It’s amazing how much a touch of turquoise can enrich the fine details of a car. This Rolls Royce Dawn would’ve been elegant, if even a little bland, were it not for its turquoise details in its finely crafted interior. It really makes the car “pop.”
It’s so swanky!
-Nick
A nice blue on different blue Duesenberg for your Wednesday! Don’t we wish America still made a car with this much class? We may be heading in the right direction, though.
-Nick
In this episode of Dirt Every Day, Fred Williams goes on an adventure with three other people, after buying a forty-four year old Jeep Wagoneer and getting it running again. I’ve always been a fan of old Jeep wagons myself, and the Wagoneers of the Seventies tend to get overlooked by the fancier, wood-paneled glitz-mobiles of the Eighties and Nineties. The shell of these didn’t change much over time, and it’s cool to see one like this when cleaned up and not glammed-up. Enjoy the video of an American treasure, brought back to life!
-Albert S. Davis
We got our first look at the new Bentley Bentayga SUV at the New York International Auto Show. Part of me doesn’t think it quite fits as a Bentley, the other part of me sees how it was a no-brainer for the Luxury SUV segment.
I think there’s little doubt the Bentayga will sell well. I mean, pretty soon you’ll be seeing them sprinkled around the Apple Store side of your local mall, right next to the Teslas. The question is does it help Bentley or hurt their brand identity?
-Nick
The BMW M4 is already a very fast high performance sports coupe, more than enough for most people. There are always those who want more, though, and for them BMW has now made this, the M4 GTS.
The M4 GTS has an extra helping of boost with special tuning to be a total track weapon. It comes as the latest member of BMW’s special M car lineup, which began with the 1990 E30 M3 Sport Evolution, and continued through the E36 M3 GT, the E46 M3 CSL, and the E92 M3 GTS and CRT. The M4 GTS, however is the first of these extreme BMWs that will be sold in the USA. That’s right, BMW is only building 700 M4 GTS units in total, but 300 of those will be making their way Stateside.
As you might imagine, prices will obviously be quite steep. When a loaded standard M4 costs around $80,000, the GTS has a base price of $133,000, and that number is very likely to go up on the secondhand market. So what makes the BMW M4 GTS so special compared to the standard M4? Well, BMW has boosted their claimed horsepower output from 425hp to 493hp via the implementation of a water injection system, which allows for more boost. They’ve also fitted some aero bits, a fully tunable suspension, and some nice wide sticky tires. All of this adds up to a Nurburgring time of 7:28, or “really freaking fast!” in layman’s terms.
We were lucky enough to catch this M4 GTS on display at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. These are going to be quite a rare sight when they hit the streets. Enjoy the photos!
Continue reading BMW M4 GTS at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance
Bitchin!
-Nick
This is a 1971 Lamborghini Miura SV. In fact, it is the first Miura SV, the one shown at the model’s debut at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show. You sure wouldn’t know it was over 40 years old, though, because it looks like it rolled off the production line a few hours ago.
This iconic Miura is the first restorative masterpiece of Lamborghini’s new factory restoration program, PoloStorico. While down at Amelia Island this year, Lamborghini was kind enough to send us an invite to their unveiling event. There, among some wonderful complimentary glasses of wine, we got to see the work of PoloStorico up close, as well as the massive grin on the owner’s face when the cover came off.
What’s really striking about this green Miura is just how perfect all of it’s minute details are. There are many nicely kept Miuras out there, but this thing was absolutely flawless. I mean, Lamborghini even re-did the paint job in the absolute period-correct way.
Calling this a restoration is almost a disservice because it’s really more a Miura reborn, nurtured to perfection again by its own mother. I’m quite sure Ferruccio is proud, wherever he is.
Enjoy the photos!
Continue reading Lamborghini PoloStorico and This Brand New (Again) 1971 Miura SV
This might be the cleanest custom Ford F-100 I’ve ever seen. The detail work on it is truly immaculate, right down to the rich wooden bed. It was featured in Classic Trucks Magazine, and the owner had the issue displayed proudly on the seat.
This is a spectacular work of automotive art. Enjoy the gallery!
Here’s Motor Trend’s test of the BMW M2, where they pit it against its bigger brother, the BMW M4.
Could the M2 possibly be better than the M4?
-Nick
We got our first, in-person look at the new Porsche 911R at the 2016 New York International Auto Show. With its 500hp 4.0L engine hooked to a manual gearbox, it’s definitely a proverbial golden calf for us Porsche enthusiasts.
Porsche is only building 991 examples of the 911R, so it won’t ever be a common sight. These cars are also so heavily sought after that those lucky 991 buyers will likely be able to flip their 911Rs (if they want to) for a healthy 6-figure profit.
The good news for everyone not getting a 911R is that Porsche has confirmed that the next 911 GT3 will come with the option of a manual gearbox. It would seem the clear demand in the secondhand market has gotten through to Porsche management, and they’ve realized the mistake they made with the first 991 GT3.
Despite the coming manual 991.2 GT3, the 911R will remain the only manual 991 equipped with the monstrous 4.0L flat-six, shared with the mighty GT3 RS.
There is no doubt that 911R values will be sitting up with the 997 GT3 RS 4.0 and GT2 RS on the secondhand market. This is a stratosphere Porsche to be sure.
-Nick Walker
I was sold on the electric car the second I experienced 0-84mph in a Tesla Model S P85D. It’s not just brutal acceleration, it’s brutal acceleration you can actually use from any speed, available immediately. Even just squirting from 0-30mph off a city stop light is a total riot. It is the kind of enjoyment you can only have in an electric car. There is no engine, no gears, and no delay. Thrills come simply at a push of the button, or pedal, in this case.
I thought Elon Musk summed up Tesla’s path brilliantly. Prove electric can be fun with the Tesla Roadster, then prove them practical and desirable with the Model S and Model X. But now comes the make or break moment for Tesla Motors, a truly affordable, mass-production car, the Tesla Model 3. It must be practical, it must be dependable, and it must be quite desirable to out-compete fierce competition.
Only time will tell for dependability, an issue that Tesla has been working on. Any new car company should expect some bumps in the road, it’s how they deal with them that counts. This factor gets greatly amplified as you move into the mass-market realm.
What we did find out last night in the short part one of the Tesla Model 3 reveal is that the car will be quite desirable and quite practical… so long as Musk’s promises are kept.
Continue reading The Tesla Model 3 looks promising if promises are kept
This beautiful Aston Martin DB AR1 by Zagato is definitely the modern Aston I’d most like to have in my own garage. It’s not the fastest Aston money can buy, nor the best built, and it’s definitely not the newest, either. But it is one of just 99 in existence, it’s beyond gorgeous, it’s a drop-top, and it has a sweet V12 engine that’s hooked up to a manual gearbox. In short, the DB AR1 Zagato is everything I want in my Aston Martin experience.
Even though there are only 99 of these things, we actually manage to see them fairly often. I guess DB AR1 owners just tend to enjoy going to concours events. This silver DB AR1 stood out to me on the show field at the Amelia Island Cars and Coffee. It’s an interesting color combo of bright pearlescent silver over a deep green leather interior.
I saw this same DB AR1 Zagato go by on the road the day before, and I went nuts. I just never get tired of looking at them for some reason.
Enjoy the photos!
Continue reading Aston Martin DB AR1 Zagato at Amelia Island
Mind Over Motor 