Small Lincolns

Every few decades, Lincoln tries to convice the public they can put out a small car worthy of their name.
Here is what may be the first try: the 1937 Zephyr.


And here is one most of us might remember. The 1980 Versaille. What a name! For what was just a chromed out Ford Granada.I mean, how much chrome can you put on a mid sized Ford???
A cheap attempt to compete with Cadillac's all new Seville. And a few years late.
By the way, that was considered the "small" Lincoln back then.


And this is the latest try: the 2006 Zephyr. Modern exterior with a retro 1970's interior.
And it might just work.
But it's not all new. It shares almost everything you can't see with the next Mazda6 and similar models from Ford and Mercury.
Same old story...

2006 Mustang Convertible

It looks great!
We will be able so see it better once it is shown at the Detroit auto show in January. And let's hope they start at around $25000. The base coupe being around $20000...
Nothing new here. No roll bars, hidden or not. No hard top convertible. Just the plain old Mustang Convertible. And that's a great thing.
This should actually be more pleasant to drive than the coupe. That car seats low and the roof itself is very low. Which gave me a weird unpleasant feel when I finally sat inside one a few days ago...
It was almost beging to be a convertible.
But from these pictures, it looks like the top of the windshield ends right up where your head is!
That's the bad side of these modern, slick designs. The Mini and Beetle convertible are quite the opposite.
We'll see...

(photos AMS)

2006 Range Rover Sport

This all new model will fit between the new LR3 (The former Discovery) and the Range Rover.
It'll use the same V8 from the other cars, borrowed from Jaguar.And it should cost over $50 000.
What's the point of this????
I guess the actual Range Rover has become so expensive that they need something to fill the gap.
But "sport"??? I don't think so...

If you look closely, it resembles the original Range Rover from the 70's. So I guess we could say that this is their version of a "retro" design.

Sema girls...Again

More proof that the porn industry is infiltrating the car buziness.
In case you wanted to make sure...


Well. Not everyone is happy about the move...

Saturn SKY

This is supposed to be an official rendering of the upcoming new convertible from Saturn, the Sky.
It will be based on the same platform as the Pontiac Solstice. So it is rear wheel drive, for a more sports car feel.
I can't tell from this if it is 2 or 4 seater. The Pontiac seats 2. Seems kind of weird for GM to release 2 or more similar models, when the market for these small 2 seaters is pretty small to start with.
Hey, at least, it looks nice!

It will be shown this January, but will be on sale a year later! Don't hold your breath...

More on the new Jetta

It looks much better in this picture than in the previous photos.
The darker color brings out the chrome of the front end.
That's a good sign, the actual car might end up looking pretty nice and upscale.
We'll now for sure in January from the Auto show. And espacialy in March, from seeing it at the dealers...

More on the 2006 Sonata

These new pictures show how nice the all new Sonata looks in real life. Much better than on these dreadful "official" Hyundai pictures.
The interior pictured here, is the one of a "sportier" version, similar to the Camry SE, where aluminum finish replaces the fake wood.
The current Sonata starts at $16000 list. Even if this one is a couple of thousands more, it should be a great value for people looking for a middle of the road family car.
As mentioned before, the engines will be also very close to the competition. A 2.4 Liter standard and a new 3.3 Liter V6 as an option. And it's all "made in the USA"!

2006 Toyota Avalon

At first look, the all new Avalon doesn't seem very impressive.
But that car keeps getting better and better. And they know exactly what their audience is.
The new model is still based on the Camry platform. And the engine is now the all new 3.5 Liter with over 270hp.
It is rumored to be as roomy inside as the big Lexus LS !!!!
Too bad Toyota chose again to use that weird painted plastic instead of real metal for the finish. They now use it in the Solara as well as the Lexus cars!! Seems like they ran out of metal. I mean, how much can it add to the price of a car!

Besides that, the new interior seems to be a relaxing place to be for a long time. It looks simple and almost Zen like in there...

The "SEMA" show.

Wrong!!!! You're not on the set of "Ass Campers part 3" !!!.
These are some of the "ladies" at the Las Vegas Sema show. A sort of a "car show" for after market gadgets.
It seems that now, that kind of display is mendatory to sell that sort of stuff. (??!!)



These middle aged car magazine writers must have a lot of fun covering that show!
As you can see there is not an once of class to be found!
It really looks like the porn industry and the after market car parts are merging into one giant sex blob...

Now, there's a classy outfit!
A breath of fresh air...

The (all) new VW Jetta.

