Car crashes are never a pretty sight but we can imagine just how gut-wrenching it must be for someone to watch his beloved sports car burn before his very eyes.
So to the man who owns this Ferrari 360 Modena that inexplicably caught fire at the 101 over the weekend, we feel for you buddy.
No details have been released regarding the cause of the fire so it’s hard to speculate as to how it ended up burning itself to a heap. Whatever the case may be, it’s still a little hard for us to stomach a car as beautiful as a 360 suffer such a stomach-churning fate.
There are many different ways to show your affection to your car. This Los Angeles man decided to give his 1984 Ferrari 512 BBi a home of its own.
Holger Schubert, a resident of Brentwood, California, loves his Ferrari so much that he decided that a simple old garage would not be enough for his car. So, he decided to build it its own glass room that even comes with its own ocean view. If you’re wondering how he gets it in and out of the room, Schubert had a ten-foot-long, fifteen-foot-high bridge that has a hydraulic ramp on one end installed. Sounds a little too wild, doesn’t it?
Turns out, Schubert’s ‘Ferrari Room’ has been the subject of critical acclaim, most notably from Architectural Digest, which awarded the garage with their Design Driven 2009 award.
It sounds a little too overboard but if you’re willing to spend $1.5 million – the amount Schubert reportedly spent – for something like this, then, hey, it’s your money.
Porsche fanatics – yes, we know that they are a lot of you – will be thrilled to know that the car Porsche considers as the “first ancestor of all Porsche sportscars” will be making its maiden voyage to the US where it will be prominently displayed at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia from March 21 to June 20.
The car, of course, is the Porsche Type 64, which if you must know, was developed back in 1938, making it the predecessor of sorts for the fabled Porsche 356. As a matter of fact, the Type 64 is so important to the history of the brand that just about every Porsche model created thereafter – from the 356 to the newest Porsche 911 - took its styling cues and construction methods from this very same car.
After being meticulously restored, the Type 64 sat in what Porsche describes as the “first and most prominent exhibit” since the company opened the new Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen last year. The three-month trip to the US marks the first time the car will leave its safe confines to be exhibited at the High Museum of Art’s ‘The Allure of the Automobile’ exhibit.
It’s pretty easy to surmise that the history of Porsche can be traced to this one car, which makes it even more compulsory for all Porsche enthusiasts in the US to make the pilgrimage to Atlanta to see up close and personal the car that has shaped Porsche – literally and figuratively – to become the brand that it is today.
There aren’t that many Tesla Roadsters out there – so far, there are around 940 units all over the world - so if one of them ends up in an accident, then you can bet that it’s going to make some news.
Ever the benevolent purveyors of exotic car crashes; our buddies over at Wrecked Exotics recently unearthed two Tesla Roadster crashes that happened just recently. Though the accidents weren’t related, the two accidents brings the total of Tesla Roadster car crashes, at least as far as Wrecked Exotics is concerned, to six, with one of them being a test vehicle that met an untimely demise even before production for the car began.
As for the two newest members of the Tesla Roadster car crash club, we’re relieved to say that both cars didn’t suffer the same metal-crunching fate that other sports cars seem to routinely find themselves in.
The black 2008 Roadster accident occurred in Orlando after the driver lost control of the car after which, it clipped a concrete divider resulting in the front left side of the car to need some facial reconstructive surgery.
As for the orange 2008 Roadster that figured into an accident of its own, it was merely a minor fender-bender mishap involving the over-eager owner of the Roadster. Despite the relatively subdued crash, the orange Roadster got introduced into the world of car crashes pretty early since the car – with a total mileage of just under 3,000 miles – is still what many consider as ‘just out of the box’.
It’s never a good thing for any of us to be reporting on car crashes of any sort. But these two Tesla Roadster crashes somehow alleviates our burden because the crashes, though expensive to repair, as we can imagine, didn’t come at the cost of a life.
Described as a "premium, authentic off-of-road experience, custom designed and built for the deserts of the American Southwest; Local Motors’ Rally Fighter is as unique a vehicle as you can get.
After being unveiled at last year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas, a lot of us wanted to know exactly what this futuristic off-road prototype is capable of when you let it run loose in the so-called ‘deserts of the American Southwest’.
Well, it took us a few months and a lot of waiting, but we can now sit back, relax, and watch the Rally Fighter in action. Word of warning, though - after watching the video, we beg you not to try the things you just witnessed with your own cars.
Trust us; we’re doing you a favor by saying that disclaimer.
Alfa Romeo fans in the US have long been waiting for the day when they’re car brand of choice would make its touted return to the land of milk and honey. Well, according to Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne, the day has come for all of you to rejoice.
According to Marchionne, Alfa Romeo will make its triumphant US return by the end of 2012.
A company spokesperson confirmed Marchionne’s statements during an interview with Automotive News and the latter was even quoted as saying that Alfa Romeo’s return to the US resulted in renewed confidence by the brand with their latest product offering, one in which it believes will be greatly accepted in the US and Canada.
“I’m a lot more confident now that Alfa Romeo will reconstitute a product offering that is acceptable globally, and more in particular in the United States and Canada,” Marchionne was quoted as saying.
“There is a strong likelihood that the brand will be back here within the next 24 months.”
