Ferrari Superamerica 45 – Click above for high-res image gallery
During this weekend’s Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza, will debut its special one-off , a vehicle built exclusively for collector Peter Kalikow. Hello, gorgeous.
The Superamerica was designed, engineered and built in-house, and the car incorporates things like a carbon fiber rotating hardtop, as well as a completely redesigned boot in order to house the roof while it’s removed. This appears to be similar to the mechanism used on the Ferrari 575-based Superamerica, as well as the (significantly cheaper) . Body-colored rear buttresses mold into the wide wheel arches. Other unique touches include brushed aluminum A-pillars, wing mirrors and a chrome front grille.
This special Superamerica 45 is painted in Blu Antille, which is designed to match the 1961 400 Superamerica cabriolet that Kalikow has in his collection. The 45’s wheels are body-colored with a contrasting diamond finish, and a darker blue is used on the front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser.
We’re sure Mr. Kalikow will be thrilled. for Ferrari’s official press release.
1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic In Detail – Click above for high-res image gallery
Peter Mullin’s vision for an automotive museum showcasing his favorite era of motoring has passed the 12-month mark. The Mullin Automotive Museum is located in Oxnard, California, and it’s home to a stunning collection of French Art Deco jaw droppers. Over the past year, the museum has expanded its collection by adding a few new residents.
-The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance award-winning 1939 Type 57C Atalante
-1924 Bucciali B6-C24 Grand Prix Reconstruction
-1910 Charron Type TC Convertible
-The 1951 Paris Auto Salon 1951 Talbot T26 Gran Sport Convertible
-1928 Lorraine Dietrich B3-6 Sports Roadster
-1923 Voisin C6 Laboratoire Replica
-1934 Voisin C27 Aerosport
-The Grand Prix de Tourisme Winning 1922 Voisin C3 S Grand Prix
-1919 Voisin C3 Berline
Not just home to cars, though that’s certainly the primary focus, the Mullin Automotive Museum has also acquired a handful of art pieces that sit alongside the vehicles. Statues, bowls and over 15 crystal radiator mascots that were created by Rene Lalique. We’re willing to bet that those Lalique radiator mascots are worth a bit more than the badge that was stolen off our 300ZX back in college. Feel free to check out the full press release .
Aston Martin shotgun by Browning – Click above for image gallery
In most situations, we’d rather be driving than riding shotgun. All the more so when there’s an in the picture. But for this particular handcrafted creation, we just might make an exception.
The shotgun you’re looking at was commissioned by British Aston enthusiast Ron Collier from Browning, the Belgian gunsmith workshop founded by a Mormon from Utah. The B25 12-gauge shotgun took a year to make, and depicts Collier’s two 80s-era V8 Vantage Volantes, along with the winged Aston Martin logo.
Since Collier has since parted with the pair of Astons, he’s selling the mint-condition firearm as well. will put it under the gavel on June 23, where it is estimated to fetch in the neighborhood of $30,000. Which may seem like a lot for a gun to an outsider, but it strikes us as a good value for a one-of-a-kind Aston Martin (of sorts).
1965 Pontiac GTO does donuts – Click above to watch the video
We love ourselves some vintage muscle cars, and none more so than the one that started it all: the . It’s 389-cubic-inch V8 engine burbling underhood, its paper-thin bias-ply tires at all four corners and its complete lack of any kind of safety equipment mean the old Goat is nothing if not a hoon’s dream car.
But what does it have to do with boxers? Beats us. Whether you’re talking about the kind you wear under your jeans (in this case from Camouflage) or the kind that licks you in the face, we’re completely baffled as to why the donut-performing muscle car is being used to advertise boxers.
Oh well. The Pontiac GTO (1965 vintage, in this case) is always welcome on these pages, and boxer puppies are adorable. You’ll find both of them in the video . Enjoy! Thanks for the tip, Diland!
Times change and so do trends. These days, everyone’s clamoring for more environmentally-friendly and fuel-efficient cars that even is tinkering with electric propulsion. The program is being carried out on the electric prototype. But go back nearly a century and speed was the cause célèbre du jour. And then just as now, Rolls-Royce was keen to prove its mettle. This was the car with which it did so.
As Rolls-Royce presented the first-generation Phantom to the world, it was eager to show what it could do, so the company’s managing director Claude Johnson had the crew at Crewe put this prototype together. Named in his honor, the “CJ Sports Car” featured a more aerodynamic “torpedo” coachwork by Barker. Although many experimental Phantoms followed (straight through to the aforementioned 102EX), this was the only one that the company held on to after it was done testing, and was even rumored to have been loaned out to Laurence of Arabia at one time.
