I’m not a fan of Lexus cars—i think they are mind numbing and quite frankly soulless. Many years ago I test drove a Lexus LS with my father, and I still think of that car as one of the WORST cars I have ever driven. That being said—-take a look at the 2010 Lexus LS engine bay. I don’t think i’ve seen a worse example of an engine bay….well…ever.
i love most TVRs—i think the new ones were brilliantly insane, and the older ones were brilliantly insane. Whenever i’ve been to the UK i keep one eye peeled out for them rumbling by….fantastic.
i found this nice little lo-fi website with little tidbits of history:
http://www.tvr-grantura.de/Meine-Grantura-Seite/Meine-Granturaseite.html
I love photos like this, at the same I hate photos like this. Lots of dead old british cars, including some TVRs.
Vintage TVR Grantura manual.
Old-school TVR-Grantura
Quattroholic has put up some fantastic scans from an Audi AG book about the 1991 Audi Avus Concept. Hard to believe this was 20 years ago. A lot of the design cues from this car directly influenced future products like the Bugatti Veyron, Audi TT, and Audi R8. The Avus was heavily influenced by the legendary Auto Union race cars of the 20s and 30s—and represented a turning point in modern Audi design.
check out the full scans at:
http://www.quattroholic.com/2011/04/hi-res-scans-of-original-1991-audi-avus.html
What do an Avant with 4 rings and an (almost) normal E-class Mercedes have in common? Well…these 2 were series production cars built by Porsche. The RS2 is one of the holy grail cars round here, and the 500E might be one of the unsuspecting sleepers around…
Articles from the July 2002 issue of GT Purely Porsche
(click to enlarge)
a look of disgust…(let it load completely…or save gif for best results)
(got this from Strassenversion!)
The Canadian who did the European delivery on his new BMW 1M (1-Series M) has documented his delivery of the car in Germany quite extensively. Click the link to check out the full writing and story behind his pick-up (currently still in progress)
Very cool car, and a very cool way to pick up a new car!
FULL POST: http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=511414
1955 Maserati A6G/54 Zagato. all types of lovely.
(click to enlarge)
Walter Rohrl is part of the team behind the Porsche 911.
Mercedes-Benz is showing photos of their new A-Class Concept. I’m all in favour for small, cool, luxury hatchbacks—-but this Mercedes doesn’t look like a Mercedes. It really looks more BMW from the side (all the slashes and body moldings…very Bangle-ish) and quite Audi from the rear (TOO Audi-ish from the rear)….and maybe Volvo-ish from the front? A pretty interesting design that I quite like in many ways—-but a little sloppy and very uncharacteristic for a Mercedes, in my opinion.
and compare the rear end to the Audi A1 Concept from a couple years ago!
just the logo…just the badge….but the stuff my dreams are made of.
a BMW Classic short film. (thanks to Arman for the tip!)
Great stuff on display in Germany at this year’s Techno Classica.
see the rest of the pics at Audi Passion:
http://www.audipassion.com/news/741/51/Le-stand-Audi-Tradition-au-Techno-Classica-2011/
Amazingly, one of the coolest cars I saw during my trip to Italy was a Blue Fiat Coupe 20V. Of course it is not sold in the USA and thus my exposure to it has been VERY little (trips to Europe in the past only)—-but the car is beautiful…..another Chris Bangle design which has held up very well!
Surely it won’t happen….but quite a nice design daydream!
http://www.andrewmorandi.com/2010/02/quick-winter-break-project-auto-union.html
IEDEI prefers small coupes over everything else in the automotive world—-and part of the reason I get so obsessed with the idea of small rounded coupes is because they have so much character. This one is no exception! the Abarth Simca 2000.
Capable of handing the Porsche 904 it’s own ass as well! Impressive. 202 hp in such a tidy little package.
Most people associate Abarth with Fiat, but a very successful liaison was also formed with Simca. The French company was partly owned by Fiat, and when they wanted to appeal to a younger market with a more sporting image, they turned to the Italian giant for help.
Fiat in turn went to Abarth, who received sponsorship from the larger company. A deal was struck whereby Simca shipped floor pans of their 1000 Sabour to Abarth, who then cut 4″ out of the chassis and built handsome lightweight aluminum bodies around them.
The engine was an all-Abarth 1300cc four-cylinder twin-cam unit which produced up to 140 bhp and was mounted in the rear, while suspension was nearly stock Simca 1000, incorporating a transverse front leaf spring with telescopic dampers and upper wishbones and rear semi-trailing arms a la Porsche.
With this car, Abarth won the World Championship for Makes in 1962. The racing version of the Abarth Simca was developed throughout the 1960s, and the winning design was found to be more than a match for its competitors. In two-liter, 202 bhp specification, the Simca Abarth was easily able to beat the Porsche 904 on the track and won the European Mountain Climb Challenge outright.
http://www.sportscardigest.com/car-profile-abarth-simca-2000/#ixzz1IgpH7KNo
I’ve heard the car in person, and it’s even better than in any video…
Vodpod videos no longer available.One of my favourite Alfas—-and in a beautiful owner. Nicely narrated introduction to the Alfa Romeo Montreal
nice dark tunnel + epic Audi TT-RS + water = EPIC.
ALSO—there is a video showing some of the footage here (what a sound!):
http://www.abhd.nl/video/racen-door-de-noord-zuid-tunnel/
big thanks to Lukas for sending the tip! Apparently this was being filmed for a Dutch TV show called ‘AutoRAI’ (click to enlarge fotos)
for the full set of fotos, go here:
http://www.autoblog.nl/image-gallery?file=Audi/TT-RS_tunnelrun/
Like the Porsche Panamera, this is another car whose styling really didn’t sit well with me when i first saw it—–but a car which REALLY grew on me over the past few years. I love the weird back end, and and I think they have plenty of road presence and attitude. A stellar $90k car now available 2nd hand in the $40-50k range. 500hp and a hell of a performer…a shark.
IEDEI 