Autofiends scribe and Autoblog Sunday Drive alumni, Jonny Lieberman, is a lucky SOB. Not only did he get the chance to drive the Superformance replica of the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, but he snagged some wheel time in a thoroughly uncivilized MKI GT40 powered by a fuel-injected Roush 427 IR motor... putting out 500 hp... to the wheels. The Daytona Coupe is even more devilishly delectable, with 556 hp and 553 lb.-ft. of torque motivating the 3,000-pound coupe. If there was a recipe for our demise, it would look, sound and drive something like that. Needless to say, we're jealous, but that shouldn't stop you from reading the twofer review and ogling the drool-worthy pics by our very own Drew Phillips.
The collective artistic skill of the Autoblog staff would hardly equal the pinky toe of Picasso, which is why we are duly impressed with Rob Ijbema's website called Car-A-Day. Rob began the site about a year and a half ago painting and publishing one work per day of cars in various forms of motorsport. He continued at this pace for over a year, but has since slowed down a bit, but the sheer size of his catalogue is still staggeringly impressive. As you can see in our gallery of favorites below, Rob has pretty much all of the well known brands of motorsports covered with paintings of race cars from LeMans, Formula One, the WRC, DTM, vintage racers and even NASCAR! His style might best be described as Impressionist with, as he explains, a focus on movement and atmosphere rather than detail, which would take much longer to reproduce on canvas. Most of Rob's work could go for hundreds if not thousands of dollars in a gallery somewhere, but for him they're all in a single day's work. Each one is for sale, just email Rob for a price. Check out our faves in the gallery below, and be sure to visit Car-A-Day yourself and peruse his archives, as well as subscribe to Rob's RSS feed for updates on when he publishes a new painting.
It looks like Ford got rid of Aston Martin just in time. With sales falling just about everywhere, Aston was hardly immune, so the automaker has announced plans to cut up to 600 jobs in the near future. The company is currently working with its union to cut 300 jobs from both the permanent and temporary worker ranks. Aston Martin joins Bentley which is also making cuts in response to the now official recession that the economy has descended into. Prior to Ford selling off the brand, Aston was believed to have been the only profitable member of the former Premier Automotive Group. With German brands like BMW, Mercedes and Porsche all suffering as well, the big question now is how long will it until we hear about layoffs at Ferrari?
It was only a matter of time before the Audi and VW specialists over at MTM got their hands on a Scirocco. The results are what we would expect from the German tuner: up to 272 horsepower, a sporty suspension, better brakes, and handsome 19- or 20-inch wheels wrapped in Michelin tires. The boost in power comes from a re-mapped ECU combined with a new exhaust system that runs out of a modified rear fascia. The upgraded suspension system includes lowering springs and sport-tuned shocks, and the brakes come with eight-piston calipers with up to 15-inch discs.
Even though Ford hasn't admitted it, we all know what's coming to Detroit. The 2010 Ford Taurus that's been spied and rendered is on its way, and although FoMoCo's design director, J Mays, won't go on the record as saying that the new Taurus will be unveiled in Motor City, he did say the automaker will show off the next iteration of its global styling theme this January.
Ford's North American and European design teams have been working together for the last two years on the successor to the automaker's "kinetic" design language that made its production debut with the Mondeo and continued with the Fiesta and Kuga. Mays calls the new theme "post-kinetic" and says it will "have the best attributes of kinetic, but ... is going to be possibly a little more simple, a little more elegant." The rendering above – "inspired" by a singular spy shot and created by Joshua Byrnes – is a good indication of what's to come, and if that's what Mays means my "simple" and elegant," we're sold.
As you'd imagine, it's pretty tough to run a successful auto company if there's no viable product in the pipeline. Chrysler has seen its fair share of negative press for not announcing a clear strategy to rebuild the heart of its line-up, namely the Chrysler Sebring and the Dodge Avenger, and it's unclear how much life the aging 300C and Charger platform has in it. According to Chrysler's product development chief, Frank Klegon, though, there's nothing to worry about... assuming that the Feds pull through and "show them the money" they need for future development. If Detroit's number 3 automaker doesn't get the cash? Don't ask.
Klegon also says that Project D is still moving along, though no actual decisions have yet been made as to whether 1) a completely new platform is needed, 2) the old one will be modified or 3) another firm's mid-sizer will be cribbed for the next Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger. Despite rumors of its apparent demise, Klegon reiterated that the Phoenix project to develop next-gen V6 engines is well into the testing phase. Chrysler needs to knock all of these plans out of the park in order to remain competitive.
Ever since Bentley came out from under the shadow of Rolls-Royce after the Volkswagen takeover in the late 1990s, the marque has been on a roll. The venerable British brand started getting its first bespoke designs in over half a century, which paid off in a huge spike in sales. After topping 10,000 sales for the first time in 2007, Bentley is feeling the same force of gravity as everyone else (except Audi it seems) this year. So far sales have dropped by 30 percent in 2008 and the Crewe factory has already cut production by 15 percent. Further cuts are likely and Bentley is providing assistance to dealers who have too much inventory. With the situation on Wall Street unlikely to abate anytime soon, it appears that Bentley's 37 U.S. dealers will be feeling the pain for a while longer.
