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Thursday, June 4, 2009
BMW seems more than eager to play the internet marketing game by constantly releasing new information and photos about its forthcoming X1 compact SAV. This time the Bavarian automaker has issued four teaser shots of the X1 depicting details of the front grille, the headlights and the taillights. Nothing to get excited about especially since there won't be any significant styling changes over last year's X1 pre-production X1 concept study.
The U.S. Air Force has spent collaborated with Galpin Auto Sports, which is widely known through its involvement in MTV's Pimp My Ride show. This help U.S. Air Force create a customized versions of the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Challenger pony cars. The Air Force needed something a bit more spectacular than your typical TV ads to draw the attention of new recruits. The result is the air-force-inspired white Ford Mustang 'X-1' and black Dodge Challenger 'VAPOR' that will travel across the country this year.
The 'X-1' Mustang features a 'jet cockpit that includes a single-driver ejection seat placed centrally, short shifter, flight stick, and a high-tech instrumentation panel. On the outside, the heavily modded 'Stang gets a wide bodykit, dark alloy wheels and a pair of Lambo-style scissor doors. Power is provided by a custom 4.6 liter V8 engine with 500HP, courtesy of Ford Racing.
The more radical looking Dodge Challenger 'Vapor' continues the air-force theme with a 'Stealth' bodykit, carbon fiber exterior trim, a custom stealth exhaust mode that gives the driver the option to run the vehicle in complete silence, one-off carbon-fiber wheels, radar-absorbing paint, proximity sensors, and a 360-degree camera with a quarter-mile range.
Like its Ford counterpart, the Vapor's interior comes with aircraft style controls plus a passenger side steering wheel, GPS tracking, night and thermal vision via a film on the front windshield, and what Galpin calls, as the "most technologically-advanced computer system with remote control UAV-type access from anywhere in the world utilizing the internet."
Source: U.S. Air Force
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
The Bugatti SupercarMy encounter with the Veyron came in mid-August on the heels of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, one of the world's most fabulous vintage-car extravaganzas. All the high-society auto buffs in attendance were staying at my hotel, and the parking lot contained enough precious metal to warrant its own admission fee. As I was walking outside on the morning of my drive, I was gazing so intently at all the prancing horses, winged B's, raging bulls, and other purebreds that I almost missed the grand entrance of the yellow-on-black Veyron.
The Bugatti Bugatti's cars were as much works of art as they were mechanical creations. Engine blocks were hand scraped to ensure that the surfaces were so flat that gaskets were not required for sealing, to engine turned finishes on many of the exposed surfaces of the engine compartment, and safety wires threaded through almost every fastener in intricately laced patterns. Rather than bolt the springs to the axles as most manufacturers did, Bugatti's axles were forged such that the spring passed though a carefully sized opening in the axle, a much more elegant solution requiring fewer parts. He famously described his arch competitor Bentley's cars as "the world's fastest lorries" for focusing on durability. According to Bugatti, weight was the enemy. Bugatti’s inspiring creations attracted many people from other fields of interest, like Arlen Ness who created a motorcycle, called “Smooth-Ness”, with the Bugatti style. He was inspired by the smoothness of a bronze casting of a Bugatti automobile.2
The Jinjue, Brilliance’s second passenger car, could win over North American and even picky European buyers if launched in western markets, on styling alone - the automaker already sells a larger model in Europe having been designed by Giorgetto (Giorgio) Giugiaro’s ItalDesign. With another link to the Olympics, the new model was designed in Italy by ItalDesign’s rival, the world renowned Pininfarina; design house to many Ferrari sports cars and other top-level vehicles.
The Aston Martin LagondaThe car was designed by William Towns in an extreme interpretation of the classic 1970s "folded paper" style. It was as unconventional a design then as it is now. Car enthusiasts are fiercely divided on the car's aesthetic value. Throughout the history of the marque, these hand-built Lagondas were amongst the most expensive saloons in the world. The only other "production" cars to approach its lofty price tag were the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit/Silver Spur, Bentley Mulsanne, and Maserati Quattroporte.
The Alfa Romeo MiTo 
