IEDEI

automotive, cars, design, iedei, men

foto of the day. brown car.

I’ve always wanted to drive a brown car….and today when I dropped my A3 off to get its 15k service, they gave me a 2012 Audi A4 ‘service loaner car’ in a colour known as “teak brown”. It’s actually quite a nice colour. I do find the light tan leather interior very irritating though….i don’t think I could ever live with a car that has such a light coloured interior ackage….even the headliner is light tan.

Anyways…it’s always nice to drive somebody else’s car around!

Tagged 2012, audi, audi a4, B8 A4, loaner, service loaner, teak brown

March212012

1 Comment

automotive, cars, design, iedei, men, racing

video of the day. 918.

Supercar nut Harry Metcalfe from Evo Magazine is taking a tour around the working prototype of the Porsche 918.

I am loving the idea of this….2 electric motors and a V8…look at where the exhaust pipes exit! PDK double clutch gearbox…..and just a bang up to date technological masterpiece under development. I was never a fan of the Carrera GT, but this i’m properly excited about.

src: evo

Tagged development. And, evo diaries, evo magazine, film, porsche 918, prototype, tour, video

March212012

automotive, cars, design, iedei, men, vintage

foto of the day. Studio GT

What is it? it is the 1968 Neri & Bonacini Studio GT Duo Litri

The excellent Automobiliac site introduced me to this unknown gorgeous wonder yesterday! I was taken aback by how such a beautiful car could be made and be completely unknown to the world!!! Bradley alludes to this being like a “Mini Miura” and yes I very much agree….there’s a lot of wonderful going on here, especially with a Lancia Fulvia V4 stuck inside as the source of power….if you haven’t heard a Fulvia V4 before, you must do so!

This one seems to be roaming around the Greenwich Concours—-why didn’t I see this last time I was there!?

More pics and info at Automobilac

photo src: supercars

Tagged 1968 neri bonacini studio gt duo litri, 2 cars built, concept, red

March202012

automotive, cars, design, iedei, men, racing, rally, sports, vintage

the first quattro rally car.

Octane has taken some cool photos of the first rally spec 1980 Ur quattro prototype rally car….although the car needs more dirt on it!

src: more pics and read the great write-up about the car at Octane

Tagged 1980, audi quattro, coupe, first ur quattro, mikkolo, original quattro, rally, rally car, rallying, wrc

March202012

13 Comments

automotive, cars, design, iedei, men, vintage

EA 276: 1969 VW Golf (MK1) prototype.

I remember seeing a photo of this ages ago…but just saw it again after a long time. I find it interesting how the rear side view seems to have inspired the Peugeot 205 in many ways. I also find it interesting that the front end design presented here in 1969 seems way ahead of its time! As a whole though, I think it’s safe to say that the proper MK1 Golf which presented itself a few years later is a much more cohesive, proportional design than this one is. This 1969 prototype is also FWD, front-engined as the production MK1 would be…

This car is currently stored at the VW Museum in Wolfsburg, Germany

src: historyOfCars

Tagged 1969, concept, design studies, ea 276, ea276, mk1 golf, mk1 golf prototype, mk1 gti, original vw golf, prototype, prototypes, volkswagen, vw

March202012

3 Comments

automotive, cars, design, iedei, men, vintage

Montreal in the Jungle.

I think i’ve mentioned this many times before….but the Alfa Romeo Montreal is just so cool. Epic cool. The Montreal pictured here just looks mint…want, bad.

These are some great shots taken by Stoelen7 who also runs a very nice blog entitled Steininge

Tagged alfa romeo montreal, forest, jungle, mint, orange alfa romeo montreal, photos, steiningle.blogspot.com, wallpaper

March192012

5 Comments

art, automotive, cars, design, iedei, men

foto(s) of the day. Huayra in pieces.

I love the Pagani Huayra, because it is (a) insane looking, (b) over the top, and (c) and super italian.

I also think these 2 photos are wonderful documentation of its anatomy.

src: collaVerglas

Tagged broken down, components, disassembled, dissected, in pieces, pagani huayra, pagani zonda, parts, zonda f

March172012

automotive, business, cars, design, iedei, men, vintage

Vintage Porsche factory pics.

