Lambos were expensive this week. A 2003 Murciélago sold for $508,500, 67 percent over its #1 (“best in the world”) value in our price guide. But even more special than that Murci was a 1972 Miura P400 SV that sold for $4.9M. That’s 34 percent above its #1 value and comfortably more than the previous world record for the model, a $4.26M sale back in 2020.

What was a six-figure Italian classic 15 years ago is now, with the right specs and condition, a blue chip collectible approaching the $5M club.

The words “Lamborghini” and “supercar” tend to go hand in hand these days. Indeed, the brash, brightly colored exotics from Sant’Agata Bolognese are some of the most popular supercars out there. Throw a stone in a nice part of Miami or L.A. and you’re bound to hit one. This wasn’t the case in 1965, however—Lamborghini was a much different company back then. The tractor-turned-carmaker focused on producing small batches of refined, mature gran turismos that aimed to best Ferrari’s equivalent road cars. Frivolities like racing just weren’t part of the equation. The car that changed that philosophy, and put Lamborghini down its current loud, wedge-shaped path, was the Miura. No wonder it’s the most valuable Lamborghini of them all.

After Lamborghini’s first car—the 350 GT—began steady production in 1964, several company engineers and designers started thinking about what to do next. Everybody in the group was in their mid-20s. Ferruccio Lamborghini was 48. They were enthusiastic about racing, where mid-engine cars were dominant. Mr. Lamborghini wasn’t, and insisted on staying away from motorsport. Nevertheless, he budged and gave the team the go-ahead to develop a mid-engine sports car.

The chassis design was a monocoque with an integral roof, leaving the front and rear of the bodywork as unstressed, hinged panels. The steel chassis included drilled holes for lightness. Meanwhile, Lamborghini’s signature V-12, then displacing four liters, was a long unit. Mounting it longitudinally would have meant lengthening the wheelbase and compromising the handling. The clever solution was to mount the engine transversely in parallel with the rear axle, sort of like an Austin Mini but on a much larger scale and behind the driver instead of in front. Due to limited space, Lamborghini also fabricated a transaxle, mounted at the rear of the engine and in unit with the crankcase (like on a motorcycle), so the engine and gearbox had to share oil with each other.

A rolling chassis debuted at the 1965 Turin Auto Show, and just the naked mechanicals were enough to cause a stir and send potential customers rushing to the Lamborghini stand. But Lamborghini, still a boutique carmaker just a few years in the business, thought of the project as a promotional tool. It wasn’t just lacking a body. It didn’t even have a proper name.

When they finally decided to put this new mid-engine design into production, Bertone won the deal to design a body and gave the job to a young Marcello Gandini. The finish product debuted at the Geneva Salon in 1966 and it once again caused a stir. Its name—P400—referred to the engine placement (“P” for Posteriore), and the engines displacement of 400 deciliters. But Mr. Lamborghini, a Taurus, also wanted a proper name and went with Miura, after a renowned breeder of fighting bulls. Bullfighting-themed monikers have been a Lamborghini trademark ever since.

The original Miura’s shape was a masterpiece and its $20,000 price in the U.S. was enough to buy five brand-new Corvettes, but there was still room for improvement. The P400 has numerous ergonomic quirks, and at over 100 mph the nose starts to generate lift. The common oil supply between the engine and gearbox also didn’t allow for a limited-slip differential. A first batch of upgrades arrived with the Miura P400 S in 1969, which added vented brakes, power windows, optional air conditioning, improved rear suspension and better tires as well as a bump in power from 350 hp to 370.

Then, in 1971, the SV came with even more rear suspension improvements, a slight lowering of the nose to alleviate that pesky front-end lift and wider 15-inch wheels under flared fenders. The retractable headlights also lost their signature black trim, aka “eyelashes,” and engine output again grew, this time to 385. Later P400 SVs got a split sump, which meant separate oil supplies for the crankcase and gearbox and made a limited-slip feasible, although it wasn’t standard factory equipment.

Lamborghini built 762 Miuras, and just 150 of them are the higher-spec SV models. The hierarchy of values is straightforward, with three distinct series carrying three distinct prices. Basically, the first P400 sits at the bottom, the improved P400 S in the middle, and the fully developed P400 SV at the top.

This Miura SV, Chassis 4972, was built in 1971 and finished in Rosso Corsa with gold rocker panels over tan leather. It sold new to an Italian living in Germany, before a later British owner converted it to right-hand drive in the 1980s. A Hong Kong collector bought it in the 1990s and commissioned a full restoration. Then, singer Jay Kay of Jamiroquai bought it, and it featured in a 2004 episode of Top Gear. It sold on again and received a full restoration in Italy in the 2010s, returning it to its original left-hand drive but giving it a blue leather interior instead of the original tan. Otherwise, it has its original engine, chassis, and body and was represented in concours condition.

It sold at the RM Sotheby’s “Dare to Dream” auction, which featured a collection owned by financier Miles Nadal that included 140 cars and motorcycles as well as hundreds of pairs of collectible sneakers. Despite top shelf Ferraris like an F40 (sold for $3.47M), an F50 ($4.24M), an Enzo ($4.295M), a LaFerrari ($3.69M) and a 275 GTB/4 ($3.305M), the upstart Lamborghini flew past its $2.75M—$3.5M estimate and its #1 value of $3.65M to take the top spot of the sale and become the most expensive Miura ever sold at auction. It’s a bit of a surprise given the interior change and the steering wheel switcheroo, which would ordinarily be hindrances at auction on a car like this.

Condition counts for a lot, though, and this car wears its restoration well. The car was also vetted by Lamborghini’s PoloStorico and issued a Certificate of Authenticity. And, speaking of documentation, we’ve heard that the stack of books and records that come with the car is a foot high. The setting, an auction full of high-dollar classic European cars in excellent condition, also helped. Then there’s the trajectory of Miuras in general. They have been consistently getting more valuable for well over a decade. “It is absolutely one of the most beautiful piece of automotive design, ever,” says Dave Kinney, publisher of the Hagerty Price Guide of Lamborghini’s breakout supercar. As for the market for them, “most people are realizing that Miuras really are worth the big money they’ve been selling for, so I don’t necessarily think this result is a one-off.” For now, though, the red and gold over blue beauty is the new king of the bulls.

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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.

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Lamborghini has a history of building some unforgettable models. Most of us remember the Urraco, and the Jalpa that came after rings a bell, too. But what many people forget is the car that linked those two—the Silhouette. The Silhouette was the work of the late Marcello Gandini, who died in March, and it deserves a wider audience.

Conceived when Lamborghini was at its lowest, in some ways it’s a miracle that any Silhouettes were made at all. The Italian firm went bust after the car had been introduced, and during its evolution Lamborghini teetered on the precipice. The only reason the Silhouette saw the light of day was that it was an evolution of an existing product, rather than a clean-sheet design.

The car that sired the Silhouette was the Urraco, which Lamborghini had introduced in 1970 as the P250, with a 220-hp, transverse-mounted 2.5-liter V-8. By 1974, there was a Europe-only P200, powered by a 182-hp, 2.0-liter V-8, as well the P300 with its 3.0-liter V-8 making 265 hp. As the first V-8–engined car from Sant’Agata, the Urraco was created to increase production volumes at Lamborghini; as a direct rival to the small cars of Maserati and Ferrari, it was consequently more affordable, if not exactly cheap. Pitched squarely against the Ferrari 308 GT4, the Urraco used the same template, with its Bertone design, mid-mounted V-8, and 2+2 seating configuration.

The problem with the Urraco was that its 2+2 seating layout made it rather less glamorous than a strict two-seater, and with Ferrari having launched the 308 GTB (and then the targa-topped 308 GTS), Lamborghini really needed something to compete. The solution lay in commissioning Bertone to get out the tin snips and turn the Urraco into a targa-topped two-seater. The Silhouette was the result, and it was revealed to the world at the Geneva Salon in spring 1976, to sell alongside the Urraco.

Essentially an updated 3.0-liter Urraco, the Silhouette was Lamborghini’s first production open car. Although it carried over the Urraco’s engine and bodyshell, this wasn’t immediately apparent, because the back end was redesigned with flying buttresses and an upright rear window (as featured on the 308 GTB/GTS). The detachable fiberglass roof panel could be stowed where the back seats had been. To distance the Silhouette from the Urraco, the wheel arches were squared off for a much more aggressive appearance. Beneath those moldings were bigger and wider Campagnolo wheels shod with the latest Pirelli P7 tires (195/50 up front and 285/40 at the back), and to top it all off there was a deeper front air dam that provided greater stability at high speeds.

Most of the mainstream car magazines of the time gave the Silhouette no coverage. However, England’s CAR had been a fan of Lamborghini since its earliest days, and on no fewer than four occasions the mag published drive stories on this transitional model. First up was Ron Wakefield in summer 1976. He wrote: “This is the sort of car whose limits are so high you can’t get near them on a public road with the margin of safety I like to have, and to be thoroughly familiar with the Silhouette’s behavior I’d like to have an hour on a race track somewhere. I was told that the car had matched a Group 4 Pantera’s lap times in testing at Varano.”

The prototype that Wakefield drove was poorly made so he reserved judgment on the build quality; just a few months later, CAR’s Mel Nichols drove the first Silhouette to land in the UK. His more extensive review didn’t mention how well screwed together the Silhouette was, so presumably this early production car was finished to a rather higher standard than the prototype. But he ruminated plenty on the driving experience, which he thought was something special:

“The Silhouette feels very different compared with the Urraco. Not harder and sharper as you might expect, but softer and even more supple; tamer… I travelled fast in the Silhouette, and I travelled fast so very easily. The wheel is turned and the car answers. Impeccably, precisely, unquestionably. The responses do not seem significantly better than those of the already superb Urraco, but the grip of the Silhouette once the manoeuvre has been undertaken is unmistakably stronger. You are endowed with even greater facilities for cornering, with reserves so huge that I sit here now after thundering along motorways at upwards of 160 mph, after whipping up mountains and charging down them, with no idea of where the limits of the Silhouette really lie… The Urraco hasn’t been overshadowed; it has been complemented. Magnificently so.”

Less than a year later, Nichols was back at Sant’Agata, bringing the final Silhouette back to the UK, with Lamborghini teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Production was running at little more than one car per week, and it didn’t help that North America, the world’s biggest car market, was out of bounds, because Lamborghini couldn’t supply enough cars to make the effort worthwhile for its importer, so it provided none at all. By June 1978, Lamborghini’s Type Approval paperwork for the UK had expired, which meant that its importer could no longer sell any cars there, either, even though there was demand for about 60 each year.

Thankfully, the company was saved in the early 1980s by brothers Jean-Claude and Patrick Mimran, but the rescue was a long, drawn-out process that took several years, and by that point the Silhouette’s time had been and gone. The final Silhouette was built in 1979 (the same year that the last Urraco was built), its production tally just 55 examples, the last one of which would become the Jalpa prototype. That car was launched in 1982, with a 3485-cc version of the V-8 engine first seen in the Urraco and carried over to the Silhouette. More than 400 would be made, in a run that lasted from 1982 until 1988, by which time the Silhouette had all but faded from collective memory.

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When the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg takes the green flag March 9 of 2025, two new cars will debut in the NTT IndyCar series. They’ll be fielded by PREMA, an Italian team that was founded in 1983 by Angelo Rosin.

PREMA, with more than 80 titles in multiple series, may be the best open-wheel organization that you’ve never heard of.

Though PREMA may not yet have raced in Formula 1 or IndyCar, graduates of the multiple ladder-type series that PREMA competes in certainly have. Those series include FIA Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 4, the GP2 series, and other championship series that race in Europe and Asia.

And those drivers include F1 world champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve, and IndyCar racers like Ryan Briscoe, Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Armstrong and Callum Ilott. In F1, PREMA grads include Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. The team is the partner of choice for every Formula 1 driver development program.

PREMA already has a deal with Chevrolet for use of its new, 2.2-liter twin-turbocharged hybrid V-6 engine, and it’s building a “brand-new, state of-the-art facility” in the Indianapolis area. The addition of PREMA will increase the IndyCar grid to 29 cars, and the Indianapolis 500 entry list to probably 35.

No drivers have been selected, but you can bet resumes have been rolling in. PREMA has long had a good eye for talent: Members of its racing family include Rinaldo Capello, Kamui Kobyashi, Lance Stroll, Mick Schumacher, Daniel Juncadella, Arthur Leclerc, Jamie Chadwick, Robert Kubica, Renger van der Zande, Enzo Fittipaldi, Sebastian Montoya, Eddie Cheever III, Ben Hanley, this year’s IMSA Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring winner, Louis Deletraz, and the lone American competing in F1, Logan Sargeant.

IndyCar will become the 12th series that PREMA currently participates in. PREMA also operates Lamborghini’s new SC63 GTP program, which just debuted at the IMSA Mobil 1 Twelve Hours at Sebring.

“PREMA Racing, with their global reach and extraordinary presence in open-wheel racing, will be a great addition to our growing and highly competitive paddock,” IndyCar President Jay Frye said.

“This new chapter will also be beneficial for PREMA Racing and its people, producing amazing learning opportunities and know-how transfer,” said Rene Rosin, team principal. “We want to thank IndyCar for the warm welcome and Chevrolet for supporting this project. We cannot wait to start operating in our new Indiana shop and get on track as soon as possible.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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As Benjamin Franklin famously wrote, “in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” But that’s never stopped human ingenuity from trying to cheat them both, with varying degrees of success.

Since levies on cars and the fuel that goes in them are difficult to evade, they have always constituted a significant source of tax revenue for the Italian government. Yet, in the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis, when the government subjected the purchase of new cars equipped with engines over two liters of displacement to a 38 percent value-added tax (VAT), even the country’s most prestigious automobile brands felt compelled to adapt.

The story of Italy’s sub-2000-cc exotics begins at the 1974 Turin motor show, with the Dino 208 GT4. Nearly identical inside and out to the 308 GT4 presented a year prior, the Dino 208 GT4 was equipped with a 1990.64-cc V-8 created by reducing the 308 engine’s bore diameter from 81 mm to 66.8 mm. Fed by four Weber 34 DCNF carburetors, the 208 GT4’s engine was rated at 170 hp at a heady 7200 rpm. While that was an impressive figure for a 2-liter engine in the mid 1970s, performance inevitably suffered compared to the full-fat 308, which, in European specification, could count on 255 hp. Nonetheless, the 208 GT4 sold well enough by Ferrari standards, with 840 cars built until 1980.

The same can’t be said about the Lamborghini Urraco P200. With only 66 examples leaving the Sant’Agata factory between 1974 and 1979, the least powerful Lamborghini ever made is also among the rarest. Like the Dino 208 GT4, the Urraco P200 was presented in late ’74 at the Turin motor show and looked nearly identical to the larger-displacement model that spawned it. Lamborghini rated the P200’s 1994-cc V-8 at a generous 182 hp, which placed it conveniently above the competition from Maranello but didn’t prove enough to convince the Raging Bull’s customers.

While its crosstown rivals were quick to present their downsized offerings, Maserati’s answer to the oil crisis didn’t arrive until 1977, because the company nearly didn’t survive it. However, one of the first new models to see the light after Alejandro De Tomaso took control of Maserati in ’76 was the Merak 2000 GT. Like its peers from Sant’Agata and Maranello, this version of the Merak was available solely on the Italian market and was equipped with a 1999-cc, 170-hp version of the existing “C114” V-6 engine. The Merak 2000 GT did little for Maserati’s fortunes, however, as production ended in 1982 after just 190 cars had been built.

But if Lamborghini and Maserati found little success with their downsized exotics, by the early 1980s things were about to get a lot more exciting at the bottom of the Ferrari range.

When thinking about turbocharged Ferraris, one’s mind naturally goes to the apex predators from the company’s 1980s lineup: the 288 GTO and the F40. But few people remember that the story of Ferrari turbo engines actually began at the opposite end of the company’s lineup, and for good reason. Because if ever there were Ferraris in need forced induction, they were the 208 GTB and GTS.

When production of the Bertone-designed GT4 ended in 1980, Ferrari began installing the 1990-cc V-8 from the 208 GT4 under the pretty Pininfarina lines of the 308 GTB and GTS. From the outside, the only way to tell a 208 apart from a 308 was the badge on the back. But once you pressed the loud pedal, there was no mistaking one for the other. Ferrari quoted a power output for the 208 GTB and GTS of just 155 hp, down 15 ponies from the GT4’s already depleted stable. These naturally aspirated 208s only lasted two years in production and, like the Dino 208 GT4 before them, were only available to Italian customers. Which is just as well, given that Thomas Magnum would have had a hard time running away from trouble in a 208 GTS. Nonetheless, between 1980 and ’82, Ferrari managed to shift 160 208 GTBs and 140 208 GTSs.

Still, something had to be done to stop the 208’s customers from being embarrassed at the stoplight by lesser machinery, so, as they often do, Ferrari’s engineers drew inspiration from F1. The 126 C2 with its twin KKK turbos won the F1 Constructors’ Championship for the Scuderia in 1982, and the same year’s Turin show saw the debut of the first turbocharged Ferrari you could drive without a helmet: the 208 GTB Turbo.

The extra heat in the engine compartment of the 208 GTB Turbo forced Pininfarina to make a few subtle exterior modifications that set the model apart from its naturally aspirated siblings. At the front, there were new cooling slots in the lower front spoiler to channel extra airflow into the radiator, exiting through new grille slots on the hood. At the back, the engine cover featured additional vents, while the rear bumper was split into two sections to make way for a cooling duct in the center. On the sides, additional NACA air intakes were added low down behind the doors, displacing the Pininfarina badges from their usual spot.

But if the exterior design changes were subtle, those made under the engine cover completely transformed the 208 from a somewhat emasculated entry-level model into a genuine performance car. Thanks to a KKK K26 turbocharger, Ferrari’s 1990-cc V-8 now boasted power (220 hp at 7000 rpm) and torque (177 lb-ft at 4800 rpm) ratings not far off those of the newly launched 308 Quattrovalvole. The open GTS model became available in 1983, and a total of 687 of the 208 Turbos were built until 1985.

Following the launch of the 328, Ferrari upgraded the two-liter cars to the new model’s softened exterior design and improved cabin ergonomics. The “208” moniker was dropped, with the company now referring to these models just as the “GTB Turbo” and “GTS Turbo.” However, the operation wasn’t merely cosmetic, as the engine received a new water-cooled IHI turbocharger and an air-to-air intercooler. With a little over 15 psi of boost pressure, the revised 1990-cc turbo V-8 produced an impressive 254 hp and 242 lb-ft of torque. Yet, like their predecessors, there was little to distinguish the turbo cars from a regular 328. Aside from the NACA duct on the sides, the turbo cars sported a taller engine cover to make room for the intercooler and additional ventilation slots on the rear bumper.

These last models were also the most successful in sales terms, with 1136 units sold until production ceased in 1989, putting an end to a brief but intriguing chapter of automobile history. Born out of sheer expediency during an era of economic crisis, by the end of the 1980s, Ferrari’s sub-2000-cc “Italian specials” had matured into serious performers that neither the company nor its customers needed to make any excuses for.

The Italian government finally repealed its higher tax regime on over-2000-cc engines in 1994, but Ferrari had already moved on by then. After a long time of being undervalued compared to their large-displacement brethren, prices for these sub-2000-cc exotics on the classic Italian car market have now firmed up considerably, and quite a few examples have since found their way across the country’s borders.

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Matteo Licata received his degree in Transportation Design from Turin’s IED (Istituto Europeo di Design) in 2006. He worked as an automobile designer for about a decade, including a stint in the then-Fiat Group’s Turin design studio, during which his proposal for the interior of the 2010–20 Alfa Romeo Giulietta was selected for production. He next joined Changan’s European design studio in Turin and then EDAG in Barcelona, Spain. Licata currently teaches automobile design history to the Transportation Design bachelor students of IAAD (Istituto di Arte Applicata e Design) in Turin.

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Despite nearly two decades of amateur racing under my belt, setting up a race car’s suspension remains something of a dark art to me. Getting all the variables on my Miata or even the much more limited ones on my kart just right for a given track usually requires describing what the vehicle’s doing to a knowledgeable pro and making incremental changes based on their advice. With the ability to adjust toe, camber, caster, and wedge, it is far too easy to take a chassis in the wrong direction while hunting for a setup that behaves predictably. Finding that perfect combination will yield a better-behaving car at speed and ultimately produces better lap times.

Knowing the complications that come with making chassis adjustments, I was quite intrigued when Lamborghini recently unveiled its Active Wheel Carrier, or AWC for short. It might have nothing to do with karting or SCCA club racing Miatas, but this tech actively adjusts two aspects of rear suspension geometry up to 60 times per second, shaving massive chunks of time from the pace of pros and novices alike. Let’s look at how it works and what it can do for you.

Toe, or the angle of the wheels relative to a straight line running from the front of the car to the back, is the first axis of adjustment. Zero toe is when the wheels are pointed perfectly straight—this positioning makes for the least rolling resistance (and therefore the least amount of tire wear). However, for spirited driving, even tiny changes in toe angle can make a world of difference. Small increments of toe out—where the leading edge of the tires is slightly further apart than the trailing edge—can make the car more eager to change direction (some drivers call this “twitchy”), while toe in, especially at the rear of the car, can help induce stability. AWC’s variable toe enables razor-sharp turn-in and confidence-inspiring stability throughout the corner. It’s also able to use this adjustable toe mechanism to induce minute amounts of rear-wheel steering to help the car feel more nimble, as well.

The second axis that Lambo’s AWC can alter is camber, which is the extent to which the top of the wheel is leaning in (negative camber) or out (positive) relative to horizontal. Optimal camber, like toe, is dependent on what a car’s doing at any given moment. For applying power down a straight, zero camber maximizes the tire’s contact patch. In a corner, negative camber on the outside wheel compensates for the vehicle’s lean and enables ideal grip on side of the car that is loaded up with the most weight.

AWC’s active camber adjustment provides the optimal contact patch at all times. This is most important in cornering, where not only is the outside tire ideally set up for the turn, the one on the inside—which in a traditional setup would have the smallest contact patch in this situation—is now able to employ the full width of the tire and greatly increase mid-corner grip.

The AWC system moniters data from a number of sensors including steering angle, throttle, and g-forces to add or subtract camber and toe independently at both rear corners. The outcome was dramatic—according to the OVERDRIVE YouTube channel, journalists testing the car improved their lap times by 4.8 seconds, and Lamborghini’s own test drivers saw a 2.8-second reduction in lap times when AWC was on.

Of course, there’s a lot of load placed on wheel hubs, especially with the monster power and sticky tire compounds found on today’s Lamborghinis. As a result, it may be some time before this tech reliably finds its way to the streets on supercars or otherwise. I think I’ll keep my racing rides old school, but I am constantly amazed at the technology that makes speed ever more attainable.

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The rumors were running rampant in the Daytona garages during the Rolex 24 race last weekend: IMSA and IndyCar team owner Chip Ganassi ran over and killed Lucky, a Golden Retriever puppy owned by IndyCar driver Devlin DeFrancesco—and Ganassi didn’t stop or say he was sorry. The police were called, and there was an investigation.

We now know that only some of this is true. Nevertheless, the motorsports social media blew up with the story. Feeding the flames was a post from Andy DeFrancesco, Devlin’s father: “It’s a crime that anyone has to go through this and Lucky had to suffer the way he did. It’s unconscionable people don’t acknowledge their actions or show any remorse.”

 

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A post shared by Devlin DeFrancesco (@devlindefran)

It all started when Jenna Fryer, the motorsports correspondent for the Associated Press, posted this on X: “Devlin DeFrancesco’s golden retriever puppy was run over and killed in the motorhome lot,” a fenced-off area where drivers and team owners stay. Next post from Fryer, who was getting major criticism on social media for her first post: “I would not have tweeted about Dev’s dog if it wasn’t literally the talk of the pre-race grid. It was in the motorhome lot. Which means someone authorized to be driving a car in the lot was involved. I’ve asked for a statement from the other party involved.”

Multiple reports on social media said it was Ganassi, but like a responsible reporter, Fryer didn’t say so until she heard from him. Which she did late Monday. That post reads: “Chip Ganassi has confirmed to me that he accidentally hit Devlin’s dog, says he did stop his car and is ‘terribly sad about it.’ He says he spoke to four different police officers on site that evening. He said his multiple attempts to call the DeFrancesco’s have gone unanswered.”

Next post from Fryer: “It was imperative for me to speak to Chip before I could responsibly give more details because it is my understanding this was a wildly chaotic scene, and very different versions from both sides about the moments after Lucky was struck.”

Meanwhile, Devlin DeFrancesco, 24, 2022 Daytona winner in the LMP2 class, had to suit up and drive for Forte Racing’s Lamborghini Huracán GT3 in the GTD class. It was not easy. An Instagram post from him, with a picture of Lucky, which he got in September: “I’m going to miss you more than you know. Thank you for being my best friend. I love you more than anything in the world. I’ll see you on the other side, until we meet again.”

His girlfriend Katie posted this: “Words will never describe the pain of losing our baby last night. Thank you for the best five months we could have ever dreamed of. We love you forever, Lucky.”

I want to thank everyone who reached out to @DevlinDeFran Katie & my kids
Thank You

It’s a crime that anyone has to go through this and Lucky had to suffer the way he did

It’s unconscionable people don’t acknowledge their actions or show any remorse#RIPLucky @JennaFryer pic.twitter.com/5MzcL0xtaS

— Andy DeFrancesco (@DeFrancesco_A) January 28, 2024

It turned out to be a long day for Forte Racing. Misha Goikhberg, who co-drove with DeFrancesco in 2022, crashed the Lamborghini into a tire wall 26 minutes into the 24-hour race. The team fixed the car and soldiered on, finishing 40th in the 59-car field and 16th in class.

As for DeFrancesco: His contract to drive in IndyCar for Andretti Autosport ended in 2023, when the team downsized from four cars to three for 2024. He hasn’t announced a new ride for this year. But he will be with Forte Racing for the four remaining IMSA sports car endurance races, including the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March.

A final post from DeFrancesco: “Thank you to everyone who’s reached out to me over the last couple of days! I’m truly grateful. Thank you to Forte Racing and my awesome teammates, looking forward to getting home and going to Sebring soon!”

RIP, Lucky.

***

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It’s a who’s who of hypercars at a brace of upcoming auctions in Paris. Think of a headline-grabbing machine from Modena, Stuttgart, Molsheim, Detroit, or Woking and you’ll find it on the roster. Collectors with a need for speed will be spoiled for choice as the star cars of the last two decades all go under the hammer.

Topping the bill at RM Sotheby’s, by estimate at least, is a Ferrari LaFerrari (top) that is classified as still brand new. Built in 2016, it wasn’t registered by its keeper until 2018 and has been driven fewer than nine miles. It’s finished in Bianco Avus with a Nero Alcantara interior that adds contrasting Rosso stitching and seatbelts for a dash of color. Seemingly every option was ticked when the car was specified including a sports exhaust, front suspension lift, telemetry, and track packs. Behind black 21-inch rims sit red brake calipers. The very limited mileage would appear to be mostly down to regular servicing, which has included the fitment of a new hybrid battery and an upgraded lithium-ion auxiliary battery. One of 499 LaFerraris built between 2013 and 2016, the 6.3-liter V-12 hybrid hypercar is estimated to sell for up to €4.8 million ($5.2M).

If you fancy its forebearer then, as luck would have it, there’s a 2003 Enzo up for grabs for €3–3.5M ($3.3–$3.8M). It’s had a bit more use than the LaFerrari, with around 9,000 miles on the clock, but it does come with Rosso Corsa paintwork, a Nero leather cabin, and a Ferrari Classiche “Red Book” certifying its origins. If you miss out at RM, then another Enzo will be on the block at Bonhams in Paris just a day later, although the 2004 Nero black example (one of just 12 in this hue) is pitched to hit as high as €4.5M ($4.9M),

The related Maserati MC12 Versione Corsa from 2007 cuts quite the dash in its bright orange hue. It’s one of just 12 streetable versions of Maserati’s GT1 racer. Unhampered by FIA racing rules, the roadgoing MC12 was able to eke 745 horsepower out of its six-liter, dry-sump V-12 motor. It cost a cool one million Euros when new, but is now expected to match the Enzo and sell for up to €3.5M ($3.8M).

Just down the road at Sant’Agata Bolognese Lamborghini had some celebrating to do in 2018. To mark 100 years since the birth of founder Ferruccio, the company launched the Centenario. Only 20 coupes and 20 roadster versions, based on the venerable Aventador, were built and it’s an open-topped edition that’s being offered by RM Sotheby’s. The one-owner car has a shade over 40 miles on the odometer and comes in a fetching combination of Rosso Efesto, Nero Ade Alcantara, and Rosso Alala. Anticipated to sell for between €3-€4M ($3.29-4.38M), it is described as “an unblemished example of arguably the most extreme and advanced Lamborghini ever produced.”

For similar outlay by RM’s estimate, you could become the keeper of a 2017 Bugatti Chiron ‘La Mer Argentée’. It’s quite the bobby dazzler with its factory chrome wrap covering an original Nocturne over Argent Metallic color scheme. The car had some $130,000 spent on a Performance Package in 2019 and the owner actually made some use of the upgrades as the Molsheim monster has covered almost 3,000 miles. It should fetch somewhere between €2,750,000 and €3,500,000 ($3–$3.8 M) according to the auction house.

Next to these, a 2014 Porsche 918 estimated at €1.6–€1.8M ($1.75–$1.97M), a 2005 Carrera GT at €1.3M ($1.42M), a 2015 McLaren P1 at €900,000–€1.2M ($985,000–$1.3M) and a 2022 Ford GT Carbon Series at €750,000–€1,000,000 ($821,000–$1.1M) seem almost like bargains.

Porsche fans could face an interesting conundrum as two 1990s rarities vie for bidders’ attention. Racing aficionados will be tempted by a 1991 962C that finished tenth at the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours and is expected to achieve up to €1.5M ($1.64M), but hot on its heels is a 1996 911 GT2 that’s just been fully restored. One of 194 road cars built, it has had just two owners and is tipped to sell for up to €1.4M ($1.5M).

Step further back in time and there’s plenty of fascinating machinery under the million-dollar mark. For €300,000–€400,000 ($328,000–$438,000) you could pick some pre-war coachbuilt excellence in the form of a 1930 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A Transformable Cabriolet or a 1934 Hispano-Suiza J12 Coupé Chauffeur. Perhaps a Rolls-Royce is more to your taking, in which case a 1920 40/50 HP Silver Ghost Tourer, a 1936 Phantom II Saloon, or a 1933 Phantom II Continental Berline could all be yours.

Other highlights of these sales include awesome oddballs such as a 1980 BMW M1, a 1991 Alfa Romeo SZ, and a 1981 Rolls-Royce Camargue. and even a 1994 Lamborghini LM002. If Porkers with flat-nosed snouts are up your strasse then you can pick from a one-of-a-kind 928 GT from 1989 or a 1986 911 Turbo Flachbau. Choices, choices.

Of all the eclectic and exotic on offer, however, it’s two Italian oddities that have captured our hearts. A 1958 Fiat 500 Spiaggina Boana beach car is simply bellisimo. Only two were built by Mario Boano and this stunning original example was first registered to none other than Gianni Agnelli himself. If it gets to its €290,000 ($317,500) estimate, that will be a lot of money for not a lot of metal. A 1955 Alfa Romeo T10 Autotutto camper is a delightful deviation from the de rigeur VW buses. Powered by a two-cylinder supercharged diesel engine, it is anything but ordinary, which is reflected in the price estimate of €90,000–€110,000 ($98,500–$120,400).

The bidding for all of this automotive art begins on January 31 at RM Sotheby’s at the Salles du Carousel in the Louvre Palace of Paris and on February 1 at Bonham’s sale at The Grand Palais Éphémère.

***

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I first met Jack Riddell—aka Lambo Jack—over the phone back in 1996. We had much to bond over, including a shared interest in music and pet parrots, but it was his knowledge of old Lamborghinis that I needed the most. The parts for my car, a 1969 Espada that I had just bought for 10 grand, were scattered among three different buildings in Reading, Pennsylvania, the stripped and upturned engine block serving as a rubbing post for a cat.

“It’s not really that complicated,” said Jack reassuringly of the four-cam, six-carburetor V-12 that looked exactly that complicated. “Go slow and take your time. And call me anytime if you have questions.” His reassuring words were the first puffs of wind in my project’s sails, and I would come to need a lot more to keep the ship moving over the next seven years of the restoration.

Raised in the Montana outback, Jack first saw a Lamborghini on the cover of Road & Track in the mid-’60s, and that was it. He bought his one and only, a 1967 400 GT, out of a pennysaver paper in Seal Beach, California, in 1972. The guy wanted $8000. Jack, then a U.S. Navy chief warrant officer, had less. They settled on $6250, and he had to borrow money to buy it. The Lamborghini, which he adorned with the plate “V12Toro,” thus became Jack’s oddball commuter to the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, where he was an instructor in guided missile systems.

In 1982, the local Italian-car cabal encouraged Jack to drive his car the 450 miles up to Monterey for the annual Pebble Beach car weekend. Back then, it was just an easygoing weekend, fueled more by enthusiasm than money, starting with an informal Italian-car gathering on Friday at the nearby Quail Lodge. That meet eventually morphed into the ritzy Concorso Italiano, but in those days, it more resembled a cars and coffee. It was free to park and free to walk in, and the catering was potluck. Jack remembers that the proceedings were interrupted by badly timed sprinklers, sending everyone scrambling.

Jack found his community, and he didn’t miss a single Monterey weekend for the next four decades. Back in San Diego, he organized his own Lambo weekend, a three-day driving and eating festival that for 30 years was a must-do on the Charging Bull calendar. And Jack went to Italy every spring for 17 years, making lifelong friends at the tempest-tossed factory and becoming an important link between it and the U.S. owners.

When the internet came along, he created the first forum for owners of old Lamborghinis, calling it the Vintage Lamborghini Garage. Through several iterations, the VLG is still online and, with 950 members, still a vital resource for the community trying to keep up these old Latin fusspots. Lambo Jack is often the most authoritative voice on it, having fixed nearly everything one can fix, including rebuilding his own V-12 twice. After the first overhaul, he wrote a comprehensive and illustrated step-by-step rebuild manual that he offers as a PDF to anyone for free.

The years and the miles have rolled up. Lambo Jack is now 85 and the V12Toro has 281,000 miles on it. His wife, Elise, stopped going to Monterey years ago, and last year, on his 40th consecutive trip, Lambo Jack declared it the final run. But a bunch of us cajoled him into making one last drive this year, even submitting his car for the Lamborghini class at the big Pebble Beach Concours on Sunday (they turned him down). But despite only recently recovering from cancer treatment, Jack went anyway. Partly to receive a special award from the Concorso Italiano, but mainly to see all his friends again. There were organized dinners and lots of toasts, but the best was the relaxed night of pizza and Lamborghini wine on the patio of the Mariposa Inn, the traditional HQ of the old-Lambo crowd during Monterey week.

As usual, Jack insisted on driving his car solo all the way up and back from San Diego, through the stew of L.A. traffic. On the return, the starter failed, and he had to get a push start and keep the engine running for the rest of a journey that would flatten a person half his age. Monterey, already suffering from a rising tide of look-at-me hyperflash, just won’t be the same without the old salts like Lambo Jack. I doubt he’ll fall for it again, but come January, I think I’ll give him a call.

***

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Welcome back to the Hagerty Bull Market List, our annual deep dive into the collector vehicles climbing the value ranks. This year, 2024, marks the seventh installment of our expert insights. Click to read past Bull Market Lists from 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

You could be forgiven for thinking we’ve had it easy the past few years. The Bull Market List is our annual selection of vehicles likely to appreciate the most over the next 12 months, and amid the pandemic-fueled spending spree of 2021 and 2022, that was basically shooting fish in a barrel.

Things look a little different this year. Adhering to the most fundamental of investing principles—what goes up must come down—the collector car market as a whole softened in 2023. The Hagerty Market Rating, our monthly measure of the heat of the market, dropped to its lowest point in two years primarily due to inflation and declines in prices achieved at auctions.

Did that make us hesitate in our selections for 2024? Not at all. Even in a slowing market, there are vehicles poised for big gains. To identify them, we looked beyond top-line sales figures and dug into our trove of pricing and demographic data (for a detailed explanation of our methodology, click here). This year, we have everything from a 1940s woody to a 1990s rally truck originally sold only in Japan.

In any event, the point of the Bull Market List has never been to celebrate cars becoming more expensive or to position cars as investments. Rather, our goal is to make collector car ownership a bit more attainable and maybe a bit less intimidating by pointing out that with due diligence and a smidge of luck, you can get your money back and then some. So long as fun is your main goal, a classic car will never let you down.

Meet the Bulls: 2024 Lineup

• 1989 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary
• 1946–1950 Chrysler Town & Country
• 2008–2013 BMW M3
• 1997–1999 Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution
• 2011–2016 Ferrari FF
• 2000–2005 Jaguar XKR
• 1965–1970 Chevrolet Impala SS
• 1981–1986 Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler
• 1964–1966 Ford Thunderbird
• 1997–2002 Plymouth Prowler

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1989 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary

Rarely are sequels as good as the originals, but when Lamborghini replaced its groundbreaking and gobsmacking Miura with the even more outrageous Countach in 1974, the world bowed down to the sign of the bull. Although the car is a product of the 1970s, we tend to think of it as a child of the frizz-haired, neon-jumpsuited 1980s, thanks in no small part to cameo rolls in such period screen icons as The Cannonball Run and Miami Vice. And no version of the several Countach iterations represents that decade better than the final opus, the 1989-model-year 25th Anniversary, so labeled to celebrate the 1963 founding of Automobili Lamborghini.

Thanks to Chrysler’s purchase of the ailing automaker in 1987, much-needed cash flowed into Sant’Agata, and the Anniversary would prove to be, in many ways, the best Countach as well as the most produced, with around 650 examples cranked out in a relatively short period. The car’s long battle with U.S. safety and emissions laws was finally resolved with DOT-certified bumper grafts and EPA-blessed Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection for the four-cam, 48-valve, 5.2-liter, 7000-rpm V-12 (Euro versions still had carbs). The rated 455 horses was the highest the Countach ever achieved.

Composite body strakes meant to update the Countach’s styling—as though updates were needed—were developed by a young Horacio Pagani, who went on to start his own eponymous hypercar company. Power seats and a stronger air conditioner controlled by a digital panel were Anniversary touches that Chrysler undoubtedly thought necessary for a car stickering at $225,000. Despite the luxury flourishes, however, the Countach’s incandescent machismo was barely dimmed, and the lack of ABS or anti-spinout systems means it takes a certain fearlessness to hustle one anywhere near its limits. Feet squeezed into the tiny offset pedal box and hands gripping the small wheel and tall shifter face heavy resistance on all fronts. The visibility out is only slightly better than a gopher hole.

But driven with the proper measure of courage and skill, the Countach is a wailing wonder of sound and fury—at least until something breaks. Lamborghini’s greatest sex wedge has a well-earned rep for bleeding owners white, and with so many Anniversary Countaches having been driven hard and put away bent, it’s easy to fall into a bottomless pit of four- and five-figure repair bills. Owner Antonio Marsillo, a former New York City police detective who started a successful business offering VIP protection services (past clients include Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Bon Jovi, and Jim Carrey), searched for four years, rejecting as many as 20 cars before finding this 4000-mile unmolested gem in 2013.

That was back when used Anniversaries were at the bottom of their steep depreciation curves. And right before the film The Wolf of Wall Street graphically sacrificed one on the altar of cinematic art, sending Anniversary prices rebounding. They have only continued to build steam. Marsillo parks his in a one-car garage on a lift underneath his other 1980s hero car, a Ferrari Testarossa that once belonged to Billy Joel. He has spent far more time detailing the Lamborghini’s exhaust and undercarriage with a toothbrush than he has driving it, and it is subsequently the best preserved Countach we have ever experienced, barking to life on the button and showing no evident signs of its 35 years. Simply bawdily bellissima! —Aaron Robinson

1989 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary

Highs: A genuine icon with a 7000-rpm V-12; those crazy doors; your chance to meet dozens of strangers every time you stop.

Lows: A workout to drive; has put lots of children of mechanics through college; your chance to meet dozens of strangers every time you stop.

*Price Range: #1 – $770,000  #2 – $612,500 #3 – $435,000 #4 – $345,000

*Hagerty analysts evaluate vehicle condition on a 1-to-4 rating scale to help determine its approximate value range. All factors, including aesthetics and mechanical condition, are considered. Most collector vehicles are in #3 (Good) condition. Read more about our rating system here.

HAGERTY AUTO INTELLIGENCE SAYS:

Not long ago, ‘serious’ collectors considered the later Countach, with its scoops and cladding, to be a bastardization of an iconic design. But the children of the 1980s and ’90s think otherwise. Although 1970s examples are still worth the most, the final-year Silver Anniversary edition is gaining ground.

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1946–50 Chrysler Town & Country

The war was over and the troops were flooding back desperate to buy cars. Chrysler Corporation, which had been cranking out tanks, trucks, engines, and munitions, turned to face the future, and the future was wood. Or, at least, Chrysler president David Wallace thought so. It helped that Wallace was also president of Pekin Wood Products, a Chrysler subsidiary in West Helena, Arkansas, that had spent the war making shipping crates for aircraft engines. Pekin had supplied the ash and Honduran mahogany for the very first Chrysler Town & Country, a spectacular 1941 woody wagon so named because its chrome-rococo face said “Hello” while its cavernous barrel-back rear said “Howdy.”

However, when Chrysler belatedly went back to building cars late in 1945, delayed because of strikes and raw materials shortages, the Town & Country wagon was gone. In its place, the company offered a few gussied-up versions of the 1942 New Yorker, including a Town & Country sedan, a T&C convertible, and one of the industry’s first two-door pillarless hardtops, which was basically a T&C convertible with a roof bolted on.

At nearly $3000, the pricey Town & Country was an odd mashup of 1940s streamlining and rectilinear right angles. And though it was never built in huge numbers—fewer than 15,000 between ’46 and ’50—it was immediately embraced by East Coast patricians and West Coast Hollywood types as a rolling status symbol. Who else but the rich could afford a car that evoked the Stickley-style and art deco furniture of the finest houses while, according to the owner’s manual, needing to be revarnished every six months to preserve its exterior?

Initially the T&C’s ash framing was structural, comprising the doors and trunklid and held together via complex joinery that no doubt taxed Chrysler’s Jefferson Avenue body assembly shop as much as it has restorers in the years since. However, the weight of the car’s cost and build complexity (at a time when anyone would buy anything new at any price) bore down, and by 1949, the ash was merely decorative, bonded to a conventional steel body shell and accented by fake vinyl mahogany.

David Kraus didn’t set out to buy a Town & Country, exactly—he set out to buy a convertible. Any convertible would do, and this ’47 T&C was priced right at $200. Did we mention that this was back in 1965? Kraus, now a retired aviation lawyer from northern New Jersey, spent a few years and another $800 painting the car, redoing the top, and restoring the interior, and he has been happily motoring in it ever since. Still original are the 324-cubic-inch flathead straight-eight and Fluid Drive four-speed, a kind of semi-automatic that takes much longer to explain than it does to learn how to use it. You sit up high in the T&C and roll in velvety if not speedy comfort, the engine seeming to operate only between a low idle and a high idle. For years, the winners of the Miss Arkansas pageant rode in the back of T&Cs in parades, and that is perhaps the best use of any Town & Country. —Aaron Robinson

1947 Chrysler Town & Country

Highs: Everyone loves a woody; A piece of art deco furniture you can drive; America’s favorite parade car or fun for six on a night out at the drive-in.

Lows: Built before Eisenhower’s interstates and geared like it; the wood is difficult to restore and maintain; restorations are financial sinkholes.

Price Range: #1 – $144,000  #2 – $81,400 #3 – $52,500 #4 – $28,400

HAGERTY AUTO INTELLIGENCE SAYS:

There’s a theory that young enthusiasts only want newer cars. Our data show that’s dead wrong. The best older classics, like the T&C, will endure. But find a good one, as restoring a 70-year-old wood-bodied car can be costly.

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2008–13 BMW M3

If you want a visceral sense of the je ne sais quoi, the undefinable feeling that makes collectors go gaga over so-called modern classics, drive a 2007–2013 M3. No need to go very far or very fast. After the 4.0-liter V-8 has warmed up—you’ll know because the electronic redline on the tachometer automatically raises from about 6000 rpm to 8400 rpm—give the gas pedal a tap. Just a tap. In about the time it takes your thought to travel from your brainstem to the fast-twitch muscle fibers in your foot, the car lunges forward. A modern M3, which is powered by a turbocharged six-cylinder with some 100 more horsepower, may well be quicker, but it feels nowhere near as immediate or responsive.

It’s tempting to describe this experience as analog, yet this M3—or E92 in BMW chassis-code parlance—was a technological tour de force, from its carbon-fiber roof to its adjustable rear differential and optional dual-clutch automatic. The engine was the first (and, so far, the last) V-8 offered in an M3, but it weighs less than the inline-six in its predecessor thanks to extensive use of aluminum. Each cylinder has its own throttle controlled by a separate electric motor—the 21st-century version of a rack of Weber carburetors. It all conspires to make this era M3 feel exotic, even if it looks for the most part like a workaday 3-Series. (Design chief Chris Bangle’s avant-garde “flame surfacing” was wisely kept to a minimum on this bread-and-butter model.)

Despite the E92’s sterling performance credentials, it depreciated swiftly. By 2018, excellent examples were going for less than $40,000, according to the Hagerty Price Guide—chump change considering the window stickers commonly exceeded $70K with options. Like many tech-forward German performance cars of the early 2000s, the M3 became cheap to buy in large part because it is expensive to own. In addition to swilling premium (an EPA-rated 14 mpg in city), the engine’s electronic throttle actuators are known to fail—there are two, one for each cylinder bank. Also, the bearings that protect its fast-spinning connecting rods can wear prematurely.

Yet there are multiple signs that this generation M3 is leaving “used performance car” territory for the rich green pastures of “modern classics.” Interest in the car, as measured by the number of people who call Hagerty about insurance on them, is increasing. These M3 seekers are disproportionately Gen Xers or younger—a cohort that has driven huge increases on other modern performance cars in recent years. Those include the 2000–2006 BMW E46 M3, now valued at a cool $54,300 in our price guide, as well as early 2000s (996- and 997-generation) Porsche 911s, which trade for similar money or higher.

Values for M3 sedans and coupes in excellent condition have already made their way above $40,000. Those equipped with manual transmissions tend to net a premium, as do limited-build Lime Rock Park Editions like the one we borrowed from Hagerty member Darren Berger, as they combine several desirable performance options. If you want to hear more of the V-8 and can stand added weight, convertibles (technically called E93s) sell for slightly less. Yet the most important feature to look for when buying an M3, in light of the noted mechanical complexity, is a comprehensive service history. —David Zenlea

2013 BMW M3

Highs: Engine nearly befitting of an exotic; peak BMW chassis balance.

Lows: Conservative styling; poorly maintained examples can cost an arm and a leg to fix.

Price Range: #1 – $65,800  #2 – $51,600 #3 – $40,600 #4 – $29,200

HAGERTY AUTO INTELLIGENCE SAYS:

Interest from young enthusiasts is a factor for all Bull Market cars but is absolutely the factor favoring this M3. The ‘kids’ are not only shopping for the car but are also consistently willing to pay more for it than older folks. Meanwhile, the aftermarket has come up with fixes for many of the mechanical/durability issues.

***

1997–99 Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution

And now for something completely different: a Japan-only off-road rally special built around a commonplace SUV and styled to look like the Bat Truck. People who aren’t ready for a deep dive into the nerdy world of Japanese Domestic Market specials can stop here; for the rest, konnichiwa!

It has been a long time since Mitsubishi dominated anything, but the three-diamond brand once ruled the brazen and dangerous 6000-mile-long Paris-Dakar Rally, with a string of wins in the 1990s and 2000s using modified versions of its Toyota Land Cruiser fighter, the Pajero SUV (Montero in the U.S., Shogun in the U.K.). As with a lot of interesting cars, the Pajero Evolution was born in a smoky backroom of a motorsports sanctioning body. In the mid-1990s and with the Dakar at its peak in popularity, the organizers created a production-based class requiring manufacturers to build a minimum number of homologation cars that had to be road-legal and salable to the public. Mitsubishi was down to party, producing about 2500 of the Pajero Evolutions, which shared basic sheetmetal with the second-generation (1991–1999) body-on-frame two-door Pajero/Montero. (Side note: America never saw two-door versions of the gen-2s, or indeed the gen-3s, owing to the so-called chicken tax, a 25 percent U.S. duty on imported two-door trucks.)

Underneath, there’s lots of special geekery for JDM geeks to geek out on, including a 276-hp version of Mitsu’s iron-block 3.5-liter V-6 running four-cam cylinder heads, the company’s MIVEC variable valve-timing-and-lift system, and gasoline direct-injection. Further, the stock Pajero’s torsion-beam front suspension and solid-axle rear were replaced with double wishbones in front and multilinks in back, with Torsen lockers at both ends. Special Recaro buckets, skid plating, more butch front fenders, and body cladding complete the Evo’s persona.

If you’ve ever driven a U.S.-spec gen-2 Montero—your author has owned two—then you know that these ships of the desert are sturdy but not exactly frisky. However, shorn of almost a foot of wheelbase compared with the four-door and blessed with nearly a third more horsepower, the Pajero Evolution achieves genuine sportiness. Quicker steering paired with a carlike chassis awakens the handling, while the power can be managed through a manual-shift function of the automatic that is unique to the Evo (a true manual was also available, but they are very rare).

Thanks in part to a long association between Mitsubishi’s Ralliart operation and martial arts superstar Jackie Chan, Pajero Evos have always been collectible in Japan. And now that the 25-year rolling import exemption is up to 1999, they are dribbling into the U.S., though they are still impossible to legally register in some states (we’re looking at you, California). Of course, coddled rally specials such as the Pajero Evo are less about what they can do—few Evos have likely ever tasted dirt—than about the conversations they spark. If you fancy driving a rolling billboard advertising your arcane knowledge of Japanese automotive esoterica, then your Bat Truck has arrived. —Aaron Robinson

1997 Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution

Highs: There’s no kind of cool like JDM cool; handles far better than your typical SUV; a rolling piece of (obscure) motorsports history that can also carry a sheepdog.

Lows: Lots of money that will buy respect from only a select few; aging Japanese cars tend to have slim parts availability in general; likely has quite a few bits of unobtainium.

Price Range: #1 – $70,000  #2 – $50,000 #3 – $35,000 #4 – $17,900

HAGERTY AUTO INTELLIGENCE SAYS:

Japanese Domestic Market cars were once unobtainable for all but the most determined enthusiasts due to the logistics of importing them. In recent years, though, as more millennials look to make their video game dreams reality, a cottage industry has cropped up to bring JDM cars stateside.

***

2011–16 Ferrari FF

Several philosophers and at least one Doobie Brothers album have observed that vices, if repeated enough, have a way of becoming acceptable habits. That’s one way—just a bit cynical, we’ll admit—to explain why we’re bullish on the Ferrari FF.

When the car debuted a little over a decade ago, the notion of an Italian exotic with all-wheel-drive, four seats, and no clutch pedal still seemed a bit transgressive. Since then, nearly every premium automaker—including Bentley, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, and even Ferrari itself—has developed a fully fledged SUV. This lithe and low-slung shooting brake is, by comparison, a purist’s delight.

The simple truth is that more and more car buyers expect some utility, even in their passion purchases. This became particularly evident during the pandemic, when collectors zealously snapped up vehicles capable of going on longer drives with more passengers. Everything from vintage SUVs to restomods (classic cars with modernized powertrains and brakes) shot up in value as a result. There are also long-term demographic trends at play. Collectors who are Gen Xers or younger now make up the majority of the market and are more likely to have kids at home, jobs to commute to, and stuff to haul. They want their classic cars to be, you know, cars—capable of ferrying people and things from place to place without fuss.

These are overwhelmingly the folks buying FFs. More than 80 percent of those who call Hagerty about insurance on one are Gen Xers or younger, and they tend to drive many more miles than we see for other Ferraris. The owner of the FF you see here, Daniel Giannone, readily admits he wanted an enthusiast car in which he could take his young children on Sunday drives.

Yet there’s one more thing about the FF that needs to be taken into consideration: It’s a Ferrari. There’s a mystique that comes with the Prancing Horse that usually translates to appreciation, both for the vintage Enzo-era cars and, increasingly, for more recent efforts. In the past few years, we’ve seen run-ups and record sales for everything from F50s and Enzos to 612 Scagliettis. The FF, despite its practicality, maintains that invaluable Ferrari-ness. Its naturally aspirated V-12 puts out 651 horsepower—more than an Enzo’s—and makes all the right noises. The seven-speed dual-clutch automatic works seamlessly, with none of the herky-jerky annoyances of Ferrari’s earlier sequential gearboxes. The all-wheel-drive system, which powers the front wheels via a novel two-speed transmission, kicks in when needed but otherwise doesn’t intrude on the experience. Not everyone loves the Pininfarina styling—particularly the jack-o’-lantern smile of the grille—but the basic proportions are just right.

FFs are nearly new, so they are still depreciating and presently can be had in excellent condition for less than $150,000, a bargain considering they stickered around $300,000. You’ll want one that’s been fastidiously maintained—we are, after all, talking about an Italian exotic with 12 cylinders and two transmissions. But a properly cared for FF should provide years of practical fun and, if the Doobie Brothers are correct, long-term appreciation. —David Zenlea

2014 Ferrari FF

Highs: Grocery-getter practicality with the heart of a supercar.

Lows: There are prettier Ferraris; AWD service is pricey.

Price Range: #1 – $177,000  #2 – $143,000 #3 – $125,000 #4 – $106,400

HAGERTY AUTO INTELLIGENCE SAYS:

Two of the most striking changes in the classic car market in the past decade have been an influx of younger buyers and a shift in preference toward ‘usable’ vehicles. The FF, with its youthful demographics and practicality, checks both boxes. The fact that it’s a Ferrari (a relatively rare one at that) certainly doesn’t hurt.

***

2000–05 Jaguar XKR

The Ford Motor Company purchased Jaguar in 1989 and began brushing the cobwebs out of the British carmaker’s assembly hall at Browns Lane. Dearborn emissaries laid plans for long-overdue updates to the XJ sedan and XJS two-door. Although markers of country club status, the Jags were known in the wider culture as being reliably unreliable, a situation made increasingly untenable by the arrival of Lexus and its world-beating quality.

So the next generation of Jaguar’s two-door, the brand’s image leader, had nowhere to go but up. Design chief Geoff Lawson penned a low, lovely, and sleek grand tourer whose oval snout evoked the E-Type even as the overall design was pointed squarely toward the 21st century. Take that, upstart luxury brands from the Far East! Instantly identifiable as a Jaguar by even casual observers, the 1997 XK8, named for the postwar XK 120/140/150 line, was exactly the car Jaguar desperately needed, and not a moment too soon: The XJS had been on the market, largely unchanged, for more than two decades.

The XK8 team had to make do with a heavily modified XJS platform, but Ford had funded a bespoke engine for Jaguar rather than repurposing the DOHC V-8 being developed for Lincoln and Ford. Displacing 4.0 liters, the same as the Lexus V-8, Jaguar’s DOHC aluminum AJ-V8 replaced Jaguar’s inline-six and sent 290 horsepower and 284 lb-ft of torque through a five-speed ZF automatic transmission.

Compelling, but Jaguar had more plans for its first-ever V-8 engine, attaching an Eaton supercharger to supplant the previous optional V-12. The resulting XKR debuted for the 2000 model year with a mesh grille insert, 370 horsepower, and a swagger not seen out of Coventry in decades. With both the XJR sedan and the XKR, Jaguar was finally able to compete with the high-performance models from Mercedes, BMW, and even Aston Martin.

Automotive critics were thrilled for Jaguar as it came out swinging against the German and Japanese brands. “Just look at Jaguar’s XKR. It’s sex on wheels!” enthused Car and Driver. “A lot sexier than the naturally aspirated XK8 upon which it’s based… provocative, confident, not at all trashy, with an upper-class British accent.” At about $80,000 for the coupe and $85,000 for the convertible, the XKR was not cheap, but it still undercut the V-12 Mercedes-Benz SL600 roadster by tens of thousands.

