The 24 Hours Of Daytona is upon us this weekend! Audi has a solid presence this weekend with their multiple R8 entries into the fold. Here’s a pic of a non-livery laden Audi R8 LMS Grand-am just chillin near the race track.
Photo courtesy of quattroworld
Before the Lotus Esprit became the Lotus Esprit…it was known as the M70. Penned by Giugaro (Italdesign) and quite a big step for Lotus as a company; It launched Lotus into the realm of supercars.
I have to say that the Series 1 Lotus Esprit is a pretty great looking car….and the M70 definitely looks like the purest expression of the design (obviously!).
Here are some original ideas thrown around for the M70:
(from Car Styling Magazine, April 1976: Lotusespritturbo.com)
Glorious….and good driving as well, for a change!
well not really….but this 911L racing in sweden circa 1969 has a big fat VW sticker right on the bonnet!
src: Early911Registry
Although it looks like a Bertone concept, it is not! In fact this is the 1969 Ghia Lancia HF Competizione concept. I don’t have a ton of information about the actual car; however I do know that it was based on the standard Fulvia HF platform and was FWD with the famous 1600 V4 engine from the Fulvia HF. However, a major difference was that the Ghia concept was even lighter than the standard Fulvia—-which made it even faster and (supposedly) with better handling. The idea was to possibly use this as a basis for a racing car that would have possibly be entered into Le Mans-type race events; alas this was not meant to be.
It was shown at the 1969 Geneva Auto Show; and obviously never produced.
src (colour photos): mauiboy
I, for one, will be sad when SAAB goes away. BringATrailer posted this last night about the sad story of SAAB auctioning their entire museum away this week. This collection includes all of their prototypes, including the legendary Ur Saab.
What a sad way to end the company——that being said, i’m sure Saab fanatics are beside themselves with excitement at the chance to land one of these Gothenburg beauties into their garages.
When I was 16, i was obsessed with the Saab 900. I’ll never forget that.
It’s hard to believe that the Renault 5 is celebrating its 40th (!) anniversary from its launch soon. Apparently, it is being reported in the french media that Renault are bringing a Renault 5 ‘redux’ back in celebration and that this is now ‘confirmed’….
A shame that Renault isn’t coming back to the US market….But then again, Fiat is pretty much ruining any chance of others trying to come back. If Fiat would have done well, the others would have made a run—-but not any more!
Here’s a rendering of the Renault 5 resurrection! (maybe)
Illustrated by Colin Anderson
why can’t modern car magazines be this creative with their covers? Instead they just put synthetic, advertising-like covers up. Blah.
src: motorsportretro
to buy old copies: motor book world
It’s no secret I love my 2 Audis. 9 years with the TT, and almost 6 months with the A3! Surely the only geek thing to do would be to collect die-cast versions of my cars and recreate my garage, right!?
To be fair, I have an A3 2.0T titanium edition—-whereas the 1:43 model i’ve bought is actually an RS3. To my defense they don’t sell the 8P RS3 in the US market or else I would have bought one. A second defense is that my A3 has the same wheels as the RS3 (titanium rotors) and spec’d out as close to an RS3 it could legally get in the US market cosmetically.
During the time of the original Saab Sonnet 1, there were 6 cars produced by SAAB. Apparently one of those cars was taken by a SAAB designer/employee named Sigvard Sorenson—–to be transformed in his backyard into something quite peculiar! The SAAB Facett was born! This was neither an official prototype OR product from SAAB. This was just a product of one man’s passion for doing something unique. He built it right on top of one of the original 6 Sonett 1 roadsters.
Some interesting insight into the car from Saab History
“According to the Continental magazines, the Facett was another prototype being used by Saab to test the public reaction and taste. The truth is that they were way off the mark. From the beginningto end, the Facett was a backyard project and the only connection the builder, Sigvard Sorensen, had with Saab was that he was employed in the design department in Trollhättan.
The story begins when one of the first six Sonetts was offered for sale to the employees at Saab in the early sixties. The company had neither the available space or desire to store all the cars in a shed so they simply sold off the cars they felt were superflouos.
Sigvard Sorensen took up the offer and bought himself a bright green Saab Sonett Super Sport. The car was rather impractical, to say the least, and Sorensen started thinking about what he could do to make it more useful.
He began by removing the plastic body and went to work on the chassis. The fuel tank was moved from its odd position in the front wing to between the rear wheels where it was well protected against all types of accidents + standard procedure on all Saabs with the exception of the six Sonett Is.
The original engine was rejected in favor of a standard sport engine which was more suited to everyday driving than a temperamental, highly tuned racing engine. At this stage Sorensen realized that he would have to build a completely new body sheel and preferably with a hardtop. To get the car driveable quicker, he decided to use sheet metal instead of fiberglass.”
