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For Sale: Blue Bird Wanderlodge – A Luxurious, Original ’60s-Era Motorhome

1969 is a highly desirable year for the Wanderlodge Blue Bird, just 9 were built that year and today collectors and enthusiasts consider them among the most prized. The story behind this particular Wanderlodge is perhaps a little more interesting than most, it was ordered new by executives at Stroehmann Bakeries for the princely sum of $48,000 USD – that’s approximately $349,280 USD in 2021 dollars.

It’s likely that Stroehmann Bakeries intended the Wanderlodge to be used by salespeople or executives as they travelled around the country, though they would never get the chance. The shareholders in the company were so outraged when they discovered the purchase price that they demanded the vehicle be sold immediately, which it was.

The new owners cherished the motorhome and they used it for an annual pilgrimage to the Daytona 500 between 1970 and 1999. These long term owners made the wise decision to keep the bus in original condition throughout, preserving its value well over the years.

When the Wanderlodge had originally been ordered by Stroehmann Bakeries it had been optioned with two single rear beds and two separate dinette areas, the only one ordered in this configuration. There is also an additional couch at the front of the bus that converts into a bunk bed which can accommodate an additional two people.

As you would expect the vehicle also has a small kitchette and a small bathroom, it has an onboard 6.5 Kw Onan generator and the interior light fittings have been fitted with LED bulbs to reduce power use. On the roof you’ll find more modern Coleman HVAC units to keep the occupants warm or cool as the climate requires, you’ll also find a roof deck with a cargo carrier and a life raft. I’m not 100% sure why there’s a life raft but you never know when it might come in handy.

The Origins Of The Wanderlodge

Interestingly the Blue Bird Body Company had originally started out as a school bus manufacturer and were one of the first to use all-steel construction. The company had been founded by Albert Luce Sir who sold both of his Ford dealerships and went full time with his school bus manufacturing operation, something he had been doing part time previously.

Above Image: The bus has two front seats (with cup holders) offering occupants expansive views of the countryside as it flits by.

School bus production took off and before long Blue Bird was one of the biggest bus builders in the country. By the 1960s they were looking to diversify and cash in on the rising popularity of recreational motor coaches, which led to the creation of the Wanderlodge Blue Bird.

The first Wanderlodge was built in 1963 as a promotional vehicle to test the waters, small number of orders began to trickle in but it wasn’t until the 1970s that the popularity of the model really took off. Each Wanderlodge was individually optioned by its owner so no two are identical, over the years they’ve been owned by everyone from retirees to celebrities and even heads of state.

The 1969 Blue Bird Wanderlodge Shown Here

The Wanderlodge you see here is fitted with the rare Ford FT 391 cu. in. V8 truck engine, this engine was a derivative of the Ford FE which was used in everything from the Ford GT40 Le Mans winning race cars to US Navy SEAL high speed assault boats.

This bus’ unusual interior arrangement will appeal to both collectors and those who actually want to use it for its intended purpose, it’s been carefully upgraded over time where needed but kept in largely original condition throughout.

The vehicle was given a respray in its original colors more recently and power is sent to the rear axle via an Allison MT40 six-speed automatic transmission.

If you’d like to read more about this unusual motor coach or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing on RM Sotheby’s. It has a price guide of $40,000 to $50,000 USD and the bidding is currently underway, bidding will close on the 26th of May.

The post For Sale: Blue Bird Wanderlodge – A Luxurious, Original ’60s-Era Motorhome appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/blue-bird-wanderlodge/
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An Unusual Ferrari 308 GTB LM Evocation

This eye-catching Ferrari 308 GTB has been brought up to LM specification and now closely resembles the 308 GTB LM raced by Maurice Dantinne in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The car has been thoroughly rebuilt for track day and fast road use with the interior largely stripped of its non-essential conveniences, saving 80 kgs (176 lbs) of weight in the process.

The most noticeable change to the car is of course the exterior, the LM body kit with its wider wheel arches allows for the fitment of notably wider tires and the reshaped nose with its additional two headlights gives the car a menacing road presence.