Looks aside, the XKR twins were rapid and refined steeds, the AJ-V8 delivering gobs of low-end torque and smoothly powerful acceleration with a muffled supercharger whine. Car and Driver clocked the run to 60 mph in 5.2 seconds. The XKR’s Computer Active Technology Suspension (CATS, get it?) provided the composure and comfort Jaguar is famous for along with reasonably sporty handling. Our photo car, owned by Bob Levy of Westport, Connecticut, is a 2006 model, meaning it benefits from the larger, 4.2-liter AJ-V8 mated to a six-speed gearbox that Jaguar introduced in 2002.

Today, good examples of the XKR can be had for the low $20,000s—not bad for styling that has aged well and for one of the world’s great V-8s. Driving an XKR reminds us of hope and promise, an era when Ford’s billions combined with British resolve to reinvigorate one of the greats. —Joe DeMatio

2006 Jaguar XKR

Highs: Silky-smooth supercharged V-8; sensuous good looks, particularly the rare coupe; as cheap as a used Camry.

Lows: Cramped cabin; back seats for groceries only; many were used hard; maintenance records are essential; no manual gearbox.

Price Range: #1 – $38,900  #2 – $26,700 #3 – $16,100 #4 – $8300

HAGERTY AUTO INTELLIGENCE SAYS:

The most important data points here are pretty simple: power and price. Enthusiasts of all ages love performance, and there aren’t many cars that offer more of it for less money. Cost of maintenance and repair must always be a consideration with Jaguars, but the XKR—relatively speaking—has proven reliable.

***

1965–70 Chevrolet Impala SS

If there is nothing more American than baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet, then it’s quite possible that there is no car that is more Chevrolet-y than the Impala. Named after a type of African antelope, the name first appeared in 1956 on a General Motors Motorama show car, a handsome, four-passenger sport coupe with Corvette-inspired design cues. In 1958, the Impala was introduced as the top-of-the-line model for the bowtie brand. Over the next six decades and 10 generations, Impala was Chevy’s full-size offering, until the market’s insatiable appetite for crossovers and SUVs brought an end (or a pause, perhaps?) to the nameplate in 2020.

The scene looked much different in 1961, when Chevy debuted the SS (Super Sport) option as the Impala’s performance package. With either the 348-cubic-inch V-8 or the legendary 409 serving duty under the hood, the Impala SS was a performance powerhouse. The fourth-generation, all-new Impala was introduced in 1965; that year, the model’s annual sales hit an all-time industry record of more than 1 million cars. (For context, total sales across all GM divisions in 2022 was 2.27 million). The Impala was rebodied in 1967, and from ’67 to ’69, the top engine was the 427. The 1969 LS1 427 V-8 on base Impalas made 335 horsepower (measured by the old, inflated SAE gross-output yardstick); on SS models, the L36 V-8 made 390 ponies, while the ultra-rare L72—of which only 546 were sold—made 425 horsepower.

The example on these pages is a ’69 Impala SS L36 paired with a four-speed manual. The car is owned by Hal Oaks, who bought it new in 1969. “I had a ’65 Chevy Super Sport with a 283 that couldn’t get out of its own way,” Oaks remembers. “I was 19, I had a full-time job, and I decided I wanted something new. I was a Chevy guy, so I went to the Chevy dealer looking for an L79 Nova. The only one the dealer had was Nassau blue, and I really didn’t like that color. I went back the next day, and I was still undecided. The salesman said, ‘I got one more car to show you. We ordered it for someone who decided they didn’t want it.’ That was the black car that I still have today.”

Behind the wheel, you can roll at 35 mph in fourth gear with no problem thanks to the drag-race gearing and buckets of torque cranked out by the 427. The engine sounds great as it exhales through the tubular headers and 2.5-inch pipes and mufflers that Oaks installed. As with most of the cars of that era, there is no pleasure to be found in operating the vague gear shifter. The steering is similarly ambiguous, which is fine, since the grip-free bench seats that were standard for ’69 discourage anything except straight-line driving.

Over the course of the 55 years that Oaks has owned the Impala, it has become a part of the family. “I drove it to my wedding, and I drove both of my daughters to their weddings in it, too,” he reflects. “Through the ups and downs of life, raising a family and building a house and buying houses, somehow I managed to hang on to it. I’ll never sell it.” —Kirk Seaman

1969 Chevrolet Impala SS

Highs: Perhaps the most American of American cars; parts aplenty; cruise night or the drags—it does both.

Lows: Needs a big garage; ‘60s fuel appetite; likes straights more than curves.

Price Range: #1 – $44,500  #2 – $30,100 #3 – $22,200 #4 – $14,600

HAGERTY AUTO INTELLIGENCE SAYS:

Young enthusiasts love American muscle as much as their parents do but generally don’t have the cash for the most famous models. That leads them to alternatives, including this Impala.

***

1981–86 Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler

The love child of the sturdy Jeep CJ-7 and a pickup truck, the CJ-8 was a long-wheelbase version of the CJ-7 that combined the go-anywhere-ability of the CJ (“civilian jeep”) with the utility of a cargo bed. Produced by American Motors from 1981 to 1986, fewer than 30,000 CJ-8s sold, appealing to a small sliver of the market that appreciated the virtues of four-wheel drive paired with open-air motoring and a 1500-pound payload.

Often called the Scrambler (the name of a popular trim package), there wasn’t a lot of scrambling going on here, what with the anemic 82-hp, 2.5-liter Iron Duke four-cylinder sourced from General Motors under the hood. In 1984, AMC upgraded that base four-cylinder to its own 2.5-liter four, good for 105 horsepower. The legendary 4.2-liter inline six-cylinder was offered as an option, making 115 horsepower but, more important, cranking out 210 lb-ft of torque at 1800 rpm. Transmission choices were either a four-speed manual or a three-speed automatic; in 1985, a five-speed manual was available.

Early adopters of the Scrambler included Ronald Reagan, who received his as a gift from wife Nancy and used it to maintain their ranch outside Santa Barbara, California. About the same time the Gipper was using his CJ-8 to clear the brush on his ranch’s horse trails, our owner, Andrew Del Negro, fell in love with one as a sophomore in high school. “The passion came from my first Jeep experience when my parents moved me from Connecticut to Tennessee. I didn’t know anybody at the new school,” he recalls. “The first friend I made there had a ’76 CJ-5, and he and I took that thing everywhere.”

Del Negro’s own Jeep journey began with a ’77 CJ-5. “It had a 304 with headers and glass-pack mufflers,” he enthuses. “It was loud, it was badass.” Since then, Del Negro estimates he has owned between 30 and 40 Jeeps. “Between CJs, Cherokees, Grand Cherokees, Commanders, I’ve had everything. When I got married, my wife and I had pictures of every Jeep that I had owned to that point as the centerpieces on our guest tables.”

His current passion is this 1983 Scrambler that he bought in 2021. “This Scrambler was my dream vehicle. I wanted this specific color scheme and one that wasn’t perfect but original and in nice shape.” He found this rust-free example in California and set out to make it his own. “I’d always wanted a 360 V-8, so I had one installed and added fuel injection, then put on a set of Western turbine wheels.” Today, Del Negro cruises town and uses it to take the kids to soccer; he taught the oldest of his four children to drive a stick on his YJ Jeep, so they’re ready to drive the Scrambler with its four-speed manual. “They’re all dying to get into the Scrambler and drive it. They all love the Jeep.” —Kirk Seaman

1983 Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler

Highs: Irresistible Tonka-Toy looks; utility with invincibility; rare and collectible 4x4s are hot.

Lows: Anemic base engines; not waterproof; creaky body structure.

Price Range: #1 – $52,600  #2 – $41,400 #3 – $31,700 #4 – $16,100

HAGERTY AUTO INTELLIGENCE SAYS:

Off-roaders have been some of the hottest vehicles on the market in recent years. The Scrambler, given its distinctive configuration and rarity relative to regular Jeeps, has room to continue growing.

***

1964–66 Ford Thunderbird

Thunderbird, you are go for liftoff. Climb into the cockpit and you might imagine yourself at the controls of an Apollo moon module or a starfighter straight from sci fi. Thunderbirds have had a strong tie to the jet age from the beginning. The first Baby Birds, the four-seat Square Birds, and the early ’60s Bullet Birds all had large, round booster taillights and wings that made them look like they could take flight. But those ’Birds were heavily influenced by an earlier fins-and-chrome aesthetic. This 1966 Thunderbird, a so-called Flair Bird, is planted firmly in the straight-edge 1960s, and it is far out.

The ride is soft and comfortable in these cars, if not for a bit of leaning and floating over curves and bumps (Flair Birds are not quite as dialed in as their Grand Prix and Riviera contemporaries). The 1964 model’s standard 390-cubic-inch V-8, with its 300 horsepower and 427 lb-ft of torque, doesn’t exactly blast off as the traffic light goes green. In fact, it’ll take a full 11 seconds to get to a cruising speed of 60 mph. So, it’s not really a rocket, despite the aeronautical exterior styling.

However, by the time Ford unveiled its 1966 Thunderbird, the fourth generation had hit its stride, making notable improvements where it counts. The base 390 engine added 15 more horsepower. Also available in ’66 was an optional 428 V-8, the powerplant under the hood of the car seen in these pages. With that engine, you get from a stoplight to 60 mph in just 9 seconds. Perhaps you’re not Chuck Yeager behind the wheel, but putting some speed on, nonetheless.

But this is the Flair Bird, so what you notice most when approaching the car is its style. A large Thunderbird greets you first, spread across the front grille. It’s a wow factor—much more so than the daintier Thunderbird lettering and smaller nose logos of the prior two years’ design. Our photo car is owned by Ron Campbell of Barkhamsted, Connecticut. It is a final-year convertible with lots of bells and whistles, including a dealer-optioned tonneau cover and an eight-track player, along with AC and power everything. Inside, the Thunderbird is a midcentury design study. There’s a gorgeous linear speedo readout nestled in the dash and little podlike gauges to inform the driver that all systems are optimal as you fly down the highway. The tilt-away steering wheel and sequential taillights are groovy, too. The long, sculpted fairings of the tonneau that marry the front seats into the back deck of this car, not unlike in a ’60s Indy racer, make it seem like you’re going that much faster.

Trends say younger classic buyers (born sometime after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon) are interested in Flair Birds. They do have a hipper, more mod vibe than the earlier Thunderbirds. This generation wants something different from Dad’s old ’55 T-bird. Fond memories of watching Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis soaring one off a Grand Canyon cliff in the climactic final scene of Thelma & Louise can’t hurt. Or maybe it’s just that everyone dreams of being an early astronaut for a moment. This mid-’60s Thunderbird just might be the closest you’ll ever get, Major Tom. —Todd Kraemer

1964 Ford Thunderbird

Highs: Style for days in a number of configurations (coupe, convertible, sports roadster, town sedan, and landau); a comfortable ride; disc brakes!

Lows: Wallowing, softly sprung suspension; not a lot of get-up-and-go from a standing start.

Price Range: #1 – $56,400  #2 – $41,300 #3 – $27,400 #4 – $17,300

HAGERTY AUTO INTELLIGENCE SAYS:

Thunderbirds from this era have long lived in the shadow of two contemporary icons from Ford Motor Company—the Mustang and the Lincoln Continental. But as those cars have climbed out of reach, younger collectors have rediscovered the charm of midcentury luxury.

***

1997–02 Plymouth Prowler

In the auto industry, if you want to sell fun cars, first you’ve got to sell a bunch of not-fun cars to support your endeavors. A prime example of this reality is the Plymouth Prowler, one of the strangest fun cars ever to make it to the showroom floor. A four-wheeled love letter to the hot-rod scene, it was funded by the financial success of a trio of sedans from the Chrysler, Dodge, and Eagle brands. In the early 1990s, these shapely sedans (code-name: LH) helped the beleaguered Chrysler Corporation win back customers who had turned away from the automaker’s aging K-car lineup.

The only problem was that Chrysler’s fourth brand, Plymouth, was never given a version of the LH, and with sales stagnating, Chrysler execs wanted to give Plymouth a little love. They had learned from the 1989 Viper concept that a single auto-show debut could generate lots of media ink and showroom traffic, so company leaders cast about for another hit. A cadre of designers at Chrysler’s California styling studio had the idea for a hot-rod concept car, and the decision was made to bestow the razzmatazz on staid Plymouth.

“No mainstream car company had ever done anything this bizarre,” recalled Kevin Verduyn, one of the Prowler’s principal designers, in a 2018 Hagerty interview. The Prowler concept was the hit of the 1993 Detroit auto show, tangible evidence that Chrysler might be the smallest of the Big Three but also the bravest, the cheekiest, the most creative, and the automaker that knew how to do more with less.

Even more amazing: Chrysler execs, led by president Bob Lutz and design chief Tom Gale, greenlighted the car for production. And yet the Prowler wasn’t just for kicks, as the project allowed Chrysler to delve into the emerging use of structural bonding adhesives as well as aluminum for castings, extrusions, body panels, and suspension parts. So, although the Prowler was clearly inspired by hot rods that used the 1932–34 Ford as their lodestar, it was, at least in terms of body structure, the most technically sophisticated automobile yet conceived by the Pentastar.

The situation under the production Prowler’s tapered hood was not nearly as advanced, since there was room only for the LH’s 214-hp, 3.5-liter SOHC V-6. The sole transmission was a lackluster four-speed automatic that dominated the Chrysler lineup. But under the direction of Gale, who at the time was himself building a hot rod based on a 1933 Ford, the designers got the look right, with the Bigs and the Littles (rear to front wheels), the cascading slit grille, the exposed front-suspension members, and the high-back styling. In an era of retro designs, it stretched the imagination.

Perhaps surprisingly, members of Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980) are now trickling into the Prowler, slowly supplanting the boomers who were the initial target when the car was conceived. Our low-mileage 1997 photo car, generously lent to us by Chris Santomero of West Harrison, New York, was in factory-fresh condition. Sure, we would rather have had a V-8, as the V-6 has not exactly grown on us over time. But the Prowler’s open-air charms, its unapologetic stance, its very existence, are all entirely worth celebrating. —Joe DeMatio

1997 Plymouth Prowler

Highs: Sophisticated structural engineering; still highly affordable; optional trailer is bizarrely cool.

Lows: No V-8; no manual; interior is a little pedestrian; not especially rare, with 11,702 built 1997–2002.

Price Range: #1 – $45,500  #2 – $34,800 #3 – $29,200 #4 – $15,700

HAGERTY AUTO INTELLIGENCE SAYS:

So-called restomods (old cars with modern guts) are big business these days—customizers regularly charge six figures to fit a fuel-injected engine, disc brakes, etc., into an old rig. It’s only a matter of time before enthusiasts discover the Prowler, which is essentially a factory-built restomod offered at a bargain price.

Editor’s Note: As always, the 10 cars that make up the 2024 Bull Market List are those we believe are poised for growth. To arrive at these predictions, the Hagerty Automotive Intelligence team uses some of the most exhaustive data in the industry—price guide research, owner demographics, private sales, public auctions both online and in person, and import/export numbers. Our goal is to help you benefit from up-to-date research in order to make an informed purchase now and a profitable sale later.

***

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Daytona International Speedway is crackling with the sound of race cars this week—more than 40 of them, here for a sanctioned IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship test that will help set the field for the 2024 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona endurance race in January.

Besides a chance for drivers and teams to knock the rust off, it’s an opportunity for IMSA officials to get a look at some new entries that are just now breaking cover in a public setting. Those new cars include the Lamborghini SC63 Grand Touring Prototype car (GTP), the Ford Mustang GT3 and the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, as well as cars that have undergone some changes like the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and the Porsche 963 GTP cars.

The Lamborghini, the only all-new entry in the GTP class, won’t debut at the Rolex 24 but will race in March’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. It’s running in this pre-season test to give IMSA a required look at the car. But IMSA had to look quick—the Lambo was the fastest GTP car through Thursday testing, the only day when every class was allowed onto the track.

The underlying purpose of the four-day test is to help set parameters for the 2024 “Balance of Performance” adjustments. The BoP is IMSA’s way of leveling the playing field in a roster of cars that are front- and rear-engine, normally aspirated and turbocharged. The idea is to slow down the faster cars in a class and speed up the slower ones by mandating adjustments like making the cars heavier or lighter, restricting engine air flow and fuel tank size, and tweaking aerodynamics.

This seems especially important in the GT Daytona and GTD Pro classes (those are the cars constructed from road-going counterparts—the more extreme, from-the-ground-up cars are Prototypes, like the GTP and Le Mans Prototype 2 racers). At least one car from each manufacturer in the GTD and GTD Pro classes (the Pro class can use all professional drivers, while the GTD class must have an amateur component) is required to participate in a special Saturday session, which is specifically intended to gather information for the BoP.

Missing this time around are the LMP3 cars, smaller Prototypes that use a common V-8 engine. That class, which will continue to compete in support races, has helped fill out the lineup for the last couple of years, while the new-for-2023 GTP cars, and the newly reconstituted LMP2 class, grew in numbers. Some of the LMP3 competitors, such as the dominant Riley/74 Ranch Resort team, are taking the opportunity to move up to LMP2.

With the exception of the Lamborghini GTP car, everyone will be back January 19–21 for the mandatory Roar Before the Rolex test, including a few cars that didn’t make it down for this event, such as a pair of Corvettes that will be fielded by a customer team from Canada. This is the first time Chevrolet has marketed the IMSA Corvette to customers, something Ford is also doing with its new Mustang GT3, setting up the classic Ford-vs.-Chevy battle—along with BMW, Lexus, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Mercedes AMG, Acura, McLaren, and Porsche.

The 2024 Rolex 24 is scheduled for January 27–28, with a start time of 1:35 p.m. For more information, click here.

***

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It may be just a footnote in the illustrious 60-year history of Lamborghini but this 1972 Jarama still achieved an impressive $187,800 at auction. The perfect pomegranate-hued performance car was a surprise star of Bonham’s Zoute Sale in Belgium.

The Jarama was launched at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show, built on a shortened version of the Espada’s unibody with styling by Marcello Gandini at Bertone. Compared to his masterpiece, the Miura, it’s no beauty, being rather more upright and angular than his best work. There are some nice touches, however, such as the four hooded headlamps and NACA ducts in the hood, skilfully incorporated into the bodywork by coachbuilders Marazzi.

Those feed air to the Giotto Bizzarrini-designed 3.9-liter V-12 engine which initially made 350 horsepower, but in this GTS version was tweaked to 365 hp thanks to a new exhaust and carbs. A five-speed manual transmission was standard, although a Chrysler TorqueFlite auto was also available. The Jarama was suspended by the same independent setup as the Espada and boasted decent disc brakes all around.

In total only 328 Jaramas were made, of which 152 were GTS models. Replacing the Islero and sitting beneath the Espada and Countach as Lamborghini’s entry level model, it was said to have been one of Ferruccio’s favorites thanks to its short wheelbase and low weight. Importantly it could still seat four people in reasonable comfort, making it “the perfect car,” he said.

The just-sold Jarama was the 14th example built, and its pomegranate purple paintwork contrasts with a white leather interior and blue carpets. It was originally sold to an owner in Rome, but for the next 40 years its history is murky. The car was seized by the Italian government in 2016, by which time it had been repainted in blue and covered around 54,000 miles.

Having bought the car off the government the next keeper set about a 1200-hour restoration leaving its new owner nothing to do but change the tires and enjoy it.

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Here’s an Automotive Journalist Hard Truth: You get jaded in this line of work. Not by choice, and not all at once, but it does happen. Talk to anyone who covers this world in some capacity, and I promise you there is a car they used to go nuts over that barely elicits an, “Oh, that’s cool,” now. One day, the car you used to obsess over rolls past, and you don’t even attempt to take your phone out.

I palmed my iPhone Wednesday afternoon as I stepped onto the tarmac at the Monterey airport. Force of habit, but also a test run, spurred on by uncertainty over how many times the device would escape its fabric prison to help freeze a moment in time over the next six days. Optimistically, I hoped that Monterey Car Week would prove to be an antidote for an enthusiasm that had been somewhat tempered by the rolling pin of life. Truthfully, I wasn’t so sure.

Once I got home and had a bit of time to decompress, I checked my photo roll from Wednesday to Sunday evening: 1246 photos, 58 videos. On my DSLR camera, the cards read north of 5100.

At the risk of stating the obvious: There is absolutely nothing like Monterey Car Week. For roughly seven days, the winding roads and towns nestled into the misty coastline of Monterey, California explode with a crop of cars so rich and so diverse that you feel like you got dropped into a David Attenborough documentary blended with Pixar’s Cars franchise. Everything, and everyone, everywhere you look, bleeds passion for the automobile in a truly heartening way.

Things crystallized for me before the first morning’s breakfast reached my gut. I was a guest of Cadillac this week, and our first full day there involved a cruise up and down the Pacific Coast Highway in the brand’s svelte debut EV, the Lyriq. As we rolled away from the hotel and towards historic Highway 1, I began to notice the cars lining the streets. They weren’t exotic metal, but rather, ordinary cars, helmed by perfectly ordinary people.

Trucks with folding chairs and coolers in the bed. Camrys with the trunks open, inhabitants folded into only semi-comfortable looking poses. Some had cameras, sure, but many more were simply there to gawk at whatever came rolling around the bend, hoping to catch a glimpse of something that got their heart pumping.

And they had no shortage of choices to get excited over. During our 100-ish-mile tour, we were passed by everything from vintage Camaros to a McLaren F1 GTR Longtail (!!!) to a Bugatti Chiron to a handful of the historic vehicles that would take their rightful places later that week in the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Car Week’s marquee event.

Everyone at the wheel of a significant car—and you can set your own parameters for that qualification—was full of smiles, ready to wave to those posted up and watching. The egalitarian nature of the cruise sat in my brain like a happy marine layer; sure, that Ferrari 250 GT SWB might be worth several million dollars, but no price tag can buy it a pass around the ratty Miata two cars ahead. Might as well sit back and enjoy the processional. A smile and a friendly wave don’t carry a transactional value—they’re just acknowledgments of the common bond between those who scraped to buy one car they enjoy and those whose collections fill entire warehouses.

The next day, I had the chance to attend the Porsche Werks Reunion, a marque-specific show held on Friday at the Monterey Pines golf course. The free-to-attend event (there’s a fee for parking inside the event, but plenty of folks found nearby lots to walk in from) is unmitigated Stuttgart, celebrating the brand’s rich history, passionate owners, and rabid fans.

We enthusiasts are remarkably tribal, a reality that both fuels and stymies enthusiasm for the automobile. You’d think the parking lot of a Porsche event would hold, well, Porsches. And it did—several hundred, by my unscientific estimation. But it also held Lamborghinis, Ferraris, drift-ready Nssain 240 SXs, lifted Toyota Land Cruisers, heavy-duty pickups, and bone-stock 2022 Nissan Altimas. It felt like an armistice had been called between the factions; everyone just wanted to see cool cars.

There was no armistice at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, however. Seeing aces like Ron Fellows slicing through the fields of unforgettable race cars blew me away. So much so, in fact, that I’m writing a separate story on it. Stay tuned.

Of course, Monterey Car Week is centered around Sunday’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. This year, the swanky show featured 200 cars spread across 27 classes, each celebrating an automotive milestone or highlighting some of the hobby’s grandest eras. The night before, I dialed up Eddy Eckart’s story from last year’s event, which read as a lovely ode to the diversity of the hobby. I was hopeful that the following day would bear similar fruit for a first-timer like me.

I didn’t have to wait long to find my answer. Running on precious few hours of rest, I headed to the bucket-list golf course well before the sun rose to experience Dawn Patrol, one of the Concours’ grandest traditions. I watched as icon after icon rumbled past and headed out to take its place on the lawn.

Buzz and daylight grew in unison as the festivities got underway. Flush with a hearty breakfast and an unmentionable amount of coffee, I headed out to walk this year’s crop. Hand up, I’m not all that familiar with prewar cars, which are often considered the hallmark era for the event. But as I wandered among the preservation-class Packards and the gleaming chrome of the Figoni coachbuilt exotics, it was hard not to get caught up by their exquisite craftsmanship.

I wasn’t the only young enthusiast taken by these beasts, either. Scores of young folks that I would have expected to find swarming the 1994 Lamborghini Diablo SE30 Coupé were also taken by machinery that predated them by several decades. Phones were out everywhere I turned, busy snapping pictures. More impressively, plenty of folks were stopping to ask owners and handlers more details about the cars before them, curiosity trumping generational divides.

As the day drew to a close and confetti cannons emptied over the fenders of the 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster that ultimately took home the coveted Best of Show award, I finally stopped to catch my breath. The cars filtered off the lawn and a single-file line of heroes headed back to waiting transport trucks. I flipped through my phone, trying to re-sear the stunning machines into my psyche. Some of the cars will stick with me forever, others will undoubtedly be relegated to the program that snuck into my suitcase before making the flights home. So it goes.

Strip away the dizzying auction results and the unspoken exclusivity that surrounds so much of this week. When you evaluate what’s left, you’ll see that dollar signs aren’t the metric to use. Rather, check your camera rolls. Hiding among the throngs of photos and videos, the conversations and the moments of exclamation, you might just rediscover that child-like exuberance that first led you to pick up a wrench, a magazine, or a set of keys.

I know I sure did.

***

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If you’re a fan of the newest and wildest cars from the world’s most chic automakers, there are only a few places you can see them en masse and IRL. One of those places is Monterey Car Week, an annual smattering of glamorous automotive events held in California each August. Hagerty attends each year, with much of its focus on the vintage metal at the collector-car auctions, historic races, and the swanky Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. However, we’d be remiss if we left out the newcomers scattered on the various manicured lawns of the Monterey Peninsula.

The automakers present say much about the status of Monterey Car Week: Bugatti, Aston Martin, Maserati, and Lamborghini all told us to expect new vehicles, and a few of their compatriots, like Ferrari and Automobilia Pininfarina, showed up with their own. Here are eight exotics, each one headed for production—most, in very limited quantity—and a few that are one of a kind. We’ve even included a bonus concept car from Acura. Whether it will be built, who could say.

Enjoy!

Bugatti Chiron “Golden Era” — 1 built

The Chiron was introduced to the world seven years ago at the Geneva motor show, another destination event for exotic-car seekers. Though EV pioneer Mate Rimac, who took leadership of Bugatti in 2021, says that there’s a future for the internal-combustion engine under his reign, he hasn’t been any more concrete than that. The Chiron, with its sixteen cylinders and four turbochargers is enjoying a sort of early nostalgia—a reminder of gas-powered supercars that may be in their twilight era. The slew of one-off variants, typical for a high-end manufacturer such as Bugatti, is leaning heavily into that emotion.

The “Golden Era” Chiron shown for the first time at Monterey is a bit … on the nose. It’s a Super Sport model—the long-tail one with 1577 rather than 1500 hp—tailored by Bugatti’s customization department, Sur Mesure. The stand-out details: sketches of past Bugattis hand-drawn on the car’s sides, a project that took over 400 hours. The passenger door has 26 drawings, spanning milestones in Bugatti’s history from 1909 to 1956. The chronology is completed by the 19 sketches on the driver’s side door.

Aston Martin Valour — 110 to be built

If this Aston looks familiar, it’s because the automaker revealed press photography and mechanical specs in July. Last week, however, marked its first showing in North America. Newsworthy? Not hugely, but we’re happier now that we’ve laid eyes on this gorgeous, manual-transmission, twin-turbo-V-12-powered coupe. It does really exist, and it is awesome.

So awesome that it distracted us from the Aston that was announced just a few days ago, the new one we were told to expect: The convertible variant of the DB12. You can read more about it here.

Maserati MCXtrema — 62 to be built

When Maserati showed us the sultry MC20 supercar—powered by an engine built not by Ferrari but by Maserati itself—it also told us that the brand would go back into racing. The MCXtrema isn’t the version of the MC20 that will go racing (that’s the GT2 we first saw in June); think of it as a private track-day toy to court the sort of deep-pocketed sponsors you’d need to run a factory race team. (Toy, for the record, comes straight from the press release.) The name is a bit immature, unfortunately; it sounds like it belongs on an energy drink, not a pure-bred Italian supercar hot-rodded with 100 extra hp by the brand that made it.

Ferrari Tailor Made 812 Competizione — 1 built

A supercar should look like something you jotted in your notebook margins in high school, right? Ferrari’s latest one-off is creative and quite cool. Maranello’s customization division chose an 812 Competizione—of which Ferrari will only make 999—and, after painting it matte yellow, decided to imagine the V-12 coupe as a life-sized version of a design sketch, which Ferrari designers traditionally scribble on yellow paper. The motif of an in-progress drawing is carried out inside, where Ferrari actually embroidered words and arrows on the Alcantara and polyester surfaces.

Lamborghini Lanzador — TBD

We should have suspected, when Lamborghini assured us that its new concept “would not be an SUV,” that the automaker would show us something … that we’d want to call an SUV.

This is the Lanzador. (Blame whoever was naming fighting bulls back in the ’90s.) It is a “high ground-clearance GT with 2+2 seats,” powered by two electric motors, one on each axle. Lambo isn’t talking output yet, but the whole package is shouty enough to work. Most customers will probably know it as “the electric Lamborghini,” and in that role, the Lanzador probably will do quite well. Expect some version of it to hit production in 2028.

Pininfarina B95 — 10 to be built

Though the first Tesla was actually a convertible, most EVs today are fixed-roof affairs. That makes Pininfarina Automobili’s open-top, 1874-hp beauty even more exotic. Called the B95, its drivetrain is taken from the $2M Battista hypercar: a motor on each wheel, and a T-shaped arrangement of lithium-ion cells.

Would you ever want to be caught in a rainstorm in this? No, but when you can afford a one-of-10 car, you probably can employ your own weatherman to tell you when it’s safe to cruise the French Riviera. Pininfarina will even let you customize two helmets to match your B95 … which you have already customized, of course. The automaker assures us that no two B95s will be alike.

Bentley

2023 marks 20 years of Bentley’s two-door, W-12- or V-8-powered grand tourer, the first model produced by the company after it was purchased by the VW Group in 1998. While a livery of VW badges would have been hilarious, Bentley kept things classy for the anniversary.

A one-off only made sense when celebrating Bentley’s top-selling model. It chose a hotter, “Speed” variant and gave it a color scheme to match the very first 2000s-era Continental GT: green over tan, with an appropriate but subtle smattering of commemorative sill plates, dash engravings, and exterior badges. We can smell the leather from here … mmm.

Rolls-Royce Drop Tail — 4 to be built

Wondering why Rolls-Royce’s Drop Tail costs $37M? One huge reason is the bespoke carbon-fiber monocoque that forms the essential structure of the V-12-powered two-seat roadster. Rolls is only building four examples, which means the development and tooling costs are probably nauseating: Lowering per-unit costs by increasing volume was clearly not a concern here.

Oh, and then there’s the 1603-piece wood-panel dashboard, which took one painstaking soul more than nine months to finish. And the swooping tail of the vehicle, which took who knows how many designers and engineers two years to refine. Time is money, and all that …

Bonus: Acura Performance Electric Vision Design Study — TBD

Monterey evidently gets Acura feeling all dramatic and coy about upcoming products. Two years ago, we saw a silhouette of the new Integra in the sky, formed by an array of illuminated drones.

For 2023, we—well, if we squint—see something low-slung and swoopy, with two doors and absolutely no room for anything more than two people. It will be all-electric, no surprise, and high-performance: The next NSX, perhaps? Who knows. Maybe Acura will roll out the chorus of singing angels for that one.

***

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The Murciélago hit the road in 2001 as the next installment of all-conquering, scissor-doored supercars from Lamborghini. As a follow-up to the Diablo, the “Murci” was an improvement in every way, thanks in large part to the solid financial footing provided by Lambo’s new German corporate overlord, the Volkswagen Audi Group.

Styled by VAG’s all-star Belgian designer, Luc Donckerwolke, the Murciélago furthered Sant’Agata’s tradition of handsome wedges first set forth in the Countach nearly three decades before. And in keeping with the heritage of Lambo’s flagship models, including that very same Countach, power came from a stonking V-12 longitudinally mounted amidships.

In the Murci, the 6.2-liter mill put out 572 horsepower at a screaming 7500 rpm. A gated six-speed shifter gave drivers analog control of that output, which went to all four wheels through a viscous-coupling center differential and propelled the car to more than 200 mph.

A roadster came along in 2004, and in 2006 Lamborghini upgraded the Murci to the LP-640 variant, in either coupe or roadster guise, boasting 632 hp from 6.5 liters. But 2004 didn’t just mark the introduction of an open car. It also saw Lamborghini enter the era of semi-automatic transmissions, with the E-gear paddle-shift automated manual. This marked a drastic change not only in production but in the way customers spec’d their new Lambos.

Between 2001 and 2006, total worldwide production of the original 6.2-liter Murciélagos came to 1921 cars, and manual coupes accounted for 985 of them—fully 51 percent. By the time the 6.5L LP-640 bowed out in 2010, that variant’s total worldwide production came to 1675 cars. Only 88 coupes—just 5 percent—were fitted with the six-speed manual. Holy shift!

Our Sale of the Week is one such manual-equipped LP-640, a 2007 model that sold August 8 on Cars & Bids for $710,000, a public record for the Murciélago and the most valuable vehicle ever to sell on the platform.

This bull was no spring chicken, either; the odometer shows 49,800 miles, which is practically daily driver territory for a Lambo. Clad in Monterey Blue, it’s not even one of the orange, green, or yellow hues generally regarded as more desirable. So, what gives?

Well, Ed Bolian gives.

You may know Bolian as the guy who rented exotic cars through his dorm-room business in college. Or as the guy who smashed the Cannonball record in a Mercedes CL55 AMG in 2013. Or as cofounder of the vehicle history reporting app VINwiki. More than likely, however, you might know him from his YouTube videos, either under his own name or under the VINwiki banner, which currently boasts about 2 million subscribers. Bolian is smart, passionate, charming, and all about that Murciélago life. More specifically, his bovid fancy tends toward the gated six-speed variety. Until August 8, he owned two manual Murcis. Now he owns three.

And he loves putting miles on them. In fact, the harder they’ve been driven, the more they seem to appeal to him. In the comments on Cars & Bids, he claims to have driven one of his cars from Atlanta to Miami and back—solely to bring its total mileage above the miles on this one.

There’s a reason Hagerty included the Murciélago on its 2023 Bull Market list of cars positioned to gain value in the next year. Particularly the manual versions. At the time of publication in the January issue of Hagerty Drivers Club magazine, we wrote:

The rush to find analog supercars with manual transmissions overlooked the Murciélago. Shifting owner demographics suggest this is slowly changing, but a couple of big sales could change the perception of the Murci quickly. Values for the Murciélago are up 48 percent since 2019 but have lagged behind those of cars like the Porsche Carrera GT, which doubled in value over the same period. As next-generation enthusiasts are a growing share of owners (approaching two-thirds), values for the Murciélago appear poised for more appreciation.

Now in his late 30s, Bolian is very much a next-gen enthusiast. And this was very much a big sale—big enough that it’s hard to see how perception of the Murciélago doesn’t change moving forward. His YouTube following certainly won’t detract from that perception.

Currently, we value LP-640 Murciélagos with the E-gear transmission at $420,000 for a #1, Concours-condition example. This car was far from Concours—and slightly modified—and it still sold for $290,000 over that value, a 70 percent bump. The manual surely accounts for some of that, but even our pricing model for these cars is getting dizzy. By Bolian’s own estimate, had this car been completely original with fewer than 5000 miles, “I am confident it would bring $1.5 million this afternoon.”

That’s a big claim, for sure. But given the rapidly increasing appeal of rapidly decreasing analog supercars, it may not be long before Bolian is right. And it would surprise no one if he writes the check.

***

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Via Insider

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Lamborghini’s unique breed of supercars has become part of popular culture. Its scissor doors make regular appearances in music videos and social media posts, the Countach earned a spot on the National Historic Vehicle Register, and the Aventador is present in nearly every toy store in the world.

It wasn’t always this way. Before the Miura, which created the template for the modern supercar, the company planted its stake in the gran turismo segment with a pair of coupes called 350 GT and 400 GT, respectively. GTs have since faded from the Lamborghini range, but they played a significant role in shaping the image and the values that characterize the company today.

Muting Ferrari’s chatter

Ferruccio Lamborghini diligently made a name and a fortune for himself by building tractors, but adding “carmaker” to his resume wasn’t as random as it might seem. He notably competed in the 1948 Mille Miglia with a barchetta based on the humble Fiat Topolino. While the little roadster dropped out of the race, Lamborghini didn’t lose his appetite for speed. His success allowed him to own some of the fastest and most expensive cars available in Italy, including models made by Ferrari. It was the Prancing Horse’s reliability-related problems (and, according to many accounts, Enzo Ferrari’s callous attitude towards customers who complained about mechanical issues) that led Lamborghini to start his own company.

Lamborghini founded Lamborghini in 1963, when there was no shortage of small, obscure carmakers looking to capitalize on a growing demand for fast cars on both sides of the Atlantic. His first concept, the 350 GTV, made its debut to the popping of flashbulbs at the 1963 Turin auto show. It remained a one-off, but it spawned a production model called 350 GT that was presented at the 1964 Geneva auto show.

This is where it all started: the first production-bound Lamborghini was born.

Young, passionate engineers like Paolo Stanzani and Giampaolo Dallara helped make the 350 GT a reality. On paper, the coupe featured a relatively conventional layout: it was powered by a front-mounted, 3.5-liter V-12 engine that spun the rear wheels. Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring built around 135 units of the first Lamborghini, which was an impressive figure for a small company peddling its first car.

There was one way to tell whether Lamborghini was on the brink of stardom or if it had experienced a bout of beginner’s luck: launch a second model. Released in 1966, the 400 GT landed as an evolution of its predecessor with a redesigned front end, a more spacious interior, and a larger, 3.9-liter V-12. Orders poured in, and production totaled approximately 273 examples. While that doesn’t exactly sound like a smash hit, three-digit production figures were fairly common in this sector of the Italian automotive industry during the 1960s; Ferrari built roughly 200 examples of the Pininfarina-designed 275 GTS from 1964 to 1966.

Several high-profile individuals purchased a 400 GT, including Paul McCartney, and a handful of examples were exported to overseas markets like Japan. In hindsight, one of the 400 GT’s fiercest competitors came not from Maranello, Modena, or Coventry but from Lamborghini’s headquarters in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy. The revolutionary Miura made its debut in 1966 as well and quickly overshadowed the 400 GT; it was arguably the first supercar, and it’s the car that made Lamborghini a household name.

Performance meets elegance

Lamborghini tossed me the keys to one of the last 400 GTs. Built in December 1967 and assigned chassis number 01324, it’s a Swiss-market car finished in Saint Vincent Gray with a tobacco interior, and it was ordered with a handful of options such as a heated rear window. Stepping inside is like discovering a new side of the company: luxury is the main theme in the cabin. There’s soft leather everywhere, a wood-rimmed steering wheel, and wood trim on the top part of the center stack. In the back, there’s a two-person bench seat that I wouldn’t mind having as a couch in my living room. It’s not that Lamborghini no longer dabbles in luxury, everything inside its current cars is nice to touch and look at, but even the Urus SUV feels like it was designed with a focus on performance. Not here; this is first and foremost a luxury car. If you want more proof, pop the hood: the underside of it is covered with square-stitched upholstery.

Reach past the wood shift knob to put the key in the ignition barrel, hear the fuel pump click a couple of times, start the V-12, and the luxurious interior becomes an interesting paradox. While you’re not sitting on a bucket seat and surrounded by a roll cage, the engine sounds like it belongs in a race car. Open the (power-operated!) window to let the sound in, close your eyes, and you may as well be at the 1967 Targa Florio. Luckily, the naturally-aspirated V-12’s roar still echoes through Lamborghini’s headquarters today. It’s a configuration that the company has pledged to keep alive for as long as regulations allow it.

It takes only a couple of miles on the roads that snake through the mountains separating Bologna and Florence to get used to the 400 GT. It’s a relatively smooth and easy car to drive: the steering is fairly light, not overly quick, and precise, the shifter’s throws are short and direct, and the power is always there when you need it. The 3.9-liter V-12 slurps fuel from a constellation of six carburetors to develop 320 horsepower, which was a monumental amount in the late 1960s; in comparison, a 1967 911 S used a 2.0-liter flat-six rated at 180 horsepower. With so much power on tap, and an engine that’s markedly more cheerful when the needle is hovering in the upper part of the tachometer, Lamborghini engineers gave the 400 GT relatively long gears and you’re not constantly shifting up and down to keep moving.

The V-12’s sound gets better as the pace picks up, and it’s accompanied by a subtle whine coming from the five-speed manual gearbox. One of the more fascinating aspects of driving the 400 GT is how effortlessly it keeps up with traffic. In a lot of cars from this era, you feel like you’re going fast even if you’re not. That’s the impression I get after driving, say, an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint. Not here; the 400 GT moves with a real sense of urgency, and the brakes are powerful enough to keep the fun in check. While I wasn’t able to test this, Lamborghini tells me the coupe keeps going until its speedometer shows 155 mph. Put another way, you’ll (eventually) beat a BMW i4 in a pedal-to-the-floor race on the autobahn.

Although the mighty V-12 is the 400 GT’s soul, the chassis doesn’t disappoint. This is where the GT genes become dominant: the 400 GT behaves elegantly, even through hairpin turns, thanks to a chassis that strikes a balance between performance and comfort without leaving the realm of sportiness. The ride is never overly firm but body roll is never excessive, either. In this sense, the 400 GT is closer to cars like the current-generation Maserati Gran Turismo, for example, than to the Aventador. It’s happy to go along with whatever you’ve got planned as long as you don’t push it too far toward either extreme. This is part of what sets it apart from the Miura, which leans far more towards the performance side of the scale.

Ripe for revival?

The 400 GT retired in 1968 and passed the torch to the short-lived Islero, which featured a more angular design. That same year, the striking-looking Espada made its debut and remained in production for a decade. It wasn’t directly replaced, and Lamborghini exited the GT segment.

By the beginning of the 1980s, the extravagant Countach had become firmly embedded into the automotive landscape and the market for big, expensive coupes with four seats was coasting in neutral. No one has truly managed to jump-start it since, but Lamborghini hasn’t forgotten about the GT side of its heritage: its first electric model due out before the end of the decade will reportedly take the form of “a 2+2 two-door car.” Despite the future-focused push, the dream of a world-class GT car may soon resurface.

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The California coastal town will become the center of the auto universe from August 11-20 as the manicured lawns of Monterey Car Week see world debuts from Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Maserati, and Bugatti.

The British sports car brand will celebrate its 110th anniversary in style with an exclusive clubhouse called the Aston Martin Club 1913, and put the mighty Valour on display for the first time in the U.S.A. The DBX707 and DB12 will be on show, while a “world-first new model” will also be revealed—widely expected to be the convertible version of the DB12.

Bugatti is set to unveil a very special Chiron as “an homage to the era-defining moments in the history of Bugatti.” Bugatti references its Golden Era and the teaser image suggests that the paintwork at least will be precious-metal themed.

Maserati, meanwhile, will showcase its MCXtrema race car. The MC20-based machine is said to offer up over 730 hp, with just 62 examples to be built.

It’s Lamborghini, however, which will likely draw the biggest crowds as it takes the wraps off the first prototype EV from Sant’Agata. It’s not slated for production for another five years, but the 2+2 grand tourer sets Lamborghini on a new path. The company claims it won’t be an SUV, suggesting that it could be more of a spiritual successor to the Espada.

Stay tuned over the next few days as we bring more details of each of these exotic unveilings.

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Lamborghini is riding high on unprecedented financial figures thanks in no small part to America’s love of the Raging Bull.

Out of a total of 5341 cars delivered in the first six months of 2023 the U.S.A. took 1625, while the appetite for Sant’Agata supercars in the U.K. put the country in second spot with 514 sold. Germany followed with 511 deliveries, then came China, Hong Kong and Macau taking 450 cars between them. Japanese fans ordered 280 Lamborghinis while 270 were sold in its home market of Italy. Overall sales worldwide were up by 4.9 percent compared to the same period in 2022.

These record-breaking numbers were achieved with just a two-car line-up of the Urus and Huracán, as the long-serving Aventador was discontinued and its replacement, the Revuelto, is only just coming on stream.

Lamborghini’s 60th anniversary has so far seen an increase in revenues to more than $1.5 bn, representing an uptick of 6.7 percent. “We are really excited about these numbers, delivered with only two models in the range, in a year that we can define as special for Lamborghini,” said boss Stephan Winkelmann.

Winkelman also told Automotive News that selling 10,000 cars for the first time in its history was a “feasible goal.” In 2022 the company delivered more than 9200 vehicles, and the way things are going more records will surely tumble.

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Lamborghini has finally revealed its SC63 hybrid prototype race car that will debut at the 2024 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in January, as well as race in the FIA World Endurance Championship races overseas. The reveal came at the Goodwood Festival of Speed motoring show in England this morning.

The GTP Lamborghini will compete next year in the four North American endurance championship races in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series, which are at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, and at the season finale, Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Current GTP competitors are Cadillac, BMW, Porsche, and Acura. Additional manufacturers are expected to join the class.

The Lamborghini platform, which is built by Ligier, uses an all-new 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-8 engine that has been developed by Lamborghini engineers specifically for the racing program. The engine is a “cold V” configuration, meaning that the turbos are mounted outside the “V” angle of the engine which makes them easier to cool and to service. Furthermore, the “cold V” solution lowers the mass and optimizes the car’s center of gravity, Lamborghini says.

Said Stephan Winkelmann, Lamborghini Chairman and CEO: “The opportunity to compete in some of the biggest endurance races in the world with a hybrid prototype fits with our vision for the future of high-performance mobility, as demonstrated for road legal cars with the launch of the Revuelto. The SC63 LMDh is the step into the highest echelons and into the future of motorsports for our Squadra Corse.” Lamborghini currently competes in the GT classes of sports car racing, which won’t change.

This project follows the “Direzione Cor Tauri” strategy presented in 2021: A roadmap for electrification leading the company to hybridize the entire model range by the end of 2024, “enhancing driving emotions and performance at the same time.”

Drivers will be Lamborghini factory racers Mirko Bortolotti and Andrea Caldarelli, together with new drivers Daniil Kvyat and Romain Grosjean. The latter two have recent race experience in hybrids in Formula 1 and have been able to help the engineers to tune the LMDh system, specifically helping to design the steering wheel controls to allow the driver to control the necessary functions of the hybrid system. Additional drivers will be announced later this year. The Iron Lynx team will field the entries.

“This year marks not only the 60th anniversary of our brand, but also the tenth anniversary of Squadra Corse, Lamborghini’s motorsport division,” said Giorgio Sanna, Lamborghini’s Head of Motorsport. “Over the last decade we have achieved great results. Starting from scratch we have won some of the most prestigious endurance races in the GT category for our production-based racing cars. These include three class wins at the 24 hours of Daytona, and two wins in a row at the Sebring 12 hours. Now we are ready for what is our biggest step into the future of motorsport, measuring ourselves against the best manufacturers in the world.”

***

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An Italian furniture maker and gentleman racer has combined his two passions in creating a remarkable resto-mod Lamborghini Diablo. Having built a home-furnishing empire, entrepreneur Emanuel Colombini who competes in the Super Trofeo Lamborghini series, has now decided get into the car making game.

He’s not going it alone, of course, bringing in a group of experts to make his dream a reality. The design work has been done by consultancy Borromeo & deSilva, which previously penned the lovely Nardone Porsche 928 resto-mod, along with technical support from Brembo for braking, Capristo for the exhaust, Alcantara for fabrics, and Marantz for the audio system.

The Diablo will be the first car from Colombini’s new company Eccentrica, and it’s been a long time coming, he explains. “As a child I remember seeing the red Diablo in the first release of the Quattroruote magazine. It was love at first sight!,” he says. “Later, after having had the chance to drive the GT version, I decided to pay homage to it, conceiving of a resto-mod company built around this project. At its essence lies the idea that the hypercar and supercar market will require a product with a more authentic soul, precisely like the sensations drivers experienced while driving these speedsters.”

Although all the bodywork is actually new Borromeo & deSilva has been careful not to corrupt the original Marcello Gandini design too much. The nose is simplified, and modern lighting is installed, while the side skirts now boast significant aero features. Twin air scoops feed the engine bay and the rear retains its trademark four circular lights, albeit updated with the latest technology. The Eccentrica is wider than the donor car and wears 19-inch rims with Pirelli tires.

The interior has had a total overhaul in Alcantara and carbon fiber, with a dashboard that is perhaps even more retro than the original Diablo. The digital display has a charming 8-bit graphic quality, while still being clear and functional.

The 5.7-liter V-12 engine receives new valves and camshafts to increase power to 550 hp at 7000rpm. With the lightweighting that has gone on throughout the car, Eccentrica claims a 0-62 mph time of 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 220 mph. The steel tubular chassis is said to be reinforced, and Brembo six-piston monoblock calipers are fitted, but there’s no detail on suspension upgrades.

Eccentrica is planning to make just 19 examples, priced from €1.2 million ($1.3m) with each taking 18 months to build. If you can’t wait that long to see one the car will be on display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed before going on a U.S. tour beginning at Monterey Car Week in August and then moving on to New York and Miami in September and October.

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Soaring sales and record profits at Sant’Agata mean that Lamborghini won’t need to lean on Audi for the successor to to the Huracán.

That’s according to Lamborghini’s Asia-Pacific region boss Francesco Scardaoni who told drive.com.au “Since we’ve been so profitable, we got the green light to develop our own platform.”

The Huracán, and its predecessor the Gallardo, were both very closely related to the Audi R8, keeping Lamborghini’s development costs down, and adding new levels of reliability and ease of use to the Italian brand. However, the next baby Lambo will be an all-Italian affair as the company’s bulging bank balance means it can afford to go ahead without Audi.

In 2022 Lamborghini sold 9233 cars (of which over half were Urus SUVs) for a profit of $672 million.

“Being able to design our own platform gives us even more freedom to create the platform that best fits the Lamborghini DNA without any compromise,” said Scardaoni. “It’s more difficult, it requires larger investments—and this is why we’re able to do it now. The company is setting records, quarter over quarter, year over year in terms of financials so … we are able to invest a huge amount of money in terms of research and development and to design our own platforms.”

Another factor in Lamborghini’s decision will be Audi’s commitment to electrification, with a third generation R8 being axed from the product plan. Lamborghini is determined to stick with internal combustion for as long as possible and the Huracán replacement will most likely be V-8 with a plug-in hybrid system derived from the Revuelto.

It’s expected to debut in 2024, and if it’s anything like the Huracán, which is sold out until the end of its production, the new model will be a major money maker.

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In the last of his series driving Lamborghini Legends, Hagerty European correspondent Nik Berg samples the final V-12 built before Lamborghini electrifies.

It is the end of an era at Sant’Agata Bologna. No more will any Lamborghini be powered by the undiluted awesomeness of a pure V-12 engine.

That’s not to say the dozen is dead, but from the new Revuelto onwards it will have work in harmony with electricity. There’ll be lower emissions, more power and speed, but also more mass. In due course we’ll discover whether hybridization will amount to character assassination or positive transformation.

As a replacement for the long-lived Aventador, the Revuelto has a tough act to follow. The Aventador was so advanced when it launched in 2011 that, with only minor updates, it has arguably stayed ahead of the supercar curve for more than a decade.

The Aventador was the first Lamborghini to use a carbon-fiber monocoque, with the cockpit, floor, and roof comprised of a “single shell” structure. With front and rear subframes made of aluminum, the entire ensemble weighed just over 500 pounds. Formula 1-style pushrod suspension was another first, and would later be updated with magnetorheological shock absorbers providing an adaptive ride setup.

The car’s all-wheel drive system deployed a central clutch-based Haldex coupling to distribute power between the front and rear axles. It also came with a sophisticated electronic stability control system branded Lamborghini Dinamica Veicolo Attiva (LDVA – Lamborghini Active Vehicle Dynamics), a robotize manual transmission with seven speeds, and five different drive modes. Later developments would include active aerodynamics, all-wheel steering and, to appease the bureaucrats, both stop-start and cylinder deactivation.

The V-12 heart of the Aventador was the largest and most powerful unit to be fitted to a Lamborghini. At 6498cc it produced 690 hp at 8250 rpm in the earliest models, rising to 780 hp in the very last Ultimae edition.

That car now sits outside the factory on a dark and drizzly morning. What stands before me really is the final example to roll off the production line. The ultimate Ultimae, if you like.

Fundamentally, this Aventador is every bit as jaw-dropping as it was back when it launched. The styling may have had a little surgery here and there—most noticeably the extra carbon aero features at the nose, along the skirts and at the rear diffuser—but it’s a design who stunning effect has not dated one bit. Not pretty, per se, but powerful.

Bronze Leirion forged alloy wheels pop against the bright Blue Tawaret paintwork. I’ve never understood the mindset of a supercar buyer who picks a dark, sober color scheme, as if an Aventador could ever fly under the radar. So this stand-out racing blue is already a winner as far as I’m concerned.

Up swings the scissor door, to reveal a cockpit that mixes leather, Alcantara, and exposed carbon fiber to perfection. It’s perhaps a little dark, but what it does do is draw the eye to the drama of the red-for-danger flip switch for the starter button.

Firing up the Aventador is pure theater. There is no practical reason to hide the engine start button beneath a military-style cover, it just adds to the anticipation.

Anticipation: something that has building up for me since I first received an invitation to celebrate Lamborghini’s 60th anniversary by driving its most legendary cars. Although this is the last of that series of stories published here, the Aventador is actually the first car I get to drive.

The inclement wet weather is a precursor to the horrific floods that would hit the Emilia-Romagna region a week later, and, even with all-wheel drive, the prospect of unleashing 780 hp on damp roads is intimidating.

So, too, is the sheer size of the Aventador. It’s not the length that’s the issue but simply the width. The car’s girth appears to consume every inch of the single-track road that leads away from Sant’Agata to Manzolino. Fortunately, there’s a lead car, an Urus SUV, clearing the path—or at least warning me of oncoming traffic over a walkie-talkie. Even so, I definitely wince as farm vehicles squeeze past.

One consolation is that in the Strada drive mode, which defaults to automatic shifts, I don’t need to worry about working the paddles for the first few miles while I get accustomed to the Aventador’s beefy dimensions.

As I hit alpine route SP27 I gain a bit of road width once more, the first opportunity for our caravan of six V-12s and two V-10s to open up. I’m behind all the older V-12s and, even leaving a large gap, every dab of the accelerator hurls me towards the back of the Murciélago ahead. This is a car capable of reaching 62 mph from rest in 2.8 seconds and 124 mph in 8.7. On backroads like these it’s impossible to exploit its potential, yet it’s somewhere between exciting and utterly terrifying having a go.

That dance, I guess, is the whole point of a V-12 Lamborghini.

As I look back now, having had time behind the wheel of its legendary predecessors—the 400GT, Miura, Countach, and Diablo—what’s most amazing about the Aventador is its split personality. In its most docile driving mode you could cruise comfortably for vast distances, lulled into a false sense of security by just how simple it is to drive, leaving aside the sheer size of it. Yet with the toggle of a switch or two and a hard press of the accelerator it transforms instantly into the furious tail-whipping beast depicted on the Lamborghini badge.

The Revuelto, with its silent-running electric mode, will perhaps make this metamorphosis even more mind-blowing. Here’s hoping I won’t have to wait another 60 years to find out for certain.

***

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Welcome to Lamborghini Legends, a series of stories to mark the Italian brand’s 60th anniversary. In each installment, our European correspondent gets behind the wheel of one of Sant’Agata’s all-time greats. This time it’s the Audi-influenced Gallardo. 

According to the Lamborghini’s dashboard display, today is September 4, 2003. The date is just a few weeks after the company unveiled this car, the Gallardo, to the public at the Geneva Motor Show. The vehicle had taken a long and winding road to get there.

Sixteen years earlier, Lamborghini began work on a successor to the V-8-powered Urraco (1972–79) and Jalpa (1981–88). “Project 140” was conceived with a V-10 engine, and, had it made production on the original timeline, would have been the first production car in the world to have such a layout, predating even the Dodge Viper.

