inside

November 2013

AutomobileFeatures
42
La DoLce caDiLLac
By Todd Lassa
The new CTS is like the German
competition, only more daring.

UL TIMATE fAnTAsIEs
fulfilling eight
of our most extravagant
automotive dreams

48
aLpine iDyLL
By Georg Kacher
Drive two of the most dramatic GT
cars ever made—the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta
and the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black
Series—through the Tyrolean Alps.
56 58
white heat mcLaren acroSS
By Andrew Yeadon america
Drive a Mercedes-Benz By Jamie Kitman
E350 cabriolet to a remote Drive from Los Angeles to
location for that one photo. New York City in a supercar.

74 78
i Drove an aLfa-Linc- in Search of the
buick-’vair-1100-ute! perfect po’ boy
By Ronald Ahrens & Rusty Blackwell By Ezra Dyer
Drive classic cars Drive an Aston Martin Rapide S
e-class: andrew Yeadon

across the auction block. to New Orleans for a sandwich.

88 97 98
it’S about time a fantaSy LiveD off-track with
By Todd Lassa By Robert Cumberford an arieL atom
Take Dad and his Mazda Go to Italy to become a car By Christopher Nelson
RX-7 to Road America. designer—like Tom Tjaarda did. Drive a race car on the road.

automobile (iSSN 0894-3583) November 2013, vol. 28, No. 8. published monthly by Source interlink media, llC., 261 madison ave., 6th Floor, New york, Ny 10016-2303. Copyright © 2013
by Source interlink magazines, llC. all rights reserved. periodicals postage paid at New york, Ny and at additional mailing ofces. SubSCriptioNS: u.S. and u.S. possessions $19.94 for
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4 Automobile | November 2013 Cover photography by Tom salT

British chic, Swiss excellence: Breitling for Bentley combines the best of both worlds. Style and performance.
Luxury and accomplishment. Class and audacity. Power and refinement. Perfectly epitomising this exceptional
world, the Bentley B06 chronograph houses a Manufacture Breitling calibre, chronometer-certified by the COSC
(Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute), the highest benchmark in terms of precision and reliability. It is
distinguished by its exclusive “30-second chronograph” system enabling extremely precise readings of the measured
times. A proud alliance between the grand art of British carmaking and the fine Swiss watchmaking tradition.
THE ESSENCE OF BRITAIN
Made in Switzerland by BREITLING

BENTLEY B06
inside
November 2013

Automobiledepartments
driven T u n er sPecIal
30 v-8 roaDSterS 38 factory five 818S
Carroll’s formula lives in the Shelby American The best Subaru WRX–powered car
Cobra CSX8000 and the Flyin’ Miata Habu V-8. you can build.
35 henneSSey hpe700 39 SupercharGeD Scion fr-S
twin turbo ferrari 458 DIY speed for the people’s sports car.
Redneck Ferrari.
40 aev jeep wranGLer jk350
36 ruf 3800S Off-road adventurer with V-8 power.
A logical engine swap for the Porsche Boxster.

36

ignition 20
upshift
12 newS 104 four SeaSonS
First spin behind the wheel of the wrap
BMW i8 plug-in-hybrid supercar, Weekends were made for the
what the Elmiraj concept portends Infiniti JX35.
for Cadillac’s S-class-fighter, Audi
tries a Quattro concept again, and 110 four SeaSonS
Mr. Cartoon’s cool graffiti-mobile. LoGbook
The BMW X1 finally comes to
22 by DeSiGn America—and to our fleet.
By Robert Cumberford
The Cadillac Elmiraj: big, attractive 112 coLLectibLe
in a showy way, and unmistakably cLaSSic
American. The 1966–77 Ford Bronco:
when SUVs were cool.
24 noiSe, vibration & 112
harShneSS 116 auctionS
By Jamie Kitman RM Auctions at the Concours
Young, green, and driving a Lotus d’Elegance of America at St. John’s:
Turbo Esprit cross-country. Jean Jennings sells her
1970 Fiat 500L.
26 Dyer
conSeQuenceS 120 viLe GoSSip
By Ezra Dyer By Jean Jennings
Fulfill your autobahn fantasies Fantasies? I’ve got plenty, and they
without leaving the U.S.A. involve an eleven-year-old car nut, a
heart, and a car show at C.S. Mott
28 LetterS Children’s Hospital.
You aren’t quite so smitten
with the C7 Corvette.

8 Automobile | November 2013

 Editorial The Suits
PRESiDEnT AnD EDiToR-in-ChiEf EVP, GRouP PubliShER
JEAN JENNINGS ERIC SCHWAB

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10 Automobile | November 2013

 M O T O R T R E N D E M P I R E S T A T E R A L LY T O U R

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ignition
IT ALL STARTS HERE

project supercar

12 Automobile | November 2013

 MW readily admits that the i8 is
not the supercar—the M1
successor—that many of its
customers wanted.
“They nearly threw stones at
me in the Middle East,” i8
project manager Henrik
Wenders says with a grin.
BMW isn’t interested in a halo that
lives in the past. BMW’s long-awaited
electric-car sub-brand, i, arrives next
spring in the form of the i3 and the i8; it
looks toward the future of automobiles on
a hotter, more strictly regulated planet.
The task for the i8, the $150,000 plug-in-
hybrid flagship of this efort, is to prove
that the new-era cars will still be BMWs.
With a few months remaining in the
i8’s ambitious three-and-a-half-year
development cycle—“It’s been like riding a
cannonball,” Wenders says—BMW invited
us to its test facility in Mirimas, France, to
evaluate whether the i8 is in fact the
Ultimate Driving Hybrid.
The exterior, even covered in blue
camouflage, sends the right message. Most
green cars—including the mighty Tesla
Model S—look as if they were designed by
a wind tunnel. The i8 looks like a carbon
copy of the 2011 concept car. Karlheinz
Ebbinghaus, head of i8 aerodynamics,
assures us it is not—his team negotiated
with the designers over every body panel
to arrive at a 0.26 coefcient of drag
without butchering the design.
There were plenty of other
complexities to iron out under the i8’s
skin: three power sources act on two axles
via two transmissions (turn the page for

The future is now for BMW.

technical details). They interact so
smoothly that you might be fooled into

Can it live up to the past?

thinking they’re all connected to the
accelerator pedal by an old-fashioned
throttle cable. The front-mounted electric
motor’s 184 lb-ft of torque provides
instant zip that masks any lag from the
1.5-liter turbo three-cylinder engine,
which then assumes more of the burden
at higher speeds. The seat-of-the-pants
feel is not unlike that from a powerful
supercharged engine. The numbers are
also the best of both worlds: 0 to 62 mph
in 4.5 seconds and as much as 95 mpg (in
the more lenient European cycle).
The carbon-fiber i8 weighs a bit less
than a BMW 328i, roughly 3300 pounds.
Light and quick electrically assisted power
steering telegraphs its nimbleness,

November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 13

ignition TECHTONICS
The most complex BMW ever.

although we wish it telegraphed more of

Floating panels disguise it,
the road surface. Concerns about weight
but the i8 is actually a
and rolling resistance limit the width of
teardrop, the ideal
the tires. A smooth driver will be able to
aerodynamic shape.
go very fast in this car. Your humble scribe,
still deciphering the driving line on the
hot lap, hears the Bridgestone Potenzas
howling even at low cornering speeds. It’s
still a lot of fun. As we flit through a corner
and dip into the flat-as-Kansas
powerband, we start to appreciate the i8
as more than just a fast hybrid.
“It’s good because of its concept, not
despite it,” says i8 project director
Carsten Breitfeld.
In other respects, the relationship
between green car and sports car is not so
The body structure is Narrow tires (195 section Side-impact protection is
harmonious. Neither the silence of the
bonded from many width in front, 215 rear) integrated into the doorsills.
electric motor nor the reedy exhaust of
small carbon-fiber lower rolling resistance.
the three-cylinder will intimidate at a
sections—cheaper to Optional wider tires shown
stoplight. (The engine sounds much
manufacture (and repair) on this prototype are still
deeper inside the cabin, thanks to active
than one complex tub. skinny for a sports car.
noise measures.) The bulky battery and
the mid-engine proportions conspire
against interior packaging. The back seats
are Porsche 911–tiny, and BMW says it A 1.5-liter turbo three-cylinder—“our straight six cut in half” says
will ofer custom luggage for the i8’s rear project director Carsten Breitfeld—delivers 228 hp and 236 lb-ft of
compartment, which is a nice way of This motor sends 129 hp to
torque to the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic. It charges
admitting that the trunk is small. Slim the front wheels through a
the battery pack through a small motor/generator.
front seats gain back some space and are two-speed transmission. A
actually more comfortable than BMW’s more powerful version drives
typical thickly bolstered chairs. The the rear wheels of the i3.
biggest issue is the brake pedal—spongy
feel is an acceptable trade-of for
regenerative energy in a hybrid but not in
a sports car.
In being so determined not to build
another M1, BMW may have done just
that. That car, lest we forget, was an
expensive, poor-selling failure in its day
(1978–1981). Nevertheless, its excellence—
the M1 is widely considered the best-
engineered supercar of its era—boosted
the brand as it transformed from a
relatively small producer of sport sedans “Thirty to forty percent of a
into the luxury juggernaut it is today. car’s aerodynamic resistance is
Now BMW is transforming into an created in the wheels and
environmental leader. Once again, it has a housings,” says aerodynamics
sports car that lacks an obvious audience. man Karlheinz Ebbinghaus. The
We don’t know how many buyers will i8’s standard wheels have very
forsake the likes of the Audi R8 V10 or the small outlets to reduce drag.
Porsche 911 GT3 for the i8. Neither, we The lithium-ion battery
suspect, does BMW. But if this light, fast, pack—smaller and lighter than
and fun car indeed shows the way forward that in the pure-electric i3—
for BMW, we’re happy to come along for provides about twenty miles
the ride. — David Zenlea of gasoline-free driving.

14 Automobile | November 2013

ignition upward mobility

5 MI NUTES
WIT H:
ROBERT
GRACZYK

MAsERATi aims to
expand from a minor
italian niche brand into a
real player in the luxury
market. chrysler veteran
Robert Graczyk, recently
named cEo of Maserati
north america, sat down
with our Jamie Kitman to
explain how.
> “Maseratis have been
cars people use sparingly.
now they’re going to be
daily drivers—we’ve got
Our illustrator’s interpretation of Cadillac’s upcoming large sedan. The brand is said to be contemplating the new Ghibli and the
using a real name—we recommend Fleetwood. new Quattroporte with
all-wheel drive.
t He in DUst RY > “We’re going to go
from selling about 2800

What’s behind the mirage? cars in north america to

13,000 to 15,000 next
year. that’s hard for
cadillac’s concept previews an s-class competitor. people to comprehend.
that’s hard for our
adillac’s Elmiraj The Elmiraj concept is just 1.5 inches shorter team—and our dealers—
concept, which debuted in length than the new S-class, and although the to comprehend.
at the Pebble Beach 121-inch wheelbase is 3.6 inches shorter, it might > “this does not include
Concours d’Elegance (see be closer in production. Compared with the our suV—we’re shooting
By Design, page 22), clearly concept, the LTS will have a higher roofline and [to launch that] in 2015,
hints at what Cadillac’s S-class a longer front overhang. Like Elmiraj, the LTS but that’s not an
fighter will be. will wear lots of aluminum and some carbon approved product yet.
The brand had been fiber, likely including the hood. GM brass We’ve talked about
by Todd developing both a Bentley rival reportedly hasn’t signed of on the car’s interior, 50,000 units, worldwide,
LASSA and a more conventional which advanced design director Clay Dean says by the end of 2015.
competitor to the Mercedes- was inspired by famous midcentury furniture > “another part of our
Benz S-class. The flagship, prudently, is on designers Charles and Ray Eames. Cadillac plan is to grow our dealer
indefinite hold. The big sedan, which may (fancifully) describes Elmiraj’s engine as a network—we’re going to
either have a proper name or be called LTS, will twin-turbo dual-overhead-cam V-8. We expect a end up this year with
use General Motors’ new, large, rear-wheel- pushrod small-block if Cadillac decides that the eighty-three to eighty-five
drive Omega platform and will go on sale in production car needs a V-8. dealers. some of the best
2015. A Buick halo car on the same platform Considering reaction among the moneyed dealers in the entire
provides sufcient volume to cement the crowds at Pebble Beach, America may at last—and industry want to [sell]
business case. once again—have a world-class luxury-car brand. Maseratis now.”

li n col n is tH e n eW B lAcK
Lincoln, meanwhile, arrived at Pebble Beach with a new premium trim called Black Label. The name implies
exclusivity but is actually quite common. Here’s where Lincoln falls on the classiness continuum.

Ralph Lauren
San-J Tamari Black Label
Black Label Black Label
soy sauce Society

Lincoln MKZ Black Label Johnnie Walker Black Label

16 Automobile | November 2013 cadillac illustration by steve HeWett

ignition the deep dive

Audi QuAttro—
take four
Under new leadership, audi produces
a very diferent Quattro concept.

three months ago,

the Audi Sport Quattro
concept was a totally
diferent animal: faster,
lighter, purer, and
simpler. But Ulrich
Hackenberg, who on
July 1 took over from
by GeorG Wolfgang Dürheimer as
KAcher Audi board member in
charge of technical
development, realized at once that this
kite would not fly. It lacked the green
elements that no modern show car can do
without. The seasoned Volkswagen Group
veteran promptly ordered the concept be
reengineered as a plug-in hybrid. The
concept team had its fingers crossed that
the vehicle would be finished just in time
for press days at the Frankfurt motor
show. (You’re looking at a computer-
generated image provided by Audi.)
As with several recent Audi concepts
(see below), this one revisits the 1983–1991
Quattro. The yellow coupe is longer and
heavier than previous proposals. Crafted
under the direction of design chief
Wolfgang Egger, this latest iteration isn’t
as crisp and minimalistic as previous
attempts. The basics, however, remain:
Audi’s Sport Quattro concept is based on the RS7 but packs a 148-hp electric motor in
addition to a 560-hp V-8. It would be a low-volume, $265,000 halo model for the brand.
a familiar Audi grille, sharply angled
C-pillars, and a low roofline.
The Sport Quattro is not based on the
RS5, as was the 2010 Paris concept, but on
the new RS7. Like the donor car, the coupe
features a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 rated at
560 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. An electric
motor between the engine and the
eight-speed automatic transmission
develops another 148 hp and 295 lb-ft. Fed
by a lithium-ion battery pack, the motor
alone can power the car for up to thirty
miles. Charging the plug-in hybrid should
take less than two hours. Audi estimates
that the Quattro will accelerate to 62 mph
in 3.7 seconds on its way to a top speed of
190 mph. The chassis is pure RS7, down to
the dynamic steering, sport diferential,
carbon-ceramic brakes, and rear-biased
all-wheel-drive system.
If it gets the nod for production, the
halo coupe will be built in low numbers
(2000 to 3000 total) at the newly
constructed Böllinger Höfe facility of
Quattro GmbH. Now that the roadgoing
Le Mans car (Dürheimer’s baby) is dead,
the division has the space and the
manpower to handle a new project. The
car would launch in 2016 and cost about
$265,000. It would be available only with
left-hand drive—sufcient to satisfy the
primary North American, Chinese, and
German markets.
But before you take out your
checkbook, note that these are still early
days. Audi is liable to establish diferent
priorities—like the mid-engine sports car
that had been planned with Porsche and
Volkswagen. That project’s father? None
other than Ulrich Hackenberg.

Haven’t we seen you before?

I II III IV

The original Quattro has inspired a slew of concepts. The first attempt concept [III] powered by a 402-hp, 2.5-liter five-cylinder that received
was the electric, rear-wheel-drive E-tron [I] unveiled at the 2010 plenty of attention and was virtually production ready but, like the
Detroit auto show. Nine months later, in Paris, Audi showed a others, never got the thumbs-up. Only time will tell whether the Sport
chop-top, plug-in-hybrid E-tron [II] and a similar-looking Quattro Quattro [IV] will reach production or is merely another paper tiger.

A new Audi Quattro may never arrive, but fortunately, you can smell it today. Sort of. Archer says its room spray captures
the essence of a European sports car—“worn leather, excessive horsepower, and a hint of aftershave.” We think it smells
like a magic marker, but Archer’s other scents, Distillery and Hunting Lodge, hit the mark. $14, archermen.com

18 Automobile | November 2013

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ignition
Cartoon’s slammed
hallucination of a
Mister Softee truck
highlighted 2011’s
“Art in the Streets”
at the Museum of
Contemporary Art in
Los Angeles.
20 automobile | November 2013
o far today, Mark Machado, better
known as Mister Cartoon, has
dropped of three of his kids at school
and customized a Chevrolet Camaro.
Later, working until 9 p.m., he’ll lay out
the pattern for a lucky client who joins top
celebs and ballplayers in receiving one of
his Escher-like tattoos. “We stretch when
other people go home,” he says. Right now,
though, he welcomes us to a commercial
pillbox near the west end of L.A.’s Sixth
Street Viaduct, the seat of his creative
empire, to talk about his art, culture, and
car-care products. — Ronald Ahrens
PhotograPhy by Barry J. Holmes
“in the ’50 s and ’60 s ,
Chevrolet doMinated the
world. Fords , the y j ust
don’t have soul in theM—
the y got Country MusiC.”

on his naMe
“All of us had nicknames. They used to
call me Toon, ’cause I would draw all the
time and my personality was that of a
cartoon character. Now there’s a Cartoon
from every neighborhood in L.A. We
would put Mister or Doctor or Señor in
front of our name to act older.”

on the Mister soFtee truCk

“It was at the Pomona Swap Meet. One of
my friends, Big Nacho, saw it there and
bought it on the spot. An International
milk truck—the biggest eyesore you ever
saw. But my buddy had the vision, man. I
did murals on it, but no clear-coating to
protect it. Some beat-up rims, no motor.
He ended up passing away, and his wife
sold it. It disappeared for six years. About
2003, I start hearing rumors that some
guy’s got it in El Monte in a trailer park.
Sure enough, man, 2004, I found it in that
trailer park. Lifted up the car cover, and
all the murals were still there. I go, ‘I’ll
take it!’ I got it for four grand.”

on why general Motors

doMinates lowrider Culture
“Design. Taste and design. Through the
’50s and ’60s, Chevrolet dominated the
world. Fords, they just don’t have soul in
them—they got country music. You want
soul, you gotta go to a Chevy. They
probably weren’t doing enough coke back
then at Ford.”

on his new line oF Car-Care

produCts, branded “sanCtiond”
“It’s been approved by the street. I walked
into an AutoZone, and I was like, ‘There’s
no rock or rap influence in this store. They
need some heartbeat in here.’ We’re the
first line to bring actual street culture into
an automotive product.”

on those who say this isn’t art

“Usually, those same guys, they don’t like
rock ’n’ roll.”

Cartoon’s current masterpiece is a

’39 Chevy that is “ghosted” with scenes
depicting 1940s L.A. nightlife. The sedan
was created to promote the movie Gangster
Squad. “The murals are very subtle,” he
says. “This is more where I’m at right now.”

November 2013 | automobilemag.com 21

ignition by design
CadillaC Elmiraj
nearly perfect.
HE KEy ELEMEnTS of Cadillac’s
Elmiraj concept are not those
mentioned in the speeches to the
press on its reveal at Pebble Beach
but are instead the eternal verities of
Cadillac: it’s big, it’s clearly and
unmistakably American, it’s attractive in
a showy way, and it’s carefully detailed to
demonstrate that it’s not just a bigger and
more expensive Chevrolet. not really
worthy of the multiple press panegyrics
in some reports I’ve seen, the Elmiraj is
surely a big step in the right direction.
Some “of” elements need to be dealt
with, but I—along with most of the
people who’ve seen it—really like this car.
Love it? We’re not there yet, but it’s good
enough to engender optimism for the
brand’s future.
The easiest part of design criticism is
picking points that are clearly wrong. The
Elmiraj has only three or four, starting
with the deliberately misspelled name,
intended to evoke El Mirage dry lake in
the California high desert, once home to
11 12
18 17 16
22 Automobile | November 2013
by robert
cumberford
hot-rod clubs for their top-speed runs. So
why not just say so and use the Hispanic
name, as Cadillac has often done in the
past? Eldoradough might have suggested
the high price asked for the first front-
wheel-drive Cadillac coupes long ago, but
that would have been as silly a name as
this one. Another minor negative is the
new badge, bereft of the wreath and ducks
in heraldic order so long associated with
Cadillac. I can see altering the graphics a
bit, but to do a poor art student’s imitation
Mondrian painting is infra dig.
More seriously, there are those
spectacular (and spectacularly vulnerable)
forged wheels—totally superfluous and
distressing to anyone who must live with
cars. The huge constructs are all right for
a show car but not for daily use, where
they would soon be grievously curb-
marked. To my eye, the most egregious
error lies in the vertical outlets on the
front fenders. This is no GTO Ferrari, and
it doesn’t need to evacuate large volumes
of hot air at high speed. I’ve often
15
characterized similar vents on Jaguars,
Land Rovers, et al. as “paper-towel
dispensers,” and I hate seeing the
beautifully modeled surfaces on the flanks
of this machine broken up by a design
cliché. I remember the seven-foot-long
rear-fender stampings of late-1950s
Cadillacs and despair that today’s stylists
can’t seem to leave a much shorter panel
well enough alone.
The best part of the Elmiraj is the
fluidly shaped cabin, which is unlike
anything that German or Indian-British or
Germano-British luxury-car companies
(or their Asian copyists) might do. The
wooden headliner is imaginative,
semitransparent dials are new and
intriguing, and I can imagine this interior
going into production exactly as shown.
Refine the exterior, perhaps increasing the
height of the side glass in the process, and
Cadillac would have a winner, the kind of
car it has needed for decades, salable to
geriatrics and (rich) young people alike.
As with Cadillacs of yore.
13
14
 1 2 3 4 5 6

10 9 8 7

FRONT 3/4 VIEW from convex to 12 This concave 15 Extra points INTERIOR VIEW seated it becomes an
concave taking band runs from for rear-quarter agreeable sensuous
1 Wreath and place approximately glass that doesn’t 19 A surprising but element in a truly
the center peak all
crest? We don’t need halfway up the the way into the imitate BMW’s highly agreeable luxurious cabin.
no wreath and crest. C-pillar. C-pillar, where the Hofmeister kink. feature of the interior
This dime-store is the wood veneer 22 Leather-covered
surface is convex,
shield is supposed to 7 Beautiful 16 Sharp triangular headliner, far less sliding control for the
the transitions
be fresh and modern, modeling: this subtle handled all but sections, horizontal oppressive than the transmission looks
but it looks cheap crease line deriving imperceptibly. and vertical, help frequent dark fabric inviting and feels good
and undistinguished, from the end of the emphasize the in luxury cars. in the hand, like a
barely Cadillac. headlamp assembly 13 These outlet taillights without computer mouse.
drops below the breaking the surface 20 The instruments
details, unlike the
2 This surface just mirror base and fades flow of the grand are mere skeletons— 23 Wood and leather
slots in the sides
above the grille is to nothing in the door. below them, do masses of the body. just data rings and wheel is a tactile
elegantly and subtly nothing to disturb needles—with an delight, and its classic
shaped, positive at 8 Several British 17 As on the imaging screen simplicity suits a
the sensitively
the center peak but makes have featured handled surfacing of front end, a clearly behind them, Cadillac. This is a car,
becoming slightly these vertical slots, the entire car. delineated V-shape necessary technical not a driving machine
concave as it sweeps but they simply in plan view carries elements like gauges or a fighter plane.
around the sides. break the flow of the 14 Brilliant to the base of the set apart from the
sides, serve no useful backlight. sensuous sculpting 24 Seat shape is
simplicity. Nothing is
3 A slight, sharp purpose, and devalue of the whole driving inviting, and the
sculpted, tortured, or
break in the hood the overall profile. 18 Exhaust tips compartment. sliding arrangement
made “interesting.”
surface evokes past The sills are direct are nicely sculpted for both front and rear
GM design classics 9 These 22-inch compositions with 21 This wooden seats makes entrance
and clear and
and gives a tailored wheels are frankly accentuate the visual four apparent outlets shelf looks as if it to the rear extremely
look to the skin. silly. Jazzy and length of an already for the 4.5-liter would feel intrusive, easy, unlike in most
well-styled, yes. big car. twin-turbo V-8. but once the driver is big two-door cars.
4 LED headlamps But too big and
are arranged in a far too exposed to
slim vertical lamp curb damage, thus
assembly that ultimately badly
provides profile designed.
emphasis and
decoration as it flows 10 The thin chrome
19 20
over the top of the strip wrapping around
front fender. the front corner
continues along
5 The subtle the sill and finishes
“banana” windowsill behind the rear wheel,
line has become all a wonderful linear
Elmiraj BadgE: grEg migliorE

too common in accent as it climbs to

recent years, but the rear.
it works well on
the Elmiraj with REAR 3/4 VIEW
its chopped-top
proportions. 11 Taillamps
recapitulate the
6 The ogival curve Cadillac signature
of the upper profile tall blade, set into the
is elegantly handled, skin surfaces with
with the transition faceted walls. 24 23 22 21

November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 23

ignition noise, vibration & harshness
by Jamie
Kitman

This seaT is Taken.

