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Se7ens, Tesla’s, Ferrari’s, and an Ultra-Rare Alfa at Supercar Sunday!

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

Supercar Sunday, that “other” Southern California car meet, features a new marque every last Sunday of the month. This month’s marque was pre-1973 Muscle Cars, just about the most boring marque you can imagine. I mean really, if you’ve seen one 1968 Camaro, haven’t you seen them all? So I didn’t take shots of any muscle cars not worth shooting. I did, however, manage to capture a few gems. There was a trio of Tesla’s, a trio of Lotus Se7ens, a pair of 1st-gen BMW M6′s, a few nice Ferrari’s, and even a Maserati Birdcage. But the real diamond is the car shown above, Ray Scherr’s  concours-winning 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 Roadster. This car wasn’t even at the car show, I spotted it on the top of Mullholland Highway’s “Snake” section. He was out driving it! Rumor has it, Ray turned down $15 million for this car a couple years back, and I’m glad to see him out enjoying it.

Supercar Sunday mega-gallery after the jump.

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27.07.2010 News, Photos 1 Comment

EBay Find of the Day: What’s Under That Lambo?

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

If you were going to chose a donor car to build into a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, what would you chose? Obviously, you’d want something mid-engined, probably a convertible at the very least.  I’d say a Porsche Boxster, since 1st generation models can be had cheap, and at least it has a leather interior and some semblance of performance. Not everyone thinks like me, including this guy. Well, would you believe that underneath this – “e” for effort – bodywork lies a 128,000 mile Dodge Stratus? I didn’t believe it either, but it’s true.

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10.06.2010 News, Photos, Viewer Submission 8 Comments

Rare Kit Car Sighting: Fiberfab Aztec 7

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Warren Goodwin founded Fiberfab in 1964, when he started making lightweight body panels for Muscle and hot-rodders. It wasn’t long before they moved on to Kit Cars with their first effort, the “Jamaican,” which sat atop either a Triumph, MGA, or Austin Healey frame. They designed a GT-40 replica body to fit on a VW Beetle, and then modified it to accept a V8 engine.

Believe it or not, the Aztec 7 is based on a real car: The Bertone Carabo. An Alfa Romeo concept car, which was designed by none other than Marcello Gandini (of Lamborghini Miura fame), was unveiled in 1968 in Paris to an absolutely stunned crowd. It was Gandini’s solution to the Miura’s front-end lift problems, and featured “scissor” doors. It will surprise no one that once the Carabo never saw production, Gandini went on to design the Countach, and change the supercar game forever.

The Aztec 7 looks nearly identical to the Carabo concept car, and sits on a VW Beetle engine and chassis. A quick search on the Aztec 7 owner’s registry (and I do mean quick, only about 40 cars total are on the registry, of a total production run of about 400) reveals that this car is Serial # 805031, a “Type B” car.

Fiberfab closed its doors in 1983 after investigations into “questionable business practices,” but seeing one in the wild today is a treat indeed.

Source: [FiberFabAztec7.com]

26.05.2010 News, Photos 4 Comments

Amazing Forum Thread – Miura Kit Car Build

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

The world of kit cars is a funny place. On the one hand, modern replica vehicles allow people to enjoy the spirit and performance of the original, and at a small fraction of the price. On the other, they have little collector car value and suffer ridicule from purists. A good one, such as a Superformance Cobra or Shelby Daytona Coupe, can cost over $100,000 and outperform the original. Others are built in basements for fractions of that sum, and vary in quality, from horrid to better than the real thing.

Fiero.nl forum member “Archie” has lots of experience building kit cars himself, from scratch. He once built a GT40 replica on a Fiero chassis that made the cover of Kit Car magazine. His newest project is what really interests us: An LS3-powered Lamborghini Miura SV replica, on a Fiero GT chassis.

We’ve never personally seen a Miura kit car, which makes the idea particularly interesting to us. Unlike a Shelby Cobra, 99% of Miuras on the road are legit. As a former Superformance Cobra owner, the first question people always ask when you drive it is, “is it real?”

It’s always disappointing to have to say, “no.” They lose interest right away.

Archie’s Miura isn’t quite done yet, but it looks pretty damn good so far. Check out the amazing build thread  here.

[Source: Fiero.nl]

20.05.2010 News, Photos No Comments

You Have $250K. What do You Do?

