FINAL OBJECTIVE SELLS FOR $200K

Those that know Final Objective will know that what made it so special was its choice of powerplant - a Rolls Royce Merlin V12 engine - the same as that used to power P51 Mustang fighter planes in World War II. Additionally, what set the car apart from other aero-engined beast was that it was fully street legal, even though it ran a 1650ci (27 litre) supercharged engine produced 3,000 horsepower!

There were many other unique or unusual components: 18-inch wide rear wheels, a rear end from a Chevy truck, modified disc brakes from a Ford F350 with six-piston Wilwood calipers, 12- and 24-volt electrical systems, front and rear radiators, huge tanks to carry fuel and oil, hydraulic jacks that can lift the car off the ground and even a way to remove the entire body when it comes time to do such things as replace the spark plugs.

The design, planning and build of the car took Hadfield and his team six years, much of it done in close consultation with State registration officials to ensure it would be street legal when it was completed. The paint-scheme for Final Objective took 11 months (all 6,000 of those rivets were hand-painted!) and was inspired by the US Air Force's 352nd Fighter Group.

Once it was finished, at an estimated cost of $1 million, Hadfield took the '55 Chev, along with two other rods he built, to the United States. There, all three of Hadfield's creations scored awards at the major hot rod shows. After cleaning up at these events, Hadfield put Final Objective up for sale, and it was bought by muscle car collector, Charley Lillard.

"I drive it, but only a little bit," Lillard said in a release issued by Barrett-Jackson. "Usually around the holidays, people in my town have relatives coming to visit and everyone wants to bring them to see it. It's kind of an attention-getter, more attention than I want to attract.
"I live out in the country, and recently I drove it down to the corner. By the time I got there, there were six cars pulled over because they saw it coming," Lillard added.

Lillard brought the car to Barrett-Jackson, in part because he was ready to sell it, in part because he hoped it might find a new home parked next to a vintage Mustang fighter. With its 2-speed transmission and all that power, Lillard said driving the car more closely resembles taxiing an airplane.
"You're just idling it around," he said, "though you can cruise along at any speed you like. The car weighs 7,000 pounds and has a very nice ride."

The car also carries 70 gallons of fuel. "I think it's not miles per gallon but gallons per mile," he added.
"The '55 Merlin Chevy is right up there with Robosaurus in my opinion," said Gary Bennett, Barrett-Jackson's vice-president of consignment. "It's so out there. This is an outrageous vehicle. It's inexplicable.
"As someone with a mechanical engineering and architectural background, I know that to take a car like that '55 Chevy and to remake it to accommodate that engine is nothing short of an engineering masterpiece. To think of the number of hours of just thinking through the process, and to keep the car's integrity in place, it's amazing."

Consigned at No Reserve for Barrett-Jackson's huge Scottsdale auction event, one of the most amazing and impressive examples of Aussie hot rod engineering sold for US$200,000.

One of the biggest classic and muscle car auction events on the US calendar, this year's Scottsdale auction event ran from January 15- 22 and attracted over 270,000 visitors. The event saw sales of over US$92 million and also raised over US$5.9 million for local and national US charities.

More details on Final Objective and other lots from the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction can be found at www.barrett-jackson.com