-loving Martin, who passed away in 1995, starred in 16 films and hosted his own variety television program –The Dean Martin Show – from 1965 to 1974. He was awarded a posthumous lifetime Emmy in 2009.

The white sixth-generation Cadillac Eldorado Sport Wagon was built for Martin by George Barris, a famed car customiser whose creations include the Ford Thunderbird-based Batmobile for the 1960s television series.

Barris Kustom Industries – the company owned by George Barris – has verified the history of the vehicle, which has been in Australia for some time.

Described as being in ‘barn find’ condition, the one-off wagon appears in solid shape for restoration.

Powered by a 7.7-litre V8 engine, the Eldorado was the top-of-the-line version of the Cadillac and was one of the most expensive cars on sale in the US at the time.

Martin later owned a 1972 Cadillac wagon and a 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Estate wagon, according to the movie star’s fan sites.

The Hollywood star owned a number of unique cars, including several Ferraris, a Lamborghini, a Jaguar and an Aston Martin, but also had some oddities such as a circa 1961 Facel Vega – a French coupe with a Chrysler-Hemi engine – and 1976 Stutz Blackhawk in his collection.

The Cadillac will be part of Donington’s ‘Summer Classic Car & Number Plate Auction’ live streamed on 25 February from its Cheltenham auction house, where the Hollywood star’s car can also be pre-inspected.

Only one photo of the vehicle has been published by Donington Auctions.

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Wild six-wheeled Humvee with supercharged V8 heads to auction

With race-car-style pushrod suspension, more than 500kW, and six wheels, this ex-military SUV is far from its original form. 

A heavily-modified 2009 AM General Humvee military vehicle – with six wheels and supercharged V8 power – is due to cross the auction block imminently.

Built by Danton Arts Kustoms and Frenchy Export LLC, it is a genuine Humvee military vehicle – rather than its road-going equivalent sold to the US public, the Hummer H1.

But it’s far from standard, with an upgrade to six wheels – all of which are powered – plus lowered suspension, large alloy wheels and low-profile tyres.

The 6.5-litre turbo diesel V8 was swapped out for a supercharged 6.2-litre V8 from Dodge Hellcat muscle cars – now mounted in the centre of the vehicle, ahead of the middle axle, rather than under the bonnet.

The ‘Hellcat’ V8s can be purchased as ‘crate engines’ – in a ‘plug-and-play’, assembled form designed for fitment to classic-car projects – which develop 535kW, equivalent to more than four new Toyota Corollas, and well eclipsing the 142kW/612Nm of the diesel engine.

A custom steel bumper has been fabricated to accommodate the Humvee’s lower ride height, as well as a new metal diffuser at the rear of the vehicle, and a tall spoiler reportedly derived from aircraft parts.

The cabin of the SUV has been shortened, and the roof lowered, with space for just two occupants inside – which find metal bucket seats, a digital instrument cluster, and a sports steering wheel. 

Other modifications listed by Danton Arts Kustoms include disc brakes at all six wheels, power steering, and a four-speed automatic transmission.

Those looking to add this wild-looking Humvee can look to do so when it crosses the auction block at Barrett-Jackson in the US imminently – alongside a Lamborghini Diablo owned by Donald Trump.

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Pagani hypercar replica with a Holden heart

A replica of the multimillion-dollar hypercar uses Holden parts alongside exquisite detailing. But it’s probably not the Holden engine you are hoping for.

A Vietnamese team has built a convincing Pagani Huayra hypercar replica using … a Holden Camira.

Well, sort of.

Only 100 Pagani Huayras coupes were built by the Italian car maker – with only the roadster making it to Australia – but this one-of-one replica contains a little bit of Holden Camira in its DNA.

A ‘Family II’ four-cylinder engine – the same Holden used to build for the Daewoo Espero – appears to have been fitted into the convincing Pagani replica, the construction covered on YouTube channel NHET TV.

