As far as cars went, the Frankfurt Motor Show was the proverbial glut of riches, and the Tokyo Motor Show proved that you can't live life at the top all the time. Tokyo did, however, still provide plenty of aesthetic beauty, much of which had nothing to do with the automobiles. We won't call it a consolation prize, but it's certainly not something we're upset about.
Have a look at what arguably might have been the finest aspects of the Tokyo Motor Show in the gallery below – and the woman with the stuffed car on her head (it is still Tokyo, after all...). (*Translation: "The beautiful women of Makuhari Messe").
You like Minis? Comedy? All things British? Well mark your calendars for September 18-20, as comedian Rowan Atkinson will be appearing in character as the bungling Mr. Bean during the UK's Goodwood Revival. Not only that, but to celebrate 50 years of Mini, Mr. Bean will be driving his pea-green and black-hooded Issigonis-penned Mini around the Goodwood Motor Circuit each day of the festival – sitting on the roof! Turns out it's a well known Mr. Bean gag. Ahem.
Atkinson, a well known car buff (and McLaren F1 owner), will also be bringing his Jaguar Mk IV to help celebrate 80 years of Sir Stirling Moss. One more thing, Atkinson will field a 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S during an all-Mini St Mary's Trophy saloon car race. We wish him the best of luck with that last one, despite our blood-boiling jealousy.
It's fair to say that since April of 2005, we've all paid a bit more attention to Mercury. While the marque's products have steadily improved along with those of parent company Ford, it's been the brand's spokesmodel that has made us sit up and take notice. Quite simply, we have put Mercury 'on our list' because the Blue Oval has put actress Jill Wagner out in front of its wares.
A Winston-Salem, North Carolina southern belle at heart, we had heard through the grapevine that Mercury's stunning spokesmodel was also something of a down-to-earth car gal. We wanted to find out for ourselves, so Jill was kind enough to make some time to speak with us as she geared up to start filming another round of ABC's Wipeout, where she is in her third season as co-host of the obstacle course reality tv series.
AB: We wanted to ask you some questions that are perhaps a bit different than your usual Hollywood entertainment publication interviews since we're more car-related. We understand you've got some auto history in addition to your Mercury campaign? JW: Right – my father has a tire shop in North Carolina – he was always kind of a wheeler and a dealer. I'd come home and he'd have old Cadillacs that he'd bought – cars that he'd fix up and sell. He'd always have a new car every week that he was trying to sell. I was always at the tire shop answering phones and stuff, messing around with the cars, so yeah, I have a love for cars. AB: So the Mercury campaign was a natural fit for you then? JW: It was funny, because in the audition, they have this chair, and they sat it in the middle of the room, and they were like, 'Okay, that's your car – walk around and talk about it.' And I think by the end of the audition, the woman was like, "Okay, I have no idea what a carburetor is, I don't have any idea what you're talking about, but it sounds good." It was meant to be.
To continue reading our interview with Jill Wagner, click on the jump, and be sure to check out our high-res gallery of Jill below (as if we had to tell you that!).
Introduced at the Detroit Auto Show this year, the Stirling Moss will be the very last iteration of the McLaren SLR line. Its striking lines seem to illicit a love-it-or-hate-it reaction, but no one can argue that Mercedes-Benz didn't come up with something unique as a send off to its flagship model. Not that you can buy one anyway – only 75 are planned for production and will only be offered to the most loyal of SLR customers. So what does 750,000 euros get you? In addition to the unique body and interior, each car comes with M-B's bread-and-butter supercharged V8 pumping out 650 horsepower plus the ability to go 200+ mph without so much as a windshield protecting you from bugs at triple digit speeds. Sounds like a pretty good deal to us. Still can't decide if the McLaren SLR Stirling Moss is your style?
Every year we board our flights to the Geneva Motor Show after telling our significant others (wives, fiances, imaginary girlfriends) that we're going for the cars. We might even believe it when we say it, too, but then we get here and batting eyes, pouting lips and mile-long legs keep getting in the way of our cameras. We'd ask them to step out of the frame, but, well... that would just be rude and we were raised better than that. (Some of us were, anyway.) So it may not help us on the home front, but here is who we met at this year's show.
If you follow the political bickering in Formula One, you may have seen a heated exchange of correspondence between the F1 drivers and the regulatory body responsible for accrediting them to race. After the FIA exponentially raised the fees for a Superlicense – the certification that the FIA grants and requires of F1 drivers – the Grand Prix Drivers Association wrote an angry letter to the ever autoerotic Max Mosley, in which they compared the fee for renewing defending champion Lewis Hamilton's Superlicense – a whopping $270,000 – to the comparatively modest $4,000 that NASCAR charges its drivers. Mosley's response? So go to NASCAR, then!
more ...
Many insiders in the general aviation industry are pondering whether the fateful trip of three CEOs from Detroit to Washington late last year will sound the death knell for private jet travel. Jim Schuster, chief executive of Hawker Beechcraft, says in regards to that trip, "I sat back in my chair and put my hands over my eyes and said, 'Oh, why did they do that? It was terrible, terrible judgment on their part, but I don't think they stopped to think for a minute that people were going to react this way."
more ...
Sometimes, you come across a hidden gem that not only makes you smile, it makes you glad that there are so many different types of people in this crazy little world of ours. People that sooner or later leave their unique thumbprints on the Internet. So it is with A.D. Maddox, a Jackson Hole, Wyoming artist who most certainly has cornered the market on Ducati 999 riding, plain-speaking, Catholic schoolgirl outfit wearing, bug splattering artistry. In Maddox's own words, the basic approach she has taken to her craft is to "Strap the canvas onto the bike, start riding, and kill bugs. That was my M.O." Eloquently succinct, that. "See, I'm an artist, and I do what I do. I mean, how can I define being an artist? I am what I am?" Indeed. Maddox has been creating her "Bug Gut Paintings" for some time now, and her website displays her 2006 catalog of work which is evidently entirely sold out. Most of the abstract paintings are sized 11"x14" or 14x14" and were priced at $350.
more ...
At an event ahead of tomorrow's Detroit Auto Show kick-off, Mercedes-Benz showed off the new Mclaren SLR Stirling Moss to a select group of journos. The company is only offering 75 roadsters to current SLR owners to close out the supercar's tenure, so when these windscreen-free, 650 hp monsters are gone, that's it for the SLR. It must be a rush exploring the SLR's supercharged 5.5-liter V8 and 217 mph top speed with your head out in the open. Goofy old man and silly aviator eye-protectors sold seperately.
Nissan sportscars – the Z included – are a popular base for tuners, so it should come as no surprise that, with the newly revised 370Z just revealed, the JDM aftermarket is already lining up with their range of extras. Next up to bat is Branew, the Japanese tuner whose GT-R we spotted at SEMA wearing giant 23-inch rims. The Branew 370Z offers a remapped ECU, tightened suspension and upgraded brakes, as well as an aero package complete with front spoiler, side skirts, rear diffuser and wing. A variety of wheel options in various unreasonable sizes are also expected to be offered when Branew unveils the full package in January at the Tokyo Auto Salon.
