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New Class The New Class (German: Neue Klasse) was a line of compact sedans and coupes starting with the 1962 1500 and continuing through the last 2002s in 1977.

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Finally, Speed Matches Style By Nate Martinez In the decade or so it's been on the market, the Audi TT has become world renowned for its avant garde style, but it's never ranked high as a true sports car.

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Silverline Chevrolet Cruze will be factory backed in the 2010 BTCC. This year, the BTCC is going to be hotting up, with the Chevrolet Cruze coming in as a manufacturer backed team!

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Mazda Engine SpecificationsE5 TURBO Type 1490cc EFI OHC 8-valve 4-cyl Power 86kW @ 5800rpm Torque 162Nm @ 3500rpm Gearboxes FWD 5sp Source 83-84 Familia XGR turbo (fits earlier Laser and 323) B6 Type 1597cc EFI DOHC 16-valve 4-cycle

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The ‘Ice Speed Record’ model doesn’t fail to impress with its interior features as well: a carbon fiber with red weave high-gloss finishing and the most exquisite leather and Alcantara cabin components. The Supersports Continental Convertible ISR, which comes in three colors, has an estimated priced of £189,300 ($ 309,022 USD) and available at authorized Bentley automobile dealerships.

Senin, 27 Mei 2013

Repost: 2010 Crown Victoria Concept

One of my sillier chops from the past, this Crown Victoria concept was chopped in 2008 I believe. I worked in lower resolution then, hence the pixelation. I based this large, rear wheel-drive 6-passenger Ford sedan on a photo of an S-Class Mercedes, one of the few contemporary sedans with the correct rwd proportions built-in. I polished the front doors in a nod to professional pursuit vehicles nationwide and also indented the hood and trunk to catch the light in a way that would mimic Ford's classic racing stripes. Uplevel "civilian" versions would have a blanked out C-pillar, a la the classic "Galaxy" roofline, but fleet cars would use that very 1990s Crown Vic "sixth" window. Lastly, I'll just say that this was chopped way before the current Taurus hit the streets and it picked up my chromed trunk bar with the Ford oval almost 100%. I, of course, had based mine on the late '60s Torinos which had sort of similar trim pieces. My front end treatment used modified Cadillac headlights for a more vertical appearance, a nod to the '65-'67 large Fords and their stacked vertical headlights.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone, a day to remember all that have served and sacrificed for our country, and personally, happy birthday to me today, lol. (And a happy birthday to Clay, a longtime reader and contributor to those early car forums where I began chopping photos and posting them.)

Selasa, 14 Mei 2013

Cruze Diesel Driven 900 Miles At 57.7 Average MPG



General Motors has posted a video showing yet another potential advantage offered by the pending 2013 Chevrolet Cruze turbo diesel over the Volkswagen Jetta TDI.

At least that’s the hope, because the competitive advantages appear to possibly be mixed with disadvantages as well, such as a starting price higher by $730, and city mpg lower by 3 mpg. But the Cruze diesel is well equipped at that price, promises more power, highway mileage of 46 vs 42 for the Jetta TDI, and on that note, GM engineer Tessa Baughman says she achieved an 800 and 900 mile run, each on a single tank. She did this, she says, while avoiding other hyper mileage techniques with the only concession to maximizing fuel economy being that she drove 5 mph below the posted limit.

With a fuel tank capacity of 15.6 gallons for the Cruze diesel, this equates to a highway figure of 51.28 and 57.69 mpg respectively. As a point of comparison, the record set with a manual-transmission 2013 VW Passat TDI rated at 43 mpg highway was an astonishing 84.1 mpg over 1,626 mpg. However this was set by expert hyper mileage instructors, John and Helen Taylor, and in this case, the boilerplate caveat “your mileage may vary” applies doubly. The take home message with the Cruze Diesel is it too can substantially beat its highway numbers, so, is it thus possible it can beat its city mpg number and close the gap between it and the VW as well?

