classic car

It's no secret that The Car Blog is constantly gaining more and more ground on the Internet, and we've decided to introduce annual awards this year. We've been going back and forth with ideas for Best DIY Project, Worst Performer of the Year, and this award, the Best New Automaker of the Year. We were going back and forth mainly between Devon, Artega, Zenovo, Fisker, and our winner, Tesla. We had many reasons to pick Tesla as our winner. First of all, Devon, Artega, and Zenovo haven't made any production cars yet and Devon is based off of Dodge Viper components. This left Fisker and Tesla. We chose Tesla because they have had major sales success and made many gains in technology. Though the Fisker may look better in your opinion, the Tesla has made more strides and good sales, meaning they have a constant flow of money. For these and many more reasons, Tesla is our award winner this year.

As I picked up the duPont Registry I bought while grocery shopping today, I thought the same Asanti ad for its latest ultra-exclusive wheel set, the Asanti Black Series, would appear. As I paged through, I saw the same ad, but something was different. There were three other sets of wheels at the bottom, which turned out to be their uber-ultra-mega-expensive Diamond Collection. The base wheel, made of cubic Zirconium, was priced at $250,000, a quarter of the price of the wheel we all know of, the famous $1,000,000 Diamond/Sapphire wheel set that was displayed at SEMA and comes with a free Bentley. But there was also another wheel on the page, which hasn't gotten any of the attention of its $1 Million brother. The Asanti AFS 103 Series, made of nearly six times as many Diamonds as its brother with 1,200 Rubies sprinkled in, is priced at a monstrous $2,000,000! This is the flagship wheel set of the top series of the most expensive brand of an ultra-lux wheel company. In other words, Lexani makes Asanti which makes the Diamond Series which makes the AFS 103. These wheels eclipse their half-price brother to become the most expensive wheels on Earth. According to many reports, the Diamond Series is dead, but this ad in the January issue of the duPont registry tells otherwise. I wonder if it comes with two free Bentleys...

  I spotted the Porsche Carrera S on a trip to Chicago a year ago.

  This Viper RT/10 was a one-time shower at the Howard, WI A&W Cruisin' Nights.

  If you're not familiar with my story about this car, go to http://bit.ly/grantur

  This Ford coupe, like the Viper, was another local find.

  On a trip to Madison, WI, I couldn't identify this truck at first.

  When the new Bugatti Galibier sedan concept was revealed a few days ago, many people got the origin of its name wrong. They said that it was named after a mountain pass on the Tour De France. Essentially they were right, but what the car really takes its name from is the Bugatti Type 57C Galibier Saloon, basically the four-door version of the renowned Type 57 coupes. This car, though, was named after the pass.

  The similarities of these two cars is obvious. Both were ultra-luxury sedans based on production coupes. Both were less well-received than their coupe counterparts because of styling cues that were completely recognizable up front but were confounding in the rear. They both represented what the maker wanted to be the fastest, most luxurious sedans on the market during their time period. The original Galibier moved away from the sweeping fastback style of the coupes with a bulbous trunk. This style was badly received by the media and masses; many said it was tacky and ugly. The new Galibier isn't with the times, as it seems to be trying to correct the mistakes of the Thirties with the Porsche Panamera-esque rear fastback, which ends up having the same reaction as the conventional-style trunk of the 57C Galibier from the media and masses.  The new Galibier has the signature Type 57 line through the center of the car, which splits the rear window in two, though the old car doesn't, in its effort to keep visual difference from the coupes yet again. The Galibier concept also takes steps away from the Veyron; the lack of giant side scoops is obvious, as well as the rear setup.

  The general idea and reaction to these two Bugattis may be similar, but if you look at the statistics you can see that they are very different cars underneath. The new Galibier is bound to get around 1,000 horsepower from its modified W16, whereas the Type 57C Galibier had 160 from a straight eight. The new Galibier has four big turbos, while the old had one supercharger. The body is also very different. Not having to deal with modern technology like traction control and ABS meant that the Type 57C Galibier Saloon made use of common materials of the time for its body, but the new Galibier concept's body must be made of carbon fiber to keep the weight to under 4,500 pounds.

  All in all, the namesake and general idea for these two cars is the same, as well as the fact that their styling was ridiculed at the time, but they are very different in execution.

  Today I went to the second annual Big 3 Performance car show, which is just a regular thing for me. But when I got there, I knew that I was in for something better than I expected. The posters for the show had shown renderings of the upcoming Jim Wangers Edition GTO, of which only fifty will be built. The Wangers GTO is scheduled for a debut at the next SEMA show, but sitting in the middle of the parking lot under a cover was the unmistakable lines of a muscle car. Could it be?

