Here’s something that might be worth picking up at an auction – that is if you have at least £5.5 million in your pockets.
This Auto Union D-Type racer is a prized commodity – it’s actually one of the rarest vintage cars in the world - in its own right, but does it justify the £5.5million tag it’s expected to command?
Let’s just say that the previous owner of this car is someone our history books are all familiar with: Adolf Hitler.
As a fanatic of motor racing, the Führer spared no expense in building a team that could dominate all the races it ran back then. The German technological superiority wasn’t any more evident when you look back and see how Mercedes and Auto Union – known as Silver Arrows back then – completely wiped out all other competitors that came their way.
The D-Type racer that will be auctioned off was actually driven by one of Hitler’s BFF’s, Hans Stuck during the 1939 Grand Prix season. What makes this car all the more valuable is due to the unfortunate fate its brethren suffered after the fall of the Third Reich.
Ever gone on one of those joyrides with your bicycle and happen to end up at a town that seems completely desolate of any form of four-wheeled vehicles?
If you have, don’t worry, you haven’t gone back in time. You probably just stumbled into Vauban, Germany – a town that has banned cars on its streets.
The truth is stranger than fiction doesn’t it? Apparently, in the case of this town, it’s not.
For those who don’t know, Vauban is a small and quaint little town in the south-west of Germany, bordering Switzerland and France. While the town is far from being a Stepford suburbia, it still prefers the laid-back life of listening to the melancholy chirping of birds and enjoying the cool autumn breeze without having cars making unnecessary contributions to the town’s pollution index.
It’s ironic to think that a country that gave the world a smorgasbord of supercars can have a town that shuns anything that has four wheels, but the truth is, you can still live in town with a vehicle, provided you pay a lofty sum of €20,000 for a space in one of the garages on the outskirts of the town.
It would take a really impressive supercar to make the Ferrari F430 Scuderia look infantile, but German carmaker Veritas – lost in obscurity for so long – has returned with a car that may have accomplished just that.
The legendary car manufacturer, responsible for some of the fastest racing cars back in the 40’s and 50’s has risen from the ashes to return with a vengeance.
Their latest supercar, Veritas RS III, which they produced under the Volkswagen flagship and in partnership with manufacturer Vermont, is, by all accounts, a machine unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.
Most people would be ecstatic over the prospect of owning one BMW. Then again, Klaus Hammerschmidt isn’t most people.
The 73-year old German has been known as one of the most foremost collectors of BMW in the world and he’s garage is living proof of his undying love for his favorite car brand. What started with one car back in 50’s has grown to in number each passing year.
It seems hard-pressed to believe that recently, Hammerschimdt picked up his 135th BMW at the brand-new BMW delivery facility called the Welt.
MINI has been one of those rare manufacturers that never seem to go out of its comfort zone. Part of it, we can say, is by design. After all, with one of the most recognizable cars in history (the Cooper), MINI could thrive under the Cooper banner just fine. So when word came out that MINI was coming out with a Roadster – predictably called the MINI Roadster – then you could say that it turned a few heads.
Word is being spread that MINI is close to releasing the MINI Roadster, possibly just in time for the Frankfurt Motor Show. The news was first reported by the French car magazine, L’Automobile and was likewise confirmed by the UK’s Autocar magazine.
From the few snapshots we’ve seen of the MINI Roadster, it looks quite like a loaded version of the MINI Cooper, complete with raked windshield and a retractable soft top – giving it a uniquely bad ass look that’s far removed from the conservative style of the Cabriolet. More so, the MINI Roadster has been reported to feature a low center of gravity, giving it superior driving performance than the Cooper.
As far as the engine is concerned, the Roadster is set to come with the same 1.6 L twin scroll-turbocharged engine, capable of exhausting up to 211 horsepower and up to 280 Nm peak torque with Overboost deployed.
It doesn’t strike us as coincidence that MINI is releasing the Roadster – along with the much talked about MINI Crossman SUV - on the very same year they’re celebrating 50 years of the Cooper’s existence. There have been no confirmed dates as to when the Roadster, and the Crossman for that matter, will be released for production.
What we all know is that barring the unforeseen, both vehicles will be on-hand for the Frankfurt Motor Show, making it a must-attend occasion for all MINI aficionados from all over the world.
