The Next Cars Automotif: August 2010

Watching Paul Newman start and drive a 1914 Puegot at Indy? Awesome!

If you have Netflix you can do it instantly, or you can catch various clips on You Tube. Stick with the ones loaded by wintershollywood, they have the original audio ...

Once upon a Wheel, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413072/ a cool movie that Paul narrated, and got greasy wrenching on a 71 Super Bee, and takes a look at a lot of racing stars, the Unsers, Andrettis, Pettys, and so on. A lot of 1970 NASCAR footage, but also dragsters, snowmobiles and more.

Clips from early 1910 races, land speed racing on the sand and slat, Pikes Peak, Indy, and so on are amazing to watch while Paul talks you through the scenes.

Getting a moment on screen are such obscure and cool vehicles as Buckminster's Dymaxion, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/07/favorite-sculptor-of-mine-was-first-to.html and the Marmon Herrington Rhino: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/12/marmon-harrington-4-wheel-drive.html

http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/Once-Upon-a-Wheel/70002931?trkid=1211018
Celebrity friends such as Kirk Douglas, Dick Smothers and James Garner join Newman at the classic Indy 500, Formula One and NASCAR events. Featured are some of the most legendary race-car drivers of all time, including Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, Bobby Isaac, Richard Petty, Al and Bobby Unser and many more.

Some reeally famous people not named in the review, but getting moments on screen are John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Wilt Chamberlain, astronaut Pete Conrad, Glen Ford, and others as the cameras were takne through the pits at the first Ontario Motor Speedway celebrity pro- amateur charity race, which was won by Dick Smothers and Bobby Unser. Motion Picture and televison relief fund was the charity.

Hooniverse love

read about it: http://hooniverse.com/2010/08/27/so-much-awesomosity-from-a-dodge-caravan-2/#more-26589

Amazing, only 2 Dadge Daytona's are still in the possession of their original owners, here's one from Car Lust (cool website)

read about it: http://www.carlustblog.com/2010/05/a-very-special-dodge-daytona-500.html

Once a long time ago, anyone could drive a car about anywhere without restriction.. think they ruined it for us?

What do you think it is? The hood ornament is pretty big, maybe a Stutz?

via: http://www.carlustblog.com/2010/06/great-cars-of-egypt.html#more

You've probably read that Mercury has been phased out

But why is it that Pontiac being phased out caused such an uproar, and editorials, cover stories, etc etc etc... but no one is lamenting the Mercury becoming a has been. Why is that? What was the Pontiac name plate to GM, that the Mercury nameplate wasn't to Ford? Both were a bit more luxurious than the parent company name... both had a lot of terrible looking cars (Ventura for one) and both had a couple muscle cars of notable looks and reputation ( GTO, swiss cheese Catalina, Comet Cyclone, Cougar Eliminator)

read about the closing down of Mercury: http://www.carlustblog.com/2010/06/rip-mercury.html

the shark nose '38 Graham, quite a departure from contemporary design of it's time

Source of the images, and a good read about the Graham, and why it's nose was so funny looking: http://www.carlustblog.com/2010/07/graham-sharknose.html#more and http://reference.findtarget.com/search/Graham-Paige/

A Mercedes utility van? It happened.

If you’re a tradesman, and you own a Mercedes 3C, what do you do with it? You turn it into a working car. In this case a utility van, complete with original panels. A work of art, no less, and a work of art with a real lesson for Mercedes owners. We’re not too sure how he handled the car insurance, but the job was superb.

The tale of the Mercedes

A 3C is an old Mercedes, but a good one. This was one of the last versions of the traditional Mercedes sedans, the classic model from which the modern Mercedes are derived. Finding parts for the 3Cs isn’t easy. It takes time, but being Mercedes parts, they don’t get thrown out. It’s usually possible, if you have the patience, to restore a Mercedes from about 1960 onwards.

This tradesman must have had the patience of God, or better. Even the upholstery was immaculate. It was all leather, the sort a hardworking tradesman can truly appreciate. Green leather, and good quality, heavy duty, stitched like the Mercedes grew it itself. It was absolutely immaculate in the easily recognizable front cabin. The dashboard was also fully authentic, the true classic Mercedes interior to the last detail, all in brilliant condition.

The notable difference, however, was an oversize radiator. It looked a little odd at first, but even the radiator was a very good effort at an authentic Mercedes radiator. A bit of investigation located the reason. Being a working car, the 3C had had its engine up-gunned. A reasonable precaution, because being a tradesman, the revamped Mercedes was carrying a tradesman’s load. The thing purred. Even the little suburban lawnmower cars around the neighborhood made more noise than it did.