rIvINg A McLArEN croSS - coUNTry legal work the night before rising early to
(page 58) reminds me of my very first car test. Back in fly not to Boston but to New Jersey, home
1985, while still in law school, I got to drive a supercar of Lotus’s U.S. operation. Then the phone
coast-to-coast—the then-new Lotus Turbo Esprit, rang. A senior Autoweek personage whom
Series 3. For me, who’d never traveled across the I’d never heard of and whose name you
United States in more style than when I did it in a probably wouldn’t recognize was on the
1964 Dodge Dart wagon with a shift-linkage problem, line, asking me who the f@%# I thought I
it was not just mind-blowingly cool but also a seminal was. Why was I driving this Lotus,
introduction to one of life’s great mysteries, how closely good instead of, for instance, him? How come
news and bad news are often intertwined. he’d never heard of the assignment until
I was green. Aside from the occasional car column for the then? I couldn’t answer these questions.
sports pages of my college’s student newspaper, I had to this He demanded 1500 words on what I
point in the world of automotive journalism sold two book planned to say, on his desk, in advance of
reviews and a short essay on bringing Formula 1 to New york my departure.
city, both to Autoweek. To place this in time, back then I thought Fifteen hundred words was only 1000
of opel Mantas and Ford capri 2600s as fast and righteous cars, fewer than I was supposed to write, I said,
and I had probably never driven anything with more than 120 hp noting I’d written for Autoweek before
any distance. and explaining that everything had been
That doesn’t mean that I wasn’t aware that Lotus was back on cleared by his staf. I’d been sent plane
its wobbly feet again in the United States with a new distributor. tickets and cash for expenses (proving this
Fortuitously, the head of the carmaker’s new American advertising was a long time ago, right?). The car was
agency was an old family friend, Marty Solow. He was the guy waiting and I was busy working on a
credited with establishing the trend of using yiddish words in death-penalty appeal. He was
American advertising in the 1960s. For those who weren’t around, unimpressed, antagonistic, and, it seemed,
his ads for vita Herring, featuring the “Beloved Herring Maven,” drunk, tired, and emotional, as the English
were really big. No? I guess you had to be there. Because success say. Except he was tired and unemotional.
selling herring to Americans was presumably as good a He didn’t care that he was ruining my life.
qualification for peddling Lotus cars as you were going to find.
Never known for reliability, Lotuses had earned an unfortunate
reputation for grenading spectacularly since they’d gone upmarket
in the late 1970s, which is ironic in retrospect because this is also
what they had been doing in the 1960s and early ’70s.
Solow took a call from a callow youth in a phone booth, who
was ringing with the ludicrous suggestion that Lotus let him put
its new Turbo Esprit to the ultimate reliability test and prove its
mettle by driving it from New york to San Francisco, by way of
New orleans’ bankrupt 1984 World’s Fair. Solow not only took
the call, he then went one better and put in a good word with the
American Lotus distributor, Wes Fredericks. Amazingly, one
week later, I was able to pitch Bill Lovell, my contact at Autoweek,
with Turbo Esprit in hand, so to speak. He got back to me quickly:
they’d take the story.
one further detail: When the time came, I was spending a
semester in San Francisco working for a civil-rights attorney. So,
my next move was obvious—I told my boss I had to rush to
Boston on account of a vague problem at my apartment and the
status of my tenancy and needed a week of. He was totally cool
about it, so long as I stayed to help research a memo for a
last-ditch death-penalty appeal he was preparing.
I was putting the finishing touches on my extremely humble

24 automobile | November 2013 IllustratIon by Tim marrs

I was sunk. reason had failed. So I did
what any other sensible lawyer in training
would do and told him to just go f@%#
himself. We exchanged further
obscenities, and he told me that I could
take the piece I’d sold Autoweek on my
experience attending a volvo focus group
and roll it into a cone, dip it in vaseline,
and shove it.
It seemed like the worst day in the
world to me, defeat snatched from the
jaws of victory. So young, so fouled out. I
was despondent. But, after a time, I began
studying for the New york and New
Jersey bar exams, which gave me
something else to be despondent about. I
began clerking for the chief justice of the
New Jersey Supreme court. Then one day,
my cousin Bill Blank told me about a new
publication being founded by former Car
and Driver editor David E. Davis, Jr. It
would be called Automobile Magazine.
Unsolicited, I sent in the piece that
Autoweek had returned with prejudice. It
was about attending a market-research
clinic that promised you could “earn fifty
dollars if you considered buying a volvo 760 and then purchased
another car.” Hearing nothing, I forgot about it.
Several months later, I got a call from a hero of mine, a lady
named Jean Lindamood. Was an amount ten times more than
Autoweek had paid me for the piece they’d returned acceptable? I
thought about it for a second or two. And I’m still here today.
I should mention that even after my fatal contretemps with
the buzzkill at Autoweek, I figured I might as well drive the Turbo
Esprit across the country anyway. It was awesome, more car than
I’d ever experienced, and for 4000 miles it ran like a train. Sadly
for Lotus, Autoweek attempted to re-create the story without me,
driving the car I’d driven to San Francisco back to the East coast.
The engine blew up somewhere along the way. Poor Lotus—not
what they’d been expecting, although they can’t have been
entirely surprised.
In 1987, lately bought by general Motors and freshly
recapitalized, Lotus flew a handful of American journalists to
Norfolk, England, in the first-class top deck of a Pan Am 747 for
the launch of the newest Esprit Turbo, the Peter Stevens
redesign. At a deluxe reception in a stately home, I watched as
the man who’d fired me from Autoweek’s freelance roster—I’d
only just met him in person for the first time—sat down for
dinner next to Lotus chief Mike Kimberley, taking for himself the
clear chair of honor at this evening’s dinner. A frantic Lotus Pr
man ran over. “Sorry, [name omitted], that’ll be Mr. Kitman—of
Automobile Magazine’s—seat.” am

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ignition dyer consequences
by Ezra
DyEr

Fantasy realized. sort oF.

CCOrdINg TO my ImAgINATION, germany’s conceive some kind of video project, and
autobahns are mythical highways where Porsche-based you’ll find that certain states are amenable
rufs prowl the left lane and the speed limit is infinity. In to closing roads for filming. A Porsche
my autobahn fantasy, I decide to dash out for some black Boxster S at 125 mph on the Cherohala
forest cake from the actual Black Forest, so I jump into Skyway is more fun than any autobahn.
my mercedes-Benz 500E and blaze out on a 150-mile With the autobahn checked of my list,
journey. The only other trafc consists of slightly slower cars that I still have plenty more automotive goals to
move immediately to the right when I flash my headlights. defer pursue. I just drove in the Tributo Ferrari
to my superior power, peons! One hour later: I’m eating cake. Pacific Coast rally—itself a fantasy-worthy
Also, all of this is taking place in 1994, for some reason. production, in that it involves driving
That’s the fantasy. The reality is something else. Ferraris on some of the best roads in
Last fall, I made my autobahn debut in a Bentley Continental California—at the conclusion of which the
gT Speed, and that adventure was probably as close as you can get drivers all received photos stored on a
to a modern autobahn ideal—far from any cities, with 616 hp under thumb drive. The drive, shaped like a key,
the hood and a set of brakes that could squeeze a smile out of was shackled to a yellow leather Ferrari
Victoria Beckham. Although I hit 190 mph, there was never much fob. Normally when I receive such a
time spent at high speeds. The electronic speed-limit signs over the brand-specific item, I give it to one of my
highway would show a circle with a slash through it, indicating no friends who owns a corresponding car. But
limit, and there’d be about a minute of flat-out fun before having to I think I’m going to keep this prancing-
slow for trafc, a corner, or a reinstated speed limit. Cruising along horse keychain and let it remind me, every
for an hour at 155 mph just didn’t happen—and that particular now and then, of another nice fantasy. One
drive was scouted for maximum autobahn entertainment. in which that fob is connected not to a USB
A few months ago I returned to germany to drive the mercedes drive but to something substantially better.
CLA45 Amg, and the route happened to include some autobahn In my Ferrari-owning fantasy, all drives
on the way to the Bilster Berg racetrack. This trafc-choked are like the Tributo rally, scything through
autobahn outside of Hannover is probably more like the real-life endless corners under cloudless skies, no
daily experience. After about a half hour of steady trafc and trafc and no agenda. And if that’s not the
constant speed limits, the overhead sign finally flashes that magic reality, I don’t want to know. am
rune signifying hammer time. Left lane empty, I gleefully floor it.
The 355-hp CLA45 is no Bentley Speed, but it can get up and
hustle. Soon I’m at 130 mph, blurring past my fellow drivers, who
seem not to notice that they’ve saddled a unicorn: a highway with
no speed limit. By 140 mph, I realize the reason for their
indiference. The very next sign afrms that the 81-mph speed
limit is back in efect. The fun lasted for about a mile. I hit
142 mph; the locals didn’t even bother speeding up.
A couple of weeks after I got home, I learned I’d racked up
two speed-camera tickets on rural roads once I left the autobahn.
(yes, the germans will find you.) On balance, I think I prefer our
system, where there’s always a speed limit but enforcement is
typically relegated to an actual human being. There’s some sport
to that, at least. Bugs Bunny cartoons wouldn’t be as funny if you
replaced Elmer Fudd with a reaper drone.
I’m not saying that the autobahn isn’t worth experiencing, and
I appreciate the novelty of legally doing 190 mph, if only for a
moment. But in terms of high-speed opportunities, there are
plenty right here in the United States. you can enter the Silver
State Classic in Nevada and drive as fast as you want. Visit the
Bonneville Salt Flats, perhaps in October when there’s not much
going on (get a permit from the state and the place is yours). Or

26 automobile | November 2013 illustration by tim marrs

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ignition letters

Who you calling

magnificent?

Not so good times

I have been a subscrIber to your magazIne vIrtually
since its inception. many times over the years I’ve been tempted to write about
the corvette. I have refrained from doing so. sorry to say that your september
cover, featuring seven corvettes, has put me over the edge—actually, it has
popped my cork. the corvette is a cliché, lusted after primarily by old, white,
american, republican men. Few other human beings care about it, regardless of
its virtues. It is gm. It is glamour, virility, and the illusion of youth designed by
committee. It is outclassed by everything from the Fiat 500 to the range rover
evoque to the srt viper. you claim that the newest version of the corvette has
poise. hmm. you guys are good, and you make me doubt myself. but I suspect
that the newest corvette lacks personality and character. It certainly lacks style.
It’s a hot Wheel writ large (as is the ghastly new camaro). by the way, Detroit is
my hometown. I’m not hostile toward the motor city. I want it to revive and
prosper. this corvette isn’t going to help.
JohN Amos
Placerville, california

the photo shoot For the
corvette story in the september issue,
which showed the car’s great design
history, was wonderful [“thoroughly
vetted”]. thank goodness you used a
blue car. the more I kept looking,
though, something seemed out of
balance. the older generations looked
so smooth and clean, but the new
model’s black plastic design accents
looked cheap. If you guys know any
people in the corvette design group,
please ask them to push through a
body-color trim package for the vents
and taillight trim. better yet, make
body-color trim standard and black
optional. perhaps if you had used a
white 2014 model, all the black
bandages would have made my case.
KeN JozwiAK
Brown Deer, wisconsin
compareD WIth the
competition, the 2014 corvette looks
fantastic, but there is one thing keeping
me away. as I have never heard it

28 Automobile | November 2013


mentioned by anyone else, I suppose I
may be alone in my opinion, but with
every generation the a** seems to get
bigger and bigger. this is not attractive.
Is this because of the perception that all
vette owners play golf and therefore every
vette must be able to accommodate two
sets of clubs in its trunk? If so, can’t those
golfers leave their clubs at the country
club? or, heaven forbid, drive the darn
volvo on saturday.
Rob GleNN
HarPswell, Maine
“magnIFIcent 7” Was clever
cover copy. unfortunately, I think the old
star-studded Western flick of the same
name contains more truth in advertising.
perhaps it’s prudent to step away from the
Kool-aid stand for a few moments. as the
owner of a number of corvette z models,
including two zr1s (c4 and c6
generations) and three z06s (c5 and c6
generations), and one who has seen a
track or twenty, I have some perspective.
clear c7 wins include the elsD,
possible steering-feel improvement,
and interior upgrades. after that, not so
magnificent. the elsD addition was a
virtual necessity if the c7 was to come
close to the performance of its target
predecessor, the c6 grand sport. the
interior upgrades were long overdue.
but, in my book, there are too many
fails, such as the new-to-corvette direct
injection with a very disappointing
24 hp increase over the ls3. torque fares
better, but it falls off quickly after about
5000 rpm. For those of us who really
drive these cars and track them, this is
not particularly helpful. but kudos to
chevrolet for knowing the majority of
their customers will never engage their
corvette in more than a traffic-light-to-
traffic-light sprint, so the low-rpm torque
will be both exciting and a bit duplicitous.
It shows in straight-line performance.
the oft-cited grand sport 0-to-60-mph
time is 4.0 seconds, while the c7 time you
cite is 4.1 seconds. this is magnificent?
cornering has improved somewhat,
but you state “the elsD has tamed the
vette’s appetite for destruction.” not
really. please show me one recent test
of a c6 vette equipped with msr and
ptm that was considered to have an
appetite for destruction. a tad bit of
hyperbole, perhaps?
It is a fail for the new car to come
Makes
Glass
Invisible!
in both heavier and larger than the old
one. yes, I realize that gm’s emphasis
has had to shift somewhat due to ever-
increasing government regulations, and
I am sure that also contributed to more
conservative cam specs, but reducing the
size and heft would have been a real
step forward.
as for the styling, well, clearly this
was an attempt to move the buyer age
downward. I don’t care that the rear
lights are not round anymore, but there
are a lot of people, including myself, who
wonder if the old pontiac aztek designer
had a hand in the rear, especially that
hideously cheap-looking huge black
panel halfway up its butt.
Fortunately for me, drivers of the
“magnificent 7” will be looking a lot more
at my z06’s butt than I will be forced to
see theirs.
JeRRy yARos
wooDBriDge, virginia
In your most InterestIng
“magnificent 7” cover story, you
mentioned that the c7’s body is “tight and
taut, especially when compared with the
c3.” I have to disagree with this. although
the c7 is rather sleek, the c3 has very
smooth and tight bodywork that puts the
c7 to shame. Don’t get me wrong, I love
the new corvette’s styling, but your
comment just doesn’t make much sense in
my opinion. I couldn’t help but notice that
the 2014 maserati ghibli, elsewhere in the
issue, is also much tighter than the c7.
TimoThy TieGReeN
via internet
I Don’t care hoW or hoW
much the factory spins it: you’re never
gonna convince me (or my wallet) that a
cam-in-block engine is better than a
sohc/Dohc setup. that’s it, folks. gm
is right, and everyone else is wrong!
DAviD h. DoKKeN
sanforD, floriDa
I thInK you shoulD retaKe Superior cleaning power
the cover shot; this time with the ’66 in
the foreground. that’s the real stingray. a for windows and mirrors
half century of records and aficionados
will tell you so. Leaves no streaks,
FRANK imbRiAco
tewksBury townsHiP, new Jersey
smears or haze AAM3A
Write: Automobile magazine, 1995 highland Dr., ste., A,
Ann Arbor, mi 48108 E-mail: letters @automobilemag.com Find America’s #1 selling auto glass cleaner at
letters may be edited for clarity and length
November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 29 InvisibleGlass.com
Driven
Boulder, Colorado
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s we walk through the The Shelby Cobra is a tuner car, the

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in Boulder, every Cobra in
this museum of racing cars
A 340-hp, and racing memorabilia tells
5.0-liter Ford V-8 us an amazing story. It might
is all you need,
because this is a
seem like the story happened a very long
cruising Cobra time ago, but when we walk out into the
for guys who sunlight and find a new Shelby American
already own a
muscle-bound Cobra waiting for us, we understand why
Cobra. the Cobra never goes out of date.
kind of car that every American has in his
imagination, a personal expression of
speed that’s been kludged together from
whatever bits and pieces might be lying
around. A tuner car is strong on
imagination and maybe a little weak on
thinking things through, but that’s how we
do it here in America.
Shelby American built this car
alongside a range of Cobra and Ford

30 Automobile | November 2013 PhotograPhy by RONNIE RENALDI

 A tuner cAr is strong
on imAginAtion And
mAybe A lit tle weAk
on thinking things
through, but thAt’s
how we do it here in
AmericA.

The SPeCS
Shelby american cobra cSX8000 50th anniverSary edition
Price: $80,000 (est.) engine: 5.0l V-8, 340 hp, 310 lb-ft Drive: rear-wheel

Mustang models in its own facility in

Las Vegas. The Shelby Cobra is the most
copied car on the planet, but this 50th
Anniversary edition is the most unusual
one we’ve ever driven. It very faithfully
reproduces the simple body-on-frame
chassis of the AC Ace and adds a cooking
version of a small-block Ford V-8, just like
the car that Carroll Shelby first hammered
together overnight in the workshop of hot-
rodder Dean Moon in 1962.
As we drive into the Rocky Mountains
along Boulder Creek, the cool, dry air
whips around the Cobra’s cockpit, and we
feel like we’re more outside the car than in.
The big steering wheel’s vibration-
absorbing wooden rim is pretty easy to deal
with, although the numb brake pedal feels
as if it were connected to drums instead of
discs. With buggy-style transverse leaf
springs in its suspension, the Cobra will get
to hopping if you lean on it too hard, yet as
Shelby American’s Vince LaViolette (a
former NASCAR Winston West racer) tells
us, you just brake in a straight line, roll
easily into the corner, and then hammer
the gas when the car is pointed straight.

November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 31

Driven
tuner SPecial

The Flyin’ Miata Habu V-8 feels as if it’s

from a diferent century than the Shelby
Cobra as it breezes through the corners of
the Peak to Peak Scenic and Historic
Byway. But really, this is a Cobra, too, only
it’s the kind of Cobra you’d put together if
you had a late-model Mazda MX-5 Miata, a
430-hp Chevrolet LS3 V-8, a Tremec T-56
six-speed manual transmission, and a Ford
8.8-inch limited-slip diferential.
Just like the Cobra itself (and any tuner
car, for that matter), the Habu sounds like
a crime against physics. Yet, not only is the
weight distribution in this Miata hardtop

The SPeCS
Flyin’ miata
habu v-8
Price:
$55,000 (est.)
engine: 6.2l V-8,
430 hp, 424 lb-ft
Drive: rear-wheel

We went to Boulder, convertible balanced at 52/48 percent

Colorado, to see the
racing cars at the front/rear, but overall weight has gone up
Shelby American only 240 pounds, to 2831 pounds. Even
Collection and drive
in the Rockies.
better, the Habu doesn’t scare you the way
any Cobra does, giving you a composed
ride as well as crisp handling. Colorado
tuner Flyin’ Miata has been doing this
conversion thing for some time. It shows
in this utterly modern automobile that has
the friendly personality of a Miata, only
with the dark soul of a V-8.
If you’ve got your wallet out, see if you
have the $69,995 it will take to get a rolling
chassis of this Cobra with fiberglass
bodywork from Shelby American ($134,995
for an aluminum body) and then look
under the couch cushions to find the
$10,000 to $20,000 or more it’ll take to buy
a Ford V-8 crate engine and get it installed.
If you have $42,995, you can fly into Grand
Junction, Colorado, go out to the Flyin’
Miata shop in the middle of the peach
orchard outside of town, and pick up your
turnkey Habu V-8 from Keith Tanner, but
only after you send him a used, third-
generation Miata (Flyin’ will also convert
your first- or second-gen model).
Either way, you’ll be celebrating the
Shelby Cobra, which defines the whole
tuner-car thing, now as then.
— MIChAeL JOrDAn

32 Automobile | November 2013


Monterey, California
Hennessey HPE700
Twin Turbo Ferrari 458
Redneck Ferrari.
T
he Hennessey 458 is Texas’s
take on Ferrari. Start with a
sonorous, elegant engine and
make it brash and bombastic
—loud enough to sound like
you’re strafing small villages
and having a rootin’-tootin’ time while
doing it. This is a redneck Ferrari, y’all.
Sealy, Texas–based Hennessey
Performance had its way with Maranello’s
normally aspirated V-8, adding twin
turbochargers to increase output from 562
to 738 hp. The upgrade (or, as Ferrari would
surely call it, defilement) costs $59,995.
The mid-engine bay was already a tight
space, and the turbos, waste gates, heat
exchanger, and electric fans are discreetly
hidden by handsome carbon-fiber covers.
The unit has max boost of 7 psi and will
hold 6 psi to the 9000-rpm redline. Torque
is up to 532 lb-ft from 398.
The car we tested, a Spider, lacked
mufers, terminating in straight pipes. So
you get extra sound. Lots of it. With the
top down, it’s a whumping, sucking,
blatting, crackling auditory assault. The
regular 458’s engine music, which
crescendos to a vibrato at higher rpm, is
now a raw roar; less classical Verdi and
more electro-thumping Deadmau5.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Drew PhilliPs
Hennessey’s twin-turbo handiwork on
Ferrari’s normally aspirated V-8 is hidden
under carbon-fiber covers. Perhaps to keep
Ferrari engineers from going postal.
You can treat the gas pedal like a
cathedral’s pipe organ, tapping a bellicose
tune by holding gears at redline and then
crashing into the next gear. Coupled with
the attendant speed, it is a hilarious
exercise, guaranteed to elicit giggles right
up to the point that your ears bleed. The
car we drove was Hennessey’s first modded
Ferrari, built for a customer in Arizona
who apparently likes it that way. Silencers
can (and probably should) be added.
Hennessey says 60 mph will come in
2.8 seconds without the use of launch
Driven
TuneR SPeCIAL
The sPeCs
Price: $59,995 (plus
at least $240,000 for
a Ferrari 458 Italia)
engine:
4.5L twin-turbo V-8,
738 hp, 532 lb-ft
Drive: Rear-wheel
control. From a stop, stomp on the gas
pedal and there’s a blip of dead space as
the turbos spool—slight but noticeable—
and then rubber mashes into asphalt and
you’re wildly, madly of.
Fortunately, the extra power is usable
even on narrow, winding roads. We found
a stretch of trafc-free tarmac, and,
abetted by carbon-ceramic brakes, the 458
flew down straights and flicked through
the winding bits, losing none of its
inherent silkiness. It can catch and lurch
slightly around town, but otherwise the
extra might comes on in a linear way, so it
doesn’t suddenly leap up and shark-bite
you. (See 996-chassis Porsche 911 GT2.)
Would you actually want to do this to
your carefully sourced and very expensive
Italian toy? In two circumstances, we
imagine you might. The first is the track,
where you could power out of corners in a
spectacular fashion. The second is if you’re
one of those folks who believe there is no
such thing as too much power, ever. (If so,
your surname might be Cheney or Kim.)
But the regular 458 Italia’s best traits
are its overall tractability and its gorgeous
soundtrack. Few things in the automotive
world are as lovely as that natural V-8
treble. — JAson h. hArPer
November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 35
Driven
tuner SPeCIaL
Pfafenhausen, Germany
Ruf 3800S
A logical engine swap.
rand addicts in search of
extreme Porsches should
travel not to Zufenhausen
but to Pfafenhausen, home of
Alois Ruf, Jr., who has been
manufacturing low-volume
Porsche hot rods since he took over the
business from his father in 1974. With no
love from Porsche, Ruf has created such
memorable driving machines as the 1987
CTR “Yellowbird” plus today’s awesome
777-hp CTR3 Clubsport and the RGT-8
powered by Ruf’s bespoke 550-hp
eight-cylinder engine. Since other Rufs
cost between $314,000 and $769,000 in the
U.S., the Boxster-based Ruf 3800S looks
like a bargain at $132,895. A Cayman-
based coupe is available for $6800 more.
The 3800S benefits from a simple heart
transplant that mid-engine proponents,
but not 911 purists, champion. Sitting on
more than fifty brand-new 911 engines that
36 Automobile | November 2013
have been replaced with his own motors,
Alois Ruf made a virtue out of necessity,
tweaking the 911’s 3.8-liter flat-six and
fitting it to the Boxster S. Sounds clever,
except now the parts manager is stacking
brand-new Boxster engines.
Although the 3800S is a Boxster S with
a Carrera S Kraftwerk wedged between its
hind legs, Ruf also installs heavily modified
front and rear bumpers, all-black wheels
and bigger tires, stronger brakes, and tauter
springs and dampers. The 3800S cannot be
sold as a Porsche, so it’s available with an
extracost seven-speed RDK gearbox,
carbon-ceramic RCCB brakes, and active
suspension management dubbed RASM.
The Rs stand for Ruf, one more thorn in
the side of Porsche, which eyes this
operation with profound skepticism.
There’s no reason for the customer to
mistrust the work of the renowned
Bavarian tuning shop. The conversion to
3800S is commendably solid in concept
and in execution. A new free-flow exhaust,
which sports four prominent tailpipes, is
primarily responsible for the 20 hp and
7 lb-ft jump. The 911 Carrera S also
donates larger front brake discs
(13.4 inches in diameter) straddled by
fire-red calipers and twenty-inch wheels
shod with slightly wider tires.
The 3800S eclipses the Boxster by a
substantial margin, but is the open-top Ruf
also quicker than a 911 Carrera S droptop
ofered for similar money? The 420-hp
mid-engine Porsche accelerates from 0 to
62 mph in 4.1 seconds, which makes it
0.6 second quicker than a manual 911
cabrio, and its 186-mph top speed is an
academic 1 mph slower. The diference in
fuel consumption is equally negligible.
Such a 911-vanquishing Boxster is
something the powers in Zufenhausen
and Weissach would never let happen.
PhotograPhy by TOm SALT
 Does this thin on-paper lead translate
to the open road? To find out, we spent a
day in the hinterlands of Pfafenhausen,
where corners abound and where the law
is intimately familiar with each of Ruf’s
five demonstrator models. Even though
the 3800S sounds like a 911, it still drives
like a Boxster. It is better balanced, more
playful, nippier, and commendably stable
on the straights but full of bumblebees at
the limit. The Carrera is more black or
white, more emphatic, and yet more
benign when pushed hard. This steroidal
Boxster wants to be treated with care. The
additional 105 hp and 66 lb-ft of torque
make its larger footwear break away more
aggressively. Its RSM (Ruf stability
management) lacks that highly desirable Is a 3800s a bet teR buy than a CaRReRa s CabRIoLet?
in-between setting.
The 3800S calls for even quicker yes. It Is quICkeR, moRe speCIaL, and moRe
reflexes with RSM deactivated. demandIng to dRIve.

