We found this on G35driver and ouch! It looks like someone dropped this Aston Martin Vantage while trying to unload it. You can see the back end of the top loading trey snapped as it’s laying below on the ground. The owner of this car has to be rather upset being that he shipped it carefully to his destination. Now do you deny delivery, send it back, or just get her fixed? That is a tough call but at least he didn’t buy the car from Lamborghini of Orange County!

Everyone was up in arms when the largest Lamborghini dealer in the WORLD closed down without notice in November. Some people predicted it was the beginning of tougher times while others got left high and dry on vehicles. It turns out now that Volkswagon has filed a lawsuit against Lamborghini Orange County for the tune of $12,000,000 and suddenly things are becoming more clear. According to the lawsuit,

“The owners of Lamborghini Orange County in Santa Ana committed “outright theft” of approximately $12 million by selling its fleet of exotic sports cars at deep discounts and failing to pay their creditor, according to a lawsuit filed by Volkswagen Credit Inc. in Orange County Superior Court.”

According to this suit within the last 8 days they were open for business they unloaded 54 cars at hefty discounts! This total (54 Lamborghini’s) accounts for 8% of total Lambo sales for the 2008 year. Volkswagon knows they got some money but are not exactly sure where it went but they claim it wasn’t to them! Apparently VW isn’t the only ones looking for it’s money. Other news has come out that multiple suits based on money issues have come forward.

“In a separate suit filed in Orange County Superior Court, East-West Bank is suing the Keuylians and Lamborghini Orange County for defaulting on a $3 million loan, for which they failed make payments in November and December.

Another lawsuit filed in Las Vegas seeks $340,000 from Vik Keuylian for failing to pay him for a 2008 Lamborghini Murcielago formerly owned by Stephen Cloobeck, owner of Diamond Resorts.
“They took the car but never gave me the check,” Cloobeck said.”

Source: http://www.leftlanenews.com/vw-sues-oc-lamborghini-for-%E2%80%9Coutright-theft%E2%80%9D-of-54-vehicles.html

The Bentley Continental has sold tons of units across the world and has become quite the popular chariot of certain affluent areas.  The GTC Speed convertible will be the most powerful Bentley convertible in history and it’s about time they gave some more horsepower to the Bentley line. With the top up you can reach 200mph in the Bentley but with the top down you don’t have the luxury of hitting the 200mph club while maxing out at 195mph. Below we have tons of specs from Bentley which should tell you everything you want to know and more about the King’s new chariot: 

CONTINENTAL GTC SPEED AND GTC
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
MODEL TYPE
Body type Two-door, 2+2 Grand Tourer convertible
Construction Steel monocoque with aluminium, steel and composite panels and closure

ENGINE
Type Twin-turbocharged W12 engine
Installation Front, longitudinal
Construction Alloy block and heads
Bore/stroke 84.0 x 90.2 mm
Capacity 6.0-litre, 5998 cc
Compression ratio 9.0:1
Valve gear Chain-driven DOHC per bank, 4 valves per cylinder, cam phased inlet and outlet
Power
GTC Speed 600 bhp / 610 PS / 449 kW @ 6000 rev/min
GTC 552 bhp / 560 PS / 412 kW @ 6100 rev/min
Torque
GTC Speed 750 Nm / 553 lb ft between 1750 – 5600 rev/min
GT 650 Nm / 479 lb ft @ between1600 – 6100 rev/min
Fuel 98 (95) RON

TRANSMISSION
Type Continuous all-wheel drive
Gearbox ZF 6-speed automatic with fully automatic or
sequential ‘manual’ operation with paddleshift feature; torque converter lock-up clutch
Ratios 1st: 4.17
2nd: 2.34
3rd: 1.52
4th: 1.14
5th: 0.87
6th: 0.69
Final drive: 3.524 (front), 3.528 (rear)

SUSPENSION
Front Four-link double wishbones, computer-controlled self-levelling air suspension, anti-roll bar
Rear Trapezoidal multi-link, computer-controlled self-levelling air suspension, anti-roll bar
Springs Computer-controlled progressive air springs
Dampers Continuous damping control, with four adjustable settings

STEERING
Type Rack & pinion, power-assisted, speed-sensitive
Turns lock to lock 2.7
Turning circle (kerb to kerb) 11.4 m ( 37’ 5”)

BRAKES
Front 405 mm ventilated discs (optional 420 mm carbon/ ceramic, cross-drilled discs – with 20-inch wheels)
Rear 335 mm ventilated discs (optional 356 mm carbon/ ceramic, cross-drilled discs – with 20-inch wheels)
Anti lock Standard ESP and Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD)

WHEELS & TYRES
Wheels
GTC Speed 9.5J 20-inch Alloy
GTC 9.0J 19-inch Alloy (optional 9.0J 20-inch Alloy)
Tyres
GTC Speed 275/35 x ZR20 bespoke Pirelli PZero UHP
GTC 275/40 x ZR19 Pirelli PZero Rosso
(optional 275/30 x 20 Pirelli PZero)

