While China has started to produce some truly ‘world-class’ cars in recent years, the country is still home to some weird, wacky, and cheap cars, three of which are featured in the video below.
We first came across this clip after it was posted by Jalopnik. Even if you don’t understand a word of Chinese, it is quite a fun watch, showing some Top Gear-style driving stunts and three truly bizarre vehicles being put to the test.
The first of the three vehicles featured looks like a cheap knock-off of the almighty Bugatti Chiron. It appears to be a backyard build rather than a vehicle you can actually buy for yourself, and is powered up a tiny petrol engine. While we don’t have any performance figures, you don’t have to be a genius to figure out it certainly does not have anything even remotely close to the actual Chiron.
Next up is a curious-looking orange car that’s sold locally as the Dayang Chok. It features an electric powertrain and, like the others, is hilariously slow. However, it is quite comfortably the smallest and inevitably weighs far less than the others, helping its overall performance.
Last, but not least, is an intriguing three-wheeler not dissimilar in shape to the Reliant Robin. It uses a rear-mounted petrol engine and is perhaps the most difficult to drive at speed as it has a tendency to lift one of its rear wheels off the tarmac during cornering, coming dangerously close to toppling over.
So, while these three are a radical departure from all the supercars and hypercars we all normally drool over, the video that follows is quite funny, so you might want to check it out.
There are so many different ways to modify a vehicle and a dizzying array of different tuning sub-cultures around the world. One of the weirdest and the one that we still can’t wrap our heads around, is ‘stance’ culture.
For whatever reason, some people think it looks cool to have cars rocking absurd amounts of negative camber that not only ruins the look of a car but also negatively impacts the way it drives and handles. Just look at the Toyota 86 – or Scion FR-S, as it used to be labelled in the States before the brand was axed.
This clip was recently shared on Reddit and shows the stanced sports car being driven up the driveway of the owner. For starters, the driver needs to use pieces of wood to get up the drive. That’s not all that unusual as sports cars and steep driveways don’t get along very well. What is unusual is the fact that this Toyota is rocking what could be as much as 30 degrees of negative camber, or perhaps even more.
Consequently, only a thin piece of the tire actually makes any contact with the pavement, leaving the rest jutting out from under the arches.
As one Redditor writes, this car is “like a beached whale trying it’s hardest to get back into the ocean.”
While some in the stanced scene cut or modify their standard springs and shocks to achieve the low ride height that generally accompanies cars with such absurd amounts of negative camber, this Scion FR-S is rocking an air suspension system that allows it to be raised up and drive over small leafs, twigs, and stones without scrapping the car’s floor on the ground.
Bentley entered the furniture making business back in 2013 with the original Home line, and for 2020, they have prepped a number of pieces that cost a pretty penny – as you’d expect for anything associated with the British luxury brand.
Customers will have to spend a whopping $14,710 for the ‘Newent Sofa’, and that’s without tax. The ‘Newent Armchair’ costs $9,040, whereas the ‘Newent Chair’ goes for $4,230 – and to sleep on the ‘Newent Bed’ requires spending another $11,950.
For the entire collection, you’re looking at almost $40,000, excluding tax. That kind of money would get you the likes of a new BMW 3-Series, Volkswagen Golf R, Ford Edge ST or Cadillac CT4-V. Then again, your home won’t look as stylish as it would decorated with the Crewe automaker’s furniture if you choose a car, will it?
Bentley claims that the furniture can be personalized to meet the customer’s personal taste, with exquisite fabric or leather upholstery and wood veneers. The options echo their automotive lineup, as the company’s design team collaborates with Bentley Home to bring these pieces to life, which are handcrafted in Italy by highly skilled technicians using precise procedures that combine traditional methods with modern technology.
“We work very closely with our colleagues at Bentley Home to ensure the furniture we create embodies the exacting standard in design and manufacture we have in our cars”, said Bentley’s chief of Product Design, Chris Cooke. “From the language and flow of the surfaces to the detailed execution of the veneering process, the ‘Newent’ range is a great example of what we do best, create luxury products for discerning customers.”
The driver of a stolen car loaded with over $130,000 (£106,855 / €119,211) in gold, made the wrong turn of her lifetime on May 21st.
According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, the woman made a wrong turn and ended up on the Blue Water Bridge heading to Canada.
She then turned around and had to go through customs to reenter the United States. This is where things started to go horribly wrong for her, as the CBP’s system quickly alerted officers that the vehicle was stolen.