The SpecS
price:
$132,895/$139,695
(convertible/coupe)
engine:
3.8L flat-6,
420 hp, 332 lb-ft
Drive: Rear-wheel

Ruf logos replace the

Porsche logos that
the tuner cannot use
on its hot rods.

Communication between steering and

throttle is more of a shouting match than a
dialogue, and the speed window is more in
line with that of any rear-engine Porsche.
The means with which to induce
understeer, oversteer, or a four-wheel drift
can blur and overlap. Small variations in
driver input can result in major changes of
vehicle attitude. Exciting, yes. User-
friendly, less so. Is a 3800S a better buy
than a Carrera S cabriolet? Yes. It is
quicker, more special, and more
demanding to drive. Is it worth twice the
money to upgrade from a Boxster S to a
911-engined Ruf? Probably not. The 315-hp
ragtop is so sweet, smooth, and special
that all it takes to narrow the performance
gap is the optional PDK. From Ruf’s model
range, it’s more worthwhile to drive one of
the crazier eforts that leave the donor car
well and truly grumbling in the dust.
— GeorG KAcher

November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 37

Driven
tuner SPeciAL
Wareham, Massachusetts
Factory Five 818S
The best Subaru WRX–powered car you can build.
hen Factory Five
Racing announced an
open house to debut
its new 818 roadster, I
figured I’d stop by and
maybe take a drive. I
envisioned a few gearheads trekking to
company headquarters, scoping out the
bare chassis, and maybe grabbing a burger.
Instead, it turned out to be the Woodstock
of kit cars. A bus shepherded the faithful
from remote overflow parking as a dense
crowd gathered for the big unveiling of the
street-model 818S and track-ready 818R.
Wheel time would have to wait.
A month later, I got my crack at the
818S, the car that 229 people have ordered
on pure faith (another fifty-seven have
ordered the 818R). It’s home-assembled
from a 2002–2007 Subaru Impreza WRX
repurposed into an 1800-pound, mid-
engine two-seater. The kit costs $9990, so
even with an unreasonably cherry WRX
donor, the bang for the buck is hard to beat:
a Porsche 911 Turbo’s power-to-weight
ratio for the price of a well-used Boxster.
ThE SPEcS
Price: $9990 (plus the cost of a Subaru impreza WrX donor car)
Engine: 2.5L turbo flat-4, 265 hp, 244 lb-ft Drive: rear-wheel
38 Automobile | November 2013
Even though I wouldn’t be driving the
fearsome 400-hp R, I booked a local
airstrip to wring out the 265-hp 818S. This
is a ferociously quick machine. Subaru’s
turbocharged flat four is distinctive in
terms of power delivery and sound, so it’s
weird to hear that signature blat chortling
away right behind your ears. The 2.5-liter’s
sudden disbursement of turbo power—
which hits all at once at 3500 rpm—is that
much more exaggerated when it’s flinging
around a needle-nose roadster rather than
an AWD sedan.
I’d estimate 0 to 60 mph is in the mid-
to low-four-second range, and it feels even
quicker thanks to the lack of sensory
filters. The turbo’s inhalations, the wind
rushing past, and pebbles ticking up of
the pavement are all part of the hard-
wired experience. Factory Five kept the
818S interior simple and comfortable, but
the overall vibe is more race car than
anything from a showroom.
It’s also a case of addition through
subtraction. The steering is a WRX rack
without the power assist, and it feels
wonderfully quick and direct in a way that
no Subaru ever has. The rear wheels can
handle the power, although you should opt
for the Cusco limited-slip diferential—less
for getting of the line than for stabilizing
the rear end on deceleration, as I discovered
when lifting abruptly for a 90-degree corner
and spinning gracefully onto the grass.
The donor WRX ofers a preponderance
of performance parts, from limited-slips to
cantaloupe-sized turbos. I’d want a
short-shift kit and unique wheels to keep
Subie fans from asking why I put WRX rims
on a convertible. Factory Five also ofers
bodywork accessories, including afordable
carbon-fiber pieces and a towering rear
wing that requires a reinforced deck lid to
handle the downforce. The 818S looks
cleaner without it.
Maybe 286 units do not sound like much,
but in the kit-car world, that’s a huge
response. It seems there’s a healthy supply
of people who love the idea of an afordable,
lightweight, mid-engine roadster, a WRX
from an alternate reality. Now all those
customers have to do is build it. — EzrA DyEr
818S: Andrew TrAhAn; Fr-S: PATrick M. hoey
 driven
Tuner SPeCIAL

Supercharged Scion FR-S Ann Arbor

DIY speed for the people’s sports car.

since the scion FR-s debuted,
people have tried to milk more power out
of it. FR-S owner Mark Sanew loved his
car’s balanced chassis and handsome
bodywork but bemoaned its straight-line
shortcomings. “I lost a drag race to a Ford
F-250,” he admits. Yeah, that hurts.
Adding punch to the 200-hp engine
while maintaining the car’s cheap-fun
raison d’être means no pricey professional
tuner, no powertrain swap, and no upsetting
the neutral handling with an erratic turbo.
Sanew instead chose an of-the-shelf
Price: $30,400 (est., including $5150 for engine modifications)
Vortech supercharger kit for its smooth the sPecs engine: 2.0L supercharged flat-4, 285 hp, 216 lb-ft drive: Rear-wheel
and linear power delivery. A recalibrated
Perrin Performance ECU completes his feels like that of a V-6 Ford Mustang—not Do we prefer this Scion to stock? Yes.
$5150 home-baked package. snap-your-neck quick but way better than Do we think it’s a performance upgrade
We pull up to a stoplight, shift into first, stock. Supercharger whine and blow-of- worth five grand over sticker? Not really;
build the revs, and come of the clutch valve noises help mask the boxer’s metallic that price is in Nissan 370Z territory. Is it
when the light changes. The 85-hp bump clatter. Touch the rev limiter at just past worth it to Sanew? Hell, yes. “I’ll never get
is generous but doesn’t turn the FR-S into 7000 rpm, grab second, and the FR-S keeps smoked by an F-250 again,” he says.
a quarter-mile king. First-gear acceleration accelerating like it has extra cylinders. — chRistoPheR nelson

Enthusiasts United
to Advance
Automotive Freedoms

enlist now!
semaSAN.com

INK
Driven
TuneR SPeCIAL
Jerome, Michigan
AEV Jeep Wrangler JK350
Of-road adventurer with V-8 power.
This ludicrous Wrangler packs a 470-hp
Hemi V-8, which provides more than
enough grunt to conquer any trail.
s we inched up a bumpy,
rocky hill with loose dirt
and gravel underfoot, there
was an instant when it
seemed that our Jeep
Wrangler Rubicon wanted
to give way to the forces of gravity and
topple backward end-over-end. That spell
of anxiety quickly passed when we hit the
throttle, the Hemi engine came alive, the
enormous BFGoodrich Mud Terrain tires
clawed the ground, and we arrived safely
at the top.
And then our of-roading adventures
continued as we . . . wait, did you say Hemi?
That’s right. Jeep doesn’t make V-8
Wranglers, but we’re driving one from
American Expedition Vehicles—the same
company that helped create the Call of
Duty special-edition Wrangler. AEV is the
required outfit for this job. The Hemi
Wrangler feels like a decked-out Jeep
from the factory—one that just happens to
have a huge engine in it. Granted, our
tester has 37-inch tires, an extra fuel
caddy, a customized suspension, and a
humongous roof rack, but it’s put together
well and works harmoniously. At $93,000
as tested, it is pricey, though. It’s for the
40 Automobile | November 2013
THE SPECS
Price: $82,000 (base, est.) Engine: 6.4L V-8, 470 hp, 465 lb-ft Drive: 4-wheel
modern-day Teddy Roosevelt who can
aford a Mercedes-Benz S-class but
prefers to play in the dirt.
As much as we like all of the of-
roading gear, the 6.4-liter Hemi is the
coolest element of the AEV conversion.
With 470 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque, it’s
the same engine that SRT uses in hot-rod
versions of the Chrysler 300, Dodge
Charger and Challenger, and Jeep Grand
Cherokee. It’s overkill in most of-road
situations, but that doesn’t stop us from
loving the big beast. And, boy, is it a blast
to open up on the highway.
Shed the tall tires and you could
commute in this rig. No joke. We did it for
several days with the tires. We also took
the AEV Wrangler to an of-road course at
a gravel pit in rural Michigan, where we
conquered hills, mud, and narrow trails
framed by trees. The Hemi Wrangler
simply shrugged, but it’s worth noting that
the stock Wrangler with Chrysler’s 285-hp
Pentastar V-6 could easily perform the
same chores. Like we said, overkill.
The AEV shined on the drive home
from the pit. You’re riding high with all
eight cylinders snarling while you blast by
slower highway trafc. When we put
down the windows and cruised along
US 12 at 70 mph, we heard nary a rattle or
a squeak, which is a testament to quality.
So what we have here is a very well
screwed together, very expensive, very
capable, and very powerful Wrangler. But
here’s what it does best: dirt-track
drag-racing.
At the gravel pit we came across a
straightaway called the “sand drag.” It was
an open area of loose dirt with plenty of
room to roam. We staged at one end,
mashed the gas, and held on tightly as the
tires bit into the dirt and the Jeep shot
forward. We bounced over rough,
washboardlike terrain with the heavy-
duty suspension dampers stroking up and
down in controlled, hydraulic action. Our
sprint climaxed with a mighty splash into
a huge mud puddle that completely
drenched the AEV Wrangler before it
smoothly came to a halt on the other side.
It felt like an Olympian feat, but the Jeep
wasn’t remotely flustered.
Finally, the ideal task for this Wrangler
became clear: sprinting through the
Badlands. If only there had been a Ford
F-150 SVT Raptor nearby.
— GREG MIGlIORE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PATRICK M. HOEY
THE ALL- NEW IS 350 F SPORT
CAR AND DRIVER’S TOP PICK
OVER THE BMW 335i M SPORT AND THE CADILLAC ATS 3.6*
*Source: Car and Driver (June 2013)

lexus.com/IS #LexusIS

2014 IS 350 F SPORT shown. ©2013 Lexus.

First Drive
2014 Cadillac CTS Vsport

La Dolce
CadillaC
42 Automobile | November 2013
The new CTS iS like
The GermAn CompeTiTion,
o n ly m o r e DA r i n G.
by Todd Lassa // photography by Jim FeTs
n Federico Fellini’s 1960 film La Dolce Vita,
Anouk Aimée, as Maddalena, cruises the
streets of Rome in a 1958 Cadillac convert-
ible. According to the subtitles, another
character tells her that the Caddy is “as big as
an apartment.” Felliniesque as this may sound,
such big American cars, especially Cadillacs, had Hol-
lywood cachet back in the days when postwar Romans
had to stuf themselves into two-cylinder Fiat 500s.
Five decades later, Cadillac is again building credible,
world-class luxury cars. With the 2014 CTS, it seems
that GM brass finally has let its engineers and designers
attack BMW while making the CTS the segment’s big-
gest loser—the base car is nearly 250 pounds lighter.
Engineering chief Dave Leone started with the new
Alpha platform (ATS and the next Chevy Camaro) and
designed more elegant substructures. His team de-
signed door structures, a hood, and other pieces of alu-
minum; made parts like the engine brackets of magne-
sium; and added loads of high-strength steel. Leone
says the base car is 200 pounds lighter than a BMW
528i; the normally aspirated, 3.6-liter V-6 CTS is 350
pounds lighter than a 535i; and the twin-turbo, 3.6-liter
Vsport is 400 pounds lighter than the 550i.
The new car is 4.2 inches longer than the 2008–13
Sigma-platform CTS, including a 1.2-inch bump in
wheelbase, and is an inch lower and slightly narrower.
The rear seat is placed closer to the rear axle, and the
November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 43
 First Drive
2014 Cadillac CTS Vsport

backs of the front buckets are contoured

to create impressive back-seat space. The
styling diference between this new, longer,
lower CTS and the last one is like the difer-
ence between an early Bill Mitchell Cadil-
lac and a late Harley Earl Caddy. The single
disappointment is the rear fender/taillamp
design, which was dramatic on the old car
but is now too much like the XTS’s—or
even the old DTS’s—tail, pandering to Chi-
nese tastes.
Interior design and quality of materials
easily match what you’ll find in a 5-series
or a Mercedes-Benz E-class, although in
light colors the back seat lacks some visual
dazzle. Up front, you still have to deal with
the problematic Cue infotainment system.
We had only the Vsport for our first
BASe priCe:
drive, which included many laps of GM’s
$46,025–$62,725
Milford Road Course, known colloquially enGineS: 2.0L turbo
as the Lutzring, plus a lap of the public I-4, 272 hp, 295 lb-ft;
roads surrounding the proving ground. 3.6L V-6, 321 hp,
There’s a slight hesitation at throttle 275 lb-ft; 3.6L
twin-turbo V-6,
tip-in, even with twin turbochargers. The 420 hp, 430 lb-ft
420-hp twin-turbo V-6 sounds great when TrAnSmiSSionS:
angry and quickly settles into a country- 6- or 8-speed
club hush when it’s not aroused. Credit automatic
DriVe: Rear- or
that naturally created induction noise for
4-wheel
tamping down the incongruity of hustling l x w x h:
a large, comfortable American luxury car 195.5 x 72.2 x 57.2 in
around this tight, technical test track. The wheelBASe:
Vsport’s smooth, responsive Aisin eight- 114.6 in
TrACk F/r:
speed automatic transmission works just 61.4/61.7 in
The car rewards those for whom han- Cadillac is in the
fine here in Sport mode—there’s no advan- dling comes first, acceleration second. The luxury-car hunt with
weiGhT: 3616 lb its latest interior
tage in clicking the paddle shifters. An (RWD, 2.0L turbo I-4) Vsport comes standard with Magnetic quality and designs.
eight-speed is the cost of entry in this seg- 0–60 mph: 4.6 sec Ride Control, which is now optional on the The new CTS has a
(3.6L twin-turbo V-6, one-piece wrapped
ment, although it comes only with the base CTS; the system ofers Tour, Sport, upper instrument
per manufacturer)
base and twin-turbo 3.6-liter V-6s and eST. FUel mileAGe: and Track settings. Although the stability panel, a standard
rear-wheel drive. If you get the all-wheel- 19/30 mpg, 18/28 mpg control can be turned of completely, it lets touchscreen
information
drive normally aspirated V-6 (AWD isn’t (RWD, AWD 2.0L you rotate the car and steer with the throt- center, and eight
available with the twin-turbo) or either turbo I-4); 19/28 mpg, tle in Track mode. Try that in one of the available interior
18/27 mpg (RWD, trim packages—
RWD or AWD with the 2.0-liter turbo AWD 3.6L V-6);
German or Asian competitors. This lets
six of them
four-cylinder, your transmission is a six- 17/25 mpg you enjoy trailing-throttle oversteer. Over- two-tone—with
speed automatic. (3.6L twin-turbo V-6) cook it in a corner, and stability control wood, aluminum,
or carbon-fiber
kicks in, but only long enough to make sure trim. And, yes, it’s
you’re not swapping ends. It shuts down saddled with the
once oversteer is under control. This is Cue system. The
big gee-whiz
easier than you think: you can feel the feature, though, is
50/50 balance in the CTS, which handles its leather-wrapped
as much like a two-seat sports car as a big cupholder with
motorized cover.
luxury sedan could allow. On the roads
that ring the proving ground, ride quality
and quietness are what you’d expect of
a Cadillac.
“It’s easier to give a good-handling car a
smooth ride than to make a good ride han-
dle,” Leone says.

44 Automobile | November 2013

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 First Drive
2014 Cadillac CTS Vsport
Although we still miss power-steering
pumps for feedback and feel, the electric
power-assisted steering (EPAS) in the CTS
is tactile. We’ve known for years that GM
has benchmarked BMW steering, not in its
current models but from a couple of gen-
erations ago, cars like the E46-chassis
3-series and the E39 5-series. Leone notes
that the CTS’s EPAS is mounted on the
steering rack, not on the column, for mini-
mal interference.
Cadillac XTS Vsport
t
his XTS has guts. You feel it the
moment you hit the gas and the
twin-turbo V-6 unleashes its 410 hp and
369 lb-ft of torque. There is a quiet, strong
presence, an understated confidence. The
torque peaks at 1900 rpm, providing punch for
launches. The revs build, the six cylinders
unlimber, and you’re cruising efortlessly at
high freeway speeds. The XTS Vsport is
certainly no DeVille.
The XTS and the CTS are the first Cadillacs
with the division’s new performance
designation, Vsport. The treatment is not as
extreme as the CTS V-series and its 556-hp
supercharged V-8, but it’s a considerable step
up from the base cars.
This is the same aluminum-block V-6 with
variable valve timing that is used in base XTS
eNGiNe: 3.6L twin-turbo V-6, 410 hp, 369 lb-ft DriVe: 4-wheel
46 Automobile | November 2013
While the XTS Vsport has twenty-inch
wheels, the cts Vsport has eighteens,
which means lower unsprung weight.
A serious sedan with a twin-turbo twist.
models, where it pushes out 304 hp and
264 lb-ft in normally aspirated guise. Besides
twin turbos, the Vsport engine gets a new
direct-injection system, unique cylinder heads,
and a new cooling system.
Unlike the 420-hp CTS Vsport, the XTS
Vsport is not athletic—its sheer size and
4364-pound curb weight prohibit that—but
the engine transforms the normally buttoned-
down sedan into a Q-ship. With standard
all-wheel drive, specially calibrated Magnetic
Ride Control, and meatier steering, the Vsport
has a mean streak.
Our test car’s Platinum package sets of
the husky proportions of the XTS. The Vsport
trim adds a trendy, blacked-out grille
bordered in chrome. Flashy vertical lights
front and rear and twenty-inch aluminum
PriCe: $63,020/$70,020 (base/as tested)
So Cadillac has met BMW at a cross-
roads, where the American brand is making
its luxury sedans more dynamic while the
German brand is making its sport sedans
more luxurious. Between the new CTS
Vsport and the Maserati Ghibli, Germany’s
dominance in this field is facing a real, tan-
gible threat. It will take a direct comparison
before we can be certain how far Cadillac
has come, but we’re pretty sure it could sell
a few CTS’s in Rome, if not in Munich. AM
wheels with chrome inserts underscore the
styling. It’s serious jewelry.
We’re struck by how imposing the XTS
looks. Our sapphire-blue model appeared to
be a shade of plum purple or nearly black,
depending on the lighting. The lines are long
and strong, with one starting at the tip of the
taillights and stretching into the front quarter
panels. Note the chiseled crease in both doors
below the beltline. Liberal strips of chrome
accent the wedge-shaped silhouette. Yeah, it’s
bling’d out—but it works. After all, the base
XTS is meant more for old money than the
nouveaux riches. The cabin is quiet and posh
and has an ultramodern digital cluster. Our car
was handsomely decked out in black and
cream and set of by light pipes, which cast a
soft glow on the doors and dashboard when
it’s dark outside. The formal setting is
interrupted by purple stitching, an
unconventional move for the staid brand.
We all know that Cadillac developed the
XTS—which doesn’t really fit into its
rear-wheel-drive lineup of sporty ATS and CTS
xts: patrick m. hoey
models—in order not to abandon customers
of the old DTS, itself a successor to the DeVille.
Loyal Cadillac customers should beware: the
Vsport has an energy they haven’t seen in
larger Caddys in generations. More power to
them, and to Cadillac. — GreG MiGliore
 DANIEL STEIGER

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 U L t i M at e
Fa n ta s y

1
D r i v e a F er ra r i F 1 2 a nD a MerceDes - Be nz

Alpine

48 Automobile | November 2013


by Georg Kacher // photography by Tom Salt
s Ls aM G BL ac k s e r i es i n t he t yroL ea n a L ps
I
magine if you were invited to escort the
two most alluring models from the dis-
play stands of the Geneva auto show for
a weekend in the Alps. It would be the
privilege of a lifetime to be in the com-
pany of such physical grace, command-
ing intelligence, and breathtaking style.
Instead of models, we spent a weekend
with two cars, but it was every bit as good.
Just as the women on the display stands
of auto shows around the globe invariably
share a similar immaculate physique, so do
the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and the Mer-
cedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series share a
certain DNA. Years of automotive-style
natural selection have arrived at a formula
for the grand touring car, a personal vehicle
in which two people might travel great dis-
tances at great speed in great comfort. As
we walked around the F12 and the SLS in a
courtyard in Bavaria, we saw the similari-
UL TIMATE
FANTASIES
ties between the two cars: high-perfor-
mance front-mounted engine; dual-clutch
seven-speed automatic transaxle; expen-
sive carbon-ceramic brakes; and high-style
aluminum-intensive bodywork. Yet there
are diferences as well: while the mighty
Ferrari V-12 makes 109 hp more than the
AMG V-8, the Mercedes has sleeker body-
work and a price that’s $45,000 lower.
If you were comparing these exclusive
cars from Maranello and Afalterbach with
a stopwatch, the Ferrari F12 would have a
slight edge over the Mercedes-Benz SLS
AMG Black Series. But just as if we were
magically in the company of those alluring
models, what really matters are the intan-
gibles—things like character and style,
adaptability and balance, response and co-
operation. We considered testing these cars
on a fast racetrack, but instead a late-sum-
mer loop across the Alps from Bavaria
November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 49
through Tyrol to northern Italy seemed
more appropriate. After three days and 867
miles, we have a favorite.
Even with 1353 hp at our command, re-
ality intruded as our fantasy adventure
began. First, there was the inevitable holi-
day trafc. Then there were the stops for
fuel, as these two beasts gulp gasoline at a
ferocious rate. After only 200 miles, the
red warning light in the Ferrari called for a
refill, and the Mercedes was almost
equally thirsty. When we drove the way
these cars beg to be driven, the F12’s
6.3-liter V-12 would give us 8 mpg, while
the SLS Black Series’ 6.2-liter V-8 would
deliver 9 mpg. When we observed the
nearly ubiquitous 81-mph speed limit, the
Ferrari improved to 15 mpg and the Mer-
cedes did 17 mpg. These are the inevitable
consequences of a Ferrari V-12 that makes
731 hp at 8250 rpm and 509 lb-ft of torque
at 6000 rpm in tandem with an AMG V-8
50 Automobile | November 2013
that gives you 622 hp at 7400 rpm and
468 lb-ft at 5500 rpm.
While the Kacher boys, who had to be
pulled out of these addictive grand tourers
with force, pumped fuel, we took a longer
look at these cars. The SLS AMG Black Se-
ries has been inspired by the GT3 version
now competing in sports car racing, and it
shows in the pricey aero kit that includes a
deep front air dam with carbon-fiber dive
planes at its edges, an elaborate rear dif-
fuser, and a precarious rear wing. Although
the presentation is about as subtle as a
Lady Gaga video, it significantly enhances
cornering grip.
The Black Series loathes curbs, speed
bumps, and narrow lanes in parking struc-
tures, but as soon as you hit the open road,
its dimensions seem to shrink and visibility
is no longer an issue. The trunk is very
small at 6.2 cubic feet, so your fantasy com-
panion on a long trip should know how to
pack lightly. Ferrari apparently better
understands the kind of wardrobe it takes
to get a person of style through a long
weekend, because the F12’s trunk mea-
sures 11.3 cubic feet.
Compared with the Black Series, the
Ferrari F12 Berlinetta doesn’t need pro-
vocative livery to make its statement. The
F12 looks butch enough for a supercar, yet
it is strikingly chic and is even more space-

The Tyrolean Alps

take their name from
Tyrol, a state in
western Austria. The
roads in the region
are spectacular for
sightseeing and
driving alike. Watch
out for falling rocks.

