"A few years back, Leno's curatorial tendencies led him to start jaylenosgarage.com, a General Motors-sponsored site whose videos feature him riffing on car minutiae at a frightening pace. And his keen interest in historic vehicles has led Leno to sponsor a scholarship at McPherson (Kansas) College, which offers a four-year degree in auto restoration."
"10 Most Outrageous Cars of 2008".
On the Reventon:
To start off, here's the car that you absolutely can't own, no matter how much money you're willing to spend. Only 20 of these fighter jet-inspired supercars will be made, and they've already sold at over $1 million a piece.
People of my generation will almost certainly remember a clever ad for Chiffon margarine featuring the line "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature".
The same could be said about the gods of a competitive marketplace. For many years the United Auto Workers tricked them.
47-year-old guy builds his own supercar.
Dan Neil says it is worth the money, but he doesn't love it.
It's an excellent car and well worth the money. But when it comes to charisma, compared to the likes of the Mercedes-Benz C300, the Audi A4, the BMW 328i, the Acura surrenders like Lee at Appomattox.
MSNBC reporter declares we're seeing the last hurrah of muscle cars.
This year’s show, with its focus on muscle and power, signified nothing less than the end of an era for some who attended its preview days last week.
I say: wait long enough, and almost everything comes back.
Test driving a 2008 Porsche GT2, LA Times car reviewer extraordinare Dan Neil, fries a few neurons.
To love the GT2 is to embrace its malign indifference to your well-being.
. . . the most hard-core 911 ever to wear a license plate . . .
. . . looks like something Klingons would carry into battle.
. . . about as cozy as an MRI machine.
. . . like lighting a cigarette on an erupting volcano.
. . . quite simply insane and, frankly, kind of scary . . .
. . . a quarter-mile time of 11.4 seconds.
For a similar sensation, put a rodeo barrel on a train track, climb in and wait.
Needless to say, read the whole thing.
The New York Times reviewer drives the new 2008, quarter-mil Gallardo and really likes it.
NEW YORK CITY is probably not on top of anyone’s list of best places to drive a 190-m.p.h. Italian supercar.
But trust me: the combination of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera is an underground under-the-radar thrill. The tunnel, which connects Brooklyn and Manhattan below New York Harbor, proved the perfect concert hall for the Gallardo’s 10 soaring cylinders. As I fired its bellicose engine to 8,000 r.p.m., the Gallardo convinced me — and other drivers, judging by the startled expressions — that we had entered a Michael Bay movie in which a runaway F-16 was strafing its way down the tunnel.
"SOMS Technologies says that its engine filter will extend the life of engine oil by 30,000 miles, enabling drivers to use 75 percent less oil and save hundreds of dollars in maintenance per car."
Cool. Bring it on.
After heaping praise upon his '66 T-Bird convertible, Robert X. Cringely laments that soon all our (non-lead) solder joints will be going to hell.
If a stock Maybach 57 is just too ordinary for you, a company named Brabus will be happy to modify it for you. (You can get one that will top out at 205 mph.)
Pricehub supposedly lists actual transactions prices for cars and trucks.
A look at Ferrari's new "green" car: the Millechili.
"How Fast is a Formula 1 Car?"
Really fast.
"Most Expensive Auctioned Cars". First place--$8.7 million in 1987--goes, the post says, to a 1931 Bugatti.
Slate reviewer enthusiastically recommends the Lamborghini Gallardo. It will do 185 mph on your local autobahn, but it is, he thinks, also a "reasonable everyday vehicle".
It is smooth. It is slick. It handles well. And you can take it through the drive-thru. It's not what you would expect from something so exotic.
I doubt he'll convince Porsche and 'Vette owners, but Dan Neil of the LA Times argues that the new Chrysler Town & Country Limited "just might be the sexiest vehicle a man could ever drive".
Unofficial design for the Lamborghini Embolado, ". . . much more true to Lamborghinis of old where the cars would instill fear both standing still and in motion."
We're a few days past the 50th anniversary of the Ford Edsel, a powerful example of Galbraith's thesis that big companies possess enormous power to shape and manipulate consumer preferences.
Not!
Want to drive a Gallardo? An F430? But you don't have the cash? If you live near Greenwich, CT, there's now a kind of Netflix for expensive cars.
Some vintage muscle cars now sell for more than $1 million.
Professors at Purdue may have a way to increase the efficiency of car engines by 15 to 20%. (Link via Mahalanobis.)
A list to look at if you don't want to get a girl car.
Forbes magazine's "Ten Sexiest Cars".
"Understated and overachieving": Dan Neil really likes the new Volvo S80.
Dan Neil on the Maserati Quattroporte:
The Maserati Quattroporte is the most beautiful, best-handling super-sedan on the planet. Oh, if that were only enough.
That Chevy Volt story I linked to last month? Maybe there are more problems than the earlier story suggested.
Kind of interesting: The Chevy Volt will apparently get 50 mpg and go 40 miles just on a single battery charge.