Here it is!!!!
The all new Jetta is coming over here in March 2005. It will be introduced at the Los Angeles auto show in January.
As you can tell from these pictures, it looks pretty big. It is actually 7 inches longer than the current model. About the size of the current Passat. (which will also be redesigned next year...).
That probably will make it even less popular in Europe (where it is sold as the VW Bora). The European market prefers hatchbacks, therefore the Golf. And smaller cars. The ultra conservative US market favors the big (even bigger now) trunk of the Jetta.

The base engine is also new (at least in the US). The old 2.0 Liter is replaced by the 2.5 Liter 5(!) cylinder engine with 150hp.
The top of the line will be a turbo version of the 2.0 Liter, with 200 hp. No V6 yet...

It looks to me much less modern than the current version. Even a bit bloated, and very much like a Japanese design. Looks like they think the US market wants large boring sedans!
Seems like they are now targeting Altimas and Mazda6 with this model. Instead of pretending to be a small BMW...

AMC that never was...The sports cars

In the late 60's and 70's AMC came out with a few amazing sports car designs.
This red AMX2 coupe was supposed to be their answer to the Corvette.
What a shame we never got to see that car. Over 30 years later, it still looks amazing!

After cars like the Pacer and Gremlin, they almost went under and got bought by Renault in the 70's. Their line up then, was just a bunch of re-badged Renaults, poorly equiped for the American market..

It's HOLLYWOOD!!!!

That's right! The best part of being in Hollywood is not the stars, but the cars!

Espacially cars like this one: The 1976 Ford Grand Torino from "Starsky and Hutch".
I am talking about the 70's TV cop show, popular then, all around the world.Not that crappy movie from last year...
The designers on that show made the mundane Grand Torino 2 door look like the coolest thing on wheels!


This is pretty much what most of the actual Grand Torinos looked like in the 70's. Weird, ugly colors, vinly tops etc...

The show designers did wonders!

Assholes...

Someone at Ford should do something about the assholes who drive their prototypes around Southern California.(Like this 3.5 Liter V6 Freestyle).
I mean,how much speeding, cutting off and general obnoxious driving are you supposed to take from these jerks?
Are these guys above the law?

And... Who are these people in the first place???

The Fiat 500 as "babemobile" part 2.

And it looks like it was cool for everyone to have that "small thing" in your garage.

How things have changed....

More weird ads from the past.

Here! Who needs SUVs when you could drive these around with no roads in sight?!


Who would have thought of this?? A PINK muscle car!!!
They most have sold tons of these...


And now, the hardest parking job in the world: on the deck!
That's right, there is no limit on how cool you are, when you can park your car on the wooden deck above your backyard...

Mercury META 1

This new concept will be unveiled in Detroit in January.
It is one of many new cars from Ford, based on the Mazda 6 platform.
Apparently, each division will get a mid sized sedan and a car-based SUV from that platform...



Ths Ford Fusion should be the 1st one out. Early next year. Followed my a mildly revised Mercury version.



We pretty much already know what the Lincoln versions will look like.
And they are both great!
The Zephyr sedan could be a hit, if the Lincoln name wasn't attached to it that is...
Most people looking for a "entryy level" luxury car won't even think of getting a Lincoln.
But the Aviator SUV should have more chances. It seems that brand name doesn't matter at all when SUVs are concerned.
(Looka t the Escalade and Navigator...)
Both Lincolns have a really cool 70's style interior.too!

There were also talking about a Jaguar SUV based on this... I wonder what happened to that idea...

2006 Toyota Sienna

Not that you can see anything from that picture, but the 2006 Sienna will receive a bunch of small improvements.
The main one might be the introduction on the new engine. The 3.5 Liter V6 from the all new Avalon (which comes out in March) with over 270hp. A big jump from the current 3.3 Liter V6 engine.

2007 Camry design.

No... This is NOT the new Camry. It is th enew Toyota Mark X.
BUT!
Even thought the Mark is rear wheel drive, it has, at least recently, been design to look very similar to the North American Camry.
So don't be surprised if most of the lines on this car end up on the all new 2007 Camry.
The 2007 will be an all new design based on the current platform.




Just so you know what I'm talking about...
The current Mark is the car above, underneath is the current Camry. As you can see, they look almost exactly the same.
And that might be the same story for the next Camry.

Take your car to the beach!!!

That's right! Look at this ad from the 70's.
Who would think of actually driving that car on the beach?!
But they did it, just because they thought it looked cool.(that swedish model is also taking her wild animal for a walk on the sand...) That's what they do now with SUV ads. And these, will also look stupid in 25 years...



Look at this one! Almost in the water. And that seems to be the way she likes it.



That's a pretty impossible place to park!
But they did it, and these people look happy.