The Bootmobile is perhaps the diametric opposite of the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile, promoting outdoor activity instead of consumption of sodium and saturated-fat-laden sausages. The well-known maker of high quality outdoor goods is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and the Bootmobile has been created as a way to celebrate the product that helped start it all.
After being unveiled to L.L. Bean employees at the Brunswick, Maine facility where the boots are made, the wheeled boot tribute is headed to Times Square to kick off a nationwide anniversary tour. The tour is intended to inspire people to frolic outdoors and L.L.Bean Outdoor Discovery School guides will be traveling with the Bootmobile to help people learn how to do so.
Most important to auto enthusiasts might be what’s underneath it all. The underlying truck is a , and piled atop that base is a fiberglass body that stands 13 feet tall. Das Boot equates to a Size 747 bit of footwear – that’s the perfect size for a 143-foot tall person, but they are too big for the Statue of Liberty. of Florida handled the design and build process, first sculpting the body in foam and then laying the fiberglass and paying obsessive attention to the details along the way. L.L. Bean officials declined to tell us how much the unique build cost them, calling the Bootmobile “priceless.”
It’s a big way to celebrate a company that started as the result of cold, wet feet after a hunting trip. Check out a neat video and the official press release .
There are few things that can’t be accomplished with a little PVC pipe, some chicken wire, cardboard boxes and spray paint. Just ask the innovative chaps in the videos after the jump. As part of a Halloween celebration last year, the quartet of youths took it up on themselves to recreate a scale version of the tornado-chasing Dominator from TVN. The finished product looks pretty good given its humble roots, and since the project uses a Recon ATV for a chassis, it gets down the road with a quickness.
The guys behind the project nailed all of the relevant details, right down to a mock sponsorship and a plethora of wiper blades. Well played, sirs. The troupe plans to roll out a mini Dominator 2 in coming months alongside a slew of skits inspired by the reality TV show . We can’t wait. Hit the jump to check out the four-part series on the Dominator’s creation .
Given a moment’s thought, it’s a little surprising that , a luxury brand that changed the game, has never run an ad during the Super Bowl. But the home of L-Finesse not only has nine new or updated cars coming out this year, led by the , it has a new attitude, which will be “uncontained” in a 30-second spot while the Niners play the Patriots the NFL champion is decided.
The ad will be supported by a campaign called “TweetDrive Engineered by Lexus,” and those with a Twitter account and a bunch of correct answers will have a chance to win a trip to that Bowl of Superness. The spot arrives on February 5. For now, you can watch the teaser trailer and check out the press release and contest details .
Though we still can’t explain the technology, we’re becoming big fans of projection mapping, as can also be that has also been featured on these pages.
From what we can gather, a Russian marketing team called was behind this production, and we can only assume that a lot of hard work and some sinister numbers crunching from a swath of powerful computers and graphics cards went into its making.
As to why this presentation existed in the first place, we have no idea… other than some vague notion that it was produced for Marlboro. Yes, we’re assuming it’s the cigarette company. What Marlboro has to do with an Audi sedan, we won’t even attempt to explain.
In any case, we suggest you see the results for yourself in the video .
Pickup trucks and demolition are like the Reese’s Cups in a Manly Man’s diet: two great tastes that taste great together. John Watson in Utah whipped up its own treat when it needed to accelerate the deconstruction of its old building, grabbing four pickups of various specification to do the destructive honors.
Whether or not the trucks in question had help from a certain orange excavator lurking in the background is beside the point – pretend demolition can be just as much fun as the real thing. You can get a glimpse of the tire smoking action in the video .
dealer calls on new pickups to help remodel showroom
Mercedes-Benz has put together a fashion-shoot-and-video session and the for Fashion Week, and the result is a vid that only those attending Fashion Week could understand. Which is, probably, half the point.
We shared the “making of” video with you back in late December, but it’s apparently taken until now for the completed Alex Prager short to be completed. Back then, the film idea was presented as the Calvin Klein model trying to outrun a tornado, but it’s not. Think The Wizard of Oz in Louboutins by Jim Jarmusch and you’ll be close. Or you could just watch the video .
SL fashion video with model Lara Stone isn’t in Kansas anymore
The Abarth 695 was originally intended as a -based tribute to . Hence the 695 Tributo Ferrari moniker. But this one looks more like a salute to McLaren.
Created by Japanese tuner Office-K and unveiled this week at the , this special Abarth has had its Scuderia Red paint hidden under a full chrome vinyl wrap – similar to back in May – and capped with a tricolore racing stripe up the nose.
Otherwise, it’s mechanically the same as the stock 695, which means a 1.4-liter turbo four driving 180 little prancing stallions through a five-speed manual to the front pair of 17-inch wheels with their Brembo brakes. It also means an interior with a chunky steering wheel, Sabelt racing buckets and Abarth’s signature turbo boost gauge. Check it the chrome job in the video and the images in the gallery above.
