If the headline didn’t get your attention then the sight of a Ferrari Testarossa being cut up surely will.

The mid-engined supercar was the centerfold star of many a young boy’s bedroom wall and now one fan is having his 1987 example turned into a targa by coachbuilder Niels van Roij Design.

The Dutch designer has become the go-to guy for one-off Ferrari conversions having previously created a Breadvan Hommage from a 550 Maranello and a Daytona Shooting Brake based on a 599 GTB.

This time there are still 12 cylinders in play, but in a flat formation behind the passenger cell and with the rosso engine covers looking like they’ll be on proud display. As well as cutting away a section of the roof work-in-progress photos show that the engine lid is being redesigned. In other images the front wings have been removed and the interior has been gutted suggesting that there’s much more to the design that just chopping the top off.

The car has been named the Guida Touring Sport and its development is being documented on van Roij’s social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram and X.

“This project exemplifies our dedication to pushing the boundaries of automotive design while paying homage to the rich history of this iconic sports car,” says van Roij. “The Targa conversion not only enhances the driving experience – just listen to that twelve-cylinder – but also celebrates the spirit of individuality and passion for bespoke automobiles.”

The project is a close collaboration with a British collector who lives in Andorra, so when the car is complete he can enjoy the fresh mountain breeze as he tackles the Pyrenees principality’s steep switchbacks.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Eighties’ Redhead Goes Topless appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Twenty-one seems pretty young to retire, especially when your predecessor served for 61 years. Nonetheless, after just two decades and 12-odd months, Bentley’s W-12 is being put out to pasture, replaced by a new hybrid V-8.

Significantly, since the replacement engine is built by Porsche in Germany, it will be the first time in Bentley’s history that the British company has not manufactured its own motors. Pedants may point out that the 1998 Arnage was launched with a BMW M62 V8, but it wasn’t long before a Red Label version re-introduced the venerable 6.75-liter engine that had been assembled in Crewe since 1959.

When it was unveiled in 2003, in the W12 was the Volkswagen Group’s flagship engine, powering a whole new generation of Bentley in the form of the Continental GT Coupe (and, in 2005, the GTC cabriolet).

The engine would also make appearances in the Continental Flying Spur and Bentayga SUV as well as the Audi A8, VW Phaeton, and even the Touareg. Bentley has hand-built more than 100,000 examples of the W-12 since its launch, each taking six and half hours to assemble. Over the years, development has enabled a total power increase of 37 percent, and torque has been boosted by 54 percent, while emissions were cut by 25 percent. In its ultimate guise, as fitted to the Batur, Bentley eked out as much as 750 hp from the W-12. When the last of these 18 coupes and 16 convertibles are completed, the W-12 will be no more.

To bid this remarkable engine a fond farewell, I’m at the undulating Oulton Park circuit, a short drive from Bentley base in Crewe, where an early 2003 Continental GT and one of the final 2024 Continental GT Speeds are waiting in the pit lane.

Bizarrely, Bentley is less precious about the newest $300,000 car than the 20-year-old model the company’s heritage arm recently bought for less than $40,000. So I get three flying laps with an instructor at my side in the Speed and just one in the older GT.

Nonetheless, it’s just about enough to quantify 21 years of W-12 progress. The green-over-tan 2003 Conti has aged well for the most part. It was never considered beautiful, but the looks have proven to be quite timeless—although I’d still avoid choosing one in gray—its snout and wide flanks are more hippo than hip. The quality of the cabin is exceptional overall, excepting the dated digital display and the plastic gear paddles, which are a bit VW parts bin.

The reality is that you probably wouldn’t touch them anyway as it feels very much the GT and therefore all-at-sea here on a circuit. The steering is super light, suspension soft and wallowy, and brakes on the spongy side. Really though, I’m here to talk about the engine, and it certainly outshines the chassis and lethargic six-speed transmission.

The W-12 is effectively two VW VR-6 engines joined together. The unique configuration makes the block quite compact and allows it to sit relatively low. With a pair of twin-scroll turbochargers, it delivers 560 hp at 6100rpm and a 479 lb-ft torque tsunami from just 1600 rpm. Driving all four-wheels through a Torsen system it can accelerate from 0-62 mph in 4.8 seconds and top about a tad below the double ton. It feels effortlessly brisk, and smoother than a silk worm secretion, but there’s no hiding its 5000-pound bulk.

After hopping into a fetching blue over black 2024 Speed model, the opposite seems true of the new car. Aided by rear-steer and another 90 horses, it’s a totally different beast. Now we’re looking at just 3.6 seconds to reach 62 mph, much more eager throttle response, and a gearbox that reacts instantly instead of pausing to consider your request.

It’s properly fast, squatting down and firing out of corners with gusto. Perhaps even more impressive is the way that it dives in, the steering offering far more feedback and the front end really rather keen to catch an apex. By all accounts (by which we mean Henry Catchpole’s), the upcoming V-8 hybrid handles even better and packs an even greater punch.

No doubt it’ll be far more efficient than the thirsty six-liter W-12, which despite deactivating a few cylinders could only muster a combined 15 MPG on the EPA cycle. Yet despite all the gains, there is a uniqueness that will be lost in the transition.

It may have powered a few other VW Group vehicles, but only Bentley truly made the best of the W-12. If that’s something you’d like to experience for yourself from new, there are reportedly a few cars still available.

Or you could do what I’ve just done and start browsing the classifieds where you’ll find early models in tidy condition for less than $30,000.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post A Fond Farewell to the Bentley W-12 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A one-off Porsche 928 testbed that served for more than three decades has deservedly won a place in the Porsche Museum.

The car’s main purpose during its long life was to help Porsche pass noise tests and the manual coupe was picked because because of the low-end power from its 5.4-liter V-8.

“Whether the engine was in the front or the rear, or how much interior space was available was irrelevant,” explains engineer Harald Mann. “Primarily, the testing required a lot of power in the lower engine speed range. Using the 924 was therefore a non-starter, and a 944 with its typical gearbox rattle at low loads was also out of the question. And an air-cooled 911 was too loud. It was important to minimize the noise of the vehicle as much as possible.”

Drive-by noise was a particular focus so being able to isolate each noise source in the car for testing was crucial. “The mechanical noise of the engine and the tires is, in fact, hard to influence,” says Mann. “In the end, it is always a mixed calculation: if the engine and gearbox are particularly quiet, the exhaust can be a little louder, for example. If the tires are excessively loud, then the intake noise might need to be quieter.”

The acoustic engineers literally wrapped the car in cotton wool to dampen major noise sources, mounted the radiator in front of the bumper, removed the fan, and fitted an enormous intake silencer. An over-sized exhaust silencer was strapped to the back window, the transaxle transmission was enclosed and the underbody insulated as well, giving it the look of one of George Miller’s Mad Max machines.

Initially the car was tested, not on Fury Road, but a section of the skidpan at Weissach before a dedicated section of track was created to measure the sound levels as the 928 whooshed by. At its most hushed the car was clocked at just 63 dB(A) at a time when the legal limit was 74 dB(A), making it the quietest 928 ever made.

Pirelli would also borrow the car to test new compounds and tread patterns so the 928 was fitted with wider arches to accommodate all manner of wheels and tires. It’s currently fitted with the same low-profile rubber as the 991-generation 911, showing just how recently the 928 was still working.

“It could still do the job today,” adds Mann.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post This Mad Max 928 Refined Porsches for 30 Years appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Overtaking opportunities are rare on the B-roads that wend their way through the Wye Valley. Here on the border between England and Wales, a region that literally prompted the very first use of the word “picturesque,” finding a straight with sufficient visibility and length to safely pass a car ahead requires patience.

Since collecting this Morgan Plus Six from the factory, its BMW TwinPower engine has barely been tempted above tickover. The eight-speed automatic upshifts to the highest gear appropriate to road speed as I meander through the country lanes. Even so, I find myself catching up to a couple of cars that are nowhere near troubling the speed limit.

A press of the Sport + button immediately adds an eagerness to the throttle, and I slot the gear selector over to allow the use of the paddle shifters in anticipation of a possible passing shot. It comes as I round a right-hander, so I nudge the left paddle down a couple of clicks and floor it.

What follows is quite the surprise. For me—and the two dawdlers that I fly past. The acceleration is, frankly, brutal and really quite incongruous with the Morgan’s outward appearance. Then there’s the noise. A whoosh of turbos spooling up, a pop from the exhaust between upshifts, and a crackle on the overrun as I back off.

I’d experienced some of this in the Plus Four last year, but in the Six everything is cranked up above and beyond any expectation you might have from looking at it.

The styling is as traditional as ever. The flowing curves are hand-formed over an ash frame, using tools that haven’t changed for 70 years. It’s 4 inches wider than the Plus Four, to accommodate a greater track and bigger 18-inch standard alloy wheels, or 19-inch optional rims (the Plus Four runs 15-inchers). The Six also has a pair of extra driving lamps and is yet to benefit from the latest tweaks to the Four, which house indicators within the main lamp units and simplify the rear end with two instead of four taillights.

The cabin is pleasingly minimalist, with a flat painted dash, a lovely wooden center console, hand-trimmed leather, and deep wool carpets. A small digital screen is a little out of place, but the other analog instruments are spot on. Morgan’s own aluminum buttons look great, but the BMW parts are a bit of a letdown. It’s a necessary evil, of course, but the shiny gear selector, column stalks, and fixed paddles distract from an otherwise wonderfully hand-made feel.

On the plus (sorry) side, the BMW powertrain is a belter. With an extra two cylinders and 80 more horses over the Plus Four (for a total of 330) the Plus Six shaves a full second off the 0–62 mph acceleration time, bringing it down to just 4.2 seconds. Top speed increases from 149 mph to 166.

The truth is it feels even faster than that. The Plus Four I drove in the mountains of Switzerland was on winter tires, which squirmed under full load, while the Six is shod with sticky Continentals and never seems to struggle to put its power down, or trouble the now-standard ESC system.

The AP Racing brakes are superb, and so is the way the car whips through winding roads on revised bushes and dampers. Even with the heft of the bigger engine, the Plus Six only weighs 2456 pounds dry, and that gives it impressive agility through rapid direction changes. The steering is quick and decently feelsome too, loading up appropriately as the cornering forces increase.

Specs: 2024 Morgan Plus Six

• Price: £93,603 ($119,361)
• Powertrain: 3.0-liter fuel-injected, BMW TwinPower six-cylinder; 8-speed automatic transmission
• Output: 330 hp @ 6500 rpm; 369 lb-ft
• Layout: Rear-wheel-drive, two-door, two-passenger convertible
• Fuel Economy: 38 mpg (U.K.) 31.6 mpg (U.S.)
• Competitors: none

It’s a far cry from the last big-motor Morgan I drove. That was a Plus Eight, equipped with a 3.9-liter Rover V-8, and despite having only around 200 horsepower it was a wildly different ride, lacking the braking or cornering ability to match its straight-line speed. There was scuttle shake, a shocking ride quality, and attempting to drive it quickly was a white-knuckled, sweaty-palmed experience.

Some 30 years later, it’s only to be expected that the Plus Six is a marked improvement, but still its dynamic ability and outright performance are remarkable. Underneath that timeless body truly sits a modern sports car.

There is some bad news, however. Morgan has no current plans to bring the Plus Six to America. Instead, just 325 Plus Fours are to be imported each year under the Replica Bill approval process, and the Plus Six will remain forbidden fruit.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Morgan Plus Six: Timeless Looks, State-of-the-Art Drive appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It wasn’t just Lancia that had its sights set on rally glory in the early Eighties. Italian stablemate Alfa Romeo also hatched plans for a Group B special to take to the world’s stages.

The Alfa 6C was to be based on the Alfasud Sprint, but totally transformed for the FIA’s new homologation rules. Out went the 1.5-liter front-mounted four-cylinder boxer engine, to be replaced by a 2.5-liter V-6 positioned amidships and sending its power to the rear wheels via a ZF five-speed as previously seen in the Lancia 037.

The car made its debut at the 1982 Paris Motor Show, completed with box arches, a louvred lid in place of the rear window and wide wheels with grippy Pirelli tires. It soon became apparent that the 6C would need four-wheel drive to be competitive so a second prototype was developed but by 1983 the money had run out and the project was axed.

Forty years later rally fans can finally get to drive a modern interpretation of the 6C thanks to Portuguese tuner Alma. In its Alma Sprint you get the same widebody styling as the original, albeit with closer panel gaps and a redesigned front end with Hella headlamps. The interior is pretty plush, with leather, Alcantara and corduroy trim, racing seats, and Sabelt harnesses.

Alma hasn’t gone as far as Alfa did when it comes to power, however. The Sprint retains its four-pot motor, bored out to 1.8-liters and much modified. There are redesigned heads, forged pistons, custom camshafts and valvetrain, a stainless steel exhaust and Dellorto carbs with polished velocity stacks. The changes increase output to 160 hp and drive goes to the front wheels through a five-speed manual transmission and an open Torsen differential.

Alma hasn’t released prices, but says it will build 20 examples, with the first delivery due by the end of 2025.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Alfa Romeo’s Abandoned Group B Rally Car is Reborn as a Restomod appeared first on Hagerty Media.

For three years in a row, from 1984 to 1986, McLaren won the F1 World Championship with TAG-branded but Porsche-built power units. Forty years later, three of those very engines are being installed into a trio of TAG Championship Porsche 911s by the engineering wizards at Lanzante.

It’s not the first time such a feat has been achieved, with McLaren originally building a prototype to test the 1.5-liter V-6 turbo engine in the Eighties and Lanzante re-interpreting the idea with its TAG Turbo in 2019. Just 11 of those were built and now Lanzante reckons it’s time for a few more.

With the aid of Cosworth the wick of the TAG TTE P01 V-6 has been dialled up from 503 to 625 horsepower and the redline raised to 10,250 rpm. There’s a new exhaust system, titanium turbochargers, new pistons, conrods and valve springs, uprated cams, plus a new intake and cooling system. A 993 six-speed gearbox with revised ratios sends drive to the 18-inch Dymag magnesium and carbon rear wheels.

An Eighties’ 930 Turbo is the donor car, but the body panels, doors, front wings, roof, bumpers and rear spoiler are all made from F1-grade carbon fiber. The brakes feature carbon ceramic discs. Further weight is saved by gutting the interior and installing carbon-backed Recaro seats with six-point race harnesses and a roll cage, while electric windows and mirrors are ditched to shed a few more pounds. A lightweight air conditioning system is added, but there’s still a saving of almost 950 lbs compared to the original 930 Turbo.

The three cars will each be a tribute to one of McLaren’s winning years and drivers Niki Lauda and Alain Prost with bespoke livery. The first example, which will be revealed at July’s Goodwood Festival of Speed pays homage to Prost in 1995 with a main paint scheme based on his MP4/2B and his helmet design.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Classic Porsche 930 to Get ’80s F1 Power appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It’s a measure of just how serious Ford is about taking the fight to the Porsche that it’s testing the new Mustang GTD on the German firm’s home turf.

The 800-hp supercharged pony car has been caught lapping at the Nürburgring and it’s not hanging about. In the spy video below the driver sends it over the curbs, bottoms out in the kleines karussell and redlines its thunderous 5.2-liter V-8.

The start of the video gives us a good look at the car’s rear aero and its trunk-mounted transaxle cooler, complete with twin fans to dissipate heat. Are those tailpipes part of the optional Akrapovič titanium system? It’s hard to say from the footage, but they sound like a roar from Thor himself.

The most track-focused Mustang ever appears to put its power down with precision thanks to its race-proven unequal-length double-wishbone plus coilover suspension, fitted with Multimatic’s Adaptive Spool Valve damping. The GTD’s unusual twin spring setup means it can quickly switch from a softer road spring rate and ride height to the stiffer and hunkered-down track setup put to good use on the ‘Ring.

Listen well and you’ll hear the rapid shifts at upwards of 7500 rpm from the eight-speed automatic transmission, which is driven via a carbon propshaft. Moving the transmission to the rear gives the GTD a 50:50 weight distribution for an ideal handling balance. It certainly looks pretty planted as it hauls ass through the Green Hell.

Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes slow the GTD down for the corners and its lightweight magnesium alloy wheels are clearly shod with some seriously sticky rubber as they barely protest even in the tightest of turns.

The first two years of GTD production for the U.S. are already sold out, with more than 7500 people applying to own one of the $325,000 machines. The order book for Europe is opening imminently, and based on this showing at the ‘Ring it’ll fill fast.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Watch the 800-HP Mustang GTD Run the ’Ring appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A 1972 Ferrari 246 Dino GTS once owned by rock goddess Cher is currently up for auction.

Cher bought the car new in December 1972 from Hollywood Sports Cars on Hollywood Boulevard and the following March added a CHERS vanity plate, just in case anyone missed her jet black mane flowing in the breeze as she cruised with the roof panel removed.

The Dino is finished in Rosso Chiaro over Nero leather, its 2.4-liter V-6 is fed by triple Weber carbs and it breathes out through an ANSA exhaust system. Cromodora five-lug alloy wheels wearing Michelin XWX tires complete the look. Inside there’s a MOMO steering wheel, Becker audio system and power windows.

Cher’s affair with this particular Ferrari was cut short in spring 1974 when her divorce from Sonny Bono loomed. She sold the car to IMSA racer Chris Cord via Hollywood Sports Cars. Cord didn’t keep it long, but the next owner architect Donald MacDonald looked after it for the next 39 years, keeping it in immaculate condition.

Over the last ten years the current keeper opted to turn back time and fully restore the Dino to its original state. With 65,000 miles on the clock and a complete history file including authentication from Ferrari specialist Marcel Massini, the car is being sold with a mass of memorabilia including LP records and photographs.

This car wasn’t Cher’s only Dino. Not long after she split from Sonny the singer bought a dead ringer GTS, although she then is said to have had George Barris paint it (Am I) blue with white stripes.

At the time of writing the auction on Bring A Trailer had reached $500,000 but as there’s still six days to go before one lucky buyer is able to say I Got You Babe about this fabulous Ferrari.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Do You Believe You Could Own Cher’s Ferrari? appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The Bugatti Type 35 may well hold the most wins of any race car in history, but it had to overcome one major obstacle along the way: the Alfa Romeo P2.

Vittorio Jano, recently poached from Fiat, was personally tasked by Alfa founder Nicola Romeo with its design.  “Listen,” Romeo said.  “I am not expecting you to make a car which will beat all others, but I’d like one which will make us look good, so that we can make an identity card for this factory, then later, when it has a name, we’ll make the car.”

It’s fair to say that Jano exceeded expectations. He began by assembling a two-liter straight-eight engine with a double crankcase design, fixed steel heads, and gear-driven twin camshafts. At Fiat, Jano had been an early adopter of the supercharger so he added a Roots-type blower, complete with a pioneering intercooler. At 5500 rpm Jano’s engine produced 140 horsepower.

The P2’s chassis didn’t break any new ground with its traditional ladder frame, but the elongated tail aided aerodynamics and the staggered two-seater layout gave the driver a little more elbow room to twirl the big steering wheel.

The first P2 was completed on June 2, 1924, and driven immediately by Giuseppe Campari and Alberto Ascari, even before it was painted in Alfa’s trademark racing red. A week later it lined up at the Circuito di Cremona for its first true test over five laps of the 40-mile road course. Ascari took the checkered flag almost a minute ahead of his nearest rival, Alete Marconcini, in the Chiribiri 12/16, with Roberto Malinervi’s Bugatti T22 in third.

At Lyons, just a few weeks later, Bugatti brought five of its new Type 35s to attempt to steal Alfa’s thunder. It was not to be. Campari stormed to victory after five hours of hard racing, with the first of the Bugattis, driven by Jean Chassagne, a distant seventh place.

With a third win at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Alfa Romeo confirmed the P2’s pace. In the 1925 season it won two of the four rounds of the first-ever World Championship for Grand Prix Cars, securing the title for Alfa Romeo.

The dominance was short-lived, however, as a new rule for 1926 saw a change of engine displacement to 1.5 liters, favoring Bugatti. The P2 battled on in other categories and, in 1930, secured its most memorable success at the Targa Florio.

Achille Varzi somehow managed to complete the grueling 335-mile event around Sicily in six hours and 55 minutes, despite suffering from a fuel problem that could not only have ended his race but also his life. A broken bracket holding the spare wheel caused the fuel tank to leak. On the last lap of the 67-mile road layout, his mechanic attempted to add more gas to the tank while the Alfa sped on. It spilled onto the hot exhaust and immediately ignited. The mechanic tore out his seat cushion and frantically beat at the flames as they crossed the finish line. Louis Chiron’s Bugatti Type 35 B was almost two minutes behind. Another one-in-the-eye for Alfa’s rival, just before the P2 was retired from service.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post On This Day 100 Years Ago, Alfa Built the Bugatti-beating P2 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A Series 1 Jaguar E-Type restored and enhanced by Helm in the United Kingdom, is on its way to the U.S. East Coast.

It’s the third car in Helm’s limited series of 20 restomods, with each a unique specification as determined by its buyer. In this case the American enthusiast opted for metallic emerald green paintwork applied to the mostly hand-beaten aluminum body using an electrophoretic technique for unparalleled uniformity and corrosion protection.

The rich Ochre interior has been crafted by Bill Amberg studio in aniline European calf hide and suede. None of the original plastics are to be seen, with even toggle switches artfully covered in leather. A matching set of luggage is provided to fill the space behind the seats.

Helm’s modifications extend to a blueprinted 300-hp 4.2-liter straight-six engine with a calibrated ECU, fuel injection and hand-polished stainless steel exhaust system. Cooling comes from a new high-efficiency radiator with uprated pumps, pipework and header tank. The gearbox is a Tremec five-speed manual and there’s an organic clutch kit fitted as well. Braking is via aircraft-grade aluminum calipers and vented discs all round, while the suspension is an adjustable Ohlins system with poly bushes front and rear. Speed sensitive electric power steering is also included.

A host of modern-day creature comforts have been added, from soft-close doors and a heated windscreen to a hidden seven-speaker audio system with Apple car play and a reversing camera. This is an E-Type designed to be daily-driven.

“The E-type is rightfully considered an icon in automotive design,” says Helm founder Chedeen Battick, ‘but I have always felt that it deserves a performance to match. The Rhode Island Commission is the continuation of our mission to take advantage of modern best practice in terms of build and engineering in order to create the ultimate E-type, fit for the expectations of today’s driver, without compromise.”

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post This Helm E-Type Will Soon be Road Tripping Rhode Island appeared first on Hagerty Media.

In 2019 Zagato celebrated its centenary by collaborating with Aston Martin on a duo of extraordinary DBZ models. Just 19 matched pairs of the DB4 GT Zagato Continuation and DBS GT Zagato were built, with collectors paying £6.1 million ($7.7 M) for the privilege of owning them.

Five years on there’s the opportunity to pick up the Zagato twins for a little over half price. Finished in matching Caribbean Pearl with dark blue hide interiors the cars are being offered by U.K. Aston Martin specialists Nicholas Mee & Company for £3.75 million ($4.7 M).

With the DB4 GT Zagato Continuation Aston Martin revisited its early 1960s Le Mans contender. Only 19 cars were originally built, so that’s the number Aston elected to remanufacture at its Heritage Center on the site of the old factory in Newport Pagnell. These DB4 GT Zagato Continuations featured hand-sculpted aluminum bodywork, uprated 4.7-liter straight-six motors and took some 4500 hours to put together.

The DBS GT Zagato, meanwhile, was based on the DBS Superleggera, but with a trademark Zagato double-bubble roof made from carbon fiber. Under the hood sat a 760-hp, 5.2-liter turbocharged V-12 engine, making it the most potent Aston Martin at the time of production.

“In the 40 or more years I have been dealing in Aston Martin cars, I have never seen demand for the Zagato variants dwindle.,” says Nicholas Mee. “They remain irresistible; beautifully crafted, timeless in design and incredibly rare, they’re always near the top of a collector’s wish list. With the DBZ Centenary Collection we have a pair of cars that’s likely to never be repeated by Aston Martin, as it moves away from Continuation models. This is a chance to acquire both an icon and a future icon of one of the automotive industry’s most enduring and effective unions.”

We can’t help but wonder why, if what Mee says is true, this pairing is being offered at such a knock-down price.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post A Prized Pair of Aston Martin Zagatos is For Sale appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Not content with restomodding the Ferrari Testarossa Switzerland’s Officine Fioravanti has now turned its attention to two other Italian icons: the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione and the Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer.

The 8C was, and to many people still is, the ultimate Alfa Romeo. It’s “the most beautiful car ever made,” according to Jeremy Clarkson, with its flowing composite bodywork inspired by Scaglione’s original 33 Stradale, transposed into a front-engined coupe format. It was a who’s who of Italian automotive expertise, built by Maserati, on a chassis designed by the race aces at Dallara, with brakes from Brembo, seats from Sparco, and a 4.7-liter 450-hp V-8 from Ferrari.

The 500 examples assembled were sold immediately but were not without their flaws. Chiefly the six-speed robotized manual transaxle gearbox was rather lacking in finesse. That’s the first fix Officine Fioravanti has put in place, swapping it for a stunning open-gated manual transmission and three aluminum pedals. The electronics have been updated, there’s electronically controlled and adjustable Öhlins suspension, carbon-ceramic brakes, and new FIA-approved carbon fiber seats which are said to improve the driving position. Even with a glorious tan leather-clad interior the modifications result in a “significant” weight saving.

“It’s time to bring out all the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione from the garages where they have been resting for years, to enjoy their lines, their chassis, and their inimitable sound,” announces the company.

For the 512 BB Officine Fioravanti has focused on improving day-to-day driveability by replacing the ignition and fuel system of the famous five-liter flat-12. Hidden within an exact replica of the original carburetors is a modern engine control system, but the firm has left the rest of the car alone, and stresses that the changes are easily reversed.

“These modifications allow the 512 BB to keep its iconic style, appearance, and soul, while also making it extremely more reliable, comfortable for everyday use or long journeys, safe, and high-performing,” says the Swiss specialist.

The treatment obviously won’t appeal to those who value originality above all else, but for enthusiasts who actually want to drive these incredible Italians then these mods could make all the difference between their cars sitting in the garage and hitting the open road.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Swiss Specialist Taps Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione and Ferrari 512 BB for Restomod appeared first on Hagerty Media.

BMW picked the world’s most glamorous car show to reveal a new two-seater concept that harks back to past glory without resorting to a retro look.

Unveiled at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on the banks of Lake Como, Italy, the Skytop is a traditional targa with a removable roof that has to be manhandled off and stored in the trunk. Also old school is a proper shark nose and a spine that runs from the hood through the interior to the tail of the car, as previously seen in the Z8.

“The BMW Concept Skytop is a truly unique and exotic design, in the tradition of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este,” said Adrian van Hooydonk, BMW Group Design boss. “It offers a combination of driving dynamics and elegance at the highest level, comparable to its historic ancestors, like the BMW Z8 or BMW 503.”

Other design highlights include the slimmest LED lights ever seen on a BMW, mounted on milled aluminum carriers and a unique graded silver chrome shadow paint scheme. The red-brown leather trim inside extends to the integrated roll bar, while door handles are discretely hidden in the shoulders.

The Skytop was the highlight of BMW’s 25th year as the main partner of the Concorso and, like 3.0 CSL that it showed as a concept in 2022, it could make it to limited production.

“We’re not sure whether we’re going to make it but we could, because this time we put all the learnings into the design phase,” van Hooydonk told BMWblog. The 3.0 CSL took just a year to get road-ready after its Lake Como debut, with 50 examples sold at around $800,000 each. The Skytop would be even easier to produce, with parts such as its slimline lighting already road-legal. “From a technical point of view, yes, it’s very very feasible,” he added.

If there’s sufficient demand then a run of 50 Skytops could begin to be built within a year with an estimated price tag of half a million dollars.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post BMW Skytop Concept could be Road-Ready in a Year appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Just in time for the Monaco Grand Prix Mercedes-AMG has pulled the wraps off the debut model in its ultra-limited Mythos series.

The PureSpeed is a two-seater barchetta, inspired by the pinnacle of motor racing, and is the most extreme open-topped Mercedes since the spectacular Stirling Moss edition of the SLR McLaren which came out in 2008.

While that was a tribute to Sir Stirling, his co-driver Denis Jenkinson and their incredible 1955 Mille Miglia-winning 300 SLR, the PureSpeed picks up some features from the latest racing knight’s car. Since 2018 Sir Lewis Hamilton has been protected by the halo system on his F1 car, and now Mercedes-AMG has adapted it for road use.

