The sensation of the 1966 Turin Motor Show, this was the second model from Alejando de Tomaso's stable. Styled by world famous designer Giorgetto Giugiaro during his tenure at Ghia it was arguably the world's first mid-engined sports car when it entered production in 1967. It was christened 'Mangusta' (Mongoose) in reference to the legendary AC Cobra with which it shared it's Shelby modified Ford 289 cu in V8 engine.Chassis construction was a Lotus-style sheet metal central backbone covered by an all-steel body including gull-wind engine covers. A total of 401 Mangusta's were built before the model was replaced by the more mass production oriented Pantera. Of the 401, only 120 were 'European' Spec with the 302bhp 289cu in engine, the balance were American spec 302 cu in putting out 230bhp. Later American cars also featured a less attractive single pop-up headlamp treatment.

Engine: 4728cc 90 V8
Output: 305bhp @ 6,200rpm (405Nm@4800)
Top speed: 250km/h6500rpm in 5th gear (theoretical)
Empty weight: 1383kg

For those of you who

There are a number of things you should consider when determining your vehicle's value. From its condition and mileage to its desirability in the marketplace.

Exterior Condition
First, examine your vehicle's paint. Does the paint look faded or worn? Does it have major chips or scratches in the surface? Does it show visible signs of wear and tear? Be on the lookout for deep scratches, dings, gouges or rust. Have you had the vehicle painted and if so, does the paint match from panel to panel? Is the finish glossy or dull?
Has the vehicle had any body work? If so, was it done properly (are there noticeable signs of bond-o, sand marks, putty or panel or door misalignment?) Are the panels straight and tight? Do the doors hang straight, do the door fasteners align and do they operate smoothly when opened and closed? Do the doors seal well to prevent noise and the outside elements from entering the vehicle?

Interior Condition
Check your carpets and mats. Are they worn, stained, ripped or faded? Do they show wear in relation to the age of the vehicle? Does the carpet need to be cleaned? Do the mats need to be replaced? Are the seats clean and in good condition or are they worn and dirty? Have they been burned by a cigarette or stained by food or coffee?
Be sure to examine the tachometer, the odometer, the radio, air conditioning, windshield wipers and washer system, seat adjustments, gas gauge, warning lights and other components. If there are defects or problems with the vehicle's controls, be sure to consider these imperfections when assessing the car's worth.

Mechanical Soundness
Start your car and listen to the engine. Do you hear any unusual noises, such as whistling or ticking sounds? Are there popping or rumbling noises when the car is idling? Does it ping, knock or backfire? Be sure to listen closely for any unusual noises.
Be sure to look under the front and back of the car to see if there are any fresh fluid drips on the garage floor or the driveway, and don't forget to check under the hood for signs of leaks around the engine seams and hose connectors.
Take your car for a spin around the block and put yourself in a prospective buyer's shoes. Does the car accelerate smoothly or does it surge or jerk forward when you give it the gas? Does it respond quickly to a turn of the steering wheel or do you have to turn the steering wheel more than a few inches to get the car to respond? Does the car pull to the left or the right while driving? Does the car make any unusual noises? A mechanically sound vehicle should respond quickly, smoothly and easily to virtually every driving condition it's exposed to.
Do the brakes squeak or grind when you come to a stop? Does the vehicle pull to one side when you brake? Is there a lot of play when you apply the brake pedal? A vehicle's brakes and rotors are an expensive proposition and, if they need to be replaced or fixed, could decrease your vehicle's overall value.

My boys asked me if Santa drives a Ford or Chevy. I had no choice but to tell them the truth, Santa drives a Ford of course. A Chevy wouldn

The muscle-car era officially began with the 1964 GTO. The "goat" established the pattern for a decade of American muscle. Car enthusiasts still revere the 1964 GTO, which commands premium prices at auctions.

Big engines
First and foremost. With few exceptions, muscle cars toted big iron, from the GTO's original 389-cubic-inch V-8 to General Motors' whopping 455-cubic-inch motor.

