Feb
22nd
Larger Style Indy Kit Car Turns Street Crusing into Racer's Dream
By James Martell
Tonight at 9 pm EST, Del Baumgartner will debut his 2008 Indy S-1
Comprtitione, a street-legal Indy-style sports car at the Fort
Wayne Museum of Art.
Baumgartner, who has previously designed one-of-a-kind Continental Mark V and Trans Am convertibles, invested three years in this latest creation, tapping into a legion of fellow car lovers (many who were reportedly paid with the promise of potential future rewards) to bring this dream to life. Likewise, Baumgartner has a handful of Northern Indiana suppliers on standby, with expectatons that orders for the car will soon start rolling in. “GM and Ford are never going to make something like this because they’d have to sell 100,000 to make a profit,” Baumgartner told The Journal Gazette this week.
The newspaper reports that the cars will be sold in two forms. The first is a $42,500 kit that comes with everything except the engine, transmission and exhaust systems. Kits allow people with their own engines to customize the car to their liking. A fully assembled car will sell for $55,000 to $65,000, depending on which engine and transmission the customer chooses. The features that make the sports car street-legal include headlights, taillights, bumpers, fenders, side mirrors, seat belts and turn signals. Despite going the extra mile to make the car street legal, Baumgartner maintains that there is nothign practical about it, telling the newspaper that "it's emotional," and "strictly for fun" and likens the purchase to that of a "Harley or a yacht."
President of Indy Motorsports Marketing LLC, Baumgartner is also an Air Force Veteran and developed his passion for designing cars while working as a Vice President of Sales and Marketing at companies in Fort Wayne. Most recently, he left his job as an advertising executive to devote the last two years to deisgning and nringing to life the Competitione.
The prototype car cost more than $100,000 to create, even with the many donations of time and materials, Baumgartner said. Someone paying for all the parts and labor might spend closer to $1 million, he speculated.
For more information about Baumgartner, the Competitione or tonight's event, go to: www.indy-motorsports.com.
Baumgartner, who has previously designed one-of-a-kind Continental Mark V and Trans Am convertibles, invested three years in this latest creation, tapping into a legion of fellow car lovers (many who were reportedly paid with the promise of potential future rewards) to bring this dream to life. Likewise, Baumgartner has a handful of Northern Indiana suppliers on standby, with expectatons that orders for the car will soon start rolling in. “GM and Ford are never going to make something like this because they’d have to sell 100,000 to make a profit,” Baumgartner told The Journal Gazette this week.
The newspaper reports that the cars will be sold in two forms. The first is a $42,500 kit that comes with everything except the engine, transmission and exhaust systems. Kits allow people with their own engines to customize the car to their liking. A fully assembled car will sell for $55,000 to $65,000, depending on which engine and transmission the customer chooses. The features that make the sports car street-legal include headlights, taillights, bumpers, fenders, side mirrors, seat belts and turn signals. Despite going the extra mile to make the car street legal, Baumgartner maintains that there is nothign practical about it, telling the newspaper that "it's emotional," and "strictly for fun" and likens the purchase to that of a "Harley or a yacht."
President of Indy Motorsports Marketing LLC, Baumgartner is also an Air Force Veteran and developed his passion for designing cars while working as a Vice President of Sales and Marketing at companies in Fort Wayne. Most recently, he left his job as an advertising executive to devote the last two years to deisgning and nringing to life the Competitione.
The prototype car cost more than $100,000 to create, even with the many donations of time and materials, Baumgartner said. Someone paying for all the parts and labor might spend closer to $1 million, he speculated.
For more information about Baumgartner, the Competitione or tonight's event, go to: www.indy-motorsports.com.
Viewing 1 - 1 of 1
Subscribe