The aerodynamic arch replaces the A-pillar and runs over the top of the cockpit, separating the driver from passenger, both of whom get custom helmets, because the PureSpeed offers no windscreen or windows to shield them from the elements.

Although the PureSpeed looks quite minimalist there’s actually rather a lot going on design-wise, with a front end modeled on the AMG One, and a nod to the 300 SLR in the design in the form of the flying buttresses at the rear of the car. There’s more racing history in the color scheme which is graduated from Le Mans red to the graphite gray worn by Mercedes when it won the 1924 Targa Florio. Carbon fiber is used extensively throughout, most notably on the halo and the aerodynamic wheel covers. As another homage to motorsport there’s a purpose-designed clock by long-time sponsor IWC Schaffhausen mounted on the dashboard.

“The Concept Mercedes-AMG PureSpeed offers a glimpse of what is probably the most direct way to experience performance and driving pleasure,” says Michael Schiebe, Chairman of Mercedes-AMG. “Radically open, neither a roof nor the windscreen separate the two passengers from the elements. You can experience light, air and passion unfiltered with all your senses.”

Beneath the racy modifications lies an SL, of course, and although AMG hasn’t revealed any technical specification for the PureSpeed at this stage, it’s surely going to be a further-enhanced version of the 816-hp SL63 E. We do know that it will be limited to just 250 examples and, of course, will be suitably expensive.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Mercedes-AMG PureSpeed Channels F1 for first Mythos Masterpiece appeared first on Hagerty Media.

In the historic red brick building in which H.F.S. Morgan built his first vehicle 115 years ago, Morgan CEO Massimo Fumarola has just revealed one step on the company’s path to the future. The Midsummer barchetta, designed in conjunction with Pininfarina, could only have happened under his leadership and with his connection to the coachbuilder from his native Italy.

Fumarola is softly spoken, but his actions during the past two years in charge at the Malvern-based motor company speak louder than words. The Midsummer, limited in production to just 50 cars, sold out before it was publicly revealed. At over $300,000 each (when tailored to their buyers’ preferences), that’s a significant cash injection for a company that makes just 700 cars a year.

He has also succeeded in bringing Morgan back to the United States—once the brand’s biggest market. “Morgan was selling more cars in the U.S. than in the U.K. in the ’90s,” he says. “So there is definitely an opportunity. We will go to the U.S. with the Plus 4 under the Replica Bill approval process, this year, which allow us to sell up to 325 cars per year.”

The Super 3 is already on sale in America and globally, classed as a motorcycle and not so restricted. It’s the brand’s best-seller despite being a radical departure from tradition in the way it looks, is engineered, and built.

Outwardly, Morgan is the most traditional of motor manufacturers. In the factory, artisans still hand cut timber to create the ash frames for the shapely aluminum bodywork of its four-wheelers that’s only subtly changed since the 1950s. The technology beneath the skin has moved on, with a rigid aluminum CX platform underpinning the company’s four-wheelers, and power and transmissions come from BMW. Stroll through the site, though, and it’s clear that Morgans remain very much hand-built in much the same way as they have been for decades. “You could talk to all 220 people who work here in one day,” smiles Fumarola.

His arrival at Morgan comes after an extensive career which began with Iveco trucks and included stints at Ferrari and Lamborghini. If you believe in destiny, it was perhaps inevitable.

“When I grew up, my neighbor was a member of the Italian Morgan club. He was an interesting guy, a journalist, very colourful. He knew everything about Morgan, he was telling me all the stories about the brand. So since I was a boy, I have always been attracted by this brand. It’s completely pure—authentic,” he recalls.

“I went through my studies, I went through my career in the automotive industry. I’ve always been looking at Morgan as something different unconventional and unique. I had always been dreaming of driving one and one day came the opportunity. I met the current ownership of Morgan, we started discussing, we put together a plan and we said okay, what a great opportunity it could be.”

He’s certainly been busy since. “I joined Morgan exactly two years ago and a lot of things changed. We reorganized our operation, we set up new processes, we launched the Super 3 and brought it into the U.S. We developed the XP-1 electric (below), the new Plus 4, and the Midsummer.”

Looking further ahead, Fumarola has a clear vision of Morgan’s place in the automotive landscape. “We need to be consistent, we need to be mindful of our capability and what we do,” he explains. “However, there is a tremendous opportunity—I’m convinced about this—about leveraging on the past on the heritage and tradition of this brand. 115 years ago Morgan was born in this building. We never moved, we never stopped and we are so iconic and so undiluted, so unconventional in some respects. There is an opportunity to go more international more digital to start talking to a different audience, a younger generation. It’s not an easy job, it’s going to be a long way. But so far so good.”

The XP-1 that Fumarola mentions is unlikely to play a role, even though electrification will. “For most carmakers today developing and producing full electric cars is a more regulation-driven decision,” say the CEO. “In our case it may become an opportunistic decision to follow demand rather than following regulations.

“Given the latest regulation in Europe, we can actually produce internal combustion engine vehicles beyond 2035 because we produce less than 1,000 cars per year. So, we can go on forever with the current status of the regulations. We will definitely follow demand. There is a growing interest in some areas, in some countries, in main metropolitan areas, for example, for full electric. We have ideas, we are putting together plans. I don’t think that the right decision will be to electrify the current Plus 4 four or even the Super 3. So, the idea we have is that a certain point of time, we may have an additional model in the portfolio, which will be designed and engineered to be full electric.”

That sounds radical but Fumarola believes it is true to the brand. “Morgan has never produced an internal combustion engine in 115 years, so, in some respects, we are the best candidate to move into electrification,” he says. “There is a good fit between the core values of Morgan, and an electric car. It definitely will be light, will be fun to drive, it will be sensory, it will be analogue, despite the full electric powertrain, it will be everything that Morgan stands for.”

“But we need to manage this change, we need to measure transition. We need to be mindful, we need to be true to ourself, we need to measure very much the risk of developing new cars and repositioning the brand in a different territory. But the plan is there. We know what to do. And it’s very exciting.”

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post With 115 Years Behind Him, Morgan’s CEO Looks Ahead appeared first on Hagerty Media.

In 1924 five Bugatti Type 35s made their way 600 miles cross country from Molsheim to Lyons to enter the French Grand Prix. A century later 23 Type 35s have just repeated the journey, accompanied by another 26 vintage Bugattis.

During its incredible racing career the Type 35 secured more than 2500 victories—a feat that’s still unmatched—but this trip was taken at a more leisurely place by the priceless convoy, taking three days to reach the destination.

Beginning at the lavish Château Saint Jean in Molsheim, which was bought by Ettore Bugatti in 1928, the Bugatti Club France brought out six examples of the Little Car Company’s Baby II Centenary Type 35 Edition for the owners of full-sized models to experience.

Then it was time to hit the road, with a first stop at the world’s largest collection of Bugatti cars housed in the Musée National de l’Automobile at Mulhouse. Formerly the private collection of the rather notorious Schlumpf brothers, it’s now owned and operated by the French government who preserve the precious Type 28 and Royale – once the most expensive car on the planet.

The convoy battled the elements with only their goggles to protect the drivers as they crossed the Vosges mountains to the plateau of Lyon. In Lyon they joined 120 pre-war cars to mark the 100 years since the famous race took place, before a final ascent through the switchbacks into the Monts du Lyonnais.

“We are delighted to have brought together Bugatti enthusiasts from across the globe, traveling from nine countries, to celebrate the historic milestone of the Bugatti Type 35” said Olivier Bohin of Club Bugatti France. “For us to have been able to commence our specially curated event in Molsheim, where Ettore’s adventure first started, was simply the perfect way to start the experience. Connecting the past to the present is a value that is intrinsically important for both the Bugatti brand and Club Bugatti France, allowing for our guests to feel the connection and experience emotional moments that will last a lifetime.”

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Bugatti Marks 100 Years of the Type 35 with a Fabulous French Grand Prix Road Trip appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Rule Britannia, Britannia Rules the Roads… that’s the tune that some lucky buyer will be humming as they thunder through the countryside in the world’s only Aston V-12 swapped Range Rover Classic.

The idea for the 1971 three-door Rangie to receive its mighty heart transplant came after the crew at Land Rover specialists Bishops 4×4 spent an evening in the pub pondering. The car had been sitting around awaiting restoration with the wrong engine in, and, with suitable lubrication, a plan was formed.

A crashed DB7 V-12 was bought and then the business of modifying the Range Rover chassis began. It took two and a half years, during which “almost every single aspect has been improved, upgraded or strengthened to end up with a fabulous cocktail of Britishness that will likely never be repeated.”

The front chassis rails had to be cut out and re-welded to accommodate the six-liter, 12-cylinder motor and even then it didn’t fit. The engine was so long that the sizeable engine bay still couldn’t house it and the scuttle had to be modified. The alternator needed to be moved, the drive belts re-routed, and cooling hoses adapted as well. The inlet manifold was tweaked, free-flowing air filters installed, and a custom stainless steel exhaust system was devised. Two tuneable ECUs were used—one for each cylinder bank—while the ZF four-speed automatic transmission was fettled by the experts at Ashcroft.

More rugged Defender axles with beefy springs and Bilstein dampers were bolted on, along with powerful six-piston AP Racing disc brakes. The 18-inch alloy wheels were shod with 285-section Toyo Proxy tires and the wheel arches flared to give them sufficient space.

Other visual changes include twin headlamps, four layers of maroon paintwork for the main body and gray for the roof. Aston Martin badges were added and the car literally flies the flag for Britain with a hand-painted Union Jack on its flanks and hood.

Inside there’s Wood & Pickett trim, a DB9 starter button and a digital dashboard and, as a final touch, a kick plate with the build number AMRR007001.

Described as “brain-numbingly complex” the car sold at Iconic Auctioneers for £50,625 ($64,350) which probably represents a mere fraction of the blood, sweat, tears, dogged determination and stiff upper lip that went into it.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post This Range Rover Classic with the Heart of an Aston Martin sold for $60,000 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It might be two cylinders down on the Huracàn but the new Lamborghini Temerario is set to pack a V-8 engine with even more power.

The engine is “a clean sheet design,” says Chief Technical Officer Rouven Mohr and it will be coupled with a hybrid system featuring three electric motors which mean it could potentially match the V-12 Revuelto for performance.

“I can guarantee you this twin-turbo V-8 combines the celebrated Lamborghini V-10 emotional progression through the linear torque curve on one hand with a high power and specific torque of a state-of-the-art new generation turbo engine,” adds Mohr.

The four-liter motor is a “Hot V” with its two turbochargers mounted between the cylinder banks, and that’s just the start of its sophisticated spec. There’s a flat plane crankshaft, titanium conrods, central direct injection, and finger follower valvetrain all pushing the redline to a heady 10,000 rpm.

It will sound no less epic than the V-10 it replaces, says Lamborghini. “A crucial element of the design process was to refine the sound, to give the new powerplant a unique and distinctive character and deliver the driver an unparalleled driving experience. The characteristics of the new V-8 intensify in a crescendo that at high revs reaches its peak in terms of volume and frequency content and this, in harmony with the vibrations transmitted to the chassis by the flat-plane crankshaft, creates an all-encompassing sensory experience.”

Peak power of 800 hp (that’s 200 hp per liter) comes in at 9000-9750rpm with 538 lbft of torque available from 4000-7000 revs. Mounted between the engine and the dual-clutch transmission is an axial flux electric motor throwing a further 110 kW (150 hp) and an extra 300 Nm (221 lbft) into the mix.

Two additional electric motors will be fitted to the front axle, and if they’re the same units as on the Revuelto they’ll boost overall power by another 300 horses. That would put the Temerario comfortably ahead of rivals such as the Ferrari 296 GTB and McLaren Artura.

The Temerario is expected to make its debut in August with an appearance at Monterey Car Week looking very likely.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post 10,000 RPM, Two Turbos, and Three Electric Motors for Lamborghini’s New V-8 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

German tuning shop Manhart has built the 1990s M8 that BMW never managed.

A prototype of the most powerful E31 8-Series was developed by BMW with a six-liter, 640-hp V-12 squeezed under the hood but it never made it into production. Instead the most meaty 850CSi made 380 hp.

Now, over 30 years later Manhart has replaced that car’s five-liter V-12 with a similarly-sized but more potent V-8 engine originally fitted to the E39 M5. Dropping four cylinders is no loss, with the S62B50 engine producing 420 hp and weighing less than the 12-cylinder, to further aid performance. Manhart’s Performance Classic division has fettled the motor with its own stainless steel sports exhaust system and mated it to a six-speed manual transmission. The resulting restomod is known as the MH8 and just five are to built by the Wuppertal-based firm.

While the 8-Series was always more of a GT Manhart has worked wonders on the suspension to give the big BMW sports car handling. There are shorter H&R springs and Bilstein B6 dampers, while the track is widened with Manhart’s own wheel spacers. The wheels are the tuners’ own Concave One diamond polished 20-inch items and the brakes are upgraded to 340 mm (13.4-inch) discs with four-piston calipers.

External modifications are relatively subtle, with the car featuring the front apron and rear bumper from the 850CSi plus M-spec mirrors, and the interior is stylishly re-upholstered in leather with Alcantara for the steering wheel, handbrake and gear-shift trim, as well as the headliner, sports seat shells and rear parcel shelf.

It took almost three years to restore and develop the MH8 and the first example is currently for sale at €149,000 ($162,000). If you want to raise eyebrows at RADwood it could be just the ticket.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post This Manhart BMW 850CSi Is a Radwood Rocket appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Billed as the cheapest example on the market, a 1972 Ferrari 246GT Dino could be yours at a bargain price. There’s just one slight problem—it’s a fire-ravaged wreck.

Gullwing Motors of New York describes the car as having been “completely burnt.” There are gaping holes in the hood, tail and rear quarter panel as flames ate through the steel bodywork, which is now almost entirely covered in surface rust. The interior is totally gone but the 2.4-liter V-6 engine seems to have mostly survived, although anything that isn’t metal has melted.

Before the fire the car was finished in Marron Colorado with tan leather and is U.S. specification, having been delivered to Luigi Chinetti Motors in New York from the factory. Power windows and cromodora wheels (now destroyed) were fitted.

“This car clearly needs complete restoration,” notes Gullwing Motors, adding “This deal is on fire!” and “The Dino market is hot and shows no signs of cooling.”

All jokes aside, if the car can be recovered then it could well be worth the effort. In 2022 a 1974 example set an all-time auction record at $858,000, we picked it out as a rising star in our 2022 Bull Market, and Dinos are now even outselling Daytonas.

“Driving the Dino was like no other experience,” says past owner Wayne Carini. “From how well the car fit me, to the perfect balance front to rear, as well as the car’s overall balance of power, handling, braking, and shifting from the five-speed manual transmission.”

If you’re tempted to rescue this destroyed Dino then make sure you read our guide first and check the latest value with our valuation tool.

The post Ferrari Fire Sale: a Dino for $129,500 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It goes without saying that you shouldn’t be scrolling through your smartphone when you’re driving, but your passengers are probably making themselves unwell as they scan their devices on the move.

Research by Apple suggests that motion sickness is most often caused by a sensory conflict between what someone sees and what they feel. It’s that difference between what your eyes and your gut tell your brain that prompts problems. According to several reports EVs are making car sickness even worse as they also lack audible cues to help passenger gauge speed, while strong regenerative braking can be unsettling.

Studying car sickness has led Apple to develop a new iOS feature called Vehicle Motion Cues. “With Vehicle Motion Cues, animated dots on the edges of the screen represent changes in vehicle motion to help reduce sensory conflict without interfering with the main content,” says Apple. “Using sensors built into iPhone and iPad, Vehicle Motion Cues recognizes when a user is in a moving vehicle and responds accordingly. The feature can be set to show automatically on iPhone, or can be turned on and off in Control Center.”

Vehicle Motion Cues is set to be introduced as part of iOS 18, launched in September, along with an updated version of CarPlay which will feature voice control to make navigating its features easier for drivers without taking their eyes off the road.

While it’s good to see Apple offering solutions for passengers and drivers alike, we can’t help but think they’ve caused the problems in the first place. The best way to avoid both motion sickness and distracted driving? Switch your phone off and pay attention to the road ahead.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Apple Aims to Cure Car Sickness appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Midsummer in the English countryside. The smell of fresh-cut grass hanging in the air and the buzz of pollinators zipping through brightly-colored fields. It’s a time of balmy evenings, chilled cider, and warm conversations at the local pub. It was on just such an occasion that the idea of a collaboration between Morgan, the 115-year-old British sports car maker, and Pininfarina, the nonagenarian Italian design house and coachbuilder, was born.

In all those years Morgan had never looked beyond the picturesque Malvern Hills for inspiration, but with recently-installed Italian CEO Massimo Fumarola at the wheel the timing was perfect.

“Massimo was formerly at Ferrari, and he had a good working relationship with Pininfarina so he arranged a visit,” explains Morgan design boss Jonathan Wells. “The Chief Design Officer at the time was a British guy who lived near Malvern but had never been to the factory. He visited with some of his young design team and we spent the day walking around the factory with my designers and his team. His designers loved to see how my designers interface with the guys in the shop floor. We started talking about what could we do together? How would we approach it? What can we celebrate? And we went out that evening to the pub (to discuss further).”

“They then returned the favor and Massimo and I went over with our designers to Pininfarina. We saw how they practice car design and use digital environments. They operate with mixed reality and for my guys it was amazing to see design best practice.

“I like to think we were both offering each other something throughout the journey. And it really was a collaboration, they came to the project with an eye on where we were going. And we decided in those two visits to work on what we believe is the sweet spot for the traditional open roadster. We wanted to make it all about driving experience which lends itself to a barchetta.

“Every Morgan has a very cab-rear seating position, you look through the windshield down the bonnet at the louvres and you can see the top of the wheel arches. We wanted to really embellish that driving posture and experience, but, moreover to celebrate coachbuilding. We obviously use a wooden frame today, which dictates the form of the aluminum body panels. But that wood often gets hidden and you don’t see a large element of craftsmanship in the final aesthetic. So a big driver for us was to expose some of these core elements of coachbuilding in the aesthetic as well.”

The new model’s name, Midsummer, comes not just from the time of year best suited to driving a barchetta but also from the nearby Midsummer Hill—used by HFS Morgan in the earliest days of the company to test his vehicles up its steep incline.

It’s an evocative moniker for an evocative Morgan. Pininfarina’s input is subtle, but the more you look the more you see. The swooping fenders are re-profiled to make them appear wider and more purposeful, yet the effect contains no added aggression. There’s a revised grille and a totally new take on the traditional hood louvers. The tail is longer, angled more gently and its surface curved instead of being flat.

Of course, the most obvious feature is the beautiful, exposed wood throughout the cockpit. Whereas a traditional ash frame is hidden beneath the aluminum curves, what’s open to the elements is marine-quality teak, made by hand from hundreds of laminate layers by Morgan’s in-house artisans to replicate the prototype parts 3D-printed by the designers.

There’s no weather protection, save for two small aeroscreens, but Pininfarina’s aerodynamicists have carefully managed the airflow to reduce buffeting while also using it to help stick the car to the ground.

Sitting on Morgan’s now tried-and-tested aluminum CX platform—with BMW’s 335-hp, 3.0-liter inline-six and eight-speed automatic from the Plus Six—the Midsummer has been designed to be a real driver’s car, despite the lack manual shifting. Weighing in at just 1000 kg (2200 pounds) and fitted with Nitron adjustable dampers and the lightest wheels Morgan has ever made, sublime handling is promised to the fortunate 50 customers who have put their names down.

With a price north of £200,000 ($251,700) depending on how each Midsummer is specified, it’s Morgan’s most pricey model to date. The barchetta sold out of its 50-unit run immediately, and that customer response will lead the way for further developments, says CEO Fumarola. (None of the 50 customers are in the U.S., but the Midsummer is eligible for import as a Show or Display car limited to 2500 miles per year.)

“We have lots of projects in the pipeline, a very detailed plan,” he says. “It paves the way for new things as well, for sure. It really represents a moment in time that I think will become clearer over the next five years. You’ll soon see how it all ties in.”

Fumarola says that among those plans he’s open to further collaborations with Pininfarina. In which case, no doubt, they’ll be back to the pub.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Morgan Midsummer: Pininfarina Collab Produces Breathtaking Barchetta appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Famously adored by Britain’s Princess Anne, who has reportedly owned a total of eight examples, the Reliant Scimitar GTE is now the subject of a sensational update.

Retropower is rebuilding the Reliant from scratch, creating its own rigid tube-frame chassis with double wishbone suspension all round to replace the original Triumph-derived trunion system.

Under the hood will be a four-liter Cosworth GAA V-6, built by Ric Wood Motorsport and delivering over 420 hp, compared to the 140 horses offered by the original three-liter Ford Essex unit. A Getrag 265 five-speed gearbox will replace the four-speed-plus-overdrive transmission.

Most radical of all, however, will be the bodywork. Retropower has 3D-scanned the shooting brake in order to recreate its own, subtly wider version in carbon fiber. It will be “sympathetic to the shape of the original,” says Retropower.

“We at Retropower have long thought the Scimitar GTE to have vast reserves of untapped potential, and so everyone who works here was overjoyed when, late in 2023, an inquiry concerning the feasibility of a resto-modified example came our way. Better still, the car in question came with a story attached to it, having been owned almost from new by the same family.”

When it arrived at Retropwer HQ in Leicestershire, U.K., the Scimitar was in a state, however.Despite the family having kept the car for sentimental reasons it had been left outside to rot in a hedge for 30 years.

It’s going to be a long process to reimagine the Reliant, and you can follow its progress on Retropower’s YouTube channel, but the end result looks like it may well be fit for a princess.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post This Reliant Scimitar Is a Right Royal Restomod appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The 1991 Jordan in which seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher made his Formula 1 debut is changing hands once more.

Jordan 191 chassis number six is one of the most significant cars in F1 history thanks to Eddie Jordan’s decision to give a young German driver the chance to prove himself at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix. Jordan, unexpectedly, had a spare seat thanks to Bertrand Gachot being imprisoned for spraying CS gas at a London taxi driver and, rather than put an established pilot alongside Andrea de Cesaris, he called in the 22 -year-old Schumacher.

“Schumacher was available this weekend, he had no other commitments. I’ve seen him in Formula 3 and I have this, well the team has this attitude, to give youth a chance. We think it’s a progressive way to see what the potential of Schumacher is for the future,” said Jordan at the time.

It immediately proved to be a wise move, with Schumacher seven tenths of a second faster than de Cesaris in pre-qualifying in a car he’d never driven before at a circuit that he’d never lapped. de Cesaris wasn’t happy and swapped into the spare car, but was still unable to match the young gun, who finished the day in eighth position.

Schumacher didn’t actually race this chassis, with it being handed over to de Cesaris who had placed 7th in the previous Hungarian Grand Prix. He then ran as high as second around Spa before being forced to retire. Schumacher, meanwhile, managed less than a lap in chassis number five after destroying the clutch at the start.

Chassis number six served as the spare car for the rest of the season having done its job of launching Schumacher’s stellar career. In 2021 it was brought out of retirement and driven by his son Mick in an emotional piece for TV’s Sky Sports F1. “Feeling and knowing that my dad raced this car as his first race car, is very special,” said Schumacher junior.

Despite its incredible provenance previous buyers haven’t held on to the car for long, and it doesn’t appear to have been the profit machine that they may have hoped for. In 2021 it sold for £1.2m ($1.65m) and then again in 2023 for €1,495,000 ($1.63m).

Schumacher’s Jordan is now for sale with the price on application at DK Engineering in Hertfordshire, U.K.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Michael Schumacher’s First F1 Car is for Sale … Again appeared first on Hagerty Media.

“I see you’ve brought it home,” says possibly the poshest man I’ve ever met. In the clipped tones of the English aristocracy, he goes on to explain that though number 48 Chagford Street has recently been refurbished, the building is outwardly much the same as it was in 1919 when W.O. Bentley began work on the first motor car to bear his name.

Back then, the cobbled Marylebone street was known as New Street Mews, but nonetheless, a blue plaque above the door of number 48 marks the monumental occasion.

Strictly speaking, I haven’t brought this car home at all. First, by the time Bentley built his brand-defining Blower, he had moved the company to Cricklewood in the London suburbs. Second, this Bentley Blower wasn’t built by Bentley.

Instead, it is assembled by The Little Car Company in Bicester. You may know them from their Baby Bugatti II, Ferrari Testa Rossa J and Aston Martin Junior—all sold as official OEM models, but as the naming suggests, significantly smaller in scale. The Bentley Blower Junior is the company’s most ambitious project to date. It’s bigger—at 85 percent of the original—but most notably it is road legal, which is why rather than a private track, I’m here in the heart of London for a drive of the first prototype.

Even in this quiet mews, the Blower Junior quickly attracts attention, with half a dozen people coming out of a nearby office to take a gander, plus our local historian, of course. It’s no wonder, really, since it looks fantastic—an almost exact replica of the Blower Team Car from 1929.

It may only be 3.7 meters (146 inches) long and 1.5 meters (59 inches) wide, but it still has plenty of presence, with that lovely louvered bonnet held down by leather straps, a pair of big spot lamps mounted ahead of the mesh grille, and even what looks like a supercharger mounted right at the front. In profile it’s a pure example of form following function—there are no unnecessary accoutrements, just big cycle wings all round and a spare tire mounted on the left hand side ahead of a Union flag on the single door. Externally mounted on the right is the handbrake, while the tail finishes abruptly with a small trunk in place of the original’s fuel tank.

Underneath is a steel chassis with leaf spring suspension and period-correct friction dampers. The brakes, sat behind the stunning spoked wheels, are modern Brembo discs. In lieu of an ash frame to support the bodywork, The Little Car Company has used carbon fiber, but the impregnated fabric that’s used for the skin is the same as in Bentley’s continuation models, and the hood is hand-formed aluminum. What’s most notably different from the 1929 original is the tandem two-seater layout, the little buckets trimmed in Dark Green Lustrana Hide, just as deployed by Mulliner for the continuation cars.

The turned aluminum dash sits behind a massive rope-bound steering wheel and houses traditional-look instruments and switchgear, albeit repurposed to suit the Junior’s powertrain. Like all the other Little Cars, the Blower is electric, powered by a 15kW (20-hp) motor at the rear that’s supplied by a 10.8 kWh battery pack. Its charge port is hidden, cheekily, within the front-mounted faux supercharger, and fully juiced you can drive for a claimed range of around 60 miles and reach a top speed of 45 mph (although it will be restricted to 25 mph in the U.S.).

Certainly that’s more than enough for what I require in order to follow W.O.’s own London journey. I’m skipping Cricklewood because the factory is long gone, replaced by a drab modern industrial unit. I’m instead heading for Berkeley Square in Mayfair, where Jack Barclay has been selling Bentleys since 1927, making it the oldest dealership in the world.

I use the single step to hop through the narrow door aperture, dropping down into the seat. A wave of an immobilizer, a push of a start button, and the Blower doesn’t so much blow as hum. A smaller lever on the dash selects drive, and with a squeeze of the handbrake and a prod of the right pedal I’m off, with my new chums waving goodbye.

It’s stop-start all the way to Mayfair, but there’s never a dull moment. London’s road users are not known for their affability, but everyone smiles when they see the Blower. I couldn’t count the number of smartphone snaps I now feature in, nor the times someone says “Nice car!”

At Jack Barclay, they’re especially excited to see the Blower, inviting me into the showroom alongside Bentaygas and Continentals. Even the staff in the neighbouring Ferrari franchise come to take a look.

After a few laps of the square, I ascertain that the steering requires several armfuls of lock for even the most gentle curve, and that the suspension certainly doesn’t cosset like a modern Bentley. In other words, this drives like an old car. Which is a compliment.

Acceleration is brisk to the 20 mph central London speed limit and the brakes seem up to the job of avoiding gobsmacked tourists who stop suddenly to fire away with their phones.

Long before social media, word of Bentley’s victory at the 1927 Le Mans 24 Hours reached London by telephone, and The Autocar invited the Bentley Boys to a slap-up dinner at The Savoy hotel on The Strand. Such was the clout of the printed page in those days that the magazine even persuaded the hotel to allow the car inside. Once dismantled and reassembled, the car was the centerpiece of the table at which drivers Dudley Benjafield and Sammy Davis enjoyed an 11-course feast.

