Autoblog

Click above for more pics of the Bentley laptop

As a devout lover of both technology and expensive cars, there are few things more exciting to me than an exotic vehicle or new gadget. It's cool when new technologies are integrated into cars, too. Unfortunately, the car/technology marriage doesn't work so well when the paradigm is shifted in the other direction. Ferrari and Lamborghini have tried to push exotic-branded tech with limited success, and now the latest offering from Bentley and Ego Lifestyle takes a bolder step towards brand-whoring.

The new Bentley laptop attempts to class up the notebook computer business with rich leather and hand-sewn cross stitching that comes directly from the storied brand's seats. Further connection between notebook and luxury vehicle comes from the use of a Bentley door handle that has been converted for computer carrying duty, and the laptop is supposedly "hand-built" just like the cars. Besides looking like a cross between a Coach hand bag and a George Foreman Grille, it also has sub-standard hardware specs as well. Oh, and it'll cost you a cool £10,000 to live the life of a poseur, too. What a deal. All is not lost, however, as the rest of the luxury automobile universe can look to this monstrosity as a reminder to never again build a branded laptop. Somehow we doubt they'll heed the warning.


[Source: T3 via Engadget]

Top Gear has had its fair share of mishaps. There was that time the Stig took the Koenigsegg CCX on an off-track excursion, and of course Hammond's horrific crash in the jet dragster. The latest incident involves the one and only Nissan GT-R press car in Great Britain. Apparently it was involved in a fender bender in the Isle of Man after a photoshoot for Top Gear magazine. It seems that the GT-R wasn't damaged too badly, despite the pic of its naked arse above, and the same exact car ran up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed only a couple days later.

Check out our own just-published review of the 2009 Nissan GT-R. We managed to keep our press car in one piece.

[Source: CarTribe.co.uk]

Back in 2004 serial automotive entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin announced plans to collaborate with "rogue" Chinese automaker Chery Motors to bring new cars to the US market. Chery is referred to as "rogue" because the company never actually got permission from the Chinese government to get into the car business. Needless to say, the deal eventually fell apart when Chery decided to hook up first with Israel Corp and Quantum LLC for a different joint venture which has also yet to come to fruition.

Bricklin's company, Visionary Vehicles, which is now know as V Cars LLC, has now filed a lawsuit against Chery, Israel Corp, and Quantum LLC, et al. The suit is being filed under RICO statutes, typically used to go after mobsters, and V Cars is hoping to pursue Chery for the potential profits the company feels it could have made over the course of the deal. How much? $14 billion.

V Cars claims they provided Chery with business plans and ideas (along with $26 million in up front investments) which they then used for their own business after abandoning the deal. During a conference call today, Bricklin explained that he wants to show Chery and other Chinese companies that if they are going to do business with western companies they need to deal ethically and follow the rules. V Cars is also seeking injunctions to prevent Chery from selling any vehicles based on these plans in North America. The complete text of the suit that has been filed in Federal District Court in Detroit can be read here (Warning: PDF download).

[Source: V Cars]

Click above for high-res gallery of the Ford Focus SVT

All the current clamor for the Euro Focus is reminiscent of the happenings nearly a decade ago. Ford's Escort had quite run its course with a third and final design refreshing having hit the streets in 1997. The very next year, an actual small-car contender wearing the Blue Oval launched in Europe. It was capable, well turned out, and wore Ford's sharp New Edge sheetmetal. American customers took one look at the Escort ZX2, which was supposed to fill the shoes of the Escort GT and kick it against the GTI, Civic Si, and others, and decided that it just wouldn't do, decent performance or not. Much like the current U.S.-Focus versus Euro C1 Focus debate, buyers set their gaze across the Atlantic and decreed the grass greener than the warmed over Mazda B platform ZX2.

Click above for a high-res gallery of the VW Touareg North Sails

Volkswagen has treaded carefully down the path first blazed by the largely ignored Mercury Villager Nautica with a sailing-themed Touareg concept that has debuted at the famous Travemünder Woche, which we're told is the second largest annual race week for sailing in Germany. Teaming up with a company called North Sails, which actually sells boat sails unlike Mercury's branding partner, Nautica, which sells polo shirts, VW has added a new ground effects kit, a yellow rub strip, watery-blue reflectors, and 19-inch wheels. Stepping aboard, occupants will find a cabin decked out with teak flooring, LED lighting accents, white leather seats with aquamarine stitching, and an alcantara headliner. We think we've seen that window tint color on our beloved Matchbox SuperFast cars from the early 1980s, too. North Sails branding shows up in the form of logos on the B-pillar and stainless steel sill plates. The instrument panel gets a compass, and there's also a pair of binoculars in the center console so you can make sure that it's your team rounding the pin and raising the chute for the long run to the finish line. Once docked, there's even a North Sails bicycle so you can cruise the marina in style. Spiffy, but we doubt it'd float, unlike the original Beetle.