The 72-degree V-10 developed by Massimo Ceccarani and Maurizio Reggiani was innovative, if impractical. For example, the gearbox was integrated into the oil-pan area. The configuration was a neat piece of packaging but raised the engine too high; the arrangement would mess up any car’s center of gravity. Development stopped. Lamborghini started shopping around for an off-the-shelf V-8 to use for the car, internally known as the “baby Diablo.”

In 1998 Audi bought the Italian supercar brand and immediately breathed new life into the project. Never mind using someone else’s V-8; when it was unveiled to the public as the Gallardo in 2003, the car used V-10 power and was built on an aluminum tubular spaceframe.

The five-liter V-10 engine was of Lamborghini’s own design, its two banks of five cylinders at a 90-degree angle. To reduce weight and cost, the crankcase was made with a hypereutectic aluminum, which allowed cylinder liners to be cast directly on the aluminum. This method shortened the distance between the cylinders and, in turn, the overall length of the engine. The block and crankcase would be manufactured by Audi. Engine assembly was the job of the Lamborghini artisans in Sant’Agata.

Lamborghini offered the Gallardo with a six-speed gated manual transmission, but the robotized E-Gear system proved the clear winner with customers. It’s estimated that only 15 percent of Gallardos left the factory with stickshifts. Also a rarity are two-wheel drive models. Only a handful were made, including 250 LP550-2 Valentino Balboni editions and a smattering of one-offs.

The Gallardo LP510-4 here is a perfect example of what is still Lamborghini’s most successful model. It’s a fabulous-looking thing; Luc Donckerwolke’s design is aging well. I’m particularly fond of the irregular, five-sided “nostrils” on the bull’s snout. Even in Giallo Midas yellow, the Gallardo is not exceptionally showy: The profile is classic supercar wedge and even the sizeable air intakes for the engine are unfussy. The louvered engine cover and vents are the best features of a rear end that’s otherwise a little plain, however.

Wide-opening, conventional doors reveal an interior to which the passing years have been less kind. There’s a notable contrast in quality between the areas that have been hand-stitched in grey hide and those that are made from plastic. Audi-sourced switches for the HVAC system are perfectly functional but just don’t feel special.

My biggest gripe is with the paddles for the E-Gear transmission. Firstly, they’re plastic, a choice which smacks of penny-pinching. Secondly, they’re set too high: With hands at quarter-to-three on the wheel, you have to reach up to shift gears.

The poor shifting ergonomics are a shame, because that 500-hp V-10 loves to be stretched right to its 8000-rpm redline. Clicking up and down with the paddles is fast and effective but hardly joyful. At low speeds, shifting can also be a bit herky-jerky, requiring very careful application of the throttle for smooth progress.

No Lambo likes to travel slow, and as last in the line of a fast-moving convoy of Sant’Agata classics, slow is not an option for me. The Gallardo might be down two cylinders on the V-12 cars ahead, but the slightly off-beat wail of the V-10 still goes down as one of the greatest automotive backing tracks ever made. I can’t resist downshifting a couple of times in a tunnel just to hear the sound amplified off the concrete walls.

Final Gallardo iterations would push out an additional 6o horsepower, but the first models were hardly under-endowed. From a standing start to 62 mph takes 4.2 seconds, with top speed pegged at 192 mph.

Beyond the sound and speed the Gallardo is, well, just rather easy to drive. Only parking potentially raises a problem, thanks to Lamborghini’s traditional view that what’s behind you simply doesn’t matter. The power steering is meaty enough without being taxing, the brakes seem more than up to the task, with four-pot calipers on the front and twin-piston ones at the rear. All-around independent suspension with deformable double wishbones provides tidy body control and a ride that one could live with on a daily basis.

Livability, of course, was the point of the Gallardo in the first place. Its arrival opened up an entirely new market for the brand: customers who wanted to drive their Lamborghinis, not wrestle them. 14,022 Gallardos were produced before the Huracán came along.

That relatively generous production run makes the Gallardo by far the least expensive way to own a modern Lamborghini today, with prices of daily-driver examples hovering around $80K. A price worth paying for the V-10 engine alone.

***

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Welcome to Lamborghini Legends, a series of stories to mark the Italian brand’s 60th anniversary. In each installment, our European correspondent gets behind the wheel of one of Sant’Agata’s all-time greats. Here, Berg rekindles a decades-old love affair with the Diablo.

Before I attempt to convince you that the six-liter Diablo is the best Lamborghini ever made, I should come clean. Some 20-odd years ago, when this car was new, I was invited to the Nardo test track in Italy to discuss the Raging Bull’s approach to safety. The conversation took place with me behind the wheel, traveling north of 200 mph.

Thus, the car and I have history. History that may imbue me with a degree of bias.

To this day I have no recollection of any safety talk beyond then-Lamborghini boss Giuseppe Greco advising me, “It’s very windy. We would like you to stay below 240 kph (150 mph).”

Maybe he was serious, or maybe he delivered that message with tongue pressed into cheek. As far as I was concerned, driving a Diablo in such a context was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to top the double-ton. Easier to ask forgiveness than permission, no?

The oval circuit at Nardo is 7.8 miles long, gently banked to allow a “hands-off speed” of 152 mph. It is a seemingly never-ending straightaway with four lanes; at Greco-vetted speeds near 150 mph, the Diablo felt like it was barely at a canter.

Here’s what I wrote for Top Gear magazine at the time:

“I floor the accelerator and the Diablo surges forward notching off personal bests all the way. The speedo zips past 300kmh. At 320kmh I have to concentrate harder as the wind is beginning to jostle the car around. At 340 the steering goes momentarily light over a bump and the car steps a foot or two to the right. Then at the 8km mark the wind shifts to behind me and the car stabilises. Foot firmly to the floor the speedo needle continues to creep round. It runs out of places to go at 360kmh – that’s a shade over 220mph in real money. The rev counter is just a few rpm short of the red line. This car will not go any faster.”

The Diablo, then, is responsible for my personal Land Speed Record, and for that alone I will always adore this car.

Dropping myself into the 6.0 again after two decades is an opportunity to rekindle the love affair. It’s already been an extraordinary day that’s seen me take the wheel of the 400 GT, a Miura SV, an Aventador Ultimate, a Huracan Tecnica, a Gallardo, and a Countach; it doesn’t take too long to realize that my old flame, the Diablo, might be the best of them.

When it launched in 1990, the Diablo was almost as hardcore as the Countach it replaced. There was no power steering, for example, and the 5.7-liter V-12 drove the rear wheels without any driver aids. However, by the end of its run, with Audi now at the helm of Lamborghini, the Diablo had metamorphosed into a civilized, yet no-less staggering supercar.

***

The 2001 Diablo VT 6.0 I’m presented with, painted Oro Elios, is the gold standard for this model. It’s one of the very last produced and went straight into Lamborghini’s collection. Giotto Bizzarrini’s blueprint for the V-12 had been tweaked to 5992 cc in capacity and fitted with electronic fuel injection to deliver 550 hp, only now all that rage could be sent to four wheels via a Viscous Traction (VT) all-wheel drive system.

The bodywork was given a makeover by Luc Donckerwolke in 1999, with the original pop-up headlamps replaced by faired-in units and the use of carbon fiber to save weight.

Carbon fiber makes a big splash inside the vehicle, too, where it’s deployed on the instrument panel, center console, and kick plates, along with plenty of dark leather hide. The weave look might seem a little passé to modern eyes, but it was a truly rare material back in its day, so it’s easy to understand why Lamborghini wanted make sure customers noticed.

Audi-sourced switchgear is a notch above what came before it and, based on my experience, this seems to be the first Lamborghini in which ergonomics were a genuine consideration.

It’s easy to find a comfortable driving position, and the visibility is good, making even simple drives a far less daunting proposition than with the Diablo’s predecessors. There’s even power steering, ABS, and electronically adjustable suspension. The VT system normally sends power to the rear wheels, but as soon as any slip is detected, up to 20 percent of torque is transferred to the front wheels.

On the road it feels lighter than its 3600 pounds, with that assisted steering proving nuanced and fast. Direction changes need none of the Herculean effort that the Countach demands, and the brakes are modern-day powerful.

With the high-rev demand of the V-12, which asks 7100 rpm for full power, driving the Diablo requires making good use of that beautiful, gated gearshift. Though it cannot match a Miata for slickness or shift speed, shifting here is immensely satisfying. Each throw rewards the driver with an unparalleled sense of mechanical connection—an initial clunk into first gear followed by a lovely metallic click-clack as you scale up the gears.

My drive is a short but passionate affair, over a mix of fast and flowing, hill-hugging roads and tighter twists and turns. It is nevertheless utterly involving and visceral, without being vexing in any way. The Diablo’s neck-snapping good looks and the glorious acoustics of a naturally aspirated V-12 only add to the list of reasons why this is, in my mind at least, the absolute pinnacle of Lamborghini.

The market may well agree with my assessment. Concours-condition (#1) Diablo VTs of this vintage are up 23.4 percent in the last year alone, and valued by our experts at over $622,000 on average. That means I will never own one, to my deep disappointment. But like any long-lost love, it is the time we spent together I will always treasure.

***

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Tina Turner was known for many things: her unmistakable raspy voice, her unrivaled on-stage energy, and her ability to overcome whatever life threw her way. Did you know she was also an avid an auto enthusiast?

The Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll, who died on May 24 at the age of 83, loved the freedom that cars provided. They represented a blessed escape for the musical superstar, who couldn’t go anywhere in public without being recognized. Perhaps that inescapable cost of fame was part of the reason she lived out her later years in Switzerland, rather than the United States.

Turner always found solace in automobiles, most notably her white Jaguar XJ6, which she received as a gift from Sammy Davis Jr. in 1970. She also had a silver E-Type, given to her in 1973 by then-husband Ike Turner.

According to Turner’s 2018 autobiography, My Love Story, Davis originally wanted to gift her a Mercedes-Benz, but her assistant suggested a Jaguar instead because the singer “was into English cars.” Turner admitted the Jag “awakened my passion for fast cars.”

“It may sound silly,” Turner wrote, “but one of my favorite escapes, and a secret pleasure, was driving my Jaguar. I loved it because it was something I could do by myself, one of the few times I could be alone and free.”

The 12-time Grammy Award winner experienced similar joy in the Jaguar XKE.

“I’ll never forget the moment I got behind the wheel and pulled out of the dealership,” she wrote. “It was late and a little misty when I drove the sleek silver Jaguar on Wilshire Boulevard. As far as I was concerned, there was no one else on the road—just me, driving with the windows down, looking and feeling fabulous. I can still hear the sound of the motor, the vroom that signaled it was ready to take me anywhere I wanted to go.”

RIP to the great Tina Turner, here with her 1973 Jaguar XKE. pic.twitter.com/pVTVA9sc6L

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) May 24, 2023

In 1978, she nearly lost both cars in a contentious divorce from Ike, whose mental and physical abuse is well documented. Ultimately, the judge sided with Tina.

With the success of Turner’s 1984 comeback album, Private Dancer, she treated herself to a new Lamborghini LM002. Turner and German record producer Erwin Bach, who would become her husband in 2013, had it customized to Tina’s liking. The biggest change to the bespoke Lambo was swapping the LM002’s V-12 engine and manual transmission for a V-8 and automatic gearbox from a Mercedes-Benz 500E. Turner sold it in 2008.

Even if you didn’t know about those vehicles, Turner offered plenty of clues that she appreciated automobiles, most notably when she did a series of television commercials for the 1990 Plymouth lineup.

In one ad for the new Acclaim, Turner walks past the driver’s side door and gets into the back seat. Running her hand over the car’s plush interior, she says, “Mmmm. Now, this car is built for comfort. Wonder what else we have in common?”

Before getting behind the wheel of a Laser, Turner suggests she’s ready for a drive, and confirms what we already knew about her flamboyant personality.

“Sometimes you get to know someone so well that they kind of get … predictable. Well, not this time. This is the new Laser by Plymouth. That’s right: Plymouth. And no matter what you thought about it before, my friend, I promise you: This is not for wallflowers.”

Spoken like a true rock goddess … and, as it turns out, a car lover too.

***

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Welcome to Lamborghini Legends, a series of stories to mark the Italian brand’s 60th anniversary. In each installment, our European correspondent gets behind the wheel of one of Sant’Agata’s all-time greats. Here he lives out a childhood fantasy in the last-ever Countach.

I have dreamed of this moment for 40 years.

Ever since I first hung a picture of a Lamborghini Countach on my bedroom wall, I’ve imagined myself getting behind the wheel of this, the definitive supercar of the 1970s and ’80s. In my mind I’d be storming through the desert at 180 mph, reliving the opening sequence of the Cannonball Run, although perhaps without state troopers in hot pursuit.

The reality looks set to be somewhat slower paced, but my drive does involve a chase, as I’m part of a procession of eight different Lamborghinis, brought together for a 60th anniversary celebratory drive across 150 miles of Italy’s Emilia Romagna region.

It was a be-winged 1979 LP400S that featured both on-screen and on my wall, but the Countach I’m to drive is devoid of the infamous appendage. Originally designed specially for F1 team boss Walter Wolf, the huge spoiler was not homologated and was therefore installed on road-going Countaches in the factory parking lot, making it an aftermarket part. The wing was also purely cosmetic, so it’s not like I’ll be missing any downforce.

This 1990 25th Anniversary edition actually did have a host of aerodynamic advances, courtesy of a young designer named Horacio Pagani, who was tasked by Lamborghini’s corporate parent, Chrysler, to give the Countach a new lease on life. It needed to tide the firm over until the arrival of a successor, the Diablo.

The Countach was the first Lamborghini to use carbon fiber to save weight, with sills and splitter made from the advanced material. Pagani’s design is a little fussier than the Marcello Gandini original, but Horacio succeeded in extending the Countach’s existence by 638 units and brought the grand total to 1999.

Painted in Argento Metallizzato, the car before me is the very last one made and was never sold. It is literally the ultimate Countach. Yet, from the moment the driver’s door scissors upwards, I sense that nothing about this experience is going to be dreamy.

I more or less fall into the driver’s seat in a reverse of Leonardo DiCaprio in that infamous scene from Wolf of Wall Street. Even sober this is a very tricky car to enter or exit. I hunt around for seat adjustments and discover they’re hidden beneath a flap on the driver-side door sill. With slightly sluggish whirrs, the seat slowly inches forward—but not enough. In order to fully depress the clutch, I have to hunker down into the grey leather.

Adapting to the driving position is a strange, spine-contorting experience. The pedals are pushed to the right by the intrusion of the massive wheel arch and they’re packed tightly together to avoid the center tunnel. Even if you’re wearing dainty driving shoes, you face a real danger of mashing all three pedals at once. Bigger-booted Countach drivers have been known to have to go barefoot.

The interior is all hard angles, as if it were designed in Minecraft and wrapped in acres of leather to soften the blow. The view reminds me of a marginally more sumptuous version of my Lotus Esprit’s cabin. I’m not so far off: the column stalks are exactly the same, also sourced from British Leyland.

Firing up the 5.2-liter V-12 takes a fair amount of cranking. No less than six Weber carbs work in unison to feed the internal-combustion beast. Like all iterations of Bizzarrini’s engine, the Countach’s is a quick revving motor with an eager throttle response. To deliver its 455 hp to the rear wheels requires a full 7000 rpm on the tachometer.

In order to make any progress in this vehicle, however, one must first engage gear. Pushing the clutch pedal requires effort typically reserved for leg day at the gym. I narrowly avoid selecting reverse before slotting the open-gated selector into its dog-leg position. The vehicle pulls away. Not stalling feels like a victory, but the rest of the drive will be a multi-bout cage fight.

At slow speed the steering is the heaviest of any car I’ve ever experienced. It does lighten a bit as the pace picks up, but the wheel has an alarming tendency to combat every input with a fierce self-centering action.

Selecting a gear while in motion is a little smoother, but there’s no let-up in the effort required to move the stick or to operate the clutch pedal. At least the weightiness of the brake pedal means the lower body gets an even-sided workout.

Meanwhile, I’m threading this low-slung automotive UFO down back roads. Forward visibility suffers thanks to that minimally adjustable seat, which forces me to slump. The side mirrors mostly display Pagani’s aesthetic add-ons.

Only on the occasional straight section of road do I extend the V-12 towards its upper limit. The Countach flies. In its heyday, this car would reach 60 mph from rest in less than five seconds.

A modern SUV can match that time without its driver breaking a sweat, but in the Countach there’s a very clear correlation between perspiration and propulsion. This is definitely not the dream drive I imagined: Frankly, driving this Lamborghini is exhausting.

When my time is up, I feel the intense relief of a fighter who has survived to the final bell in a contest he’ll never forget.

***

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Welcome to Lamborghini Legends, a series of stories to mark the Italian brand’s 60th anniversary, in which our European correspondent gets behind the wheel of some of Sant’Agata’s all-time greats. Here he discovers why auto writers of the 1960s had to come up with a whole new category for the Miura.

I have no idea exactly how fast I’m moving along this winding Italian backroad, but I do know that it is fast.

The broken speedometer might actually be a blessing. I’m sure I’d be having second thoughts about pushing the car this hard with the confirmation of a three-digit velocity adding to the seven-digit value attached to this last-of-the-line 1973 Miura SV.

So I shove such concerns to the back of mind. I concentrate instead on savoring every moment of this once-in-a-lifetime drive in what truly is a once-in-a-lifetime automobile.

The Miura is literally the definition of “supercar.” Before Giampaolo Dallara, Paolo Stanzani, and Bob Wallace decided to mount Giotto Bizzarrini’s four-liter V-12 engine transversely, in the middle of a lightweight Lamborghini monocoque, nobody had ever used the word.

When Lamborghini showed the Miura’s rolling chassis at the 1965 Turin Motor show, Italy’s coachbuilders all put in bids to design and craft the bodywork. Pininfarina pitched, but it was Bertone that won with a design that barely changed from first sketch to production.

“I like this one,” declared Ferruccio Lamborghini. “It’ll earn us legendary status.”

He was not wrong.

What Lamborghini and Bertone both got wrong was the number of Miuras the company would make. They estimated that the demand would be for 50 cars over the following five years. The reality was that 763 were be built between 1966 and 1973.

If you include the “unicorns”—the rare, limited-run models—there were six versions of the Miura. 275 examples of the original P400 were built in the first three years before the updated S followed in 1968, featuring a strengthened chassis. 338 units were delivered into 1971.

Alongside this a one-off Roadster was developed by Bertone, but turned down by Lamborghini for production. The car was sold to the International Lead Zinc Research Organization to showcase its wares.

In 1970 Bob Wallace wanted Lamborghini to go racing. The result was the Miura Jota (pronounced “Yota”) a 440-horsepower, featherweight track tool that, although tested over some 12,000 miles, never competed. Sold to InterAuto in Brescia, the car was subsequently destroyed by a mechanic who crashed it into the side of bridge. Customers, including the Shah of Persia, got wind of Wallace’s wildest Miura and pestered Lamborghini sufficiently that four “SVJ” models were built.

When it comes to series-production Miuras, however, it is the final 150 Super Veloces that are the most super of all, and not just because the badge says so. These SV cars have a more rigid chassis, revised suspension anchor points, and, most notably, a five-inch wider rear track that allows for the fitment of fatter, 255-section tires. Four triple-body Weber carburetors are installed on the V-12. From car 53 onwards, SVs have a separate lubrication system between engine and gearbox. Power increased to 385 hp at 7850 rpm.

Visually, SVs are distinguished by flared rear fenders, new tail lights, enlarged intakes and vents, and a lower, longer hood. Most obviously of all, the car’s distinctive “eyelashes” disappear.

The SV has a more lavish interior, with extra leather trim and could even be optioned with air conditioning, although only one in five customers ticked the box.

If it’s fitted to this, chassis number 5092, I can’t say. I do know that A/C would come in handy. One remarkable feature of Bertone’s aerodynamic styling is that, even with the windows fully down, precious little outside air finds its way into the cabin.

For the first few minutes, I’d really welcome some cooling: The engine just won’t idle. Every time I pull to a stop I have to blip the throttle to keep the V-12 alive. I’m getting a little hot and bothered. The pedals are ideally placed for such heel-toe action, but it is disconcerting. Later on, the engine decides that 2000 revs is the perfect idle speed, suggesting that those four Webers need a bit of fettling.

Aside from this minor niggle, the Miura could not be more marvelous. The slightly splayed-leg, long-armed driving position suits those who are short in stature like me. Though the attitude will hinder taller drivers, the visibility through the panoramic windscreen is superb, making it easy to accurately position the car, even without the benefit of a passenger-side mirror.

The steering, which is a tad heavy at parking speeds, lightens with velocity to a point that’s almost dainty. The whole car feels much more fleet of foot than I imagined given the mass of V-12 behind the seats. There’s no red line on the tachometer but 7000 rpm seems to be the gear-change sweet spot—it’s just below peak power, but revving higher feels wrong, especially since a mis-shift would be catastrophic.

Yet that’s never likely. The glorious, gated transmission is a conventional H-pattern and, while a tad slower to shift than a modern manual, it’s positive and accurate. With every change, there’s the immense satisfaction of the “click-clack” sound of metal on metal.

Heading down from the historic hilltop Castello delle Carpinete, following the meandering flow of the Fiume Secchia river, the Via San Pietro delivers a heady mix of tight turns and fast, open corners. The Miura devours it all. Even the occasional scrappy surface doesn’t trouble the car’s ride.

I may not be able to gauge my speed accurately, but the SV’s quoted sub-seven-second 0-to-60 mph time is quite believable. There’s an urgency to its acceleration that feels real-world right, and, unlike the preposterous performance of the brand’s current line-up, one can really exploit its grunt on the road.

Exploit it I do. The truth is, had I not been in a convoy of other Lamborghinis, new and old, and with an intense pace set by a pair of Urus SUVs, I would probably never have dared to drive this car so swiftly. And if I hadn’t then I would never have appreciated quite what an achievement the Miura really was.

No wonder the ’60s had to come up with a new genre for it.

***

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One of the biggest problems the Space Shuttle landing strip at Cape Canaveral faced in its 27 years of use was the Least Tern, Latin name Sternula antillarum: a smallish, black-capped, gray-and-white seagoing bird, sort of a small seagull, found near Florida’s coasts.

Birds have always been an issue at the 500-acre Shuttle Landing Facility—cranes, hawks, pelicans, eagles, you name it. But the little tern is an unlikely troublemaker. It seems the thousand-foot runoff areas at each end of the SLF was once mottled gray, a perfect camouflage for tern eggs, and Least Terns are colony nesters. So terns by the hundreds, perhaps thousands, flocked to the strip’s ends to propagate the species. To have the Space Shuttle landing on terns and tern eggs—well, that just wouldn’t do.

As the strip’s official biography says, “To solve this problem, the overruns were painted black. [But] since the black paint on concrete could not last from year to year, the overruns are now paved asphalt, which is naturally black and doesn’t have any properties that are appealing to the Least Terns.” Your tax dollars at work.

That still-black asphalt is where we’re gathered today: Porsches, Chevrolet Corvettes, Audis, a Lamborghini, a McLaren, a Ferrari, a Dodge Hellcat Charger, a blue Ford Mustang that is going to surprise the hell out of all of us, and multiple other cars, all brought to test their manufacturers’ claims. They came from as far away as Northern California.

The event in question is “straight-line aerodynamic testing.” It takes place on the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility, which is the new name for the SLF, located at Kennedy Space Center. Here, drivers have a chance to top-speed their cars in a 2.7-mile run, with tow trucks, paramedics, and fire engines at the ready. Prices vary per program. Suffice it to say entry is not cheap but reasonable.

If Bohmer sounds familiar, it’s probably because his 2006 Ford GT, nicknamed The BADD GT, set a world record for a licensed, street-legal, air-conditioned car. This one has 2700 hp and launched Bohmer to a 310.8-mph pass down the strip. You can watch the pass below:

The Launch and Landing Facility hasn’t seen a Space Shuttle since the breed’s final flight, on July 21, 2011, when Atlantis brought down the curtain. The SLF saw 78 missions in all, the first being a Challenger landing in 1984. (The Shuttle shown here in photographs is a training mock-up, Inspiration, now used only for display. It needs work.)

Bohmer started his test program here. He put it together in 2011, he says, “for use by mostly manufacturers and race teams. I wrote all the rules, pretty elaborate stuff.” Our visit came on the first top-speed day he’s done in nearly two and a half years. The rest of the site’s tests, which occur almost daily, are slower and more pedestrian, punctuated by some private go-fast work by, among others, Bugatti and Hennessey.

“I developed this entire testing program,” Bohmer says. “As you can see, there’s a lot of moving parts to this operation. About 99 percent of what we do is OEM testing. Boring stuff. Last year we did probably 300 days. Manufacturers do straight-line testing and testing for the EPA. Cars, race cars, school buses, tractor-trailers. We can get two days of testing done in one 24-hour period. Most never get over 70 mph, but at one time or another, pretty much everybody has been out here doing high-speed testing.” He’s a consultant for many firms that visit. After all, nobody has driven a street car faster than he has.

“One company has exceeded 400,000 miles of testing here. And that’s just one company—we have a lot with 80,000 to 100,000 miles.”

As for the runway: It is 15,000 feet long, with 1000 feet of tern-deterrent blacktop at each end, one of the longest airstrips in the world. (Top honors go to an 18,045-foot, high-altitude strip in Tibet.) The runway’s 1974 construction cost $22 million, about $138 million in 2023 money. The center is Portland cement 20 inches thick, feathering to 14 inches at the edges. The surface is slightly crowned for rain runoff, so test runs today will be done on one side of that crown, where the cement is essentially flat.

By the way, the BADD GT isn’t here today. Bohmer says managing the test and driving is too much combined responsibility—“When I run, I just rent the facility for myself. That way, if I break something, I don’t ruin anybody else’s fun.” But the car will be back. Bohmer thinks he can hit 333 mph.

Not counting the paved shoulders, the JBPG strip is 300 feet wide—a football field—though one Shuttle pilot famously remarked that he wished it were half as wide and twice as long. The strip was grooved side-to-side for rain runoff, 8000 miles of grooves. But they did too good of a job. The grooving’s sharp edges damaged Shuttle brakes and tires, and until a solution was found, landings moved to Edwards Air Force Base in California, which meant the Shuttle had to be shuttled back to Cape Canaveral aboard a Boeing 747.

Those grooves eventually received a treatment much like shot-peening, to dull the edges, and it worked. That effort and weather have smoothed the grooves to where a driver can’t feel them at speed; you merely hear the tires sing. There are zero bumps. Today’s run brings no tire failures, so it must work.

With the environmental concerns at the Bonneville Salt Flats and the nation’s few remaining dry lake beds, the Bohmer facility may be the safest place to top-speed vehicles in America. Of course, the moats to each side of the strip are full of alligators, which like to sun themselves on the track, so there’s that.

***

It’s not yet dawn when we gather at the Kennedy Space Center credentialing office—everyone has had to pass background checks in advance. After that, we caravan to the runway, a journey that takes about 15 minutes. Once there, we congregate at one end, near Bohmer’s trailer, as the International Mile Racing Association sets up timing equipment. Drivers, of which there are 18, will do a standing half-mile, then a mile, then 2.3 miles, and finally, 2.7 miles, which is the distance Bohmer figures leaves enough room at the end to stop safely, plus a modest buffer.

Really, it isn’t as exciting as it sounds. The cars launch hard and swim through the gears until they pass the timing markers. Then they do a 180 and use the other side of the runway as a return road. Speeds are relayed back to the starting line and entered on a white board with a blue marker.

Top speed at the half-mile: a blistering 172.658 mph, achieved by Maxwell Logan’s Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. The car’s only modification is a carbon-fiber hood and a seemingly wide-open exhaust that sounds . . . well, let’s say invigoratingly unpleasant. In the 2.7-mile leg, it ran 215.249, fast time of the day.

Logan really wanted to beat R.J. Valentine’s 214.341 in the 2.7-mile run, which came in a Porsche 918 Spyder. The car is stock, Valentine says, adding, “I barely know how to drive it.” Unlikely, since he has a class win at the Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance race.

Seven other cars managed to top 200 mph: a Dodge Viper, a breathed-on Audi RS6, a Superformance Cobra, a pair of C7 Corvettes, an Audi R8, and a McLaren 720S. Honorable mention goes to a Ford Mustang GT with a 5.0-liter V-8 and Whipple Stage 2 supercharger; the owner says he added a lowering kit and a Borla exhaust but changed nothing else. The car went 190.933 mph.

Birds were a concern. John Canal backed off in his Viper (200.017 mph) out of reflex when he saw one coming at 190. “A bird that size would have come through the window,” he says. Propane cannons are fired off periodically to scare birds away. They do not appear to work that well.

By all accounts official and otherwise, no Least Terns were hurt, no eggs smashed, no alligators run over. The only mechanical issues were a loose wire in the Superformance Cobra (203.767 mph), and an axle problem with the Dodge Charger Hellcat (180.400 before it broke). Bohmer isn’t sure when the next top-speed test will take place; maybe this summer or fall, he says, or maybe not. His company’s website is jbprovinggrounds.com.

***

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The 12 cars you find most satisfying, ranked

Consumer Reports’ annual survey of the cars that readers are most satisfied with, in order:

1. Chevrolet Corvette
2. Porsche 911
3. Kia Telluride
4. Rivian R1T
5. Ford Maverick Hybrid
6. Hyundai Ioniq 5
7. Polestar 2
8. Subaru BRZ
9. Toyota GR86
10. Toyota RAV4 Prime
11. Mazda MX-5 Miata
12. Dodge Challenger

Exhaust: A few footnotes: This is the second straight year the Corvette C8 (2020–) has topped the list. As you likely know, the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GR86 are basically the same car. Also, it’s interesting that the Dodge Challenger, which goes out of production this year, is the only Stellantis product to make the list. And finally, Ford hasn’t remotely caught up with Ford Maverick demand—last weekend our local dealer put an extra $20,000 on the nose of a $24,000 truck. —Steven Cole Smith

Jenson Button wants his car to rule Pikes Peak

Intake: Radford, the small British sports car maker founded by former F1 champ Jenson Button and Ant Anstead, is to compete at Colorado’s most famous hill-climb race with a unique version of its Type 62-2. The car that will climb Pikes Peak “has basically nothing shared with the road car except for the design ethos and some components,” says Tanner Foust, who’s been enlisted to take the wheel. Replacing its aluminum chassis is a full composite monocoque which is some nine inches wider than the road car’s, with all-new front and rear subframes and suspension geometry. There’s an aerodynamic underbody, and the main bodywork has also been adapted for increased downforce. As befits any Pikes Peak challenger, a gigantic rear wing is installed as well. The 3.5-liter, Toyota-derived, supercharged V-6 engine now makes 700 horsepower and drives the rear wheels through a sequential paddle-shift transmission. Radford reckons the car takes just 2.2 seconds to reach 60 mph and tops out at 160 mph. Will that be enough to crown Foust King of the Hill?

Exhaust: The Europeans are coming to Colorado in force for 2023. Radford joins Alpine, Porsche, KTM, and Radical with serious-minded vehicles. Will one of these old-continent challengers will be victorious? We’ll find out on June 25. —Nik Berg

Verstappen takes Miami Grand Prix

Intake: Max Verstappen beat Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez in the second running of the Miami Grand Prix, which was a bit of a snoozer after we watched Verstappen march to the lead from his ninth-place starting spot. He led the rest of the race except for a brief period after a pit stop, when he had to re-pass Perez. The Mexican driver was a fan favorite; as we were told, 75 percent of the Miami households speak Spanish. American Logan Sargeant was last after an early forced pit stop to replace his Williams Mercedes’ nose and front wing. He finished one lap down. Third was Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin Mercedes.

Exhaust: The Miami track seems to suit Verstappen’s style, which is our offhand way of saying every track seems to suit him. The Dutchman has won three of the first five races, and teammate Perez, the other two. F1 is next in North America for the Canadian Grand Prix June 18, then back in the U.S. for the U.S. Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin on October 22; in Mexico, on October 27; and in Las Vegas for the debut of that race on November 18. —Steven Cole Smith

Driverless cars confound first responders

Intake: As police and fire officials responded to a drug lab explosion in San Francisco, Automotive News reports, they had to contend with a driverless car that wandered into the middle of the scene. “Body-cam footage from February shows an officer yelling at the Waymo vehicle and tossing a flare to keep it from driving over fire hoses. Several weeks earlier, a firefighter reported having to smash the window of a driverless vehicle to make it stop approaching a fire scene. In March, firefighters said they had cordoned off a street to deal with wind damage, only to have two Cruise vehicles drive through the warning tape and become entangled in downed wires.” Automotive News says first responders have cited at least 15 instances of a Cruise or Waymo car interfering with an emergency scene.

Exhaust: Chalk this up to one more unseen obstacle autonomous cars will have to overcome. Read the original story in Mission Local for the scarily amusing details. —SCS

Lamborghini is 60 years young

Intake: Yesterday, May 7, marked exactly six decades since the formation of Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini S.a.s. Now known as Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., the company was founded in Sant’Agata Bolognese, which was picked by its founder because it was halfway between the towns of Modena and Bologna, places where he could recruit the best young minds and craftspeople in the Italian automobile industry. Lamborghini has been celebrating with Lamborghini Days for fans around the world including Suzuka, Japan, and Silverstone. A record 380 Lamborghinis gathered at the U.K. circuit. The next key date is May 24, when a 60th Anniversary Giro tour will take place in Italy, finishing four days later in Piazza Maggiore in Bologna with a concours d’elegance featuring 150 Lambos.

Exhaust: Hagerty is joining in the celebrations with a series of drives of the Raging Bull’s most iconic cars, starting with the 400 GT. Join us as we take the wheel of the Miura, Countach, Diablo, and more. —NB

***

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Welcome to Lamborghini Legends, a series of stories to mark the Italian brand’s 60th anniversary, in which our European correspondent gets behind the wheel of some of Sant’Agata’s all-time greats. Here he takes the Bull brand by its horns with the 400 GT, one of Lamborghini’s earliest on-road efforts.

When Ferruccio Lamborghini famously fell out with Enzo Ferrari over a failing clutch, the tractor manufacturer was so livid that he vowed to build his own sports car.

“Tonight, I did not sleep,” Lamborghini said. “I want to manufacturer a car.”

That car is now sitting outside a café in the little town of Lama Mocogno, some 40 miles south of the Sant’Agata Bolognese factory where it was built, with the keys in the ignition.

Alright, that’s not strictly true. The first car that was manufactured when Lamborghini Automobili was founded 60 years ago was the 350 GTV concept and this car, the 400 GT, is its final iteration assembled in 1967.

The 400 GT has several advantages over the original concept devised by Lamborghini’s young team, not least of which is the fact that Giotto Bizzarini’s V-12 engine is actually installed under the hood. In the mad rush to get the 350 GTV ready for the 1963 Turin Motor Show it turned out that there wasn’t sufficient space beneath the Franco Scaglione-designed bodywork for the engine. For the show, the motor was displayed on a stand alongside the car, which in the V-12’s place under the hood had a few boxes of floor tiles from the new factory to weigh it down.

Nonetheless, the 350 GTV begat the 350 GT road car in 1964. Coachbuilder Carozzeria Touring produced the car’s svelte 2+2 body using its Superleggera system. Powered by a 280-hp, 3.5-liter version of Bizzarini’s V-12, the very first Lamborghini road car was capable of over 155 mph, yet it could seat four in comfort.

In 1966 the 350 GT was superseded by the car which I’m about to drive, the 400 GT. Four circular headlamps replaced the twin oval units and the roofline was raised to create more generous accommodation for rear passengers, while the trunk lid and rear window also grew in size. Mechanically the changes were more significant, with engine capacity increased to four liters and power hiked to 320 hp at 6200 rpm. Lamborghini’s own transmission and differential were installed, and the independent suspension was revised.

Road & Track magazine declared the 400 GT to be “the best GT we’ve ever tried.” Nearly 60 years later I’m not exactly going on a Grand Tour, but almost an hour behind the wheel, chasing after a convoy of seven other V-12 and V-10 Lamborghinis is a decent taster.

To be honest, the adventure doesn’t start well. I immediately discover that with the fixed seatbelt on I can’t reach the curiously-placed parking brake which sits below my right knee, adjacent to the transmission tunnel. It’s been a while since I’ve driven “commando” without a belt, and the squishy tan leather seats don’t offer much support. I’ll have to rely on my grip of the huge wood-rimmed steering wheel to keep me in place.

I don’t have long to savor the simplistic elegance of the cabin, with its easy-to-read dials and wonderfully tactile toggle switches, before it’s time to move. At this point it’s apparent that the V-12 is not exactly overloaded with low-down torque. It requires quite a bit of contortion to dial in the right amount of revs and reach down to release the fly-off brake without stalling.

The line of Lambos snakes out into the hills of Emilia Romagna and it does so at quite the pace. Let the V-12 loose, use the revs and the 400 GT can just about stay in touch with its more powerful stablemates on the short straights that link a twisting tagliatelle of turns. Braking for said corners needs a bit of planning and a forceful shove to get the four-wheel Girling discs to bite, while the unassisted steering is a little slow to react. The gearchange requires a firm hand, but the action is precise enough—especially considering it’s Lamborghini’s first effort.

It’s a warm day, so I have the windows down and yet the V-12 is surprisingly quiet, although, to be fair, it stands little chance against the rest of the cacophonous convoy. It’s also utterly free of vibration, which would, no doubt, make long distance journeys a joy.

As the drive continues I’m amazed that this first car isn’t being completely obliterated by the latest Lamborghinis on these switchback-strewn roads. Although I am becoming increasingly sweaty-palmed in the process of keeping up. Oh, and that’s before I find out that a concours-condition car such as this 400 GT is worth over $800,000.

Just 250 examples were built before the company moved on to the Miura, which would really put it on the map, but there’s no doubt that the Lamborghini story started strong from the very first chapter.

***

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World’s most expensive GT-R?

Intake: A regular old Skyline GT-R isn’t special, you say? It’s not rare enough, powerful enough, or even expensive enough? Well, the time for excuses is over. Collecting Cars announced that it will be offering the last known R33-generation NISMO 400R. Currently residing in the U.K., this Skyline GT-R could become one of the most expensive Japanese cars ever sold at auction. A blue-chip collector vehicle that is rarely seen at public auction, the 400R has been widely considered to be the ultimate factory GT-R. Stuffed with tech from Nissan’s Le Mans program, the 400R is dripping in carbon fiber and titanium and propelled by a 2.8-liter, twin-turbo straight-six engine that makes 400 horsepower, supercar-level power for the mid-1990s. Just 40 were built, which means these have the perfect combination of lore and rarity to easily become seven-figure automobiles. The catch? Unless you’re a dealer, the ability to bid or even to know the final price of a 400R is extremely limited.  In fact, one recently auctioned crashed the bidding system when the bid exceeded the system’s numerical limits; final bidding was conducted privately, however the reported sale was over $1.1 million. A second, the only Champion Blue example built, sold for an undisclosed amount, reportedly smashing that record.

Exhaust: The fact that a 400R is being offered at all is a big deal, and the fact that it is being offered for public auction—rather than private sale—outside of Japan is an even bigger one. Since this very car was offered for sale last year at Harlow-Jap-Autos (HJA) with an ask of $2.2 million (£1.6 million), it’s guaranteed that if this car meets reserve, it will be well past the $1 million mark. The bigger question is how high it will go. —Greg Ingold

Modern Lambo tractor is only for the raciest of ranchers

Intake: The 40 owners of Lamborghini’s 2016 Centenario might well think they got something pretty exclusive to mark 100 years since the birth of Ferruccio Lamborghini in 2016, but Adler Capelli’s tractor tributes are even more scarce. The Italian artist assembled just five customized creations that harken to Lamborghini’s roots in farm equipment, and now one is for sale at Classic Driver. Number four of five, the vehicle is a combination of two 1960s tractors, the DLA35 and the 2R DT. It’s finished in unpainted metal which has been left to age over time and is powered by a 2.2-liter three-cylinder diesel engine, complete with six striking side pipes. It could be yours for around $540,000.

Exhaust: The Aventador-based Centenario will show well on the lawn of any concours, but with this tractor version you could actually mow the grass before putting it in show. —Nik Berg

Stellantis offers buyouts to 33,500 workers; UAW calls move “disgusting”

Intake: One month after 5000 white-collar workers accepted a voluntary buyout offer from General Motors, Stellantis NV has made a similar offer to 31,000 hourly workers in the United States and Canada and to an additional 2500 U.S. salaried employees. The Detroit News reported that “the company is looking to reduce its hourly workforce by as many as 3500 employees in response to increased market competition and the shift to electrification.” Stellantis, maker of Jeep SUVs, Ram pickup trucks, and other vehicles, says its first-quarter sales in the U.S. fell 9 percent year-over-year, and executives have cautioned that more uncertainty is looming in the latter half of 2023 due to rising inflation and interest rates.

Exhaust: While Stellantis says a reduction in its workforce is necessary to counteract reduced sales and a backlog of inventory, the company is investing $35.5 billion into electrification and software by 2025 in an effort to launch 25 all-electric vehicles for the U.S. market by 2030, a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain. “Stellantis’ push to cut thousands of jobs while raking in billions in profits is disgusting,” Fain said in a statement. “This is a slap in the face to our members, their families, their communities, and the American people who saved this company 15 years ago.” Be prepared for more fireworks if fewer than 3500 workers accept the offer, and Stellantis responds with layoffs. — Jeff Peek

Need 900 hp in your Benz SUV? Brabus has got you

Intake: Brabus, the rowdy German tuner best known for taking Mercedes-AMG products and cranking the insanity up to 15, has announced a new beast. Meet the Brabus 900 Superblack, a murdered-out, tuned-to-the-moon version of the Mercedes-AMG GLS 63. For the 900 Superblack, Brabus took the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 and increased the engine’s displacement to 4.5 liters. The mill is known as the Rocket, and with the help of new turbos, now makes a whopping 900 horsepower and 922 lb-ft of torque. That’s 297 more hp and 295 lb-ft more torque than the engine in a base GLS 63. The added grunt can shove this behemoth to 62 mph from a standstill in just 3.6 seconds and allow the car to hit a claimed top speed of 205 mph. Inside, you’ll find scores of “seashell diamond” leather fitted to the seats, and special shadow-gray dash trim and switchgear. All this madness will cost you somewhere in the realm of $500,000, and orders are open now.

Exhaust: Are gains of nearly 300 hp and 300 lb-ft of torque worth well over double the price of a base Mercedes-AMG GLS 63? Price probably isn’t the right measuring stick here. For a vehicle already steeped in excess, the Brabus Superblack 900 is simply more of everything—like, a lot more. And that’s the point. — Nathan Petroelje

Radical’s SR1 gains 17 hp, big fin

Intake: Radical Motorsport, the UK’s largest race car manufacturer, has today confirmed the most extensive set of updates to its entry-level car, the SR1, in six years. Since the model’s inception in 2012, the SR1 has been the favorite of hundreds of drivers as an entry-level pro racer. In the 11 years since the SR1’s introduction, Radical Motorsport has expanded its global race offering to 12 international race series. Highlights of the update are that the car, now called the SR1 XXR, gets a central LMP-inspired “fin” as standard, and will be fitted with a new, 199-hp engine, the Generation 5, 1.3-liter power unit from Radical’s bespoke engine facility. Previously it had a 182-horse, RPE-Suzuki four-cylinder.

Exhaust: Said James Pinkerton, Radical Motorsport’s Head of Research and Development: “The SR1 will always be special to me, as I’ve witnessed first-hand how approachable it is for drivers wanting to take the step up in their racing careers. Although an entry-level racer, the SR1 XXR offers an outstanding package with unparalleled performance for the money, that will get you on the grid in a professionally administered race series. “ — Steven Cole Smith

Hyundai drops $5 billion on U.S. battery plant

Intake: Hyundai Motor Group has announced plans to set up an electric-vehicle battery-cell-production joint-venture in the U.S. with partner SK On. The total investment amount is expected to be approximately $5 billion. The plant will be in Bartow County, Georgia, close to the Group’s U.S. production facilities, including Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama and Kia Georgia.

Exhaust: The new plant is expected to start manufacturing battery cells in the second half of 2025 with an annual production capacity sufficient to support the production of 300,000 EVs. Hyundai Mobis, the parts and service arm of Hyundai Motor Company, will assemble battery packs using cells from the plant, then supply them to the Group’s U.S. manufacturing facilities for the production of Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis EV models. — SCS

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VIN #001 Corvette E-Ray raises $1.1M for charity

Intake: At Barrett-Jackson’s Palm Beach Auction last weekend, Chevy auctioned off the first retail-production Corvette E-Ray. Rick Hendrick, chairman and CEO of the Hendrick Automotive Group and owner of the Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team, placed the winning bid of $1.1 million. All proceeds from the sale will be donated to an education nonprofit called DonorsChoose, which connects donors directly to teachers with classroom requests in low-income public schools.

Exhaust: Hendrick added the E-Ray to his stable of other VIN #001 Corvettes, including the first 2020 Corvette Stingray ($3M), the first C7 Corvette ZR1, and the first C8 Corvette Z06 ($3.7M), all of which were also auctioned off for charity. — Nathan Petroelje

First electric Porsche 911 built for California tech titan

Intake: Matt Rogers, cofounder of connected home technology firm Google Nest, is the first American to take delivery of an EV-converted Porsche 911 from British specialist Everrati. The “Signature” model features a carbon-fiber widebody kit finished in Mexico Blue with a Bridge of Weir dark blue leather interior. It was hand-built in the U.S.A. by Everrati’s partner, Aria Group, in Irvine, California. The car is powered by a 62-kWh battery pack which enables it to cover more than 200 miles on a full charge and take advantage of DC fast charging.

Exhaust: Rogers is so taken with his Everrati that he has invested in the British firm. “I have been a huge fan of the 964 since I was young,” he says. “And as we rapidly move into the age of electrification, I am thrilled to immortalize this iconic machine. It captures the zeitgeist perfectly, being sustainable and environmentally conscious while also keeping the character of the air-cooled Porsche era.” —Nik Berg

Hyundai fixes Elantra N’s only flaw

Intake: Irreverent and unusual, the Elantra N delivers delicious front-wheel-drive fun for $33K. Our only gripe? That angry-catfish face. Hyundai’s just fixed that, as this YouTube video above reveals. The “New Elantra N,” presumably the 2024 model, adds horizontal elements that calm and settle the visage: Viewed head-on, body-color blades anchor each corner. Each headlight ditches its boomerang shape and single-bulb element for an LED blade above twin rectangular elements. A light bar connects the two headlights, paralleling a body-color blade that divides the grille into top and bottom sections. The H badge on the nose is now matte black. The red-edged chin diffuser remains. There’s also a new 19-inch wheel design—if you can take your eyes off that now-harmonious face.

Exhaust: Well, we need one. Yesterday. —Grace Houghton

Lamborghini celebrates 60 with Huracán trio

Intake: To celebrate the brand’s 60th birthday, Lamborghini has announced a trio of limited-run, special-edition versions of the three gnarliest Huracáns: the STO, Tecnica, and EVO Spyder. Just 60 units of each variant will be produced. The Huracán STO will get two special liveries—the first is a blue-on-blue exterior with a black, gray, and blue interior; the second livery features a gray and black exterior with a black, gray, and red interior. The Huracán Tecnica’s two liveries will incorporate the red, green, and white colors found in the Italian flag: The first is a black, gray, and red exterior with a black and red interior; the second is a white and green exterior with a green and black interior. Finally, the Huracán EVO Spyder’s two liveries: Blue and white exterior with a black, blue, and white interior, or a green and white exterior with a black, red, and white interior.

Each of the 60th Anniversary Edition Huracáns will get a “1 of 60” plate on the interior as well as a “60th” logo painted on the doors and embroidered in the seats. They will debut on April 21 at a special event as part of Milan Design Week.

Exhaust: Turning 60 is as good an excuse as any to don some fancy new colors. Expect these cars to be anything but subtle—just as Lamborghinis should be. — Nathan Petroelje

Polestar’s 4 kills rear window for backseat comfort

Intake: Polestar’s new electric SUV coupe, and the brand’s fourth model, debuted recently at the Shanghai auto show. The design throws coupe aerodynamics and SUV spaciousness into a blender, drawing inspiration from the brand’s Precept concept car by eliminating a rear window in favor of more room. The changes are all made possible by a camera-aided rearview “mirror” system. “Immersive” is the buzzy adjective that Polestar is pitching for the experience of rear-seated riders in the 4. The model is the company’s second SUV, coming in under the Polestar 3 in terms of size and price with a length of 4839 mm (190.5 inches), a width of 2139 mm (84.2 inches), and a height of 1544 mm (60.8 inches), costing $60,000. One notable way the 4 bests the 3 is on zip, jolting out 544 hp from a 102-kWh battery that gets 300-plus miles of range. China gets first dibs on the vehicle at the end of 2023, while North America will have it in 2024.

Exhaust: Polestar would like you to believe that by riding in the back of the rear windowless 4, you will feel cozier than a swanky cave rental on Airbnb, but reality says that the jury is out. Only time and objective testing from the masses will determine whether this SUV design swing will be a hit or a miss for electric luxury. — Bryan Gerould

2024 Lincoln Nautilus gets massive screen, new sheetmetal

Intake: Lincoln has unveiled the 2024 Nautilus, a heavily reworked version of its midsize luxury SUV. The biggest news is inside, where a massive screen spans the entire width of the dashboard. Combined with new ambient lighting and three new scent cartridges housed in the center console, Lincoln hopes to make your time in the Nautilus as refreshing as possible. A Revel Ultima 28-speaker audio system will bathe the cabin with all types of auditory indulgence.

While on the go, Lincoln’s BlueCruise 1.2 hands-free driving assist stands ready to handle highway jaunts. The outside features new sheetmetal and new LED headlamps and taillamps. Power will come from either a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, good for 250 hp and 275 lb-ft of torque, or a hybrid setup that employs the same engine plus a 100-kW electric motor for a total system output of 310 hp. The former engine will be mated to an eight-speed automatic, the latter to a CVT. The adaptive suspension will smooth road imperfections. The 2024 Nautilus will arrive in North American showrooms in early 2024. No word on pricing yet.

Exhaust: The Explorer-based Nautilus needs to make some waves for Lincoln. Brand sales have been declining for the past four years as the portfolio of Ford’s luxury brand grows stagnant and rivals increasingly focus on EVs. We haven’t heard anything from Lincoln about an all-electric offering yet—which is concerning, especially since cross-town rival Cadillac already has two electric offerings in the pipeline. — Nathan Petroelje

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There’s a new king on Lamborghini hill. Called Revuelto, this successor to the long-running Aventador marks the first step in an ongoing, far-reaching engineering revolution in Sant’Agata Bolognese. Though the Revuelto will play into the broader electrification campaign taking place at Volkswagen Group, a naturally aspirated V-12 will ensure the supercar does not stray too far from Lamborghini heritage.

“Plug-in hybrid” is not the sexiest phrase, but skeptics may consider the setup a necessary evil in the industry’s current climate. New legislation to limit tailpipe emissions, largely in downtown European cities, threatens to escort the internal combustion engine off-stage. Pure electric operation in these environments is non-negotiable, and carmakers from all over the spectrum are going further by giving engine downsizing and forced induction two thumbs up. Lamborghini is instead returning fire with something of a middle finger; not only does the naturally aspirated V-12 survive, it’s all-new.

“The engine block’s casting is different. The cylinder heads are different as well,” Rouven Mohr, head of Lamborghini’s research and development team, told me at the Revuelto’s reveal event in Italy. “We designed a new valvetrain to increase the redline. It’s now set at 9500 rpm, which wasn’t possible with the old engine. There’s a new intake system, a new exhaust manifold, and so on. We even modified the crankshaft for faster revving.”

The mid-mounted, 6.5-liter V-12 sends power to the rear wheels via an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The gearbox is mounted transversely behind the engine. Recall that the Aventador’s V-12 (built from 2011–2022) spun the four wheels via a seven-speed Independent Shifting Rod (ISR) transmission mounted longitudinally in front of the engine and housed between the seats. That major change is the tip of the iceberg. In the Revuelto, the space between the seats is home to a 3.8-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack that zaps three electric motors into motion. One motor is integrated into the transmission and each of the other two are assigned to a front wheel. This setup delivers all-wheel drive and, effectively, torque vectoring on the front axle. It also lets the Revuelto run pure electricity only for short distances.

The system’s total output checks in at approximately 1001 horsepower, though some of the driving modes limit that figure. (There’s about 873 horsepower under your right foot if you select Strada mode). On its own, the V-12 is rated at around 925 horsepower and 535 pound-feet of torque. Reaching 62 mph from a stop takes 2.5 seconds, and the Revuelto doesn’t stop accelerating until its speedometer hits about 217 mph.

We don’t know how much it weighs yet, but Lamborghini says it designed the Revuelto with a new carbon-fiber mono-fuselage to trim mass. Manufacturing the front structure out of a type of carbon fiber called Forged Composites further offsets the weight of the hybrid system’s components; the result is 20 percent lighter than the Aventador’s front structure, which was made with aluminum.

Back to that word: hybrid. Mohr stressed that, despite the term, the idea was to engineer something very unlike a Toyota Prius:

“This is basically like a naturally-aspirated car that’s much faster. There’s no combustion-only mode, but the system’s basic layout is absolutely combustion-dominated. We put a lot of effort into making the boost of the electric motors linear. All of the magic, the recuperation, the torque vectoring, you don’t perceive anything. If you don’t look at the display to see what the motors are doing, you don’t feel it.”

Mohr’s team has also put a great deal of resources into ensuring consistent brake feel. As with most hybrid systems, the electric motors in this application have an energy recuperation function that makes them capable of decelerating the vehicle. Lamborghini engineers have programmed car’s computers to decide when to use this feature either independently of or in concert with the calipers and rotors.

If the idea is for the Revuelto to drive like a thrilling supercar, it doesn’t hurt that it also looks like one. There’s nothing tacky added on to declare “LOOK, I HAVE A BATTERY!” nor are there lightning bolts or blue-green decorative trim. It’s a big, wide, mid-engine monster with with butterfly doors—like a Lamborghini flagship ought to.

“As a team, our challenge was to design the next Lamborghini [flagship],” design boss Mitja Borkert told me. “It has to follow [the company’s] design DNA, but we also want to have this unexpected element. I have never wanted people to say, ‘now this looks like the Sián.’ I was smiling when the first camouflaged photos came out online and people said ‘the next Lamborghini will look like the Sián,’ or ‘it will take inspiration from the Countach,’”

Staying true to the company’s DNA means dialing in a handful of familiar styling cues, such as the overall silhouette. The Y-shaped LED daytime running lights echo some of the firm’s previous models, but the Revuelto wears a look of its own. It’s evocative of the Aventador, but there’s enough novelty here that to even call it an evolution would not be fair. Up front, the headlights are tucked into the bodywork right below the outer edges of the hood. This layout accentuates the coupe’s width. Out back, the most striking part of the design is a fat pair of hexagon-shaped exhaust outlets, mounted high and between the Y-shaped taillights. There’s also a power-operated spoiler on the decklid, while the bottom part of the rear fascia is dominated by a huge carbon-fiber diffuser.

“Think of super-sport motorcycles; they have high-mounted exhaust pipes as well,” Borkert, an avid motorcycle rider, pointed out. It looks great, but there’s a functional reason as well: it allows for the shortest connection between the cylinder heads and the exhaust outlets. The headlights, too, reflect two-wheeled inspiration. “They’re hidden, like on a Ducati Panigale.”

Feedback received from Aventador owners significantly shaped the updates Lamborghini made to the interior. Customers wanted more space, and Lamborghini delivered. The wheelbase is approximately three inches longer and has a roofline that’s a little less than an inch taller to permit more head and leg room. It also makes space for a shelf behind the seats that’s suitable for carrying small bags.

Even a car whose main selling point is a massive V-12 needs a state-of-the-art user interface in 2023, so the Revuelto is equipped with a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, an 8.4-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system, and a 9.1-inch display embedded into the part of the dashboard that’s directly in front of the passenger. The passenger-side screen can be configured to show the same information as the instrument cluster. Alternatively, passengers can move content from the central touchscreen to the passenger’s screen with a swiping motion. Lamborghini argues this allows the driver to stay focused on the road.

