I don’t like the rear end—-what is going on with the rear end? the rest looks very 997-ish, just a bit longer and taller in the rear. Not sure what the source of these photos are, as I haven’t seen them anywhere else….but thanks to Jyoteen for sharing them!
Yes these are all expensive. Yes they are all on sale now in the US market. Yes, most of them are german. Yes, you could have probably predicted these a mile away if you know anything about me. Yes, I think they’re all badass and I want them all!
Here is my current list (in no order, really).
Aston Martin AMV8/V8 Vantage: I still think it’s the best looking sports car around, perfectly proportioned, small in size, and just beautiful from any angle. Just classic.
Audi A7: I used to think the Maserati Quattroporte was the best looking sedan in the world, until i saw an Audi A7 parked NEXT to a Quattroporte in California—-and the A7 trumped it in pretty much every way. Amazing and just drop dead gorgeous.
Porsche 911 (997): After the bulbous 993 and the weird 996, Porsche really hit their stride with the 997. Of course a brand new 991 is coming next year, which should show the 911 growing in size and stature—however i’m pretty sure the 997 will be valued for years to come, as most Porsches are after they stop production.
Audi R8: I have seen an R8 side by side with the Gallardo, and hand-over-heart-put-my-Audi-fanboy-tendencies-aside, it is a much cooler looking design than the Lambo ever was. The R8 has a much taller greenhouse, and somewhat of an awkward stance, but somehow it works very well with its bulgy curves, look-at-me sideblade, and big grinning mouth. The car looks much more sinister, grounded, and menacing in real life than it does in any photograph
AND where the shit hits the fan…
Porsche Panamera: I love the Panamera. It is a stunning design which has grown on me consistently with every passing month. I started off wondering how they could f*ck up the car so bad, and then suddenly found myself looking at it thinking “do i actually like it?” to now feeling that it is simply the most aggressive and creative interpretation of what a Porsche ‘sedan’ should be. Yes it is awkward, yes it is not nearly as chiseled and pretty as an A7, yes it is a bit over the top, yes it is weird—but it’s so uncool that it is savagely cool!
Yeah I don’t give a crap about Ferrari—it’s a vulgar company who have built the most overrated, cheesy, and overhyped cars of my lifetime. They’re like the ‘jocks’ of the automotive world…ready to strangle automotive journalists with their sweaty, annoying jockstraps.
BUT TODAY I read a statement by Luca Di Montezemelo (CEO of Ferrari) which made my heart turn all fuzzy and warm—although the statement involves Ferrari’s future plans, what warmed my heart is their resistance to join the overwhelming surge of electric cars. My favourite marques Audi and Porsche have also recently joined into the electric car frenzy with their own projects; which has caused me a certain amount of interest to see what they’ve come up with, but a certain amount of disappointment at them selling out to the frenzy.
What did Mr. Di Montezemelo say?
“You will never see a Ferrari electric because I don’t believe in electric cars, because I don’t think they represent an important step forward for pollution or C02 or the environment.”
Very cool. I’m glad someone had the balls to say it. Too bad his next line was “But we are working very, very hard on a Hybrid Ferrari”…..oh well, i didn’t expect them to completely stray off the beaten path.
source: Left Lane News
the original brochure for the Triumph Bonneville from 1959. Badass.
link with waaaay too much information for a motorcycle novice such as myself! ha!
http://1959triumphbonneville.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-quest-to-prove-or-disprove-existence.html
I grew up in Detroit, and was surrounded by muscle cars growing up—-but my favourite ones were the ones i did not see that often; hence my liking of the 1967 Mercury Cougar, the understated brother to the Ford Mustang. If i had to pick a muscle car for my dream garage, this would be the one!
Quattroworld has a great feature about Don Istook and his long-time Audi racing history–including Ur quattros, S4s, and TTs–culminating recently in his delivery of the 1st North American TT-RS. Fellow Audiphiles will surely appreciate the stories about his previous race cars that he built from the ground up, as well as some of his perspectives about these cars and experiences.
“Now, what I didn’t mention was that we got the truckload of parts on Friday…and we had to race Saturday morning! Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day…but I WAS racing at Road Atlanta in the early 80’s when Jo helped out Tom Brennan, after Tom had written off one of the Porsche factory D Production 924’s. Jo secured a brand new 924 D Production tub for Tom…had it shipped to the track…and that car WAS literally built in one day…made the DP race and finished 2nd!! So, with that in mind…we got all the “stuff” put on the car and just made the grid for the start of the race.”