Friday, May 14th, 2010

Despite the energy crisis and a recession, supercars seem to be getting better at an exponential rate. The future of the automobile is uncertain, making the future of the super-automobile even more shaky. Companies are fighting for a shrinking pie, one that got even smaller with the economic shit-storm of 2009.  But like the raging bull that graces the front of a Lamborghini, no one is going down easy. Each passing year is like another prick from the matador, only infuriating the bull and making it fight harder.

In 2010 the fight shows no signs of waning. There are handfuls of incredibly fast, beautiful and powerful cars coming our way. They are all so good, yet so different, the only answer I can think of to, “Which would you buy?” is “All of them!” And that got me thinking, what would I-or you-buy?

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14.05.2010 Editorials, Viewer Submission 27 Comments

RIP: Benny Caiola

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

It is with great sadness that I report the death of Benny Caiola, one of the most famous Italian sports car collectors in the world, after a short but severe battle with cancer. After coming to America from Italy at the age of 17, Benny worked his way up from plasterer, to contractor, to founding one of the largest real estate management companies in Manhattan. He was most widely known, however, for owning the largest and most extensive Ferrari collection in the world, boasting an FXX, two Enzos, several Challenge cars, an F40, F50, 333SP, 250GTO, and many more. In the photo above, he is taking delivery of Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 #001, to add to his Diablo GT, Muira S Jota, and Countach LP400. He also owned two of the four Zonda’s in the United States.

We were fortunate enough to sit down with Benny last year at the Cavallino Classic Track Day at Palm Beach International Raceway, check out the video after the jump. Rest in peace, Benny Caiola.

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23.04.2010 News, Video 4 Comments

Gallardo Goes Skiing

Sunday, March 14th, 2010

Lamborghini has invaded the snow-covered territory of Subaru, Audi and Mistubishi. This Gallardo, built by reiter-engineering, has some serious snow tires and one of the most hauntingly amazing exhaust sounds I’ve ever heard. I watched Tiff Needell drift an LP-560-4, tamely, around an ice course, but this is different. Drifting is just how this car stretches before it tears up a ski slow, surely causing an avalanche with the howl it produces. Simply awesome. And soon, this will be cheaper than buying a normal lift ticket. We want to thank our friend ToofaneBatamameezi for hosting this awesome video.

14.03.2010 Video, Viewer Submission 1 Comment

Supercar Showdown: Lamborghini Balboni vs. TT Ford GT vs. Supercharged Audi R8

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

The Smoking Tire heads out to Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in a 370Z Roadster to find out which car can attain the highest speed on Spring Mountain’s 2.7 mile road course. Can Matt Farah, driving a Lamborghini LP550-2, outgun a Twin Turbo Ford GT and a Supercharged Audi R8? We will see.

16.02.2010 News, Reviews, Video 7 Comments

Next Episode Sneak Peak: Ford GT TT, R8 SC and Balboni

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

They say, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” We’ve all heard that line, and if you’re like me, it’s an infuriating thing to hear. It’s always said to you after something horrible happens. Perhaps an earthquake knocked down your garage…onto your new car…with Megan Fox inside.

This week we had a Nissan 370z Convertible to review. What better environment is there for a convertible sports car than a road trip? So we drove it to Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, in Pahrump, NV. We had planned to pit a Ford GT against a Nissan GTR and use a radar gun to see which could reach the highest speed down the back straight.

The radar gun never came.

Had life given us lemons? For a moment we thought our episode was lost. But then a very nice man from Lamborghini of Las Vegas said 7 very exciting words to Matt, “Would you like to drive the Balboni?” No, life had not given us lemons. In this case, life felt bad about the lemons, so it took them and made us lemon sorbet, which it fed to us while giving us a back-rub.

The momentarily-dark day turned into one of the best  yet. The key players? A Lamborghini LP-560-2 Balboni Edition, a 1000hp Ford GT TT by Heffner Performance and a VF Engineering-Supercharged Audi R8. Check back Tuesday to see the incredible footage, and find out who was the fastest. For now, enjoy the behind-the-scenes pictures.

14.02.2010 News, Photos, Viewer Submission 1 Comment

Supercar Sunday 1/24/10 Mega Gallery!

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

We were having some technical issues, so we’re a little late uploading these pics, but better late than never! This past Sunday’s Supercar Sunday was a big hit, just like the first one before it. Some of the highlights included a trifecta of turbocharged Vipers, an Ultima GTR, a Lamborghini Gallardo Valentino Balboni, a beautiful Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, and a Porsche 911 that would easily qualify in the top 5 for ugliest Porsche’s of all time. Mega-gallery after the jump!

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26.01.2010 News, Photos No Comments

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