Can A Capri Beat A Big Ol' Squealin' Benz At The 24 Hours Of Spa 1971?

Short answer, yes. But still, AMG's böred-und-schtroked "Red Pig" 280SEL came in second place… and first in our hearts! More »

The Broken Windshield Fallacy: A Libertarian Argument Against Cash For Clunkers

The US Cash For Clunkers program may be over, but Germany is still running its own version. In an editorial for Wall Street Journal Europe, the Cato Institute’s Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar exposes the program’s misconceptions. More »

Top Gear VW Ad Spoof Provokes More Clarkson Controversy!

Perhaps more than cars, Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson likes creating tempests in the BBC teapot. Now some viewers are saying his Germany-Invades-Poland spoof ad for the VW Scirocco TDI was a pitch too far. [ Mail Online]

259-Car Autobahn Pile-Up Largest In German History

In what would be the largest car crash in Autobahn history, NBC New York's reporting a 259 car pile-up near Hamelerwald, Germany. UPDATE! More »

German Prince Disappointed With His New Corvette ZR1’s Interior

German Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis just took delivery of a 2009 Corvette ZR1. Why the sad face? Don't worry, you'll forget about the interior the first time you hit the Autobahn. [Corvette Blogger]

German Motorway Closed By Flying Cash

A German motorway was closed after wind blew $31,000 out of a motorist's convertible during a test drive. Police blocked the motorway in both directions for half-an-hour, helping the man collect his money. More »

Ho Hum, Just Another Pagani Zonda Parked On The Frankfurt Street

This is Down On The Street Bonus Edition, where we check out interesting street-parked cars in places other than the Island That Rust Forgot. Ever seen one of these parked on the street? Vega has! More »

When The Germans Came to Formula One

Brawn GP's inaugural 1–2 victory in Melbourne was no stranger to their engine supplier Mercedes-Benz: it was exactly the same fashion as how they debuted in Formula One in 1954 with their epic W196. More »

BMW, Daimler to Opel: It’s a Dog-Eat-Dog-Eat-Automaker World

Opel is dying and the heads of BMW and Daimler would like the German state to keep its hands out of the process. More »

Opel Not Too Big to Fail?

Like the Renaissance Center mothership, GM's European subsidiary Opel is also in a heap of trouble. The company has said it needs €3.3 billion ($4.1B) to survive. More »

The 1980 Porsche 924: Kicks Ass At Le Mans, Hauls Your Scuba Gear

Here's what appears to be a late-night German infomercial for the 1980 Porsche 924 and 924 Turbo. Outdoorsy young Porsche owners, dedicated Porsche factory workers, and Porsche Le Mans racers all make appearances.
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German Automaker Museum Design Showdown: Porsche Vs. BMW

It's a whole heap-load of historical German precision as Fast Company sticks the design of the BMW museum and the new Porsche museum into a steel cage. Two Bruce enter, one Bruce leave! [Fast Company]

German Man Fires His Skoda Octavia Into Church Roof

A German man was likely filled with the spirit, or at least spirits, when he lost control of his Skoda Octavia at high speeds, launching his car onto the roof of a church. More »

"Ultimate" Nürburgring T-Shirt Forgets Hottest Part

Nordschleife.us has just released their idea of the best Nürburgring Nordschleife loop shirt ever envisioned by man. We're wondering what Sabine Schmitz, celebrity Nürburgringer, has to say about that.

Nice Price Or Crack Pipe: Perfect 1966 Citroën DS21 Chapron Palm Beach For $300,000?

The $67K '94 Supra Turbo we saw yesterday earned an 80% Crack Pipe rating from the readers; cool car, but the price was just too high. Today we're going to look at an even cooler car, in fact one of the coolest cars ever manufactured… but the price? £200,000, aka about $300,000. What do you say?

Opel GT: No Room For Your Strudel-Fed Butt, Old Man!

Opel's German marketers apparently figured that the German target market for the GT had to be skinny Teutonic Manson Family followers, so it made sense to show how fat, well-heeled, vaguely perved-out old car geeks would be kept away from the GT by its hopelessly cramped sporty small size. Here we see a grizzled Stalingrad survivor, wishing only for a brief moment of happiness to distract him from the waking nightmare that has been his life since 1942... happiness DENIED!

1981 BMW 315: 15,850 Deutsche Marks To Econo-Glory

We couldn't get the gas-sipping BMW 315 over here in Nordamerika; instead, we had to make do with the thirsty 320i version of the E21 platform. Over in Germany, however, the money saved on gas by the 315 facilitated drive-by Quaalude deals between wholesome-looking tennis players… or whatever the hell is going on in this ad. Key swapping?

