June 15, 2007
In a major setback to festivities surrounding the unearthing of a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere that had been buried in a time capsule in Tulsa, Okla., in 1957, a preliminary opening of the concrete vault revealed the car in several feet of water, according to the Associated Press and reported by CBS.
Hundreds of curious onlookers gathered to learn the secrets of a gold and white Plymouth Belvedere buried half a century ago under this city's courthouse lawn, according to the AP.
The 1957 two-door hardtop - buried to celebrate Oklahoma's 50 years of statehood - was encased in a 12-by-20-foot concrete vault, supposedly tough enough to withstand a nuclear attack.
Event officials already had to pump out several feet of water from the crypt that held the Belvedere for a half-century. But the condition of the car, wrapped in three layers of mud-caked protective material, remains a mystery.
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at 3:15 PM | Permalink
June 13, 2007
Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corp. says it's reached a deal with Healey Automobile Consultants Ltd., to bring back the Healey and Austin Healey nameplates, according to thecarconnection.com
The Chinese company, the new owner of the MG Rover brands and their Longbridge, U.K., factory, and the Healey group, said "they were delighted to announce their intention to collaborate with each other on the future development of the Healey and Austin Healey brands and sports cars bearing their name," according to a news release.
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French automaker Renault said vehicle sales slipped 4.2 percent in May from a year earlier to 214,358 amid competition from Asian brands and an older product lineup, according to the Associated Press.
Renault is hoping the launch of new and updated models in the second half of this year will arrest the slide and bolster prospects in 2008.
It is about to launch its latest version of the Twingo subcompact.
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June 12, 2007
Ford said it was reviewing its position on its Jaguar and Land Rover businesses, and union officials pressed for more information amid reports that the two brands were up for sale, according to the Associated Press.
John Gardiner, a spokesman for Ford's Premier Automotive Group, told Dow Jones Newswires that the company continued to review all of its global operations and all options were still on the table.
"I can confirm we're working with our financial advisers to determine the best way forward for Jaguar and Land Rover," Gardiner said.
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June 11, 2007
In coming weeks, Ferrari loyalists will gather to celebrate the 60th anniversary with festivities in Maranello that include a concours, a parade of racecars and the arrival of a relay tour that began Jan. 28 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and will have traveled through 50 countries over 148 days, according to The New York Times.
Plans to spread the Ferrari influence further yet are heading in a new, and perhaps unexpected, direction — a Ferrari theme park that is scheduled to open on an island in the Persian Gulf in 2009. The entertainment it will offer is intended to appeal to a range of car enthusiasts, from the Six Flags daytrippers to those whose dream is to someday own a vintage Testa Rossa or Daytona.
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June 5, 2007
Hyundai eads in five categories in the annual vehicle quality study released Monday by Strategic Vision Inc., a San Diego-based market research company and consultant to automakers, according to a report in the Associated Press.
Hyundai's rise in the rankings is only the latest sign of the improved overall quality and declining number of defects in today's cars and trucks, said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.
"They're coming together to a point where the differences are almost meaningless," Cole said.
He said that means buyers will pay increasing attention to dealer service, new technology, fashion features, price and fuel economy, AP reports.
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June 4, 2007
A 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante coupé that had been sitting untrouched in a garage outside New York City for 45 years sold yesterday for $852,500 (including Christie's 10 percent buyer's premium) at a Christie's auction at the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance in Greenwich, Conn.
The price was way over the auction house's estimate of $300,000 to $400,000 but as auctioneer Hugh Edmeades told me afterwards, there is no way to really value a car this rare and in such orginal condition. "They find their own level," he said.
The bidding for the car ended in a bullfight between noted restorer Wayne Carini of F40 Motor Sports in Portland, Conn., who was bidding on behalf of Connecticut contractor Joe Capasso and an unidentified telephone bidder.
