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.
If you’re a Saab fan – especially if you’re a vintage Saab fan – then you MUST WATCH THIS VIDEO.
The guys from /Drive, the same mob who brought us the Inside Koenigsegg series of videos, spent some time with Bruce Turk and his Saab 96 rally car. The result is 27 minutes of information, sights and glorious, glorious sound that’ll soothe your soul.
Watch it below, or even better, watch on your big screen smart TV with the sound up LOUD.
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 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 🙂
The Inside Koenigsegg video series concludes today with this final instalment – the gearbox. This one is guaranteed to go over most people’s heads. The overall concept makes sense to me but the technical bits went over my head very quickly and I think it’ll be the same for many people. I get concepts but I’m a technical imbecile. There are still several things you can appreciate, however.
First, even though it’s a video about a gearbox, the fact that it’s Christian von Koenigsegg talking about a gearbox still makes it interesting for some reason. Having watched this series from start to finish, there’s no-one else in the series that can make such technical wizardry so interesting to listen to.
Second, even thought I don’t understand the way everything works in detail, it’s still eminently clear how cutting edge this technology is. That makes the fact that Koenigsegg do all this stuff themselves rather than buying-in the component from someone else all the more remarkable.
This has been a great series to watch. Kudos to the Drive team for putting it together. I hope they stitch all the parts up into one 90-minute video.
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You can see Episode 1 of this series (Carbon Fibre) here.
You can see Episode 2 of this series (Triplex Suspension) here.
You can see Episode 3 of this series (Perfect Paint) here.
You can see Episode 4 of this series (Interior Surfacing) here.
You can see Episode 5 of this series (Test Drive) here.
You can see Episode 6 of this series (The Brain) here.
You can see Episode 7 of this series (Cargine Camless Valves) here.
You can see Episode 8 of this series (The Engine) here.
Want to know why Audi have replaced BMW as the car de jour for both the established and the newly financial? Just watch the video below.
It’ll tell you pretty much all you need to know about modern styling, aggressive performance and flawless execution (both the car and the video). Combine those elements with a great driving experience, some great racing and road test results as well as good old word of mouth and you can see why Audi is kicking goals everywhere.
I get very jealous when I see stuff like this because I wish I’d been the one to come up with it. Outstanding.
I’m still not that big a fan of Audis, by the way, but credit where credit’s due.
5-minute films, beautifully shot and featuring some amazing little cars and their dedicated owners. They’re inspirational and aspirational. Speaking of which, owing to the size and genuineness of his collection, Manuel is now officially inspiring. I wonder how he got all that space…….
Enjoy.
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My apologies for having not written much recently. To be honest, I just couldn’t be bothered after the news of Nic’s death came through. Still can’t be bothered, actually, but am trying to get back on the horse as this whole thing IS a passion of mine and sitting around wondering about it isn’t going to get anything done…..
There are two schools of thought when it comes to drugs in sport. The main one is that athletes should be as natural as possible. They should compete to the best of their natural ability and in doing so, the nobility of sport is maintained.
The lesser-followed school of thought is that athletes should just go for it. Show exactly how far a human being can take themselves using whatever chemical assistance they can find. They know the risks, it’s their choice. Get out there and set some records.
Personally, I’m all for the first school of thought – preserve the nobility of sport. There have to be rules to ensure a reasonable playing field. The on-drugs crowd might produce some spectacular performances from time to time, but the cost just won’t be worth it.
Exhibit A for the defence is this 10-minute video on Group B rally. The era 1982-86 is remembered as the golden era of rallying and this video will show you why. The cars and the performances were just amazing.
But….. just like a no-holds barred sporting competition pumped up on drugs, sooner or later you realise you’re watching freaks. And sooner or later someone’s going to die pushing the limits just that little bit too far.
Enjoy amazing. But be thankful for what we’ve got.
This video is a must watch. A lot of people are indifferent towards Japanese cars. There’s a cultural fence that’s hard for some to get over, plus a lack of historical experience. It’s my hope that for some, Retro Car Kings will go some small way towards bridging that gap.
The secondary thing I hope you learn from this video is the reason why so many people got so excited when Nissan announced that Datsun was coming back. The GT-R might wear a Nissan badge these days, but Datsun is the origin of Japanese performance for many people – including me; I did all my hours as a learner driver in a Datsun, so I have very fond memories. Sadly, Datsun won’t be coming back in any sort of performance-oriented way, but purely as a budget brand.
(By the way, there are quite a few Datsuns in there, but it’s not all Dattos. Alfa Romeos feature quite a lot, too)
Retro Car Kings goes for around 45 minutes. It covers some of Japan’s most famous vehicle restorers, with the main question being authenticity vs modernisation. The modernisation path is called ‘resto-modding’ in the US. It means restoring a car but putting more modern parts in where you can – engines, A/C units, stereos, etc. Japan’s no different from anywhere else in that there are some who love to make everything completely stock and some who like to make a car their own.
I hope this video stays online. You need to see it.
Consider this one a personal indulgence……. and something to pass the time as we wait on other things.
From one Swedish company to another, I just wanted to pass along some congratulations to Koenigsegg for their recent supercar achievement. First, because they’re Swedish, and second, because they’re super-cool. They are the epitome of “Subzero”.
I was very pleased to read my news feeds today and see that Koenigsegg have just been awarded a Guinness World Record for the fastest car to accelerate from zero to 300km/h and then back to zero again.
0-300-0 in just 21.19 seconds.
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For those of you who don’t know, there is some history between Koenigsegg and Saab. A group fronted by Koenigsegg tried to buy Saab from General Motors back in 2009. That bid ultimately fell short when Koenigsegg pulled out of the deal in November 2009.
During that time, I had a chance to meet Christian von Koenigsegg at the Frankfurt Motor Show, when the Saab 9-5 was launched. In 2010, whilst on holiday in Sweden, I had a chance to visit the Koenigsegg facility in Ängelholm and take a tour of the factory.
I also got to go for a ride 🙂
We didn’t do the 0-300-0 run, but we came close…..
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The engineering in these cars is absolutely amazing. The “no-hands” run should give you an idea as to just how rock-solid these cars are. The acceleration is brutal and as you can hear from my reactions, the braking is just as enjoyable.
So, again, my congratulations to this outstanding Swedish company on being recognised by Guinness for their work.
