One of my favourite vintage japanese cars from one of my favourite vintage japanese brands, the Isuzu Bellett:
photo taken by: Bruce Upton
Lancia logos.
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
foto of the day. RS 2.6.
The 150hp, Ford Capri RS 2.6
Ford’s freaky visions of the future.
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.
foto of the day. 911R.
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
neu Audi S8.
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
art of the day. vintage Elite manual.
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.
joined at the hip/evolution.
Mercedes-Benz 220S Coupe:
Mercedes Benz E-Class Coupe (2011)
i can daydream….
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.
R8 facelift spotted!
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!!!
ugly of the day. SLK 55 AMG.
what in the world are MB thinking? This has to be one of THE ugliest profile pictures of a ‘sports car’ i’ve ever seen. Being someone who has always had a soft spot for the previous generations of the SLK AMG, i’m definitely not holding the new one to those regards…ouch.
VW Up!
I am a huge fan of small euro hatchbacks. They are fun to drive, practical, and get the job done! Since the original Beetle and Golf, VW have struggled to come up with a cheap, useable, attractive car that can be used by the masses. I have to say that my experiences with the euro VW Polo were impressive, and i think the Polo is a great car—–but still not ‘common’ enough to make a global impact. I am gonna hope that the new Up! gets the job done. Why? It is a 3-cylinder rear-engined 4-seat hatchback. Back to the glory days of VW, innit? It doesn’t look ‘charming’ like the original Beetle, but times have changed—-i stand corrected—-it is not rear-engined any more! However this Up! does come with a nice, clean, minimalist design. It remains to be seen if this car makes it over here. At a starting price of 8500 Euros, the Up! will surely make an impact IMO.
This is how you make a cool subcompact, Fiat—-not an overpriced, overstyled piece of crap! I just wish VW would have stuck to the rear-engined format.
source: Autocar
foto of the day. Osca.
i love all these old Oscas, this is the Osca MT4 Vignale Berlinetta
Bugatti Type 252.
photo by Laurent Duchene (note: this is probably a replica, as the original car doesn’t have wire wheels)
This has to be my new favourite historical Bugatti. Produced only as a prototype between 1957 and 1962, it was the ‘last’ Bugatti proposed by the original Bugatti company before it was sold and shut down for many years. Apparently the car was proposed several times looking for investors to put it into proper production, however it never happened; apparently one ONE actual car exists, however the internet is flooded with photos of replicas. The actual car is kept in French car museum.
I wish they would have made this car….it reminds me in many ways of the Porsche 550 in its size and purity of form. Obviously it would have been more expensive than a 550 if it were produced, but it would have been lovely to see more of these around. Not much information found online about the car—so much of its story has been kept low key.
more pics, gathered over time and some from mycarblog.org
(these are pics of the ORIGINAL car, belonging to the french museum in Mulhouse)
Kia (K9) RWD concept.
Peter Schreyer heads up the Kia design team at the moment, and he is of course the person who led Audi out of the dark days and into the light with designs such as the 8N MK1 Audi TT, B5 A4, C5 A6, and many other great designs. This is Schreyer’s latest design for Kia.
This is Kia’s foray into the wide world of luxury sedans, and supposedly going to be named the “K9” which, I have to say is a completely juvenile choice in name—reminds me of a clumsy police unit on an old TV show. But the design? It looks fantastic. Sure there are cues of the ‘coupe-sedan’ trend that’s going on, and Schreyer has always added Audi bits into his Kia designs (in this case, a healthy bit of A7 swooping)—but this looks fresh and edgy, almost making me think that if Lamborghini introduced a sub-$100k sedan—it would probably look like this. I hope they build it.
Oh, and Jaguar need to pull their heads out of their asses and hire a guy like Schreyer to design stuff like this for them…i could definitely see this car with a Jaguar badge more than a Kia badge.
and look at the side-view mirrors…they are video cameras! SWEET!
source: Road & Track
foto of the day. A310.
to follow up the video of the day, a classic pic of an Alpine A310, giving you an idea of its overenthusiastic wheel arches and over the top body kit—-but i still love it so! this one is from 1978, if my notes are correct.
video of the day. A310.
an Alpine Renault A310 1800, to be specific, soldiering through the twisties! lovely!
foto of the day. A3.
my 2012 Audi A3 quattro...parked in Brooklyn. It’s so cool to own a 2012 car in 2011!
With each passing day, I love the A3 even more…..what a wonderful car it is in every way!
IEDEI 