It’s another traffic-filled trip to get there, but no less entertaining thanks to the cheer the Blower brings to everyone around it. Arriving at the Savoy, the car is clearly small enough to drive through the doors of the hotel, but I settle for a quick in-and-out drive under their porte-cochere instead. The doormen are completely unfazed.

Perhaps if I’d told them it costs £109,000 ($136,500) they may have raised an eyebrow, but then again probably not, given that a single night in the Royal Suite is £17,500 ($22,000).

Both are, of course, a quite unnecessary indulgence, but the Blower seems somehow less selfish, as it spreads joy wherever you go. It turns gridlock to grin lock. Everybody loves this car and I’m no exception.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Brilliant Blower Junior Brings out the Best of W.O. Bentley’s London appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Mercedes-AMG has pulled a U-turn and will fit the upcoming CLE 63 with a twin-turbo V-8 motor instead of the four-pot plug-in hybrid installed in the C63 and GLC 63.

The 670-hp electrified powertrain may have made those cars faster than ever, but sales have been slower than expected, with numbers lower than their eight-cylinder predecessors. According to Autocar that’s resulted in the highest performance edition of the CLE being swapped back to V-8 power. Under the hood will be a 585-hp four-liter twin turbo with mild hybrid technology.

Despite the PHEV four-cylinder making more power the concept of having a four-cylinder model at the top of the range was confusing to customers, admitted head of Mercedes-Benz’s R&D Markus Schäfer. “But we explained the concept, the rationale and where it came from, especially with reference to F1, and they started to understand what the idea behind it was.”

Nonetheless for the CLE, buyers seeking the very best in the line-up will see the V-8 63 sitting above the six-cylinder, three-liter 53.

“We decided for the C-Class to go with the four-cylinder and a strong electrical side,” said Schäfer. “We decided for the GT and the S-Class to go with the eight [-cylinder] with the same electric side. We have to see what the customer ultimately decides.”

Autocar reckons the CLE might be just one of several AMG models to switch back to V-8 power, with Mercedes closely watching sales of the C63 and GLC 63. “We will stay close to the feedback of people and customers, and then we will go from that,” added Schäfer.

Power to the people!

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Report: Hybrid Hiatus as AMG Brings Back the V-8 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

As its supercars become increasingly digitized Lamborghini has released the ultimate analogue experience: an LP record of the most spectacular-sounding V-12s in its history.

The special 12-inch picture-disc carries an image of the wheel and tire of a Revuelto, and etched into the vinyl surface are the sounds of the 400GT 2+2, Miura SV, 25th Anniversary Countach, Diablo 6.0 SE, Murciélago LP640, and Revuelto. The playlist includes engine start up and revving plus recordings of these incredible cars being driven at speed on a circuit.

As you’d expect from Lamborghini the album is an exclusive offering and the only way to get hold of a copy is to purchase a new Technics turntable designed in collaboration with the Ranging Bull brand.

The Technics for Automobili Lamborghini SL-1200M7B Direct Drive Turntable System is based on an existing high-end model, but the design includes elements of Lamborghini’s Y-shape pattern, while the orange, green and yellow colors are legendary Lambo hues.

Audiophiles will appreciate the turntable’s coreless direct drive motor, two-layer platter, and rigid cabinet designed to minimize vibration, and the high sensitive S-shaped tonearm for reduced stylus jumping. It even has a kind of traction control system, with starting torque and brake speed adjustment, and a pitch control system for ultimate tracking performance.

If you can’t get hold of one of these limited edition discs then, like all great albums, there’s sure to be a bootleg version.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Lamborghini’s Greatest Hits Album is Now Available on Vinyl appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Re-imagined, redefined, future-proofed. These are the words most often used to describe the ever-growing number of electrified classic cars.

They’re words that serve as bait to the devout petrolheads for whom implanting an e-motor and battery in place of a combustion engine are tantamount to treason, but, dare I say it, certain classic cars are not defined by their power units. I’d argue that the Silent Classics Fiat 500 I drove last year lost little and gained plenty in its electrification, for example.

Justin Lunny, boss of Everrati, feels the same. “In so many cars their engines weren’t the best thing about them, and their transmissions weren’t the best thing about them. The reason all of our Porsches start life as a low mileage Tiptronics is because no one wants a Tiptronic!”

So, as a rather lovely Le Mans Blu 1968 W113 Mercedes-Benz SL Pagoda awaits, I wonder how this fits with the ethos.

“We’re not after the Holy Grail cars. In fact the Pagoda started out as a 230 manual, which again, was not really the Holy Grail of Pagodas.”

What’s more, the car was a mess, with a previous restoration attempt having gone awry, and pretty much every panel requiring replacement. Of course, its owner could have restored the powertrain alongside the body and interior, but instead opted for electrification to go along with a comprehensive rebuild.

As we’ve come to expect, the standard of craftsmanship and attention to detail from Everrati is second-to-none. This example was taken back to bare metal, anything resembling rust was removed and replaced with fresh steel and then lavishly painted.

The interior had a total retrim with period-correct Cognac MB-Tex fabric, although Everrati’s partner Bridge of Weir can supply custom leatherwork as desired. It requires a keen eye to spot where the modifications for the electric powertrain have taken place, but on startup a small central digital display goes through a little test routine before allowing progress. The right-hand dial has been recalibrated to show power output rather than engine revs, while the left maintains its role as speedometer.

The gear selector looks a lot like a manual, but only shifts fore and aft to select drive or reverse, and while different calibrations of regenerative braking can be offered, about 95 percent of stopping power in the current setup comes from the big brake pedal.

Next to it, the organ-pedal accelerator requires more travel and effort than I expected to get the SL rolling. It’s a deliberate bid to mimic combustion-style pickup rather than the instantaneous acceleration of today’s EV, and with time, I’m sure it would be easy to get used to.

Meanwhile, the electric-assisted steering requires almost no effort at all, again in keeping with the car’s character.

Adding the electric powertrain, which includes a 300-hp Helix motor of the type fitted to the Lotus Evija and a choice of 54 or 68 kWh battery, ups the SL’s weight by around 220 lbs. Accordingly, the springs and dampers are uprated to cope with the extra mass and maintain a period-correct ride height.

Everrati says that the smaller battery can deliver 160 miles of range and a 0-60 mph time of less than eight seconds, while the larger capacity increases driving range to over 200 miles while cutting the 0-60 by a second.

Not that there’s a chance to put any of these claims to the test, as my drive takes place in the grounds of the Wormsley Estate, a 900-year-old stately home just west of London, and I have to share the narrow lanes with flocks of freshly-shorn sheep. At least I’m not likely to disturb the cricket match with the sounds of internal combustion.

It’s not exactly silent, however, with quite a lot of whine from the differential, that’s all the more noticeable for the lack of intake and exhaust. The car is still a bit of a work-in-progress so this may well be better contained by the time it’s delivered to its owner.

But who are these customers willing to commission a £330,000 ($414,000) electro-mod such as this? “We were at Pebble Beach and one chap, a collector, was sat there looking around over the lawn at Pebble. And he said, ‘I’m not sure I want to be doing this anymore’. And I said, why is that? He said, ‘Well, I’ve got kids, I’ve got grandkids and this is really a celebration of combustion and I’m not sure we should be doing it.’”

Lunny says there were plenty more like him, with more than a thousand people requesting further information.

“We create cars for people who have gone EV but still love cars. A lot of our clients have had multiple EVs, principally Teslas in the main, but they still love cars. And actually, this is a way to be cool, be sustainable and have something that’s really exciting.”

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Everrati Pagoda: A Sensible Blend of Classic and EV appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The fastest car in the world is a hire car, or at least it is according to PJ O’Rourke—and the folks at Hertz are doing their best to live up to this claim by adding a new Shelby to the rental roster.

Despite the firm shedding Teslas like there’s no tomorrow, the latest addition to the fast fleet is all-electric in the form of the Shelby Mustang Mach-E GTH. In signature black with gold striping, just 100 examples of the 480-hp crossover are to be made available at select Hertz locations.

The GT-H comes with a racy bodykit, with a new lower splitter, front grille, and lower door trim made from carbon fiber. The hood is also fabricated from the lightweight material, while there are special forged alloy monoblock wheels with GTH center caps, and the ride height is lowered.

The cabin is decked out in black leather, with contrasting gold stitching, “Shelby GTH” inlaid in the headrests, floor mats and kick plates, plus a dash plaque carrying Carroll Shelby‘s signature and the car’s chassis number.

Shelby’s additions save a little weight and enhance the Mach-E GT’s styling, but don’t add any extra performance, except in one area: sound. There’s a switchable Borla simulated exhaust, adding to the audio appeal with an imitation V-8 soundtrack.

If you want the real deal then you could always rent a 900-hp Mustang GT500-H instead.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Stampede over to Hertz If You Want to Rent a Rare Shelby Mustang Mach-E GTH appeared first on Hagerty Media.

BMW will lose its long-standing ‘i’ appendage from the names of gas-powered models. Instead, the ninth letter of the alphabet will be reserved exclusively for the German brand’s electric line-up.

For 55 years since the introduction of the 2000 tii in 1969 an i on the trunk lid of a BMW has meant it was fuel-injected, but that all changed when the all-electric i3 made its debut in 2013, when BMW realized that innovation was also began with i.

This mixed use of the letter could arguably cause some confusion, so the company has decided to simplify the situation.

Bernd Körber, Senior Vice President BMW Brand and Product Management, Connected Company told BMW Blog, “Historically, even though our interpretation of BMW i was always different, it’s more innovation, not necessarily only electric, and we historically had injection at the end [of the badge], we said, we would like to keep ‘i’ as an asset, and we would like to keep it as a signature to indicate you’re driving an electric car and that was the logic that we had.”

On the subject of logic in model numbers, it was always easy to identify BMW specs from their three-digit codes, but that also went awry a while back. For decades it was obvious that a 318i was a 3-Series with a 1.8-liter engine, a 520i was a Fiver with two-liters and a 750i was a 7-Series with a full five-liters, but these days a 330i packs a two-liter, while a 340i gets a three-liter engine. These numbers come not from engine size or power output, but from the motors’ internal codenames.

If BMW is looking at clearing up its nomenclature then it certainly wouldn’t hurt to rethink this, too.

The post BMW Axes the ‘i’ from Combustion Cars appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Coinciding with the 70th anniversary of Ferrari’s arrival in the U.S. market is the latest in a long line of front-engined V-12 stunners.

It must have been tempting to revive the America (or even SuperAmerica) moniker for the occasion, but instead the new coupe, and its spider sibling, will simply be called 12Cilindri.

The name is very fitting, as it will no doubt be the last series production Ferrari to run a naturally-aspirated V-12 unencumbered by forced induction or electric motors. And what an engine it is. Based on that of the 812 Competizione, the 6496cc, 65-degree V-12 revs to 9500 rpm, delivering 830 horsepower along the way.

Ferrari focused on shedding weight on the engine internals to reach this heady rev limit, using titanium con rods, a unique alloy for the pistons and installing a lighter, rebalanced crankshaft. The valvetrain features F1-derived sliding finger followers made from steel with a special Diamond-Like Carbon coating to reduce friction. Also new is some engine software called Aspirated Torque Shaping, which can modify the maximum torque to suit the gear. It has “allowed the Maranello engineers to sculpt the torque curve in third and fourth gears using sophisticated electronic control that improves perception of the torque without impinging on acceleration,” explains Ferrari.

The intake and exhaust systems have also been optimized to celebrate the sound of the V-12, with equal-length exhaust tracts and six-in-one manifold for each cylinder bank, while “the geometry of the forms and curves of the exhaust system was also perfected to guarantee the very purest notes of the signature Ferrari sound all the way to the limiter.”

Mated to this marvelous motor is an eight-speed dual clutch transmission that made its debut on the SF90, albeit with shorter ratios that help deliver more torque at the wheels. A hard launch will see the 12Cilindri reach 62 mph in 2.9 seconds and 124 mph in 7.9 seconds. Top speed is north of 211 mph.

The 12Cillindri sits on a shorter wheelbase than the 812 Superfast, gets the rear-wheel steering system from the Competizione and a brake-by-wire system called ABS Evo. Driver aids include Virtual Short Wheelbase and Side Slip Control. Active aerodynamics allow for a low drag or high downforce configuration, depending on the positioning of the car’s rear flaps, plus there are three vortex generators in the front underbody and the whole underside has been sculpted to channel air to the rear diffuser.

Most of that you won’t see, of course, because you’ll be salivating over the styling. There’s a move away from the aggression of the 812 to a softer and more sophisticated look. It’s a design direction that began with the Roma, but is perhaps even more elegantly executed here. The 12Cilindri’s haunches are muscular, without being excessive, while the rear end has something of the breadvan about it. Its curves are much more complex, but still there’s something nostalgic in the proportions and the way metal and glass interact. Ferrari calls it “monolithic.”

The spider opts for twin buttresses at the rear and a retractable vertical window between the cabin and rear deck, which opens to swallow the fold-away hardtop and is no less beautiful as a result.

Inside there’s a dual cockpit architecture that also stems from the Roma, but with a new three-screen setup, with an additional display for the co-driver. It goes without saying that it’s all lavishly trimmed and near-infinitely personalizable.

Even if it wasn’t for its last-of-the-line status the 12Cilindri is a sure-fire future classic. Invest your $400,000 now.

The post Ferrari 12Cilindri Twins Replace the 812 Superfast appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Enigmatic TVR boss Peter Wheeler was nothing if not ambitious. Under his helmsmanship the small British sports car firm designed and built its own straight-six, V-8 and, V-12 engines, and even had its sights set on Le Mans’ GT1 class at one point.

However, a dominant performance on the road and on the track wasn’t enough for Wheeler who wanted to conquer the water as well. Enter the Scamander with a name that would suit a Bond villain and a suite of abilities that even Q might have struggled to come up with.

Wheeler’s blueprint required the Scamander to be lightweight and entertaining to drive on the road, have room for three in comfort and be able to cruise at eight knots.

“I created it for me, to be honest,” Wheeler told EVO’s Harry Metcalfe in 2008. “I enjoy shooting, sailing and driving on track, so I wanted something that could cover all these elements. I call it an RRV, for rapid response vehicle.”

Graham Browne, who styled the TVR Tuscan, T350 and Sagaris was given design duties and came up with the brutal bodywork, which combined a jet-fighter-like sliding canopy, a boat-like hull and a pickup bed. Quite the mash-up.

Initially the Scamander was powered by a two-liter motor and later fitted with a more gutsy 275-hp Ford V-6, driving the rear wheels via an automatic transmission. Mounted amidships, there was even the potential to fit TVR’s mighty 450-hp, 4.5-liter AJP V-8.

When Metcalfe drove the Scamander off road he noted, “There’s no real need to slow down—the supple, long-travel suspension softens the ride beautifully, as does the long wheelbase. It all feels so unconventional; a Defender would have you hanging on for dear life along here, but not the Scamander; the ground clearance must be twice as good as the Land Rover’s too. With a potent V-8 installed mid-ships, this thing could give a Bowler Wildcat a run for its money.

“A few minutes later there are gasps of amazement as the RRV starts up and drives into the water, splashing its way to the middle of the lake. I’ve seen everything now.”

Sadly Wheeler passed away in 2009 at the age of 65, before the Scamander was truly finished, but now, thanks in part to Metcalfe, it has been re-comissioned and is set to make its public debut at the London Concours from June 4-6. Metcalfe has also documented the car’s resurrection and a video will appear on his Harry’s Garage YouTube channel on May 5.

The post This Amphibious TVR Is About to Resurface appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The moment I open the driver’s door, there’s a “striking” clue that I am dealing with no ordinary Volvo 240. Positioned next to the seat is what at first appears to be a second handbrake lever. On closer inspection, however it turns out to be a hefty baton—mounted for easy access in case of carjack or kidnap attempt.

The car’s original keeper was justifiably paranoid. As CEO of Volvo in 1988 Pehr Gustaf Gyllenhammar had every reason to be concerned for his safety. Not only was Gyllenhammar Sweden’s most high-profile industrialist, he was poised to become leader of the Liberal People’s Party, perhaps even Prime Minister.

Mind you, Swedish politics was a dangerous game in the Eighties. Just two years earlier PM Olof Palme was assassinated outside a Stockholm cinema. No wonder Gyllenhammar chose to carry some protection.

There’s more to this car’s arsenal. Under the hood is a turbocharged 2.5-liter 16-valve engine that you won’t find in any other 240. Its 240 hp gave Gyllenhammer a fighting chance to outrun any assailants, while uprated suspension would help him carve through corners if necessary.

“You’ll like it. It’s like an E30 M3,” suggests Hans Hedberg, curator of Volvo’s heritage collection, as he hands over the keys.

Volvos of this era are best known for their solidity, although in 1985 “The Flying Brick” did win the European and the German Touring Car Championships. He may be on to something.

Hedburg, a former automotive editor, sets off rather swiftly in a C30 and I give chase in the 240, still somewhat skeptical about this bold claim. Mostly that’s because I’m a little distracted by the plush interior, with its gray velour seats and matching scatter cushions for the rear bench, the walnut trim that extends to the dash and carphone, and the Sony stereo that’s in addition to the standard Volvo radio cassette and connected to a CD changer in the trunk. I imagine Gyllenhammer blasting out Roxette’s Dressed for Success as he took his daily drive to the factory. Or maybe not.

The rocking soundtrack for my drive comes purely from the powertrain. There’s a pleasingly deep bass from the exhaust; then, as the revs rise, a higher pitch emanates from the intake and a whoosh of turbo boost fills your ears.

The turbo requires at least 2500 rpm to spin up. From there, you simply rev the engine out to its 6000-rpm redline before grabbing the next gear. Do this, and the 240 really does shift cleanly. The four-speed (plus electric overdrive) manual transmission has a long throw but is pretty accurate. When working your way down the gearbox, the pedals are spaced close enough for a bit of heel-toeing.

In hot pursuit of Hedburg, who leads me through some entertainingly twisty country roads, I become rather taken with this special 240’s handling. The suspension allows for roll without being too stiff, still able to soak up bumps and imperfections in the asphalt. The steering is accurate and offers fair feedback but is just a tad slow, meaning inputs are a little larger than I initially expect.

So not quite an M3, but the boss’s 240 is still far more agile and entertaining than I’d ever have imagined from looking at it. Gyllenhammar kept the look very low-key, with pale gray paintwork and tasteful aluminum wheels but no badging or bodywork bulges to indicate its performance. In fact, the only external clue that this isn’t a bog-standard 240 is that the exhaust has a small cross welded inside to avoid any banana-in-the-tailpipe attacks.

Alas, Gyllenhammar’s time as Volvo’s boss proved controversial. While he oversaw the brand’s significant expansion, his failure to deliver a merger with Renault led to his departure in 1993. At least he could make a quick getaway.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Driven: Volvo Boss’s 240 Is a Secret Arsenal appeared first on Hagerty Media.

German Porsche perfectionist RUF built just one example of its RCT (RUF Carrera Turbo) on a lightweight RS chassis and, three decades later, it could be yours.

The regular RUF RCT was made between 1992 and 1997 based on the Carrera 2 or 4, but fitted with the firm’s own 3.6-liter turbocharged and intercooled flat six boosting power to 370 hp. Also installed was RUF’s six-speed transaxle and a bespoke exhaust.

In 1994 RUF tried something even more special, building just one RCT from a 964 RS donor car. Starting with a more rigid seam-welded body, aluminum hood, rolled fenders and thinner window glass meant that this RCT was the lightest of the lot. It eschewed electric windows, air conditioning and rear seats in the quest to save weight.

The exterior was finished in Polar Silver Metallic paint, with 18-inch Speedline alloys, and whale tail spoiler, while the car’s cabin was trimmed in a mix of black leather and tartan cloth. Sporty Recaro Pole Position seats were installed, along with green VDO instruments, and a Blaupunkt Montreaux audio system.

RUF used the car as a development vehicle and press demonstrator before selling it to an enthusiast in Heinsberg, Germany who kept it until 2017. In 2021 the car was imported to the U.S. and is now being offered for sale on Bring A Trailer with 41,000 km (25,476 miles) on the clock and plenty of documentation, including its original Porsche factory books and RUF build certificate.

Although Porsche made close to 2300 964 RS models this is the only example to be re-imagined by RUF, giving it true unicorn status. That’s reflected in the bidding, which at the time of writing had reached almost $600,000 with nine days still to go.

Should your best bid fail to win the auction then you can order a ‘new’ RCT from RUF which now offers an EVO edition with more than 430 horsepower, and many more creature comforts than the original. If you’re worried about weight there’s even a carbon fiber body option.

The post RUF Reimagined Only One 964 RS and Now it’s For Sale appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The world’s only brown-on-brown McLaren F1, which sold for a stunning $20,465,000 at auction in 2021, is up for sale once more.

The three-seater supercar was originally sold to an owner in Japan in 1995, and was delivered with a selection of stylish accessories, including a set of custom-fit luggage trimmed in the same leather as the car’s cabin. A FACOM tool chest, a tool roll, and a bespoke Tag Heuer 6000 chronometer watch inscribed with the chassis number 029 were also provided.

After its time in Japan the F1 spent its life in the U.S.A. where it accrued only 390 km (242 miles) in 25 years. The F1, in its unique combination of Creighton Brown over a Light Tan/Brazilian Brown, has added just three miles to its odometer in the three years since it set a world record at Gooding & Company’s Monterey Car Week auction.

After its 2021 sales smash Hagerty’s Andrew Newton predicted that the F1’s rise is far from over, suggesting that it could reach the dizzying heights of the Ferrari GTO.

“Today, this king of the 1990s is one of the most valuable cars in the world. F1s officially became eight-figure cars in the mid-2010s, and their condition #2 values in the Hagerty Price Guide rose 497 percent from 2011-21,” he explained. “It’s a big jump, but Gordon Murray’s magnum opus still has plenty of room to grow. Consider another, more established god-tier collector car – the Ferrari 250 GTO, which is worth between $36M and $70M in the Hagerty Price Guide. Despite their age difference, the two have so much in common (dominance on-track, very limited production, apex status for the era, naturally aspirated V-12s, usability, and active/exclusive owners’ clubs) that it’s easy to view the Ferrari and the McLaren in a similar light and as cars that could carry similar values in the not-too-distant future.”

Now the car is being offered by Sotheby’s Sealed in New York on May 13. As the name suggests this is a sealed bids auction and the final price paid won’t be revealed, but you can bet it will be big.

The post Record-Breaking McLaren F1 to be Sold Again appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It’s perhaps the most auspicious date in British motoring history. May 4 1904 was the day that The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce first met and the hyphenation was almost immediate.

Actually, the Rolls-Royce origin story truly begins in 1902 as that’s when, 200-miles apart, both Rolls and Royce were making their first moves in the fledgling automobile business.

In London, Rolls, an aviation enthusiast and early racing pioneer, set up one of the capital’s first car dealerships, selling Peugeots and Minervas imported from France and Belgium. These cars were perfect for his well-heeled clients in posh Fulham, but Rolls would much rather that they bought British.

In Manchester, electrical engineer Henry Royce had similar ideas. Cheaper imports were undercutting his business and he needed to diversify. Inspired by reading The Automobile: Its Construction and Management by Lavergne Gerard, Royce purchased a 10 H.P. Decauville from France and set about dismantling it, and working out how to improve it. He redesigned the bearings, radiator, carburation, transmission, reduced the weight, and built his own twin-cylinder engine.

The Royce 10 H.P. had its first road test on April 1 1904 and its inventor began loaning it out to potential customers. Among them was Henry Edmunds, a friend of Rolls who waxed lyrical to his chum about the new motor car. Rolls travelled to Manchester to see it for himself.

When Rolls met Royce the chemistry was instant. The aristocratic Cambridge graduate and the northern engineer couldn’t have been much further apart in background, or indeed, in manner, yet they bonded over their passion for the car. That very day Rolls declared that he would sell every car Royce could build and to mark their partnership a new company would be formed: Rolls-Royce.

Before the year was out the first Rolls-Royce 10 H.P. was on sale, featuring a raft of improvements over Royce’s first iteration. “Take the best and make it better,” was Royce’s dogma that the company still lives by 120 years later.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post 120 Years Ago, Rolls Met Royce appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A 1991 Honda NSX owned by three-time Formula 1 World Champion Ayrton Senna is for sale in the U.K.

Senna was given the car by Honda and kept it in Portugal where he stayed during the European Grand Prix season, and it featured in the film Racing is in my Blood where the Brazilian racing god drove it like he stole it.

The car’s current keeper has owned it for more than a decade. Robert McFagan explains, “I first bought the car in 2013 during a trip to the Algarve in Portugal and have owned it ever since. Being a huge Senna fan myself it’s been a real pleasure owning what is one of the most famous cars belonging to a true sporting legend and the thrill of driving Senna’s car never goes away.”

Senna’s NSX is an early three-liter manual with its VTEC V-6 engine producing 275 horsepower and 210 lb-ft of torque. That made it good for a 0-60 mph sprint in under six seconds and a top speed of 165 mph. Not rapid by today’s standards, but its inherent lightness, agility and plain ease of use set the supercar bar at the time.

The way the NSX handled was, famously, partly down to Senna himself who did some of the development driving (as you can see in the video above). He was genuinely a fan of the finished product and the red Honda that’s for sale wasn’t Senna’s only NSX. He also had two black examples, one homed in his native Brazil, and the other bought for him by his manager Antonio Braga.

Senna’s NSX has been driven 39,100 miles, at least a few of which were at the Imola circuit in Italy to mark the 25th anniversary of his tragic death.

The opportunity to own what is arguably the best Honda ever made, previously pedalled by arguably the world’s best driver comes at a cost, of course. The car is listed on AutoTrader for a cool £500,000 ($622,000).

The post Ayrton Senna’s NSX Could be Yours appeared first on Hagerty Media.

This gloriously patinated 1969 Citroën 2CV Fourgonette is hiding a speedy secret. Under the corrugated hood sits a BMW motorcycle engine that guarantees on-time deliveries, with three times the power output of the original motor.

Replacing the diminutive 602 cc 29-hp air-cooled flat twin is a 1.1-liter Boxer engine from a BMW R1100RT that offers 90 horses, technically making this van a quatre-vingt-dix chevaux.

The Fourgonette may still look like a well-used workhorse but U.K-based 2CV specialist and racer Rick Pembro undertook a total rebuild in order for it to cope with the power hike. A new chassis from Ken Hanna underpins the car, modified to accept the BMW block, the suspension was rebuilt with new shock absorbers, new bearings, bushes, and springs for the side canisters. The steering rack and gearbox were refurbished and racing-spec pads fitted to the brakes. Other neat touches include using a Stella Artois beer can as an oil catch tank, plus custom headers and a stainless steel exhaust.

Meanwhile, the body was sent off to Citwins to have new galvanized steel panels fitted to the front floors, lower and upper bulkheads, lower screen, sills and rear end. These were then painted and aged to match the original bodywork in its pale blue Électricité de France hue. A layer of clear coat was also added to preserve its appearance, while new wheels and tires were also aged appropriately.

Inside Pembro fitted more rigid seats with three-point seatbelts and added a rev counter and oil temperature gauge. The rusty steering wheel was simply lacqured to fit with the overall look.

With its enhanced handling and claimed 100 mph top speed this terrific Tin Snail certainly won’t hold up the traffic. It just achieved a swift sale on Collecting Cars for just £10,500 ($13,000) and its new owner is all set to enjoy the daily dash to the local boulangerie.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters. 

The post BMW-Swapped 2CV Van is France’s Hottest Baguette Bringer appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Aston Martin has updated its DBX SUV and will now only offer it with a 697-horsepower twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 engine.

Mated to a nine-speed wet clutch automatic transmission the all-wheel-drive DBX707 hurtles to 60 mph in just 3.1 seconds and will max out at 193 mph. Suitable stopping power comes from standard-fit carbon ceramic disc brakes with 420 mm (16.5 in) front rotors and 380mm (15 in) units at the rear, sat behind 22-inch alloy wheels, with 23-inch rims on the options list.

The Aston’s electronic dampers and air springs feature a new calibration which engineers say improves body control for better response and precision in cornering.

Exterior design tweaks are limited to new flush-fit power door handles which present themselves when the driver approaches, and a new design of door mirror that offers a better rear view and includes integrated cameras to aid with parking. Five new paint hues have been added to the catalog: Epsilon Black, Helios Yellow, Sprint Green, Malachite Green, Aura Green and Podium Green. Copper Bronze is an option for the 23-inch wheels, or you can go traditional silver or a selection of black finishes.

