Prudent Blogger

The big Concours dElegance at Pebble Beach is still four days away, but there are already a lot events underway on the central coast of California for those who wont be sipping champagne Sunday on the winners stand.

One such event was yesterday in Pacific Grove, a tiny village of Victorian homes near Pebble Beach on the Monterey Peninsula. It was called The Little Car Show. The name was appropriate as two blocks of downtown was devoted to the display of special little cars. As in, small cars.

Little cars will be prominent all week, both on the streets, in the show and at the auctions. One being sold, for instance, is that little 1951 Mochet CM-125 Luxe, shown above, that will be auctioned by RM this weekend, part of a special collection of little cars.

At the Little Car Show, among the tiniest and drawing a crowd was a red Tiger Messerschmitt. No year of manufacture was given for the rag-top, sliding-plastic window car with front and back seating for two. There were the usual small suspects:

They included some beautiful Austin Healy Bugeye Sprites and a couple nice late 60s Citroen 2CV6 models. Perhaps coolest was a silver with black racing stripes 1967 Toyota Sports 800, a two seater made for the track.

There were several American-made Crosleys, American made cars that had a run from 1939 to 1952. Several American Austins were present two, including a nice beige Bantam.

Best of all, and unique, was that The Little Car Show was free. Events get pricier as the week goes on, including the hot-ticket event at The Quail on Friday, a sellout at $400 per ticket.

–William M. Welch/Drive On

article source

Comments(0)

Relief is finally on the way for long-suffering riders on Metras Electric District Line serving the South Side and south suburbs.

Metras board on Friday authorized the $560 million purchase of 160 new commuter cars, half of which will have restrooms good news for riders who have complained for decades about the lack of onboard facilities.

Weve been promising that whenever the state passed a bond program, that (buying new cars) was our first priority, spokesman Michael Gillis said.

article source

Comments(0)

The name sure sounds snooty enough: The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering. And at least judging from the price to get in today, a cool $400 a ticket, its an outdoor gathering that lives up to reputation.

Today is Quail day, when some of the most desirable cars in the country, along with a lot of luxury manufacturers, will gather on a golf course near Pebble Beach and Monterey, Calif., to show off.

Getting a sneak preview on Thursday, Drive On saw a few of the early-arriving super cars that will be on display. Among them:

• A luscious blue 1994 McLaren F1 dripping with carbon fiber, including a low front air splitter that would certainly break apart on entering most shopping center parking lots. We show it above.
• A spectacular new Bugati Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport, silver and black.
• A red 1963 Alfa GTZ1 Competizione, one of approximately 12 factory competition examples made that year. This particular car has a racing pedigree — it competed in 1963 at Monza and 1964 at the 12 Hours of Sebring. It was being displayed fresh from a total restoration that began in 2008 and was completed this year.

Keeping a careful eye on Bugatti was Jens Schulenburg, a Bugatti engineer from Wolfsburg, Germany. The number designation, he says, indicates it has 16 cylinders, four wheel drive and four turbochargers. It has a top speed of 253 mph. Thus far 10 have been delivered of 30 orders placed, he says.

This is a car for the stratosphere-income buyer, with retail price well over $1 million. Schulenburg said 30% of the cars will go to the US, 30% to Europe, and the remainder to Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East as well as Russia, areas where petro-dollars fuel the high-end automobile market.

If you buy one, pay attention to what you put in the tank. Schulenburg says it really requires 93 octane gasoline — though 91 is the highest available commonly in California. It can get by on 91, he says, but 93 is really the minimium and 95 octane is preferred. Buy race gas at the track and youll be fine.

Also at The Quail is the high-dollar auto auction by Bonhams and Butterfields, where one can easily forget there is a severe recession underway:

While Drive On was watching, a yellow and red 1972-73 Porsche 917 Interserie Spyder racing coupe with Le Mans history, shown above at right, went under the gavel for $3.6 million. Unlike most cars on display, the auctioneers had not estimated a sales price, and the bidding was fierce.

