Category Archives: cars

welcome to the redesigned IEDEI (v. 3.0)

(a picture of the original 2008 blog style below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the 3rd major redesign in IEDEI history—–and quite a large one at that.  Learning CSS is harder than it seems—but i’m glad Sobia (my wife) is a bit of a badass when it comes to web development and helped me iron out a few details—although the design and ideas are solely mine.

All hail the next era of the cool automotive blog.  IEDEI was a unique idea when i launched it over 3 years ago—-and remains a unique idea, so unique that I can’t even figure out what it is supposed to be sometimes.  That being said—I have some interesting ideas for the “IEDEI” badge in the coming times…..more details in 2012.

Keep the petrol pumping, and the cylinders humping.

Tagged , ,

Citroen M35

Citroen have always made funktastic and weird designs which are creative, unusual, and push the limits.  Here’s another one, the M35 Prototype/Concept from 1969.

fotos from concept carz

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

artist of the day.

I found these stellar manga style automotive art/drawings on DeviantArt with the artist being known as teardrop-sidemarker (aka Will Kingstone).  Very cool stuff…

 

 

Tagged , , , , , ,

foto of the day. A310.

the badass Alpine-Renault A310 in rally spec.

Tagged , ,

foto of the day. S4.

Lancia Delta S4.

Tagged , ,

1970 BMW “3002” prototype

Here’s something I didn’t know about—-in 1970, the BMW Werks team developed a weird concoction of part BMW 2002 and part E9 coupe and came up with the 3002. The car raced in one race, the 1970 Tour De Corse—-and the car still exists, although it’s in pretty ratty shape somewhere in California, according to someone who has seen it there.

Around 270hp with a 6 cylinder and weighing around 950 kg—–the car was surely a bit of an animal for the time.

ORIGINAL PICS from 1970:

In it’s most RECENT condition…but still alive!

source: AlpinaBMW2002

Tagged , , , , , ,

Autodromo!

I’ve always loved nice watches, but often find myself admiring the style of watches that are far too expensive for my benign budget.  More affordable watches are generally cheaply made and/or far too commoner for me to ever give a second glance to.

My perfect watch would be racing inspired, mechanically sound, built to detail, and not cost a fortune.   Enter Officine Autodromo and their newly launched line of fantastic watches described in the company as “Instruments For Motoring”, inspired by vintage dashboard clusters from iron fed by fuel.

These special timepieces were conceived, designed, planned, and implemented by founder Bradley Price; a good friend of mine and a SEVERE automotive enthusiast.  I knew before I ever even saw the watches that I had to have one, and that they would be beautiful to look at and functionally sound.  I was right.

I see attention to detail which is beyond what I see in watches far more expensive than these; from the packaging to the casing to the band to the detailed chassis identification card which is stamped and found inside the carefully thought out leather box; Autodromo has made a series of relatively affordable watches which can be worn in any setting; from sitting in a hospital conference room to barreling down a freeway in the pouring rain.  I know because I bought my own Wednesday—-a superb example of a black case Veloce—-here’s a dirty grainy pic of me wearing it in the TT:

The launch line-up:

These watches retail for $425, which is a great deal for the amount of detail and design found within them.  Definitely a solid gift idea for the upcoming holidays, OR just a guilty pleasure for the petrolhead screaming inside our own heads.

More details and ordering info at AUTODROMO

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

foto of the day. Lambos.

the original gangstas!  Espada, Miura, and Jarama.  This photo is from original publicity materials sent out by Lambo back in the day.

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Japanese A110 video.

The japanese…….they’re always trying to drift everything!  This video is from 1990.

Tagged , , , ,

Sign this petition!


A fellow Audi enthusiast Carson has launched a new petition on the Whitehouse.gov website to gather signatures to discuss making the rules to relieve the stringent rules on US automobile importation laws.  Currently the US government run NHTSA does not allow importation of automobiles which have not been specifically crash tested by US standards.  The catch here is that other countries, including the EU have even MORE stringent crash testing standards than the US very often—-which begs the question, why does the US have such incompatible safety testing standards as compared to the rest of the world?  Even Canada has much easier rules for getting cars into the country, allowing manufacturers to be more experimental in their lineups.

Let’s take for example the tempting Audi RS3—-which was, as of a couple of months ago—–being debated by Audi of America as a possible import into the US market.  Then they decided they would NOT import the car into the US market.  Despite the fact that the 8p A3/RS3 body is already crash tested in the US and despite the fact that the TT-RS engine and drivetrain (same as the RS3) have met safety standards—-it was not financially feasible for Audi to bring in the RS3, as they would likely never recover the costs of having to cross all the hurdles it would take to get it on market.   I even sent an email to Audi of America asking if the RS3 was coming to the US, before i ended up buying my 2012 A3 quattro—-they told me “no” so i bought my car the next day.

Will this petition work?  The chances are slim—–as I think these rules mainly benefit US carmakers, and allowing more imported cars to make it over here would only cut in further to US carmaker sales.  BUT HEY! it is worth a shot!  25,000 signatures needed.  At time of this post, 343 achieved.  I, of course, being one of the earliest.

It takes 1 minute to sign up—-so please go and sign it! We have nothing to lose—-and spread the word!

LINK: Whiteouse.gov Petition

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

foto of the day. junked.

a tragic case of a rare Audi 100 Coupe S junked and debadged!

Tagged , , ,

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

Tagged , , , , ,

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…


Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

foto of the day. oh man…

everybody needs some petrol, man!

Audiphile (via Audi Sport, via Autoinjected)

Tagged , , , ,

foto of the day. saab owned aero.

Jason Castriota does NOT own aero.  the ur Saab.

Tagged , ,

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

 

Tagged , , , , ,

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!

Tagged , , , , ,

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…..

Tagged , , ,

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)

Tagged , , , , , ,

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

Tagged , , , , ,