Which Do You Prefer – British Classics or American Muscle?

I never really understood why Americans developed such a love for our British Sportcars. For Brits of my generation it is obvious as we grew up with them. In the late 50s and early 60s there were very few foreign cars on UK roads, a few Renaults and Citroens and the inevitable VW Beetles. Japanese cars didn’t start getting imported until 1965 and it was only in the 1970s and 1980s when a combination of strong unions, bad management and bad quality saw them really have an impact on the UK manufacturers. For a while there were probably as many American cars in the UK as German, as we had a lot of US bases all over the country and many GIs imported US cars.

I have known for years that about 75% of production of Austin Healey, Jaguar, MG and Triumph went to the US but it is only now that I own two American classics that I think I understand why British cars are loved so much.

To illustrate this I think it is worthwhile doing a straight comparison with a couple of the classics that I have owned and driven. My favourite car by a long way is my 1970 Jaguar SII E-Type. I am now on my 3rd E-Type having progressed up the value chain from a SII 2+2, the least desirable version, to a SII coupe and now to a SII Roadster. 1964 saw the S1 E-Types evolving from the original design with the 4.2 litre engine replacing the 3.8, a Jaguar gearbox replacing the appalling Moss one, brakes being upgraded and a decent servo installed and good supportive seats replacing the original bucket ones. 1964 saw the launch of the Ford Mustang in the US and my 1st American Muscle Car is a 1965 Mustang Fastback GT, so I believe it is fair to compare these two.

I will ignore the fact that the Ford Mustang is a 2+2 v the 2 seater E-Type and concentrate on the technology and driving. Both cars have similar power outputs – Mustang 250 bhp, E-Type 265 bhp, both have 4 speed manual gearboxes and the weights are pretty close. There the similarities end. The Mustang has a solid rear axle on good old fashioned cart springs and single Macpherson strut suspension for each front wheel. The E-Type has double wishbone front suspension and fully independent rear suspension. Ford offered various braking options: drums all round; drums plus a servo or drums on the rear and disks on the front – which ours has. For some inexplicable reason Ford didn’t think the driver would need disks and a servo. E-Types have disk brakes on all four wheels and a servo as standard – right from their launch in 1961.

It is this combination of fully independent suspension and decent brakes that make the E-Type completely outclass the Mustang, which is pretty fast in a straight line with 0-60 being only 1 second slower than the E-Type. Sadly the myth that American muscle cars were not designed to go round corners seems fairly accurate. The basic suspension is responsible for a soft ride and lots of body roll, speed really needs to be scrubbed off to get round even the gentlest of bends. The E-Type will easily leave the Mustang standing on any winding country road.

Over the years technology improved a bit so it is worth comparing our 1974 Triumph TR6 with my 2nd American muscle car – a 1978 C3 Corvette Special Edition Indy Pace Car. The TR6 develops 125 bhp from its Lucas injected 6 cylinder 2.5 litre engine while the Vette develops 220 bhp from its V8 which is more than twice the size at 5.7 litres (350 ci). This engine has to drag along about 50% more weight than the TR6 – 3,624 lbs v 2,410 lbs but does manage to carry it to 60 mph about 1½ seconds quicker. Top speed of the Vette is only 5 mph faster than the TR6. Not a huge difference for all that extra horse power and fuel consumption.

The TR6 has a 4 speed manual gearbox with overdrive giving it 6 gears while the Vette has a 3 speed auto box which doesn’t rev very high, even with the accelerator flat on the floor.

Both the Vette and TR6 have independent rear suspension so the road holding on both is better than the 1965 Mustang but not as good as the E-Type. The Vette has disk brakes on all four wheels and a servo v the TR6 front disks and servo. To help handle the weight of the cast engine V8 engine block our Vette has power steering which while it makes life really easy loses all feedback to the driver.

We take our cars on track when possible on a classic car tour and our Etype would leave the Mustang standing. I haven’t yet taken the Corvette on track and while it will be quick off the line I am sure that the TR6 will see it off in the corners as it is much lighter and more nimble.

The two American muscle cars do have a few things going for them: that unique V8 burble, straight line speed and their ability to attract attention. There is also no doubt that the success of the Mustang (1 Million cars sold in 18 months) is unlikely ever to be matched again and Ford with their huge options list did more to push the idea of the ‘personal car’ than anyone else.

But our TR6 and Etype are much better driver’s cars, better road holding, better braking, more nimble and much more fun.

This can all be summarised by the split in the age range of who appreciates which car. The American cars tend to attract the attention of 30 somethings who have grown up with American films like Grease and High School Musical. The E-Type and TR6 tend to attract the attention of 40 and 50 somethings who grew up with them in the UK.

