cars

black beauty: 1972 citroen SM with maserati engine


the french manufacturer citroen purchased italy’s maserati in 1968 hoping to incorporate the legendary maserati’s gran turismo V6 engine with its legendary citroen suspension. the result was the flagship citroen SM, a hopeful follow-up to the sought after DS and a contender to the jaguar and the aston of the time. the french car provided a combination of comfort, sharp handling, and high performance not available in any other car at the time not to mention the the shortest stopping distance of any car tested until then. now who would have expected that of the french? however with all its accolades the SM flopped, possibly due to to the fact that it was french, and possibly due to its less than elegant tail. the french have always been shy about bragging (although they usually have the goods to back it), something the americans, italians and the brits thrive upon. unfortunately now the italians are bankrupt, with thanks to berlusconi and the french have sarkozy working on bankrupting them. citroen on the other hand will remain as proof of french genius. by dd

CATEGORIES: cars

Classic Mercedes W111 coupe: the M-coup is retrofitted with a brand new trouble-free engine by Mechatronik

i could do without the shinny gold, but you can just imagine what a silver one would be like …

inside, there’s an uprated sound system, aircon, and fitted with a retro becker mexico satnav, which does a sterling job of disguising itself as 60s tech.

retrofitted with a  5.5-litre 360bhp AMG V8 that produces a chassis-twisting 376lb ft of torque. the W111’s capable of 60mph in less than 6 seconds and tops out at 150mph.specially developed heated sports seats, which look just like the originals.

who doesn’t love a vintage car but hates the hassle of being stranded on the roadside? well you don’t have to worry your little head anymore. find old mercedes W111 coupe. remove dull 60s engine. fit supersonic AMG lump and driveshafts and differential. make it shiny and inconspicuous. ride like no one would ever know. not much unlike the XJ6’s that were retrofitted with a chevy engine (a crime perhaps but non the less an understandable one given the dodgy british electronic systems) mechatronik (whose tuning philosophy ranks highly on the top gear scale of profits) refits the W111 coupes with a killer AMG set up.

 

“named the m-coupe it has a 5.5-litre 360bhp AMG V8 that produces a chassis-twisting 376lb ft of torque. to cope with the power, the old bodies all off-the-shelf AMG underneath (including the five-speed auto, propshaft, driveshafts and differential) all come from the mercedes benz subsidiary’s back catalogue. the suspension has been also tinkered with as the original swing-arm suspension is pretty antiquated. mechatronik ripped out everything and fitted stainless steel rebound-adjustable dampers and 20mm lowering springs. this means that the W111’s capable of 60mph in less than 6 seconds and tops out at 150mph. any faster would probably be slightly terrifying as the less-than-slippery coupe was launched when kennedy was president: 1961.”

 

wow. sign me up but wait? how much is this little muffin? well unfortunately a tad over my budget. at $422,639 USD (or if you prefer £263,000) you’d have to be a wall street resident and not a occupier to afford it. guess well just appreciate the idea of it for now. by dd

CATEGORIES: cars, perfect gift

why the hell is everything black and white all of a sudden?

an amazingly red, and yellow from certain angles, french (sorry fiat, italy) 1961 abarth simca 1300 s1. now just try and find one.

most people associate abarth with fiat, but a very successful liaison was also formed with simca. the lesser known french company was partly owned by fiat at the time, and when they wanted to appeal to a younger market with a more sporty model, they turned to the italian giant for help. fiat in turn went to abarth, who received sponsorship from the larger company. a deal was struck whereby simca shipped floorplans of their 1000 sabour to abarth, who then cut 4″ out of the chassis and built handsome lightweight aluminum bodies around them. the engine was an all-abarth 1300cc four-cylinder twin-cam unit which produced up to 140 bhp and was mounted in the rear, while suspension was nearly stock simca 1000, incorporating a transverse front leaf spring with telescopic dampers and upper wishbones and rear semi-trailing arms a la porsche. with this car, abarth won the world championship for makes in 1962. the racing version of the abarth simca was developed throughout the 1960s, and the winning design was found to be more than a match for its competitors. in two-liter, 202 bhp specification, the simca abarth was easily able to beat the porsche 904 on the track and won the european mountain climb challenge outright. by xy

CATEGORIES: cars

yellow: the true color of a Ferrari

the ferrari’s iconic red comes about due to the way the sport of racing began, where each country was assigned a color, and italy was assigned red. the red for ferrari has remained despite the “fact” that yellow is the decisive color of choice for a ferrari : ) by xy

CATEGORIES: cars

british genius: The Hawker Siddeley Harrier jump jet V/STOL

the first V/STOL aircraft in production (vertical/short take off and landing)

below the awkwardly shaped USAF x-13 and lockheed-XFV-1, the U.S.’s attempt at the V/STOL

you don’t have to be a military guru to appreciate the harrier. all you need is some heart for engineering, design and problem solving. the small and originally considered, “silly-looking” harrier was developed to operate from ad-hoc facilities such as car parks or forest clearings, avoiding the need for large runways and bases that are generally vulnerable to air or missile strikes. later the design was adapted for use from aircraft carriers and the harrier found its place not only in the british RAF but also in the nato, U.S., spain, thailand and others. this documentary shows a bit of its history and its quite fascinating. by dd

CATEGORIES: cars, design

The Daimler double six


daimler is not so much mercedes benz as it is jaguar. the double six (a V12) is one of my favorites not to mention the later models that resembled the XJ6. daimler is one of britain’s oldest marques and has a history stretching back to the dawn of the automobile.

“their very first cars were built under license from gottlieb daimler and quickly became official transportation for british royalty. fit for kings, daimlers were well appointed, and this reputation was enhanced in 1909 with the adoption of sleeve valves. the double six is named after a taxable RAC rating of 50 hp, but the modern rating is somewhere between 130-150 bhp. less then 10 cars were ordered with the Double Six 50 engine. Despite offering numerous models and having royal support, daimler wanted to take an extra step after rolls-royce released their feature-rich phantom in 1925. to stay competitive, chief engineer laurence pomeroy decided to make the most of daimler’s engineering and adopt sleeve valves in a new seven liter ‘double six’ V12. to do so, he mated two existing 6-cylinder, 25/85 hp engines to a common aluminum crankcase and refined the sleeves to reduce oil consumption. the few cars released became collectors. for decades one of the few remaining models was retained by a single family which clung onto their prize possession. for a purchase price upwards up $5,000,000, RM restorations secured the car and finished an immaculate restoration for its next owner robert lee. lucky man he is”. by dd

CATEGORIES: cars

the Vignale Maserati Mexico: 1966 coupe tipo 112

here is another one of my favorites. the maserati mexico has a good story behind it; it was never meant to be a production car. the one of a kind body was originally designed in 1964 for an “important mexican client” to include 4 seats and a powerful V8 engine. the important mexican crashed the car soon after delivery, and sent it right back to italy along with its 5000GT chasis. it was referred to, at the factory, as the “mexico” for that very reason. ironically, maserati won the mexican grand prix the following year and the model was then shown in 1965 in torino. it was so well received that a limited series were produced and released at the paris show the following year, 1966. while the car was quite fancy for the time its funny to note that, radio was an optional accessory on a maserati in 1966. this one (above specimen) has an after market unit glued to the console below the lovely toggle switches! shame. by dd

CATEGORIES: cars