The Ferrari 308 GTB + GTS

Ferrari released the 308 GTB and GTS models in 1975 to replace the Dino 246 GT and GTS in 1975. The new 308 used a similar tubular steel frame to the Ferrari 308 GT4 with a version of the same engine – the Ferrari F106 AB V8 with double overhead cams per bank, two valves per cylinder, four twin-choke Weber 40DCNF carburetors, a swept capacity of 2,927cc or 2.9 litres.

Interestingly the early models in the 308 GTB/GTS family had bodies made from fiberglass by Carrozzeria Scaglietti they called it “Vetroresina” and it would stay in use for two years until 1977 when steel bodies were used and the cars gained approximately 150 kgs (331 lbs) as a result.

The earlier versions of the 308 GTB/GTS were powered by one of two engine specifications depending on delivery location, European cars produced 252 bhp at 6,600 rpm whereas American delivered cars produced 237 bhp at 6,600 rpm due to emissions control devices to meet local regulations.

Above Image: The car has pop up headlights as well as new additional driving lights in the nose.

Regardless of engine specification all cars sent their power back to the 5-speed gearbox to the rear wheels and the shifter worked inside a Ferrari trademark gated transmission plate.

Ferrari would keep the 308 GTB/GTS in production from 1975 until 1985, it was produced in original carburettored guise as well as the fuel injected GTBi/GTSi series. Later the Quattrovalvole four-valve would be released and the rarer 208 and 208 Turbo models satisfied demand for lower tax bracket vehicles in Italy.

The Ferrari 308 GTB LM

The original Ferrari 308 GTB LM was developed for motorsport use, perhaps most famously being campaigned by Maurice Dantinne in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

The LM (an abbreviation of Le Mans) was a significantly reengineered version of the road car with a wider track, wider wheels, a body with considerable aerodynamic changes, and an uprated drive train for competition use.

The car you see here is a more recent creation that has been built to 308 GTB LM spec with changes including uprated Intrax adjustable suspension, a four-tip sports exhaust, upgraded brakes, and an 80 kg weight reduction thanks to that stripped-out interior.

The car’s appearance has been considerably changed thanks to the fitment of that front bumper and grille conversion, with a wider bodykit and a set of PLS wheels, clad with Pirelli P Zero Asimmetrico tires.

The engine now breathes through a set of velocity stacks capped with grilles to keep larger debris out, this coupled with the sports exhaust resulted in notably improved performance.

The interior of the car is well equipped for both fast road and track use with LTEC bucket seats with Sabelt four-point harnesses, and a custom three-spoke racing steering wheel.

If you’d like to read more about this unusual Ferrari or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing on Collecting Cars. It’s currently being auctioned live and at the time of writing the bidding is sitting at €44,000 with 3 days remaining.

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

The post An Unusual Ferrari 308 GTB LM Evocation appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/ferrari-308-gtb-lm/
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Vintage FBI Training Film: Examination Of Stolen Cars

This is an official FBI training film from the 1970s about how to examine stolen cars for evidence – I know that may sound boring but it actually makes fascinating viewing and it gives you an insight into just how clever some of the chop shops were that the FBI was dealing with.

The film starts with a car thief finding the specific make and model he was looking for, he then carefully breaks into it, hot-wires it, and discreetly drives away. He brings the car to the chop shop and they set to work giving the car a new identity that they pulled from a wrecked car from a junkyard.

The techniques used by these criminals were remarkably resourceful, you have to wonder why they didn’t just run a legitimate garage, though the fast money of flipping stolen cars likely had a lot to do with it.

The FBI and police techniques were similarly advanced, more so than you might expect, including feeling around behind trim elements for welds where there shouldn’t be welds – indicating that a panel with a VIN tag had been replaced.

Whereas these thieves used to operate in an entirely analog world the car and motorcycles thieves that operate today occupy a largely digital world, with many stolen vehicles having their parts stripped and sold off online, often within a matter of days.

Modern cars can no longer be hot-wired of course, though some enterprising car thieves use sniffing devices to capture codes from keyless car ignition systems right through the air, arguably an easier task than just knowing which two wires to twist together.

