Classy. Real Classy. Though that plate should really belong on an Alfa Romeo Spider Quadrifoglio...
I've seen several license plates that don't belong on their respective cars recently. I went by a boring-green 4cyl Accord on the freeway the other day with the license plate '1337C4R'. On a 4cyl, 4-door Accord? Please...
@Shprocket: The GTR-1 was a favorite on this side of the pond as well. I remember seeing the Panoz factory team - complete with waving-Stars-and-Stripes paint job - defeat the two manufacturer-sponsored Audi R8s to win at the only Washington, D.C. ALMS Grand Prix ever held. Much cheering for an impressive race by an impressive car all around.
There's a reason why the top 'aggressor' pilots in both the USAF and USN, up until very recently when they standardized with F-16s, flew lightweight and seemingly under-equipped fighters such as A-4s, T-38s/F-5s and IAI F-21s - and usually won - against the much heavier top USAF and NATO fighters. After surprise, mass (not just thrust/weight) remains one of the most important aircraft attributes in winning dogfights.
Of course, whether the need for a current-generation fighter to engage in a turning dogfight still exists is certainly debatable. Most of the current skirmishes between aircraft are fought from a beyond-visual-range distance, and the USAF's monitoring and intelligence capabilities (satellite mapping, AWACS-controlled JTIDS, and so on) mean that the battles are essentially over before they start.
Calling the current XJ 'outdated' is a bit harsh, as it's a very modern chassis and all-aluminum design that was styled conservatively, to use a generous term, by marketing committee rather than a proper set of designers. Still, 'rehash' is a bit much. The only true aging component was its 4.2 Ford DOHC-based V8, which is on its way out along with any trace of the old styling if this photograph is any indication.
Also, I'll hereby second the above commenters who say that any proper large Jag does, in fact, need a V12. Tata should get on that right away...
@JalopEngineerd: Agreed. Two years ago I very nearly bought a middling-condition running Biturbo for $2500, and it had decent paint as well...
All that aside, the fact that it's a car I would consider seriously buying earns it an automatic 'crack pipe'. Working on the sequential-turbo setup is probably a nightmare.
@Steel_ETC: I hate it when image linking doesn't work quite right. Let's try that again:
[jalopnik.com]
I like some of the cues - the hood-bulge undercut, and the (seemingly pointless on a front-engined car) rear shoulder-intakes - but on a whole the Mantide design is too busy and not nearly as good as the 612 P4/5. I think it suffers from not having a pre-existing design philosophy to build on, like the aformentioned Pininfarina P4/5 custom or the Alfa Romeo Bertone BAT-11, especially since Bertone has changed its in-house design philosophy and cross-product cues a lot more over the past few years than Pininfarina or Giugaro.
Besides, where's my production version of the other ridiculous Italian and far better-looking Corvette-based custom, the Spada Codatronca:
@Jo Schmo, Pauljones evil and opposite twin: You deserve a further commendation for your vocabulary. Certainly made me chuckle. Were I to ever own Spyker, I'm going to take that same bodywork but redesign the chassis and stuff an LS3 behind the rear axle, there certainly looks to be enough space. Oversteer? What oversteer?
I always thought the Spyker looked terrific, and the Aileron is still beautiful, but I liked the old C8 nose better. This one looks a little bit too generic-new-millenium-supercar to me. And too all those complaining about the performance, the Spyker is supposed to be a GT, so who cares? The Gumpert uses the same engine, so why not buy that instead? In fact, if you could afford either of them, you could probably stand to buy both, so I don't really see the problem.
Looks good in yellow, but in my mind the Reventon is still superior. Combined with the hexagonal pattern over the engine bay the Murcielago looks like the world's angriest hornet. Also nice that Lambo's finally added a second oil cooler on the right side (?) and made the car symmetrical. Not that it matters, because I'll never afford one anyway...
