The 35th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races presented by Toyota at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is a long title for a spectacular event. Saturday was actually day two of the Historics, which will conclude on Sunday. While the races are exciting and the action very real, the results are slightly less important here than just witnessing the spectacle. The sounds alone are worth a trip to Laguna Seca in August. Saturday's action featured the Toyota Race of Legends, with several other classes having their day in the sun as well. We had photographers all around the track capturing glimpses of the action, so make sure to click through the gallery to see what you are missing. After witnessing Mario Andretti throw the checkered flag for the Legends and then completing what seemed like dozens of "demo" laps in his old Lotus F1 car, we thought we knew what makes this event so special. And then we saw Patrick Dempsey getting some demo laps in an old Chrysler, and we had to rethink our theory. Okay, Dempsey is probably a bit more maligned here than he deserves, but he does seem to be featured here a lot lately. Personally we were happy to see the Keno twins of Antiques Roadshow fame just as much.
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Wherever you find people cruising, you will always find lots of fancy paintwork. These run the gamut from metallic finishes that change color depending on the viewing angle to all kinds of intricate designs along with the standard issue flame jobs. Woodward 2008 was no exception, so we present for you viewing pleasure (or pain depending on your tastes) some of the excellent and absolutely wretched airbrush work we encountered today.
As we made our along Woodward Avenue this morning we spotted what may be the ultimate "Cruiser" on the road today. Trolling along right in front of a golden Lamborghini Murcielago was a Gibbs Aquada. For those who haven't been paying attention the Aquada is the latest attempt at an amphibious car. Gibbs recently set up shop in Auburn Hills MI as they try to get this land and sea machine into production. In the meantime when this driver gets to the end of Woodward Ave, he can keep right on driving on into the Detroit River and cruise on.
For the past several years General Motors has been using the Athens Coney Island Restaurant on Woodward Ave. as a base of operations for the Dream Cruise. The parking lot this year is again filled with classic, wannabe classic, and future classic GM machinery, much of it brought out from the GM Heritage Center in nearby Sterling Heights. For those who haven't yet seen the new Camaro in production form, the red RS we saw a few weeks ago is on display here in the parking lot along with a ZR1 in police markings and what must be one of the most yellow first generation Camaros anywhere. The powertrain tent at the back of the lot is filled with past present and future powertrains from the Z11 427 to the two-mode hybrid and even a fuel cell stack. The parking lot area is open to the public all day, so come on down.
The current economic environment in the United States is hurting all auto makers these days, even mighty Toyota, which was once considered immune to so-called market realities. Though its overall performance last year would be considered a stellar achievement for any other automaker, Toyota's 28% profit plunge in the fourth quarter of 2007 points to an expected 27% drop in annual profits in 2008. If Toyota's revised forecast proves accurate, 2008 would break a nine-year stretch of profit growth. In addition to the slowing U.S. market, Toyota also cites high material prices, the worldwide credit crunch and a strong yen as contributing factors in its mild downturn.
Toyota's expected profit drop is certainly newsworthy, but we just have to wonder how the money-losing American car companies will cope in the U.S. market with the same issues. While sales of cars are gaining strength, the SUV and truck markets are sinking with what could be Titanic-like implications for the truck-heavy lines from Ford, Chrysler and GM.
Anyone who's rolling in a 2007-2008 Chrysler Sebring or Dodge Avenger, take note. Chryslerberus is recalling all 181,000 of those vehicles sold during that time to fix an electrical defect that affects unused connectors on the tire pressure monitoring system. Apparently, corrosion can cause a short, and owners could experience their vehicles failing to start, stalling once underway, or some other affectations of the electrical components, including the cruise control. Formal notices are going to be sent out later this month, and dealers have been instructed to locate the problem and seal the affected circuits. Check your mailboxes, folks.
The beauty about driving games like Forza 2 and Gran Turismo 5 is that they give us (yes, even us here at Autoblog) the chance to drive cars we otherwise couldn't get anywhere near. The latest virtual joy ride to hit the news cycle is the Ferrari F2007, the very same Formula One car that Kimi Raikkonen drove last year to the drivers' title and – with a little help from teammate Felipe Massa – the constructors' championship, as well.
According to the latest information posted on the official Playstation blog, the F2007 will be among the many exciting new cars available for your gaming pleasure in the new GT5 Prologue. The championship-winning racer in officially sanctioned rosso livery will be available for 2 million game credits from all Ferrari dealerships on Gran Turismo 5, so start earning your points as soon as you get your hands on the game. Then spend your sleepless nights trying to beat Kimi's laptimes.
2007 was good to the folks in Crewe, as Bentley Motors had its best year ever. (What, no VH1 special?) For the first time, the automaker surpassed the 10,000 mark in terms of vehicles sold -- a tenfold increase over where it stood just five years ago. Both Arnage and Continental family sales were up -- 45-percent for the former, thanks to the arrival of the new Azure, and 5-percent for the latter with the GTC leading the way. The record-high sales led to new high points for both net revenue (€1.37 billion) and operating profit (€155 million). This level of volume is pretty much where the automaker would like to settle going forward, as it lets Bentley stay exclusive while still returning a profit. Us? We're just trying to figure out a way to tap into the joys of ownership ourselves. Follow the jump for Bentley's full press release and some assorted eye candy.
If you own an '05 - '08 Ford Mustang, watch your mailbox for a recall notice from the Oval in the coming days. It turns out that the NHTSA learned that the passenger-side frontal airbag could potentially deploy with greater-than-allowable force for a petite, unrestrained passenger. Over 470,000 of the ponycars qualify for the recall, with 435,000 of them located in the US. A dealer-performed software update will correct the problem. According to Ford, there are no reported injuries related to the issue, and the particular scenario in which the problem could manifest itself is rare.
Let's get the hard numbers out of the way. Today General Motors revealed that excluding special items, it posted a net loss of $23 million in 2007. Add in some funky deferred tax asset charge, and the automaker's net loss last year rises to $38.3 billion. Aside from that, we're interested in how GM fared in the business of selling cars and trucks around the world last year. In 2007, the automaker earned $553 million before taxes selling vehicles globally, compared to losing $339 million in 2006. Worldwide vehicles sales increased 3% to 9.4 million vehicles last year, but the North American market was no help, losing $1.5 billion before taxes.
Numbers aside, GM also had some big news today in the form of new buyouts for its entire union workforce that's some 74,000 strong. Similar to the recent round of new buyouts offered by Ford and Chrysler to their union workers, the new arrangement is more generous to workers than what was offered back in 2006. GM hasn't said how many workers it will let go this time, but because of its new contract with the UAW, the automaker will be allowed to replace some of those workers with new hires at a reduced compensation rate of around $14/hour.
