Jalopnik: Breaking News

Fiat 500 Euro Car of the Year, High Cinque!

Matt Hardigree — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:15:00 EST

Europe has selected its COTY and it's Fiat's itty-bitty 500/Cinquecento, a car that's impossible not to like. As you'll remember, last year's winner was the edgy and muscular Ford S-Max. In order to win the honors, the micocar had to best the second place Mazda 2 and third place Ford Mondeo. The award will be officially announced Monday, but we're just happy to have an excuse to run these pics again.[Reuters]

Oh No Eleanor! Unique Performance Accused of Title Washing

Matt Hardigree — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:59:57 EST

The walls are coming down around Dallas-based Unique Performance, maker of the Shelby-sort-of-endorsed Mustang GT500E Super Snake replicas and other specialty vehicles. Apparently, people have been fronting extensive chunks of change for their pricey Eleanors and not getting them for years. But that isn't why the cops raided the place. It gets worse (unless you're out $250K) after the jump.

When Farmers Branch, Texas police raided the place they found 61 vintage cars (the video report from the local CBS affiliate shows mostly Mustangs) in various levels of construction. After lifting the hoods, cops found VIN plates to be fake. And underneath? You guessed it. They found signs of significant scratching where the old ones were.

Title-washing seems like a good idea if there are a limited number of vintage Mustangs around and you want to pick up some salvage ones on the cheap. Unique Performance isn't a small operation (they also do work with Foose), so this could spell big problems for those who have already put down deposits when the Feds get involved. We'll follow this story as it develops. [CBS 11 TV]

First Chunk Of SSC's World Record Press Release

Jonny Lieberman — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:00:05 EDT

Fast and loose, just like we told you. And cheers to our man at SSC, the fantastically named Junus Khan, for getting this to us early:

WEST RICHLAND, WA (SEPT 13, 2007) - Shelby Supercars (SSC), manufacturer of the ultra high-performance Ultimate Aero Twin Turbo, set the new "World's Fastest Production Car" record earlier today with an average top speed of 255.83 mph. Confident of the 1183 hp vehicle's abilities, SSC set out to validate their top speed claim in accordance with the strict guidelines set by Guinness World Records. Among other requirements, in order to meet Guinness' approval, a vehicle testing for the top speed record must race down the course, turn around, and make a second pass in the opposite direction within one hour.

The vehicle's "top speed" is calculated by averaging the top speeds of each pass in order to negate any favorable road or weather conditions. Today, on a temporarily-closed 2 lane stretch of public highway in Washington State, the Ultimate Aero posted a top speed of 257.11 mph (413.83 kph) on its first pass and 254.55 mph (409.71 kph) on its return pass to set the new top speed record at a staggering 255.83 mph (411.76 kph). The data, collected by Dewetron's world-renowned GPS tracking system, and other checks will be verified by Guinness before the Ultimate Aero is officially crowned the "World's Fastest Production Car." This breaks the current official record held by the Koenigsegg CCR at 242 mph by 11.83 mph and the Bugatti Veyron's unofficial speed of 253 mph by 3.11 mph.

According to Mr. Khan, they'll be submitting the full monty of test results and whatnot to Guinness on Monday. And some video to us around the same time. Pa-zam!!

SSC Ultimate Aero TT Is The Fastest Car In The World

Jonny Lieberman — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:05:00 EDT

The facts are coming in fast and loose, but here's what we know: At around 9:00 am (PST), an 1,183 hp SSC Ultimate Aero TT driven by ~~Rick Doria~~ Chuck Bigelow made two passes, one at 257 mph the other at 254 mph — they're averaging 'em at 255 mph. The official record held by the Koenigsegg CCX is 242 mph. The unofficial record held by the Veyron is 253.4 mph. This makes the American car the official champ. USA! USA! More details when we get 'em. Related posts here and here.