Both grand tourers have similar

proportions and exterior dimensions
that are within a couple of inches, but
they couldn’t look more diferent.

efcient than the larger Ferrari 599GTB

Fiorano it replaces.
Thanks to clever aerodynamics that in-
corporate subtle ducts and scoops, the F12
generates almost twice as much downforce
at 125 mph as its predecessor, even without
a rear spoiler. When the F12 is driven at the
limit from the top of a mountain to the bot-
tom of a valley, two flaps in the front air dam
open to direct cooling air to the brakes.
Meanwhile, the short tail and the rear dif-
fuser clean up rear air turbulence to help
deliver impeccable directional stability at
speed. By installing the engine aft of the
front axle, the engineers have secured a
weight distribution of 46/54 percent front/
rear, comparable to the balance that makes
the mid-engine Ferrari 458 Italia so respon-
sive to directional changes.
Top speed really matters here in Eu-
rope, since civilian sedans typically cruise
the high-speed highways at 125 mph. The
Black Series with its 622-hp V-8 can reach
196 mph, although ironically this is 1 mph
slower than the lesser SLS models due to
the Black’s numerically higher final-drive
ratio for motorsport-spec acceleration
away from corners. The AMG-engineered
6208-cc V-8 has a free-flowing intake
system, hotter camshaft profiles, and a re-
vised valvetrain to help boost output by
39 hp, although torque declines 11 lb-ft, to
468 lb-ft. The Ferrari F12’s 6262-cc V-12
makes 731 hp, enough to carry it past
211 mph. The sprint to 200 kph (124 mph)
is a memorable event of 8.5 seconds. In the
Merc, the exercise takes about two seconds
longer, but it keeps up with the Ferrari
from there to 160 mph. We never saw more
than 180 mph in either vehicle because of
trafc or weather, so side-by-side speed
tests were a dead heat most of the time.
The AMG was always noisier and more
nervous, though.
Both of these cars feature dual-clutch
seven-speed automatic transaxles from
Getrag, but diferent programming applies.
The Benz permits you to choose from four
shift programs: Comfort, Sport, Sport Plus,
and Manual. The Ferrari ofers a choice of

November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 51

five settings from the manettino switch on
the steering wheel: Wet, Sport, Race, trac-
tion control of, and stability control of.
The Ferrari’s transmission really begs
you to put the car through its paces, as the
large, smooth shift paddles change ratios
with superquick urge, and the gearing pre-
cisely matches the torque curve. Forget au-
tomatic mode, since it is slow to respond,
reluctant to downshift, clumsy, and even
there’s a confidence-inspiring creaminess
in the predictable way the tires break away
at the limit of grip. Both cars have limited-
slip diferentials with the ability to elec-
tronically vector torque from one side of
the car to the other.
If it were of-season for tourists, we
would have crisscrossed south through the
Dolomites, where the map beckons you to
legendary passes like Stelvio, Pordoi, Rolle,
and Falzarego. But with the whole of Italy
taking three weeks of, it was wiser to di-
vert to more remote twisties such as the
Altopiano dei Sette Comuni and the Catena
ill-timed. If you prefer to let a transmission del Lagorai. Here, where the asphalt seems
do the thinking for you, go right to the to date back to Hannibal and his elephant
Mercedes. Its Sport Plus mode is so good at entourage, the roads are barely wide
faking engine orgasm between ratios that enough for two vintage Fiat 500s, and the
you’ll never touch the shift paddles. Sure, ancient route winds through the majestic
the action is completely electronic, but the mountains like a monumental gray serpent.
perfectly timed engine misfire when you The Ferrari feels at home in this habitat
lift of the gas pedal, the angry blat-blat despite the constrained straightaways. Its
from the V-8 (which mimics heel-and-toe steering is quicker than that of the Benz
downshifts), and then the kick from the by a full half turn of the wheel, the turn-
clutch engagement during foot-to-the- ing circle is marginally tighter, and the
floor upshifts will all get under your skin. 107.1-inch wheelbase (longer than that of
After weaving our way through the metal the Benz by 1.6 inches) leads to less chassis
maze on the A8 highway from Munich to squirming in the corners. Redlined at
Innsbruck, and after then meandering 8500 rpm, the 65-degree Ferrari V-12 pro-
through a cycling contest all the way to the duces more power than the 90-degree
end of an idyllic green snake better known Benz V-8 can manage before it signs of at
as Ötztal Valley, the time finally came to let 8000 rpm, and the V-12 also unexpectedly
the F12 and the SLS loose. On the approach
to the Timmelsjoch summit, light drizzle
set the scene for a waltz through no fewer
than eight second-gear hairpins with a
panoramic view of the valley.
With the transmission in Sport mode,
the 3616-pound SLS Black Series will
scramble for traction because it wears Mi-
chelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s with treads
shaved down to semislick, race-ready
depth. It’s crucial to warm up all four tires;
otherwise, the gripless fronts will under-
steer you into oblivion. The 3594-pound
Ferrari is better prepared for these treach-
erous conditions. Its own Michelin Pilot
Super Sport road tires hang on longer,
power oversteer is less pronounced, and

52 Automobile | November 2013


Dogs prefer the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta.
Too bad this pooch couldn’t see the
Ferrari’s strikingly beautiful red paint.
serves a slightly larger portion of grunt at
low- to mid-range rpm.
To qualify for the badge of a Black Se-
ries, the big, bad Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
has received a more muscular setup for its
chassis, including two-stage dampening, a
stifer front antiroll bar for quicker steer-
ing response, tighter bushings, lightweight
wheels, a diferent assist profile for the
steering, and special tires. This recipe
works wonders on a racing circuit, but it is
not entirely ideal for the real world, in
which the road has ridges, dips, potholes,
cattle guards, and railway crossings.
Whereas the SLS driver can adjust
UL TIMATE
FANTASIES
Austria is a picture postcard, but Italy is
friendly to fast cars. When you get stopped
by a policewoman for delving into triple-
digit territory on a rural highway, she asks,
“Which car wins?” Although the Italian
economy is deep in the doldrums, the love
for beautiful exotic cars hasn’t waned, so
the sound of an angry Ferrari engine still
draws a crowd even in the middle of no-
where. The V-12 is vocal at idle, then vi-
brantly baritone as it fills its lungs with in-
take air, and, finally, ferociously noisy
when the optional LED-type rev counter
in the upper arc of the steering wheel illu-
minates its entire range. Since the 6.2-liter
V-8 in the SLS AMG Black Series received
its acoustic certification in Stuttgart in-
stead of Sicily, it is not as expressive when
it revs up, but it does have a dark and evil
voice, as Teutonic thunder and roar are ac-
companied by Italian bawl and bellow.
Where the great green amphitheaters
below the alpine passes open up and the
wide plains begin to spread their colorful
blanket of crops and pastures, the cool
mountain air fuses with a heavier warmth
that pushes northward from the Adriatic
Sea. We headed for Vicenza, now traveling
on much smoother roads. One of the lucky
Kacher sons—Max, 23, or Sebastian, 29—led
the way in the F12. Monitored from the
Mercedes close behind, the Ferrari looked
absolutely invincible as it weaved through
the ubiquitous Fiat Ducato vans, Piaggio
Ape tricycles, and assorted minicars with
the ease of a chariot pulled by 731 horses.
But every time the young eyes checked the
rearview mirror (we love this part), the fa-
ther’s face loomed large at the wheel of the
silver bullet. Here, there’s no doubt that the
broad-shouldered SLS Black can keep up
with its red rival. While the F12 won’t shine
unless whipped through the transmission
ratios by the keyboard at your fingertips, all
the suspension calibration from sadistic
(Sport) to masochistic (Sport Plus), the F12
driver can summon heavenly comfort sim-
ply by engaging the button for the damper
setting on the steering wheel. No matter to
which position the manettino might be set,
this puts the suspension in its softest cali-
bration. This useful setting does not mean
soft and wobbly but instead more progres-
sive and stable. Where the SLS Black goes
through crash-bang-wallop motions like a
racing car, the Ferrari uses more wheel
The Ferrari’s five-stage manettino is
travel and body movement to absorb the easily accessible and can program the
punishment from the pavement. car to handle just about any situation.
Germany is autobahn paradise and
November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 53
 sharp, like a proper sports car rather than
laid-back like a GT.
Time to prepare for the final stop, so we
let the sizzling engines cool down, silenced
the Ferrari’s crackling brakes, and put the
Benz’s poltergeist suspension to rest. Dur-
ing an extended aperitivo and then over a
rustic dinner washed down with local ama-
rone, the Kacher clan discussed, disagreed,
Mercedes-Benz and decided. As the grappa finally arrived
Ferrari F12 L x W x H: SLS AMG L x W x H:
at the end of the meal, the Ferrari F12 Ber-
Berlinetta 181.8 x 76.5 x 50.1 in Black Series 182.9 x 77.8 x 49.7 in
BASE PRICE: WHEELBASE: BASE PRICE: WHEELBASE: linetta had edged the Mercedes-Benz SLS
$323,338 107.1 in $278,900 105.5 in Black Series into defeat, and here is why.
ENGINE: 48-valve TRACk F/R: ENGINE: 32-valve TRACk F/R: The Ferrari goes faster and rides better.
DOHC V-12 65.6/63.7 in DOHC V-8 67.0/66.0 in
WEIGHT:
It has a softer edge, yet its performance,
DISPLACEMENT: WEIGHT: DISPLACEMENT:
6.3 liters (382 cu in) 3594 lb 6.2 liters (379 cu in) 3616 lb roadholding, and handling remain hard-
POWER: EPA MILEAGE: POWER: EPA MILEAGE: core. On the debit side, the infotainment is
731 hp @ 8250 rpm 11/16 mpg 622 hp @ 7400 rpm 13/17 mpg not up to date, the transmission program-
TORQUE: O–62 MPH: TORQUE: O–62 MPH:
3.6 sec
ming needs more sparkle in automatic
509 lb-ft @ 6000 rpm 3.1 sec 468 lb-ft @ 5500 rpm
TRANSMISSION: TOP SPEED: TRANSMISSION: TOP SPEED: mode, and a smooth getaway from a stop
7-speed automatic 211 mph 7-speed automatic 196 mph and a fluid crawling pace are not a forte.

it takes for the Benz to play grandmaster is

a firm stab at the throttle.
Miraculously, the autostrada from
Piovene Rocchette to Vicenza was as de-
serted as a Walmart parking lot at mid-
night. But this short, twenty-mile stretch
to the busy A4 turned out to be a rough bit
of blacktop with yawning expansion joints,
deep anti-hydroplaning grooves, and a
glistening surface polished by too many
summer suns. The SLS made a bid for
the front in a third-gear on-ramp but
struggled to maintain its composure. While
the front end bit the pavement, turned in,
and followed a slightly ragged line drawn
by many tired slabs of concrete, the rear
end rolled and yawed in protest. Despite
wide wheels and tires (wider at the rear
than the front), the Benz drifted away from
the optimal cornering arc. The chassis is
just not compliant enough to work with
the driver on such a rough surface, and The Mercedes-Benz has many of the
there’s too much excitement for body and same transmission issues as the Ferrari
mind. Herr Benz is a little portly, has heavy (managing the durability of a dual-clutch
steering, and is quite proud of his muscle- design matched with so much horsepower
building brakes. is very difcult), yet its gearbox software
Meanwhile, la macchina rossa irons out works better. The chassis is perfectly enter-
these idiosyncrasies in the road surface taining at the limit as the steering, the
with remarkable grandezza. It is a wiry, brakes, and the suspension form a cohesive
light-footed swordsman with quick re- whole. Nevertheless, this race-calibrated
flexes and easy yet precise handling. The car is too harshly sprung and dampened to
F12’s steering did feel a little light to us be a great road car, and it fights a bit when it
after three days on the road, and the hyper- is pushed hard.
sensitive brakes bite so venomously that So go ahead and buy that Ferrari F12
every deceleration has a dash of emer- Berlinetta. It will take two people as far as
gency action. On the other hand, the Fer- your gas card can carry you, and if you just
rari feels more maneuverable than its di- happen to be in Geneva at auto-show time,
mensions suggest, and its responses are there’s no telling what might happen. AM

54 Automobile | November 2013

 U l t i m at e
Fa n ta s y

story and photography by Andrew Yeadon

2
d r i v e to a r e m ot e lo cat i o n Fo r t h at o n e p h oto

white

56 Automobile | November 2013


T
here’s no other place on earth
where you can find the com-
bination of natural elements
that created this fantasy pho-
tograph. We’re in the White
Sands National Monument in
southern New Mexico, where high moun-
tain ranges, extreme temperature variation,
wind, an elevated water table, and gypsum
rock formations have created an expanse of
pure white sand that stretches across some
275 square miles.
Our transport is a 2014 Mercedes-Benz
E550 convertible, and through its wind-
shield the scenery looks like Alaska in
winter. Everything is white. My eyes tell
me: “Snow—prepare for icy conditions.”
I’ve even applied the brakes to test the grip.
The dashboard temperature gauge tells
a diferent story, indicating 131 degrees
Fahrenheit. This is the hottest late June in
years. But, still, 131 degrees?
Stepping out of the Benz’s air-condi-
tioned, cooled leather is like walking into a
pizza oven. Without protection from the
tinted windshield, the intense reflected
sunlight burns your retinas. Strong sun-
glasses are essential. The camera’s light
meter reports levels of brightness seen only
on snow-covered ski slopes.
White Sands National Monument was
formed by extremes and survives because
of them, making this 800-mile one-way
trip worthwhile. This is the world’s largest
gypsum dune field, a photographer’s dream
with giant waves of alabaster sand as far as
UL TIMATE
FANTASIES
the eye can see bordered by mountains and
endless skies.
The sands lie at the northern end of the
Chihuahuan Desert. Elevation ranges from
3890 feet to 4116 feet. The region has been
featured in many films, including King Solo-
mon’s Mines (1950) and the first two movies
in the Transformers series (2007 and 2009).
Sunset turns the sky light pink, and the
wind moves the sand across the desert
floor like waves on an ocean. It’s a truly
magical site. AM
Of course, Yeadon took more than one shot.
To see more of his photography from White
Sands, download our November iPad issue
or visit www.andrewyeadon.com/features/
whitesands.html
November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 57
 U l t i m at e
Fa n ta s y

3
D r i v e cross - coUnt ry i n a sUp erca r

McL a r en Across AmericA

58 Automobile | November 2013

 UL TIMATE
FANTASIES

by Jamie Kitman // photography by Martyn Goddard

hough it has fallen out of fashion, the epic cross-country

drive remains one of the great set pieces of American letters.
Kerouac, Steinbeck—I well remember reading their road
novels as a schoolboy—and, in a more extracurricular vein,
Brock Yates of “Cannonball Run” fame. Crossing our coun-
try’s vast and varied topography by automobile, each of these
storytellers taught us something we didn’t know about a land whose
frontiers had long since disappeared but which still seemed mighty big.
Here at Automobile Magazine, the flame never went out. Our
literary aspirations are more humble than the aforementioned masters,
but we’re certain that nothing compares to a good 3000-mile drive for
getting to know a car.

November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 59

 So one day recently, I got in my car and
drove home. Except that it wasn’t my car. It
was a $272,230 MP4-12C that belonged to
McLaren Automotive—and I was in L.A.,
more than 3000 miles from home.
This periodical’s motto, pledged by our
founder, David E. Davis, Jr., is “No boring
cars.” No boring destinations and no boring
people is implied. With a plan of visiting a
few interesting characters on the way back
to my very fascinating family at home, pho-
tographer Martyn Goddard and I had our
bases covered as we embarked on a rapid
continental crossing in a machine most un-
boring. Home cooking, regional dialects,
and indigenous music are swell, but some
truths can only be truly elucidated by trav-
eling very fast.
Now that there is a million-dollar-plus
McLaren P1, the 12C may only be the
champion Formula 1 constructor’s cook-
ing-grade road car. Before you start feeling
sorry for us, remember it’s still one of the
most exciting horizon-pulverizing devices
known to man. It’s a machine so new, so
exotic, and so rare that, so far as we could
figure, no one outside of a few lab-coated
McLaren employees had ever attempted
such a long journey in one.
Approaching the sleek and dramatically
low 12C, I flashed back to something I’d
written in an otherwise glowing report on
this mid-engine holy roller after driving it
at its 2011 introduction in Portugal. I loved
the performance of the 3.8-liter twin-turbo
V-8 (592 hp, since bumped up to 616). just-completed Bay Area promotion, was
Loved the carbon-fiber tub at its core. Went an infinitely popular smartphone photo
Supercar fans
wild for its ride and handling, which come everywhere admire
subject. Clearly, I’d miscalculated the
courtesy of a brilliantly efective, gas-con- the McLaren (top). power of generic supercar styling.
trolled active suspension, advanced stabil- Arizona’s is the first My initial time with the 12C had been
of many state-line
ity controls, and the kind of mega-down- signs we’d mostly on the track, but even there I was
force only F1 constructors can imagine. It encounter (middle). impressed with its potential for practical
was the 12C’s styling that, at the time, struck At Local Motors in use. Here was that rare mid-engine convey-
Chandler, Arizona: a
me as unremarkable, supercar generic. crowd-sourced ance that, like an Acura NSX or an Audi R8,
However, before Goddard and I left prototype chassis might make some sort of sense for long-
for a mid-engine
California, in a parking lot in Monterey sports car intended
distance transportation. The first day’s
Park, we received vivid, instant proof that to borrow heavily drive, a little over 400 miles to Phoenix,
in real life, out among the masses and far from junked Honda didn’t disabuse me of the notion. Despite its
Civics (above). Jay
away from jaded car-writer cloisters, the Rogers, Local Motors fundamentally weight-saving outlook, ac-
MP4-12C is a stone-cold style monster. founder (below). commodations proved reasonable for two
For the next seven days, we would be persons with soft luggage and a fair sam-
swarmed with admirers, bombarded with pling of modern photographic equipment.
their questions and thrusting camera The 12C is no Mercedes-Benz S-class, but
phones. A big part of the journey was going being quiet, comfortable, and airy, it’s no
to involve community relations and posing torture chamber, either.
for pictures. For 3336.6 miles and across As the trafc heading east on I-10 toward
fifteen states, our transportation, born Arizona thinned out, I was reminded of the
black on black at McLaren’s futuristic fac- 12C’s substantial performance envelope.
tory in Woking, England, but treated to a This car is so fast it’s sick. However fa-
disposable wrap in Hot Wheels blue for a mously terrific its most direct competitor,

60 Automobile | November 2013


Airborne in a Rally the Ferrari 458 Italia, may sound, the sweet
Fighter (above). A noises of the McLaren’s twin turbochargers
sudden dust storm
on I-10 in California spooling up and down, plus an exquisite ex-
(below). haust burble as gearchanges are popped of
during mad dashes to its race-bred, 90-de-
gree, dry-sump V-8’s 8500-rpm redline, will
not grow old for any enthusiast, ever.
It was not yet 9 a.m., but the sun burned
brightly as we traversed the surface streets
of the greater Phoenix cement-o-plex. For
all its natural beauty, no one does sprawl
better than the Copper State—mile after
mile of it, its appeal presumably explained
by car-centric suburban convenience com-
bined with the sunshiny warmth and won-
der of the surrounding environs, which is
quite unlike anything we have back east.
The same goes for Local Motors, where
we stop to meet with John Burton “Jay”
Rogers, Jr., the charismatic co-founder of
UL TIMATE
FANTASIES
what claims to be the world’s first crowd-
sourced automobile company.
A Harvard MBA, Iraq War veteran, and
grandson of a guy who once owned Indian
Motorcycle, Rogers explained that by keep-
ing production low, building locally, and
selling cars uniquely relevant to a local
population, LM can avoid the pitfalls of
would-be volume makers like Fisker. Local
Motors manufactures the Rally Fighter, a
$99,900 V-8-powered of-road coupe with
a sturdy spaceframe and extravagant sus-
pension travel. Customers do much of the
assembly work, which exempts the Rally
Fighter from DOT crash and airbag regula-
tions because it’s a kit car. Buyers show up
on their own dime and are given tools, de-
tailed instructions, a jig-welded chassis,
and enough subassemblies to build a car.
Friendly advice is available.
November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 61
UL TIMATE
FAN TAS IES
The perils of small-volume vehicle
manufacture are too numerous to list, but
McLaren appears to have sidestepped
many of them. Performance aside, the 12C’s
number-one party trick—the way its dihe-
dral doors scissor forward from the A-pil-
lars—is hard to pull of, but they work ex-
ceptionally well, opening and closing easily
and sealing properly, and they work like
umbrellas in a downpour.
That wasn’t much of a concern as we
drove through the desert, where the air-
conditioning system, a traditional mine-
field for smaller carmakers, kept us cool
and didn’t stop working. McLaren makes
good use of the 12C’s wide sills by placing
individual ventilation controls on the
doors’ interior panels, limiting clutter on
the slender, Volvo-esque, “floating” center
stack, where the straightforward, fairly
old-school controls of the Meridian sound
system reside, along with a passable navi-
gation system. Goddard noted with irrita-
tion, though, that the digital displays on the
door-mounted controls can be hard to read
in certain light and that the white stitching
adorning the dash top reflects in the wind-
shield at night. He was also less impressed
than I with some of the interior materials.
If the Dos Equis guy is the most interest-
ing man in the world, our host in Santa Fe,
New Mexico, Denise McCluggage, is the
most interesting woman. Born in 1927,
McCluggage was raised in Topeka, the
daughter of a Kansas lawyer and a home-
maker. “I was a daddy’s girl,” she recalled
over breakfast at the Eldorado Hotel & Spa
in Santa Fe. “I mowed the lawn. I washed
the car. Because that’s what Daddy did.”
When she went away to Oakland, Cali-
62 Automobile | November 2013
fornia, for college, she spied an MG TC in
Kjell Qvale’s sports car showroom on Van
Ness Avenue, across the bay in San Fran-
cisco. “I was overcome. I had to have it. I’d
never had to have something so much as
that. And overnight . . . it was so intense, my
desire . . . the British pound was devalued
and they dropped the price to $1800. So I
called my daddy, a long-distance call to
Kansas, only death or whatever. He lent me
the money to buy it. I paid him back.”
She moved to New York in the early
1950s to work for the city’s Herald Tribune
as a reporter for its women’s pages. She
The McLaren poses near Route 60
in Arizona. The author takes legend Denise
McCluggage (left) for a ride. Below: Diferent
technologies aid travel through New Mexico.
parked her next MG TC on the street out-
side of her Greenwich Village pad. “I was
covering things like the introduction of
new washable suede gloves, new refrigera-
tors and ranges,” and although she had the
freedom to write a column a week on a sub-
ject of her choosing, McCluggage soon
worked her way over to the sports pages, a
rarity for a woman then. “I said I wanted to
cover this new sport that they were doing—
sports car racing.”
“I’d met Briggs Cunningham at a chil-
dren’s yacht race I was covering at his yacht
club.” Thanks to Cunningham, an instant
admirer, her entrée to the sports car world
was assured. “I started a column, the first
anyone was writing [on sports car racing].
“Briggs was just the greatest guy ever.
Suddenly, I was driving his race cars. My
first was a Jaguar, a gift . . . I drove his
OSCAs, his Porsches. [Alfred] Momo liked
me, too, which was handy. I didn’t race the
D-type, but I drove it. Of course, it was a
relatively simple thing to do in those days.
You drove your cars to the races, you
slapped numbers on them, you raced them,
and sometimes you left the numbers on to
impress people driving home.”
McCluggage quickly improved an al-
ready skilled game, trying everything from
Ferraris for importer Luigi Chinetti to ral-
lying in Europe for the British Motor Cor-
poration. A class victory at Sebring in 1961,
while driving a Ferrari 250GT, was one ca-
reer highlight that saw her pairing up with
a rank amateur for a co-driver, her then-
boyfriend, the tenor sax player and
jazzman Allen Eager. It spoke to her abil-
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UL TIMATE
FAN TAS IES
Tyler’s Barbeque had sold out for the night, but
we begged them to let us stay and, sure enough,
they found a sublime end of beef brisket to share.
ity—and likely his—while telling us plenty
about a more relaxed time and a more easy-
going sport.
After breakfast, McCluggage joined me
for a ride in the McLaren. She was duly im-
pressed but not as much as I was with her
tale. While writing, racing, and arranging
to ski most everywhere, McCluggage also
managed to find time in 1958 to help start
Competition Press (precursor to Autoweek,
where she still writes a column). She left
the newspaper game and circumnavigated
the globe in the employ of the Fuller Brush
Company, for whom she’d write a catalog.
She dated a dashing cast of writers, musi-
cians, millionaires, Formula 1 drivers, and,
yes, even Steve McQueen. Let that sink in.
God bless Texas: Tyler Frazer of Tyler’s
Barbeque (right and top) made room for us,
and a patrol ofcer in Hardeman County let
us of with a warning (above).
64 Automobile | November 2013
Deeply knowledgeable about cars and
the automobile industry, McCluggage is
well-read; politically outspoken in a retir-
ing, jolly pinko sort of way; and a fine
writer to boot. Rarely stooping to conven-
tion, she has led the sort of charmed and
full life that many would wish for them-
selves. Not that it didn’t surprise me, but it
made a strange kind of sense when she
added as an aside that “fulfilling men’s fan-
tasies insofar as I was able” was very im-
portant to her. Maybe so, but in my book, as
a feminist, she’s tough to top. She didn’t
confront a male-dominated society; she
just went around it.
The gearhead sophisticates of Santa Fe
turn out in numbers for a weekly lunch, the
Tuesday Car Table, which McCluggage
graces whenever she’s in town. One of
my tablemates, Dean Rogers, owns an
MP4-12C that was in Houston having its
cracked windshield replaced. He’d driven
it 3000 miles so far and loved it. John Paul
Gonzales, young son of a family whose
Santa Fe roots go back hundreds of years,
loved it, too, but believes early customers
are involved in the model’s “beta-testing
phase,” whether they want to be or not.
Goddard and I started agreeing with
Gonzales when our car’s audio system
went on the fritz in Texas. Suddenly, the
radio (or iPod) would go silent and the
touchscreen would freeze. Rebooting
would restore function, but then it would
crash again, usually sooner than later.
Although Goddard’s legs are long and
mine are short, we agreed that there was
something wanting in the seat bottoms
where long-distance comfort was con-
cerned. On the other hand, we were seeing
fuel economy in the neighborhood of
22 mpg, even with plenty of full-bore ac-
celeration.
In Amarillo, Tyler’s Barbeque had sold
out for the night, but we begged them to let
us stay and, sure enough, they found a sub-
lime end of beef brisket to share. The
McLaren we’d parked outside didn’t hurt
our credibility. Texas-born Tyler Frazer,
the award-winning pit master, revealed
himself to be a young man of no mean so-
phistication, once again puncturing the
tired notions I am embarrassed to say
many Northeasterners have about the rest
of the country, especially the South, a place
some speak foolishly about, typically be-
cause they’ve spent no time there.
Not that we could stay in Amarillo, or
Dallas, or anywhere too long. Select sport
mode on one of the 12C’s two console dials
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(one chooses suspension and stability con-
trol settings, the other engine/shift algo-
rithms) and the acoustics get even more
ferocious. A centrally pivoted paddle be-
hind the steering wheel lets you shufe
through the seven speeds of the dual-
clutch automatic (located immediately be-
hind the engine located immediately be-
hind your head), so you can play each cog
for all of its musical worth. With due credit
to the MP4-12C’s relatively low weight
—3200 pounds—the Ricardo-built engine
you’re thrashing feels like the original Mar-
shall stack of horsepower.
Zero to 60 mph comes up in three sec-
onds. You’re barely into second gear. Hit-
ting 100 mph takes four more seconds, and
you’re at the top of third—with four gears
and three digits’ worth of additional top
speed left to go, all the way to 207 mph.
The quarter mile has come and gone in less
than eleven seconds. Holy Schmidt’s
(beer)! The reality of the road and the rea-
sonable desire to remain outside of the
criminal-justice system frustratingly limits
manic blasts through any of gears two
through overdriven seven.
For professional reasons, we found our-
selves duty bound during our first few days
with the McLaren to verify, vigorously and
over and over again, that it is indeed blin-
dingly fast and always ready to accelerate
some more, from as low as 1500 rpm. It is
also steely-eyed and stable at triple-digit
speeds. We saw an indicated 148 mph on a
lonely two-lane that will not be named, and
the 12C was just getting started. By the time
we got to Montgomery, Alabama, we’d
slowed down considerably. I’m against all
regional stereotypes, but you know what
they say about New York Jews in exotic
cars driving double and triple the speed
limit. I’m not religious, but I’m pretty sure Bridges showed us the rooms in the
it’s in the Bible somewhere. capitol where the Confederacy was born.
In downtown Montgomery, we left the He showed us the First White House of the
car at a parking meter and were ready to Confederacy across the street. Deep in the
immerse ourselves in some national history bowels of the state archives next door, he
that predated McLaren’s arrival on our and archivist Ryan Blocker allowed us to
shores. We’d been invited to the state capi- inspect the remarkable, restored flags of
tol by Josh Segall, a thirty-four-year-old local militias, Bull Connor photographs,
lawyer and one-time Congressional candi- and the clothes Alabaman presidential can-
date born to an old Montgomery family, a didate George Wallace was wearing when
Jewish one with roots in the area that go he was shot in 1972. A fascinating figure—
back 100 years. I’d fortuitously become ac- and a physically smaller man than you’d
quainted with Segall, a history buf and expect—Wallace would after his shooting
kindred spirit, during a business call. He renounce his past of racial hatred and
offered a visit to Alabama government begin to mend fences with the African-
buildings in the company of Dr. Edwin American community. As if it were a Hol-
Bridges, director emeritus of the Alabama lywood movie set, from the capitol’s front
Department of Archives and History. steps we could see the church, just a couple