As the levels went higher, the two bidders did everything they could to knock the other out. Sometimes they came back immediately with a price, sometimes they mulled and then delivered a steep increase in an attempt to deliver a killing blow. At times the crowd gasped and applauded following long gaps and sudden hits; at other times you could have heard a pin drop. Certainly Edmeades did not need to work the kind of auctioneer's magic he had used earlier to push the bidding higher.
But what am I doing - giving away a fabulous story that will appear in Wednesday's projoCARS section? Be sure to read it as one of the issues I will be addressing is the restoring vs conserving and preserving argument that this sale highlighted. Plus details of some of the other beauties that were sold and some of the flavor of this tony and amusing event.
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May 29, 2007
The car collecting world is buzzing about this weekend's auctio of a French grand touring car from 1938, a Bugatti Type 57C Atalante coupé, one of only about 40 built, that has been garaged since 1962, according to The New York Times.
The Atalante, owned by a member of one of New York’s most prominent families, has not moved from its garage space — it is now sandwiched between a old Farmall tractor and a 1949 Jaguar Mark V sedan — in a New York City suburb for 45 years. It will be auctioned on June 3 by Christie’s at the Greenwich Concours d’Élégance, at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park in Greenwich, Conn. Christie’s estimates the car will sell for $300,000 to $400,000.
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To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the movie “Smokey and the Bandit,” a Burt Reynolds romp that starred a 1977 black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, a driving event called the Bandit Run 2007 was held from May 15 to May 17, according to The New York Times.About 200 participants in 85 cars traveled the 660 miles from Texarkana, Tex., to Atlanta, the route traveled in the movie. The event was open to anyone; owning a Trans Am with gold striping and a “thunder chicken” graphic on the hood, was not required.
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May 21, 2007
1957 was a Golden Era for automobile design, but a fleeting one that would end before the year was out, according to a fascinating feature in The New York Times.
“I think 1957 was a high-water mark for Ford design; Chrysler as well,” said Greg Wallace, manager of General Motors’ Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, Mich.
The enduring popularity, not to mention collectibility, of Chevrolet’s 1957 cars “speaks for itself,” he said, adding, “The ’57 Chevy was quite simply the best-looking car of the entire postwar era.”
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Speaking at a taping of “Wait Wait ...Don’t Tell Me!” the quiz program on National Public Radio, Robert A. Lutz, vice chairman at General Motors, declared Thursday night that the Chevrolet Volt, the hybrid-electric concept car that G.M. unveiled at this year’s Detroit auto show, may be among the most important vehicles that G.M. has ever developed, The New York Times reports.
Lutz has long been considered one of Detroit’s ultimate “car guys,” for whom no vehicle could be big enough, powerful enough or fast enough. He is the father of the V-10 Dodge Viper and has championed automobiles like the 1,000-horsepower Cadillac Sixteen.
Lutz said he was more excited about the Volt that he was about the Dodge Viper. “I think this can bring about the revolution and really make us independent of foreign oil and solve all the other problems," he said.
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May 18, 2007
Is there any sexier car than the Jaguar XK120 which was launched in London in 1949 and became an overnight sensation? The two-seater sports car was powered by a duel overhead cam 3.4 litre inline 6 engine, the XK engine whose basic design was used until 1994; the 120 designation referred to the top speed of 120 m.p.h. making the fastest production car of its time.
Yes, it's fast. But the XK120 followed the Jaguar SS100 with the classic boxy lines that dominated prewar auto design. By contrast, the XK120 is all curves, raking back from a massive front end to the snug cockpit and bubble of a trunk. The hood is pure pudenda, flanked by the curved quarter panels whose lines lead right to the low slung doors.
Last week I took a short ride in John Sweeney's 1954 convertible XK120 around the back roads of Portsmouth. Sweeney, the former executive director of the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, had driven the white beauty down for a curtain raiser for Mark Hurwitz's 2007 Newport Concours d'Elegance which takes place May 26-28.
He told me he drives the car regularly and it certainly had plenty of pop for the few miles we spent on the road. He said the car easily does 85 m.p.h. on the highway and "doesn't even breathe hard at that speed."
