Archive for April, 2009
Alfa Sprint Speciale on Ebay
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
Sprint Speciales are great looking variants of the Giulietta that are only marginally more expensive than the more normal looking Sprint Veloce version. Their looks are inspired by the outlandish BAT cars and the Disco Volante, and this example is available on EBay with a starting bid of $35,000 and no reserve. All Sprint Speciales are equipped with the Veloce specification engine, which included higher compression, hotter cams, and twin Weber carburetors. The seller of this car is reassuringly nitpicky, and the car looks like a nice usable car on the whole.
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Ebay find: Mmmmmm forbidden fruit…Euro 3.8 liter 6-speed E34 M5
Friday, April 17th, 2009
Yet another case of the Europeans getting the good stuff while we didn’t in this M5 on EBay in New York. The E34 M5 was the last M car powered by BMW’s legendary racing derived 24-valve DOHC Motorsport inline-6. 1993 was the last year they were sold in the United States, fitted with the 3.6 liter version of the engine and a 5-speed transmission. In Europe, they had a 3.8 liter variant of the engine, and in later versions, a host of other cool stuff that US cars never got, like the 6-speed transmission, EDC (electronic damping control, part of the Nurburgring suspension package), 18″ M parallel wheels, (more…)
The Motoring Enthusiast on Twitter
Friday, April 17th, 2009
Though we don’t know really exactly how to use Twitter, we’re going to give it a shot. Follow us on Twitter with user name Motoring Enthusiast or https://twitter.com/motenth
Why we like old cars, reason #64A
Friday, April 17th, 2009
My friend borrowed an old Porsche 911 (old enough to have manually controlled cable actuated heater boxes) the other day and took his girlfriend out to dinner. She complained about how hard it rode, how low it was, and how noisy it was (this one has no soundproofing on the rear firewall and SSI’s with a dual outlet muffler). As you might guess, she’s not a car person.
After dinner, it was cold, so to turn on the heat, he simply pulled up the two levers between the seats to divert the flow of warmed air from the heat exchangers into the cabin. Immediately, their feet were warmed. (more…)
Video: Who said new cars don’t sound good?
Friday, April 17th, 2009
I always rag on new cars because they don’t sound as good as old ones. While induction noise from carburetors is not something you’re likely to hear in a new car, they still can be made to sound pretty awesome. Of course it helps that this RS4 has an Italian-made Tubi Rumore (“noise” in Italian) exhaust system. There’s always something cool about the V8 sound in a brutish sort of way. European cars aren’t usually supposed to sound like this but here’s a case where you can have your cake and eat it too. There were moments that made me think of Bullitt in this one. Turn up the volume!
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Sighted on Ebay: RSR IROC Replica
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
Here’s an interesting and well-done find from EBay. Visually it reads as an IROC car, right down to the cool period decals (though I couldn’t help but notice that the TAG Heuer decal should be a Heuer one since it didn’t become TAG Heuer until 1984), and early whale tail, but it’s a Turbo. The car is built on a very early Turbo (1976), which is a bit of a pity since those cars are rare, nice unmolested ones are hard to find, and they will probably be worth good money some day.
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