BMW Z4 with 550hp M5 engine
There’s still some fun to be had in the old BMW Z4. German tuner Hartge used the good ’ol American tradition of stuffing little cars with engines of their big brothers and transplanted the BMW M5’s V10 into a Z4.
If that wasn’t enough, Hartge upgraded the 5.0-liter engine from 507 hp to 550 hp. That’s not bad considering the M Roadster comes with 330 hp. All this extra power comes at a price, about $137,700 at current rates.
PPG upgrades Nissan GT-R’s transmission
Godzilla seems to have one fatal flaw, the gearbox. It’s not that Nissan made a bad product with the GT-R’s transmission, but to get the most from the car, owners have fried more transmissions than if Colonel Sanders was in the car business. It got so bad that Nissan decided to rectify this by dropping its launch control system.
Pfitzner Performance Gearboxes (PPG) from Australia thinks it has a new answer to this problem. PPG has created an alternate first gear, which it claims is a much broader gear that reduces wear on gear teeth and boosts power. We don’t have any first hand knowledge of how much it helps, but we do know a GT-R without a first gear is not much of a GT-R at all.
BMW PAS: the old man’s Bimmer?
We’re still scratching our heads about the upcoming BMW Progressive Activity Sedan (PAS). We’re not quite sure where this Mercedes R-Class competitor really fits in the BMW line-up.
It seems we are not alone. The car has just been reported to have gotten a full green light for production, and the BMW spin machine is already in full effect. A BMW executive told Autocar that the PAS is, “one of the bravest designs ever signed off by BMW”, and another insider called it a “modern grand tourer with a luxury cabin and interior flexibility”. While the overall car still defies definition to us, BMW is now characterizing it as a “5-Series GT”. That’s very PR friendly.
Jay Leno and the Mercedes - SL63 AMG from the collection
Jay Leno likes to show off his collection. Last time we got to see him do a few burnouts with his first production 2009 Corvette ZR1. Now he’s showing us something a little more for the luxury minded crowd with his 2009 Mercedes SL63 AMG. Enjoy!
Pininfarina to exit contract manufacturing, loses family control
If you’ve lusted after it, it’s likely Pininfarina designed it. But Pininfarina’s main business has usually come from manufacturing cars under contract for larger companies. Right now it produces Alfa Romeo Brera coupe and spider and the Ford Focus coupe-cabriolet, but the volumes are only about a quarter of what was anticipated. This downturn has created an almost €600 million ($835 million) mountain of debt that has made Pininfarina is almost bankrupt.
To keep the creditor away, Pininfarina has struck a deal with its creditor banks that will relinquish family control and stop most car production. In exchange for forgiveness of €180 million of the debt, the Pininfarina family will give 50.6 percent of its shares to creditor banks. The company will also not seek any new production contracts after all contracts run out in 2011. The only vehicles that Pininfarina will produce after that time will be the B Zero electric car project.
Ultra-rare Bugatti-barn find going up for auction
Possibly considered the last great “barn find”, a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante is going up for auction. The ultra-rare Bugatti was released from its fifty-year old cocoon last year, and now will sell for multiple millions of dollars at Bonhams’ “Retromobile” auction the February in Paris. This Type 57S Atalante is one of seventeen made, and a less rare Type 57C Atalante sold for $7.92 million back in August.
British noble and racer Earl Howe originally purchased this Type 57S Atalante. He kept the car for about eight years, and then it spent the next decade floating through multiple owners. In 1955 Harold Carr, an English surgeon, purchased the car.
Porsche - prototypes caught testing by Google Streetview
Who knew Google could do car spy photography? As it turns out, Google’s Streetview had the jump on the 2009 Porsche Boxster, Cayman, 911 Targa, and 911 Turbo. These cars were out doing high altitude testing out in Colorado.
This little gem was discovered after the debut of all the models (except the 911 Turbo which we expect at the Detroit Auto Show), but its still very funny.
Chromed Bugatti Veyron at Volkswagen’s Autostadt
Looks like chrome Bugatti Veyron at Volkswagen’s Autostadt isn’t the only one around. This is a foil wrapping for the supercar, and it was made by the same company that did the matte gold Nissan GT-R.
2010 Ford Shelby - GT 500 - Special edition
While Ford may be excited about the 2010 Mustang it’s the special editions that get us all hot and bothered. Ford knows this because the 2010 car was revealed back in November, and only a few months later the Shelby GT500 is peeking its head out of the barn.
What makes this car special is the engine. It’s a supercharged DOHC 5.4-liter V8 that puts out 540 horsepower and 510 foot-pounds of torque. That’s the same figures from the 2008 GT500 KR (take that, KITT!) The car also comes with other goodies to help enjoy the engine like a cold-air intake, aluminum “power dome” hood with engine heat extractor, six-speed manual transmission, and larger 250 mm disk brakes.
We’ll get the first live glimpse of the car next week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The first Shelby GT500s are scheduled to roll off the assembly line and into showrooms this spring.
HUMMER H3 V8 Kompressor by Geiger
We like Hummers for getting through the snow or to pull a boat, but we usually leave the speed records to other GM products like the Corvette. The tuner Geiger seems to have a different view for this brick on wheels and is now offering a supercharger package for the Hummer H3 Alpha. It takes the 5.3-Liter V8 and raised the horsepower from 300 to 423.
Just so drivers have a fighting chance at not killing themselves or others, Geiger also offers six-piston 380×35mm disc brakes. There’s also a suspension pack for extra handling at speed, and Continental Cross Contact rubber to give extra on-road grip to the 4883 lbs. truck.