He also said he never puts the top up because it is not only cumbersome but also unnecessary as the rain whips right over the car once he's powering along at 40 m.p.h. I didn't think to ask about sitting in traffic.
The 120 was succeeded by ever more powerful and more appointed versions - the XK140 and the XK150 - which included such luxuries as indicators (Sweeney used his arm to signal a turn), better brakes and rack and pinion steering - until 1961 when the more masculine and muscular looking E-Type Jaguar made its debut.
But for a few years, the world was blessed with a car that combined top-flight performance - a version of the XK120 won the Le Mans race in 1951 - with the most erotic design ever to grace the roads.
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May 2, 2007
If you have the money to buy a Lamborghini, then you have the money to have it modified anyway you want. Here's a squib from leftlanenews.com highlighting how some of the nouveau owners have had their Lambos altered.
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April 23, 2007
Will Nanjing Auto be coming to Oklahoma to assemble its new line of MG cars?There is some question about the deal, according to thecarconnection.com
The Chinese auto maker made plenty of headlines when it acquired the remains of the bankrupt British automaker, Rover. But it topped that act, last year, when the company announced plans to produce a new version of Rover's classic-reborn MGF sports car - at a plant in Oklahoma.
Since then, there've been a series of conflicting reports suggesting Nanjing/Rover has scuttled the deal. But reports of the death of the American MG have been greatly exaggerated - well, at least maybe, according to MG CEO Zhang Xin.
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April 10, 2007
Check out a video of Audi's RS8 tearing round the test track in Germany looking and sounding very unroad legal on thecarconnection.com. The car later caught fire and was largely destroyed but the driver got out safely.
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March 22, 2007
Forbes' Dan Lienert has assembled a list of mouth-watering beauties, starting with the $412,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom Dropdead - sorry, make that Drophead convertible. It will be available in September. Other corkers include the $1.2 million Bugatti Veyron 16.4 supercar, the $453,000 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren supercar and Monaco's $392,000 electric Venturi Fétish.
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March 20, 2007
Callaway Cars said it will unveil its C16 Cabrio at the New York International Auto Show, according to leftlanenews.com.The Cabrio is the convertible version of the Corvette-based speedster and was designed by Paul Deutschman who has a 20-year history working wiht Callaway.
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March 9, 2007
Bentley, one of the last of the old auto aristocrats, is considering offering hybrid and diesel versions of its luxury models, according to leftlanenews.com. Of course, the brand while ostensibly British, is owned by Volkswagen. Leftlanenews.com cites the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for the news.
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Ford is expected to sell Aston Martin, the iconic luxury brand, to iconsortium of business interests from America and the Middle East, headed by Prodrive founder and world rally championship owner David Richards, according to Britain's Daily Telegraph.
The deal is estimated to be worth $900 million. According to its Web site, Prodrive is is one of the world’s leading motorsport and automotive technology businesses, employing more than 1000 people at operations in the UK, USA, Germany, Thailand and Australia.
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March 7, 2007
Toyota introduced its Hybrid X concept car at the Geneva Motor show Wednesday which the auto giant says represents the future of its successful Prius. It's a 4-door conventional family car with a radical futuristic design that can be viewed at leftlanenews.com
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March 1, 2007
General Motors is shutting the production of its Monte Carlo coupe at its Oshawa plant in Canada in June, according to leftlanenews.com. Despite a model update and a new V8 and a slight uptick in sale in 2006, sales have fallen 60 percent early this year. In addition, Chevrolet expect sales of its 2008 Malibu to cut into potential Monte Carlo sales further.
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February 21, 2007
Audi will showcase its new A5 coupe at the Geneva Motor Show in March, according to a report in leftlanenews.com The coupe will marketed as a true 4-seater and with the engine tucked in behind the front wheels, handling is being touted as exceptional.
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Masarati is scheduled to introduce its new supercar at the Geneva Motor Show next month and the excitement over the 405-horsepower GranTurismo is stoking talk of an
alternative to Ferrari, according to an article in Top Gear magazine Check out the branded tridents on the rims!
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