“I’m picking awesome cars for us to drive to Pebble Beach,” Autopian cofounder Beau Boeckmann told Jason Torchinsky and me. “They’re going to match our personalities, and they’re going to be a surprise,” he continued. Jason and I, longtime purveyors of sub-$1,000 junkers, looked at each other, shrugged, and proceeded to spend the remaining time before Pebble Beach vastly underestimating just how epic our rides were about to be. On Wednesday, we found out; Beau chose from his collection a one-of-12 Porsche Rinspeed 969, a one-of-one Galpin Ford GTR1, and a one-of-60 (or 30, or 80?) Shelby Series I — three extremely rare, and extremely bizarre-to-drive machines. Here’s what it was like piloting them to the world’s fanciest car show.
Beau chose the Rinspeed 969 for Jason Torchinsky because Jason is a VW Beetle connoisseur. And let’s be honest, the Rinspeed is just a Beetle except with more strakes, pop-up headlights, a hilariously-1980s interior, and a much more powerful turbocharged flat-six motor. These may seem like big differences, but the car does still feel rather Beetle-y to drive, per Jason. I agree.
The car Beau chose for me was the Shelby Series 1, and not just any of the 250 Series 1s ever built: This is a supercharged 450 horsepower version. One of roughly 50 ever produced. The motor is a blown version of the 4.0-liter V8 found in the Oldsmobile Aurora, the sibling of the $1 Oldsmobile Alero that has been ruining my life for almost five years now. Beau figured this vehicle would wash the foul taste of rusty brake fluid and GM-spec Dexcool engine coolant out of my mouth, and allow me to appreciate one of the best examples of Oldsmobile engineering.
Beau himself drove his company’s creation, the GTR1. It’s a Ford GT with significant changes to the bodywork, engine, suspension, and other chassis components. The thing puts out 1,069 horsepower through a six-speed manual, and the noise it produces is absolutely incredible. In fact, I could barely hear the beautiful sound from my supercharged Aurora V8, even though the GTR1 was 50 yards in front of me; it’s that loud.
Watch the video above to see the three Autopian founders drive priceless cars around Monterey.
“There are two dogs mating in there!”
Thus began a DT birthday party tradition….
Happy belated David. I sincerely hope you didn’t vomit in the Shelby, or do a line off the side strakes of the 969.
David Tracy and my mom (RIP) share birthdays? First thought is that this puts to rest any thoughts of astrology having any value whatsoever. But then again, although Mom wasn’t a gearhead, she was smart and good-natured and generally found the best in people. So maybe the astrology thing isn’t all wrong after all? Anyway, happy late birthday, David!
And what a great video…
Wow, you nerds are so lucky to have a cool guy like Beau showing you around and letting you drive his rare exotic cars. Looks like an absolute blast.
amazing selection of cars!!!! hit me up if you need audio fixup!
The Autopian – where the cars you are driving are worth more than the motel you’re staying in.
Got it mixed up, the 939, later named R39, was using the 928 front and taillight assembly.
969 carries 944 illumination.
Pretty sure the Testarossa was showing its strakes before the Rinspeed. A quick search suggests October 1984 at the Paris Motor Show versus March 1985 Geneva (Motor Show). Some might say it was actually the Mondial that introduced the theme, the Testarossa only took it further.
Love the parts cross shopping on the Rinspeed, I see 944 tailights that capture the Testarossa’s look perfectly and is the front marker light assembly from the 928?
As near as I can tell, on point for the cars’ owner (BB), but kinda’ off-brand for DT & JT — am I right?
Rinnspeed, your coke boofing source since 1979
Putting DT in a car with a peekaboo radiator. That’s comedy genius.
I’d like a boss like Beau and I am currently unemployed and looking.
I can see putting Dave and Torch up at that fleabag hotel but not letting them park those cars overnight.
And the cheap hotel still costs $450 a night. Great fun video. Thanks.
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Wow! My boss is cool, but not that cool!
Beau is awesome. Gracious and generous and just a nice guy. And he seems to really love sharing and showing off his toys.
Top notch video! Fun!
Great!
Thanks
That was great! Had Top Gear vibes all the way thru it with Beau in the Clarkson role, Torch as Hammond and David playing May (even to the point of being criticized for driving slow). Now you just need to modify the cars to be able to drive into the ocean and it’s a wrap
Wow, that’s a great description, and I think the roles fit.
So is there a second part to the video with all the challenges? Which car holds the most orphaned puppies? Make videos of each car to see which one gets the most TikTok views? Which car has the best traction on a golf course fairway?
My (late) comment on the YouTube video before reading yours here:
Maybe it’s just me but this has a bit of top gear feel…you know if the casting director only posted flyers at Detroit area junkyards, sad post communist art houses and then in an LA dive bar and took the first three guys who walked in the door. Loved watching this and thank you Beau for being crazy enough to enable our community.
Great, entertaining video, and the Shelby sounded amazing.
Always intrigued by the weather there around Monterey. The fog can roll in and it looks like the day is shot and then after a bit, there’s brilliant sunshine.
Enjoy your stay at the Bedbug Inn!!
I had a mad grin on my face the whole time watching this video. Kudos to Beau for finding quirky cars that fit you guys but also fit in at concours. What a blast!
….with a spotter!!! HOLY Heck LOOOOOOOOOL!!! Who wants to be that person.
Happy Belated DT!
Thank you!
Happy Birthday David!
Thank you!
Happy Birthday David!
Looks like some fun to be had.
Thank you!
Yeesh.. I’d be too afraid to wreck these things. Or really damage them in any way. I think I might have to decline. Good content y’all!
I would. Friend had a moderately valuable 60’s Italian car that he offered me to drive. Nope.
This is sort of content that makes me love this website! Awesome job guys!
Seriously? You can’t purge this spambot?
It is getting a little ridiculous. I could kinda understand if it was a neverending parade of different algorithmically-generated accounts, but there are only two accounts doing this and they’re always the same ones. Just freakin’ ban them, already. Can we get a moderator up in here?
So I have good news and I have bad news. We just unlocked the ability to delete individual comments. So we can now go in there and nuke the bots one by one.
Bad news is that we cannot ban them, so they can come back. In fact, I zapped one of the bots earlier and it had the nerve to make another comment. But fear not, we have a team working on a ban function and a spam filter!
Also, I just learned that maybe only we have the comment editing function, so we should probably fix that, too.
Yeah, us regular users cannot edit our comments still.
Glad there’s some progress though!
Thank you for the edited spam bot comments, they were a hoot to read.
This morning I saw a McLaren (570s, I think) parked at a motel only slightly nicer than yours in Monterey, so don’t feel too bad. Looks like you’ll have to sleep in shifts to keep watch over the cars though. Happy birthday David!
Thanks!