The Smoking Tire finds the best driving road in California and the best car we’ve ever driven to tackle it: VF Engineering’s all new Supercharged Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4. With 760HP and 600 lb/ft of torque going through all 4 wheels, this car redefines fast. Video after the jump.
You know those crazy super-fans, that buy anything that was ever touched by their idol? The people that buy a pen that was held by Janis Joplin, or the stained underwear that was allegedly shat in by Bon Jovi? I wonder if there’s people like that for the hosts of every car fan’s favorite ongoing porno, Top Gear? If so, this car will be snatched up in a second. Of course, the super-fan will also have to have a job, and a good one. Jeremy Clarkson’s Gallardo Spyder, is up for sale, for the sum of $146,000. At least this is something you can use, unlike a Star Wars toy signed by Mark Hamil that’s still in the original box.
I guess between his Ford GT and Mercedes CLK 63 AMG Black Series he has enough excitement. Plus, I think that somehow those are less flamboyant. Or maybe it’s because Clarkson knew that as long as he owned the Gallardo, he could never date Kristin Scott Thomas. Yeah, I’m sure Ms. Thomas will steam the windows of her G whiz when she sees his Ford GT.
The Smoking Tire was fortunate enough to be able to attend the first-ever “Cars and Cockpits” event at the Lyon Air Museum this past weekend. It was a great change of pace from the usual Cars and Coffee and Supercar Sunday, because not only were there several million dollars worth of metal in the parking lot, but also the museum opened its doors to us, so we could appreciate some fine vintage aircraft and military vehicles. Some highlights of the show included the famous “triple black” Ferrari Enzo (pictured above), many other Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s, Aston’s Bentley’s, Nissan GTR’s, BMW’s, Porsches, and crazy tuner cars, including the world’s ugliest vehicle, the Mansory Panamera Turbo. In the gallery, check out the yellow F430 Spider, which isn’t special except that it’s fitted with carbon fiber hand controls so its wheelchair-bound owner can wind out the 4.3L V8 using his right hand. Inside the Lyon Air museum, we were treated to some elegantly restored World War II-era aircraft and vehicles, my favorite of which was the minimally restored and completely functional 1934 Mercedes 6-wheel parade car, formerly owned by Adolf Hitler. Hit the jump for the 80-image mega gallery of the event.
Some say “nothing good happens after 2am.” I don’t know what time it was when an OmniAuto reader took these pictures, but I doubt it was during normal commuting hours. Like a Corleone, if you want to move a body and keep it quiet, you do it late at night. What we have here is one of the most anticipated cars from one of the biggest “families” of Italia; Lamborghini’s successor the retired Murcielago. Make the jump to see all the spy shots.
I love Sir Mix-A-Lot. In addition to “Baby Got Back,” Mix had a track on the sountrack to Beavis and Butt-head Do America called “Monsta Mack” that cracks me up every time I hear it. But up until now I had no idea what a huge car enthusiast Mix was, and how he drops actual real car knowledge into his newest music video, “Carz.” Before you laugh and assume he’s talking about big rims, Escalades, and “Ice Cream Paint Jobs,” please take a minute to watch the video. This is, no joke, a fully comprehensive review of awesome sports cars in a rap video. Me and Tom just watched this shit like 3 times and we’re laughing every time.
And Mix, if you read this, can we please hang out? Video after the jump.
While we were unable to make it to the LA Auto Show’s press days this week because of our obligations to Top Gear, there were certainly a bit of unveiling worth discussing here, specifically two new, lightened models from Porsche and Lamborghini.
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.
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.
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]
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]
LP670-SV. Raw. Pure. Perfection.
YouTube / Facebook / Jason Thorgalsen Photography