DIMENSIONS
EXTERIOR
Overall length 4804 mm (189.1 in)
Overall width (inc. mirrors) 2194 mm (86.4 in)

Height (roof raised)
GTC Speed 1388 mm (54.6 in)
GTC 1398 mm (55.0 in)
Wheelbase 2745 mm (108.1 in)
Front track 1623 mm (63.9 in)
Rear track 1607 mm (63.3 in)

INTERIOR
Front headroom 942 mm (37.1 in)
Front legroom 1075 mm (42.3 in)
Front shoulder room 1568 mm (61.7 in)
Rear headroom 979 mm (38.5 in)
Rear legroom 743 mm (29.3 in)
Rear shoulder room 1318 mm (51.9 in)

WEIGHTS & CAPACITIES
GTC Speed & GTC
Kerbweight 2485 kg (5478 lb)
Gross vehicle weight 2900 kg (6393 lb)
Luggage capacity 235 litres
Fuel tank capacity 90 litres (24 US gallons)

PERFORMANCE
Top speed (roof up)
GTC Speed 200 mph (322 km/h)
GTC 195 mph (312 km/h)

Top speed (roof down)
GTC Speed 195 mph (314 km/h)
GTC 190 mph (306 km/h1)

0-60 mph (0-100 km/h)
GTC Speed 4.5 seconds (4.8 seconds)
GTC 4.8 seconds (5.1 seconds)

0-100 mph (0-160 km/h)
GTC Speed 10.6 seconds (10.5 seconds)
GTC 11.4 seconds (11.4 seconds)

FUEL CONSUMPTION/EMISSIONS
EU CYCLE
GTC Speed and GTC 11.2 mpg (25.3 litres/100 km)
Urban
Extra-Urban 24.3 mpg (11.6 litres/100 km)
Combined 17.0 mpg (16.6 litres/100 km)
CO2 emissions 396 g/km
Emission controls EU 1V and US LEV II
EPA DRIVE CYCLE
GTC Speed and GTC
City Driving 10.0 mpg (US)
Highway Driving 17.0 mpg (US)

Ford is unrolling a new active parking system that they claim is better than the current Lexus parking system that is the darling of the automotive press. They say they have a parking system that works on ultrasonic waves which makes it more versatile and requires less human interaction from drivers.

Two cars on the Lincoln fleet will start sporting this system in the 2010 models Ford claims with the MKS and MKT models. Ford even makes a claim that possibly all models will have this technology available by the year 2012 which seems very impressive. They also mention that unlike the Lexus GS Advanced Parking Guidance System the Ford technology will be able to park on hills which the Lexus system is not able to do since it is a camera based system.

Ford breaks it down for you like this:

• The driver activates the system by pressing an instrument panel button, which activates the ultrasonic sensors to measure and identify a feasible parallel parking space.
• The system then prompts the driver to accept the system assistance to park.
• The steering system then takes over and steers the car into the parking space hands-free. The driver still shifts the transmission and operates the gas and brake pedals.
• A visual and/or audible driver interface advises the driver about the proximity of other cars, objects and people and provides instructions.
• While the steering is all done automatically, the driver remains responsible for safe parking and can interrupt the system by grasping the steering wheel.

Source (view much larger image of Ford parking graph above):

http://www.luxuryvice.com/images/1280×1280-fordparkassist.jpg

Yes, what your looking at above is a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante found in a garage in the United Kingdom. This car is one of 17 Bugatti ever made. This one belonged to a British surgeon who passed away recently leaving his children a garage full of collectable cars. This was the true gem of the bunch which reportidly had not been driven in almost 50 years. At least four of the seventeen belong to the French Musée National de l’Automobile in Mulhouse, Alsace,while the others location are in private hands or remain unknown.

The odometer on the car reads 26,284 which is remarkable for a car from the 1930′s. The first owner of the vehicle was Earl Howe, the winner of the 24 Hours of LeMans in May of 1937. He had the car for eight years before selling it and eventually in 1955 it made it’s way to Harold Carr. The car is causing a big stir among collectors who think it could possibly be the most expensive car ever to be bought at auction surpassing the current $8,700,000 mark held by a 1931 Bugatti currently.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/article5430023.ece

Jalopnik wrote this amazing piece on the unregulated exotic rental car market and the shadiness and tricks used in this whole operation. Cars not properly insured and sub leased exotics of people to held cover car payments is just the icing on the cake according to this article from Jalopnik.

Read the full story here: http://jalopnik.com/5105099/exotic-car-rental-cheaper-than-owning-but-can-you-trust-it

I just moved right off the 101 highway this week and then this happened just yesterday at the 101 right downtown. A 25 year old man driving a recently purchased Bentley (not in his name) with a Dream Motorcars dealer plate received approximately 10 shots fired at the driver. The car slammed into the median where people thought they were going to help a drunk driver. The driver was slumped over the wheel and immediately was picked up and taken to the hospital. No details have been given on the driver or the owner of the vehicle at this time. They are connecting it to an attempted car jacking along with some other scenario’s. Let this be a lesson, give them your Bentley and take an insurance claim if that was the case. We cannot wait until more details come in about this insane crime.