  I ended up waiting for over four hours at the car show waiting for the reveal, during which I met Jim Wangers, who is touted as the Godfather of the GTO as well as being the inspiration and nameplate for the new car, and visited the guys at Shelby Parts and Restoration across the street. Somebody there remarked that creating a GTO as a tribute to Wangers was like "Creating a Mustang as a tribute to one of Shelby's secretaries", as Jim has been mostly a PR person, traveling the country with the "GeeTO Tiger". Even so, a good car is a good car. At about 11:00 I got impatient and asked one of the Big 3 Performance employees when the big reveal was, and it turned out they were waiting for their camera man to arrive. They said it should be five or ten minutes.

  An hour later the announcement finally came. "Thanks for coming to the Second Annual Big 3 Performance Car Show. We are now going to give you a sneak peek at the new Jim Wangers Edition GTO, so will everyone please make their way to the covered car in the middle of the lot." Everyone rushed over to the car, and some employees went through the whole speech session about how the car was a community effort and what a joy it was to work with Jim. Finally, the covers were pulled off the car to much fanfare, and Jim Wangers was invited to start his car. He then proceeded to rev the wee out of this expensive prototype, and was only stopped from doing a burnout and driving it out by sheer luck. The motor sounded fantastic, different from anything I've ever heard, muscular yet refined, modern yet harkening back to the days of old. I took a video of the unveil, but it doesn't even begin to do justice to the sound of the motor. You can see the video at http://bit.ly/Wangers.

  If you've looked for a car on Craigslist, you've probably seen them. Cars that are crazy, pointless, or undeniably exotic being advertised. On a website that has seen everything from a $50 beater Cadillac Cimarron to a Bugatti Veyron, you're pretty likely to find some interesting cars. I've searched through car blog archives, forums, and many other sites to find some of the wackiest ,which I will list here.

  To start off , we'll go straight to the well-known one. On December 12th, 2008, the staff of Specialty Automobiles in San Fransisco, CA listed a 2006 Bugatti Veyron on Craigslist for $1.3 Million, which shattered all previous known records of car pricing on Craigslist. The car had 874 miles on it at the time, and was blue with silver fenders and a "Bardo" interior.

  The second car on this list is one that is actually currently for sale in Silicon Valley by RoadSport USA, a car dealership for the ridiculously affluent. It is a 1958 Lister-Jaguar racer that is being sold for $1.1 Million on the San Fransisco Bay Craigslist. There are rumors of it being a works car along with other race history. This is the car you see above.

  The last car on my list isn't ridiculously priced, but it's just odd. Earlier this year, somebody posted a supposedly haunted car. The ad goes on to say that the person doesn't want to work on the car because he's afraid it'll turn on and run over him. I bet it's all fake, but it'll keep you wondering. Here's the ad:

Haunted 1992 Honda Accord Ex JDM RHD – $6500 (Los Angeles)

IM SELLING THIS 1992 HONDA ACCORD EX! 4DR RHD! I SPEND ALOT OF MONEY INTO THIS CAR BUT WILLING TO SELL IT CHEAP CAUSE IT GIVE ME THE CREEPS! BAD! I THINK OR BELIEVE IT’S HAUNTED. THIS CAR IS SALVAGE TITLE! NOT CLEAN IT’S WAS BEEN IN A BAD ACCIDENT IN JAPAN I BELEIVE THE CAR WAS CUT IN HALF IN A ILLEGAL STREET RACE. I WAS ABOUT TO POST AT THE JUNKYARD WHEN I FOUND OUT CRAIGSLIST BUT IF YOU WANT MORE INFORMATION JUST ASK ME!
* * * WARING *** THE WEIRD / REALLY BAD: I brought this car in Japan 7 years ago and imported into United States and start working on it as a project car. The car was in a major accident over in Japan which makes it totaled! but had body fix. Seems to be possessed by a demon or some sort of entity!: makes low mumbling backwards-like indistinguishable talking sounds through the speakers which aren’t even hooked up to anything. There is no stereo in it so it can’t be anything to do with that. When you get into the car it makes you have odd feeling like you wanna leave fast to get out the car and also there’s cold spot inside the rear seat makes you uneasy. It makes no sense at all but it has almost killed me many of times while I was driving to work and school. Mirrors adjust themselves to all different sorts of positions while I’m driving, and I never actually notice them moving so I’m guessing the person die inside the car still exist. Trunk opens on its own at during summer season feel like the car has it own mind to it. Hood flies up while it’s park the driveway at night , it always somehow comes undone. I recorded my car at midnight on a camrecorder… on my driveway the shocking footage is seen you see the car will move on its own while the motor is not on plus I also see red eyes in the driver seat and a black figure at side of the car, the scary thing about this car it will start on its own while sitting out in the driveway without any key being in the ignition. It’s a horrible car to rely on. I just can’t bear to look out the window and see it sitting out there anymore It give me the creeps! i’ve try blessing the car many times but nothing happen I think this person die in the car wants to be left alone with his car. ***

$6,500 dollars and takes it off my hands! or not I’ll let it go 3,400. Please take this car out of my life.
May God Bless You & Have Mercy On Your Soul! This car is really haunted!