Alfa Romeo has already announced that the new Giulia sedan will be the first model to cross the Atlantic to replace the Alfa Romeo 159 that’s currently being phased out slowly in the company’s international markets. What’s more, Alfa Romeo is also expected to manufacture the Giulia in North America around the same time frame of 2012.
While we’re not counting our chickens until they hatch, which means that we’re going with the age old ‘to see is to believe’ adage, but Marchionne’s announcement is as strong a statement as we’ve had in a while regarding the status of Alfa Romeo’s return to the US. And for that, you can’t blame us for getting a little pumped for that time to finally come.
Let’s face it; the initial run of Top Gear USA on NBC didn’t exactly live up to the enormous expectations of its original UK counterpart; and that’s saying it lightly. Despite the moderate success – or lack thereof – Top Gear USA had with its small but loyal fan base, NBC decided to ax the show, proving yet again why they’re the fourth best network in the US right now. Don’t fret, Top Gear USA fans, the show just found a new home in the welcoming arms of The History Channel. Ok, so it’s not exactly the first channel we’d think of buying the rights to air Top Gear USA, but then again, we’ll take it any way we can get it.
According to reports, The History Channel has bought about 10 to 12 episodic rights for Top Gear USA and are also now in the hunt for new hosts for the show. According to one of the hosts of the shows previous incarnation, Adam Carolla, the new Top Gear USA show will also have the same host format, that being three people talking endlessly about cars for an entire hour or so. Carolla even went as far as saying that he’s up for one of the hosting gigs, which leads us to wonder if his former partners-in-crime, Tanner Foust and Eric Stromer, will also have an opportunity to rekindle their stints as hosts of the new Top Gear USA.
We’re all pinning our hopes on the possibility that The History Channel picks up some pretty good hosts for their version of Top Gear USA. No offense to the three aforementioned former hosts, but we feel that injecting some authoritative pistonheads in the mold of a Jeremy Clarkson to be the hosts of Top Gear USA will go a long way in giving credibility to the show.
Known as the Rabbit until 2009, the well-known Volkswagen Golf is entering the 2010MY with design, both in and out, and a new TDI engine. Prices start at $17,490 for the two-door model, and $19,190 for the four-door version.
Up front the 2010 Golf features a wider, double-bar grille that blends into angled halogen headlamps for a sportier visage (High Intensity Gas-discharged Xenon headlamps are available as an option on the TDI model). The body-colored bumper sits above a revised lower front fascia featuring a wide-mouthed cooling duct. Crystalline oval fog lamps complete the front fascia on TDI models. These elements, combined with the Golf’s wider appearance give the hatchback a more commanding road presence.
Under the hood there is a choice of two engines: a 2.5-liter inline five-cylinder gasoline engine that delivers a total of 170 hp at 5,700 rpm and 177 lbs.-ft. of torque at 4,250 rpm. or a 2.0-liter four-cylinder clean diesel TDI engine that delivers 140 hp at 4,000 rpm, and an impressive 236 lbs.-ft. of torque between 1,750 and 2,500 rpm. The engines are mated to a five-speed manual transmission as standard or a six-speed automatic gearbox with Tiptronic control.
While German Volkswagen enthusiasts have been enjoying the sixth generation hot hatch Golf GTI for almost a year now, the Mk VI GTI has just become available to consumers here in the U.S. as both a three and five door hatchback starting at at $23,664 and climbs up to $24,269 for the one with more openings. The 2010 the GTI comes with a more aggressive face highlighted by a new set of swept back teardrop shape headlamps and black honeycomb grill with the signature GTI red outline and bespoke badging. Out back the new GTI wears a pair of redesigned taillights and rides on a set of 17 inch alloys that accentuate the car’s sporty character.
The 2010 GTI U.S. version is powered by 2.0 Liter 16 Valve dual overhead cam (DOHC) turbocharged and intercooled four cylinder that produces 200 HP and 207 lb-ft of torque mated to a six speed manual transmission as standard fare with a quick shifting DSG available as an option. Thanks to its agile nature and the potent TFSI power plant under the hood, the GTI can sprint from 0 to 60 MPH in only 6.8 seconds and keeps going all the way up to an electronically limited tops speed of 130 MPH, while European owners get to have a bit more fun at 140 MPH.
Charlie Sheen woke up this morning with a Mercedes missing from his garage, but to his good fortune, he wasn’t around to see what became of his luxury ride.
The actor’s Mercedes was stolen at his home in Sherman Oaks, California, but the thief, apparently, had something different in store for his newly-boosted car, flying it over a cliff along Mulholland Drive, you know, for kicks.
To his surprise, Sheen was woken up by a call from Mercedes telling him that his car was involved in an accident. Amazingly, the perpetrator escaped from the scene before the LAPD showed up, which is now in hot pursuit of the thief.
It’s unclear to us just how Charlie Sheen could’ve jut left the keys of his Mercedes inside the car, making it a relatively easy target for the unknown booster. Then again, Sheen can afford to buy a replacement with just a snap of a finger so we suspect that he won’t lose a ton of sleep over it.
Just a reminder to Mr. Sheen, though. Next time, bring your keys inside your house.
Picture Gallery
4 comments
RSS -
Webmaster free news |
