We'll Drive. You Fuel the Conversation.
There's no shortage of established events and attractions that cater to the automotive enthusiast. We have the Monterey Historics, Amelia Island, The Petersen Automotive Museum, the Mille Miglia, factory tours and countless regional events. But what about something new for the gearhead that has seen everything? This week, I present my top three new (or soon to open) attractions.
Just over twenty years ago, the ZR-1 version of the C4 (fourth-generation) Corvette debuted. The 1990 Corvette ZR-1 was nothing less than a world class sports car. The ZR-1, however, listed for about $59,000 -- about double what a standard Corvette cost. Furthermore, all the excitement surrounding this Ferrari foe and its rarity caused premiums to be tacked onto the price. Sales of $100,000 ZR-1s were not unheard of. Apart from unique wheels and a wider rear end with a convex rear fascia housing squared-off taillights, the ZR-1 looked the same as a run-of-the-mill Corvette.
What about the specs? You want specs? How about a Lotus-designed, all-aluminum, DOHC V8 with four valves per cylinder that was built by Mercury Marine. Output was a then-staggering 375 hp (the standard 'vette made 245 hp). Depending on what magazine you read, the 0-to-60 dash took 4.6 to 4.8 seconds, the quarter mile was only about a 12.8 to 13.4 second trip down the strip and top speed was in the neighborhood of 175 mph. Big numbers indeed for 1990 and quicker, if not faster, than a Ferrari Testarossa of the time.
Back in the 1990s, California mandated manufacturers make electric cars. To support this mandate, cities and businesses designated parking spots for electric cars complete with charging stations. Then somebody killed the electric car and nobody has consequently parked in those electric car spots since, other than the handful of people who managed to hang onto their RAV4 EV -- or people who ignored the signs.
Smash cut to my visit to Ralph's supermarket last week in a Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid.
The 14 car and 14 truck finalists for 2011 North American Car and Truck of the Year (NACTOY) were gathered near Ann Arbor, Michigan last week. I was fortunate enough to be in Michigan for both a 2011 Ford Explorer and a 2011 Chevrolet Volt press introduction earlier in the week. This means that in less than 72 hours I had access to more than 25 all-new or redesigned vehicles.
I didn't need access to all 25 of these vehicles, as many of them I'd already driven extensively (Fiesta, Mazda 2, Sonata, S60, XJ, etc.), but several of them were still on my "to drive" list before I could cast my vote. And of course having access to them all on the same day at the same location was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. As anyone who evaluates modern vehicles knows, today's cars are all quite good. They need to be driven back-to-back, preferably on the same roads, to uncover any meaningful differences. That's exactly what I was able to do.
You have to wonder what some product planners are having for lunch. Perhaps the days of the three martini lunch never ended. In a never ending quest to offer something for everybody and hopefully pump up the bottom line, automakers have long offered special edition models or packages. Remember all the designer edition Lincolns of the late-'70s? Back then, you could roll up to Studio 54 in a Bill Blass edition Lincoln Continental Mark V. This baby had bling before the word was even invented. Yet it didn't make my Top Three list of silliest special editions, which are, in no special order...
Yes, I have a thing for small, quick and ridiculously inconvenient cars. Just like a previous Dream Car pick and my daily driver, the Ariel Atom is a narrowly focused vehicle that delivers an incredible amount of performance and very little else.
If you're like me, you didn't have strong feelings for the Mercedes-Benz R-Class. Or if you did have strong feelings, they were strong in questioning why Mercedes is making a luxury wagon without calling it a wagon? Unless it's because they don't want to intrude on the E-Class wagon's territory. Which makes sense, sort of... But then why make the R-Class at all? To build a crossover that's sort of like a minivan without sliding doors? Doesn't the ML and GL pretty much cover that area?
Okay, so basically the R-Class seemed both confusing and redundant to me, and maybe you too.
Well, I put over 400 miles on the heavily-updated 2011 model...and it still seems redundant. But it's also a nice ride.
With chrome and luxury doodads being the selling points of so many full-size pickups today, it's easy to forget that trucks are still supposed to get dirty. Thankfully, two automakers haven't forgotten. For today's Face Off, we've got a match between two specialized factory trucks meant to go off-road: the 2011 Dodge Ram Power Wagon and the 2011 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor.
The Raptor has been getting all of the attention lately because it's new, but the Power Wagon can claim to be the original. Both trucks excel in the dirt, but the devil's in the details: one is meant for high-speed running and the other low-speed crawling. Executive Editor Michael Jordan touts the Power Wagon while Senior Automotive Editor Brent Romans presents the case for the Raptor.
Halloween is on its way and we prepare for bowls filled with bite sized candy and wholly inappropriate costumes (I live in West Hollywood), it got me thinking of cars that get my spine tingling. I'm not limiting this to just movies, but rather opening it up to any vehicle embedded in our social consciousness. So I present to you, dear reader, my top three scary cars. Mwwwaaaaaahahahahahaaaaaaaa...
Simply massive, simply awe inspiring, and simply ridiculous, the Maybach Exelero show car was a joint project that teamed Maybach with Fulda. The latter is a well-established tire manufacturer better known in Europe than here in the states. This limousine-sized, ultra-grand touring coupe, shown at the 2005 Frankfurt Auto Show, served as a test bed for Fulda's large fitment, ultra-performance tire prototypes. With 700 hp and a fairly aerodynamic body (especially underneath) that looked like Darth Vader himself penned it, the Exelero could hit a top speed of 218 mph. Although it was a one-off car, there is still an official web site for it.
The Straightline blog over at our Inside Line sister site did a piece on this wonderfully scary car a few years back, and it's well worth a rewind.
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