Gooding to auction 1995 McLaren F1 in Monterey
Jul 30, 2010 Object
Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Performance, Auctions
1995 McLaren F1 to be auctioned by Gooding & Company - Click above for high-res image gallery
Gooding & Company’s auction coinciding with this year’s Pebble Beach Concours is coming up in a few short weeks, and the lineup of available cars is shaping up to be quite impressive. Already dozens of incredibly compelling and valuable collector cars are scheduled to make their way across the block, but the car that has caught our attention the most so far is a 1995 McLaren F1.
The F1 is singularly special in its own right, but this particular car is even more attractive to buyers in the United States since it’s one of the few examples actually registered in the country. The car was sold originally to Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, who was one of the sponsors of McLaren’s race team back in the mid-1990s. This F1 comes finished in classic Magnesium Silver paint with a black interior and comes with its factory-delivered luggage and tools. The estimated price? A mere $2.5 to $3.5 million. Follow the jump for full details in the press release from Gooding, and be sure to check out the images below.
Gallery: 1995 McLaren F1 - Gooding & Company
Photos by Paul Litwinski (C) 2010 Courtesy of Gooding & Company
Continue reading Gooding to auction 1995 McLaren F1 in Monterey
Gooding to auction 1995 McLaren F1 in Monterey originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Tags: a-few-short, auctions, carauction, check-out-the, country, gooding, goodingauctions, larry ellison, monterey2010, oracle, sold-originally, sports, united-states
Man spends nearly $200,000 to win right to park truck in his own driveway
Filed under: Truck, Etc., Government/Legal, Work, Ford
Beware of the home owner’s association. Considered this country’s most basic, ruthless unit of government, HOAs are typically organized and manned by retirees with little better to do than tell you what to do with your property - something A.J. Vizzi recently learned the hard way. When Vizzi purchased his home in Odessa, Florida, he was told he would be allowed to park his Ford F-350 Super Duty in his home’s driveway, even though the neighborhood’s rules forbade keeping vehicles anywhere other than the garage. The truck didn’t fit in the home’s garage.
The local HOA soon changed its mind, and before long a lawsuit ensued. In 2008, a judge ruled in Vizzi’s favor, but the association quickly appealed the decision. In March, a second judge sided with Vizzi, and the courts awarded him $187,000 in legal fees to be paid by the HOA. In total, the association claims that the ordeal has cost over $300,000, including the cash it now has to pay to Vizzi. Check out My Fox Tampa Bay for a local news report on the legal battle. Thanks for the tip, Sea Urchin!
[Source: My Fox Tampa Bay]
Man spends nearly $200,000 to win right to park truck in his own driveway originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Tags: a-friend-via, association, country, f-350-super, f350 superduty, f350superduty, ford, ford f350 superduty, home owner association, homeownersassociations, news, superduty, the-association, vizzi
V8 Supercar champ in Australia wants kids to learn to drive at age 12. How about you? [w/poll]
Jul 28, 2010 Object
Filed under: Motorsports, Etc., Government/Legal, Safety, Australia
Albert Einstein has commonly been quoted as saying that stupidity (or insanity, depending on your source) is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Which begs the question, with over 100 years of traffic enforcement behind us, why are we still relying on the same methods of catch and punish to modify driver behavior? If it hasn’t worked over the last century, chances are it won’t work over the next. But Australian V8 Supercar champ Jamie Whincup has come up with a zany idea that just might cut down on his country’s driving death toll - education.
In a move likely to draw some knee-jerk guffaws, Whincup is calling for driver’s education to begin at 12 years-old. The tweens in question wouldn’t actually be behind the wheel, but would begin to receive lessons on the components of a car, the effect of drugs and alcohol on your ability to operate a vehicle and the consequences of excess speed. We’re not entirely sure the average pre-teen is going to be able to wrangle enough synapses away from Hanna Montana to make a difference, but we’re all for improved driver education as a means of improving road safety.
Have a look at the story below, then chime in with your own opinion by taking our poll and leaving your thoughts in Comments.
[Source: Drive | Image: Matchbox]
V8 Supercar champ in Australia wants kids to learn to drive at age 12. How about you? [w/poll] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Tags: a-move-likely, a-vehicle-and, albert einstein, alcohol-on-your, consequences, country, doing-the-same, drivers education, drivers school, driverseducation, driving school, hanna-montana, jamie whincup, jamiewhincup
News & Rants: Ford Reinvents Family SUV With 2011 Explorer
Unless you live under a rock, you had to have noticed the loud media blitz yesterday from Ford about the new 2011 Explorer. They launched it unconventionally with live online video feeds, social media outlets and in-person reveals across the country, essentially turning yesterday into “Ford Explorer Day.” Traditionally, new cars are revealed at auto shows, where they’re competing with competitors for media coverage, but Ford didn’t feel like sharing. Can you blame them?
Ford listened to the Explorer’s target market and reinvented the quintessential family SUV into something much more modern and progressive. The new Explorer is built on a car-based platform, turning it into more of a crossover than an SUV. However, Ford maintained specific design cues, including body-colored C-pillars, that hark back to the Explorer’s traditional SUV roots.