LINK: quattroworld
my mate Christian Keller posted these great photos from the Oldtimer GP at the Nurburgring, and you can find many other great photos HERE at his Flickr link:
my friend Xander Walker really does some great artwork, as previously seen on this blog—-so here is his most recent art print with the legendary Bertone Stratos Zero Concept. Each print is $60 and ltd. edition of 50 prints.
the beautiful Mercedes-Benz F800 Concept introduced in 2010, I have it on good accounts that this car will make it to production in late 2012 as a 2013. It will slot in under the C-class Mercedes and be going up against the A3 Sedan and the next generation (painfully ugly) 1-Series.
the ‘new’ Fiat 500 is one ugly car……super tall, oddly out of proportion, and decorated like a child’s toy. I only like the fact that it has a ‘Fiat’ badge on it; otherwise it sucks. I parked next to one earlier today, and was appalled by the comparison of size.
Mercedes-Benz 300SL winning at Le Mans in 1952…
Sorry there have been no updates, as I am away all week in California. More stuff next week. Cheers!
arguably the first Porsche developed as the VW “Aerocoupe” by Dr. Porsche shown here in 1939.
I’ve always loved the Miura and the Espada, but the 3rd classic Lamborghini which i’ve always loved is the Islero. Arguably rarer than the other 2 (only 225 Isleros were made), completely underappreciated, and in my opinion easily one of the coolest cars made in the 60s. why? because it may be the most understated Lamborghini ever made—-with classic coupe lines designed by (unknown at the time) Mario Marazzi, handsome & unique profile, one-of-a-kind taillights, and much improved driving dynamics to 350 and 400gt. The Islero never really caught on as it was overshadowed by the Espada at the time, however I think it’s a damn shame—-as this is truly the gentleman’s Lamborghini. Supposedly Ferrucio was more involved with this car’s development than any other Lamborghini which came out under his name…
i don’t like the summer…in fact i think it sucks….people are annoying, nyc streets are filled with losers, and i don’t like sweating. BRING BACK the winter and bring back the good times! I can’t wait til i get the new car out onto the slopes.
here’s a video to let me daydream a bit……the big daddy version of my A3….the delicious RS3 (not sold in the US, or else it would have 100% been mine)
Hard to believe that after 2 years & 11 months, this is the 1000th post for the IEDEI Blog. I thank everyone who comes here once in a while to check out the site, and for the cool people i’ve met and spoken with over e-mail about automobiles, motoring, lifestyle, and cool stuff.
I started IEDEI because I felt i thought too much about cars and wanted to share some stuff with people—-not much has changed, and I hope to continue sharing stuff and finding more great stuff from other people.
cheers & and thanks for staying in touch,
-Syed
a 1965 Gilbern GT 1800, to be precise! I love these Gilberns, recently discovered the GT after reading about the Invader.
(photo by: Patrick Jammes)
(photo from WSJ of proposed location of track)
(thanks to Stampchez [qw] for the tip!)
Being a NYC resident, i’m hugely excited by this article. We have heard this all before, as a couple of years ago there was some buzz about F1 coming to Liberty State Park in New Jersey—-but this time, there seems to be some positivity regarding the possibilities.
DO IT BERNIE, you sad old geeza!
link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903341404576484073501204538.html8
When i was a kid i LOVED the Honda CRX. Maybe because it was small, maybe because it looked like a pure sports car, maybe because it came in cool bright colours, maybe because it just looked badass! I’m not sure why the CRX was discontinued. The car Honda released as a successor was more of a rival for the Mazda Miata—-and had sort of lost the plot of the original CRX. The Del Sol was much different, with a weird targa roof and sort of a more california beach car look….i still liked the Del Sol when it came out, but not nearly as much as i loved the CRX.
Last year, Honda introduced the CR-Z, which is clearly a hommage to the original CRX. I have to say i am NOT a fan—the car looks more like a Prius or an Insight rather than the original CRX. The rear is way too high, the front is way too overstyled, and the car is just too big. What a shame…..Honda wonders why their sales are plummeting in the US market—-it’s not hard to figure out why. They are producing bland, Honda-by-the-numbers. Even their attempt at an ‘interesting’ CRX-redux resulted in a weird looking hybrid that doesn’t appeal to people like us who loved the CRX growing up.
MK1 CRX:
MK2 CRX:
CR-Z:
Audi have just one their first ever Spa 24 hours race with a GT3-class R8 LMS. The class is HIGHLY competitive, and the R8 beat out Porsche, BMW, Aston Martin, Mercedes and many other manufacturers for their first ever win at the 63rd running of the legendary Belgian endurance race. The 2nd place finishers (BMW) were a full 2 laps behind the R8….
WELL done!
more details about the race here:
http://www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk/2011/07/2011-total-24-hours-of-spa-audi-complete-spa-domination
photos via Audi Sport
*sigh*
from TuningFever (with some modification)
So yeah i’m still gushing about my new car, every day I drive it, i love it even more. A couple of days ago, I realised that I hadn’t actually seen what the headlights and taillights looked like at night, so i got out of the car and looked. The attention to detail is beautiful. The headlights have LED lighting across the top, angling down—with bi-xenon primary headlights. The look is just evil! The taillights, are using piped LED tubes—which lead to quite a dramatic effect.
IEDEI 