10EX is expected to fetch around £400,000-£800,000 ($650k-$1.3m) when it goes up for auction on June 23 at RM’s inaugural Salon Privé auction at West London’s picturesque Syon Park estate. Joining it on the docket will be numerous other Rolls-Royce, , , classics (among others) representing the finest of historic British motoring. for the full press release.
Ford Shelby GT500 meets a deer – Click above to watch (NSFW) video
The internet is an amazing place. There’s so much information available for free and people from across the globe can communicate instantly. A flip-side to the amazing power of the internet can be revealed by digging through any forum. While most forums are filled with people who enjoy discussing a shared passion, they also become home to folks who enjoy spouting off ridiculous falsehoods and creating a vision of reality that doesn’t quite exist. That practice can invoke internet justice, and .
A video was posted to YouTube, which showed a man driving a down a dark road. Amidst the howl of the car’s supercharger, the occupants talk about what it would be like to hit a deer on this road… and then they hit a deer. The rest of the clip involves yelling, not safe for work language and the driver fleeing the scene after running an oncoming car off the road.
The sleuths at SVTPerformance.com identified the driver as board member “Grant218″ (later changed to “Grant Theft Auto”). Grant explained that he borrowed his dad’s GT500, and the damage isn’t as bad as it seems. After reading through many (many) pages in the thread, we find out that Grand stole the car from a man he knows, put over 300 miles on the Shelby(!) and then tried to return it and hide the damage.
Moral: You can’t hide the truth from the internet. to watch the clip, then . We’re going to warn you though, the language is NSFW, and the thread will suck up the rest of your life the day.
Recently, we learned that , and now it seems that our beloved GPS has turned on us. , and it’s a term that refers to folks who wind up in dangerous or fatal situations because they blindly follow the directions provided by their electronic navigational aid.
and into a remote part of Northern Nevada. The husband set out for help while the wife remained with their vehicle for seven weeks until being discovered (still alive) by a group of hunters.
We live in an age where we rely quite heavily on the technology around us. It’s no surprise then that we put blind faith in our personal devices, yet we should take a step back to see them for what they really are. The GPS is a tool to aid with navigation, yet it’s not an infallible machine. Data (and a clear line of sight to orbiting satellites) is a major requirement for a navigation unit to function at its best. More remote areas have less data because of the infrequent amount of traffic they receive, thus a navigation unit would have less information with which to provide feedback.
If you’re behind the wheel of a vehicle, and you’re heading into unfamiliar territory, it’s a good idea to remember that your navigation system is part of a team. Your brain should also be part of that team. to watch a CBS News clip discussing the “Death by GPS” phenomenon.
Chinese-market Long-wheelbase BMW 5 Series – Click above for high-res image gallery
The automotive market in is expanding, and it’s doing so quickly. Chinese car shoppers helped the industry grow 33 percent in 2010. Luxury automakers enjoyed even more prosperity with a 75-percent increase in sales. So what brand catches the eye of a Chinese consumer looking to put some luxurious wheels in his driveway? Not American ones, apparently.
has a strong hold on the Chinese luxury market. Nine of the top ten luxury vehicles sold in 2010 to a Chinese buyer were German. somehow snuck on the list, but there is nary an American automaker in site. In fact, , which saw a 139 percent sales increase last year, sold 17,000 vehicles there in 2010. , by comparison, sold 115,353 sedans alone.
Now, that 115k+ performance is quite ahead of the rest of the pack. However, even the 10th-best-selling luxury model in China’s 2010 buying market () sold over 12,000 units. Audi also saw success with its , which placed second in sales by moving 58,466 examples.
Honda CR-Z Mugen – Click above for high-res image gallery
That could have done more with the than the lukewarm hybrid sport-hatch that resulted is no big news. But Mugen is here to highlight the point.
After us with some initial details, a rendering and a shot of the engine bay, the pseudo-works Honda tuner has released the first photos of the modified CR-Z it is preparing to unveil at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.
Performance figures haven’t been finalized just yet, but earlier, Mugen pegged combined output from the supercharged 1.5-liter four and electric assist at 197 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque. Combined with the 110 pounds of weight shaved off the chassis, Mugen figures that ought to be enough to make the custom CR-Z match the acceleration times of the Civic Type R.
Unfortunately, this is strictly a concept car for the time being, but there’s no telling what could result from enough positive response. for the press release and check out the trio of images in the high-res gallery.
You know anything about a fight in Shanghai? Nah, me neither
Well, Adrian Sutil can kiss his chances of ever driving for the Renault F1 team goodbye. Lewis Hamilton too, from the looks of things. At least as long as its owned by Genii Capital.
