Profiling The Auto Collection

Michael Schlee

For those of you car guys/gals heading down to Sin City this year, there is a detour that is well worth your time. It is a sort of automotive dreamland. With $100 million worth of the rarest, special, sought after and famous vehicles on the planet, it is an automotive nirvana.

1948 Porsche Waibel Custom Sports Cabriolet Prototype

Located in the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, ‘The Auto Collection’ is part museum and part showroom to some of the best vehicles in history.

It isn’t just the value or size of the display that is amazing; it is also the diverseness of the collection. Want to see antiques and classics? Are movie cars your thing? How about muscle cars? Or maybe you like race cars?  They are all here.

Since most of the vehicles are for sale (some upwards of $12,000,000) it is best to leave the check book at home as I am sure you find the vehicle of your dreams here. Lucky for me the 1994 Jaguar XJ220 is not for sale, otherwise I would be asking work for a $10,000,000 raise.

The inventory is constantly changing and new cars have been added and older ones taken away since my visit.  Check out the vehicles I saw below.

The tire smoke has settled, the awards handed out, the bail money posted and the teams have returned home. The 2009 Bullrun rally is officially over. Those who caught a glimpse of it across the Eastern United States were privy to an amazing array of high end vehicles.

Team OH Canada

Ferrari, Porsche, Panoz, Koenigsegg and Maserati were some of the makes that were represented. It wasn’t just high end exotics that were on display though; the American muscle car was also on hand. Corvettes, Mustangs, Chevelles and even a Grand National made the grid.

The vehicles in the rally were not just from all over the world, but so were the teams. This included the lone all Canadian entry, ‘Team OH Canada’ (pictured above) in their red Ferrari F430. They are not only rally veterans, but also one of the favourites on the run with fans, organizers and competitors.

Below is an array of most of the vehicles that took the green flag for the 2009 Bullrun Rally. Check them out.


Related Links:

Bullrun: 2468KMs, 7 States and 1 Province in 3.5 Days

Bullrun 2009

Bullrun Rally 2009 Ready to Roll

The green flag has dropped and the racers are driving their way across the Eastern United States. The Bullrun Rally is well on its way. Currently in day number four, the rally has lived up to the hype. With dozens of memorial stories and sightings being reported all over the internet already, people will still be talking about the rally long after it is finished.

Kim Kardashian

As mention in “Bullrun Rally Ready to Roll”, I was lucky enough to take the green flag start for the rally this year (look for the blue RX-8). I knew going down to New York City that the rally would be something special, but I had no idea how amazing and chaotic it would be.

Starting outside of the Gansevoort Hotel in Manhattan’s famous meat packing district, Kim Kardashian waved the official green flag start around 10:30am Saturday July 11, 2009. A swarm of high priced exotics and classic American muscle cars stormed out of New York enroute to their first checkpoint at Monticello Raceway, New York.

Bullrun RX-8

So just who is involved in this rally? Well, there were celebrities like Bill Goldberg who took the green flag (and then was subsequently pulled over in New York. See video). There were also stars of the reality television show like Team Solstice, Team Lexus and Team Shelby in attendance.

The rest of the field was comprised of long distance driving legends, like Richard Rawlings, the ultra rich, and a few fans like me who were there in awe. So enough about the people involved, just what is it like taking the green flag in front of hundreds of cheering people?

In one word, awesome! I’ll report on all the adventures from that weekend in a future blog. But for now, better then trying to explain it in words, check out the pictures and videos below for a better idea.