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Fantastic 1966 Porsche 912 Barn Find

The Porsche 912 came on the automotive scene in 1965 and served as a great sports car between the Porsche 356 and the young 911 buyers. Coming with a four-cylinder engine instead of the 911’s now famous and more popular flat-six. This made it cheaper to buy, more balanced, and more familiar to those who loved the 356. Initially, the 912 outsold the 911 by a large margin which was a big boost to Porsches bottom line.

Porsche offered the short lived 912 through 1969, at which point it was then replaced with the 914 model, before returning for one more year in 1976 as the 912E.

This 912 in particular was purchased from its original Tennessee owner and is in very restorable condition. The current owner reports that the gauges, radio and even wipers still work. The engine runs, but looks to need a complete tune up and probably a good general going over.

The interior is in good shape with no rips in the seats and a head liner that is still in place. By the way the car is a complete numbers matching car which any Porsche buyer will appreciate. About the only thing not original is someone decided to give the car a quick low quality spray of red paint, so unfortunately the original red paint is gone. Other than that this will be a great car for someone to get running well and restore.

Sure it may not be the popular 911 that we all know and love, but rest assured these 912’s will have their day in the collector world, so now is the time to snatch up these beauties while they are relatively affordable, then enjoy the eventual upswing in prices that will come.

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Mercedes-Benz, a Touch of Class

90 years ago, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler founded the brand “Mercedes-Benz” in Stuttgart, Germany. After the first world war, the economy was so badly affected that the idea of merging and building a partnership was considered something that overcome the climates obstacles. The DMG and Benz & Cie., the then two biggest automobile manufacturers in the world, successfully merged in May 1924, and in 1926, “Mercedes-Benz” was born.

The Mercedes’ tri-star logo represents the company’s dominance over land, sea and air. According to the company, it represents the automaker’s drive toward universal motoring with its engines dominating the land, sea and air. The emblem is a symbol for world domination.

Cars that created history

The Engines of Mercedes cars are of supreme quality. These top quality engines evolved with the evolution of different cars in every era since its first production. Model K was the first car produced, after the two companies merged.

It was incredibly successful and production of Mercedes-Benz cars rose to 7,000 in 1927. Then came the S series with a variety of cars till 1929. In the 30s, the largest and most prestigious car ‘Mercedes-Benz W15’ made its debut, which helped them to become one of the leading brands in the automotive industry.

The 260 D Model, was the world’s first diesel-run passenger vehicle. By the 40s, the company stopped the production of vehicles due to the Second World War and then resumed activities in 1946 with the 170 V. During the 50s, they topped the sales charts in Germany by introducing some of their best looking cars, like the 190 and 300 SL.

The 1960s was the decade of muscle cars. In 1967, they introduced the Mercedes AMG as a separate high-performance division of the Mercedes-Benz. The first car introduced by the division was the famous 300SEL 6.3 V8 Saloon, which was given the name ‘Red Sow’.

During the 70s, they produced some successful cars like SL and SLC 107 series of cars, the G-Class and S-Class series, which are still in production. In the 1980s, they came out to be the first car manufacturing brand who took concern about environmental pollution. They introduced the closed-loop three-way catalytic converter to reduce overall car pollution.

In 1987, Mercedes-Benz introduced the 100 D 631 series and a year later the W201 Series 2 made its debut, which was a compact executive car with a sports sedan body style. In the 90s, the company introduced the G-Class Wagons and SUVs and numerous new models like the E-Class, C-Class, and S-Class series.

A new era in mechanical superior charging technology was introduced in the 2000s. The numerous groundbreaking designs and engineering concepts, such as the BlueTec system was released in 2005 and had the capability of reducing CO2 emissions.

Quality and Innovation

Since its first production they have been successful in making quality cars and finding out innovative ways to implement technology that came out to be the road for future generation cars. Some notable works introduced by them are as follows:

• Developed the first road car to have brakes on all the four wheels.
• In 1936, the Mercedes-Benz 260D was the first diesel operated passenger car.
• They were the first to offer direct fuel injection on Mercedes-Benz 300SL.
• In 1951 they were the first to develop the “safety cage”.
• Airbags was first introduced in the European market by them in 1981 with model S-Class.
• Mercedes-Benz was the first to introduce pre-tensions to seat belts on the 1981 S-Class.
• In September 2003, they introduced the world’s first seven-speed automatic transmission.
• They are the first to develop, test and implement ESP, brake assist and other types of safety equipments into passenger cars.
• In 1980s, they developed the world’s first robot car along with the team of professor Dickmanns.

