Yearly Archives: 2011

ad of the day. Jarama

This is from a 1974 sales brochure for the Lamborghini Jarama S

To me, there’s nothing cooler than the ‘unsung’ supercars—-the ones that DON’T capture the attention of everyone—-and that’s exactly what the Jarama is—-an unknown Lambo.

source: Rudolph J

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first snow.

a couple of weeks ago on a beautiful saturday, we got our first snowfall of this winter! in October (!?).  Needless to say it was a beautiful day, and I played around with the TT all day through all sorts of weird streets, empty parking lots, and running errands for my wife who basically thinks i’m crazy for wanting to drive in the snow all day long.

For the first time ever, i will be putting dedicated snow tires on the A3 this year—mainly because I drive over 100 miles a day now for my job.  Once I get the snows on that, there will be plenty of photos this winter.

WINTER IS BACK! oh how i’ve missed you…


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foto of the day. oh man…

everybody needs some petrol, man!

Audiphile (via Audi Sport, via Autoinjected)

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foto of the day. saab owned aero.

Jason Castriota does NOT own aero.  the ur Saab.

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foto(s) of the day. Fulvia ditched and rescued!

Damn i love these photos taken at the 1973 Targa Florio.  From the fantastic Targa Florio archives at Amicidellatargaflorio

 

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video of the day. La Voglia Mattalfa

what a weird film…ha!  featuring a 1960 Alfa Spider and a 6C 1900…and a Moto Guzzi!

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foto of the day. TR6

why is today…all of a sudden….i felt compelled to lust after a Triumph TR6?

sometimes my petrolhead brain puzzles me…..

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Pietro Frua’s 1971 Porsche 914 design proposal.

Pietro Frua is one of my favourite designers ever—-mainly because he created weird, mysterious, and often rejected-by-manufacturer designs which were generally better than the manufacturers ended up producing.  I think car companies used him for his brainstorming, and then ditched his designs in the end only to steal them.  BMW surely stole many of his ideas when they plagiarized his ideas from the Frua ‘concept’ BMWs on all their production cars of the 70s and 80s.   I’m looking at this photo of a 1971 Hispano Aleman Porsche 914 design study and seeing all sorts of stuff going on.  I see some De Tomaso Pantera, i see some Lamborghini Urraco, and I see lots of Frua cues.  What i don’t see is a 914.  Obviously Porsche did not use any of his ideas for their eventual collaboration with VW on the 914.

As far as I can tell, the car was seized by customs in 1971 after being shown at Geneva.  The car was in ‘exile’ until 1976 and is currently put away in a private collection, having not been driven since 1977.   Production of the real production Porsche 914 ended by the time the design was even recovered.  Frua was paid $200k to make the design study.  (source, Frua website cited below)

There are TONS of amazing pictures here on the Frua.de website (with copyrights so i cannot post them here)

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foto of the day. 1965 Ford Mustang by Bertone.

some back story:

In 1965 Scott Bailey invited Bertone to have his say on the design of the popular Ford Mustang. The publisher of the prestigious “Automobile Quarterly” wanted to show that the Turin school of bodywork designers could achieve great things on cars which were very different from their usual projects. Bertone’s interpretation of the American car was put on show for the first time at the 1965 New York International Automobile Show, and was one of the most admired numbers: the Bertone model featured a radiator grille dominated by the emblem of the original car, while the disappearing headlamps were hidden behind the grille. All in all a very personal interpretation which turned out to be another coup in image terms for the Turin designer.

source: Carstyling.ru

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Alfa Romeo 6c 2500 Frecchia D’oro

Yes, the first real production car after WW2 for Alfa Romeo—-and it’s a pretty sweet design.  A swoopy coupe with some classic proportions.  Not that many were actually made—between 550 to 600 from what i’ve been able to search up.  I think it’s one of the ‘lost’ Alfas in time.

 

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foto of the day. 100 Coupe S

more than one!  Oh lovely.

Audi 100 Coupe S.

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video of the day. GT3 Cup.

Yes it’s an advertisement, but it doesn’t make it any less cool.

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F1 to Jersey!

 

It is super exciting news to hear that F1 is finally coming close to the NYC area in 2013!  The race will be held in New Jersey right across the river—–with the race having a backdrop of the Manhattan skyline.  This is very exciting news for race fans living in the tri-state area, and marks the latest in the sequel of F1 coming back to the US after unsuccessful stints in Indianopolis and Detroit.   Obviously there is the Austin, Texas F1 return as well, however I (a) don’t like Texas and (b) think the east coast makes a better venue for F1 racing.

The announcement is expected next week!  Now if we can just get the WRC to come to Brooklyn…

full story here!

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art of the day. D-Type.

the legendary Jaguar D-Type…..in blueprint form

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Art of the day. 356.

1963 Porsche 356 cutaway drawing.

source: Ausmotive

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RIP Dan Wheldon.

Dan Wheldon died today in a massive 15 car (of 34 cars racing) accident in during an IndyCar race in Las Vegas earlier this afternoon.  I salute him as a 2-time winner of the glorious Indianopolis 500 and a great driver.   Other drivers were also injured and are being treated at the hospital.  Racing has become so much safer in modern times, but this is a reminded that it’s still not immuned to catastrophe.

Following the accident, a red flag was introduced.  The race was then stopped for good. However, following the announcement, the drivers and teams decided to do a 5 lap tribute to him:

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Bugatti Type 101 Antem Coupe

The last ‘original’ Bugatti (referring to the original family run company) to be produced was the Type 101 and one of these 101s went to coachbuilder Antem and was transformed into something weird and somewhat charming.  The Bugatti T101 Antem Coupe is an unusual looking design, smothered in mystery and uniqueness.  In those days, plenty of ‘one-off’ cars existed, but the significance of this being of the final 8 cars Bugatti ever built before disappearing and being resurrected by an amped-up Volkswagen make this car even more interesting than it already is, in my opinion.

Only eight Type 101s were ever built. The chassis 101 504 would then be sent to Antem of Paris and become the unique Type 101 C Antem Coupé, arguably the most striking and beautiful Type 101.

more info here: http://www.supercars.net/cars/4296.html

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video of the day. Fulvia orgy.

I have tried for many years to shake my desires to want a Lancia Fulvia—-but nothing works.  It still creeps up in my head all of the time.

This video doesn’t help my lust for one. Wow.

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the beauty of the TT.

The MK1 Audi TT is just all types of wonderful.  I’m not just saying that because I have one in the garage—-but because before I got my car—-i fantasized day and night about it, sort of how I fantasize day and night about the Alpine A110 and ur quattro now.  The TT is more than a car, it is true art—-representing a point where history met with the modern world—–technology fell in love with the vintage.   It could have been produced in 1965, or it could have been produced in 2005.

These photos are not of my car, however I stumbled across them looking at photos on Flickr.  These are taken by Chun Yi of his impeccable 2000 225.


 

 

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