While the replica looks the goods, one area to considerably reduce costs when building such a ‘tribute’ is the engine.

Instead of the Huayra’s 6.0-litre twin-turbocharged V12 engine, which made 590kW in the genuine article, the replica uses a four-cylinder engine taken from a Daewoo Espero, with a power claim of up to 84kW.

Three different engine sizes were offered in the 1990-1997 Espero – a 1.5-litre ‘Family I’  and 1.8- and 2.0-litre ‘Family II’ versions – all made by General Motors.

While NHET TV doesn’t specify which engine the replica uses, it’s highly likely it may be a ‘Family II’ engine sourced by Daewoo – complete with gearbox – from Holden’s engine factory in Port Melbourne.

The Australian factory produced the Family II engine in the 1980s and early 1990s in various capacities – 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0-litre – before it closed in 2017.

It was fitted in cars including the Holden Camira, Holden Astra and its locally-made twin, the Nissan Pulsar.

The replica also used other mechanical parts from the Espero, including its braking system.

Using a scale model and photos to start, the crew took a Daewoo Espero sedan, and pulled it down to create the underpinnings of the replica hypercar.

The Espero used the same General Motors (GM) ‘J-Car’ front-wheel drive underpinnings as the 1982-1988 Holden Camira and used on other GM cars around the world.

Some reports suggest the Espero was used as the basis for the chassis, while others say it was a custom chassis.

Regardless, there’s no denying the Camira spirit running through the replica and the seriously convincing finished product.

The comprehensive build process documented by NHET TV saw the team make a full-size clay model to produce the replica’s fibreglass body panels.

It’s not perfect – but the skill and effort evident in details like the gullwing doors, clamshell bonnet and active aerodynamics offered in a genuine Huayra is impressive.

Many price-conscious replicas are understandably subject to shortcuts and compromises as they attempt to reproduce cars costing millions, yet this version appears extremely thorough.

2011_pagani_huayra_01

This includes working headlights, hand-finished instrument cluster and carefully constructed honeycomb mesh across the rear of the heavily GM/Daewoo-based vehicle.

Daewoo sold affordable hatchbacks and sedans in Australia between 1994 to 2004 where it was distributed by Holden.

Some of its products used Holden engines and transmissions, while later some Daewoos – such as the 2005-2009 Holden Viva – were rebadged cars from the South Korean car maker.

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We visit Ford’s Heritage Vault, but its Australian history is under threat

In a modest number of rooms on the other side of the world, a small team of archivists has dedicated itself to preserving Ford’s history. But the Australian piece of the puzzle is missing.

It’s been exactly a decade since I drove these highways in Michigan. It was the beginning of my months-long zig-zagging road trip across North America, and I’d just set off in my 1995 Ford F-150 Flareside V8 pick-up.

This time around I’m also in an F-150, but on loan from Ford for my visit to the company’s Heritage Vault in Detroit. It all feels oddly familiar.

Despite the brand-new V6-powered F-150 sharing little in common with my single-cab V8 from 1995, there is still something nostalgic about travelling these same roads in a Ford pick-up. The quintessential American vehicle – and the exact reason I’d chosen it back in the day.

Above: Archivist Ciera Casteel (right).

This time I was in town for an exclusive look inside the Ford Heritage Vault – a series of rooms filled with archives from the company’s history. My tour guide, archivist Ciera Casteel, had heard about my earlier road trip, and as a welcome had laid some original brochures from the mid 1990s advertising the F-150 Flareside.

Located at the Ford Engineering Laboratory, driving into the car park means passing dozens of pre-production engineering evaluation vehicles from recent years. Many are still in their camouflage, despite already being revealed to the public, and with various wires and tubes taped to their panels. Near the entrance are two camouflaged SUVs – Chinese market models – plugged in and recharging.

The Ford Heritage Vault houses anything and everything from the company’s past. From a full-size styrofoam version of the Ford Bronco – which was used to help create a catalogue of swappable accessories – down to Hot Wheels cars, internal documents, reels of advertisements from decades past, clay models, and something like three million pictures.

