Buy Evel Knievel’s car

EVEL Knievel may have been many things but he’d never be accused of being understated. So you’d need to enjoy being looked at if you were to buy his old Aston Martin Lagonda, which is currently for sale in America.

Now even a ‘normal’ Lagonda is arguably one of the most crazy-looking machines ever to have reached production, but Evel clearly decided that it was all a bit too subtle in stock form, so he ditched the original 5.3 litre V8 engine in favour of a massive, 8.2 litre big-block Chevy V8 making something in the region of 500bhp. As you do. And he had side pipes fitted, with the bare minimum in terms of silencing, to make sure everyone knew about it.

Built in 1984 and not bought by Knievel until the late 80s, it came long after his jump career had ended but was used by the daredevil right up until November 2006, a year before his death, when he sold it to his eldest son Kelly for ‘the price of a Ruth Chris dinner – about $200’ according to the bill of sale that accompanies the car.

It’s up for sale along with a trailer that Knievel used to sleep in when he was travelling around America in his post-stunt career as a painter. Other bits include reams of paperwork and even a bag of personal belongings including some of Knievel’s cologne and a pair of gloves that have somehow stayed with the car since its celebrity days.

St Louis, MO dealer Moto Exotica has the car on the market for an asking price of $109,900, although it’s also running an eBay auction where the bids are standing at a much more reasonable £8600 at the time of writing, albeit with nine days to run.

If it’s all a bit much, there was also a scale model of the car made. Search eBay and you’ll probably find one for a tiny fraction of the real thing’s price… Like this one.