Mercedes-Benz’s Arena in sports

Mercedes-Benz is a sports enthusiastic brand. In football, Mercedes-Benz sponsors the German National Football Team. Mercedes-Benz sponsors Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart and provides the naming rights for their stadium, the Mercedes-Benz Arena. They are into racing for a long time. In the 1930s they participated in Grand Prix Motor racing. For the last few years they have dominated the F1 arena using drivers like Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

Identity and cooperation

Mercedes-Benz’s logo speaks volume about the brand even if the name is not there. Now they are moving ahead with the invention and implementation of new technologies not known to us yet. They have been a great companion for years. So much of success and fame didn’t make them irresponsible. They have not made a large fuss about the safety innovations, and has even licensed them for use by competitors, in the name of improving automobile and passenger safety. As a result, crumple zones and anti-lock brakes are now standard on all modern vehicles.

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Jaguar E-Type Driving Experience Days

The Jaguar e-type is a special car that is held dear by many, to understand why all you need do is analyse the statistics of this car. This car known as the e-type in the United Kingdom was called the XK-E in the North American market.

These days it is a legendary car, and a perfect choice for a driving experience, be it for yourself or as a gift for someone else. To understand why the e-type is such a good choice we need to understand why it took control of the market the way it did and why it has remained a much loved car to this day.

Manufactured from 1961 till 1975 this car was known for its beautiful aesthetics and addictive performance. It had a book 0-60 of 7.1 seconds but this was a cautious number and in reality most of the cars where faster than this, some even claiming to complete the dash in as little as 6.7 seconds, now that’s still a fast car even compared to cars on the market today.

Powered by a great throbbing straight 6 that came in either 3.8 or 4.2 litre spec. It was designed to be lightweight, giving much crisper handling and improved acceleration over its rivals of the time. It was also very competitively priced. If you can make your car more beautiful, faster and more nimble than your rivals you are already onto to a winner, Jaguar also made the car cheaper than its rivals, this ensured high sales figures.

It wasn’t just the beauty or the straight line speed that people fell in love with, it came in a very capable package that would handle like very few cars of the time, with a modern suspension and brake setup based on the earlier Le Mans 24hr winning car.

The e-type is a rare car these days, buying one in good conditions isn’t easy to achieve and if you manage to find one, its price tag will put it out of reach of most. Which is a shame for a car that was described by Enzo Ferrari as the most beautiful car ever made when it was released and Enzo knew a lot about cars.

If you can’t buy one of these (and if you did you would have to deal with the maintenance costs associated with an old classic British sports car) but still want to experience the drive of one, then you could attend a Jaguar e-type driving experience, you will have a tutorial and a chat with the instructor about the history of this fantastic car before getting your chance to take control of the wheel and push it as hard as you dare around a race track, this is the way this car was designed to be enjoyed, it was based on a Le Mans winning race car after all.

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Range Rover Sport HSE – Dare to Conquer the Road

There’s a lot of Range Rovers for sale in Dubai, but one of the models that truly capture the heart of drivers is the Sport HSE. Featuring meticulous touches everywhere you look, this sleek SUV promises to provide the most luxurious and satisfying drive no matter the road conditions.

RANGE ROVER VOGUE HSE 2016

Here are some of its special features:

• Rear View Camera – Range Rover Sport HSE comes with a standard Rear View Camera that is designed to take the stress out of tight parking. Lines representing the car’s outer perimeter and predicted path are superimposed on the rearward image displayed on the Touchscreen.
• Incontrol Touch Pro – The next-generation hardware and software of this technology takes Range Rover Sport’s entertainment and connectivity to the next level. It features a 10″ Touchscreen, a Range Rover Audio System, and Touch Pro Navigation.
• Detailed Touches – The Atlas Silver grille, bonnet vents, and fender, complemented by a Micro Mesh Aluminium trim finisher, improve the vehicle’s design.
• Personalized Interior – Thanks to the perforated Oxford leather seats, you can create your ideal interior in a choice of 7 colorways. Also featured are 16-way electric front seats.

Find a Range Rover Dubai dealer today and own this amazing SUV!

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Do Luxury Cars Really Attract And Impress Women?

There seems to be a general feeling that women are generally impressed by guys who drive expensive cars. Some guys even seem to believe that they have a better chance of scoring a date if they drive an exotic or expensive car.

Personally, I have NEVER thought to myself “Wow, that guy driving the 7-series must be loaded! Let me go get some of that!” The feelings I generally get when seeing a guy in a super expensive car such as a Lamborghini or Bentley run anywhere from apathy to envy to motivation. Let me explain further…

Apathy – Most of the time I could care less if a guy drives a $200,000 car. When I DO LOOK, it’s to check out the car and not the guy. Personally, I find no glory in dating a guy driving an expensive car. I am extremely ambitious I would rather work hard enough in order to BUY a $200,000 car myself. What do you gain from sitting in the passenger seat of an expensive car? Absolutely nothing. I would rather be the owner of the car; that’s where the real glory lies. Also, it makes no difference to me if another person can afford an expensive car; it doesn’t affect me personally. I have no interest in being with someone for their wealth; I’d rather have my own wealth.

