Who says all Ferraris should be red?

A gaggle of newly-minted 308 GT4's at the factory bound for the USA.  What a fascinating array of colors! I even see a lime green one halfway back!

Lancia Voyager: "Emotions to Share" ?

Lancia just unveiled their new website full of thinly disguised Chryslers.  The tagline for the new Lancia Voyager minivan (nee Plymouth) is "Emotions to Share."  Well, I've got some fucking emotions to share, Lancia! Like Disgust. Outrage. Betrayal.  The Lancia brand has been in decline for many years under inept Italian leadership.  But this infusion of oversized, underwhelming American product to prop up the nameplate is just beyond pathetic.  Lancia fittingly chose a woman perched on a roof gazing mournfully downwards as she contemplates whether to jump to her death or go downstairs and drive that trashwagon parked outside. I found that imagery quite resonant to my own emotions as I looked through the site.

This guy looks dumbfounded. Can you blame him??Seeing the legendary name Flavia applied to a Chrysler 200 (nee Sebring) convertible makes me want to puke almost as badly as I wanted to puke when I was forced to drive one of those pieces of junk as a rental last year. Going through this new website, it astonishes me how much care and thought was put into the marketing of such utterly shit cars.  The vast amounts of money that was spent on photoshoots, branding consultants, web development, etc. All of this trouble to sell cars that should never have existed. The workings of the modern corporation never cease to confound me.After roughly a century of innovation, style, motorsports success, and the rest, this is what Lancia is reduced to: a noble badge on a worthless car.  To again quote the Lancia marketing:

"There are certain emotions which go straight to the heart. Even if they have to cross an ocean."

How true.  Lancia, you are dead to me now.

Black Moon Pursuit!

Here's a fun video featuring music by Electric Youth, over scenes from the 1986 film "Black Moon Rising."  The sports car piloted by Linda Hamilton in the video is a supercar protoype called the Black Moon--which was actually a one-off Canadian-built car called the Wingho Concordia II. The space-like design appears to be based heavily on the Pininfarina Modulo concept car from 1970. I think the Concordia II was probably built on a Firebird chassis or some other domestic platform.

Video of the Week: Lola T-70 laps Elkhart Lake

One of my favorite cars ever at one of the best tracks in North America.  Crank up the volume!  You may wish to skip the first minute.

Quattroporte on 32nd Street

Love it!

Photo credit: Motoring Con Brio