The main effort has gone into the cabin, however. There’s a simplified console featuring chrome and veneer detailing, a revised steering wheel, new door handles, and a wider offering of materials such as gloss smoked oak, gloss titanium mesh, zincote wood, and carbon fiber.

Three trim levels are available as standard: Inspire Comfort gets matrix embroidery and quilting, Inspire Sport has vector embroidery, and Accelerate comes in Alcantara. Full personalization is available under the Q by Aston Martin Service. An 800-watt Premium Audio system is included, with the option to upgrade to a Bowers & Wilkins 23-speaker setup with double the power output.

Although there’s a multi-screen arrangement, with a 12.3-inch display for the driver and a 10.25-inch touch-screen center unit Aston has, thankfully, kept analogue switches for gear selection, drive modes, suspension, ESP, exhaust, lane keep assist, parking assist and, heating and ventilation.

Expect to pay around $250,000 when the car goes on sale this summer.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Aston Martin DBX Shifts to 707 Spec appeared first on Hagerty Media.

There’s no need to wait for the new Mercedes G-Wagen if you’re after an EV with go-anywhere ability. British-based BEDEO is offering a conversion kit for classic Land Rover Defenders which offers a similar setup comprising four in-wheel motors for off-road agility.

BEDEO says that by tearing out the engine and transmission and retro-fitting the electric powertrain there’s no added weight. Each of the motors, built by sister company Protean, produces a peak power of 90 kW (122 hp) and peak torque of 1250 Nm (921 lb-ft), dwarfing a diesel Defender’s figures. 0-62 mph takes a scant ten seconds, and top speed is 80 mph.

Where the BEDEO car isn’t quite as strong is range, with its 75 kWh battery pack offering 153 miles according to the European WLTP cycle. The car can be outfitted with 22 kW or 50 kW charging, allowing a fastest charge to full in 90 minutes.

Each wheel can be independently controlled to maximize traction in any terrain, but, unlike the upcoming G-Wagen and Hummer EVs it hasn’t been configured for tank turns.

“Through our Reborn Electric: Icons program, we are committed to maintaining the original car’s kerb weight, charm, and driving dynamics while ensuring easy maintenance and delivering the benefits of electrification,” says BEDEO founder Osman Boyner. “For the Defender, and other models to come, this means zero tailpipe emissions, zero noise, and the preservation of the nostalgic, classic driving experience we all cherish, now brought into the 21st Century without sacrificing its essence or adding unnecessary, bulky weight.”

No price for the conversion has been announced as yet and it can only be installed via BEDEO-approved fitters. The Defender is the first in a series that BEDEO calls “Reborn Electric: Icons”, with more classic conversions in the pipeline. “We’re not simply converting cars to electric power,” adds Boyner. “We’re preserving automotive heritage, while enabling the clean and efficient transportation of the future, with a technology that has only been preserved for large OEMs and brand-new vehicles, until today.”

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post This EV-Swapped Defender is the First Classic Car with Wheel Motors appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Maserati’s Furioserie personalization program is set to take an unusual turn by offering owners the opportunity to apply a tattoo to their car’s bodywork.

Having perfected the use of lasers to turn recycled plastic into a luxury material for its Folgore electric cars, the Italians now plan to use them to etch bespoke designs into metal.

Maserati’s head of design Klaus Busse suggests the technique is “like getting a tattoo.” In the world of human body art lasers are usually used to reverse the inking process, but using them to cut designs into bare metal would definitely be permanent.

Maserati first demonstrated the technique on its GT Luce (top) shown at Monterey Car Week in 2023. That car featured a dynamically-etched pattern along its flanks and roof, enhanced through a mirror-like chrome finish.

Busse says that customers might like to adorn their cars with a family crest or other very personal design. He adds that the styling of Maserati cars is “extremely purified” to “create a design that serves as a canvas for our customers.”

Recent completely bespoke models include the Prisma which blends 14 different colors and the striking, hand-painted MC20 Cielo Opera d’Arte. Cars such as these and future “tattooed” examples would stay in collections for ever, believes Busse. “My approach is I’m less interested in recycleability but I’m very interested in using recycled material, because the idea is that hopefully it never gets thrown away to be recycled.”

The post Maserati wants to Break the Car Tattoo Taboo appeared first on Hagerty Media.

“Paradigm shift.” That’s the phrase Maserati uses as it makes another significant step towards being an all-electric car company. Just added to the lineup, alongside the Grecale Folgore SUV and GranTurismo Folgore coupe, is what Maserati claims to be not only the first luxury electric convertible to market but also the fastest: the GranCabrio Folgore.

In a glitzy event in Rimini, Italy, Maserati pronounced the GranCabrio to be “Made in Thunder,” as it was presented by an eclectic collection of Italian celebrities. The roster included a DJ/pianist named Dardust (who blasted out an opening overture), actress Matilda de Angelis, and astrophysicist Edwige Pezzulli. The scientist compared the brand’s innovation to the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo.

But wait, there’s more: a “Turn me on” ad campaign featuring a shirtless Damiano David (lead singer of Eurovision-winning rock band Måneskin), the launch of a $2.5 million Maserati-badged electric boat called Trident, and the company’s return to single-seater racing with its Formula E team. If it’s meant to be a paradigm shift, the fanfare is there.

But what of the car itself? Silently driven out onto the stage among the jumbo screens, booming sound, and visual effects was a handsome liquid rose gold four-seater cabriolet. As has been Maserati’s motif, the GranCabrio Folgore looks almost identical to the combustion-powered car that was revealed in February, with its flowing curves evolved from the previous generation GranTurismo and GranCabrio. Design boss Klaus Busse described this as “visual longevity” and referenced the proportions of the glorious 1954 Maserati A6GCS. If it ain’t broke, et cetera.

Copper Folgore badging and trim pieces, together with a clean tailpipe-free rear are the only features to visually distinguish EV from ICE from the outside, while in the cabin, laser-etched Econyl fabric is the signature feature. The canvas roof can be folded away in 16 seconds, and there’s a built-in wind deflector and air scarf to keep occupants comfortable. At least those sitting up front, anyway; for rear seat passengers it’ll no doubt be rather breezier.

Underneath the skin is where things are radically different. Instead of the Nettuno V-6 from the MC20 supercar, there’s a three-motor electric powertrain and a 92.5-kWh battery pack that runs from under the hood down the central spine of the car, essentially taking up the same space as the V-6, transmission, and prop shaft. This keeps the center of gravity low and allows the exact same monocoque to fit on top.

The three permanent magnet motors, derived from Formula E, each produce 300 kW (408 hp), with one on the front axle and one for each rear wheel. The battery’s 610-kW discharge capacity translates into a maximum system output of 750 hp. Operating independently, the motors can provide advanced torque vectoring under the watchful eye of its Vehicle Domain Control Module. Rear or all-wheel drive can be selected, to suit conditions or your mood. There are four drive modes that go from eking out the range to maximizing performance on track, plus three levels of regenerative braking.

The GranCabrio uses 800-volt architecture so it can charge at up to 270 kW, which means getting a 20-80 percent charge in 18 minutes or, to think of it another way, adding 60 miles in just five minutes. Maximum range as measured by Europe’s WLTP cycle is 280 miles, so expect maybe 250 at best in the real world. EPA range is expected to be about 250 miles.

Use all the available electrons and you won’t get as far but you will certainly get there fast. The benchmark 0-62 mph sprint takes 2.8 seconds, 120 mph is reached in 9.1 seconds and top speed is 180 mph. Like the Grecale Folgore, the GranCabrio will accompany such feats of acceleration with a synthesized soundtrack meant to ape the brand’s historic V-8s. Sign of the times.

Despite the dramatic switch in what powers the GranCabrio, what hasn’t changed is its underlying principles, says Busse. “You can drive six hours to Monte Carlo and you’ll arrive in style and comfort and at the same time you can stop halfway in Monza and really unleash the full performance of the car. A perfect balance of delivering long distance comfort and being able to stop at any track around the world and deliver a hot lap without looking out of place.”

Based on where the GranCabrio Folgore sits in the lineup, $220,000 is a fair guess for the starting price. We will be able to report back on specifics in June when we drive it and get a better idea how such a lofty figure is justified. However, at the moment, shoppers wanting an all-electric four-seater convertible have no other choice, regardless of cost.

The post Maserati’s GranCabrio Folgore is the World’s Fastest EV Convertible appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Volvo’s reputation for rugged durability won’t be diminished when it becomes an EV-only carmaker, and its future models could have a lifespan of 40 years or more.

According to the Swedish firm’s Head of Strategy and New Cars, Erik Severinson, the limitations of current batteries could become a thing of the past, while EV motors may actually extend the life expectancy of Volvo cars.

Speaking after the grand opening of World of Volvo he told Hagerty, “We have honestly not changed our requirements on longevity or sustainability or lifespan of the products when we moved into electrified cars.”

“The key difference here is electrification. The electric motor has a much longer life than a combustion engine. You can have that for 40 years running if you would like, but the batteries, of course, have a different aging profile than a combustion engine.

“We have not changed the requirements. So we are designing our cars to be as durable in the future as our current cars. How are we doing that? Well, the battery part is twofold. One is software. Batteries age when you are discharging fully, and charging fully. Typically, if you do that in a fast charging network, then you eat the battery a lot. It also ages partly from time, so what we’re doing is using software to control it so we don’t get into these endpoints too much.”

By keeping batteries charged between 30 and 70 percent they age much less, explained Severinson. Volvo is working with a local partner Northvolt on battery tech, and will soon build its own packs at a new facility in its Torslanda, Sweden plant. Those batteries may eventually be made entirely from recycled materials, ending the ethically and environmentally questionable mining of rare resources.

“The big difference between electric cars and combustion cars is that when you burn the fuel (in a combustion car) then it’s gone, but for an electric car, once the battery is depleted, you can actually build a new battery of the old batteries. 95 percent of the critical minerals are reusable, and we’re designing better plant processes to be able to cater for recycled batteries.

“In 2040 the amount of nickel, manganese and cobalt running around the road is probably bigger for us than the amount in the crust of the earth. The electric vehicle offers a totally different opportunity in terms of sustainability from a recycling perspective.”

Ironically that could actually contradict Volvo’s long lifespan goals. “Maybe we will want to get the cars back because we can build a new battery of them and so don’t want to have the car for 15 years in the market. Maybe 10 years is better, because we can say it’s a more sustainable solution.”

So will cars like the EX30 and EX90 really become future classics or will they all be stripped down to build the next generations? We’ll find out in 40 years…

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Volvo Says Its EVs Can Become Future Classics appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Volvo is celebrating its 97th birthday with the opening of a breathtaking building in the heart of its home town. World of Volvo is an architectural wonder, an event space, conference facility, community center, motor museum and landmark in the center of Gothenburg, Sweden.

“This is home,” explains Roger Alm, Exective Vice President of the Volvo Group and President of Volvo Trucks. Unlike traditional museums, World of Volvo isn’t solely focused on history, but a showcase for the present and the future, too.

As a hub for the people of Gothenburg, World of Volvo is free to enter, although Volvo hopes that visitors will reach into their pockets. That might be just for fika (coffee and cake), but it could be for a fine dining experience at one of the two restaurants run by Michelin-starred chef Stefan Karlsson. In the near future it may be to attend a concert in the 600-seat auditorium or perhaps to go to a meeting in one of the many conference suites.

Soon, customers wishing to take delivery of their new car and take a Scandinavian first drive will be able to head to World of Volvo as part of the company’s Overseas Delivery program. Surprisingly, this offer also extends to buyers of trucks.

Right now, though, the main event is an engaging, interactive, multi-level exhibition that brings together the Volvo Group and Volvo Cars under one eco-friendly moss-covered roof, and all for under $20. It’s the biggest collaboration between the two since they separated in 1999 when Ford acquired the car division for its Premium Auto Group.

That means you’ll find cars, trucks, mechanical diggers, military vehicles and even boats as you wander through the spectacular concrete, glass, and wood structure.

The Building

From the outside, it looks like a transparent U.F.O. has landed next to the 100-year-old Liseberg amusement park in Gothenburg’s city center. Yet inside there’s a warmth that you wouldn’t necessarily expect from such a massive building. That’s because the interior is designed around three huge tree-like wooden columns whose branches curve up and out to create the structure of the roof. In total there’s more than 2800 tons of timber in the construction, and all of it is on show.

On the ground floor is the main event space, along with a display area that will be used to hand over cars and trucks to customers. The first level features the public Ceno restaurant and entry to the main exhibition area that spirals up inside. The top floors, meanwhile, are dedicated to conference facilities, including a second restaurant for corporate guests.

The Exhibition

The main exhibition takes visitors on a journey that starts with Volvo’s focus on people. It’s all very hands-on, with interactive artworks and simulators to show the dangers of distracted driving and how speed impacts driver reaction time. It’s Volvo, so safety is the key message throughout, but it’s never delivered like a lecture. Key innovations such as the three-point seatbelt, which has saved more than a million lives, and the lambda sensor which cleaned up emissions are highlighted along the way, before you arrive at the vehicles themselves (see below). Other fun stuff includes the chance to operate a digger or dock a boat in virtual reality, showing the breadth of the Volvo brand.

Our Favorite Cars

The King’s Carriage

The first car you see in the World of Volvo is actually in the main lobby area and it belongs to none other than the King of Sweden. The 1946 PV60 is the same age as H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf and was given to him by Volvo and the people of Sweden for his 50th birthday. Although currently parked, it does get used every other year on the King’s Rally where His Royal Highness joins hundreds of other enthusiasts to hoon around the island of Öland.

The First Volvo

On April 14 1927 the ÖV4 open tourer was the first Volvo to leave the Gothenburg factory. The Öppen Vagn 4 cylindrar was powered by 1.9-liter inline four mated to a three-speed transmission. Like most cars of the day the body was built on an ash frame. Ten pre-production cars were assembled but this is the only one that remains.

The Record Breaker

Irv Gordon’s 1966 P1800 still holds the Guinness World Record as having covered the most miles on a one-person owned car. Before he passed away in 2018, Irv had driven an amazing 3,260,257 miles. If you ever needed proof of Volvo’s durability, it’s sitting right here.

The Craziest Concept

There are several show cars on display, but it’s the VESC (Volvo Experimental Safety Car) from 1972 that stands out. Partly that’s because of its lurid orange paint and comically-long front bumper, but mostly because of just how far ahead of its time the VESC really was. It had airbags, anti-lock brakes and even a rear-view camera. The Mitsubishi television took up most of the dash and the camera itself must have eaten up a chunk of trunk space, but talk about forward-thinking.

The Wild One

When the 850 T5-R was launched in 1996 I was dispatched to Gothenburg to drive one of the first out the factory to the British Motor Show in Birmingham. It was a wild ride. Our convoy featured the sedan you see here along with a wagon and when we hit the German autobahn we hit it hard, flying across the countryside in a 150 mph bright yellow blur. For that reason alone it’s at the top of my list.

That’s just a small selection of what’s on show—if you want more then you’ll need to pay a visit yourself.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Walk through the Wonderful World of Volvo with Us appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It may not have mass appeal but Alfa Romeo’s new Milano electric SUV is likely to be available in California and other states with high EV adoption rates.

At the launch of Alfa’s first small car since the Giulietta CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato said that, although a final decision on U.S. sales was still to be made, he believes that the electric urban SUV would be able to find buyers in EV-friendly areas, joining the Stelvio and Giulia in showrooms.

The Milano comes in three flavors—two battery-electric versions and a mild hybrid. It sits on the Stellantis e-CMP2 platform which also underpins the Jeep Avenger. The gas-electric gets a 1.2-liter Miller Cycle motor and a 38-hp electric motor powered by a 47-volt battery for a combined 135 horsepower. Drive goes through the front wheels via a six-speed auto, with four-wheel-drive in the pipeline.

It’s the EVs that offer the most oomph though, with the entry level car providing 156 hp and the racier Veloce delivering 240 horsepower, and fitted with a Torsen limited slip differential to cope. Other enhancements include a lower ride height, quicker steering, bigger brakes and grippier tires. Range from the 54 kWh battery is a claimed 255 miles.

It’s a cute-looking car, with a short wheelbase, minimal overhangs and some neat side sculpting. The most radical thing about the Milano’s appearance is the re-invented shield grille, featuring either the company’s trademark man-eating serpent or the words Alfa Romeo in stylish retro script.

The Milano, named after Alfa’s home town, is key to helping the brand go “from exclusive to inclusive,” said Imparato. Referencing the near-unicorn 33 Stradale he added, “Alfa is the only brand that is able to sell a car at €2 million and €30,000.”

The Milano will “attract a new generation of Alfisti,” he said. Would you consider becoming one of them?

The post Alfa Romeo’s First EV to be Sold in Selected States appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Gordon Murray knows a thing or two about making cars speed around race circuits. The designer of the F1 World Championship-winning Brabham BT49 and BT52 is about to reveal his latest track tool—an even more hardcore version of his T.50 hypercar.

The T.50s will make its dynamic debut at the 81st Goodwood Members’ Meeting this coming weekend, April 13-14, with four-time IndyCar champ and Gordon Murray Automotive development driver Dario Franchitti at the wheel.

With its rear-mounted fan to suck it down to the asphalt the T.50 owes much to Murray’s banned BT46B but it goes even further than ever with its aerodynamic advances.

“The T.50s has completely revised aerodynamics,” explains Murray. “The fan and diffusers have been optimized for high downforce only and this produces a large percentage of the overall downforce. A delta rear wing and a large front splitter incorporating a front aerofoil and front dive planes complete the aero components. All this combines to generate an outstanding 1200 kg (2646 lbs) of downforce.

As if that wasn’t enough the T.50s is even lighter than the road car, weighing in at a touch under 2000 lbs and the incredible 3.9-liter Cosworth V-12 delivers 772 hp at a heady 11,500 rpm. The engine weighs 24 lbs less than the streetable version and is mated to a purpose-built Xtrac Instantaneous Gearshift System six-speed paddle shift, with a close ratio option for tighter tracks.

Inside, instead of three seats, there’s just two. The driver still sits in the middle but there’s only room for a single passenger on the left. One configurable screen shows the driver all the data required to hone those lap times.

Only 25 examples are to be built and Murray has plans to make sure they’re all driven as intended. “I’d like to organize a series of racing events as part of our Trackspeed package to ensure the T.50s is driven regularly by owners,” he says. “There will be nothing like the experience of driving this car. And hearing it… well, that will be something else!”

Tune into the Goodwood livestream to hear and see it in action for yourself.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Gordon Murray’s T.50s to Make Its Track Debut at Goodwood appeared first on Hagerty Media.

“In an instant (as it seemed) the peaceful scene was changed, and with a blast of wind and a whirl of sound that made them jump for the nearest ditch. It was on them! The “Poop-poop” rang with a brazen shout in their ears, they had a moment’s glimpse of an interior of glittering plate-glass and rich morocco, and the magnificent motor-car, immense, breath-snatching, passionate, with its pilot tense and hugging his wheel, possessed all earth and air for the fraction of a second, flung an enveloping cloud of dust that blinded and enwrapped them utterly, and then dwindled to a speck in the far distance, changed back into a droning bee once more.”

Obviously we’re supposed to feel sorry for poor Mole and Ratty in their first encounter with Mr Toad on the road in Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows, but reading this as a child it was Toad’s thrill ride that enthralled me.

“The motor-car went Poop-poop-poop, as it raced along the road,” he wrote and, right now I can’t think of a better way to describe what’s going on. I am every bit the amphibian automobilist behind the wheel of a no-less magnificent motor-car—an Alvis Vanden Plas Tourer continuation.

Only 25 of these £325,000 ($411,500) specials are to be built, with four other Alvis models also offered as continuation models, using the a three-liter motor or the fabulous 4.3-liter in-line six engine that’s responsible for those splendid poop-poop-poop sounds. It’s perhaps a little noisier than normal today as the car hasn’t had an outing for a few months, but those part-throttle poops add to the charming steampunk experience.

To meet modern emissions requirements the engine has electronic ignition and fuel injection, with a trio of throttle bodies replacing the original carbs. A six-speed Tremec manual transmission is fitted and there are servo-operated Brembo disc brakes in lieu of the cable operated stoppers that would have originally been fitted. Rack and pinion replaces a steering box, but without any form of assistance.

All these modern touches serve to make this Alvis accessible—a reliable and, easy to drive alternative to the dozens of original cars that are also for sale in the company showroom in Kenilworth, near Coventry.

Alvis has been based here since 1968 and, when owner Alan Stote acquired the business and trademark, he also got a warehouse of 400,000 parts, 50,000 engineering drawings and the records of 22,000 cars. Offering service and sales the facility is also where the continuation cars are hand built.

“I bought the company in ‘94 after selling my original business in 1988.” says Stote. “My main interest wasn’t restoring cars, it was the documentation. They documented every car they ever built. I’m not a mechanical engineer, my real passion is the industrial history.”

You can read more about exactly how Alvis goes about keeping its history alive in Ronan Glon’s excellent story but it’s the sensations of the past in the present that’s my focus today.

Just looking at the fabulous aluminum bodywork, draped over its ash frame, is like donning a pair of rose-tinted spectacles. Road works, speed cameras, these irritants of modern motoring matter not a jot as one is transported back to a time when every automobile journey was still an adventure.

The wide-opening suicide doors make it easy to step up and into a driving position that’s somehow both high off the ground, yet relatively low in the car. Another contradiction: the Vanden Plas Tourer is undeniably large, yet the cabin is compact and quite where rear seat travellers are expected to put their legs is unclear as the whole space is taken up with a squishy leather bench. Being open-sided and with the canvas topped stowed away it’s never claustrophobic, but it might be wise to warn your co-pilot that any knee fondling is purely down to the proximity of the gear lever.

The shifter itself is a delight, with a solid mechanical heft to it, combined with easy accuracy. Meanwhile the clutch is light and the brakes have both great feel and stopping power. The accelerator’s a little stiff and has a long action, but suits the torque-rich nature of the engine.

The big six will rev to 4,500 rpm, yet pulls strongly from little more than idle. It’s almost diesel-like in its luggability so there’s no real need to keep an eye on the rev counter. That’s a good thing as it’s positioned, in the lovely walnut dash, directly ahead of the passenger seat and impossible for the driver to see. The speedometer is also mostly obscured by the large, thin-rimmed, four-spoke steering wheel, but you’ll be gauging your velocity directly by the rush of wind through your hair anyway.

Although unassisted, once rolling there’s not too much effort needed. It doesn’t self-center, but it does track every imperfection in the road surface and there’s an initial temptation to correct every little wiggle. Relax the hands, let the front wheels do their dance, and then it all starts to come together.

The chassis is essentially the same as it was in 1937, albeit with modern dampers. There’s flex and scuttle shake, but it absorbs the bumps of British country roads that look like they haven’t been maintained since then.

It’s quite an achievement to maintain so much of the character of a pre-war car, while making it useable day-to-day.

Bravo! And poop-poop!

The post Driving a $400,000 Alvis Turned Me into Mr. Toad appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The replacement for the Lamborghini Huracán has a name. A new trademark filing at the European Intellectual Property Office, unearthed by CarBuzz, reveals that the next model to be launched by Lamborghini will be called Temerario.

A logo, incorporating a pair of subtle horns framing the name, has also been submitted for a trademark to cover “Cars, including electric and combustion vehicles and their components.”

As the only all-new model in the Lambo pipeline is the replacement for the Huracán, it’s a safe bet to assume that the Temerario name will be applied to the Revuelto‘s smaller sibling.

Temerario translates from Spanish into English as “reckless”, and could mark a break from tradition in a couple of key areas. First, it might be the first Lamborghini in a long time, not named after a fighting bull. The practice dates back to the Miura, with the Urraco, Jalpa, Murciélago, Gallardo, Aventador, Huracán and Revuelto all receiving feisty bovine branding.

It wouldn’t be completely out of place to name a Lamborghini from outside this arena, of course, with cars such as the Espada and Diablo getting their monikers from spicy Spanish words, while the Countach famously got its name from Piedmontese expression of surprise.

The second major departure for the Temerario will be its powertrain. No longer will a V-10 be offered, with a hybridized V-8 sitting ahead of the rear wheels. Lamborghini is about to reveal a plug-in hybrid edition of the Urus SUV, so that engine could also make its way to the two-seater. Another, and more exciting, option could be a road-going version of the 3.8-liter V-8 that powers Lamborghini’s SC63 Le Mans Hypercar.

We’re expecting more information later this month, so stay tuned.

The post Huracán Blows out, Temerario Charges in at Lamborghini appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The Lamborghini LM002 is back—or at least a riotous replica is. Dartz, makers of outrageous automobiles favored by despots and dignitaries, has just revealed its Pombrom Iron Diamond CLV.

The Latvian LM002 lookalike is based on a Urus and described by Dartz as “automotive majesty.” In a press release that’s very thin on details but thick with hype the company says, “This masterpiece transcends the ordinary and redefines the extraordinary.” 

Film fans may recognize Dartz from The Dictator and A Good Day to Die Hard where its armored automobiles featured on the silver screen and the company’s website is no less theatrical, boasting of its 155-year history of royal duty, providing “bulletproof opulence trusted by billionaires, rulers, celebrities, superstars and one Dictator since 1869.”

The Iron Diamond’s exterior resemblance to the original Rambo Lambo is uncanny, although the interior is likely to be more practical than the cramped cabin of the LM002—and certainly more luxurious. Dartz is known for using the most ostentatious materials, including snakeskin, ostrich leather, crocodile skin and even whale penis. Not a car for vegans then.

“Embodying the epitome of masculine design, the Iron Diamond CLV exudes an aura reminiscent of the venerable LM002, evoking nostalgia while simultaneously heralding a new era of automotive prowess,’ says Dartz. “Crafted entirely from carbon fiber and fortified with the heart of a Lamborghini powertrain, this extraordinary creation promises unparalleled speed and performance.”

Dartz doesn’t provide any technical information, but using anything less than a 666-hp Urus Performante as the donor vehicle surely wouldn’t cut it among the authoritarian automobile enthusiasts willing to part with $2.7 million from their country’s national reserves.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post The Rambo Lambo Returns appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Hyundai’s sporting N division has taken its most potent EV, stripped it down and sped it up to create a race car to compete in a new one-make series.

The Ioniq 5 N EN1 Cup cars throw out the family-friendly seats and most of the interior trim, with just a single bucket seat and harness put back. A roll cage and EV-specific fire suppression system is also installed, while the quirky retro bodywork gets a new aerodynamic kit, with wider arches to house bigger forged alloy wheels. The hood is replaced with a fiber-reinforced plastic version, and the windows are polycarbonate. These measures save around 500 pounds compared to the road-going model, although at 4,340 pounds it’s still no lightweight.

A bigger 84 kWh battery pack and a total of 650 horsepower go some way to mitigate the mass, while two-way adjustable dampers with camber and ride-height adjustment allow race teams to tune the suspension. Six-piston front calipers and four-piston rear units apply serious pressure to the discs for fade-free braking, and grip comes from slick tires on 18-inch rims.

Race teams will be allowed a free choice of rubber, and are also permitted to customize the digital noises produced by the car’s NGB Overboost, virtual shift and amplified active sound systems.

2024 will serve as a trial for the eN1 series, with racing kicking off on April 27 at Inje Speedium, not far from Seoul. The eN1 Cup cars will then race at Hyundai’s N Festival where the recently-introduced Avante/Elantra N1 one-make series will also be competing.

“Through the eN1 class, our ultimate aim is to establish Hyundai Motor as a true leader in the EV motorsport platform, fostering the growth and development of Korea’s vibrant motorsport culture while making a resounding impact on a global scale,” says Joon Park, Head of N Brand Management Group. “With the eN1 class, we are poised to redefine the future of racing and pave the way for a new era of electrifying motorsport achievements.”

The post Hyundai Takes its EV Charge to the Track with Ioniq 5 N Cup Racer appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Lamborghini has freed the Raging Bull as part of a new-look corporate identity. For the first time the iconic animal will be seen on its own, outside the traditional shield on the company’s digital channels.

The logo that will appear on future cars retains its traditional look but has been updated to reflect Lamborghini’s values: “brave”, “unexpected” and “authentic” which are part of the brand’s mission of “Driving Humans Beyond.”