Hang-Gliding German Swingers Prefer The Ford Capri!

When you're jumping off a cliff while strapped in your German-flag-colored hang glider and clad in the finest of polyester duds, you don't want your special lady to pick you up in some jive-ass tape-striped Opel. You want her to roar down the mountain in a high-performance Ford Capri! Thanks once again to Franzouse for the tip.

The 1982 Ford Granada Makes It Easy For The Germans To Steal France's Women

Now, you might think German men would be at a disadvantage when trying to score with the ladies in Paris, but she'll be saying "Ja, ja!" when Hans rolls into town in a brand-new Ford Granada. No, not this kind of Granada- we mean the European Granada; Ford thought the name was so good that they needed to assign it to two totally different vehicles. Paris-based Franzouse gets the credit for sharing this one with us; we can assume he's now heading to Berlin to see what kind of effect his Mehari will have on the women there.

Swingin' Opels Consume Germany's Entire Output Of Tape Stripes

Nobody swings quite as hard as German employees of General Motors- in fact, these Opel cats are wailing! Just take the early-70s Kadett, Manta, and Ascona, apply about 50 pounds of decals and stripes per car, and watch the cars fly off the showroom floors. Thanks to Franzouse for the tip!

Princess: Car Of Choice For Off-Roading Germans

You can forget everything you've heard about the utterly execrable build quality of British Leyland's nadir, the Princess. Turns out that front-wheel-drive setup, Hydragas suspension, and weight savings from all the parts that fell off during normal operation made for excellent off-road performance!

Top Ten Videos Of German Uber-Precise Car Manufacturing

Though we sarcastically joke about the self-proclaimed precision of German car makers, it turns out they actually have some pretty impressive facilities. The guys at Oobject took a closer look at the big, shiny factories of ze Germans, and came up with a top ten list of the most impressive videos of Deutschland's most futuristic-looking manufacturing centers in action. [oobject]

Opel GT: Choice Of Screaming German Hippies!

Not speaking German, we're probably more frightened by this ad that might be warranted. Perhaps the target market of the Opel GT wasn't really German-style Manson Families looking for some quick, sporty wheels with which to hunt victims in preparation for the final days of Hëltër Schkëltër. Maybe it was all about good, wholesome autobahn hijinks. Thanks to Franzouse for the tip!

Unnamed German Luxury Automaker Creates Digital Factory System

A "luxury car manufacturer" from southern Stuttgart has invested a lot of money into something that isn't even real. We're thinking it was the brainchild of Dr. Z., but the unnamed company has picked up six of the ridiculously expensive Christie HD8K 1080p DLP high definition projectors that creates virtual factory floors and production plants to maximize production efficiency. It's quite the elaborate setup as individuals have to don special 3D goggles to get the full, stomach churning experience. More »

Europe Fires Caminoization Salvo: 500SEpage, Silver Shadowamino!

The Murfreesboro Vanden Plaschero inspired a lot of discussion about the pros/cons of Americans hacking up fine European machinery in order to add pick-em-up truck beds. Don't forget, though, that Europe itself has a fine tradition of Caminoization stretching back for many decades. Take, for example, this pair of fine Old World cartrucks. We've got a 1982 Mercedes-Benz 500SE with pickup bed from Germany and a 1977 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow on a Dodge truck chassis from the Netherlands. Which would you drive? Make the jump and do the voting thing! Thanks to Martjin and Sasho for the tips. More »

Volkswagen's Command Center Is Like Minority Report, Minus The Cool

Recently installed at VW's Wolfsburg, Germany headquarters is this massive video wall that will help the IT control center manage all of VW's world-wide network. Remember in Minority Report when Tom Cruise is rocking that video wall with the awesome glove? Well, this system is kind of like that, but less technological and less cool. It does get the job done, apparently. The wall consists of tons of LCD displays and will ensures that stability of VW's worldwide networks across suppliers, importers, dealers, service partners, customers, manufacturers and more. What happened to being environmentally friendly, VW? We're sure this command center doesn't skimp on the power usage. [Carscoop]

Think You've Got It All? How About A Gold Porsche?

