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Classic Cars Straightline Archives

More Details Leak on the 2011 Shelby GT500

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Last week we brought you a partial list of the upgrades in store for the 2011 Shelby GT500 courtesy of an order guide leak. This morning, some crafty members at TeamShelby noticed a video of the upcoming GT500 on one of Ford's media sites. The pictures you see here are screen grabs from that video which has since been taken down.


Continue reading More Details Leak on the 2011 Shelby GT500.

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Videos: Vintage Muscle Cars Ripping Up Road America

Do I really need to say anything more? Just watch. And if you don't like these videos, you may not like cars.


Continue reading Videos: Vintage Muscle Cars Ripping Up Road America.

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Laguna Seca to Host Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion in August

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Formerly known as the Monterey Historic Automobile Races, this is the annual event that coincides with the Pebble Beach Concours d' Elegance. It's basically a gathering of vintage racecars that tear around Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca for two days for no other reason than it looks and sounds cool.

In years past, it's been a somewhat staid affair, mostly because the majority of the classes featured early prewar racecars that aren't nearly as impressive now as they were back in their prime. The really good stuff like the new Formula cars and Trans Am racers usually only ran every other year and in limited numbers.

Well, new management has taken over and along with the new name is a new emphasis on cooler participants. The featured races are now Formula 1, Trans Am and a new class -- stock cars from 1966-1975. Whether you like NASCAR or not, tell me you wouldn't want to see those big American lead sleds hauling around Laguna Seca at full throttle?

 MazdaRaceway.com

Continue reading Laguna Seca to Host Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion in August .

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2011 Ford Mustang GT Will Pace Daytona 500


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To give you some perspective as to how long it's been since a Ford paced the Daytona 500, the last vehicle to hold that honor was a Ford Torino GT. The year was 1970.

This time around, it will be a glass-roofed 2011 Ford Mustang GT dressed in red paint and a few decals. Ford Racing also added a revised suspension, strut tower brace and new mufflers.

Adding to the mystique, Barrett-Jackson will be auctioning off the actual pace car this weekend which means you can buy the very car you'll be watching on TV, provided you care about NASCAR of course.

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2011 Shelby GT350 Revealed at Barrett-Jackson Auction

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Shelby American wasted no time coming up with its own take on the new 2011 Ford Mustang. Officially dubbed a concept, the 2011 Shelby GT350 will go into production later this year with few changes.

This is essentially an aftermarket package that you purchase after you plunk down the $30K for a Mustang GT. It includes a supercharger that pushes the new 5.0 V8 to around 500 horsepower, a set of Baer brakes, 19-inch Cragar wheels and "super sticky" Goodyear tires Shelby says. The suspension also gets new springs, struts and sway bars from Ford Racing along with adjustable camber/caster plates.

Shelby says all GT350s will be white with blue stripes. Not sure if that means you have to start out with a white car or not but it probably helps. Shelby also adds a new front fascia, revised taillight treatment and a center-exit exhaust.

All this for only $34K -- that's on top of the original car, not total. So you're looking at a minimum of $64,000 for a Shelby GT350. Hope you like white.

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Gooding Adds Cobra 260 Competition Car to Scottsdale Auction

gooding-cobra-260-1600.jpg Photo Credit: Pawel Litwinksi, Gooding & Company

As sick as Cobras look and sound with huge fender flares and a big block stuffed in their noses, the original AC Cobra with its comparatively tiny 260 cu.in. V8 is still something to behold. It's so natural you almost find it hard to believe it didn't start out that way.

This particular example is a perfectly preserved competition model that still sports a "Flamethrower" ignition and Le Mans-style fuel filler. It was the only 260-powered Cobra to win a race when it took first place at an SCCA Divisional race at Riverside Raceway in 1963. It will go up for auction next week at the Gooding and Company event in Scottsdale which starts Friday and continues on Saturday.

Gooding and Company
 

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Full Specs on the 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0

Just in case the dyno video wasn't enough to whet your appetite for the new 2011 Ford Mustang, here's the full spec sheet on the new 5.0-liter.

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UPDATE: The listed weight of the manual coupe has been updated. Why Ford PR chose to release a spec sheet with the wrong numbers is inexplicable, but there you go.


First Look: 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0
 

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Video: 2011 Ford Mustang 5.0 V8 on the Dyno

With an estimated 412-horsepower and 390 pound-feet of torque, the new 5.0-liter V8 slated for the 2011 Ford Mustang is a solid performer. See it, and hear it, in action in this latest video from Ford.

 

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Camaro Designer Leaves GM for Volkwagen

lee-camaro.jpg Sangyup Lee, the Korean-born designer who drew up the latest Camaro is leaving the company to become chief exterior designer at Volkswagen's west coast design studio. Lee worked at General Motors for 10 years and is responsible for several interesting concepts like the Buick Velite and Chevrolet Stingray.

According to the New York Times, Mr. Lee's experience bringing his Camaro design to production was not always easy. "Every fraction of an inch of hood and roof height was an occasion for battles with the engineers," Lee noted. Sounds like fun.

