Latest news with #ChryslerLeBaron
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Wayne Gretzky's 2006 Ford GT Is up for Auction on Bring a Trailer
A first-gen Ford GT is already desirable, and this one has celebrity provenance. With a supercharged V-8 and a manual transmission, this era of Ford GT is more old-school than the high-tech 2020s edition. This car has ultralow mileage and is a Heritage Edition with great livery. How much value celebrity ownership adds to a car can vary wildly (see: Jon Voight's Chrysler LeBaron from that Seinfeld episode). But park a supercharged-V8 Ford GT in an ice rink and you're going to get a lot more attention than the post-second-period Zamboni. The photo location highlights the fact that this 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos) was once owned by hockey's Great One: Wayne Gretzky. Gulf-racing orange over pale blue, an homage to the GT40s that raced and won at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, really works on this era of Ford GT. And those "99" racing decals are an obvious reference to Gretzky's longtime jersey number. Although the later, second-generation Ford GT is a technical tour de force, this first generation provides a closer experience of what driving around in a GT40 actually feels like. As such, values have been skyrocketing of late, so you might as well go for one with a great history and cool colors. It also helps that this example has just 1200 miles on the odometer. Powered by a mid-mounted 5.4-liter V-8 fitted with a supercharger, the GT packs a still-respectable 550 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque. Those twin exhausts emit a roar like a hometown crowd celebrating an overtime-winning goal when you goose the throttle. Add in a six-speed manual and a limited-slip diff out back, and this is some old-time rock 'em sock 'em performance. Speaking of performance, while Gretzky made his name as a playmaker and goal scorer, the GT finishes its checks like his old teammate and enforcer Dave Semenko. As tested by Car and Driver back when it was new, the 2006 Ford GT clocked off a 3.3-second 0-to-60-mph run, leaving a Ferrari 430 Challenge Stradale and a Porsche 911 GT3 in its dust. It pulled nearly 1.0 g on the skidpad, had fade-free brakes, and generally knocked the European competition off their skates. It's a bruiser. Not to the driver though. The GT comes with air conditioning and a CD player. The ride is pretty firm, but beyond that, there is no excuse for only having 1200 miles on the odometer. As number 99 famously said, "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take." So get in there and place your bid. Don't leave this Ford GT on ice. The auction ends on June 6. You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
True crime clown murder: Wellington woman shot to death by husband's girlfriend 35 years ago
Marlene Warren's killing in 1990 is part of a True Crime series by The Palm Beach Post. Victim: Marlene Warren, 40 Killer: Sheila Keen-Warren, age 27 at the time of the slaying Where: Wellington Date: May 26, 1990 'Oh, how sweet,' Marlene Warren said that Saturday morning in May 1990 when she saw a clown with flowers and balloons at the front door of her Wellington home. That was the last thing Warren, 40, said as she opened the door and was shot pointblank in the face by the clown, who was wearing an orange wig, red nose and a painted-on happy face. Her 21-year-old son, Joey Ahrens, ran to her as she collapsed in the doorway and looked the clown in the eye — deep brown eyes, he remembers. The killer sauntered away, climbed into a white Chrysler LeBaron that had no license plate and drove away. Marlene died two days later at Palms West Hospital in Loxahatchee. The crime occurred 35 years ago on May 26. A three-part documentary on the case called "Killer Clown: Murder on the Doorstep" is set to air June 5 on SundanceTV, AMC+ and Sundance Now. Her husband, Michael, managed their car lot, Bargain Motors, on North Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach. Marlene had taken care of the couple's rental properties, worth about $1 million at the time. They had been married 20 years. The Warrens lived in the exclusive community called Aero Club in Wellington where homes had an air strip nearby to land personal aircraft and hangars in the backyards. The woman who was to become Michael Warren's second wife, Sheila Keen-Warren, pleaded guilty to being the clown at the door, agreeing to a plea deal for second-degree murder in 2023. Because of sentencing laws in 1990 and the 5½ years she spent in the Palm Beach County jail because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she was released in November 2024 after serving about 18 months in prison. Keen-Warren had been arrested in 2017 near her home in Virginia after investigators cited new evidence linking her to the crime. The balloons Sheila Keen brought came from the Publix at the corner of Community Drive and Military Trail in West Palm Beach, according to police. It was the only Publix that sold that brand of Mylar balloons — one of which was heart-shaped and read "You're the Greatest" and the other depicting Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The Publix was only a half mile from Sheila Keen's apartment. The flowers, left just outside the front door after the shooting, were red and white carnations arranged in a basket. Four days after the shooting, the LeBaron was found in a Winn-Dixie parking lot at Okeechobee and Royal Palm Beach boulevards. Neither the costume nor the gun was ever found. Keen-Warren was a suspect soon after the shooting. The 27-year-old was married at the time but was rumored to be having an affair with Michael Warren, who washer boss at Bargain Motors. Keen and her then-husband, Richard, were running a car repo business when Michael Warren hired them in 1990 — five months before Marlene was killed. Marlene Warren reportedly told family that if anything happened to her, it was her husband who did it. Michael Warren was on his way to Calder Race Track in Miami Gardens when the clown came to Marlene's door. A year before, Michael Warren was at the Palm Beach County courthouse, walking out of a courtroom with attorney Christopher Desantis when he asked the lawyer a question. If a husband were to kill his wife, what would happen to her estate? "My first impression was, 'Is this guy nuts?' because why would you ask that question with your wife there?" Desantis told police in 1991. "Then I took a look around, and his wife wasn't there." Desantis had been representing Marlene's son in a 1986 assault case and Marlene talked to Desantis frequently. Desantis said he always thought there were no problems in the Warrens' marriage. The attorney said he figured the question was a curiosity, like a law school question. In this case, Florida law was "peculiar," Desantis told Michael Warren. "What I said to him is. 