Made in Sant’Agata Bolognese, in the same factory that has built every Lamborghini model since 1963, the 2024 Revuelto will go on sale in the coming months. Pricing information will be announced closer to its on-sale date, though it’s reasonable to assume that it will cost more than outgoing the Aventador, whose MSRP started at roughly $500,000 for the 2023 model year.

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Throughout the generations, Chevy’s Corvette has built a name for itself punching well above its price tag to spoil the party for more exotic metal. The new mid-engine C8 Corvette is the best foil yet to the European performance party. The new Z06, with its flared body, sonorous flat-plane-crank V-8, and track-decimating performance, feels like the closest approximation of an American Ferrari yet. Meanwhile, the all-wheel-drive, hybrid Corvette E-Ray could, if you squint, come off as an American take on much of what Lamborghini stands for these days. But how closely does Chevy’s mid-engine monster hew to those Italian exotics, really?

You can probably guess where this is going; time to bust out the green flags and the stopwatches.

The latest episode of Jason Cammisa’s Ultimate Drag Race Replay features a world-first in-depth look at just how impressive the new Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray is in a quarter-mile shootout. We’ll save the hard results for the video, but we had a chance to speak with Cammisa about some of the discoveries that surface while filming the episode.

Rather than focus on how the Corvettes stacked up against a Ferrari F8 Spyder and Lamborghini Huracán EVO RWD Spyder (we’ll let the tape answer those questions), our discussion with Cammisa centered around how differently the two variations of the C8 Corvette go about their rapid antics.

A few quick stats to kick it off: The Corvette Z06 makes 670 horsepower from its 5.5-liter LT6 engine. That engine has to push 3670 pounds using just the rear wheels. The E-Ray, on the other hand, makes a combined 655 hp between the 495-hp LT2 pushrod V-8 from the regular C8 Stingray and a 160-hp electric motor placed on the front axle. The E-Ray tips the scales at 3924 pounds, but it employs all four wheels to get that mass moving.

Despite being nearly 250 pounds heavier and 15 ponies in the hole, can the E-Ray hold its own?

Cammisa touches on this a bit in the episode, but one of his biggest discoveries was just how different the E-Ray and the Z06 behave from the jump. “The Z06 is a bit of a handful off the line,” he admits. “To get an optimal launch in the Z06, you have to dial in launch RPM and tire slippage for whatever surface you’re on. The E-Ray, on the other hand, has virtually no variance between launches; it’s just dead-straight, wicked fast, and alarmingly consistent. Just put your foot on the brakes, hit launch control, and send it.”

On our first ride-along in the car earlier this year, we were stunned by how forceful the E-Ray accelerated. Still, some were disappointed when they learned that the electric motor up front was only good for 160 hp, figuring that more power would have resulted in an even quicker Vette. When we asked Cammisa about the output of the E-Ray’s electric motor, he had a different opinion:

“Trust me, 160 horsepower is all it needs here. When you launch the E-Ray, there’s so much weight transfer to the rear that you don’t have that much grip on the front tires. It’s already putting 495 horsepower to the rear tires, and even that 160 horsepower going to the front wheels is basically maxed out. You could put a 200-horse motor up there, or a 300-horse motor up there, but it wouldn’t really gain much from a 0–60 standpoint.”

It’s also worth remembering that there are gnarlier hybrid C8s in the pipeline. “Once we see a hybrid C8 with the Z06 motor in the rear, or even eventually a twin-turbo motor in the rear, we’ll likely see the output of that electric motor increase,” Cammisa says. “Or maybe we’ll even see two electric motors up front with torque vectoring. Putting the engine in the rear means that the sky’s the limit when it comes to packaging driveline components.”

We concluded our chat by asking Cammisa a simple question: “Who’s going to love the E-Ray?”

“You’ll love the E-Ray if you drive it around town,” he says. “To me, [the E-Ray] is a Stingray-plus-plus, without any minuses. It’s also incredibly consistent off the line, and I think drag racers will come to appreciate that part of it.”

Here’s another thing they’ll appreciate: During the filming of the show, the E-Ray was able to completely recharge its tiny 1.9-kWh battery using just the kinetic energy recovered from the end of a hard quarter-mile run and the added distance covered getting back to the start line. Sure, the E-Ray was placed in an ultra-aggressive, energy-recovery mode to achieve that, but imagine being able to unleash every last drop of that instantaneous electric torque each time you made a pass.

Be sure to watch the entire video to see just how impressive the new E-Ray is in a quarter-mile drag race.

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Polestar 2 gets BST edition 230 adds a snazzy interior, nifty new exterior color, magical Öhlins dampers

Intake: Polestar Engineered portfolio has given us its second limited-production Polestar 2 based on the 350 kW (476 hp) Long Range Dual Motor version of the EV sedan. Available in black or in an exclusive shade called Nebula green, the BST edition 230 uses all of the chassis upgrades from the BST edition 270 including a lowered suspension with stiffer springs, Öhlins 2-way adjustable dampers, black 21-inch alloy wheels, and 245/35R21 Pirelli P Zero tires. A full-length stripe is optional with either color choice. Inside, MicroSuede upholstery, made from partly recycled Nubuck textile, wraps the seats and door inserts. “Limited drops like the BST edition 230 allow us to explore colors, graphics, and materials in faster and more creative ways,” says Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO. This special edition will be limited to 230 units across North America and Europe and is available for order now with deliveries expected in the third quarter of 2023.

Exhaust: We have sampled several versions of the Polestar 2 and have enjoyed them all. Its understated interior is a great place for Polestar to play with different upholstery and textures to liven things up, and these limited edition models seem like a safe place to get a little more ambitious with the textures and colors. Despite its sedate exterior, Polestar 2 packs solid handling and performance, so the stripe is a welcome addition. — Brandan Gillogly

This resto-mod Porsche 964 is as quick as a modern 911 GT3

Intake: Theon Design’s latest take on the 964-era (1988–92) Porsche 911 is a carbon-bodied lightweight that can match the latest GT3 when it comes to performance. In fact, the car, known as ITA001 because it’s the first example to be built for an Italian customer, has exactly the same power-to-weight ratio as a 992-generation GT3 Touring. Theon’s carbon construction allows it to weigh in at just 2540 lbs and its four-liter naturally-aspirated, air-cooled flat-six engine produces 405 horsepower. By contrast, the latest GT3 Touring makes 502 hp and tips the scales at 3126 lbs when equipped with a manual transmission. Theon also uses a manual transmission, which is a six-speed unit sourced from a 993-era (1993–97) 911. A limited-slip differential and brakes come from a 993-era 911 Carrera RS, while the engine’s high-performance plenum is from a 997-gen (2004–10) 911. The motor also features independent throttle bodies from Jenvey with drive-by-wire capability, and there’s five-stage adaptive damping from Tractive. “It retains the air-cooled enthralling 911’s charm, but blends it with modern, focused performance and dynamic ability; it’s a classic 911 with an addictive dose of modern GT3 thrown in,” reckons Theon co-founder Adam Hawley.

Exhaust: You could buy a pair of modern GT3s for the price of one Theon, but we doubt you’d have twice the fun. “If, in an alternative universe without ever-changing legislative hurdles, Porsche had continued to develop the 964 for 40 years this could well have been the result. The character of the car is unchanged, but its capability is immeasurably improved,” we said after test-driving one. — Nik Berg

Ford Explorer goes electric—but there’s a catch

Intake: Ford has designed a brand-new electric Explorer. That’s the good news. The bad news: It’s for Europe only. Really, while it wears the Explorer name, it’s a lot closer in size to an Escape—it’s 177 inches long, while the U.S. Explorer is 198.8 inches. Engineered and built in Germany on the same MEB platform that underpins the Volkswagen ID.4, the electric Explorer is a five-seater with a battery pack that can fast-charge from 10 to 80 percent in 25 minutes. “Explorer is a trailblazer for a new breed of exciting Ford electric vehicles. Steeped in our American roots but built in Cologne for our customers in Europe, it is road trip-ready for the big adventures and fully loaded with everything our customers will need for their daily drives,” said Martin Sander, general manager of Ford Europe’s EV lineup.

Exhaust: Actually, it’s kind of surprising that Ford, with only the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning in its EV stable currently, isn’t interested in exporting the Explorer—or whatever they’d call it—in the U.S. And there are more EVs coming across the pond: “Ford in Europe is committed to offering an all-electric portfolio of passenger vehicles by 2030,” the company says. — Steven Cole Smith

Poll says one-third of Americans would consider an EV

Intake: Reuters reports that just over one-third of Americans would consider buying an electric vehicle for their next purchase, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Some 34 percent of all respondents indicated that they would consider an EV, while 31 percent said they would not. Among Democrats, 50 percent said they would consider an EV, while just 26 percent of Republicans and 27 percent of independents said they would consider an electric vehicle. Reuters says there are now more than 80 EV models for sale in the United States. Thanks to that breadth of choice, EVs represented nearly 6 percent of all U.S. sales in 2022—up more than 60 percent from the year before.

Exhaust: The poll suggests there’s still a fair bit of reluctance among the public to buy electric. Price is likely a factor; the poll found that 56 percent of respondents would be willing to pay no more than $49,999 for an EV, definitely on the low end of what’s available. – SCS

Lamborghini’s next supercar will have 13 drive modes, electric torque vectoring

Intake: Lamborghini has revealed a few more details about the LB744, its V-12-powered, hybridized successor to the Aventador. The nearly 1000-hp monster will offer 13 different driving modes that alter the car’s character dramatically, allowing it to drive on pure electric power through tight urban areas and then, when the road opens, employ the full might of that 6.5-liter, 814-hp, naturally aspirated V-12 for spirited driving. The LB744 will be the first Lamborghini to offer electric torque vectoring as well, thanks to those two electric motors placed on the front axle. Used in conjunction with the four-wheel steering system, this tech will hopefully allow the LB744 to knife through tighter corners better than its predecessors.

Exhaust: As more high-performance cars turn to electrification to increase performance, we’re getting the added benefit of a much broader envelope of capability from these machines as well. Imagine a car as menacing as the LB744 wafting silently through your quaint little town, then making you spill your espresso as it reaches city limits and morphs from tranquil transport pod to yowling apex hunter. Sounds epic. — Nathan Petroelje

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2024 Acura Integra Type S will have 320 hp, 310 lb-ft of torque

Intake: Acura has revealed power figures for the 2024 Integra Type S. The sportier version of Acura’s smallest car will boast 320 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque from its 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four engine, which will pair exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission. The YouTube teaser accompanying the announcement shows a new exhaust system with three centrally mounted tips, akin to the Honda Civic Type R. The Integra Type S manages 5 more hp over the CTR, but the brief glimpse of the rear end of the car indicates that this one won’t get a bonkers rear wing as you get on the Honda. Acura will debut the Integra Type S next month at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 14–16.

Exhaust: Note the pops and burbles from the exhaust in the teaser posted below; we hope that overrun noise makes it to production to give the Type S even more character. Our test of the regular Integra A-Spec Advanced revealed a car that hewed more towards a luxury Honda Civic Si than it did the high-revving, fiery Integra we all remembered. Perhaps the Type S will evoke more of the feelings of the Integras of yore. — Nathan Petroelje

Cost of damaged battery packs can write off the whole car

Intake: For many electric vehicles, there is no way to repair even slightly damaged battery packs after accidents, “forcing insurance companies to write off cars with few miles, leading to higher premiums and undercutting gains from going electric,” says Reuters. “We’re buying electric cars for sustainability reasons,” said Matthew Avery, research director at automotive risk intelligence company Thatcham Research. “But an EV isn’t very sustainable if you’ve got to throw the battery away after a minor collision.” Battery packs can cost tens of thousands of dollars and represent up to 50 percent of an EV’s price tag, often making it uneconomical to replace them.

Exhaust: Reuters says that some automakers like Ford and General Motors claim they have made battery packs easier to repair, but “Tesla has taken the opposite tack with its Texas-built Model Y, whose new structural battery pack has been described by experts as having ‘zero repairability.'” Tesla declined to comment. It’s definitely something to discuss with your insurance agent before you go electric. – Steven Cole Smith

SUV sales spur near-billion-dollar profits for Bentley and Lamborghini

Intake Bentley’s profits in 2022 rose €319 million ($341M) over its 2021 tally for a total of €708 million ($757M). Bentley turned over €3.38 billion ($3.61B), increased its sales by four percent, and delivered more than 15,000 cars. Meanwhile, in Italy, Lamborghini also had a record year, turning over €2.8 billion ($2.99B), which represents a 22 percent increase over 2021, and more than double the firm’s profit figure from just five years ago. The company delivered more than 9,000 cars for the first time in its history, with the U.S. remaining its biggest market.

Exhaust: It’s no surprise that the core sales for these two legendary names are no longer sports cars. For Bentley, the Bentayga SUV made up 42 percent of global sales while at Lamborghini the Urus took 60 percent — Nik Berg

We know all about Dodge’s Last Call vehicle…

Intake: …but we can’t tell you the details until 9 p.m. ET tonight, because it’s under an embargo. Suffice it to say that if you’ve followed all the Dodge Last Call teaser videos featuring an angry, unnaturally buff leprechaun, you likely have some idea of what’s coming at the announcement in Las Vegas tonight. Come back at 9 p.m. sharp and read all about it here. A tip of the hat to Dodge for making this reveal fun and exciting.

Exhaust: We can say this much: Dodge fans won’t be disappointed. Meanwhile, here’s a link to the final teaser, called Trip Wire. – SCS

Chip shortage production woes are winding down

Intake: Automakers cut just 2,400 vehicles from their production schedules worldwide last week due to chip shortages, one of the lowest weekly totals in months, according to the latest estimate by AutoForecast Solutions, says Automotive News. All of the new reductions occurred at European factories, with plants around the rest of the world getting a reprieve from the supply problems that have “ravaged factory and supply chain planning since early 2021.” Automakers are still coping with other supply chain problems, but they are less frequently blaming them on the semiconductor shortage, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions. “More than two years into this problem, it reflects poorly on a manufacturer or supplier who has not secured sourcing of chips,” Fiorani wrote in an email.

Exhaust: Automotive News says that about 714,600 vehicles have been cut from global production plans this year due to chip shortages. This latest report means dealers’ lots should be filling back up, and special orders shouldn’t take as many months to build. Good news for everyone. — SCS

Sebring endurance races prove new GTP cars’ durability and speed

Intake: There were two major sports car races at the incredibly rough and challenging Sebring International Raceway last weekend: the 1000 Miles of Sebring for the World Endurance Championship, the series’ lone visit to the U.S., and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, its second outing since the relatively smooth-surfaced 24 Hours of Daytona. The two Toyota LMH cars, as expected, spanked everyone in the WEC race, but it was a genuine dogfight in the IMSA race, with Cadillac inheriting the lead after a dramatic late race crash just 20 minutes from the end took out both Penske Porsches and the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura, leaving the Action Express Cadillac the unlikely winner, followed by a BMW.

Exhaust: There were surprisingly few failures of the new hybrid system but there were a few issues, such as a mysteriously overheating Peugeot that had to be sequestered in a special area until the batteries cooled enough for mechanics to work on it. The competition was excellent, the weather ideal—predicted storms held off until the next day—and the crowd was massive both days. Well done. — SCS

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The idea of a mainstream, production (as opposed to one-off) Lamborghini being forgettable (or at least forgotten) seems preposterous, but show 100 car fans pictures of the Islero, and the chances are the majority wouldn’t be able to identify it. Perhaps that’s not such a silly notion; the Islero was made in small numbers and it doesn’t have the visual drama of most Sant’Agata products, making it unusually understated—one of the reasons why Ferruccio himself drove one.

Everybody remembers the Miura, but the contemporary 400GT 2+2 has a much lower profile. This was intentional, as it was created for business tycoons rather than attention-seeking playboys. It was the same with the Islero, which was a reheated 400GT, using the same square-tube chassis and double-wishbone suspension, but with the track widened to make the most of the latest (wider) tires.

Fitted with the same 320-hp, 3929-cc V-12 as the Miura, which was mounted in the nose rather than behind the cabin, the Islero was unveiled at the 1968 Geneva Salon. It debuted alongside the Espada, a car which always had a higher profile and which as a result garnered more column inches. In period, the reality is that few people even knew of the Islero’s existence, and that’s the way things have stayed.

Taking its name from the bull that killed high-profile matador Manuel Rodriguez in 1947, the Islero was developed as a collaboration between Ferruccio Lamborghini and Marazzi, a coachbuilder that rose from the ashes of the defunct Carrozzeria Touring, which had gone bust at the start of 1967. Headed by Mario Marazzi, the new company employed several key people from Touring, with ex-Touring designer Federico Formenti reckoned to have played a significant part in the Islero’s styling.

Compared with its 400GT forebear, the Islero came with Campagnolo alloys instead of Borrani wire wheels and beefier antiroll bars. Otherwise, the new car was mechanically the same as the old. Where it did differ was in proportions. The length was increased by a couple of inches (to 178 inches) and the height by an inch (to 51 inches), yet despite sticking with an all-steel body shell, the curb weight was cut by around 400 pounds, to a claimed 2866 pounds.

Sharply (if conservatively) styled, the Islero was the perfect GT for those in a hurry who wanted to blend into the background. With its sextet of Weber twin-choke carbs, the Islero could sprint to 60 mph in just 7.5 seconds on its way to a 160-mph top speed. And yet when parked up, this hugely expensive 2+2 looked innocuous.

Cheaper alternatives didn’t come with the standard air-con of the Islero, though, which also featured electric windows. The problem was that neither of these features tended to work for very long, because the build quality was poor. Marazzi wasn’t really up to the task of producing such an expensive luxury car, and the quality of the early Isleros was poor, but things would improve later on. Not that this was much consolation to customers who had forked out the price of a decent house—roughly $121,500 today—to buy an early Islero.

Islero production started as the car was unveiled in spring 1968, and by May 1969 Marazzi had been able to produce 125 examples, which was pretty good going for such a low-profile and costly car. It was at this point that Lamborghini turned up the wick, with the introduction of the 35-bhp Islero S.

Given away by its flared wheel arches and quarter lights in the doors (as shown with the car pictured here), these later iterations of the breed were produced to a noticeably higher standard than their forebears.

Just two years after the Islero had made its debut, the final S edition rolled off the production lines when the Jarama picked up the baton. That’s another overlooked Lamborghini, so we’ll tackle it at a later date because let’s face it, you probably have no idea what a Jarama looks like, do you?

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Via Hagerty UK

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Dealers will get a look at potential midsized Ram this month

Intake: Ram will show dealers a model of a potential midsize pickup this month, the brand’s CEO said Wednesday. Mike Koval Jr. told Automotive News that the concept would be in the form of a “physical property,” not just a sketch or rendering. Koval said at the Detroit auto show in September that Ram was thinking about giving retailers a peek at an early midsize concept to “gauge their interest,” but it wasn’t clear at the time whether that would be just an image or a tangible prototype.

Exhaust: We have little doubt that Ram dealers, who have been clamoring for a midsized truck, will enthusiastically greenlight the project. Still, as Koval told Automotive News, “I can’t think of a better incubator: a collection of 5,000 of my closest friends to tell me if I’m on the right path or not,” Koval said. “If I get the thumbs up, I know I’m doing something right. If they throw something at me, I understand that too.” — Steven Cole Smith

Lamborghini’s Urus successor will be all-electric

Intake: Speaking to journalists at a preview for the brand’s hybrid Aventador successor in Sant’Agata on Friday, Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann declared that the replacement for the Urus SUV will arrive in 2029 and be powered exclusively by batteries, according to Road & Track. The new generation of the performance SUV will arrive one year after the brand unveils its first electric vehicle in 2028. “In ’28 and ’29 we will have our first two BEVs,” Winkelmann said. “We will have a fourth model, so today we have three models. It will be the first one to be completely a BEV car in 2028. And then in 2029 there will be the new Urus.” Winkelmann noted that the two forthcoming EVs will help drive down the brand’s overall emissions by some 80 percent relative to today’s output. There’s also a plan to hybridize the current Urus sometime in 2024, possibly utilizing some of the same technology that will debut on the Aventador successor, codenamed LB744.

Exhaust: Lamborghini is getting ready to hybridize every car in its lineup, beginning with the Aventador successor, which Winkelmann called “The real Lamborghini, the tip of the spear of our lineup.” Alongside the hybrid Urus, a new plug-in hybrid version of the Huracán will also bow in 2024, according to Winkelmann. Will the electric Urus be able to maintain the same raging bull spirit that made the gas-powered one a sight to behold? Time will tell. — Nathan Petroelje

Kimi Räikkönen will try NASCAR again

Intake: The Iceman cometh … again. Formula 1 champion Kimi Räikkönen will pilot Trackhouse Racing’s third car in a NASCAR Cup Series race. This time, the Finnish driver will join the good ol’ Cup boys at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. Last year, Räikkönen drove a Trackhouse Camaro at Watkins Glen, where he demonstrated solid pace but was ultimately swept up in a mid-race accident and finished 37th. Trackhouse honcho Justin Marks formed the third team dubbed “Project 91” as a landing spot for international motorsport superstars who wanted to try their hand at NASCAR stock car racing. So far, Räikkönen has been the only shoe to campaign the novel entry.

Exhaust: NASCAR’s first road course race of the season is shaping up to be a headline-filled affair. It was announced yesterday that American road racer Jordan Taylor will make his NASCAR debut at the Texas driving for Hendrick Motorsports as a fill-in for an injured Chase Elliott. Now, Räikkönen. The third domino expected to fall sometime soon is Jenson Button’s announcement that he’ll be driving for Stewart-Haas racing at COTA. Regardless of how each of the top-flight drivers performs, NASCAR will no doubt benefit from the additional eyes during the race. Last year, the COTA race produced intense drama and a last-lap battle for first which resulted in a crash among the three leaders. With a little luck, NASCAR will be able to showcase the same on-track action this year with a few fresh faces in the field. — Cameron Neveu

FIA president loses son in car crash

Intake: Said Ben Sulayem, son of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, was killed in a car crash in Dubai, according to a new report from Autosport. The news has been confirmed by the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) but the governing body that oversees much of the world’s motorsports series, including Formula 1, will not provide a further statement, indicating that the president has asked for privacy during this tough time. Said Ben Sulayem shared his father’s passion for cars and racing, even attempting to forge his own path as a racing driver in the 2016–17 UAE Formula 4 championship, a feeder series that eventually could land drivers into Formula 1, which at the time included current F1 Drivers like Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri. The elder Ben Sulayem became president of the FIA in December 2021.

Exhaust: One of the FIA’s biggest contributions to motor racing over the past few decades has been advancements in safety, both within car design as well as at the tracks. Our thoughts are with Mr. Ben Sulayem. — NP

BEV satisfaction lower than ICE products

Intake: Customer service satisfaction among owners of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is lower than those who own internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, according to a study released on Thursday, Reuters reports. The J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Customer Service Index Study, which is in its 43rd year, saw a year-over-year score decline for the first time in 28 years. Recall rates, which are more than double for BEVs than their gas or diesel counterparts, are a leading factor, the report said. BEV owners’ customer service satisfaction was 42 points lower than owners of ICE engines. “As the electric vehicle segment grows, service is going to be a ‘make or break’ part of the ownership experience,” said Chris Sutton, vice president of automotive retail at J.D. Power. “The industry has been hyper-focused on launches and now these customers are bringing their electric vehicles in for maintenance and repairs.”

Exhaust: It’s worth pointing out that the J.D. Power study does not include Tesla, which builds the lion’s share of EVs on today’s roads and topped the chart in the S&P Global Mobility’s “overall loyalty to make” category, beating out Ford. That key counterpoint aside, the J.D. Power study paints a picture of legacy automakers struggling to properly equip their dealers with sufficient parts and skilled labor to service the EVs relative to their ICE counterparts. — SCS

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Lambo’s new hybrid supercar will keep V-12 promise

Intake: Props to the folks at Sant’Agata. As Lamborghini’s then-CEO Stefano Domenicali promised in March of 2019, the successor to the V-12 Aventador supercar (2011–22) will have a twelve-cylinder, naturally aspirated engine … that spins to 9500 rpm (!). Code-named L545, the V-12 has the same displacement as the Aventador’s (6.5 liters) but is 37 pounds lighter and has a higher compression ratio (12.6:1 compared to 11.8:1 for the final Aventador variant, the Ultimae). Its 814-hp maximum nearly tops that of the most powerful Aventador engines, which generally made less than 800, with the exception of the ram-air-induction-equipped, track-only Essenza SCV12 (819 hp). Factor in displacement, however, and this new mill does squeeze out a superlative: the highest specific output of any Lambo V-12: 125 hp per liter. The engine will be supplemented by no fewer than three 110kW electric motors, as the world learned this morning—one integrated into the double-clutch, eight-speed transmission, and one motor on each front wheel. Total system output is nearly 1000 hp. The car, code-named LB744, is not the first hybrid Lambo (that would be 2019’s super capacitor-equipped Sían) but it is the company’s first model with an all-electric, four-wheel-drive mode. Another first of the LB744: The transmission is mounted behind the engine. Lambo’s PR department is calling this a “brand-new” engine, but we’ll believe that when we hear an engineer say it.

Exhaust: If this plug-in Lambo excites you, you’re either a die-hard fan of the magnanimous sort, who’s thrilled that another V-12 exists even if you will never own it; or you’re independently wealthy, and relieved that the all-electric mode allows this new Lambo to crawl scot-free through London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone so you can shop at Gucci. —Grace Houghton

Chase Elliott undergoes successful surgery

Intake: Past NASCAR Cup champion Chase Elliott, 27, underwent successful surgery after a snowboarding accident in Colorado broke his left tibia. Elliott, the 2020 champ, was replaced in Sunday’s race at Las Vegas by NASCAR Xfinity series driver Josh Berry. Hendrick Motorsports president and general manager Jeff Andrews said that Elliott is expected to miss multiple races while he recovers, and there is currently no timeline for his return. The #9 Chevrolet will continue to compete for the owner’s championship, and the organization can apply to NASCAR for a medical waiver that would keep Elliott eligible for the driver’s title.

Exhaust: Berry, 32, had just two Cup starts to his credit, both in 2021, and he has never driven NASCAR’s Next Gen car, introduced into the series last year. He finished 29th out of 36 cars Sunday. “Without a doubt, it’s going to be a great challenge for me,” Berry said, “but with great challenge comes great opportunity for me to learn and grow as a driver and work around a lot of really talented and smart people here at Hendrick Motorsports.” —Steven Cole Smith

Tough times at Lordstown Motors …

Intake: Electric pickup manufacturer Lordstown Motors posted a net loss of $102.3 million, up from $81.2 million a year earlier. The results included an impairment charge of $36.5 million caused mainly by a decrease in its stock price. The company has been struggling with delivery of its $65,000, all-wheel-drive pickup designed for the fleet markets, says Automotive News. At the start of production more than six months ago, the Ohio-based plant had set a target to deliver 50 vehicles in 2022 and more in 2023 out of the planned first batch of 500 units. However, it stopped production last month due to performance and quality issues and reported sales of only six vehicles. The supply chain constraints, especially in motor components, are also expected to hurt production in the current quarter. “We will continue to execute a capital constrained business plan,” CFO Adam Kroll said, adding that Lordstown will need to raise “significantly more” capital.

Exhaust: We like the Endurance pickup, but with major manufacturers (especially Ford) also targeting the fleet market for electric trucks, Lordstown’s future does not look bright. —SCS

… and there are also issues at Rivian

Intake: Rivian Automotive plans to sell bonds worth $1.3 billion, “as weakening demand and lofty costs tighten a cash crunch around electrical vehicle makers,” said Reuters. Shares in Rivian fell nearly 7 percent in after-hours trading. The capital from this offering will help facilitate the launch of Rivian’s smaller R2 vehicle family, a Rivian spokesperson told Reuters, adding that convertible debt was “optimal cost of capital versus selling equity at today’s levels.”

Exhaust: Rivian is in far better shape than Lordstown Motors, with the Illinois plant actively manufacturing the R1T electric pickup truck and the R1S SUV. But Rivian has been burning through a lot of cash, and apparently needs this infusion. —SCS

Dodge’s second “Last Call” video a puzzler

Intake: Dodge has released its second “Last Call” teaser for the new presumed supercar it will debut on March 20, 2023. “Last Call” is the marketing tag for the last run of Dodge Challengers and Chargers, and previous Last Call models leading up to the debut of the final one have all been high-performance models. This last one is rumored to have at least 900 horsepower. Any less will be a disappointment.

Exhaust: This second video ends with a scale reading 7.1 pounds. Is it the extra boost the new car will get? Some sort of power-to-weight ratio? See what you think here. —SCS

One-of-a-kind DB5 wannabe is for sale

Intake: If an old car given a modern makeover is a restomod, what do you call a modern machine with classic looks? “Retromod” seems about right to describe this BAE Vantare, an Aston Martin DB9 that’s been rebodied to resemble a DB5. Launched in 2021 by startup British Automotive Engineering, it was fronted by comedian Bradley Walsh but was no joke. The company planned to build ten of them and charge over $330,000 for each one. The Vantare’s bodywork was created from “hybrid modern materials,” such as carbon fiber; wire-style alloys were fitted; and the Aston Martin interior was also revamped with a revised center console, new steering wheel, and vents sourced from Mercedes. It’s not clear what has happened to BAE since it announced the Vantare as the firm’s website is currently offline, and it hasn’t posted to social media for a year. In all likelihood chassis number one, based on a 2005 DB9, which is currently for sale at London dealer DD Classics, is the only example ever built. DD Classics describes it as “an Aston Martin collector’s dream,” but we’ll let you decide.

Exhaust: It’s not a completely crazy idea. After all, David Brown Automotive has seemingly made a success of its $700,000 Jaguar XKR–based Speedback GT, although that design does seem a little more complete and the level of craftsmanship significantly higher. Scale down your expectations and The Little Car Company might offer the most fun attempt to recreate the DB5. —Nik Berg

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The Lamborghini Aventador is no more. Due to be replaced imminently with the Raging Bull’s first series-production hybrid, it leaves a legacy of no less than 22 different models.

Over 12 years. Lamborghini certainly made the most out of the L539 6.5-liter V-12 engine, the Independent Shifting Rods transmission, and the carbon fiber monocoque that were all developed under Audi’s ownership.

The original Aventador spawned a roadster, a series of low-volume and show cars, and saw its power output grow from 700 hp in 2011 to 820 hp in a one-make racer.

Here’s the order of service.

2011–16 Aventador LP700-4 Coupe

The Aventador launched at the Geneva Motor Show in February of 2011, and the first deliveries of the all-new Filippo Perini-designed supercar began that summer. All-wheel drive was standard, aiding the Aventador’s ability to accelerate from 0–62 mph in just 2.9 seconds. In five years, more than 5000 examples were sold.

2012 Aventador J

The first one-off on the Aventador platform was the J—a brutal barchetta, described by Lamborghini as “the most uncompromising open super sports car of its entire history.” Mechanically, it was the same as the production car but teased the upcoming roadster. It was sold for $2.8 million.

2013–16 Aventador LP700-4 Roadster

The top came off the Aventador two years later with a removable two-part carbon fiber roof that could be stored in the luggage compartment. Some extra stiffening was required for the sills and A-pillars, but the weight penalty was just 110 pounds and there was no drop off in performance.

2013 Veneno

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Lamborghini unveiled the Veneno, named after one of Italy’s most fearsome fighting bulls. Its V-12 was boosted to 750-hp, racing suspension was installed, and the carbon bodywork featured a host of aerodynamic accouterments—handy when its top speed was 220 mph. Just three were made and sold for €3m ($3.18M) apiece.

2015–17 Aventador Superveloce LP750-4 (2016–17 Roadster)

More power and less weight—that was the recipe for 2015’s Superveloce. Wider use of carbon fiber saved an additional 110 pounds, while engineers found another 50 horsepower in the V-12, shaving a tenth of a second off the original Aventador’s 0-to-62-mph sprint. A Roadster followed and was limited to 500 units.

2016–21 Aventador S LP740-4 (2017–21 Roadster)

With 2016 came the Aventador’s first facelift, with minor styling updates by Mitja Borkert and fairly major mechanical tweaks by the engineering team. The V-12 now made 740 horses, four-wheel steering was added, and “Lamborghini Dinamica Veicolo Attiva” active suspension was installed. Carbon-ceramic brakes also became standard. The removable-roof roadster arrived in 2017 and the S would remain in production until the final run-out models took over in 2021.

2016 Centenario

Ferruccio Lamborghini would have been 100 years old in 2016, giving the brand a good excuse to put up the bunting and produce a limited run of Aventador-based specials. Just 20 Centenarios were built as coupes and 20 as roadsters, all powered by a 770-hp version of the V-12—the most powerful ever (at the time). The asking price was a cool €1.75m ($1.86M).

2018–21 Aventador SVJ LP 770-4 (2019–21 Roadster )

The Superveloce Jota (SVJ) was the car that sent Lamborghini to the top of the Nürburgring lap time leaderboard. Lapping the Green Hell in six minutes, 44.97 seconds, Lamborghini limited production to 900, including 63 SVJ63s which marked the year Lamborghini was founded. True to form, a Roadster followed a year later. The SVJ was the first production V-12 model to feature Lamborghini’s “Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva” (ALA) system, an advanced system that managed airflow to produce massive gains in downforce.

2018 SC18 Alston

When a customer asks, Lamborghini answers. In the case of the SC18 Alston, the question was: “Can you build me an Aventador GT3?” The company’s race team Squadra Corsa raided its parts bin and fitted the carbon rear wing and hood intakes from the Huracàn GT3, plus wheels based on the Veneno, rear lights from the Centenario, and the rear fenders and fin from the Huracàn SuperTrofeo Evo. The price paid was not disclosed.

2019 Siàn (2020 Roadster)

The Siàn showed the shape of things to come. It was the first Lamborghini to use a hybrid powertrain. Mating the V-12 from the SVJ with an electric motor powered by supercapacitors, the total output was a mighty 808 horsepower. Design elements from the electric Terzo Millenio concept car of 2017 were included, along with a throwback to the original Countach in the form of periscope-inspired glass panel in the roof. The 82 buyers invited to purchase a Siàn paid $3.6 million for the privilege. Just 63 coupes and 19 roadsters were built.

2020 SC20

Seemingly taking its inspiration from the J of 2013 and the SC18 Alston is the SC20. This one-off open track tool was put together by Squadra Corse for one VIP customer. The SC20 employed 770 naturally-aspirated horses, center lock wheels, and bodywork paired back to a minimum. It was then given adjustable aero to make sure it would stick to any circuit.

2020 Essenza SCV12

With customers asking Lamborghini to build race-ready Aventador specials, the firm finally bit the bullet in 2020 with the Essenza SCV12. Using learnings from the Huracàn GT3, the car had a ton of downforce and a ram air system that boosted power to 820 hp. A six-speed X-trac manual transmission was fitted and drive was dispatched to the rear wheels only. Lamborghini said it would build 40 of the $3.5M race cars to compete in a one-make series, which doesn’t appear to have actually happened.

2021 Countach LPI 800-4

It may be best not to dwell too much on this one. The much-anticipated “new” Countach was essentially a re-styled Siàn, but that didn’t stop 112 people from paying $2.6 million to get their hands on it.

2021 LP780-4 Ultimae Coupe and Roadster

This was to be the Aventador’s swansong. “The Aventador LP 780-4 denotes the final, purest, timeless naturally aspirated production V-12 Lamborghini,” said CEO Stephan Winkelmann in 2021. Essentially combining the best bits of the Aventador S and SVJ, the 780-hp Ultimae was “the last of its kind.” Except it wasn’t.

2022 Invencible and Auténtica

Lamborghini couldn’t resist one last Aventador special. Two actually. The Invencible and Auténtica represent the final installation of the landmark V-12 without any form of electrical assistance. The duo takes cues from most of the back catalog, including the racy Essenza SCV12 and sets up the next generation of hybrid hypercars.

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GM: No gas-powered Bronco rival coming

Intake: Speaking to The Drive at the Daytona 500, GM president Mark Reuss said that his company won’t be pursuing a gas-powered rival to the Ford Bronco and the Jeep Wrangler. According to Reuss, there are a few reasons—first and foremost, he doesn’t see an advantage to GM being the last of the Big Three to enter the body-on-frame 4×4 space, behind Jeep and then Ford. Reuss also said that the emissions from such a vehicle would unnecessarily harm GM’s corporate average fuel economy (CAFE), saying that the reason Ford has to sell the Maverick in hybrid form is that the Bronco has such an impact on Ford’s CAFE numbers. He didn’t rule an eventual battery-powered off-road vehicle out of the picture, however. The Blazer, a name that was historically associated with a body-on-frame 4×4, currently adorns the hood of a stylish but streets-first crossover SUV that will soon morph into a decidedly road-focused EV, so we’re not sure what it would be called.

Exhaust: Assuming that the Maverick only exists in hybrid form to help Ford’s CAFE ratings seems a bit bold, as Ford can’t keep up with demand for that thing, but Reuss’ reasoning still holds water. So does the disinterest in being the last of the Big Three to a market segment. Still, we’re a bit dismayed to hear that. GM’s off-road trucks are quite impressive, and we’d bet that those Chevy and GMC engineers could come up with a sweet machine if given the chance. Guess we’ll hold out hope that a battery-powered off-roader arrives from Chevy someday. — Nathan Petroelje

Genesis prices electric GV70

Intake: Genesis is bringing the electric version of the GV70 to market. The Electrified GV70 Advanced AWD will start under $66,000—or $65,850 to be precise, not including the destination fee. The Prestige model, with Nappa leather, upgraded stereo, and other features will start at $72,650. Both models are all-wheel-drive. The electric model will be built at Hyundai’s Montgomery, Alabama plant, the first time a U.S. Genesis model will be built outside South Korea. Both electric models will have dual 160-kW motors, one at each end, and a 77.4-kWh lithium-ion battery. The car will be underpinned by the same E-GMP platform as the Hyundai Ioniq 5, the Kia EV6, and the Genesis GV60. “The electrified G70 represents two important milestones as we continue on our journey toward full electrification by 2030,” said Claudia Marquez, chief operating officer of Genesis Motor North America. “We are pleased to not only be growing our electric product portfolio, but also to be assembling Genesis products right here in America for the very first time.”

Exhaust: Genesis can seem to do no wrong right now. The GV70 is priced near or below the competition, and if the interior experience is anything like the gasoline-powered GV70, we expect it to be impressive. — Steven Cole Smith

Watch the Lamborghini Huracàn Sterrato hit the slopes

Intake: If the line is looking a little long at the ski lift, just make sure you’ve got a Lamborghini Huracàn Sterrato to hand. In a new video, the Raging Bull becomes more of a snow pony as it hauls a freestyle skier up a slope in the Italian Alps. The pair then race back down the mountain, kicking up clouds of white stuff as they carve turns on their descent. There’s even time for some snownuts at the end. It’s an entertaining 60-odd seconds of ice magic, and more proof of the Sterrato’s all-terrain agility.

Exhaust: Take note future Sterrato and 911 Dakar owners, these machines have been designed to be driven: any time, any place, any how. They might look good in your climate-controlled collection, but they look even better when put to use out in the most extreme elements. — Nik Berg

Dodge Ram REV reservations closed in less than a week

Intake: It’s either the power of a good Super Bowl ad, or a pent-up demand for an electric Ram pickup, but the order books for the new Ram REV opened and closed in just five days, following the truck’s debut in a 60-second ad on the Super Bowl February 12. Reservations for the truck, which won’t be available until the fourth quarter of 2024, could be made by putting up a refundable $100 deposit for a place in line. “Membership has reached max capacity,” the reservation page read on Friday, “due to high demand.” The form then asked for a zip code and email address to alert consumers “when the doors open up again.”

Exhaust: Ram isn’t saying how high that demand was, but it’s still indicative of the fact that even though Ram is late with the REV compared to the Ford Lightning and the electric  Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra, as well as the Rivian R1T pickup, there’s a group of Mopar loyalists willing to wait on their chosen brand. — SCS

’66 Nova is the latest Hot Wheels Red Line Club creation

Intake: In a perfect world, everyone has the garage space for a sinister 1966 Chevy Nova with a blower motor and wild graphics. In reality, however, space is finite, which is what makes the newest release from the Hot Wheels Red Line Club (RLC) so special. This ’66 Nova was designed by Larry Wood as an ultimate expression of Chevy’s stubby street rod. Red Line Club cars are Hot Wheels’ most detailed offerings, and they are extremely popular among the collector crowd. This ’66 Nova harkens back to the Southern California Pro Street days of the ‘70s and ‘80s, with Spectraflame Blue paint and wild yellow, orange, and red graphics. Details include Real Riders Drag Strip Demon drag wheels, Goodyear marks on the rear tires, that wild blower motor out the front, and more. The car will release at 9 a.m. PT (Noon ET) today, and it’s expected to sell out in minutes, even with the two-per-customer limit.

Exhaust: Interested in signing up for the Hot Wheels Red Line Club? The annual fee is just $9.99, and you’ll get access to exclusive models like this Nova, as well as the ability to vote on new collectible releases, behind-the-scenes content, and more. Just click this link to join. With Hot Wheels increasing in popularity as collector items, the RLC seems like the type of car club we should all want to join. — Nathan Petroelje

Caddy’s smallest SUV gets a big touchscreen

Intake: For the XT4’s fifth year on the market, Cadillac is giving the tiny luxury pod a few cosmetic upgrades. The visage is newly chiseled, with boomerang-shaped headlights and stacked daytime-running lights reminiscent of those on the bigger, battery-powered Lyriq. The most obvious change is inside, where the 8-inch display that jutted above the dash’s center is replaced by a 33-inch affair that integrates the instrument panel and the touch-activate display for audio/navigation/vehicle setting duties. A few more changes lie further down the options list: the premium audio option is no longer made by Bose but by AKG. The Lyriq’s Emerald Lake Metallic paint—a deep sort of grey-hued teal—is now offered on its little sibling, which remains powered by the familiar, 235-hp turbo four-cylinder backed by a nine-speed automatic transmission.

Exhaust: Were Cadillac actively invested in the XT4, these changes would probably have occurred in 2020 or 2021, the vehicle’s second or third year on the market, and we’d be now seeing major mechanical and/or aesthetic overhauls. Don’t blame Cadillac: It has only seven more years to fulfill its promise of an all-electric lineup. — Grace Houghton

NASCAR was founded 75 years ago today

Intake: At the bar on the roof of the Streamline Hotel in downtown Daytona Beach, on February 21, 1948, the National Association for Stock Car Racing was born, birthed by a group of businessmen led by Bill France, Sr., a gas station owner who dabbled in promoting auto races, and raced a bit himself. There were multiple small organizations that promoted racing, but none were particularly effective, and France thought there was a market for a sanctioning body with one set of rules and a firm schedule. He was obviously correct. The last person who attended that meeting died several years ago, but as NASCAR showed with a sellout crowd of over 100,000 last Sunday, the 65th running of the Daytona 500, France was on firm ground.

Exhaust: The France family, led by “Big Bill’s” son, Jim, still controls NASCAR, and the future is as bright as ever as auto racing is rebounding from the pandemic with a vengeance. NASCAR made a lot of millionaires, but it made the France family billionaires, and there’s no evidence it’s slowing down. — SCS

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Ford taps Marshall, Michigan, for $3.5B battery plant

Intake: Yesterday Ford announced a new battery plant in Marshall, Michigan, that would make it the first automaker to commit to building both nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) type batteries in the United States. Ford will invest $3.5 billion into the plant as part of its larger $50B investment in electric vehicles globally. It will be called BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, and Ford says it will bring 2500 jobs to the area when battery production begins in 2026. Ford is partnering with a Chinese firm called Contemporary Amperex Technology co. Ltd. (CATL), which is the world’s largest battery supplier, counting other automakers such as Tesla and Honda among its clientele. LFPs are seen as the next big batteries, providing longer lifespans and better thermal characteristics as well as lower unit costs and ease of material sourcing. Ford will begin putting LFP batteries in the Mustang Mach-E later this year. The new plant is comparable in size to Ford’s existing battery plant projects in Tennessee and Kentucky. Of the 950 acres that the new Marshall plant is set to be built on, Ford placed 245 acres along the Kalamazoo river into a conservation easement to ensure the land will be free from future industrial development and preserved for public enjoyment.

Exhaust: In an interview with reporters at the announcement event, Lisa Drake, vice president of industrialization at Ford’s Model e business unit made clear that although Ford was partnering with CATL, the plant would not be controlled by the Chinese company, which is not a government-owned enterprise. “It’s really important to understand that Ford controls the plant,” said Drake. Ford’s announcement stated that it would rely on CATL for battery cell knowledge and services provided by CATL. We’re fans of projects that include American manufacturing jobs, and despite high tensions between America and China, the new plant seems like good news. — Nathan Petroelje

Shoichiro Toyoda, the man behind Lexus and Toyota’s U.S. bloom, passes

Intake: Former Toyota president Shoichiro Toyoda, who led the company his father founded, died Tuesday. According to Automotive News, the cause was heart failure. Toyoda guided his family’s namesake company from 1981–1992, a period notable for trade tensions and tough competition for the brand. He also served on the board for 57 years, making him the automaker’s longest-serving director. He was also the father of current Toyoda CEO Akio Toyoda, who is scheduled to step down at the end of March. Trained as an engineer, Toyoda was often referred to as Dr. Toyoda inside the company as a nod to his doctoral thesis on fuel injection. The title also helped to distinguish him from Eiji Toyoda, a cousin of Shoichiro’s father who preceded Shoichiro as company president, Automotive News said. Toyoda was 97.

Exhaust: Toyoda’s tenure was a critical one, mostly for the launch of the Lexus brand and the establishment of many of Toyota’s U.S. manufacturing facilities. Our condolences to the family. —Steven Cole Smith

Maserati wants its own new Countach or Daytona

Intake: Maserati is planning to launch one-offs and limited-run specials based on its MC20 and new GranTurismo. In an interview with TopGear.com, Maserati chief engineer Davide Danesin said the company wanted to go far beyond its Fuoriserie personalization program and would be willing to create completely individual machines to meet customer desires. He also mentioned the Ferrari Daytona SP3 and Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4 as examples, which could see Maserati looking back through its archives to create future low-volume supercars.

Exhaust: If it works for Ferrari and Lamborghini it should work for Maserati, which has a longer history than both, dating back to 1914. While the new platforms mean we probably won’t see a reborn Birdcage, a modern take on the 3500GT built around the GranTurismo or Boomerang based on the MC20 would be amazing. What would you like to see? — Nik Berg

Hyundai to offer software upgrade to stop thieves

Intake: Hyundai and Kia have been the target of a rash of thefts lately, mostly due to online instructions posted on how to steal them, to the point where multiple insurance companies are declining coverage. As a result, Hyundai will offer a software upgrade to nearly 4 million U.S. vehicles in response to increasing thefts targeting vehicles without push-button ignitions and immobilizing anti-theft devices. Hyundai said it is “introducing a free anti-theft software upgrade to prevent the vehicles from starting during a method of theft popularized on TikTok and other social media channels.” Initially, the software upgrade will cover more than 1 million 2017–2020 Elantras, 2015–2019 Sonatas, and 2020–2021 Venues. All Hyundai vehicles produced since November 2021 are equipped with an engine immobilizer as standard equipment. Some 2011–2022 model-year vehicles without engine immobilizers cannot accommodate the software upgrade. For these customers, Hyundai is finalizing a program to reimburse them for their purchase of steering wheel locks.

Exhaust: It’s sad that social media has become so divisive, but that’s life in the 21st century. We expect a similar announcement from Kia. — SCS

Plug-in Hybrid Mercedes-Benz S-Class starts at $123,700

Intake: Pricing is out for the plug-in hybrid version of Mercedes’ flagship S-Class sedan. The 2024 Mercedes-Benz S 580e 4Matic will start at $123,700, including an $1150 destination charge. The S 580e pairs a 367-horsepower, 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six gasoline engine with a 21.5-kWh battery and a 148-hp electric motor for a total system output of 510 hp and 533 lb-ft of torque. The large battery gives the S 580e enough juice to cruise up to 62 miles on just electrons, according to data from the WTLP test cycle. A 9.6 kW charger comes standard for at-home or public charging, but a 60 kW DC fast charger is available. With the latter, Mercedes says you can top-up your battery from 10 percent to 80 percent in just 20 minutes. Order books are open now; the first ones will arrive in U.S. dealerships before July.

Exhaust: Bentley is using plug-in hybrid versions of its luxury cars as a wading pool for hesitant customers who aren’t yet sold on the Big B’s forthcoming EVs. Mercedes already has the EQS, a fully-electric reimagining of the S-Class, which also happens to ring in cheaper than this plug-in. Color us curious about who picks a plug-in S-Class over a fully-fledged EV (a rather good one, too) or a vehicle completely free of electric propulsion. — Nathan Petroelje

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This (and every) Valentine’s Day, we take a moment to celebrate two becoming one. We buy cards, chocolates, and dozens of roses to mark the couplings which lead to a successful and long-lasting relationships.

In the car industry there’s plenty to cheer as well, as these ten happy manufacturer marriages prove.

Toyota and Subaru

Toyota and Subaru hooked up in 2008 in a marriage of convenience when the Japanese giant took a 16.5 percent share of its smaller rival. After a four-year honeymoon period, their first offspring was a set of terrific twins: the Toyota GT86 (née Scion FRS, for the U.S.) and the Subaru BRZ.

Toyota did most of the design and engineering work, but the cars’ character came from their shared Subaru flat-four motor. Just the right amount of power and just the right amount of grip made the BRZ/GT86 siblings a hoot to drive and drift. The first generation lasted nine years with a follow-up arriving in 2021 that’s every bit as entertaining … with yet another name change for the Toyota, to GR86.

Lotus and Chevrolet

Lotus has been married and divorced more times than Donald Trump, having formal relationships with General Motors, Bugatti’s Romano Artioli, Proton, and now Geely.

During its seven-year hitch to GM, Lotus Engineering was brought in to work on a number of GM group products including the Isuzu Piazza Turbo, the Vauxhall/Opel Lotus Carlton, the Dodge Spirit R/T, and the C4 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1. For the “King of the Hill,” Lotus designed a 5.7-liter, 375-hp aluminum block, quad-cam, 32-valve V-8, and installed adjustable Bilstein suspension to live up to the “handling by Lotus” moniker.

Mercedes and AMG

The story of AMG actually began inside 1960s’ Mercedes-Benz when Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher worked together on the 300 SE racing engine. They left to form their own business Aufrecht Melcher Großaspach in 1967 and by 1971 were world famous after their “Red Pig” AMG Mercedes 300 SEL won the 24 Hours of Spa.

Alongside continued racing success Aufrecht and Melcher moved on to tuning Mercedes’ road cars, developing their own engines from 1984. In 1990 the quality of AMG’s engineering was recognized by Mercedes and the pair signed a cooperation contract. In 2005 AMG was acquired by Mercedes leading to the in-house skunkworks that we know so well, thanks to cars ranging from the C36 to the wild One.

AC and Shelby

When this small British sports-car maker and all-American racer hooked up, there were fireworks. Carroll Shelby identified the little AC Ace as a potential race winner if it could just pack a bit more of a punch and enlisted Ford for a motorsports ménage à trois.

The Shelby Cobra and its small-block V-8 would make history at Le Mans, Daytona, Monza, and the Nürburgring, to name but three of its famous victories. In the 60 years since it was conceived, the Cobra has continued to be built on both sides of the Atlantic in numerous iterations. A legend that lives on and on.

McLaren and BMW

The story of the McLaren F1 has been told many times over, but if it weren’t for the relationship forged between Gordon Murray and Paul Rosche at BMW, would this midengine beast have been such a spectacular success?

Murray had been looking to the Formula 1 team’s engine supplier Honda to provide a V-10 but the collaboration didn’t work out. BMW’s M Division came to the rescue with a bespoke, 6.1-liter, 620-hp V-12, quite possibly the best engine ever built by the German brand.

Mercedes and Porsche

In the early days of Mercedes’ romance with AMG, the company was also conducting a one-car stand with Porsche. The result of this dalliance was the 500E, a high-performance version of the W124 E-Class, which was hand-assembled by Porsche.

It was powered by a five-liter V-8 from the SL roadster, with uprated brakes to cope, and building it was anything but simple. Each one had to be shuttled the 20 miles between Mercedes at Sindelfingen and Porsche in Zuffenhausen. Mercedes provided a kit of parts to which Porsche added the car’s flared front fenders, then the 500Es would be back to Benz for painting, before taking a last trip to Porsche for final assembly. It was a complicated arrangement, but made for one of the most exciting sedans of the early ’90s.

Porsche and Audi

Porsche’s affair with Mercedes fizzled out when the last 500E was built, but few rebound relationships produce better results than the RS2, which Porsche built for Audi on the same production line.

Porsche started with the sensible B4 Avant—and went all-out on its 2.2-liter five-cylinder engine. In addition to a bigger turbo and intercooler, plus uprated injectors, Porsche upgraded the powertrain’s cooling and induction and exhaust systems to justify the “Powered by Porsche” cast on the engine’s cam cover. Porsche-branded Brembo brakes sat behind Porsche Cup alloy wheels and the interior was given a retrim with Recaro seats and white instrumentation. Quattro AWD empowered the RS2 to hit 62 mph in just 4.8 seconds—faster, indeed, than the pure-blooded Porsches of the day.

Fiat and Mazda

New Mazda Miatas don’t come along often, just once a decade since the car’s 1989 debut, in fact. Even though the Miata had just hit the million mark, the Japanese knew they’d need a partner to help fund the fourth generation (interally known as the ND), launched in 2014.

Enter an international marriage between Japan and Italy. At first it appeared that Alfa Romeo was being wooed to build a new Spider, but in the event it was Fiat that accepted Mazda’s offer and so its 124 would be built alongside the Miata in Hiroshima. Mazda stuck with revvy normally-aspirated engines, and styled the car around its sleek Kodo Soul of Motion design language. Fiat opted for a turbocharged motor and a more retro look, ensuring that the siblings had quite different characters.

Dodge and Lamborghini

Lamborghini and the Chrysler group had a six-year attachment after the Americans came to the Italians rescue in 1987. Chrysler money ensured that the Countach got a replacement in the form of the Diablo, but there were strings attached. Chrysler used its exotic partner’s name on ill-conceived concept cars like the Portofino sedan and the Bertone Genesis minivan, but one very good thing did come out of the affair: the Dodge Viper.

Chrysler commissioned Lamborghini to transform an iron-block V-10 truck motor into an engine fit for a sports car. Recast in aluminum, Lamborghini’s eight-liter version produced 400 horsepower, giving the Viper the bite it needed. In fairness, it wasn’t a completely one-sided relationship, as the Diablo was penned by Chrysler’s Tom Gale, who also designed the Viper.

Ford, Volvo, and Aston Martin

Aston Martin couldn’t say no when Ford made a very decent proposal to take over the British brand in 1987. Arguably the most successful offspring of their decade together was actually the result of a throuple with Volvo.

For the 2005 V8 Vantage Aston Martin needed higher-end touchpoints than the Blue Oval had in stock, but the recent addition of the Swedish brand to Ford’s Premium Auto Group meant items such as the key and pop-up infotainment system could be sourced from the now-shared parts catalog. A three-way marriage of convenience, you might say.

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Lamborghini sends off its V-12 in style

Intake: Series production of Lamborghini’s normally aspirated V-12 ended when the last Aventador rolled off the line, but the Raging Bull isn’t quite done with its marvelous motor. There’s a final Sant’Agata send-off in the form of two unique cars called Invencible and Auténtica. Think of them as the Aventador’s greatest hits double album as the duo present a variety of design features from previous special editions. The huge rear wing is inspired by the Sesto Elemento while the Reventon and Veneno influence aggressive angles, and the ground-snorting stance and hood are a reference to the Essenza SCV12. Invencible is a coupe and Auténtica is a roadster, but aside from that the two cars are essentially the same, using the carbon tub and running gear from the Aventador. There’s all-wheel drive and all-wheel steering, with a seven-speed transmission, but the undisputed star is the naturally-aspirated 6.5-liter V-12 engine, installed for the very last time without the aid of forced induction or hybrid assistance. In final specification, it produces 780 horsepower to go out with quite a bang.

