April 28, 2008
The One Book to Have if You Love Great Car Design
The One Book to Have if You Love Great Car Design 
If ever there was an automotive book I'd like to have on my coffee table, this is it. Driving Style: GM Design's First Century is being produced to help honour GM's centennial and promises to be little short of fabulous.
Richard Lentinello writes in the Hemmings newsletter: "It focuses on all the wonderful, industry-leading designs that once made General Motors the envy of the world. Using never-before-seen photographs, styling sketches and design illustrations from the GM Archives, there will also be several inserts printed on velum paper of original concept vehicle sketches from six GM designers. This hardcover, coffee-table-type book will total 256 pages, be printed on high-quality paper and include over 600 photographs, with more than 500 of them in color. And to better showcase an automobile's horizontal dimensions, the book will be printed in a unique 10×14-inch oblong format."
GM Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz, a very knowledgeable design enthusiast, adds "this book is the result of a true labor of love by GM Design. The group tirelessly mined the archives, combing through the catacombs in the basement, and produced images that have never been published, and haven't been seen by anyone in decades. They found original design sketches, and photos of clay models. They also shot and re-shot some of our historical vehicles from angles never photographed before. This book documents the past in spectacular fashion, and hints at a fabulous future as well."
It's a limited-production book, virtually guaranteed to be a collectible and at $50 represents excellent value. You can learn more and order your copy at the publisher's site. Note: As a Canadian I do, however, have one beef. Shipping in the US (which I can see from the end of my street!) costs $7.00. International shipping is $50. A big difference for a couple of miles.
See full article.
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New BMW Was Launched Upside Down 
When BMW said it was introducing a new car it didn't have in mind the kind of launch an exuberant Derrick Daly performed in a Monaco GP support race. It was 1979 and I was in Monaco to watch the Grand Prix. With drivers like Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost and the mighty turbocharged Renaults competing, you'd expect visions of an F1 contest to remain large in my memory. Yet the only image that's stuck with me through all these years was former F1 driver Daly doing a spectacular rollover in a BMW M1. Daly was competing in the Procar race, a series intended to help promote BMW's only mid-engine "supercar."
But speed was not the M1's only legacy. BMW had already attracted world-wide attention by asking famed artists to decorate its cars, thus in 1979 pop-art idol Andy Warhol used his brush and paints to turn the M1 into one of the fastest works of art in the world. The M1 was, and still is, BMW's only mid-engine "supercar," featuring a 3.5 liter inline-six delivering 277 hp, a top speed of 164.1 mph, and a 0-60 sprint of 5.6 seconds. With BMW about to celebrate the supercar's 30th anniversary at the Ville d'Este concours, you might want to click on this Classic Rallies link for a thorough backgrounder.
Note: I've since been corrected by a fellow race fan who reminded be that neither Senna nor Prost were racing F1 in 1979. Ah, well, memory fades with age. Still, I'm certain the Renaults were yellow with black trim!
See full article.
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Spectacular Race Footage From Monaco, 1935-36 - 29 August 2007
New BMW Was Launched Upside Down - 03 February 2008
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1955 Chevrolet Custom Cruiser Hardtop with Air Classic Car - For Sale - Online at select-motors.com | Sales Contact 1-800-716-9635 8AM-5PM CST -USA 1-318-640-4584 - Select Sales Showroom -
Muscle Cars Flex Their Muscles in Britain 
It seems the muscle car syndrome reaches far beyond our shores. In the UK (where big American cars make little sense on narrow lanes and crowded city streets) a number of cars have come out of private collections for the first 'Dodge Charger R/T featuring a rare red-on-red color scheme, powered by a modified 440 Magnum, while a 1969 Dodge Super Bee is believed to be the lowest-mileage and most-original surviving example of this budget muscle car. Mileage is just 28,000 and the car is complete with its original dealer order sheet.
Also offered are such gems as a 1967 Plymouth Barracuda notchback with a 383 c.i. V-8; a 1968 Chevelle adorned with flame graphics and an aluminum induction ram protruding through the hood; an Oldsmobile Cutlass 442; and some less powerful but equally desirable oldies such as a 1957 Thunderbird Convertible, a 1948 Cadillac fastback coupe and my personal favorite, a 1965 Corvair coupe with just 42,250 miles on the odometer. Muscle car bargain hunters put off by the absurd prices being paid for similar vehicles in US auctions will be amazed at the comparatively low estimates. You may want to consider a trip to the UK this summer where, with a little research, you could return with a much-desired collectible, having saved enough to pay for the vacation.
[Source: Nigel Matthew]
See full article.
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Beautiful Car Art, Mysterious Digs 
Ex-wives and girlfriends may disagree but I think of myself as a romantic with a taste for transportation art. Obviously paintings that combine beautiful cars (or trains, ships, aircraft) with romantic backgrounds have a special appeal. Thus I'm attracted to the artworks available from CAR ART, Inc. These folks represent some of the international greats in the automotive fine art field, including names like Ken Dallison, Jay Koka (both fellow Canadians), Yohe, Motta, and… well, the list goes on. If you find this painting of a 1950's moment appealing, as I did, click onto the CAR ART site but beware… it's an archeological dig to find your way around. Why is it that Web sites with the finest products often have the poorest graphic designs?
See full article.
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