Matra MS10!
(click foto 2 times to get hi-res)
Monthly Archives: July 2009
Audi Quattro IMSA-Trans Am racing….
LOVE this video. It was so badass of Audi to pop a Quattro car onto those races and circuits….and win it all…..fantastic.
the WORST modern tail lights….
Here at IEDEI, i try to keep things positive and upbeat, however certain things about automotive design really get me going. Lately i’ve been noticing alot about the taillights on cars…and how bizarrely they are often designed. I’m starting to get the feeling that some sap in each company sits around doing the design for the lighting bits, and the tail light guy must be the one everyone makes fun of at lunch time…..well probably not, but it makes me feel better to think he exists and this happens!
So what cars have the WORST, most annoying, ugly, and awkward tail lights on modern cars? Here are a few…
Toyota Altezza/Lexus IS (1st generation)
Whoever designed these taillights should be run over by an Altezza….THIS CAR brought “clear tail lights” to the mainstream! So every pimpled geeky 17 year-old high school student rollin in his junked out 1991 Corolla w/custom tin can rippy exhaust could ‘special order’ himself a set of Corolla “Altezza” cleared taillights. Oh the horror…..Toyota should be ashamed of itself for introducing such a trend…
Nissan Altima
There aren’t too many cars I hate as much as I hate the Nissan Altima. It is by far one of THE most annoying, common, and idiot-magnet cars on the road today. I swear that every other Altima i see on the mean streets of NYC are driven by a classless blithering idiot weaving in and out of traffic like a stabbed goat. Terrible cars, terrible owners, and terrible tail lights designed by someone who thought it’d be cool to go 3D…..guess what, they look like shite maaan! That whole pseudo 3D thing is a miserable failure….looks like several animals were butchered, and then stuffed into a glass cylinder….awful awful.
Mitsubishi Eclipse (current)
The current-generation Mitsubishi Eclipse is a true loser of a car. Crap performance, very crappy looks, and horrendous cleared out tail lights (thanks Altezza!…really). I must admit that i’m not sure if it’s the ill-proportioned car that is making the tail lights worse, or whether they are just rubbish at their steady state normal!
Nissan 350z
You might start to think that, at this point, I am blindly attacking japanese cars; however it is difficult to deny just how tasteless their design subtleties can be sometimes! The 350z is another example of a car which just fails on so many levels of design, inside and out. Aside from being a robotic, warped imitation of the Audi TT design, they decided to turn the tail lights into an elongated spear-shaped trajectory. This leads to the tail light horizontally invading the side of the car. Terrible….just terrible.
that’s my shortlist…i’m sure there are plenty more! do you have any suggestions or nominations?
Pikes Peak short film: “Climb Dance” (1990)
Still one of the BEST 5 minutes car clips EVER!
enjoy!
foto of the day.
Lancia Delta S4
(click picture 2 times to get hi-res)
Honda mourns the loss of Pontiac by….
building their own Aztec! Oh come on, Honda—you can put all the Acura logos you want on it, along with the most repulsive grille imaginable in the automotive world; but you ain’t fooling us! Just admit it! You miss the Pontiac Aztec so much that you had to go and build yer own.
Terrible…just terrible. I hope they all get thrown into the ocean! It’s called the Acura ZDX, and it needs to be killed….
Audi book: “A History of Progress”
I picked up this book yesterday at the VW/Audi Waterfest event, directly from the booth that Bentley Publishers had. around 300 pages, with ALOT of vintage photographs detailing the history of Audi. Really great stuff, and alot of text outlining the history of Audi as a company; dating back to the original and early cars under separate brands.
The photos are all in monotone blue-white tint, however it adds a sense of unity between all the photos i find. This is the 2nd edition, published in 2003 updated through the year 2000. Definitely worth checking out if you’re an Audiphile like I am. $39 available directly from Bentley
http://www.bentleypublishers.com/isbn/9780837610368/index.html
more page excerpts:
MK6 GTI and New Scirocco in the flesh in the US
Went to Waterfest, a big VW & Audi event held out in Englishtown, NJ—where to my surprise, i finally found a glimpse of the new Scirocco in the flesh! It’s a great design, very clean and low slung. Of course I would have preferred to see it without all the Forge stickers; but i’m not complaining. I wish VW would bring this over….
They also had the new MK6 GTI at the show, which also looked great—a big improvement on the slightly weird MK5 GTI. This, however, is surely coming to the US for around the same price as the last one. Looks great, i’m sure it’ll drive great.
NEW Bugatti on the way?
Rumour, according to Jalopnik this morning was that there was some sort of ‘secret’ Bugatti 100 year anniversary event, by invitation only—where photos of a special car which is gonna be released to coincide with the 100 year anniversary, were leaked (see above photo!). Supposedly, this car is going to be debut’d at the Frankfurt Auto Show in the autumn.
Rumours are saying it’s a sedan—they’re probably right, but here’s hoping that it is a grand touring coupe. That would be FLY.
something like this, maybe?
foto of the day.
I love this digitally modified picture i found on Deviantart ages ago…by a guy known as “Injust92”. Very cool. It’s an Aston Martin AMV8.
(click 2 times to get hi-res)
Alfa laps Sandown.
What a sound……yep.
Vodpod videos no longer available.inside the Pagani factory…
Speedhunters were recently granted exclusive, in depth access to the magical world of Pagani. Pagani are undoubtedly one of only a few companies who can build a supercar that has some uniqueness, imagination, and outright charm (are you listening Ferrari?). HORACIO PAGANI was the founder of Pagani and had been after the supercar dream for a long time—to finally have it realised in the form of the legendary Pagani Zonda.
Check out all the photos and the full article, very well written in 3 parts, on:
http://speedhunters.com/archive/2009/06/23/car-builder-gt-gt-pagani-factory-tour-pt-1.aspx
http://speedhunters.com/archive/2009/06/24/car-builder-gt-gt-pagani-factory-tour-pt-2.aspx
foto of the day.
Audi 100 Coupe!
(click twice to enlarge to hi-res)
Let’s all laugh at Nissan!
…..and this hilarious new Nissan 370z GT4 edition.
No level of Porsche worship can justify this sort of weird, cheap looking imitation! Come on, Nissan—we know you’re cheesy, but this cheesy?
IEDEI 