Envy – Seeing someone in a really nice car will sometimes bring out the green eyed monster in me. It can make me a just a bit sad seeing how someone else has so much while I don’t… However, that’s not a very healthy way of thinking because there will always be someone richer and wealthier… or prettier… or skinnier… or more successful… That’s just the way of the world.

Motivation – Seeing someone in an expensive car like a Bentley mostly serves as motivation and inspiration. It reminds me of what is achievable in life if you work hard and never give up. If anything, it makes me want to work harder and not slack off so that one day I may achieve that level of wealth and success.

With all this talk about luxury cars, it’s still important to keep in mind that it’s important to live within your means. Dealerships such as GMC Dealer Columbus and Buick Dealer Columbus sell cars that are affordable and reliable. After all; it’s not very impressive to drive an exotic car while living in a tiny apartment. Not to mention the fact that a car is a depreciating liability and not an asset.

In conclusion, there are many women out there who are impressed by the type of cars guys drive and are easily impressed by them. However, to me that is “broke thinking”. Why be content sitting in the passenger seat when you can be the driver and have the wealth and power for yourself? An exorbitantly expensive car doesn’t make a guy more attractive to me; it only serves to make me want to compete with them and win. Since I am competitive, guys in expensive cars inspire me to become more successful in life… it serves as fuel to make me work even harder.

Trust me, when you are 90 years old and lying on your deathbed you do not want to think about your life and think “Wow, the highlight of my life was dating that guy in the Lamborghini”… Much better to be able to look back and think “What a great life I’ve had; I made millions of dollars, achieved things others can only dream about, owned and enjoyed the best exotic cars and luxury goods that money could buy and lived my life with no regrets… ”

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What Is the Story Behind the Ferrari and Norwood?

The Man, The Myth, The Legend, Bob Norwood, has been building, racing, restoring and servicing vintage/race Ferraris and other vehicles for over fifty years. He’s known for incorporating innovative developments into high-performance automotive design.

His passion for automobiles started at a young age. At 13, he drove a 1946 Ford Coupe in his first competitive drag race. He continued drag racing while in high school, driving a six cylinder GMC G-Gas Coupe and later an A-Sports Corvette. In 1971, he raced a Superstock Hemi-Cuda and made it number two in the world A/FC point standings.

Norwood got into Cam AM racing in 1982 with the purchase of the 1979 Citi-Corp Championship car from Carl Hass. He ran SCCA A-Sports with driver Phil Compton and continued on in 1983 with the addition of a second Lola 333 driven by Mike Rowe. The Norwood team partnered with Don Walker in late 1983, bought Team VDS and won Cam AM in 1984. At one point he was the proud owner of 137 listings in the Guinness Book of Automotive World Records.

In the mid ’80s, Bob’s modified Ferrari 308 QV, the first with programmable fuel injection, set two class speed records on the Bonneville Salt Flats and one of them stood for 26 years.

His Ferrari 288 GTO rebody still holds the record as the fastest Ferrari in the world and his intercooled twin turbo Ferrari Testarossa won a Road & Track Magazine Shootout.

In the late ’80s, Norwood equipped a Ferrari 12-cylinder Boxer engine with a locomotive sourced supercharger. It featured a lightened flywheel and knife-edged crank and could rev from the engine’s 1200 RPM idle to the 9,000 RPM redline in just over a tenth of a second. It was certified on a Superflow 901 engine dyno to make 1,400 horsepower on 120-octane gasoline at 60 psi boost.

The short-stroke 3.2-inch bore engine was upgraded with a billet Crower crankshaft, extra-long Crower rods and custom forged pistons. It was managed by a Haltech F3 EFI controller and a Firepower Direct-Fire 12 coil ignition system. Fast forward to today and he is making (including the engine block and heads) custom 5.0 liter 4 cylinder engines from scratch that produce 3,000+ horsepower!

Drawing on his racing background and passion for Ferraris, Norwood’s first Ferrari restoration projects were a 330 2+2 road car and a Boano club racer. He then built his first Ferrari replica, a 59/TR (Testarossa), and went on to build four more. He has since built numerous Ferrari replicas, including the 330/P4. After years of building P4 replicas, GTO rebodies, and 250 Testrossa 59s, he decided to build rebodied Ferrari 250 GT SWB Spyders (scroll down to learn more about these and his 330 P/4s).

In addition to his own projects, he builds race and street motors for several racing teams and is one of the leading service and restoration providers for Ferrari owners/collectors around the world.

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