Rocky

The Obvio 828- cute and colourful

obvio-828.gif

The Obvio 828 is from Brazil and after a few delays will go on sale later this year for a street price of about $14,000 US. The cute little vehicle is being marketed as a high performance microsport car with seating for three, side by side on a what has been described as a comfy sofa. The car’s overall length is only 2650 mm long and weighs in at only 600kg and has most of the features you would want from a modern car with exceptional safety and good comfort and an impressive aluminum chassis . The car has been developed by Lotus Engineering and will feature an engine which will run on any mix of ethanol and petrol and has a manual ZF continuously variable transmission and the engine is built by Tritec which is a joint venture between BMW and DaimlerChrysler. There will be an electric plug-in version released early next year but the price will skyrocket to about $49,000 US. It will be able to reach speeds of 120mph and will charge in around 5 hours using some innovative lead cobalt battery technology. If you think the outside is a bit out there, wait until you see the inside, the body colours move inside and it looks very funky. There are going to be a huge range of add on accessories including IMobile which is a internet system and plenty of MP3 and video ad ons, they are really going to appeal to the beautiful and young who want to be seen.

Read more

Cars of the Stars

harry-potter.gif

Keswick is a small town in the lakes district in the North West corner of England and is home to the Cars of the Stars Museum. They have an interesting collection of classic cars which have appeared in film and television all displayed in specially themed panoramas and many of them are very well known. Some of their vehicles include Mr Bean’s Mini, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a De Lorean from Back to the Future, the Ford Anglia from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Mad Max’s XB GT Falcon, the Munster’s Koach and a even a Batmobile. Opening in 1989 after the museum’s founder was approached by a film studio to use one of his vehicles the museum is one of the more popular in the top end of England. The museum features a good little souvenir shop which sells cards, models and other movie and car memorabilia.

Read more

The Volga – with a Ruski Jeremy Clarkson

[youtube ouHToA0hVYo]

Russian vehicles are so interesting and ‘stylish’, so lets do another, Today it’s the Volga, based on the Gaz-24 first introduced in 1967 the GAZ Volga has been in production constantly since then and has been modernized several times over its lifespan but keeps the same basic shell as the 1967 cars. While traditionally used by taxi cabs, the police, the KGB and party officials some Volga’s were sold to private buyers and since the fall of the Soviet Union the GAZ company have been trying to lure more buyers away from modern imports to the home grown Volga. Recently GAZ announced they were getting out of car production to concentrate on trucks, but then back flipped by buying the rights to the US Chrysler Sebring platform. They plan to develop new cars of the Chysler platform while continuing production of the Volga, targeting the retro vehicle market. The video above is a Russian motoring show road test of the late 90s GAZ-3110 we don’t know any Russian but we are sure this guy is as funny as Jeremy Clarkson.

Click to the next page to see the very special current model known as a GAZ-31105

Read more

Was that you screwing around, Comrade?

[youtube afJ18eJeNgU]

This is amazing you have got to check the video out for this one!

This odd screw propelled vehicle is an all terrain vehicle that was produced by Zil in Russia. While not known too well known outside Russia, Zil is known for producing limousines that were favorites of high ranking soviet officials and leaders like Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin and Fidel Castro. Zil also produce heavy road, offroad and military vehicles, some of these heavy machines are not like any thing you have seen before like the propeller driven snow mobile known as an aerosan and this odd contraption in the video above that can only be described as a cross between a tank and a ships screw. The beast is known as a ZIL-29061 and judging by the video was produced some time around the seventies.

Read more

Verve in Detroit

ford-verve.gif

Just a few weeks after the 3 door Ford Verve concept stunned crowds at the Frankfurt Motor Show, it and a stylish 4 door version has taken centre stage at the Ford stand at Detroit’s American International Motor Show this week. With the rising fuel prices and the global warming problems Ford think this small, practical and stylish type of car might just be the next big growth segment in the industry. Industry figures predict 38 million units of this size car will be sold worldwide by 2012 and if this lovely little Verve is any indication of what Ford has in mind they will be after a pretty big slice of the business. Ford have built the Verve concept to showcases the style, technology, premium materials and more substantial content that will set it apart from other offerings when Ford’s new small cars go on sale in North America in 2010.

Read more

Cute and the rainbrush is standard equipment

[youtube D3gaR4kzspQ]

It looks like the Chinese have brought the wackiest cars to the Detroit Motor Show this year. The Tang Hua are straight out of a comic book in their bright yellow paintwork.  These little electric vehicles are do about 28 miles an hour at normal speed and a whopping 40 mph at performance speed and have some great features if they work, including air conditioning, rain brushes- which we think might be windscreen wipers, alarm of remnant quality of electric/voltage- perhaps that’s the battery meter and even have upgrading vision- might be the big windows- who knows. Other highlights are a picture of Chairman Mao on the steering wheel, what more could you want, and they use electric storage technology- sounds good eh?.  They wont pass the design rules to be sold in the US, but im sure the theme parks will want them. Check out the You Tube video we found, and pay particular attention to the caterpillar looking one in the background, that’s the one I want.

Read more

Toyota A-Bat

[youtube vjcxHbF4xeo]

Toyota have a very interesting concept vehicle on their stand at the Detroit motorshow this week, the A-bat, it is part pick up truck and part car. The vehcile featues a lot of recyclable materials including metals and wood. The seats, center console and dashboard use both carbon fiber and aluminum, while the door trim, armrests and seat cushions are made of a tough light weight materials. A-BAT also uses a Hybrid Synergy Drive system similar to what Toyota use in its Highlander vehicle. One interesting feature is solar panels built into the dash which charge a removable power pack which can run AC/DC power.

Read more

Suzuki X-Head Concept

suzuki-x-head.gif

This one looks straight out of the Pixar Disney move Cars, the nearly comical and almost Tonka Truck, Suzuki X-Head Concept is the star attraction on the Suzuki stand at this years Detroit Motor Show. This little pickup is meant to have the toughness of the popular Jimny and the load carrying capacity of the Carry. It’s part SUV and part Pickup truck and about the size of a wheelbarrow with a wheelbase of only 93 inches and very little overhang. The car was first shown at the Tokyo Motor Show a few months back and got rave reviews. There are some very interesting and clever compartments and options designed for this vehicle and lets hop Suzuki get to work and bring something like this to the market, it will make motoring much more fun.