They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes, though, I wish the eye was that of Polyphemus. Do you know the story of Polyphemus? Better known as the ‘Cyclops’ from Homer’s great epic The Odyssey, the giant Polyphemus had it out for Odysseus and his men and was planning to eat them all. But Odysseus tricked him, getting him drunk and telling him that his name was “Nobody”. When Polyphemus passed out, Odysseus heated up a stake of wood and shoved it into Polyphemus’s remaining eye. The giant awoke, screaming “‘Nobody’ stabbed me!”, much to the amusement of his fellow giants who thought he was drunk and being tortured by the Gods. The story is apropos when considering the X6 for several reasons. First, though it’s a phrase often used when considering the X6, I believe it was Car and Driver who summarized the X6 as the answer to a question nobody was asking. Secondly, I bet you thought nobody could make the X6 uglier. But, you and I were both wrong as this custom X6 proves. In fact, this grotesque creation has me wishing Odysseus had stabbed me in the eyes:
Author: Carter
Bold. It’s a word not often associated with Alpina. In fact, if anything traditionally Alpinas have been anything but bold. Tasteful, certainly, but they seem to almost blend into the BMW lineup as if they were originally part of it. Indeed, today they are – offered through your local BMW dealership almost as a factory option like floor mats, you can get a monster Alpina tuned version of your car. But if bold is loosely defined as being striking or vivid, few Alpinas would really capture the attention of the general public as anything more than a normal production BMW. But the design of the E31 was bold with the wedge shape redefining production series BMWs. And this particular version of the E31 – the Alpina B12 5.7 – is pretty striking too, with giant wheels filling out the design nicely. The drivetrain of the B12 5.7 was pretty bold too, with a over 400 horsepower from a naturally aspirated V12. But it’s this singular example of the B12 that is perhaps the most bold. Painted Giallo, it’s arguably the most eye catching color to coat a E31, yet somehow suits it well with the black striping. Bold also is the strategy of trying to sell the car with only one photo and no description outside of a telephone number and some very basic details of the car. But perhaps the most bold thing about this E31 is the asking price, which despite the 90,000 miles on the clock is advertised at a stunning $221,000:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Alpina B12 5.7 Coupe on eBay
2 CommentsTo call the TireRack sponsored “One Lap of America” anything other than a grueling competition would be a disservice to the event. On par with some of the greatest endurance races in the world, the 7-day, 3,200 mile trek around the United States has an added twist – you have to drive your race car between stages. Now, that’s something that occurs in the World Rally Championship – but they cover far fewer miles and have pro teams, pit crews and major automotive manufacturers backing them up. To say that the One Lap is a amateur-only event would also be misleading, but it is far from a strictly professional series – and where else would you see a Honda Odyssey win at anything? Combining several different classes of cars, you get the spectrum from classic performance muscle cars through modern super GTs. The winner of class “SSGT2 SB” in 2014 was a Volkswagen GTi – one of a trio of cars prepared to dominate the event. When you consider that the cars that ranked above them were super GT royalty – Corvette ZR-1s, Viper SRT-10s, Boss 302s and a plethora of Nissan GT-Rs – the level of performance from the GTis is drawn into perspective. Now the builders are moving on, leaving these seriously potent track weapons available at a fraction of their build cost:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2009 Volkswagen GTi on eBay
Comments closedThe “Honorable Mention” post from last week seemed to be a popular choice, so I’m back this week with another selection of cars we didn’t get a chance to get to. We’ve got one from each major manufacturer this time around which makes for an interesting and diverse group. Which is the one that deserved a better look this time around?
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1984 Audi Quattro on eBay
7 CommentsThe word “melange” comes from the French word for a ‘group of diverse elements’. That’s not a sexy description, nor does it evoke images of some exotic race track or picturesque mountain range. However, I think it does sum up the S8 really well. It is a car which combines all-weather practicality, a healthy dose of sport, one of the best looking large sedan shapes ever penned, and of course it doesn’t hurt that it has 360 horsepower on tap to help motivate it. But you could also interpret the diverse elements as the building blocks of the S8 and its heavy incorporation of aluminum to keep weight down. Visually, the S8 looked like a massive car. But as just a tick over 4,000 lbs, it was no heavier in reality than the V8 quattro had been over a decade earlier despite the increased luxury, options, power and size. Diverse elements could also describe the colors of the U.S. bound S8 range, as nearly every color was unique to the specific model years the D2 was available. Some did carry over, but part of my joy in clicking on S8 links is to see just what shade the example appears in. Today’s is one of the more infrequently chosen 2001-only colors. Arguably, while the S8 is anything but beige, the color’s name – Melange Metallic – suits the multi-roll S8 well.