Exhaust: In truth, it’s not the end of this engine, more of a new beginning as it will reappear very soon with added electrification. In the same announcement, the company confirmed there are “just a few weeks to go before Lamborghini’s first hybrid super sports car makes its debut.” We don’t yet know whether it will use a Sián-style supercapacitor or a more conventional battery pack, but we do expect the car to feature a near-silent fully-electric mode as well as the ability to use the extra power for even more explosive performance. — Nik Berg

Consumer Reports reveals its list of the 10 most satisfying vehicles

Intake: According to Consumer Reports, the Chevrolet Corvette C8 is the most satisfying vehicle to own, based on a study of reader responses asking whether they would buy or lease the cars again. The Corvette is followed by, in order, the Porsche 911, Rivian R1T, Ford Maverick Hybrid, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Polestar 2, Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ twins, Toyota RAV 4 Prime, Mazda Miata, and the Dodge Challenger.

Exhaust: Half the vehicles are enthusiast models, the rest are good hard-working vehicles. Hard to argue with anything on the list, but the relatively new Polestar 2 is a surprise. — Steven Cole Smith

Ferrari left hanging in an elevator shaft

Intake: A Ferrari Roma, the $243,000 2+2 mid-engine coupe, was stuck in an elevator last week when there was a problem at Ferrari of Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida. According to the Palm Beach County Fire Rescue’s account: “A car elevator malfunction caused a car to hang in the elevator shaft. Crews had to first mitigate a fuel leak. This involved setting up portable standpipes and cutting the power to the business. Once the leak was mitigated, Special Operations worked with Kauff’s Towing and their new rotator wrecker to remove the car from the elevator.  Kauff’s 45-foot boom and multiple 50,000 pound winches were the right tool for the job.”

Exhaust: Hats off to Kauff’s Transportation Systems, who are clearly the people to call when your Italian exotic gets stuck in an elevator. The good news: There were no injuries, except for the silver Roma. The bad news: That’s unlikely to buff right out. This will be a good test of how comprehensive the dealership’s insurance coverage is. — SCS

Rivian lays off 6 percent of workforce amid tightening EV landscape

Intake: Rivian announced last week that it will lay off six percent of its workforce to curb costs, according to Reuters. Rivian has already had to grapple with falling cash reserves, a weakening economy, and supply chain difficulty, all of which have led to the need to trim down costs. CEO R.J. Scaringe notified Rivian employees via email. In the note, he said that the company would be focusing its resources on ramping up production of the R1T and R1S vehicles, and on reaching profitability.

Exhaust: Rivian has been hurting for a while now. The stock is down 90 percent from its peak in November of 2021, and the company has been hemorrhaging cash as it attempts to navigate the complicated path from start-up to full-fledged automaker. Let’s hope Rivian can forge ahead quickly; its products are some of the more impressive ones to come from the new wave of automakers hoping to get in on the EV action. — Nathan Petroelje

“Do not drive” directive for some older Honda and Acura models

Intake: Tens of millions of vehicles with Takata airbags are under recall, says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Long-term exposure to high heat and humidity can cause these airbags to explode when deployed. Such explosions have caused injuries and deaths. With that in mind, NHTSA has issued a “Do not drive” directive to owners of certain older model Honda and Acura models that haven’t been returned to the dealer for the recall.  “If you have a vehicle with a recalled Takata Alpha airbag, you must get it repaired now—for free. These inflators are two decades old now, and they pose a 50 percent chance of rupturing in even a minor crash. Don’t gamble with your life or the life of someone you love—schedule your free repair today before it’s too late,” said NHTSA Acting Administrator Ann Carlson. The vehicles in the “do not drive” directive are the  2001–2002 Honda Civic and Accord; the 2002 Honda CR-V and Odyssey; the 2003 Honda Pilot and Acura 3.2 CL, and the 2002–2003 Acura 3.2 TL.

Exhaust: A 50 percent chance of rupturing? We won’t take those odds. Acura/Honda Customer Service can be reached at 888-234-2138 or by visiting their Takata website. —SCS 

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Temperatures dipped into the thirties when I hit the ground in Scottsdale, Arizona, early last week—a downright event in a state better known for summer scorchers. It seemed like a kind of foreshadowing, as many market watchers, including us, had noted that 2022’s sizzling market had cooled ahead of these big January auctions.

By the end of the week, temps were back in the sixties. Which is, as it turns out, pretty appropriate to what I saw at the sales. Signs point to a gradual slide back toward normalcy, a trend that inspires enthusiasts to cheer, collectors to grumble, and dealers to order another round at the empty hotel bar. But, we’ve got a long, long stretch of desert tarmac between AZ’s cool-down lap from the pressure-cooker period of late 2020 through summer 2022 and pre-pandemic normalcy—whatever that even means these days. Sure, we saw cars trade hands for shrunk sums that would have shocked us a year ago, and noted many profits slip through hopeful flipper’s fingers as either unsold or moved for a not-insignificant loss. However, in some cases, cars defied both expectations and the Hagerty Price Guide.

But, through this weird haze, I noticed—with some relief, I might add—that with some exceptions, most of the age-old collecting trends established decades prior in the Ferrari and Lamborghini world still stand steadfast against the crashed wave of ultra-inflated values. Let’s take a look at a few.

Mercy me, Miuras

RM Sotheby’s $3.58 million 1971 Lamborghini Miura SV seemingly crashed through the Hagerty Price Guide condition #1 (concours) value of $3.35 million and RM’s own $3.5 million high estimate. Wow!

Based on brief time spent around the car at the preview, though, it makes sense. The car was exceptionally presented, and its restoration, albeit one completed 22 years ago, was done by a noted marque expert. The engine was rebuilt by Lambo legend Bob Wallace. Among Lamborghini cognoscenti, that counts as modern provenance and largely explains why the car brought Condition #1 value and then some.

OK, I’m cheating here. This Miura sold not in Scottsdale, but a world away at RM’s Paris auction. Two more Miuras paraded through Paris, and like Scottsdale’s SV, each was a perfect representation of both the stability and predictability of well-established market segments.

RM’s Rosso Miura 1969 P400 S presented in good-but-not-perfect condition from an older restoration completed in the 1990s sold for €1.58 million or $1.72 million. That slots it rather neatly between the Price Guide’s $1.8 million rating for Condition #2 (Excellent) and the $1.6 million for Condition #3 (Good). A clean, rank-and-file sale.

Enter RM’s €1.02 million ($1.1 million) 1969 Lamborghini Miura S “Jota.” This creamsicle orange speed-splinter started life as a standard 1969 P400 S that cycled to Japan after original delivery in Italy. It remained in Japan with a number of different owners through the mid-2000s, when it was subjected to a conversion into a replica of the bygone high-performance “Jota” Miura one-off that crashed and burned to the ground in 1971.

In the conversion process, chassis no. 4280 lost its original engine, supplanted by a Miura SV mill. The modifications cost an estimated $400,000, a comprehensive job that stripped out the interior, and levied extensive changes to the bodywork.

An extremely cool car, but clearly not one favored by top-shelf Lamborghini enthusiasts. At this level of collector car, modifications rarely break even, let alone add value, even if it’s in the pursuit of both performance and tribute. So, it’s no surprise its $1.1 million final sale price lags our Condition #4 (Fair) value of $1.3 million for a stock P400 S.

Three Miuras, three predictable sales.

1980s and 1990s Italians prove more volatile than the old-school stuff

Whereas the Miura’s market might be etched in a block of rock-solid Parmigiano Reggiano, a number of 1980s and 1990s Ferraris and Lamborghinis still seem to be harder to pin down than a slippery penne noodle. RM’s seriously straked 1990 Lamborghini Countach put the beatdown on our $695,000 Condition #1 value with a $775,000 final sale price. A few lots later, an impeccably preserved 1994 Lamborghini Diablo VT sold for $379,000, squeezing our Condition #1 value by an extra $13,000.

Earlier, I witnessed some unusually active bidding on RM’s 1995 Ferrari F512 M that eventually hammered for $681,500, inching toward the $700,000 high estimate and vaulting over the Price Guide’s Condition #1 $594,000 value.

This continues a theme we noticed at last year’s Monterey sales: eight-figure blue-chip stuff remained mostly steady, while 1980s and 1990s supercars gained tremendous value and set a number of model-specific records.

Fascinating F40s

The same predictability cannot be claimed one of the trio of Ferrari F40s that sold in the past two weeks—two in Scottsdale, one in Paris.

Barrett-Jackson’s $2.75 million 1989 Ferrari F40 is one of the most interesting F40s sold in recent history. Significantly modified, you might recognize this winged wonder from RM’s high-profile Sealed Bid offer at last year’s Monterey festivities. Well, it apparently failed to accrue enough in that process and was briefly transferred to RM’s private sales division. From there, we’re unsure if it sold privately or both parties parted ways, as the F40 in question no longer appears on RM’s site anywhere.

Fast forward to Scottsdale and Barrett-Jackson’s big-tent event. Again, it’s unsure if this was an extremely quick flip or the original seller offloading the car at BJ’s no-reserve sale. No matter. In front of a massive crowd obsessed with restomods and hot rods—and a platoon of stunned Ferrari nerds—the privateer F40 “Competizione” brought $2.75M, the auction house’s top sale of the week.

Sorting this F40’s history is like unravelling a bundle of carbon fiber. Prior to the recent aftermarket repaint and cosmetic restoration from the Maranello-based and Ferrari-adjacent Zanasi Group, this Dutch-delivered F40 underwent significant motorsports-focused modifications that pushed output of the twin-turbo V-8 to between 700 hp and 1,000 hp, depending on setup and tune. It was subsequently campaigned in a wide range of privateer races through the 1990s.

A controversial car, in other words, particularly given how finicky Ferrari folks tend to be about originality. Yet Barrett’s F40 outperformed several more original F40s sold in January, including $2.15 million for a 1992 F40 RM Sotheby’s sold in Scottsdale and another, 1990 F40 that RM sold for €1.92 million ($2.08 million) in Paris. To beat Barrett’s gray wonder, you’d have to refer to RM’s U.S-market 1990 F40 sold at its Miami sale this past December for $3.25 million. Big bucks compared to the two stock versions sold in January, but lest you take that as a sign of the F40 market cooling, note that federalized F40s are far rarer than European-spec versions (as both of RM’s January F40s were) and thus command more at auction.

What I take from this, aside from the fact that anything can happen at a Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction, is that the F40 is not sacred.

This sale comes just two weeks after Japanese tuning house Liberty Walk (LW) unveiled their own take on the F40, replete with a newly-available body kit, screwed-on fender flares, and dropped suspension. Not unlike the gray F40, LW’s kit garnered a significant amount of criticism in the general expanse of automotive media, but there’s just as likely a subset of enthusiasts hoping to see an F40 grace the hallowed halls of Copart so LW can spin their F40 magic again.

Freaky Ferrari 599s

Speaking of Ferrari modifications, one of the hottest at the moment is converting mid- to late 2000s Ferraris from their nasty single-clutch “F1” manumatic transmissions to a classic six-speed gated manual transmissions. That makes sense, given some of the mega premiums we’ve seen for modern Ferraris with stick shifts. Some of Maranello’s hottest cars from that era were either offered only with the F1-style gearbox or purchased overwhelmingly with only two pedals.

Conveniently, Ferrari used the same transaxle for cars equipped with either the F1-style or the stick, so conversions to the three-pedal setup are reasonably straightforward (or at least as straightforward as surgery on a Ferrari can be). Being a Ferrari, it’s not cheap, but most seem to recoup the investment and sometimes add a moderate amount of additional value, depending on model.

Given how well the F40 performed at Barrett-Jackson, as well as that auction’s insatiable thirst for modified cars, the seller of this manual-swapped 2008 Ferrari 599 GTB had every right to expect a win. Yet it claimed “just” $209,000—roughly the condition-appropriate Hagerty Price Guide-value for the model, sans manual premium.

The real thing, though, still brings big bucks. Consider RM’s factory stick-shift 599 GTB that just sold in Paris. Only 30 of these rare, rare birds ever escaped Maranello with a manual, and you’re going to pay a premium for the privilege. The Paris 599 claimed a stunning €623,750 ($679,000), blowing by our established “$150,000” adjustment for manual 599s; we usually expect a manual 599 in Condition #1 to sell around the $410,000 range.

While the Paris 599 wore uncommon Blu Mirabeau paint with attractive tan interior appointments, I doubt this made up the almost $270,000 gulf in expected value. Either way, we’ll be watching RM’s Amelia Island sale with particular scrutiny, as buyers who missed their chance at the Rétromobile 599 will have a shot at one of 20 599s sold with the manual transmission in the U.S.

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Via Hagerty Insider

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Hennessey H650 package gives GM full-size SUVs 650 hp

Intake: Hennessey just announced its H650 upgrade for the Cadillac Escalade, GMC Yukon, and Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban siblings that takes each SUV’s 6.2-liter V-8 up to 650 hp with a 2.9-liter supercharger, charge cooler, upgraded pushrods, and a stainless steel, cat-back exhaust. The company claims the H650 package knocks a second off quarter-mile elapsed times and the upgrades are backed by a three-year, 36,000-mile warranty.

Exhaust: If an Escalade-V is a bit too flashy for you, or if you can’t get your hands on one of those 682-hp luxo-cruisers, then Hennessey’s upgrade seems like the next best thing. The $27,950 price tag for the package and its installation is quite steep, but it’s $10,000 less than the step between the Escalade-V and the next-highest Escalade trim—although the Escalade-V adds more than just power. If the H650 package makes the six-two sound as mean as the “LT4.5” found in the Escalade-V, Hennessey may be onto something. — Brandan Gillogly

“Nomads” hurt automakers’ brand loyalty

Intake: A study by S&P Global has identified eight automotive brands that are subject to the “nomad challenge”—in other words, they struggle to hang on to first-time customers for a second or third purchase. Such consumers may be “nomads,” migrating from one brand to the next. The eight afflicted brands are Acura, Mercedes-Benz, Ram, Dodge, Audi, Mazda, GMC, and Volkswagen. Tesla leads the pack of manufacturers that have strong brand loyalty: just 39 percent of Tesla customers buy their next vehicle from a company other than Tesla. “Brands that fail to transform nomads into loyalists not only lose out on the immediate sale to the nomad but also [on] the future loyalty benefit they could have provided as loyalists,” said Erin Gomez, associate director of consulting for S&P Global, speaking to Automotive News.

Exhaust: Besides at Tesla, the study says customer retention is also high at Subaru, Jeep, Kia, Hyundai, and BMW. It’s critically important to hang onto customers once you make that first sale, and some brands are doing better at it than others. — Steven Cole Smith

Time-capsule Lamborghini Countach goes under the hammer

Intake: A 1990 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary Edition which has covered less than 160 miles since new, despite having three owners in the last 33 years, will be a star of RM Sotheby’s Arizona auction on January 26. The car’s original bill of sale shows that it was delivered to its first keeper with 138 km (82 miles) on the odometer and that it cost $275,000 at the time. In 17 years of ownership, the Lambo accumulated just eight miles before it was sold back to Clark Motor Company in Ohio, the dealer which originally supplied it. The Countach was sold again in 2010 and lived in a private collection until 2020, when the current owner bought it. In all, less than 80 additional miles have been added to the clock since the Countach was first delivered. Its 5.2-liter V-12 engine won’t even be run-in, although the car has had a recent service to confirm all is in working order. RM Sotheby’s estimates this time-capsule Countach will fetch $750,000–$1 million.

Exhaust: In the unlikely event that the next buyer wishes to actually drive this Countach, the first thing he or she will have to do is replace the 33-year-old Pirelli P Zero tires. But, let’s face it, that’s not going to happen. This Lamborghini will simply be transported to another climate-controlled private collection and never be seen in public until prices have risen sufficiently for it to be auctioned off again. And those prices likely will rise—quite quickly. Values of #1 (Concours) and #2 (Excellent) condition Countaches have more than doubled since late 2021, and it’s not unreasonable to expect the values of these wedgey wonders to continue to climb, even if the growth isn’t as dramatic as it was during 2020–2022. – Nik Berg

Volkswagen wants a rugged electric 4×4 based on the Ford Ranger

Intake: According to a new report from Autocar, Volkswagen has revived plans to build a rugged, electric 4×4—known internally as the ID. Ruggdzz—underpinned by a ladder-frame chassis borrowed from the Ford Ranger. The ID. Ruggdzz was first revealed at a media event in 2019, although the project was put on hold in late 2020 due to the rocky launch of VW’s first EV, the European-only ID. 3. The Ranger chassis currently forms the bones of Volkswagen’s Amarok, a mid-size pickup sold globally outside of the U.S. In an interview with Autocar at the launch of the new Amarok in South Africa in December, VW Commercial Vehicles CEO Carsten Intra noted engineers were indeed working on getting the Amarok/Ranger platform to accommodate electric motors and batteries. The timeline for the debut of the ID. Ruggdzz is unclear.

Exhaust: What would such a project mean for the revived Scout brand, Volkswagen says will bring an all-electric, off-roady pickup and SUV to market here in the States? As of late last year, Volkswagen was busy courting Taiwanese electronics powerhouse Foxconn as a partner for Scout EV production. It seems unlikely that VW would also ask Ford to hop in bed for such a deal, so in our eyes, this ID. Ruggdzz is an entirely separate model. Despite Scout’s extremely American brand cachet, wouldn’t it make more sense to jump through the hoops to make its truck a global model? — Nathan Petroelje

Maserati Grecale starts under $65,000

Intake: Maserati has priced the all-new Grecale SUV. It starts at $63,500 for the entry-level GT trim. That gets you the base, 296-hp, turbocharged four-cylinder—you’ll have to upgrade to the $102,500 Trofeo if you want the twin-turbo, 526-hp V-6, or you can slot in between the two models with the $72,900 Modena, which has a 325-hp four-cylinder. For reference, the larger Levante GT with the V-6 starts at $90,700. Shipping is not included in the prices.

Exhaust: To our way of thinking, under $65,000 seems pretty reasonable to be able to tell people you drive a Maserati, but you won’t impress too many of them if you mention you only have 296 horses. — SCS

Honda forms new business division to accelerate EV shift

Intake: Honda is creating a new business unit within the company to speed up Big H’s shift to an all-electric future, according to a new report from Automotive News. The new unit will consolidate Honda’s strategy for electrification and the development of new automobiles, motorcycles, and power products such as generators. Part of the shift will also involve combining six regional operations into three larger ones: North America, China and other associated regions including Japan, and a region that covers the rest of Asia and all of Europe. Condensing regional operations aims to “rapidly develop the implementation of resource shifts in accordance with the future lineup strategy in line with the electrification acceleration,” a spokesperson told AN in a briefing. Last year, Honda said it wanted to roll out 30 new EVs globally by 2030, in which it would also be producing 2 million EVs annually.

Exhuast: Lots of corporate speak in that last sentence but you can translate it thus: “We’re behind the competition when it comes to getting EVs to market, and these moves are going to help us play catch-up.” Honda does already have a partnership in place with General Motors that will produce one EV by 2024 (the Honda Prologue) and another model for Acura (called the ZDX) due the same year, but it needs to gather steam in producing its own EVs following the early fruits of the GM partnership. — Nathan Petroelje

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Like a lot of kids, Chip Bulloch had a poster of a red Lamborghini Countach on the wall of his childhood bedroom. But unlike most other young fanboys, he never grew outgrew his infatuation.

He bought his first Countach when he was only 29, and he acquired his second one a decade or so later. A few years after that, even though he knew nothing about filmmaking, he wrote, shot, edited and produced a full-length Lamborghini documentary. He’s such a true believer that when he decided, last year, to commission a ground-up restoration of his black-on-tan 1987 Quattrovalvole, he entrusted the work to a small team of retired Lamborghini mechanics and artisans in Italy. Their leader: legendary factory test driver Valentino Balboni.

Bulloch is a crazed Countach fanatic, yes, but he is also a self-described serial entrepreneur with an eye on the emerging cryptocurrency industry. He realized that, in addition to being a flamboyant objet d’art, his car also represented an investment opportunity that might appeal to millennials and Gen Xers looking to stake a claim in the new digital trading economy.

“I’m going to fractionally divide the car and sell shares of it,” Bulloch says. “People who buy a share will get a receipt and an NFT (non-fungible token) that can be sold or traded or whatever. As the car is being restored, the value will go up. When it’s finished, buyers will get a ride in the car with Valentino and a tour of his shop. So there’s an experiential part along with the NFT.”

Crazy, right? No crazier than the original Countach, which debuted in concept car form to stunned crowds at the Geneva Motor Show in 1971. Three years later, into production as the LP 400 “Periscopio.”

Penned by designer Marcelo Gandini, the Countach didn’t just defy contemporary design language; it eviscerated conventional wisdom by establishing a new vocabulary of angular, over-the-top styling. It’s not hyperbole to say that the Countach reshaped the world’s idea of a supercar.

A half-century later, Balboni still remembers his first impression of the car. “I thought it would be impossible to drive on the street because it looked like an unidentified flying object,” he says.

With low-profile tires, no aerodynamic aids and the massive, mid-mounted Giotto Bizzarrini-designed V-12 adding so much weight to the rear of the car, the first Countaches were notoriously unstable. Bad things could happen very, very quickly. “At first, it was very difficult to drive,” says Balboni, a man who routinely tested cars at 160 miles per hour on the two-lane roads near the Lamborghini factory in Sant’Agata Bolognese.

In 1978, several of the car’s most egregious weaknesses were addressed in the new LP 400 S, which benefited from wider Pirelli rubber (necessitating those in-your-face wheel arches), a redesigned suspension, and a wicked rear wing. The LP 500 S for 1982 introduced a new V-12 engine, which saw displacement grow from 3.9 liters to to 4.8 liters. Three years later the V-12 swelled to 5.2 liters and went to a four-valve head, the source of the Quattrovalvole moniker. The Countach story culminated in 1988 with a 25th Anniversary model styled by Horacio Pagani, a man with his own history of over-the-top design.

Altogether, roughly 2000 Countaches were built during a 26-year production run. Despite all the changes over the years, the car remained remarkably hard to climb into and virtually impossible to see out of. But these flaws were a small price to pay for a machine that was so futuristic and otherworldly that it inspired shock and awe among both owners and onlookers.

“It was like driving a fricking spaceship,” Bulloch recalls from his earliest Countach experience. “The first time I took the car out at dusk, I was seeing all these flashes. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. This was before people had cameras in their cell phones. I finally realized that everybody was taking pictures of the car as I was driving by.”

As Bulloch learned more about the Countach, he decided to upgrade to this black Quattrovalvole model around the year 2000. He drove it consistently before embarking on a ground-up restoration in 2008. He’d gotten as far as disassembly when life got in the way, and the project stalled. Then, the Countach sat … and sat … and sat.

It wasn’t until last year that Bulloch began investigating the possibility of spinning things up again. He was trying to decide between two highly respected restoration shops when, purely by serendipity, he had dinner with Balboni after the Concorso Italiano car show during Monterey Car Week.

“Valentino,” Bulloch asked him, “if this was your car, who would you get to restore it?”

“Well,” Balboni said, “I’ve put together a little team in Italy. We have a little shop, and we’re doing restorations of Miuras and Countaches.”

Bulloch didn’t hesitate. “Done!”

Aside from company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini, Balboni is the most famous representative of Automobili Lamborghini. Now 73, he joined the company in 1968 as an apprentice mechanic. Five years later, Ferruccio promoted him to test driver under the tutelage of another company icon, New Zealander Bob Wallace.

Balboni spent four decades at Lamborghini, and after retiring in 2008, he served as a consultant for six more years. Although he is no longer formally attached to the company, he remains close to the marque. “I will never divorce Lamborghini,” he says. “We are still married, but we sleep in different beds.”

A few years ago, Balboni amassed a cadre of ex-Lamborghini employees—some in their 80s—to undertake restorations on a casual basis. “It’s not a real company,” he insists. “We are just some guys who get together to disassemble and reassemble the cars that we worked on 50 and 60 years ago. No one is the boss. We’re old friends.”

Maybe so. Nevertheless, Balboni says the not-company has restored nearly three dozen cars to date. The shop just finished an LP 400 S and is working on two other Countaches, plus a pair of Miuras. “We work only on Lamborghinis because we want to make it easy on ourselves,” Balboni says with a laugh. “We are retired, and we work to increase our pensions.”

For Bulloch, getting Balboni on board was the final piece in his grand plan to resurrect his long-languishing project car. Such an ironclad connection to Lamborghini heritage was also a nice bookend for Bulloch’s strategy of selling shares of his Countach in the form of NFTs.

Bulloch acknowledges that he didn’t invent this investment concept, let alone its appearance in the automotive space. A pioneer in the genre is a company called Rally, which owns a portfolio of collectible assets ranging from Michael Jordan sneakers to 40-year-old whiskey. (Who knew?) These commodities are “securitized”—divided into equity shares that can be bought and traded by investors. At the moment, Rally is offering dozens of cars across a variety of tastes and price points, from a 1955 Porsche 356 Speedster to a 1965 Mustang Fastback and a 2003 Saleen S7.

What makes Bulloch’s deal unique is its value-added component. As he writes on his newly launched website: “Shareholders/NFT owners will be given a first look at videos of the restoration AND, most importantly, an experiential component … ”

For investors who make their own way to Italy, this means access to Balboni’s shop. Bulloch says he also hopes to organize tours of some of the car factories in and around Modena—Lamborghini, Pagani, even Ferrari. But the pièce de résistance will be a thrill ride in the restored Countach, with Balboni manning the con.

How much value do these bonuses really represent? For a Countach devotee, potentially a lot. And, as somebody who’s driven with Balboni in a Lamborghini Diablo SV, I can say that riding shotgun with the master gives you a new perspective on speed. He navigates two-lane highways at go-straight-to-prigione speeds, amid overloaded farm trucks and oncoming traffic.

Bulloch has placed the car in and LLC and subdivided it into 100 shares. (He’ll keep 51 to retain principal ownership.) The first 10 shares will be sold for $8000 apiece, which presupposes an all-in value of $800,000. According to the Hagerty data, the average value of a concours-quality (#1 condition) 1987 Countach is $752,000, while a model in excellent condition (#2) will set you back roughly $640,000. The four 1987 Quattrovalvoles sold on Bring a Trailer last year brought, $550,000, $735,000, $700,000 and $860,000.

Of course, Bulloch’s car will be freshly restored, and Balboni’s imprimatur is arguably worth a premium of some sort. Still, speculating on the supercars of yesteryear is a crapshoot. Shares in Rally’s 1980 Countach, for example have plummeted from an initial offering at $127 in January 2019 to a tick more than $76 as of this writing. Granted, that was an oddball prototype fitted with a turbocharger. But, as ever, investors would be wise to mind the mantra caveat emptor before diving into these waters.

The Countach is insured for $750,000, and in the event that it is wrecked or stolen Bulloch promises he will “make every shareholder whole on their investment.” Bulloch says he “does not plan on selling” the car (i.e. his majority share), but in that event, investors would receive payout on the sale price reflective of their share value.

Bulloch is now finalizing the paperwork to offer shares of the Countach. He plans to ship the car overseas to Italy in February and says the project should be finished in 12 to 14 months. “Restoring Chip’s Countach will be easy,” Balboni says blithely. “We know the product. We know the good points, and we know the weaknesses.”

When the work is completed, Bulloch says, he’ll resist the temptation to bring the car back to his home in Florida. “I’ve come to admire and love Valentino Balboni, and I like the idea of it being under his care,” he says. “I wouldn’t drive the car here in the States. I’d just be afraid of getting into an accident.”

A wreck is never good for a car, after all, even if all you own of it is a digital pie slice.

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Patent pics show Lamborghini’s Aventador replacement

Intake: Line drawings filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) seem to reveal the outline of Lamborghini’s next supercar. Destined to replace the Aventador, the design is more evolutionary than revolutionary, taking cues from the Centenario and Sian specials. The front end seems especially similar to the Sian, while the rear diffuser definitely looks like the one that debuted on the Centenario. Also visible from the drawings are the Y-style rear lights and the engine’s position right behind the occupants. The name of this next raging bull isn’t confirmed but a previous trademark for “Revuelto” could well appear on its rear.

Exhaust: Lamborghini is sticking with a normally-aspirated V-12 for as long as it can, although this new creation will feature hybrid technology. Most likely that will be in the form of the supercapacitor system that was previously fitted to the Sian and reborn Countach, which should give the new car around 800 horsepower. Lamborghini clearly didn’t want this news getting out as the patent filing was made in North Macedonia and the images have now been removed from the WIPO website. A March unveiling will reveal all, however. — Nik Berg

Hertz, Uber, take tie-up across the pond

Intake: Hertz and Uber have pronounced their partnership in North America to be such a success that the two companies are joining forces to do the same thing in Europe. Hertz claims that the partnership here has already “benefited tens of thousands of drivers on the Uber platform. To date, nearly 50,000 drivers have rented a Tesla through this program, completing more than 24 million fully-electric trips and over 260 million electric miles.” The two companies announced today that they’ll do the same in Europe, in which Hertz will make up to 25,000 electric vehicles available to Uber drivers in European capital cities such as Paris and Amsterdam by 2025. The vehicles will include Teslas and Polestars.

Exhaust: It’s an interesting way to give a lot of potential customers their first taste of riding in an electric vehicle. Teslas typically have high resale value, so when Hertz goes to sell the rented Teslas later, it should come out on top. “The partnership is a key element of Hertz’s strategy to build one of the largest fleets of rental EVs in the world, and Uber’s industry-leading commitment to become a zero emissions platform in North America and Europe by 2030.” Uber advertises to its drivers that they can rent a Tesla for $334 a week, which seems pricey but there are incentives involved. – Steven Cole Smith

84-month car loans “surge” in popularity

Intake: Eighty-four-month auto loans have “soared in popularity among new vehicles and more than doubled on used vehicles over the past five years, credit bureau data show.” Automotive News cites a study by Experian, the credit bureau organization, that says that as of the third quarter of 2022, nearly one-fifth of all new-vehicle borrowers and a tenth of all used-vehicle borrowers were committing to seven years of debt on their vehicle. This has changed dramatically over the past five years—the study says that in the third quarter of 2018, only 11 percent of new-vehicle borrowers and 4.1 percent of used-vehicle borrowers “were on the hook for 84 months, according to Experian. By the third quarter of 2022, 19 percent of new-vehicle debt and 11 percent of used-vehicle loans ran seven years.” Another 1 percent of new-vehicle and 0.3 percent of used-vehicle loans during the third quarter of 2018 had even longer terms. Five years later, those proportions had grown to 1.8 percent for new vehicles and 0.9 percent for used models.

Exhaust: We can’t read this study from Experian without thinking of the term “upside down,” which occurs when you owe more on your loan than your car is worth. There was a time when 36 months seemed like a stretch, then 48, then 60, then 72, now 84. What’s next, 96 months? Before you sign those documents, be sure this is a vehicle you want to live with for a long time. Otherwise, be prepared to pay the piper. — Steven Cole Smith

Seavey victorious in 37th annual Chili Bowl

Intake: Last week, 370 midget racers rolled into Tulsa, Oklahoma’s SageNet Center with their sights locked on winning the 37th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl. By the time the dust cleared, Californian Logan Seavey stood on top of the podium with a Golden Driller trophy held high above his head. To claim his first Chili Bowl title, the 25-year-old open-wheel dirt driver had to fend off a furious late charge from last year’s winner Tanner Thorson. While the victory is Seavey’s first at the historic indoor midget race, it is car owner Kevin Swindell’s fifth. Starting in 2010, Kevin—son of sprint car hall-of-famer Sammy Swindell—clicked off four consecutive Bowl victories behind the steering wheel. Then, in 2015, at the height of his driving prominence, young Swindell broke two vertebrae in a sprint car race, which left him partially paralyzed below the waist. Since then, Kevin has fielded his own entries, most recently with Seavey behind the wheel. In 2023, Kevin returned to victory lane, this time as a car owner.

Exhaust: Aside from the fan-favorite first-time winner, the big storyline at this year’s Chili Bowl was the lack of a few key entries. Previous winners and current NASCAR Cup stars Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell were noticeably absent from this year’s entry list. Out of the nearly 400 entries, only 24 start the final feature. With a couple of perennial contenders removed from the show, it opened the field and increased the opportunity for a new winner to hoist the Golden Driller. The competition was stellar and it’s comforting to know that even without the presence of NASCAR’s elite, the Chili Bowl can endure—and even grow. — Cameron Neveu

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As Hagerty’s staff observes Martin Luther King Day this Monday, The Manifold will go on a brief hiatus. We’ll be back on Tuesday with all the car news you need to know. —Ed.

Is this the new Aston Martin DB12?

Intake: Aston Martin unveiled the DB11 in 2016 as a successor for the DB9. It was the company’s first model launched under the Daimler AG ownership and was an instant success; during its official launch at the Geneva Motor Show over 1,400 units were ordered on the spot. However, the car faded over the years, and now after six years of production, Aston Martin is preparing to replace it. Spy photographers caught a prototype of the DB11 successor—probably called DB12—out on the streets for some initial testing.  Initial rumors suggested this will be the company’s first fully electric model, but in early 2022 Tobias Moers, Aston Martin CEO, said that the V-12 is not going anywhere and will still be used until 2026 or 2027. With the DB11 successor set to arrive sometime in 2024 or 2025, it is safe to assume it will also be offered with a V-12 engine. The car’s appearance at a gas station and the thick tailpipes underline just that. We’re guessing it could be between 600 and 700 horsepower.

Exhaust: The exterior design appears to be a slight evolution of the current DB11 and seems to be inspired by the latest Vantage, with elements taken from the Valhalla concept. Initial rumors suggested that the DB11 successor should arrive sometime in 2025. But as Aston Martin has apparently decided to keep the V-12 engine instead of an electric powertrain, we might see the new DB12 arriving sometime in early 2024. — Steven Cole Smith

Motul builds Dakar tribute Jeep Wagoneer

Intake: Motul celebrated its fifth year as the official lubricant partner of the Dakar Rally by building a 2022 Jeep Wagoneer Series I Carbide 4X4 with a 5.7-liter eTorque Hemi. It rides on 18×8.5-inch Black Rhino wheels and 35-inch BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires thanks to a 3.5-inch ReadyLIFT suspension kit meant for a Ram 1500 modified and installed by Rad Rides of Huntington Beach, California, who used custom-fabricated two-inch spacers to get the proper lift in the rear. The vinyl wrap makes it look rally-ready and protects the paint from getting pinstriped by trailside brush. If you’d like to see the custom Wagoneer in person, which will be further outfitted with a rooftop tent and other gear, it will be at the BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400, Overland Expo West, Overland Expo Mountain West, and the eBay Motors Sand Sports Super Show.

Exhaust: A five-year sponsorship is a strange milestone to celebrate, but we admit that the mildly customized Wagoneer looks pretty darn good on 35-inch tires. What we found most interesting about this build is how great the Wagoneer looks with just a mild lift and that the front suspension parts can be pirated from a Ram 1500 lift kit. Perhaps Wagoneer product planners will take notice and begin cooking up an off-road-oriented version of the big body-on-frame SUV? — Brandan Gillogly

You can’t unsee the ugliest Urus ever made

Intake: Searing its hideousness onto your retinas is the latest automotive abomination from German tuning firm Mansory. Called the Venatus Coupe Evo C, it began as a Lamborghini Urus, and, after surgery that makes Dr. Frankenstein look skilled, a motoring monstrosity was born. Overcome the initial horror of its frighteningly flared arches, unnecessary air scoops, wings, and hulking hood and you might notice that it’s lost two doors in the “design” process. Mansory has managed to move the B-pillar back almost eight inches and extended the front doors by the same amount.  The entire front of the car is a mess of slats and vents to feed cooling air to the 900-hp V-8 engine. The only good news is that should you be unfortunate enough to see one of the eight examples being made for the road, you probably won’t have to look at it for long as Mansory claims it will accelerate from 0–62 mph in 2.9 seconds and go on to 200 mph.

Exhaust: The Lamborghini Urus is not subtle at the best of times, Mansory appears to have imagined the car at its worst and then thought, “Yep we’ll build that.” Astonishingly, the German firm claims that the Venatus Coupe Evo C took a year and a half to create and was built at the specific request of customers. We can only hope that none of them live in the U.S.A. because coming across this beast in the wild would be horrific. — Nik Berg (Editor’s note: Don’t hold back, Nik.)

Mercedes will drop EQ branding for EVs

Intake: Mercedes-Benz is set to drop the EQ product brand for battery-electric cars as soon as the next generation of compacts arrives, set to be on the market by the end of 2024, German daily Handelsblatt said on Thursday, citing company sources. Reuters reported that the decision is based on Chief Executive Ola Kaellenius’ focus on electric-only cars, making the EQ brand redundant as Mercedes turns away from the combustion engine.

Exhaust: Mercedes presently brands its all-electric model series under the EQ name, first announced in 2016, with its first model, the EQC electric SUV, launched in 2019. Mercedes currently has four models marketed in the U.S. as EQs. — SCS

NASCAR’s Harvick will bid farewell in 2023

Intake: Veteran NASCAR Cup driver Kevin Harvick says he’ll hang up his helmet after the 2023 season, which begins in February with the Daytona 500. It’ll be his 23rd year as a NASCAR Cup Series driver. The 47-year-old racer will retire after the season finale on November 5 at Phoenix Raceway. Harvick begins his last season in NASCAR’s premier division tied for ninth on the Cup Series’ all-time win list with 60 point-paying victories. He is only 99 laps shy of leading 16,000 laps in his career—one of only 11 drivers in the history of the sport to do so—and the Bakersfield, California-native is slated to make his 800th career Cup Series start April 23 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Exhaust: After a couple of rough years, Harvick hopes to go out on top. “There is absolutely nothing else in the world that I enjoy doing more than going to the racetrack, and I’m genuinely looking forward to this season,” said the driver of the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. “But as I’ve gone through the years, I knew there would come a day where I had to make a decision. When would it be time to step away from the car? It’s definitely been hard to understand when that right moment is because we’ve been so fortunate to run well. But sometimes there are just other things going on that become more important and, for me, that time has come.” — SCS

NTSB Chair worried about heavy electric vehicles

Intake: U.S. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy raised concerns about the “increased risk of severe injury and death from heavier electric vehicles on U.S. roads,” Reuters reported. She mentioned the GMC Hummer EV which weighs over 9,000 pounds, and the Ford F-150 Lightning EV, which is between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds heavier than the non-electric version. The heavier weight “has a significant impact on safety for all road users,” she said Wednesday in a speech. “We have to be careful that we aren’t also creating unintended consequences: more death on our roads.”​

Intake: She’s right, of course, heavy vehicles tend to cause more damage. But her administration wants electric vehicles, and batteries are heavy. Hopefully, this isn’t the first time she’s heard of that. —SCS

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It’s the quintessential supercar, a symbol of ’80s excess, and an Italian icon. I can’t say much about the Lamborghini Countach that hasn’t already been said, but it’s a car most enthusiasts have dreamed of, driven in a video game, or hung on their wall in poster form.

Everybody wants one of these OG Lambo wedges, but fewer than 2000 were built over 16 years (1974–90). For reference, Lamborghini sold more Huracáns in 2021 alone. No wonder median values for Countaches in #2 (Excellent) condition are up over 350 percent since 2012, and even the most ramshackle examples post sales well into six figures.

The very last live auction on our radar for this year has wrapped up, held at the Bonhams HQ on New Bond St. in London. This £460,000 ($559,728) Countach was the biggest surprise—partly for its sale price, and partly because it sold for so much despite being, well, a bit scruffy.

The prototype Countach became an instant star upon its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in 1971. Marcello Gandini’s dramatic, geometric shape and the scissor doors immediately became a part of Lambo DNA. Nobody had seen anything like the Countach. Even ten years later, when this LP400S model was built, this bull still looked like it came from a sci-fi movie set in the future.

The first major revision of the Countach came with the LP400S. Influenced by a Countach that was specially modified by Dallara and Canadian race team owner Walter Wolf, the LP400S got revised suspension geometry and other mechanical improvements.

Its most obvious changes, however, were on the outside: fiberglass fender flares, wider and newer “phone dial” wheels, Pirelli P7 tires, and eventually an optional rear wing the size of a picnic table.

It’s this facelifted version that most people imagine when they hear the word “Countach.” For you movie buffs, it was a black LP400S that starred (and won the race) in 1981’s The Cannonball Run.

The tacked-on bits didn’t actually make the car any faster, and performance from the 4.0-liter V-12 engine didn’t improve, but in the world of loud, brash supercars, sometimes it’s more important for a car to look faster than it is to actually be faster. More power finally arrived with the 4.8-liter LP5000S in 1982.

The LP400S that sold this past week was delivered new in Italy, ordered in Blu Acapulco over Senape (mustard) leather, although it is believed to have received gray leather instead. It spent some time in California, but was first registered in the U.K. in 1988 and entered its latest ownership in 1989.

Its presentation was honest and up front, but the car is far from great. The fiberglass body pieces appear dull and one fender flare has a crack. Bonhams also noted that the ventilation, lights, and fans might require attention, as well as wear in suspension joints, cracking old tires, light surface rust on the chassis, and a clattering noise from the engine at idle, likely from timing chains in need of adjustment.

A car in need of some TLC, then. But the hammer fell way past the £240,000–£340,000 presale estimate, and the final price is nearly 100 grand more than the LP400S’s condition #1 (Concours, or best-in-the-world) value in the Hagerty UK Price Guide.

Nicer Countaches have sold for less, but these cars aren’t common in any condition and, like I said, everybody wants one.

Two other less-than-perfect raging bulls, a 1969 Miura P400 S and a 2001 Diablo VT 6.0 SE, also sold well at this auction, so there were plenty of Lambo-hungry eyes in the room at Bond St.

As for the rest of the sale, results were a little more mixed. Bonhams’ event was relatively small with fewer than 30 cars, and although six of them sold at bids over their high estimates, eight cars failed to sell, despite over half of the auction being no-reserve.

Is the Bond St. sale part of the “cooling off” we’ve seen in recent weeks? Will we see similar results in the new year? We’ll have to wait until the mega-auctions in January to find out.

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Welcome back to the Hagerty Bull Market List, our annual deep dive into the collector cars (and bikes) climbing the value ranks. This vehicle is one of 11 chosen for the 2023 installment of the List. To see the other 10, click here. 

It’s said that Murciélago the feisty bull endured 90 blows from the matador’s sword before he was spared from slaughter and sent to the famous Miura stud farm to beget a line of little bulls with bad attitudes. Speaking of prominent lineage, Murciélago the Italian sex-wedge was a direct descendant of the Lamborghini Diablo, Countach, and Miura, which means there were high expectations when it launched in 2001.

With 571 horsepower from a 6.2-liter V-12, the requisite scissor doors, self-levitating air scoops, and the very baddest of attitudes, the new Lamborghini lived up to its heritage. However, even people who travel in their own private 747s have needs, and the Murciélago (say “mercy-ell-a-go”) answered criticisms of past Lamborghinis by providing certain luxuries like outward visibility and working A/C. It also had superior chassis dynamics with sharper helm response and less of the notorious understeer that dogged the Diablo.

Don’t get us wrong; the Murci was still almost 2 full tons of raging Latin libido—but wrapped in a little more velvet. And now the Murciélago has followed the path of its predecessors by bouncing from a rapidly depreciating used supercar into an appreciating classic. Its course was set when Lamborghini became a colony of the mighty Volkswagen Group in 1998. Fully functioning prototypes of a Diablo evolution called the Canto were fed to the shredder, and work began on a road-to-roof replacement of Lamborghini’s flagship. More interior space, a more logical dashboard, more power, and better handling were all priorities.

As production continued throughout the 2000s, Lamborghini kept tweaking the Murci and introducing variants such as the open-top Roadster and 40th Anniversary Edition. In 2006, it launched the LP640 you see here, with larger side scoops and a goggling monopipe for an exhaust. As it did when pasted on the original Countach, LP means longitudinale posteriore, a reference to the engine’s longitudinal location behind the seats, and 640 a rounding of the upsized 6.5-liter V-12’s rated 632 horsepower.

Strapping yourself into a Lamborghini with an 8500-rpm V-12 is like crawling into Keith Richards’s Fender Telecaster for a set at the Garden. The feral bark at startup is a prelude to the werewolf yowl the engine achieves when it goes on cam around 4000 rpm. Ferrari never made a berserker quite like this, and nobody makes one quite like it now, ever since turbocharging and electrification took over the sex-rocket trade. Especially when you factor in the Murci’s rare six-speed manual transmission, a relic of the pre-paddle past when anyone who wanted to go fast needed to know how to work a clutch. It’s thought that perhaps fewer than 25 manual LP640s came to the States.

The Murci’s shifter glides easily on triple-cone synchros through its stainless-steel gate. The same transmission was used in the Audi R8 and a few others, perhaps the highest evolution of a supercar manual before it all ended in microchips. Microchumps, we say. It’s worth spending the time and (significant) extra cash to get a Murci with the buttery stick shift. It is, as they say, the full Monty—er, Murci, and that’s no bull.

***

2007 Lamborghini Murcielago LP640

Highs: Doors that swing up instead of out; a V-12 that revs to 8500; the (remote) possibility of acquiring a manual; makes your kid an instant celebrity at the school drop-off zone.

Lows: Italian fragility; needs regular conjugal visits with a gas pump; you must enjoy getting your picture taken at all hours and speeds.

Price range: #1 – $382,000  #2 – $323,000  #3 – $262,000  #4 – $191,000

HAGERTY AUTO INTELLIGENCE SAYS:

The rush to find analog supercars with manual transmissions overlooked the Murciélago. Shifting owner demographics suggest this is slowly changing, but a couple of big sales could change the perception of the Murci quickly. Values for the Murciélago are up 48 percent since 2019 but have lagged behind those of cars like the Porsche Carrera GT, which doubled in value over the same period. As next-generation enthusiasts are a growing share of owners (approaching 2/3), values for the Murciélago appear poised for more appreciation.

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If life is all about the journey rather than the destination, then the chances are the new Huracán Sterrato will please thrill-seekers like no Lamborghini before it.

Based on the Huracán and billed as a rally-ready, off-roadable rocket, it’s quite the contrast to the company’s only other car for the great outdoors, the LM002, known as the Rambo Lambo.

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11 months since we spotted a test mule of the Aventador’s successor, and Lamborghini still hasn’t shown us the car undisguised. Not on purpose, anyway.

Spy photographers sneaked our first look inside Lambo’s next apex predator for the streets. The shots focus on the digital display behind the steering wheel, which immediately confirms what CEO Stephen Winkelmann promised in July of 2021: The car will combine a naturally aspirated V-12 engine with an electric motor.

This hybrid setup is near-mandatory for any vehicle that aims at Europe’s elite: Many urban centers enforce low-emissions zones, which typically apply to foreign and local vehicles alike. A plug-in hybrid supercar offers the best of both worlds: The extroverted performance of a combustion engine and a zero-emissions electric mode for downtown cruising. (Read: shopping.)

Hence the “Citta” in the screen’s lower left-hand corner. It’s Italian for “city,” most likely a drive mode that relies exclusively on electric power below a certain speed.

We can also glimpse two screens on the center console. Unless we’re mistaking a test computer rig for a production touchscreen, this twin-screen setup suggests that Lamborghini is doing away with the promontory of buttons currently jutting from the middle of Avendator’s dashboard. We’re all for the drama of a flip-up, fighter-jet-style starting procedure, but we’d bet that most Lamborghini owners’ phones are larger than that center screen.

Enough about the electric bits, you say? Squint at that tachometer and rejoice: This Lambo’s V-12 will still shriek above 8000 rpm. The red hashes begin at 8500, by our count, which is 200 lower than the redline of the Aventador this car is set to replace.

The Aventador, for context, first appeared in production form at the 2011 Geneva Auto Show (RIP) to replace the Murciélago. Lamborghini riffed on the original all-wheel-drive, 690-hp model by varying engine output, dropping the top, and adding track-focused kit—sometimes, all in the same model. Expect the same sort of cadence for this mystery bull, which we expect to see in full in March of 2023.

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Lamborghini shows the new off-roadable Huracán Sterrato

Intake: For those Lamborghini sports car owners who are intent on, for whatever reason, intentionally driving their cars off-road, we present the Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato, which is entirely off-roadable. We know because we watched this video that has the Sterrato doing all sorts of un-Lambo-like things, unless you are old enough to remember the Lamborghini LM002 (1986-1993, kids). No specs available yet, beyond a V-10 and heavy-duty all-wheel-drive. Here’s a link to the video: Please turn the sound off if you’re in your 10th-grade math class.

Exhaust: Lamborghini’s answer to the Porsche 911 Dakar (we can’t wait for those comparison tests) debuts in person in Miami on November 30, which seems like a good reason to go to Florida. Plus, it’s gonna be cold in Michigan…  — Steven Cole Smith

Speaking of Lamborghini… boss pins hopes on e-fuels

Intake: As Lamborghini, like every other carmaker, gears up to go electric, CEO Stephan Winkelman says that company is hoping that carbon-neutral synthetic fuels will keeps its engines firing in the future. Speaking to carsguide.com Winkelman said that although the first fully-electric Lamborghini will be on sale “from the end of this decade”, he added that “When it comes to alternatives to battery electric vehicles, we only see one—synthetic fuel. Synthetic fuel as a total is carbon neutral, it has advantages but also has difficulties in terms of supply quantity and infrastructure. This is all something which has to be clarified by legislation and the industry if they want to go down that road,” he said. “We don’t need to decide today, but I can only see full electric cars or synthetic fuel as an alternative. I don’t see other ways for us.”

Exhaust: Winkelman is far from being the only one backing e-fuels as an alternative energy source. Porsche has invested many millions in the technology, with a carbon-neutral factory producing fuel in Chile and a second site in Tasmania, Australia underway that will produce 100 million liters of the green go-juice a year from 2026. — Nik Berg

Toyota teases new fifth-generation Prius

PRIUS WORLD PREMIERE 11.16
ワールドプレミアまで、残り2日！https://t.co/h8jpW9GYbk #HYBRIDREBORN#PRIUS #プリウス pic.twitter.com/7vEuotvGFW

— トヨタ自動車株式会社 (@TOYOTA_PR) November 14, 2022

Intake: Prius sales have been falling steadily, which some analysts blame on the styling, and the fact that midsized cars in general are weakening, as well as the obvious increase in competition. Toyota takes another swing at a fifth-generation model, which the manufacturer will reveal on Wednesday. As a placeholder, Toyota has released another of those candlelit profiles of its taillight. Toyota first showed the current generation Prius in 2015, notes Automotive News. It was one of the first vehicles within the group to use the new TGNA global vehicle architecture that is also expected to underpin the new car.

Exhaust: The current Prius Eco is EPA-rated at a healthy 58 mpg city, 53 mpg highway, with a range of 633 miles. It’ll be interesting to see if Toyota can beat that with the new model. — SCS

Porsche Macan Electric due in 2024 with 603 hp and 300-mile range

Intake: Porsche has dished some details of its upcoming electric Macan SUV, the first of which is that it will, imaginatively, be called the Macan Electric. It will be built on a new platform called PPE, have a 100 kWh battery pack and be available in rear- and all-wheel drive configurations with around 603 horsepower and 730 lb-ft of torque on tap. The rear motor will be mounted behind the axle, 911-style, to give a slight rear weight bias to aid handling, while rear-wheel steering will also be included.  Air suspension will be offered and drive will be via a single-speed transmission, unlike the Taycan’s two-speed unit. It will share the Taycan’s 800-volt charging architecture so owners will be able to charge up from five to 80 percent charge in 25 minutes using the fastest chargers. Although Porsche hasn’t confirmed the car’s predicated range the company said it will be significantly greater than its first EV, which the EPA pegs at 250 miles.

Exhaust: The hefty battery pack and high power are to be expected, but the rear motor positioning is interesting, showing Porsche’s commitment to 911 principles in a post-combustion era. — NB

NHRA finale at Pomoma; Force loses his body

Intake: The Camping World National Hot Rod Association 2022 season wrapped up Sunday at Pomona Raceway, just outside Los Angeles, crowing four season champions: Ron Capps in Funny Car, Brittany Force in Top Fuel, Matt Smith in Motorcycles, and Erica Enders in Pro Stock. The most dramatic moment of Sunday’s race was when Funny Car veteran John Force, 73, driving a “Chevrolet Camaro,” blew up a supercharger and the explosion was enough to send the entire body flying. Force was shaken, but, as usual, did not appear stirred.

Exhaust: The NHRA  had a successful season, with plenty of good racing, albeit with an occasionally short field in several classes. We’re looking forward to the 2023 season, which starts in March at Gainesville Raceway in Florida. — SCS

Ford’s F-150 Raptor R is one thirsty super truck

Intake: The EPA has released fuel economy figures for Ford’s F-150 Raptor R, the 700-horsepower supertruck that we’ve been wanting to see from Ford ever since the Ram TRX stepped into the ring. To absolutely nobody’s surprise, 5.2-liters of supercharged fury, 37-inch tires, and a penchant for rooster tails do not an efficient pickup make: The 2023 Raptor R is rated for 10 mpg city, 15 mpg highway, and 12 mpg combined. That’s on par with the TRX, although the Raptor manages one extra mpg on the highway. (The Ram’s fuel economy figures: 10/14/12, city/highway/combined.) If you want to slay dunes with monster tires and slightly fewer trips to the pump, Ford does offer a Raptor with 37-inch rubber and the EcoBoost V-6 engine, which achieves 15/16/15 mpg, city/highway/combined. Otherwise, the normal Raptor on 35s will reach 15/18/16 mpg city/highway/combined under a prudent foot.

Exhaust: If you’re the type of person shopping for a truck that can flatten acres of gnarly terrain at paces that would make a Corvette blush, you probably aren’t too offended by these numbers. Raptors and TRXs don’t sell on pragmatism. But, if the rise in popularity of some older gas-guzzling SUVs is any indication, sometimes the tradeoffs for what you get are worth it come the time of reckoning at the pump. You won’t hear us knocking you for choosing a 700-horsepower dune slayer. — Nathan Petroelje

OK, Subaru, for the last time…

Intake: We showed you the candlelit roof outline of the new Impreza hatchback that will debut later this week at the LA Auto Show: Now here’s part of the grille.

Exhaust: You owe us, Subaru. — SCS

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When Jerry Seinfeld created a brilliant way to meld comedy and cars into his hit show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, we drank it up. Now he’s coming out with a new book about the streaming series, which is like adding cream to your favorite cup of java.

The Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee book (Coffee coffee-table book?) will be available on November 22, timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the show’s debut. Publisher Simon and Schuster says it “isn’t just a record of the show but instead an inventive tribute full of behind-the-scenes photos and anecdotes.”

Seinfeld recently announced the book’s release on his Instagram page (@jerryseinfeld).

“The first episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee went online ten years ago—on our own website, without any press or promotion. Just me and Larry David having a funny conversation,” Seinfeld wrote. “We called it a web series because nobody knew what streaming television was. Ten years later, we have produced 84 episodes and we’re on Netflix. It’s a crazy story, and this book seems like a good way to tell it, along with some of my favorite photos and dialogue from the show.”

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee reinvented the talk show format and drew applause from industry moguls and fans alike, earning multiple Emmy nominations and helping lead the streaming revolution. Each episode features Seinfeld cruising the Los Angeles area in one of his favorite classic cars, accompanied by some of the funniest people in comedy and on television. During their drive they talk about the intricacies of stand-up, the evolution of their careers and personal lives, and whatever else pops into their heads, and the conversation always includes a stop at a coffee shop or diner to continue their conversation.

Seinfeld’s guests have included Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Eddie Murphy, Jay Leno, Martin Short, Will Farrell, David Letterman, Amy Schumer, Seinfeld’s former Seinfeld castmates, and even President Barack Obama. Late comedy legends Garry Shandling, Jerry Lewis, Don Rickles, Carl Reiner, and Norm McDonald also went for rides with Seinfeld, adding a bit of nostalgia to those episodes.

