One of only 14, this 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda convertible in triple black changed hands for $2.25 million at the 2015 Mecum Monterey sale. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ According to a study by Edmunds.com, the average price of a used car in the U.S. rose 7.6 percent over the past year to $18,800, an all-time high. More at The Detroit News.
+ Toyota operations near the Chinese port of Tianjin will remain closed another week as fires continue to break out at the site of last week’s deadly explosions. More at Reuters.
+ Veteran IndyCar driver Justin Wilson suffered a severe head injury and is comatose and in critical condition after he was struck by debris in the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. More at The Indianapolis Star. UPDATE 9:20 PM 8/24/2015 Justin Wilson has died. More at The Indianapolis Star.
+ Mercedes-Benz has obtained ten-year naming rights to the new NFL football stadium for the Atlanta Falcons to be completed in 2017. More at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
+ Tesla Motors raised $738 million from its common stock offering last week, far exceeding the electric automaker’s goal of $500 million. More at Fortune.
+ Volkswagen AG will delay the introduction of its next-generation Phaeton flagship sedan while cost reductions in assembly and materials are found. More at Autoblog.
+ U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating the airbag system on the 2008 Honda Accord after receiving 19 reports of control module failures. More at Bloomberg.com.
+ Guy Ligier, French rugby player and race driver turned Formula 1 team owner whose operation won nine Grand Prix events, has passed away at 85. More at Motorsport.com.
+ Dodge is raising prices on its 707-hp SRT Hellcat models for 2016, with the Challenger bumped up $4,200 to $65,190 and the Charger increased $3,650 to $68,190. More at Motor Trend.com.
+ The City of Columbia, Missouri and its public transport unit, COMO Connect, are set to take delivery of the first of four battery-electric transit buses next month. More at Automotive Business Review.
+ The Mecum Monterey 2015 auction produced total sales of $44.33 million with 387 vehicles finding buyers in the three-day event. More at Sports Car Digest.
Read the previous Executive Briefing from August 21 here.
Photo courtesy of Mecum Auctions.
You could get a Challenger Hellcat for every day of the month at the cost of that Barracuda. They’d be faster, safer and more reliable and you’d actually be able to drive them because there’s money left over for at least two more to let sit with zero miles.
And you could buy a great new Synthesizer, Electric Guitar.
Or and old Stradivarius, or even a Vintage Electric Guitar. I know which I’d rather have.
there’s one in the customer data base in our fleet. The guy may well have no clue to this event. I’ll be talking to him soon and will be dropping this bomb on him just for fun.
Just because you can make a 700 hp sedan doesn’t mean you should.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten world-class soloists put costly Stradivarius violins and new, cheaper ones to a blind scientific test. When the lights were dimmed and the musicians donned dark glasses, the soloists’ top choice out of a dozen old and new violins tested was by far a new one. So was the second choice, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“I don’t think there is any secret, except in people’s minds” said Claudia Fritz, an expert on the acoustics of violins at the University of Paris.
That still doesn’t negate the fact that the ‘Cuda has more heritage, soul, style and desirability by a factor of 10 at minimum. Objectively or subjectively. They have probably already made more Hellcats that they made ‘Cudas in total. And I don’t mean just Hemi cars. I’m not knocking the Hellcat, it just exists in a completely different universe than a Hemi ‘Cuda. The only thing they have in common is that they are both cars. One is an original design that was the pinnacle of its market segment in its day. The other is a derivative design trying to piggyback on the provenance created by the ‘Cuda and it’s soulmate the Challenger. I will say it seems to be doing a decent job of that.