[Source: World Car Fans]

Click to view the Hemi-powered Rolls in hi-res

Remember back in the day when the engine output on a Rolls-Royce was listed as "adequate" or "more than adequate"? We don't know what the old guard would make of this, but adequate doesn't even come close.

This vintage Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow has had its "ordinary" 6.75-liter V8 swaped out for a 592 Hemi, complete with dual-stage nitrous system for a reported output of over 1,000 horsepower. The chrome engine popping out of the hood might not be the average Rolls buyer's cup of tea, as it detracts from the usually-dominant classic grille, but the leather-covered roll cage is pure class. And here we thought the modern day Phantom was powerful enough as is....

[Source: SouthFloridaStangs via CarScoop]

There's been a lot of head-scratching about the exact cause of the meteoric rise in price for a barrel of oil. Are speculators driving it to turn a quick buck? Is it the weakening value of the U.S. dollar? How about increaded worldwide demand? Chances are, all those forces are playing a part in the rise of fuel prices, and no single solution is likely to fix the problem.

Just as it was starting to look like prices would rise on a daily basis for the rest of eternity, the price of a barrel of oil dropped by $16 from Tuesday to Thursday. Economists point to the dismal economic and inflation news as a main factor for the drop. All we know is that ever since gas got more expensive, everything else started to follow suit. That leads us to spend less on things that we don't absolutely need, which probably isn't good for the economy.

With news of the large drop in the price of a barrel of crude, Wall Street got all excited and responded with a couple days of very positive gains in the stock market. Good news, right? Well, oil jumped by over $2 on Friday morning alone, so we'll have to see. Is the $4 per gallon nightmare almost over? Probably not, but we can hope.

[Source: Yahoo, Photo: Getty/Justin Sullivan]

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Foose Coupe.

With the complete and utter collapse of Unique Performance, we were wondering who would be taking over the sales and marketing for the Foose Coupe. Not to worry, because Superformance Distribution of Irvine, CA has picked up the reigns and recently delivered its first car through its Hillbank Motor Corporation dealership. This is just the fourth Foose Coupe produced, after the green and black prototypes at the 2006 SEMA show and the first publicly available car that was auctioned off at Barrett-Jackson's Palm Beach auction last year. The owner opted for the 392ci Hemi V8 pumping out around 500 horsepower, and a custom paint scheme featuring carbon fiber spears surrounded by flames hand painted by Chip Foose himself. Check out all the amazing details of this incredible coupe in our huge photo gallery below.

[Source: Superformance Distribution]

Audi is using American supercharging muscle to give its new 3.0 liter TFSI V6 the desired wallop. Eaton Corporation has been enlisted by Ingolstadt to supply positive-displacement, Roots-type blowers that will work with direct injection to deliver 290 horsepower and fat, responsive torque down low on the tach. Roots blowers aren't anything new, but Eaton has refined the design with its latest Twin Vortices Series units. The TVS units add a fourth lobe to the rotors, and crank up the twist to 160 degrees for maximizing the amount of atmosphere the blower can pump out. Jettisonning turbochargers may help packaging when the V6 is crammed into the S4's engine bay, as well as reducing complexity by simplifying intake plumbing. 310 lb/ft of torque at 2,500 rpm will put a grin on anyone's face, and we'd expect to see this engine proliferate into many Audi engine bays. Press Release after the jump.

[Source: Eaton]

The seller states he's not really sure what this car is worth. Here's our estimate: it's worth even less than a regular '89 Scirocco with 123,000 miles. Why? Because it's been molested into a Delorean imposter. Not just any Delorean, either, but the Back To The Future Delorean, which so many people feel compelled to recreate as a rolling manifestation of their overdeveloped love for a movie prop. Don't get us wrong, the BTTF DMC's masterful design has had astounding resonance with the public, becoming a real icon of its time. It's just that while the original design by Andrew Probert and Ron Cobb was something new, rehashing it endlessly for twenty-five years has gotten tiresome.

With that out of our system, let's go on to say that the seller has a sense of humor about this car. It was used to promote a primary school play, +1 for kickin' it with the kiddies, and there's obviously a lot of effort here. It's also heartwarming that the mods were perpetrated on a somewhat more common Scirocco, versus a rarer Delorean. The Flux capacitor and time circuits have not been tested, according to the seller, so caveat emptor. If it actually works, we'd love to go back and whisper in VW's ear to build more Sciroccos, and do likewise with Johnny Z, too. Bids currently stand at £156 with the reserve not met, so you're not yet OUTATIME. Thanks for the tip, Tim!


[Source: eBay]