Things We’d Rather Spend Money on Than an $11m Shelby Daytona: An F-86 Sabre

July 17, 2009 by Madison
Filed under: Ford 

Many fancy themselves as speed freaks, but no can deny the ultimate form of speed lies not on the ground–but in the air.

For a fraction of the asking price for a Mecum auction Daytona, you can be the owner of America’s most praised fighter jet.  The North American F-86 Sabre drove the US Air Force to obtain air superiority over the skies of Korea in the 1950s.  The Sabre’s sleek design offered cutting-edge subsonic qualities, such as low-drag swept wings that provided superb maneuverability and speed.

GE turbojet engines, though different among the Sabre variants, could be expected to push this beauty up to 570 to 680 mph, depending on the exact model, while the ceiling hovers just below 50,000 ft.  Working Sabres range in price from $700,000 to $2,000,000, and hundreds of retired planes are waiting around for much less from Amazonia to the Balkans.


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