Show Cars

The Mercedes-Benz 190 SL was the more laid-back version of the legendary 300 SL and, like its much more exclusive big brother, was a huge hit in the U.S., practically establishing the SL model in Mercedes’ range for decades to come.

The 190 SL, like the 300 SL, was born out of a suggestion from U.S. executive and luxury foreign car importer Max Hoffman who thought that a less expensive but still exciting and luxurious version of the 300 SL would appeal to the U.S. clientele. He’d previously come up with the idea of the road-going 300 SL as well, reckoning that America’s rich and famous would love to blitz down the country’s infinite highways aboard a more friendly version of Mercedes-Benz’s 1952 Le Mans winner, the W194 300 SL designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut.

Due to Hoffman’s significant success as the Mercedes importer, the Stuttgart-based company decided to follow suit on his bold ideas and debuted prototypes of the two SLs at the 1954 New York International Motor Sports Show in February of that year.

Unlike the 300 SL, for which a purpose-built tubular spaceframe chassis was created, the 190 SL exhibited a tweaked version of the Mercedes-Benz 180’s underpinnings. As such, it received the W121 nomenclature with the sedan known as the W120.

Keep reading to learn more about the 1958 Mercedes-Benz 190 SL

You can pretty much see anything and everything automotive related at the SEMA show. From pure-bred muscle cars, wild exotics, monster trucks, and full-on race cars. SEMA has something for everyone to love. On the other side of that spectrum, there is a lot that may not be to your taste. From the crazy awesome to the crazy clueless, here you can find a bit of each.

One hundred forty thousand people descend upon the Las Vegas convention center for the largest aftermarket automotive trade show in the world. Welcome to SEMA 2018, where many of the top automotive aftermarket manufacturers, builders, and shops come together to learn, shop, and show off the best products and some of the best custom rides in the game. I overheard one SEMA organizer saying that if you were to walk up and down every aisle in every pavilion you would walk almost 54 miles and I believe it! Sadly, most of SEMA is very boring and very repetitive (I mean seriously, how many booths about tires does one show need?) but, there are always those automotive gems to look at and once in a while a new product that just makes you stop and say "wow." So, here are a few of those cars that made me stop and actually take a look.

Car customization can make your dreams come true - even if that dream is turning your mid-80’s domestic into a Porsche supercar. Case in point is this, uh, unique Pontiac Fiero, which someone transformed into a hilarious parrot of the Porsche Carrera GT.

The best part is that it’s listed on Ebay UK, so if you really want it, and have an extra $16,881 to spare, it could be yours. Don’t worry, we won’t judge you.

BMW is reportedly readying an even hotter version of its M2 to sit above the M2 Competition - they are the M2 CS and M2 CSL, and our spies believe that’s what they captured in these photos. Some older reports from before the Competition model was launched, called it the M2 GTS. The white prototype features several changes over the M2 Competition and, as a Whole, it looks like a more aggressive, track-focused machine.

It has been suggested that the M2 CS would be a North America-only limited model available from 2020 and that the CSL would be even more extreme and sold on other markets from 2021, but right now it’s too early to make these predictions. Both will clearly be lighter, more powerful and better around a track than the Competition which in turn is one step up from the base M2.

Hyundai is not yet sure it wants to make a full production version of the Santa Fe Cabriolet (and it probably won’t), but if it did, it’d be the world’s first seven-seater convertible... that’s also an SUV.

Koenigsegg has admitted to being bowled over by Tesla’s performance claims for its new Roadster to the point that company engineers went straight to work after realizing that the Roadster’s performance times were indeed possible. Speaking with Top Gear, Koenigsegg chief Christian von Koenigsegg admitted that Tesla had thrown the gauntlet, and it was up to his company to respond. In typical bravado fashion, Koenigsegg is embracing the challenge with plans that could set up an industry-altering showdown with Tesla.

Jaguar Land Rover has some good news for classic car fanatics. The British automaker is opening a classic car refurbishing and restoration center in North America. Apart from restoration, the center will also sell and service JLR’s classic vehicles. The facility will open in Savannah, Georgia in the summer of 2019.

