This is as far as the Germans went with American car design in the 60ies. The Heckflosse, or fintail, models were, according to Mercedes never meant to reflect any American influences at all. The rear “wings” were merely so that drivers could see where the end of the car was when parking. They called it Peilstege and it’s a design that came back with the W140, albeit in a different shape; two antennas springing up at either corner of the rear.

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Thank you AndersK for the pictures.

Pontus Gårdinger, ex model, TV-host, glamour man about town. If you’re not Swedish, you certainly have no idea of who this guy is, but, and it’s a big and full-rounded but, it’s his car.

The Aston Martin V8 Zagato was produced in a mere 52 examples and Mr Gårdinger owns one of them. I have not been a fan of Mr Gårdinger’s. I have met him on a few occassions and I’ve found him to be rude and full of himself. This however, changes it all. If he is willing to spend such a substantial amount on such a controversial car, then I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt. He gets one more chance in my book, and he can thank Udo Zagato for that.

The V8 Zagato was meant as an eighties version of the spectacularly elegant DB4 Zagato. With a V8 and twin-choke Weber carburettors, the V8 Zagato was capable of speeds up to 300km/h.  Zagato made this beautiful body from aluminium as it molds easier and to keep the weight down.

Again I proclaim Stilo Zagato to be the the ultimate coach building studio, ahead of Pininfarina. Whereas Pininfarina can make beautiful cars, Zagato can make beautiful with a twist.

A jumble of different impressions hit the driver each morning when entering his Maserati. Will it start? Do I need to wash it? Mmm… plush, smooth leather. Is that fuel I smell?

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Dodge Charger, probably the ultimate American muscle car, here seen in all its glory. The sheer size of this thing makes you wonder if there is any place to park it but outside? It is nearly 2 metres wide and over 5.3 metres long, that is longer than a current Mercedes S-Klasse with long wheel base!

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The worst thing here isn’t the Cayenne, or the little Chanel neck cushions, or even the desperate little Versace band hanging from the mirror. It is the fact the the idiot driver has pre-secured the seatbelt so the chime won’t come on when she drives around town unfastened. Let’s hope she doesn’t exit the car through the front window any time soon.

I love Americans and their veiw on size. Everything is relative as Einstein would put it.

All of you thinking that the only automobiles produced behind the iron curtain were crap like the Trabant, think again. This genuinly communist Škoda Felicia is the height of what Czechoslovakia had to offer in the sixties. Not too shabby huh? Coupled with a reliable and sturdy construction, Škoda is the only brand to survive and prosper in the western world before and after the collapse of the iron curtain.

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With spring finally making its grand entrance in Stockholm, cars of all breeds come out to play with their owners. During the long winter and subsequent darkness, many a day/night have been spent over these wheels, polishing, buffing, switching, tooling, screwing, fixing, changing… you get where I’m going with this, and all of a sudden they’re ready for daylight. Great I say. Bring ‘em on.

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Every once in a while, I get lucky.  It’s hard not to notice the bright orange colour of this Monza, and as I stopped to get some shots, the owner shows up. He introduces himself, shakes my hand and proceeds to tell me about the car. Apparantly it’s his dad’s old wheels so it’s still here for sentimental reasons. The Monza is a work in progress and it’s the interior that’s currently being worked on. With a promise of editing out the non-finished parts he swings the door open for me. Very nice indeed.

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Beautiful colour and a true American workhorse. Unfortunately, this car will for me always be associated with 50ies era films and bullies standing on the flat bed hauling rocks and bottles on some hapless victim of their racism or predjudice.

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The Aston Martin Lagonda, a car so cool it could, if there were more of them, single handedly reverse global warning. A car so cool it makes George Clooney look like a spring chicken. A car so cool it makes Heidi Klum seem invisible.

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At almost 30 years of age, this Merc is in great shape. I’d like to see the person keeping a modern day C-Class coupe for 30 years and proudly parking it on the street. Actually, I’d like to see anyone purchasing the new CLC coupe as it’s as ugly as Piers Morgan. In 30 years time, the enviromentalists will probably have taken over so anyone even saying petrol out loud will end up having to grow soy beans in his livingroom.