66 Automobile | November 2013

 UL TIMATE
FA N TAS I E S
TRIP NOTES
Tyler’s BArBeque those David E. Slept Here plaques, folks.
2014 Paramount I tried to give them an idea of the sensa-
boulevard,
amarillo, texas
tion of driving this car. Blasting of is elec-
79109 trifying, but so is stopping quickly when
806–331–bbQ1, you’re running hard, such as when the
tylersbarbeque.com back road we were hammering down
informal décor and
turned to crumbled-up poo during a high-
youthful help do
nothing to blunt the speed run. Or each time the Escort radar
excellence of formal detector tipped us of to an imminent ap-
dry-rubbed texas pearance by the state police. Nail the bind-
barbecue. ers and a huge body-colored air brake rises
AlABAMA
suddenly from the rear of the car, like the
DepArTMenT of tail of a scared cat.
Archives AnD Which is pretty cool. But once the in-
hisTory evitable paranoia of driving a supercar on
624 Washington
public roads sets in, it’s easy to suddenly
avenue,
montgomery, mistake an air brake, or anything else that
alabama 36130 pops up suddenly in your mirror, for a cop
archives. who’s stapled himself to your heinie. When
alabama.gov you get over the shock and realize it’s just
Plenty of artifacts
and documents
the air brake you’ve spotted, there’s the
from alabama’s fear that behind it still lurks a cop, one
hundred yards away, where Dr. Martin Lu-
intriguing history who’s been tipped of by its deployment.
ther King, Jr., had preached. Because he make this a great It’s a rich person’s problem. Call it Carbon
was not allowed to speak on the capitol stop for history bufs
Fiber Handcuf Syndrome.
stairs, King orated from a podium placed and scholars alike.
The Alabama You’re handcufed or liberated by a su-
on a trailer pulled in front of the legisla-
state capitol DAvis cAfe percar, depending on which kind of weirdo
in Montgomery ture’s great home. So much history in such
518 north decatur you are. But everybody’s always staring at
(above). Far left: a small space. street,
The McLaren lets you. A sizable percentage of restaurant staf
faster trafc pass in
You might say the same thing about our montgomery,
alabama 36104
left their stations at an Atlanta rib shack to
Richmond, Virginia. MP4-12C, but you’d say it only if you were
The First White 334–264–6015 gawp at the McLaren out front—in the rain.
talking to serious gearheads. Fortunately,
House of the local pols, Then there were the surprisingly arch ar-
Confederacy. Left: Segall had arranged for us to meet local consultants, and tiste types we saw in downtown Richmond,
Conversing with McLaren and Automobile Magazine lawyers pile into this
Edwin Bridges and Virginia, who paused with nonironic fasci-
fans at Mitchell Classics. Bill Mitchell is a unassuming
Josh Segall on the lunchroom, where nation for an unhipsterly number of sec-
capitol steps; friendly old-car dealer and retired psycho-
regulars choose onds outside of their loft spaces and galler-
Martin Luther King logical counselor who may, like us, have oc-
Jr.’s old church can from among three ies simply to take in this most impressive
be seen in the
casion to ponder the Freudian underpin- mains (fried machine. The night we reached New York
distance. Top right: nings of why he owns so many cars that he chicken, pork chops,
Ribs in Atlanta. and fish the day we
we stopped for a time-lapse photo along
needs a warehouse. Two of the attendees
Badges of were there) and a the Jersey-side shores of the Hudson River.
inequality in the told us that David E. Davis, Jr., had stayed
host of standard Our biggest problem, it soon became clear,
Alabama archives. at their homes. It’s not too soon to hang southern sides, all was going to be shooing away the young
as good as you
people who surrounded our car.
wished your mother
would have made it. As I’d assured the assembled that night
in Montgomery, our experience proved
that the great American road trip is alive
and well. Americans loved the McLaren
through and through, exhibiting all the un-
expected insight, blinding ignorance, and
1000 percent enthusiasm that any supercar
driver gets to know in a hurry. Two days
earlier, in Mississippi, a family abandoned
their dinner in a nearby restaurant to come
chat us up at the filling station across the
The Mclaren’s trip
odometer tells the street while their meals grew cold.
tale of the tape at Like the cross-country car journey, a
journey’s end in supercar is one of those things that never
Weehawken, New
Jersey, in sight of the goes out of fashion. And we had to admit
NYC skyline. that for an awesome machine, the McLaren
was pretty decent. AM

November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 67

U l t i m at e
Fa n ta s y
D R i V e c l ass i c ca Rs ac Ross
B
uyer 9071 had just nabbed
the 1930 Lincoln sport pha-
eton for $52,000 when I
took it of the auction block.
Stepping first on the starter
button and on then the gas
pedal, I gunned the 385-cubic-inch V-8
vigorously to life. A steward’s golf cart led
me through the Marriott’s sun-spangled
parking lot. Gaining speed on a straight
I Drove an
section, I stroked the lever forward out
AlfA-linc-Buick-’VAir-1100-ute!
of first gear, to the right through neutral,
and ahead into—Graunch! Clatter-clat-
ter!—unsynchronized oblivion. Maybe
I shouldn’t have used Mr. 9071’s collect-
ible to practice the black art of double-
clutching.
I was one of fifteen drivers working
Auctions America’s first sale in Burbank,
California, an attempt to establish the
subsidiary of RM Auctions in the Los An-
geles market and, in the words of the
company’s Ian Kelleher, “create a destina-
tion for seasoned and new collectors.”
(RM purchased the Auburn, Indiana, auc-
tion park from the remains of Kruse in
2010.) Many of the lots being ofered
came from the Petersen Automotive Mu-
seum’s controversial sell-of of about a
quarter of its collection, which had
caused the Los Angeles Times to cry foul.
The California attorney general didn’t see
74 Automobile | November 2013
t H e aUct i o n B lo c K
it that way, and the other fourteen volun-
teer drivers, who were members of the
local Road Kings car club, failed to men-
tion where the goods had come from. My
own motive for joining was also simple: to
have a great time driving a random assort-
ment of desirable cars. What a heyday!
What an education! Until now, I had
never piloted any car older than a 1940.
I spent much time idling in line out-
side the sales room, my ’51 Australian
Ford ute, ’56 Austin-Healey 100-4 BN2,
’69 Mercury Cougar convertible, and ’74
Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV being pawed and
prodded, opened wide and slammed shut,
by bidders and blowhards. “Does it start?”
Yep. “How are the brakes?” Fine. “Does it
run?” It’s running now. Their incursions
began to feel personal. The ’53 Chevy Bel
Air convertible whose passenger door
didn’t properly latch attracted DIYers in-
First, a safety talk
(above). Entering the
ballroom took finesse.
Exits required helping
hands and a turntable.
tent on slamming it a couple of times. I
peevishly began to snap at anyone who
even reached: “It doesn’t close!”
Another part of the experience was
figuring out—sometimes with the seller’s
help and always with plenty of input from
the peanut gallery—how to start the en-
gine, how to adapt to Chrysler’s Fluid
Drive semiautomatic transmission, and
where to find the handbrake. Better get
everything right: NBC Sports was doing
live segments. I wouldn’t want to vault
the entrance ramp and sail into the chairs
reserved for Jay’s Garage.
My first car of the sale was a ’62 Cor-
vair coupe. I gripped its thin steering
wheel and wagged the four-on-the-floor
shifter from side-to-side. The engine
throbbed with the same vitality as an epi-
sode of The Dick Van Dyke Show. One guy,
phone to ear, leaned in the other window,
 UL TIMATE
by Ronald Ahrens // photography by Jessica Walker FANTASIES

While the wagon was still redolent of Ve- I could rhapsodize about the ’53 Buick
ronese rosemary and arugula, bidder 1644 Super Estate Wagon and the ’47 Chrysler
bought it for an impressive $10,000. Town & Country convertible that I climbed
The pace picked up on the second of my into later. Each was exquisite in its own
two driving days. Dean Eldridge, of Lake way, but neither had anything to do with
Stevens, Washington, discovered the previ- the massive adrenaline release that made it
ously mentioned ’51 Ford ute as “kind of a impossible to fall asleep at bedtime. This
rusty piece of junk” outside Adelaide, Aus- was owing to the 1930s Ford-derived, sin-
tralia. Over two and a half years he sur- gle-seat dirt car that Jerry Quam had
faced all the metal, painted the body Cor- brought from Santa Barbara. Quam figured
vette black rose metallic, and dropped in a it hadn’t run in two decades until he got his
Chevy V-8. This was one of three lots he’d hands on it last year, tuning and adjusting
entered because of downsizing in advance until the six-cylinder engine was well fed
of moving to Montana. “It hurts to let them by the twin Stromberg 97s. Now he was
go,” Eldridge said. Especially when all his selling because he said he really didn’t have
hard work brought just $23,000. anything he could do with the car, which
My new personal best for oldest-driven wasn’t properly fitted for vintage racing.
car was soon exceeded by a well-restored I slid onto the seat, straddled the drive-
’28 Ford Model A that was as friendly as shaft, and slipped the three-speed trans-
a beagle and had upholstery of about mission into neutral. With electric start,
the same texture. I couldn’t help think- the engine came to life like a dragon. The
ing of Henry Ford’s obstinacy in sticking high-lift cam made the six keen with ur-
with the Model T until ’27, giving Chev- gency, and the car lunged at its star turn.
rolet an opening in the market. This The exuberance was manifest in its aver-
Model A ran with a sweet obliviousness, sion to idling, so I tickled the weasel-trap
though. After the bidding concluded ac- accelerator pedal on the way in. Quam had
ceptably at $16,750, I enjoyed a bouncy ride asked me to rev up big time when I reached
out to the parking lot in my most his- the stage. Maybe I should have revved
torically significant car of higher: the hammer fell at just $18,500. But
the auction. I went home feeling impossibly rich. AM
saying, “It’s a California car, no
rust.” The pen holder afxed to
the dashboard yielded a ball-
point emblazoned with “Fred “Look! This Fiat
does 140!”
C. Emerson, W. 2nd St., Clare- Kilometers per
mont, California.” Finally, it hour, of course.
was time to arrive onstage. As I William Mamone
shut of the engine and coasted (right) reminisces
with the writer.
to the podium, auctioneer Mike
Double-clutching
Shackelton was already blazing is essential in a ’30
away at $2000, and the bidding pro- Lincoln (below).
gressed nicely. “What’s he want to do?
Thirty-five. Got it! Now thirty-seven!”
After nearly three minutes of Shackelton’s
robust chant, the car went once, twice, and
sold for $5200 (plus, like all others here,
the extra ten percent commission), quite an
achievement for anything this brown that
isn’t a handmade saddle or a fox stole. I ex-
ited with a sense of accomplishment.
Another high point came when I was
faced with the choice between a ’60 Fiat
1100 wagon or a ’68 Excalibur phaeton. I’ll
take a nice, honest car every time. No one
fondled or fancied the Fiat until William
Mamone leaned in and remembered his
boyhood in Verona, Italy. A neighbor had
one like this. “He would fill the back with
produce each morning,” Mamone said.

other
The by Rusty Blackwell // photography by Evan Klein
Or, I was a driver at RM’s Monterey sale
and lived to tell the tale.
ÒD
o you want the Dino?”
“Heck, yeah!”
I march toward a
beautiful, Ferrari-built 1974 Dino
246GTS and lean down to talk
to the guy in the driver’s seat.
“I’m taking this one. Is the
parking brake on?”
“Uh-huh,” he says,
motioning to the big lever
between the seats. He climbs
out as if he’s the world’s most
laid-back carjacking victim.
But I am just the next person in
line to drive a car across the
block at RM Auctions’
Monterey sale on the Friday
before the Pebble Beach
Concours d’Elegance. Minutes
earlier, I’d steered a 1960
Porsche 356B Super roadster
across the stage (a no-sale at
$145,000)—but not before I
had frantically tried to locate
the car’s parking brake, an
awkward twist handle hidden
under the dashboard.
This time I’m prepared. Not
only do I know how to release
the parking brake, I know the
tricky route onto the stage and
back outside. The Dino’s
organic driving position is
spectacular, and I don’t feel
confined like I did in the top-up,
steering-wheel-in-my-lap
Porsche. When Bob Wright—
76 Automobile | November 2013
half
Auctioneers adeptly distract their audience from
the careful ballet of onstage car swapping.
who directs the stage trafc at
roughly twenty of RM’s
big-time car auctions each
year—gives the go-ahead, I
promptly steer the revvy little
Italian through a loading door
at the Portola Hotel & Spa,
cruise slowly down part of a
makeshift hallway, and arc the
Dino toward the stage.
“Pull forward some more,”
Wright calls into the Dino the
moment that I switch of the
ignition and the car stops on
the plastic-covered carpet of
the Serra Grand Ballroom. An
orange 2009 Spyker C8—being
pushed back outside by four
strong, young men wearing
white gloves—silently rushes
down the hallway toward the
Dino’s left-rear corner. Wright
and another guy quickly push
the Dino out of the way, and
they’re not happy about it.
I quietly wait for the bidding
to end on a 1961 Ferrari 400
Superamerica coupe. “Sold . . .
for two-point-five million
dollars,” auctioneer Max
Girardo bellows as he strikes
his gavel. Cue the curtains to
open, a group of gloved pushers
to scamper onto the stage, and
the next car to proceed. The
Dino fires immediately—a big
relief—and is easy to drive up
the small ramp to the stage
while the pushers roll the
Superamerica through another
set of curtains at stage left. The
darkness of the holding area
gives way to the blinding light of
the stage. I stop the car in front
of a big RM Auctions logo on
the wall, kill the engine, and put
UL TIMATE
FANTASIES
the gated shifter in neutral.
It is torture to play statue in
this great car when I yearn to
wind out all five gears. My head
feels heavier as the bidding
climbs, but I’ve got to face
straight ahead.
Girardo finally hammers the
Dino sold at $430,000, and the
rotation cycles again. The
pushers roll the Dino from the
stage onto a large turntable in
another dark backstage corner.
We catch a breath as the
turntable completes the car’s
180-degree turn. The pushers
jog while moving the Dino of of
the turntable, down a ramp,
and through the hallway behind
the stage’s backdrop. I restart
the little car as it emerges into
the California evening and drive
it another fifty feet, where I
reluctantly hand it of to a
Rotarian who steers it across
the street to a parking structure.
My final “drive” of the day,
in a charming 1938 Ford woody
wagon (sold for $70,000),
is also fun yet includes several
panicky moments. Crap, I
can’t start it because the key
sticks and only locks out this
weird ignition switch. Crap, is
this bus squared up to climb
the ramp? Crap, I stopped too
far past center stage. Crap,
these pushers are about to
shove this thing right of the
turntable.
Even when fantasies
realized aren’t as sweet as our
dreams, they can still be plenty
enjoyable.
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 UL TIMATE
FANTASIES

U l t i m at e
Fa n ta s y

D r i v e a n aston ma rt i n ra p i De s
to n ew o r le an s For a sa nDwi ch
5
by Ezra Dyer // photography by Wes Allison

Po’
In search of the

Boy
perfect

November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 79

UL TIMATE
FAN TAS IES
True to the spirit of a good road trip, I have no route
planned until minutes before our departure.
T
he best po’ boy I ever had
came from Casamento’s Res-
taurant in New Orleans. My
favorite Aston Martin is the
Rapide S. Under normal cir-
cumstances, those facts are
mutually exclusive. Fantasy realization, in
my view, is all about combining your enthu-
siasms. Some people take cooking classes
while biking across Italy. Some people go
golfing and white-water rafting on the same
day. And some people snag the rectangular
crystal key to a 550-hp Aston Martin and
head to the Big Easy to get a sandwich.
The Rapide S, while technically possess-
ing four doors, is about as far from practical
as a sedan can get. The rear-seat passengers
sit in thin little buckets separated by a tow-
ering console—from above, a full Rapide S
probably looks like a pair of two-man bob-
sled teams preparing to race. The plunging
rear deck scythes into the trunk space, and
you need a drone plane to see over the rear
haunches. I imagine a design meeting
where one poor, pragmatic fellow might’ve
chimed in now and then to say, “Chaps, per-
haps we should raise the roofline just a bit
to gain a little more rear headroom and vis-
ibility.” And then everyone else yelled,
“Shut up, Smythe!” gave him noogies, and
resumed designing the most outrageous
sedan on the road. Poor Smythe.
Since this is, ostensibly, a family super-
80 Automobile | November 2013
car, I aim to test its people-moving abilities
en route from Atlanta to my fried-oyster
rendezvous at Casamento’s. My friend El-
liot and my brother-in-law Rick both sign
on for the 500-mile drive, along with pho-
tographer Wes Allison. The hatch barely
squeezes shut over our soft luggage. Right
about now, Elliot and Rick probably wish
my sandwich-fetching fantasy involved a
Bentley Flying Spur.
We’ve got twenty-four hours to reach
New Orleans, which means an overnight
stop. True to the spirit of a good road trip, I
have no route planned until minutes before
our departure. I’ve noticed that my friend
Neil has been posting a lot of Facebook
photos from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi,
so I shoot him an e-mail to ask if there’s
anything down that way that I need to see.
He tells me to head to Ocean Springs, just
outside of Biloxi, and get barbecue at a
place called The Shed. And just like that,
we have our layover.
South of Montgomery, Alabama, we exit
the highway and get on Route 31, which
meanders through farmland all the way
down to the Gulf Coast. Even though it’s
a two-lane, everyone seems to agree that
highway speeds are appropriate—I’m
bummed to see an eighteen-wheeler up
ahead until I realize, a few miles later, that
I’m doing 65 mph and not catching up to
him. With the Rapide S in sport mode, driv-
ing in third and fourth gear to indulge the
V-12’s mufer-bypass yowl, we burn down
to a quarter tank of fuel in short order.
You might scrape
your knees
squeezing in behind
the Rapide’s wheel,
especially if there’s
a six-footer in the
back seat. You
won’t care.