The driver was taken into custody without incident and officers then searched the vehicle. Much to their surprise, they found over 5 lbs (2.3 kg) of gold bars and more than 30 grams of marijuana.
The woman, as well as the car, gold and marijuana, were turned over to the Michigan State Police, who are now investigating the incident. There’s no word on what charges the 43 year old woman could be facing, but CBP’s Michael Fox said “officers took the extra steps to identify an individual in possession of a stolen vehicle and a large amount of gold.” He added the arrest is “another prime example of our excellent working relationship with our partners” such as the Michigan State Police.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the relationship between motorists and cyclists can at times be very strained, leading to the occasional conflict between them. This is one of those cases.
This particular video appears to have been filmed in the U.S., although we’re not exactly sure where. Regardless of the location, it starts off by showing the cammer pulling alongside a trio of cyclists to overtake them.
However, rather than simply overtaking the cyclists and getting on with their day, the driver says he switched his hazard lights on and started talking to one of the riders. He claims that happened at the 10-second mark, which is why he briefly swerves to the right and that he wasn’t in any way trying to run the cyclists off the road.
Unfortunately, the dashcam didn’t record any audio, so we don’t know what words were exchanged, but after a few seconds, the driver accelerates away before pulling over a few hundred feet down the road. Before long, the angry cyclists ride past gesticulating towards the driver, with at least one appearing to give him the finger.
The three cyclists swerve around the road as they pass the motorist, with one visibly upset biker turning his head and looking back. At the same time this cyclist has his eyes off the road, one of his buddies swerves to the left. The two cyclists then collide and, inevitably, hit the tarmac.
While the crash itself is clearly the fault of the cyclists, the whole incident would, in all likelihood, have been avoided if there had been no road rage between them and the motorist.
If you live in an English-speaking country, there’s a good chance you pronounce ‘BMW’ exactly the way you were taught to pronounce those three letters; ‘Bee,’ ‘ehm,’ ‘dub-uh-you’. That’s not entirely accurate, however.
Those of you who have visited Germany or speak German will know that ‘W’ in German is not pronounced the same way as in English. Consequently, the ‘correct’ way of pronouncing BMW is to actually say ‘vee’ as opposed to ‘dub-uh-you’, as the German brand points out in a series of new videos.
However, it’s not just English speakers that pronounce the German automaker’s name differently than Germans. Follow this link and you’ll discover how BMW is pronounced in French, Chinese, Turkish, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch.
Of course, BMW isn’t the only German carmaker whose name can be pronounced differently in English. For example, the correct way is to pronounce Porsche is ‘Por’ ‘Shuh’ as opposed to ‘Porsh’ like many English speakers say.
Regardless of what language you speak, if you refer to a BMW as a ‘Bimmer,’ ‘beamer’ or ‘beemer,’ there’s a very good chance everyone will know what you’re talking about.
In a separate edition of BMW Explained on the carmaker’s website, we recently discovered that the term ‘Beemer’ originates in the United Kingdom. It was first used there to differentiate BMW’s motorcycles of the day from a British manufacturer whose bikes bore the nickname ‘Beezer.’ In China, BMW’s are referred to as ‘bao-ma’ which translates to precious horse.
A Ferrari 488 GTB has been wrecked after colliding with a bus in London.
British media, including Sky News, report that local rapper Swarmz was somehow involved in the accident stating it’s not clear if he’s the owner or the driver behind the wheel of the 488 GTB at the time of the crash, although this remains unconfirmed. Regardless of who was behind the wheel, it is claimed that the Italian supercar T-boned one of the city’s double-decker buses in Westminster.
A spokeswoman for the Met Police confirmed to The Sun that no one was injured in the crash.
“Police were called at approximately 13:50hrs on Sunday May 24 to reports of a damage-only collision on Northumberland Avenue, Westminster. No reports of injuries and no arrests.”
Video footage taken in the aftermath of the crash suggests the front of the 488 GTB plowed into the side of the bus. The supercar’s front fascia has been utterly destroyed and crumpled. All of the airbags appear to have been deployed and it’s quite obvious the car will be declared a complete write-off by the insurance company.
If there’s any good news, it’s that no damage appears to have been sustained to the rear of the supercar, meaning its 3.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine could find its way into another car in the future.
As for the bus, a portion of its side was caved in as a result of the collision. Not only has this caused significant exterior damage but at least one row of seats inside appears to have been pushed out of place. It remains unclear if anyone was inside the bus at the time of the crash.