Reports from the F1 paddock indicate that Sutil, who drives for the Force India team, was celebrating at a Shanghai night club called M1NT (along with Lewis Hamilton after the latter won the there a couple of weeks ago) when an altercation erupted. Few details are available as to exactly what transpired, but Genii Capital CEO Eric Lux was seen afterwards with scars on his neck. Word has it Lux had to get stitches and broken glass removed following the incident. We’ll let you fill in the blanks yourself.
Sutil has reportedly apologized for the incident and the injuries, which he described as accidental. But now Lux has filed a charges against the German driver for “grievous bodily harm.” Neither party is saying much at this point, but we suspect this won’t be the last we’ve heard of this action.
A rare motorcycle coming up for auction looks poised to break records when the gavel drops at Bonhams’ auction at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, California, come this August.
Called the Porcupine (due to the spiked cooling fins on its cylinder heads), this 1954 racing bike was one of just four built by British motorcycle manufacturer AJS. (Another of the four, incidentally, won first place when Pebble Beach inaugurated its first motorcycle class in 2009.) The centerpiece of the collection at England’s National Motorcycle Museum, this particular example has recently undergone an extensive overhaul and is expected to fetch upwards of $750,000.
The AJS is just one of the 50 motorcycles on the docket for the annual event this year, part of Bonhams’ extensive motorcycle auction circuit that sells around 1,300 motorbikes – or about $8 million worth – every year. for the full details in the press release.
City of Tomorrow at Ferrari Store London – Click above for high-res image gallery
Ever get the nagging feeling that there are tiny little people or creatures of some sort living inside your engine? Call them gremlins, engine gnomes or what have you, but you’re not alone. Duggan Morris Architects took the concept to the next level in a display billed as the Cities of Tomorrow.
The architecture firm participated in an initiative of the Royal Institute of British Architects to craft tiny models of futuristic city-scapes, using a variety of finely-crafted mechanical components from race and road cars. The result could very well challenge Detroit for the title of Motor City, though in a very different sense.
Far-fetched? Maybe, but hardly unprecedented: facilities like Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and embody the same Prancing Horse spirit in full-size living spaces, even if the buildings aren’t shaped like crank shafts. Stop by the Ferrari Store on Regent Street in London to see the display up close, or if that’s a little out of reach, have a closer look in our high-resolution image gallery.
Best Motoring Fuji supercar battle – Click above to watch the video
If you were one of the many automotive enthusiasts to shed a tear when it became known that , we have a little piece of good news to cheer you up: there’s one final track battle for your viewing pleasure.
Even better news: Best Motoring went out with a bang, pitting the up against such performance benchmarks as the , , and Ferrari F430 GT3.
Yes, there are two almost-race-cars in the mix there along with three machines intended solely for the street, but it doesn’t really matter. All such contests should be taken with a grain of salt anyway.
When it’s all said and done, what we have here are five mouth-watering supercars on a track together being driven in anger. Want to know how it all shakes out? Check out the video .
1957 Ferrari 500 TRC Spider – Click above for high-res image gallery
Wait a second, a 500 with a four-cylinder engine? Come on, Autoblog – check your facts. Don’t we mean a ? Maybe that special-edition Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari? Nope. What we have here is a genuine four-cylinder Ferrari. And a highly coveted one at that.
The Ferrari 500 TRC (that’s Testa Rossa Type-C) Spider was one of the last models Maranello ever built with an inline-four, the engine originally designed by Aurelio Lampredi for Formula Two, but later adapted for sports racing prototypes after the engineer’s departure. Derived from the Monza, this was the first Ferrari to bear the Testa Rossa name for its red valve headers. And though the styling is similar, it’s even rarer than the 250 Testa Rossa that followed: only 19 of these cars were built, all during just one year or production, making this rarer than the more powerful 12-cylinder 250 TR and 250 GTO that rake in the big bucks at auction.
This particular example – chassis number 0670 MDTR – was the sixth made, ordered by a customer in Sicily who entered it in numerous races around the world in its heyday. While other 500 TRC Spiders went on to claim class victories at Le Mans and the Targa Florio, this one took its class win at the Monte Pellegrino Hillclimb in Palermo – the same locale where we drove on its launch several decades later.
The car stands as the latest consignment to RM Auctions’ docket for the upcoming Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, where it is expected to fetch €2,600,000 to €3,300,000 (equivalent to $3.6M to $4.6M at current rates). There it will stand alongside such notables recently covered on these pages as the , the and in what’s shaping up to be an historic event in its own right. Follow the jump for more details on the 500 TRC and take a closer look in the high-res image gallery.