'It really isn't an issue of whether a man kills his wife. The question is whether the man is convicted of murdering his wife because if he's convicted of murdering his wife, he wouldn't inherit, but if he were convicted of a lower charge, he would. "Not only that," Desantis went on, "but if he had a friend who did it and they couldn't tie him as an accessory to the friend, he'd get away scot-free." No suspect would be arrested until 27 years after the killing. But Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office detectivesdidn't give up. They followed hundreds of tips, including a "clown coven" in Greenacres. Detectives in 2013 started running DNA tests on the original evidence. It would take three years to get the results. The tests found an identical match on orange hairs inside the LeBaron and those found in her apartment. They also found matches between her hair and hair found in the car. Michael and Shelia Keen-Warren had been married in 2002 and were living in southwest Virginia near the Tennessee line when she was arrested in 2017. They had just sold a restaurant they were running named the Purple Cow in Kingsport, Tenn. They had bought a house worth $600,000 in 2004. Michael Warren has never been arrested in connection with Marlene Warren's death. Attorney Desantis talked again to police around the time Keen-Warren was arrested in 2017. He remembered telling Michael Warren something else: A killer dressed as a clown would likely "get off" because witnesses couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman. Holly Baltz is the investigations and schools editor at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hbaltz@ Support local investigative journalism. Subscribe today This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida "killer clown" murder: Wellington woman killed 35 years ago
Los Angeles Times
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Old friends on different trajectories reunite in ‘Sacramento,' a comedy with wisdom
From the 'Road to' series through buddy action movies and bromances, male friendship as comic fodder has been a constant pull, one that has increasingly favored immaturity as the catharsis. Smart plus stupid became stupid hates smarts, until dumb felt ubiquitous. It's been getting tiresome of late to watch grown men devolve for laughs, which makes actor-turned-writer-director Michael Angarano's old-pals-in-crisis comedy 'Sacramento' a bittersweet kick. The film explores what's funny — and terrifyingly truthful — about being wrenched into adulthood. Angarano, who wrote the screenplay with actor Chris Smith, also stars as Rickey, a happy-go-lucky manchild who shows up at the Los Angeles house of onetime bestie Glenn, played by Michael Cera, to convince him it's time to hang out more deeply again. This unannounced visit occurs after we've just gotten a taste of who Glenn is: a loving but edgy, nervous and needy husband to his very pregnant wife, Rosie, played by Kristen Stewart with such deadpan spousal sobriety it's a masterclass in the everyday tolerance that undergirds genuine love. (With Glenn, she's clearly had chances to do some pre-mommying.) Rickey would rather they retrench into a nostalgia tour of laughs and revelry — he's even found the tan Chrysler LeBaron they used to ride in. Glenn is loath to go backward, much less indulge in personality quirks he's outgrown because fatherhood awaits. Right away, the perfectly (mis)matched Angarano and Cera do a deft job with the undercurrent in their awkward reunion. Rickey's energy is harmless yet seems mysteriously pained by unmet expectations, as when he gently admonishes Glenn: 'Loosen up, you haven't said anything funny.' Meanwhile, Glenn's judgmental attitude is its own worrying mask. He likes to remind people that he keeps his phone on silent to 'stay present.' The tension eases, though, when Rickey finally opens up about his father's recent death; he wants Glenn to road-trip with him to the title city for a spreading of ashes. Glenn acquiesces — a real adult supports someone in need, after all. But we know something's afoot when, away from Glenn's eyes, Rickey quickly empties a tennis-ball can and fills it with dirt from the side of the road. For a good while, the breezy chuckles in 'Sacramento' stem from the eccentric clash of priorities and temperaments of a certain kind of limbo male whose sociability skills have soured. Whether fake-wrestling or barhopping with women or trying to psychologize each other, neither guy really knows what's fun or illuminating anymore. They're just papering over the crushing weight of impending responsibility. Rickey, all forced smiles and performative boyishness, wants to charm his way into blissful indecision, while Glenn, a classically Cera-esque misfit of unearned confidence, talks himself into an illusion of control over his destiny. But when it's revealed what Rickey's true dilemma is — an abandoned relationship with an old fling (Maya Erskine) — the movie's sense of humor morphs, too, into an affectionate, even mildly scary study in self-delusion. Erskine's salt-and-vinegar comic timing and unforced soulfulness is a national treasure. Thankfully, her real-life husband (Angarano) appreciates this and is wonderfully dialed in to why her no-nonsense character's dose of third-act frankness should be the triggering sincerity needed to bring 'Sacramento' to a believably offbeat (but no less pleasurable) conclusion. The movie is also smart enough to recognize that its women aren't there to save anyone, just to remind these well-intentioned men about getting over themselves. The prickly comedy of male-pattern personality collapse gives way to wisdom, something that 'Sacramento' has in abundance.
