UniqueONES After sometime ago we all knew about weird Ferrari car creations of 80's such as Ferrari Mythos, Ferrari Testa D'Oro Colani or even from 50s like the classic-one Ferrari Ouvo. Perhaps a Ferrari 328 GTS is simply too standard. If that statement rings true, RM Sotheby's has consigned quite a quirky take on Ferrari's late-'80s sports car. And then....
Might be one of you will ask, is this a Ferrari? Yes, this is a truly one-of-a-kind Ferrari. It's called the Ferrari 328 GTS Conciso, a brainchild of German designer Bernd Michalak. Aside from the radically different shape, the Conciso's body is made entirely from aluminum to shed pounds–it's good for a 30-percent weight reduction, per the consignment. Looking for doors?
There aren't any, and the driver has to do their best hop and jump to enter the Conciso. A fixed roof? It's a convertible only. And the windshield? Frameless for driving pleasure, not for safety.
The steering wheel and dashboard view of 1989 Ferrari 328 GTS Conciso. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/2M0NFuZ)
On the inside, the 328 GTS Conciso is pretty barren with a driver-focused cockpit, save for the fact that the most important gauges, the speedometer and tachometer, are set to the right. But, if the driver wants to see the oil temperature and fuel level, that's directly front and center... for some reason.
Rear side view of 1989 Ferrari 328 GTS Conciso.(Picture from: http://bit.ly/2M0NFuZ)
The powertrain remains all Ferrari, however, with a 3.2-liter V-8 engine producing around 270 horsepower and a 5-speed manual for shifting duties. At the time, a 328 GTS could crack 0-60 mph in 5.9 seconds, but the time should be slightly better with the Conciso's weight savings.
RM Sotheby hasn't provided an estimated sale price, so it's really anyone's guess as to how much the Conciso will sell for. It's one-of-one, which means someone, somewhere, will likely find it desirable. Or you wanna see another weird car designs in here. *** [EKA (21072019) | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | MOTORAUTHORITY]
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SuperBEAST As the world's automotive slumped globally, it also affected to the Australia which now has no longer seen as a profitable place for the automotive industry, therefore many of the world's automotive manufacturers such as Ford, GM and Toyota were decided to end their manufacturing operations in those country. But fortunately, there are some local car manufacturers such as Brabham Automotive and another car kit manufacturers kept the car industry still alive in Australia.
The new Aussie hypercar named Giocattolo 'HypeRod' Marcella said to be ready to premiere at the 2022 Peeble Beach Concours d'Elegance. (Picture from: CarBuzz)
Soon, there'll be a newcomer to the automotive industry in the Aussie, namely Giocattolo Motori, a high-performance car company founded by Paul Halstead, the former owner of De Tomaso Australia. Reportedly, the auto company will be launching a new hypercar called the Giocattolo 'HypeRod' Marcella in the next two years which is claimed to have extraordinary power because it uses a W16 engine made by combining a pair of Chevrolet's LS7 V8 engines.
The Giocattolo 'HypeRod' Marcella is basically a mix of the hypercar and hot rod genres, with a stunning look and awesome soundtrack, a low body, high-tech powertrain, analog instruments and inputs, and a visual link to American hot rod history. (Picture from: CarBuzz)
The engine will boast Higgins race heads with a billet alloy bridge tying the two blocks into one and a plate across the back for affixing a custom transfer case. That transfer case's job is to channel the torque from both crankshafts into a single output shaft that interfaces with an Albins-supplied, six-speed sequential transaxle with a limited-slip differential. Most high-tech of all, the whole assembly will serve as a stress-bearing member of the chassis, just like in an F1 car.
The Giocattolo 'HypeRod' Marcella is powered by a W16 engine is made by combining a pair of Chevrolet's LS7 V8 engines. (Picture from: CarBuzz)
"I wanted the power of the Bugatti Veyron but I couldn’t afford to build
a bespoke W16 engine, and frankly nor did I have the expertise. Chasing
power, I started with an LS7 Chevrolet alloy V8. Supercharging was a
possibility and which I was familiar with this tech, having just built
one for my wide-bodied Monaro GTO. But the centre of gravity would have
been way too high," said Halstead as qouted of Caradvic.com.au.