It all sounds like a nicely-dressed Italian word salad, but what you will notice is that the new logo is now two-dimensional, with a focus on black and white colors, with yellow and gold as accents. Overall it’s a little less showy than the current iteration. Accompanying the revised design is a new typeface which “echoes the unmistakable lines and angularity of the cars” and iconography which will appear in all future communications.

It’s the first change to the Lambo logo in over 20 years and the timing coincides with company’s gradual move to electrification.

“In a rapidly changing context, Automobili Lamborghini looks to the future with a redesigned logo that embodies innovation and determination,”says the firm. “It’s a strategic change that perfectly complements the holistic shift outlined by the Direzione Cor Tauri program, marking a new phase in the company’s positioning.”

The first Lamborghini to wear the new badge on its snout will be the plug-in hybrid version of the Urus SUV, which is due to be revealed soon, with the successor to the Hurácan following later in 2024.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post New Logo for Lambo appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Audi’s original supercar has reached the end of the road. Despite a flurry of last-minute demand and a stay of execution which saw production continue into 2024, the final R8 has now been assembled.

The very last R8 (above) is a Vegas Yellow Performance Quattro Edition with a carbon fiber exterior package and 20-inch alloy wheels, and you’ll be able to see it in the firm’s museum, displayed just as valuable treasure should be.

As the R in R8 starts to stand for “relic,” let’s take a look back at this awesome Audi and what makes it a sure-fire classic of the future.

The Concept Car Made Real

When it was first introduced at the Paris Auto Show in September 2006, the R8 was a remarkably faithful production version of the Le Mans quattro show car Audi had revealed three years earlier to celebrate three wins on the trot at the famous French 24 hour race. There were subtle changes to the styling, and, in place of the Le Mans quattro’s twin-turbo V-10 engine was a 4.2-liter, 420-hp V-8. The all-aluminum spaceframe chassis was retained, but the bodywork was sculpted in aluminum rather than carbon fiber. Aside from being the German marque’s first supercar, the R8 also became the first production car to feature slimline LED headlights. What’s more, it was built by Audi Sport, the firm’s motor racing division, rather than on a main production line.

The Lambo Link

The Le Mans quattro was heavily based on the Lamborghini Gallardo, and so was the production R8. That link became even tighter in 2008 when Audi introduced a 5.2-liter V-10—the same motor that powered the Lambo. In V-10 form, the R8 featured a revised rear bumper to accommodate twin exhausts (down from the four of the V-8), further cooling vents were added, and 19-inch wheels came as standard. Of more importance, though, was the near 100-hp increase in power.

Iterative Improvements

In 2009, Audi removed the roof of the R8 to create the Spyder. Initially only available in V-10 guise, Audi soon added a lighter, keener-priced V-8 as well. 2011 saw the introduction of the GT, now offering 560 hp from its ten-cylinder mill, while also cutting weight with lighter seats, thinner windscreen glass and a carbon engine cover.

The R8’s first facelift came in 2012, installing a sharper front end and significantly revised interior. These improvements kept the R8 rolling until 2015 when a true second-generation car was launched. Now sharing its platform with the Lamborghini Huracan, it offered a significant hike in power. In V10 Plus trim, the 610-hp R8 could reach 60 mph in just 2.9 seconds and top 200 mph for the first time. Audi made major changes to modernize the decade-old design while still retaining the car’s unique character.

The next, and perhaps most significant update in the R8’s history came when Audi dropped its trademark quattro all-wheel drive system to create the RWS. Powered by a 540-hp version of the V-10 and driving the rear wheels only via a seven-speed S-Tronic automatic, it was lighter and more leery than any R8 before. A final facelift came in 2018, with some styling tweaks and even more oomph—up to 633 hp.

The Silver Screen Star

The R8 is synonymous with Tony Stark thanks to its appearance in no less than six movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Robert Downey Jr. first drove a V-8 in Iron Man, then a V-10 Spyder in Iron Man 2, a prototype e-tron (see below) in Iron Man 3, a V10 Plus in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, and, appropriately, a Spyder in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

The Electric Icon

Audi first teased an all-electric R8 in 2010, but it would take a further five years before the car made it into very limited production. Its stats were impressive, with 340 kw (462 hp) available to dispatch the 0-62 mph sprint in 3.9 seconds and a claimed range of 280 miles on a full charge. However, with a $1M price tag, only the likes of Tony Stark could afford one, and less than 100 were sold.

The Driver’s Car

The R8 has received high praise in every iteration, not least by Hagerty’s own correspondents.

“This original V-8 is just so good. Arguably Audi never improved upon it. Whether V-8 or V-10 these have always been just fabulous,” says Henry Catchpole after taking the wheel of one of the last R8 GT RWD.

“The R8 is glorious, and when it’s gone, so will be the era of the free-breathing, big-engine exotic. And the world will be a less wild place for it,” adds Aaron Robinson after driving the R8 Performance.

Catchpole reckons the early models featured “the best open-gated manual ever produced.” “It really stole Ferrari’s thunder, it’s just so slick,” he remarks.

A Fast Car with Slow Sales

Despite the plaudits and the performance, the R8 has never really troubled its Italian rivals. In 16 years just 30,000 or so examples found owners. At its best the R8 sold 5016 units in 2008, and, at its worst in 2022, just 1068. Compare that to the 3962 Huracans sold in 2023 and it’s not so surprising that Audi has thrown in the towel.

The Future Classic

The end of the R8 era could be good news for existing owners, however. We singled the car out in our 2023 Bull Market, noting, “All generations of enthusiasts appreciate the R8, and interest is growing. Insurance policy growth is more than three times faster than the Hagerty average over the past five years. Lookups on Hagerty Valuation Tools have doubled in the past 12 months, and they lead lookups for the similar Lamborghini Gallardo. R8 values are up 37 percent since 2019, and with growing demand, further appreciation is likely.”

“With supercar performance paired with the liveability of a daily driver, the Audi R8 might just be the collector car to have if you could only have one. Leave it to the Germans to make the perfect Italian car.”

“I’d anticipate that over time the purity and clarity of the original vision and the sweetness of the driving experience will become ever more highly coveted as we move into an era of electrified and increasingly automated transport,” adds Andrew Frankel.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post 8 Things to Know Now the Audi R8 Era Is Over appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Pagani has unleashed a new model that you’ll dare to drive come fair weather or foul. It will never leave your garage (like most Paganis) but at least you can go flat out while it’s in there as this latest Huayra R is actually a simulator.

The sim is a collaboration between Pagani Automobili, Pagani Arte and Racing Unleashed, which builds rigs for training pro drivers. The virtual Huayrawill be used as part of the Italian hypercar maker’s Arte in Pista track day program—and, presumably, also sold to existing Pagani customers.

“We aimed to create a professional, dynamic driving simulator with an extraordinary level of immersion and realism, intending to contribute to the constant refinement of our customers’ driving styles,” explains Franco Morsino, Pagani’s Vehicle Dynamics Lead. “Our ambition was to transform it into a genuine design object, a product with artistic value destined to occupy a prominent place within the homes of Huayra R owners. For this reason, we dedicated extreme attention to creating a product that reflects our cars’ extraordinary uniqueness.”

Engineering and designing the rig took over a year and the carbon fiber structure is constructed and painstakingly painted at the Pagani factory in Modena, Italy. It mimics key features of the real Huayra R in looks, and when it comes to recreating the driving experience Pagani says it “meticulously attended to every detail to faithfully recreate the handling, dynamics, and aerodynamic effects of the real car.”

To that end the sim features three-dimensional motion actuators to provide pitch, roll and yaw, with active safety belts also helping to simulate longitudinal and lateral acceleration. “All these features were tested and validated in back-to-back trials by professional drivers and development pilots, transitioning from the simulator to the actual hypercar,” adds Pagani.

To bridge the gap between the virtual and real driving experience, “The entire driving setup, including the steering wheel, pedals, seat, and belts, is exactly the same as that of the Huayra R.” A 5.1 audio system with seat-mounted kicker and VR headphones emulates the song of the Pagani V-12.

The exact tech specs of the gaming PC and monitor that runs the sim haven’t been revealed, but it comes with Assetto Corsa Pro installed and is kept cool by air vents inspired by the Huayra.

Pagani joins the likes of Aston Martin and Callum in providing an incredibly high-end sim for customers who want to race without risk to their precious metal. If you need to ask how much, you can’t afford it.

The post Here’s a Pagani You Could Drive Daily appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Power is addictive and Land Rover has just announced a Class A edition of the Defender that’s sure to get drivers hooked at the merest sniff.

The upcoming OCTA is to be “the toughest, most capable, and luxurious Defender vehicle ever,” says Land Rover, and will be powered by a twin-turbocharged V-8 engine. This is likely the same 626-hp unit just fitted to the Range Rover Sport SV where it propels the luxury SUV to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds on its way to 180 mph.

Also crossing over from the SV is Land Rover’s “6D Dynamics” suspension which matches air springs with hydraulically cross-linked dampers. This active system beats physics into submission and keeps the 5500-lb Defender level during acceleration, braking, and cornering. What’s more it does this while maintaining a high level of wheel articulation so off-road driving isn’t compromised. Massive Brembo brakes are fitted to provide ample stopping ability.

Land Rover has been putting all this to the test in on the ice roads of arctic Sweden, the deserts of Dubai and the rock crawls of Moab. The OCTA has even been hurled around the Nürburgring as part of “the most exhaustive development regime in Defender history.”

If you’re wondering where the name comes from, Land Rover says that the octahedron shape of a diamond was the inspiration, “diamond being the hardest naturally occurring substance on Earth, renowned for its rarity.”

The OCTA will get a number of diamond graphics on exterior and interior components, with sandblasted titanium also featuring. More details will be announced soon, including a price that’s likely to approach $150,000.

“Defender has been synonymous with all-terrain capability, with a bloodline tracing back to the Series 1 in 1948,” says Mark Cameron, Managing Director, Defender. “New Defender OCTA will take this to another level, with a dramatic stance, innovative technology and unparalleled attention to detail. With astounding performance and a bold new attitude, it will enable our clients to master epic adventures in heightened luxury.”

The post The Most Powerful Defender Ever Will Pack a Twin Turbo V-8 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Crowd-pleasing down under drift king ‘Mad’ Mike Whiddett will wow the Goodwood Festival of Speed with the most exotic sideways sensation ever seen: a McLaren P1 GTR, known as the MADMAC.

The hyper drift project is an international collaboration between British McLaren specialist Lanzante, Beverly Hillls-based luxury car dealer O’Gara Coach, and Whiddett’s New Zealand ‘Mad Lab’.

The starting point is a track-focused P1 GTR, which Lanzante has plenty of experience with, having previously converted examples to road use (at a cost of over $2 million, mind).

“The idea for the project came about after meeting Mike at Goodwood last year,” says Dean Lanzante. “He visited our stand, saw what we had on display, and we started to explore what was possible. We like to think that we build some of the most extreme cars, but Mike saw this as a challenge to take things up a level or two.”

“Lanzante has a reputation for creating some incredible cars. Being a proud kiwi, I’m inspired to push this McLaren project to the absolute limit, and then take it around the world… SIDEWAYS!” adds Mad Mike.

After initial work in the UK the MADMAC is now in New Zealand for its transformation into a drift weapon, before making its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. No technical details have been revealed as yet, but although Whiddett is famous for his amazing Mazda rotary rockets, it’s more likely that the MADMAC will retain its turbocharged V-8. The MADMAC could also be the first of Mad Mike’s machines to feature a hybrid powertrain for an electrifying power boost.

Stay tuned for the tire-smoking debut on the famous British hillclimb.

The post Mad Mike Is Getting a Mental McLaren for Goodwood appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Exactly 66 years since it made its racing debut the very first Lotus Formula 1 car is to return to Monaco. This time, however, a top price at auction will be the prize.

The 1957-58 Lotus-Climax Type 12 chassis number 353 is the very car driven by Graham Hill on the streets of Monte Carlo, where he briefly led before retiring with a halfshaft failure. The Type 12 had previously tested its mettle (and metal) in Formula 2, but to compete in the top tier Coventry Climax enlarged its four-cylinder engine from 1500 cc to 1960 cc. It was underpowered compared to 2.5-liter rivals, but the lightweight Lotus showed promise on twisty circuits where top speeds were lower.

Unfortunately reliability was not a strength and Hill also failed to finish in the Netherlands and Belgium, while teammate Cliff Allison had slightly better luck finishing six out of seven races in 1958, with a best finish just off the podium in fourth place at Spa.

The Type 12 may not have taken a checkered flag, but it did set Lotus on course for no less than seven Formula 1 Constructors’ World Championships and six drivers’ titles for Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti. In total Lotus achieved 74 Grand Prix victories during its Formula 1 years.

Chassis 353, meanwhile, was sold to privateer John Fisher and campaigned in 1959 by Britain’s Bruce Halford and glamorous Italian lady racer Maria Teresa de Filippis. The car was subsequently bought by Australian Frank Gardener and raced in the land down under. Between 196 and 1991 the car had four further owners before being fully restored by its current keeper.

 “I wish that every Team Lotus racing car could have such a wonderful record of its life,” declared Clive Chapman, head of Classic Team Lotus in a foreword to a 2006 book Lotus 12 Chassis No. 353: The History.

With its superbly-documented and illustrious past the Type 12 is estimated to sell for €290,000-€390,000 ($313,500-$421,600) when it crosses the block at Bonhams’ Les Grandes Marques à Monaco sale on May 10.

The post Lotus’ First F1 Car Is Set for a $400,000 Climax at Auction appeared first on Hagerty Media.

This year marks a turning point in the 110-year history of Maserati. Within the next 12 months or so, the Italian company’s entire range will be available with both combustion-engine and battery-electric power. The new lineup will be smaller—amid the demise of the Ghibli, Levante, and Quattroporte—and leading the way ahead is the Folgore (read: electric) variant of Maserati’s new Grecale SUV. The Grecale Folgore will be followed, in short succession, by electrified editions of the GranTurismo, GranCabrio, and MC20.

Folgore is Italian for lightning, making it the third EV named after Ben Franklin’s favorite phenomenon. (The Ford F-150 Lightning and the Chevy Bolt got there first, in English.) Maserati enters the electric SUV market in a unique niche. Until the arrival of the electric Porsche Macan, the Grecale Folgore will be the only high-performance, fully electric compact luxury SUV around.

Official pricing for the U.S. is not yet available, but we can expect something in the $115-$120K neighborhood, prior to accounting for the almost infinite custom “Fuoriserie” options. That means Maserati buyers will be paying a considerable premium over those shopping at BMW, Mercedes, or Audi. The larger Lotus Eletre, meanwhile, will start at roughly the same price.

This positioning will put the Folgore a smidge above pricing par with the 523-hp, Nettuno V-6-powered Grecale Trofeo, which starts a smidge under $110,000. With the EV version offering 560 horses, the two are close in performance despite the extra weight. Visually, they are almost identical aside from some subtle additions and deductions to distinguish electric from gas models.

Specs: 2025 Maserati Grecale Folgore

• Price: $115,000 (est.)
• Powertrain: 105-kWh battery, 2 x 280-hp permanent magnetic motors
• Output: 560 hp, 605 lb-ft
• Layout: Twin-motor, five-passenger, all-wheel-drive SUV
• Range: 311 miles (WLTP); EPA cycle TBD
• Competition: Porsche Macan EV

Sheet metal is unchanged compared with the gas model, but up front there is a new grille. Unlike many EVs, this one’s grille is still slatted, partly for cooling reasons but also for appearance; Maserati appears willing to sacrifice a few miles of range for a prettier face. Designers did consider aerodynamics, however, evidenced by a revised front spoiler, a completely flat underside, a specific rear diffuser, and trident-themed aero wheels that all contribute to the Grecale Folgore’s 0.305 Cd.

Maserati likes to say that the vehicle’s design theme stems from a central fuselage inspired by its Grand Prix racing cars of the 1950s. Does Alfa Romeo say the same about the Stelvio, I wonder? The two luxury compact crossovers are very closely related, sharing the same Giorgio platform, albeit stretched for Maserati.

That Giorgio platform, launched in 2015 for the Alfa Romeo Giulia sedan, is not a dedicated EV architecture. However, by adding totally new front and rear subframes to contain a pair of motors and a flat battery pack under the floor, Maserati has done a fine job of repackaging. (We’ll come back to the powertrain shortly.) The Folgore wears trident badging in copper as a nod to one of the metals most crucial to this electrification process.

Should you wish to double down on the reference, there’s a new brushed copper paint scheme called Rame, or if that’s not unusual enough, Maserati’s new Blue Graphite hue is textured in such a way to help emphasize the car’s curves. Touch it and you might be tempted to reach for a clay bar; it’s very different from a typical high-gloss polish.

There are more material innovations inside, with the seats a mix of leather and Econyl—a smooth and almost silky fabric made from recycled fishing nets and used by Gucci, Versace, and the like. Maserati’s version adds a laser to the manufacturing process to incorporate the pattern.

Copper reappears on the door caps and center console where it’s mixed with black in a weave-like plastic finish. The overall ambiance is indeed one of Italian luxury.

Maserati has maintained the same interior space as the combustion-powered Grecale, despite the packaging challenge of positioning batteries underneath the floor. It’s airy up front, and even those in the rear seats fare quite well as long as neither they nor the front passengers are too tall. With the front seats slid back, knee room does get a tad tight, but this is true of the Audi Q5 and Mercedes-Benz GLC as well. The car’s carrying capacity is a generous 19 cubic feet.

The driving position is almost infinitely adjustable, yet still a little taller than some may like—good for visibility but a loss for the car-driver connection. The main display is a sizable 12.3-inch unit and configured to host a range of drive-focused information that’s also complemented by a head-up display. In the center there’s an additional pair of touch screens (12.3 and 8.8 inches) joined together to resemble an open laptop. The bigger screen takes care of infotainment, navigation, and a multitude of safety settings, while the lower screen houses the HVAC controls. The whole setup works efficiently and with little lag, wirelessly links up with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and has clear graphics. Maserati’s classic dashboard clock is actually another digital display that works with voice control functions.

There are physical switches, but only to select Park, Drive and Reverse. Unfortunately, they’re a little lost against a piano-black background. If you find touchscreens to be fussy and distracting, this user-experience setup may well be a dealbreaker.

The premium audio system by Sonos Faber produces a clear sound and comes with 14 or 21 speakers with a 3D effect. Not available, however, is the wildly impressive Dolby Atmos surround sound we found bewitching in the Lotus Eletre.

Push the circular start button on the steering wheel and the speakers burst into life, delivering a gentle rumble to let you know the car is on. That sound, which is based around the frequencies of Maserati’s soon-dead V-8s, is always there, altering pitch in relation to road speed. The timbre changes depending on the driving mode and although you can’t switch it off, it’s easy enough to mentally tune it out—or drown it out with a shouty podcast or powerful track.

A second circular switch on the wheel dials up a choice of driving modes, adjusting the standard-issue air suspension and performance of the twin 205-kW motors. Go for MaxRange mode and, on Europe’s WLTP cycle, Maserati says you can drive 500km (311 miles) on a full charge. The Grecale Folgore aims to hit that target by reducing potential performance to 75 percent. You’ll want GT or Sport modes to experiece maximum attack and accelerate from 0-62 mph in 4.1 seconds or hit the top speed of 220 km/h (137 mph). An off-road setting raises the ride height for rougher stuff.

Maserati picked roads right on the southern tip of Puglia, Italy’s heel, to test the Grecale Folgore and, over 140-odd miles of highway and winding coast roads it acquitted itself extremely well.

There’s an ICE-like feel to the way it accelerates, not just because of that aural imitation of a V-8, but because, even in its most aggressive mode, the motors seem mapped to deliver progressive punch rather than the EV-typical brutal kick. Both axles always give an equal amount of oomph for optimum traction, and the whole setup feels sophisticated and mature. The same can be said of the ride and handling. Up front there are wishbones, while the rear has a multi-link arrangement. Air springs are standard and they adjust ride height to conditions and driver demands, turning in a fluid ride no matter the road surface. On the most curvaceous coast roads body control was excellent, as well.

The steering is sharp and direct, aiding confident turn-in. On the flip side, a strange inconsistency with the regenerative braking detracted from our experience. Pull the paddles behind the wheel to select between two levels of regeneration: a regular setting and one that allows additional coasting. The regen, which allows for one-pedal driving in the city, appears to be linked to how aggressively the accelerator has just been pressed rather than how it’s released. In practice we found it difficult to predict how much e-braking the system would provide, making it challenging to drive smoothly. The default mode, with both pedals used in conventional fashion, offered the best driving experience. Maserati’s engineers have said they’re taking another look at the calibration, so customer cars may be more consistent in quality across the modes.

Maserati says it wants to provide a seamless and luxurious EV ownership experience for Folgore buyers. To that end, every customer will be offered a wall box that can deliver up to 22 kW of charge, while a single card or app will give drivers access to a wide range of rapid chargers where the 105-kW battery pack can be juiced at up to 150 kW, meaning a 20-80 percent charge should take just 29 minutes and, when hooked up to a charger at the end of the day, the Folgore was able to reach the advertised rate.

What it couldn’t do, unsurprisingly, was meet the WLTP-rated range. 360 km (224 miles) was much more realistic based on my drive.

For a first venture into pure-electric power for a brand with such an illustrious past the Grecale Folgore bodes well. It’s quick, comfortable, and characterful, but I fear it may soon be outclassed in a head-to-head with the Macan. Until then, however, there’s a lot to recommend.

2025 Maserati Grecale Folgore

Highs: Sophisticated ride and handling, elegant styling and materials inside and out.

Lows: Expensive, inconsistent regenerative braking feel, range does not meet advertised rating.

Summary: The Maserati Grecale Folgore is currently in a class of one, but for how long?

The post 2025 Maserati Grecale Folgore First Drive: Your Move, Macan EV appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Lancia is bringing back its high-flying HF sub-brand in preparation for a return to the world’s rally stages.

The Italian firm previously dominated the World Rally Championship, winning 15 WRC titles, with stage stars including the Fulvia, Stratos, 037, Delta S4 and Delta HF Integrale.

Now CEO Luca Napolitano has confirmed that the famous High Fidelity badge will soon be back, updated for the electric era.

“This reinterpretation has aimed at purity of form, respecting the geometries of the marque,” said Lancia. “The colours recall the logo of the Fulvia Coupé of ’66, while the slant of the letters recalls the logo of the Lancia Delta of the 1990s, ‘evoking speed and radicality’.” The modernized HF logo is a “Progressive Classic”, that balances past and future.

The first vehicle to badged HF will be a hot version of the recently-launched Ypsilon electric hatchback. Power will be hiked to 240 hp so that the Ypsilon HF can sprint to 62 mph in 5.8 seconds. That sounds fun for Italians and a small selection of European neighbors who will be able to buy it, but Lancia lovers the world over will be far more excited about Napolitano’s other major announcement.

“The new HF logo will make its debut on the Lancia Ypsilon HF and then also grace the high-performance versions of the brand’s future models,” he said. “In this way, we take another step forward in the Lancia Renaissance, underlining the brand’s more brutal and radical soul and its commitment to focusing on performance models.

“Will we return to rallying? We are working on it.”

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Lancia is Getting Ready for a Rallying Renaissance appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A pair of rare two-liter Porsche flat-six engines, discovered in a storage unit by Hagerty’s editor-in-chief Larry Webster, are up for auction.

Unearthed in Michigan, the magnesium-cased motors both came from 1968 U.S.-market 911s, although the same engine was also installed in the 904 and the 914/6.

These early engines produced around 130 hp at 6200 rpm, were designed to meet tight American emissions standards and were often mated with Porsche’s Sportomatic transmission.

That was certainly the case with the first of the engines uncovered by Webster, with its serial number showing it’s a 901/17 unit. The engine is said to partially turn over and comes with its fan assembly, fan shroud, and flywheel.

The second discovery is a 901/14, which was previously a restoration project for a pair of students at Rutgers University in New Jersey, although they don’t appear to have got terribly far with it. It also turns over, but there is some corrosion to the magnesium and steel studs and the air-injection lines have been cut.

Porsche built over 5500 two-liter 911s between 1965 and 1968 (4636 coupes and 986 Targas) but they’re a pretty rare sight today.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 2.0L Cup (@2litrecup)

In the high-stakes world of classic motor racing a spare engine or two would certainly come in handy, or perhaps they could help get another couple of classic 911s back on the road? The two engines are being offered without reserve on Hagerty Marketplace now. Click here and here for details.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hagerty (@hagerty)

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Need an Early 911 Engine for Road or Race? We Found a Pair appeared first on Hagerty Media.

All eyes will be on MG at this summer’s Goodwood Festival of Speed as the British-Chinese brand marks 100 years.

The Cyberster roadster will feature in the centerpiece sculpture on the lawn of the world’s speediest stately home. Designed, as is tradition, by artist Gerry Judah, the sculpture will see the electric two-seater tower over the festival from July 11-14.

The 540-hp sports car made its dynamic debut on the Goodwood Hill in 2023, and we can expect multiple runs to be made—and MG records to be set.

“We are delighted that MG are returning to Goodwood this year to celebrate their centenary in style with their first Central Feature,” says the Duke of Richmond. “It is set to be a fitting tribute to the first 100 years of one of Britain’s oldest and most popular manufacturers, which has enjoyed a long association with Goodwood. MGs were almost ever-present at the circuit from 1948-1966, and before that, my grandfather ran the MG team in the 1930s, winning the famous Double-Twelve Hour Race at Brooklands in 1931. He was fascinated by their light weight, simplicity and clever engineering—characteristics which still underpin the brand today.”

MG’s UK Commercial Director Guy Pigounakis adds, “The Festival of Speed is the perfect occasion to celebrate our heritage in our home market where the MG story began, whilst also providing a perfect platform from which to demonstrate the dynamic future of the brand on a world stage.”

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post MG to Celebrate its Centenary at the 2024 Festival of Speed appeared first on Hagerty Media.

If you’re looking for some off-road action with a touch of Stuttgart style then North Carolina’s TLC4x4 has the answer.

The company, which specializes in resto-modding Toyota FJ40, 60 and 80 Series Land Cruisers, has just finished a build for a customer that owes its look to a vintage Porsche.

“Often, our Land Cruiser builds have fantastic stories behind them, and our newest FJ62 custom is no exception,” says TLC4x4 boss Daniel Valjevac. “The truck was commissioned by a longtime Porsche enthusiast, so that was influential throughout our design process.”

Specifically that means the 1988 FJ62 was painted in a Porsche gray, while the interior is trimmed in a mix of leather and classic houndstooth fabric. Even the door panels have been redesigned to “recall the doors of the classic 911.” The gauge cluster has been replaced and a modern high-end audio system with a sizeable touchscreen installed.

Under the hood you won’t find a flat-six, or indeed the Land Cruiser’s original in-line six. Instead there’s a 6.2-liter GM LS3 V-8 crate motor delivering over 430 horsepower. The transmission is a six-speed GM auto and TLC4x4 claims this combo offers “incredible performance and sublime levels of speed.”

Wisely the car has uprated suspension with OME springs and Fox Racing dampers, along with bigger brakes. 17-inch alloys wear all-terrain tires and there are new arch vents front and rear for cooling, along with rock sliders.

“Another very cool aspect was that the Land Cruiser had to be from 1988 in tribute to the client’s wedding anniversary,” adds Valjevac.

TLC4x4 hasn’t revealed the cost of the car but its website states that prices start at $250,000, making this rather more generous—and unique—than an eternity ring.

The post This Classic Land Cruiser Wants to be a Porsche appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The arrival of Tesla’s cheapest car will herald a new era for car production, claims a report in the U.K.’s Chttps://www.carmagazine.co.uk/ar magazine.

The compact Model 2 has a target price of $25,000 and to keep build costs down Musk’s engineers have devised a whole new way of building it. Instead of a traditional production line, invented over a century ago by Henry Ford for the Model T, Tesla will use a method it calls “unboxing.”

Rather than the car gradually being built up as it progresses along a line, Tesla plans to use a series of sub-assemblies which then come together at the end, made possible by the company’s “megacast”platform. The rear megacast, for example, would have wheels, seats and drive unit fitted, with the front seats and center console installed on top of the battery pack. The various part-built sections would then be united to form a complete car.

Under this method Tesla is targeting a 50 percent reduction in cost, largely because the process requires fewer workers. The process would also reduce the manufacturing footprint by 40 percent.

