Maestro Works The Giovanni Michelloti's name is very famous in the world' automotive, as one of the world's greatest car designers before and after he founded his owned company called Michelotti Studio in 1959.
The Michelotti Lola Ultimo known as the last car creation of Giovanni Michelotti is continued by his son Edgardo following his death in the 1980. (Picture from: AllCarIndex)
Many of his automotive works have graced various automotive brands ranging from sports cars to trucks. In our beloved Trussty sites, on several occasions we have also discussed the automotive works by the Italian' maestro.
As we all knew, the maestro passed away in January 23, 1980 at the age of 58, left many unfinished car concepts and one of them named the Michelotti Lola Ultimo (the name possibility intends to be rememberance as the Giovanni Michelotti's last car creation).
The Michelotti Lola Ultimo built based on Lola T70 chassis featured with the front of its body and rear ends were made of a single piece of resin strengthened fiberglass.(Picture from: Carrozzieri-Italiani)
Reportedly, the Ultimo was commissioned a Canadian entrepreneur and was belatedely shown on the Geneva Auto Salon 1981. Like other the Giovanni Michelotti' unfinished car such Michelotti Pura which came from the same era, the Lola Ultimo built by Michelotti Studio under the direction of Edgardo Michelotti (son of Giovanni Michelotti).
The Michelotti Lola Ultimo was belatedely shown on the Geneva Motor Show 1981. (Picture from: Carrozzieri-Italiani)
The Ultimo was built based on a Lola T70 chassis featured with the front of its body and rear ends were made of a single piece of resin strengthened fiberglass. As you can see on the Michelotti’s aerodynamic Lola prototype featured an ample glass area providing excellent visibility, aside from the thick B-pillar.
As you can see on the Michelotti Lola Ultimo prototype featured an ample glass area providing excellent visibility, aside from the thick B-pillar. (Picture from: Pinterest)
The passenger area was in a steel structure with aluminum plugging. The front and rear ends were made of a single piece of resin strengthened with fiberglass. As for the drivetrain, unsparingly Michelotti installed an 8.2 liter Chevrolet Corvette V8 mid-mounted engine capable of spitting out 620 hp.
The Michelotti Lola Ultimo is powered by an 8.2 liter Chevrolet Corvette' V8 mid-mounted engine capable of spitting out 620 hp.(Picture from: Pinterest)
Unfortunately, after the Geneva Motor Show 1981 was over there's no news about the existence of this concept car to this day. An almost similar fate happened to the Michelotti Studio after being continued by Edgardo Michelotti, the son of Giovanni until completely closed in 1990.😢
And the last exhibited car of the Michelotti Studio was the Michelotti Villedeuxmille (only as a non functional maquette) shown at the Torino Motor Show 1990 in Turin. After that the name of "Michelotti" seems to vanish out of the circle of the world's car designers to this day. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | CARROZZIERI-ITALIANI | CARSTYLING.RU | CARSTHATNEVERMADEITITC | WIKIPEDIA ]
~The Forerunner~ The history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans race spoke in 1966 when for the first time the cars made by the American manufacturer Ford Motor Company won the championship podium as well as undermined the might of the Italian Prancing Horses through three Ford GT40 cars.
The Lola GT Mk VI was the design inspiration for the infamous Ford GT40. (Picture from: UltimateCarPage)
But did you know that the might of the Ford's racing cars was obtained after the American manufacturer along with racing legend Carroll Shelby did the development and testing of many test bed cars. In which one of the early prototypes was based on the British-made Lola GT Mk VI.
The Lola GT-P (prototype) shown for the first time at the 1963 Olympia Racing Car Show in London. (Picture from: Road&Track)
Those race car is designed by the famous British sports and racing car designer named John Frayling and built by the compatriot auto manufacturer Lola Cars Limited, then was introduced for the first time at the 1963 Racing Car Show in
London. As mentioned before, it was a racing car corresponding to the GT Prototype serie and powered by a 4,7 liter Ford V8 engine placed behind
the driver.
The Lola GT Mk VI is designed by John Frayling and built by the British auto manufacturer Lola Cars Limited. (Picture from: Petrolicious)
The Lola GT Mk VI is built based on fabricated sheet metal pontoons
at each side, joined by a stressed floor. Welded to the front of this
structure is a space frame outrigger carrying the front suspensions. At
the back the pontoons converge to carry the rear suspensions and the
Ford V8 engine with Colotti 5 speed gearbox and transaxle.