THINGS I DONE TO MY CAR SPENDING OVER 7 G’s
MANUAL 5 SPEED
HAS A H23 ENGINE
JDM WINDOW VISORS
JDM ONE PIECE HEADLIGHT BLACKHOUSE
JDM FOGS
JDM LIP ” VERY RARE!”
JDM INTERSECTION LIGHT
JDM FLUSHMOUNT “VERY RARE!”
JDM SIDEMARKERS
R33 GRILL
QUICKRELEASE STEERING WHEEL G-SQUARE
EDM-WASHERS
JDM REAR FOGS
LED LIGHT INTERIOR
HID LIGHT SYSTEM

THE BAD:
DOESN’T START IN THE MORNING! NEEDS TO BE WARM UP USING YOUR RPMS UP TO 4,000 CAR MAY STALL.
IT LEAKING SOME FLUID! BOTTOM OF THE CAR IM SCARE IF I CHECK IT USING A JACK THE CAR MIGHT TURN ITSELF ON AND RUN OVER ME!
MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS BRING SOMEBODY WITH CHU IN CASE!
NEEDS NEW SHOCKS BLOWED SHOCKS ALL 4

OTHER THAN THAT THE CAR NEED SOME TLC CAUSE IT WAS LEFT OUTSIDE DRIVEWAY LIKE 2 YEARS.

So there's my list. Tell me about any updates and any worthwhile cars I missed.

  Ever heard of the Ventura? Liar. You're probably thinking of the Puma, the more common (and admittedly better-looking) Brazilian VW-Based kit car from the malaise era. In this country, where almost every Brazilian kit car is referred to as a Puma, it's almost impossible to find somebody who can identify a Ventura, and even less the extremely rare convertible version, not one of which is known to have made it to the US.

  So what exactly is the Ventura? It was a very similar design to the well-known Puma kit car in that it was a chassis based on VW 4-cylinder power cloaked in a sporty 2-door fastback body that was sold in coupe and convertible forms. Some key differences between the Ventura and Puma are styling, which can be explained by the eras in which each of these cars was launched. The Puma was launched in 1964, with styling reminiscent of Alfa Romeo convertibles that would come a few years later, as well as the Ferrari Dino and other cars. But the Ventura was launched in 1978, fourteen years later, and the auto industry was much different by then. The Venturas were influenced by the Porsche 924 and a "looking towards the eighties" interpretation of the Ferrari 308, and were much more hard-edged and bland. Underneath the differences are slight. Both cars were powered by 4-cylinder VW motors, but the Ventura had the pancake-type engine out of the Type III, unlike the Puma, which used different VW power as well as some early DKW and later Chevy-powered kits.

  The original Ventura design was produced until 1984, when a minor facelift was in order that gave it the aforementioned styling cues and a bland convertible model reminiscent of a more angled Dodge 400 was added to the range. The coupe you see in the photo is a 1984 model. There were now four versions of the car, with two engine and body configuration options. You could either get an 84-horse 1.8 motor or a 1.6, which was eliminated after 1986. Ventura decided due to slowing sales that the car was in for another chenge in 1988, though this one was much more radical. More than just a styling change, the new Ventura II was powered by a 2-liter motor and had major adjustments. Although it was supposed to be an altogether better car, the company stopped making it that same year due to floundering sales, only continuing with low-volume small-truck production, another category it had its hands in. Be wary, though and don't be too quick to tell me production of the Ventura continued after I said. Since many of the VW components used in the cars dated from the sixties and the cars were often titled a few years after they were built due to the owners taking their time with their own personal modifications to the car, the model year was hard to determine by any DMV office. Usually when you find Ventura cars, the model year will have been determined by whatever year they were titled. I've found Venturas that have been titled as 1992 model years or even later.

