Forget CraigsList, eBay "Other Makes" Wins At Life

Man, I love the internet.  It never gets old. While browsing around today working on another article, I stumbled across the eBay "other makes" section, which I probably haven't visited in more than a year.  To say there are some strange cars for sale under "other makes" would be a massive understatement.  You want a Rossion Q1?  How about a Rat Rod Metropolitan?  Bricklin SV-1?   Autozam AZ-1? Done!  eBay "other makes" is the go-to spot for weird, interesting cars.  Well, that and Bring a Trailer.  Take a look at some of the whacky stuff on eBay Other Makes with us!

Oh yeah, y'know, it's just a TVR in the US.  No biggie.  This was back in the TVR wedge era, before they started making pretty cars like the modern Griffith and the insane Tuscan/Cerbera/Chimaera, etc.  This one's a 1984 Tasmin 280i, one of 174 built in 1984.  It uses a 2.8L Ford Cologne V6 and has been treated to a pretty extensive mechanical restoration.  It's located in Roanoke, Virginia and has a Buy It Now price of $12,450 - cheap for a classic hand-built British sports car that's rarer than a same-year Ferrari here in the states.  Check out the auction here.

Wow, this one's a looker.  A 1974 DeTomaso Pantera (back when they were still pretty before the flares, wings, and stickers!) with a freshly rebuilt 351 Windsor.  Actually, make that a 408 Windsor.  The Big Block Ford V8 has been stroked out to 408ci with 9:1 forged coated pistons, aluminum heads, a street cam, rebuilt valvetrain, 7qt oil pan, Holley 950 Commander 32lb/hr HD injectors, Weldon fuel pump and regulator, a dual plane Edelbrock manifold adapted to EFI use by Wilson Manifolds, MSD ignition, aftermarket exhaust manifolds, and a Centerforce clutch and flywheel (among other things.)  The seller says the engine is "set up for a turbo" which seems alarming, as a built big-block Ford in a Pantera probably causes instant death.  The rest of the car is in beautiful shape with a long list of new parts.  The car is for sale in Malvern, PA and as of writing the bid is up to $16,100 with the reserve not met.  Considering there's probably at least that much just in the engine build, I will bet this will end with the reserve still not met, north of 20 grand.  Check the auction here.

I'm including this one not only for the hot girl the seller got to pose with this bizarre thing, but because... well, what the hell is it?  The seller lists it as a Sterling kit car.  Most obvious would be the lift-canopy roof, which is how you get in.  I'd imagine this gets a lot of stares in the parking lot, when you're trying to go into Home Depot and people won't leave you alone about the roof.  Sterling's 90's-vintage HTML heavy website gives plenty of detail about these component cars.  Basically you can get a rear-engined or mid-engined chassis to fit the body on.  Early Sterling's used a VW Beetle chassis and engine, but newer ones more options - Buick/Ford pushrod V6's, Mazda Rotary, DC electric, Subaru EJ20 or EJ25, whatever you want basically.  Unfortunately this seller's a little light on the details, only saying it has a 4 cylinder and manual transmission, with the engine in the back.  He does say it's a 1977 and it's got 35k and change on the chassis, so one would expect it's a VW Bug powertrain judging by the vintage, but you never know.  It could have a Honda F20C!  This one's located in Georgia, and currently has no bids with a starting bid of $14,000.  Check out this Sterling kit car and it's interesting interior here.

Oh yeahhh. LaForza.  Looking like a mixture of Land Rover and Lada, the LaForza was actually an Italian-built SUV with Ford powertrain, made in the early '90's to compete with the Range Rover.  As you may have noticed, that didn't really work out.  The beautiful leather interior was a bit at odds with the 302 Windsor and 4-speed automatic under the hood, and nowadays LaForza's are more of a curiosity than a real car.  Still, if you want the other exotic Italian SUV (besides the LM002), this one's all murdered out and for sale in New Jersey.  Hard to believe it's only got 17k on the odo, and even harder to believe the buy-it-now is set at $9,995.  For that price, you could get a ragged-out late ninties 4Runner.  Uhh, why?

