Found! Paul Newman’s 1995 Volvo 960 V8 With Puffer
For V8 Volvo nuts like us, finding Paul Newman’s 960 for sale online is the equivalent of an archeologist finding Excalibur in a thrift store. This supercharged wagon is stuff of legends and its story famously told on the air by David Letterman while being interviewed by John Stewart – read all about it from this 2003 story from Swedespeed later republished in 2010 via Jalopnik. Cool Hand Luke himself passed in 2008 but the whereabouts of the “puffer” equipped custom was unknown…until now. Paul Newman’s 1995 Volvo 960 is for sale on cars-on-line.com for an undisclosed price, but with Auto Appraisal Network’s 2011 appraisal of $95,000 attached to the ad.
Unfortunately the thrift store knows exactly what they have and this Excalibur is priced as if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it. We’re certain we are not the only ones scratching our heads that we
found this car on an obscure site like cars-on-line.com instead of something mainstream like hemmings, craigslist or ebay. The contact info is a simple telephone number and says the car is located in Forest Lake, CA.
Pop the hood of Newman’s 960 and it is immediately apparent that the original inline-6 has been replaced by a 5.0 liter V8 from a Ford Mustang. The stock 300 horsepower was deemed insufficient and a Kenne Bell supercharger was added for an estimated 400 horsepower.
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| screen capture from http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/david-letterman-i-like-kettlecorn |
The sister car to this grey one was purchased by Letterman and in this video of Comedians and Cars Getting Coffee and you can
see Jerry Seinfeld leaving groceries, soccer balls and a little bit of the
rear tires behind under acceleration.
Newman didn’t just order an engine conversion from Converse Engineering, he also added some stiffer anti-roll bars, lowering springs and a custom transverse rear-leaf spring setup. The interior of this car was listed as in excellent condition (actually excellent was selected for every single other category, questionable given the apparent rust on some lower control arms…) but it looks great for 41k miles on the odometer, aside from typical leather wrinkles.
The only problem with this tire shredder is the price tag, and while we aren’t accusing the seller of being a hustler, we would say he knows the color of money and a little bit about winning. Find another Converse V8lvo for sale? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
Image credits; cars-on-line.com Click here if the ad goes away.
~ the consummate car-guy and one of the most talented and diverse actors of the modern age, yet these accolades do not even graze the edge of Paul Newman's quality of character. his philanthropic organizations [Newman's Own, Hole In The Wall Gang Camp, First Amendment Award, Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy and so on], his concern for planet Earth, his 50 year marriage with Joanne Woodward and everything about the man confirms he is Nobody's Fool. [another overlooked Newman film w/ Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith]
. and… the Letterman-Newman conversation was the cause-of-purchase for my first Converse swap 740 wagon.
do ya spose i could consider asking even $9500 for mine?? nnaaaa, not for sale.
I’m trying to remain optimistic in thinking that the next owner will drive and enjoy it but, alas, at anywhere near the appraised price point, it’s likely to end up as someone’s museum piece.
The regrets of selling my LT1/6spd. manual-equipped 745 will always haunt me.
As much as I would love to own such a unique wagon, I think money is better spent on an example like the Yoshifab V8 Volvo that was featured here last year. What ever happened to that car? Did someone in Ohio pick it up and try to resell it?
Last time we saw the Yoshifab LS1 Volvo was up on ebay for $10k bidding reserve-not-met in April 2013, but according to commenter Scot it sold for $15,200 in May 2013.
re the volvo, one line buried in the appraisal report explains the price – "The fair market value of this 1995 Volvo 960 is based upon historical sales of documented celebrity ownership of other vehicles owner by celebrities of similar A-list stature." – yes, newman was a remarkable person and hall-of-fame car guy, and the seller says they will donate "a portion" of the proceeds to his famous hole-in-the-wall charity – but who would buy this car for this much and what are they going to do with it?
honestly, dude should do the stand-up thing, donate the whole car, and take the appraisal value as a tax deduction – probably net more that way than from selling it – and the camp people should use it to take kids out for joyrides
re cars-on-line.com, gee there are some great cars on that site, and lots of them, but it sure is a chore to browse through – will have to give it a closer look, see if there are useful filtering tools, but also try to figure out why sellers would post there exclusive of the high-traffic sites as pondered
The Newman 960 was bought in early 2014 by Wayne Carini, Owner of "F40 Motorsports", and featured on an episode of the "Chasing Classic Cars" Cable TV show. It did not say on the show whether he bought it for his personal collection or as an investment. Either way I'm sure he will eventually, if not already, decide to put it up for sale so that someone else can enjoy it and he can make some more money.
I just watched this episode! Very nice car.