Automotive News

Filed under: Motorsports, Time Warp, Videos

The Jalopy Journal has done the blogosphere a great service today by pointing us to a fabulous video showing 30 minutes of color footage taken during the 1941 Indy 500 festivities. Normally, we bitch about music tracks being laid over car videos, but the jaunty, period-correct soundtrack applied to this one is just right. We also included a second video featuring a pair of newsreels on the race itself. You’ll see a massive garage fire and a fair amount of on-track action in those as well. As the narrator says, this was the last Indy 500 before the attack on Pearl Harbor brought us into World War II. Absolutely great stuff all around, and the color footage is a real treasure. Follow the jump to watch both.

[Source: The Jalopy Journal]

Continue reading VIDEO: The 1941 Indy 500 — IN COLOR

 

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Filed under: Etc., Videos

Click above for gallery of Wacky Racers and other random sights from Goodwood

The last of the video clips from the Goodwood Festival of Speed, this is the parade of cars from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, Wacky Races. Don’t remember that great series? Here’s a wiki link to bring you up to speed. (If you have Boomerang on your cable or satellite service, you can catch episodes there, too - Ed.) The cartoon only ran for two years (1968-1970) and revolved around a racing series featuring wacky vehicles piloted by even wackier drivers. It was loosely based on the cartoonish movie, “The Great Race.”

The quintessential villains on the show were Dick Dastardly and his dog, Muttley. Even though their #00 Mean Machine was probably the fastest thing on the planet, they always managed to bungle things. Rather than keeping their eyes on the prize, they were constantly trying to stop the other racers from finishing and it always ended in them losing the race.

The other vehicles and characters from the series are listed below.

• 01 The Slag Brothers in the Bouldermobile
• 02 The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe
• 03 Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car
• 04 Red Max in the Crimson Haybailer
• 05 Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat
• 06 Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly in the Army Surplus Special
• 07 The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb
• 08 Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug
• 09 Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific
• 10 Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzz Wagon

Follow the jump for the YouTube clip produced and posted by our buddy over at SoCalSpeedZone. And if you haven’t seen them yet, don’t forget to check out our other posts from this year’s Festival of Speed.

Better quality vid available by clicking here.

Thanks, Duane!

Continue reading VIDEO: Goodwood - Wacky Racers in action

 

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Filed under: Green, Tech, Hyundai, Kia

Bolstering their green credentials and commitment to the environment, Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia have teamed up on a $50 million green tech R&D center. The purpose of the facility will be to “accelerate the commercialization of fuel-cell electric vehicles,” and it is kitted out with a hydrogen filling station, an endurance tester, emissions lab, and dynos. There is also a prototype plant for automated vehicle dismantling that will explore options for bettering the amount of recyclables in the modern car. Even the toilets at the facility are green: they are vacuum units, as on airplanes, that will save 1,500 tons of water per year. Hyundai and Kia have not been considered major players in the hybrid movement, but, depending on what starts to come out of this center, that could change rather soon.

[Source: Inside Line]

 

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Filed under: Convertibles, Euro, Plants/Manufacturing, Rolls Royce

Click image to enlarge

Well, the good life is about to get better for five people scattered around the globe. We refer to the customers who will be taking delivery of the first five Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupes, which rolled out of Goodwood this week. Each of the initial five cars shown above is fitted with the optional brushed steel bonnet trim and teak decking, making an already impressive car even more opulent. Meticulously hand-built, boasting a powerful 12-cylinder, mildly softer lines than the Phantom saloon, and rearward-swinging doors, the Drophead Coupe might well be the ultimate arrival vehicle — big, bold and laden with panache. One thing’s all but certain: when owners pull up to the valet in their new open-topped Rollers, chances are they’ll be left right in front. This isn’t one you hide in the back lot with the Toyotas, you see.

[Source: Rolls-Royce]

 

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Filed under: BMW

July 21 is a very special day for many of us. It marks the release of the last installment in the Harry Potter series. But it is also a special date for lovers of Bavarian wheels. For, 90 years ago on that forthcoming date, the BMW name first appeared. Way back in 1917, BMW was trademarked and soon after the new name was applied to everything built by the firm. Those three little letters that would come to signify sports sedans to so many, were built on the back of a small engine manufacturer. Back then Karl Rapp was building V12 engines for Austro-Daimler. Soon he was joined by Camillo Castiglioni, Cornelius Jagdmann and Max Friz, and Bayerische Motoren Werke was born. We suggested BMW give away 90 M3s to automotive bloggers in honor of the occasion, but they haven’t returned our calls.

[Source: MotorAuthority]

 

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Filed under: Etc.

