Automatic Fail

 Here's a nice picture of a 2006 Ford GT:

You will notice that it has a Barrett Jackson watermark on it.

That is because I have taken it from one of their auction listings from Palm Beach last month.

It sold for $704,000.

Here is a more recent photo of it:

If that had a watermark on it, it would point at the Facebook page of some chap called John Peddle.

He photographed it after an "off" in Boca Raton in Florida.

The driver wasn't used to driving a manual.  Car+Driver have the story here.

He also wasn't insured to drive it.

And the car wasn't registered.

And his licence had been suspended.

Now call me cynical - but if the guy named as the driver is the guy in the middle here, and I can't be 100% sure that he is, but the name and age and location seem right - 

then it looks like he is another Donald Trump/Boris Johnson type of individual who was born into a very rich family surrounded by servants and sycophants who has been allowed to get away with serial lying and thinks that rules don't apply to him.

And an innocent Ford GT is the victim here.

Or maybe he's just another Florida Man.

Wrestlemania

I'd never heard of John Cena.

He's a professional wrestler - a term that disturbs me.  I know there is a genuine sport of wrestling.

But professional wrestlers seem to be the ones made famous for playacting and overacting whether it be in the WWE in America or back in Wallasey Town Hall on ITV on a Saturday afternoon in the 1970s - I'm thinking Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks.

Anyway, I digress somewhat.

John Cena is also a car nut with an extensive collection. Here he is with his 2006 Ford GT...

...and here he is talking about it... 

I think he makes a very good motoring presenter - I was quite impressed.

However, towards the end of that video, he hints that he will also be the owner of a 2017 Ford GT.

And that is why I have now heard of him.

The thing is, anyone purchasing a 2017 Ford GT must sign a contract saying the buyer won’t resell the car for at least 24 months.

roadandtrack.com are reporting this.  "This" being that he HAS allegedly resold his car and Ford are now taking him to Court.

According to the lawsuit, “Mr. Cena has unfairly made a large profit from the unauthorized resale flip of the vehicle, and Ford has suffered additional damages and losses, including, but not limited to, loss of brand value, ambassador activity, and customer goodwill due to the improper sale,”

It is claimed that Ford reached out to Cena and confirmed that he had sold the car to liquidate cash to pay for other expenses.

If that is true then maybe he has some debt issues - in which case he should have maybe looked at offloading some other vehicles from his extensive collection, or tried to sell the car back to Ford who would have had no problems selling it again.

If that is not true, then he is very greedy.

In either case, the only flips he should be involved in are those inside the wrestling ring.

Wilmslow Motor Show Sponsored by Etihad

I used to live in Cheshire.

Until they moved it.

Cheshire is one of Jeremy Clarkson's least-favourite counties - mainly because that is where a lot of Premiership footballers and their WAGs live.

Wilmslow is a town in Cheshire that is popular with such people.

Today I took my WAG and children along there for the second ever Wilmslow Motor Show Sponsored by Etihad.  They have their own Website.

Being Wilmslow, it had to be posh cars.  There were lots of Aston Martins - mostly new ones - but also this lovely example of a DB5:

There were three examples of the BAC Mono there - not a name that would go down well in America.  These cars look a lot better in real life:

There were a series of cars with their bonnets open.  From the tiny bonnet on this MG SV: 

To the huge bonnet on this Mustang: 

To the gigantic bonnet on this (admittedly rear-engined) Ford GT: 

Dave Newsham's BTCC Toyota Avensis was there: 

 Actually, that isn't true.

Despite this photographic evidence to the contrary.

This is actually Ollie Jackson's car with Dave Newsham's name and number on it.  I spoke to a member of the Speedworks crew who was there with the car.  He told me that the team were still working on the Newsham car after the damage it sustained a fortnight ago in Knockhill.

The Police (The Constabulary, not Sting and his mates) were also there letting children sit in one of their cars.  They also had a wrecked Renault Megane in which a 21 Year-old lad had died.  A woman was there handing out leaflets and telling us the story of what happened.  It was night, he was not speeding, he was very slightly over the drink-drive limit, weather conditions were fair, he lost control going around a bend and hit a tree.  A Doctor travelling in a car in front saw the headlights disappear and went back to see what had happened - he declared him dead at the scene which is why the car wasn't cut open.  The lad's parents donated the car to the Police and it was now being used to highlight how driving inexperience can lead to serious accidents.  It was about this point when the woman revealed that we were looking at her son's car.

Wow.

Sort of makes you think after looking at Lambo's, AMGs, Loti, Nobles, TVRs, Bentleys and the like.