I’d always thought of Biloxi as sort of a swampy
backwater where alligator farmers cackle deep
into the night over jugs of moonshine.
I pull over at a gas station called Mos-
ley’s. The sign out front reads, “Hotdogs,
wine, chainsaws, jewelry, all in one stop.” If
they had scratch tickets, I’d have my
Christmas shopping out of the way. One
thing Mosley’s does not ofer, however, is
premium fuel from its analog-dial pumps.
We keep driving.
When we crossed into Alabama, I regaled
the crew with a tale of a mythical highway I
once drove in this state, a place where there
was no practical way for cops to enforce a
speed limit without airplanes. Soon enough,
the road opens up before us and I delightedly
realize that I’ve once again stumbled onto
this wormhole to the autobahn. With a clear
sky and no trafc ahead or behind us, I let
the big Rapide live up to its name for a few
miles. When I catch up with trafc, I see that
my fellow motorists also perceive the oppor-
tunity here. A Toyota Prius is buzzing along
at nearly 100 mph. I’ll bet this road inspired
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird.” And maybe
“Sweet Home Alabama,” too.
We reach Ocean Springs in time to catch
dinner at The Shed. I park near a pickup
truck with a license plate that reads
“GUNS” while a wiry old guy wearing a
hard hat wanders out to inspect the Aston.
82 Automobile | November 2013
the briny breaded prize that awaits tomor-
row in the Garden District of New Orleans.
Biloxi, where we spend the night, is
nothing like I’d imagined. I’d always
thought of Biloxi as sort of a swampy back-
water where alligator farmers cackle deep
into the night over jugs of moonshine and
the mosquitoes grow big enough to show up
on FAA radar. Instead, it’s got miles of pris-
tine white-sand beaches anchored by a clus-
ter of huge casinos—something like Atlantic
City without the miasma of despair. I’d love
to explore it, but the sun is up and we’ve got
a date with New Orleans. Although we don’t
have too many miles to cover, I’ve vowed to
avoid the highway to the utmost extent pos-
sible. Our navigation system is the Gulf of
Mexico—keep that on the left, and we know
we’re heading in the proper direction.
As we climb into the car to resume our
journey west, Rick is already wearing sev-
eral strings of Mardi Gras beads. I ask if he
brought those in his luggage in preparation
for Bourbon Street. “No,” he replies. “I found
them on the beach this morning.” I notice
that there are clumps of dirty sand stuck to
some of them. Rick is definitely getting into
the right frame of mind for New Orleans.
We pick our way along Route 90, end-
less miles of deserted white beach stretch-
ing ahead of us. Houses occasionally dot
It turns out that Neil, a TV producer, has
been shooting a Food Network reality series
at The Shed. The guy with the hard hat is
nicknamed Coal Miner and is a prominent
character on the show. If you happen to
have seen the show and thought, “That guy
doesn’t really wear a hard hat all the time,”
I’m here to tell you that, yes, he does—and
that smoky, fall-off-the-bone barbecue
chicken wings are an excellent prelude to
The only Aston Martin
at The Shed (top), the
subject of a Food Network
reality show. Right: This guy
must’ve been first in line at
the DMV. Below: Mosley’s
has everything but 93 octane,
so we keep driving.
UL TIMATE
FAN TAS IES
the higher ground to our right. It’s kind of
eerie, this juxtaposition of coastal paradise
with human indiference. A beach like this
anywhere on the East Coast wouldn’t have
an empty lot along the shore. So what’s
the problem here? Hurricanes? Deepwater
Horizon? Or maybe it’s simply economics—
with so much beach, maybe it doesn’t seem
as special to the locals as it does to a wide-
eyed outsider like me.
Eventually, we’re forced back to the
highway for the final leg to New Orleans.
With 550 horses, the Rapide S is quicker
than most other cars on the road. But when
a particularly sinister black Corvette creeps
up in the rearview mirror, I’m reminded
that no matter how much power you’ve got
under the hood, there is always someone
else who has more. The Vette pulls along-
side and I see that it’s not just a ZR1, but a
Lingenfelter ZR1. “That car’s got 840 horse-
power,” I tell Rick. “How do you know?” he
asks, and I gesture to the license plate,
which reads, “840 HP.” After swimming
alongside for a minute, the Vette blasts of in
search of more worthy prey.
We arrive in New Orleans too early for
dinner, so we take a cruise down Bourbon
Street to see what the town has to ofer.
Chatting up a few passersby reveals that
major happenings this weekend include
the “Naughty in N’awlins” swingers con-
vention and a Pamplona-style running of
the bulls, except instead of bulls there are
Roller Derby girls chasing the runners with
Wife Ball bats. So, a pretty normal week-
end, except that there aren’t any parades.
I’m already hungry, so I pull over in
front of Court Tavern, which bears a sign
bragging of its famous po’ boys. I think I’ll
have a po’ boy to whet my appetite for a po’
boy. Inside, I ask for an oyster iteration of
New Orleans’ signature sandwich. “We
don’t have that,” says the guy behind the
counter. How about catfish? “We don’t
84 Automobile | November 2013
have that. We don’t have a fryer.” I ask, per-
haps a little indignantly, how a joint with-
out a fryer can claim to ofer po’ boys. The
guy, looking like he’s faced this question a
few times before, launches into a po’ boy
history lesson. “Back in 1929 there was a
streetcar strike, and the Martin brothers
saw the striking workers and said, ‘We’ve
got to feed those po’ boys.’ So they started
making sandwiches with scraps of what-
ever they had.” A po’ boy, then, isn’t neces-
sarily fried. It’s more like any sandwich on
a sub roll that has a dash of improvisational
quality to it. While I accept this story of the
po’ boy’s origin—and the sausage version
that I wolf down beside the Aston is excep-
tional—my definition of a po’ boy requires
oysters. I bid farewell to the guy holding
the sign boasting of “Huge Ass Beers” and
steer away from Bourbon Street and to-
ward the Garden District.
If it’s inherently silly to take a $220,000
car on a pilgrimage to buy a sandwich, it’s
even sillier not to call ahead and make sure
that the object of your obsession is actually
open for business. Which it’s not. When we
pull up, my mouth fairly watering in antici-
pation, the ramparts are raised and the
With Casamento’s
unexpectedly closed
(right), we’ll have to
console ourselves
with another
signature New
Orleans product—
huge-ass beers.
Above: The
unexpectedly
beautiful drive along
Route 90.
lights are of, in defiance of the hours
posted on the window. The guy in the store
next door informs us that this time of year,
it’s too hot for the oysters to be really top-
notch, so Casamento’s closes down for a
while. Curse you, Casamento’s, and your
damnable high standards!
The guys suggest that there are plenty
of other places to get an oyster po’ boy, but
I’m done. Casamento’s isn’t compromising
and neither am I. The V-12 fires up with an
angry bark and I’m out of there, not feeling
like such a po’ boy after all. AM
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205/65 R- 15 99 215/45 R- 17 148 245/45 R- 17 180 195/65 R- 15XL 102 235/60 R- 16XL 135 225/50 R- 18XL 185
215/70 R- 15 95 215/50 R- 17XL 159 P215/55 R- 18 171 205/60 R- 15XL 118 205/50 R- 17 162 225/60 R- 18 179 Winter Sottozero Serie II
185/55 R- 16XL 117 215/55 R- 17 135 225/40 R- 18 181 205/65 R- 15XL 110 215/45 R- 17XL 176 235/40 R- 18XL 213 205/55 R- 16 $126 235/40 R- 19 $268 295/30 R- 20 $375
195/55 R- 16XL 124 215/60 R- 17 118 225/45 R- 18 165 205/70 R- 15XL 99 215/50 R- 17XL 168 235/45 R- 18XL 211 205/55 R- 16XL 149 235/50 R- 19 280 295/30 ZR- 20XL 489
205/55 R- 16 123 215/65 R- 17 116 P225/55 R- 18 178 215/70 R- 15XL 118 215/55 R- 17XL 144 235/50 R- 18XL 205 225/50 R- 16XL 174 245/45 R- 19XL 267 RFT (Runflat)
205/60 R- 16 104 225/45 R- 17 162 225/60 R- 18 154 185/55 R- 16XL 130 215/60 R- 17 132 245/40 R- 18XL 221 205/45 R- 17XL 165 255/35 R- 19XL 279 205/55 R- 16 $144
205/65 R- 16 104 225/50 R- 17 164 235/40 R- 18XL 195 195/55 R- 16XL 129 215/65 R- 17 129 245/45 R- 18XL 218 205/55 R- 17XL 141 255/35 ZR- 19XL 340 205/55 R- 17 187
215/55 R- 16 129 225/55 R- 17 135 245/40 R- 18 193 205/50 R- 16XL 146 225/45 R- 17XL 161 255/45 R- 18XL 226 205/55 R- 17 168 255/40 R- 19XL 255 225/50 R- 17 199
215/60 R- 16 108 225/60 R- 17 124 245/50 R- 18XL 185 205/55 R- 16XL 140 225/50 R- 17XL 178 245/40 R- 19XL 251 215/45 R- 17XL 172 255/45 R- 19XL 275 215/40 R- 18XL 234
205/60 R- 16XL 113 225/55 R- 17XL 159 245/45 R- 19XL 240 215/50 R- 17 151 265/35 R- 19XL 390 225/40 R- 18XL 237
Blizzak WS60 205/65 R- 16XL 123 225/60 R- 17 135 225/45 R- 17XL 184 275/40 R- 19XL 368 225/45 R- 18 199
175/65 R- 14XL $89 205/60 R- 15 $91 235/60 R- 16 $118 215/55 R- 16XL 135 235/45 R- 17XL 201 225/50 R- 17 159 285/30 R- 19XL 372 225/45 R- 18XL 243
185/65 R- 14 84 215/65 R- 15 55 205/40 R- 17XL 121 235/45 R- 17XL 199 285/35 R- 19 313 245/35 R- 18XL 322
145/65 R- 15 78 185/55 R- 16XL 99 225/40 R- 18 170 235/50 R- 17 206 285/40 R- 19XL 337 245/40 R- 18 256
155/60 R- 15 87 195/55 R- 16 99 245/40 R- 18 139 Pilot Alpin PA3 Pilot Alpin PA4 Pilot Alpin PA4 245/45 R- 17XL 192 295/30 R- 19XL 329 245/45 R- 18XL 274
175/55 R- 15 97 195/60 R- 16 93 245/50 R- 18XL 129 205/50 R- 17X$180 225/40 R- 18X$233 N-Spec for Porsche 245/55 R- 17 215 295/35 R- 19 374 255/35 R- 18XL 305
175/65 R- 15 70 205/50 R- 16 125 245/45 R- 17XL 237 245/40 R- 18XL 261 235/40 R- 19 $299 215/45 R- 18XL 187 235/35 R- 20XL 397 255/40 R- 18 259
195/55 R- 15 85 225/55 R- 16 129 225/45 R- 18XL 166 245/45 R- 18XL 254 265/40 R- 19 349 225/45 R- 18XL 193 245/35 R- 20 343 275/40 R- 18XL 379
235/40 R- 18XL 232 245/50 R- 18XL 269 245/35 R- 20 319 235/40 R- 18XL 215 245/35 ZR- 20XL 417 225/40 R- 19 279
Blizzak LM-32 235/45 R- 18XL 219 245/40 R- 19XL 320 295/30 R- 20 404 235/45 R- 18 205 245/40 R- 20XL 361 245/45 R- 19XL 305
205/55 R- 16X$138 255/45 R- 18X$238 275/40 R- 19 $317 255/45 R- 19 245 255/35 R- 19XL 336 245/45 R- 18XL 224 255/40 R- 20XL 383 255/35 R- 19 348
215/45 R- 17XL 169 275/35 R- 18 277 245/40 R- 20 319 285/40 R- 19 325 255/40 R- 19XL 286 245/50 R- 18 225 265/45 R- 20XL 431 275/40 R- 19 389
225/45 R- 17XL 174 225/40 R- 19 262 245/45 R- 20 299 265/40 R- 18 255 275/35 ZR- 20XL 471 245/40 R- 20XL 448
225/50 R- 17XL 178 225/45 R- 19XL 245 255/35 R- 20XL 338 Pilot Alpin PA2 Primacy Alpin PA3 265/45 R- 18 292 275/40 R- 20XL 495 275/35 R- 20XL 545
225/40 R- 18XL 199 245/40 R- 19XL 277 295/35 R- 20XL 419 275/45 R- 18 330 285/35 R- 20N0 419
235/40 R- 18 $250 205/55 R- 16 $144 235/35 R- 19 280 285/35 R- 20XL 479
225/50 R- 18 219 245/45 R- 19XL 259 RFT (Runflat) 255/40 R- 18 289 205/45 R- 17XL 192
235/40 R- 18XL 209 255/35 R- 19XL 298 205/55 R- 16 $165 265/40 R- 18XL 309 205/55 R- 17XL 161
235/45 R- 18XL 227 255/40 R- 19XL 285 225/50 R- 17 209 295/35 R- 18 300 225/45 R- 17 184 Winter Sottozero
245/45 R- 18XL 226 265/35 R- 19XL 308 225/55 R- 17 198 195/55 R- 16 $112 285/40 R- 18 $348 RFT (Runflat)
255/40 R- 18XL 225 275/35 R- 19 328 Latitude X-Ice Xi2 195/60 R- 16 109 295/35 R- 18 272 205/50 R- 17 $185
P235/75 R- 15X$115 245/65 R- 17 $142 265/60 R- 18 $225 205/45 R- 16XL 124 245/35 R- 19XL 292 245/45 R- 17 207
Blizzak LM-60 265/70 R- 15 132 245/70 R- 17 155 265/65 R- 18 222 235/50 R- 17XL 197 245/40 R- 19XL 272 245/40 R- 19XL 379
215/45 R- 17X$152 255/40 R- 18X$159 245/40 R- 20 $199 215/70 R- 16 127 265/65 R- 17 175 235/55 R- 19 216 235/50 R- 18XL 218 285/35 R- 19XL 352 275/35 R- 19XL 385
235/45 R- 17XL 180 265/35 R- 18XL 179 255/35 R- 20XL 242 235/65 R- 16 149 265/70 R- 17 155 255/50 R- 19XL 255 245/45 R- 18XL 212 285/40 R- 19 332
235/50 R- 17 179 275/35 R- 18 159 255/45 R- 20 304 235/70 R- 16 149 235/55 R- 18 166 255/55 R- 19XL 239 255/35 R- 18XL 238 255/35 R- 20XL 410
235/55 R- 17XL 177 225/40 R- 19 165 255/50 R- 20XL 288 245/70 R- 16 140 235/60 R- 18XL 187 P255/60 R- 19 217 255/45 R- 18 242 285/30 R- 20XL 436
245/40 R- 17 191 245/40 R- 19 179 RFT (Runflat) 265/70 R- 16 148 235/65 R- 18 188 245/50 R- 20 208
215/45 R- 18XL 162 245/45 R- 19 199 195/55 R- 16 $159 Winter Carving Edge (studdable $15/tire)
225/45 R- 18XL 209 255/35 R- 19XL 239 205/45 R- 17 181 225/65 R- 17 149 245/60 R- 18 203 275/40 R- 20XL 258
P225/60 R- 18 136 255/40 R- 19XL 210 225/40 R- 18 242 235/60 R- 17 144 255/55 R- 18XL 177 275/45 R- 20XL 249 175/65 R- 14 $76 225/50 R- 17 $160 265/50 R- 19X$214
235/45 R- 18 174 255/50 R- 19XL 258 235/55 R- 18 261 235/65 R- 17XL 140 255/65 R- 18 192 275/55 R- 20 180 175/70 R- 14 71 225/65 R- 17XL 119 275/45 R- 19XL 236
235/50 R- 18XL 219 265/35 R- 19 239 255/55 R- 18XL 297 185/60 R- 14 84 235/45 R- 17XL 149 265/50 R- 20XL 231
245/40 R- 18XL 214 275/35 R- 19 213
LTX Winter 185/65 R- 14 78 235/55 R- 17 156 275/40 R- 20XL 249
245/45 R- 18XL 169 275/45 R- 19XL 210 LT225/75 R- 16E$169 LT265/70 R- 17E$215 LT275/65 R- 18E$242 185/60 R- 15XL 84 235/55 R- 17XL 154 275/45 R- 20XL 268
LT245/75 R- 16E 177 195/55 R- 15 75 235/60 R- 17XL 134 275/45 R- 21 320
Blizzak LM-25 RFT (Runflat) 195/60 R- 15 83 235/65 R- 17XL 146 295/40 R- 21XL 346
205/50 R- 17 $175 245/50 R- 17 $242 285/35 R- 20 $442 195/65 R- 15 101 245/45 R- 17XL 160 RFT (Runflat)
225/45 R- 17XL 185 245/45 R- 18 287 205/55 R- 16XL 109 225/55 R- 18XL 162 225/50 R- 17X$187
205/60 R- 16XL 119 235/55 R- 18XL 163 245/50 R- 18XL 213
225/45 R- 17XL 218 255/40 R- 20 416 215/55 R- 16XL 127 235/60 R- 18XL 175 245/45 R- 19XL 229
Winter Maxx 215/60 R- 16XL 109 245/40 R- 18XL 184 275/40 R- 19XL 274
Blizzak DM-V1 215/65 R- 16 112 245/50 R- 18 185 245/40 R- 20XL 266
215/70 R- 15 $105 255/60 R- 17 $165 225/55 R- 19 $159 175/70 R- 13 $59 195/55 R- 16XL $99 225/50 R- 17X$143 225/55 R- 16XL 123 255/55 R- 18XL 180 275/35 R- 20XL 299
235/75 R- 15 117 P255/65 R- 17 155 P235/55 R- 19 161 175/70 R- 14 67 205/55 R- 16XL 101 225/55 R- 17XL 129 225/60 R- 16 115 255/60 R- 18XL 185 275/40 R- 20XL 299
215/70 R- 16 122 P255/70 R- 17 137 P245/55 R- 19 175 185/65 R- 14 74 205/60 R- 16XL 95 235/45 R- 17XL 146 235/60 R- 16 131 235/55 R- 19XL 180 315/35 R- 20XL 337
225/70 R- 16 123 P255/75 R- 17 147 255/55 R- 19XL 178 185/70 R- 14 69 205/65 R- 16 94 245/45 R- 17XL 151 225/45 R- 17XL 149 255/40 R- 19XL 225
P225/75 R- 16 115 265/65 R- 17 165 P255/60 R- 19 192 175/65 R- 15 78 215/55 R- 16XL 107 215/45 R- 18XL 149 225/50 R- 17XL 158 255/50 R- 19XL 219
235/60 R- 16 139 265/70 R- 17 157 265/50 R- 19 191 185/55 R- 15 85 215/60 R- 16XL 100 225/40 R- 18XL 159
235/70 R- 16 129 P285/70 R- 17 175 275/45 R- 19XL 212 185/60 R- 15 81 215/65 R- 16 100 225/45 R- 18XL 154 Scorpion Ice & Snow
P235/75 R- 16XL 124 235/55 R- 18 154 P245/50 R- 20 195 185/65 R- 15 81 225/55 R- 16XL 113 225/55 R- 18 153 235/60 R- 17 $156 255/50 HR- 19X$245 295/45 R- 20X$329
245/70 R- 16 132 235/60 R- 18XL 163 P245/60 R- 20 196 195/55 R- 15 89 225/60 R- 16XL 100 235/50 R- 18XL 163 275/55 R- 17 210 255/50 VR- 19N0 247 295/35 R- 21XL 347
P245/75 R- 16 126 235/65 R- 18 165 255/45 R- 20 207 195/60 R- 15 82 205/50 R- 17 124 245/40 R- 18XL 173 235/60 R- 18XL 162 255/55 R- 19XL 214 RFT (Runflat)
265/70 R- 16 143 245/60 R- 18 165 P255/55 R- 20 178 195/65 R- 15 80 215/45 R- 17XL 136 245/45 R- 18 167 235/65 R- 18XL 175 265/50 R- 19XL 273 275/40 R- 20X$337
275/70 R- 16 146 255/55 R- 18XL 174 P265/50 R- 20 198 205/65 R- 15 85 215/50 R- 17 133 255/45 R- 18XL 173 245/60 R- 18 179 265/55 R- 19 279 315/35 R- 20XL 410
215/70 R- 17 126 P255/65 R- 18 173 275/40 R- 20XL 235 205/70 R- 15 79 215/55 R- 17 123 245/45 R- 19 183 255/55 HR- 18XL 199 275/40 R- 20XL 265 285/35 R- 21XL 410
225/65 R- 17 126 P255/70 R- 18 158 275/45 R- 20XL 228 215/70 R- 15 81 215/60 R- 17 115 255/55 VR- 18N1 218 275/45 R- 20XL 321 325/30 R- 21XL 427
235/65 R- 17XL 132 265/60 R- 18 182 P275/55 R- 20 197 185/55 R- 16 95 225/45 R- 17XL 139 265/60 R- 18 219 275/50 R- 20 367
P235/70 R- 17XL 130 265/65 R- 18 180 P275/60 R- 20 214 245/50 R- 19XL 191 295/40 R- 20XL 328
P235/75 R- 17 138 P265/70 R- 18 161 285/50 R- 20XL 218 Graspic DS-3
245/65 R- 17 140 275/60 R- 18 186 275/50 R- 22 255 185/65 R- 14 $71 185/65 R- 15 $77 225/55 R- 17 $124 Scorpion Winter
P245/70 R- 17 134 P275/65 R- 18 184 P285/45 R- 22 266 195/70 R- 14 69 195/55 R- 15 87 225/50 R- 18 158
245/75 R- 17 143 285/60 R- 18 198 215/70 R- 16X$119 255/55 R- 18X$205 275/45 R- 20X$275
145/65 R- 15 82 195/65 R- 15 79 235/45 R- 18 154 225/70 R- 16XL 121 225/55 R- 19 166 275/45 R- 21XL 325
175/60 R- 15 99 205/60 R- 15 81 235/40 R- 19XL 180 245/70 R- 16XL 134 235/55 R- 19XL 199 295/35 R- 21XL 348
Blizzak W965 185/60 R- 15 72 175/60 R- 16 91
LT225/75 R- 16E$159 LT265/75 R- 16E$171 LT265/70 R- 17E$192 215/60 R- 17XL 147 255/50 R- 19XL 241 295/40 R- 21XL 369
LT235/85 R- 16E 169 LT235/80 R- 17E 182 235/55 R- 17XL 168 275/45 R- 19XL 270 RFT (Runflat)
SP Winter Sport 4D 235/65 R- 17XL 155 245/45 R- 20XL 288 255/55 R- 18X$238
LT245/75 R- 16E 168 LT245/70 R- 17E 182 195/55 R- 16 $117 225/55 R- 17X$167 235/45 R- 18X$205 245/65 R- 17XL 154 255/45 R- 20XL 293 255/50 R- 19XL 275
205/55 R- 16 115 235/45 R- 17XL 175 235/50 R- 18 227 235/50 R- 18XL 183 255/50 R- 20XL 305 285/45 R- 19XL 346
215/60 R- 16 126 235/55 R- 17 174 245/40 R- 18XL 234 235/55 R- 18XL 185 265/45 R- 20XL 331
225/45 R- 17XL 169 225/40 R- 18XL 198 235/60 R- 18XL 199 275/40 R- 20XL 274
225/50 R- 17 175 225/45 R- 18XL 189

Ultra Grip SP Winter Sport 3D

Ultra Grip Ultra Grip SUV 195/65 R- 15 $92 235/45 R- 18 $209 295/30 ZR- 19X$316
Performance 2 Performance 2 RunOnFlat 205/55 R- 16 114 245/40 R- 18XL 238 255/35 R- 20XL 328
225/40 R- 18X$192 RunOnFlat 255/55 R- 18X$236 215/65 R- 16 119 255/40 R- 18 230 255/45 R- 20 282 ExtremeWinterContact
255/50 R- 21 419 245/55 R- 17 $246 225/55 R- 16 139 265/35 R- 18XL 258 265/35 R- 20XL 307 185/55 R- 15 $76 215/60 R- 16XL $99 225/45 R- 17X$129
215/50 R- 17XL 159 265/45 R- 18 239 265/40 R- 20XL 259 185/65 R- 15XL 78 215/65 R- 16XL 98 225/55 R- 17XL 135
Eagle Ultra Grip GW-3 215/55 R- 17XL 153 285/35 ZR- 18XL 283 275/30 R- 20XL 324 195/60 R- 15XL 79 215/70 R- 16 108 225/60 R- 17 123
265/60 R- 17 $154 245/55 R- 18 $175 ROF (RunOnFlat) 225/45 R- 17 165 235/35 R- 19XL 253 275/45 R- 20XL 247 195/65 R- 15XL 75 225/55 R- 16XL 111 225/65 R- 17 127
P225/60 R- 18 148 195/55 R- 16 $134 225/55 R- 17 155 235/45 R- 19XL 215 275/35 R- 21XL 375 205/60 R- 15 82 225/60 R- 16 106 235/45 R- 17 135
235/55 R- 17XL 181 235/50 R- 19 205 DSST (RunOnFlat) 205/65 R- 15 88 225/65 R- 16 105 235/55 R- 17XL 134
Ultra Grip Ice WRT 235/65 R- 17XL 149 245/45 R- 19XL 232 195/55 R- 16 $128 205/55 R- 16XL 103 205/50 R- 17XL 122 235/65 R- 17XL 127
195/65 R- 15 $87 215/65 R- 17 $109 235/50 R- 18 $169 245/40 R- 17XL 185 255/35 R- 19XL 283 225/45 R- 17 196 205/60 R- 16XL 92 215/45 R- 17 144
205/55 R- 16XL 106 225/45 R- 17XL 148 235/55 R- 18 144 245/45 R- 17XL 181 255/50 R- 19XL 227 225/55 R- 17XL 194 215/55 R- 16XL 109 215/55 R- 17XL 122
205/60 R- 16 97 225/60 R- 17 118 235/60 R- 18XL 145 235/40 R- 18XL 214 265/50 R- 19XL 237 245/45 R- 18XL 269
215/60 R- 16 102 225/65 R- 17 117 235/65 R- 18 151 ExtremeWinterContact LT
215/65 R- 16 101 235/55 R- 17 136 245/60 R- 18 153 LT285/70 R- 17D$192
225/60 R- 16 106 235/60 R- 17 120 255/55 R- 18XL 158
235/60 R- 16 112 225/45 R- 18 159 235/55 R- 19 154
235/65 R- 16 110 225/50 R- 18 163 245/55 R- 19 165 AltiMAX Arctic (studdable $15/tire)
215/45 R- 17 139 225/55 R- 18 164 245/50 R- 20 185 175/70 R- 13 $53 215/55 R- 16 $94 215/50 R- 17 $118
215/55 R- 17 125 235/45 R- 18 162 175/65 R- 14 64 215/60 R- 16 86 215/55 R- 17 112 Winterforce (studdable $15/tire)
185/65 R- 14 67 215/65 R- 16 91 215/60 R- 17 115 P155/80 R- 13 $52 185/65 R- 15 $73 215/55 R- 16 $99
Ultra Grip Ice WRT SUV (studdable $15/tire) 185/70 R- 14 61 215/70 R- 16 86 215/65 R- 17 115 175/70 R- 13 51 195/60 R- 15 71 215/60 R- 16 87
225/70 R- 16 $112 265/65 R- 17 $151 P275/65 R- 18 $167 185/60 R- 15 71 225/55 R- 16 112 225/45 R- 17 121 175/65 R- 14 66 195/65 R- 15 75 P225/50 R- 16 103
245/75 R- 16 111 P255/70 R- 18 139 P275/55 R- 20 185 185/65 R- 15 71 225/60 R- 16 92 225/55 R- 17 118 185/60 R- 14 70 205/60 R- 15 78 225/60 R- 16 93
235/65 R- 17 123 P265/60 R- 18 168 195/55 R- 15 85 225/70 R- 16 94 225/60 R- 17 120 185/65 R- 14 70 205/65 R- 15 76 215/55 R- 17 101
245/65 R- 17 129 P265/65 R- 18 166 195/60 R- 15 67 235/60 R- 16 104 225/65 R- 17 114 185/70 R- 14 59 205/70 R- 15 67 P215/65 R- 17 96
195/65 R- 15 73 235/70 R- 16 103 235/45 R- 17 128 P185/75 R- 14 59 P205/75 R- 15 66 225/50 R- 17 130
Ultra Grip Ice WRT LT (studdable $15/tire) Ultra Grip Ice 205/60 R- 15 73 235/75 R- 16 109 235/55 R- 17 138 195/70 R- 14 59 215/60 R- 15 83 225/55 R- 17 104
LT265/75 R- 16E$157 LT265/70 R- 17E$179 P255/65 R- 18 $158 205/65 R- 15 74 245/70 R- 16 103 235/65 R- 17XL 120 P195/75 R- 14 59 215/65 R- 15 82 225/60 R- 17 103
LT245/75 R- 17E 169 LT275/70 R- 18E 195 205/70 R- 15 69 245/75 R- 16 105 245/65 R- 17 129 205/70 R- 14 64 215/70 R- 15 67 235/55 R- 17 110
215/65 R- 15 77 255/70 R- 16 111 245/70 R- 17 123 P205/75 R- 14 62 P205/50 R- 16 101 225/60 R- 18 111
Ultra Grip Winter (studdable $15/tire) 215/70 R- 15 79 265/70 R- 16 111 265/65 R- 17 137 215/70 R- 14 67 205/55 R- 16 94
185/65 R- 15 $72 205/60 R- 16 $86 225/50 R- 17 $124 225/70 R- 15 82 265/75 R- 16 106 265/70 R- 17 128 185/60 R- 15 69 205/60 R- 16 84
195/60 R- 15 78 215/60 R- 16 91 225/55 R- 17 115 205/55 R- 16 92 205/50 R- 17XL 106
195/65 R- 15 71 215/65 R- 16 93 225/60 R- 17 108 205/60 R- 16 80 215/45 R- 17 117 Winterforce LT (studdable $15/tire)
205/60 R- 15 75 225/60 R- 16 90 225/65 R- 17 109 LT215/85 R- 16E$144 LT285/75 R- 16E$167 LT255/75 R- 17C$169
205/65 R- 15 75 225/65 R- 16 97 235/55 R- 17 122 AltiMAX Arctic LT (studdable $15/tire) LT225/75 R- 16E 138 LT225/75 R- 17E 144 LT265/70 R- 17E 168
205/70 R- 15 69 235/60 R- 16 102 235/65 R- 17 115 LT235/85 R- 16 $136
E LT235/80 R- 17 $152
E LT285/70 R- 17 $189
D LT235/85 R- 16E 158 LT235/80 R- 17E 161 LT275/65 R- 18E 205
215/70 R- 15 72 235/65 R- 16 99 235/60 R- 18XL 148 LT245/75 R- 16E 142 LT245/70 R- 17E 159 LT245/75 R- 16E 157 LT245/70 R- 17E 162 LT275/70 R- 18E 195
205/55 R- 16 90 215/55 R- 17 109 245/55 R- 19 151 LT265/75 R- 16E 148 LT265/70 R- 17E 186 LT265/75 R- 16E 153 LT245/75 R- 17E 168