  So you're visiting your cousin Bob who lives in Neenah on Saturday, September 12th? Make sure you come to the biggest event in Green Bay for car fans, an event held on the property of a well-known custom car shop, Big 3 Performance, and Shelby Parts and Restoration, which if you haven't seen on this blog before is a world-renowned Shelby Mustang restoration shop. This car show will showcase everything from a Lamborghinis to Barracudas, with a Dyno available for use and drag racing down the stretch of public road, which is a Wisconsin road so you don't have to worry about bits falling off. Big Three Performance, known for their custom 650hp Mustang, will be the main host of this event, with many judging categories for imports, restored classics and domestic customs. This show will be located at 2215 O'Conor Road in Green Bay, and if you're nearby on the 12th, be there. You can find more info on this show at  http://www.big3performance.com and you can click on the "Annual Auto Show" link in the middle of the page.

With Obama pushing 35 MPG by 2016 for cars, many enthusiasts are worried about their next-gen supercars being limited to only 100 MPH to meet the standards. Of course, there is merit in that thought, as we all know from the late seventies. But I know that there are ways to meet and beat these standards while keeping our cars muscular and quick, ways that weren't even a forming idea in an engineer's head during the malaise era. Here are some ideas to get us through the CAFE standards fast: I mean seriously fast, not to mention in style.

A few days ago I was driving down the road when a red convertible coming from the other direction caught my eye. From far away I thought "Hey, a Datsun 260Z converted to a droptop!", then as it got closer "Austin-Healy 3000? Jaguar E-type?" And then, as the car was only 30 feet away I saw that it was, in fact, a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTS! This was the highlight of my day, as in northeast Wisconsin a genuine expensive car driving around is a thing you see every half a year unless you're lucky and know where Shelby Parts and Restoration is.

If you're a Mercedes-Benz fan or an obsessed car person like me, you've probably heard of Brabus, a famed tuning house for Mercedes-Benz products Anywhere from the SLR Mclaren to the Smart Car. But something you may not have known until now is that Brabus also has a new customization for none other than the Lotus-based, electric Tesla Roadster.

Though it is not completely certain yet, it seems that the Swedish supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg will buy out the company and aid a return to its Swedish roots. This could spell many things for Saab; a production version of the 2006 Aero X concept shown on top is being widely called for. There are many ways Koenigsegg, as a well-funded and notable company, can do with Saab, but I have a hunch that not much about the market segment or targeted buyers will change. The quality will probably improve and styling will change, but other than that it'll be the same old Saab we've known since its birth.

Now that it's really warm (for Wisconsin), I've been starting to see some supercars around. I saw this pretty Porsche Cayman, an Acura NSX, the Lamborghini I told you about earlier, and the Freightliner Sportchassis I also told you about in the "Distraction Effect" post. I love Summer because there's no snow and it brings a strong dose of impracticality to northeast Wisconsin that's seen year-round in many other places such as Detroit and LA. Despite the hard times, there are still plenty of people who buy new and used supercars, and I'm glad some of those are
Summer people in my area.

UPDATE: I think this post jinxed me. Moments after I pressed "publish post" it started pouring outside and kept pouring throughout the day and into the night.

Have you ever been distracted by a relatively interesting car when a Lamborghini or Maybach speeds by? This has happened to me in many instances, such as the time I photographed a custom two-tone Mustang on a Chicago highway, and later found when viewing the photos that a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti was about 50 yards away in the background. In another instance, I was taking photos of a '68 El Camino that was driving in front of me, when a 2005 Ford GT supercar pulled up on the other side of the intersection we came to. I've now named this nature's "Distraction Effect".
Even just today I saw this phenomenon in action. I was trying to get a photo of the '84 Capri RS I told you about before, when we pass a driveway with a Freightliner Sportchassis RHA114 AWD, which is a $200,000 truck, sitting in it. This effect is somehow inherent in many car-related occasions, as it has happened to me and many others I've talked to before. You could be looking at this little 1994 Honda Civic Del Sol (later known as simply the "Del Sol"), found at www.coneslayer.com, when an Audi R8 or something else much more expensive goes by. There must be one way to stop this from happening without being forced not to stare at lesser, but still interesting cars, but I couldn't think of a solution for the life of me.

A friend of mine was pulling onto the highway on his way home from work, when he spotted a white Lamborghini Gallardo just ahead of him! This is extremely rare in Wisconsin, so he shot a couple of photos and mailed them to me. The Lambo was actually going BELOW the speed limit, and he passed it so he could get to the side and get a photo up ahead. He got a photo, but it was far away, so instead chased the Gallardo down at 85-90 miles per hour with ten miles left in his commute home. He caught up with the Lambo and got some nice shots, including this one.

In short, Bentley has released a new Flying Spur and Flying Spur Speed with very subtle changes to the front and rear of the car. The Flying Spur Speed is the fastest sedan yet by Bentley, and should continue to be a mother load of cash for the company to fund more expensive specials. Photo from Motortorque.com