The Lola GT Mk VI body was made of glass fibre reinforced composite with the sills carry flexible fuel tanks. (Picture from: Petrolicious)
Its body was made of glass fibre reinforced composite with the sills carry flexible fuel tanks. Initially, the carburatter got an air through a collector box from a roof intake. But this kind of air supply system was eventually declined by 24 Hours of Le Mans' racing scrutineers for lack of backward vision then was replaced by side air intakes.
The Lola GT Mk VI is built based on fabricated sheet metal pontoons
at each side, joined by a stressed floor. (Picture from: Petrolicious)
The Lola GT Mk VI was extremely compact with a 3,85 m length and a 1,00 m height. As many as three Lola GTs were ever built at Lola's factory in Bromley, Kent, England and sold at the price of £3.400 in 1963 without engine and transmission.
The Lola GT Mk VI is powered by Ford V8 engine coupled with Colotti 5 speed gearbox and transaxle. (Picture from: Road&Track)
The Lola GT Mk VI was entered in several endurance races in Europe like the
Nurburgring 1.000 km and 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1963 where the car was not finished the race after got an
accident when driver David Hobbs had trouble with gear change.
Then the American automaker Ford
Motor Company purchased the Lola GT Mk VI as test bed for the development of their racing cars, the Ford GT and the Lola's founder and owner, Eric Broadley was hired as a consultant for two years.
He later returned to operate
Lola Cars Limited that has since become one of the largest supplier of
racing cars until October 5, 2012. After that, the majority of Lola's assets were acquired by a joint venture of Multimatic Engineering and Carl A. Haas Automotive. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | PETROLICIOUS | WIRED | AUTOCONCEPT | ROAD&TRACK | WIKIPEDIA | AUTOMOBILISTA ]
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Argento Vivo The automotive world is one of enormous diversity. Quite often designers are given the green light to unleash their imagination giving us some truly amazing stuff. On the other hand, the modern-day regulations has been cracking down harder and harder on the automotive design language, and many amazing concepts remained one-offs. Besides that many epic concept cars, regardless of the brand, boasted under Italian styling.
The Honda Argento Vivo by Pininfarina debutted at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1995 featured with the soft and flowing surfaces of the front and rear bonnets, made of brushed aluminum, suggest the idea of liquid metal shapes. (Picture from: HotCars)
Such this one for example, in 1995 Pininfarina was commissioned by Honda to design a two-seater roadster called the Pininfarina-Honda Argento Vivo ('Quicksilver,' that is how the car' name was translated). This unique roadster designed by Davide Arcangeli and is meant to be a research prototype of both companies. Reportedly, this concept car later inspired the Honda S2000 model which was launched by the Japanese company in 1998.
The Honda Argento Vivo by Pininfarina designed by Davide Arcangeli and is meant to be a research prototype of both companies. (Picture from: Pinterest)
The
Argento Vivo is one of those extremely rare cases where a concept car
has been granted production status and be sold for those
with deep enough pockets, whose have a bit more luck than the
average person. The sweet two-seat roadster was unveiled to public at
the 1995 Tokyo Motor Show by the leaders of the both companies, Nabuhiko Kawamoto and
Sergio Pininfarina.
Pininfarina’s space frame of aluminum extrusions applied to the Argento Vivo was quite advanced technology in 1995. (Picture from: BenzWorld)
During the same year, the Argento Vivo received many
awards, such as "The Golden Market Trophy" by the Japanese magazine, Car Styling and "Best in Show" by the American magazine of Auto Week.
The Honda Argento Vivo by Pininfarina uses a unique combination of fiber glass materials with carbon fiber, which was still a very rare sight in the 1990s. (Picture from: Flickr)
Many said also that the Argento Vivo should be included on the list of weird cars. Due to the car featured many unconventional things for its time, and the engine was one of them which used a 2.5-liter inline-five. Some might find it interesting, but this was actually a Honda engine known as the concept’s engine, but it is believed it’s a G-series engine, more specifically the G25A, which was a normally-aspirated, SOHC unit, producing up to 190 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 175 pound-feet (237 Nm) of torque at 3,800 rpm and channeling the power to the rear wheels. By considering the extensive use of lightweight materials, the 60 mph acceleration would probably could be achieved in around 6.0 seconds.
The Honda Argento Vivo's interior is custom-built by Pininfarina and consists of carbon fibre door panels, dashboard, centre console and special leather and carbon fibre seats. (Picture from: AllCarIndex)
Besides that the Argento Vivo also brought many innovations, some of which still not
considered as mainstream at the time such as the folding hardtop made
out of carbon-fiber and was hydraulically actuated. What makes this
hardtop unique for the time is that, when the top is down, the actual
piece folds in such a way that no trunk space is sacrificed. Even to
these day, reportedly the such kind of feature ever been tried to apply
to many convertible models, but fail to integrate into the car' designs.