A total of 84 classic cars have been featured, including a 1949 Porsche 356/2 (with Leno), 1966 Jaguar E-Type Roadster (Lewis), 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing (Lorne Michaels), 1964 Aston Martin DB5 (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), 1964 Morgan Plus 4 (Stephen Colbert), 1969 Lamborghini P400S Miura (Chris Rock), 1976 Lamborghini Countach LP400 (Jim Carrey), and 1963 Corvette coupe (Obama).

Simon and Schuster says the book, which includes never-before-seen production photos, “dives into the inspiration and creation of segments, the most unforgettable lines from guests, an index of the cars, and some of the most memorable moments from crew members.”

While we wait for word about new episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (the last installments were released on July 19, 2019), perhaps the Seinfeld book will satisfy our cravings for now. Until then, please pass the cream.

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All-electric Ram concept truck to debut at CES in January

Intake: Stellantis is gearing up to unveil the Ram brand’s answer to Ford’s F-150 Lightning at the Consumer Electronics Show. Held in Las Vegas on January 5, visitors to CES 2023 will have the chance to experience the “Ram Revolution” BEV concept, to see what Stellantis offers relative to the electric trucks currently on the market, and in the pipeline. Details are nonexistent for now, but the Ram Revolution might be a disguised version of the production EV truck slated to arrive in Ram showrooms by 2024.

Exhaust: Stellantis and CES sure got a thing going on, as this year’s event included their Chrysler Airflow CUV concept. While the Ram Revolution’s singular photo raises more questions than it answers (that’s a mighty sleek A-pillar for a work-oriented vehicle!) at least we know it looks like a proper descendent of the Rams before it. That’s in stark contrast to the Airflow, which could have been so much more. Perhaps that’s the reason why Stellantis chooses to debut these vehicles to a tech-heavy audience. After all, if your biggest competitors are already in the game, why not do a Willie Keeler and hit ‘em where they ain’t? Because after experiencing both the Lightning and the Rivian, it’s clear that the competition isn’t making many mistakes. Stellantis better bring their A game when they arrive in Vegas next January. — Sajeev Mehta

Your first look at Volvo’s biggest, most luxe electric SUV

Intake: Behold Volvo’s most expensive, most luxe SUV—its nose and side, at least. These partial views are our first look at the exterior of the EX90, which we’ll see in full on November 9. Volvo isn’t getting too wild with this new offering, in keeping with its calm, minimalist aesthetic. The closed off “grille” bearing the company’s crossbar and arrowed circle (which hides a camera) mimics the schnozes of the company’s tiny BEV runabouts, the XC40 Recharge and the C40. Here, however, the logo sits closer to flush with the car’s front sheetmetal. The door handles will also tuck into the car’s sides, increasing aerodynamic efficiency. We’d expect these to operate like a Jaguar’s: pull out one end with a finger to activate the latch, press the notched end into the body to lock the door. On the car’s roof will be a lidar unit, which functions “as the car’s eyes,” says T. Jon Mayer, Volvo’s head of exterior design, whose team successfully avoided a “coffee can” packaging.

Exhaust: Since Volvo has the advantage of learning from its Geely-owned, all-electric sibling Polestar, we expect this SUV to be well-executed and high-tech. The EX90 kinda has to be, to keep Volvo in the big leagues of luxury, where it wants to play.—Grace Houghton

“Style Edition” brings ’90s makeup to base Boxster/Cayman

Intake: Porsche is adding a pair of new models to the 718 range, and throwing in a splash of color. Available in Ruby Red Neo paintwork, which is a tribute to the Ruby Star hue of the 964 Carrera RS, the Boxster and Cayman Style Editions gain 20-inch 718 Spyder wheels in high-gloss black, black sport tailpipes, and Porsche lettering in high gloss silver at the rear. Boxster versions also get their name embossed in the convertible top above the side windows. Hood stripes and Porsche logos for the side are optional. Interior additions include a heated leather steering wheel, and a black leather cabin with contrasting chalk stitching. A six-speed manual transmission comes as standard, mated to the two-liter turbo four-cylinder motor, with a seven-speed PDK and Sport Chrono Package both on the options list.

Exhaust: As is often the case, Style comes to Europe first, with U.S. sales set to follow during 2023. Those not quite tickled pink by the Ruby Red Neo paint scheme will be glad to hear that a wide range of colors will also be available. — Nik Berg

“Trailhunter” is Toyota’s love letter to overlanders

Intake: SEMA, otherwise known as fall’s biggest aftermarket-kit party, is popping off, and the automakers are in on the fun. Toyota debuted the Trailhunter Concept, a Tundra-based rig upfitted with popular mods for the off-the-grid exploration community. The accessories—a bed rack, rooftop tent, meaty bumpers, and more—are sourced directly through Toyota’s new Associated Accessory Products line, a catalog of third-party pieces that Toyota offers for a more streamlined customization experience right from the get-go. Notable partners include ARB, Yakima, Rigid Industries, and more. The Trailhunter concept is riding a bit higher than a stock Tundra, likely courtesy of a 3-inch lift-kit that the automaker announced late last month.

Toyota says that the Trailhunter name—think about it as a sub-brand, like Ford’s Tremor/Timberline models or Chevy’s ZR2 models— will distinguish an entire line of trucks and SUVs. We’d expect the Tacoma, the 4Runner, and perhaps the new Sequoia to also get the Trailhunter treatment in the future. Trailhunter vehicles will be developed in-house by the Toyota engineering teams to provide factory-backed overlanding rigs that still meet OEM expectations.

Exhaust: Someday, Harvard Business School is going to have a case study on the automakers aggressive efforts to capitalize on the overlanding craze. SEMA has long been The Place to reveal overlanding rigs realized to their full (and heinously expensive) potential, and it’s no longer a customer-only affair. This Trailhunter looks legit, though off-roaders on a budget (your author included) are most excited to cherry-pick from the catalog, once published. — Nathan Petroelje

Lamborghini lights up the silver screen

Intake: Shunned by Enzo Ferrari and spurred on to create his own legend, Ferruccio Lamborghini is the subject of a new biopic which opens in theaters on November 18. Scripted and directed by Academy Award-winning Bobby Moresco (Crash), and starring Frank Grillo as Lamborghini and Gabriel Byrne as Ferrari, the movie tells the story of their rivalry and Lamborghini’s incredible drive. “I want the world to never forget my name,” he says. Enjoy the trailer and book your tickets now.

Exhaust: We’re in for a bumper few months of motor movies. Following Lamborghini in 2023 will be Michael Mann’s Ferrari, with Adam Driver and Patrick Dempsey, while Brad Pitt’s Formula 1 film is also in the early stages of production. See you at the drive-in! —NB

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Supply issues delay Dodge’s final Hemi send-off

Intake: Yesterday, Dodge announced that the firm’s seventh—and final—“Last Call” special edition will have to wait as supply chain issues have reared their ugly heads yet again. Originally, this last “farewell” model had been slated to debut at SEMA in Las Vegas, this November. Now, Hemi-lovers will have to wait to see which new toy will join the six previously announced “Last Call” models. Earlier this month, Dodge introduced the series to celebrate the Challenger and Charger, which are ending a lengthy production run at the conclusion of 2023. So far, Dodge has given us the three Challengers—the Shakedown, Scat Pack Swinger, and Black Ghost—and three Chargers—the Super Bee, Scat Pack Swinger, and King Daytona. When “supply issues” have been resolved, a reveal of the final chapter will be rescheduled. Stay tuned.

Exhaust: It’s a shame we have to wait for more muscle-bound goodness from Dodge. Though, if the final special edition is anything like the first six, it will be worth the wait. We gleaned a couple details from a shot of fabric-draped car, present at the original announcement of the series. Given the silhouette of the silk, it appears as though the seventh “Last Call” vehicle will be a Challenger. We can also see that the license plate reads “1FAST29.” This could be two things. Perhaps, it is an illusion to the nine-second passes that stock Demons have been known to throw down. Editor Kyle Smith pointed out that it could also be in reference to Dodge’s long-standing 2.9-liter inline-six. Either way, we wait with bated breath. —Cameron Neveu

Lamborghini Urus S: Performante power, less drama

Intake: If you want excitement in your luxury SUV—but not quite that much excitement—allow Lamborghini to present the new Urus S, which has the same horsepower as the similarly new Performante, but dials back the excitement a bit. The S replaces the standard Urus model. The Urus S shares the same 657-hp twin-turbo V-8 with the Performante, but it delivers it in a slightly less dramatic fashion.  The Urus, according to Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann, is “for those choosing the purest sublimation of performance, luxury, and versatility.”

Meanwhile, “The Urus Performante takes to the road as a lightweight, honed athlete. Its muscular stance, distinctive design, V-8 twin turbo powerplant and lightweight sports exhaust establish it through sight, sound, and experience as the most exciting contender on every road, track and loose surface. This is a super sports car driver’s SUV,” says Rouven Mohr, chief technical officer. Example: The Performante has a “Rally” driving mode “for dirt tracks;” the S doesn’t. Bottom line, the Urus S gives you slightly less performance, traded for slightly more luxury. Apparently, “The Urus S is the ultimate lifestyle Super SUV,” Lamborghini claims.  It’s about 100 pounds heavier, and takes 3.5 seconds to hit 100 km/h (62 mph), while the Performante takes 3.3 seconds. The Performante is, we are told, “the sporty evolution of the first-ever Super Sport Utility Vehicle.”

Yes, well. Splitting some expensive hairs, there. The price is 195.538 Euros, which translates to $191,440 for the Urus S, compared to $260,676 for the Performante.

Exhaust: The Urus is a monster SUV regardless of the model. If you plan to race up Pikes Peak, the Performante is for you, but that’s a big difference in price for two-tenths of a second from 0 to 100 km/h. —Steven Cole Smith

States, D.C., and Puerto Rico get green light to develop EV charging structure

Intake: All 50 states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, now have access to more than $1.5 billion to help build electric-vehicle chargers under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. The U.S. Department of Transportation says the NEVI formula, which makes $5 billion available over five years, will help build an EV charging network across 75,000 miles of interstate highway—about one station for every 50 miles. The Biden administration hopes the program will spur the widespread adoption of zero-emission cars.

Exhaust: If President Biden’s goal is realized, and half of all new vehicles are zero-emissions by 2030, Americans will need reliable and convenient EV stations to travel beyond their local communities. And now that national EV charging plans have been approved, states can be reimbursed for building and maintenance costs through the NEVI program. The coffers are open: Will the states take the plunge? —Jeff Peek

Roofless SP51 is the ultimate fair-weather Ferrari

Intake: Ferrari’s One-Off division has just completed a unique roadster based on the 812 GTS for a collector in Taiwan. Clearly confident in the local climate, the customer specified the car without a roof of any kind. Further differentiating the SP51 from its donor car are bespoke headlamps, diamond-cut alloy wheels with carbon-fiber wing profiles on each of their five spokes, and a bare carbon wing which sits neatly atop the twin rear flying buttresses. Ferrari says the aerodynamics “required meticulous honing in a process involving CFD simulations, wind tunnel and dynamic testing to guarantee not just the ultimate in comfort in the cabin, but also the same standard of acoustic comfort and wind feel as the car that inspired it.” The Rosso Passionale exterior color is carried over to the Alcantara interior, while the blue and white stripes, inspired by a 1955 Ferrari 410 S, also continue through the cabin.

Exhaust: Enjoy the photos, because the chances of ever seeing this SP51 in the metal are near zero. Instead, why not do as we did and start browsing for 550 Barchettas or 575 Superamericas? Our valuations team estimates that a #1 (Concours) condition 2001 550 Barchetta would cost $496,000, while we’ve seen 2005 575 Superamericas for under $400,000. A snip, no doubt, compared to what the SP51 will have cost.—Nik Berg

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Would you shrink from bidding on this violet Porsche 911?

Intake: This 1990 Porsche 911 listed for auction on Car & Classic is purple. Profoundly purple. Intensely iris. Acutely amethyst. Violently violet. Externally and internally purple. The wheels, under-hood carpet and soft-top are disappointingly lacking in color (though the tonneau didn’t escape), but the rest of this four-wheel-drive could have turned Prince purple with envy—even the steering wheel is wrapped in leather dyed to match. Why, you ask? This Porsche was built by the manufacturer as a show car to display its customizing capabilities to the public. It remains numbers-matching to this day. Known as the “964” generation to marque aficionados, the 911 launched in 1989 as a rather futuristic car, due to the smooth integration of its body-color bumpers and front bodywork with the body itself. While the car looked suspiciously like it might be a mere reskin of the previous generation, the 930, 87 percent of its components were new or redesigned, according to Porsche. This one uses a 3.6-liter, air-cooled flat six making 247 hp and 228 lb-ft of torque—enough, with the manual transmission, to reach 60 mph from rest in the mid-5s.

Exhaust: Typically, convertibles are worth more than their hardtop siblings, but Porsche’ 911 bucks the trend. A two-wheel-drive, hardtop 911 from 1990 in #2 (Excellent, or “drives like new”) condition is worth $119,000. A four-wheel-drive convertible like the one above? $62,000. However, we’d expect the unusual hue of this example to close the gap. —Antony Ingram

Mini marks two decades in the U.S.A. with Cooper special

Intake: It’s 20 years since the “new” Mini made its American debut. Celebrating this Mini milestone is a new 20 Years Edition of the 2023 Cooper S Hardtop 4 Door, available in the same Chili Red as the launch model back in 2002—plus Pepper White and Island Blue for a tri-color tribute to the American and British flags. These body colors are combined with a silver roof and mirrors, with piano black for the arches, sills, and fascia trims. Black, 17-inch alloy wheels wear all-season tires, and black roof rails extend the Mini’s carrying capacity, while a panoramic moonroof expands the view upwards. Inside there are carbon-black leatherette seats, a Nappa leather-trimmed steering wheel, anthracite headliner, and more piano black trim. Yours for $37,165, and in dealerships this month.

Exhaust: It may have seemed massive at the time compared to the original Mini of the Swinging Sixties, but the 2002 Mini Cooper itself is now dwarfed by the current range, which has scaled up further still over the past 20 years. Agile and entertaining, and supercharged in its swiftest form, is it time to consider the “new” Mini a modern classic? —Nik Berg

Logitech’s new gaming gear is loved by Lando

Intake: If you want to raise your sim-racing game to Formula 1 heights, Logitech reckons it has the answer with its new G PRO wheel and pedals. Compatible with Playstation 4/5, Xbox Series X/5, and PC, the wheel includes a direct-drive motor which delivers a mighty 11 newton meters (8.1 lb-ft) of force feedback torque. It also boasts magnetic gearshift paddles, twin clutch paddles, customizable settings, and a quick-release mount. The pedal box comes with a load cell brake for realistic feel, and all pedals can be adjusted for position and firmness. McLaren F1 racer Lando Norris says: “Logitech’s PRO Racing Wheel makes the sim racing experience incredibly realistic. I’m able to feel the conditions of the track and how the car changes during the race, which is game-changing. When using this wheel at home, I feel like I’m right there on track.” At $999 for the wheel and $349 for the pedals, elevating your online racing career to Lando levels isn’t cheap, however.

Exhaust: For home racers seeking a more serious simulation, this looks like a good alternative to the dominant Fanatec gear. If you want to pretend you’re driving for a factory team, you could go even further with an OEM-approved sim setup from Prodrive, Aston Martin, or Pagani. —NB

Sneak close to Lamborghini’s plug-in hybrid

Intake: We last spotted the hybrid successor to Lamborghini’s Aventador back in March of 2022—but only from a distance. Now, our photographers have snuck right up to the minimally camouflaged tester. The shin-threatening diffuser we spotted before is gone, revealing a rear end strongly tapered on top and bottom to showcase that four-pipe exhaust. Its absence could indicate that Lamborghini is already preparing mild and wild versions simultaneously … or that engineers have temporarily removed the component. Our money’s on the latter, since the rest of the aero kit spotted in March is present: The front air dam and the side skirts, specifically. The Y-shaped, high-mount brakes lights are clearer than ever, recalling not the octagonal elements of the old-is-new Countach but the angular blades of the Terzo Millennio—an all-electric concept build in collaboration with MIT and unveiled in 2017. Since this is a hybrid model, we’re guessing the similarity is no coincidence.

Exhaust: Fret not, because Lamborghini’s CEO has promised that the heart and soul of this Lambo will be a V-12—with no sort of forced induction, either. Though the electric drive will undoubtedly boost off-the-line performance, expect the hybrid system’s main virtue to be a short-range, electric-only mode to skirt Europe’s increasingly strict emissions regulations. Lamborghini isn’t sidelining its favorite motor—it’s extending the V-12’s life. —Grace Houghton

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Uber wants an all-electric fleet by 2030

Intake: Eight years from now, the ride-sharing giant Uber will have an EV-only fleet for their customers, according to a new report from CBS News. While currently offering EV-specific commuting via their Comfort Electric option, this option is only available in 24 cities in the US (and Vancouver, Canada) as of right now. The plan is to ramp up the program nationwide by 2030, and drivers with a gasoline-powered vehicle will be booted off Uber’s platform.

Exhaust:Considering that Uber actually adds to the climate crisis, this move is downright obvious in densely populated areas where idling cars are an issue. But remember that Uber is wholly-dependent on the vehicles available, so this mandate only has teeth if drivers can afford the (presumably cheaper and more plentiful) EVs available in 2030. Uber’s contract drivers must balance the vehicle purchase price, depreciation, and maintenance, with the income generated, and that’s been a point of contention on a regular basis. No matter, expect a run on used Nissan Leafs in big cities if the dream turns into a reality. — Sajeev Mehta

2023 Alpina XB7: BMW’s mostest three-row gains frown, power, big screen

Intake: Behold, the first model from Alpina following the tuning shop’s acquisition by BMW in March of 2022. Introduced in 2021 as the first U.S.-market SUV tuned by the pedigreed brand, Alpina’s “XB7” returns for 2023 with exactly the upgrades you’d expect from modern-day BMW: a shoutier face and more power. The dual-headlamp setup mimics that of the 2023, non-Alpina truck. The front air dam is deeper, emblazoned with ALPINA in white letters. Cosmetically, the Alpina wears more chrome and more body-color panels than the X7M60i, its black-trimmed, 523-hp sibling. Both trucks use BMW’s 4.4-liter, twin-turbo V-8, but for 2023, the XB7 adds a mild-hybrid system. The 48V starter-generated housed inside the eight-speed XF gearbox doesn’t provide electric-only range, but it does boost horsepower to 630 (from 612) and make max torque (still 590 lb-ft) available across a broader range: 1800–5600 rpm (vs. 2000–5000). 0-to-60 now arrives under 4 seconds, the benchmark of the previous XB7, and the quarter mild .2 seconds sooner (12.4). Inside, the changes again follow with those of the non-mild-hybrid version: The instrument-panel cowl disappears, replaced by the left wing of the upright Curved Display screen. Air suspension still comes standard, as does the full complement of leather upholstery, wood trim, and Alpina badges. You’ll pay $3700 extra for this frownier, more powerful Bimmer—chump change, when you consider the $145,995 starting point. 

Exhaust: You may be tempted to point to the XB7—the 2021 version—as the sign that Alpina lost its dignity, but the lines between the legendary tuner, which served as Munich’s de facto race team in the ’60s, have been blurring for years. Almost literally, since Alpina-branded vehicles are pre-assembled on BMW production lines. To many buyers, “Alpina” now means “most,” and the 2023 XB7 reflects that. To us, it’s subtraction by addition.—Grace Houghton

Ram will discontinue EcoDiesel 1500 this January

Intake: Ram has announced that it will end production of the light-duty pickup with the EcoDiesel V-6 by January of next year. It marks the end of nearly a decade of production for the 3.0-liter turbodiesel V-6, which was introduced in 2014 and upgraded for the 2020 model year. Upon its debut, the EcoDiesel earned a 28-mpg highway rating from the EPA, the best result ever achieved by a half-ton, full-size pickup. The upgrade in 2020 pushed that highway figure to 32 mpg for 4×2 trucks and 29 mpg for 4×4 models. But the engine was also the subject of a massive emissions-cheating settlement for 2014–2016 model-year Rams and Jeep Grand Cherokees that saw Stellantis pay nearly $300M in fines for software that would cause the engine to perform differently in EPA test cycles than it would under normal use. As Ram readies an all-electric pickup for 2024, and since it currently offers mild-hybrid applications of its eTorque system paired with the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, the EcoDiesel appears to have run its course. Ram will offer a “last call” of sorts to those still interested in picking up an EcoDiesel light-duty, offering crew-cab 4×4 models on the Tradesman, Big Horn/Lone Star, Laramie, Limited Longhorn, and Limited models. The engine is also currently offered on the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator, but Stellantis has not specified whether those models will get the EcoDiesel past January of next year.

Exhaust: Though its diesel V-6 made sense for the moment, changing tides and rapid expansion of electrified offerings within the Stellantis family indicates the business case for such an engine has evaporated. The eTorque Hemi will likely press on, and we’d expect some version of the new Hurricane twin-turbo straight-six to eventually find its way into the engine bay of a future Ram; Stellantis says that the six can fit in any engine bay that currently houses a longitudinally-mounted V-6 or V-8. We’ll get our first tastes of the new six later this week behind the wheel of the Grand Wagoneer L and Wagoneer L, which are underpinned by modified versions of the pickup frame found in the Ram 2500 HD. There’s surely some engineering needed to get the six to work for the light-duty Ram but expect that to be the next engine up when the EcoDiesel bows out. — Nathan Petroelje

Lamborghini to power GTP car with a V-8

Intake: Lamborghini Squadra Corse has unveiled a few technical specifications and a teaser image of its LMDh project for its upcoming venture into the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship, and the GTP class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The most interesting aspect of the release is that the new car will be powered by a twin-turbo, 90-degree V-8 engine being developed by the company’s motorsport department, Squadra Corse. Combined with the power generated by the mandatory, common hybrid unit, total horsepower will be 681. Lamborghini says the hybrid sports car is a “perfect fit’ to go along with the hybridization of its road cars.

Exhaust: Lamborghini, along with Alpine (Renault) will enter the new race series in 2024, with the Lambo debuting at the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona in January of that year. It’ll join Cadillac, BMW, Acura and Porsche, all of which are set to debut at the 2023 Rolex 24 scheduled for January 28–29. Lamborghini’s Urus SUV currently sports a V-8 with a 90-degree layout and two turbos, so perhaps this car will employ a modified version of that engine as a way to save some money. It’s unlikely Alpine will race at Daytona, but you never know. The lure of competing for the triple crown of sports car racing—Daytona, Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans—may just be too appealing to ignore. — Steven Cole Smith

U.S. traffic deaths decline for the first time in two years

Intake: Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicate that traffic fatalities on U.S. roads declined in the second quarter after an almost two-year rise. The NHTSA says 10,590 people died in car crashes from April through June 2022, down 4.9 percent from the same period in 2021, marking the first three-month decline since the third quarter of 2020. The NHTSA offered no theories for the decline, and Ann Carlson, NHTSA’s acting administrator, chose to accentuate the negative: “Although it is heartening to see a projected decline in roadway deaths in recent months, the number of people dying on roads in this country remains a crisis.”

Exhaust: If this was April–June 2020, in the midst of the COVID lockdown and with fewer cars on the roads, the nonchalance would be understandable. But fewer deaths on busier highways seem like good news. What are we missing here?  — Jeff Peek

Ford Raptor recalled for loose wheels

Intake: Have you seen it on your local news? Ford recalls pickup trucks because the wheels can fall off! Yeah, it’s true, but it isn’t nearly that serious. The recall is for 1,519 Ford Raptor pickups wearing 37-inch wheels which, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, might not have been torqued on properly. “Incorrectly tightened wheel lug nuts can loosen and separate from the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.”

Exhaust:Actually, given how athletically Raptor drivers might operate their vehicles, we’d go to NHTSA.gov and check and see if your Raptor is affected. And even if it isn’t, we’d suggest pulling out your torque wrench and making sure all the lug nuts are tightened. And if you lack the skill to operate a torque wrench, or the wrench itself, we’d guess most any reputable tire store would be happy to torque all the wheels for free, or a few dollars, as will your local Ford store. —Steven Cole Smith

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Lamborghini and Ducati have teamed up for another knockout limited edition sports bike. The Ducati Streetfighter V4 Lamborghini is the second collaboration between the two Italian brands after the Siàn-inspired Diavel 1260 Lamborghini of 2020.

This time it’s the Huracán STO that provided the vision for the bike’s look and the Panigale V4 S that sits beneath the bodywork. Unique forged wheels echo those of the STO, while the front mudguard, tank cover, belly pan, and tail have all been sculpted to emulate the supercar. Visible carbon fiber is used extensively throughout, and even the saddle takes its lead from the Huracán’s seats. The adjustable rider foot pegs, brake and clutch levers are formed from billet aluminum, and a rorty Akrapovič exhaust provides the finishing touch—plus a suitable soundtrack.

The 1103 cc Desmosedici Stradale engine outputs 208 hp and drives through a dry clutch from the Streetfighter SP. The motor is also a stressed element in the aluminum chassis which features Öhlins Smart EC 2.0 semi-active suspensio, and stopping power by Brembo 330 mm discs.

The new bike will offer the same 630 production run as the Diavel with an additional 63 bikes for special Lamborghini customers who will be able to specify their two-wheelers to match their four-wheelers. As standard the Streetfighter will be delivered in the vivid Verde Citrea green /Arancio Dac orange color scheme pictured, but Lamborghini’s Speciale Cliente will be able to work with Centro Stile Ducati to create doppelgängers of their cars from a wide range of hues. As if that’s not enough owners will also be encouraged to dress the part in custom Dianese leathers.

Deliveries will begin in April 2023 and, although prices have yet to be released, you might have a fight on your hands to get one. The Diavel Lamborghini sold out within weeks.

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After more than 50 years of absence, the name Bizzarrini is back on a run of revivals of the Italian engineer’s glorious 1964 5300 GT Strada.

Undeniably beautiful, combining Giugiaro styling with American muscle, the 5300 GT should have been the car up to set Giotto Bizzarrini alongside Enzo Ferrari and Ferruccio Lamborghini in the list of iconic Italian sports-cars makers.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. Bizzarrini was rather better at engineering than he was at business and, having sunk all his own money into the firm, he brought in new investors who then scammed him out of everything. In 1968 the company went under, somewhat tarnishing the reputation of a man who up until then had an incredible career.

Born into a wealthy family in Livorno, Italy, Giotto Bizzarrini studied engineering in Pisa, completely redesigning a Fiat Topolino as part of his thesis in 1953. A year later he was at Alfa Romeo, developing the chassis for the Giulietta, and then moving to the firm’s experimental department and serving time as a test driver. “I became a test driver who coincidentally was also an engineer, with mathematical principles. I always need to know why something fails, so I can invent a solution,” he said.

He was soon poached by Ferrari, which is where we pick up his engineering adventures.

Ferrari 250 GTO

Bizzarrini joined Ferrari in 1957 in a role that encompassed chief engineer, designer, and test driver. Working across the 250 series, the fruits of his labors could be seen in the three-liter V-12 engine and chassis of the GT 2+2 and GTE, the TR, and the GT. It was, however, the 250 GTO that was the crowning glory of his Ferrari career. Using his own Boano-bodied 250 GT as a test mule, Bizzarrini made major aerodynamic improvements, shifted the engine rearward for better weight distribution and lowered the center of gravity by using a dry-sump lubrication system for the V-12.

Despite the astonishing success of the GTO, which dominated the International Championship for GT Manufacturers from 1962 to 1965, Bizzarrini would not be there to enjoy the glory. Alongside Girolamo Gardini, Romolo Tavoni, Carlo Chiti, and others, Bizzarrini were forced out in Ferrari’s  “Night of the Long Knives” after falling out with Enzo and his wife Laura.

The Breadvan

Bizzarrini and Chiti would have their revenge soon after forming Automobili Turismo e Sport (ATS) in 1961, initially to build Formula 1 and GT sports cars. Count Giovanni Volpi, another man spurned by Enzo Ferrari, wanted to campaign a 250 GTO, but Ferrari wouldn’t sell him one. Instead he purchased a 250 SWB and turned to ATS to upgrade it.

Bizzarrini took everything he’d learned from the GTO project and then went further. With the aid of Carrozzeria Sports Cars he sculpted a dramatic, shooting brake–style, aerodynamic body that would quickly be dubbed “The Breadvan.”

Lamborghini V-12

Bizzarrini founded Società Autostar in 1962 and one of his first clients was Ferruccio Lamborghini, who wanted a V-12 to power his 350 GT. Bizzarrini’s 3.5-liter, 60-degree motor was to be Lamborghini’s first in-house mill and such was the brilliance of his design that Sant’Agata would continue to use it for five decades. Fitted first to the 350 GT, Bizzarrini’s V-12 would power the Miura, Countach, Diablo, and Murcielago, eventually increasing its capacity to 6.5 liters and its power from 270 hp to more than 600 hp.

Iso Rivolta and Grifo

Having made its name in scooters and microcars (notably the Isetta), Iso Automotoveicoli had its eyes on bigger, faster and more profitable motor vehicles. Chairman Enzo Rivolta duly enlisted Bizzarrini and Società Autostar to develop its Rivolta and Grifo models in 1962.

Bizzarrini’s engine expertise wasn’t required, as the company opted to follow the likes of De Tomaso and mate an American V-8 to Italian styling. Instead Bizzarrini focused on the cars’ pressed-steel chassis, de Dion rear- and double-wishbone-front-suspension, and four-wheel disc braking system. Bizzarrini was itching to get back to racing, however, and after demonstrating the potential of an A3/C Grifo prototype at Le Mans in 1964, he parted company with Iso to go it alone.

Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada

The A3/C Grifo became the Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada and its sales would fund an assault on the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hour race. Or at least that was the plan. Bizzarrini also showed a nimble GT Europa 1900 and a monstrous GT America 7000 sports car at the 1966 Turin Motor Show, demonstrating tremendous ambition for the brand that carried his name. Unfortunately none of these cars made it beyond the prototype stage thanks to the financial mismanagement that killed the firm. They do, however, give the revived Bizzarrini company plenty of ideas of how to follow its first 24 GT Corsas.

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GMC gussies up the Colorado, this time with an AT4X twist

Intake: Hot on the heels of its more egalitarian sibling, the Colorado, GMC has unveiled the all-new 2023 Canyon. The similarities and shared components between the familial mid-sizers are legion, but in typical GMC fashion, a bit of added interior poshness will be the main attraction over the Colorado. All Canyons will benefit from a new chassis that moves the front axle forward a few inches; Elevation, AT4, and Denali trims get a standard 2-inch factory lift to bolster ground clearance to an impressive 9.6 inches.

The Canyon AT4X, a first for GMC’s mid-sizer, will headline this third-generation show with the same bevy of off-road goodies that you’ll find on the venerable Colorado ZR2—think front and rear electronic-locking diffs, Multimatic DSSV dampers, underbody protection, and chunky 33-inch tires. Those dampers and rubber will give the Canyon AT4X an even more impressive 10.7 inches of ground clearance and a stout 36.9-degree approach angle. Like its Bowtie brethren, the new Canyon will employ a turbocharged 2.7-liter four-cylinder engine exclusively, good for a GM-estimated 430 lb-ft of torque in high-end applications such as the AT4X and the Denali trucks. Those two trims also get an 11-inch digital instrument cluster in place of the 8-inch unit found on more modestly equipped Canyons (and all Colorados). At launch, a special Edition 1 version of the Canyon AT4X will be offered that includes extra off-road gear such as a winch, an off-road bumper with a safari bar, 30-inch front light bar, 17-inch beadlock-capable wheels, and a special front skid plate. The cost of such a beast: $63,350, to start—reservations are open now. Elsewhere in the lineup, GMC says pricing for other Canyon trims will start around $40,000. Expect the 2023 Canyon to arrive early next year, with the AT4X specifically showing up in the spring of 2023.

Exhaust: Figure that the non-Edition 1 versions of GMC’s Canyon AT4X will start around the mid-$50,000 mark. That’s no small sum for a mid-size truck, but such is the plight of being the premium nameplate—comparably equipped GMCs always outstrip Chevys at the register. The new styling is certainly more expressive than that of the outgoing model, which is not a bad thing. While we’re a bit sad to see the 2.8-liter diesel engine exit stage left, there’s no arguing that the inbound 2.7-liter unit is the right match; it delivers more torque than the diesel and more horsepower than the outgoing 3.6-liter V-6 as well. Our money still votes ZR2 over AT4X, but we suspect there are plenty of well-to-do buyers ready to plunk down a bit extra for a few hints of luxury in their trail-stompers. —Nathan Petroelje

Royal Rolls-Royce needs a new (stately) home

Intake: A 1980 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II once owned by Princes Margaret is looking for a regal new residence on Collecting Cars. The Roller’s Cardinal Red metallic paint contrasts with a black Everflex roof and comes complete with a royal crest mount and blue light for emergencies. Inside there’s finely-woven cloth in pale green, deep green carpets, and floor rests where Her Royal Highness could put her feet up after a long day of duty. This Rolls was a real favorite, staying in the Windsor family until 2002 when it performed a final sombre role carrying Princess Margaret’s children to her funeral. The Rolls comes with a history as long as old England’s, HRH’s private number plate 3 GXM, and a recent overhaul and service. With three days left on the auction, bidding stands just shy of $25,000.

Exhaust: This Royal Wraith previously went to auction in 2020 but failed to sell. More recently, however, a 2013 Bentley Mulsanne owned by Margaret’s big sister Queen Elizabeth II sold for $250,000, proving that monarch motoring commands a major markup. The Wraith does have some competition, as a Ford Escort RS Turbo driven by Princess Diana will also be up for sale shortly. —Nik Berg

Build your dream Z-car on Nissan’s configurator

Intake: The wait is finally over for brand loyalists, modern performance junkies, and anyone looking for some fun alongside a factory warranty: Nissan opened up the online configurator for the all-new Z-car. Visit the configurator to see how much you get for the Sport model’s $41,015 starting price, at the Performance’s $51,015 sticker (with goodies like a leather interior, limited slip differential, beefier brakes, BOSE audio, and Rays Engineering wheels), and the $54,015 figure for the limited edition “Proto,” whose exclusive color combination is limited to 240 units nationwide.

Exhaust: Nissan’s configurator has generally shown the brand to be heavy on standard features, focusing options on items that are more like dealer-installed accessories and less like the option packages available on a Mustang. The ideal package for enthusiasts is the Performance model, as you cannot upgrade the brakes or differential on the base Sport. Which is a shame as a Sport with cloth seats and no spoiler sounds like the best platform to go fast. Who knows, maybe that’ll happen next year. In the meantime build your Z and find a dealership who will sell it to you for sticker price with no hassle. Good luck with that. —Sajeev Mehta

Lamborghini Urus sets SUV lap record at Pikes Peak

Intake: Lamborghini hasn’t yet unveiled the 2023 Urus, yet it just captured the production SUV record at Pikes Peak. Pirelli test driver Simone Faggioli was behind the wheel as the Urus hustled up the 12.42-mile course during a special event and clocked in a 10:32.064 time. That time bested the previous production SUV record of 10:49.902 set by Rhys Millen in a Bentley Bentayga in 2018. The twin-turbo V-8 Urus used “an evolution of the Urus’ Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R” tire that should be offered when the Urus goes on sale shortly. Besides the addition of a roll cage, six-point harness, and a fire suppression system, Faggioli’s Urus racer was unmodified.

Exhaust: Even though the previous record holder was Rhys Millen’s Bentley Bentayga, which shares the Urus platform, this next-gen Lambo took off a significant 17.838 seconds. Claiming it’s the “fastest SUV” sounds like a big caveat, but the 10:32.064 time puts it between the current front-wheel drive record of 10:48.094 set in 2018 by Nick Robinson in a modified, 500-hp 2018 Acura TLX A-Spec and the 10:18.488 set by Rhys Millen in a 2019 Bentley Continental GT, which is the current Time Attack 2 (production) record holder. SUV or not, that’s fast. —Brandan Gillogly

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Ferrari recalls nearly every U.S. model since 2005 for potential brake failure

Intake: Almost every Ferrari sold in the U.S.A. since 2005 is being recalled over a brake-fluid reservoir cap that may not vent correctly. A faulty cap can lead to a vacuum forming in the reservoir, which could cause fluid to leak. In the worst-case scenario, that leak could result in brake failure. The good news: Ferrari believes only one percent of the cars are affected. The fix is very straightforward, to: A new reservoir cap will be installed and a software update will deliver a stern warning in the instrument cluster should fluids get low. In the meantime, Ferrari says that any driver seeing a low brake-fluid warning should stop driving immediately and have their car towed to a dealer.

Exhaust: The recall impacts modern-classic models such as the 612 Scaglietti and F430 right up to 2022 cars which may not even have been delivered yet. Some of Ferrari’s limited-edition specials such as the F12tdf, LaFerrari, and F60 America are also affected by the potential failure of this simple component. The recall was submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on July 26 and all dealers and customers will be notified on September 24. You can read the full list of implicated vehicles here.—Nik Berg

Honda’s tweaked CRF lineup continues to serve trail riders on a budget

Intake: Not everyone is looking to go racing in the off-road motorcycle market. Honda knows this, and so it has renewed its CRF trail family of bikes for continued production. A nice blend of old-school simplicity and modern features make the CRF50F, CRF110F, CRF125F, and CRF250F each a trusty go-to choice for many riders. All but the minute 50F feature electronic fuel-injection and electric start for ease of use and dependable running. Maintenance is also kept low thanks to the simplicity of air-cooled engines: Routine services center on changing air filter and oil, allowing a single owner to maintain a family’s worth of bikes.

Exhaust: It only takes a minute of looking into purchasing an off road vehicle to see how advanced and expensive off-road motorcycles have become. The CRF trail bikes are perfect for those who want to escape to the trails and enjoy the outdoors without worrying about a high-strung race bike. These Hondas are also affordable and welcoming to newer riders, making the lineup a go-to choice for newer riders or those seeking fun with the whole family. We would love to see a 400cc model fill the gap between the 250F and XR650L, but that might just be us being greedy. —Kyle Smith

Grease star Olivia Newton-John succumbs to cancer

Intake: She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music had such wide-ranging appeal that she landed songs on the
pop, country, adult contemporary, and dance charts. But to those of us who love cool cars, she’ll always be Sandy. Olivia Newton-John, the multi-talented Australian singer who starred alongside John Travolta in Grease, died on August 8 at age 73 after years of treatment for cancer. In the 1978 film that vaulted her to superstardom, our favorite Sandy went to a drive-in movie in Danny’s 1949 Dodge Wayfarer, rode in the Pink Ladies’ 1948 Studebaker Commander Regal, and flew away in the fantasy version of Kenickie’s 1948 Ford De Luxe convertible. And in real life, Newton-John’s first car after moving to America was a 1975 VW Super Beetle convertible that sold for $68,750 at Julien’s Auctions three years ago. News of her death spread quickly, as mourning fans flooded social media with messages of admiration. Travolta was one of them. “My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better,” he wrote. “Your impact was incredible. I love you so much.”

Exhaust: Travolta might as well have been speaking for everyone who adored Newton-John’s music and her breakthrough performance in Grease. She had a magnetic personality, the voice of an angel, and at age 29 had us all believing she was a high school senior. “Grease changed my life in the most amazing way, and I’ve had such an amazing life,” she said in 2015. “When things go wrong, you’ve got to believe you will get through them and focus on the positive things in your life.” She was one of those positive things for the rest of us. Enjoy your ride in the clouds, Sandy. —Jeff Peek

High off Urus sales, Lamborghini courts Pikes Peak

 

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Intake: “Performance reaches a new dimension,” promises Lamborghini in a short video that previews an updated Urus SUV charging up Pikes Peak in Colorado. There’s only a fleeting glimpse of the camouflaged car in the clip, and no indication of exactly how this “new dimension” will be reached by the Italian company’s best-selling model. Auto spies have previously spotted both a bewinged Urus Evo and a plug-in hybrid undergoing testing, but which one hurtled up the fourteener hasn’t been revealed just yet.

Exhaust: The updated Urus will be the first of three models launched before the end of 2022, a trio that will include the rally-inspired Huracán Sterrato. The subtext of this Instagram post, however, is the success of the Urus SUV (it accounted for 61 percent of brand sales in the first half of 2021) and the importance of the American market to Sant’Agata (it sells more cars in the U.S. than anywhere else). —NB

Bentley Mulliner Batur teased ahead of Monterey Car Week

Intake: Coachbuilder extraordinaire Bentley Mulliner is set to reinvent Bentley vehicles as we know them. The vehicle is question is the Batur, and it possesses a new design direction for the brand as it pursues an all-electric future. All we have right now is a singular teaser picture of its grille, sporting Bentley’s signature texture with a black foreground and a red background. Bentley will stop all the teasing on Sunday, August 21, upon the model’s formal introduction at Monterey Car Week.

Exhaust: Consider us more than a little excited to see the Batur in the flesh, as previous Mulliner exercises in recent memory (namely the radically gorgeous and speedy Bacalar) have done an impressive job elevating the brand. Considering the earth moving torque and silent operation of modern EV powertrains are perfectly paired with a top-tier luxury car, Bentley’s future seems more than just secure. The move away from internal combustion feels like a natural move, one that need a design language to go with it. With that in mind, bring on the Batur. —Sajeev Mehta

Dodge’s electric muscle car will likely debut next week

Intake: Dodge shared plans to unveil three future vehicles later this month, with a “Current Muscle” vehicle coming on August 15, a “Gateway Muscle” vehicle the following day, and a “Future Muscle” vehicle bowing on the 17th. The debuts will be hosted at the M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Michigan, for select members of the media.

Exhaust: The “Current Muscle” car may very well be the next-gen Challenger, and the “Future Muscle” might be the electric muscle sedan that’s been teased above. As for the “Gateway Muscle” offering, speculation from Mopar Insiders suggests that it is the Alfa Romeo Tonale–based Dodge Hornet. The compact crossover has already been spotted testing in the United States and will pack a plug-in-hybrid powertrain like the Tonale’s, which has a total of 275 hp. We’re not sure that’s exactly a “gateway” to muscle cars, but we’re excited to see what Dodge has planned to replace its popular Hellcat-powered offerings. —Brandan Gillogly

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My favorite news of the past week is Bloomberg’s report that Apple hired engineer Luigi Taraborrelli away from Lamborghini. According to his LinkedIn page, Taraborrelli last led the Italian firm’s vehicle dynamics department, which meant he was responsible for how the cars felt from behind the wheel.

Chassis engineers are the chefs, usually working unseen, who have an intangible gift for knowing how a car should feel, a trait us car freaks call “handling.” They’re generally hardcore enthusiasts and tune a car by concocting a recipe of suspension parts. In my three decades of covering the car industry, I’ve watched car-company executives alternatively embrace and ignore handling and the folks who can deliver it. The enthusiast in me wants to believe that if a company focuses on satisfying those who love to drive, even those who just want a car to get them to work but who can subconsciously tell the difference, then that car company will thrive.

I’m not sure that’s the case, but you can tell when the people running a car company are enthusiasts. Back in the Nineties, when Bob Lutz had sway at Chrysler, when he championed the Dodge Viper, all of the corporation’s cars felt responsive and crisp. The cheapest car Chrysler made back then, the Neon, was frequently raced. I’m curious to see how Ford evolves now that Jim Farley, who is definitely one of us, runs the ship. Ford had over a decade of CEOs who I don’t think understand handling, which is possibly why the last Explorer I drove felt more like a minivan than a minivan (our folks report that the Explorer is already improving).

So back to Apple and Mr. Taraborrelli. The company behind the smartphone is cagey about its autonomous vehicle program. A good engineer solves problems, so there may not be anything to this development other than a company hiring an experienced and capable problem solver. Apple is particularly deft at producing lust-worthy products so I’m taking this move optimistically. Perhaps Apple believes there’s a transition product between today and full autonomy. Perhaps it wants to deliver a car that can drive itself yet also be fantastic to drive. Perhaps I’m being a fool, again.

A recent report in the trade publication Automotive News highlighted the need for a coordinated regulatory approach to standardized vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication protocols. The ability for cars to talk to each other and to their surroundings has long been cited as a need for autonomous vehicles. The industry, however, seems unable to agree on a common architecture. Our own Aaron Robinson reported in his update on AV development that the U.S. government sold a portion of the wireless spectrum it had set aside for V2V communications. That was yet another signal that the bold proclamations of driverless fleets were wildly optimistic. Automotive News also reported that GM’s autonomous vehicle division, Cruise, lost $500 million in the second quarter, over $5 million per day.

That sounds bad, I know, but any emerging industry yields massive winners and losers. We know Andrew Carnegie won in the early days of the steel industry, accumulating so much wealth that he later built opulent libraries in numerous rust-belt cities (What’s with the steel reference? I’ve been fascinated with the industry since I spent four years in college in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, marveling at the belching and clanging Beth Steel plant. Here’s a thrilling read on the early days.) In any case, it’ll be a long while before we see which company or engineer wins the AV race. I should also mention governments, which definitely have a dog in this. Michigan, for example, passed a law to build an AV-only lane along a highway that joins Ann Arbor with Detroit.

THE LOWS AND HIGHS OF RACING

A few weeks ago, I shared that the engine in my son’s micro sprint race car was destroyed. It “blowed up” as the saying goes. I made a joke of it and didn’t really express what a crushing blow that was. We’d planned all winter to run the car and our racing season was already stymied by labor shortages at our local track that delayed its opening. The season was therefore truncated, and I knew that the time required to find and replace the motor, alongside the rest of life, could potentially write off the entire season. I am also well aware that my son is 13 and about to enter the stage of childhood when time with the old man is suddenly a whole lot less appealing.

You can’t just go to the local NAPA to buy a motor. They’re around but you need to know people. We’re new. But car people are usually wonderfully helpful and after asking around I was connected to someone who had an engine. Our car uses a four-cylinder motor from a Suzuki GSX-R600 motorcycle, which this gentleman had bought from a wrecked motorcycle years ago as a spare. He knew my situation and could have taken advantage by overcharging me. Instead, he asked for the same $800 he paid for it, admitted that he did not know if it would run, and offered a refund if the engine was bad. I thrashed for three late nights installing the motor, which thankfully worked.

Last Saturday, we entered a race at Jackson Raceway here in Michigan. My kid had only a few laps in the car so I told him we were not there to race but just for him to get acclimated while I stood trackside crossing my fingers to ward off more problems. Naturally he was slow, so slow that the only other kid in his class, yep, a class of two, lapped him during qualifying. Twice. Fine. We’re new. During the penultimate feature race, as my kid was about to get lapped, the other kid’s car broke. Ours stayed together. Sam took home a winner’s trophy.

I am so grateful for these machines and for the people who share our passion.

Have a great weekend!

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Chevy: Burning Corvette prototype not hybrid

Intake: A C8 Corvette test mule was filmed in Spain engulfed in flames—a scary sight. Chevrolet was recently testing hybrid Corvettes on the Nürburgring, and other test mules testing nearby seemed to be operating with electric power, leading to speculation the scorched car was indeed an E-Ray test mule. A Chevrolet spokesperson said that “A Corvette development vehicle undergoing extreme testing by one of our suppliers this week had a thermal incident. All who were involved are safe as this is our top priority. We are investigating the situation with the supplier.” Chevy followed up with Road & Track to quash rumors of a hybrid powertrain at play, clarifying that the vehicle was “a specialized testing mule with a setup that’s not indicative of what an actual customer would receive.”

Exhaust: It’s a bit trite to say it, but this is precisely why test mules exist. The final stages of testing are designed to expose issues ranging from inconvenient to catastrophic, and you don’t have to look too far to find other test vehicles that have met a similar fate, both with and without electrified powertrains. More details about this incident may come to light in the coming weeks, but unless a rash of fiery Corvette prototypes develops in the coming months, we wouldn’t get too worried about the Corvette’s battery-assisted future. —Brandan Gillogly

Now $13K more, 2023’s V-6-only G90 is still cheaper than an S-Class

Intake: After five years of producing its flagship sedan, Genesis is rolling out a second generation G90. We’ve known that the 2023 G90 would axe the 5.0-liter V-8, but we now know full specifications and, finally, price. The entry-level model costs $13,450 more ($89,495) thanks in part to the addition of all-wheel drive (formerly a $2500 option), a digital key, sunroof, massaging front seats, and laminated glass. The G90’s twin-turbo six-cylinder increased displacement from 3.3 to 3.5 liters, making 10 more hp than last year. The higher trim level ditches the straightforward V-8 for the same V-6 paired to a 48-volt mild hybrid system and an electric supercharger, creating a combined output of 409 hp. The e-Supercharged G90 also includes extras like 21-inch wheels, rear-wheel steering, ventilated and massaging rear seats, and an air suspension for $98,700. Exterior styling is noticeably edgier on either G90, and the standard-equipment list on each is extensive: the only options to choose are powertrains, and paint/interior colors.

Exhaust: Genesis salespeople told us back in December of 2021 that no one strolls in looking for the G90 V-6, but what happens at the dealership isn’t necessarily heard by the Mothership. So mere months later, there’s no V-8 in sight for the flagship. And the e-Supercharged Hybrid G90 feels like a letdown on paper, adding complexity to the more powerful V8 (420 hp) while adding a whopping $20k to the asking price. Seriously, Genesis? By not straying over six figures, the G90 preserves its status as a bargain alternative to the venerable S-Class, but those who covet truly old-school luxury—the entire point of a posh, full-size sedan in an age of crossovers—will be scrounging the used market for those 5.0 Premiums. Or perhaps leasing an S580 from Mercedes-Benz?

Urus SUV spurs record profits for Lambo as off-road Huracán nears

Intake: Lamborghini has just posted its best-ever six-month sales figures—and quietly announced three new models, two based on the Urus SUV and one on the Huracán. The Italian supercar maker delivered 5090 vehicles between January and the end of June 2022, representing an increase of almost five percent. Even more importantly, the Sant’Agata Bolognese firm saw its turnover clear $1.35 billion (up more than 30 percent), and operating profits skyrocketed by almost 70 percent, to $433 million. “We have come to the end of an exceptional first half of the year, despite ongoing uncertainty caused by the geopolitical situation. The outlook is equally positive, with orders taken already covering the whole of 2023 production,” says chairman and CEO Stephen Winkelmann. America remains Lamborghini’s biggest market, taking 1521 cars so far in 2022 and accounting for 34 percent of worldwide sales, while it’s the Urus SUV which takes the lion’s share of the lineup, accounting for 61 percent of Lamborghinis sold.

Exhaust: Love or loathe it, the Urus has powered Lamborghini to unprecedented profits. Thanks to the success of this super SUV, Lamborghini can afford to replace the long-in-the-tooth Aventador and carve its own path towards inevitable electrification. Expect the first of the new-product trio to arrive in August, with the Huracán project debuting as a production version of the off-road-oriented Sterrato (2019 concept and spy photos from January of 2022 shown below). — Nik Berg

Paul Stephens’ 993R takes a swipe at Singer

Intake: British Porsche specialist Paul Stephens has completed a restomod for air-cooled aficionados who like their 911s from the ’90s. The company’s Autoart 993R is based on a narrow-bodied Carrera 2 and “no nut or bolt has been left unturned, no panel unscrutinized in the pursuit of perfection.” The project was based on a customer brief to “take a 993 and make a 25 percent improvement in every area” and has taken more than five years to complete. The body is seam-welded and the steel hood has been swapped for a Porsche Motorsport aluminum version, while the engine cover and bumpers are custom fabricated in carbon fiber. The rear wiper mechanism and sunroof were ditched and the electric mirrors replaced with lighter units. Inside there are carbon-fiber Recaro seats and composite trim panels. Despite having an integrated rollcage, the mass has been reduced by almost 400 pounds. The engine specification is no less impressive: Stephens increased displacement to 3.8 liters and added 993 RSR barrels and pistons, individual throttle bodies, and Pauter con rods. The oil pump, crankshaft, and bearings hail from a 997 GT3. The exhaust is a modified Cargraphic unit. The net result? 335 hp, with a 365-hp version also available. Power is channeled through a 993 G51.21 six-speed manual transmission to a Wavetrac limited-slip differential. Suspension is an adjustable Porsche Motorsport setup, and the brakes are the same as those fitted to a 993 RS. For a final flourish, Stephens added 18-inch 996 GT3 RS wheels. It hasn’t let slip the price but is open to inquiries.

Exhaust: Stephens has taken the 993 to 996 GT3 levels of performance but retained a more classic look—and, all importantly, stuck to a naturally aspirated, air-cooled engine. Now that California’s Singer Vehicle Design has concluded its run of “Classic” 964s and is switching to Turbos, Stephens might have cornered a new and lucrative market for the last of the air-cooled 911s. —NB

2023 GMC Canyon teased in top-tier, off-road spec

Intake: Hot on the heels of the recent introduction of the 2023 Chevrolet Colorado, GMC gives us a teaser of its mid-size truck before next week’s official introduction on August 11. Details are still sparse, aside from the knowledge that last year’s AT4X luxury off-road package (for the full-size Sierra) will be available on the Canyon. And it certainly looks the part, with a wide stance and a bull bar with integrated LED lighting highlighted in the singular teaser shot provided.

Exhaust: Well, isn’t that special? Perhaps there was no need to go all out with a new release, as Chevy already spilled the beans on the Colorado. That said, GMC likely will add a few tricks to the Canyon ATX4 that will make it just a little bit better than its Chevrolet counterpart, just like it did with the front and rear e-locker differentials exclusive to the the Sierra AT4X. After spending some time with the 2022 Colorado ZR2 Bison earlier this year, we can’t wait to see what the all-new platform in AT4X spec has in store for us. — Sajeev Mehta

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This September, Ford’s next-gen Mustang will bow in Detroit

Intake: We saw details of the seventh-generation Mustang (S650) earlier this year when spy photographers captured this mule out and about near Dearborn, Michigan. At the time, we had no clue when we’d actually get to meet said pony car in the flesh. According to a new report from Automotive News citing an anonymous source with knowledge of the timeline, it sounds like the new Mustang will bow at the Detroit Auto Show later this year in September. When asked about the possibility of a September unveiling, Ford spokesperson Mike Levine declined to discuss the automaker’s show plans. “We’ve previously said that the all-new, seventh-generation Mustang is on the way and we can’t wait to share more details soon,” he said in a statement to AN.

Expect both the 2.3-liter turbocharged EcoBoost four-cylinder and Ford’s free-breathing Coyote V-8 to carry over to the new car largely unchanged. As we noted when these spy shots first surfaced, the new ‘Stang will likely to ditch its current bespoke platform, adopting instead the modular rear- and all-wheel-drive architecture (codenamed CD6) that underpins the Explorer. Connecting the dots, that probably means an all-wheel-drive Mustang is in the works. The platform is already set up to accept hybrid drivetrain tech as well; we wouldn’t be surprised to see a hybrid Mustang somewhere in the S650 dossier, too.

Exhaust: Ford remains tight lipped on the matter, so we may not know more until we get closer to the show’s opening on September 14. But given how the S650 looks like an aggressive update (new sheetmetal and interior, but a similar cowl/roof structure) in lieu of a clean-sheet redesign to the S550 Mustang, we have no reason to doubt the timeline stated by Automotive News’ source. Watch this space for more Mustang news in the coming weeks. — Sajeev Mehta

Lamborghini’s off-road-ready Huracán looks ready to hit the dirt roads near you

Intake: The latest video on Lamborghini’s YouTube page, titled Beyond the Concrete, gives us our best look yet at the upcoming off-road Huracán. The minute-long video shows the slightly lifted Lamborghini sporting fender flares and additional lighting as it turns off the paved road, hits some gravel, and drifts, racing a mountain bike to a—presumably—Italian villa.