The Giocattolo 'HypeRod' Marcella is a wild-looking lightweight three seats speedster and claimed to have extraordinary power of 1,400 hp. (Picture from: CarBuzz)
Then he chose another way by combining two LS7 engines mounted side by side by tilting eeach at a 45-degree angle and incorporating dry-sump lubrication. The whole thing was just over one metre wide, that's includes eight central exhausts pipes, the other eight pipes (four per side) would come out flat above the carbon floor. As the result is claimed to be very amazing, because the engine is capable of spraying power up to 1,400 hp and still meets current emission regulations as well.
The Giocattolo 'HypeRod' Marcella will be produced in America and for the time being the price is still not settled yet but obviously it will be at the rarefied end of a very exclusive market. (Picture from: CarBuzz)
It was also stated that the Marcella will be the first of the new car genre of Halstead called as the "hyperod." It's basically a mix of the hypercar and hot rod genres, with a stunning look and awesome soundtrack, a low body, high-tech powertrain, analog instruments and inputs, and a visual link to American hot rod history. Equally important, to qualify as a hyperod, a mechanical part such as a machine must be visible and exquisite to look at. The kerb weight of the car is estimated to be around 1250kg.
Halstead hopes that Giocattolo Marcella, a wild-looking lightweight three seats speedster, will be ready to premiere at the 2022 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. The plan, the hypercar will be produced in America and for the time being the price of Halstead's Hyperod is still not settled yet but obviously it will be at the rarefied end of a very exclusive market. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | CARADVICE | CARBUZZ ]
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ONE-OFF Throughout the history of the horse prancing logoed car manufacturer in America, seems it cannot be separated from the figure of Luigi 'Coco' Chinetti, Jr. Due to he has an extraordinary understanding of what the American market wants. As in the mid-1960s, while he assumed the spyder design would become the trend in the American market.
1962 Ferrari 250 GT N.A.R.T. Spider by Fantuzzi built based of the 1960 Ferrari 250 Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2 model. (Picture from: Supercars)
Previously, we had discussed about the Ferrari 275 P2 Speciale, a unique American styled sports car created by the design of Giovanni Michelotti under commissioned of Ferrari for Coco Chinetti Jr. based on the Bob Peak-made sketches. The car mentioned above was built on the basis of a spyder race car which made specifically for the Chinetti's racing team, the North American Racing Team (N.A.R.T.)
1962 Ferrari 250 GT N.A.R.T. Spider by Fantuzzi powered by a rebuilding engine according to Testa Rossa's specifications and done on by Alberto Pedretti and Alfredo Caiti. (Picture from: Supercars)
Well, those donor car was what we will discuss on this occasion, and the Ferrari 250 GT N.A.R.T. Spider by Fantuzzi is the car's name. The car began its day as the standard version of the 1960 Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2 model with the chassis number of #2235GT with the bodywork was built by Pininfarina. In the mid-sixties, its Pininfarina bodywork was considered too plain which was later replaced by Coco Chinetti with a new bodywork made by Carrozeria Fantuzzi was inspired the Ferrari's mid-engine sports prototype.
It is known that the car was built before the famous Ferrari 275 GTB variants were born, and was intended as its prototype model. As the result is a more dramatic appearance with an extended front nose and a 275 GTB-like profile car. Many of the race car features borrowed from the 250P such as the Kamm tail at the rear and the integrated roll hoop attached directly behind the interior.