What was interesting was that the car’s engine housing and the body wasn’t modified for this obviously much more powerful engine. This was our first clue to how well the conversion to a utility had been managed. The replacement was seamless. No body work, no resizing, just a new engine under the original cream yellow

The suspension was also reworked to deal with a back load. Tools, materials and heavy equipment can take a working truck apart over time, let alone a Mercedes. If you’re now getting the impression that this guy knows a bit about cars, you’d be right.

The piece de resistance, without a doubt, was the body work. The tradesman managed, somehow, to find a complete panel to join the large tray to the Mercedes body. This was a customized piece, and it was identical to the unmistakable original Mercedes body and doors. A perfect color match, too, absolutely authentic.
The sheer visual impact of this car, sitting majestically in the car park outside a local village retirement home, where the tradesman was working, was astonishing. A Rolls Royce couldn’t have got more attention from the local car aficionados. Wherever this guy gets his car insurance quotes, he must have to talk for hours to the insurance people.

Awesome artist, a lot of talent! Andrey Gusev

from http://carcreator.blogspot.com/ go look at the rest of this cool portfolio!

Luxury Porsche Cayenne

Black Porsche Cayenne

Red Porsche Cayenne

2010 Jaguar Cars XJ75 Platinum Concept Car Luxury Sports Salon

The new 2010 Jaguar XJ Luxury Sports Saloon Platinum Concept Car celebrates Jaguar's 75th Anniversary, and highlights the uniqueness of the XJ. Jaguar design team has created the Jaguar Luxury Sports Saloon XJ75 Platinum Concept, a one-of-a-kind design project on display at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance Concept Car Lawn.

2010 Jaguar Cars XJ75 Platinum Concept Car Luxury Sports Salon

The XJ75 Platinum Concept Car is the company's first demonstration of the design customisation potential of the striking new XJ luxury salon, emphasising the Jaguar's dramatic interior and exterior styling themes. "The XJ Luxury Sports Saloon is thoroughly modern, and captures the innovative and daring character that our founder Sir William Lyons built into every Jaguar. And the design team clearly had some fun making their first one-of-a-kind XJ design concept car in that spirit."

The XJ75 Luxury Sports Saloon Platinum Concept centre console houses a bespoke clock developed and designed in partnership with the Bremont Watch Company.

An independent British company, Bremont creates beautifully engineered and designed mechanical watches hand assembled in Switzerland.

2010 Jaguar Cars XJ75 Platinum Concept Car Luxury Sports Salon

"From a pure design perspective, the XJ75 Luxury Sports Saloon Platinum Concept is foremost about emphasising the striking proportion and presence of the new XJ, with a distilled black and white theme, which conjures up the sense of precious platinum," said Jaguar XJ Chief Designer Giles Taylor. "At the same time, the pure sporting character of XJ is brought to the fore by keeping the car's clean graphic approach and further lowering its stance."

Dominated by striking white and black contrast precious metals platinum theme suggests, the Jaguar XJ75 Platinum Concept is a high-performance 470-hp supercharged engine 2011 Jaguar XJL with new ground-hugging front, rear and rocker panel is fitted.

Performance on the XJ75 Platinum Concept is derived from its 5.0-litre Supercharged direct-injection V8 with 470 horsepower and 424 lb.-ft of torque. Entertainment is provided by a 1,200-watt Bowers & Wilkins surround sound system with 20 speakers powered through 15 channels and state-of-the-art sound processing technology.

This XJ75 Platinum Concept Car was designed to both celebrate the marque’s past and acknowledge the increasingly personal nature of today’s luxury cars.

2010 Jaguar Cars XJ75 Platinum Concept Car Luxury Sports Salon

2010 Jaguar Cars XJ75 Platinum Concept Car Luxury Sports Salon

The XJ75 Luxury Sports Saloon Platinum Concept centre console houses a bespoke clock developed and designed in partnership with the Bremont Watch Company.

An independent British company, Bremont creates beautifully engineered and designed mechanical watches hand assembled in Switzerland.

2010 Jaguar Cars XJ75 Platinum Concept Car Luxury Sports Salon

This XJ75 Platinum Concept Car was designed to both celebrate the marque’s past and acknowledge the increasingly personal nature of today’s luxury cars.

2010 Jaguar Cars XJ75 Platinum Concept Car Luxury Sports Salon

2010 Jaguar Cars XJ75 Platinum Concept Car Luxury Sports Salon

The XJ75 Luxury Sports Saloon Platinum Concept centre console houses a bespoke clock developed and designed in partnership with the Bremont Watch Company.

An independent British company, Bremont creates beautifully engineered and designed mechanical watches hand assembled in Switzerland.

2010 Jaguar Cars XJ75 Platinum Concept Car Luxury Sports Salon

This XJ75 Platinum Concept Car was designed to both celebrate the marque’s past and acknowledge the increasingly personal nature of today’s luxury cars.