![\"\"](\"http:\/\/rickdebruhl.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/11\/1958_austin-healey_sprite_bugeye_m.jpg?w=300&resize=250%2C154\" "\\"1958_austin-healey_sprite_bugeye_m\\"")
<\/a>I grew up admiring sports cars. In those days, that meant the European stuff. My first car was a 1959 Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite. I bought that because it was the absolutely cheapest way to buy a British sports car. It cost me a whopping $250. Of course it didn’t actually run, at least not on it’s own power. It had a huge hole in one of the valves. I eventually got it back in running order and drove it to college. I later sold it for $750 and thought I’d made a killing. I wish I had it back.<\/p>\nMy dream car from that era is the 1955 Mercedes Benze 300SL Gullwing. It is one of the most beautiful cars in the world, and a spectacular piece of engineering. Throw in some racing lineage, and it’s a great combo. How many times have those gullwing doors been copied on everything from expensive sports cars to modified Japanese tuners?<\/p>\n
While I still love sports cars, I also like American muscle. After all, I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. But trying to pick a favorite is nearly impossible. On one day it’ll be the 1968 Shelby GT500, the next it’s an AAR Cuda. Then I’ll see a 1970 Chevelle SS convertible go by and I’m hooked on the bowtie. I can also be easily blinded by late 50’s Detroit convertibles. Everything from the Packard Caribbean to just about anything from 1959 with big fins.<\/p>\n
And then there’s the modern stuff. I have a 97 Corvette sitting in my garage. It’s the first year of the C5 and one of the most beautiful body styles of all time. I’d love to have a Viper GTS or a McLaren SLR (now I’m really dreaming). On the other hand, I’m content to drive my 06 Mustang convertible on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
So if you see me at any of the Barrett Jackson Auctions and ask me the big question… be prepared for a big answer!<\/p>\n
Originally posted at SPEEDTV.COM<\/em><\/p>\n<\/fb:like><\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When I’m standing in the staging lanes working for SPEED during the Barrett Jackson auctions, people often come up and ask what’s my \n [...]<\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectorcarinformation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p27JFw-v","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214,"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions\/214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/rickdebruhl.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/11\/1958_austin-healey_sprite_bugeye_m.jpg\" "\\"1958_austin-healey_sprite_bugeye_m\\""){kind=icon}
<\/a>I grew up admiring sports cars. In those days, that meant the European stuff. My first car was a 1959 Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite. I bought that because it was the absolutely cheapest way to buy a British sports car. It cost me a whopping $250. Of course it didn’t actually run, at least not on it’s own power. It had a huge hole in one of the valves. I eventually got it back in running order and drove it to college. I later sold it for $750 and thought I’d made a killing. I wish I had it back.<\/p>\n