Seattle got its annual snow storm over the holidays. And when the steep, narrow streets of Queen Anne are icy, this 4-wheel drive van is just what you need. Notice that it's a lot narrower than you'd expect for a vehicle like this. The Mitsubishi Delica L400 van, despite being a right-hand drive vehicle designed for use in Japan, is so popular in Seattle I see one just about every day.
Ever see one on the street? No? Sadly, the world's most beautiful car is also one of its least durable. Even those who own and love them describe them thus: "XK-Es used electronics from the dark prince, overheated even in Alaska and their bodies turned to Swiss cheese within two years of purchase."
But if you had the mad courage to own an XKE, this is the one to get. Many of the shortcomings of the first series were overcome, including an improved transmission, cooling system and seats. On the other hand, the Series II lacked the supercool glass-hooded headlights of the earlier cars. In 1971, Jaguar introduced the Series III, with the impressive but ill-fated V-12. That car found a whole new set of problems to make "XKE" synonymous with "unreliable".
You can pick up one of these in restored condition for around $700,000. So what is this Ferrari even doing on the street at the Greenwood Car Show? Someone might breathe on it! Well I don't know how much this car is worth, because it's been repowered with a Chevy V-8. I'm informed that "dozens" of old Ferraris received this treatment back in the day. Certainly its value is still way up in the six figures.
From drive-my.com: "The concept of ditching Ferrari’s glorious V12 for V8 iron may be hard
to digest in today’s world, when ‘matching numbers’ authenticity is
all-important. Back in the 1950s and ’60s, hot-rod culture was second
nature to kids in America, when virtual wrecks could be ‘chopped’ and
tuned to become the fastest things on the road. The most straightforward
way of achieving that was by transplanting a bigger-capacity engine
from an American car. When your Ferrari engine went terminal, or
couldn’t easily be fixed, the pragmatic move was to whip out the V12 and
install a Chevrolet or Ford unit. Hey presto, your gorgeous Italian
stallion was up and running again – at a stroke, going from 3.0 litres
to 5.7 litres, with 100 extra horsepower to boot. The Chevy’s advantage
was its compact – ‘small block’ – size and short stroke, which reduced
piston speed at high revs. It was reliable, too."
Ferrari built 353 copies of this car between 1958 and 1960. That's a lot of cars by old-time Ferrari standards. The previous 250 GT coupe sold 138 copies between 1955 and 1958.