Despite being based on the DB9, I find the new One-77 to be closer in spirit and appearance to the old V12 Vanquish...That said, though, the front-quarter view is strangely reminiscent of the Corvette Centennial concept from a few months ago, down to the grille position, hood bulge, and undercut-sweeping side vents (brake-cooling intake ducts, probably?). Still, I like it, and the rear fender flares are massive. Any chance of seeing a rear view so we can get a better look at the exhaust tips and giant underbody diffuser?
This is more difficult than it initially seems... my first response of 1983, the only year in the last half-century in which no Corvette was produced, can't be the worst, since it also marked the introduction of the Toyota AE86, and both 1982 (with its 185bhp Corvette) and 1984 were terrible years for the Big Three as well.
Final verdict: MY1979. Oil crisis aside, God help you if you bought a car built in Britain from that year. The old urban legend about British Leyland cars rusting before they left the factory floor has an element of truth when some cars sat, half-complete and unattended, on the assembly line for six months while the plants were either closed or the workers chose only to show up to picket.
The new nose it subtle, but it works. A Flying Spur pulled up next to me just yesterday and I couldn't help notice that the intersection of the sweeping headlights and almost-upright grille was pugnacious a little awkward. This refresh fixes that slightly judging from the profile shots. But why no retractable hardtop? Most of the other luxury convertibles have moved into the 21st century by now...
I'd like to see the Nissan dash-screen g-meter readout from that one. There must be a way to retrieve a 'black box' from the GT-R.
Also, to get it out of the way: No big deal, that'll buff right out.
I'm gonna have to dispute the conventional wisdom here and say crack pipe. Why? Because as cool as it may look, old Skodas are simply and undisputably terrible cars, with hideously unreliable basic components, cheap metallurgy and terrible driving characteristics. This Octavia was little more than a blue-painted pile of rust when it left the factory, and I'd have to be on the pipe to drive, let alone buy, it.
However, Murliee, when you get your super-sweet Tatra 608 (have I guessed correctly?) from the Czechs, please let us know. Sounds awesome...
Calling it now - this will remain a concept and nothing more. Where does the battery go? Daimler has long said that the iQ's main competitor, the Smart, doesn't work as an electric car because there's no space for the batteries and that it would adds too much weight for the chassis to bear. If it makes it to production, the Toyota EV will probably be slower than glass and lose its one advantage over the Smart - the larger boot and children's rear seat - to the battery pack. No thanks.
Just beautiful. That first shot of the car's nose deserves to be framed and hung in a museum. The only thing I don't like - and these are small nitpicks indeed - are the overdone Audi-esque LED headlights and the rear fascia - the original Quattroporte, with its four exhaust tips, looks better than the twin-exhaust GT S. One question, though: When do we get a Quattroporte GT SS with the V12 from a Ferrari 599? This car and the prancing-horse engine would be a blissful union...
Any of Giorgietto Giugiaro's recent designs can be considered 'one-offs' more so than 'concepts', since Giugiaro retains and drives most of his styling exercises. However I'd be torn between his recent Ferrari GG50 and the Mustang Giugaro...both are absolutely stunning. Perhaps drop the V12 from the prancing horse into the running pony, since a V12 Mustang would be in the true spirit of its fighter-plane namesake...
Must be the headlights, but this thing looks like an uglier and slightly distended 5/8 scale Mosler MT900S to me. I also can't comprehend why the company has felt the need to change the name of its car three times in as many years; founder Arash Farboud has a pretty badass-sounding name to me and should have just kept his surname on the car...
Awesome. The redesigned taillights and grille for the '66 MY and the hardtop/lack of fender skirts give this T-Bird a very clean look. The regular hardtops were far rarer than the garish 'Landau' vinyl-roofed examples by the 1964-1966 generation and probably made rear visibility noticeably better too.
Even with just a quad-barrel 390, which was the base (!) engine in 1966, this car is worth quite a bit more than $6200. It gets bonus points for having one of the coolest grille emblems of all time as well.