The impossible has happened, only years ago the top brass at BMW said that they would never do it, there is a BMW X5 on the streets of Germany wearing an M badge. Top Speed showed you the automaker’s factory driver Nick Heidfeld putting the factory tuned BMW through its paces, so you have seen what it can do. This Blue Watter Metallic X5 M shows off the vehicles aggressively styled front bumper and headlights borrowed from the X6. We are not sure if it has something to do with the timing, but we’re pretty sure that when you go the dealership there will be flying propellers on those beautiful split spoke rim’s center caps.
When it goes on this side of the Atlantic, the X5 will carry an $86,225 price tag. The high-powered sport utility that started the craze will be powered by a 4.4 Liter twin turbocharged V8 that will put out 555 HP and 500 lb-ft of torque. Enough to make 0 to 60 MPH runs to soccer practice in just 4.5 seconds, while the 155 MPH speed limiter is saved for out of town trips.
Check out the link to see the rest of the photographs.
The German automaker, Opel, has just revealed their latest special edition tuner creation, the Corsa Color Edition. Starting at 14,995 euros, the sporty Corsa is the perfect platform for entry level automotive enthusiasts to start with, and then make of it what they will.
The new Corsa Color Edition features big black 17 inch alloy wheels that are also available in silver, dark tinted rear taillights, a blacked out grill and chromed exhaust tips. Under the hood there is a 1.2 Liter version of GM’s ECOTEC four cylinder engine that makes a reasonable 80 HP.
However, the most attractive feature of the special edition Opel is the roof, the contrast between the all white body and the blacked out roof is one of those touches more often reserved for high priced vehicles like Audis and Mercedes Benzs. Either way, the Corsa Color Edition would make a great tuner car.
The world’s oldest automobile manufacturer, Daimler, has just acquired a sizable stake in the American all-electric car builder, Tesla. Even before the 10 percent sale, both companies were working together to use Tesla’s lithium-ion batteries in Mercedes Benz’s Smart electric car. Member of the Board of Daimler AG, Dr. Thomas Weber, said that "our strategic partnership is an important step to accelerate the commercialization of electric drives globally," because according to Benz, the future will be made up of at least electrically assisted vehicles.
Tesla Motors Chairman and CEO, Elon Musk, had this to say about the German conglomerate, “Daimler has set the benchmark for engineering excellence and vehicle quality for more than a century. It is an honor and a powerful endorsement of our technology that Daimler would choose to invest in and partner with Tesla.”
There are already 100 Smart electric cars on the streets of London; these electric vehicles have been part of large-scale testing since 2007 being tested in real world driving situations, conducting normal daily operations by fleet operators as well as private citizens. Later on this year, the Smart assembly plant in Hambach, France, will commence production of up to 1000 second-generation electrically powered Smart fortwo models, taking full advantage of the latest advances in lithium-ion battery technology.
Chevrolet’s latest super car, the Corvette ZR-1 comes equipped with a supercharged V8 produces 650 HP, a lightweight carbon fiber body that allows it to reach 200 MPH and a set of ceramic brakes to bring it back down to zero makes this a Corvette fit for a King, or at least a future one, that is if Germany still had a monarchy.
Chevrolet has just made delivery of one of their factory tuned Corvettes to Prince Albert of Germany. Officially known as Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis, he is a successful racing driver, so for him the hot rod Corvette is a must. Aside from being named the world’s youngest billionaire at age 8, he has also been crowned a European Lamborghini Cup Champion and as well as Champion of the German ADAC GT Masters. Prince Albert is currently competing in the FIA GT European Championship in the orange and black Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT.
Ford has launched on the German market the special edition Mondeo Sport. It will be limited to only 500 units, with prices between 29.150 euro and 33.400 euro.
The Mondeo Sport comes with sports suspension lowered by 10 millimeters, 17-inch alloy wheels in 5-Y-spoke design, tinted windows and the silver roof rails, MS-Design front and rear bumper aluminum decors.
Customers can choose from three engines: 2.0 Duratec with 145 hp, 2.0 Duratorq 140 hp and 2.2 Duratorq 175 hp.
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