Every January Barrett-Jackson plops a giant tent in the Arizona desert and sells some of the finest cars, trucks and motorcycles in the world. This year bonspeed brought five concept cars and Sammy Hagar's GT500 Shelby to the event.It was hard to see these cars cross the auction block. Each represents hours of fabrication, our original ideas and the collective creative soul of the bonspeed crew. The cars included the 2004 bonspeed X-Type Jaguar, 2003 "Speed Cult" Pontiac Sunfire, 2004 bonspeed "Banshee" F 150, 2005 bonspeed "Black Rose" Mustang GT and the 2003 Saleen "bonspeed Edition" Thunderbird.
Sure we emptied the warehouse and refueled the bank account by selling these cars. Still it was difficult to see the cars drive away. in one case literally. The new owner of the F-150 drove his new purchase home, even after I advised against it. The bonspeed concepts are not just show cars they are one-off vehicles built for the factories and really represent part of american car culture and history. It was nice to know these enthusiasts bought our cars out of the 1500 or so at the event, but deep down I had hoped they would go to a museum or maybe a foreign country. Some place I could visit them regularly or that far off land where I would never again see them.
The F-150 buyers trip home, Phoenix to Palm Springs, it is just what the truck was built to do, however, I recommended, after you familiarize yourself with the GT motored six-speed road demon. I also directed him to the fiberglass front fascia and like all of the bonspeed concepts, it represented the only one in the world. A late night run across the desert might prove fatal to such a part!
Maybe I'm just an automotive parent who hates to see the kids leave or maybe deep down I wish they still had a place in my warehouse?
It was the Monday after Barrett-Jackson and the phone rang at the office, it was him! I wondered, what happened is my truck wrecked...ummm....is his truck wrecked? Worse, maybe it was something mechanical and he was stranded in some desert town and totally pissed at me. I picked up the phone and his cheery voice exclaimed something to the effect of, "What a truck! I got 18 miles to the gallon and it drove perfect, I love this thing.
I hope the other cars are appreciated and will be put to good use, I even hope to see them again some day. Now it is time to begin filling that warehouse again and we have already begun working on two new concept cars here at the bonspeed studios. When the time is right we will tell you about them here. We will design them, build them and some day sell them.
See the cars at: www.bonspeed.com
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