©2013
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 It’s about

t i m e

U l t i m at e
Fa n ta s y

6
 by Todd Lassa // photography by Mark Bramley
orman and Dianna Lassa
have an eight-millimeter
film showing me as a toddler
“driving” their 1954 Buick
Super Riviera. I’m sitting on
Dad’s lap, a huge smile on
my face as my little hands grasp the rou-
lette-size steering wheel. It’s time to return
the favor, even though lapping Road Amer-
ica in a thirty-three-year-old Mazda RX-7
is not Norm’s fantasy—at least, not at first.
When he followed up the Buick, a Pon-
tiac Safari, and three Oldsmobiles with his
only sports car—the first time he took my
advice—Dad didn’t expect to keep it this
long. In the ensuing three decades, the
RX-7 never had a full, proper workout, al-
though I got opposite-lock launching onto
an on-ramp with it when it was new and I
was in college. Dad has always been gener-
ous with the car.
tak e Da D a nD h i s RX-7 to Roa D a meRica
In the early ’80s, RX-7s dominated the
IMSA GTU class at circuits like Road
America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin,
sixty-six miles northeast of my parents’
home. The state’s other legendary sports
venue, Lambeau Field, is another fifty-
seven miles north. Set in Wisconsin’s Ket-
tle Moraine, Road America has fourteen
turns in its four miles, but that doesn’t
begin to describe it. The circuit is hilly,
wooded, and stunningly beautiful. It’s
America’s Nürburgring, or maybe its Spa-
Francorchamps, and has hosted virtually
everything but Formula 1. Spectators also the Quad-City Times to go work for the
like its campsites, Johnsonville brats, and San Diego Business Journal.
Spotted Cow beer. In 1955, Road America Today, the RX-7 has just 92,500 miles
replaced street racing in Elkhart Lake, nei- on the clock. In this millennium, it has
ther of which Dad attended until we saw a served mostly to shuttle my dad to the New
couple of events together in the 1980s. The Berlin Hills golf course for his weekly
most recent was a vintage race in June game. In preparation for this trip to Road
1987, when I was leaving a reporting job at America, Dad has detailed his remarkably
clean, original car and assures me it’s ready
to go. I pull the semiautomatic choke lever
for its cold start-up, and we’re of.
“Have you ever rebuilt the clutch?” I ask,
launching the car high of the third pedal.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“How about the brakes?”
“Yes, they were replaced a while back.”
So long as the clutch holds out, I figure
November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 89
 UL TIMATE
FAN TAS IES
“I got to lap Road America!” Dad shouts, his smile as
big as mine some fifty-three years ago in that Buick.
we won’t need the brakes much. We meet
up with photographer Mark Bramley and
arrive at Road America just before noon. PR
guy John Ewert introduces us to instruc-
tors from Hooked on Driving, which stages
events to teach enthusiasts how to safely
track their sports cars at seven-tenths. The
school lets us have the circuit during its
lunch hour, and we use it for photography
and for me to show my dad the racing line.
“That’s exactly what I would do,” he says.
We return in the early evening, as
Hooked on Driving finishes up. A late-af-
ternoon shower delays us a bit, but the
track is drying quickly when I drive with
Dad for our first hot lap and try to figure
out the best way to hustle this car around
the circuit. With these brakes, it’s definitely
slow in, fast out. The 12A rotary plays along
like it’s a new engine and sounds deter-
mined, its brapp rising in pitch before each
upshift shy of the 7000-rpm redline. The
spindly shifter serves long throws. The un-
assisted steering still feels rubbery after all
these years, although it’s precise and pro-
vides fabulous feedback. The handling is
good, with minimal understeer and just
enough compliance.
Dad gets behind the wheel. He’s pretty
good about the racing line but doesn’t come
close to using the whole track. On the long
downhill straight leading toward turn 5,
he’s trying to find the RX-7’s top speed,
despite the Mazda’s federally mandated
85-mph speedometer, and he’s accelerating
a bit too deeply past the braking signs for
90 Automobile | November 2013
Dad’s renaissance
red “X” Anniversary
Edition 1980 RX-7
celebrated ten
years of Mazdas
in the U.S. Also
available for the
626 and the GLC,
the special edition
here features tweed
bucket seats, a
lift-of sunroof, and
twin power sideview
mirrors. The RX-7
has a 100-hp,
1146-cc twin-rotor
12A Wankel engine
and a five-speed
manual.
my taste. Coming out of the Carousel, help with calm but steady instructions.
around Canada Corner and 13, he misses a He’s still not using the whole track, but
few shifts. After a few laps and more pho- Dad’s lap times are improving. Norman
tography, the sun starts to set. Lassa gets it; the joy of tossing around a car
“I got to lap Road America!” he shouts that has more handling than speed at the
to Bramley and Ewert, his smile as big as right racetrack. He’d have kept going well
mine some fifty-three years ago in that into the morning—and would even have
Buick. It’s all Dad’s fantasy, now. skipped his golf game for more laps. As for
Ewert encourages us to keep lapping me, I can only hope that I’ve been as patient
until we need headlamps, and the 12A is and caring with my track instructions as he
roaring its lone-wolf howl at the most was so many years ago when he taught me
beautiful track in the world. I’m trying to how to drive a manual transmission. AM
 2014
Chevy
Silverado
Small-Block
Small-block reliability,
high-tech supremacy.

5.3L Fuel-Economy King

The workhorse of the Silverado lineup, the available
5.3-liter V8 amasses 355 horses and 383 lb-ft of torque.
The V8 can tow up to 11,500 pounds when equipped
with the Max Trailering Package1 (available to order fall
2013), with Direct Injection to help cool the combustion
chamber and ensure peak operation in the most brutal
ambient conditions. The V8 switches seamlessly
between eight- and four-cylinder operation, lifting the
Silverado to a V8 class-leading 23 highway mpg.2
1 2WD Double Cab equipped with the available 5.3L V8
engine and the Max Trailering Package (available to
order fall 2013). Maximum trailer weight ratings are
calculated assuming a properly equipped base vehicle,
plus driver. See dealer for details. Class is half-ton
full-size pickups.
2 EPA-estimated 16 city/23 hwy mpg (2WD); 16 city/22
hwy mpg (4WD) with the available 5.3L V8 engine. GM
Large Pickup segment.
3 2WD Double Cab or Crew Cab equipped with the avail-
able 6.2L V8 engine and the Max Trailering Package
(available to order fall 2013). Maximum trailer weight
ratings are calculated assuming a properly equipped
base vehicle, plus driver. See dealer for details. Class is
half-ton full-size pickups.
 6.2L The Big Gun
Available on Silverado LTZ and High Country models in
fall 2013, the 6.2-liter V8 is the most powerful, capable V8
that Chevy has ever shoehorned into a full-size, light-duty
pickup. With 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque, and a
12,000-pound towing capacity when equipped with the Max
Trailering Package3 (available to order fall 2013), this engine
is ready to take on the biggest chores. The big brother of the
EcoTec3 family also combines three technologies—Active
Fuel Management, Direct Injection and continuously Variable
Valve Timing—unrivaled in full-size pickups.

4.3L Truck Tough

There’s no sacrifice in this V6. Chevy’s 4.3-liter EcoTec3 is
purpose-built, designed exclusively for pickup truck use. The
result is 285 horsepower and a robust 305 lb-ft of torque.
That torque punches in early to help get the job done, with
over 200 lb-ft available barely off idle at 1200 rpm. In fact,
the V6 in Work Truck, LT and LT Z71 trim levels musters
more torque and payload than any standard V6 in its class.
Active Fuel Management imperceptibly switches the engine
to four-cylinder operation, helping boost fuel economy to a
frugal EPA-estimated 18 city/24 highway mpg 2WD.
Jordan Lee
GM Chief Engineer & Program Manager,
Small-Block Engine Family

The Perfect
Power Trio
1. Active Fuel Management
improves efficiency by
activating or deactivating
cylinders (two on the V6 1
and four on the V8). Under
demanding conditions, like
high speeds or when loads 2
require more power, the engine
re-engages the cylinders.
2. Direct Fuel Injection
delivers precise, high-pressure
sprays of fuel into the cylinder,
another one-two punch of 3
power and fuel savings.
3. Continuously Variable
Valve Timing
monitors and adjusts valve
open and close points for
optimum levels of torque
across the entire range of
engine speeds.
[ Special Advertising Section ]

Core
Strength
EcoTec3 engines drive
Silverado to new peaks of
muscle, refinement and
fuel economy.1

The engine is the heart of any truck. For the 2014

Silverado, that heart is stronger and more efficient.
Actually, make that three hearts with three unmatched
technologies in a full-size pickup: Chevrolet’s EcoTec3
lineup starts with the 4.3-liter with 305 lb-ft of
torque, segment best for standard V6s. An available
355-horsepower, 5.3-liter V8 also delivers class-thumping
V8 fuel economy.2 A burly 6.2-liter (available fall 2013) is
the most powerful V8 ever in a light-duty Chevy pickup.
This power trio features Active Fuel Management,
which seamlessly shuts down cylinders to conserve fuel.
Variable Valve Timing monitors and adjusts valve open and
close points for optimum levels of torque across the entire
range of engine speeds. Direct Fuel Injection delivers precise,
high-pressure sprays of fuel into the cylinder, another one-two
punch of power and fuel savings.1
 A clean-sheet approach and 4.5
years of effort saw Chevrolet elevate
its legendary Small-Block V8 to new
heights, says Jordan Lee, the engines’
chief engineer and program manager.
The available 5.3-liter, the linchpin of
the lineup, offers up to an EPA-estimated
23 highway mpg, topping Ford’s F-150
turbocharged EcoBoost V6.3
Engineers honed these durable
engines over 10 million hours of
computational analysis, the equivalent
of 1,140 years. Six million hours
went into developing the combustion
chambers alone.
At the core of EcoTec3, those
combustion chambers feature what Lee
calls “a kind of magic” enabled in part by
Direct Injection, a unique combustion
chamber design and a higher engine
compression ratio.
Traditionally, cranking up power
meant burning more fuel, and saving
fuel meant dialing back power. Direct
Injection lets an engine squeeze out
more energy while simultaneously The People Making
burning less fuel. DI also bumped
low-end torque, allowing the Silverado
It Happen
to spend more time in cylinder-shutoff Tucked between Buffalo
mode to conserve fuel. And the 4.3L V6 and Niagara Falls you’ll
and 5.3L V8 engines do all that with no find Tonawanda, New York,
need for pricey premium gasoline. where a revitalized General
There’s more: A two-mode exhaust Motors plant is assembling
system that helps deliver a new level a revitalized engine. General
of quiet in the Silverado than previous Motors workers are the key to
generations; fuel savers such as electric the success of the Silverado
power steering; and increased oil and its EcoTec3 powerplants.
capacity, boosting longevity. Passionate about their work
Built on the sturdiest shoulders and steeped in the Chevy
imaginable—the Small-Block V8 with truck lifestyle, they include
58 years and trillions of real-world Joe Pingitore, UAW Local
miles behind it—Chevy’s EcoTec3 774 Maintenance Team
family combines tradition, trust and Leader at Tonawanda Engine,
technology like no other. and Eric Schwinn, Machining “I use my Silverado for
“Every engineer loves the chance Quality Engineer Manager at everything,” the Buffalo native
to start from a clean slate and make GM Tonawanda Engine. says. “It’s my workhorse.”
something better,” Lee says. “We know “The quality of engines at GM, Schwinn says, has
it’s a phenomenal engine family.” Tonawanda is exceptional,” invested $400 million across
Schwinn says. “We have a vast, seven-acre swath of
so much knowledge and the plant with the latest in
experience in this workforce.” agile, modern manufacturing.
At the track, Schwinn “This is cutting-edge
drag-races a classic Chevy technology to provide
1 EPA-estimated 16 city/23 hwy mpg (2WD); 16 city/22 hwy mpg (4WD) with Camaro whose legendary customers with the best
available 5.3L V8 engine. EPA-estimated 18 city/24 hwy mpg (2WD); 17 city/22
hwy mpg (4WD) with the available 4.3L V6 engine. EPA estimates are not yet Small-Block V8 is the possible product,” he says.
available for the 6.2L engine.
forefather of today’s 5.3-liter “This will be the most durable
2 EPA-estimated 16 city/23 hwy mpg with the available 5.3L V8 engine (2WD).
Class is half-ton full-size pickups.
EcoTec3 V8. Pingitore, for his truck engine, and it’ll be
part, figures he’s owned six getting accolades much later
3 EPA-estimated 16 city/23 hwy mpg with available 5.3L engine (2WD); 16 city/22
hwy mpg F-150 3.5L V6 (2WD). Chevy trucks in his lifetime. in its life.”

Y
ou earn a degree in architecture
from the University of Michi-
gan. You’re a Detroit native
whose Dutch-born father—
once an engineer for aviation
pioneer and manufacturer Tony Fokker—
designed the 1936 Lincoln Zephyr. At the
suggestion of your architecture professor,
you spend a summer working at Carrozze-
ria Ghia. In 1958, at the age of twenty-four
Photos courtesy of tom tjaarda
and with degree in hand, you move to Turin
with the notion of becoming a designer of
Italian cars.
You work for Ghia and design such his-
toric milestone cars as the Innocenti 950
Spider. After working with Battista “Pinin”
Farina on Italia ’61—the centenary celebra-
tion of the reunification of Italy—you move
to Carrozzeria Pininfarina. There you de-
sign some more historic milestone cars, in-
cluding the Chevrolet Corvette Rondine,
Ferrari 330GT 2+2, Fiat 124 Spider, and
Ferrari 365 California.
You return to Ghia and design more sig-
nificant cars, such as the Isuzu Bellett
MX1600, the De Tomaso Pantera, and the
De Tomaso Longchamp. After Ford buys
Ghia in 1970, you create the first Fiesta.
You marry Paola, a beautiful Torinese
school principal. You discover that, in the
mid-1960s, both Enzo Ferrari and Pinin
Farina drive, as their personal transport,
cars for which you designed the bodies. At a
time when other supercars trickle from fac-
tories, De Tomaso builds more than 7000 of
your Panteras.
You establish your independent firm,
Dimensione Design, to create cars for Aston
by Robert Cumberford
Tom Tjaarda stands
next to three of his
many dozens of built
designs. From left to
right: The one-of
Pininfarina
Mercedes, the
Pininfarina Corvette
Rondine, and the
production Fiat
124 Spider.
Martin, Honda, Rayton-Fissore (Laforza),
Saab, Spyker, and a host of others. You be-
come a sought-after judge for prestigious
concours d’elegance all over the world, in-
cluding a special class dedicated to your
designs at the forty-seventh Pebble Beach
Concours.
You win prizes for your hobby of build-
ing and flying radio-controlled scale model
airplanes, pursue lifelong sports activities,
from running and basketball in high school
to tennis as an adult. Fifty-five years after
you began, it’s the improbable but true
story of the well-lived, utterly fantastic ca-
reer of Stevens Thompson Tjaarda Van
Sterkenberg, a man known to thousands of
friends and fans simply as Tom Tjaarda,
one of the world’s most accomplished Ital-
ian car designers. AM
November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 97
UL TIMATE
FA N TASIES

I
’m in the driver’s seat of a car that has
not been corrupted by superfluous
amenities and electronic assists: no
doors, no roof, no windshield, no sound
insulation, no radio. The Ariel Atom is
a perfect road-trip car for a masochist
like me. I want to explore vacant back
roads in it, but I’ll settle for anywhere other
than here—I-85, just north of Atlanta.
I’m sunburned and spattered with road
grime. Virginia is 400 miles away, so I need
to take the freeway to get there before dusk.
My imagination wanders to thoughts of hit-
ting a deer on a dark country road with
nothing to stop its 200 prancing pounds
from smashing directly into me, so arriving
when there’s still sunlight is a valid goal.
That mental image of the deer is just as
terrifying as this interstate. I feel vulnera-

off-
by Christopher Nelson
photography by Andrew Trahan

track
Ariel
Ato m
with an

ble. People inch their Toyotas toward the passenger seat (in case of rain)—that is
Atom to snap iPhone photos. I can see how louder and grufer than Motörhead’s
close their tires are through the car’s plexi- Lemmy yelling into a megaphone.
glass-covered exoskeleton. I’m strangling I enter South Carolina near Lake Hart- The perils of
road-tripping in
the small steering wheel, fighting the ultra- well State Park, endure a few more grueling an Ariel Atom:
quick rack it’s tied to. All six feet, two hours of freeway driving, and pull of at a Drive alone because
inches of me is shoved into a racing seat BP station just east of Charlotte, North there’s nowhere to
put your luggage
and cinched down with a five-point har- Carolina. I figure there’s plenty of daylight except for the
ness. The seat is bolted to a fiberglass tub left to get to Virginia using only two-lanes, passenger seat.
that sits a few inches from the pavement, so I swap my helmet for Wayfarers and Wear slim shoes or
your feet won’t fit
which means my butt is less than a foot make for a northbound road. Trafc thins into the pedal box.
from I-85. I can tell my speed by distin- and the tree line thickens, and I stop the Don’t tailgate other
cars or you’ll be
guishing which of several discordant noises Atom in the middle of an empty road. The pelted by rocks and
the supercharged Chevy engine is making. tachometer needle steady at 4000 rpm, I litter. Be ready to fill
In fifth (top) gear at 70 mph, it’s a bafed come of the clutch and mash the accelera- the ten-gallon gas
tank often and to
moan. At 80, it’s a painful howl. It contrib- tor. The Atom shoots forward like a bug answer a slew of
utes to a cacophony of sound—the wind that’s been flicked from a kitchen counter, questions from
whistling through my helmet’s bubble which is what happens when a 300-hp bafed onlookers at
every stop.
shield, the flapping of the plastic garbage four-cylinder engine is pushing only 1350
bag wrapped around my luggage on the pounds. In seconds, I’m going 100 mph,

98 Automobile | November 2013

 U l t i m at e

8
Fa n ta s y

D r i v e a race ca r on t h e roa D

which feels a lot more like 100 mph on a

motorcycle than in a car. I see a curve in
front of me but barely lift. The Atom turns
in quickly, clings to the road like Velcro,
and exits unfazed, as if it were going
straight the whole time.
This is nothing like the interstate. I
drive with rapt attention, tear through
sleepy towns, and take breaks only to drink
water and stretch. Straights turn into
switchbacks then back to straights. I cross
into Virginia and pull into my hotel’s park-
ing lot, the sun still well above the horizon.
I take a long, cold shower and then get
back into the Atom. As the sun sets, the
image of a head-on with a deer is pushed to
the recesses of my mind and I try to get lost
on Virginia’s vacant back roads in the most
challenging and gratifying car I’ve ever
driven. AM

November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 99

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104 automobile | November 2013 PhotograPhy by richard prince

w
Oh, the things we carried.
heneVer We See an Infiniti,
the first thing that comes through is
its message of style. however, when a
2013 Infiniti JX35 aWD arrived in
our Four Seasons fleet, we realized
that it would be silly to look only at its exterior.
Instead, we had to turn our imagination inside out,
because it’s the inside that counts. The sheetmetal is
just the hard candy shell for the possibilities within.
not that the Infiniti JX fails to cut a striking figure
and all that. even road test editor Christopher nelson
four seasons wrap-up
(who ordinarily disdains SUVs) came to appreciate the
JX. In our logbook, he admits, “I’m shocked by how
handsome it is. The organic body lines flow beautifully,
and the steeply raked windshield is like something
from a sports car. The slim chrome trim that surrounds
all the profile glass looks like it was drawn with a
calligraphy pen.”
The JX35 is equally impressive on the inside,
perhaps because we didn’t hold back with the options,
which included the $1700 Theater Package (dual
seven-inch color monitors for entertaining rear-seat
November 2013 | automobilemag.com 105
 passengers), the $2550 Deluxe Touring Package (which included
such items as climate-controlled seats and twenty-inch wheels),
the $3100 Technology Package (with safety features like adaptive
cruise control and collision warning), and the $4950 Premium
Package (navigation, super-duper audio, and surround-view
cameras with sonar parking sensors).
We know and love the five-passenger Infiniti FX, which, in
providing luxurious, high-speed, all-wheel-drive passenger
transportation in the style of the Porsche Cayenne, emphasizes the
“sport” in sport-utility. The JX, on the other hand, is more firmly
in the utility camp. This crossover, built on the front-wheel-drive
platform that also underpins the nissan altima, has a sliding and
reclining 60/40-split second row, a third row, a spacious cargo
area with an underfloor compartment, and a nearly flat load floor.
It’s like a kind of nested box of possibilities.
a glance at the logbook shows that we immediately took
advantage of those possibilities. The JX became our primary With crossovers, you have to turn
adventure vehicle in the year it spent with us. It went to Jackson,
Mississippi, and Lennox, South Dakota. It went to Indiana and your imagination inside out, because
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It wore out the interstate between it’s the inside that really counts.
ann arbor and new York City. It went to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
heaven help us, it even went to Dollywood.
third-row seat, and a large hiking
You wouldn’t believe the things we carried. Copy editor rusty
backpack fit on top of the cooler.” When
Blackwell had a full load on day trips in the Great Smoky
the holidays rolled around, executive
Mountains: “There was ample space for six people (two small
editor Todd Lassa noted that, “The
kids among them). a big Coleman cooler just fit behind the
surround camera comes in very handy
when you’ve got the cargo space full of
Top: The JX poses luggage, Christmas gifts, and two collies.
under the lights at Plus, the underfloor storage bin is a good
Tire Rack’s photo place to keep food away from the dogs.”
studio. Left: All-wheel
drive and a set of Lassa handed of the keys to deputy editor
Bridgestone Blizzak Joe DeMatio for the new Year’s holiday
DM-V1 winter tires
kept the JX35 on its weekend: “We had four passengers, and
appointed rounds the cargo hold was stufed to the gills with
hauling us, our two extralarge dufel bags, briefcases,
friends, and our
belongings through backpacks, multiple pairs of boots, a large
a snowy winter. roasting pan, a case of wine, a case of
Pellegrino, and assorted bags and boxes of
foodstufs with which to prepare two
gourmet dinners for ten people.” Later in
the winter, Blackwell took the JX on a
weekend trip with his buddies, cramming
it with “cases of beer, dufel bags, poker
chips, ice skates, hockey sticks, skis, and
ski poles. We only wished that the middle
Snow: Joe D e Matio; StuDio: Patrick M. hoey

row had a pass-through, since the skis and

hockey sticks were leaned across the back
of the second-row bench and pointed
right at the panoramic glass roof.”
Senior web editor Phil Floraday
evaluated the unibody JX’s light-duty
towing capacity of 3500 pounds when he
took his 2000-pound pop-up camper on a
trip to Grand haven, Michigan. he says,
“The biggest benefit of towing with a
vehicle that has a continuously variable
transmission like the JX is the complete

