It Came From eBay Hell: The Geo Storm Pickup You Never Knew You Wanted

Few names in automotive history make the average car enthusiast?s skin crawl like, ?Geo?. Geo was General Motors response to the growing number of Japanese and South Korean imports that had invaded the U.S. market. Essentially taking the most boring and insipid models from Suzuki, Toyota and Isuzu and building them stateside, Geo embodied the whole, ?Who Gives A...? attitude that has made GM so reviled by some.

The Geo Storm was essentially an Isuzu Impulse stripped off all the things that would have made the latter an appealing proposition to the enthusiast: Lotus tuned suspension, turbocharger and AWD. What was left was essentially a four-cylinder sedan with two less doors and a vaguely sporty body. Still, it was a big seller for Geo and GM, no doubt leaving the corpse of Colin Chapman rolling in his grave.

And so it was, from the depths of eBay Hell, a ?1 of a kind? Geo Storm pickup truck. Behold the myriad of features such as a sliding rear window with ?WWII Bomber Girl mural?, gullwing T-Tops and custom 17-inch rims. A fourth generation Camaro-style front end, red white and blue ?Patriotic paint theme?, a Chevy Chevelle SS hood cowling and a shaved tail gate handle complete the exterior package.

The car retrains Isuzu?s 12-valve engine and 5spd manual transmission, the former of which has recently had a comprehensive tune-up. It?s hard to poke too much fun at the seller: a civilian combat veteran hit by some family health problems. All told it?s a good conversion and the price ? US$13,000 ? could be a lot worse. Check out the pics (and video) and leave your voice your opinion below.

Source: eBay

It Came from eBay Hell: ?80s VW Golf Stretch Limo with Mercedes Nose

So you want your own limousine? Sure, I can dig that. Who hasn?t thought of trading in their daily commute for something that?s chauffer driven? And what better place to start your search than on eBay, where you?re sure to find something both unique and affordable, if not exactly well built or driveable.

Here?s one such find, based on a 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit (Golf for the rest of the world) with a Mercedes-Benz nose piece. The seller?s description reveals that this vehicle has new brakes, struts, a new exhaust, new wheels and tires, new windshield and gas tank. And it still has its original motor and transmission, with a twin barrel carburettor with aluminium intake and header which the seller assures us makes it, ?Fast for what it is.?

Inside there are two bench seats facing each other, and an electrically operated tinted glass partition that can separate the passengers from the driver. Classy.

The interior is in need of a lot of attention, though. There?s no headliner, no carpet and the custom interior panels have yet to be fitted. The air conditioning?s not hooked up and there?s no sound system, either. The car?s also missing a, ?Few other odds and ends.?

On the upside, it has a clear title and the car comes with a fixer upper GTI engine and a white rabbit plush toy that has been stretched and has a VW hat on its head. Sadly there are no pictures of the latter. The starting price is a low, low US$4,999.00 (?3,676). Price for a first generation Rabbit, but not bad for something with such...uh...?unique qualities.?

The strange this is, this car has been on sale before, almost two years ago. And it was in the exact same state it?s in now. We don?t know what this means, except maybe that the owner grew tired of working on it. Take that however you want, and leave your comments below.

By Tristan Hankins

Link: eBay

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Russian Customizer Turns a Jaguar into a GAZ-21 Lookalike

Previously on Carscoop, we?ve seen Pontiac Fieros turned into ?Fierarris?, Toyota Soarers adorned with Mercedes-Benzes off cuts and some others too hideous to even mention. For the most part, it?s a case of turning a boring, mainstream car into something that resembles a high-priced exotic if you?re squinting through grease paper with the sun in your eyes and have lost a lot of blood.

What you rarely see is something exotic transformed into something that some people would call mundane. That?d just be silly. Never to be one to shy away from a challenge, the Russians have done just that: taken a Jag and turned it into a GAZ.

Originally this car was a 1993 Jaguar XJ40 with an automatic transmission and a 3.2 L V6. Its exterior has been adorned with the grille, head- and taillights, unique side vents and boot emblem from a ?70s Volga. It?s not quite in the same league as the BMW 6-series derived Volga V8 Roadster or the Porsche Cayenne-based ?Lenin-mobile?, but it?s still an impressive transformation.

No awkward shutlines, no weird overhangs: it just goes to show, when it comes to customization, the Russians know their craft. Maybe the results aren?t always attractive or tasteful, but they?ve got the engineering and mechanical side down pat.

To understand why this was done, you need to understand what the GAZ M21 Volga or GAZ-21 means to Russia. Over there, it?s as ubiquitous and well liked as the Mini, Checker cab or Citroen 2CV are in their respective nations. So it?s no surprise that Volga owners shower a lot of care and attention on their cars.

Working-class Americans used to aspire to own Cadillacs. Working-class poms used to aspire to own Rovers. And in Russia, working-class Russians aspired to own a GAZ. It?s that simple. Check out our gallery and let us know your view in the comments section below.

By Tristan Hankins

Source: eBay

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Mysterious Air Force Project Car Surfaces on eBay [with Video]

One of the most memorable movies quotes of all time is from the 1994 comedy-drama Forrest Gump, in which Tom Hanks? character said: ?Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you"re gonna get?. Fast-forward to today, and eBay seems to be the proverbial box of chocolates with some truly sweet surprises, like this VW Beetle-based 1973 Air Force project car, named Talon.

According to plaques bolted to the dashboard and driver door, the fiberglass Talon was built by cadets at the United States Air Force Academy over a 5-month period, between January and June 1973. Other than that, there?s no information about the purpose of this car and the seller got nowhere after an investigation of his own. He claims to have called an aviation museum, researched the names of the cadets on Facebook and posted pictures on multiple Volkswagen websites, but to no avail.

The Talon was once motivated by a variant of the Beetle?s flat-four gasoline engine (the owner doesn?t know which one exactly), mated to a manual gearbox. Currently, the powerplant doesn?t run and, judging by the pictures, the chassis is also in a pretty poor condition. Luckily, the fiberglass body aged well and the potential buyer will surely find enough Beetle parts to be able to restore this oddball creation.

The current bid at eBay stands at just US $1,300, making the Talon an offer worth considering. We know it?s a long-shot, but if anyone can offer us some information on this seemingly one-off project car, we would be much obliged.

By Csaba Daradics

Source: eBay

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