1962 Ferrari 250 GT N.A.R.T. Spider by Fantuzzi has many features borrowed from the 250P such as the Kamm tail at the rear and the integrated roll hoop attached directly behind the interior. (Picture from: Supercars)
Once the aluminum-made bodywork was mounted on the 250 GTE chassis, then installed a rebuilding engine according to Testa Rossa's specifications and done on by former Ferrari technicians who worked for Modenna Motors named Alberto Pedretti and Alfredo Caiti. On those engine, they fitted the Testarossa camshafts, a new intake manifold with six twin-choke Weber carburetors and coupled with a 5-speed manual transmission system.
After completion the car was shown at several major auto show events in America, among others, the 1965 San Francisco Show and the 1966 NY Auto Show.To emphasize his credibility, Chinetti put the North American Racing Team (N.A.R.T.) logo on the back of the car.
After its show duties was over, the car was sold and since then changed owners many times before being owned by someone for more than 33 years. And in 1990, the car returned to the Fantuzzi coachbuilder for a fully restoration process until the mid-1990s. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | SUPERCARS | ADRIANFLUX ]
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Unique ONES If we talk about the Italian supercar manufacturer, chances are that the name of the FV Frangivento will never come out of Your lips. That's no surprised due to many of the automotive enthusiasts may not know the company as one of the Italian supercar makers. However, that didn't stop the Turin-based carmaker to introducing their latest supercar model named the FV Frangivento Sorpasso.
Frangivento Surpasso Stradale was one of two new supercar variants released by the FV Frangivento, a Turin based automotive manufacturer. (Picture from: Autoblog)
In the 2019, the Italian manufacturer had launched a unique supercar with 1,000 horsepower called the Asfane DieciDieci, and two years before, in 2017 the Charlotte electric roadster debuted and offered for the price of $ 1.6 million (Rp.23.2 billion). Now in 2021, the Turin-based automotive manufacturer is launching a new supercar called the Sorpasso is mentioned to have a series of uniqueness and also as the continuation of the previous car models.
Frangivento Surpasso is available in two variants namely, the Stradale and the GTXX. And the consumers who bought the second variant have the right to change the "XX" mark into the specific numbers according to the choice of them.
Frangivento Surpasso Stradale appears in the hermes gray body color with a clean and elegant appeal. (Picture from: Autoblog)
Besides that the buyers of Sorpasso Stradale and GTXX have a special priority to participate in two personal programs called 'Programma Sviluppo' and 'Programma Ego' for 30 days. In which, they can work side by side with the FV Frangivento designers in designing the Surpasso cars according to their own styles and individual tastes.
In appearance, the Sorpasso Stradale is very different through its clean and elegant appeal. This is a show car that was chosen to the presented images on the company press releases, and appears in the hermes gray body color. While the Sorpasso GTXX, on the other hand, features a two-tones body and carries a more aggressive styling due to inspired by the GT3 Group's racing cars.
Frangivento Surpasso Stradale powered by a naturally aspirated V10 Lamborghini's engine to spew the power of 610 horsepower. (Picture from: Autoblog)
Furthermore, although not revealed in the images for the company press releases, both of the Sorpasso supercar cabins are said to be covered in Alcantara, as well as leather made by Turin-based Mario Levi Group atelier.
The car will also be equipped with an optional Avatar Driving Assistant, which can be used as an intelligent co-driver with human features that can be adjusted by the driver. Those AI's technology system was developed by the Sistemevo which is claimed to have the ability to communicate by using natural language like a personal travel companion.
Those two Sorpasso supercars run on a four-wheel-drive system and are powered by a V10 Lamborghini's engine. The Stradale variant does not use forced induction to produce 610 naturally aspirated horsepower. Meanwhile, the Sorpasso GTXX is supercharged to produce 850 horsepower (634 kilowatts).
Such the power output allows it to accelerate from 0-62 mph (100 kph) in 2.9 seconds, with a top speed recorded at 214 mph (345 kph). However, until now the selling price has not been stated in the company's press releases. However, FV Frangivento said that the fans and collectors have placed their orders and will receive their cars by the end of July 2021. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | FV FRANGIVENTO | AUTOBLOG | MOTOR1 ]
Concept ONLY In a motorized vehicle design process, sometimes it has to be stopped by non-technical matters. This also happened to a beautiful car design made by Alex Tremulis in 1956. At the time, as it is well known that Alex Tremulis' design philosophy had always been to strike a happy marriage between aircraft and automotive styling.
