Show Coverage /// Boardwalk Ferrari Autumn Concours, Plano, TX
Looks like a great turn out! Enjoy the pics...
Looks like a great turn out! Enjoy the pics...
This just in from our friends at Zero Motorcycles, where they’re celebrating three milestones in the development of the company’s electric motorcycles. The Zero S and DS two-wheelers have passed U.S. and Canadian safety standards and attained a “certificate of conformity” from the Environmental Protection Agency.
What’s this mean for the rest of us? Anyone who forks over the $9,950 to buy a Zero S street bike or Zero DS dual sport qualifies for a 10 percent federal tax credit and a state sales tax credit. It also means owners can trust the bikes are rock-solid.
Finally, after what seems like years of rumor, innuendo, spy shots and speculation, Honda has unleashed the goods on its new 2010 VFR 1200F, and it's pretty much what we've been expecting. Buried beneath the dual-pane bodywork and vacuum-molded cast aluminum chassis lies a 1,237 cc V4 engine that reportedly puts out 172 hp at 10,000 RPM and 95 lb-ft of torque at a high 8,750 RPM.
A 43-millimeter upside-down fork is fitted up front and adjustable for preload, while a single shock featuring Honda's Pro-Link system and equipped with 25 positions of preload is mounted out back. With a claimed weight of nearly 600 pounds, the new VFR is certainly no lightweight, and the highly anticipated dual-clutch gearbox and cylinder deactivation technologies appear to be additional-cost options.
Woah.
Sydney, Australia-based Deus has become known for its back-to-basics, small-capacity customs that focus on delivering classic kick-start function over the metal-flake and chrome comic book form of mainstream customs popularized by such cultural luminaries as Jesse James or the Teutel family.
The humble W650 has been extensively modified with rebuilt front forks, a dinky headlight, huge handlebars, WM Racing alloy tank, a flat track seat unit, an OVER Racing 2-to-1 exhaust, an IKON rear shock, a custom speedo mount, drilled bevel cover, a filter pod conversion and a Richard Petty-inspired paint job. That doesn't sound like a lot, but the result is transformative. I went and sat on the bike yesterday and it feels really, really special. We'll be riding it in the coming weeks. If you dont know who/what Deus is... google it.
The Lexus LF-A supercar has been a long time coming and Toyota has finally confirmed (in an ambiguous press release) that the production version is headed to the Tokyo Motor Show next month. The LF-A (or LF-L) is a lock for production and rumors have the Japanese supercar going on sale in the UK as early as this month. Lending more credence to its imminent arrival: a new video of the LF-A leaving a gas station outside the Nurburgring.
Joining a pre-production camo-clad mule is a white LF-A cloaked in a minimal amount of detail obscuring taping, and as the near production version heads out slowly from the lot, the lucky driver quickly gets on the go pedal, with the rev-happy 550 hp V10 powerplant letting out a series of F1-style cries. It's definitely worth your time, especially if you've got the speakers to appreciate the sound of Toyota's first exotic powertrain. Make the jump to check out the video and Toyota's release.
Ford versus Chevy. To many red-blooded Americans, the battle lines are as clear as good versus evil or Rocky versus Ivan Drago. We're not taking sides here, but we will remark that its a tad bit surprising that so many remember the Shelby Cobra with such fervor without noting a few of the more interesting competitors powered by engines from the Bowtie brand... like Zora Arkus-Duntov's classic Corvette Grand Sports and the Cheetah. Right, the Cheetah.
As much as we love the aforementioned Cobra – which is to say a whole heck of a lot – allow us to go on record as saying that the Don Edmunds-designed, Bill Thomas-marketed 1964 Cheetah is one of the most beautiful shapes in the history of American automotive racing. Unfortunately, a fire at the factory assembling the Cheetah in 1965 ended the car's production after just 23 cars were built.
All was not lost. A company called Cheetah Continuation Turnkey Collectibles in Arizona is building a series of continuation cars authorized by Bill Thomas himself. Prices start at $88,500, which nets the buyer a space frame chassis with fully independent suspension, a 350 cubic-inch Chevy V8 with dual quads mated up to a Muncie M-20 four-speed transmission and a hand-laid fiberglass body built to the same specifications as the original car. Now... to pick a color.
Dreaming of getting your hands on Ferrari's upcoming 458 Italia? You'd better know what you're getting yourself into, and this is our first real indication. Stemming from a supposedly leaked price sheet, the new V8 supercar will start in Europe at €162,900, before any taxes are taken into account. At today's exchange rates, that figures to about $240,000 – around halfway between the price of the outgoing F430 and the 430 Scuderia.
The DeLorean Motor Company is a brand without a car and the Pontiac Solstice is a car without a brand. That leaves the company wondering: if John DeLorean were still alive, would he try to save Pontiac? Or one Pontiac?
"JZD always said that the best memories of his automotive career were at Pontiac, and that connection between JZD and Pontiac is probably one of the better known associations among car enthusiasts," said James Espey, Vice President of the DeLorean Motor Company.
The company has released the above drawings and acquired a Pontiac Solstice GXP Coupe for evaluation. DMC also says they're excited about the prospect of "putting several hundred people back to work" in Wilmington, though it's unclear at how much capital it would take to acquire the plant and the source of funding for such an endeavor.