Exhaust: Yeah, we know that Lamborghini got its start making tractors. Even after an off-road concept straight from Lamborghini in 2019 and spy shots that captured a test mule earlier this year, it’s still hard to believe that Lamborghini is bringing such a wild, category-defying vehicle to market. We’re sure that a mid-engine V-10 supercar would be a blast to drift along dirt and gravel roads, but it seems like there’s a reason why there has never been a factory-built Lamborghini, Ferrari, or McLaren to fill this niche. (That said, the aftermarket has taken more than a few swings at such an idea.) Additional ground clearance or not, there are only so many roads cut out for a car like this, and it seems that those looking for the kinds of off-pavement thrills it affords would be better served with something a bit more rugged. We’re sure there are buyers who would line up for what’s likely a limited-run of these dirt road drifting machines, but will they use them as intended? — Brandan Gillogly

Save the date: New Porsche 911 GT3 RS flies in on August 17

Intake: The ultimate track weapon in the Weissach armory has a confirmed launch date. The 2023 911 GT3 RS is “even more optimized for track use than its predecessors,” says Andreas Preuninger, director of Porsche’s GT model line. The RS will feature the same 502-hp, naturally-aspirated, four-liter flat-six engine as the GT3, but the RS will pack extra pace thanks to suspension, brake, tire, and aerodynamic tuning. “We focused primarily on aerodynamics and chassis questions in the development of the new 911 GT3 RS,” adds Preuninger. We will get the answers at a digital world premiere on Porsche’s News TV channel at 11 a.m. ET on August 17.

Exhaust: We expected to see this maximum-attack 911 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, but perhaps Porsche didn’t want its new flagship to be overshadowed by the mad McMurtry electric fan car which breezed to a new hill record. Instead, we’ll get a risk-free online launch with no rivals in sight. Consider our calendars marked. – Nik Berg

Aceman concept previews first dedicated electric Mini

Intake: Engineered from the ground up as an EV, the Mini Aceman concept car also heralds a new design direction for the Anglo-German brand. Mini calls it “Charismatic Simplicity” and says that its design language is “clear and pared back.” The Aceman would sit between the three-door Mini Cooper and the jacked-up Countryman in a reduced Mini range of the future. There’s no word on the electric powertrain at this stage, with Mini asking us all to just absorb the exterior and interior design features instead. In profile it remains unmistakably Mini, but with some added flare and angular form to the fenders. Up front is where it gets more radical, with a new face that has to do without a conventional radiator grille, yet somehow retain a familiar look. When powered off it’s a bit bluff, but flick the switch and the car’s character comes to life thanks to some creative running lights which can be set to a checkered flag pattern or a jingoistic Union Jack. By contrast, the car’s rear is conventional and not dissimilar to the Countryman. Inside there’s more of a revolution, with space maximised thanks to the flat floor of the EV platform and a bare-bones dash, with just a single central circular display, and a bank of toggle switches in keeping with the Mini myth. There’s no leather or chrome in the cabin adding to the car’s eco credentials. The Aceman goes on display at gamescon in Cologne from August 23.

Exhaust: You have to wonder if the BMW Group is deliberately trolling us. First came the insanely-oversized grille on the 4-Series and now they’ve made a Mini which looks like a Disney hippopotamus. We’re all for adventures in design, and support the idea of “Charismatic Simplicity” but this Aceman doesn’t do it for us. What about you? Have at it in the comments. —NB

After a 25-year hiatus, BMW returns to prototype racing at Le Mans

Intake: The BMW M Hybrid V8, the name for BMW’s entry in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series, made its first laps this week at chassis builder Dallara’s test track in Italy. BMW confirmed earlier this year that the car will debut in January at the IMSA Rolex 24 at Daytona in the newly formed GTP class for the 2023 season. Now, BMW has also announced that the new prototype will run in the Europe-based World Endurance Championship in the Hypercar class in 2024, which would include a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time since a BMW Prototype was victorious there in 1999. BMW M works drivers Connor De Phillippi, an American, and Sheldon van der Linde, a South African took turns at the wheel of the LMDh platform car in the on-track debut. “It’s been an honor and a pleasure to complete the first laps of the BMW M Hybrid V8,” said De Phillippi, a five-time WeatherTech Championship race winner. “This was an historic day for BMW M Motorsport within the LMDh project. Step by step, we went through all functions of the car and by the end of the day we were able to do some laps with nearly full power, which is a good result for a rollout.” Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal’s Team RLL will run the car in IMSA competition; the team selected for BMW’s overseas efforts has yet to be announced.

Exhaust: Testing of the BMW M Hybrid V8 will continue in Europe through August before relocating to the United States in September. Right now, we’re looking at BMW, Acura, Cadillac and Porsche planning to race in IMSA in 2023, with Lamborghini joining in 2024. Part of the goal for this new IMSA and WEC co-developed LMDh prototype platform, which allows brands to use four, six, or eight-cylinder engines of their own designs and pair them with single-spec hybrid drivetrain componentry, was to abide by a uniform set of rules on both sides of the Atlantic. In theory, this would make it more enticing for a top-tier prototype series to consider major headline races in the other—possibly even parallel efforts. BMW’s commitment to return to Le Mans in 2024 is proof that the thinking behind the unified regulations is paying off. — Steven Cole Smith

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Victor Holtorf is on a mission. The Fort Collins, Colorado, proprietor of High Mountain Classics, a restoration and vintage race-prep shop at the foot of the Rockies, wants people to know that the Lamborghini Countach is a great car.

That’s it, just that: The Countach doesn’t suck. In fact, before we visited Holtorf and his personal collection of Countaches, he sent over a lengthy email covering Countach history that began with his objectives for our visit. “1) Educate the collector car public about this icon,” it said. “2) Correct myths and misconceptions about the car. 3) Have fun with friends.”

OK, you have to know Holtorf. He’s got one of those brains that naturally sorts the chaotic world into neat, orderly silos of logic and purpose, which is a valuable trait that explains how he came to own a bunch of Lamborghini Countaches (as well as dozens of other interesting cars). And you might dismiss his quest as an amusing bagatelle, like pleading the case for cookie-dough ice cream—especially to anyone whose first exposure to the car was watching Adrienne Barbeau and Tara Buckman streak across the desert in a black LP400S in that glorious Countach advertisement from 1981, The Cannonball Run.

If you saw that film as a kid, you’re entitled to wonder why the Countach—last year celebrating its 50th anniversary—even needs a defense. Holtorf was himself one of those kids, as well as one of the millions who subsequently tacked a Countach poster to his wall. That exact same poster now overlooks the lobby of High Mountain Classics, and he pointed to it when recounting how he bought his first Countach, an early LP400 “Periscopio,” back when they were about 75 grand for a nice one. It’s why he’s acquired three more, and why he’s made his shop—a second career after a fruitful first one in real estate—a refuge for broken and abused Lamborghinis.

However, as much as Holtorf loves the Countach, the car’s stature has unquestionably been dragged down by unsavory tropes. By its casting as the absurd clown car of the gold-chained, coke-dusted 1980s. By its reputation for routinely generating four- and five-figure shop bills for owners who don’t understand the car and don’t know how to drive it properly, and who are bled dry until they scream, “Enough!” and send their rejected plaything to the nearest auction, there to be fobbed off on the next star-struck pushover with more money than brains. And the Countach has been buried by endless magazine stories and by the internet echo chambers that repeat the same tired orthodoxies: that the Countach is brutal, that it’s hard to see out of, impossible to work on, and pretty much unusable as anything other than erotic garage sculpture.

Holtorf was so eager to stick pins in these widely held notions that he tossed us the keys to three examples for a romp in the rolling hills near his home. We set forth at dawn’s early light, an Italian air raid of sorts on the Colorado hinterlands, powered by 36 cylinders breathing through 120 valves and wailing out a combined 1285 horsepower. What we learned over two days is that Holtorf has a case: The Countach is indeed a great car. It goes and stops and turns and dazzles a crowd with outlandish abilities that were unknown in any other road machine of its era—and which are perhaps even more thrilling in the all-electrified, push-button, pull-paddle, 128-gigabyte reality of today.

That is, as long as you fit in the car, can get it started, and don’t slip the clutch too much because it’s easy to fry the clutch—and it costs 20 grand to yank the engine out and replace it. “These are high-speed toys,” allowed Holtorf, “and if they are not treated accordingly, they will cause problems, but that is not the car’s fault. It’s driver error in poor planning and execution.” Sure, you can do a quick kombucha run in a McLaren 720 without having to worry about yanking the engine afterward, but is that really living?

When Mick Jagger sang that he was “born in a cross-fire hurricane,” he could have been referring to the Lamborghini Countach. It arrived after the golden years of Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini were behind it, right as speed limits, inflation, regulation, and a worldwide energy crisis bore down on the auto industry like so many flaming Molotovs. A Countach was the first Lamborghini to die against a crash-test barrier. It suffered the ignominy of grafted-on bumpers and choking emissions controls. The workers who built at least the first ones were on strike so often that the company’s own founder and namesake, Ferruccio Lamborghini, walked away in disgust before the Countach reached full production. Its chief engineer and test driver followed soon after.

Yet, miraculously, in a world where sequels are rarely as good as the originals, Lamborghini was able to follow the breathtaking Miura with a car so shocking and louche that it came to overshadow its predecessor and define both the company and the exotic-car game for the 16 years it remained in production. About 2000 Countaches left the Lamborghini plant at Sant’Agata Bolognese, more than twice the number of Miuras. Into the 1980s, new Countaches rolled out of the factory against practically insurmountable odds, weathering Lamborghini’s repeated ownership changes, its eventual bankruptcy, the onset of catalytic converters and computerization, and nearly two decades of fashion flux among the mercurial arrivistes who craved it.

It didn’t seem possible that such a bonkers machine could survive for so long as I contemplated the skyward-pointing driver’s door on Holtorf’s well-worn 1975 LP400. Holtorf bought this early Countach in 1992 when he was living in the Bay Area and, seeing no reason to do otherwise, raced it at local club meets. On racetracks. With other cars. Apparently, back then you could go wheel-to-wheel in anything at some events so long as you wore a helmet—no cage or five-point harnesses required.

One day at Thunderhill Raceway Park, a rollicking ribbon about an hour and a half north of Sacramento, Holtorf became the salami in a race-car panini that left scars gouged in his Lamborghini’s millimeter-thin aluminum body. He applied Bondo and a spritz of primer and called it a day—actually, a couple of decades, as that was more than 20 years ago and Holtorf has been driving the car with its primer patches ever since (though he long ago retired it from racing).

I assumed the position, taking Holtorf’s direction to plant my butt on the Countach’s wide sill, then slung my right leg over the sill, followed by my left leg. From there, you easily slide in, like a bullet clicking into a chamber. The car’s two leather chairs look like wave chaise longues that contort your body into one non-adjustable rocket-sled position (the seats do slide back and forth). The shape and square-patterned tufts are surprisingly cushy and comfortable, despite what magazines said at the time.

Space inside these early Countaches is at a premium; the flat roof is ridiculously low, the center tunnel hilariously high, and the foot pedals are mere millimeters apart. The small, thin-rimmed steering wheel is, like those of most Lamborghinis of the period, situated for gorilla body types—meaning people with short legs and long arms—and with non-simian-shaped humans, it lands just inches from the knees. A few cryptographically marked rocker switches and some rotary knobs suffice as the car’s lighting and climate controls. The instrument binnacle is a mail slot sporting a line of miniature Stewart-Warner Stage III gauges that look like they were selected from a 1960s mail-order racing catalog—except for the analog odometer on the 320-kph speedometer, which instead of displaying its numbers horizontally is oriented vertically, like an old hotel marquee on Broadway. It somehow seems the most exotic thing about the LP400’s interior.

The V-12 at our backs fired immediately after the frenetic whirring of the starter, and the car moved off on a surprisingly light clutch. You have to lean on that gas pedal, however, against the drag of a long cable tugging on a bell-crank-and-pushrod affair that cracks open the throats of the six Weber 40DCOE, or doppio corpo orizzontale E, carburetors. The horsepower and torque all live at the top end of Bizzarrini’s 8000-rpm cathedral organ, so there’s no point in shifting early. The revs rise not to a deep, booming baritone of a large-bore engine, but to the ripping tenor vibrato of a relatively small but many-cylindered mill, that euphonious intake snarl from those 12 velocity trumpets hiding in the airboxes behind your head.

You have a lot of time to soak it in because first gear is so long. “Back then,” explained Holtorf, “ Lamborghini and Ferrari were trying to outdo each other in 0–60 times, so first gear is tall so you can go past 60 without shifting.” That explains why so many owners go through clutches so quickly, immolating obscenely large piles of Ben Franklins in the process. Baby a Countach clutch if you want it to last, insisted Holtorf—repeatedly. Which means planning in advance where you are going to drive the car so as to avoid stop-and-go traffic and clutch-frying parking ramps. “It’s like an airplane,” he explained. “You have to flight plan with a Countach or you’re going to have problems. You can’t just jump in it and go to dinner somewhere you’ve never been before.” None of this disqualifies the car for greatness, in his opinion.

Though the Countach is no quicker than a modern Mustang GT, its howl and drama in full rage is one of the motoring life’s divine experiences—especially in this, the purest of all Countaches. At speed, it feels like a Lotus Europa stuck on the nose of an F-16, an intimate capsule with surprisingly light controls and an entirely unexpected eagerness to dive into corners with neutral balance. This isn’t the brute I thought it would be. When I shared these observations with Holtorf, he simply nodded. It is what a Countach does when it’s maintained and set up as the factory intended. Lamborghini may have been a house on fire in the mid-1970s, but they still knew what they were doing.

Paolo Stanzani, who had come over from the firm’s tractor business in 1963, had taken Gian Paolo Dallara’s place as Lamborghini’s technical director when Dallara bailed in 1968. Involved in turning the company’s venerable four-cam, 3.9-liter V-12 sideways in the Miura, Stanzani in 1971 proposed rotating it yet another 90 degrees to face backward. Instead of the Miura’s frame of box-section welded beams perforated by weight-saving holes, Stanzani chose for its successor a pure race-car spaceframe of welded steel tubes, which would be lighter, stiffer, and—worth mentioning considering the time and place—easier to rustproof.

Turning the engine in alignment with the car’s center axis and slotting the transmission between the seats would centralize the engine’s mass better than it had been in the Miura and move some weight forward to the front axle, even if the propshaft running aft through the sump would raise the engine slightly. Instead of placing the radiators up front, as in other mid-engine cars such as the Miura and Ford GT40, Stanzani wanted them off to the sides, thus allowing a dramatically low nose and better forward visibility.

The basic concept was handed to Bertone to see what could be made of it. Nuccio Bertone had been Ferruccio Lamborghini’s closest collaborator and booster. His Turin design house and its styling chief, Marcello Gandini, had taken up the challenge of the transverse mid-engine Miura in 1965 with obvious relish. At the time, Bertone saw Lamborghini as a potential counterweight to the indomitable Ferrari, and Bertone’s burgeoning relationship with the tractor magnate as potentially yielding the greatness and riches that the long association with Ferrari had done for Pininfarina.

Building on the global plaudits for the Miura, Bertone envisioned a more angular, folded-paper future for sports cars in the late ’60s with a string of “hyper-wedge” design concepts. They included the Alfa Romeo Carabo of 1968, an impossibly low, emerald-green shingle with prescient scissor doors, and the 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero, which, at 33 inches tall, barely rose as high as the average cowboy’s belt buckle. Into this wedgy stew was thrown the Project LP112, Lamborghini’s internal designation for its Miura replacement.

However, by the early 1970s, Nuccio Bertone had lost his enthusiasm for Lamborghini, whose founder proved less dedicated to beating Ferrari than growing wine on his vineyard near Lake Trasimeno in central Italy. Bertone was also souring on his gifted protégé, Gandini—who, because of the Miura and other successes, was developing both international acclaim as well as a cocky attitude toward the boss. Nuccio figured it was only a matter of time before Gandini, like his predecessor, Giorgetto Giugiaro, would leave to open his own firm (in fact, Gandini stayed until 1980).

These intramural fissures are highlighted by the fact that the Countach, one of Gandini and Bertone’s most universally recognized designs, is barely mentioned in the carrozzeria’s two-volume boxed history by Luciano Greggio. “I remember that Stanzani, the engineer, asked Gandini to design the flanks specially so that the radiators could be mounted laterally,” recalled Nuccio Bertone years later for the book, sniffing, “the result was interesting, but not beautiful. Rather it looked like an attractive girl with her nose a bit crooked; people were more interested in the door-opening system than anything else.”

Perhaps, but one Bertone metalworker assigned to the team building the first full-scale mock-up—and who spoke the language of his native Piedmont region that encompasses parts of northwest Italy, France, and Switzerland—was moved to repeatedly exclaim, “Contacc!” It was basically the equivalent of “wow” or “dang,” and the word, with slight phoneticizing, stuck.

With no advance fanfare, Lamborghini and Bertone debuted the Countach LP500 concept at the 1971 Geneva motor show. The reception was uproarious. Ferruccio Lamborghini, whose heart really lay in building big, comfortable GT cars for, as he put it, “serious guys,” was once again compelled as he had been with the Miura to put into production a two-seat psychedelic road burner “for crazy guys.” The thinking was that the company might build only a handful, with no air conditioning or other creature comforts, for a select few fanatics who were already good customers (how many times in recent years have we heard the same said about limited-production hypercars?). Even Ferruccio saw the car as something of a throwback, recalling for an interviewer in 1980: “I said to myself: This is going to be the last chassis coming direct from the racetracks, the last birdcage frame. This time is past.”

But Ferruccio couldn’t refuse the money being thrown at him by the crazy guys. In 1972, without warning, the Bolivian government defaulted on a huge order for Lamborghini tractors. That and a canceled order from America left 5000 finished units sitting in yards with no customers. The ensuing cash crunch forced Ferruccio to sell off his beloved tractor company as well as 51 percent of his carmaking operation to a Swiss businessman, Georges-Henri Rossetti. He was seen even less around the plant, where union militancy had become so intense that production frequently ground to a halt. According to one account by the late Claudio Zampolli, an engineer at the time, leftist agitators slashed tires in the parking lot and lobbed missiles through the windows at the salaried front-office staff still at their desks. Ferruccio finally unloaded his remaining stake in 1974 to retire to his vineyard. “When I was still building Lamborghinis,” grumped Ferruccio a few years later, “people were talking about women and cars—maybe about football. Nowadays, they talk only about football and politics. The women and automobiles went into oblivion.”

He left Stanzani, the remaining engineers, and New Zealand–born test driver Bob Wallace to make the LP500 a viable car that wouldn’t melt its engine. It was a challenge given that Gandini’s original concept offered precious little in the way of a cooling strategy. Another problem was that the designer apparently had not given any thought to rain. After trying various unsatisfactory wiper solutions, Stanzani settled with pasting on a single large wiper arm with primary and secondary blades to sweep the sprawling glass. Then he resigned, walking out shortly after Ferruccio and shortly before Wallace quit, too.

From concept car to assembly line, the Countach sprouted NACA ducts in its flanks and scoops on its shoulders. Nevertheless, Gandini’s vision remained largely intact, except that there had been no time or resources to develop the proposed all-digital dash or the 5.0-liter V-12, the reason for the original LP500 designation. The 3929-cc V-12 that had served Lamborghini so ably since 1965 was sent into the breach yet again, meaning the production Countach would carry the designation LP400. Turned backward, the all-aluminum 375-hp mill put just 266 lb-ft of torque to the five-speed transmission between the seats. Still, it was an audacious design from a tiny company with extremely finite resources, and the core powertrain layout was to serve the Countach for its entire production run, as well as its replacement, the Diablo, and the Diablo’s successor, the Murciélago.

Only 150 of the first series LP400s were built, and the best ones go for over a million dollars now. With their skinny Michelin XWX tires, uncluttered lines, and small roof cutout intended for better rearview visibility (hence the “periscope” or “periscopio” nickname), they represent the closest thing to the original blueprint of the Countach’s creators.

Holtorf happily pointed out the differences between the various Countaches. After the first LP400, Lamborghini’s remaining engineers took note of some performance mods done by one of their favorite customers, Canadian oil-drilling-equipment mogul Walter Wolf, as well as the development of the new Pirelli P7 high-performance tire. To fit the new, wider P7s, the Countach sprouted flares packing deep “phone-dial” magnesium wheels patterned after those on the 1974 Lamborghini Bravo concept car. These and a detuned 350-hp emissions model, explained Holtorf, were the so-called LP400 S “low body” models, now highly sought after as the poster Countaches we all know and love.

The darkest days were in 1980, when Lamborghini was under court-controlled receivership after a series of disastrous management schemes. Plenty of plutocrats wanted a Countach, but Lamborghini was so short of money that its two oldest distributors, EmilianAuto in Bologna and Achilli of Milan, offered to pay cash for cars in advance so there would be enough money to pay suppliers. It wasn’t clear whether the few loyal Lamborghini employees and acolytes left were saving the Countach or if it was saving them.

In 1981, the factory was flush with fresh capital from a new owner, the Swiss Mimran family, which had built a generational fortune in Africa from sugar farming. Lamborghini raised the car’s roof by 2 inches and jacked up the suspension, all in anticipation of—at last!—sales in the U.S. Until then, the car had been locked out of that lucrative market because the company lacked the resources to federalize it. These so-called “high-body” Countaches had five-hole OZ alloy wheels, often painted gold, and were a little heavier and slower owing to the larger body and emissions controls. The high-body cars also initiated the Countach’s long, sad battle with U.S. bumper regulations; the various solutions developed by the factory never looked any better than rhinoplasty gone awry.

The Countach’s second wind—literally—came with the development of a 4.7-liter V-12 in 1982, followed in 1985 by the 5.2-liter Quattrovalvole. The four-valve engine finally took full advantage of Giotto Bizzarrini’s original decision in 1963 to flout Ferrari’s then- standard of single overhead camshafts and instead design Lamborghini’s first V-12 with four cams. Horse-power in the Countach jumped to 455 in the European carbureted version, which replaced the sidedraft Webers of the previous models with racier downdraft carbs. A federally compliant version with Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection was rated at 425 horsepower.

Holtorf’s carbureted black 1988 5000QV, with its gold rims and archetypal rear wing scything the air, is pure schoolboy fantasy. The QV is identifiable by the humps in the engine hatch (one hump for carbureted engines, two for U.S.-spec fuel-injected versions), and the “Quattrovalvole” badge on the rump. These high-body cars indeed offer more space inside even as the seats and basic goony ergonomics remain largely unchanged from the original LP400. The interior is altogether more deluxe in the QV, although there is a wider deployment of plastics, as befitting a car from the 1980s.

Maybe it’s me, but the additional weight and rubber on the road seem to counteract the benefits of extra horsepower, though the torque off idle is distinctly stronger as the enlarged engine takes bigger gulps of air. Testers who suppressed their mechanical sympathy to extract 5.6-second runs to 60 mph in the original periscope Countach—nearly a full second quicker than the contemporary Ferrari 365 GT4 BB—returned to find the QV could do the deed in about five seconds flat on its way to a 180-mph top speed (the later Ferrari 512 BB and BBis were also quicker). It was a blinding acceleration figure in the 1980s.

Again, the QV chassis has a certain grace to its movements even if the steering is much heavier at lower speeds owing to the fatter front tires. Holtorf explained that the suspension doesn’t use conventional rubber bushings but racing-type uniball and heim joints with plastic inserts to reduce friction. Over time, these wear out and impart a rattly looseness to the ride and handling that many drivers mistake for bad or antiquated engineering.

Which is why owners who take their cars in for something minor are so often presented with unexpectedly gonzo repair estimates. If the mechanic is willing to do the whole job (many aren’t, or can’t), he’ll walk the owner under the car and demonstrate how the sloppy joints clank and twist as the wheels are tugged. From there, the bills rain down like hellfire. “Worn joints, plus fat sticky tires, usually past their replacement dates, cause lousy handling in poorly maintained cars, which is most cars,” said Holtorf. “As do incorrect aftermarket shocks, worn weakened coil springs, and other changes. Stock is always best.”

And then there is the 25th Anniversary model, which commemorates not the model anniversary but that of Lamborghini’s founding in 1963, and which one magazine described as looking like a QV that had been “dragged through a J.C. Whitney catalog.”

An unfair characterization, perhaps, as the Countach can’t be faulted for keeping up with the neon-lit, permed-hair, acid-washed, spandex-shod fashions of its moment (and all the strakes and filigrees very much make it of its moment). The restyling was attributed to work done by Horacio Pagani, who later founded his own car company but was then a Lamborghini employee who developed new composite materials and fabrication techniques.

The Mimrans were probably the only investors ever to make money on Lamborghini, as they bought it for only $3 million and unloaded it to Chrysler in 1987 for $25 million. To recoup its investment, Chrysler immediately stepped on the gas, and Countaches poured forth from Sant’Agata in previously unheard-of volumes. About half of the total number of Countaches ever made were built in the last three years of its existence.

Holtorf’s own black Anniversary was down with a problem, so one of his customers, Stephen Tebo, kindly stepped in with the superb, low-miles white one photographed here. The modernization is all too apparent in the digital stereo and climate-control displays. No doubt Chrysler chief Lee Iacocca thought manual windows and seats were a crime in a car priced at $225,000. But the new and bulky power buckets robbed the cockpit of both its distinctive original couches plus whatever extra space was afforded by the shift to the high body in 1981. The seat controls, behind a flip-open panel in the sill, barely adjust the seats, moving them just a few short inches, but at least they are adjustable.

Everything seems heavier in the Anniversary, partly because the whole car is, since it gained almost 600 pounds during its long life. Yet it’s definitely quicker, even if you need to hold the wheel and shifter as though they’re attached to a rodeo bronc. It seems like all the Countach clichés stem from the Anniversary model, as it’s less initially friendly than the periscope and even more demanding of compromise than the QV. Perhaps it’s simply that by 1988, it seemed silly to buy any car with a shoebox trunk and footwells sized for the soles of children. But then that is often the case with cars left in the market too long: They age out of their moment of newness and novelty and get saddled with equipment they were never meant to have.

There’s no question that the Anniversary is an exhilarating brain fry that sucks down superlatives as quickly as its 32-gallon fuel load. You develop a rapport with it over time and begin to think maybe—just maybe—you could drive this thing to work, maybe a couple of days a week while the electronic climate control maintains a perfect 72 degrees and the stereo belts out Joan Jett.

And yet my mind kept drifting back to the periscope, and how badly I wanted to take it home and love it. It’s ridiculous, absurd! A piece of 50-year-old art with crotchety mechanicals and bodywork so thin that to lean on it is to damage it. Access to the V-12 is effectively through a ship’s porthole. You need weird, four-prong socket wrenches to do any serious work. You need special oil, special water, probably special air for the tires. The QV has a better suspension, and the Anniversary is better still, benefiting from experience and investment dollars from Detroit. And most people would agree that a Miura is more classically beautiful.

And yet. That original origami vision—so mod, so kinetic, so lurid. If it had, as Bertone said, a crooked schnoz, it was the crooked schnoz of the century.

To Holtorf’s point, the Countach is a great car. It was when it debuted as the last-of-an-age lightning flash out of Italy, a chin-flick and vaffanculo! to all the self-appointed guardians of virtue who were laboring so righteously to legislate the end of fun and freedom. And the Countach finished strong, still leaving the boombox burghers slack-jawed at the curb. In no universe that we know of can it be used as ordinary transportation. The Lamborghini Countach is pure hedonistic, licentious, nihilistic entertainment. As we all know, that is usually the best kind.

The post The Case for the Countach: Lambo’s bad boy seeks redemption in the Rockies appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Sign GM’s NDA and save $5500 on a Lyriq

Intake: Buy or lease Cadillac’s first all-electric SUV between now and the end of August, and your dealer may offer you a strange proposition: Agree to let GM track how you use the EV, and you’ll get $5500 off. (The single-motor, rear-drive model with 340 hp, dubbed the 450e, starts at $62,990 including destination; the yet-to-be-named 500-hp, dual-motor, AWD version is $2K more.) You just can’t talk to anyone about what the car is like. Seriously: GM makes you sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to get the discount. GM is the first automaker, as Cadillac’s Michael Albano told the Detroit Free Press, to bargain with customers for real-time data. Since all 2023 model year Lyriqs are spoken for, this strange offer is moot for most … unless Caddy gets a positive response and decides to offer it for the 2024 model year as well, which is available to pre-order. We’re unsure, given the full 2023 order books, whether Cadillac set aside some early-production Lyriqs for this program; if so, the NDA would make a bit more sense. If you’re getting the car at the same time as everyone else, why the secrecy?

Exhaust: It’s difficult to evaluate the “weirdness factor” here without knowing the exact nature or extent of the data GM’s gathering from participants. Is it more or less intimate than the data (location and otherwise) harvested from your phone (which you’d have in the car anyway) by Apple or Google? If less, Cadillac may actually be doing the honorable thing here. — Grace Houghton

Acura’s ARX-06 prototype hits the track ahead of 2023 debut

Intake: Testing is hot and heavy among IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams in the new GTP class, which debuts in January at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Acura is the latest to take to the test track, with run-time at several facilities, most notably Magny-Cours in France. “Of course, it is still early days, but I would have to say we’re quite pleased with the results of both the initial shake-down runs last week at Paul Ricard, followed by two days this weekend, which ran into the night both on Saturday and Sunday,” said David Salters, HPD President and Technical Director. “Everyone on our team from ORECA, HPD, the Wayne Taylor and Meyer Shank organizations worked together extraordinarily well in preparing for and conducting these initial runs. Now the truly hard work begins!” Acura is among four manufacturers—along with Cadillac, BMW and Porsche—set to compete in the WeatherTech Championship, with Lamborghini joining in 2024. Chip Ganassi Racing driver Earl Bamber turned laps last week in the Cadillac GTP that features an all-new Cadillac 5.5-liter, dual-overhead cam V-8 engine developed by GM’s Performance and Racing propulsion team and paired to the LMDh common hybrid system. Together with the spec energy recovery system, the powertrain pumps out about 680 horsepower.

Exhaust: The central reason for the new Prototype class is that the World Endurance Championship, which sanctions the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will use the exact same car, so don’t be surprised if some of the cars that plan a European-only campaign show up at Daytona and Sebring to benchmark their models. —Steven Cole Smith

This gorgeous Countach is Hot Wheels’ newest exclusive die-cast

Intake: Ciao, bella! Hot Wheels just revealed its newest Red Line Club sELECTIONS die-cast vehicle, a 1982 Lamborghini Countach LP 500 S. Wearing a coat of ice blue Spectraflame and rubber Real Riders, Mattel’s miniature supercar is the product of the company’s annual contest that implores club members to vote their desired 1/64-scale Hot Wheel into existence. Members vote online, using a ballot that features a slew of predetermined castings, paint colors, and wheels. This year, the Lambo beat out a 1969 Camaro, a 1971 Datsun 510, a 1991 BMW M3, and the VW T1 Rockster. Sorry grocery store shoppers, this is a Red Line Club exclusive. Members have until July 25 to purchase the Countach online. Those who plunk down the $30 will have to hold out “several months” for their made-to-order car to be delivered, according to the firm. If you voted for the Italian candidate, congratulations. Winning is easy. Waiting is the hardest part.

Exhaust: Dating back to 2004, the Red Line Club sELECTIONS promotion has served up cool customs for nearly two decades. In addition to creating some of the more iconic releases, from a star-spangled semi to a lime Spectraflame Gremlin, the sweepstakes serve as a barometer for the Club’s collective tastes. Typically, more traditional castings of vintage Hot Wheels, muscle cars, or street rods reign supreme in this election. Does the Lambo’s victory signal that older members are no longing voting? Perhaps. Then again, the Countach is a rather underutilized casting compared to its election adversary, the 1969 Camaro. Either way, we applaud Mattel for continuing to put at least one choice per year in the hands of the collector. — Cameron Neveu

The first Lotus Eletre has been built in a billion-dollar Chinese factory

Intake: Lotus Cars’ $1.2 billion dollar electric car factory in Wuhan, China is now complete, and the first pre-production Eletre hyper SUV has been assembled. The 250-acre plant will eventually have a production capacity of 150,000 units, which shows the ambition of the Chinese majority-owned British legend. The 600-hp Eletre will be the first of several “lifestyle” vehicles built in China, with a sedan next in line in 2023, followed by a more compact SUV in 2025. The brand’s ancestral home in Norfolk, U.K. will continue to focus on sports cars, with the first electric Lotus sportster (aside from the limited-run the Evija hypercar) arriving in 2026.

Exhaust: Since Geely bought a majority stake in Lotus, it has invested well over $2 billion into Lotus facilities China, Britain, and Germany, and has its sights set on accelerating from selling fewer than 2000 cars a year to 100,000 by 2026. Some die-hard enthusiasts may not approve, but without this investment and new direction, Lotus itself would die. — Nik Berg

A trio of Jaguar XK continuations is headed to auction…again

Intake: Up for sale at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach Auctions during Monterey Car Week are examples of three big cat continuation models, produced in very limited numbers by Jaguar Classics.

First on the list is one of just six 1963 Lightweight E-Type Continuations which was actually built in 2014. Jaguar had planned to build 18 of these aluminum-bodied race-ready XKEs but only assembled 12 in the ’60s. Fifty years later, the company decided to finish the job and the first of Jaguar’s Continuation models was born. It was followed in 2017 by nine new versions of the XKSS—essentially the road-going version of the D-Type, and then 25 more versions of the D-Type itself in 2018. All three are going under the hammer between August 18–21.

Exhaust: It’s not the first time that a trio like this has been gathered for sale. At RM Sotheby’s in November 2020 the gavel dropped on their stablemates, with a Lightweight E-Type Continuation selling for $1.7 million, an XKSS Continuation fetching $1.985 million, and a D-Type Continuation achieving $1.325 million. All of them improved upon their “new” sales price, but still fell far short what originals would reach. How far has the continuation market moved since? — NB

FBI raids North American arm of world’s largest wheel manufacturer

Intake: According to the Detroit Free Press, the FBI just carried out a search warrant for the North American subsidiary of the world’s largest aluminum alloy wheel manufacturer. OEM supplier Dicastal North America, based in just 30 miles outside of Grand Rapids in Greenville, Michigan, belongs to CITIC Dicastal Co., which accounts for 17 percent of the global market for alloy wheels. CITIC Dicastal Col. is in turn is part of CITIC Fund, one of China’s largest state-owned conglomerates. Ford, GM, Stellantis, Honda, Toyota, and Nissan all source wheels from Dicastal, though the first two, speaking to the Free Press, don’t anticipate any effect on production. The investigation is ongoing, and all we know for now, thanks to the Freep, is that yesterday the FBI seized computers and sent everyone at the Greenville location home.

Exhaust: China is anything but a team player in the auto industry, as Stellantis’ termination of its joint venture showed yesterday, but the FBI works in mysterious ways. Dicastal could be under the microscope for any number of reasons; for now, we simply don’t know much. — GH

The post Cadillac’s hush-hush customer tracking deal, Hot Wheels’ exclusive Countach, Jag trio for sale appeared first on Hagerty Media.

R.I.P. Hyundai Veloster N

Intake: Alas, the bell tolls for one of the modern-day greats. The Korean news site Hankyung is reporting that Hyundai is preparing to cease production of the Veloster N globally, as early as next month. (We’ve reached out to Hyundai for official confirmation and will update this story if and when we hear back.) While disappointing, the news isn’t surprising: The Veloster N was the only variant of the oddball three-door still in production as of the 2022 model year. (It was a four-door only if you count the trunk.) Because of a variety of factors, including shifting preferences in the global market and the arrival of the Elantra N sedan, with which the Veloster N shared a 275-hp turbo four cylinder and six-speed manual, the Veloster N had a lot working against it. Even more damning, the Veloster moved just 2112 units in North America in 2021, down from 7591 the year prior (that’s lumping N and regular models together). By comparison, the Elantra moved 124,422 units. While it’s likely that only a fraction of those sales were Elantra Ns, having multiple models competing for the same shrinking buyer base is a tough sell. By numbers alone, the N treatment makes more sense for the Elantra than it ever did for the Veloster.

Exhaust: None of the reasons mentioned above make this news any less disappointing if you’re fans of rowdy little ripsnorters. Our own Sam Smith summed it up perfectly: “The Veloster N was one of the great hot hatches of our time—indeed, of any age. No one bought it, and we are lesser for its departure. This is just proof that we, as an American driving public, cannot have nice things. Unless they are Hellcats, which, of course, I am for.” Our hopes now lie with the Elantra N, the final stunner from the Hyundai era of ex-BMW M’s R&D great Albert Biermann.

Porsche aims for Pikes Peak’s rarest air with 911 Turbo S

Intake: Porsche is shooting for the production-car title at Colorado’s Pike Peak as well as the outright record. Three-time King of the Mountain David Donner will have Bentley’s 2019 time in his sights when he takes to the hill on June 26, while Ken Block and his pink Hoonipagsus aims to topple the VW ID.R from the top. Donner set the production-car record in 2014 with a 991-era 911 Turbo S and will seek to reclaim the honor in a 992 Turbo S specced with the Lightweight Package. The car is owned by Porsche collector Jim Edwards and wears the number 000 along with a unique “Print Isn’t Dead” livery designed by luxury Porsche magazine 000. In order to take the title from Rhys Millen and his Bentley Continental GT, Donner will have to do better than 10 minutes 18.488 seconds on the climb to the mountain’s 14,115-foot peak.

Exhaust: The 100th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is gearing up to be one of its most breathtaking ever. Among the other carmakers going big on the hill will be Acura which is fielding five new Integras and two NSX Type S models–one of which will be driven by Renee Brinkerhoff, who is swapping her globe-trotting Porsche 356 for the mid-engined Acura. You can follow all the action for free on the Mobil 1 Facebook page.

Lamborghini’s electric cars “will still look like spaceships”

Intake: Fear not, the future of Lamborghini is anything but dull. Despite being powered by electricity, “They will always look like spaceships, always be inspiring, always cars that with whatever technology they have will have the sound and the emotion to touch you,” design chief Mitja Borkert told Autocar. As the company moves first to hybrid and, ultimately, to pure EVs Borkert thinks the technology will actually provide an opportunity for even more radical design. Having no exhaust to deal with, for example, means “we can use that area for aero in a very cool way,” he added.

Exhaust: The Lamborghini line-up will be hybrid in 2023 with the first fully-electric Raging Bull arriving within the following five years. They might get a little quieter, but you can bet they’ll get even faster and, thankfully, even more spectacular to look at.

The post Veloster N dead, Porsche aims for Pikes Peak record, Lamborghini’s style will only get wilder appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Sneak a peek at Cadillac’s next flagship “sedan”

Intake: A quartet of intentionally vague photos of the upcoming Cadillac Celestiq concept vehicle has surfaced, and only one gives an indication to a production model’s future intentions. The shot of a red fender (shown above) suggests the Celestiq will be properly upscale, as it sports a beautifully surfaced area with a significant dash-to-axle space ahead of the driver’s door. The photo highlighting the taillight resembles the Lyriq EV, while the images with brushed metal are either flights of fancy (ornate door hinges that likely won’t make production) or unnecessarily busy (pointy metal spears worthy of the BMW XM). The dramatiq, dimmable glass roof we saw in January, however, remains quite feasible given the technology’s appearance on Maserati’s convertible MC20. Same for the promised cabin-wide instrumentation and infotainment screen, which the Celestiq will probably crib from the Lyriq.

Exhaust: The notion of teasing a concept is far from new, but Cadillac’s insistence to ask everyone to “Follow General Motors Design on Instagram for more early looks” over the course of the summer is a new wrinkle on an old notion. Considering we’ve already seen the Celestiq’s body in aerial view (see the photo below), don’t hope for a return to the decadent silhouettes of yesteryear’s Caddys, as the Celestiq’s form isn’t likely to diverge far from the SUV proportions, upright C-pillar, and hatchback-ish posterior of the Lyriq.

Lamborghini contracts with France’s Ligier for Le Mans racer

Intake: As rumored earlier this year, Lamborghini is contacting with French race car constructor Ligier for its Le Mans Daytona hybrid (LMDh) racer. If all goes according to Squadra Corse’s plan, the Ligier-built car will make its competition debut for the 2024 season. Of the marques that have committed to the World Endurance Championship’s (WEC) LMP1-replacement class, Lamborghini’s appearance on-track is the furthest out: Cadillac, Porsche, Ferrari, and BMW are looking at 2023, the first full WEC season under the new LMDh regulations. (For this year, the new prototypes are competing one race at a time, rather than being approved for the entire season, to let the teams and the sanctioning bodies work out the wrinkles.) Lamborghini is the first LMDh manufacturer to contract with Ligier, but the French firm is no newcomer to modern-day prototype construction, having cut its teeth on LMP2, LMP3, and junior open-wheel cars. Its most recent Le Mans–going prototype was in 2017, when it partnered with Nissan to built a LMP2 car campaigned by Tequila Petrón ESM.

Exhaust: Lamborghini, who organizes its own Huracán-based one-make series (Super Trofeo), is clearly looking for opportunities to experiment with and refine its hybrid tech. (All its street cars after 2022 will be electrified in some way.) The interesting detail is Lamborghini’s decision to step away from its fellow VW Group competitors in the LMDh class. Porsche and Audi have signed with Canada’s Multimatic; the former is already testing on international circuits, though the commitment of the latter is uncertain at the moment. We’re encouraged that the Group is giving Lamborghini the leash to differentiate itself and, perhaps, explore alternative solutions. Experimentation is part of what makes racing so valuable.

Wish you were here driving Nick Mason’s Testarossa?

Intake: A 1989 Ferrari Testarossa, originally ordered by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, is up for sale in the U.K. Mason told sellers Rardley Motors that he decided to buy the car on a trip to Maranello to collect his F40 from the Ferrari factory. Specified in Blu Sera with a black hide interior, it has subsequently been painted in Rosso Scuderia. If it returned to factory spec, it would be one of just five blue-over-black Testarossas of this vintage in Britain. Mason didn’t exactly drive it to the Dark Side of the Moon, only covering 1995 miles before trading it for a 1972 365 GTB/4 Daytona Competition. The odometer now reads 30,800 and the flat-12 Ferrari is being offered for £119,900 ($150,539).

Exhaust: This actually doesn’t seem like a lot of Money for a Testarossa, especially one with rock god history. The Hagerty valuation guide puts a #2, or Excellent, condition car at $188,000, so this looks to be a fair price to say Welcome to the Machine.

Zagato’s Mostro Barchetta comes with a choice of Maserati motors

Intake: Storied Italian coachbuilder Zagato is to build just five Mostro Barchetta supercars and is giving buyers the option of a Maserati V-8 (read: Ferrari) or V-6 engine (a legit in-house Trident mill). Based on the 2015 Mostro coupe which was built to honor the 1957 Maserati 450 S driven by Sir Stirling Moss, the Barchetta is a roofless and even more exotic iteration. The chassis is steel and carbon fiber, the curves are created in carbon, and the suspension is by double wishbones with pushrods. AP Racing brakes provide stopping power, while motion is derived from either a 414-hp 4.7-liter V-8 or a three-liter twin-turbo Nettuno V-6 from the Maserati MC20 packing an unchanged 621 hp. Either way the engine is mid-front mounted and the Mostro has a perfect 50:50 weight balance. It also has a six-speed sequential transmission and no traction control!

Exhaust: If you’re wondering where the name comes from, you can blame Moss. “We decided the name of the project inspired by Sir Stirling Moss’s first reaction, who said “beautiful like a monster” when he first saw the [Maserati 450 S Coupe Zagato],” says Andrea Zagato.

Toyota’s 2023 Sequoia starts under $60K, Capstone under $77K

Intake: Reborn for 2023 with next-gen Tundra underpinnings and a hybridized V-6, the Toyota Sequoia will look to woo America’s monied mega-ute buyers with all-new styling and a wide variety of trims. Pricing details were announced yesterday, and the Sequoia is priced right in line with competitor three-row body-on-frame SUVs like the Chevy Tahoe. It starts with the SR5 4×2, which begins just under $60k, at $59,795 including destination. (The Tahoe LS 4×2 begins at 53,695, but there’s no hybrid to be found.) Adding 4×4 capability comes with a commensurate $3000 price hike across all trim levels, whether you’re opting for the egalitarian SR5 or the ritzy Capstone model, which rings in at $79,795 before tacking on additional options. The off-road-focused Sequoia TRD Pro, which comes exclusively as a 4×4 model, will cost $78,395 before options. All Sequoias will feature Toyota’s new i-Force Max hybrid drivetrain, which pairs a twin-turbo 3.5-liter DOHC V-6 with a 10-speed automatic transmission and an electric motor placed in the bell housing between the gas engine and the gearbox for a total system output of 437 horsepower and 583 lb-ft of torque. The 2023 Sequoia is built at Toyota’s San Antonio, Texas, facility and will arrive at dealerships in the coming months.

Exhaust: It’s not surprising to see the Sequoia command a bit more coin across the trim lineup relative to a competitor like the Tahoe. This new generation is a radical departure from the older Sequoia, which soldiered on from 2008 until last year with relatively little in the way of updates; Toyota’s gotta cover the costs of that development somehow. Expect the TRD Pro to be a popular option—in part because vehicular adventuring is all the rage right now, but also because that trim tacks on meaningful upgrades like Fox shocks and meaty underbody armor.

Ram builds off-road super trucks, too, and this one’s brown

Intake: Ram trucks announced a new special-edition version of the TRX, its hellcat-powered, desert-stomping supertruck. The TRX Sandblast edition will incorporate all the goodies found in the normal $80,585 TRX plus the equipment from the TRX level 2 equipment group, a $10,295 package that nets luxury items like a 19-speaker Harman Kardon sound system, a digital rearview mirror, upgraded center console, and a heated steering wheel. To that combo, the Sandblast edition adds unique Mojave Sand exterior paint, special 18-inch beadlock capable wheels, a dual-pane panoramic sunroof, special carbon fiber interior accents and unique accent stitching. The 702 horsepower, 650 lb-ft 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V-8 remains, as does the eight-speed ZF automatic transmission. The cost of this sandy goodness? A cool $100,080 including destination. The Ram TRX Sandblast edition will go on sale this summer.

Exhaust: The Sandblast edition joins the TRX Ignition edition as another way to make sure your supertruck stands out. Vehicles that are a deliberate choice, such as the exceptionally thirsty TRX (which gets a paltry EPA-estimated 14 mpg highway), often end up with a bevy of special editions because their buyers don’t stumble into one by chance. There’s money to be made from passion, and the TRX is nothing if not an emotional decision. With Ford’s supercharged, GT5000-powered Raptor waiting in the wings, it makes sense that Ram would try to roll out a few packages to net all the buyers it can.

The post Glimpse Cadillac’s flagship “sedan,” buy Nick Mason’s ’89 Testarossa, limited-run TRX mocks gas prices appeared first on Hagerty Media.

’66 Toyota proves no car is too humble for a world-class concours

Intake: Edgardo Lim has the distinct honor of being the first Filipino to show a car at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Lim was invited to join the 2019 Japanese Automotive Invitational with his 1966 Toyota Corona, a vehicle he lovingly restored over two years as part of a decades-long passion for restoring cars. (It’s the same make and model that his family used for daily transportation back in the Philippines, and which his father gave to him for a first car. Lim later converted that black Corona to a taxi to earn extra cash.) Lim was also recognized by the Filipino Consulate General for reaching this milestone as part of the honor. While it’s unfortunate we couldn’t celebrate this milestone as it was unfolding, we are thrilled to see the Peterson Museum highlighting Lim with this YouTube video.

Exhaust: Lim’s passion for cars is plain to see, and seeing how his childhood affection for the third-generation Toyota Corona—which played a vital role in Toyota’s stateside presence in the ’50s—followed him from the Philippines to the U.S.A. is beyond admirable. Mercedes and Bugattis may dominate the Pebble Beach Concours’ Best in Show, but Lim’s painstaking dedication to the humble Corona reminds us just how intimately the automobile has shaped human lives, and that even the mundane vehicles are worth cherishing. 

2023 RS 5 gets louder, faster, stiffer with $16K Competition pack

Intake: The matte carbon-fiber accents bestowed upon the 2023 RS 5 (inside and out) by the $16,100 Competition pack aren’t just for show. Audi uncorks the speed limiter on this 444-hp midsizer, raising top speed from 155 to 180 mph. (The Dynamic plus package only raises the limit to 174.) Driver and passenger will be treated to more twin-turbo V-6 noise than ever, since Audi has not only added the RS sport exhaust from the Dynamic package but removed 18 pounds of noise insulation from the firewall. A Comp-pack RS 5 sits 10 mm lower than the standard model on a coilover suspension system with an addition 10 mm of adjustability. “Sport” sway bars front and rear round out the chassis upgrades and available only via the Competition pack. A retuned ECU increases the rear bias of the car’s all-wheel-drive system and increases the difference between the personalities of the drive modes. The gearbox gets a similar retune for faster, more aggressive shifts. Black-finished rims clad in Pirelli P Zero Corsas, a tire unique to the Comp pack and distinct from the summer performance rubber of the Black optic package, complete the upgrades. Orders should open this June, if all goes according to plan.

Exhaust: Unlike the 2022 RS 3, both the U.S.- and U.K.-market RS 5 Competition Pack models share most of their performance upgrades. Only difference is that U.K. cars don’t get an increased top speed. Hat tip to Audi for backing aesthetic edginess with meaningful upgrades. We’ll take one in green, thanks.

Lamborghini graduates to LMDh prototype racing in 2024

Intake: Lamborghini Squadra Corsa, the Italian automaker’s motorsports arm, announced today that it will campaign an LMDh prototype racer in the stateside IMSA Weathertech Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Since 2016, the manufacturer has competed in IMSA’s GTD class, where it utilizes a heavily modified Huracán. Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, a single-make series sanctioned by IMSA, has run even longer, dating back to 2013. The move to endurance racing’s highest class is the next logical step for the VW Group marque, which will join Acura, BMW, Cadillac, and Porsche at the top of the time charts come 2024. While the new Lambo’s specs are unconfirmed, the LMDh rules—shared between IMSA and the FIA—require a hybrid platform which will produce more than 670 horsepower. Expect Lambo to announce its chassis supplier (Dallara, Ligier, Multimatic, or Oreca) in the coming months.

Exhaust: To any motorsport fan watching their beloved prototype classes wilt on the vine in IMSA and WEC this year, the ever-growing grids for ’23 and 24 are cause for celebration. Stateside, IMSA’s outgoing prototype group featured only six cars total (from Cadillac and Acura) last weekend at Mid-Ohio, while WEC’s Hypercar count has dipped to as low as four. Lambo’s entry into the upper echelons of road racing also means that the manufacturer will now have a realistic shot at winning overall at Le Mans. A rather bullish play from Sant’Agata. 

Cadillac’s first electric SUV priced just above Model Y

Intake: Orders for the Lyriq, Cadillac’s first battery-powered crossover, open this Thursday. For $66,990, without destination or any federal EV credits, you can get a rear-drive model with 340 hp and an EPA-estimated range of 312 miles. That MSRP matches that of the Long Range Model Y (EPA-estimated range of 330 miles). That electric SUV comes standard with all-wheel-drive, as of this writing, though many expect Tesla to make its single-motor Standard model (which starts about $60K) available to more than its employees. Cadillac will be more than happy to build you an all-wheel-drive Lyriq, however, for a $2K premium. Range on that 500-hp model is not yet available. You’ll get two years of unlimited charging credits at EVgo charging stations, no matter which Lyriq you order, or $1500 toward the installation of a home charger (as long as it’s from Qmerit). The charging company estimates installation costs between $800 and $2000, not including the $500 to $800 you’ll spend on the charger itself; assuming you aren’t planning a Panamerican rally, the latter option probably makes more sense. 

Exhaust: When we walked around and sat in a pre-production Lyriq, we found it a strikingly handsome luxury vehicle, especially compared to the futuristic pod-thing that is the Model Y. The interior even has buttons complementing its 33-inch touchscreen. (Then again, maybe that’s what you prefer.) Cadillac has made the most of GM’s Ultium platform to reinterpret Cadillac design language for its EV future, from a LED-festooned front to an exceptionally airy cabin (yay no transmission tunnel). Will the drive experience live up to that first impression? Stay tuned.

Ken Block to prove pigs can fly … up Pikes Peak

Intake: Meet Hoonipigasus, the car that Ken Block is planning to pilot above the clouds of Pikes Peak. The 1400-hp, all-wheel-drive Porsche SVRSR pays homage to the Porsche 1971 917/20 known as the “Pink Pig.” Street artist Trouble Andrew, or Guccighost, provided the paintwork for the car, which been built by Pikes Peak winners BBi Autosport. Block has his sights set on the outright record with a car designed to suit his driving style, featuring an unusual “Chorizo transmission tunnel” that runs from shoulder height to the front axle for a lower center of gravity. The stripped-out racer weighs just 2000 pounds and boasts GPS-adjustable suspension that adapts to the road based on recorded telemetry of the 12.42-mile course.

Exhaust: It won’t be Block’s first run up the mountain, but it will be his first chance for a victory. In 2005 he hooned up in a Group N rally car with just 200 hp, while in 2017 he drifted the Peak in a 1400-hp 1965 Ford Mustang for the short film Climbkhana (below), in which going sideways was more important than speed. Will he be able to take Open Class honors? We’ll find out on June 26.

Maserati to let in the blue skies with MC20 Cielo

Intake: The two-seat, mid-engined, twin-turbocharged-V-6 sports car known as the Maserati MC20 will soon appear in a topless variant, called Cielo (earlier spy shots shown above). Derived from the Italian word for sky, the MC20 Cielo is touted as being “100 percent made in Italy” to ensure detractors don’t assume this performance vehicle from an iconic Italian brand doesn’t share parts with lesser vehicles in the Stellantis’ line-up (or even from Ferrari). Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but you can expect it to sell for more than the $210,000 asking price of MC20 hardtop.

Exhaust: It’s wonderful to see Maserati add a roofless variant to its purebred sports car, though we won’t see or know all until May 25. Its carbon-fiber intensive body (which weighs 3306 pounds, a modest figure by today’s standards) and 621 horsepower were just begging for open-air motoring. Now if only we could do something about the lack of a manual transmission …

Moke America celebrates 0060 years of James Bond movies

Intake: To commemorate its role as trusted transport for evil henchmen, Moke has just announced a special 60 Years of Bond edition. The original, Mini-based Moke appeared in You Only Live Twice, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker, most often used inside the lairs of Bond’s nemesis of the day. This special edition comes in Midnight Blue, with a host of 007 details officially licensed by EON productions. There’s a 007 gun logo on the rear fenders, a special spare-tire cover that evokes early movie titles, and inside there’s a “mango tree” dashboard, along with a wooden gearshift and steering wheel. The 60 Years of Bond edition follows a 007 San Monique model that evoked the car featured in Live and Let Die, which was released last year. If you want one for your own hidden HQ, it’ll set you back $28,975.

Exhaust: The modern Moke is electric, sold as a Low-Speed Vehicle with a top speed of just 25 mph and a range of around 40 miles, so its performance will hardly scare The Living Daylights out of you.

The post ’60s Toyota sedan on world stage, Lambo to Le Mans in 2024, a Moke for Bond fans appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The mid-1970s are known among car enthusiasts for the oil crisis and as a time when performance cars went from fire-breathing monsters to shadows of their former selves. Yet it was during this worldwide automotive turmoil that a supercar boom was born in Japan. Rooted in Circuit no Ohkami, or The Circuit Wolf, a manga serialized in the multi-million-selling Shonen Jump magazine from January 1975 to June 1979, an explosion of supercars captivated thousands of school-age kids and helped pave the way for decades of rich car culture and automotive passion in Japan.

The manga follows the adventures of Yuya Fubuki, a talented driver who races against rivals Sakon Hayase, Minoru Asuka, and others in European supercars of the era. Young readers eagerly memorized the specifications of the Lotus Europa, Ferrari Daytona, Lamborghini Countach, De Tomaso Pantera, and others as the characters faced new racing challenges with each issue.

The Circuit Wolf’s popularity made Japan supercar-crazy. It spawned spinoffs and supercar-themed media and products, including a live-action film, supercar quiz shows on television, and of course, children’s toys. Supercar erasers were a particularly ingenious creation: although shaped like the cars from the manga, they also served as pencil erasers. Emboldened children brought them to school, insisting to their teachers that the little cars were functional—not merely toys.

With little enthusiasts seemingly at every intersection, a commercially-astute car dealer came up with a plan to hold supercar shows in the parking lots of supermarkets and baseball stadiums all over Japan. A hastily-bought Ferrari 512BB became the star, and children gathered to watch it and other supercars drive by. For an extra fee, they could even ride in the passenger seat. Kids fortunate enough to live in a city that had a supercar importer (there were few) would flock to showrooms for a chance to photograph these European exotics.