Reinventing the production process is necessary because, as a car works its way down a conventional production line, “Most of the time we’re doing nothing to it,” says Tesla’s head of vehicle engineering Lars Morvay.

The first Tesla factory to deploy the unboxing production method will be the Giga Texas plant in Austin which is currently outputting the Cybertruck. Car states that some of the Cybertruck’s tech will make it into the budget model, including its 48-volt electrical architecture and drive-by-wire steering. Batteries will be the 4680 units which are used in the Model Y, and a new motor will be built without the use of rare earth metals, saving further expense.

Car doesn’t provide a timeline, which given Musk’s propensity for delays, is probably wise. We won’t be holding our breath.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Tesla to Reinvent Production Lines with Model 2 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Art Cars have been fixtures at BMW for almost 50 years, but the idea to create automotive artworks came from a man whose canvas was the racetrack, whose only painted lines were the elevens drawn as he left the pitlane.

A racing driver and auctioneer from France, Hervé Poulain dreamed of competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, his country’s most famous sports car race. In 1975, he came up with a way to bring his twin passions together on the track.

The 35-year-old Poulain approached the boss of BMW Motorsport, Jochen Neerpasch, with an idea: Instead of wearing a typical corporate livery, his car would painted with the design of a well-known contemporary artist. Neerpasch agreed. He provided the #93 “Batmobile” 3.0 CSL, and Poulain secured the services of American sculptor Alexander Calder.

Poulain did make it to Le Mans, and Calder’s bold use of contrasting colors ensured that the BMW stood out on track. Unfortunately, Poulain and his co-drivers, Jean Guichet and Sam Posey, failed to finish the 24-hour race. Nonetheless, the car was such a hit with fans that BMW has continued to commission artists to paint its cars ever since.

To date there have been 21 such commissions, officially termed by BMW as Art Cars, created by some of the world’s most renowned artists. Let’s take a view of this exhibition of acceleration.

Alexander Calder’s 3.0 CSL

Poulain started the series in 1975 when he presented Calder with a scale model of the 3.0 CSL over lunch. “OK to paint the car of Poulain and his colts, regards to everyone,” Calder wrote in lieu of any official contract.

Frank Stella’s 3.0 CSL

For the following year’s Le Mans, in 1976, Calder’s compatriot Frank Stella was entrusted with the #21 CSL. Stella’s graph paper–like design was inspired by technical drawings. “My design is like a blueprint transferred onto the bodywork,” said Stella. Driven by Brian Redman and Peter Gregg, its 750-hp motor expired just three hours into the race.

Roy Lichtenstein’s 320i Turbo

In 1977, an Art Car finally completed the grueling race in Le Mans. Poulain was again behind the wheel, along with Marcel Mignot, and their 320i Turbo came in ninth overall and first in class. The car’s artwork came from pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, who employed his trademark Ben-Day dots to fine effect in a landscape-like design.

“I wanted the lines I painted to be a depiction of the road showing the car where to go,” said Lichtenstein. “The design also shows the countryside through which the car has traveled. One could call it an enumeration of everything a car experiences—only that this car reflects all of these things before actually having been on a road.” 

Andy Warhol’s M1

The most famous of all the art cars made only one race appearance: at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 1979. Unlike preceding designers of Art Cars, who handed their designs to the BMW paint shop, which actually applied the paint to the car, Andy Warhol was determined to paint his Art Car himself.

In just 28 minutes, Warhol applied more than 13 pounds of paint. “I attempted to show speed as a visual image. When an automobile is really traveling fast, all the lines and colors are transformed into a blur,” said Warhol. The weight of Warhol’s brush strokes didn’t seem to hinder the M1, and it finished the race in sixth place.

Ernst Fuchs’ 635 CSi

Austrian artist Ernst Fuchs was the first to create a road-going Art Car for BMW. His 1982 635 CSi is called “Fire Fox on a Hare Hunt,” and features almost hot-rod-style flames licking the bodywork.

“I see a hare at night running across the autobahn and leaping over a burning car,” explained Fuchs. “A primeval fear and a bold dream of surmounting a dimension in which we live. It shows me its colors, I read them in its lines, in its contours, I hear its voice calling out emphatically and see that beautiful hare leaping through the flames of love, averting all fears.”

Robert Rauschenberg’s 635 CSi

A second 635 CSi was handed over to American Robert Rauschenberg in 1986 who used an innovative foil technique to apply photographic images to the sheetmetal and create a collage typical of his style. It remains the only BMW Art Car to have been driven on the road by the artist himself. “I think mobile museums would be a good idea. This car is the fulfillment of my dream,” said Rauschenberg.

Michael Jagamara Nelson’s M3

BMW describes its 1989 exhibit as “a dream car” because Australian artist Michael Jagamara Nelson said that he worked his dreams into the design, which reflects the culture of the Aboriginal people. “A car is a landscape as it would be seen from a plane—I have included water, the kangaroo, and the opossum,” he said. 

Ken Done’s M3 Group A

1989 was a Down Under double: Born in Sydney, Ken Done designed his M3 Touring Car to represent modern Australia. The country’s beaches and wildlife adorned the car, which won the Group A Driver’s Championship in the hands of Jim Richards before it became a museum piece. “I have painted parrots and parrot fish. Both are beautiful and move at an incredible speed. I wanted my BMW Art Car to express the same thing,” said the artist.

Matazō Kayama’s 535i

Japan’s Matazō Kayama used foil printing to transfer his river landscape–inspired design to the body of a 1990 535i. “I wanted to give the impression of snow crystals in my work,” he said of the piece.

César Manrique’s 730i

For the avante-garde design he applied to a 730i sedan, Spaniard César Manrique took inspiration from the island of Lanzarote, off the coast of West Africa, using the black of its volcanic rock, the green of its forests, and red for life as the key colors. “My idea was to design the BMW in such a way as to give the impression of it effortlessly gliding without any resistance,” offered Manrique.

A.R. Penck’s Z1

For once the unusual drop doors aren’t the most striking feature of BMW’s 1991 Z1 roadster. Germany’s A.R. Penck looked back to humanity’s earliest artwork, cave paintings, to come up with a bold black-on-red creation.

Esther Mahlangu’s 525i

1991 would be the first time that a female artist designed a BMW Art Car. South African Esther Mahlangu paid homage to the culture of her homeland in a design which, she said, evokes “how my tribe decorate their houses.”

Sandro Chia’s M3 GTR

 “All eyes are upon an automobile. People look closely at cars. This car reflects their gaze,” said Italian painter and sculptor Sandro Chia of his 1992 M3 GTR race/art car, which features a series of faces. The idea is that the observer feels observed.

David Hockney’s 850 CSi

In 1995, it was the turn of British national treasure David Hockney. BMW had been trying to get Hockney to paint a car for some time, and, eventually, the German company’s persistence paid off. Hockney elected to turn the car inside out, with his paintwork presenting the artist’s idea of what lies beneath its metallic skin. Look closely and you can see Hockney’s interpretation of the engine, the driver, and even a dog on the back seat.

Jenny Holzer’s V12 LMR

1999 marked the return of BMW-commissioned art to a race car thanks to American artist Jenny Holzer and a V12 LMR. Holzer took BMW’s traditional racing color palette of blue and white, but, where perhaps one might expect sponsors’ logos, she expressed thought-provoking statements: “Protect Me From What I Want”, “The Unattainable Is Invariably Attractive”, “Lack Of Charisma Can Be Fatal” and “Monomania Is A Prerequisite Of Success”.

The car took part in pre-qualifying for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans but didn’t start the race. A second V12 LMR was driven to victory by Joachim Winkelhock, Pierluigi Martini, and Yannick Dalmas.

Olafur Eliasson’s H2R

There was a gap of eight years before Denmark’s Olafur Eliasson was recruited by BMW to create an artwork out of the hydrogen-powered H2R racing prototype from 2007. Unlike the designers of other Art Cars, Eliasson devised a cocoon-like structure to house the car. This was then doused in water in a cold room to create “an armor of ice.”

“By bringing together art, design, social and environmental issues, I hope to contribute to a different way of thinking-feeling-experiencing cars and seeing them in relation to the time and space in which we live,” said the artist.

Jeff Koons’ M3 GT2

In 2010 the Art Car went back to its roots: American Jeff Koons’ M3 GT2 was a riot of pop art color. “These race cars are like life, they are powerful and there is a lot of energy,” said Koons. “You can participate with it, add to it, and let yourself transcend with its energy. There is a lot of power under that hood and I want to let my ideas transcend with the car—it’s really to connect with that power.” Sadly, that power didn’t lead to success at Le Mans: The drivers of the M3 GT2—Dirk Werner, Dirk Müller, and Andy Priaulx—were forced to retire the car with a fuel sensor issue after 53 laps.

Cao Fei’s M6 GT3

Chinese digital artist Cao Fei embraced augmented reality with her 2017 M6 GT3 art car. In real life all the viewer would see is a jet black race car, but when seen through an app, the car becomes the centerpiece of a vivid ‘Quantum Garden.”

“The Digital Art Mode gives the BMW driver the chance to experience the ever-changing digital landscapes of a multifaceted universe in a screen world, where abstract poetry and sensory pixels intersect. Its network of open-ended spectra are connecting our hearts to the call of goodwill from the depths of the universe,” said Fei.

John Baldessari’s M6 GTLM

California-based Baldessari describes his 2016 M6 GTLM race car as “definitely the fastest artwork I ever created!” “I entered unchartered territory, not just in terms of the subject, but moving from two- to three-dimensional art,” said Baldessari. “The ideas came all at once: for instance, the red dot on the roof, so you can see it from above, FAST on one side, and a picture of the car on the other side. I like the ambiguity, having two-dimension and three-dimension at the same time.”

Julie Mehretu’s M Hybrid V8

The 2024 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June will mark the debut of Ethiopian artist Julie Mehretu’s first Art Car, so we still have no idea what it will look like. Expect an “unconventional style of painting and drawing that confronts viewers with a visual articulation of contemporary experience, social behavior, and the psychogeography of space,” says BMW.

Esther Mahlangu’s i5 Nostokana

The latest art car is a tribute to Mahlangu’s 1991 original. This time it’s an electric i5 covered in a special E-ink film which can show electronic animations inspired by her artistic language. These animations are accompanied by a soundscape designed by BMW Creative Director Renzo Vitale, featuring Mahlangu’s voice and brush strokes. “It is fascinating to me to see how modern technology can expand my art and make it accessible to a completely new audience,” says Mahlangu.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Art in Motion: 21 Times BMW Turned a Car into a Canvas appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It won’t just be Max Verstappen in the Red Bull that leads the field in the 2024 Grand Prix season. Aston Martin is guaranteed to be ahead of the pack as its newest Vantage takes over safety car duties.

The Vantage will lead a formation lap for the first time at this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, while the DBX 707 medical car follows from the back of the grid.

It may be the most powerful Vantage ever made, but even its 665-hp V-8 won’t be enough to set the pace for a pursuing pack of F1 cars so the safety car has had a number of modifications to make it even faster. The underfloor aerodynamics are modified, there is an extended and profiled front splitter, and a new rear wing has been installed complete with a specially-tuned Gurney. The FIA lightbar has also received new aero-profiling to reduce drag.

Inside there are Pole Position Seats to secure safety car pilot Bernd Mayländer and his passenger, and there is a unique center console with switchgear to work the FIA systems, plus screens showing live lap times, the track positioning of all of the cars and a rear-view camera.

“My first impressions were very positive as I could immediately feel the improvement in handling and, of course, power,” says Mayländer. “We need a car that is fast and focused so we can respond quickly and safely when we receive the call for on-track deployment and Vantage provides that. I have enjoyed driving Vantage during the past three seasons and I’m happy to now be one of the first to drive the new Vantage and experience its full performance pedigree on the world’s greatest circuits.”

Expect a limited-run road-going replica to follow in due course.

The post It’s Safety Fast for the Aston Martin Vantage appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A Ferrari F512M owned by Scuderia driver Gerhard Berger has been discovered by police in Britain after being lost nearly three decades ago.

The scarlet Ferrari was stolen as Berger was leading the 1995 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola where, to make matters worse, he was passed on track by Damon Hill in a Williams-Renault and his Ferrari team mate Jean Alesi.

The F512M, meanwhile, raced off to Japan, police believe, where it stayed until late 2023 when it was shipped to the U.K. The cops were alerted by Ferrari, after the Maranello firm was asked by a American buyer to check the car’s provenance.

“In January this year, the Met received a report from Ferrari, who had carried out checks on a car being bought by a U.S. buyer via a U.K. broker in 2023, which revealed it was a stolen vehicle,” said London’s Metropolitan Police.

“The stolen Ferrari was missing for more than 28 years before we managed to track it down in just four days,” said Police Constable Mike Pilbeam, who led the investigation.

“Our enquiries were painstaking and included contacting authorities from around the world. We worked quickly with partners including the National Crime Agency, as well as Ferrari and international car dealerships, and this collaboration was instrumental in understanding the vehicle’s background and stopping it from leaving the country.”

Ferrari revealed that Berger’s car was one of two prancing horses heisted from Imola, but sadly there’s no sign of the second. So far there have been no arrests and “enquiries are ongoing.”

The post F1 Star’s Stolen Ferrari Found After Almost 30 Years appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Key dashboard touchscreen functions will soon be kicked into touch and physical switches will be required instead for car manufacturers to be granted the highest safety ratings.

Euro NCAP, the automotive safety industry body for Europe, is introducing new guidance for 2026 which means that five important tasks in every car will have to be performed by actual buttons instead of by accessing a screen.

Indicators, hazard warning lights, windscreen wipers, horn, and SOS features will have to be controlled by proper switches in order for cars to be granted Euro NCAP’s coveted five star safety rating.

“The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes,” explained Matthew Avery, director of strategic development at Euro NCAP.

“New Euro NCAP tests due in 2026 will encourage manufacturers to use separate, physical controls for basic functions in an intuitive manner, limiting eyes-off-road time and therefore promoting safer driving.”

Several manufacturers have already come under fire for excessively complex touch screen controls forcing drivers to access menu after menu to adjust seats, mirrors and ventilation—we’re especially looking at you Tesla and VW.

Although it won’t be mandatory to comply with Euro NCAP’s new rules car makers that don’t will lose valuable points in their safety ratings. It sounds like a sensible idea—a positive move in the battle against distracted driving—and one, that, hopefully, the NHTSA will follow.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Carmakers Must Bring Back Buttons, Says Europe appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A rare Jaguar concept car that starred in the 007 movie Spectre has been upgraded and made road-legal by its original designer.

Ian Callum led the team that styled the C-X75, and now his design and engineering consultancy CALLUM has managed to convert the star car to road use.

Jaguar’s experimental supercar was originally shown in 2010 as a collaboration with Williams Advanced Engineering and featured a wild gas-turbine hybrid powertrain. Twin turbines generated power for four electric wheel motors delivering almost 800 hp. Then, for a planned production model, Jaguar ditched the complex powertrain for a slightly more conventional hybrid system featuring a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine that was both turbo and supercharged to more than 500 hp with electric motors chipping in another 350 horses. Jaguar had planned to build 250 examples but the project was canned.

Nonetheless the C-X75 was a mean publicity machine, featuring in a spectacular car chase filmed in the Vatican City for the 2015 Bond movie. Five stunt cars were assembled by Williams, with power provided by Jag’s standard five-liter supercharged V-8, and now one of those is finally hitting the road.

On the engineering side the team at CALLUM had to make “hundreds of changes” in order for the car to be road-legal for a U.K.-based customer. Those included replacing the glass and switchgear, fitting a quieter exhaust and catalytic converters, along with associated engine calibration tuning. Even the side mirrors had to be created from scratch as the stunt cars only had dummy items. The bodywork was tweaked to improve panel fit and the car was given a fresh coat of metallic orange paint, as well as slightly more luxurious interior.

Apparently, four of the five Spectre stunt cars survived filming, so perhaps we could see more CX-75s drive another day.

The post CALLUM Gives One-Off Bond Car a License to Drive appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Totem Automobili has taken another run at the Alfa Romeo GTA and it might be just be the most seductive Italian since Sophia Loren.

With a timeless beauty combined with hypercar power the $1.3 M GTAmodificata takes Alfa’s 105-series to a whole new level.

Modelled on the 1970 and 1971 European Touring Car Championship-winning GTAm built by Autodelta, Totem’s car retains its classic look, complete with exposed rivets, although the monocoque and bodywork is actually all carbon fiber. Aluminum is used for the front and rear subframes to keep weight down to a paltry 1095 kg (2414 lbs), while the 3.2-liter twin-turbo V-6 from Italtecnica delivers 810 hp and 538 lbft of torque. For comparison, the Ferrari SF90 makes 786 hp and weighs almost 1500 lbs more.

The 90-degree V-6 features dry sump lubrication, individual throttle bodies and a 3D-printed stainless steel exhaust manifold. Back in 1971 the GTAm Touring Car produced 240 hp and that was no slouch, but with more than three times the horsepower the Totem GTAmodificata can dispatch 62 mph from a standstill in 2.6 seconds and reach a vMax of 186 mph. This prodigious power is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed sequential transmission and limited-slip differential.

With 200 horsepower more than the company’s previous GT Super and GT Electric, the GTAmodificata is also lighter, eschewing paint (for the most part) in favor of exposed carbon fiber outside and in. Even the stunning dished wheels, which evoke the classic GTA, use lightweight carbon and aluminum to save weight.

The GTAmodificato marks the end of the line for Totem’s Giulia GT-inspired cars and just five will be made.

The post This 810-hp Alfa GTAmodificata Is Magnifico appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Elon Musk has announced that the production version of the Tesla Roadster will finally be revealed before the end of 2024, with deliveries to follow in 2025.

That will be a full seven years since Musk first announced the car in November 2017, making even an elephant’s gestation period seem rapid. The Roadster itself—if and when it does arrive—will be considerably quicker, however, as Musk confirmed on X.

Tonight, we radically increased the design goals for the new Tesla Roadster.

There will never be another car like this, if you could even call it a car.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 28, 2024

“0-60 mph < 1 sec,” wrote the Musk-eteer, “And that is the least interesting part.”

The CEO explained that the design goals for the Roadster have been radically increased and claimed “There will never be another car like this, if you could even call it a car.”

Prior to this announcement Tesla had claimed the Roadster would accelerate from 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, run the quarter-mile in 8.8 and max out beyond 250 mph. It would do this with four seats and a range of 620 miles on a charge.

Musk previously cited a SpaceX option that would include “10 small rocket thrusters arranged seamlessly around car. These rocket engines dramatically improve acceleration, top speed, braking & cornering.”

If the Roadster did match up to Musk’s mutterings it would be the fastest-accelerating car ever seen, eclipsing the McMurtry Spéirling which currently holds the 0-60 mph world record at 1.4 seconds. The track-only British car uses a ground effect fan to keep it glued to the road, and special sticky Avon race tires for traction, yet the Roadster will apparently somehow best it and be road legal.

What’s more, at between $200,000 and $250,000, the Roadster will seriously undercut the $1M McMurtry. Of course the Elon has a long history of over-promising and under-delivering so this could all be more hot air. We’ll find out soon enough.

The post Tesla Roadster to Go 0-60 in Under a Second, But Is It Just More Hot Air from Musk? appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Engineers at Ford have filed a patent for a pre-combustion system that could dramatically reduce emissions and, as a result, earn a reprieve for gas-powered cars in an era of on-going electrification.

You might want to grab a coffee at this point as it’s going to get pretty technical. The idea is to take the gases captured by a positive crankcase ventilation system, or other evaporative emissions system, and cycle them into a pre-combustion chamber, instead of storing them in a carbon-filled canister, and periodically purging back into the intake, as is convention.

In traditional PCV systems the rate at which emissions are generated can sometimes exceed the purge rate and, when this happens, the gases are vented to the atmosphere, which rather defeats the object of the exercise. The Ford system makes much better use of any unburnt fuel coming through by channeling the vapors into a pre-chamber with an igniter.

“In particular, the approach may reduce an amount of time it takes to purge a carbon filled canister of fuel vapors,” reads the filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, first reported on by CarBuzz. “Additionally, the approach may improve combustion stability during purging of fuel vapors. Further, the approach may reduce evaporative emissions by increasing fuel vapor flow during conditions of hydrocarbon breakthrough of the car­bon filled canister.”

Overall the system could lead to a more efficient fuel burn, potentially increasing power as well as reducing emissions. As an added benefit the buildup of carbon deposits on valves from unburnt fuel would also be reduced, improving engine longevity.

Obviously it’s early days and the system could prove too complex and expensive to manufacture, especially when the Blue Oval is investing heavily in electrification. However, it’s still good to see that Ford hasn’t given up on the power of combustion just yet.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Ford Patents Potential ICE-Saving Technology appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Renault has stayed remarkably close to its retro-futuristic 2021 concept car with the production version of the 5.

It will be known as the Renault 5 E-Tech, and looks set to put some Va-Va-Voom back into the brand, with chunky styling, a cool interior, eager performance and a competitive price.

The squared-off silhouette dates right back to the 1972 original, while the wheel arch flares evoke the days of Group B when the mid-engined Turbo tore up tarmac stages. It’s grown in stature over the five decades but still remains compact at just 154 inches in length. 18-inch wheels are the biggest ever seen on the 5 and come in a Techno design straight off the concept car or a watch-inspired Chrono pattern. Making the 5 stand out even further from the crowd are Pop Yellow and Pop Green paint schemes, along with more conservative Arctic White, Diamond Black and Midnight Blue.

The cabin marks a return to simplicity with a stylish two-tier padded dashboard, a now-ubiquitous 10-inch digital display and cloth seats made from recycled plastics. 

Of course the most significant difference between the new 5 and its predecessors is that it’s fully electric. Renault is to offer two battery sizes of 40 kWh and 52 kWh powering electric motors of 90 kW (122 hp) or 110kW (150 hp) and giving a potential maximum range of 248 miles. Crucially Renault has managed the mass and even the bigger-battery car weighs only 3197 lbs. Acceleration is a warm hatch-like 0-62 mph in eight seconds, with top speed pegged at 93 mph. Want to go faster? Then you’ll have to wait for the Alpine A290.

DC rapid charging allows the 110kW car to pull 100kW while the 90kW version sucks electricity in at 80kW. In either case 30 minutes is all it should take to go from 15 to 80 per cent charge. 

Built on Renault’s new AmpR Small platform the 5 has a sophisticated multi-link rear suspension, and a speedy steering rack that should make it more fun to drive.

There’s a long list of connected features powered by Google, a “virtual travelling companion” called Reno and a host of driver assist features including hands-free parking.

Renault is targeting a price of less than €25,000 ($27,000) for the 5, which seems like great value compared to rivals such as the Fiat 500e and Mini Cooper Electric. European deliveries start in early 2025, and while Renault has earmarked a return to the U.S. market in the next few years it will most likely be the Alpine version, if any, that makes it Stateside—despite a warm nostalgia for Le Car.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post The New Renault 5 is a Concept Car Made Real appeared first on Hagerty Media.

McLaren giveth and McLaren taketh away. In the case of the Artura Spider the British supercar brand giveth more power and taketh away the roof. There’s also an array of additional upgrades over the original Artura for “even greater driver engagement.”

The combination of a three-liter twin-turbo V-6 and an axial flux e-motor now produces 700 hp, up by 20 horses. ICE contributes 605 hp at 7500 rpm with electrons making up the remaining 95 hp and delivering instant response and torque infill during gearshifts. The eight-speed gearbox has also been reworked to shift 25 percent faster than before thanks to a pre-fill feature that pressurizes the hydraulic fluid to what McLaren calls the “kiss point”.

With launch control activated the Artura Spider can hit 62 mph from a standstill in three seconds, 124 mph in 8.4 seconds and 186 mph in 21.6 seconds. Top speed is 205 mph. Alternatively drivers can now use the Cars and Coffee exit “Spinning Wheel Pull-Away” feature to leave elevens and a cloud of tire smoke behind. Hmm.

There’s more aural drama to accompany such antics with a new valved exhaust system complete with a tuned resonator. “This provides a ‘cleaner’ sound that envelops the occupants,” says McLaren. An optional sports exhaust is available that also channels sound into the cabin.

Updates to the cars dynamics come courtesy of revised powertrain mounts and modified valving for the Proactive Damping Control system supplied by Monroe. The speed of response offered by the dampers has been increased by 90 percent with some electronic wizardry involving the ethernet architecture and this is said to improve reaction to driver inputs and changes in the road surface.

Carbon ceramic disc brakes are standard and the ABS system has been recalibrated to significantly improve stopping distances. Tires are Pirelli P Zeros and Pirelli’s CyberTyre technology provides a stream of data that allows the driver to adjust pressure limits for maximum performance.

Now to what’s been removed. In place of the Artura coupe’ fixed roof is a carbon fiber retractable hard top, which is also available with an electrochromatic glass panel. It takes 11 seconds to raise or lower the roof at speeds of up to 31 mph. The windscreen surround is subtly redesigned to include small gurneys to reduce cabin buffeting, while the buttresses a more sculpted than the coupe’s and glazed in motorsport-inspired polycarbonate. There’s a 137-lb weight penalty, but the Artura Spider is still a comparative lightweight at 3439 lbs.

McLaren has opted for minimalism inside so the steering wheel is free of buttons, aside from the paddle shifters. Drive and handling mode switches are on the instrument binnacle which adjusts with the steering wheel. A central display takes care of other key features, such as smart phone mirroring and an array of new driver assists from road sign recognition to adaptive cruise control.

Prices start at $273,800, but with a wide range of options from titanium wheel bolts to more than 40 colors it will be very easy to add to that total, as you can discover on the configurator.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post The McLaren Artura Spider is Roofless and Ruthless appeared first on Hagerty Media.

As Huey Lewis & The News told us in 1986 It’s Hip to be a Square and now Fiat has embraced the idea with a selection of boxy show cars, all built on the same platform as the upcoming Panda.

No longer a cub-sized cutie the Panda has grown in stature—in fact Fiat even describes it as a “Mega-Panda” and that has allowed the Italians to come up with a range of different vehicles using the same underpinnings.

It’s chunky and high-riding, with box arches and that retro Eighties eight-bit look that’s right on trend. Call it the Radwood influence. Fiat says its designers took inspiration from the firm’s famous Lingotto factory in the heart of Turin to create an appearance of structural lightness, optimal use of space and a feeling of brightness. Lingotto’s rooftop test track, where cars would be driven straight off the production line which rose up through the building, even gets a nod with graphic tributes in the dashboard and seats. Recycled plastics and bamboo are used for a more sustainable interior, while the platform allows for the installation of electric, hybrid and conventional ICE powertrains.

The production version of the Panda is due to be revealed in the summer, and a new model will follow each year until 2027. Those will share its running gear and have been hinted at with four further concepts, which get progressively more quirky.

First up there’s an SUV or “Giga-Panda” which is stretched to become more family-friendly than the city car. Then there’s a Fastback, designed to be a little more sporty and offer improved efficiency through its more aerodynamic profile. Fiat has had plenty of previous success with fastback designs in Brazil and the Middle East and reckons the shape would also be popular in Europe.

Next it’s the #vanlife lovers who Fiat hopes to win over with its Camper concept. The overland adventure-ready van offers “the new dolce vita style and reconnects people to each other and nature, and pays homage to the “Fun-ctionality” of the Panda from the 80s, recalling the versatility of a car that was made for the city with the features of a SUV and the soul of a trusty companion,” says Fiat.

Last is a compact pickup that’s designed to, er, pick up, where the Strada pickup leaves off. Currently that’s the best-selling vehicle in Brazil and Fiat hopes that “Fun and practicality will spread throughout the world with this model.”

It’s not clear which of these model would join the electric 500e in the USA, but with increased size and utility of the Panda and its derivatives the Stellantis-owned brand has definitely got its eyes on the whole round—or should that be square?—world.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Fiat Thinks Outside the Box with new Panda and Camper Concepts appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Kimera Automobili wooed Lancia lovers with its tremendous tribute to the 1983 World Rally Championship-winning Group B 037 and now the Italian specialist has raised the stakes.

Battling against the all-wheel-drive Audi Quattro the rear-driven 037 was always at a disadvantage on loose surfaces—so much so that Lancia didn’t even show up for the snowy Rally Sweden. But what if the Italians had somehow shoehorned a four-wheel-drive system into the 037? That’s the question Kimera has now answered with its Evo 038.