Don’t think the Explorer has watered down its off-roading capabilities with its new platform. However, it has made them more user-friendly with the incorporation of the Terrain Management System, which allows the driver to select one of four terrain modes – Normal, Snow, Sand or Mud and Ruts – with the turn of a dial. The Explorer also has hill descent control, which “allows the driver to control the speed of hill descent without applying the brakes, even while in Reverse.” The 2011 Explorer can tow up to 5,000 pounds; the 2010 model with a V-8 engine could tow 7,115 pounds.
The other big story in the Explorer is the two inflatable seat belts in the second row’s outbound seating positions. In the event of a crash, the seat belts actually inflate, thereby spreading the force of the impact out over a larger area of a child’s chest. I’d be curious to know how these work with youngsters in high-back booster seats where the seatbelt is threaded through the head restraint’s routing mechanism. As this technology becomes more common, I suspect we’ll see it migrate back to protect third-row passengers, as well.
I’m also looking forward to testing out the automatic folding third row in the new Explorer. Most families I know have to switch rapidly from carrying people to carrying cargo and back again. Ford makes the Explorer flexible enough for many different scenarios. Go, go, gadget seats!
I’m looking forward to test-driving the new Explorer with my most critical backseat test drivers at hand to see if it can live up to all the hype. Stay tuned…
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News & Rants: Ford Reinvents Family SUV With 2011 Explorer
Tags: a-larger-area, a-outlets-and, automatic, country, drivers-at-hand, explorer, explorer-day-, impact-out-over, looking-forward, quintessential, terrain, turning-it-into, with-the-turn
2011 Ford Explorer unveiled live from coast to coast
2011 Ford Explorer Live Debut in Southern California - Click above for high-res image gallery
It’s been quite a day for the new 2011 Ford Explorer. After teasing, more teasing, and even more teasing, Ford finally unveiled what it thinks will “reinvent the SUV for the 21st century.” At 12:01 EST this morning, we presented an in-depth look at the new Explorer, providing details on the new exterior and interior as well as some of the safety features, and at noon we went over the new powertrain options, including the 2.0-liter EcoBoost inline-4 that will deliver 30 percent better fuel efficiency than the previous V6 model. Ford has even put up a configurator for the 2011 Explorer, allowing you to build your own.
The 2011 Explorer was also introduced live in various parts of the country, from the middle of New York City to Detroit to Los Angeles. We were in attendance on both ends of the coasts to cover the unveilings, each of which had an entirely different feel. The Discovery Channel’s Mike Rowe was on hand with CEO Alan Mulally to make the introductions in the Big Apple, while Ford’s President of the Americas Mark Fields did the honors amidst huge sand sculptures alongside the famous boardwalk in Venice Beach. You can see photos from both unveilings in the galleries below.
Photos copyright (C)2010 Drew Phillips / Alex Nunez / AOL
2011 Ford Explorer unveiled live from coast to coast originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Tags: 2011 ford explorer, 2011fordexplorerecoboost, americas-mark, aol, both-unveilings, country, explorer-live, ford, fordexplorer, fordexplorerecoboost, from-the-middle, fuel-efficiency, president, venice-beach-, video
Michigan and Ohio senators demand Obama gets tough on South Korean auto importing
Filed under: Government/Legal, Hyundai, Kia, South Korea
Talk to most analysts in the auto world, and they’ll say that the recent rise of South Korean automakers like Hyundai and Kia have been an absolute blessing to the industry as a whole. Consumers now have an array of quality, inexpensive products, extra jobs have landed in rural areas of the deep south thanks to American-based manufacturing facilities and the competition from low-priced models have forced domestic manufacturers to up their game.
But not everyone’s thrilled about the balance of automotive trade between the two nations. According to The Detroit News, senators Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, recently wrote to the Obama administration in order to urge the President to take a hard line on the South Korean Free Trade Agreement.
The two senators aren’t taking issue with Korean products here in the U.S., they simply think it’s unfair that South Korea has a moratorium on importing any vehicles into the country. The senators want American companies to have the opportunity to do business on the peninsula - something that most automakers, with the exception of General Motors, have been pushing for since before the second President Bush was in office. GM, meanwhile, owns Korean automaker Daewoo, so it has no problem dealing with the current ban on auto imports.
For its part, Obama administration has said that it will once again open talks about the free trade agreement in hopes of making more American goods available in the global market.
[Source: The Detroit News | Image: Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images]
Michigan and Ohio senators demand Obama gets tough on South Korean auto importing originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Tags: a-gets-tough, check-out-our, country, debbie stabenow, detroit-news, edition-camper, entry, from-the-table, images, kia, korean trade relations, koreatraderelations, obama
Smart Grids: Good for the Country, Good for Investors
The electric energy grid in the U.S. is over 100 years old, but new technologies should help to breathe new life into the grid by making it smarter. Hilary Kramer says that investors can profit as these new technologies are deployed and she discusses two companies in particular with upside potential.
Continue reading Smart Grids: Good for the Country, Good for Investors
Smart Grids: Good for the Country, Good for Investors originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:00:00.
