Car Club Blog

Mix five parts Bentley, one part Bugatti, one part Ferrari, and stir. Then dump your $356,000 exotic down the drain. What you see here is a Bentley Continental GT featuring a Bugatti hood and horseshoe grille shoved between Audi Q7 headlights, with Ferrari-like rear end grafted on for good measure. LEW’s 100-horsepower boost for the Conti’s W-12 can’t outrun this car’s ugliness. Unveiled at the Essen motor show, the car-called Big Bang-will cost European buyers 270,000 euro, or approximately $356,000

Thankfully you can’t smoke in thes cars.

The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong has been shuttling guests to and from the airport and around town in Rolls-Royce automobiles since 1970. The Peninsula outdid itself, taking delivery of fourteen long-wheelbase Phantoms built to custom specifications through RR’s Bespoke program.

Each car is finished in Brewster Green with a tan stripe, and has been customized with Bespoke features such as Peninsula Hotel sill plates, an enlarged trunk, a coolbox to store chilled towels, compartments for used towels in the doors, MP3 jacks for the rear seats, relocated rear-seat climate controls, repositioned and enhanced lighting, and even “No Smoking” plaques. Those (and more) are in addition to the already-opulent standard equipment list that includes 12″ LCD screens in the rear seat snack trays, a high-end 420-watt sound system, privacy curtains, and the Great Intangibles: that signature grille and the iconic flying lady on the hood.

After wrapping this beautiful Modena, a 360 Spider to be precise, into a lamp post at an intersection in Perth, Australia you begin to wonder about the which side of the road you should be driving on. By the looks of things, it was just the front end that was wrapped around the pole, while the rest of the car looks fine. But there’s bound to be some structural damage to the 360’s aluminum frame, and you can try to fix that, but she’ll never be the same.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — A rare 1939 German race car commissioned by Adolf Hitler is expected to command the highest price ever paid for any automobile at auction, according to Christie’s, which will conduct the auction in Paris in February 2007.

The car, one of five remaining “Auto Union D-Types,” is expected to sell for as much as $12 million, said Rupert Banner, head of Christie’s motor cars department.

In 1933, after becoming chancellor of Germany, Hitler offered 500,000 reichmarks for a company to design a race car to show off the nation’s technological prowess. Originally, Mercedes-Benz got the nod. But Ferdinand Porsche, then an engineer working with Auto Union, which today is known as Audi, was able to secure some of that financing to build a revolutionary car he had designed.

That car was modified over the next few years to become the 1939 Auto Union D-Type.

For the entire article, click here.

Exclusive merchandise, special events, celebrity appearances and beauty treatments take center stage at the Barrett-Jackson Lifestyle Pavilion. Luxury will be defined inside the Lifestyle Pavilion during the 36th Annual Barrett-Jackson World’s Greatest Collector Car Event being held at WestWorld. Bidders, consignors, sponsors, and VIP guests will have the opportunity to browse high-end jewelry and apparel, dine on exquisite culinary dishes, indulge in spa treatments and much more.

The Lifestyle Pavilion, open Tuesday, Jan. 16 through Sunday, Jan. 21, will be located on the west side of the main auction tent, adjacent to the Feature Cars Showcase Pavilion. The Lifestyle Pavilion will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and will stay open to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 18.

“Barrett-Jackson has transformed into a must-attend event, with patrons from all over the world not only attending to witness exquisite collector vehicles cross the block, but to take part in the lifestyle elements that are just as much a part of the experience,” said Craig Jackson, CEO of the Barrett-Jackson Auction Company. “We’ve added new features this year to consistently provide our customers with the pampering they desire.”

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From Autoblog.com: The “Show or Display” exemption that was enacted under Bill Clinton’s tenure as president has been a godsend for collectors and enthusiasts who love certain European and Asian vehicles that were never officially certified for U.S. road use, cars like the McLaren F1, Bugatti EB110, Jaguar XJ220, Maserati MC12, Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM and GTR, and the Porsche 959. These are incredible cars that were never designed for American roads, and in turn needed some official “help” to get to these shores.

Some wealthy owners had taken it upon themselves to import these cars for their own collections even before the Show or Display legislation went into effect. Jerry Seinfeld was one of the first people to get a Porsche 959. He was joined by Microsoft partners Paul Allen and Bill Gates. Gates, in particular, was glad when the Show or Display went into effect so he didn’t have to worry so much about blasting around Seattle in his Porsche supercar. Well, his days of no motoring worries may be over.

As part of an “environmental crackdown” in his home state of Washington, the Show or Display vehicles may lose their exemption. Governor Chris Gregoire is looking at ways to cut pollution and a prime target are catalytic converter-free cars like these exempted vehicles and their “gross emissions.” Although Gates had recently joked that, “my Porsche days may be coming to a close,” that was due to his wife Melinda’s concerns more than any foreseen legislative problems. According to this Australian IT article, Bill’s friends seem to think “he will not surrender his right to drive the 959 without a fight.” Having seen a few of these in action over the years, we hope that cooler heads prevail and they work out a compromise.

It’s an odd pairing when BMW and PSA Peugeot-Citroen formed their initial partnership. BMW, a German conglomerate building premium performance and luxury automobiles and controlling a couple small but iconic British marques, and PSA, a grouping of two run-of-the-mill mass-production French brands. Their products don’t overlap much, but the all but total lack of competition is probably what helps them get along. No competition means no threat.Now the two groups are looking at expanding their cooperation along the lines of their current partnership.

PSA developed and builds the engines for the Mini, the French firm imparting their expertise with small engines on their Bavarian friends who are more adept at high-output performance powerplants. PSA and BMW are now undertaking a study to assess new ways the two can collaborate, and if they both like the findings, we may see Peugeot-Citroen engines in other BMW products, and maybe vice-versa.

Now isn’t it so much nicer when the Germans and the French get along?

Jaguar issued a teaser photo on Friday of a “major new concept car” that the automaker says will be revealed on January 3 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The car is widely expected to be a concept of the upcoming XF midsize luxury sedan.

Jaguar said “further details and imagery will be sent nearer the time” of the auto show. The production XF will make its debut next fall and is expected to go on sale in spring 2008. It will replace the S-Type in the Jaguar lineup. The company has described the XF as the “next stage” of Jaguar’s design era.

The XF will be designed and developed at Jaguar Product Development Centre at Whitley in the United Kingdom.

What this means to you: Jaguar puts the S-Type out to pasture and gets ready for a major Detroit reveal.

The 5th Anniversary of the Hilton Head Island Concours, held on the grounds of the Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn Hilton Head Island, SC, occurred during the early part of November, 2006. This years event paid tribute to the Cars of Indiana and Indianapolis Pace Cars. The concours was the last event of a busy weekend which included Vintage Track Days, Worldwide Group Auction, VIP Reception, Southern Belle Fashion Show, a concert which was ‘A Salute to Frank Sinatra’, seminars, art previews, Car Club Jamboree, two driving tours, BMW’s Ride and Drive, and more.

The grounds of Honey Horn provide an excellent location for the Concours. The beautiful Charter Oak trees, historic buildings, and grassy pastoral setting create a peaceful atmosphere and a feeling of tranquility. The weather was enjoyable and the sun seemed just as happy to see the cars as did the spectators.