Maserati Quattroporte sedan exercising its muscle!

Maserati 4000 in just the right colors.

Today's BAT email brought this sweet Italian thoroughbred to my inbox. Cheap thrills at $32,000 which is about the cost of a major service!

This 1983 Ferrari 400i is a rare and infinitely more desirable five-speed manual example that’s said to have under 47k miles. The seller says it received a good quality respray a number of years ago, and that is has an equally nice interior. It’s said to start and run perfectly and have strong A/C, with fully functional electrics. Seeing these in the wild is more exciting than seeing a 308.

The seller speculates that the market for 400s has remained depressed largely due to the fact that the majority of them were sold with slushboxes. He goes on to say that a manual completely transforms the car into a fast, sweet-handling thing that makes an “incredible” sound–easy to believe when you consider its motor’s a development of the Colombo V12 used in the Daytona and 365GTC/4, the latter of which many consider to be the best-sounding classic twelve cylinder F car ever made.

1983 Ferrari 400i For Sale Rear Three Quarter View

The car comes with a large file of maintenance and repairwork, and according to the seller much of it was done in the past few years, resulting in a car that drives as-new. Highlights include a completely rebuilt suspension, a new exhaust, and re-cored radiator with all new hoses. Cosmetic work detailed on paper includes a headliner re-fit and valve cover refinish, likely indicators of a fastidious owner. The trans is said to shift well, with no mention of graunching or worn synchros. Tires are Michelin TRXs and are also claimed to be in excellent condition with most of their tread remaining – a definite plus seeing as they’ve been out of production for a very long time.

1983 Ferrari 400i For Sale Interior

The only real flaw mentioned is a tear in the driver’s seatbolster that’s said to be repairable, and from what can be made out in photos this claim checks out-overall it appears to be a remarkably clean, straight, and well-kept car. The medium bluish-gray paint compliments the car’s simple, taught lines quite well, and it’s a refreshing treat to see a long, leather-booted stick shift poking out of the wide, upward angled center console. We’re not convinced about the wooden Momo steering wheel, which is a bit inelegant with its chunky rim, but the seller says the car can be sold with other Momos or Nardis if preferred. The big 4.8 liter, 320 horse, quad cam V12 looks pretty clean underneath a typically eighties rat’s nest of vacuum lines and other emissions do-dads, and who’d ever get tired of gazing on those black crackle finish cam covers?

1983 Ferrari 400i For Sale Engine

Though long overlooked, we’ve noticed increased interest in these cars over the past two or three years, and wouldn’t be surprised if they’re soon trading hands for quite a bit more than the current going rate. It’s only so long that a front-engined V12 Ferrari GT will remain a secret commodity, after all. Provided maintenance is relatively reasonable (i.e. nowhere near that of its hellishly complex replacement, the Testarossa), this car could be a real exotic within reach of the average working car guy.

Fifth Gear decided to recruit a few female drivers during a Silverstone shoot-out. As a special treat they let one of their girls out on track in a Ferrari 355. Well, almost.

There was a definable change in the design language as the ’70s arrived, where hand-crafted curves and old-school organic style of the ’60s gave way to a chiselled, machine-code look of hard lines and brute force. Softness be damned: make it sharp, make it look anti-nature. These are the halo cars that looked, sounded and performed like nothing else on the road; the pin-ups of a generation. And most would still happily grace the walls of any car fan today – even the ones that were just concepts, like the 1970 Porsche Tapiro.

A spry young enthusiast pictured with his 1920s Durant in 1964.

VW stretch convertible.

1950 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500SS Villa d’Este Coupé by Touring.

Czech-made Tatra that's seen better days.

Perfectly laid out T hot rod set to early sixties theme.

1910 Dunlop Balloon Cord Tire Poster. This print company offers reasonably priced vintage poster reprints. They come in an array of sizes. I can't attest to the quality YET, but I will update this once I receive the print I ordered. More awesome artwork can be found here: http://vintage.artehouse.com/perl/collection.pl?productTypeID=1&collectionID=752

Any Aerotrain sleuths out there?

Thunderbowl Comet (aka Golden Eagle), a faux land speed record car made for the 1936 movie "Speed" starring James Stewart. Tremulis and his brother-in-law (and Gyronaut crew member), Pete Politis, went to check out the car in Acton, Ca where it resided as a tourist attraction. Powered by a front wheel drive Cord L-29 drivetrain, the car is currently being restored to its former celluloid glory.

Castle of the Lost Alfas. More at http://www.classicdriver.com/uk/magazine/3200.asp?id=16946

Wood boattail speedster body on vintage Bentley chassis, circa 1930.

Tool art, Craftsman style.

On May 11, the first day of qualifying, the Indy "Celebration of Automobiles" included three exclusive track laps for concours registrants including our 1923 Duesenberg Model A. Our 15 minutes of fame fully realized!

1952 Alfa Romeo Disco Volante Spider, body by Touring being loaded for the journey home.

We all have a car that we’ve dreamed of owning since childhood. For some it might be a Lamborghini from the poster we had hanging on the wall. For others it could be that Porsche we saw at the track. For Steven B. it was a certain Studebaker Silver Hawk and unlike many of us, his dream actually came true.

