Came across this video of a 1957 Chrysler Concept car that use to belong to the Father of one of my best "AMX" buddies.
1957 Chrysler Diablo Concept Car by Ghia at RM Auctions - YouTube
Shaunes Grandfather was the original owner, then his Father purchased it.
Shaune showed me a photograph of his Father standing next to the car (parked in front of their house) with my friend sitting on his Dads shoulders back in the late 60's or early 70's.
The car was originally called "The Dart" when it first came out, and it was a hardtop configuration. Later on Chrysler cut the roof off and installed a functional convertible top, while changing it's name.
The car spent many years in Clevelands Crawford Museum where it was sold to a private owner, and I think it was eventually sold at a RM Auction for over a Million Bucks.
I had an old "Car Life" magazine from 1957 that had the car featured on the cover, so I framed it and gave it to my buddy for his 40th. Birthday back in 2007.
Who knows, maybe in a few years, Chrysler will follow GM's lead and start selling there Concept cars at Barrett Jackson.
So who's going to be willing to pay BIG BUCKS for Mr. Stoddards Concept?

 

Neat looking car.

 

This is one of Mopars best looking concept cars IMO...

Brings back memories of my youth.

My dad and his brothers would usually make a 40 mile drive to check out the unveiling of new car models and the concept cars that would often be on display. The public interest would cause traffic jams and as my uncle learned pile ups on the main drag in front of the dealership showroom.... on a trip to see the Chrysler turbine car his very "cherry" 56 Ford Vicky got both the frontend and rearend smashed right in front of the dealership!!!

 

Not me.

After seeing the motor, it not running correctly, then not being able to be restarted, on top of a lot of non-functional interior bits, someone would be crazy to buy it, but I hope someone here in this forum is the one to bite the bullet.

 

During the recent GM problems, they auctioned off some of the excess vehicles in their Heritage Collections. They sold some neat one-off cars, but they were sold on a bill of sale only: No title. That makes getting it registered and on the road very difficult, if not impossible.

And IMHO, buying a car that you cannot drive sounds like no fun. Now, if you have lofty intentions like saving history or the like, fine. Just not my cup of tea.

 

About 30 years ago my doctor gave me a mustang that he had bought for $300 and drove while in collage.

It had a 1965 title, but when I started to fix it up to drive (it had been in his garage about 5 years undriven) I was having lots of difficulties matching parts like turn signal switch......I got a guy who was familiar with mustangs and falcon......he said the dash was a falcon all metal dash as was the steering column.... as it turned out the car was one of 15 or 16 that ford used to launch the mustangs....took them to places like state fairs ect.

Last I knew of the car it was in a personal collection in Denver....I was told ford was very upset when they got wind of the car, but the guy refused to sell and there was nothing they could do about it......one of their executives snuck it out and got a title to give it a a gift to his daughter......the short time I had it I'd call it a lemon and the guy who got it from me said the it was junk!!!! Both of us were Ford fans......nothing personal against mustangs

 

That's a cool story Papa, and it just goes to show how some "Show" cars wind up in private hands.
There were around 50 Chrysler's turbine cars built to get the publics opinion back in the early 60's, but thanks to the IRS Chrysler had to destroy all but 3 or 4 cars. Some how a Pizza Magnet wound up with one, and Jay Leno has one. Chrysler has one in it's museum, and I think the other one is in the Henery Ford museum. Heck, Leno even had a "spare" engine............Money talks.

The Dodge Turbine car is my all time favorite concept car, and everytime I see this video I just want to cry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io9gI...eature=related

 

The IRS story is an urban legend. Chrysler made the decision to destroy the cars themselves...

Chrysler Turbine Car - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Yes, Chrysler chose to destroy most of the Turbine cars, because they didn't want to continue paying the personal property tax on them. They could have sold them all, but they didn't want their technology out of their control.
My Father Managed a Dodge dealer back then, and most of the info he brought home came directly from Factory Rep's.