According to folklore, Burns was in an Alvis dealership when he overheard a Texas millionaire being told by a salesman that Alvis cars were not for export.  Burns thought that he could exploit a small niche in the market with a few improvements to the Alvis.

Burns gave an Alvis TD21 coupe to Jim Keeble who was famous in England for his own short run of fast grand touring machines that utilized Corvette engines and new fiberglass bodies.  Just like his last project, Keeble used the 300 hp 5.4-liter V8 out of a Corvette to replace the TD21′s original 115 hp 3.0-liter six-cylinder.  He also redesigned the interior to look more like his Gordon-Keeble sportscar.  The altered Alvis was then given to coachbuilder Williams and Pritchard Ltd. to modify the body, including lowering the roofline and giving the windshield a steeper rake.

With its dual headlights and upright grille, the 1967 Alvis Burns Special looked like a sporty version of the recently introduced Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow coupe.  Alvis must have had a bit of a similar idea, too.  By the time the Burns Special had hit the streets, they were producing the redesigned and more powerful TF21.  Of course, since the TF21 still only had half the power Burns Special and its quad headlights made it look more like a Facel Vega, there might have been room for both cars on the market.

Unfortunately we’ll never know the full potential of the Alvis Burns Special.  By the time this car was completed, Alvis’ savior in Rover had been gobbled up by the nightmare that was British Leyland.  A small manufacturer like Alvis had no place in the big world of BL, and so the Burns Special would remain a one-off.

The car still exists in running condition and will be crossing the auction block later this month.  Estimates put it between $94,000 and $110,000, or about the price of five Silver Shadow Park Ward Coupes.

Chassis 1557 was built in 1911 and delivered on April 1st with a Landaulette body in order to be chauffeur driven.  The car was later converted to a two-seater touring droptop by Rippon Brothers.  While this may seem a little odd, it was a common practice with premium cars of the time.  Since custom bodies were built on Rolls-Royce chassis until the mid-1940s, the pre-war cars had easily interchangeable bodies.  Ultra wealthy owners would even have open and closed bodies swapped out on the chassis depending on the season.

This Rolls is not extremely rare (for Sliver Ghosts), has not been owned by anyone famous, and never accomplished an interesting feat.  So why are we featuring this car? Well the £450,000 to £550,000 expected sale price (currently about $705k-$862k) seems like a bit of lofty figure created by the auction company.  The price might be in response to another Silver Ghost that sold earlier this month for $7.1 million.

If the Historics’ Rolls fetches anywhere near its projected price, we might be at the beginning of a new trend.  It will be kind of nice to start seeing a new consistent (near) million-dollar car that is not a post-war Italian ex-racer.

The ex-Peter Pan Futurliner is up for sale on eBay.  This one gets its name from once being owned by the bus service company, and for a brief part of its history was painted in Peter Pan livery.

Futurliners were part of GM’s Parade of Progress, an educational caravan that went across the country in the 1940s and 50s.  These buses would ride through town like the circus gathering attention, and then the massive 16×5’ cargo doors on both sides would open to reveal technology of the future (like microwave ovens.)

This Futurliner is number seven of the twelve total built (nine are known to still exist.)  This bus and many of its siblings exist only because car collector Joe Bortz intervened when he saw five of these buses together on one lot.  That owner had plans to cut the buses in half to create a restaurant, but Bortz bought them all so that they would be sold or given away to those who would preserve the legacy.

Bortz donated Futurliner #10 to the National Automotive and Truck Museum.  Today it is considered to be the most accurate restored example, and here it is in action:

The eBay ad for #7 does do some disclosure on the vehicle, but those who are interested in purchasing will likely discover much more.  For example the engine is listed as a Detroit Diesel 4-71 turbo motor.  This is a replacement for the original 5.0-liter six-cylinder gasoline engine.

Also running a Futurliner is not as easy as laying down a few dollars and driving away.  The front hubs must be well maintained because each side has dual front wheels.  This means that during a turn, the two paired wheels have a different turning ratios, and the hubs allow for correction.

Still, it doesn’t seem like they are trying to pass a lemon off as a peach in this sale.  The auction company has already pointed out some problems with the vehicle, and they don’t seem to be trying to sell this as an all-original Futurliner (the National Automotive and Truck Museum knows how tough it is to make one of those.)  Instead, this is a decent example of a well-maintained nearly one-of-a-kind vehicle that has made some sacrifices over the years to keep it on the road.

