Vice takes an inside look at the exotic rental car business in Miami.
Vice takes an inside look at the exotic rental car business in Miami.
These two SUVs are insanely fast by road car standards. But which one is best?
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 New York Auto Show finished its run on Sunday evening and was home to a multitude of concept and full debuts, including Lincoln’s Navigator concept (complete with a massive gullwing door) and Mazda’s MX-5 Targa Retractable. This year, the show wasn’t nearly as glitzy as previous years, but I had an enjoyable day all the same. Although I wasn’t intent on taking as many photos (as I had spent a massive amount of time at L.A. a few months back), there was still plenty to see. Fiat showed off the new 124 Abarth, and Porsche had the 911R on display for all to see, just ahead of the new 718 Boxster roadster. Enjoy the brief gallery of what was on display this past week, with some more to follow. Continue reading New York International Auto Show General Gallery
Here is our first round of highlights from the 2016 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. There were so many incredible cars, of various eras, present that it’ll take a few of these galleries and numerous individual features to cover them all.
Racing legend, Hans-Joachim Stuck (pictured above), was the guest of honor. He rolled up during the award ceremony at the wheel of the Porsche 962 in which he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was epic!
Best in show awards went to a 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Town Car with some fancy coachwork (see below), and also to a 1952 Pegaso Z-102 Cupula Coupe, which was my personal favorite car at the show, as well. The Pegaso had a unique color scheme of bright yellow with red-wall tires and a pea green interior, and it’s striking curves and crafted details definitely made it the sight to be seen.
Enjoy this first highlight reel, and stay tuned for much more to come!
Continue reading 2016 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance Gallery 1
Some more shots from the Paddock of Laguna Seca during Monterey Car Week, here is a gallery of awesome racing cars, old and new.
I always love seeing the old pre-war racecars sitting right next to more modern racecars, like Group C, because it really puts in perspective how far the automobile has come in just a few decades. That said, the drivers of those older racing cars were men among men. Those cars were not especially slow at all, reaching over 100mph, but with very primitive technology.
Enjoy the spectacle!
Continue reading Various Racing Machines in the Laguna Seca Paddock
Who doesn’t love a good old woody? (we’re talking cars here…)
This 1948 Bentley Mk VI bodied by by Harold Radford is a magnificent example of just how elegant an old British woody can be. Known as the “Mk I Countryman” to Harold Radford coach builders, this Bentley represents just a handful of “Town and Country” type Bentleys built in the immediate post-war era.
Keep in mind, the first Bentley Mk VI was delivered just 16 months after the allies won the war in Europe. Built in the smoldering remnants of war-torn, bombed-out Britain, the Bentley Mk VI stands as a symbol of British prevalence after the war.
God save her majesty, and enjoy gazing at this beautiful car.
-Nick
At first sight I could’ve sworn this was a Delahaye, with its swoopy art-deco-looking lines. But no, it was indeed a slightly post-war Bentley.
More specifically, it was a Bentley Mk6 Convertible. One of the first cars to be built in the post-war era, a few Bentley Mk6s were fitted with custom coachwork, picking up the same approach as luxury cars before the war. This Bentley was styled by renown French design firm, Franay, and was featured at the Paris Auto Show in 1947. This Bentley was also the first car to win a major Concours d’Elegance after the war, as well, and went on to win many awards in the years since.
Imagine being in Paris in 1947, still surrounded by the carnage of WWII recovery, and seeing a car like this… it must have inspired people with an immense amount of hope. The world had gotten as dark as it had ever been in the years prior, but now thing were moving on, out of the catastrophe, to create a wondrous new world.
This might be the most unique-looking Bentley I’ve come across. French styling on a British car, it somehow really works!
-Nick Walker
Behold! Our second round of highlights from The Elegance at Hershey 2015. The show is always a spectacle of some of the finest pre-war cars around, with a few post-war cars thrown into the mix as well.
Enjoy this second highlight gallery, and look for even more from Hershey to come!
Yea I saw the new Porsche GT3 RS and yea I saw the new Lamborghini Aventador SV. For each I saw the photos and details and though, “Ok, next!” But then I saw this new Bentley sports car concept, and I still have yet to pick my jaw up off the floor. It is nothing short of magnificent!
It’s called the Bentley EXP 10 Speed 6 Concept, and it aprears to be a brand new entry-level model. If it makes it to production, which I imagine it will, it looks like it will take on the Jaguar F-Type, Porsche 911, Aston Martin Vantage, and Mercedes AMG GT. In short, the Speed 6 will be a Bentley Sports Car, and that’s not something they’ve made before.
What I’m really hoping for in the Speed 6 is a traditional Front-engine RWD architecture. VW doen’t currently have such a RWD car in their lineup and really could use one in my opinion. If there winds up being both RWD and AWD versions of the Speed 6, then I think Bentley will have another home run on their hands.
The engine is rumored to be a six cylinder, given the Speed 6 nameplate. I suspect it could likely be the twin turbocharged 3.6L V6 found in the Porsche Macan. The base model will probably have around the same “400hp” as the Macan Turbo, and the higher model Speed 6 will likely have over 500hp so it can run with the V8 F-Type.
We’ll see for sure if/when it makes it to production. But forget the numbers, and just look at the thing, it’s incredible! I sincerely hope that Bentley doesn’t water down the design and the fine details for the production version. This will be a six-figure car, and I think that wood grain, and those headlights will help it stand out from even the posh crowd at that level.
I think the Bentley Speed 6 will be a fantastic addition to the VW Group lineup, assuming they build it, of course. Let’s all just hope, and enjoy the photos for now.
-Nick Walker
We were in attendance for the Bucks County Exotics meet last Saturday morning. I had a bit of an unexpected late night the previous evening, so it took everything I could muster to climb out of bed and drive over to Doylestown, PA for the meet. It is a cars and coffee style event, and many great cars show up each time, everything from hot rods to classics to supercars. Bucks County is a great area to enjoy driving fun cars, with lots of winding back roads cutting through the woods, and lots of scenic destinations to visit. It also happens to be a pretty affluent area, so everything seems to add up nicely to make an event like the Bucks County Exotics car meet possible.
Enjoy the photos and captions!