Top 5 Coolest Classic Cars at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show
The North American International Auto Show hosted in Detroit is one of the most important places for automakers to showcase their new cars, but as much as we like seeing the newest tech, sometimes the best things at the show are the cars from the past.
Much of the vintage metal here can call Detroit home, and a few of the cars on this list were driven all the way from Boca Raton, Florida, in an event put on by America’s Automotive Trust and the North American International Auto Show called “The Drive Home.”
Here are the top 5 classic cars we saw at the Detroit Auto Show:
1963 Lingenfelter Corvette Grand Sport
Although this technically isn’t a “real” vintage car, being that it’s a brand new recreation by Superformance with a Lingenfelter crate motor, it’s still based on a classic design and deserves a place on this list. With 720 horsepower coming from its supercharged LT4 V8, this would be quite a handful no matter where you drove it. The original Corvette Grand Sport was created in 1963 to win FIA endurance races, and only five were ever built.
1982 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen
Nestled in with all the new G-Classes — which unfortunately now are primarily used for hopping over curbs in shopping mall parking lots — is this incredible G-Wagen rally car that was campaigned by Jackie Ickx and Claude Brasseur for the 1982 Paris-Dakar Rally. Featuring a 2.8-liter straight-six that had been tuned up from 150 hp to 230, this exact vehicle won that great rally in 1983 after coming in second place in the 1982 season. This special edition features a lot less comfort than the new G-Class, with a Momo steering wheel, race seats, truck-style aero on the back to reduce drag, and upgraded aluminum panels to make it lighter.
ALSO SEE: New 2019 Mercedes-Benz G-Class a More Refined Brute
1955 Chrysler C-300
The Chrysler 300 got its name from having the distinction of being the first production car to offer 300 horsepower right from the get-go. Designed by Virgil Exner, it is no doubt a handsome automobile. Originally, this car would have had a 331-cubic-inch Hemi, but now sports a complete race chassis, and a 2016 Chrysler RT Hemi mated to an overdrive automatic transmission. This car also completed “The Drive Home III.”
1962 International Harvester Travelette
International Harvester made its name by producing burly trucks that could handle any task. This particular truck is a crew cab built to hold six people and includes camper accommodations in the truck bed. Judging by the tires in the cargo area, this must have been used as some form of support truck for “The Drive Home III.”
1968 Ford Mustang “Bullitt”
The best old car at the show was easily the screen used hero 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback that Steve McQueen drove in Bullitt. Previously thought lost, the car has been hiding for the past 50 years. Originally bought off the film lot, it found its way to the classifieds section of Road and Track, where it was misspelled as the “Bullett” car. It was sold for $6,000 US — which was a lot at the time for a used car — by the father of the family that owns it now and used as a daily driver in the ’70s and ’80s. This Mustang was brought to the show to share the stage with the new Mustang Bullitt in honor of the film’s 50th anniversary.
More by Alex Reid
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