Unfortunately, although perhaps unsurprisingly, all the pop culture fame driven by Japan’s youth failed to materialize into substantial sales for the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, and others. Manufacturers and importers tried to take advantage of this opportunity to sell supercars in Japan, but the boom soon disappeared, fraying distributor relations for years to come.

It could be tempting to call the supercar boom a passing fad. The toys and events may have faded quickly, but sports cars and racing were now firmly embedded in Japanese culture. The children who pored over the manga’s images in the 1970s became the teens and adults of the 1980s who would drive Japanese car culture to the next level.

Japanese marques only received secondary attention in The Circuit Wolf, and that’s not entirely surprising. Toyota’s 2000GT was short-lived, and Nissan’s Fairlady Z had only recently proven that Japan could build globally-competitive sports cars. Having seen how keen the country was for performance cars in the 1970s even if an oil crisis hindered sales, in the 1980s Japanese manufacturers unleashed a flurry of vehicles designed to meet every consumer’s sporting desires. Regardless of whether it was an entry-level AE86 Sprinter Trueno or a high-tech Skyline GT-R, those kids of the ‘70’s were first in line to buy them.

Meanwhile, from the ‘80s through the 2000s, other manga like Over Rev!, Capeta, Wangan Midnight, and the well-known Initial D carried on the pop culture tradition of The Circuit Wolf, but this time with a focus on Japanese cars as well. Now exporting the special rides, Initial D in particular would help build Japanese-market sports car mythology on American shores.

Even though by all accounts the supercar boom died out around 1979, the passion for racing ignited in many by The Circuit Wolf never truly left the hearts of Japanese car enthusiasts. It was only a few short years before Honda rejoined Formula 1 in 1983, and F1 returned to Japanese shores at Suzuka in 1987. Japanese motorsports fans now had outlets for their excitement, and over 30 years later there’s no sign they’re letting up. It’s no wonder F1 drivers rate Japan as one of their favorite stops.

Like Japanese F1 fans returning to Suzuka, those Ferraris that coursed manga pages and stadiums across Japan in the ‘70s made their presence felt a decade later. As the Japanese economy took off in the 1980s, the soft spot for European exotics created by The Circuit Wolf still lingered. Of course, the school kids from the late ‘70’s would still have been too young to afford such a car at that point—the Ferrari bubble was being fueled worldwide, especially in America and Japan, by wealthy enthusiasts and then by speculators. Once the bubble burst and prices receded in the mid-1990s, those kids who once drove their Ferrari erasers across a school desk now had a chance to buy a real one of their own. The supercar boom had come full circle.

Shinichi Ekko is a journalist, automotive historian, consultant, and founder of Maserati Club of Japan.

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GM ready to return to Europe “as an all-EV player”

Intake: As electric vehicle sales in Europe rise, the Detroit Free Press reports that General Motors is considering a return there after it ended its 90-year European presence in 2017 (Corvette and Camaro aside). “About five years ago, we sold our Opel business to what is now Stellantis, and we have no seller’s remorse from an internal combustion business,” GM CEO Mary Barra said at the Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles. “But we are looking at the growth opportunity that we have now because we can reenter Europe as an all-EV player. I’m looking forward to that.” The New York Times reported in December that more than 20 percent of new cars sold in Europe and Britain were electric, which explains GM’s interest as it moves toward an all-electric (U.S.) lineup by 2035.

Exhaust: Considering the current situation in Europe—namely the exorbitantly high gasoline prices—this appears to be a sound business move for GM, which suffered losses in each of its final 16 years of Opel and Vauxhall ownership. Don’t be surprised if GM makes its European EV operations a priority, not only because the time is right but because it could use a win in that market.

2023 Kia Soul drops turbo engine, simplifies trim lineup

Intake: Kia has unveiled a host of updates for its funky little runabout, the Soul. For the 2023 model year, the Soul features a few new styling elements and a simplified trim lineup. The biggest news, however, is in the under the hood. The plucky 201-horse, 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder and seven-speed dual-clutch automatic have been dropped, leaving a 2-liter four-pot good for 147 hp and 132 lb-ft of torque and a sleepy CVT as the sole driveline choice. Bummer. New front and rear fascias and new lighting elements at both ends amplify the Soul’s funky shape even more. Two new paint schemes join the fray, both two-tone affairs with black roofs and either white or Surf Blue (pictured) body colors. There’s a simplified trim range, as well—gone are the Soul Turbo and the more adventurous X-Line models. In order from modest to loaded, the lineup is as follows: LX, S, EX, GT-Line, and GT-Line Tech. All but the LX model will get a 10.25-inch central infotainment screen as standard. Spring for the GT-Line with the tech pack, and you’ll get niceties such as a Harman/Kardon audio system. Pricing and availability will be announced in the months to come.

Exhaust: We’re bummed to see the sporty Soul Turbo and the X-Line’s killer Undercover Green paint go the way of the Dodo—that X-Line trim was only around for two years. Still, tightening a low-cost (and, by extension low margin) offering makes sense, and we’d bet the bean counters are happy with the savings generated by a uniform drivetrain and the reduced production complexity. The Soul’s main selling points are its low sticker price (you can get a 2022 LX model for $20,545) and quirky form factor, and the new updates have kept the latter intact. Now to see whether Kia can keep the Soul affordable. 

Camaro ZL1s stolen from GM plant recovered after pursuit

STOLEN VEHICLES RECOVERED: On 5/2 at approximately 12:17 am, troopers from the Lansing Post and Brighton Post flooded I-96 for vehicles that were stolen from a GM auto plant in Lansing after information was put out on a BOL. 1/7 pic.twitter.com/VeqfljxflE

— MSP First District (@MSPFirstDist) May 2, 2022

Intake: According to a Twitter thread from the Michigan State Police First District, nine suspects drove off from the GM plant in Lansing in five stolen Camaro ZL1s with a total value of $375,000. With the call out on the radio, officers spotted the vehicles speeding on I-96 and attempted to pull them over. None of the miscreants complied. After a pursuit, some of which were ended by way of Stop Stick tire deflators, all vehicles were recovered and the suspects apprehended.

Exhaust: With all of the production slowdowns we’ve seen across the automotive industry, the future owners of these Camaros have likely been waiting quite a while to take delivery. Considering the damage done to the vehicles as they ended up on the highway median, they’ll end up going to a salvage auction. We feel bad for the owners who will now have to wait even longer to get new vehicles built. The only solace in this ordeal is that nobody was injured. 

Miami Alpines are still forbidden fruit

Intake: Alpine is bringing its awesome A110 sports car to Miami, Florida, for the Grand Prix weekend, and announcing a special South Beach Colorway pack. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean the car will be available in the U.S.A. any time soon. Instead, European and Asian buyers can indulge indulge their Miami vices and pick up a car in Bleu Azue or Rose Bruyére colors, inspired by the art deco buildings of South Beach. The pastel-hued bodywork is accompanied by 18-inch white Serac alloy wheels, and the interior gets special floor mats and stitching. The French firm also offers its Atelier Alpine program with a further 20 heritage colors for customers looking to create an individual automobile.

Exhaust: Since its relaunch in 2017, Renault-owned Alpine has been steadily gaining ground. The A110 is a genuine Porsche Cayman rival that has found favor with fans, and an EV sports car is under development with Lotus. Sadly the only chance American’ will ever get to see one is at a Grand Prix circuit where the name adorns France’s Formula 1 cars.

Lamborghini’s next-gen Huracán racer looks marvelous

Intake: Lamborghini’s Squadra Corse racing division has unveiled the next generation of its Huracán GT3 car, dubbed the EVO2. Derived from the road-going Huracán STO, the EVO2 cribs a few of the STO’s styling elements and affixes them to an FIA-homologated chassis. The intake for the engine has now moved from the sides of the vehicle to a hexagonal snorkel (akin to that on the STO) above the cabin for better airflow directly to the engine. The V-10 in the EVO2 also gains electronically actuated throttle bodies for each cylinder. The bodywork, which remains carbon-fiber, features new diffusers, splitters, and a new underbody to bolster aerodynamic balance and improve overall downforce. New brake calipers and pads designed by Squadra Corse will deliver better performance in both endurance and sprint races, according to Lamborghini. Deliveries will begin in the second half of this year, but if you’re already in possession of the previous Huracán EVO, you can upgrade to the EVO2 spec via an evolution kit. The Huracán GT3 EVO2 will make its race debut at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona next January, where it will take the flag against competitors such as Chevrolet’s factory-backed Corvette C8.R and Porsche’s 911 RSR.

Exhaust: Lamborghini and racing go together like Nebbiolo and carbonara, so we’re excited to see Squadra Corse continue to support and develop the Huracán platform. The road-going STO is a perfect candidate to imitate, as that car is one of the automotive world’s closest approximations of a literal race car for the street. The Huracán GT3 EVO2 looks killer, and we can’t wait to see it battling on the banks of Daytona and other great tracks next year.

2023 Polestar 2 adds range, glam, and $2600 to base model

Intake: Not a week after learning about the updates for the 2023 model year Polestar 2, we now know pricing and a few more details. Thanks to new software, which will be delivered over the air, the heat pump now keeps the battery happier between 20 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit, coaxing 10 percent more range (11 miles for the dual-motor model) from its cells. Along with that upgrade comes a handful of subtle aesthetic changes: Void, the gloss black paint which is currently the default choice, drops from the palette entirely in favor of Magnesium, a light silver. Fans of darker shades get some subtle glitz with the addition of Space, a metallic black previously seen on the fetching Polestar 1 coupe. All leather, including a new shade of Zinc, is now sourced from Scottish firm Bridge of Weir, which you might remember from Jaguars, Aston Martins, or the occasional Lincoln (including this one, which, like the Polestar 2, can claim a distant relationship to Volvo). The dual-motor 2 sees no change in cost from 2022 to 2023, staying at $53,300 with destination. The base, single-motor version lumps $2600 onto its bottom line. Both models are eligible for the full $7500 EV tax credit, which does soften the blow—until you remember that the 2022 models qualified, too. Deliveries for 2023 MY Polestar 2s are scheduled for this September. 

Exhaust: You’ll need to really like metallic black—or the absolute newest thing—to drool over these updates. But, in your underwhelmedness, don’t ignore the foundation. Even the base-model Polestar 2 is a very compelling vehicle, with a slick Google-based infotainment system, a Polestar-estimated range of 265 miles, and chic minimalist styling. You can read our review of the 2022 base model here, and its higher-performance version (2021 MY) here. 

R.I.P. Tony Brooks 1932–2022

Intake: British Grand Prix ace Tony Brooks has passed away at the age of 90. Brooks was the last surviving Formula 1 winner of the World Championship’s first decade, taking six victories in the 1950s. Having done a year with BRM, Brooks signed for Vanwall alongside Stirling Moss and scored a maiden win at Silverstone in 1957, before taking the checkered flag in Belgium, Germany and Italy for the team in 1958. Brooks signed for Ferrari in 1959 and won in France and Germany, coming second in the drivers’ championship to Jack Brabham. Two further seasons with Yeoman Credit Cooper and BRM failed to deliver any major results and Brooks retired in 1961. Having cheated death several times during his career, Brooks left the sport behind to focus on his garage business. “He was part of a special group of drivers who were pioneers and pushed the boundaries at a time of great risk,” said F1 chief Stefano Domenicali.

Exhaust: Brooks was a true gentleman racer with genuine speed. During his six seasons in Formula 1 arguably only three were in competitive machinery and he came incredibly close to winning the World Championship. He wisely left the sport at the age of just 29 having seen too many of his fellow drivers killed in action and went on to live a long life. Our thoughts go out to his family.

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$5391.30 … that’s how much this 2003 Murcielago appreciated with every single tick of its odometer—just 46 total—since it last sold. Looking at it another way, the Lambo’s price gained $515.59 every day between its first time selling on Bring a Trailer (New Year’s Eve 2020, for $282K) and its second time (April 26, 2022, for $530K). Sure, we’ve seen all kinds of crazy car prices this year in every corner of the market, but that kind of return is enough to make this Murcielago our sale of the week, and has us wondering what the heck happened.

The Murcielago was Lamborghini’s first new car since the Sant’Agata company’s takeover by Audi, but much of the Murcielago’s development and design happened before the Germans waltzed in. That’s why some view it as the last “real” or last “old school” Lambo. The 6.2-liter V-12 and all-wheel drive were developed from the Diablo. The scissor doors were also standard fare, as was the fresh but still unmistakably Lambo styling by Luc Donckerwolke. The transmission may have gained an extra gear over the Diablo, but the six-speed was still a gleaming open-gated manual, although a single-clutch “E-Gear” with flappy paddles was also available.

Despite all those ingredients, the collector car market seemed to view post-Audi Lambos more as used exotics than modern collectibles, at least until very recently. Now, though, buyers are clamoring for any and every supercar with a big naturally aspirated engine and a stick shift. Since Lamborghini doesn’t sell sticks anymore (the last manual was the 2014 Gallardo) attention naturally drifts to the older models, and the Murci was primed to take off.

A year and a half ago most Murcielagos traded for well under their original MSRP ($281,000 for a base coupe), but that started to change last year and a $445,000 Murcielago in Monterey confirmed that something was happening. With the latest update of the Hagerty Price Guide, most versions of the car were up 30 percent, and manual Murcielagos command a 35 percent premium over the equivalent paddle-shifted car.

As for our feature car, it is number 4 of 50 special 40th Anniversary editions. These had carbon-fiber window surrounds, silver brake calipers, an upgraded Alpine CD stereo and different exhaust, and came with a special set of carbon fiber luggage. The biggest giveaway of a 40th Anniversary Murcielago, though, is the paint in Verde Artemis, a sort of jade green with three-layer pearl effect. These cars sold for over 300 grand new.

The Bring a Trailer car isn’t perfect. There is seam separation on top of the gauge cluster, and the car’s handy front axle lift system apparently didn’t quite go high enough to prevent a minor scrape on the bottom front lip. And although the aftermarket Tubi exhaust lets that V-12 really scream, the seller admits that the original exhaust is no longer with the car. Neither is the luggage set. That said, it has just 7154 miles and consistent servicing, and with just 50 of these 40th Anniversary cars sold worldwide, good luck finding another one.

At $530,000, it’s the most expensive Murcielago ever sold on BaT and indeed anywhere, just edging out the $520,000 paid for another six-speed Murcielago sold a few months ago. And it just about doubled in price in less than a year and a half. The seller, who was offering the car on behalf of his father, noted that they were offering the Lambo because “we have some very nice cars that just aren’t being driven and/or enjoyed enough. So we are passing them on to others who can and will enjoy them as intended.” A glance at other recent Murcielago prices surely helped motivate the sale, too. Either way, they timed the market perfectly, whether they meant to or not.

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Next year’s hybrid Corvette to be sold alongside combustion models

Intake: As early as 2017, we’ve suspected that electrification is coming to America’s favorite sports car. This morning, GM president Mark Reuss shared on LinkedIn that the first hybrid Corvette is due as soon as next year. Given the eerily quiet test mules—such as the one flaunted in the video below—skulking about the Nürburgring in October of 2021, and the reassignment of Corvette engineers to the Autonomous and Electric Vehicles team back in 2020, a hybrid Corvette comes as little surprise. Though Reuss also officially promised an Ultium-based all-electric Corvette “in the future,” his announcement of “other phenomenal gas-powered variants” in the works indicates that Chevrolet is remaining sensitive to the Corvette’s combustion-powered legacy even as it (like nearly every other automaker around) leverages a decades-old nameplate for its electric offensive. As we speculated, the all-electric Corvette will likely debut as the C9. That said, Chevrolet’s decision to fund and develop not one but two new engines (LT2 and LT6) for the eighth-gen Corvette says much about its sensitivity to Vette history and to the company’s awareness of its combustion-centric engineering prowess.

Exhaust: Reuss’ most immediately important announcement, which diehard fans will find consoling, is official confirmation that hybrid models will be sold alongside combustion-powered cars in the C8 Corvette family. Our best guess, as we reported back in October of 2020, remains that this first hybrid model will be named “E-Ray” and use a front differential incorporating an electric motor to supplement the mid-mounted LT2’s output. Such an all-wheel-drive model would replace the Grand Sport in the Vette hierarchy, slotting above the base model but below the track-oriented Z06. It would likely be followed by a “Zora” model—essentially a hybridized Z06. Expect Chevrolet to send combustion out with a seriously proper fanfare, however. What might these “other phenomenal gas-powered variants” be? ZR1, is that you?

Lamborghini clears 20,000 Huracáns, readies new GT3 version

Intake: It’s been a big year for the Lamborghini Huracán. Late last week, the 20,000th example of this mid-engine V-10 supercar rolled off the Sant’Agata, Bolognese production line. The car in question is a gorgeous STO model slathered in Grigio Acheso Matt paint and headed to a customer in Monaco. Since it launched in 2014, the Huracán has enjoyed 12 road-going variants and three racing variants.

Speaking of race versions, it looks like Lambo is about to add a fourth version to that list. A recent Instagram post showing a second-generation Huracán GT3 EVO featured the caption, “Our story began on April 2015 with our first GT3 win in Monza. The STOry continues…” Expect this raging bull to be dubbed the Huracán GT3EVO2. The styling at either end of the race car (deliberately obscured in the teaser) will likely emulate that of the recently announced Huracán Tecnica. If the hashtags are any clue, the second-gen Huracán race car might make its debut at next year’s 24 Hours of Daytona.

Exhaust:Whether you’re into a minimalist look in the vein of the Huracán Evo, or you want the loudest styling possible (hello, Huracán STO), Lamborghini has done a commendable job of making one platform appeal to a wide variety of customers. Even though it’s approaching 10 years old, the supercar continues to sell and helped Lamborghini kick off 2022 with its best-ever first quarter of sales. We’re looking forward to seeing the next iteration of the Huracán GT3 battling on track with the likes of Corvette, Porsche, and even Ford in the coming years.

25 years on, the first 200-mph Pro Stock pass remains a remarkable achievement

Intake: Twenty-five years ago today, pro drag racer Warren Johnson made the first-ever 200-mile-per-hour pass (200.13) in an NHRA Pro Stock drag car. Nicknamed “The Professor” for his engineering chops and pragmatic approach to racing, Johnson was no stranger to setting high water marks on the strip. During his drag racing career, Johnson accumulated 36 national records. He was the first to 180 mph, the first to 190 mph, and finally the first to 200 mph in 1997. After nearly four decades on the strip, Johnson also amassed a series-record 97 victories in the NHRA’s pro stock class. Unlike the funny car floppers and top fuel rails, pro stock racers more closely resemble road-goers—despite their tube-frame bones. The Professor consistently employed General Motors’ products and his preferred lab rats included Chevrolet Camaros, Oldsmobile Cutlasses, and Pontiac Grand Prix—the latter of which would be the model that first took Johnson to 200.

Exhaust: “Warren Johnson is a man of few words, and that is mostly because he is hyper efficient, though precise, in all that he does,” wrote Kelly Wade in her recent biography of the pro stock legend. “He doesn’t believe in wasting time, and conversation without a purpose is just as invaluable as making a pass down the quarter mile with no intention of winning.” Diving further into the comprehensive profile, it’s no wonder the hyper-focused Johnson set as many records as he did. And given the NHRA’s Pro Stock class restricts use of forced induction and nitrous oxide, his 200-mph feat is likely at near the top of the list.

An Acura NSX died to make this diabolical Lambo replica for a baseball player

Intake: MLB star Jose Canseco once made the questionable decision to turn a 1999 Acura NSX into a Lamborghini Diablo GT lookalike, and the car is now up for grabs on eBay. The seller  estimates that over $200,000 has been spent on the conversion and maintenance over the years, but also makes a few other crazy claims including that it “sounds exactly like a Diablo GT because the Acura NSX has the same firing order as the Lamborghini and the same high RPM range when shifting. It has been tuned to sound exactly like the real deal and it does.” With half the cylinder count of the Diablo, we’re calling bull on that, but we don’t doubt that the running gear is as reliable as the seller says.

Exhaust: Canseco struck out if you ask us, but bidders seem to think otherwise—bidding for the car has already reached $126,100 as of this writing. That’s more than you’d expect to pay for an unmolested NSX, but considerably less than the $1 million you’d need to find for a Diablo GT. 

VW celebrates 50 years of EV Bus innovation

Intake: In 1972, VW introduced an electric T2 concept that used a 21.6 kWh battery mounted on the vehicle’s load floor that delivered a range of just over 50 miles. The battery on that groundbreaking concept was removable, enabling five-minute changes of the nearly 2000 pound battery rather than spending hours for it to charge.

Exhaust: VW is on the verge of launching the ID.Buzz in North America, with a fast-charging battery that stores three times the energy of that T2 concept at just over half the weight. The ID.Buzz and VW’s Modular Electric Drive platform upon which it’s built show how far electric batteries and powertrains have come. True, 50 years is a long time, but plenty of the advancements have come in recent years, finally making an all-electric van a viable option for many customers.

250 mph+ Bugatti driver gets away with autohbahn stunt

Intake: The Czech millionaire who filmed himself driving at 257 mph in his Bugatti Chiron on the German autobahn has escaped all charges. Although there is no speed limit on the stretch of road where Radim Passer put his foot down, authorities can still pinch drivers for reckless driving, so local prosecutors in Stendal studied footage of his high-speed run closely. Passer stated at the time of the attempt that “Safety was a priority, so the circumstances had to be safe to go” and that the he chose a specific six-mile section of the autobahn between Berlin and Hanover with “visibility along the whole stretch”. Having reviewed the footage, prosecutors told Germany’s dpa news agency that they agreed Passer had not endangered anyone and would not face charges.

Exhaust: Amazing as it is to see a Bugatti being driven as designed, we hope this doesn’t serve as an open invitation for speed fiends to go all-out on the autobahn. Passer planned his run to perfection and took safety seriously, which is more than can be said of many YouTubers who attempt similar feats for online viewership.

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Do you prefer your Lamborghinis with ten cylinders? Perhaps you like the streetable nature of the superlative Huracán, the $300K STO. While you admire its extra aero, you find its carbon-fiber bodywork worrisome to maintain and its on-track data management systems overly fussy. If only Lambo could retain the purity of the rear-drive Huracán Evo and dial things up … just a bit?

Welcome to the Huracán Tecnica. After years of watching secondary dealers clean up on RWD Lamborghinis, the firm has decided to throw its own hat back into the mix. Aimed at the driver who is too sophisticated (or mature) for the wild STO, the Tecnica is envisioned as a new-generation version of the 2010 Balboni RWD Gallardo. Per the request of Lamborghini’s test driver at the time, Valentino Balboni, that limited-run edition paired a gated six-speed manual transmission with a naturally aspirated V-10 that sent 510 hp exclusively to the rear wheels via a reworked rear differential.

The success of the Balboni edition prompted Lamborghini to design several other RWD special editions, not to mention the Gallardo LP550-2, and the company is reaching back into its playbook for 2022. The Huracán Tecnica also boasts a 5.2-liter, naturally aspirated V-10, but it offers no manual option. As in the STO, the sole transmission option is a seven-speed dual-clutch. As with the Balboni, the absence of driveshaft makes it lighter than its stablemates, the 2952-pound STO excepted. In sheer output, the 631-hp Tecnica slots above the Evo and alongside the 630-hp Performante. (Here the Huracán family marks another subtle improvement over the Gallardo line, in which both rear-drive models, the Balboni and the 550-2, generated less power than the standard, all-wheel-drive car.) At 3040 pounds dry, the Tecnica is a skosh (read: seven pounds) lighter than the Performante, and its weight distribution favors the rear (41/59, versus 43/57).

The Tecnica’s other calling card, besides rear-wheel drive, is optimized aero—35 percent more downforce than the other rear-drive Huracán, the Evo, and 20 percent less drag. Increased stick-you-to-the-road comes courtesy of a new bumper fitted with an air curtain, a model first. The slats in the front splitter are lower and more open to direct air into and through the wheel wells. Out back perches a fixed rear wing.

The additional aero helps to visually differentiate the Tecnica from its brethren, but Lamborghini’s stylists had their say, too. The angular black signature across the Tecnica’s unique nose harkens to back to a 2017 concept—the futuristic, electric Terzo Millennio. More practically, it ensures an easy “it’s a Tecnica” visual distinction. Walk to the back of the car and you’ll spot a pair of exhaust pipes with hexagonal tips—a shape that’s been a consistent motif for the Huracán since it launched in 2014. Quite cool.

Behind the 20-inch front wheels you can glimpse six-piston calipers that clamp carbon-ceramic rotors. Lamborghini eschewed a staggered setup, so the rear tells the same story, but with four-piston monoblocs.

Inside, Lamborghini’s dialed back the color palette of the digital instrument cluster to cater to a more focused driver. The interior, though it always sports Tecnica badging, can be done up in whatever color you so desire via the Ad Personam customization program.

Lamborghini hasn’t yet announced pricing for this ligher-weight, rear-drive V-10 model, but the best news may lie in what the press release doesn’t mention: A production cap. Its Gallardo predecessor, the RWD Balboni, was limited to just 250 units at launch; like the Balboni’s immediate successor, the LP550-2, the Huracán Tecnica appears to offer no such measure of moderation. (Neither, for the record, does the Huracán’s VW Group platform-mate, the RWD Audi R8, which offers an eight-cylinder flavor of naturally aspirated, rear-drive goodness.) That said, collectors have little reason to fret about desirability with a naturally aspirated, V-10 Lambo. The days of such relative simplicity are numbered at Sant’Agata.

Since the limits of any Huracán are difficult to approach on public roads, it’s inevitable that some Tecnicas will do little more than adorn garages. For those who crave unadulterated V-10 performance on public streets, this Huracán will be hard to beat.

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If you take any stock in current trends in fashion and music, the 1990s are back in a big way. Popular culture is welcoming back jelly sandals, acid wash jeans, and enough furry bucket hats to choke a Gen-Z influencer. The trend applies to ‘90s cars, too, and not just the iconic Japanese sports cars that have been climbing for the last several years. According to the data from our latest update to the Hagerty Price Guide, many of your favorite ‘90s supercars are rising higher than they ever sat on your bedroom wall. Five of these exotic performance machines stand out from the rest in terms of value increase since the last HPG update four months ago, but one in particular is searing hot. We saved it for last.

1992–1994 Jaguar XJ220: +9.4%

Historical perspectives on the Jaguar XJ 220 are rather tricky to unravel. On one side of the cylinder bank, the long-‘n-lithe Jag was briefly the fastest production car in the world, cracking a 217 mph top speed when the fastest Ferrari struggled to crest 200 mph. Conversely, the XJ220 overdelivered in performance but arguably under-delivered on the technological and experiential fronts. Jaguar debuted the original prototype XJ220 with a naturally aspirated V-12 and all-wheel drive; what was delivered to customers carried a twin-turbo V-6 powering only the rear wheels.

Excited customers felt burned, with many pulling out. Then, the same financial crisis that slaughtered the EB110 snuffed the Jaguar, along with dramatic improvements in livability and manufacturing quality in newer supercars from Ferrari and Lamborghini. So, like the EB110, the XJ220 pickled and stewed in relative obscurity until the mid-2010s.

Of course, enthusiasts have come around to the Jaguar’s stunning looks and potent performance, and values of the intriguing XJ220 continue to rise. This round of HPG sees the average value of a #2-condition XJ220 jump to $586,000, a non-trivial step from $488,000. That’s still light-years behind the McLaren F1—same as it ever was for the slinky cat.

1994–1999 Ferrari F355: +12.0%

Unlike the EB110 and Diablo, the Ferrari F355 never saw a dip in collector interest. From the moment that five-valve 3.5-liter V-8 cleared its throat, the F355 cemented itself as one of Maranello’s all-time modern greats. Many consider this to be one of the most proportionally “correct” mid-engine Ferraris, blessed with buttery handling and excellent day-to-day usability.

Despite near-universal acclaim and appreciation, values of the F355 remained in in the affordable-ish realm for nearly a decade. Contrasting the sweetness of operation is the bitterness of maintenance; though the F355 was Ferrari’s direct answer to the reliable, livable Acura NSX, the F355 is the final mid-engine Ferrari to require the infamous engine-out service for belts and pumps. The interior also has its fair share of issues, with dashes prone to warping and controls that turn sticky and gluey with age.

Suffer for beauty, but don’t suffer depreciation. With prices higher than they ever have been before, more collectors find the F355’s mechanical malfeasance easier to swallow than when the car was worth around $70,000.

Still, we hope you got in early. This 12 percent increase in value is sure to cause longtime owners to rejoice (and prospective buyers to grimace), with the most affordable F355 in Excellent condition racing in at $126,000 for a drop-top Spider, up from $109,000. Surprisingly, the targa-topped GTS outpaces the fixed-roof GTB, with #2-condition GTS claiming an average of $178,000 (an increase from $152,000) and the GTB changing driveways for $157,000, boosted from the prior $134,000.

As always, stick with the gated six-speed manual, lest your finicky paddle-operated F1 automated manual transmission drain your maintenance fund with replacement pumps, to say nothing of the 20-percent hit in value against the equivalent three-pedal car.

1991–1994 Ferrari 512 TR, 1994–1996 Ferrari F512 M: +8.0 % (TR), +13.5% (M)

What we have here is yet another under-appreciated supercar. By all accounts, the 512 TR and later F512 M were significant upgrades both dynamically and ergonomically over the blocky and brutish Testarossa. And though these successors are technically ’90s cars, there’s no hiding their 1980s roots. Aesthetically, the 512s could never shake the Miami Vice vibe; a selling point to some, and a turn-off for others.

The 512 TR remains the best buy, with a significantly improved driving experience over the Testrarossa and only a smidge less performance than the later M. A TR will set you back $281,000 in #2 (Excellent) condition, with the rarer Ferrari F512 M in equal condition claiming a gut-busting $440,000. That’s a hefty premium, and ’90s lovers might prefer the TR’s cleaner look and pop-up headlights.

1990–2001 Lamborghini Diablo: +15.0%

Ever in the shadow of the Countach and the later Murcielago, the Lamborghini Diablo continues to scooch out into the sunlight. These are striking machines to behold in the metal, not to mention the angry bark of the 492-hp V-12. Despite the difficulties of keeping a Diablo in great shape—between engine-out services, delicate rubber bushings, and unobtainium engine computers, values of Sant’Agata’s best-named supercar bumped an average of 15 percent across the board; the “cheapest” Diablo now requiring a minimum sacrifice of $237,444 for a base Diablo in #2 (Excellent) condition, up from $198,000. Values climb substantially from there, with a #2-condition Diablo SV now running $348,000 (a boost from $294,800) and the VT 6.0 SE commanding $461,000 on average compared to the prior $439,000.

1991–1995 Bugatti EB110: +50.0% (GT), +19.0% (SS)

We’re aren’t surprised that the rarified and enigmatic Bugatti EB110 tops the list of gainers. Launched to much fanfare in the early 1990s, Bugatti Automobili S.p.A’s techno tour de force was a supercar playing chess while other contemporary supercars were playing checkers. In an era where most top-tier supercars roared around with aluminum or steel subframes, natural aspiration, and rear-wheel drive, the EB110 eviscerated production performance records armed with carbon-fiber monocoque construction, a proprietary 3.5-liter quad-turbo V-12, and a complex all-wheel drive system.

It was, without any pretense, a landmark car. Alas, the EB110 arrived just in time for a global financial crisis, with the arrival of the indomitable McLaren F1 landing the killing stroke amid the financial turmoil. Grand plans for large-scale production were stunted; when the doors closed for the final time at the gorgeous Campogalliano factory, only 139 EB110s had made it out.

Prior to an uptick in values in the past five years, the EB110 long languished as one of the most undervalued supercars from any decade, with values dipping to a floor of around $250,000 in the early to mid-2000s.

Modern collectors are a keener bunch, now recognizing the EB110 for its technologic innovations and baked-in rarity. As a result, values of this obscure-ish supercar continue to balloon rapidly into the seven-figure realm previously enjoyed by the much newer Bugatti Veyron. Last year marked the 30th anniversary of the EB110, and recognition and commemoration from Bugatti may have played a role in the 50-percent boost in values for the standard EB110 GT, compared to the last HPG update.

Today, you can expect to pay around $2 million for an EB110 GT in #2 (Excellent) condition, up from $1.3 million. If you’re after the more powerful (and even rarer) EB110 SS, you’ll now have to cough up $3.2 million for the privilege.

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Peek at the Ford guts of a Japan-built, widebody Miura

Intake: Founded in 2008, Japanese tuning shop Liberty Walk is well known for aggressive customizing of modern, high-performance metal. Back in 2018, Liberty Walk premiered what might be its most ambitious project ever, a Ford GT40 replica donor chassis with a custom body that replicates the legendary styling of the Lamborghini Miura. Called the Lamborghini Miura LB-Works, this one-off creation is powered by a small-block Ford topped with Weber carburetors and sports a full GT40 interior from the donor car. What makes this (now four-year-old) creation newsworthy in 2022 is the fact that Wataru Kato of Liberty Walk recently posted in-progress pictures of his Miura build, and the craftsmanship is beyond impressive.

Exhaust: Photos of a car build—any car build—are always worth seeing. But nothing prepares you for the act of creating a Lamborghini Miura from scratch on a wholly appropriate though entirely unorthodox chassis. And who wouldn’t want an icon of Italian design with the durable, reliable, and easily tunable powertrain of a legendary Ford small-block?

Watch Toyota’s nutty GR Corolla burn tires, fling dirt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCuweD6plvE&ab_channel=ToyotaUSA

Intake: Toyota pulled exactly zero punches with its GR Corolla, the purest-bred of the Gazoo Racing portfolio and the hottest hatch to land stateside since 2018, when Ford let the Focus RS go extinct. The 300-hp, all-wheel-drive, manual-only hatch debuted last Thursday and made the hearts of enthusiasts across the nation go thumpety-thump. Now, following the first official, camouflaged pictures and most of the technical specs (fuel economy, price, and exterior dimensions will trickle out at a later date), we get a video showing the little five-seater hot pocket in action … on the track and off-road. Listen to that WRC-derived 1618-cc three-cylinder shriek. Wish death to tires everywhere. Get hype.

Exhaust: We have three words: All hail Akio. Toyota’s president has long proven himself a gearhead’s gearhead, flinging a Gazoo Racing Supra around the Nürburgring under an alias and putting rally-bred machines into the hands of everyday enthusiasts, first with the Euro-only GR Yaris and now with the GR Corolla. Now that Subaru’s STI is out of the internal-combustion fight, and Ford’s hotted-up Focus banished to the U.K., only the Golf R stands in the sights of this wasabi-grade Corolla. 

Manifest finally reveals the cars that sunk with the Felicity Ace

Intake: The Atlantic seabed now looks like an exotic car show after the transporter ship Felicity Ace sunk off the coast of Portugal in March. As you may recall, the ship caught fire, and although thankfully none of the crew was hurt, the ship and its cargo were lost. The full manifest for the vessel reveals scores of supercars, sedans, and SUVs, along with some second-hand oddities, a lot of tractors, and a few irreplaceable classics. Audi was the hardest-hit manufacturer, with 846 of its cars now rusting away under the ocean. Porsche lost 580 vehicles, VW 523, Bentley 190, and Lamborghini 85—including the 15 final-edition Aventadors, 20 Hurácans and 50 Urus SUVs. Among the more unexpected vehicular cargo were a 2015 Ford Mustang finding its way home, a 2007 BMW 750i, a 1977 Land Rover Santana, and, sadly, a rare 1996 Honda Prelude SiR.

Exhaust: The biggest loser in this awful accident is the environment, but we do feel sorry for those individuals who have watched their classic- and new-car dreams sink with the, erm, infelicitous, vessel. The carmakers will get their insurance payouts, and new car customers will get replacement vehicles—even Ultimae Series buyers, for whom Lamborghini restarted production—but several enthusiasts are left without cherished cars.

Ford considering about carbon-fiber wheels for F-150s, SUVs

Intake: Ford was an early adopter of carbon-fiber wheel technology for its GT350R, GT500, and GT models. Now the Blue Oval is considering introducing carbon-fiber wheels into its truck and SUV lines according, to Ali Jammoul, the program director for Ford Performance, who spoke with Australia’s CarExpert recently. While details are scarce, the basics of Jammoul’s though process are as follows: “It’s weight savings. It looks great. And customers love it. They’re willing to pay.”

Exhaust: The benefits of carbon fiber wheels are reductions in unsprung mass and in overall weight. This could align nicely with the performance-slanted SUVs like the Explorer ST and Mach E, but it is less likely that the F-150, Bronco, and Ranger Raptor models would gain woven rims. Carbon fiber is incredibly stiff, but the brittle material is vulnerable to sudden impacts, which are the norm off-road.

Next-gen Civic Type R smashes Suzuka lap record

Intake: It hasn’t launched yet, but the 2023 Honda Civic Type R has just set a new lap record at the Suzuka circuit in Japan during testing. The next-gen hot hatch from Honda lapped the 3.6-mile track in 2:23.210, which was almost a second faster than the previous record, held by the 2021 Civic Type R Limited Edition. Bear in mind that the Limited Edition was a lightweight special, and the 2023 model’s lap looks even more impressive.

Exhaust: Expect more records to tumble when the new Type R is unleashed to the public. Its predecessor set the fastest front-drive time at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, Italy’s Monza, Silverstone in the U.K., Estoril in Portugal, and the Hungaroring in Hungary in 2016. A year later, it retook its crown at the Nürburgring. Honda will, no doubt, be seeking to prove the new car’s superiority with more track domination.

Bronco Raptor adds animations and graphics to digital display

Intake: The apex of Ford’s reborn Bronco lineup will come with exclusive new graphics on its 12-inch digital dash to show drivers what each of the G.O.A.T. Modes (Goes Over Any Type of Terrain) is up to. Performance View is the main event on the Bronco Raptor’s digital instrument cluster and puts a dial tachometer front and center. “Performance View changes a driver’s impression of how to use the vehicle, with an intuitive layout that puts redline at the 12 o’clock position and uses a drivetrain avatar to really get the focus on optimizing the performance of the drive,” says Mark Sich, Ford’s digital design manager. “The entire focus is to provide the driver with important information as efficiently as possible.”

Exhaust: Having an easy visual reminder of tire pressure and the status of the lockers and sway bar can help drivers know they’re properly equipped for the terrain. The G.O.A.T. Mode graphics are just a nice touch, and all but one seem perfectly suited for the mode: That Rock Crawl mode is way too tame. Come on, Bronco team, inspire those Bronco Raptor owners to hit a challenging trail!

Bernhard Langer and the G-Wagen: Two champs that just keep tickin’

Intake: Forty years is a long time to remain at the top of any disciple, and Mercedes knows it. At the Masters this year, held at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, a specially decorated G-Wagen will pay tribute to legendary German golfer Bernhard Langer. Langer, 65, has donned Augusta’s coveted Green Jacket twice in his playing career (1984 and 1993) and has finished in the top five on the PGA Tour of Champions money list for the past nine years running—in eight of which he earned the top ranking. As a tribute to Langer’s remarkably steady and long-lived career, Mercedes tapped tape artist Leah Abucayan to decorate a G-Wagen in his honor. The bright and colorful tape job features a campaign phrase that describes both Langer and the fabled Geländewagen perfectly: Stronger than time.

Exhaust: For those who follow golf with any sort of regularity, Langer’s name is a familiar one. Langer is one of only five players to have won official tournaments on all six continents in which golf is played. He’s also a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and one of the game’s most decorated players. Still sporting a remarkably lithe swing, the 65-year-old is a fitting personification of the same spirit that has been present in the G-Wagen since its 1979 introduction. 

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ItalDesign DeLorean flashes rear end, and it ain’t your father’s time machine

Intake: It’s been over 40 years since John DeLorean took the automotive world by storm with the debut of the iconic DMC-12 in 1981. Though DeLorean’s company collapsed in an ignominious blaze of bankruptcy the next year, it didn’t take long for the gull-winged design from Giorgetto Giugiaro to capture the imaginations of the Back to the Future filmmakers in 1985. Cult-classic status ensued for the stainless-steel coupe, and the original DeLorean car’s mystique lingers today. However, much has changed behind the curtain of the brand. After splitting into two parts, past and future, the reborn “energy mobility company” of DeLorean Motors Inc., in partnership with Italdesign, will be bringing an electric DMC-12–inspired concept (above) to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on August 18, three days sooner than anticipated. In focus, this rear-taillight teaser gives us the latest visual taste of what promises to be a provacative turning point for the DeLorean nameplate—should the company, led for the past three months by ex-Karma staffer Troy Beetz, prove that it can take the concept to production.

Exhaust: Even in this ’80s- and ’90s-obsessed age, passing off an entirely new vehicle as the successor to an old nameplate smells like a shameless money grab. At least Lamborghini had the self-respect to integrate internal combustion with electric power when it resurrected the Countach at the same venue last year. Fans lamenting a modernistic overhaul can rest assured that authentic nostalgia isn’t all lost for the original DeLorean now that the NHTSA’s Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act has passed, permitting boutique manufacturers to build replicas of the ’80s cult classic—though the role of the reconfigured DeLorean company in this rerun has become hazy. Will ItalDesign’s sleek BEV successfully reinvent the DeLorean nameplate, or will it become another footnote in the story of John Z.’s moonshot? 

Le Mans star Alfa Romeo up for auction

Intake: A stunning 1969 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/3 Sports Racer that both competed at the 1970 Le Mans and featured in the Steve McQueen movie Le Mans is to go under the hammer at RM Sotheby’s Monaco auction on May 14. The car was driven by Nanni Galli and Rolf Stommelen and remarkably led the 24-hour race for 220 laps before being disqualified for receiving a push start. Built by Autodelta, the Tipo 33/3 was designed to take on the twelve-cylinder Porsche 917 with a three-liter V-8. Listen carefully to the soundtrack of McQueen’s racing epic and you might just catch the wonderful wail of the Alfa engine as it flies down the Mulsanne Straight. RM Sotheby’s says that it is “a machine which has been meticulously cared for and looked after, going through a 7-year ‘rolling rebuild,’ which has resulted in a car that is both competitive but respectful to its history and originality.” A “staggering sum was spent on overhauling, stripping-down, and preparing the car for vintage racing. And with this storied Alfa Romeo example comes entry to many great series and events thanks to its remarkable place in history.” This awesome Alfa is estimated to fetch between €1. and €2.1 million ($1.9 to $2.3 million).

Exhaust: This car’s racing pedigree alone should encourage a solid price. A direct association with The King of Cool regularly brings a premium, but since the connection here is far more tenuous—McQueen didn’t own it—we’ll have to wait and see whether the magic rubs off and sends bidding into the stratosphere.

Hertz adding 65,000 Polestar electric cars to its worldwide fleet

Intake: Plans to order 65,000 Polestars over the next five years will bolster Hertz’s fleet worldwide, with deliveries in Europe starting shortly and U.S. and Australian deliveries beginning later in 2022. Hertz hopes to have the largest fleet of EV rental cars in North America and Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath is eager to pursue the partnership. “We are delighted that Hertz has chosen Polestar as a strategic partner on their road to electrification. The partnership with a global pioneer like Hertz will bring the amazing experience of driving an electric car to a wider audience, satisfying a broad variety of our mutual customers’ short- and longer-term mobility requirements. For many of them, it may be the first time they have driven an EV, and it will be a Polestar.”

Exhaust: While Europe will be getting the first deliveries of those 65,000-strong Polestar orders starting this spring, we’d wager that the size of the North American rental market will mean that the bulk of the order will be coming to the States. Each time we’ve been had seat time with various Polestar 2 models we’ve been impressed with the driving experience. Even the entry-level, single-motor 2 is a great ambassador for electric vehicles.

Honda leans even more on GM for “affordable” EV fleet, officially due in 2027

Intake: An announcement from both automakers today revealed that GM and Honda would grow their EV partnership in efforts to develop lower-cost EVs for a broader audience. The partnership will target numerous segments including compact crossover SUVs, which account for the largest segment in the world at more than 13 million annual units. GM and Honda first announced a working relationship back in 2018, and in 2020 Honda announced that it would use GM’s Ultium battery platform to develop its first North American EV, the Prologue, and an electric Acura SUV, which might be named the ADX. In April, Honda announced intentions to develop an electric architecture of its own, dubbed e:Architecture, on which it would build a series of EVs first for the North American market, and then for other regions of the world. Today’s announcement seems to indicate that while e:Architecture may be a Honda-led platform, it will rely heavily on advances made from the partnership with GM. While the Prologue and the forthcoming Acura EV will ride on the Ultium platform, the next round of EVs may ride on Honda’s e:Architecture, but expect them to be heavily influenced by innovations in motor, battery, and inverter design

Exhaust: Honda and GM’s partnership has, in the eyes of both firms, been a win-win thus far. Scale can be a tough ask for battery tech, and having a partner in the matter should help move things along at a quicker (and cheaper) pace when it comes to lofty goals with innovations like solid-state batteries. Local production of its North American EV portfolio saves Honda lot of cash compared to exporting its proposed e:N offerings from China, and signals that the automaker is sensitive to the differences between the U.S. and Chinese markets. 

Lamborghini hints at V-10 model debuting April 12

Intake: Lamborghini gave us a hint that a new V-10 model is on the way. There were no details other than the single photo with a carbon-fiber engine cover highlighted by an emblem noting the V-10’s firing order and a graphic with the April 12 date. In case you’d like to watch the event unfold, 12:00 Central European Summer Time would be 6:00 am ET. Better double-check your coffee stash.

Exhaust: Considering Lamborghini has just one model line that still uses the V-10, it’s safe to assume that we’ll be seeing a new variant of the Huracán next week. Spy photos have surfaced recently of a rally-inspired Huracán that could point to a production version of the Sterrato concept that was built in 2019. (Both the prototype and the concept are shown in the gallery below.) The concept included a slight lift, skid plates, and taller tires with more sidewall so that it could brush off bumps and bruises sustained while participating in off-road hijinks.

What happens when a classic 911 and an i3 collide?

Intake: As Porsche works towards an electrified 911, a small Bulgarian company has already developed an electric “elfer” with the aid of a BMW i3. Starting with a G-Series 911, Sofia-based Modern Classics stripped out the boxer engine and replaced it with a single electric motor and battery from the quirky little BMW i3S.  With 186 hp it offers up more oomph than the original ICE engine, albeit without that characterful boxer beat. The battery is rated at 42 kWh which is said to be good for a range of up to 155 miles on a charge. Meanwhile, it will accelerate to 62 mph from rest in a respectable 6.8 seconds, with top speed capped at 100 mph.

Exhaust: We’ve seen EV-converted 911s before, notably the 964 Reimagined by Everrati, which offers amazing modern performance for a very premium price. This more modest interpretation, with its period-appropriate performance and likely more affordable price might prove more appealing.

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After nearly 60 years of collaboration, BMW buys Alpina

Intake: German tuning, tailoring, and racing firm Alpina has been acquired by BMW after almost 60 years of collaboration. Since 1964 BMW has honored the factory warranty on Alpina-modded models, and it will be business as usual until the end of 2025. After that date Alpinas will likely no longer be assembled at the company’s Buchloe workshops, just 59 miles from BMW’s HQ. Instead, the powerful and luxurious Alpina-badged cars will be built alongside standard BMW and M cars. It’s an about-face for the small manufacturer, which got its start building typewriters in the 1960s before switching to speed parts (starting with a carb kit for the 1500 in 1963). Alpina has has famously stressed its independence from BMW, even while being headquartered barely 50 miles from Munich and serving as the company’s de facto race team during BMW’s cash-strapped years in the ’60s and ’70s. Fun fact: During Alpina’s competition heydays in the 1960s, the team would buy wine in any town where they won a race. Now, the collection has spawned an entire business called Alpina Wines, which boasts a wine cellar with over a million bottles.

Exhaust: BMW and Alpina have always had a healthy, almost symbiotic relationship, so why change things now? It’s all down to electrification and emissions. Such is the dramatic change in the motor industry that small players like Alpina would seriously struggle to fund the technology and expertise required to build cars for the next decade and beyond. BMW will likely position Alpina models as a desirable, sporting lineup that sits between its standard models and the all-out M cars.

Your safari 911 is no match for this cornfield-crushing Pontiac

Intake: What to do with those too-far-gone American classics? It’s a timeless question that has befuddled many an enthusiast—including Shawn from Cleveland, Tennessee. Shawn found this old 1955 Pontiac sitting in his friend’s field, and after some convincing, managed to purchase it for $500. With a build budget of $5000, he set about taking this thing from rusty to righteous—but not in a conventional sense. The frame was soo rusted that he had to find a donor, and after some research, he landed on a 2000 Chevy S10 due to its similar wheelbase. With a raised floorpan and some other touches, the car finally had good bones, but that was just the beginning. A junkyard 5.3-liter LS V-8 from a Chevy pickup and some coilovers and 33-inch General Grabber tires later, the ’55 Poncho was ready to tackle the roads. And it’s not like he’s paying a price for the swap either—there’s air conditioning, cruise control, and other creature comforts. The killer paintwork was done by Shawn’s wife, and the added touches like the KC Daylights up top on that roof rack make this thing the perfect take on a budget safari build.

Exhaust: “I like to build cars that are outside the norm,” says Shawn. “Cars that aren’t necessarily going to command a lot of attention on the show stage.” All well and good, Shawn, but it sounds like your creative build goes far from unnoticed at gatherings. “When we pull up to the car show and park next to a brand new Camaro or Mustang, all the attention kind of drawn towards this ol’ pile of crap.” Not hard to see why. We’re seriously digging this build—we wish our pile of crap projects had this sort of flair.

Would you pay double for a 27-mile Porsche Carrera GT?

Intake: A 2004 Porsche Carrera GT has just gone on sale at $3.5 million. With the Hagerty Valuation Tool showing #1 Concours condition cars valued at $1.5M, this figure might seem a stretch; however, with just 27 miles on the odometer this GT is essentially as good as new. Numbered 154 out of 1270 the GT Metallic Silver car is trimmed in Terracotta leather inside and is “as perfect as the day it rolled out of the assembly line,” according to the advert on Dupont Registry.

Exhaust: Priced at $450,000 at launch, just a few years later Porsche Carrera GTs were trading for less than $300,000, but prices have rocketed since, with this $1,907,000 red example starting 2021 by breaking Bring a Trailer’s all-time sale record. (It didn’t stand for long.) A year ago the Hagerty Valuation Tool showed the very best GTs as being worth just under a million dollars, with values rising 50 percent in 12 months. Will someone really pay $3.5 million to add this V-10 analog beast to their collection?

The world’s longest car has been restored and stretched further

Intake: A Cadillac-based limousine that can seat 75 people has been brought back to life and recaptured its title as the world’s longest car. “American Dream” was originally built in the mid 1980s by California custom guy Jay Ohrberg using a number of Eldorados and a lot of welding. With a V-8 up front and another in the rear it was initially 60 feet long, but Ohrberg decided that wasn’t dreamy enough and extended it to 100 feet in length, adding a hinged middle so that it could negotiate corners. After some initially publicity, however, the car was put away in a New Jersey warehouse and forgotten, until one day in 2019 Michael Dezer showed up. The owner of Orlando, Florida’s Dezerland Park Car Museum and Tourist Attraction bought the American Dream and has spent almost three years restoring it.

The whole interior was refurbed and a new drivetrain installed, although how many of the 26-wheels are driven is unclear. The swimming pool and putting green were replaced, and so was the helipad. Yes, helipad. The restoration required six Eldorados, and Dezer says welding them all together “reminds you of the construction of a bridge.” During the build Dezer also managed to add an inch and a half to its length in order to reclaim a Guinness World Record.

Exhaust: Everything does trend bigger in America, and Dezer has even larger plans for the American Dream. “We’ve talked about turning into an electric vehicle, we have plenty of room for the battery,” he says. “Eventually we are going to extend it. I don’t know how long we’re going to make it, but I guess as long as we can . The sky is the limit … well, the road is the limit.”

Ducati Panigale V4 SP2 is the latest race bike for the street

Intake: Ducati has been on a tear when it comes to new model introductions in 2022, and the final announcement is the Panigale V4 Sp2. This is the most aggressive model in the current lineup and features a smattering of MotoGP and WorldSBK technology. The carbon-fiber wheels and STM-EVO SBK dry clutch are just the start, with the 1103cc V-4 engine churning out a massive 228 horsepower when equipped with the option Akrapovič exhaust. Each bike is serialized and if, after hearing the $39,500 price tag you just have to have one, get your order in quickly and expect delivery in Q4 of 2022.

Exhaust: Ducati’s sport-bike lineup is already a potent combination of insane power and capability, but this SP2 offers a whole new level of track-day domination. The “winter test” livery is subtle yet badass in its mix of matte black and raw aluminum, only hinting to the beast that it is. Most race replicas are splashy, with garish colors and logos aplenty, but this is an understated menace. We dig it.

Now with less camo: Aventador’s hybrid successor spotted from afar

Intake: Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann promised back in July that the $500K Aventador’s successor will be powered by a hybridized and all-new V-12, and spy shots from December show that the follow-up act is already testing. Now, the tester has dropped the bulk of its camo, appearing in these long-range spy shots in nothing but slim-fit, swirly-patterned wrap. The contours of the mid-engine car’s roof, rear, and nose are now much clearer. The proportions remain classic 21st-century Lambo, and that high-mount quad exhaust remains (hallelujah). Call us crazy, but we’re getting shades of C8 Corvette at the tester’s front thanks to the squintier headlights and Gallardo-esque dual air inlets. Out back, that shin-threatening diffuser is plain to see, as is the quad exhaust, and the taillights emerge with Y-shaped elements, rather than the octagonal elements in the rear lamps of the reborn Countach, that evoke the outgoing Aventador. Winkelmann promises that the Aventador’s new V-12 won’t use forced induction, even though you can expect this new twelve-cylinder’s output to surpass the 769 hp produced by the send-off Aventador’s mill.

Exhaust: There’s more at stake here than Lamborghini’s corporate environmental image. As European and British cities continue to crack down on ICE emissions in cities—London is expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone to the entire city in 2023—an electric-only mode is essential for Euro-market supercars, whose owners love to cruise through high-end shopping areas.

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When it comes to vehicle neglect, it’s hard to imagine that a supercar as lauded as the Lamborghini Countach 5000s would ever endure a dusty downfall, but that’s exactly what happened to this rare example. After arriving in the states more than 20 years ago, it eventually became stabled in a Connecticut barn, hardly ever seeing the blacktop. The original owner, Tony, purchased the car in 1988 and drove it straight from Ohio to his home in Connecticut. Then, a familiar story: Life got in the way as he grew older, and his plans to rebuild the raging bull using a trove of original Lamborghini spare parts fell by the wayside. The parts, that iconic rear wing, and the car itself sat for years on end, gathering dust—and some furry occupants.

When Tony’s gem was discovered, popular detailing pro Larry Kosilla of Ammo NYC was enlisted to bring the Countach back to its original jaw-dropping glory. Under Kosilla’s lights, you get a really stark sense of what this Countach has been through. Grease, grime, dirt, seeds, nuts, and mouse droppings had piled up over the years.

After a proper bath, Kosilla breaks out a paint thickness meter that reveals how the fluctuations in thickness actually lend themselves to verifying the originality of the vehicle, as these were hand-painted machines back in the day. Neat for provenance, but those variances make for a more laborious detail. You come to appreciate preservation efforts of this magnitude, as each individual panel requires its own unique touch to properly recover the paint.

The glove box harbors a host of unusual treasures that you’ll have to see to believe. The wildest one by far has to be a pair of suspiciously short jorts stuffed in the back, soaked in mouse urine. No further explanation necessary—it was the 80s.

After Kosilla’s TLC, this Countach is headed down to Miami-based supercar dealer We Are Curated, where it will receive some serious mechanical sympathy before being put up for sale. Thanks to Kosilla’s efforts, this Lambo is no longer doomed to life as a toilet for rodents. That’s the kind of comeback story we love to see.

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Howard Stanton’s 1976 Lamborghini Urraco P300 took the long route to Amelia Island, Florida. The looooong route.

Built in Italy and sold by a Lebonese-based Lamborghini dealership to a buyer in Saudi Arabia (Stanton believes possibly to a member of the royal family), it was eventually imported to the U.S. by a Saudi American and went through three more owners here before Stanton bought it through Bring a Trailer last year. And he wasn’t the only one who wanted it.