The Cruze diesel starts at $ $24,885 plus $810 destination charge. It is available only with automatic transmission. Volkwagen offers a manual for $23,055 plus $795 destination or automatic for $24,155 plus destination charges. The EPA mileage per gallon estimates for the Cruze Diesel are 27 city, 46 highway, 33 combined. For the Jetta TDI, it’s 32 city, 42 highway, 33 combined. This said, options can easily make either car overlap each other, and GM says for the starting price, its Cruze Diesel is a comparatively solid value as equipped.

Without a doubt, VW has established a fan base for its Jetta TDI, which leads the small but growing clean diesel car market. The Chevrolet, GM points out, has a track record too, however. It was launched in other markets in 2010, and 33,000 units have been sold so far.
The gas variants of the Cruze furthermore have proven to be a top seller for GM, even usurping once stalwarts such as the Honda Civic. So, if the Cruze diesel, engineered with help from Germans to give all comers a run for their money is as good as promised, GM does stand to begin eroding VW’s market.

Working against them all is diesel remains more expensive than gasoline, making the premium each vehicle costs over gas equivalents a real exercise in number crunching. In their favor also, diesels can operate at lower rpms, potentially can last longer for those who keep their cars till the wheels fall off, and their power characteristics are excellent also.

The Cruze is said to offer performance like a V6 with highway mileage only 2 mpg less than the Toyota Prius Liftback, and with potential to match the Prius Liftback’s mileage and be much faster when desired. Of course, The Prius’ 51 mpg city and 50 mpg combined figures solidly trounce the Cruze diesel’s 27 mpg and 33 mpg respectively, but the Toyota is an altogether different technology that lends itself to excellent city figures. We could go on and on with point and counterpoint, but the addition of a new contender, whether it sells well, or only moderately, can only be seen as a step in the right direction. Rome was not built in a day, and neither will a changeover be to more fuel-efficient transportation.

Honda’s Civic Tops All Safety Ratings



The new 2013 Honda Civic Sedan has received the highest possible overall safety ratings from both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

This is good news for a car that is known to be one of the most popular small car among individual buyers. The 2013 Civic Sedan recently received the top 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score in the NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), and the highest possible rating of Top Safety Pick+ from the IIHS, including a top score of Good in the new small overlap frontal collision test.

Honda said it leads all automakers with every one of its tested model year 2013 vehicles earning a Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ rating from the IIHS. The 2013 Honda Civic Sedan and Coupe are the first and only small cars to earn the IIHS’ highest safety rating of Top Safety Pick, and the NCAP 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score for the Civic Sedan further separates Civic from the competition in safety ratings performance.

The 2013 Accord also earned these high safety ratings in the midsize segment. “Car shoppers cannot find a small car with higher overall safety ratings than the 2013 Honda Civic,” said Art St. Cyr, vice president of product planning and logistics at American Honda. “Safety ratings leadership across product lines is a fundamental part of not only our strategic business plan, but also our philosophy as a company.”

The Civic Sedan, which Honda said was significantly re-engineered for 2013, is equipped with Honda’s next generation Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure, which contributes to make Civic the first small car to earn a Top Safety Pick+ crash safety rating, and the first to earn the highest rating of GOOD in the IIHS’ new small overlap frontal crash test (sometimes called a ‘narrow offset’ test).

This aggressive test is designed to simulate what happens when the front corner of a vehicle collides with another vehicle or an object such as a tree or utility pole at high speed. Honda said the reinforced ACE body structure found on the 2013 Civic further enhances frontal crash energy through a wider range of these offset and oblique collision scenarios.

Additional standard safety equipment on all Civic models include Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) with traction control; an Anti-lock Braking System (ABS); side curtain airbags; dual-stage, multiple-threshold front airbags; and driver and front passenger side airbags.

Senin, 13 Mei 2013

Repost: 2014 Mustang?

One of my most widely-read, downloaded and reposted around the Web is this 2014 Mustang I created from the Ford Evos concept car. I first posted this rendering in September of 2011. I mentioned at the time that I felt the wheelbase was a little too long aft of the door. I thought I might go back and do a second one tightening up that space, but haven't gotten around to it yet! Interestingly I find the new Corvette Stingray to be too long aft of its doors, too. Maybe it's my eyes!