Just when we were starting to think that there is nothing on television worth watching, we get our first look at Top Gear series 18. Beyond the jump is a 30 second teaser of the upcoming season, with a glimpse at more episodes filled with Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond.
The cars are there as well, including a very yellow , NASCAR Top Gear style and some crazy man who jumps out of a plane with a powered wing attached to his back. Oh, and it seems Jezza attacks a trailer park in a . Interesting. to watch the action-packed promo for yourself.
The only thing we can show you is the image above. No video, no additional pics, just that.
Tucked away in the way-way-back of the South Hall at is Garmin’s private meeting room. One section holds the company’s current automotive, nautical and aviation systems, while the other is an exhibition of the future.
We sampled Garmin’s new “Everest” setup, which includes one-shot voice commands and the ability to buy tracks from Amazon while you’re listening to them over FM radio. You’ll see it in cars later this year. We also sampled their “In2it” eight-way rotary controller (think a tech’d-out iDrive, MMI or COMAND knob), complete with proximity sensors and configurable buttons. Garmin is pitching it to OEMs right now.
But the system that blew our mind is dubbed K2. And the only thing we can show you is the image above. No video, no additional pics, just that.
When let slip that was on the chopping block, the German automaker reportedly insisted that ultra-luxury editions of the would replace the doomed marque. We’re all for a smattering of low volume, seriously pricey S-Class variants, but will the richest and most influential Maybach buyers feel the same way?
Automotive News reports that is betting that stars like Jay-Z and Samuel L. Jackson will want more than a gussied-up Benz, and the luxury car make is sending out olive branches in the form of a letter campaign. The premium brand is asking the high-rollers to step into a or perhaps a top-shelf . To help persuade VIPs to switch to Bentley, the automaker is inviting select Maybach owners to tour its Crewe, England home.
Given the fact that many typical soccer moms and dads can afford an , we can see why some movie stars and sultans would want to steer clear of the Three-Pointed Star. But is Bentley really going to gain much by wooing the 200 annual Maybach buyers? If a few more rap stars roll in a Bentley in their next musicvideo, then the answer would appear to be yes.
Good motorsports films don’t come up terribly often, but now and again, we get lucky. In 2011, we were graced with the very fine , and it appears there’s another period Formula One racing piece that could be worth watching on the silver screen soon: Rush.
We’ve known for some time that this project, which chronicles the 1976 F1 season-long battle between Austria’s Niki Lauda and Britain’s James Hunt, was in the cards, and we also . Howard, you may recall, is the Academy Award-winning force responsible for such films as A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13 and Frost/Nixon. But we hadn’t heard much about filming getting underway – until now.
Thanks to these new photos taken at Germany’s Nürburgring by our friends at PistonSpy, we now see that work on the film has begun. We have to say, James Hunt’s Marlboro-liveried McLaren looks particularly fetching in these photos, and it must be a thrill to see and hear these vintage F1 cars lapping the legendary Nordschleife.
We’re already cringing in advance for Howard’s recreation of Lauda’s massive crackup at the German Grand Prix, a crash that saw him sever his right ear and suffer facial burns (you can see in-period video footage of the fiery crash ). Lauda would return after missing just two races and storm back into the points chase in pursuit of James Hunt and his McLaren. Hunt would eventually win the World Championship by a single point. For dozens of additional images, be sure to check out PistonSpy at the link below.
The Finnish aren’t known for their high-energy personas, and we thought it might be because they save their adrenaline dumps for rally cars and snowmobiles. Turns out they also like to let their slot cars showcase hidden Type A personalities.
At a place called Autorataharrastajat ry, some very serious racers run slot cars at barely watchable speeds on an eight-lane track. It looks like some sort of scaled-up atomic experiment at the Large Hadron Collider and sounds like Transformers. We’re not actually sure if this is the world’s fastest slot car action, but it certainly looks like it could be. The video’s , skip to 0:55 to bypass the preparation and go straight to million-mile-per-hour action.
The Ultimate Passenger VesselFor Travel To Infinity And Beyond
Sometime before the end of this century, humans will travel to Mars. The longest manned journey ever attempted will take the explorers at least 34 million miles over the course of many months, at best. The vehicle necessary to support such an odyssey will need to be spacious, comfortable, technically advanced, incredibly safe and very powerful.
Before plotting the future spacecraft’s design, we suggest the engineers take a close look at the 2012 for ideas.
Of course, we don’t think the S63 is fit for interplanetary travel – micrometeorites and ultraviolet radiation would likely wreak havoc on its expensive and vogue matte finish Magno Platinum paint – but we do feel it is one of the most spacious and luxurious rocket ships that someone outside of a space agency can put in their personal hangar.
