We tackled the third leg of the Targa Rally today which took everyone from Los Angeles to Santa Barbra. A great pack of cars and a timed/mile route lead to a great event. Sadly, our car broke down at the 50 mile mark of a 400 mile day trip like our Gumball 3000 trip earlier this year. We crammed our video guy in another car so he could Targa Scum it and produce us some great video. Our photographer stayed with me at Mt. Frazier as we waited 4 hours for Cadillac to come rescue us and get us in a loaner. It was of course an adventure so check out our trip inside.
Earlier we posted some of our favorite garages from the Design Driver Maserati and explained the contest. The contest is now over and they have selected a great West Los Angeles home with a unique garage designed overlooking Los Angeles. Holger Schubert the winner designed the garage with two main objectives, “to create a pure and restrained minimalist environment that allows one to focus on the car as a piece of art and to create the ultimate experience for the driver to arrive at home.”
The garage is an addition to a 1953 ranch style home in the hills of Los Angeles. Access to the garage comes from a driveway seperate of the main entrance of the home. This 1,200 square foot space has place for the Maserati, plasma television, couch, built in wall book shelve, storage, a small kitchen, and to top it off a library.
To find out more about the Winning Garage watch this video:
Somehow a Ferrari F-430 wound up at the bottom of a lake…..the story has it that the owner of the F-430 was up at Lake Oakdale and swerved to avoid hitting a boy riding a bicycle. For some reason that we don’t know the car sat at the bottom of the lake for one week, ouch!
While we didn’t attend the Targa Trophy 2009 run we did find this on a friends Facebook page today. In the middle of the run the car was engulfed with flames and burnt to a crisp. Out in the canyon they couldn’t get a quick response team to the fire and the Ferrari F-430 was a right off from what we were told. The driver was not the owner of the car from the information we have heard on top of everything else. This isn’t as heart wrenching since we recently saw that Ferrari Enzo that burst into flames but it still is a swift kick of reality in such a gorgeous color as well.
A true Lamborghini fan probably has to pick his jaw up off the ground right now but these black and white stills are just breath taking of the Lamborghini factory from the 1960’s. The car above is a Lamborghini Miura is the car above was the car that set the mid-engine layout standard for future Italian machines. Only 764 were built in history from the Lamborghini factory. You can enjoy more photos over at Jalopnik who put together this whole piece.
Source: http://jalopnik.com/5306871/lamborghini-the-early-years-an-exclusive-gallery/gallery/
Maserati has put out a hunt for the best design driven garages out there today. Who has the most exciting architecture for their machines is the question Maserati wanted the end all answer to. Starting on March 16th they took applications for the best garage and posted new entries each week. The winner is going to be picked very soon so make sure you thumb through them and see what you like. I posted my favorite three by far above here.
Well I know this image hurts you on the inside (unless your a McLaren fan) but something is alluring about exotics on fire. Recently we posted the Lamborghini BBQ which was started by two kids but this looks like a much more serious issue. Not much information was posted with this picture but one thing we do know is no one will be driving this Ferrari anytime soon.
The Mercedes Benz E-Guard is the new breed of luxury car/tank hybrid from Mercedes. Now even owners of the E-Class can be safe with these upgrades to it’s luxury vehicle. The body armor is attached to the chassis and the windows have been swapped for bulletproof polycarbonate ones. Run flat 17 inch tires are a must with the package and a blast-proof floor comes into play to protect occupants.
The car Mercedes says is virtually not distinguishable from a stock E-class which comes in handy to people needing these in some not so safe nations that are prone to kidnappings and car theft. All that extra weight forced Mercedes to add a special Level II air suspension. This package is available on the E350, E500, and E350 CDI. Good luck and they safe you cannot put a price on safety so you mine as well upgrade your new E-class just in case…….right?
What else do you expect to find in the United Arab Eremites? The valet stand at the UAE Mall famous for an indoor ski lodge hosted this gold Mercedes C63 AMG the other day. This custom blue Bugatti Veyron was spotted inside the mall recently in a custom french racing blue that had us all going nuts. To get this C63 in gold they probably spent around the price of the whole car or close to it but somehow couldn’t splurge for wheels!?
The Italians think they built and engineered the natural aspirated V12 Ferrari 550 Maranello to perfection but of course the Japanese disagree. Garage Saurus has put it’s own JDM flare on the V12 Ferrari and done it right. They put on a twin turbo setup with a front mount intercooler. The body is mostly converted to carbon (hood,bumper,doors). The back of the 550 has integrated rear oil coolers inside the bumper sitting directly under the diffusers. The car is pushing over 1,000hp and flies around the racetrack!