TopSpeed is at Monterey Car Week 2018, and we’ve already stumbled across so many cool cars that we couldn’t help but share them with you. For the first day of Monterey Car Week, we spent some time checking out the area and visiting the Gordon McCall’s Motorworks Revival. To finish out the day, we cruised on over to the Monterey Jet Center but not before we stumbled across none other than the McLaren Senna and a bunch of other really cool cars. We even managed to snag a video of a really cool Ferrari racer, and we were lucky enough to catch the startup of a dragster in all its glory. Check out the videos and more than 200 images below!

Rolls-Royce is bringing four different versions of the Cullinan to Monterey Car Week as part of the luxury SUV’s public debut in the U.S. All four versions of the Cullinan will sport different paint jobs. They’ll also be joined by a handful of special edition Rolls-Royce models, including the Umbra Black Badge, the Paradiso, and Nebula Collections. All three collections feature Dawn, Ghost, and Wraith models, though the Dawn will be showcased as an exclusive model, called the Dawn Black Badge Adamas Collection. The luxury automaker will also bring a one-off Phantom that’s earmarked for Rolls-Royce enthusiast Michael Fux.

One of the most iconic American cars of all time, the Shelby Cobra, came to be in 1962 when Carroll Shelby combined Ford-made V-8 engines with British-designed AC Ace bodies. Although the Ace was fairly old and close to discontinuation in 1962, it’s lightweight structure helped Shelby create one of the greatest American sports cars. Built until 1968 in various road-legal and race-spec configurations, the Cobra reached its performance peak when the Super Snake was launched in 1966. Called the "Cobra to end all Cobras," the Super Snake is the rarest of the bunch, and it still holds the title for the most expensive American car sold at auction.

"When I built this dual supercharged 427 Cobra in 1966, I wanted it to be the fastest, meanest car on the road," Shelby told Barrett-Jackson in 2007 when the roadster was auctioned for its record price. "Forty years later, it will still kick the tail of just about anything in the world. It’s the fastest street legal Cobra I’ve ever owned."

Let’s find out more about this tremendous classic in the review below.

Continue reading to learn more about the Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake.

The Chevrolet Camaro is known for a lot of things, but one of its darker secrets is its strange airbag system that deploys for no reason at all. It’s happened numerous times over the years, including an episode all the way back in 2011 when the airbags on a Camaro SS spontaneously deployed because the muscle car was doing hoons on an empty parking lot. More recently, a 2018 Camaro ZL1 saw a similar fate when its side curtain airbags engaged while the car was being driven on a race track.

Making performance versions of performance cars somehow seems like a needless operation, but the likes of the Ferrari Speciale, the Porsche GT3 RS, or the Lamborghini Performante showed there is a market for these types of performance cars. Within the McLaren macrocosmos, we have the so-called LT line up. It is still a small lineup, but with the recent introduction of the fascinating, 600LT, the LT offering now includes the 675LT, the 675LT Spider, and the 600LT. However, there was a fourth LT car. The one that all modern McLaren LT performance beasts take a bow to. Their grandfather, if you like - the McLaren F1 GTR Longtail.

Matured under the watchful eye of McLaren racing engineers in the 90s for the 1997 racing season, the McLaren F1 GTR Longtail had such an imposing expression that it became an icon.

The McLaren Long Tail history may not be long, but it is full of cars that moved the bar within their respective segments.

The new Audi RS6 Avant has been spotted covered in partial camouflage while making the test rounds recently. The high-performance wagon model of the A6 sedan is the latest Audi model to be captured by spy photographers. If anything, this shows that Audi’s test drivers have had their work cut out of them. The sporty station wagon was even spotted alongside the RS Q8 SUV.

The world of fast sedans is about to get a whole lot quicker, as the Cat Badge is gearing up to release its highly impressive XE SV Project 8. With production set to kick off this summer, this limited-run street-legal track terror is framed as a “Porsche GT3 with four doors.”

Continue reading for the full story.

The E30 has exploded in popularity recently, with well-maintained examples selling for huge sums of money on the used market and at auction. Now, there’s one very clean example going up for sale rocking a six-cylinder engine swap under the hood.

Continue reading for the full story.