Fark wrote something to the effect, "Here's another great car you'll never be able to afford": the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe.
Detailed informatlon on what it cost to own and operate one particular 1998 Ferrari Maranello. Guess what? It wasn't cheap.
The warranty on 550 S/N 111317 ran out in March, 2000, at about 13,500 miles. Our subject 550 went to the third owner in September 2006 at 36,200 miles, so the total miles out of warranty was 22,700 miles, with a total spent of $65,760.50, or $2.90 a mile, right at $11,000 a year.
Ferrari ownership is both a lifestyle and a socio-economic statement, just as owning a polo pony is a different venture than keeping a draught horse. As one former owner of S/N 111317 put it, "I spend more than that on crap on eBay every year." No other statement quite sums up the difference between those who lust for a Ferrari from those who can pay the price of ownership.
The worldwide Enzo community mourns another one gone.
A bit more than five years ago Alex Zanardi's race car was T-boned by another car doing about 200 mph. Zanardi, extremely lucky to survive, lost both of his legs.
Post--and accompanying comments--discuss where to see the coolest cars in Raleigh.
(Some people are not impressed: "Gallardos are a little more common than most people think.")
This holiday season, get someone you love a Mercedes S600, "the safest luxury sedan currently in production".
Or maybe you'd rather just speed away from trouble with one of the "10 World's Fastest Cars".
New York Magazine argues that the value of a dollar in New York City is only 76.2 cents. The magazine also lets you work out your own New York City cost-of-living calculator.
My undergraduate alma mater leads CNNMoney.com's list of the "Most Expensive Colleges" with a current yearly tuition of $37,820. (I completely agree with this Philadelphia Inquirer columnist who argues that for many students, a land-grant university is a much better buy.)
And if you buy a luxury car, the purchase price is only the beginning: a Washington Post crack reporter discovers that expensive cars cost a lot to maintain.
When Stefan Eriksson was last noted on this blog, police had just determined that he was not going 145 mph, he was not going 162 mph, but he was, instead, going 194 mph when he crashed a Ferrari Enzo on the PCH. Wired magazine has an interesting story on Mr. Eriksson's background, career, and current situation. The story's a little long so if you'd prefer to save time, here are two takeaways:
1. If you've done some questionable things and you want to avoid undue attention from the legal authorities, you probably should avoid crashing an Enzo on the Pacific Coast Highway.
2. But if you're in the market for a car you can crash at 194 mph, you really should consider an Enzo. Despite shearing the car in half and exploding the rear end "like a roadside bomb"--leaving smoking parts scattered across 400 yards--Mr. Eriksson walked away from the crash with no injury greater than a split lip. Wired calls this "an astonishing testament to Ferrari craftsmanship".
Two on cars:
Winding Road, a new, free car magazine. (Link via Kevin Kelly.)
Guy spends 20,000 hours building an exact 1/3 scale replica of a Ferrari 312. (Why, is not answered.)
Smartmoney.com tells us "The Best Time to Buy Everything". For cars, the time is supposedly right now.
Two on cars:
"The Ten Most Beautiful Cars of All Time". Rich patrons of the Door should consider giving me a copy of the Rolls.
If you ever wondered why it seems like all U.S. police cars are Ford Crown Victorias, here's the answer.
"America's Best Driving Roads". Most are in California--surprise--but there are a few others.
A blogger claims that the World's Best Driving Road is in the UAE, about 90 minutes from Dubai. I'll have to take his word for it; I'm not planning to visit.
Two videos to exploit all your big bandwidth goodness:
The aptly named "Bike Messengers Are on Crack".
And a revised version of a video I linked to in April. This is Claude Lelouch's famous ride through Paris, only this time, a Google map of Paris is appended so folks not familiar with Paris can identify the route he took.
BBC video piece on the General Motors hydrogen-cell Highwire car.
If you or somebody you know wants an easy way to play .mp3 or .wma files through your car stereo, you might try this gadget. I bought one for my wife and it works well, although here in Raleigh, none of the radio station presets are completely free of interference. You can even--although I didn't try this--hook up an iPod directly to the gadget.
Technology is pretty amazing these days.
0 to 60 in 1.67 seconds. No NOX injections, no rockets. But it will set you back about 500 grand.
(Some people are skeptical, however.)
Smart cars are supposedly coming to the U.S. I agree with the "veteran dealer" quoted: it will be hard for them to make money.
Dan Neil likes the new Hyundai Azera. And he notes Hyundai's remarkable rise.
Even if the president has recently gone to jail.
Driving the car that Tony Soprano drives has its price: the Cadillac Escalade has the highest rate of insurance theft claims.
Edmunds.com "2006 Used Car Best Bets".
Ah, California . . . always the trend setter. The new hotness? Crashing your Ferrari.
Probably everything you need to know about the history of lowriders.
First he was supposedly doing 145 mph. Then it was reported he was doing 162. Now authorities think that the guy who crashed his Enzo on the PCH was doing 194 mph. And he's facing 14 years for what was discovered about him after the crash.
