autophilia

[autophilia]

Murcielago speaks.

My Father and I were in s.e. Portland traffic when we passed a bright yellow Lamborghini Murcielago on a side street waiting to turn.  With our windows down we saw  and heard a missing sleeves jean jacket wearing beer punk (for lack of a better term) with a Pabst Blue Ribbon hat on exclaiming outloud:

"Look at this fucking idiot driving a fucking Lamborghini in Portland!"

Without missing a beat, my normally very reserved Father looks out the window and says to him very matter of fact:

"You would too if you could afford it."

The beer punker had no response, and just shuffled on silently.  After a we had shuffled forward a few more car lengths in the slow moving traffic, I started to laugh. 

"What?  I would too if I could afford it!" My Father said in an almost defensive tone.

At that moment we were treated to the sound of the Murcielago's V12 revving into an open lane and accelerating away from the congestion, seemingly adding its own final statement to our conversation and clarifying without a doubt what my Father had first stated.

If we could, we most certainly would.

[autophilia]

My remix of Camo & Krooked’s track “Hot Pursuit”.  What can I say a Supercharger at 120 mph makes a wonderful sound. 

 Remix Featuring: “Resurrect-R” 

 Mastering by Asher Fulero (http://soundcloud.com/halorefuser).

If you dig it take a moment to vote for another remix of mine here: http://tinyurl.com/7x37ao9

[autophilia]

1957 BMW 507

[autophilia]

[autophilia]

[autophilia]

Hennessey GTR600 Nissan GTR

The Hennessey GTR600, for when the Nissan GTR just isn't burly enough on its own.  This one is a real Monster.

Specs and extraneous info: http://www.hennesseyperformance.com/gtr600.html

[autophilia]

The Morgan +4

The Immortal Morgan +4. Evidence that when you get it right, there is rarely need for improvement.

[autophilia]

The Lotus Eleven

The Lotus Eleven, Designed by Colin Chapman, Body Designed by Frank Costin

[autophilia]

[autophilia]

rozanes:

ReCraft Your ride: Bertone Spicup concept at BMW Museum

Bertone unveiled this BMW Spicup concept at the 1969 Geneva Motor Show. But unlike some of today’s concept cars, this one was actually made to be driven, taking its chassis from a BMW 2000 CS, complete with its 2.5-liter inline-six engine. Sometime after the show, it was acquired by a Dutch individual who drove it regularly, but then the car disappeared into obscurity for a couple of decades. Now restored to concours condition, the Spicup concept has been showcased at Villa d’Este and at the BMW Museum in Munich. That’s where Bonhams just auctioned it off at its POWER by BMW event, where it sold for a high bid of €460,000 (~$600k).

Via AutoBlog ————————————————————————————————— Displayed on Recraft | Facebook | Twitter —————————————————————————————————

[autophilia]

coolcareer:

BMW M1 Homage, M1 Original and M1 Race Car

[autophilia]

itcars:

BMW ‘Spicup’

(Image by julien.mahiels)

[autophilia]

1981 BMW E26 M1

In 1977 Porsche's 935s dominated Group 4 Racing and BMW wanted to create a machine to humble their neighbors from Stuttgart and thus the M1 project was underway.  The visual inspiration had debuted 5 years earlier at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics in the breathtaking form of Paul Braq's gull-winged E25 Turbo concept.  Legendary designer Giorgetto Giugiaro was tasked with transforming Braq's Turbo concept into a production ready form while maintaining a head turning appeal.  The design blended elements of Braq's concept and the architecturally influenced lines of the "folded paper" design style for which Giugiaro was known.

With the body design being expertly handled by Giugiaro and his firm Ital Design.  A partnership was established with Lamborghini to handle overall development, testing and final assembly of the M1.  The project was off to a promising start with Lamborghini testing prototypes on a collaboratively designed chassis.  However a major hurdle arose as the Italian marque went into insolvency with only six prototypes having been produced.

BMW wouldn't let the project die that easily.  Many plans were considered including the possibility of buying Lamborghini in its entirety, but like many others ideas that possibility never saw the light of day.  Ultimately a plan was agreed upon and production resumed.  Ital Design attached the fiberglass body provided by TIR to a welded tubular spaceframe chassis from Marchesi, while final assembly was contracted to German coachbuilder Baur (perhaps best known for their production work on the Porsche 959).

Unfortunately it was still not smooth sailing for the M1.  Weight had become an issue and the M1 was a bit on the bulky side.  Engineers needed to get the M1 to a lean 2211 lbs to be truly competitive in Group 4 and they implemented weight saving measures such as minimal interior trim and perspex side windows.  Even with the weight savings the M1 weighed in at around 2688 lbs, to heavy to be a serious threat in Group 4.  Changes to homologation rules also would prevent the M1 from qualifying to compete in Group 5 races leaving the E26 without an event to call its own.

Not willing to let this Bavarian masterpiece fade to history without proving its race worthiness BMW decided to create the BMW Procar Championship.  A fleet of identical M1's with different teams all competing against each other.  It would be the first one-make Formula 1 support series and set the trend for many other Procar series to follow.  The Championship served as an entry for BMW to the world of Formula 1 to which the marque would contribute to and benefit from for many years to follow.

At the end of the day the BMW E26 M1's production spanned from 1978 to 1981 with only 453 produced making it one of BMW's rarest models and arguably one of its most beautiful. An elite supercar oft forgotten by its own kind but with performance figures that would kindly remind the forgetful that it came to party and to party in style. 

The M1 above is currently owned by Tom Anderson of Carrera Motors in Bend Oregon(A little more info here: http://www.carreramotors.com/carrera_motors_our_story). Tom is generous enough to bring this rare car out to many automotive events in the Pacific Northwest and it is always a thrill to see it in person.  These photos are from the 2011 Portland Historic Races.

[autophilia]

1965 Porsche 904-6 "Carrera GTS Coupe"

Ferdinand "Butzi" Alexander Porsche is perhaps best known for his enduring design work of the Porsche 911.  However his design talents extend far beyond the automotive world and you can find his elegant lines and shapes gracing hard drives, sun glasses, watches, professional kitchen knives, washing machines and even a Bösendorfer grand piano.  

The development team for the Carrera GTS Coupe was under extreme pressure to meet homologation deadlines in order to allow the Coupe to be raced.  The upside of these time constraints meant that there was no time for changes or a restyling of Ferdinand's design leaving the end product true to the original design as well as making it Ferdinand's favorite design for Porsche.  With lines that faintly echo Porche's 718 Coupe (as well as borrowing its windshield) the Carrera GTS Coupe stands 41.9 inches tall, 161 inches long and 60.6 inches at its widest point.  The sleek body was manufactured by aircraft company Heinkel and is a glass-reinforced resin.

This 1965 Porsche 904-6 contains a two liter six cylinder engine.  It is one of six Prototype coupes built to be Factory Werkes racers for Porsche AG and one of the 4 that survive today.  It has a true racing pedigree including finishing third at the Grand Prix of Solitude at Stuttgart with Herbert Linge at the wheel, second at the Course de Cote in France and ninth at the 1000 km of Nurburgring driven by Gerhardt Mitter as well as competing and finishing in many other legendary races.  This 904-6 underwent a restoration by Kevin Jeanette at Gunnar Racing in 1986 and still competes in vintage / historic racing events today.

These photos are from the 2011 Portland Historic Races.