We were born with an inability to trust salespeople, the fact they're trying to sell something you probably don't need is more than likely the root of this distrust. Fresh from Germany is a perfectly good example of something totally ludicrously ridiculous. The watch, jewelery, and interior decoration company of Schmuckwelten in Pforzheim, Germany has come up with a way to make a duo of Porsches seem utterly undesirable - cover them in gold and tchachkies. Is there something about an old 911 or a new Boxster that just screams "cover me with gold leaf" or "bedazzle my exhaust tip"? You'd think this kind of thing would be a hangin' offense in Germany. [Schmuckwelten via Minhaselecao] More »

German Confounds Us With Pontiac LeSupra

The immediate reaction to this article sent to us by The Bouncer was an indignant cry of 'blasphemy!' What you see above is no ordinary 1972 Pontiac LeMans, indeed this dark horse has a dirty little secret. Tucked away under that sleek hood there lies no V8 engine, not even a V6, in fact, the engine wasn't even born in Detroit. It was plucked from none other than a Toyota Supra. More »

Junkyard Find: Opel GT

Seems every time I go to a certain East Oakland self-service junkyard, I find something old and unusual on its way to steelyard reincarnation. Last time it was the 1969 Jaguar XJ-6; now it's a very-well-picked-over 1973 Opel GT. These things were never plentiful in North America, and I don't think I've seen one on the street for a decade. Yet, somehow, one has survived long enough to make it to the junkyard. Make the jump for even more gallery shots. More »

The Old Elbe River Tunnel

See, this is why we love Germany, no, it's not just for the beer. The city of Hamburg is situated on the Elbe river, with the dockyards situated on an island in the river. In the heady shipping days of Hamburg, workers on the busy port island had to travel by ferry to get to their jobs. In an effort to reduce river traffic and improve the commute, a tunnel was constructed to address the issue. Being Germans though, the tunnel couldn't just be a hole in the ground for people to pass through. Nope, this tunnel stretches out for 1,398 ft under the river, and is punctuated by huge freight elevators on both sides. More »

Parking Lot Saves German History

Parking lots don't always pave paradise, sometimes the pave over cellars. German archaeologists have discovered a 12th century cellar buried under a car park in Berlin. The find dates the founding of the city to a period roughly 45 years earlier than previous estimates. What makes the discovery remarkable isn't so much it's age, but that it has survived through centuries of construction as well as the Allied bombardment in the second world war. More »

Gaddafi's Offspring's Ferrari Seized In Germany For Being Too Loud

The War on Terror-izingly Loud Autos claimed another victim as German police towed away Muammar Gaddafi's son's Ferrari 430. Seif al-Arab, son of the Libyan leader, is studying something in Munich and, like most students, gets by on a mixture of Ramen Noodles, Ultimate Frisbee and Italian sports cars. Police report that the car's exhaust emitted 110.5 decibels, over the 98 decibel limit. More »

Match Made in Heaven: Skoda Delivery Fun

You didn't think we could actually make it through any trip without bringing you local Camino action did you? Here's a bitchin' Skoda Felicia Fun doing its duty as a pizza delivery truck/car in Schesslitz. Way more dignified than the last Fun we brought you. Could there be a better match? Pizza delivery, Camino-ness, fuel economy, plenty of room for cases of bier in the back... it's perfect! There's something so right about that missing hubcap too. Ristorante bei Peppo Skoda-camino driver, today's real Bavarian hero. More »

Akl Shows Off 1974 BMW 2000Tii Touring

Earlier we introduced you to Akl's garage, now we're going to show you Akl's daily driver. Parked right in front of that bitching treasure chest is a 1974 BMW 2000Tii Touring. That's right the BMW boys built a touring model of the uber-tossable little sedan - sort of the German version of a shooting brake. While there are probably only about a hundred of these in all of Germany, Akl puts twenty thousand clicks on his, thumbing his nose at the namby pamby preservationist sissies. Putting on all those K's would seem like a tedious business given the stop-go and heavy truck traffic of the modern, EU border crossing free Autobahn. That's were Akl has a clever little trick up his sleeve. He has equipped it a 1600E Becker Mexico vintage modern stereo system. Yep, the one that looks old, but hides the CF and SD reader built into it. We can't help but wonder if this was the inspiration for that M Coupe that's perrenially on our list to Santa. Dig that copper paint job. More »

More German Garage Pr0n

Alexander "Akl" Z. is a man living what many of us would consider "the dream." He has a nice big house in the German countryside, not one, but two, two lift garages, a positive pressure paint booth, and more automotive treasures than you can shake a schweinebraten at. Keeping messy garages full of cool cars must be a German national pastime. Under the vintage black Mercedes is a competition ready BMW 2002 set up for hill climb racing. Against the back wall is an E21 set up for cup racing. Under the mint condition BMW 3.0 CSi is an old Escort destined for rally time. Another something sits in the middle of it all after a fresh paint job. It looks French, but that's highly doubtful in Germany, anybody know what that is? We especially dig the palm trees littering the garage, it makes things feel so exotic. We're used to the girly posters and smelly old dogs, but this works too. More »