The Ford Thunderbird Mexico concept developed to be the reply to the Chevy's racing Corvettes. (Picture from: Carstyling.ru)
Because since teenager, he already inherently understood smooth flowing lines would not only look better but would be more efficient at slicing through the air. This might be achieved by him when he spent much of his time during the 2nd World War in the process of designing an aircraft to fly faster than had ever been achieved through the use of wind tunnels.
Alex Tremulis posed alongside the finished Ford Thunderbird Mexico model as it appeared in numerous PR photo shoots. (Picture from: Carstyling.ru)
This was later applied by him while working at the Ford Motor Company, when the American automotive company was in the midst of developing an equal contender model for the Corvette that was successfully made by Chevrolet, its rival compatriot subsidiary brand of GM. As it is well known, in the time the Chevrolet was already exploring design improvements to their 1956 Corvette that would eventually lead to the 1957 Sebring SS.
The Ford Thunderbird Mexico concept alongside a turbine concept illustrates how low and sleek it appeared compared to its contemporaries. (Picture from: Carstyling.ru)
By those reasons followed by Ford to develop the concept models through its R&D department. As the result, several car models managed to develop and one of them was the Ford Thunderbird Mexico Concept designed by Alex Tremulis with his automotive design philosophy, later it proven to be able to make the car speeding more than 200 miles per hour.
Another view of the 3/8 scale street scene provides different perspectives when evaluating various designs from all angles. (Picture from: Carstyling.ru)
In short, Tremulis managed to help Ford made the highly modified supercharged 1956 Thunderbird Mexico to be the answer to the Chevy's racing Corvettes, through the car's design refinement resulting of the large number of model test carried out in the wind tunnel including with the ground effects.
Initially, Mexico was made to race in La Carrera Panamericana. The idea is that with less horsepower, the Thunderbird chassis can still win by using aerodynamics to gain a top speed advantage over other race cars especially Mercedes.
The 3/8 scale models of La Tosca and Mexico in the Rotunda with the model makers. (Picture from: Carstyling.ru)
It's a shame Mexico never made it to the full-scale model, plus a series of tragic racing events took place in the mid-50s, leading the Automobile Manufacturers Association placed a ban on the auto manufacturer supports for racing teams.
The Ford Thunderbord Mexico concept with an added-on rounded nose, similar to the late 1960's Chrysler Superbirds. (Picture from: Carstyling.ru)
This brought the development of the Mexico's design stopped, with only a few 3/8 scaled models previously ever been made and used for the wind tunnel experimental data collection process. The sheer size of these 3/8ths scale models made for better data in the wind tunnel than smaller sized models, but they took up a lot of room. It's unknown how many of these models were crushed after their useful days were complete.
Despite this, the development of many future record-setting race cars and their drivers would benefit directly from the lessons learned by Tremulis a decade earlier. So the efforts weren't all for nothing. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | CARSTYLING.RU | ]
Weird ONES Some time ago, while on a surfing on the cyberspace, we've found a unique shaped motorcycle at the Quirky Rides' status on Tweeter, as if made we're curious to know more about this unique motorcycle. Indeed, the uniqueness of form is always used as the main factor to make a motorized vehicle look more attractive. This has been done by many automotive activists to date.