How much is Futurliner #7 really worth? Although you can count the number of the known buses left on two hands, the condition seems to really dictate what collectors are willing to pay.  A decent example of one sold for $4 million at a Barrett-Jackson auction in 2006, but last May an unrestored example failed to get any bids above $340,000.

Futurliner #7′s condition falls in between these two examples, and it is reflected in the current bid price of over $500k.  It is hard to know how much the owner wants for the bus, but it is likely quite a bit more — the reserve is not yet met and there are still three months to go in the online auction.

This one of one 2004 Mercedes SL600 RENNtech “Chrome Edition” roadster was guaranteed to gain a lot of attention during the first day of Barrett-Jackson’s Palm Beach auction.  The mirror shine is not the result of a cheap-ish sticker.  Instead, every exterior piece of this former SEMA show car was dipped in chrome (even the taillights have a mirror tint.)  Still, it was not the car that was the star, but the hero who was standing beside it.

United States Marine Corps corporal Michael Jernigan lost his vision after roadside bomb attack in Iraq.  He was at the auction to share his story and introduce Brittani, his guide dog.

Brittani was trained at Southeastern Guide Dogs — a non-profit organization that receives no government subsidies.  Their Paws for Patriots program provides guide dogs to veterans who are visually impaired, Veteran Assistance Dogs to those suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, and place Therapy dogs at military medical hospitals to share their affection and encouragement to soldiers as they recover from injuries.  Florida businessman Doug Mansfield believes in this program, so he donated his ultra bling SL600 to be auctioned for Paws for Patriots.

This Mercedes is not just a shiny face.  The auction lists the car as a SL600 with a twin turbo 6.0-liter V12 engine.  Yes, we realize that is the displacement for the SL 65 AMG, but that really doesn’t matter.  This chrome king will blow the doors off the AMG because RENNtech added new mapping to the engine and transmission control units.  It makes a total of 650 hp (46 hp more than the SL 65) and a claimed top speed of over 200 mph.  The car also has an upgraded suspension, enhanced axle shafts, and 15.2-inch 8-piston front brakes and 13-inch rear brakes.

The roadster had a final price of $155,000, which all goes to the charity as Barrett-Jackson is charging no auction fees on this car.   An ultra-low mileage 2004 SL600 is worth about $50k on its best day.  So all that shine, the extra RENNtech goodies, and just plain old good karma pushed up the price of this Mercedes.

While the sight of a chrome car can often speak volumes about its owner, everyone involved with this one can be summed up in one word: hero.

The Bugaloos was a show about fairies who played in a band.  Although they could fly, it seems they also needed a custom car to get around their Tranquility Forest.  We won’t try to dive into the show’s premise too much deeper as it was the kind of psychedelic song and dance Saturday morning show expected from the team of Sid and Marty Krofft.

Like plenty of other Barris creations, the buggy has loud paint job and a few ultra exaggerated features, but the base car is still very recognizable.  In the case of the Bugaloo Buggy, this one is somewhat appropriately named considering it started life as a VW Bug-based beach buggy.

After spending a few decades lost in France, the Bugaloo Buggy is set to cross the auction block February 18th during the Historics Auction at Mercedes-Benz World in Brooklands, U.K.  The Bugaloos was only on the air from 1970 to 1972, so there are likely not too many die hard fans of the show waiting for this vehicle.  Bidding is expected to top out around £15,000 (currently about $23k).  Still, it will be interesting to see if there is any show nostalgia or Barris fans that drive the buggy’s price above the cost of a base Camry.

Another Barris car at this auction that has no star power but plenty of horsepower is the 1975 Snake Pit.  The car is named after the six synchronized Shelby Cobra 351 V8s placed under the two ultra long hoods.  This dual monster also features six wheels, 12 Holley four-barrel carburetors, 48 exhaust pipes, two Ford C-6 automatic transmissions, and a pair of Pontiac rear axles.

The 23-foot long uber hot rod is estimated to make 2,000 horsepower and built to go 300 mph…if it ran.

The Snake Pit boasts a $100,000 build price when it was completed in the mid-1970s (about $420k in today’s dollars), but it sold for as little as €27,255 five years ago at a Bonhams auction in Monaco.

Another car of note that will appear at the Historics Auction is a 600bhp set of bunk beds.  This is not a Barris creation, but it could still be the car of dreams for an odd hot rodder somewhere.