Car Throttle

Uh-oh, der Germans have gotten into the Jagermiester and found the crayon box again. Check out this Twin-Supercharged BMW M5 CLR 730 RS from a tuning house called Lumma Design. Black and white on the outside, red and whit on the inside, and they went and made the blower intakes orange. The last time I saw something this extravagant it was marching down Market Street. If you can ignore the colors, then the brass tacks of the ride are fairly notable. Lumma says that the plant under the hood is the most powerful engine ever in a road-legal BMW. The factory 5.0-liter V10 unit, which is nothing to sneeze at, cranks out 507HP and 520Nm o'torque, and Lumma saw fit to attach a pair of superchargers,

Hey look, you can make the Porsche Panamera look even worse. What we have here is something called the Lumma Design Porsche Panamera CLR 700GT. Lumma Design is, you guessed it, yet another tuner house. I have no real problems with tuners, but at this point I do have to say, why start with a Panamera in the first place? Well, you could say that there's nothing wrong with building up a big sedan into some sort of tuner masterpiece, but is the Panamera really a sedan? Yeah, it's got four doors, but that whole trunk/tail end/hatchback area is wrong on a bunch of levels. Anyway, that's what Lumma Design decided to start with. First off, this appears to be just a proposal (so there might be

My eyes-MY EYES! Dear Lord, how can a company that goes by the name of A.R.T. make something aesthetically criminal as this? Look, I understand, the Merc G-class is not that attractive to begin with (sort of looks like the box in came in), but to make it even worse, that's a kind of talent (I suppose). OK, quick confession: I kind of like the Mercedes Benz G-class. They have always seemed so honest (at least until they started to tart them up). Big, square, converted from military use, what's not to love? No, I have no need for an SUV, or to go off roading at the moment, but if I did, I'd have to think about something like a G-whatever. Then I'd think better of

I have trouble thinking of a better example of Derailed Design than the 2000 Chevy Impala. It's just tough to imagine a car that spat so conspicuously on it's history than the turd of a car Chevy foisted upon us back at the turn of the century.  First, though, some history. The original Impala debuted in 1958, intended to compete in the full-size sedan market as Chevrolet's top of the line model.  It was an upmarket version of the Bel-Air coupe and convertible, with some stylistic differences (like the 6 tail lamps instead of 4) and more chrome 'n glitz.  It became it's own separate model for  1959, which is where it really becomes significant.  Look at this imposing beast of a car: The Impala was a

Welcome to Derailed Design, and yes once again, I'm using a feature that was started by another writer here at Car Throttle, James. This particular feature will illustrate the top 10 Reasons why Pontiac Failed as a car company. Yes we all know Pontiac isn't dead yet. However, it is no longer a GM Division, just a "niche" brand, according to General Motors executives. Most of the failures at Pontiac happened within the decade, but there were at least a couple of real stinkers that happened earlier. Counting backwards from 10 to 1, here's why Pontiac Failed. 10 - Badge Engineering: The Excitement division of General Motors was doing quite well throughout the 80's, even with a questionable product line. Advertising of the period showcased the

During the 70's, there were quite a few vehicles of questionable taste produced. So I decided to borrow the column that James created here on Car Throttle, and turn up the bad taste-o-meter up to 11, and introduce you to a series of posts called "They Actually Made These". James is very good at describing mainstream cars that have strayed from their roots, but I'm going to introduce you to one of the most bizarre and obscure trends during the Disco Era, the Neo Classic. These are cars that were made to look like "Classic" cars, with questionable taste, haphazzard build quality, and outrageous price tags. First up, say hello to the Dunham Coach Caballista. The Dunham Motor Coach Company was the brainchild of Les Dunham,

The Mustang brand has an enviably loyal (and utterly massive) fanbase. The upside of this is community support for owners, monetary support for Ford, and Mustangs continue to exist in today's world, despite being utterly anachronistic.  The Mustang has followed an Elvis-like path of multiple transformations, from trim to fat to trim to weird to retro to god knows what.  Like any individual, I believe each car has a "loser" phase in its life - hamstrung by a lame redesign, a platform change that angers the enthusiasts, launching into the wrong market, etc. But with the Ford Mustang II, Ford was basically saying to their customers: "You stupid fools will buy anything with a Mustang badge on it, because you're stupid middle class proletariat trash."  Or something

This series, called "Derailed Design," seeks to highlight the mis-steps that manufacturers occasionally make in the progression of well-known model lines.  Hopefully it will provide some interesting perspective on automotive design... or at least a chuckle at ugly car's expense. If you're a car buff, the Datsun (later Nissan) Z-Car line surely holds a special place in your heart. Aside from occasional breaks in production (like the 6-year gap between the 300ZX and 350Z), the iconic Z-car has been in production for nearly 4 decades. The recipe has always been rather simple: powerful six-cylinder engine up front, rear-wheel drive, a sexy body, and performance and handling to match.  While size, weight, and power has always increased incrementally over time, things haven't always so bright and cheery in Z-world. Like