The unique look of the 1959 D-06, a 1,200cc dálník motorcycle built by a Prague motorcycle builder named Štěpána Poláka. (Picture from: QuirkyRides)
After searching for references on the internet for a while, we finally managed to find some informations that we considered valid about the motorcycle. From a source on Flickr, that's a dálník-styled motorcycle known as D-06 built over 5,000 work hours by a motorcycle builder who was living in Prague named Štěpána Poláka in the 1959. According to the source, besides uses a 1,200 cc 4-stroke engine, the unique motorcycle is said to have a bodywork resembled a fighter jet, but we saw it, more like a pufferfish. Well, if You saw it, what would it look like?😉
The 1959 D-06 has a unique bodywork appearance is more like a car than motorcycle and resembled a pufferfish. (Picture from: Flickr)
Dálník? Is there a 'Dálník' motorcycle brand? That's might be one of questions that will be raised regarding the name that accompanies the unique motorcycle. As quoted of the Hedonia sites, the 'Dálník' is more like a term rather than a motorcycle's brand. Furthermore, the term of dálník intended for a fascinating group of cabin motorcycles that have been constructed for the past 75 years by (mostly) the automotive lovers in the eastern Europe countries. It is not known where the term of dálník came from, but its design briefly is a combination of motorcycle and car with the virtues of both.
The 1959 D-06 is powered by a 1,200cc four-stroke engine coupled with a unique streamline-designed bodywork. (Picture from: Flickr)
The "golden age" of the dálník was happened during the 1950s to 1960s, and the former Czechoslovakia was known as the center of the dálník styled motorcycles. Generally, these vehicles only able to carry two occupants in tandem like motorcycle generally, while the engine mounted behind the passenger, coupled with a unique streamline-styled bodywork. Some had openable flaps for the feet of the driver, when at rest, others used outrigger wheels to prevent falling over when it stopped, or even a few of them have the gyroscopic stabilizers.
The 1959 D-06 is powered by a 1,200cc four-stroke engine coupled with a unique streamline-designed bodywork. (Picture from: Hedonia)
Who was introduced or pioneered the dálník motorcycle style? The man who could be considered as the father of dalniks was Jan Anderlé, a brilliant engineer who had worked at the Czech aircraft factory named Aero. He was known to have built his first cabin motorcycle in the late 1930s, and over the years he has created many more. The dálník's basic idea was actually simple, namely to make a cheap two-wheeled car by yourself and it proved very popular among the workers in eastern Europe after the WW2.
Jan Anderlé and his wife fled to the West after the separation of Eastern Europe, but then his wife persuaded him to return. Unfortunately after they got back to the country, he was arrested for treason and forced to work in the state-owned uranium mines for the next 15 years. He spent much of the rest of his life in poverty and died in obscurity in 1982. However, the influence of the dálník vehicle type whose created by him cannot be denied to date.
In the 1950s NSU produced a feet forward fully enclosed monocoque construction record breaker dálník called 'Flying Hammock'. (Picture from: Cycleart)
Then, in the company context. Are there any automotive companies has experimented or even popularized the dálník motorcycles? NSU known has a big role in popularizing dálník motorcycles. The company based in the former East Germany ever created several incredible record-breaking dálník motorcycles in the 1950s. One of them nicknamed the Flying Hammock is held many motorcycle world speed and fuel efficiency records for years. That's no wonder, due to the streamline-designed NSU-made dálník in a teardrop shape was perfectly honed in the company's wind tunnel.
The cut-away and ghosted views clearly show the internal structure and seating position of the NSU Flying Hammock. (Picture from: Cycleart)
The dálníks are still being made and developed to date! The Swiss company named Peraves makes something called the EcoMobile powered by a 4-cylinder BMW motorcycle engine, this is probably the most sophisticated dálníks motorcycle ever sold to the public. The two seaters modern dálníks vehicle featured with comfortable full roll-cage cabin also known agile and incredibly fast.
According to the Paraves owner and founder Arnold Wagner, the EcoMobile dálník was the closest thing to flying that can be achieved on land. Reportedly, a year or twos before his death, Jan Anderlé was rediscovered by the EcoMobile maker company and asked him to be a design consultant to them. Of course, he would be very satisfied if he finds out that his work continues in the 21st century. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | PARAVES | HEDONIA | CYCLEART | REDDIT ]
