Autocar’s Steve Sutcliffe is the first journalist to wield the new LaFerrari, and he brings up some very good insights about the car. I’ve seen a few of the other reviews now, as well, and the consensus seems to be that the LaFerrari feels a lot like a 458 Italia with an extra 360 Modena under the hood… just take a second to digest that.
I’ve been lucky enough to sample both a 458 and a 360, and both were quite rapid in their own right. Imagining the LaFerrari as being the sum of both is just mind-boggling to me. It must be an unbelievable experience. Enjoy the video!
It’s not often that I see a Rolls-Royce Silver Spur in a color as noticeable as this one. Most of them are muted grays, blues, or black, or a nice off-white. Not this one, though. This rather rare Mulliner Park Ward model is a crisp Carmine Red with a gorgeous magnolia white interior featuring offset piping. I spoke to the owners, who had on display their red daily driver, a St. James Red Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed. Red chairs, red Bentley, red Rolls, red shirts, red shorts. I’m not sure what their favorite color was, but I’m sure it’s not British Racing Green. Among the few Spurs I have seen in my years, this Silver Spur V looked fantastic and the red paint shined brightly in the blue, sun-kissed Florida sky. With blinding chrome, classic whitewall tires, and gorgeous solid wood trim on the inside, this Spur looks ready for the spotlight. Enjoy the photos. Continue reading Rolls-Royce Silver Spur IV Mulliner Park Ward at Festivals of Speed Amelia Island, 2014→
Purple has never looked this intimidating before. This 1959 Corvette, in its purple and white paint job and black interior, was a mainstay in the SCCA-B Production racing class during the late Fifties and early Sixties. With mechanical fuel injection and a 283 sitting under the hood, this racer won all but one of the events it was entered in 1959. Nickey Chevrolet, a performance mainstay of the time, fitted the Corvette with heavy-duty racing parts such as a larger fuel tank, safety chains, and a roll bar, along with a smaller windshield. However, the rest of the car is as it was out of the factory, with factory stock heavy-duty suspension and the (by the end of that very season) race-proven Rochester fuel injection. It shined brightly amongst its ‘Vette companions at Amelia Island, with the purple paint job being about as subtle as a smashed grape on a white kitchen floor. Enjoy the photos. Continue reading Purple People Eater 1959 Corvette at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, 2014→
Drive takes us inside Koenigsegg, this time giving us a look at the design and process behind their new One:1’s special carbon fiber wheels. As stated in the video, the wheels are one of the most important parts of a car to make light, but they also require a lot of strength. Carbon fiber seems the perfect material then. Enjoy.
Few cars can match the romance, beauty, or allure of the Ferrari Daytona. I have seen a select few of these over the years and this wasn’t the only one in the area that weekend last month at Amelia Island, but it was the first car that I found myself actually chasing down all weekend. The Daytona came rumbling out of the parking garage while Nick was busy driving the Viper, so I had nothing else to do but watch the streets for interesting cars. I’d say it was worth me breathing like a pack-a-day smoker to get some pictures of this classic V12 coupe. It was a balmy 49 degrees while I was gaping at the Daytona, so the engine was putting out smoke and making everything smell nice and old. The yellow color especially set this car off from the gray skies and the gray backdrops of the parking lots and the Ritz Carlton. There’s no reason not to want a car as pretty as this in any weather, anywhere. Enjoy the photos. Continue reading Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona at Amelia Island→
Anyone can get excited about driving a viciously fast Ferrari or a swaggin’ Bentley, but the mark of a true car or driving enthusiast is their equal excitement at the thought of driving something quirky, like a Citroen 2CV. Chris Harris has one, and in this episode of his segment on the Drive Network, he takes us out in it to show us what the 2CV is all about.
Here’s some news for you. At one point Israel had a short stint building cars. No, not tanks or army Jeeps. They had a little sports car they could call their very own. This car, shown here at the Scarsdale Concours last fall, is called the Sabra. This is a 1967 model. The Sabra was named because the colloquial meaning of the phrase in Hebrew is “born in Israel” and the cactus logo is known as the “sabra”. Israel manufactured another car before this known as the Sussita–Yitzhak Shubinksy requested Reliant Auto produce a small sports car (yes, the same Reliant Auto that produced the hilariously incompetent Reliant Robin and Reliant Regal), which they did in a scant 9 months’ time. Unfortunately, due to the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in 1967, production was cut short. A total of just 171 were made during its life, and a scant 41 made it to the United States. The owner was gracious enough to show it at the Scarsdale Concours this past fall. While it isn’t the prettiest car in the world (far from it), it is certainly unique and drew a solid crowd of its own that afternoon. Enjoy the pictures. Continue reading 1967 Sabra at the 2013 Scarsdale Concours→
I’m a sucker for Hudson’s “Step Down” styling and engineering of 1949-1954. These were some of the first American cars to utilize advanced body and chassis manufacturing techniques after the war was over and the effort paid off on the track. In NASCAR’s early days, the Hudsons were almost utterly unstoppable thanks to their design. The body and chassis were a semi-single unit and the floor was placed lower than the frame rails, which enabled passengers to “step down” into the interior (hence the phrase). This saved weight and also lowered the vehicle, improving handling. When paired up with the later “Twin-H-Power” straight-six engine, the later Hornets were unbeatable on the track in their day, dominating the field in the early Fifties, with 27 of 34 Grand National wins in 1952, 22 of 37 in 1953, and 17 of 37 in 1954. Three of these Hudsons were up for auction at the Hollywood Car Auction at Amelia Island, and all three of them sold. The yellow 1949 Commodore convertible sold for $73,000 before buyer’s premium. The two Hornet sedans up for sale were later models (the burgundy is a 1953 model, while the black one was a ’52). The black 1952 sedan sold for $62,000 and the burgundy 1953 sedan sold for $87,500. Enjoy the photos.
Going off of the feature we did earlier today, it seemed prudent to share a recent episode of Jay Leno’s Garage where Jay gets behind the wheel of the Porsche 918. Here’s to hoping we find a way to try one out for ourselves sometime, but until then enjoy this.
On this segment of Jalopnik on Drive we get an inside look at a man, Bruce Turk, who is probably America’s most obsessed Saab enthusiast and collector. These quirky cars inspire the hearts of many people, and Bruce is a great example of how to Saab properly. Enjoy!
Drive takes us inside the new Koenigsegg One:1. The car is named after its power to weight ratio (1hp/1kg) and Koenigsegg claims it to be the first “megacar” because it produces 1 megawatt of power (1360hp). Great video!
Mind Over Motor 