Outwardly the 038 is very similar to its sibling, but the addition of a driven front axle with an electro-hydraulic differential gives it the traction that Walter Röhrl could only wish for. The system can be controlled from the cockpit, allowing the driver to set the front-rear torque split to suit the conditions. For dry asphalt the 038 can even revert to rear-drive.

The 038 gets a suspension upgrade with adaptive shocks that can be adjusted by switches on the steering for on-the-fly fettling to the damping and ride height. A six-speed manual transmission is fitted with shorter ratios than the 037 to make it better suited to “mixed roads rather than fast circuits,” while Kimera is also working on a sequential gearbox to turn the 038 into “a true race weapon, but one that can be unleashed on everyday roads.”

Despite the extra mass from the drivetrain the 038 still weighs just 1100 kg (2425 lbs) thanks to prodigious use of carbon fiber in its construction. There’s more power, too, with over 600 hp easily offsetting any weight gain. A larger turbo, new cams and variable valve timing all help in this 100-horsepower hike over the 037.

Fittingly Kimera is to build 38 examples, and although a price hasn’t been announced you’d better set aside over $600,000.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Kimera Goes One Better, Turns Its Evo 037 into the 038 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Storied Italian coachbuilder Zagato has taken the keenly priced French Alpine A110 sports car and turned it into a seriously spendy retromod. Oh, and it’s all thanks to a Polish supercar distributor.

The transition from A to Z comes thanks to Jakub Pietrzak at La Squadra in Katowice, Poland, who took inspiration from a heroic French failure of the 1960s. Alpine had pinned its Le Mans hopes on the A220, a truly stunning-looking racer, but the model proved to be unreliable: Only one of four cars entered completing the 1968 marathon. That lack of success prompted Alpine’s designers to, somewhat brutally, remove 12 inches of the A220’s rear bodywork, a change which resulted in a far more agile car that was suited to shorter circuits and even rally stages. However, durability issues would always plague the Alpine and it was retired after the 1969 season.

Nonetheless this story of “one car, two souls” is what motivated the collaboration between La Squadra and Zagato. The AGTZ Twin Tail clothes the highly-praised Alpine A110 in all-new bodywork which comes in both long- and short-tail forms. Put the AGTZ alongside a standard A110 and the extent of the modifications is clear—not a single panel remains the same.

The nose is elongated, and it gains a pair of deep ducts into the hood and a set of slim enclosed headlights. The AGTZ boasts a visor-like glass house, which wraps around the A-pillars into a more steeply raked rear window. The doors are newly contoured and the wide rear flanks boast angular air intakes to feed the little mid-mounted turbocharged four-cylinder motor. The rear bodywork is removable to give owners two distinct styles. In extended-tail guise the rear is dramatically sloped with twin air exits, and looks ready for a stint at La Sarthe, while the short-tail version gets an aggressively chopped rear end that makes it appear more eager to tackle a road course or mountain pass.

“We didn’t want to make a pure racing car because technology, aerodynamics and power have changed a lot since the 1960s,” says Andrea Zagato. “Instead, we wanted to capture the inspiration and design innovation of the A220 shorttail and create an authentic Gran Turismo in the true Zagato tradition. The task of coachbuilders is to provoke the car world with alternative design languages. Playing with a round or truncated tail was always in the design ethos of Zagato for its Gran Touring models. With AGTZ Twin Tail we are producing a car we believe is consistent with our heritage.”

Zagato says just 19 examples will be built, priced at €650,000 ($706,000), or ten times the price of a base A110—but you do get two cars for the price of one!

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Zagato Turns $70,000 Alpine into $700,000 Twin Tail appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A 2018 Jaguar I-Pace originally bought by King Charles III will soon be going under the gavel at Historics Auctioneers.

The top-spec EV400 HSE  reportedly arrived painted in Eiger Grey, but, at the King’s insistence, was sent back to Jaguar to be repainted in his favorite color, Loire Blue. The cabin is trimmed, appropriately, in Light Oyster Windsor leather. The sticker price, when new, was around £60,000 (roughly $84,000).

Well-known for his environmental conscience, Charles has previously converted an Aston Martin to run on bio-fuel, but the Jag was his first electric car.

It wasn’t, however, the first EV to feature in the Royal Family garage. At the turn of the 20th century, the Royals were remarkably carbon-neutral, with Queen Alexandra owning a 1901 Columbia, which was capable of achieving 40 miles on a single charge. “Her Majesty is delighted with the ease and simplicity of control and manipulation,” said The Autocar at the time.

That car is now on display at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu and is unlikely to hit the road again.

Meanwhile, the King’s EV has seen plenty of use. Charles drove it for some 3,000 miles before returning it to Jaguar in 2020, after which it was sold through Jaguar North Oxford.

The current owner, Karen French of Bampton, had no idea of its royal provenance when she bought the car and it didn’t stop her from covering an additional 30,000 miles.

“This I-Pace was exactly what I was looking for and pretty much on my doorstep,” she said. “It was only when I agreed to buy it that I discovered its extraordinary history—I was absolutely thrilled.”

She will, no doubt, be even more thrilled if the car achieves its estimate of £55,000–£70,000 ($69,400–$88,300) when it goes to auction at Ascot Racecourse, where royal fans also have the chance to bid on a 2003 Bentley Arnage R that was bought new by Princess Anne. With a presale estimate of £26,000–£32,000 ($32,800–$40,300), it’s less than half the price of the King’s Jag as well!

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post King Charles’ Royal Jaguar Is Up for Grabs appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Porsche’s Panamera portfolio is growing with the introduction of two new E-Hybrid models. The 4 E-Hybrid and 4S E-Hybrid join the previously updated entry-level, 4, and Turbo E-Hybrid versions introduced at the end of 2023.

For the Panamera 4 E-Hybrid the 2.9-liter twin-turbo V-6 engine has been fettled to deliver 300 hp, but an all-new, 45 percent bigger 25.9 kWh battery pack and a more powerful electric motor boost that to a total output of 463 hp. There’s a meaty 479 lb-ft of torque on tap as well, enabling the all-wheel-drive sedan to shoot to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds before topping out at 174 mph. Step up to the 4S E-Hybrid and you get 348 hp from ICE and an extra 188 hp from electricity, making 536 hp in all, alongside 553 lb-ft of twisting force. That cuts the car’s 0-to-60-mph sprint down to 3.5 seconds and raises top speed to 180 mph.

Ingeniously the motor is placed in the housing of the Panamera’s PDK transmission to save weight. Inside the motor itself the rotor spins within the stator which, Porsche, says reduces mass inertia by half and results in a massively improved throttle response. Other electrifying innovations include an on-board 11-kW AC charging system that can fully charge in 2.5 hours and technology to optimize the car’s powertrain depending on driver demand and even location.

In Hybrid Auto mode the Panamera’s navigation system feeds information to the drivetrain, which means, for example, that electric drive will be prioritized on city streets. For more spirited driving there are Sport and Sport Plus modes, both of which use a combination of full combustion power and all the electric oomph available until the battery capacity drops to 20 or 30 percent, respectively. An additional E-Hold mode uses the engine to charge the battery up to 80 percent at speeds above 34 mph.

All Panameras now get adaptive two-chamber air suspension with Porsche Active Suspension Management, but there’s a roll-reducing Active Ride system also offered. Further standard equipment includes Lane Change Assist with rear cross-traffic alert, soft-close doors, and 14-way electric seats. The 4 E-Hybrid rides on 19-inch alloy wheels, while the 4S Hybrid sits on 20s. The higher spec model also gains 10-piston brake calipers (which can be ordered in silver, red, black, or even acid green) with ceramic composite rotors and 21-inch alloys on the options list.

The Panamera 4 E-Hybrid is priced at $115,500 and the 4S E-Hybrid at $126,800 plus $1995 delivery. Order one now and you can expect it to arrive in the Fall.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post The Porsche Panamera Is Proliferating appeared first on Hagerty Media.

There’s a chapter in the story of the Group B homologation special 959 that Porsche would rather be not there at all. In fact the German sports car maker did everything it could to avoid it.

The 959’s awesome all-wheel-drive system proved its potential by winning the grueling Paris-Dakar rally outright and coming first in class at Le Mans in 1986. Even though the cancellation of the Group B category meant it could no longer race Porsche had committed to building around 300 examples and, across the world, Nissan was watching.

The Japanese firm was working on an all-wheel drive system of its own and a close-up look at the 959’s drivetrain would certainly speed things along. With its traditional Japanese respect for proper process and decorum Nissan initially attempted to order a car direct from the factory, but, after Porsche rejected it, Nissan took a more Ninja-like approach. The car—a 1988 959 Komfort, chassis number 022—was eventually bought by an intermediary from Belgian distributor D’Ieteren Brothers and then shipped to Yokohama for study.

Nissan never registered the car in Japan, instead disassembling it to discover its intricate inner workings. By 1987 Nissan had perfected its Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All terrains and Electronic Torque Split (ATTESA-ET-S) and installed it in the R32 GT-R. In race trim the GT-R won every All-Japan Touring Car Championship race from 1990 to 1993 and a legend was born.

With no further use for the 959, Nissan put it back together and sold it to a Nissan engineer who also refrained from registering it. Eventually the 959 found its way to the U.S.A. where, in 2019, the owner took it to specialist Bruce Canepa for a transformation under his “959 SC Reimagined” program. It took four years, 4000 hours, and $950,000 to convert the car, much of which went into upgrading the 2.8-liter twin-turbocharged flat-six engine from 444 hp to more than 800 hp. It’s now said to be capable of reaching 60 mph from a standstill in 2.5 seconds and topping out at over 230 mph.

The original shade of Oak Green paint and gunmetal gray for the 18-inch wheels were retained but the cabin was re-trimmed in tobacco brown leather with matching square-weave carpets modeled on those of the Porsche 356.

This remarkable car with an even more remarkable backstory will be for sale at Broad Arrow’s Amelia Auction on February 29 where it’s estimated to fetch up to $3.75 million.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Without This Porsche 959 There Would Be No Nissan GT-R appeared first on Hagerty Media.

When Hollywood actor Jason Momoa decided to convert his 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom II to electric power he turned to British specialists Electrogenic.

The car, which features in Momoa’s documentary show On The Roam, took more than 18 months to build in Electrogenic’s Oxfordshire workshop. Electrogenic boss Steve Drummond believes electrifying the Phantom was “probably the most complicated project [of its type] anybody in the world has ever done.”

Momoa was actively involved from the outset, defining the car’s specifications based on how he planned to use it. “Jason is particularly visual,” explains Drummond. “So he was very interested in the visuals under the bonnet, in particular, and also in keeping the car original externally and in the cabin.”

“We couldn’t just fill the space under the bonnet with batteries, because the engine is quite narrow in the bay. So we designed the batteries to maintain that sort of feel. Then in terms of the visuals, we had a talk with him, we came up with some visualizations and some 3D renders designs and renders. He chose what he preferred and then tweaked it a little bit and so he was he was very much involved.”

The ornate aluminum housing was hand-formed and riveted to become a sculptural element of the vehicle that would be worthy of proud display, unlike most EV conversions with their bland battery boxes.

However, it was the engineering rather than the aesthetics that was hardest to pull off. Removing the Phantom’s 7.7-liter pushrod straight-six engine and transmission had unusual implications thanks to the car’s ingenious “through-flow” chassis lubrication system and its brakes.

“The lubrication system and the brakes that were perhaps the biggest challenge, because once you’ve done away with the engine, you lose the drive for those features,” explains Drummond. “The way it works is it has a lot of push rods and pivot points that deal with all sorts of things including the brakes. And they are lubricated by a central system which simply sends oil down a series of pipes to the various bushings. By removing the gearbox we had to modify that system. The braking system was complex for two reasons. One is the brakes themselves, as they’re cable-operated through a series of pivots and levers which sit between the chassis rails in just the area where we wanted to put batteries. So we removed them and then fixed them elsewhere in the car which means we have all the same linkages with same ratios and so on, but just relocated.”

The next trick was how to make the setup work in conjunction with regenerative braking, which is vital to providing the Phantom’s 150-mile range. Electrogenic designed a new brake pedal with a hydraulic booster connected to the cable while the regenerative braking on the rear motor helps maintain the car’s original 40:60 front-to-rear brake bias.

The drivetrain and its control systems are similar to Electrogenic’s Land Rover Defender kits, albeit with a whopping 93 kWh of batteries installed. As you can imagine these cells aren’t exactly light, but the original engine weighed around 1650 pounds so the conversion is almost weight neutral. “It’s plus or minus a few kilograms—it’s almost nothing,” says Drummond.

Inside, the elegance of the Phantom has been maintained, but the original clocks serve new functions. The amp meter is now a power meter, and the oil temperature and water temperature gauges now show charger and motor temperatures, while the vertical sight glass which showed the fuel level has been swapped for an LED unit. Momoa also requested a high-end hifi stereo, which is discretely hidden from view.

“The challenge with the Rolls Royce was how to fit all this into such an amazing car without changing its character and in a sympathetic way.”

It appears to be a job well done, with Momoa a very happy customer. “In order to pull off this dream project, I had to find the right partner,” he says. “I needed a team that would appreciate the storied history of this car while updating its technology. Electrogenic is all about honoring vintage cars. Making them electric without losing any of the vehicle’s character. They were the perfect fit.”

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Why Jason Momoa’s Electric Rolls-Royce Was a Phantom Menace to Build appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Oshe Automotive’s newly built workshop near Silverstone is a long way from Africa, but there are reminders of the continent everywhere, from tribal masks hanging on the walls to stunning jungle-inspired fabrics, rich woods, and hand-painted trim pieces in vehicles it builds. The name itself hails from a god of thunder, and founder David Lane is causing quite a rumble in the world of restomodded vehicles.

Hailing from Johannesburg, Lane spent much of his childhood on the family’s remote game farm near the border with Botswana, where he developed a lifelong passion for Land Rovers.

“We had two Series IIAs on the farm,” he explains. “We also had a CJ2A Willys Jeep with an Essex three-liter V-6, which I learned to drive in. We still have those two Landies and use them extensively. We do a lot of game capture and there’s a little tracker seat on the front of one of them which my boy loves.”

After a successful career in management consultancy, Lane started a restoration shop called Workshop Seventy7, building all manner of vehicles for esoteric customers. In the bays when I visit is an electric-converted Fiat 500, a BMW E9 that’s said to have an M3 powertrain installed, and even an old Ford pickup.

However, Osh is Lane’s true love. “I’ve always loved design. I studied art in school and electro-mechanical engineering. So the two kind of come together. Oshe vehicles need to look distinctive, so the styling has to be a little bit different to what everybody else is doing. It’s difficult with a Land Rover, but we use the phrase “clean and fast” with fast not being an actual velocity as such, it’s just clean and smooth. I try to get rid of the unnecessary stuff.”

That translates into a body that’s less fussy than factory-spec, updated with modern LED lighting front and rear, and with the various rugged accessory mounts and holes done away with for a more elegant look.

Interiors get all-new seats, hand-trimmed to customer desires and evolved for a more modern experience. Lane has really focused on the details, from the font used on the instruments to the installation of a unique art piece on the dash, created by tribal artists from South Africa. Each car will tell a story. As an example, when Lane discovered that the donor car for his first Okovango edition was once owned by a journalist, he sourced old typewriter keys for the P, R, and D indicators of the gear selector. These are embedded in a stunning curved mahogany center console.

The Okovango, an open-topped short-wheelbase 90, is one of four versions, each named after a great African river. There’s the Limpopo four-door pickup and, both on the 110 chassis, the Zambezi and the Sabie.

So far, only the bikini-topped Okovango is complete. Powered by a 3.5-liter Rover V-8 with Holley electronic fuel injection, it produces a not-inconsiderable 212 horsepower. Lane, perhaps with an eye on the origins of the company name, has since opted to offer a more thunderous powerplant.

Future models, including the Limpopo which is in build now, will be powered by a GM LT1 6.2-liter V-8 mated to an eight-speed automatic. “It’s got 450 brake horsepower and 600 newton-meters (443 lb-ft) of torque, which is excessive to be perfectly honest,” Lane confesses. “We may go down to the 5.3, but we chose this engine as it’s just bulletproof. It’s easy to service, repair, and get parts.”

Every Oshe Land Rover starts with an all-new chassis, to which Tractive semi-active adjustable suspension and AP Racing disc brakes are added. You’ll also find luxuries like heated seats, electric sidesteps, and electric handbrake, plus an Audison and Morell audio system.

Lane reckons the production of each model will be 25 cars, building them at the rate of three or four a year. “It’s probably going to be about 25 and that’s purely down to down to time scales. We want to keep the quality control and build them uniquely.”

Despite not having delivered a single customer car yet—and setting a starting price at £225,000 ($282,000), Oshe is getting inquiries from all over the world. “We’re talking to people in the U.S. Of course we have the steering wheels on the wrong side, but we’re having conversations with a company which is well-established in Texas and another in Los Angeles.”

Listen out for the thunder—it could be coming soon.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Oshe Automotive Brings Thunder to the Land Rover Defender appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It may be hard to believe but Ettore Bugatti was not a trained engineer. In fact he studied sculpture at Milan’s Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera before finding his true passion in the art of the automobile.

Yet perhaps it was this very lack of formal training that allowed him to create a car as revolutionary as the Type 35 exactly 100 years ago. Between 1925 and 1933 it would win the Targa Florio five years in a row, and score victories in 30 Grands Prix.

How? Quite simply it was, arguably, the world’s first pure-bred racing car. As far back as 1903 Bugatti had designed a machine for De Dietrich to compete in the Paris-Madrid race with unique low-slung seating for the driver and mechanic, knowing that it would offer reduced wind resistance and a lower center of gravity. Although the event organizers refused the car’s entry Bugatti was convinced his approach was correct, further developing the concept in his lightweight Type 10 Pur Sang of 1909.

For the Type 35 Bugatti would add power to his special recipe. The 2.0-liter, supercharged eight-cylinder engine in the Type 35 featured a unique double roller-bearing and triple ball-bearing crank which allowed the engine to rev to 6000 rpm and deliver 90 hp and propel the Type 35 to almost 120 mph. In the later Type 35 B that top speed would soar beyond 130 mph with the motor now up to 2.3-liters and producing 140 horsepower. The streamlined ellipsoid bodywork was made from aluminum sheet to shave weight, while the wheels were cast alloy, reducing the unsprung mass. Such was Bugatti’s obsession with weight-saving that even the front axle was hollow. The Type 35 weighed in at just 750 kg (1653 lbs).

What’s more the Type 35 was low, enabled in part to a unique design of rear axle which dipped in the middle to curve around the chassis. The innovations didn’t stop there. The engine was a stressed load member, essentially forming part of the chassis, the gas tank was pressurized to optimize fuel flow.

As Bugatti’s in-house heritage and certification expert Luigi Galli explains, “Unlike everything that had gone before, it was not a road car modified for racing, although it also served as a very fine road car. The meticulous approach Ettore Bugatti took to the overall concept, and to every minute, detail resulted in a car that set previously inconceivable standards for design, engineering, materials handling, and performance. The Bugatti Type 35 gave birth to the Grand Prix era and forced other motor manufacturers to completely rethink their approach.”

In the century since it made its debut the Type 35 is reckoned to have notched up more than 2000 wins. Long may it continue.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post 100 Years Ago Bugatti Tore up the Rule Book with the Type 35 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Sweden’s Cyan Racing, which debuted its hardcore Volvo P1800 restomod in 2020 as a near race-ready retro rocket, has just released a softer GT edition.

The multiple World Touring Car-winning outfit created quite a stir when it took perhaps the prettiest Volvo of all time and turned it into one of the most incredible driver’s cars we’ve ever come across. “Sacrilegious to some…sensational to drive,” as Ben Barry remarked in his review. (For the full history of Cyan Racing, formerly known as Polestar, read Executive Editor Eric Weiner’s deep dive here.)

Outwardly, the new car is the same, with its subtly- revised carbon fiber bodywork smoothing off the original Ghia lines, rethinking the trademark rear fins and tweaking the glasshouse. The updates, designed to make the P1800 more useable day-to-day and better suited to longer journeys, are under the skin and in the cabin.

The double wishbone suspension is now tuned for country roads and highways instead of being focused on apex-hunting on a circuit, while new seats are designed to be more comfortable over extended drives. There’s more sound insulation and a revised roll cage which increases body rigidity.

Power still comes from a World Touring Car-derived two-liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine, with options from 350-420 horsepower. The Hollinger five-speed gearbox is retained, and despite the tweaks to add extra refinement, the car still weighs in at under 2200 lbs.

Starting with a donor car Cyan Racing takes around 15 months to build its remarkable restomod. This $500,000 Volvo won’t be for everyone, but a slightly softer version might just widen the appeal.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post New Cyan Racing P1800 Is Ready for a Grand Tour appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The next Audi S3 may still be clad in camouflage but the four-ringed firm has let loose an avalanche of information on the car’s dynamic and technology updates.

Although the power and performance of the S3 sedan and hatchback are significantly ramped up, the biggest improvements are to the way the car handles, with major upgrades to the axle, steering, brakes, and drive assists for “driving dynamics on a new level.”

The S3’s two-liter four-cylinder turbocharged motor is now boosted by 23 hp to 333 hp, with a hike in torque to 310 lbft. Driving all four wheels through a revised seven-speed S tronic transmission with more rapid shifts the S3 will accelerate from rest to 62 mph in 4.7 seconds and on to a top speed limited to 155 mph. These numbers aren’t noticeably up on the outgoing car, but there’s said to be a notable difference in the way the power is delivered. The turbocharger is preloaded, which means that at a steady speed or low levels of acceleration, the turbo spins at a constant velocity. Boot it and there’s a much more rapid response than before.

There’s a new dynamic plus driving mode, which increases engine idle speed for immediate pickup and sets the more advanced ESC system for ‘modest interventions’ to allow for some oversteer. In this mode, as much torque as possible is sent to the rear wheels, while downshifts are also more responsive.

The MacPherson strut front suspension is stiffened and has a new pivot bearing that increases negative camber to 1.5 degrees—almost double that of its predecessor. Coupled with a progressive steering system that becomes more direct the more the driver turns, the S3 is promised to tip into corners more eagerly and offer better feedback and precision. Wisely, the brakes are upgraded to feature 18-inch rotors on the front axle. A choice of 19-inch 235/35 tires will also be available.

Audi has been testing the upgrades in the heat of the Salalah desert of Oman with the car still wearing disguise, but you can expect a full reveal very soon.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Audi Reveals Huge Handling Upgrades for the S3 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A trip to the local watering hole in this restomod Range Rover by British specialist Lunaz won’t ruffle any feathers. That’s because the original 3.5-liter V-8 engine has been replaced by an emissions-free and near-silent all-electric powertrain.

Built to evoke the car featured in the 1983 Bond movie Octopussy, the one-off build is powered by a 380-horsepower electric system designed to retain the Range Rover’s off-road excellence. Fitted with upgraded adjustable dampers and new springs, the Safari special can wade through water up to 20 inches deep and tackle steep inclines, with no change to its breakover and departure angles. The brake system is upgraded to feature six- and four-piston calipers and also capture regenerative energy.

The roofless conversion required significant structural reinforcement to the body and chassis, yet retains its original look—on the outside at least. Inside, Lunaz has ditched the standard dashboard and created a 3D printed console which integrates features such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a reversing camera view into the center display. There’s a modern HVAC system and USB charging points and the new interior is clad in Mocca Walnut. New seats based on Lunaz’s upcycled Rolls-Royce and Bentleys are trimmed in a special waterproof textile based on the wax jackets posh people wear when they’re out shooting or fishing. Apparently the development of the interior took more than 1000 hours to develop and build.

Although we said the conversion won’t upset the wildlife, the same probably isn’t true of the traditional car community. First it’s over to Lunaz to justify its electrifying ethos, and then we’d love to hear your views in the comments.

“Lunaz sees elevating classic cars as a positive, life-affirming vision of a clean-air future. In it, sustainability does not involve joyless compromises, or repudiating these beautiful, historically significant machines, which themselves represented the apex of automotive technology in their own age. Rather, the Lunaz elevation process improves them in every conceivable way, making them as clean, sustainable and usable as the new generation of electric vehicles while retaining all their innate character, romance and magic. ”

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post 007-Inspired Range Rover Safari Won’t Scare the Wildlife appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A new Aston Martin Vantage is set to make its mark on the street and on the track in 2024—and it will be the fastest, most powerful ever made.

Replacing the car launched in 2019, this is no minor facelift but a thorough re-engineering exercise, with all efforts going into ensuring that the Vantage performs like no other in the marque’s history.

“Any car bearing the Vantage name has much to live up to, which is why this newest model makes an unwavering commitment to high performance in its purest and most explicit form,” says Aston Martin’s chief executive officer, Amedeo Felisa.

Stylistically it’s a game-changer, says Aston Martin. “We took some inspiration from the One-77 supercar, but we wanted Vantage to express its intent and potency more explicitly,” explains chief creative officer Marek Reichman. “One look and you know it packs a real punch, but there’s an elegance of form and proportion that hints at the sophistication that underpins its raw power.”

Most notable is the car’s width—up 30 mm (1.2 inches)—and its even more massive grille. There are additional air intakes in the bumper, an integrated front splitter, along with new matrix LED lights. In profile you’ll note the return of side strakes for a touch of retro cool (and cooling), and those 21-inch forged alloy wheels which fill the extended wheel arches. You may also spot the frameless mirrors and flush door handles. Move to the rear and a wider rear bumper incorporates more vents, exits for the four tailpipes, and a diffuser.

The cabin is suitably sumptuous but driver-focused, its design familiar from the DB12. Bridge of Weir leather is the main material, cladding the sports seats dash, center console, and doors. Alongside a reinvigorated infotainment system running on a 10.25-inch screen, you’ll be pleased to know there are also physical buttons for key controls. Audiophiles will go weak for the 1170W, 15-speaker Bowers & Wilkins surround sound system.

However, it’s the car’s speed and dynamic performance that have been designed to really give the Vantage an advantage over the opposition. Under the hood is a seriously evolved version of AMG’s hand-built 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8. Now offering a peak of 665 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque, it has gained 30 percent power and 15 percent more twisting force.

Drive goes through an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission and there’s adjustable traction control, launch control, an E-diff, and ESP (Electronic Stability Programme) to keep it all on the straight and narrow. Punch it and you’ll see 60 mph from a standstill in 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 202 mph.

All those electronics play a huge part in managing the brutish power of the Vantage, but Aston Martin says that the goal is not to take control away from the driver.

“The art of creating a truly great sports car in 2024 is applying cutting-edge technology in a way that enhances and intensifies the driving experience yet does nothing to remove the driver from the process of driving,” adds Roberto Fedeli, Aston Martin chief technical officer.

Starting with an ideal 50:50 weight distribution certainly won’t hurt the handling, while the bonded aluminum platform and new body structure provide improved rigidity. Double wishbone suspension features at every corner, with intelligent adaptive dampers that are said to offer a 500 percent increase in bandwidth of force for an unprecedented level of control. The electronic power steering system has been designed with “obsessive attention” and features a fixed ratio with 2.27 turns lock-to-lock and variable assistance, which reduces according to the drive mode selected.

Braking is by cast iron discs at 400 mm (15.75 inches) up front and 300 mm (11.81 inches) at the rear. Carbon-ceramic brakes are an option and save almost 60 pounds in weight.

Now to that cutting-edge tech Fedeli mentioned. The Vantage’s Active Vehicle Dynamics system employs a host of sensors, including a six-axis accelerometer, to calculate exactly how the car is behaving and adjust the ESP, E-diff, powertrain, and brakes accordingly. The adjustable traction control has eight settings with levels six to eight allowing increasing slip angles and ever-more armfuls of controlled oversteer. The system can also be fully turned off.

If you’re really serious about tracking your Vantage you’ll want to opt for the GT3 race car. Built to comply with all FIA GT3 regs it’s eligible to race in the FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge, European Le Mans Series, and the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie.

The new race car has been developed in collaboration with Aston Martin Performance Technologies and has been designed to make the car more drivable for both professional and amateur racers.

“The focus on the new Vantage GT3 was to increase their performance window and make something that would work at any circuit, on any tire and with any driver,” says head of performance Gustavo Beteli. “These new generation GT3 cars are more dependent than ever on aerodynamic downforce, so we wanted to make the car more stable under braking. The old car would dive a lot under braking, so we had to try and control the pitch with the rear suspension set-up. But this meant it was stiff, which made it quite snappy and also over-worked the tires.