NYT Wheels Blog

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Gooding Extends Scottsdale Auction to Two Days

1927_Bentley_Spd6_Cpe-1600.jpg Photo Credit: Pawel Litwinski 2009, courtesy of Gooding and Company


The economy might be recovering after all. Gooding and Company has just announced that it has added a second day to its Scottsdale auction in January.

If you're not familiar with the auction scene, Gooding and Company is one of the big-dollar auction houses. You won't see any lightly-restored Camaros crossing the block at a Gooding auction. Instead, it's mostly really expensive, and really European, vintage stuff.

Case in point, the 1927 Bentley 6.5-liter Sports Coupe pictured above. It features a custom fabric body by Surbiton Carriage Company and has been fully restored after 20 years of being driven regularly. It will hit the block on Friday, Jan. 22nd.

Gooding and Company

     

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Actor Eric Bana's Falcon GT Documentary, "The Beast," to Air on Speed

Here's the most compelling reason we've seen to become an actor to date: You get to make a movie all about your car. Eric Bana of Hulk, Troy and Star Trek fame has made a documentary, The Beast, about the 1974 Ford Falcon GT coupe he has owned for the last 25 years.

Jeremy Clarkson, Jay Leno and even Dr. Phil, along with Bana's close friends, make appearances in the film to reflect on why Bana is so obsessed with this car. Naturally, the obsession is traceable in part to Bana having seen Mel Gibson drive a Pursuit Special version of a '73 XB Falcon GT hardtop in Mad Max.

Here's the trailer for the The Beast. You can watch the whole movie on Speed this Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern (5 p.m. Pacific).

Speed

IL Feature: Driving Mad Max's Last of V8 Interceptors

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Mercedes-Benz Advent Calendar = Daily 15-Second Diversion

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One of the simple pleasures of childhood is getting an advent calendar with a different piece of chocolate candy inside for every day until December 25th. Well, one of the simple pleasures we've gotten a kick out of this month is the online advent calendar (Adventskalender) created by the Mercedes-Benz Classic Museum.

It's all in German, but you get to see a different car every day until Christmas. Some days it's a 1955 Gullwing, other days it's a 1907 Doppeldeckerbus. In any case, it's good for 15 seconds of amusement.

Mercedes-Benz Adventskalender

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Happy 100th Birthday Poured-Concrete Road!

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This year marks the massive centennial celebration of the poured-concrete road. We're not kidding. At least not about the 100th anniversary of the poured-concrete road. The celebration is pretty much reserved to this blog post.

Anyway, Detroit's Woodward Avenue, known most recently for the massive summer-time gathering of primer-gray Chevy Novas known as the Woodward Dream Cruise, became the first roadway in the world to use the concrete surface when in 1909 Wayne County laid a mile of the stuff between Six Mile and Seven Mile roads (pictured above). Previously, much of the roadway was contructed of wood blocks covered in asphalt.

Little-known fact: Moments after the concrete section of Woodward dried, Inside Line Editor-in-Chief Scott Oldham said, "Would somebody do a burnout already!"

Check back in 2019 when we will be celebrating the centennial of the first usage of the three-color traffic light, which appeared first on -- you guessed it -- Woodward.

Interested in more? Head down these rabbit holes of all things Woodward:

Woodward Avenue Action Association (WA3)

The Detroit News Special Report on Woodward from 2007

The official site of the Woodward Dream Cruise


Photo: Wayne County Road Commission

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The Maybach Zeppelin Gets All Arty with David LaChapelle

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David LaChapelle, the noted photographer and apparent horn-dog, has composed a couple of his characteristically surreal images using Maybach Zeppelins (old and new) as a prop/inspiration.

The company revealed the shots in association with Art Basel Miami Beach, the same art festival that Audi used a s a backdrop for the reveal of its new A8 sedan.

The image above, which depicts the current Zeppelin, uses the time-honored arty backdrop of utter desolation juxtaposed (art folks love that word) against the pristine car.

The second image, which we've chosen to put after the jump because of its, er, racier nature is what Maybach refers to as a "surreal tablaeux" which is a charmingly inoffensive way to describe what appears to be a New Year's Eve orgy. Maybe we should instead think of it as an exploration of indulgence. Yes, that's better.

You know you're going to make that jump, don't you? We also have a gallery of behind-the-scenes moments in the production of the two shots. Enjoy.

Continue reading The Maybach Zeppelin Gets All Arty with David LaChapelle.

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10 Most Expensive Lamborghinis Ever Sold at Auction

1973_lamborghini_miura_lp40.jpg No Lamborghini has ever been sold for a cool million at auction. Sports Car Market has put together a slideshow of what are apparently the 10 priciest Lambos ever auctioned off, and the most expensive one is this '73 Miura P400 SV, which sold for $962,500 in Monterey in August 2007.

Actually, all the Lamborghinis on the list are Miuras, save for one 1976 Countach.

Sports Car Market

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