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In 1975, this was just your average, run of the mill car. Times sure have changed, mostly for the better although I am sure a regular workday in 1975 was filled with more work, than one in 2009. Before the internet, mobile phones, Twitter, Facebook and other such conveniences, you were simply more in tune with your surroundings. It may sound contradictory, but the vital aspects of human connection is far more rewarding than any technology. The same goes for cars. Without modern luxuries that we now take for granted, the cars of yesteryear were more alive, the connection between man and machine were more sincere. To get the same kind of auto-sensation today, you’d have to drive a Ferrari Scuderia or Tata Nano.

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I love old Mercs but can’t really stand the new ones. Sure, I like the AMG versions as much as the next guy, but I think Mercedes has lost that vital part of itself that used to make Mercedes cars special. Now they’re just producing very good cars in a very efficient manner, but there is no lusting after the actual car anymore. People that buy a new Mercedes today aren’t really the very imaginative or creative types but rather the dull, safe and grey ones.

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Ok?

I don’t normally do this but I haven’t seen anything interesting in a while, so in order to plug JamesList once more, here goes:

This car is also featured on Mobile.de, however, it gets twice as many views on JamesList as it does on Mobile.de! Now take into account that Mobile.de get about 10 times the amount of visitors of JamesList. I credit the stylish magazine-esque look of JamesList for that.

If you want info on the car and more pictures, click on continue reading.

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Picture courtesy of AndersK

The car belongs to world famous freeskier Jon Olsson.

How I love people that dare to step outside normal boundaries but still manage to retain the style vital to their persona. A matte black Murcielago isn’t really what most people would consider appropriate but I’d say it’s a hell of a lot better than this crap. I have long been a proponent of matte paint jobs as they differ from the norm without retorting to flames and trucker motifs, like naked ladies or fairytale figures (he must really love Zorro).

Another aspect of matte paint is that you can’t get pigeonholed like you would in a Range Rover Sport that Project Khan style-raped (drug dealer) or the preposterous Porsche (idiot), although you need to be careful with just what you colour in matte, or else the whole system will turn faster than King Midas’ ugly cousin turned things into crap, instead of gold. A matte sports car (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Koenigsegg), fine but steer clear of tarting up a Rolls Royce, Maybach or Bentley as that’s the equivalent of hair plugs - tragic.

The fact that he has also mounted a ski box, matching the car’s colour goes to show that creativity takes you a long way. Let me hear the grandfather, a survivor of the Great Depression, say that skiing is an honest job. Didn’t think so. Sure, an RS6 could’ve probably gotten the job done as well, or better, than a Murcielago, but that’s beside the point, in that Jon Olsson’s trademark is doing what no one has done before, be it big air jumps or fitting ski boxes to Lambos. Yes, I said Lambos, plural. He had (or still has, not sure,) a Gallardo also fitted with a ski box, and the whole sha-bang was painted in snow camouflage.

Out of necessity comes ingenuity. I love how some engineers insist on using ancient technology and design to create the world’s fastest production car out of spite for modern engineering. It’s they way proud Americans do it.
Let’s start with the basic - the looks. They’re a complete ripoff from the Lambo Diablo, from 1990. Obviously it works. It uses a V8, albeit handbuilt, with pushrods (!) and twin turbos. Again, it works. And just so we’re clear; Shelby Super Cars (SSC) has nothing to do with the legendary Carroll Shelby that built Eleanor II. Finally, isn’t the logo of SSC dangerously similar to the one of Koenigsegg? What’s one family crest compared to another?

SSC claims the Ulimate Aero is not a kit car although it looks a little bit like one, and according to Jay Leno, it feels like a Le Mans racer.
The gentleman selling his record breaking SSC Ultimate Aero on eBay claims that other gentlemen, whom also own Veyrons, are impressed with the “much comfortable ride as well as giving the driver the complete feeling of being in total command of what they wanted the car to do.” Please allow me to now quote something I read at Top Gear: “while it is a fantastic peice of engineering, it’s about as comforting as a crack-head poking you in the eye with a .44 Magnum”.
I think that about sums it up.

The height of the Otto revolution [sic]!

The question is whether there will ever be built a family wagon as powerful as the Audi RS6? The latest leak from Porsche states that the Panamera Turbo will have about 500 hp and BMW’s M department lets us know that future M versions will be some kind of hybrid solutions. It is indeed probable that we’ll never again see a family car from a major manufacturer with an excess of 580 hp from a classic turbocharged Otto engine. The RS6 is a masterpiece and quite possibly the Grand Finale of an era with petrol driven muscle cars.

For a larger image, please click on it.

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The A6, perfect for … anything and anyone really.

For a larger image, please click on it.

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