Car Throttle

One must maintain perspective when driving an old car.  You hear legends and stories about how great something was, but you have to remember that it was during the time period it was around those legends accumulated.  Best example of this: old school muscle cars from the 60's.  Sure, they're cool, and back in the day they were some of the fastest things with wheels and license plates.  But if you lined up a Chevelle SS396 with a 4-speed against a brand new, stock 2.0L Volkswagen GTI, it would get it's lunch handed to it.  This is perspective, and it's important to keep. So when I was given the opportunity to slide behind the wheel of a 1988 BMW M6, sure I was excited.  It's one

Right across the street from Charles Agapiou Bentley/Rolls Royce on Santa Monica Blvd is the kind of dealership you could just stand and drool in for a while.  Heritage Classics is exactly what it says on the label: a purveyor of high-end desirable classics parked wall to wall.  Unlike a lot of classic dealers, this one didn't seem to specialize in one marque or even genre: there was everything from a classic Porsche 356 to a Cadillac Eldorado.  But what lured me in the door first was this... A Ferrari 330GTC, what I think is probably the prettiest front-engine V12 Ferrari ever made.  Styling by Pininfarina, a 4.0L Colombo V12 breathing through six carbs up front, a five-speed, two seats and independent suspension.  The

I'm almost done with the Los Angeles car spotting articles.  In these last two sections, we'll be looking at two dealers in Hollywood to give you a taste of the good life.  Going down Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood, in search of an In-N-Out Burger (which I can report is just as good as everyone says it is!), I saw this Rolls Royce Corniche convertible parked curbside.  Hmm... And a jet-black Bentley Turbo R behind it.  If there's a better name for a Bentley out there than Turbo R, I'm not aware of it.  I got out of the car and wandered up the sidewalk into the front lot of Charles Agapiou Ltd Bentley/Rolls Servicing and Sales.  A dealer and shop that specializes in

Car Enthusiasts come in all shapes and sizes. Having spent the last few weeks traveling quite a bit (at least, more than I'm used to) to cover things for CarThrottle, I've come to realize there is no mold that "car guys" as a whole fit in.  I mean, spending some time around 700-horsepower 3000GT VR-4's is cool.  But spending some time around this is cool, too. There were quite a few of these slammed, chopped Rat Rod-style customs rolling around the event, and it's so unlike anything else on the road, you can't help but do a double-take when one drives by.  They make a lovely noise, too.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGfTrlG9spQ

Not everything in the parking lot was older than dirt, though.  Check out this

Need a moment of zen today?  Then plug in your speakers, turn it up, and just listen to it. It's a compilation of footage from the 2011 Rallye Legend Boucles de Spa, a gathering of classic rally cars that's a yearly occurence.  Old (RWD) Escorts, stage-prepped air cooled 911's oversteering wildly, just... just watch it.  It's beautiful.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khmBVFjBrIc

My goodness.  Feeling more in tune with your inner Chi now?  Not yet?  How about footage from 2010?  Take two and let me know how you're feeling later.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M8jsU2E8eE

It's already too late to go see the action this year (it was held Feb 18-19), but for more info on the event you can visit the organizational page at Race-Rallye.be.  The language

I left off with my previous post covering the BMW CCA V@V event somewhere in the E21 3-series era. There's a lot more German eye candy to drool over, so grab your mouse and a towel - it only gets better. I realized after posting the last article that one picture of a bunch of E30 M3's simply isn't sufficient for the magnificence of these homologation hooning specials.  While many of the box-fendered E30's were simply stock survivors (impressive enough), some of them were remarkably perfect example of this rare racer-with-a-plate. Now, I'm not 100% sure, but those look like E34 M5 "Ninja Star" wheels with black-painted centers.  Can't say I've ever seen that before - it's a good look for the E30, though.  There's no way

I have to admit, Raleigh North Carolina is not the most exciting place on earth. Sure, it's a rapidly growing commercial center with a mixture of high-income and back-country areas, but it's not... you know... Los Angeles.  Or Miami.  We don't have a Woodward Avenue.  We have Capital Boulevard.  Which is really just US-1 given a different name as it goes through downtown Raleigh.  Snore. So it is therefore logical to assume there are no interesting cars at all in Raleigh.  Sure, a lot of Lexus RX350's, but nothing to care about.  Let me present a gentle counter-argument: Err, yeah.  Lamborghini LM002.  One of 301 total made between 1986 and 1993, this 1990 LM002 is one of 60 LM/America specials which included the body skirts, chrome trim,

AACA shows are always an eye-opener. Most car shows these days are packed with lime-green imports festooned with wings and nitrous bottles, or Fox-body Mustangs running 9's sitting next to 12 different LS1 Trans Am's.  So it's a breath of fresh air to walk around a bunch of utterly immaculate classic cars every now and then.  Not to say that I'm not a fan of the whole rat-rod movement (When's someone going to put a Nissan VH45DE into a T-bucket with lake pipes, already?) but seeing 40+ year old cars that look like they just rolled out of the show room is definitely worth the trip.  In this case, it was only about an hour - the show took place in Spencer, NC, which is somewhere

I've been dragging the coverage of the AutoFair out for a bit now, so I'll finish up what I have to show today. There was just simply too much to cover at this show, which is always a good thing - but it makes it harder to pick what to show!  I'll round out the coverage today so you all can get a sense of the variety the show had to offer, which was immense. I LOVE these cars.  This is a fox-body Saleen Mustang, which is an extremely rare site - these date back to the beginning of Saleen as a brand, and they were thoroughly worked-over just like modern ones.  I can personally attest that Fox Body Saleens with Racecraft suspension are quite good

AACA's (Antique Automobile Club of America's) AutoFair in Charlotte, North Carolina is the biggest classic car show on the East Coast.  Held on the Lowe's Motor Speedway (for those not familiar, that's an entire NASCAR track), the AutoFair is an overwhelming goliath of a carshow.  There are classics nearly as far as your line of sight goes, plus some hidden here and there within the stands.  It was an absolutely fantastic event.  And while my legs had turned to jelly by the end of the day, you can sit at your computer and enjoy the pictures!  Isn't it great how that works out? The very first thing that greeted me on my way into the show was this orange Opel Kadett.  With a GSi 2.0L and a