During our week with the AMG-tuned S-Class, its four wheels never left the surface of planet Earth, but we did load it up and make a long weekend trek to Palm Springs. How did this twin-turbocharged sedan handle the long outing and subsequent run into the mountains? Does it drive ponderously, or is the big Benz agile and athletic? Most importantly, what’s not to like with this two-and-one-half ton almighty giant?
Being in a car crash can be scary enough, but doing it in a convertible at 130 miles per hour is simply terrifying. That’s what the owner of a Shelby Cobra replica went through, however, during a track day at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California. As he was ending the front straight of the 2.5-mile course, something suddenly broke in the front suspension or steering. The car skidded on track for approximately 60 feet, then flipped sideways multiple times, flying off the track for more than 500 feet.
Fortunately, the driver of the Cobra came away from the incident unharmed with the exception of minor injuries to his knee and ribs. If you’ve ever wondered why that metal roll hoop is there on the driver’s side of the Cobra, just ask this guy.
Of course, the owner of the Cobra also had a GoPro camera running on his car that day, and it captured the amazing footage throughout the entire crash. The video has now gone up on YouTube, and we’ve posted it for you to see .
Last year at IFA, we had a chance , an Androidtablet app that automatically creates a music playlist using a 10×10 grid with Positive, Energentic, Calm and Dark criteria placed on each axis. Select a place on the graph and it automatically creates a playlist based on your mood. Now, the app has been scaled down and ported into a Garmin head unit, which means MoodGrid could be coming to a major OEM as soon as sometime this year.
As shown at CES, the updated MoodGrid app has been halved, with a five-by-five display with the same four musical dispositions. Based on where you place the dot, it dials up the tunes to suit your mood, utilizing the tracks on your iPhone, iPod or Android device. Another tablet-based version was on hand that can also tap into subscription music services like Spotify, Rdio and MOG, making music discovery even more robust. Check out our brief hands-on video .
We’re not all that hopeful that the next generation will make its way to North America, but global markets ranging from Brazil to India should soon get their hands on a production version of this comely B-segment crossover.
It’s too bad that the Fiesta-sized EcoSport isn’t likely for our shores. We’re liking the Kinetic look and wide stance, and we’re guessing that the planned mill should be both mildly entertaining and extremely efficient. And we’re not the only ones that are impressed with the EcoSport.
As you might imagine, chief designer J Mays sounds positively smitten with the Blue Oval’s newest crossover creation, and he recently spent some time on camera to give an in-depth look at the concept’s finer design points. to watch the video for yourself.
As if the McLaren MP4-12C isn’t special enough already, a meaner-looking and more muscular version has surfaced: the MP4-12C HS, or High Sport.
Prepped by McLaren Special Operations, the MP4-12C HS wears an improved aero package that borrows heavily from the MP4-12C GT3 racer. The car has a new nose, rear bumper, enlarged vents, bigger diffuser and a modified rear wing, as well as new wheels. The aero tweaks result in better intercooler performance, and the boost from the twin turbos is dialed up to deliver an extra 75 horsepower over the standard car’s 592.
Only five examples will reportedly be built of this particular special edition. One has already gone to the crown prince of Bahrain and another to McLaren chairman Ron Dennis. Don’t expect to see one of these rounding a corner near you, but you can check it out in the video .
Speed TV’s Dumbest Stuff on Wheels is coming back for a second season later this month, and in case you don’t know what you’re in for, they’ve put together a “Best Of” compilation from Season One. It’s a simple concept, though: really bad ideas + wheels.
We’re sympathetic toward the folks attempting trics, because after all, crashing is part of perfecting. But the guy riding his motorcycle through the waiting room? And the lass above, headed straight at the camera like ? Not gonna end well. for five minutes of tragic hilarity.
Here we have the kind of sleeper that’ll wake you up no time: a short-bed, four-wheel-drive with an LS9 from the . With dyno numbers of 510 horsepower and 504 pound-feet of torque, there’s a jump of at least 205 hp and 169 lb-ft over the most powerful factory engine you can get in that truck.
The result? Sound and fury, both of which you can get a taste of in the video .
ZR1-powered Chevrolet Silverado has us feeling sleepy
To paraphrase the Almond Joy commercial, sometimes you feel like a tint, sometimes you don’t. In states like California, having any tint on your front windows is verboten. It’s only casually enforced, but it’s still illegal. In that case, something like this setup might come in handy: a Russian gent on installed two power windows in one door, and tinted one of them.
We don’t know how much alteration was required to make the setup work on this car (it appears to be a Lada/VAZ model); one commenter asked if the door’s support ribs had to be removed in order to fit the duplicate systems. Check it out for yourself in the video .