In case you were unaware, Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera is a legendary Italian design house and bespoke coachbuilder, best known for products like the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante, Bentley Continental Flying Star, and Touring Berlinetta Lusso, among others. Now, Touring is offering a new limited edition custom two-door dubbed the Sciadipersia, bringing superlative European grand touring style as a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the bespoke Maserati 5000 GTs that Touring created for the Shah of Iran back in the ‘50s. The Sciadipersia was “designed to cover long distance with complete ease and in total comfort,” much like the travelers that booked passage on the Orient Express so long ago.

Continue reading for the full story.

How much would you pay for the last HEMI ’Cuda?

The Detroit Auto Show played host to a wide number of debuts and concept vehicles. One car, though, stood out, not only because of its appearance but because of its involvement in one of this year’s biggest blockbuster movies. The car is a 2019 Hyundai Veloster. It’s impossible to miss because it showed up in Detroit dressed in a shiny purple exterior with hot rod flame graphics all over it. More importantly, this particular Veloster will play a role in Marvel Studio’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, which hits theaters in July this year.

Rumors of a more powerful version of the awesome Kia Stinger GT have been flying around ever since the Korean brand launched the sedan – and we have a rendering and speculative review for it – but the Asian carmaker has yet to confirm such plans exist. However, the company’s Australian communications manager just hinted that a higher performance version could come to the U.S. soon. What’s more, it appears that instead of a beefed-up V-6, Kia may use a V-8 powerplant for the range-topping four-door.

Speaking to CarAdvice, Kevin Hepworth, the brand’s communications manager in Australia, said, "I believe they’re developing one" when asked about a V-8-powered Kia Stinger. And while he pointed out that such a model won’t make it Down Under, he added that "there may be a possibility the U.S. could pick it up." There’s no word as to when it could arrive, but as we mentioned in our speculative review, a 2018 launch for the 2019 model year seems very likely. What specific engine will it use and how much power will it send to the wheels? Keep reading to find out.

Continue reading for the full story.

Hey, did you know the Toyota Hilux is a capable pickup that’s sold basically everywhere besides North America and is apparently indestructible against the best Jeremy Clarkson can throw its way? Of course, you know that since it’s practically common knowledge and rumored to be on driving tests in at least 95 countries. What you might not realize is Toyota has been selling the thing for half a century. Yep, 2018 marks the 50th birthday of the iconic Hilux pickup. Naturally, Toyota can’t let such an occasion pass without building some tribute, so here it is, the 2018 Hilux “Invincible 50.”

This Double Cab Hilux has several Toyota dealership parts bolted on, along with a custom wrap, all designed to grab attention at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show. Toyota says the truck is “ideally suited to a broad range of both professional and leisure activities,” or basically, that a so-configured Hilux is at home on the job site and doing fun stuff on the weekend. Sounds like the automotive equivalent of a mullet hairstyle, right? Unlike the mullet, the Hilux’s popularity didn’t die in the 1990s. In fact, the truck is expected to sell more than 40,600 examples in Europe for 2017, besting its previous record of 40,104 sold in 2007. That’s pretty impressive, especially in a place where pickups aren’t the “it” vehicle to drive. Perhaps Toyota’s expectation rides on folks falling in love with the Hilux “invincible 50” and its customized flair. Probably not, but let’s have a close look at this one-off show truck.

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Volvo’s reported plan of turning Polestar into a standalone brand is about to take its first big step toward reality as a report from Autocar revealed the Swedish automaker’s intentions of developing a bespoke sports coupe as the first model to exclusively wear a Polestar badge.

According to Autocar, the planned model won’t be a completely new one, but will instead be based on an existing Volvo model. But that’s likely about the only thing it’ll share with the parent company. Everything else, including the generous use carbon fiber and the tuned engine, will be all about establishing Polestar as a legitimate performance sub-brand that will eventually stand on its own, independent yet still connected to Volvo. Specific details about the car have yet to be released, but the report says it will make good use of carbon fiber and be tuned for 600 horsepower, enough to help it line up against established performance coupes like the BMW M6 and the Porsche Panamera. No timetable has been set on when the performance sports coupe will be launched, but the current plan appears to have the Polestar debut at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show this coming September.

Continue after the jump to read the full story.