Four-on-the-floor
Though some legitimate muscle cars had automatic transmissions, most had manual four speed transmissions often moved by legendary Hurst shifters.

Relatively small size
With the emphasis on relative. Many manufacturers dropped big engines into midsize sedans. By today's standards, the cars were big, but they looked lean and mean in the super-sized '60s.

Some define a muscle as; made in the USA between 1964-

Cars are much more than a way to get from point A to point B. Along with your home, your car is likely one of the most valuable assets you own. Because cars' values can change over time, getting an accurate car appraisal is necessary if you plan to sell or insure your vehicle.

When To get a Car Appraised

While insuring your car is the most common reason for getting a car appraisal, people may also get their cars appraised because they are:

As the weekend showed, there's (a little) hope for both Saab and its Dutch suitor, Spyker. Spyker submitted a renewed eleven-point plan to General Motors that they (Spyker) hopes will allow them to take ownership of the deeply troubled brand. And yes, being pronounced dead four days ago counts as "deeply troubled." As Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt pointed out, all this dead/not dead uncertainty has been throwing Saab employees, "between hope and despair."

Meanwhile, a (perhaps) unintended consequence of Spyker's eleventh hour rebid is that their stock has soared up 23.5 percent. Now, as some of you well know, Spyker isn't very big. They sold just forty-three cars last year and their market cap was just 26.6 million euros before the stock shot up. Still, if Spyker plays their cards right, this spike in value could have long term benefits, but only if they secure a deal for Saab.

As Auto Appraisers, what doee this do to either brand? Only time will tell.

In recent years, interest in classic cars has skyrocketed. But amazingly, even though we can watch an auction in primetime high-definition, many of us still don't cover all the bases when shopping for a classic. And sadly, a large percentage of us don't know the true value of the iron parked in our very garages. Both have the potential of leaving big money on the table in the case of an insurance claim or sale. Thankfully, there are ways to protect ourselves both before and after the sale; they're called pre-purchase inspections and appraisals.

These days, the Internet has made car shopping a breeze, but it has also opened the door for everyone from the dreamer asking way too much for his unfinished project, to unscrupulous types who try to pass off beaters as beauties. And because these vehicles are often a long ways away, and usually it is costprohibitive to travel in order to personally inspect them, it makes sense to spend a few bucks for a professional to do an inspection for you.

Protect your investment. Have it appraised!

Schedule an Appraisal

Most auto policies are Stated Value. The insurance company decides what your classic car is worth at the time of the loss. If you do not agree with them, chances are you'll need a lawyer to help you argue the point. Many classic car policies sell stated value as if it was the same as "Agreed Value". It is not! Stated Value policies pay the "Stated Value" or the "Actual Cash Value" ... whichever is less. All that stated value insurance does is help decide how much premium you pay. Only an agreed value is without hidden gotchas. If your car is stolen or totaled, you will receive the agreed value. Period.

If your car is worth more than what is listed in any value guide or has been customized, you need to have Agreed Value insurance from a reputable collector car insurance company and an accurate auto appraisal report fully documenting your vehicle.

Due to the nature of what we do and the experience needed, our offering is limited to automotive enthusiast or

Even though the last Pantera has been built about 10 years ago, today it is still the symbol of De Tomaso. 7260 vehicles have been built between 1970 and 1991, and the car was conceived as Ford contender to GM Corvette for the American market.

As a matter of fact, Ford had always provided De Tomaso with engines, in addition Iacocca was close to Alejandro and other De Tomaso vehicles (Vallelunga and Mangusta) had mid-mounted longitudinal engines. These are the basis of Pantera history, however it is quite difficult to understand the reason why this car has become one of the symbols of motor racing. Without any doubt, Alejandro was the founder of this building, while the bricks were supplied by a lot of Pantera fans.