Filed Under: Technology, Investing, Video
Go here to read the rest:
Smart Grids: Good for the Country, Good for Investors
Tags: and-something, country, discusses-two, early-monday, grid, installed-cap, investing, itri, elon, technology, white
Report: TARP audit criticizes Obama task force for dealer closings
Jul 19, 2010 Object
Filed under: Government/Legal, Chrysler, GM
General Motors and Chrysler terminated the contracts of thousands of dealers while the automakers were in bankruptcy proceedings; a move that was required by the Obama Administration’s auto task force as a condition of bankruptcy. The scheme was heralded as a way to save the struggling automakers millions or even billions of dollars, but special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) Neil Barofsky claims in an audit that the dealer closings weren’t “necessarily critical to the manufacturers’ viability.” Barofsky added in his TARP audit that the closing of dealerships would add thousands of workers to the unemployment lines “without sufficient consideration of the decisions’ broader economic impact.”
The U.S. Treasury, obviously, doesn’t agree with Barofsky’s assessment. The Detroit Free Press quotes an anonymous source who points out that it was well known in the auto industry that Detroit automakers have too many dealers. Toyota, for instance, has a much smaller dealer body than GM. And the dealers Toyota does have average much higher sales volumes than dealers of domestic products. That theoretically leads to dealers with more marketing muscle in their perspective markets. Not all automaker executives wanted to shrink their dealer networks, either. Some feared the loss of sales that would follow shutting down retail outlets, but the task force reportedly felt those lost sales would be recouped within a few years
But while arguments can be made for or against shrinking the pool of retail outlets around the country, one fact is hard to ignore. A reported 35,000 dealer employees lost their jobs in 2009 and 2010, or over three percent of all dealership employees around the country - roughly equal to the 32,000 jobs lost within the industry.
Barofsky also touched on the process which both Chrysler and GM used to determine which dealers should stay and which should go. The auditor claimed that Chrysler stuck to its plan throughout, which is evidenced by the fact that only 28 dealers won their arbitration cases out of 789 stores that were closed last year. Barofsky claims that GM wasn’t so strict in determining which dealers to cut, and there wasn’t much documentation to show how and why the General cut its dealers. GM has since restated 666 of the 1,454 dealers it cut, though the company gave dealers more than a year to wind down operations, while Team Pentastar cut off its under-performing dealerships almost immediately.
[Source: Detroit Free Press | Image: AP/Jeff Roberson]
Report: TARP audit criticizes Obama task force for dealer closings originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Tags: 2011 subaru wrx sti, auto task force, country, entry, goods-on-its, press, tarp audit task force, with-the-four
S&P Keeps U.K. Debt Ratings at AAA Despite Pessimistic Outlook
Jul 12, 2010 Object
Citing the country’s “wealthy and diversified economy, ample fiscal and monetary policy flexibility” and other factors, S&P affirmed the U.K.’s sovereign credit ratings Monday. However, it also maintained the negative outlook it has had since May 2009.
Continue reading S&P Keeps U.K. Debt Ratings at AAA Despite Pessimistic Outlook
S&P Keeps U.K. Debt Ratings at AAA Despite Pessimistic Outlook originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:40:00.
Filed Under: Economy, Investing, Currency
Original post:
S&P Keeps U.K. Debt Ratings at AAA Despite Pessimistic Outlook
Tags: ample-fiscal, country, credit ratings, currency, gilts, negative, outlook, penthouse, playboy-going, pound, ratings-at-aaa, the-negative
Dodge Viper Cup Series gets underway just as production peters out
Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Dodge, Celebrities, Racing
2010 Dodge Viper ACR-X - Click above for high-res image gallery
The car universe isn’t without its irony. For instance, it’s something of a tragedy that just after the sun has officially set on the Dodge Viper, Chrysler finally manages to get the ball rolling on its Viper Cup. The race series will feature a total of 10 events held at five tracks across the country, starting this weekend. The rules are pretty simple: entrants must take to the field in more or less identical 2010 Viper ACR-X models. The winner walks away with $6,500 in cold hard cash, plus another $1,000 in Mopar Vouchers for parts and the like. Prizes trickle down from there.
Interestingly enough, the cable network Versus will be broadcasting each event in a 30-minute show format, so while the action won’t be live, we’ll still be able to enjoy it from the comfort of our air-conditioned living rooms. Dodge has also thrown in a few “celebrity” wildcards into the fray, including Shaun Bailey, the associate engineering editor at Road & Track, and Sergent Michael Kohn, of Olympic bobsled renown. Hey, we didn’t say they were exactly A-listers, did we? Hit the jump for the press release.
Gallery: 2010 Dodge Viper ACR-X
[Source: Chrysler]
Continue reading Dodge Viper Cup Series gets underway just as production peters out
Dodge Viper Cup Series gets underway just as production peters out originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Tags: a-friend-via, bmw, bmwm3, bobsled-renown-, country, dodge viper, dodgeviper, entry, interestingly, michaelkohn, mopar-vouchers, shaun-bailey, sports, srt-10, vipercup
