Want to spend 7 minutes feeling good about the world? Watch this superb new film from Petrolicious.
It features one of the nicest guys you’ll ever see driving one of the nicest little Alfas you’ll ever see. It’s a car he built himself and he did such a good job that he ended up working for one of the best custom car builders in California – Singer Porsche.
Sit back, pump up the volume and enjoy.
Petrolicious has to run out of….. fuel at some stage, right? I mean, how many incredible different vehicle models can they actually get access to before they start repeating themselves?
Hopefully the answer is “plenty more”.
The owner of this car will be familiar to the avid Petroliciousisti. One of his cars was featured in an earlier video and it’s every bit as exotic as this one. I won’t tell you which one it is right now but the video’s at the end of this post.
This video focuses on his Lancia 037 Group B. As he intimates in the story, the 037 is the lesser-known but not lesser-accomplished champion of the Lancia family. It shone ever-so-briefly between the rather insane Stratos and the somewhat more sensible Delta Integrale and in many ways, it was the perfect bridge between the two. It’s achingly beautiful to look at and fast in the way that only Group B cars could be.
Enough from me. Enjoy.
——
As promised, here’s the earlier video featuring the same guy.
I’m not sure what he does for a living but he obviously does it well. Not only does he have two of the rarest Lancias ever made, he also has a BMW M1 lurking in the garage, too.
Petrolicious has come a long way in a short time. They started with nice videos of passion-worthy, but very obtainable cars like the Datsun 510 and early Nissan Skyline. In just over a year, they’ve proved themselves worthy of being trusted to film one of the most valuable cars in the world today – a Ferrari 250 GTO.
Well done, sirs!!
The following is a feast for the eyes and especially for the ears. It’s a nice little history lesson, too, directly from the son of one of Ferrari’s own factory drivers. The driving footage and accompanying soundtrack from just after the 4-minute mark is perhaps some of the most drool-worthy motoring film I’ve ever seen.
A couple of asides….. keep an eye on the windscreen wiper from time to time, and watch how the speed makes it wiggle. Also, is this the most beautiful gearshift housing ever placed in a car?
Put it on full-screen, turn up the sound, and Enjoy. Again and again.
Petrolicious makes some of my favourite online car films. You can imagine the anticipation, then, when I saw that this week’s film featured a Saab Sonett II.
And it’s not any old Saab Sonett II (if there is such a thing). It’s a two-stroke Saab Sonett II, which is among the rarest of Swedes.
Here’s the film….
——
To be honest, I was a little disappointed with this. Not with the car or the owner, of course, but with Petrolicious. They set such high standards, but I can’t help but feel they fell short with this one.
The film’s too dark, for starters. There’s not enough of that glorious two stroke sound and is it just me, or was there another Sonett II sitting in Mr Roberts’ garage?!? There’s a story, right there.
For those who haven’t heard a Saab two-stroke in full flight, try this….
——
Congratulations to Glenn Roberts on having his absolutely wonderful Sonett featured on Petrolicious. Your car is magnificent and your story is the envy of many a Saab fan.
I just wish Petrolicious had done a little more with it.
It’s natural that people tend to be comfortable with what they know if it’s functional and does what they need it to do. There’s rarely a need to explore the finest quality product available unless you’re deeply interested in that certain something.
I’d be quite happy with a watch, for example, but some people won’t settle for anything less than a Rolex or a TAG Heuer.
I used to think that companies like Ford and Toyota built generic cars, companies like BMW and Mercedes built real quality and further down the road, Ferrari and Lamborghini built real exotic quality. To a large extent, that’s mostly true.
Then I visited Koenigsegg, whose in-house capability and dedication to building the best product possible makes everyone look generic.
It’s all about what matters to you. You seek out the quality that you desire, whether it be as a potential owner of something or just as an interested party and an admirer.
It’s only in the last few years that I’ve gained a real appreciation of how hard it is to engineer something that is bespoke for a particular creation. Mass production has us all used to the idea that we can only change or customise a small part of anything we are looking to buy.
There are people who don’t work that way, however. People who don’t just build things. They create things. People who can take the familiar and make it special.
I know they’re just one of a large number of custom shops, but their work struck me as not only being top quality, but pretty tasteful as well (which is not something you can say of some of the more well known custom shops that end up with their own reality TV shows).
I wish Petrolicious had got a few more customer cars into this video for a larger exhibition of Ringbrothers’ work. The small sample you see in this video is enough to whet the appetite but I’d really love to see more of what they can do.
Well done, Ringbrothers. The more I see stuff like this, the more I love the idea of a car as a piece of art. This is craftsmanship.
—
Greetings from the road.
I’m driving a black 1993 Saab 900 up the east coast of Australia right now, so sitting here and watching this video gave me some special pleasure.
This is Petrolicious’ tribute to a very special Saab, owned by a very special guy. All concerned should be credited for a wonderful production. If I was to nitpick, I’d ask that they spend a little longer on the exhaust note, someone so wonderfully original to the 900. But that’s just me. They’ve done a great job and the car looks sensational.
This movie has been out for a few days now and most of you will have seen it. For those who haven’t, please do enjoy.
——
Given that my interest in Zagato-bodied cars is rising, the timing of this Petrolicious video couldn’t be better. It features none other than Andrea Zagato, the third generation to run the family business.
He talks about Zagato’s styling and construction principles, as well as taking viewers for a ride in the absolutely beautiful Alfa Romeo 1900 SSZ.
Tip – Andrea only speaks Italian, so make sure you hit the little button at the bottom to make the subtitles work.
Enjoy. And thank your favourite deity for Petrolicious and their exquisite videos.
—
You’ve probably heard about or seen this garage already. I’ve seen photo-features on a few different websites over the years, but I’ve never seen film of either the garage or the car.
Thankfully, Petrolicious is here to do the job right.
The garage won a competition called Design Driven, sponsored by Maserati, back in 2009. It’s been shown as a car-centric living space in many photo shoots, but it seems to double as Holger Schubert’s design office in this video.
What I love about this:
The garage – It’s absolutely magnificent, combining function and beauty in one minimalist piece.
The car – a Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer. Its classic lines and mad engine combine to make one of the all-time automotive icons. Its relative rarity just makes it all the more alluring.
The guy – Holger Schubert comes across as a pretty down-to-earth guy. He doesn’t need to trumpet his abilities because the space he’s built allows the sheer basic beauty of his work to shine for him. He seems to appreciate the right things and that sort of humility, to me, makes him all the more endearing.
Petrolicious has done it again. Enjoy.
—
Petrolicious is my new favourite website. It covers what I’d call modern vintage cars and it does it beautifully, with articles and beautifully shot videos that showcase why people love cars as well as the cars that they love.
I love older cars. They’re so much more interesting than 95% of the new stuff because they were made at a time when car companies had real, distinct identities. Car companies today are being beaten into conformity by the relentless pursuit of safety, fuel economy, and of course, the most important economy of all – economy of scale.
Modern cars with true individualism are rare. Affordable ones even rarer.
Petrolicious takes you back to a time where man and machine were close, a time when the only silicon chip to come between the two might – that’s might – control a fuel injection computer.
I saw this video on Petrolicious this morning and had to share it here. It’s called The Hunter and it features a man after my own heart (but with much greater means) who searches without remorse or relent for the next car-of-his-dreams.
Damn I love me a V8 Ferrari! And there’s a nice idea here for my mate Mats, too 🙂
Enjoy. And check out Petrolicious.
—