The post Vintage FBI Training Film: Examination Of Stolen Cars appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/vintage-fbi-training-film-examination-of-stolen-cars/
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The Rare RGS Atalanta 1 Of Just 11 Ever Made

This is an original RGS Atalanta, if you’ve never seen one before that’s because it’s believed that only 11 were originally built in England back in the 1950s.

The 50s were a time of astonishingly rapid development in the automotive world, with WWII over there were many men (and women) who had been trained in mechanical and engineering trades, and many of them applied this training to the development of fast cars and motorcycles.

One of these men was Major Richard G. Shattock, a retired member of the British Army and a former tank driver. Before the outbreak of WWII Shattock had been a keen motorsport enthusiast and had raced an Austin Ulster, after the war he bought the rights to the defunct Atalanta Motor Company and set to work designing a new car from the ground up.

The Original Atalanta Motor Company

Atalanta had originally been founded in 1937 by Alfred Gough, a brilliant engineer who had designed an advanced overhead-camshaft, three-valve engine for Frazer Nash. With Atalanta he set about designing his own car, he was joined by fellow Fraser Nash alumni and talented draughtsman Peter Crosby.

The project was funded by the well-heeled Peter Whitehead and Neil Watson, Whitehead would go on to become a 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and Watson was the heir to the Burma Oils fortune. The company’s first car was unveiled in 1937 and immediately established itself as one of the most advanced British cars of its era.

Known simply as the Atalanta, the car featured a slew of cutting edge features including fully independent coil spring suspension on all four corners, adjustable damping front and rear, hydraulic brakes all around, an electric operated pre-selector gearbox, and an unusual three-valve twin spark cylinder head courtesy of Alfred Gough’s aluminium 1½ litre 78 bhp and 2 litre 98 bhp four cylinder engines.

The Atalanta made use of a slew of advanced alloys like electron, duralumin, and hiduminium, and later in production a car was offered with the popular 4.3 litre V12 engine from the Lincoln Zephyr. Sadly the company was shuttered after just 20 cars had been built, surviving Atalantas from this era are now highly sought after.

Atalanta – The Resurrection

After the Second World War the Atalanta name was purchased by Richard G. Shattock who then added his initials to the newly relaunched company’s first model – the RGS Atalanta.

Shattock was faithful to the engineering prowess that had gone into the first car to carry the company name back in 1937. He developed his own tubular steel chassis and he designed a fully independent suspension set up for the car just like its forebear.

When it came time to fit an engine Shattock choose a Jaguar XK120 straight-six for the car you see here – the XK120 had been the world’s fastest production car at the time of its launch in 1949, just four years before this car was built.

There were two ways to get yourself into an RGS Atalanta, one was to buy a completed car from the workshop and the other was to order just the parts you needed that you couldn’t make yourself – things like the body and suspension.

It’s generally believed that just 11 cars were built by Shattock and his team, though a slew of bodies and other components had been sold to buyers around the country, some of the resulting cars were powered by engines from Lea-Francis, Ford, Jaguar, and even Aston Martin.

The car you see here is thought to be just the third one ever built at the workshop, its early life is a bit of a mystery however it may have been used for racing. It was road registered in 1955, and fitted with a full windscreen, folding top, and side screens to make road use more manageable.

The car is powered by the above mentioned DOHC XK120 engine with a swept capacity of 3,442cc, it’s fitted with triple SU carburetors and sends its 160 bhp to the rear wheels via a 4-speed manual transmission. The weight isn’t listed however with its alloy body and lightweight construction it will doubtless be a featherweight.

The car is fitted with a 16 quart engine sump, Alfin aluminum brake drums, alloy rear differential, and a cylinder head with larger valves. The car has now been on static display for many years and will require a recommissioning before any driving is attempted. For the right buyer it could make an ideal classic addition to the garage that many won’t recognize and very few will have seen before.

If you’d like to read more about the car or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing on Bonhams, it’s due to roll across the auction block in May with a price guide of $300,000 to $500,000 USD.