The Honda Argento Vivo by Pininfarina adopts sophisticated solutions in terms of aluminium space frame, rear
wheel drive and fuely retractable hard top moved by a system of electric
motors and hydraulic actuators. (Picture from: HotCars)
Then
there are other unique innovation examples brought by the Argento Vivo
such as the use of car body construction material which is a combination
of fiber glass materials with carbon fiber or even Kevlar. Back in the
1990s, a combination of lightweight materials was still a very rare
sight, the Argento Vivo incorporated all of those materials. The blue
body panels were all made out of fiber-glass, while the trunk lid and
hood were made out of aluminum, and the folding hardtop was made out of
carbon-fiber. Carbon-fiber was also present on the door panels, in the
Pininfarina-designed interior.
The Honda Argento Vivo by Pininfarina is powered by a 2.5-liter inline-five Honda's engine concept capable to spew up to 190 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 175 pound-feet (237 Nm) of torque at 3,800 rpm. (Picture from: HotCars)
Another feature thanks to which the Argento Vivo stands out is the two-tone interior. It not only is a perfect contrast between the silver and dark-blue body panels, but it also signifies the different materials used in the roadster. Like we already mentioned, the entire lower half of the body is made out of fiber-glass and is finished in dark blue. The upper body panels, however, are done in brushed aluminum, which is left exposed. This interplay of different materials and different tones inspired Pininfarina to further experiment with different elements and colors, for even more spectacular aesthetics.
Attracting the Interest of His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei
In 1996 His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei commissioned Pininfarina to build the Argento Vivo by using different platform, but as an exact copy of the original Honda concept, even down to the materials used. (Picture from: PublicFotki)
As time went by, apparently the Argento Vivo beautiful figure also attracted the attention of His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei who then commissioned the Italian coachbuilder to build several of mentioned cars in 1996. However, at that time the His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei not wanted to use the Honda' roots on the Royal Family of Brunei's special cars and prefers to be replaced by a different platform.
Some said that the Mercedes-Benz SL73 Argento Vivo of the Royal Family of Brunei built by Pininfarinaas many five or six units. (Picture from: BenzWorld)
The new platform was a late R129 Mercedes-Benz SL600 chassis. The already rare German gran-tourer was completely redesigned by the Italian design studio in order to replicate the exact same design language of the Argento Vivo concept car of the 1995. With the exception of the platform, the R129-based car was an exact copy of the original Honda concept, even down to the materials used.
The Argento Vivo of His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei was built by Pininfarina based on the brand new Mercedes SL600 chassis.. (Picture from: ClassicDriver)
His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei commissioned car is powered by a 7.3 Liter M120 E73 V12 engine which was also used by the AMG Mercedes-Benz SL83, which was only 19 units ever built. The machine was able to make the supercar-like acceleration with power between 525 and 565 horsepower at 5,000 rpm, and a peak torque of 553 lbs-ft at 4,000 rpm.
The Argento Vivo of His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei is powered by a 7.3 Liter M120 E73 V12 engine which was also used by the AMG Mercedes-Benz SL83. (Picture from: BenzWorld)
Although His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei's car was significantly bigger than the previous Honda concept, its sprint capability 0 to 60 mph (92 kph) was around 4.0 seconds and a top speed of more than 174 mph (280 kph). This performance record is almost similar to those obtained by Lamborghini Diablo and Ferrari F40.
The Mercedes-Benz SL73 Argento Vivo of the Royal Family of Brunei was significantly bigger than the previous Honda concept, its sprint capability 0 to 60 mph was around 4.0 seconds and a top speed of more than 174 mph. (Picture from: Supercars.net)
Unfortunately any kind of information about the Sultan’s car collection is became some kind of highly secretive matters. According to different sources, five or six of these Mercedes-Benz-based vehicles have been built. Four of those were built for the Royal Family of Brunei. As with any other extremely-low production vehicle, no wonder if the price-tag is extreemely high.