“My grandfather’s 1957 Studebaker Silver Hawk had been sitting in a barn for 32 years. It had interior damage from mice and needed bodywork. My late father got it back in shape with new interior and paint. Then he put it back in the barn for another 8 years.” The Hawk seemed destined to spend its days in a barn, but Steven had hopes that someday it would be his.

“In 1961 my mom inherited the Hawk from my grandpa. Here I am pretend driving it when I was 12 years old.” Those memories never faded and only made Steven long for the car even more. It was filled with childhood memories that no other car could recreate.

“Fast-forward 51 years… My dream came true and it is still running well today!” Steven finally inherited the Studebaker from his mother and spent the next 3 years getting it road worthy and now thoroughly enjoys it. We want to thank him for sharing his tale with us and we wish the best of luck to him and his Grandpa’s Hawk!

Read more at http://www.barnfinds.com/grandpas-1957-silver-hawk/#V08EVZVJLZ3e8Yb0.99

Mr. Cool himself, Steve McQueen mounts his newly acquired Jaguar XK-SS somewhere in LA.

Minivans killed station wagons and now they're back. Well at least in this early 1950s photo. Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto. I love 'em all!

When the owner of a 170-lb Great Dane wrote to us about the dog's infatuation with his MG Midget, we investigated...cautiously. Turns out, Timi is a sweetheart with excellent taste in drool-worthy cars.

See the rest of the story at mossmotoring.com/dogs-best-friend

This 1962 XKE coupe is an early car. The chassis , the block and the body numbers match the commission plate. The head doesn't match the block, but it is real close in numbers to the block. The head number is R5154-9 and the block number is R3452-9. The chassis number is 88518 and the body number is V1685.

The rear end on this car is the real early type as seen in the flat floor cars. This is car is not a flat floor car though. It is close though it is 300 cars away. Everything seems to be with the car. For what I can see is the common stuff missing, tools, jack & owner's manual. As you can see the car is going to need a full restoration, but being an early car it will only go up in value. What you see in the pictures is what the car comes with. I don't have extra parts. If you think something is missing then it probably is.

The car steer and rolls so it can be shipped fairly easily. If you any questions please email or call Ray at 01-617-838-3728 or Dan at 01-781-630-0185.

The Singer Porsche 911 starts with any donor 911 chassis from ’69 through ’89, strips it down to a bare shell, and rebuilds it like it’s Robocop or something. You get a supplemental backbone chassis enhancement stitch welded onto the unibody, along with some carbon-fiber additions to further improve rigidity. The torsion bar suspension is tossed in favor of Moton remote-oil-resevoir MacPherson struts up front, and coilovers in the back, held up with Eibach springs all around. As if those goodies aren’t already making you salivate, how about 4-pot Brembos derived from a design that raced on the 917? And we haven’t even gotten to the engine – a 3.82L monster derived from the 993, bored and stroked to make 360 HP or 425 HP depending on tune. That’s a lot, especially with a bantam-weight 2400 lbs. to haul around. It all adds up to a 3.9 second 0-60 sprint in the higher-tune version. And finally, the interior is absolutely decked out in period style, featuring some badass vintage Recaro seats that have been redone using structural carbon fiber to reduce their weight. The purists will recoil in sheer terror, but anyone else will surely appreciate how awesome and extensive the reworking is. We have only one request: please don’t do this to a pristine 911! But if you have a tired 2.7L car and a lot of cash, we won’t bat an eye.

New England winter got you down? Check out indoor kart racing at F1 Boston. And hey, a free pass for the birthday boy and gal! http://www.f1boston.com/

On this episode of Wide Open Throttle, Jessi Lang reports from the Tesla facility on the day of the long-awaited rollout of the Model S, the world's first premium all-electric sedan and the car on which the company's future now depends. Then, Motor Trend Technical Director Frank Markus gets exclusive one-on-one time with Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Chief Designer Franz Von Holzhausen as he tours the Tesla factory and finally gets behind the wheel of the car that Tesla is hoping will galvanize the world's transition from internal combustion engines to electric mobility.

Wide Open Throttle appears every Thursday on the new Motor Trend channel.
http://www.youtube.com/motortrend

KTM-X outrageous street machine reported by Car & Driver. http://blog.caranddriver.com/ktm-x-bow-gt-pushes-boundaries-of-grand-touring-name-2013-geneva-auto-show/?src=spr_FBPAGE&spr_id=1458_7138593

Think twice before you text and drive!

Mercedes E63 AMG Super Wagon. Behold the Unicorn, that mythical and magical four-legged beast of European folklore so adored and revered for its rarity, purity and grace. Legend has it that this exotic, equine-like creature with its pointy, spiraling horn, could only be captured by a virgin maiden and never tamed. Ladies, who were, shall we say, economical with the truth, were skewered by that horn!

