Monday, August 30, 2010

Las Vegas Imperial Palace auto car collection review

The car collection at Imperial Palace is an institution.  I've been going there since I was a wee boy in the 1980s.  Back then, the highlights of my trips to Vegas involved visiting the collection and being given a $10 roll of quarters to use at the video game arcade at the oh-so-pink Circus Circus.

Most of the cars on display are for sale.  If you visit once a year, I guesstimate the turnover of cars is around 20%.  My biggest complaint involves the display.  This place seriously needs freshening up.  The fluorescent bulbs and ugly 1990s high school classroom blue carpeting have got to go.

Without further ado, here are my favorite cars:

1963 Ford Thunderbird Italien concept car

Engine bay of 1987 Buick GNX ($95,000; 5,480 miles)

Lancia 037 bought new in Guatemala


1 of 2 RHD Ferrari Superfast Series II ($1.8 million) (and look at that atrocious lighting!)


1968 Toyota Corona RT-52 Coupe with 2,274 original miles ($25,500).  I love the diversity of the collection.  So long as the car is cool and interesting, it's in!


Yugo!

1980 Peugeot 505 sedan with less than 8,000 km for $39,500

1954 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith Vignale Saloon ($450,000)


Ford RS200 traffic jam


1956 Lancia C10 Appia panel van ($65,000)


1954 Alfa Romeo 1900SS Ghia coupe ($325,000)

Jaguar XJ220

Ferrari Daytona and Datsun 280ZX

1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Superleggera

1966 Bizzarini P538 Spyder prototype (red) and 1967 Bizzarini P538 Coupe (white)

4 comments:

Ed said...

It's amazing how much they rotate the cars in the collection...I was there a year ago and literally none of the cars you photographed were there the last time I was there.

Maxichamp said...

@Ed: Have you been to the Shelby museum/factory in Vegas? Wonder if it's worth visiting.

MattC said...

Thanks for the recent pictures of the Imperial's collection. I have to echo what "Ed" said. The collection constantly rotates and it is always a joy to visit. I do agree that the actual display area is in a definite need of a refresh.

Maxichamp said...

@MattC: I'll be going there regularly from now on. So maybe this will become a regular feature.