Just last week I was asked for permission for a website to run this Mustang. Sometimes you have no idea what types of "life" your work will lead once you've published it on the web!

Jumat, 03 Mei 2013

2005 - 2011 Porsche 911 RS1 Street by LOMA

porsche 911 rs1 street by loma picture
LOMA is best known for its work on the C6 Corvettes, but recently the German company has decided to turn its sights on Porsche. Because of the company’s location, all of the parts in the kit are made in Germany using carbon fiber, which is something a Porsche owner will prefer.
The 911 GT3 RSR is one of the most awesome Porsches ever built, but it’s not built to handle daily driving nor is it priced for the average Porsche buyer. To help satisfy your urge to own one, LOMA decided to make a kit to allow for you to turn your 997 into an RSR.
The 911 retains the stock engine that produces at least 325 horsepower, but LOMA offers a sports exhaust system to give the car more of a racecar soundtrack. The suspension and brakes also stay the same as the stock car, so the car doesn’t ride any lower than stock unless you decide to lower the car yourself.

2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Indianapolis 500 Pace Car

chevrolet corvette stingray indianapolis 500 pace car picture
Chevrolet Corvette served as an Indianapolis 500 pace car for the first time back in 1978 and Chevrolet has sent a total of 11 models to pace "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing." The 2013 model year will be the 12th time a Corvette model will pace Indianapolis, and as rumored two days ago, it will be the new Corvette Stingray.
The model will be equipped with the track-capable Z51 package, which adds a limited-slip differential for reduced under-steer while cornering, improved aerodynamics and ride tweaks to help it handle corners more effectively. The Stingray Pace Car is painted in a Laguna Blue Tintcoat exterior combined with official Indianapolis 500 graphics on the doors.
The technology features and powertrain will be identical to the standard version, except that the Pace Car will be equipped with track-mandated safety features and strobe lights.

Kamis, 02 Mei 2013

2015 Jaguar F-Type Coupe Revealed in Patent Drawings

Jaguar announced its intentions to release a coupe version of the F-Type once the roadster version hit the market. Until now, however, the car has never been spotted testing anywhere around the world, so we had to just trust Jaguar’s word.
Today, we can add some substance to Jag’s claim, as leaked patent drawings of the F-Type Coupe have made their way onto the Internet and they reveal the final design of the sports coupe. Not that it’s very hard to imagine how an F-Type Coupe would look like, since you are essentially slapping a fixed roof on top of the F-Type Roadster. Reports point toward everything else being borrowed from the roadster version, including the exterior look and the engine lineup.
The F-Type Coupe will arrive on the market sometime in 2014 and will be followed by a more powerful R version. A Sport Brake version has also been rumored, but we doubt we are ever going to see it.

Rabu, 01 Mei 2013

21st Century Torino GT Sportsroof?

This reborn Ford Torino GT Sportsroof was chopped a few years ago, but had been posted only over at my other blog. I'm reposting some of those earlier pieces that never made it over here until I can carve some time out to finish new chops. In addition to being swamped with book projects I recently had a 16GB thumbdrive erase itself, losing my "Chops Start" folder with perhaps half  dozen new cars in various stages. Such is the electronic world!

This modern throwback coupe was created from a 4-5 door Tesla sedan if I remember correctly. I placed some of the German Alps behind it. I was born in Stuttgart in the Black Forest and at the time my Dad had his pink-and-black '56 Fairlane Sunliner shipped over there. I grew up with stories of how his Thunderbird-Special 312 V8's exhaust echoed through the Alpine passes and tunnels as he drove.

I think a 21st century Torino could once again be positioned as a powerful rear-wheel drive larger brother to the Mustang. I'd envision a 6-8 inch stretch in the 'Stang's wheelbase for a larger rear seat with added/upgraded luxuries.