Wannabe Ferrari 308 with optimistic seller

We see Fieros made to look like Italian exotics on a daily basis, but we’ve never seen a Beal Stiletto Camaro conversion.  This is a blatant ripoff of the Ferrari 308 and is odd in and of itself, but the best part of this ad is the text.  The seller wants to link this thing to limited-production cars like the Dual Ghia.  The problem is that those weren’t mediocre ripoffs of different vehicles.  The auction has a reserve, so we may not find out what the market has to say about this one.

Click for eBay ad
Midwest, USA (appears to be Chicago)
$4,079 with six bids and reserve not met
08/18/2013 update:  Ended at $7,300 with reserve not met.  We’re surprised it went that high and it’s obvious the reserve is WAY too high.

Inteior is all Chevy.  We’ve noticed these hideous floor mats in more and more questionable ads – they’re almost as bad as the NASCAR steering wheel covers.

That’s right, your wannabe Ferrari can have Crossfire injection!

Ad text:

If there is one thing that history has taught the sophisticated car collector is that custom bodied production cars always increase in value many times faster then the actual production car.  If we look a classic car like the Packard Dietrich V- windshield, you will recognize that special bodied Packards are valued at many multiple times of the standard body Packard.  Again in the post war era, looking at the Dual Ghias as an example, using all standard Chrysler underpinnings and drive train etc, it can be seen that a Dual Ghia is worth five to ten times that of any standard Chrysler product. 

The car that you see before you is a very limited production “custom bodied Camaro” by Beal Coach Works, that has been a well kept secret from most collectors for three decades.  The car that is being offered is here is a fantastic sculpture done by the well known designer Mark Beal who produced a series of the Stiletto custom bodied cars that was done in a very similar way to the custom bodied Dual Ghia cars, it should also be noted that in reference to the latter that the Ghia body company in Italy produced custom bodied cars on Chrysler chassis that today fell over $1,000,000.00. 

This is a rare opportunity to purchase an extremely desirable custom bodied Stiletto by Beal coach works that you can expect to only increase in value many times faster then the standard production Camaro.  The elderly seller has owned this car for eleven years and has decided to part with the car.  The reserve is extremely low and in the decades to come this car should represent a ‘moon shot’ in the world of dollar appreciation.   Remember when you are collecting the word ‘rare’ always equates to fantastic future value.  This is one of the rarest GM cars that we have seen on Ebay in a very long time.

The following is information and specifications that you need to know to make a well informed purchase and should help you understand the technical aspects of this car.

One of the first commercial modifications of the third-generation Camaro was produced by Mark Beal Coach Works.  In 1982, Mark Beal lived and worked in El Cajon, California. His background was a designer, constructor, and marketing idea man, which meant he was very qualified to design and build a new European body for the then new 1982 Camaro. His idea was to make the Camaro’s styling more Italian like, and with the Ferrari in mind, he set out to start this project.


 Using his personal 1982 Z28 as the first mule, he separated his car in two just behind the doors and extended the entire body 11.5 inches. To accomplish this, he also had to extend the floorpan, rocker panels, inner and outer doors, roof, brake lines, exhaust. etc. The result of this gave his car a wheelbase of 112.5 inches instead of the stock 101.0, and overall length became 203.5 versus 188.0 inches. Not only did the extension make the car look longer and sleeker, it also left the rear seat useable by adults! This was great since the 3rd generation Camaro is not very roomy in the back seats.

The next step in his project was to design and build fiberglass end caps fore and aft for the body. The front clip, had special made hidden, motor-driven headlamps and a sharper nose that was attached to the stock Camaro mounting points. The beautiful fiberglass clip was then mounted to the rear of the car. Mark inserted a special louvered quarter “window” into the B-pillar, with a custom backlight fitted into the stock hatch recess. Front and rear bumpers were urethane over steel inner hardware.


Beal showed his first car, which he named the Stiletto, in Dec. 1983 at the Los Angeles and New York auto shows to rave reviews. He offered this Series I through his company. The car originally sold for a price close to a new Ferrari.  

From the Stiletto brochure:

Stiletto

Exquisite taste, said Voltaire, is as rare as exceptional beauty-rarely observable, profoundly elusive, a joy to possess.  The designers from I.T.D. proudly introduce a rare blend of exceptional beauty and exquisite taste.

Vehicle Type:  Four passenger luxury sports car.

Engine:  V-8 from block and heads.

Displacement:  305 cu. in., 5.0 litre

Fuel Systems:  4 Bbl. Carburetor

Transmission:  3-speed automatic

Wheelbase:  112.5 inches

Length: 203.5 inches

Width:  72.1 inches

Curb Weight:  3,450 (approximate)

Front Suspension:         Macpherson Struts

Stabilizer bar

Coil springs

Telescopic shocks

Rear Suspension:       Torque bar

                            Panhard rod

                            Coil springs

                            Telescopic shocks

Steering

Type:  Recirculating ball

Turns:  2.5 Lock to Lock

Wheels:

Size:  7 x 15 inches

Wheel Type:  BBS Styled

Tire Type:  Goodyear P215/65R15 Steel Belted Radials

Standard Appointments:

       Air conditioning

       Automatic Transmission

       Power Steering

       Power assisted front disc/rear drum

       Cruise control

       Power windows

       Body Color:  Sport Mirrors

       Intermittent windshield wipers

       AM-FM stereo cassette

       Digital clock

       Full instrumentation

       Burl veneer dashboard

       Burl veneer door trim.

Light group includes:  dome/map, reading lamp, rear compartment lamp, underhood lamp.

High energy ignition system.

Tinted glass

Removable glass roof panels.

Leather wrapped steering wheel.

Fully reclining seats with lateral support

Console with covered storage compartment.

Fold down rear seat.

Side window defoggers

Dual trumpet air horns

Power hatchback opener

Electric rear window defogger

Gold accented wheels

Acrylic lacquer finish.

We at MissChiTown just love the storied history behind this car and the fact that it is very similar to a custom bodied Ghia car in terms of a production car having a custom body.  MissChiTown believes that this is a car that in the future will truly be one of the prized possessions of your collection and priced with a very low reserve.

So if you are a Camaro collector and want the rarest of all Camaros or if you are a collector of the most unusual American cars like Dual Ghias, Muntz Jets or Kurtis cars then this could be the perfect addition to your collection.

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P l e a s e   R e a d   B e f o r e   B i d d i n g 

Do NOT consider a winning bid a right of first refusal to decide if you want to buy the car.  Winning bids are a contract to buy the car per the terms stated in this listing.  Winner must pickup this car within 21 days unless other arrangements have been made.  

We hope that you will appreciate the beauty of this car and the effort that we put into displaying the attributes of this vehicle for you to realize that it may be the perfect fit for your collection.