The mid-mounted engine, much higher than the average position, together with a very improved (by comparison with Mangusta) weight distribution, a pure and aggessive design, tyres and rims never seen before made De Tomaso Pantera a dream car. The first press reviews were not enthusiastic, whereas the market research was very much so. Thanks to some agreements, it was decided that Vignale in Turin (where 17 vehicles per day were built) would have been the right place for the body production, the car painting and the interior fitting up. All technical components were mounted at Fossalta plant near Modena.

By the end of 1973, 6128 Panteras were sold. In order to optimize production, De Tomaso plant moved to Bruciata, where it still stands. Unfortunately, on 8th September the business relationship between Ford and De Tomaso broke off owing to severals reasons that did not allow a new agreement.

Diminished Value?

Imagine two identical cars for sale on a dealers lot. Both cars have similar mileage, similar options and are in similar condition, and both have the same asking price. Now imagine finding out that one of those two vehicles had previously been involved in serious accident. Which one would you buy?

Would you expect to pay the same price for the vehicle that had been previously wrecked as you would for one that had NEVER been in an accident? Certainly not!

The difference between the amount of money that you could now expect the previously wrecked car to sell for, compared to what it would have sold for if it had NOT been involved in an accident is called the

We appraise late model vehicles and it

If your in an accident that wasn't your fault, your going to have to get your car repaired, deal with the repair shop and for the most part your life is going to be completely disrupted and unless you were injured, you most likely will not be compensated at all. You will have an uneasy feeling that you are loosing something in the deal, but you just don't know what it is or what it's called.

Your vehicle even if properly repaired is now worth less than a similar car that has not been in an accident. How in the heck do you prove that it will be worth less without selling your car? Well it's called Diminished Value and you won't find your insurance comany volunteering to tell you about it. In nearly every state the victim of an automobile accident may be able to pursue a claim for diminished value against a third party/third party insurer.

The factors that usually dictate whether there is a diminished value on the vehicle and how much that loss will be include the age of the vehicle, its condition before the accident, prior accidents, the mileage, the extent of the damage done in the questioned accident, the value of the vehicle undamaged and the overall demand for the vehicle in the marketplace.

A general rule of thumb for vehicles that are 2001 model or newer with no prior damage and with at least several thousand dollars worth of repairs is that the vehicle loses in the range of 10-25% of its pre-loss value. You will need to get a Diminished Value Auto Appraisal Report to know how much and to file a claim.

Request an Appraisal

Auto Appraisal Network (AAN) offers professional evaluation and appraisal of all types of automobiles, watercraft and/or motorcycles for the purpose of financing, insurance and other requirements as needed by owners through a network of nationwide appraisers.

All AAN appraisers are trained at the corporate headquarters in Irvine, California. AAN has developed a system for appraising vehicles using proprietary software and the individuals own knowledge of collector and custom vehicles. At AAN headquarters appraisal reports are researched, compiled and distributed electronically and a hardcopy mailed to the client. An electronic copy can be completed in as little as 2-hours if needed.

Because the overhead functions are provided by AAN headquarters this ensures a consistent and accurate appraisal report for appraisers throughout the country and extremely low overhead costs for the network appraisers.

Click here for more information

There is a large demand for auto appraisal services throughout the United States. While your dream of an automotive business may be possible, I'd suggest you check out the local appraisal market and determine if appraising vehicles in your market would meet your objectives.

Typically, it takes a couple of years in a new auto business start up before you'll make money. You should have enough savings in the bank or line of credit to operate for two years (including your personal expenses) before expecting to break even and start to actually make money.

Based on the business model we built this franchise on, we have targeted 12-18 months for our average territory to break even, meaning perform enough appraisals to pay off your initial investment. Some of our territories have done it in less and some have taken longer, so it

This is a popular question among car collectors, and it's fun to attempt to gauge a car's value.

But when an insurance company or a probate judge or the IRS needs to know a car's value, it becomes serious business.

