Here at Automoblog, we kind of have a soft spot for these little one off engineering specials. Every month or so, somebody with a garage and access to a big enough engine hits the news wires saying something like “Adventure MotorSports Builds Fastest Car In The Known Universe.”

And they are, usually, surprisingly, technically right. They’ve built a car that punches a small enough hole in the atmosphere, has a big enough mill in the engine bay and tall enough ratio’s in the gearbox, and it looks the car might actually be able to raise what ever the current terminal velocity is by a tenth or so.

So here comes Keating with their TKR Supercar across our transom and they’re saying it’ll do 260.1 … all right, let’s find out.

Continue Reading…

Andy House, owner of Performance Auto Sales (specializing in repaired exotics, ironically) in Lufkin, Texas, was driving on Interstate 45 early last week when he crashed his 2006 Bugatti Veyron into a nearby lake. According to Mr. House, a pelican distracted him, making him drop his cell phone and lose control of the car.

Galveston Daily News reported:

The man, who refused to give his name, was looking at real estate in Galveston.
About 3 p.m. a low-flying pelican distracted him as he traveled north on Interstate 45 just south of the hurricane levee near Omega Bay.
The man jerked the wheel, dropped his cell phone, and the car’s front tire left the frontage road and entered a muddy patch, which foiled his attempt to maneuver away from the lagoon.

Luckily, two dudes listening to Sublime caught it all on video, thinking they were watching a Lamborghini crash into the water. Check out the video: Continue Reading…

If you ask me, Alfa can’t get back into the North American market quick enough. Why? Well check out this car here. This would be a Prodrive modified version of Alfa Romeo’s stunning Brera S 3.2 that has the added benefit of an Autodelta Supercharger.

So, with Fiat (Alfa’s parent company) still working on which models to bring in, I vote for this one.

Prodrive’s Limited Edition Alfa Romeo Brera S 3.2 is making its world debut at this weekend’s MPH09 Motor Show in London. The souped up Brera is based on the UK market Brera S and seems to be as stunning on the road as ti is to the eyes. A new project between Prodrive and Alfa Romeo UK, the Brera S 3.2 is a limited edition and highlights a bunch of upgrades the most noticable being a weight loss of 220 pounds, thanks to the ditching of the standard Brera V6’s Q4 all-wheel drive system and going with a front-wheel drive and a sportier suspension.

Continue Reading…

Since yesterday’s Ford street rod was so well received, I think it’s time to give Chevy their due. The General Motors division, in addition to bringing along a raft of custom Camaros to this year’s SEMA show, also produced along a rather tastefully done up 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air with an attractively finished LS3 crate motor dropped into the engine bay.

Not bad … not bad …

Continue Reading…

Dropping a new mill into and old car has been going on since the new models first started rolling out more than a hundred years ago. Shoot, that’s what made the hot rod craze what it is when it started back in the 1950s. But here’s a modern take on the hot rod, literally. FoMoCo decided to up and drop its latest 3.5 liter EcoBoost V6 into a 1934 Hot Rod and show it off at SEMA. Sweet!

Continue Reading…

Looks like the on again/off again sale of General Motor’s long held Euro-brand Opel is now definitely off, and The General will not be selling the company off to Magna. What makes this really odd is that the deal was nearly complete when the GM Board of Directors decided to terminate the sale process. GM has decided to keep the European unit under its direct control and not sell in to Russian-backed group led by Magna.

Why? Why cancel the sale now? GM said it’s because of an “improving business environment for GM over the past few months” as well as the Opel/Vauxhall brands being important to the GM’s global strategy.

Continue Reading…