Pininfarina NSU Ro 80 Concept

This is the 1971 Pininfarina NSU Ro 80 Concept, shown with a working rotary engine debut’d at the 1971 Torino Motor Show in Italy.  This thing looks way ahead of its time for 1971, in fact I see shades of future cars in its design;  Aston Martin Lagonda, 1980’s Cadillac Deville, 1980s Oldsmobiles—-but NSU was dissolved into the modern day Audi after 1977, when the last Ro 80 was sold.

This Pininfarina design points towards how a super modern and ahead-of-its-time car like the original Ro 80 may have evolved if NSU had continued.   Obviously Audi do have some nostalgia for this idea, as the Pininfarina NSU Ro 80 concept is currently stored within the Audi Museum in Ingolstadt.

srcs: madle, carStyling,

 

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foto(s) of the day. Clio.

In my list of all-time favourite Top 5 hatchbacks, this would have to be in the list.  The superb Renault Clio V6

src: collaVerglas

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brochure of the day. SM

How beautiful are the funky 70s photos in this brochure of the exquisite 1973 Citroen SM!?

src: lovxlr8

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ad of the day. “styling so hairy….”

I think my Detroit roots are catching up with me these days—-as i’ve been thinking more and more about cars like the AMC Javelin. I’ve always found the design of the Javelin to be….well…..challenging.  While there’s no denying that the Mark Donahue Trans-Am Javelins looked incredible….the street version has always been challenging!  All in all though, i think it’s a tremendously unique design.  Very appropriate for its era.  Look at those wheel arch bulges!

You have to love a car whose ad calls its styling “hairy”!

 src: hugo90

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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!

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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

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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

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video of the day. 2012 Sebring 12 hours.

DRIVE has done a fantastic job editing this……these days, my absolute favourite form of motorsport is endurance racing……watch this 15 minutes and you’ll see why!

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Homevideo: 1967 European delivery of a Porsche 912.

This is such a fantastic home video, of a man named George taking a trip to Stuttgart to pick up his (then new) Porsche 912 from the factory!  The authenticity of this video is just great.  George is seemingly still an active member of the 912 community and still has his 912—-45 years later.  He states it has 175k miles on it and that it was a daily driver for 15 years.

Thanks to Dan for the tip on this video:

Head here to read George’s words about taking this delivery 45 years ago HERE

the video:

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foto of the day. R18

1-2 finish at Sebring this weekend with the Audi R18 dominating……fantastic!

src: photo taken by Nick Busato from L’endurance

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Sebring 12 Hours Race: Streaming live online.

Audi qualified 1-2-3 for this with the glorious R18.  There are 9+ hours left in the race, so go to ESPN3 to watch this live now!

Make sure you select the “ALMS” race on the right hand menu.

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spotted. 505.

i love these. i almost never see these.  i drive about 3 hours a day— and today i saw a Peugeot 505.

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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

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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

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ad of the day. 99.

the fantastic Saab 99 and an ad from 1971.

src: periodPaper

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picnic!

I’m still trying to figure out if there is a woman lighting her head on fire in the red Renault 4 photo.

src: blenheimGang

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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:

 

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