Arguably the coolest piece is another full-size styrofoam model – this time of the Ford GT supercar. Perfect to hang on the wall of my lounge room, I think.

But despite a recent push to digitally upload historical brochures and images from Ford Australia, Ms Casteel tells me the Heritage Vault has so far been unsuccessful in obtaining the company’s physical archives from its Australian arm, due to local laws banning the export of important historical documents.

Even with Ford having climate-controlled rooms for film stock and photo negatives at the Detroit facility – rooms specifically built to preserve its historical documents – original items showcasing Ford Australia’s past are being held in a generic warehouse in Melbourne’s north where they are subject to the city’s heat, humidity, and cold.

As reported by Drive in November 2022, Ford Australia has so far been unsuccessful in getting permission from the Australian Government to send its historical documents to its headquarters in Michigan – all in the name of preservation.

And it’s a job Ms Casteel and her small team take seriously. When the dilapidated Ford Engineering Laboratory building began its restoration, slabs of concrete were removed and sent to the Heritage Vault – all because the graffiti on those slabs were considered important pieces of its history.

While it’s clear the Australian Government’s intentions were good when it banned historical documents from leaving the country, it’s also clear the best way to preserve the legacy of Ford Australia is to ensure it’s catalogued and kept safe from decay – so future generations can appreciate what was achieved here.

The F-150 is as quintessentially American as the Falcon ute is Australian. But while the F-Truck is still being proudly made, the Falcon, Territory, and other Aussie models are now relegated to the history books. It’s time those books are preserved.

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Touring car driver and engineer Ron Harrop named in industry honours

Now in its sixth year, the ‘Australian of the Year’ award has been announced by the country’s performance-car industry this Australia Day.

1971 – Ron Harrop – Harrop’s Howler FJ Holden.

The Australian Performance Automotive Council (APAC) has named Ron Harrop the industry’s ‘2024 Australian of the Year’.

Arguably best known to younger generations as the man behind Harrop Engineering – the firm responsible for making fast Holdens and Fords even faster – Ron Harrop got his start in motorsports through the family business, machining and fabricating parts for Norm Beechey and Bob Jane in the late 1960s.

While Harrop Engineering continued to supply equipment to Harry Firth and the Holden Dealer Team in the 1970s, Ron competed at Bathurst in HDT cars in the 1970s, hanging up his helmet to focus on the business in 1986.

Ron eventually became chief engineer for the Holden Racing Team in 1994, seeing the team through a golden era until his departure five years later.

MORE: Top 10 Aussie-made Holden race cars

Harrop Engineering would continue on to become an OEM supplier of parts to Holden and Ford – and their performance subsidiaries HSV and FPV – as well as providing performance parts to car companies such as Toyota and Lotus.

While his son Tim continues to take the family business to new heights, Ron has taken on the job of historian to ensure future generations can learn of Australia’s engineering feats in the performance-car industry.

“Ron Harrop has made the Australian performance automotive industry a respected world leader and we congratulate and thank him for his foresight and sheer dedication to our country’s automotive industry and acknowledge his achievements with the [APAC’s] ‘Australian of the Year’ award 2024,” the council said in a written statement.

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Volkswagen’s Seat car brand to be saved from extinction – report

A Spanish car brand owned by Volkswagen may now be poised to add a new electric car to its line-up later this decade, after it was marked for death late last year amid sliding sales.

Seat Mii.

Volkswagen-owned Spanish car maker Seat – sold in Australia from 1995 to 1997 – may be thrown a lifeline with a new electric car rather than meet its demise by the end of the decade, according to a new report.

Last year the Seat car marque was in line to be phased out – and turned into a maker of mopeds and e-scooters – amid declining sales, and the growth of its more profitable Cupra sibling brand.

Now a report from the UK’s Autocar claims it may be saved from death with a new entry-level model based on Volkswagen’s upcoming ID.1 electric city car.

