Boy, how times have changed. I remember when the Camaro SS made 325 horsepower. These days, you can get a CTS sedan with a naturally aspirated V6 that’s nearly as powerful. I also remember the pre-V-Series days of Cadillac. Back in the early 2000s, the American luxury automaker wasn’t the performance powerhouse it is now.
Sure, it was happy to build you a car powered by a Northstar V8. One of those wasn’t enough for Warren Mosler, though. He needed two for his 1999 Mosler TwinStar, which started life as a Cadillac Eldorado. He left the 275-horsepower 4.6-liter V8 up front, then shoehorned a 300-horsepower Northstar from an Eldorado Touring Coupe into the trunk to power the rear wheels. Mosler ended up creating an all-wheel-drive, 575-horsepower (or 600-horsepower, depending on the source of information) automotive oddity.
Only five of them exist and you can bid on this one, which used to be owned by the late Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, through Auctions America on March 28. Expect to pay between $75,000 and $125,000.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