106 automobile | November 2013


Clockwise from top: The JX35 was a
comfortable highway cruiser. Its chocolate
brown leather seats and wood trim were
tasteful, but the interior showed signs of wear
after 30,000-plus miles. We regularly
crammed the cargo area from floor to ceiling.
lack of harsh shifts. We saw about 14 mpg
from the 265-hp, 3.5-liter V-6—not great,
but not terrible.”
Blackwell, who compared the JX to a
minivan simply by hauling around his
young family and the full complement of
child accessories that comes with it, had
some astute observations: “a tandem
stroller fits easily in the back with the
third row folded. The second-row seat
slides back far enough so the kids can’t
kick the front seatbacks (a priceless
cargo: John kalMar
feature). anyone who’d be comfortable in
the wayback seat for more than ten
minutes will be able to get back there
easily. and all-wheel drive is a feature that
you can’t find on every minivan.”
four seasons wrap-up
We spent plenty of time just driving around, of course. The JX
Pros&Cons
has an abundance of active safety features, and we embraced
+ Attractive styling cruise control with active distance control. after a very foggy
+ Useful packaging freeway drive, nelson noted that the JX’s ability to automatically
+ Lots of safety brake for unseen, slow-moving vehicles kept his mother, who was
features
riding shotgun, calm. at the same time, he says, “With all the
- Big and heavy
- Uncomfortable safety systems engaged, the JX practically wants to drive itself, but
second-row seats it doesn’t want to be driven. On the highway, it has a nice, cushy
- Expensive parts and ride. however, when you drive it more assertively, the car shows
service its cards. It rolls through corners, the steering feels disconnected,
and the CVT groans like a cow giving birth.”
While the CVT might be useful for enhancing fuel economy, it
can’t suspend the laws of physics. So when you drive fast or carry
a heavy load, the mileage for the 4419-pound JX plummets. We
tried to use the eco feature, which increases the throttle pedal’s
resistance to a heavy right foot, but we were more often stupidly
wasteful. The JX aWD gets the kind of fuel economy that its ePa
November 2013 | automobilemag.com 107
 2013 Infiniti JX35 AWD

rAting
overview
Body Style 4-door crossover
Prices& AccommodAtion 7 passengers
equiPment conStruction Steel unibody
Base price Powertrain
$42,500 engine 24-valve DOHC V-6
price as TesTed diSplAcement 3.5 liters (213 cu in)
$54,800 HorSepower 265 hp @ 6400 rpm
torque 248 lb-ft @ 4400 rpm
Trade-in value trAnSmiSSion Continuously variable
$36,300* drive 4-wheel
sTandard chassis
equipmenT Steering Electrically assisted
Tri-zone automatic lock-to-lock 3.3 turns
climate control; turning circle 38.7 ft
automatic HID Front SuSpenSion Strut-type, coil springs
headlights; power reAr SuSpenSion Multilink, coil springs
front seats, windows, BrAkeS Vented discs, ABS
mirrors, and door locks; tireS Bridgestone Dueler H/P
leather-appointed seats; Sport AS
heated front seats; tire Size 235/55HR-20
Bluetooth; six-speaker
audio system with AM/ measurements
rating of 18/23 mpg city/highway promises, but because HeAdroom F/m/r 40.7/38.3/36.5 in
FM/CD/MP3 capability;
SiriusXM satellite radio; premium fuel is required, filling up can be pricey. legroom F/m/r 42.3/41.7/30.8 in
60/40-split second-row Our friends at Tire Rack suggested we replace the standard SHoulder room F/m/r 60.3/60.4/57.1 in
bench seat; 50/50-split lxwxH 196.4 x 77.2 x 67.8 in
235/55HR-20 Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS tires with wHeelBASe 114.2 in
third row; power tilting/
telescoping steering
genuine winter rubber when the first snow flurry hit the trAck F/r 65.7/65.7 in
column; all-wheel drive; ground, and indeed the Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1 tires on weigHt 4419 lb
power sunroof; power weigHt diSt. F/r 55/45 %
Sport Edition TX8 wheels ($1600) took the worry out of winter.
remote liftgate; power cArgo cApAcity 15.8/40.8/76.5 cu ft
Our experience with the JX wasn’t perfect, of course. Like (behind 3rd/2nd/1st rows)
folding heated sideview
mirrors; rearview its corporate twin, the Nissan Pathfinder, the JX feels big, so the towing cApAcity 3500 lb
monitor; front, side, and fenders always seem like they’re a little farther away than you’d Fuel cApAcity 19.5 gallons
side curtain airbags eSt. Fuel rAnge 390 miles
like. The seats are a bit small for big people, and the bottom Fuel grAde 91 octane
Our OpTiOns cushion of the second-row seat is too low for long-distance
Premium package our test results
comfort. The sound volume through the Bluetooth connection 0–60 mpH 8.6 sec
(Infiniti Connection,
navigation, eight- isn’t great, and we’d like a specific touchscreen setting for the 0–100 mpH 23.6 sec
inch touchscreen, audio inputs like those for the climate control. Most important, 1/4–mile 16.6 sec @ 86 mph
thirteen-speaker 45–65 mpH 4.1 sec
the interior seemed to degrade in both appearance and integrity peAk AccelerAtion 0.53 g
Bose audio system,
Bluetooth streaming (rattles set in) as time went on. Speed in geArS N/A
audio, power lumbar When the JX first arrived in our fleet, we noticed that the SkidpAd 0.77 g
adjustment), $4950; 60–0 mpH BrAking 130.6 ft
left-rear door was misaligned. Later in the vehicle’s life, the peAk BrAking 1.1 g
technology package
(backup collision
adaptive cruise control was reprogrammed under a recall. We
intervention, heated got sideswiped in Chicago ($2769) and tagged in the bumper in
steering wheel, remote a Michigan campground ($998). running costs
starter, intelligent mileage 30,993 OuT-Of-pOckeT
We tend to take crossovers, even ones as stylish as the Infiniti
brake assist, blind-spot 7576 mi: Purchase and
warning, lane-departure JX35, for granted on weekdays, since they usually drive without WarranTy
install towing package,
warning, adaptive many signs of personality. As so often happens with spacious 4-year/60,000-mile
$932.50
cruise control), $3100; bumper-to-bumper
utility vehicles in our Four Seasons fleet, though, we racked up a 14,415 mi: Purchase and
theater package (dual 6-year/70,000-mile
lot of miles—30,993 of them. When it was Friday afternoon and install Sport Edition TX8
seven-inch headrest powertrain
aluminum wheels and
monitors, auxiliary weekend adventures awaited, the keys to the JX35 were the 4-year/60,000-mile
Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1
A/V inputs, jacks, and roadside assistance
hottest commodity in our ofce. — Michael Jordan 7-year/unlimited-mile
winter tires, $1599.69
120-volt outlet), $1700; Reprogram TPM, $62.49
deluxe touring package corrosion
20,884 mi: Replace broken
(twenty-inch wheels, scheduled foglight, $288.37
advanced climate mainTenance 24,916 mi: Reinstall
Dogs: ToDD Lassa; DirT roaD: PaTrick M. Hoey

control system, heated 7576 mi: $76.86 all-season tires, $40.00

second-row outboard 15,267 mi: $57.62 26,427 mi: Repair body
seats, rain-sensing 22,590 mi: $75.98 damage, $2769.26
windshield wipers, 30,352 mi: $648.53 28,389 mi: Repair more
second- and third-row WarranTy repairs body damage, $997.88
sunroof and sunshade, 24,274 mi: Replace
maple interior accents), fuel cOnsumpTiOn
missing mudguard pin EPA city/hwy/combined
$2250
recalls 18/23/20 mpg
*Estimate based on information from 7576 mi: Reroute fuel Observed 20 mpg
intellichoice.com
transfer tube; reprogram cOsT per mile
combo meter, radar, and (Fuel, service, winter tires)
driver-assist systems $0.28 ($0.88 including
14,415 mi: Reprogram ECM depreciation)

108 Automobile | November 2013

 THE 2013 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER
Winner of the
“BEST OVERALL VALUE OF THE YEAR”*
by IntelliChoice

Toyota is the winner of 8 awards for Best Overall Value of the Year.
For the complete list of awards and to get more information, go to www.IntelliChoice.com

*The Toyota Highlander V6 won 2013 “Best Overall Value of the Year for Full-Size Crossover/Wagon”. Options shown. IntelliChoice is a registered trademark of Source Interlink Companies, Inc.
 four seasons logbook

BMW X1 xDrive28i
Good things come to those who wait.
e’ve Been looking ForWarD to adding a
BMW X1 to the Four Seasons fleet for some time. it’s
not that our order was lost in the mail; it’s just that
we, along with the rest of america, were put on
BMW’s waiting list. The svelte X1 crossover has
been on sale in other parts of the world since 2009, and it’s
been a hit—so much of one that BMW says its american
introduction was delayed until production could be increased.
it may seem odd for longtime BMW enthusiasts to clamor
for a compact crossover, but after our first drive of a U.S.-
market X1 last summer, we found it was anything but a typical
crossover. The X1’s tactile, communicative steering, agile
handling, and composed manners reminded us of some of our
favorite BMW coupes and sedans. no surprise, given that the
X1 itself is derived from the previous iteration of the 3-series. Our X1 xDrive28i’s cabin is trimmed in
That’s precisely why we didn’t hesitate in placing our order. black leather, and its exterior is painted
although we could have opted for BMW’s silky 300-hp, the SpecS a very deep blue metallic hue.
Price: $41,075
turbocharged in-line six, an engine sold only in north america, Engine: 2.0L midnight blue metallic paint added an
we instead went for a 2014 X1 xDrive28i—or, in plain english, turbo I-4, 241 hp, extra $550, and Servotronic (BMW-speak
an all-wheel-drive X1 fitted with the same turbocharged 258 lb-ft for variable-assist power steering) upped
2.0-liter four-cylinder as our departed Four Seasons 2012 BMW Drive: 4-wheel the total cost by another $250. Finally,
EPA mileage:
328i sedan. The four-cylinder may be 59 hp shy of the turbo six, 22/33 mpg
since global warming hasn’t heated
but it’s $6100 less expensive, is far more fuel efcient (our X1 is Michigan to the point that we don’t have
ePa rated at 22/33 mpg city/highway), and has two more gears winter, we ponied up $700 for a cold-
in its automatic transmission (for a total of eight). weather package with a heated steering
The 2014 X1 xDrive28i starts at a surprisingly reasonable wheel and heated front seats.
$33,425, but adding options can quickly inflate that figure, as Will we find ourselves as enamored
our X1’s $41,075 price tag illustrates. The Ultimate Package with our X1 several months down the line,
added a host of luxury items—including leather seating, or will we regret not springing for the
push-button entry, a panoramic sunroof, navigation, and a larger in-line six? Time—twelve months,
rearview camera—at the rather steep price of $6150. The to be exact—will tell. am

110 automobile | November 2013 PhotograPhy by martyn goddard

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1966–1977
Ford Bronco
When SUVs were cool.
UDgIng By ThEIr UBIqUITy,
banality, and occasional absurdity, you
might say sport-utility vehicles have
jumped the shark. In fact, if we’re using
Happy Days as a metric, you might say
Arthur Fonzarelli has grown fat and old
in the Cunninghams’ garage apartment
and has traded in his motorcycle for a
nissan Murano CrossCabriolet.
There was a time when SUVs were
cool, not just practical. Just look at the
simple, highly capable, first-generation
Ford Bronco. The Bronco wasn’t the first
vehicle of its kind, but it was the first to
hint that the segment—which in the
mid-1960s was quite small—had a lot of
potential. The main players, the
International harvester Scout and the
Jeep CJ, accounted for about 35,000 sales
annually. Ford, hot of its success creating
the pony car, saw the glimmer of a new
112 Automobile | November 2013
niche. Engineer and executive Donald
Frey, one of the key people behind the
grand slam that was the Mustang,
envisioned “neither a conventional car
nor a truck but . . . a vehicle which
combines the best of both worlds.”
The Bronco, when it debuted for 1966,
was a rather rudimentary first draft of
Frey’s vision. The $2400 base “roadster”
model didn’t even have doors or a roof.
Still, it was a clear break from the sort of
work trucks that Ford and its major
competitors typically built. The Bronco’s
ninety-two-inch wheelbase, too short
for serious towing, was ideal for both
of-road rock crawling and around-town
maneuvering. Unlike the CJ or the
Scout, the Bronco rode on coil springs up
front rather than more common leaf
springs, and it could be ordered with V-8
power (International swiftly responded
collectible classic
with an eight-cylinder model of its own).
If the Bronco was smart, its marketing
was brilliant. Ford touted the Bronco not
merely as an of-roader or a utility vehicle
but also as a “new kind of sports car with
4-wheel drive.” It handed over the new
Bronco to racer/builder Bill Stroppe, who
had successfully campaigned Lincolns in
the Carrera Panamericana races of the
1950s. Stroppe focused on a new race
called the Mexican 1000 rally—later
known as the Baja 1000—and soon became
a dominant force (with some help from a
driver named Parnelli Jones). By the early
1970s, the Bronco had become a popular
platform for the growing crowd of
recreational of-roaders, who appreciated
(and continue to appreciate) the Bronco’s
toughness, not to mention the plentiful
supply of Ford parts. At the same time,
Ford emphasized that the Bronco could fit
PhotograPhy by A. J. Mueller
any lifestyle. Sales literature showed it
splashing along the seashore, hauling
camping gear, and, in hardtop form,
serving as a stylish family station wagon.
Photographer A. J. Mueller is the
archetypal SUV buyer—a young family
man and all-around cool guy who lives on The SpecS
a lake and needs a truck both for work and EnginEs
play. naturally, he’s a huge fan of the 2.8L (170 cu in) OHV I-6,
82–89 hp (net) to
first-generation Bronco. he already owned
100–105 hp (gross),
a 1969 Bronco when he spotted this 131–146 lb-ft (n) to
rust-free ’76 example while on vacation in 156–158 lb-ft (g)
Alaska. After touring the state for a 3.3L (200 cu in) OHV I-6,
week—“I couldn’t make the trip about the 84–89 hp (n),
131–156 lb-ft (n)
car because my wife would have killed 4.7L (289 cu in) OHV V-8,
me,” he says—he doubled back and bought 150 hp (n) to 200 hp (g),
the Ford. he wasted no time taking his 242 lb-ft (n) to 282 lb-ft (g)
new/old ride on an adventure, using it to 4.9L (302 cu in) OHV V-8,
125–158 hp (n) to
climb hatcher Pass before having it
205 hp (g), 218–242 lb-ft
shipped home to Michigan. With a bit of Automobile (n) to 300 lb-ft (g)
work, namely ripping out the awful Magazine Transmissions
photographer
smog-era emissions controls, he has the A. J. Mueller took 3-speed manual
thirty-seven-year-old truck running his pristine 1976 3-speed automatic
Bronco on an DrivE
smoothly. exhilarating first Rear- and 4-wheel
The Bronco is surprisingly fun to drive. drive, climbing fronT suspEnsion
The 302-cubic-inch V-8 is easily a match Alaska’s beautiful Live axle, coil springs
Hatcher Pass. rEar suspEnsion
for modern trafc and doesn’t feel like it
Live axle, leaf springs
needs more than its three gears. riding on
BrakEs f/r
fresh radial tires, the Bronco handles Drums/drums or
predictably. The dynamic sins—slack in (owners commonly cut the fenders to discs/drums
the steering wheel, slop in the column- clear big of-road tires). The no-nonsense, WEighT
shifted manual gearbox—aren’t that much boxy styling barely changed throughout 2750–3500 lb
worse than you’ll find in American cars the truck’s run. The interior looks as if it’s
from the same period. By the end of this assembled with parts from the local
The Info
YEars proDucED
generation, Ford had started hardware store. One must engage 1966–1977
domesticating the Bronco with amenities four-wheel drive manually from outside numBEr proDucED
such as power steering, power brakes, and the vehicle. When we venture onto a 225,585 including
electronic ignition. Still, the Bronco’s gravel road, rocks ping loudly against the 5000 roadsters,
18,569 pickups, and
charm comes from its purposeful underbody. The Bronco feels as if it were 202,016 wagons
simplicity. It’s small—about two feet engineered for something other than original pricE
shorter in length and half a foot narrower puttering around town, even though it’s $2404/$2480/$2625
than a 2014 Ford Escape—yet sits perfectly adept at doing just that. (roadster/pickup/wagon,
1966) $5078 (1976)
relatively high on its fifteen-inch wheels The Bronco sold respectably, at close
valuE ToDaY
to 20,000 copies a year for most of its run, $15,000–$25,000
and it helped plant a seed—the notion of a (Roadsters are worth the
truck you want rather than need—that most, pickups the least.)
would truly take of after production WhY BuY?
It’s a capable off-roader
ended in 1977. The larger, next-generation that will also draw stares
Bronco found hundreds of thousands of when you drive it to the
buyers (including, infamously, O. J. ice-cream stand. Beware
Simpson). These days, Ford—not to of modifications to the
body and rust (the former
mention carmakers ranging from Kia to
often leads to the latter).
Porsche—moves millions of SUVs and However, thanks to great
crossovers based on the premise that factory and aftermarket
they’re somehow more distinct and more support (including new
capable than cars. It’s a rather silly body shells), even a
completely trashed
premise but one that the Bronco Bronco can be rebuilt.
appealingly embodies. — David Zenlea

November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 113

 RM Auctions
Plymouth, michigan | July 27, 2013 | by Dave Kinney
FEATURE CAR
1970 Fiat 500L
two-door sedan
SOLD AT $15,400
SN 110F3001725. Cream over black vinyl
interior. 16.5-hp, 479-cc two-cylinder;
four-speed manual transmission. Some dings
and dents, good paint. Decent panel fit. Good
chrome. Vinyl fold-back sunroof is a plus. Nice
seat vinyl. Carpets, which could be original,
are fair at best. Window felts are at the end of
their life span. Overall, a driver.
THE STORY BEHIND THE SALE
This Fiat was consigned by Automobile
Magazine editor-in-chief Jean Jennings. Who
better to give us the story behind the sale?
“I was dead set against selling the Fiat, a
special car I famously bought for my husband’s
fiftieth birthday. I say ‘famously’ because
regular readers might remember that it starred
in two of my Vile Gossip columns . . . and
because it wasn’t actually my husband’s fiftieth
birthday but his forty-ninth. My bad math.
“Italian car lover and friend Dr. Raymond
Boniface (father of Bob, the GM car designer)
found this perfect, unrestored, 1970 specimen
for my gift right from the motherland, and I
loved it dearly. But after eleven years, it
became clear that it wasn’t getting the
exercise it deserved because we live on a farm.
“I admit to having been shocked at just
how nicely the Fiat cleaned up at the hands of
Stony Creek Collision of Ypsilanti, Michigan,
prior to the sale. I felt worse and worse as the
116 Automobile | November 2013
auction date approached, even though the people
at RM made me feel quite special. They took
gorgeous photos to go with an A. J. Mueller photo
for the glossy auction catalog, and they promised
I could drive the Cinquecento across the block.
I wore a hat of fish leather with a pheasant feather
that poked out of the sunroof, and just before I fired
up the Fiat for the last time, two small blond kids
ran up to it hollering, ‘Mommy! Mommy! It’s Luigi!’
and threw their little arms over the hood. Could
I feel worse?”
See video of the sale at JeanKnowsCars.com.
1 General Motors: for many years, Canadian
2 201-cubic-inch in-line six; three-speed manual.
1. 1958 Pontiac Parisienne convertible
SOLD AT $82,500
SN 8786733796. Blue and teal with blue top over
green and teal vinyl. 280-hp, 348-cubic-inch V-8;
automatic. Tri-Power. Continental kit. Excellent
paint, chrome, and top. Very well-trimmed
interior. Fully detailed under the hood. An
excellent presentation.
For those who may be wondering, a
Continental kit is an external spare tire
mounted behind the trunk, usually on an
extended-bumper platform. And, yes, the
name comes from the first Lincoln
Continental. But the Parisienne was all
Pontiacs, like this top-of-the-line example,
were essentially U.S.-market Chevrolets with
fairly convincing styling cues from American
Pontiacs. This was a nice price for a rare car.
2. 1941 Dodge Series WC half-ton
canopy truck
SOLD AT $29,700
SN 81194934. Dark green with black fenders
and black top over black vinyl. 82.5-hp,
Restored to a good but not great standard. Some
wavy panels. Good paint. Scratches in the
running boards. Good brightwork. Detailed under
the hood. Nice wood in the pickup bed.
More fun than useful, unless perhaps you are
Fiat: a. J. Mueller
in the fruit-vending business. It’s just not big
enough to become a food truck. Although
this Dodge has more than a handful of
visible flaws, it still sold in the “fun money”
range, so no harm done.
PhotograPhy courtesy oF rM auctioNs

3 5
4 6
3. 1957 Packard Clipper country sedan
SOLD AT $44,000
SN 57L5701. Gold and white over gold vinyl and
brown cloth. 275-hp, 289-cubic-inch supercharged
V-8; automatic. A former high-point restoration,
now with a few miles and some wear showing.
Paintwork is still very good, but a spot is rising on
the driver’s-side fender. Scratch in the windshield,
stone chip in the front passenger door glass. Some
dents and dings in the stainless trim. Interior still
looks the part of a fairly recent restoration.
One of the Packardbaker cars created after the
merger of Packard and Studebaker. With only
869 made, you’re unlikely to find another ’57
Packard “country sedan,” a.k.a. station wagon.
It’s still not too late to bring this past
restoration back to its former glory.
4. 1961 Imperial Crown convertible
SOLD AT $148,500
SN 9214109309. Dubonnet maroon with white top
over white leather. 350-hp, 413-cubic-inch V-8;
automatic. Very good paint. Excellent chrome. Very
good top. Some light wear on the seats, excellent
dash. A very expensive restoration on a car that is
not easy to restore.
Let’s get it out there right away; Dubonnet
maroon is what you and I might call purple.
Big American cruisers from this era can be
expensive to restore—and not just because of
the massive size of the body, interior, and
engine compartment. The chrome and all of
those accessories rack up big bucks as well.
This Imperial sold for more than twice its low
estimate, but in the long run it would be
foolish to think the buyer overpaid.
BEST BUY
5. 1964 BMW 3200CS
SOLD AT $30,800
SN 76409. Silver over red vinyl and cloth. 100-hp,
157-cubic-inch V-8; four-speed manual. Sunroof.
Older paint is now showing its age. Chrome ranges
from very good to fair. Interior has good and bad
points; mostly it has age and use wear. Some
modifications from new, including an engine from a
decade-older BMW 502. A driver.
It looks like almost no one in the room either
knew or cared about this car’s potential, and
frankly that is what was for sale here—a
BMW, with plenty of potential, styled by
Bertone. Modifications such as the eight-inch
Ford rear axle underneath a BMW could be
counted as a major sin; in this case, let’s just
call it a practical solution until the correct one
is found.
6. 1939 Ford Series 91C half-ton pickup
SOLD AT $38,500
SN 184911704. Vineyard green over green vinyl.
85-hp, 221-cubic-inch V-8; three-speed manual. A
few chips in the well-done paintwork; running
boards are worn. Very good chrome. Interior shows
well but is not fresh. An older restoration that was
used and enjoyed—now it has a nice driver quality
throughout.
It’s ofcial. In the under-$50,000 classic-car
market, the hottest segment is the pickup
truck. In most cases, vintage applies to
postwar, not prewar, but the spillover is such
that everything with a cargo bed is selling
well. To make a rusty old hulk this nice would
cost as much as or more than the price
achieved on this “Barrel Grille” Ford.
auctions
7
8
7. 1956 Continental Mark II
SOLD AT $44,000
SN C56C2255. Starmist white over red and white
vinyl. 300-hp, 368-cubic-inch V-8; automatic.
Air-conditioning. Very good paint. Most brightwork
is good to very good, but some small bits are weak.
Good glass. Good door gaps. Seats have been
covered in vinyl. Restored to just better than driver
quality overall.
Those vinyl seats really hurt; the Mark II—the
only model in Ford’s short-lived Continental
brand—was famous for being available only
with Scottish Bridge of Weir leather when
new. It’s OK to find your leather from cows
that don’t speak with a Scottish accent, but the
stuf that comes from a petrochemical process
shows potential buyers that you cheaped out.
8. 1940 Cadillac Series 72
seven-passenger formal sedan
SOLD AT $25,000
SN 7321351. Cavern green with black top over
black leather (front) and tan cloth (rear). 140-hp,
346-cubic-inch V-8; three-speed manual. Indicated
mileage: 68,000. Lots of chips in the older paint,
which is claimed to be original. Brightwork has
needs; grille is scratched and pitted. Said to be one
of eighteen built and the only running survivor.
Formerly owned by the See’s Candies family
and delivered new in California. Formal cars
and town sedans were built for the
chaufeured set. After World War II, it was all
about driving the car yourself, including for
rich folk. An interesting piece from an era
that came and went and is unlikely to come
back again.
November 2013 | Automobilemag.com 117
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upshift vile gossip
My Fantasy
A kid, some cars, your organs.
a s I wrote earlIer this year, I don’t need a bucket list.
But I do have a fantasy that I would desperately like to
come true. It’s going to take a little more than a plan and a
timeline, as the old proverb goes. It’s going to take you.
My friend Caden Bowles is a total car freak, a car guy, a
car nut, whatever you want to call this passion that burns at a
level few can match. Deputy editor Joe DeMatio and I met him
three years ago, when he was eight years old and accepting
visitors from a bed at C.s. Mott Children’s Hospital in ann arbor.
Caden was recovering from cancer, the second part of a nasty
double whammy that began with a heart transplant he underwent
at the age of six weeks. we’d heard about him from Joe’s friend
Meg, a pediatric nurse practitioner, who was startled by the
endless car chatter coming from this little peanut. But not as
startled as we were. this was not your average eight-year-old car
nut. while I was goggled by his Yoda demeanor and expressive
hands, which waved around and punctuated his sentences with
finger pokes, DeMatio remembers the actual conversation.
“He delivered a lecture about Jaguar. He spoke in coherent,
multiclause, complex sentences. He said something like, ‘Jaguar
has had some real product strength recently, but clearly
challenges remain.’ It was like an industry expert’s analysis.”
the cancer went away, but now, three years later, Caden’s
body has decided to reject his heart. I returned to Mott to visit
him on his eleventh birthday, May 30. Doctors had arrested the
rejection, and Caden was recovering and planning to go home.
when I stepped into his room, he was sitting in a chair, hooked
up to a bunch of machines with a specialized IV line in his neck,
so he couldn’t sit upright. He looked straight up at the ceiling,
threw those little alien hands in the air, and shouted, “we haven’t
seen each other in three years!” with barely a mention of his
medical situation, he joyfully launched into his favorite subject,
cars. He showed me his latest project, a newsletter called Full
Throttle that he did in pencil on lined paper. He’d drawn a logo of
a foot on an accelerator pedal over the F of the title. the story
he’d written was a highly opinionated comparison of laFerrari
versus the new Mclaren P1. He’d illustrated it with transformers
versions of the two supercars battling it out.
He then segued into everything ezra Dyer ever wrote. Clearly,
he loves ezra.
I found out two weeks into July that Caden was still at the
hospital. His heart was just worn out from the fight, and he now
needed a new one. we had a couple of exotic cars at the ofce for
the local rolling sculpture car show, so I thought it might cheer
him up if I could bring something shiny that he could see from
his tenth-floor hospital room. the first car I brought by was an
aston Martin Vanquish, which shut down valet parking while I
120 Automobile | November 2013
by Jean
Jennings
There are few ran upstairs. the nurses surprised us by
eleven-year-olds as loading up Caden and all his equipment
qualified even to and rolling him downstairs and out into
touch an SRT Viper
the street. He was beside himself, spouting
as our friend Caden
Bowles. He fit facts and specs the entire time, while
perfectly in the admiring the handbuilt V-12. the next day
passenger’s seat. I I brought him the srt Viper, and this
let him fire up the time—after he looked at the engine—he got
engine, and when I
added a heavy right inside the car, and I let him fire it up.
foot at the moment once the word spread, the doctors took
of ignition, he lifted over. one brought a Porsche. another
six inches of the brought his Cobra. then ezra made a pit
seat. I think that
stop on his way from northern Michigan
meant he liked it.
to North Carolina to give him a look at the
Mercedes sls. He is now on team Caden.
today is september 3. Caden has been
listed as status 1a, the highest priority on
the transplant list, all summer, but the gift
of a human heart has not arrived, and
tomorrow he is scheduled to get the Berlin
mechanical heart that has been waiting for
him as a backup.
This is my three-part fantasy: one. a
human heart will arrive today, and he will
wake up with a new heart. that one will
take a miracle and the prayers of every
person who is willing or inclined to pray.
two. every person who reads this
column will sign up to be an organ donor.
three. we establish a yearly car show
for all the kids at Mott. a parade of old
cars, exotic cars, anything that will create a
diversion and give the kids something to
look forward to. and it gives the rest of us
something to do when all that’s left is
JEAN JENNINGS
praying. Calling all doctors, all car people,
anyone. send thoughts and information.
It’s the one thing I know I can do. AM
Be a hero: Go to organdonor.gov.