These are beautiful, taken in 1972. I happened to stumble across these as I was searching for the source for a different Porsche factory photo I had posted a long time ago. Happy accident!

src: cinelliguy

Tagged color 35mm, colour, early porsche 911, old factory, pics, plant, porsche, porsche 911, porsche factory, vintage, vintage porsche factory photos

March162012

3 Comments

automotive, cars, design, iedei, vintage

1975 Opel GT2 Concept

After the mildly/moderately successful small sports car that was the Opel GT, the next generation of Opel GT was being hypothesized by Opel. Obviously GM was now deeply seeded into the recesses of the company and its interests, I find there to be fascinating influences from the front end design of this 1975 Opel GT2 which trickled down to the 80s Pontiac Firebird. Even more odd is how the rear taillights look like they are straight out of a 1983 Ford Mustang….wonder how that happened! Obviously the GT2 was never produced, but it’s a pretty damn interesting wedge-influenced design, all the way to its insane sliding doors which would appear much later in cars like the Peugeot 1007.

and here’s a 1982 Pontiac Firebird, just for comparison of the front end (from thirdGen):

src: cavalierAndChevetteClub, wikimedia

Tagged 1975, design study, opel gt, opel gt2 concept, opelgt, pontiac firebird

March162012

Advertising, art, automotive, business, cars, design, iedei, men

ad of the day. 99.

the fantastic Saab 99 and an ad from 1971.

src: periodPaper

Tagged 1971, advertisement, magazine, newspaper, saab 99, vintage ad

March152012

5 Comments

automotive, business, cars, design, iedei, men

video of the day. boxster.

I really like the new Boxster—-i think it’s very aggressive looking, spiffy interior, and just a big time improvement over the prior interpretations. In fact, it’s the first Boxster i’ve seen that actually looks the part…

Of course I still don’t really care for roadsters, however this sets everything up for the obvious future question: How great will the next Cayman be!?

Chris Harris has reviewed the new Boxster:

Tagged 2013 porsche boxster, cayman, chris harris, new boxster, review

March152012

automotive, cars, design, iedei, racing, vintage

foto of the day. A110.

Tagged alpine a110, alpine-renault, pics, vintage photos

March132012

8 Comments

automotive, cars, design, iedei, racing, sports

Embrace the weird: Nissan Deltawing.

and YES this is going to be running in the 2012 Le Mans as an experimental prototype, unclassified in any class per se. I have to say that aside from how hideous it is—I will be very excited to see this freakshow rummaging through the field at Le Mans! Let’s just hope it doesn’t cause any accidents….and take over Ferrari’s role of poor driving.

Can it even bloody steer!? see the videos at the bottom to find out..

from Nissan:

“A highly-advanced and hugely-efficient Nissan engine will power the remarkable DeltaWing car as it races in anger for the first time at the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours (16-17 June).

While Nissan DeltaWing will not be classified in the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours, the Company is looking to showcase the pioneering technology that will show one potential direction for the future of motorsport and will feed into the research and development of future technologies, that filter down to Nissan’s road car product range.

A race-prepared 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine, featuring direct petrol injection and a turbocharger, will power Nissan DeltaWing, which is half the weight and has half the aerodynamic drag of a conventional racer.“

videos:

src: prwire via l’endurance

Tagged 2012 le mans, dan gurney, endurance racing, experimental prototype, experimental race car, le mans, nissan deltawing, racing car, turbocharged, unclassified, weird looking race car

March122012

automotive, business, cars, design, iedei, men, racing

Audi buying Ducati! (?…!…?)

As an Audiphile, i’m super excited this morning after reading this. It’s not April 1st….wow. Piech on the attack! You’re next Alfa Romeo!

from Fourtitude:

“Apparently Ferdinand Piech has been interested in Ducati for some time and is on the record for stating his regret for not snapping up the motorcycle marque when it went up on the market years ago. Apparently Piech also looked into revival of the Horex brand, but it was determined that there wasn’t enough brand recognition to make it worthwhile. Ducati, on the other hand, sells 40,000 motorcycles a year and has great brand recognition worldwide.”

and

“Out of nowhere CAR Magazine today has broken a story this morning that Audi entered an exclusive deal to buy motorcycle manufacturer Ducati. After re-checking our calendar to make sure it wasn’t April 1, we took a closer look at the story. Penned by Georg Kacher, we don’t question its accuracy in any way and as such it’s worth considering the details.

Apparently Ducati is on the market and it’s being suited by no less than Audi, Daimler (with whom there’s a marketing deal with AMG), Mahindra and even Audi’s parent company Volkswagen. All are interested in the Italian motorcycle manufacturer but Kacher is revealing via CAR that Audi has an exclusivity deal that gives it first refusal – one that could very well see Ducati under Audi ownership by April.”

Original article at Car Magazine

Tagged audi, audi buying ducati, motorcycles, vw, who is buying ducati

March112012

6 Comments

art, automotive, cars, design, iedei, racing, vintage

centerfold: 1965 Alfa Romeo GTA.

gutted. lusty. restored. wow. all it needs is a little bit of dirt…

src: alfaholics via coolerthanbefore

Tagged 1960s, 1965, 1965 alfa romeo gta, amazing alfa romeo, autodelta, beautiful, coupe, gta, gtam, gtv, italian race car, old alfa romeo, race spec, restored, silver, stepnose, track ready, vintage alfa romeo

8 Comments

automotive, business, cars, design, iedei, men, racing

this is how the unintelligent roll: Carbusters.

