IEDEI

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/05/mystery-supercar-may-be-all-new-lotus-codenamed-project-eagle/

automotive, business, cars, iedei, vintage

IEDEI Investigation! Pantera?

So back in 2007 and 2008, there was a mystery supercar being spotted around the UK——people thought it was a Lotus or a McLaren prototype. I remember reading that it was the next generation Esprit, the early working prototype of the MP12, and even heard Noble being thrown around.

speculation:

http://www.egmcartech.com/2007/09/28/spy-shots-mystery-supercar-is-it-a-lotus-esprit-mclaren-or-noble/

Eventually, some people decided that it was some obscure, unknown supercar known as the “MCE MC1”, which has since dissappeared into nowhereland. Here’s the original article Car published on the matter:

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/News/Search-Results/First-Official-Pictures/MCE-MC1-supercar/

pics from that time:

So i had forgotten about this car—–even though they ‘claimed’ it was something called the “Spectre” or “MCE”.

Yesterday, my friend Ron Southern, who is a fellow Audi TT owner and a De Tomaso Pantera owner and enthusiast, showed me this. THE SAME car exiting the grounds of the De Tomaso factory! Could it be that this is after all the ‘new’ De Tomaso Pantera? It certainly looks 100% the same as the 2007 car which was mysteriously being spotted around town. This video was uploaded on YouTube May 2nd, 2011.

Video:

So it seems that either that is a new Pantera OR a car that is being evaluated by the newly resurrected De Tomaso as a possible base for a Pantera.

Tagged 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, de tomaso factory, de tomaso pantera, detomaso pantera, factory, lotus esprit, mce mc1, mclaren, mystery uk supercar

May32011

6 Comments

automotive, cars, design, iedei

Noble M600 (now w/ video)

I absolutely love the shape of this car—i’m not exactly why this supercar speaks to me design-wise that few others do—maybe it is the ‘long’ tail feature or maybe it’s just the functional integrity of it being another insane Noble. But it is stunning….

I see bits of Lotus Elise, Audi R8, vague Lamborghini and Ferrari. But the end product is something fantastic.

Noble M600.

you can pick if the car should be 450, 550, 650hp—in the same car! nice.

Here’s the TOP GEAR review!

Tagged blue, fotos, noble m600, photos, wallpaper

May22011

automotive, cars, F1, iedei, racing, sports

most authentic F1 onboard footage around…

Jalopnik found this amazing footage of Bruno Senna holding a cell phone and taping him screwing around in his F1 car at SPA. Totally unique video, gives a very different more chaotic interpretation of the feeling of being in an F1 car. Bruno Senna is a superstar for making this and uploading it himself!

Tagged bruno senna, cell phone, f1 car, mobile, spa, video, youtube

May22011

automotive, cars, iedei, vintage

foto of the day. Cq.

one of my favourite Audis—-the B3/B4 Audi Coupe quattro—gets overlooked because of the Ur quattro, but that just makes them even better—so cool. I still want one….

Tagged 1990, 1991, audi 90, audi coupe quattro, b3, b4, black, lowered, wallpaper

May12011

automotive, cars, design, iedei, vintage

Mercedes-Benz C111-3

What a stunning concept this was—-in a series of MB “C” concepts. This one, in particular, reminds me of those 1930s Silver Arrow streamline design studies…

Tagged 1977, 70s, aerodynamic, concept, mercedes-benz c111-3, silver

May12011

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

iPad: motoring stuff.

My lovely wife bought me an iPad last weekend. It’s an amazing device—-beautiful to use and full of utility. I am currently in the process of comprehensively reviewing a monumental amount of scientific knowledge for an upcoming examination—-and the iPad is like a saint that has come to help me out. It is brilliant. That being said—-there are tons of e-magazines available for the iPad related to cars—and i downloaded a few of the ‘free’ apps namely by BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Porsche. I have to say that each one is entertaining and beautifully put together, especially for free. Apparently they will supply new issues as they are made….very cool. Here are some screencaps I took with the iPad of these 4 apps. BTW, the Mercedes application is just amazing—-it goes through their entire automotive history with photos and 2 minute audio summaries. Very cool, again.

Tagged app, apps, audi, bmw, bmw magazine, car magazines, ipad, ipad applications, iphone, ipod touch, magazines, mercedes-benz, porsche, porsche pad cinema

April302011

automotive, cars, iedei

foto of the day. 99.

I love the Saab 99—-so much character. This is from a front page of a 1971 catalogue for the car.

Besides that, i think Saab have the best font usage of any carmaker over the years.

http://saab99.org

April292011

automotive, cars, iedei, television

Ferrari who?

the absolutely remarkable Lamborghini Aventador.

Tagged italy, lamborghini aventador, video

April292011

automotive, cameras, cars, films, iedei, vintage

“C’Etait Un Rendez-Vous”: the Mercedes that could.

I first saw “C’Etait Un Rendez-Vous” about 7 years ago, and was absolutely blown away by it. I used to watch it every day for a while. A couple of years later, after speaking to a ‘car guru’ friend of mine, I learned that the car in the short film was NOT a Ferrari 275 GTB, but a Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9, which was later admitted in interviews by Claude Lelouch, maker of the film. Since then, i’ve made it my duty to point this out to almost everyone who seems to think it is a Ferrari 275 GTB, the same thing I USED to think—until i was told the truth.