The 9-4X may be late to the party, but it shows that Saab still knows how to make some fine tasting lemonade when seemingly everyone is busy handing the company lemons.
The 2011 Chevrolet Volt will have a resale value of a tick over $17,000 after 36 months, the length of an average lease, according to Kelley Blue Book. That’s only 42 percent of the plug-inhybrid’s $41,000 MSRP.
It’s the news we’ve all been waiting for: the imminent return of everyone’s favorite car show, Top Gear. The hit BBC television program has been on break since the 16th season ended on February 27 with episode 6, in which Hammond drove the 959 and F40, May tested NASA’s new lunar rover and Clarkson raced the sun in a .
Now FinalGear.com – the website that tracks everything Top Gear – reports that the new season (that’s #17 if you’re counting) will begin airing on June 12. The report comes courtesy of the May issue of the Dutch edition of Top Gear magazine.
So what can we expect from season 17? Hard to say – so far we know Clarkson and May have , we’ve heard the newly-wed Prince Harry could be to the Dunsfold Aerodrome (a.k.a. the Top Geartest track) and we’ve seen reports that the McLaren MP4-12C may have already claimed the fastest lap time on the board. For everything else, we’ll just have to wait (less than a month now, mind you) to find out.
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Chris, Zach and Dan are joined by Autoblog alum and current Motor Trend scribe Jonny Lieberman for Episode #230 of the Autoblog Podcast. We cover the ongoing saga of financing, the evergreen rumor of a mid-engined , conjecture about what might be learning from disassembling BMWs and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s department test of the latest police iron. Your feedback and questions finish it off, and we’ve re-posted the Q&A at the bottom of this post so you can play along at home, too. Thanks for listening, we’ll see you next week!
Autoblog Podcast #230: with Jonny Lieberman of Motor Trend
In the Autoblog Garage:
Hosts: , , Guest:
Runtime: 01:24:18
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2012 Chevrolet Camaro engine weight savings – Click above to watch the video
The will feature 323 horsepower, or 11 more ponies than the 2011 model. But engineers didn’t accomplish this feat by adding direct injection or variable valve timing. In fact, the 2011 version of the 3.6-liter V6 already incorporated those high-tech engine components.
Instead, engineers were able to add extra power by allowing the high-tech mill to breathe better. To do this, intake airflow was improved by seven percent through extensive simulation and bench testing. As a result, power is up by 11 horsepower, while exhaust flow is improved by 10 percent.
Engineers also manged to remove an incredible 13 pounds from the 3.6-liter by integrating the exhaust manifolds into the aluminum cylinder head. This change meant that a pair of old-school iron manifolds, 12 bolts, a pair of gasket and heat shields with six more bolts were eliminated.
Beyond weight savings, these changes also eliminate the potential for gasket failure while fuel efficiency is improved. The 2012 Camaro 2LS model will now boast 30 miles per gallon on the highway, up from an also respectable 29 mpg from the 2011 model.
to watch a short video, which shows exactly how GM was able to shave 13 pounds off of an already reasonably light engine. Then you can stay to read over The General’s press release.
Spy Shots: Audi S1 – Click above for high-res image gallery
Spy photographers have been training their lenses on upcoming models as of late. Earlier, we , and now those cameras have captured the S1 hot hatch. Though it may look like a standard Audi A1, this mule is covering up S1 guts. What’s the give-away? A set of large exhaust pipes planted in the rear end.
Rumor has it that the mill powering this sporty hatchback will pump out 270 horsepower. That energy will be sent out to all four corners courtesy of the Quattro all-wheel-drive system. Expect to see more aggressive bits of body work on the real S1 when it finally shows its face.
South African fans has a new special edition vehicle coming their way. Described by Chrysler as a way to “satisfy the boy racer in all of us,” the Dodge Caliber Mopar Edition is a blacked-out hatchback rolling on 18-inch powdercoated alloy wheels.
Under the hood sits a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that’s been juiced up courtesy of a cold-air induction kit and an upgraded manifold and exhaust system, and the mill is paired with a manual transmission. The Caliber Mopar Edition is dropped two inches, wears Mopar decals and gets a unique hood as well.
Priced at 259,990.00 Rand, the Dodge Caliber Mopar Edition will set you back a bit over $37,000 at current exchange rates. We understand that car cost is a hard thing to directly translate, and if you ditch the stripes it’s not half bad looking, but that’s still a ton of money for a tarted up Caliber… and it’s a far cry from the . Check out the South African press release .