“Working heavily on damper tuning, we have found a much better balance with the new car so we can generate the downforce without compromising the suspension set-up. The feedback from drivers who’ve tested it has been overwhelmingly positive. Especially the amateur racers, who have been able to achieve lap times that are much closer to the pros. Now we need to go racing!”

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Advantage Aston: Road- and Race-Ready Vantage Is Coming. Fast. appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It’s already gone faster than a Tesla on the Nürburging, and the new Porsche Taycan looks set to go farther than its main rival as well.

With a range of up to 421 miles (by Europe’s WLTP calculations) it’s capable of travelling almost 50 miles beyond the Tesla Model S Plaid on a full charge. That represents a massive 35 percent increase over the previous model, while its charging speed has also been ramped up to make pit stops for precious electrons even more rapid. Now capable of charging at up to 320 kW (an increase of 50 kW) Porsche claims that in ideal conditions this could cut the time it takes to charge from ten to 80 percent in half to just 18 minutes. Energy recovery under braking has been improved by more than 30 percent as well.

With the top-of-the-range Performance Battery Plus installed the Taycan has a total capacity of 105 kWh for a real-world range of 365 miles, says Porsche (those WLTP figures are always optimistic). Across the line-up performance has been significantly increased, with the entry-level Taycan getting an extra 82 hp, and the Turbo S adding an additional 190 hp (for a total of a whopping 952 hp). A new push-to-pass feature which comes as part of the Sport Chrono package can deliver an extra 95-hp kick for ten seconds at the press of a switch. The Taycan now accelerates to 62 mph from rest in 4.8 seconds, while the Turbo S delivers a whiplash-inducing time of just 2.4 seconds.

All Taycans will now come with adaptive air suspension and active ride can be specified for all-wheel drive versions. Porsche has managed to reduce weight by more than 30 pounds despite adding more features including charging points on both sides of the car. There are styling tweaks to the front and rear with revised wings and new HD matrix headlights, while the rear light bar now incorporates the Porsche logo in three dimensions. Inside there are updates to the operating system, instrumentation and switchgear. The improvements come to the Taycan sedan and the Sport Turismo and Cross Turismo wagons.

Porsche has sold 150,000 Taycans since it launched at the end of 2019, challenging Tesla’s dominance as the performance EV leader. With this latest update, on sale in the spring, it would appear to leave the American adversary in the dust.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post New Porsche Taycan Goes Farther and Faster appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A prototype Lotus Esprit fitted with revolutionary Formula 1 active suspension remains for sale in the U.K. after failing to find a buyer at auction.

Prospective owners may well have been daunted by the car’s complexity, coupled with the company’s unenviable “Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious” reputation for reliability. However, one brave soul will end up with a truly unique piece of Lotus history.

The car was originally built as a pre-production Essex Turbo in 1980 and was loaned out to DeLorean—the DMC-12‘s chassis was based closely on the Esprit’s. After being returned to the factory it was handed over to Lotus Engineering and an experimental active suspension system was installed and tested in the Esprit prior to making its Formula debut in 1983 on the Type 92.

According to a report by Top Gear back in the day by John Miles, “To drive it feels very like a normally sprung car except that it doesn’t roll in cornering or pitch when braking or accelerating.”

After serving its purpose as a testbed the car was apparently left behind a hangar at the Lotus factory and destined to be crushed. One former worker couldn’t bear the idea of the car being destroyed and hid it. Fortunately, Lotus bosses eventually saw the error of their ways and had the car tidied up and preserved. The current keeper bought it from Lotus in 2016 and has since spent more than £60,000 ($75,000) on rebuilding the engine, gearbox, electrics and brakes. It runs and drives, although the active suspension no longer works, while the jet black bodywork and red leather interior are described as “mostly original.”

Having covered just 6492 miles in 40 years the car was anticipated to sell at Anglia Car Auctions for £60,000-£90,000 ($75,000-$113,500) but nobody was bold enough to bid sufficiently high to make the seller part with it and it remains available.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post The Only Active Suspension Lotus Esprit Ever Made Is up for Grabs appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A new Lotus sports car, codenamed Type 135, is confirmed for production in 2027 to become the fifth car in an all-electric line-up.

When the Emira ends its run the Type 135 will take its place as the brand’s accessible sportster and be sold alongside the Evija Hypercar, Eletre Hyper SUV, Emeya Hyper GT and a more compact Type 134 SUV. Unlike its more mainstream stablemates, which are built in China, the Type 135 will be assembled at the Chapman Production Centre in Norfolk, U.K where the Evija is also produced.

While the SUVs and sedans will make up the vast majority of Lotus sales, the Type 135 will play a vital role in the company’s future. “We need the bullseye of the brand, which has to be that two-seat sports car,” Lotus Chief Commercial Officer Mike Johnstone told Autocar. “Otherwise we’re just a brand with a Lotus badge. The sports car is an essential part of our future.”

So what do we know about the upcoming two-seater? It will be designed and built in Britain on a unique platform known as Project LEVA (Lightweight Electric Vehicle Architecture), with its batteries mounted amidships for better weight distribution. Both rear-drive and all-wheel-drive will be available and advanced aerodynamics will be a key component. Lotus has set ambitious targets for range and price. A 66.4 kWh battery pack would allow for 300 miles on a charge, while the top-spec 99.6 kWh pack would extend that to 450 miles. The entry-level model will sell for around $95,000 which is on a par with the current Emira.

As to what the car will look like, there’s a strong chance Lotus could be inspired by its past for this future sports car. At the launch of the Emeya Chief Creative Officer Ben Payne told Hagerty that the classic Giugiaro wedge is already major influence on the design team. “We had an Esprit in the studio and everyone was drooling over it,” he said. “Designers love that Esprit definition, the join line—it’s super iconic.”

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Could an Electric Esprit Replace the Lotus Emira in 2027? appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Ordinarily what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but somehow a custom Cadillac commissioned by Dean Martin has ended up in Australia where it’s now for sale for less than the price of a used Prius.

The 1969 Eldorado Custom Sport Wagon was built by George Barris for Martin, who was well-known for having a soft spot for big Caddies. He was a particular fan of wagons, having also ordered a rare Castilian Fleetwood Estate in 1976.

Before that, however, was this Eldorado. According to the book Barris: Kustoms of the 1960s the legendary car customizer originally pitched the idea of a Cadillac station wagon to Dean Martin in 1970, calling it “Casa de Eldorado”.

Eldorados of this era were powered by a 472 cubic-inch (7.7-liter) V-8, sending 375 hp through a slushbox with an immensely long 3.07:1 final drive. This was no sports wagon, designed instead for cruising long desert highways between Rat Pack hangouts in Las Vegas, Hollywood and Palm Springs.

Classic Barris touches include wood-style vinyl coachlines and a pair of somewhat ungainly faux wheel humps atop the front fenders. These look so badly applied that they could easily be removed, however. That’s not the only work that the next owner may wish to undertake. Now described as being in “barn find condition” the vinyl is peeling, there are rust spots, loose wiring and an interior that may have been lived in by an altogether different rat pack.

The car will go under the hammer at Donington Auctions in Melbourne, Australia on February 25.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post This Rat Pack Cadillac Is up for Sale Down Under appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Confirming reports from late last year, BMW is fitting the 2025 Z4 M40i with a row-your-own gears option. The six-speed manual and six-cylinder powerplant combination are aimed at fans of “exhilarating driving pleasure,” says BMW.

The so-called “Handschalter” (German for “hand shift”)  version of the Z4 M40i delivers 382 hp from its 3.0-liter twin-scroll turbo motor and drives the rear wheels via a stick-shift transmission that BMW says it developed specifically for the roadster. (Though we suspect it can’t be all that different from that in the manual-transmission Toyota GR Supra 3.0, with which the Z4 shares its platform and engine.) BMW says the modular transmission uses M-specific components for the gear set and shafts, along with a custom-made shift lever and linkage. The automaker promises a “mechanical feel for which BMW manuals have been praised.”

The added engagement has a small cost, however. The six-speed manual Z4 takes 4.2 seconds to accelerate to 60 mph—a whole three-tenths of a second slower than the eight-speed auto. A pittance, for a third pedal, we say.

The Z4’s electronically controlled active dampers have a software update the Handschalter Z4, along with new springs front and rear. More special programming has gone into the variable sport steering system, the traction control, and M Sport differential. New light alloy wheels are fitted, with a staggered set-up: 19 inches in width at the front and 20 inches at the rear, and M Sport brakes come as standard. Exterior tweaks include a Shadowline trim as standard with gloss black mirror caps, unique badging, red brake calipers, and redesigned flaps around the rear arches for improved airflow. The manual version will be the only to offer San Remo Green metallic paint (a no-cost option), while BMW Individual’s Frozen Deep Green, also Handschalter-exclusive, will be available “at a special package price.”

The 2025 Z4 will be available from March 2024, with the Handschalter package adding $3500 to the cost of the M40i model ($67,295 for the 2024 Z4).

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Revealed: 2025 BMW Z4 “Handschalter” Enshrines a Third Pedal appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Under Britain’s Red Flag Act of 1865, the burgeoning motor carriage was restricted to just two miles per hour in towns and four miles per hour on country roads. What’s more, it was required that every vehicle always had three people with it: one to drive, one to ride shotgun, and a third to walk in front carrying a red flag.

For 30 years, until the act was repealed, this was how car safety was enforced. But if you think that idea was daft, just wait until you see what else automotive inventors came up with.

The Safety Scoop

In 1939, two boffins in Sheffield, U.K. devised the Safety Scoop. Fitted to, or replacing, a car’s front bumper, the spring-loaded device would deploy a large fabric catcher to scoop up any pedestrians who weren’t paying attention.

“When the scoop is open a jaywalker simply can’t get run over—and sometimes that’s more than he deserves,” reported British Pathé. This wasn’t even the first time such a concept had been tried—with a similar setup demonstrated in Germany in 1927. Unsurprisingly, neither version took off.

The Overtaking Aid

Passing a slower-moving car on a single-lane road has always been a potentially risky business. Is the road ahead clear and straight enough? Has the driver ahead noticed you? Is he or she about to turn off or stop? In 1936, in a bid to make overtaking safer, a British inventor came up with a roof-mounted sign so that the driver could indicate to the car behind whether it was safe to pass. However, the idea of taking said responsibility away from the overtaking driver was bonkers, not to mention it simultaneously gave the slower driver authority. Seems to be the perfect road rage recipe.

The Crab Car

Designed to diminish the danger of parking scrapes, the 1938 Crab Car, demonstrated in London, deployed a set of mounted trolley wheels so that the car could be driven sideways into a parking space. Apparently the idea was considered by Britain’s War Office, although perhaps the actual war got in the way of it being adopted. Today, the concept is back with tank-turning EVs such as the Hummer and Hyundai’s amazing axle-articulation. So maybe it was just ahead of its time.

The Tire Trolley

No time to fix a pesky puncture? Then a tire trolley shown in London in 1960 might just be the answer. The device, like the go-jacks used to move cars around shows or workshops, slid under the wheel and tire, allowing the driver to proceed. With what are, essentially, grocery cart casters now replacing one corner of your car, it must have been quite a handful at anything above a walking pace.

The Twin Tire

On the subject of tires, there have been many attempts to reinvent the rubber around things. Truck drivers have long been used to driving dualies with two pairs of wheels and tires on a rear axle, but in the 1980s, Porsche factory racing driver Jaroslav “Jerry” Juhan came up with the concept of having twin tires on a single wheel. The idea was that, in the rain, the channel between the two, narrower, tires would clear water better, while in the dry the contact patch wouldn’t be compromised. JJD Twin Tyres (sic) was the result, and Juhan even managed to get several wheel manufacturers—including ATS, Crimson, and Speedline—to sell compatible wheels, while the tires were available from Avon and Toyo. Despite its benefits, the additional cost and weight of the Twin Tyre setup meant it never made it to the mainstream.

The Joystick Car

If you think Tesla’s yoke is a joke, then what would you make of Saab’s attempt to do away with a steering wheel completely? In the early 1990s, the Swedish firm developed a version of its 9000 with a joystick mounted in the center console. Why? To remove the risk of the driver hitting the steering wheel in an accident. While sound in principle, the problem was that the setup was ridiculously difficult to drive. The stick operation was simple: twist left to go left and right to go right; but with 180 degrees of total movement, steering was super twitchy. The idea was abandoned. On the plus side, some other features of Saab’s “Prometheus” project, such as adaptive cruise control and infra red cameras, would become widely adopted safety features.

Procon Ten

Audi’s Procon Ten system was undoubtedly ingenious, but the arrival of airbags rapidly rendered it obsolete. Procon Ten, released in 1986, used a network of steel cables running around the rear of the engine and connected to the steering column and seat belt mounts. In the event of a frontal collision, as the engine was shunted backwards, the cables pulled the steering wheel away from the driver while the seatbelts were simultaneously tightened. Fitted to the Audi 100/200 and 80/90, it was axed by the time the A4, A8, and A6 arrived to replace them.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post The “Pedestrian Scoop” and 6 Other Crazy Car Safety Ideas appeared first on Hagerty Media.

BMW’s M4 Coupe and Convertible enter the 2025 model year with a power hike for all-wheel drive models and a catalog of additional custom parts to choose from.

Three states of tune remain for the M4’s venerable S58 six cylinder. The entry-level M4 continues to offer 473 hp, from its twin-turbo, three-liter straight-six motor. That’s still available with a six-speed manual transmission, sending power to the rear wheels to appease the purists. Step up to the M4 Competition and you’ll find the same 503 hp and gear selection taken care of by an eight-speed M Steptronic auto box. Those selecting all-wheel drive via the M4 Competition xDrive now get 523 hp on tap.

Despite the increase in oomph BMW is quoting the same acceleration figures as before, which means it will take 3.4 seconds for you to reach 60 mph from rest in the xDrive coupe, or 3.6 seconds in the heavier convertible. BMW restricts top speed to 155 mph, but an optional M Driver’s Package can extend that to 180 mph for the coupe and 174 mph in the convertible.

There’s a subtle facelift too, with revisions to the LED headlights to include laser technology. The rear lights are modeled on those of the limited run M4 CS and there are new graphics packs available for the hood and trunk lid, along with restyled alloy wheels.

Meanwhile, the cabin has had a minor do-over with a reduction in the number of physical buttons (just as other brands say they’ll be bringing them back), a redesigned instrument panel and an upgrade to the car’s operating system. There’s also revised ambient lighting which can be tailored to the driver’s taste.

Production begins in March and prices start at $79,100 for the M4 Coupe, rising to $95,300 for the M4 Competition xDrive Convertible, plus a $995 destination and handling charge.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post More Power and More Options for 2025 BMW M4 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The Jaguar XJ13 is the big cat that never roared. It was conceived to contest the Le Mans 24 Hours of 1966, but despite one prototype being built, the XJ13 was not given the opportunity to compete and the project was shelved.

For Jaguar enthusiasts it is the ultimate dream car and now, thanks to British specialist dealer J.D. Classics, the XJ13 is back. The faithful replica is known as The True Spirit of XJ13 and is said to have taken 45 years to be perfected.

The car began as a replica from Bryan Wingfield, who is best known for his Ford GT40 recreations. It spent some years in the Walter Hill Collection and was even displayed by Jaguar North America, before its journey to the U.K. and a second life with J.D. Classics.

A genuine 1966 Jaguar prototype V-12 engine—one of only six built—was sourced to power the car. The five-liter unit, designed by William Heynes and Claude Bailey features twin camshafts per bank and produces 500 hp. The Malcolm Sayer-sculpted bodywork was recreated by 3D scanning the only factory car and then an “egg crate” buck was produced so that the aluminum body panels could be accurately hand-formed. The wheels and front suspension (which came from the E-Type) are identical to the original car, but at the rear J.D. Classics saw the opportunity to make some improvements.

Engineer Derrick White designed the XJ13 to feature an advanced independent rear suspension system, but it proved too costly. For this no-expense-spared recreation a Ford GT-derived monocoque chassis is employed, along with an independent rear end.

The True Spirit of XJ13 was revealed at Retromobile in Paris, while a book documenting the car’s history is coming soon.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Jaguar XJ13 Recreation Revealed appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Aston Martin fans will be able to declare their love for an all-new Vantage just ahead of Valentine’s Day and it will be “the fastest and most exhilarating” in its history.

The Vantage name first appeared on the DB2 in 1950, providing a healthy 20-hp upgrade to its 2.6-liter Lagonda-designed straight-six engine. Now with 125 horses the DB2 Vantage could top 120 mph. “Whether one would go shopping, to the theatre, on a long-distance tour, or even race at Le Mans, one could have no more perfect companion than the Aston Martin,” wrote John Bolster in Autosport.

Some 74 years after the DB2 Vantage made its debut Aston Martin will reveal its new two-seater sports car, alongside its 2024 Formula 1 challenger, and a GT3 racer. It is “a sports car engineered for real drivers; for those that crave driving purity and revel at the limit. Class leading—but this isn’t just a numbers game. This is an authentic, unadulterated celebration of pure performance,” says Aston Martin.

The Vantage will need to raise its game to outgun the new DB12—a car Aston Martin describes as a Super Tourer, thanks, in no small part to its 671-hp twin-turbo V-8 from AMG. The Vantage will, no doubt, share this motor, but in a more compact, lighter package it should outperform and outhandle its sibling.

The teaser image above doesn’t give much away, but those rear haunches certainly look pretty wide and aggressive. That’s in keeping with the way the car will drive. It is a “complete hooligan”, chief creative officer Marek Reichman told Autocar. This will differentiate it from the DB12 and even the DBX 707 which offers the straight-line speed that, just a few years ago, would have been unimaginable for an SUV.

2024 is set to be a busy year for the British brand. In addition to launching the Vantage and its Volante roadster variant, the DB12 Volante, a replacement for the V-12 DBS, the Valhalla supercar, and an updated DBX will all appear.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Save the Date: The New Aston Martin Vantage Arrives February 12 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

For the first time in history the most popular new car across the planet is electric. Tesla sold more than 1.2 million Model Ys in 2023 to put it ahead of Toyota’s RAV4 which had sales of 1.07 million and Corolla which found 1.01 million buyers.

Topping the charts in Europe and China enabled the Model Y to lead the field in total world sales, despite it sitting in only fifth place in the United States, behind the RAV4, Dodge Ram, Chevrolet Silverado and Ford F-Series.

Overall, more than 456,000 Model Ys were sold in China, representing a 45% increase on 2022, more than 255,000 Model Ys found homes in Europe, and almost 386,000 hit the road in the U.S.A. As a result the Model Y counted for two-thirds of all Teslas sold globally.

Much of the success can be attributed to an extremely aggressive pricing strategy which saw Tesla slashing the cost of a Model Y by as much as $10,000 to undercut rivals. “The price cuts over the course of the year, combined with Tesla’s reputation as a reliable and competitive EV manufacturer, helped to fuel already high demand,” explained JATO Dynamics analyst, Felipe Munoz who crunched the numbers. “As a result, Tesla is front of mind for many consumers looking to purchase an EV.”

Tesla had to increase production at its plant in Berlin—which only makes the Model Y—to 375,000 units, while in Shanghai, China almost one million Model Ys and Model 3s were built.

“Today the best-selling vehicle on the planet is an EV,” Tesla reported during its fourth-quarter earnings call. For those who still believe the world is not ready for the switch to electric cars these numbers paint a rather different picture.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post World’s Best-Selling Car Is the Tesla Model Y appeared first on Hagerty Media.

If you can’t quite stretch to a new Porsche 911 Dakar then a 996 conversion by Denmark’s Kalmar Automotive looks like a reasonably-priced, rugged alternative way to go off-road in an Elfer.

The company’s RS-6 is said to be “equipped for whatever lies ahead, to remain a very capable sports car, equally at home on the ice as it is traversing tricky mountain passes and arid deserts, or negotiating fast, sweeping road routes.”

Using any 996 Carrera 2, Carrera 4 or Turbo as a starting point Kalmar completely upgrades the car’s suspension with a system of inverted front shocks, and an 80mm (3.15 inch) lift for a total ground clearance of 210mm or 8.27 inches, which is the same as Porsche Cayenne. These custom adjustable shock absorbers come with new springs, plus there’s a roll-center adjusting subframe kit, new top mounts, bushes, upgraded drive shafts and a strut brace. Lightweight, narrow 6×16-inch alloy wheels are installed with all-terrain or World Rally Championship-style spiked Michelin winter tires. Adaptive shock absorbers are also available, along with a hydraulic lift kit.

Adding to the adventurous appearance is a rear-mounted survival kit that holds jerry cans and spare wheel carrier and plus a high output auxiliary LED light bar. There’s chunky underbody protection, with extra shielding for the car’s cooling system and a stiffened cross towbar. The interior is stripped back to save weight and fitted with a roll cage and Recaro bucket seats. A host of extra upgrades from engine tuning (up to 500 hp) to a fly-off handbrake and competition specification gear are available so that Kalmar customers can customize their car to their wants and needs.

The RS-6 has reportedly undergone a year of testing in temperature as low as -31 degrees to prove its durability. Prices start at €45,000 ($49,000) but you’ll need to provide your own 996.

“The RS-6 is designed and built to challenge your perception of where a 911 can take you. Thanks to the higher 996 production volumes, donor cars are readily available at a lower cost. Now, we can open up the thrill and fun of adventure driving in a Porsche to a new audience,” says founder and owner Jan Kalmar.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post New Kit Gets Porsche 996 Set for a Snow Safari appeared first on Hagerty Media.

An Emmy-nominated special effects creator is developing an augmented reality app that would would make watching motorsports much more immersive.

John LePore, who describes himself as a “Futurist and Creative Leader” has previously worked on more than 25 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and now wants to use his expertise to bring three dimensional racing into your living room.

LePore is working on an app for the Apple Vision Pro headset that would allow its user to see an overview of an entire race circuit seemingly projected on a flat surface, such as a coffee table. This unique perspective, which he describes as a “spatial broadcast” would “give me a God’s eye view of the entire circuit right on my coffee table,” he explains. “There’s something so appealing about an architectural model but alive and in perfect sync with the reality of unfolding thouands of miles away. I can glance back and forth between the broadcast and this miniature slice of reality, see every drivers’ precise position, compare racing lines and most of all, understand the geography of the track—something that’s almost impossible to convey on TV.”

Apple Vision Pro
+ Formula 1
= Killer App (?)

a story about:
-design & innovation
-racing royalty
-property theft
and more! pic.twitter.com/6MbLKEDqOB

— John LePore (@JohnnyMotion) January 22, 2024

LePore actually submitted his idea to Formula 1 in 2018, and won second prize in a tech competition, but has since developed the concept further, and believes that Apple and F1’s technology would be perfect partners. “Formula One has hyper accurate telemetry. I think we’re now in the right era for this idea. I truly believe F1 is perfectly poised to set a new standard and usher in an era of volumetric sports and beyond in these new horizons. You can create experiences that are grounded and natural, but also magical. Maybe you could even go full Tony Stark with it?”

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Hollywood SFX Creator Wants to Bring Tony Stark Tech to F1 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A 1960 Bentley S2 Continental that was once owned by British comedy legend Peter Sellers will be auctioned in March.

Sellers was the Continental’s second keeper and ran it from November 1961 to July 1966, ensuring it was regularly maintained by Jack Barclay in London. In addition to keeping the Bentley in perfect running order the dealer was commissioned by the comedian to reprofile the front wings and add two additional headlights. Sellers also had a smoked glass rear-view mirror fitted with a longer arm that allowed the sun visor to move without restriction.

“Sellers was a man who changed his cars so often, his fellow star of The Goon Show, Spike Milligan, referred to them as ‘metal underwear’, so to have retained this Bentley for so long, shows how much he cherished it,” says Damian Jones, senior motorcar specialist, at auctioneers H&H Classics.

Sellers’ Bentley is one of only 60 right-hand-drive S2 Continentals that were elegantly dressed in Drophead Coupe bodywork by coachbuilders Park Ward. In its day it was one of the most expensive cars in the world costing £8,246 2s 6d—an equivalent of almost £160,000 ($204,000) in 2024. You could have bought a Ferrari 250 GT and still had enough change for a Jaguar Mk2 3.8 for the same outlay.

The Pink Panther star’s car is estimated to fetch £120,00-£150,000 ($153,00-$191,000) when it goes to auction on March 13 at H&H Classics’ Imperial War Museum sale. It comes fresh from one of the world’s biggest collections of Continentals and is sold with an extensive history file which includes invoices showing the car being delivered to the set of the 1963 Ealing Comedy The Wrong Arm of the Law. Assorted Sellers memorabilia is also part of the package.

The Continental is unrestored and in need of recommissioning, and/or restoration, so it could be something of A Shot In The Dark with plenty more to spend on top of the final sales price.

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.

The post Is this Ex-Peter Sellers Bentley Worth a Shot in the Dark? appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Could this be the most expensive and opportunistic flip ever? A Bugatti buyer is selling one of 99 W16 Mistral roadsters before it has even been built.

The build slot for the car is being offered for a mighty €8,539,000 ($9.3 million)—getting on for twice the $5.5 million original asking price. Listed on German website Mobile by House of Supercars the car should be completed some time during 2024. It’s not clear whether the Mistral’s specification has already been set or whether the person who pays the inflated price will be able to further customize the car.

The Mistral marks the end of Bugatti’s wonderful W-16 engine which made its debut in the Veyron. In the Mistral it’s in the same level of tune as the world-record-breaking Chiron Super Sport 300+ with 1600 horsepower from the eight-liter, quad-turbo motor. With its cabin open to the elements the Mistral won’t be able to match the 304.773 mph achieved by the Chiron Super Sport 300+, but still has its sights set on being the fastest roadster in the world. A top speed of 260 mph is potentially on the cards, says Bugatti.

The Mistral’s design is inspired by Bugattis of old and marks a key turning point in the company’s history. “W16 Mistral is a legacy of Bugatti roadsters, each of them incomparable in design, performance and rarity, which stretches right back to the genesis of Bugatti,” says Mate Rimac, Bugatti Rimac CEO. “The Type 40, Type 41 Royale, Type 55 Roadster, Type 57 Roadster Grand Raid that inspired this car, or even the incredible elegance of the Type 57SC Corsica Roadster – Bugatti has always been associated with the purity of open top driving. So even though the legacy of the roadgoing W16 ends with the W16 Mistral, we continue the legacy of the roadster, first established by Ettore Bugatti more than a century ago.”

The W16 Mistral will be the last of its kind as the next hypercar from Molsheim is set to be V-8 hybrid, making full use of the electrification expertise brought by its new CEO. All 99 examples sold immediately, but will anyone be willing to pay almost double to join the exclusive club of owners of the final Bugatti W16?

The post Speculator Seeks to Double Their Money on Rare Bugatti W16 Mistral appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Trac Mon, on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales will no longer allow electric and hybrid cars to be used on track days, unless organizers are able to provide appropriately-trained marshals and suitable safety equipment.

Although the circuit prides itself on being as eco-friendly as possible, with a wind turbine taking advantage of the track’s breezy coastal location, it has decided that risk of electric vehicles running at speed is too great.

“As a circuit we don’t have the equipment and training in place yet to have EVs on a track day,” General Manager Annette Freeman told Hagerty. The circuit will therefore not allow electric and hybrid cars  “until we can safeguard both the participants and the marshals.”

Statistics gathered from road use suggest that the risk of fire in electric vehicles is significantly lower than gas-powered vehicles, but once lithium batteries do ignite they require specialist training and a huge volume of water to extinguish. “We can’t just push a car into the sea (as some internet commentators have suggested),” said Freeman. “Track day insurance might cover the cost of a barrier repair, but not replacing a section of the track which has been fire damaged.”

The decision doesn’t impact the circuit’s ability to host testing sessions for car makers and race teams who come with their own safety teams. “We haven’t completely banned electric vehicles, we are very happy to continue our relationships with manufacturers and factory teams,” added Freeman.

Trac Mon, which is easily Britain’s most picturesque circuit, is independently-run, so the cost of training and equipping for EV eventualities will be a key component of this decision. Looking to the future, when more enthusiast vehicles such as the next generation Porsche Boxster/Cayman go electric, the circuit will have to adapt, but until then the move could well set a precedent for other small circuits.

The post U.K. Circuit Bans EVs and Hybrids from Track Days appeared first on Hagerty Media.