The sound of the engine, has been rumoured to be overdubbed from a Ferrari 275 GTB, something I feel to be consistent with the sound—unless proven otherwise by some other documentation.

I found this sweet photo of Mr. Lelouch mounting his camera kit on the SEL @ The Torrible Zone

(2nd grainy photo from IDCMB.com)

I’ve seen this clip about a million times, but I suppose for context and for people who have never seen it—-it is worth reposting here.

Tagged c'etait un rendez-vous, c'etait un rendezvous, camera, car, claude lelouche, driving, ferrari 275 gtb, film about driving through paris, filmed, interview, mercedes-benz 450 sel 6.9, paris, story, truth, truth behind, what car was it?

http://www.vongestern.com/2011/03/5-autowerbungen-aus-den-70er-jahren.html

Advertising, automotive, cars, iedei, vintage

ad of the day. Interceptor

Jensen Interceptor, 1971

automotive, cars, iedei, racing, vintage

video of the day. Alfa Romeo Junior Z @ Tsukuba.

Yes it is slow as a fat cow’s balls—but that’s not the point here! One of my favourite Alfas, with that glorious sound on one of my favourite tracks in the world.

automotive, cars, iedei, television, vintage

The return of Evo magazine’s Project Veyrog!

A couple of years ago, Evo Magazine bought a MK1 Audi TT 225 Coupe to modify and turn into a track day monster—the car’s progress had been updated through the Autumn of 2009, and then it fell off the face of the earth. Well it is back, and will be doing track days all summer. Good stuff; i’ll be following along.

automotive, cars, iedei

Chris Harris finds out more about the Porsche GT3 RS 4.0

Epic car.

automotive, cars, iedei, vintage

foto of the day. M3.

The first REAL car (not counting KITT from Knight Rider & Dukes Of Hazzard’s General Lee—or the Batmobile, or any other crazy TV show car!) I ever got obsessed with—-like i-want-to-drive-one-now….when i was 9 years was the BMW E30 M3. For a long time, I thought I would just wait til I got older and buy one——-now, however, it seems that everyone else who wanted one, has bought them while they were cheap—-and have RUINED them by cheesy modifications and unoriginality. I rarely see a non-bastardized E30 M3 anywhere. I still would like to own one of these in the future, as it would go lovely with a urquattro in the same garage. I find myself checked into reality by knowing that there are already very few well kept cars around, and there will be even less available by the time i start looking for one. A shame, really….

(this one, in the photo—is actually an M3 Evolution Sport—which never came to the US market, as far as I know)

http://www.fourtitude.com/news/publish/Features/article_6779.shtml

5 Comments

automotive, cars, iedei, rally, vintage

5-Cylinder Fury: Audi TT-RS & Audi Sport quattro

Fourtitude has posted some absolutely STELLAR photos of the absolutely legendary Audi Sport quattro and the new heir to the throne and future classic Audi TT-RS. Obviously, being the Audiphile that I am—i was overcome with excitement frantically downloading every glorious photo I could. Here are some of my favourites. Follow the link here to see the whole huge gallery of Audi porn.

It is a great article as well, with a link to the gallery of 100+ photos at the bottom right hand side of the page:

Tagged 5 cylinder, audi tt-rs and audi sport quattro, audi urquattro, best sounding cars ever, old and new, rally, together, turbo, ur quattro

automotive, cars, iedei, racing

all types of hotness. GT3 RS 4.0.

(photo from Jalopnik)

I am a HUGE fan of the Porsche 911 GT3—–so i got all hot and bothered when I saw that they are offering a ‘special edition’ 911 GT3 RS 4.0.

This video is filled with a strange german man who moves his hands around too much—-but the car itself is all types of hotness. Who really cares what supercars are doing, when something this fantastic exists? Limited to 600 cars. $185k a pop.

Tagged new 2012 911 gt3, porsche gt3 4.0 rs, special edition

April262011

automotive, cars, iedei, rally

foto of the day. monaco hatch.

The engine of the year for us in the USA is most definitely the new 2.5L 5 cylinder turbo that is being introduced in the TT-RS this autumn. The TT-RS is probably the most exciting sports car being released on US shores in 2011 after the truly remarkable BMW 1M. I had a conversation with Audi Of America’s product manager today about the imminent launch of the car. The details are still in their final stages, but the first cars will be delivered in the early Autumn it seems. Exciting stuff—especially as I have a few friends ordering one. For anyone here interested—ordering guides are now available from Audi dealers across the US—pricing, however, is not finalized yet. The car will be arriving, however, with the upgraded 360hp “RS Plus” configuration. It’s gonna be an epic daily driver…

So here’s a car which shares the glorious engine….but a car which will never make it to US shores in this form—-that being said, the 2013 Audi A3 which is slated for US shores may end up with an RS3 version with the same glorious engine—so all is not lost!

Tagged audi rs3, audi tt-rs, details, monaco, ordering, usa

April262011

5 Comments

automotive, cars, iedei, racing, television, vintage

Top Gear Alfa Romeo Challenge.

If you haven’t seen this episode of Top Gear—-it is a classic!

Tagged alfa romeo challenge, top gear

April262011