Several other impressive Porsche sales were recorded. A 1975 red Carrera RSA 3.0, with a replaced top and rebuilt engine, sold to a phone bidder for $330,000. A 1967 factory racing Porsche Type 910 went for $720,000, at the high end of the expected range.

Not every Porsche requires such a thick wallet. Also crossing the auction block was a circa 1963 Porsche Diesel Standard Model 217 Tractor — in Guards Red, of course. We didnt see the bidding on that one, but it was sold without reserve and carried an estimate of $12,000 to $14,0000.

After a couple of hours in the auction tent, that tractor seems like a bargain. To put that in perspective: Just a few miles up the road at Woodies of Carmel, a store selling automobilia and auto art, an original example of a large Porsche poster touting that same Diesel Tractor was on display with a pricetag of $8,500. Which is the better buy, the poster or the real thing?

That was hardly the most expensive original poster on sale either — a 1920s vintage racing poster carried a pricetag of $27,500, but we think there might be some bargaining room. If your tastes are more downmarket, for $825 you can take home a Formula 1 brake disk signed by drivers Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Filipe Massa.

– William M. Welch/Drive On

article source

Comments(0)

Two Los Angeles police officers were injured Friday when their patrol cars collided while responding to a stolen vehicle call.

The incident, which also involved a third vehicle, occurred about 3:15 pm at Western Avenue and James M. Wood Boulevard, said Richard French, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

The unidentified officers were taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. One, a female police sergeant who was trapped in one of the patrol vehicles, was listed in critical but stable condition, police said. The other officer suffered moderate injuries.

At least two other people were treated for minor injuries, including one who also was taken to Cedars-Sinai.

– Andrew Blankstein

article source

Comments(0)

Concept cars sold off for charity

Scott Burgess / The Detroit News

These cars are often the beginning of an idea.

Some are design exercises, others are proposals to gauge public interest. All of them draw a crowd.

Eighteen concept cars from Ford Motor Co. were auctioned off Thursday night in Monterey, Calif., as a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Childrens Center.

article source

Comments(0)

Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana has now been contaminated by the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While sympathy abounds for the unfortunate residents of New Orleans, who just seem to face one tragedy after another, the blatant fact missed by most folks is that this massive ecologic insult affects not only those geographic areas in close proximity to the Gulf. It is an unparalleled disaster for the Earth as a whole, and the sooner we face up to this, the sooner more realistic and long-term solutions can be reviewed and put into action.

The sea is home to all manner of life forms. Kill the sea and you might as well kill the entire planet. It is hard for most Americans to see that we have allowed our thralldom to technology to alienate us from our sense of kinship with the earth. But what should we have expected when we began to worship Big Oil as the answer to so many of our needs? Could we not have foreseen some kind of disastrous payback after our rapacious long-term plunder of one of the earth’s essential ingredients?

Americans are deeply in love with the automobile. Mention the possibility that we might have to face life without our cars, trucks and SUVs in the next decade or so and you are going to be met with sneering contempt and disbelief. Living without a car is far too radical a thought for most Americans to grasp.

Too radical? Well, a truly radical long-term plan of corrective action is clearly called for here, to eliminate the likelihood of another BP-magnitude disaster like the one currently unfolding in the Gulf. The Earth is not likely to survive another such horrifically crippling insult.

It is appalling that the public emphasis appears to focus largely on blame and financial compensation at this time when American car owners should be thinking in terms of their own responsibility to the country and to the planet. How can we each greatly reduce our dependence on the automobile? Answers have been suggested for years: Greatly increased ride sharing, expansion of public transportation, and bicycles, walking, or even roller skating. These suggestions usually meet with nods of approval by many people, but no measurable changes in lifestyle. Americans remain overwhelmingly addicted to their cars.

ABBY KIRK

Rutland

article source

Comments(0)

Cars will be a great category for ideas and tips.

Comments(0)