"You know what the world needs, Ted?"  "What, Bif?"  "A Nash Metropolitan Rat Rod with a &!$@ing Supercharged V6."  That's how the conversation must have gone, after consumption of a huge amount of drugs.  Whatever the idea inspiration, this is awesome.  Tiny 4-cylinder thrown into the trash where it belongs, this Metropolitan now sports a Chevy Vortec 4300 V6 breathing through a polished B&M Supercharger and a fat Weber carb.  There's almost nothing stock on or under this one - Mustang II front suspension, a narrowed Ford 9" rear axle, a 5-speed Borg-Warner transaxle, custom bodywork.  It needs some work to complete - like windows.  But really, a supercharged V6 5-speed Metropolitan is never going to be "done."  Get your feet wet with this neverending project, for sale in Wayne, NJ.  Current bidding is up to $5,309.09, with a Buy It Now set at $10,900.

I'm on a Panoz kick today, cut me some slack.  There aren't any AIV Roadsters on eBay, but there are two Esperante's.  This silver 2001 is a very early-production model (VIN #05!) and has 15,000 and change miles on it.  It shares it's mostly-aluminum construction and 32v Cobra motor with the earlier AIV model, but curb weight is around 3,100lbs (compared to 2,600 or so for the AIV) due to it having a full body and a real roof.  Still, $29,000 for a painfully rare, hand-built American sports car?  Sounds good to me!  This one is going to be worth a lot more in the future, and it's a lot less ugly than it's main competitor at the time, the Shelby Series 1.  Also, Danny Panoz seems like a cool dude, and Carroll Shelby is a jerk.  Not sure if that matters to you.  Auction here, located in White Plains NY.

A piece of American (err, Canadian) history - a 1975 Bricklin SV-1, with only 132 miles on the odometer.  This car has travelled less far in the last 35 years than I have in the last 2 days.  "Time capsules" like these blow my mind, except this one has some rust underneath.  Still, it's all-original and in great shape.  Power is from a Ford 351 with a two-barrell carb and an automatic transmission.  It's for sale through a sales service with a buy-it-now of $19,500.  I'll pass, but maybe it's your bag?

It's a... ohh... wait wait don't tell me I know this one... Rossion Q1!  Does the middle of it look familiar, if you've read many European car magazines in the last few years?  It's because the Rossion Q1 is basically a US-federalised, road-legal version of a Noble M400.  It's got a 3.0L all-aluminum quad cam 24v Ford V6 with twin turbochargers and an intercooler, making 450 horsepower.  This lightweight coupe will blast to 60mph in 3.1 seconds and 100mph 7.7, with a top speed of 189.  Only 72 are built per year, so it's not a common vehicle.  You might've seen one in the advertising pages of Car and Driver, but here's one you can buy.  If you're feeling brave (both for the ridiculous performance, 418bhp/ton, and the questionable build quality) this one can be yours for $81,990.  That much could buy you a Z06 Corvette or a 911 Carrera S, but you'd be in this car's rear view mirrors.  Choices, choices...

This Autozam AZ-1 and the Rossion Q1 have some things in common.  Transverse-mid mounted turbocharged engines, rear wheel drive, manual transmission, two seats... But, ahh, the similarities sort of end there.  What the heck is an Autozam AZ-1?  Well, it's a kei car created for the Japanese Domestic Market only.  Autozam was one of Mazda's JDM sub-brands, and this weird gull-winged kei sports car was actually built for Mazda/Autozam by Suzuki.  It uses a rear-mounted 667cc 12v inline-3 cylinder with a turbocharger, making 67 horsepower.  Right-hand-drive, the AZ-1 was only ever sold on the JDM, with about 4400 built between 1992-1994.  This one's apparently been completely redone and restored, and it's for sale in Toronto, Ontario where it's legal to import a bizarre JDM vehicle past a certain age.  Good luck getting this one registered here in the states!  The buy it now is at $20,000 even (a bit steep?) and the auction can be found here.

In the interest of not taking down your ISP with crazy bandwidth, I'm going to stop this post here and continue with the rest of the weird stuff on eBay Other Makes very soon.  Stay tuned!