I started a new job towards the end of last week—-and my time has been quite consumed over the past week. Apologies for little to no IEDEI updates. To make it up to you, here is a megapost with plenty of things which have been consuming my daydreams all week.
cheers—Syed
Maserati 26M from the 1931 French Grand Prix.
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I’ve always hugely admired the (rare) Lancia 2000 Coupes (and here)…The 70s were full of some decent coupes….but none arguably nicer than the superbly underrated Lancia 2000 HF Coupe——hell i think this may be one of THE classiest and prettiest coupes made in the 70s. Sure it was an ‘evolved’ Flavia, and it wasn’t accompanied by the rally pedigree of its smaller Fulvia HF counterpart—-but as a cruiser with elegance, i’d choose this over most everything else from that era.
i had posted back in December about the Porsche 911 EVT700 and it’s mad over the top livery treatment—–but here’s that same car parked in London. I have to say—–it is absurd, attention whore-ish, and a bit vulgar—-but i like it.
As you probably realise, my ‘holy grail’ dream car (in ANY price range) is the Alpine-Renault A110 1600s. This has been the case for approximately the last 5-6 years. However in that 5-6 years I have watched the selling price of the A110 start to soar from about $40-$50k back then to ranging from $80k to well over $150k for excellent 1600s examples these days. I’ve been told the market for A110s really soared a couple of years ago when the Japanese started buying them up and taking them back to Japan. Sure there are cheaper versions like the 1300s which can be had for less, and the 1100s which can be had for even less—-but it is getting harder and harder to find good A110s on sale, and i’m just hoping that by the time i get in the market for one (i hope this DOES happen), that prices haven’t soared to even more rocketing avenues. The ‘other market’ versions of the A110 such as the mexican-built Dinalpines have also kept the market value down, as many have been unearthed and sold outside of Mexico in recent years—-adding to the total # of A110s in circulation.
My mostly ignorant, non-professional estimate is that the prices have now ‘capped’ for the A110 for the time being. I don’t think “Alpine-Renault” rings a bell with the collector market the way “Ferrari” or “Maserati” or “Porsche” does, so i really can’t see these moving too much further upmarket. Here’s hoping they stay in this range, or even start falling a bit when the nostalgic rally fan from the 60s starts giving up their cars.
In a brief search on carandclassic.co.uk, i found these examples:
£78500
£57500
this absolutely stunning 1968 1300s is selling for £52500, proof that even the smaller engine variant is building up a following.
I love the A3 so much that i had to buy one. But i absolutely love this photo taken in Toronto by an Audizine member (Gryphon001)….
i’m loving these videos. beautifully made and a nice tribute to their first win there with the R8 LMS.
got these videos from the great Colla Verglas!
my friend Bradley over at Automobiliac recently went to the Pebble Beach Concours and Monterey Historic races—-and took some great livery-only photographs.
click on the ‘full gallery’ in his post to see all the pics:
http://www.automobiliac.com/automobiliac/2011/9/1/monterey-historics-in-the-abstract.html
a few of my favourites from his gallery–
rolling through the 1968 Corsica rally in total style, the Porsche 911R.
One of my favourite vintage japanese cars from one of my favourite vintage japanese brands, the Isuzu Bellett:
photo taken by: Bruce Upton
I love automotive logos, and the following is the original sketch sheet of logo proposals for the Lancia marque. As you can see, the 1st one in the 2nd row is closest to the current logo, however until at least 1929, the 2nd one in the 1st row was used as the logo. This original sketch sheet was drawn by Count Biscaretti of Ruffia, who was involved with early Lancias and Vincenzo Lancia
drawings by Count Biscaretti, from 1911:
source of original sketch: http://www.currypotproductions.com/LanciaHistory-100.htm
The 150hp, Ford Capri RS 2.6
I don’t think it is exclusively Ford who is imagining this “cloud” of information, however they seem to be one of the first to actually make a short video explaining what they mean. Ford’s new Evos concept (pictured above) is a pretty good looking el-cheapo-Aston-Martin clone, however it’s the conceptual stuff they are really excited about.
My reaction? errr…..i’m not sure what I think. As someone who has recently updated myself with a ‘technologically updated” automobile—-I do respect and love some of the things that make our life easier; like bluetooth connections, navigation, digital media, etc.
That being said, I *think* I still want to make some decisions myself, which is why the “cloud” confuses me. Watch the video for yourself, and lemme know what you think.
To me, bar none, the greatest 911 in history if the 911R. No other 911 even comes close. The “pretender” to the throne is the Carrera RS—-so here’s a beautiful picture with a 911R in the foreground, and a Carrera RS (edit: I actually think that is an RS-R, not an RS) in the background.
photographer: Willem De Zeeuw
the best luxury sedan in the world just got quite a bit quicker.
520hp. 4.0L Turbo V8. 0-60 in 4.2 seconds. Do you know how it feels to be in a car this heavy and do 0-60 in 4.2 seconds? I still remember riding in an older S55 AMG a few years ago and feeling what a 0-60 time in the 5.5 second range and feeling like I was in hyperspeed orbit around the streets. 4.2s is a big notch faster. Looks great too, lots of presence.
When I was picking up my A3, I was waiting for some of the paperwork to get prepped—-and found myself dwelling in the showroom A8 they had, just wafting away in one of the most beautiful interiors i’ve ever sat in. It was like sitting inside of a relaxed lounge, just pass me a scotch and a cigarette and let me instruct the driver where to go.
2012/2013 Audi S8
source: Audi
I respect most Lotus models, but don’t really love them—-except the original Elite! what a car.
This is a vintage Lotus Elite manual.
source: ocmp
btw, here’s another nice vintage Advertisement for the ELITE.
Mercedes-Benz 220S Coupe:
Mercedes Benz E-Class Coupe (2011)
and hell yeah i want that sequential gearbox. the sound it makes while downshifting is just EPIC.
source of photo: http://www.autosportfoto.sk/
The driver is Tomas Liedl, driving the Slovakia Ring in a DTM-spec Audi TT-R. I am guessing this is one of the original DTM TT-Rs that used to race in the DTM Series, having their careers continue…..this is what it looks like now, as opposed to the older Red/Silver Sport livery OR the Yellow Playstation livery. There was also the blue Red Bull livery back in the day. This race is from 08/21/2011.
IEDEI’s friends at Fourtitude have spotted a possible first view of the ‘facelifted’ Audi R8, which should launch in 2012 sometime. More interestingly, they have also discussed that R8s have been testing with 2.5L 5 Cylinder Turbo engines (!!!!!). Bring it Audi!!!
IEDEI 
