We all know about the legendary E9 3.0 CSL Batmobile. We even know about the E28 “Batmobile” on the European touring car racing circuit. But how about… the E12?!
We know little else about this, though we think it’s based on the E12 M535i. Any tips from our knowledgeable readers?
..and for that we wouldn’t blame you. But the thing is so damn beautiful that we feel compelled to run these pics, which are the best we’ve seen of the car yet.
The designers (and from what we gather, the engineers) got it so right with this one. New or old, it’s very rare that we get this excited about a car we’ll never come anywhere close to even sniffing in this lifetime. But the Stratus Redux has managed to do exactly that.
And there may be more to come.
…the issue of production is something still being discussed long and hard with Pininfarina. The bottom line is that if enough potential customers show up cash-in-fist and ready to buy, we’re likely to see a limited series of New Stratos, probably fewer than a hundred (probably way fewer). Think of the New Stratos as a Bugatti Veyron for people who prefer their exclusive machinery with a rather angrier attitude. Pricing will be in the range of $650,000.
Roger Moore gets to drive all the nicest damn cars onscreen. And look like a lothario, too. In 1970’s “The Man Who Haunted Himself”, the camera lingers over the Islero lovingly – almost salaciously – at every opportunity. And we can’t say we blame the director.
The car that Roger Moore drives when he appears as Pelham’s doppelganger is a Lamborghini Islero S, and it features prominently throughout the movie, most notably in the car chase that forms the climax of the story. The make and model of car is not named in the script, leaving viewers for the most part mystified as it was such a rare model. Lamborghini only built 100 examples of this ‘S’ model, and this is one of only 2 that went to the UK. The actual car from the film (chassis #6432) has been restored to perfection and is still in the UK in private ownership (it was also made news recently by being placed on the market by its owner— Ed.). The Islero is regarded by many as one of the best cars Lamborghini ever built, and indeed was the favourite of Feruccio himself. The simplicity and purity of the design exudes power and style without being overly flamboyant (source).
Images via
We tried to exclude some of the more common examples you may have already seen kicking around the web (a couple of exceptions notwithstanding), so hopefully many of these will be fresh.
Still doesn’t make the prospect of actually seeing one in your rear-view mirror any more exciting, though.
If you had ever told us when we were younger that we would one day find ourselves admiring a Citroën Traction Avant, we might just have had to politely laugh at what would have then been an unimaginable – bordering on nonsensical – idea. Yet here we are, all these years later, doing exactly that. Funny how things change.
We know we’ve said in the past that we don’t really love 2002 Tourings. But with examples like the following continuing to turn up, it may be time to finally change our tune. Perhaps even more than the earlier two examples that were featured, we can dig this deceptively simple black number… a lot.
via m2bmw.com (appropriately enough)
James May expounds – in his inimitable way – on a couple of classics (one belonging to him), and on classic car ownership in general. Though the message is fundamentally sound (cost of entry ≠ cost of ownership), it probably also fearmongers a little more than is necessary— not all classics are going to cost as much as a Bentley to keep on the road.
But then again, that (the fearmongering) is why it’s television.
So, the car itself is not necessarily anything to write home about (oh sure, it’s plenty nice, but we’d bet its raison d’être is mainly to be yet another plaything for the bored and wealthy to add to the stable (not unlike, say, the 911 Sport Classic)), but it’s still a lovely motor, and in particular we enjoy the high-key black-and-white treatment it’s been given in these photographs. Which is why we are displaying them here.
The 8C Competizione (production: 500 units) is said to be an homage to the 6C 2500 Competizione driven to victory in the 1950 Targa Florio by the team of Augusto Zanardi and none other than El Maestro himself, the legendary Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio.
It’s awfully hard to justify an 8C when a 458 Italia can be had for less, but judged solely on looks (since that’s pretty much all we have to go by), we know which one we’d rather take (although as an aside, a trustworty source informs us that the 458 acquits itself in stunning fashion when witnessed in the metal— which we also don’t doubt).
Motoring Con Brio 