Bummer, dude.
G.M.'s future is, by all accounts, bleak. But before it's laid to rest, watch one last, great commercial.
You're the 37th pick in the NFL draft; your signing bonus is about $700K after your agent's fee and taxes.
What do you do with the money?
You spend a big chunk of it on a customized gold Lamborghini Murcielago.
Two about cars:
Want to ride in a really hot car you can't afford? "Squadra Piloti is a national club that provides car enthusiasts with access to virtually any car that they want to drive."
If your car has one of those new keyless ignition systems, you might want to be careful. (Via Fark.)
Exactly how do they know that that Ferrari Enzo was doing 162 mph when it crashed? Daniel Engber explains.
It looks kinda like a market failure, but I don't believe in (most) market failures: shouldn't the car companies and locksmiths be able to figure out a cheaper way of replacing "smart" keys?
One of Claude Lelouch's most famous films only circulated "underground" until a few years ago when a DVD was released. Now you can see it for free on the Web.
Lelouch strapped a camera to the bumper of a Ferrari and had an Formula One driver drive it through Paris at high speed.
The driver does not stop for red lights. Or for anything else.
Update on the legal case involving the guy who crashed his Ferrari Enzo on the PCH. Some people are still upset.
The saga has particularly disheartened Ferrari aficionados.
"People like that don't care about the heritage that comes with Ferraris," said Dave Born, a member of the Ferrari Club of America. "He's not the first guy to leverage himself, and he won't be the last."
Police car: modified Ford Crown Victoria. The suspect's car: 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo. Who wins the high speed chase? (Link via Fark.)
If you have a high-speed connection you can watch a nice promo for the new sixth-generation Porsche 911 Turbo.
Two interesting links courtesy of reader Michael Greenspan.
A review of a new book, Crap Cars, that discusses "fifty of the most craptastic cars ever to hit the American highway".
"My Golden Rule: 49 Leaders, from Buffett to Spitzer, share their secrets of success". One good one: Jim Goodnight, formerly of NC State and now head of SAS writes, "At any company, it's easy to get into a rut of spending your day reading e-mail and going to meetings. That's not a productive way of doing business."
The New York Times reviewer loooooves the new Bugatti Veyron.
0 to 125 mph in 7.3 seconds.
More amazing: 250 mph to 0 in under 10 seconds.
Even more amazing: "quiet, comfortable, refined" and "easy to drive".
Yours for only $1.2 million.
If you get one, drop me a line. I'd like to take a ride.
Video of a Ford Mondeo versus a Boeing 747 at full thrust. (Link via Gorilla Mask.)
Raleigh's Nissan Computer was forced to fight a 4.5 year legal war against Nissan Motor Comp. The issues were the computer company's name and Internet URL. But it looks like the war is over and Mr. Nissan has unconditionally won. (Link via Metafilter.)
Economic historian Robert Fogel relates a colorful anecdote about New York City circa 1900. Take heed, car-haters and those who would romanticize the past:
We complain a lot about air pollution today, but there were 200,000 horses in New York City, at the beginning of the 20th century defecating everywhere. And when you walked around in New York City, you were breathing pulverized horse manure -- a much worse pollutant, than the exhausts of automobiles. Indeed in the United States, the automobile was considered the solution to the horse problem because pulverized horse manure carried a lot of deadly pathogens.
A blogger makes fun of audiophiles, people who apparently are willing to pay $970 for volume control knobs. (Via Digg.)
(But they don't have anything on Diddy, who has retrofitted his Chevy Express to have a hardwood floors, six plasma TVs, a wet bar, and a wine cellar.)
Newer cars--'96 and later--have computer chips that can be read by special instruments. Instead of paying an auto mechanic a bunch of money to read them, you can buy a machine, the Car Chip E/X, to read them yourself. But the E/X costs about $150. So, this tip from a reader is potentially valuable: he claims that most Autozones, as well as other car-part chains, will read the chips for free.
Brock Yates waves buh-bye to the late, great General Motors. Jerry Flint joins him.
Column argues that young Americans have "been robbed of their American birthright"--fun cars. Case in point: the descent into cheesiness of "Pimp My Ride".
Dan Neil says we should take the new Hyundai Sonata seriously.
For all your used auto part needs: Car-Part.com.
Phil Miller at Market Power has a very nice post explaining why we're not driving Stanley Steamers.
Acura Integra owners: your car insurance is probably going up.
Two pictures of a limited special edition Lamborghini Gallardo SE.
Maryann Keller and Jonathan Weisman in the Washington Post dogpile on poor General Motors. The latter has some great lines.
About GM's product development process: "If the Postal Service made cars, it would be GM."
About the unbelievably ugly Aztek: "It looks the way Montezuma's revenge feels." (And it took four years to cancel it?)
Exclusive pictures of the new Bugatti Veyron, which will allegedly do 252 mph.
Probably more than you'll ever want to know about license plates. (Link via John Palmer.)