In the most recent digital issue of Automotive Traveller, your very own Autoblog was chosen as one of the digimag’s six favorite automotive-related sites on the internet. Autoblog FTW! We share the space with our colleagues from Jalopnik, The Car Connection and others. If you’re interested, the selection is on page 118 of the current issue, which also includes an excellent adventure with a Volkswagen Touareg, a roadtrip to Malawi in Africa, tips on photographing the expressive details of your car and much more. It’s 122 pages large, so there’s plenty to thumb through, and Automotive Traveller follows our own edict of providing content for free, so what’s there to lose?

[Source: Automotive Traveller]

 

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Filed under: Motorsports, Etc., BMW

It’s no secret that BMW is open to procuring more brands. With the company’s purchase of Italian motorcycle maker Husqvarna, it’s apparent that the roundel’s expansive mood isn’t limited to cars. BMW bikes, notable for their transverse heads, are larger bore bikes, with the smallest being 500cc. Last year the division crossed the 100K sales mark for the first time in its history.

Husqvarna, which was part of the Italian MV Augusta motorcycle group but was actually a Swedish maker from 1903 to 1986, produces mostly single-cylinder off-road bikes from 125cc to 610cc. Husqvarna only sold 12,000 bikes last year, but owning it will give BMW a larger off-road range, and access to younger buyers focused on sports, competition, and supermoto. Instead of rebranding the bikes as BMWs, the German firm will continue to operate it as a separate unit, even keeping it located in Varese, Italy. Neither side revealed how much BMW paid, and the sale still awaits EU approval.

Thanks for the tip, Robert!

[Source: Daily Motorcycle News]

 

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Filed under: Concept Cars, Coupes, Sports/GTs

I don’t think we’ve said this since at least yesterday, but when it comes to cars, Europe gets the best stuff. What you see above is only a concept, but it was dreamed up by Daniel Paulin, the gent who created Ford’s C-Max — which is a Europe-only offering — as well as the original Focus concept and the FAB1 ship from the Thunderbirds film. Paulin left Ford, moved home to Sweden, and started the Paulin Motor Company. Its first product is this, a 2-seater called the VR Concept. Part Speed Racer, part sea creature, it’s swoopy and planed at the same time. The lifting canopy is a pretty nifty evolution of Saab’s Aero X jet fighter-style raising canopy. With that and the scissor doors, ingress and egress should be simple by even the most supercar-challenged body shapes. It would also make ejector seat installation a snap. Paulin is looking for partners to help put the car into production, and in the mean time will be producing three concepts per year, as well as an actual model for a motor show. As far as the VR goes, Mr. Paulin, we’ll take it.

[Source: Auto Express]

 

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Filed under: Tech, Volkswagen

Popular Mechanics was recently given a chance to tour Volkswagen’s R&D center and discovered a few surprising new bit bits of technology. One of them is so bitchin’ that we had to share. It’s an electronic sun visor. Similar to those auto-dimming rear-view mirrors or opaquing sunroofs seen on Maybachs and the like, this is a system embedded in the windshield glass that tints only a portion of the window exactly where it’s needed. It’s described as an electronic anti-glare system and uses an “electronic matrix” that is controlled by a computer. Ok, sure.

The way it works is that a “sun status sensor” and an eye-position sensor feed info to the computer. The computer then figures out where the sunlight is worst for the driver’s eyes. It then produces a dark “spot” in the glass to block the sun. The spot will even move when you turn. So far you need special glass to make it work, but wow, what an improvement and very slick. Although this one appears to be just at the top edge of the windshield, we can see it being used across the whole expanse eventually, which would be especially helpful at dawn or dusk when the sun is too low to be effectively blocked by traditionally placed visors. Although, one has to wonder how much this “dark spot” obscures the driver’s vision, but aside from that concern, we say VW needs to get this in production on a Bentley like yesterday.

Click over to Popular Mechanics to see what else they discovered while at VW.

[Source: Popular Mechanics]

 

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Filed under: Car Buying, Sedans/Saloons, Rolls Royce

You’re at the showroom, looking over the Rolls-Royce Phantom you’ve had your eye on for a while, and not sure whether you can trust the used car dealer or the wrinkled Carfax report you’re holding. For you discerning buyers, the double-R has come to the rescue by offering “new car peace of mind” with its Provenance program (”programme,” to you members of the Realm). Each previously owned car must have been serviced to the level of Rolls’ standards and is inspected and road tested by factory-trained technicians. If a car manages to earn a Provenance seal, it comes with a vehicle history and proof-of-mileage. As a proud owner, you’ll also get 24-hour roadside assistance, servicing, and warranty “up to the car’s sixth birthday.” Provenance cars are only sold through the Rolls dealer network, and probably won’t ever include any of the pimped-out versions found on eBay.

[Source: Rolls-Royce]

Continue reading Rolls-Royce finds Provenance for its used cars

 

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