It is said that to this day, two of them are still in the Royal Family of Brunei's collection. Not much is known about the rest of the cars, but some claim Monaco is home to at least one of them. There was also a second unfinished Honda concept, which was eventually completed and is said to also be in Monaco. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | HOTCARS | TOPSPEED | BENZWORLD | CLASSICDRIVER | MOTOR1 | CARSTYLING.RU | SUPERCARS.NET ]
1st MAZDA WankelMazda synonymous with the rotary engine, but unfortunately after the triumph era of Mazda's RX sports car end, the model that has a unique combustion system as it is not built anymore. Mazda says the continuation of the generation of single rotary engine is not logical for the company, because demand is limited plus the strict emissions regulation.
The Mazda RX-500 built only one unit as a prototype.(Picture from: OtomotifKompas)
When looked again into the pages of history, Mazda once proud and seriously developing rotary engines. Even in 1970 had been born the Mazda RX-500, the one off Mazda sports car model once born, although just a concept.
The Mazda RX-500 is powered by a 491 cc Wankel rotary engine-powered 246 hp.(Picture from: OtomotifKompas)
The first presentation done at the Tokyo Motor Show, in October 1970. It has a body made of plastic with a total weight of 850 kg. The sports car uses a mid-mounted 491 cc Wankel Rotary engine, it could producing 246 hp of power and is able to speed up to 200 kph! For the size of a sports car of its era, if the RX-500 produced, it could be one of the fastest car on the streets.
At rear, the Mazda RX-500 accommodates a typical shape which is known as the Kamm tail or K-tail. (Picture from: OtomotifKompas)
The design is done by Toyo Kogyo, its purpose as a reference of Mazda model to the high-speed driving security. At the front, its fascia seem widened, and extending at the rear. From the silhouette of the body, at first glance looks like a DeLorean DMC-12, the famous car that taken role play in 'Back to the Future' movie.
While inside the car cabin only fit two passengers which is accessed via two of butterfly-styled doors on the side. There're another unique features, it has the rear lights emit various colors, such a green light during acceleration, yellow in the normal, and bright red when it braking.
The Mazda RX-500 is very rare, even almost become elusive car. But the eyes of the automotive lover re-open after the original Mazda's sport car appeared in the Goodwood Festival of Speed event which held in West Sussex, England, on June 26-29, 2014 ago. *** [EKA [26052015] | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | CARBUZZ]
HBD 55 The classic American muscle cars are always interesting to talk about. Besides having a distinctive shape, these cars usually have a powerful performance to match the name. And among the many models of muscle cars, there is one that we think is interesting to discuss, namely the Oldsmobile Toronado.
1966 Oldsmobile Toronado stems from a design drawing of an Oldsmobile stylist named David North in 1962 and first launched in 1966. (Picture from: Supercars)
Well, the first generation Oldsmobile Toronado stems from a design drawing of an Oldsmobile stylist named David North in 1962. The design is dubbed the 'Flame Red Car' and known as an image of a sports car/compact car that was never intended to be produced.
1966 Oldsmobile Toronado's interior featured with cloth inserts, chrome sport wheels, power steering, power brakes, air conditioning, bucket seats, center-shift automatic and a factory 8-track player. (Picture from: Mecum)
However, a few weeks after the design was finalized, the Oldsmobile division was notified that they were allowed to build a personal car in the Riviera or Thunderbird classes for the 1966 model year, then choosen the David North's design to be built.
1966 Oldsmobile Toronado is powered by a 425 cubic inch Super Rocket V-8 engine produced 385 horsepower coupled with a three-speed TH-425
automatic transmission. (Picture from: Barret-Jackson)
Furthermore, for production efficiency, they decided that the design of the North car had to share the E-body shell with the 1966 Buick Riviera which had been redesigned and substantially has larger sizes of the Toronado design. This was possible because Oldsmobile and Buick were under the auspices of the parent company General Motors.
The Oldsmobile Toronado had won the 'Car of the Year' award in 1966 from Motor Trend magazine at the time. (Picture from: Pinterest)
Just for your information, prior Oldsmobile decided to use the Toronado name on the North designed car, there were many other names considered during its development such as 'Magnum' (later used by Dodge), 'Scirocco' (later used by Volkswagen) and also ' Raven'.
The Oldsmobile Toronado represents one of the automotive milestones of the 1960s and one of the most important models that Oldsmobile ever built. (Picture from: Pinterest)
For the powertrain, the Oldsmobile engineers chose the Olds Super Rocket
V8 engine with a capacity of 6,968 cc to burst 385 bhp (287 kW) of
power and 644 Nm of torque. This engine is mated to a three-speed TH-425
automatic transmission. By using the driving composition as mentioned
above, the Oldsmobile Toronado is able to accelerate from rest to 60 mph
(100 kph) in 9 seconds, and capable to run up to a top speed of 127 mph
(205 kph).