I am laughing at you, Carbusters—-a dim witted organization with pented up anger who have decided to take things out on the automobile!

It’s hilarious to me that organizations like this are born out of a very minimal and archaic understanding of human movement, progress, and ability to advance. So you want to eliminate the automobile…..interesting, i’d LOVE to watch a family of 4 who live in Farmland, North Dakota go to the airport to see their family living in NYC. Is this family of 4 supposed to surgically attach wheels to their elbows? Are they going to chain 4 slow bicycles together so 40 hours later they reach the airport in a puddle of sweat and tears? Will this family become poverty-stricken due to their vegetables rotting as trucks are not present to deliver them to the market so they can make their money? IS THERE ANY LOGIC IN YOUR ABSURD LOGIC of a “car free” world? If we had it your way—-we would be proceeding backwards as a civilisation. Why not ban airplanes and trains too—-as I hope you realise one airplane creates more pollution than thousands of automobiles.

Bicycles as transport for everybody? LOL….welcome to China and India in the 1920s…..an ‘ideal society’ for everybody!

(below photo from carbodydesign)

You know what Carbusters….i’m proud to own 2 cars in NYC. Just because of you, i’m gonna take a gas guzzling, petrol snorting, exhaust screaming drive up and down the streets of Brooklyn. You’re gonna love it too.

I look forward to more and more cars on the streets with nice big wide roads and beautiful race tracks being constructed everywhere! I hate to break it to you, but worldwide car sales are flourishing with record sales and great enthusiasm. Motoring forever! I’ll see you on the Nurburgring on your bicycle, suckas!

Tagged carbusters can kiss my ass, carbusters sucks ass, cars rule, world of automobiles

automotive, cars, design, iedei, men, vintage

Artz Ur quattro wagon.

Shooting brake? Avant? C(k)ombi? Wagon? Who knows! All i know is that i would totally rock a Ur quattro with a bigger backside! I’m pretty sure this was a one-off, but i’d love to be proven wrong and shown that there was more than one produced! I wonder where it is now…

Artz is of course the same company who did the funky Porsche 924 Artz Kombi.

srcs: audistory & audiquattrofan

Tagged artz 924, artz ur quattro, audi ur quattro wagon, combi, kombi, shooting brake, weird audi concept, weird audis

3 Comments

art, automotive, cars, design, iedei, men, vintage

lost concept of the day. Cutlass.

Cutlass? yes Cutlass! What you’re seeing here is the 1954 Oldsmobile Cutlass Concept, presented at the 1954 Motorama by General Motors. Surely this car is part of the F88 Concept lineage which was also presented at Motorama 54 in some form or another, because there is clearly a link to this design and the F88; in fact this may in fact be a part of the spectrum/series of the F88 concepts. I don’t know a lot about the car, but as with many concepts from that era (although the F88 survived!)—-the car is long gone.

Pretty damn beautiful though…..look at that roofline and louvre’d rear window! All of the old promotional photos i’ve found are showing the car from the rear end, obviously because it is clearly the most striking view of the car!

I also find it quite interesting that in all these photos; i believe the model is the same person….in different clothing! The old days….they were so funky.

srcs: carstyling, car&driver

Tagged 1954 oldsmobile cutlass concept, general motors, motorama 1954, old GM concepts

automotive, cars, design, iedei, men, racing, vintage

fotos of the day. M1

from the 2011 Sebring Vintage races, a beautifully liveried BMW M1.

src: wolfsburg RS

Tagged 2011, bmw m1, historic races, sebring, wolfsburg rs

automotive, business, cars, design, iedei, men

Maserati Granturismo: a grower.

when the Maserati Granturismo came out a couple of years ago—-i thought it was too big, too soft, and pretty much overshadowed by its Alfa brother–the 8c.

Fast forward a few years—-and the other day i was bumbling along on the freeway on my way home from work and a Granturismo went absolutely pounding past me with exhausts screaming in full force. A) i was impressed, B) i realised just how good it looked in speed and being driven with enthusiasm. I think the Granturismo is a pretty classically designed coupe; which will likely age quite nicely.

The Granturismo S is the latest variation of this car….and i absolutely love it with the black wheels and the spec’d out interior. Those blue gauges REALLY do it for me on the gauge cluster! wow.

src: newspress

Tagged 2013, alfa romeo 8c, granturismo s, maserati granturismo, styling