It was previously expected there would be no more new Seat cars after the current models reach the end of their life cycles, due in the next few years.

MORE: Spanish brand Seat was killed and revived overnight, but its future is bleak

Seat Mii.

Seat and Cupra UK boss Marcus Gossen told the publication Seat “will have a car in five years’ time”, and that “we’re working hard to have the right entry level for the [Volkswagen] Group, and the lead for that is Seat SA in Spain.”

The executive’s comments are carefully worded, as the Seat SA organisation also includes Cupra – which is known to be taking the lead on the VW Group’s new electric city car projects – and there is a chance the life cycles of the brand’s current cars may be extended to last for another five years.

Autocar claims Seat could gain a version of the upcoming Volkswagen ID.1, due in 2027 as the company’s entry-level electric vehicle priced from about £20,000 ($AU38,600).

This ID.1 will be smaller than the Polo-sized ID.2 – which will be twinned with the Cupra Raval, with development of both cars led by Cupra – but is expected to share many components with the larger hatch, including a shortened version of Volkswagen’s front-wheel drive MEB Entry platform.

If a Seat version of the ID.1 becomes a reality, Autocar speculates it would be cheaper than the Volkswagen – and represent the entry point into the entire VW Group range – given the Seat brand is positioned below Volkswagen within the Group.

“There’s no statement about [an electric] product for Seat today. There’s always room for dreams,” said Mr Gossen. “With the ID.1, you only make it work by sharing [technology].”

The ID.1 will be the indirect replacement for the Volkswagen e-Up, which was also sold with Seat badges as the Mii prior to 2021 (pictured top of story).

Cupra’s entry-level electric model will be called the Raval, but it will share its underpinnings and footprint with the larger ID.2.

After being acquired from the Spanish government in 1986 by the Volkswagen Group, Seat began selling lower-cost vehicles based on Volkswagen underpinnings, something it continues to do in almost 40 countries, including New Zealand.

In Australia, Seat re-entered the market in 2022, under the guise of its performance-oriented off-shoot Cupra.

The Cupra Ateca and Cupra Leon are high-performance variants of vehicles which Seat sells in international markets with the same name. The Cupra Formentor and Born are exclusive to Cupra, though the latter is based on the VW ID.3.

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Volkswagen to slash new-car development time to three years

The German automaker is reportedly planning to save more than $AU16.2 billion by 2026 with the introduction of a new cost-saving program.

Volkswagen is planning to save a reported €10 billion ($AU16.2 billion) by introducing a new cost-cutting program – dubbed the ‘Accelerate Forward/ Road to 6.5’ – which will see the development time of new vehicles slashed from 50 months to 36 months.

According to the German automaker, the savings initiative aims to generate a 6.5 per cent return on sales by 2026 and will see a restructure in the brand’s “administration, technical development, material costs, products, price/mix, vehicle constructions as well as sales and quality”.

Volkswagen has previously mentioned the development, design and engineering of a new vehicle normally took more than four years – and the car manufacturer claims this move was made in part to introduce new models faster into the market “without sacrificing quality or safety”.

As part of the program, Volkswagen plans to reduce the number of test vehicles during the technical development period by 50 per cent – which could potentially save the German brand approximately €400 million ($AU647.6 million)

Volkswagen management claims “workforce reduction measures” are in place during the cost-cutting initiative and will reportedly see a hiring freeze as well as partial retirement offered to employees born in 1967 or 1968, or for severely handicapped employees.

The German automaker projects the program will generate earnings of up to €4 billion ($AU6.4 billion) as early as 2024.

Other measures in the savings initiative include “improved procurement services” which the company projects to generate an annual savings of more than €320 million ($AU518.2 million) – an unspecified “enhanced after-sales business” which it claims will earn more than €250 million ($AU408 million) for the brand yearly – and further optimisation of production times allegedly saving the company more than €200 million ($AU323 million) annually.

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