1968 Oldsmobile Toronado featured with no less unique headlights hidden behind the front grills. (Picture from: Hyman)
Oldsmobile spent about seven years developing the Toronado. And before being introduced to the public, the car model has undergone more than 1.5 million miles of testing to verify the strength and reliability of the front-drive components it carries. After the design was completed, the Toronado was launched in the 1966 and had won the 'Car of the Year' award from Motor Trend magazine at the time.
1968 Oldsmobile Toronado handled quite well and could reach the then noteworthy top speed of 135 miles per hour. (Picture from: Hyman)
Uniquely after the first model featured with a typical flip-up headlights out of 1966, the next Toronado underwent a number of facelifts so that it displayed a different face of the front fascia in between the models of the 1966-1967, and 1968-1970 was also featured with a larger-powered engine.
Finally, the first generation of the Toronado was ceased in the 1970 and then replaced by the second generation which featured a much different styling starting in 1971. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | CLASSIC | SUPERCARS.NET ]
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Diesel HeadSmoke 55Mitsubishi is a brand that’s introduced many unique sports cars over the past three decades. Unfortunately, though none of these sports cars were amazing, that is until the Mitsubishi Concept-RA hit in 2008.
The Mitsubishi Concept-RA was officially introduced by Mitsubishi Motors at the North American International Auto Show 2008 as a gorgeous diesel-powered sports car concept. (Picture from: Autoblog)
The concept car was heavily based on the existing Eclipse model. But some differences made the concept car a bit more appealing. As we all know that the Mitsubishi Eclipse is the pioneer of this Japanese brand's sports vehicle in the US was first introduced in 1989, later became a symbol of sports vehicles for young people there at that time.
The Mitsubishi Concept-RA is designed with a more aggressive exterior appearance than the Mitsubishi's previous generation sports vehicle. (Picture from: Motor-Junkie)
Well, the Mitsubishi Concept-RA was officially introduced by Mitsubishi Motors at the North American International Auto Show 2008 as a gorgeous diesel-powered sports car concept. The concept car is designed with a more aggressive exterior appearance than the Mitsubishi's previous generation sports vehicle.
The Mitsubishi Concept-RA is powered by a 2.2 liter 4 cylinder turbo diesel engine, similar to such one used by the first Eclipse model. (Picture from: Motor-Junkie)
The Mitsubishi Concept-RA is powered by a 2.2 liter 4 cylinder turbo diesel engine, similar to such one used by the first Eclipse model. The mentioned turbo engine can produce bursts of power of 204 hp which is channeled to all the wheels through a dual clutch transmission system that can be operated manually or automatic.
The Mitsubishi Concept-RA's body made of recyclable plastic resin panels and also had equipped with aluminum engine guards, fenders to reduce vehicle weight and increase safety in the event of a collision as well. (Picture from: Pinterest)
As reported by TheAutoChannel, the Mitsubishi Concept-RA had many features adopted from the Lancer Evolution and Evo X models, including anti-lock brakes system, stability control, etc. However, the difference is that the sports car concept had been equipped with the active steering and active suspension control to provide more control when the vehicle has excessive torques so make its driving traction stability would be better and braking easier.
The Mitsubishi Concept-RA had many features adopted from the Lancer Evolution and Evo X models, including anti-lock brakes system, stability control, etc. (Picture from: Flickr)
Besides it is powered by turbo-diesel engine, this concept car also had recyclable plastic resin body panels and equipped with aluminum engine guards, fenders to reduce vehicle weight and increase safety in the event of a collision as well. Another advantage of the light weight, that it makes the engine' work less heavy when the car is moving fast on the roads.
The using of recyclable plastic resin body panels such on the Concept-RA initially meant to be a sustainable sports car in a segment where that isn’t commonplace. Unfortunately, the recession crushed plans for this potentially interesting sports car and let it remain a concept car to this day without ever being realized into a production version.😢 *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | UNIVERSITYMITSUBISHI | THEAUTOCHANNEL | AUTOBLOG | MOTOR-JUNKIE ]
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And the last exhibited car of the Michelotti Studio was the Michelotti Villedeuxmille (only as a non functional maquette) shown at the Torino Motor Show 1990 in Turin. After that the name of "Michelotti" seems to vanish out of the circle of the world's car designers to this day. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | CARROZZIERI-ITALIANI | CARSTYLING.RU | CARSTHATNEVERMADEITITC | WIKIPEDIA ] 