NOW! the story gets even more interesting. That original Saab Facett (pictured only at the TOP of this post) had been converted back into a green Saab Sonett sometime after by a different owner. All of the steel bodywork Sigvard had done to the car was removed and the car was restored back to being a roadster. HOWEVER, this owner (Rene Hirsch) commissioned a german company to replicate the chassis and the original Facett using the same body panels which were removed to re-create the roadster. So in effect, now BOTH can be seen together again…..the Green Sonett is the original car as SAAB produced it out of the factory—-the white Facett is a recreation of the custom Facett that Sigvard had made after buying the green roadster. 6 Saab Sonett roadsters exist; and now there’s a Facett to join them rather than take one’s place.
multiple sources were used for this article: Saab History, Madle, and a nice article by George Achorn which clarified some of the confusion @ Turbonines
Sven Voelker is the gentleman who brought us the book “Go Faster” which focused on the art of race car livery, and now he has brought a new art exhibit to the german museum Car Culture in Karlsruhe, Germany. It shows the misunderstood and underappreciated underside of cars! I find it quite beautiful.
more info: Sven Voelker
I’ve said this many times before, but Intersection Magazine is by far my favourite magazine in publication…..and has been for the past 3 years as a subscriber. It’s the only magazine I get truly excited about when I see a new issue. They are entertaining, creative, beautifully photographed, and well made.
I was happy to see in the latest issue that they have released a book entitled “Cars Now: A Guide To The Most Notable Cars Today”; so I instantly ordered it for $40 and I was pleased to find that it certainly did not dissappoint. The purpose of this book is to document international automotive brands on sale worldwide at the moment; big and small. It’s great to see beautiful photos of the larger marques and their current cars, but also see and read full presentations about the not-so-well-known marques. A great book for my collection, and will sit very nicely alongside my Intersection magazine collection.
512 pages, $39.99, available to order from Taschen
and of my favourite photos in the entire book!! JUST CLASSIC! LOL:
The dunhill Day 8 videos always impress me with their fine production and attention to detail…..this one is no exception.
The C-X75 of course is the latest supercar/sports car concept from Jaguar. Whether they build something like this remains to be seen—-but the fact that it was built with the glorious XJ13 in mind is impressive enough……and it looks pretty sharp as well.
Thank you to Jacob for the tip!
A while ago, my friend Bradley and I took a trip to Gullwing Motors and saw a green Lamborghini Espada parked outside within a chained in parking lot. One of the primary reasons for that trip in the first place was to see that Espada as well as 2 Alfa Romeo Montreals they were selling.
I happen to think that the Espada is truly one of THE coolest ‘supercars’ to ever grace the streets….effortlessly cool even. I’ve always thought of it as Lamborghini’s response to the muscle car—-a muscle car built with the DNA of a supercar. It is low slung, beautifully designed, with a plush mega-italian interior, and a presence that few cars can aspire to have. If you park an Espada next to any of the modern supercars; i know which one you’ll find me staring at non-stop!
Fortunately David Lang found my little blip about that car on IEDEI and reached out to me with more information about the unique and interesting Espada we had seen that day at Gullwing—–and about the Espada that HE bought! So rather than wondering “whatever happened to that green Espada?”…..we have an interesting story and an update!
David:
“When the car arrived from Gullwing Motors it had been in storage approximately 5 years, or more and had no brakes and a badly running engine. The engine was tuned with new spark plugs, several vacuum leaks were repaired and fresh gas was added to make it run very well.
(here’s a photo of David’s Espada i’d taken when I went to Gullwing motors in 08/2010)
“The engine appears to have been a new crate unit (no numbers stamped on the ID pad) and has a Tuned Port Injection (TPI) system installed. It is a 1985-86 350ci engine that would have been used in Corvettes or Camaros of the day. The transmission is a Borg Warner 5 speed with a hydraulic clutch. The shift leaver was adapted and is original to the car. The original exhaust system was also adapted and is in the car as is the balance of the running gear and brakes. Overall the installation of the engine, TPI and tranny appears to have been professionally done to almost perfection. I say almost because of what I discovered when I drove the car the first time. It overheated even with the hugh, original radiator and double fan system. The radiator was checked by a local shop and found to have been rebuilt. It needed no service. After explaining to the specialist what it came out of and the engine conversion he told me to change the thermostat and check the water pump for proper rotation. I found that the pump had been running backwards due to the use of V belts instead of the serpentine belt the engine was designed for. I replaced the pump with one designed for clockwise rotation and problem solved. The car had been operated for 25 years with the wrong pump! That explains the low mileage of 43000 on the car. I”m guessing but I suspect the engine and tranny have less than 5000 miles on them and operate as new.”
(current photos of the car to follow)
“Work yet to be completed include paint stripping and repaint to a dark factory blue color from the original mint green and doing some electrical repair to obtain working headlights and original air horn. The body is very straight with just two very small rust holes in the bottom, front corners of both doors. The glass, bumpers and trim are near perfect. I have removed the awful bumper overriders and remounted the outside mirrors from the front fenders to the doors as most are. The mirrors are original too. The car apparently had good care most of its life but was neglected for the last 5 or so years while stored.”
“With new tires, the car drives very well. It tracks straight, rides smoothly and quietly and feels like it is glued to the road. With the engine and tranny change, I believe about 400 pounds have been lost from the front giving the car a close 50/50 weight distribution and a lighter feel to the unboosted steering.”
I, for one, am really glad this Espada has been rescued by an owner who is enthusiastic about his beautiful classic. Thanks to David for writing!
thanks to Jon for the tip on this great tribute to the legendary Porsche 917.
These photos may look like they are from 1968, however they are not. They were photographed by Atelier Olschinsky in 2011 at the Red Bull Ring. Quite lovely, as well.
via The Chicane
IEDEI 