At Auto Appraisal Network, we know exactly what is required to meet the requirements of the requested appraisal. We

Whether it

Being a company based in California we have sold most of our territories on the West Coast, but we have successful territories across the nation and there are still more to be developed. All areas across the country are recovering from the recession and the inquiries are picking up. We still need to develop more territories on the East Coast as we receive these inquiries we are unable to support these customers and it

One of the biggest challenges in supporting our auto appraisal territories is finding the right car guy who can develop the territory. We get a lot of inquiries from people who are enthusiastic, but not confident enough in their own experience. You see the key to what we do is your experience. We can train a car guy to use our system and process, but we can

The term franchise refers to the practice of taking a type of business that is already in use, and using it to one

If you are looking for a small business opportunity or are trying to start your own business because you want to be your own boss then consider Auto Appraisal Network and let AutoAppraisalNetwork.com be your portal to this growing market.

This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will allow you to do what you really want to do- make a living looking at cars!

We provide each franchise territory the following:
National and regional advertising
Call center (for customer orders)
Completed report distribution
Credit card processing
IT infrastructure
Local marketing support
Laptop computer
Digital camera
Appraisal training in Southern California
Unlimited corporate support

Buying into this territory entitles you to develop the territory and receive the national inquiries received for that territory. In addition we support most of the associated overhead functions of the business, we assign the appraised value, format and distribute all of the appraisal reports to your customers in electronic and printed and bound reports.

Auto Appraisal Network valuation reports are superior to our competition, we provide detailed information specific to the appraised vehicle and 40-60 high resolution photographs in every report. Every appraisal report is backed by an extensive database of comparable vehicles, insurance industry standards and the latest collector car sales data. Auto Appraisal Network has endorsements from all of the most popular car builders in California.

Operating a territory has a very low overhead expense and our guys have a lot of fun doing it.

How can you not join our team?

Many people think that the majority of our customers get their vehicles appraised to determine the Fair Market Value for buying or selling their collectable car. In fact most of the appraisals we do are for the purpose of getting the vehicle insured.

The proper insurance for a collector car is

Straight from Sports Car Market Magazine...

Lamborghini's GT cars were reportedly born from an argument between Ferruccio Lamborghini and Enzo Ferrari over a clutch design problem in the Ferrari 250 GT, and the cars Lamborghini built in an effort to surpass Ferrari in quality and usability have seen steady increases in market values over the past five years. Here are the Top Ten Lamborghinis from the SCM Platinum Database. Comment at the SCM Blog.

1973 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV coupe
Company: Russo and Steele
Location: Monterey, CA
Date: August 17, 2007
Sold at: $962,500

1972 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV coupe
Company: RM Auctions
Location: Monterey, CA
Date: August 14, 2008
Sold at: $891,000

1971 Lamborghini P400 SV Miura coupe
Company: Gooding & Co.
Location: Pebble Beach, CA
Date: August 18, 2007
Sold at: $869,000

1970 Lamborghini Miura P400S coupe
Company: Bonhams
Location: Sussex
Date: July 3, 2009
Sold at: $585,170

1976 Lamborghini Countach LP400 coupe
Company: Russo and Steele
Location: Monterey, CA
Date: August 17, 2007
Sold at: $533,500

1970 Lamborghini Miura P400S Series II coupe
Company: Bonhams
Location: Sussex
Date: July 11, 2008
Sold at: $484,273

1972 Lamborghini Miura SV coupe
Company: Christie's
Location: Monterey, CA
Date: August 17, 2006
Sold at: $477,000

1969 Lamborghini Miura P400S coupe
Company: Artcurial-Breist-Poulain Le Fur
Date: Paris
Sold at: February 8, 2008

1967 Lamborghini Miura P400 coupe
Company: RM Auctions
Location: London, UK
Date: October 31, 2007
Sold at: $429,154

1970 Lamborghini Miura S coupe
Company: Russo and Steele
Location: Monterey, CA
Date: August 14, 2008
Sold at: $423,500