While it’s been some time since the last recorded unicorn sighting - I think Lindsay Lohan was once snapped riding one down Hollywood Boulevard by TMZ - there is a modern day version of this fantastical filly. It’s called the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Wagon. Like the Unicorn, chances are you’ll never actually see one in captivity. You can’t walk into a Mercedes showroom and take a test drive; they’re only available by very special order and only delivered after the handing over of $92,400 together with your first-born!

Yet they do exist, and for a few brief, fleeting days, I held the keys to a snowy-white example that, just like the wild and horny Unicorn, kicked and snorted and refused to be tamed.

Here is the five-door wagon version of Mercedes’ blunt instrument E63 AMG sedan. These days Americans love wagons as much as a root canal, preferring instead the lofty, high command driving position and over-sized footprint of an SUV.

They just don’t know what they’re missing. For here is the perfect melding of searing-hot sports sedan and versatile, carryall wagon. It’s powered by a weapons-grade 5.5-liter twin-turbo V8 - hand-crafted by the power-meisters at AMG - that spews out a massive 518 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque.

Spend the extra $6,550 - and why the heck wouldn’t you - on the optional AMG Performance Pack and power output soars to a monstrous 550 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. To put that into some kind of perspective, a Lamborghini Gallardo offers a piffling 513 ponies!

What this translates into is Exocet missile-like performance. Floor it from standstill and this asphalt-hugging family-hauler will lunge to 60 mph in an unthinkable 3.9 seconds, and probably do so in the length of the average Starbucks drive-through. Don’t lift and the speedo will kiss its 186-mph marker! Ooooh and what a soundtrack this beast plays. It’s a deep, throbby, Guns ’n Roses-like bellow amp’d through a quartet of shiny, ‘squarcle’ tailpipes. Think Godzilla gargling with roofing nails and you’ll get the picture.


Want to impress your kids when you pick them up from school? Hit the ‘Race Start Mode’ on the center console, keep your left foot hard on the brake, floor the throttle, then step off the brake. The rear tires will light up like Catherine Wheels (pinwheel fireworks) on the Fourth of July, engulfing the car in acrid smoke before depositing two huge tramlines of black rubber. Juvenile, I know. Devilishly entertaining? You bet!

There’s a seven-speed AMG automatic to take care of shifting, with beautifully crafted metal paddle shifters for do-it-yourself gear swaps. Select Sport or Sport+ and the gears hold on longer and the revs go higher. And boy is this fun through the twisties. The steering feels meaty and precise and I love the salami-thick wheel with its racecar-style, squared-off lower section. With three different suspension settings, you can pick from comfy, no-roll sporty, or let’s-head-to-the-track firm.

Inside the “63” is a masterpiece of Teutonic cool with lashings of taut black leather, brushed metal and high-tech carbon fiber. And front seats don’t come better than these - I love the power side bolsters that boost side support during hard cornering.

At the press of a button the tailgate powers skywards - albeit rather leisurely - doing a neat party trick of raising the load area cover with it. And the load space is vast and practically proportioned with nice square sides. And the rear seats are split and easily fold flat to double the amount of load space. A 42-inch flat screen slides in no problem. Trust me, you don’t need any towering SUV.

At this week’s Detroit auto show, Mercedes will pull the silk off a face-lifted E- Class sedan which should land in U.S. showrooms this spring. But a new E wagon won’t land ‘till the end of the year, and an AMG version is probably 18 months to a couple of years away.

So until then, this current version could well be my idea of the perfect car. Compact yet spacious, versatile, practical, stylish, and obscenely powerful. And, of course, as rare as that horny Unicorn!

Fun ride with the Fire Chief 1926.

Late 1960s F1 airborn. Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill, Clark??

A "Charlie's Angel," which one??

On this episode of Head 2 Head Jonny Lieberman finds out which plus size super sedan is king of the hill. Can the rear-wheel drive BMW Alpina B7 take on the Quattro all-wheel drive of Audi's S8?

Cord 812 with snow chains. How many would know if the Cord pushes or pulls?!

Pet project - a stately sedan, I've always had a penchant for the long wheelbase Rolls Royce sedans. Particularly the late 90's Spurs, immediately preceding the change in body styles to the "Seraph". These sedans were spacious, their style, for a while outdated, now retro chic. Their build quality impressive and their presence - well - Rolls Royce like. These sedans are now at the bottom of their value curve - and are priced very reasonably. So, we picked one up. The clear-coat over the black paint was peeling in areas. I've heard that this malady is relatively common. The body was perfectly straight and there is/was no rust on the car. So virtually no body work was required to fix dents or previous accidents.
Many of these Rollers have been well maintained by their affluent owners. True, they can be expensive to upkeep, but they are dependable and relative in cost to other exotics, in terms of parts. As you can see in the photograph, we've removed the bonnet and boot (she is English after all) and are repainting certain panels where issued were found in the clear-coat. But, when she is done, she'll be a grand way to shop for groceries. Perhaps I'll christen her first drive and take her through the drive-up window at McDonalds.
When doesn't a black on black Rolls Royce look good? - From the Burt Collection.