We’ve probably all been woken up by a neighbor with a loud exhaust at some point in our lives, but how many of us have acted on it?
We’d guess very few, but that’s certainly not the case this time around.
In a Facebook post, Aaron Robinson uploaded a picture of his car’s exhaust system apparently filled with Great Stuff foam. The post was accompanied by a letter allegedly written by an angry neighbor.
It reads “I finally found you! You want our attention, you don’t want our attention. You have 14 days to fix the mufflers or put the stock [exhaust] back on.” It then threatened “Don’t egg us on, you will only regret it. We encourage you to call the police [or] install video [cameras], nothing will work.” It then finished by saying “Fix your muffler!”
While you can’t take things on the internet at face value, Robinson insisted the incident happened and replied to a comment suggesting he filed a police report. He also said “I hope someone gets covid and dies a slow painful death over this.”
That’s going a bit too far, but damaging someone’s vehicle is obviously illegal and uncalled for. However, a number of people can probably sympathize with the alleged neighbor.
Ford has been offering a ‘Good Neighbor Mode’ on Mustang GT’s with the optional performance exhaust system since 2017
Interestingly enough, the Facebook user appears to own a newer Ford Mustang. While the car is apparently equipped with an aftermarket exhaust, the Mustang GT offers a Quiet Exhaust Mode which adjusts the optional performance exhaust system to be about 10 decibels quieter than usual (see it in action in the video above).
When the system was announced in 2017, Ford referred to it as “Good Neighbor Mode” and said the idea came from engineer Steve von Foerster. As the company explained, he was driving his Shelby GT350 one morning and a neighbor called police over the car’s loud exhaust.
Reducing the weight of a car is one of the most overlooked ways to improve performance.
While big car manufacturers often release high-performance models with lightweight parts made from aluminum and carbon fiber, there are cheaper ways to reduce the weight of a vehicle. Like drilling holes in the bodywork, for example.
The following photo was posted up on Reddit and shows how the owner of this car has turned it into a vehicle more akin to a piece of Swiss cheese than a regular road car. If we’re not mistaken – and please do tell if we are, it looks like this is a mid-1990s (XV10) Toyota Camry.
For starters, the front quarter panels, doors, and the rear quarter panels have all been drilled out, presumably to remove excess material that the owner thought was adding too much weight. What’s more, dozens of holes have been drilled in the rear bumper and if you look closely, holes have been drilled in the B-pillars and the inside of the C-pillars. We’re certain this would impact the structural integrity of the car but the owner clearly thinks the reduced safety is worth it for the weight savings.
Things don’t stop with the body panels and pillars. Hundreds of holes appear to have been made in the aftermarket wheels and even the rear drum brakes. Heck, the rear door handles have also been removed and it seems as though all the side windows have been removed, except for one.
While we’re sure the Toyota weighs a bit less than it used to, the alterations have likely had a negative impact on wind noise and, of course, safety.
Dramatic footage has captured the moment a yellow plane landed on eastbound Interstate 470 in Lee’s Summit, Missouri on Tuesday afternoon.
The pilot of the Beechcraft Twin Bonanza aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing when one of the two engines failed, according to a KCTV5 report.
“He had to make a decision now. For him to land on that section of roadway was his best option to potentially avoid some catastrophic collision elsewhere,” Missouri State Highway Patrol Sergeant Andy Bell said.
Video captured by the occupant of a car driving along the interstate shows the plane gradually approaching the road at an angle with the pilot seemingly looking for a gap in the traffic to make the landing. It appears the plane touched down just in front of some vehicles.
Mary and Gailand Coop both witnessed the emergency landing.
“I looked up and there was a bright yellow plane, really, really close going over. And I go ‘Oh, my gosh. That plane is low,” Mary Coop told KMBC News 9.
At approx. 2pm, a pilot was making his final approach to land at the Lee’s Summit airport when he experienced sudden engine failure in one of two engines. The pilot landed on the nearby roadway of I-470 between Douglas and Colburn. No one was injured. @LSPDPIO@MoDOT_KCpic.twitter.com/AIm2yAaBZu
“At first, it looked like he was lining up with the median strip to make a grass landing in the middle and I think he looked over and sees that he’s going about the same speed as the traffic, and the traffic had an opening,” Gailand Coop added.
The pilot clearly picked his landing area well and came to a stop just a few hundred feet away from an overpass. No nearby vehicles were damaged and no injuries reported. One of the plane’s wings suffered a little bit of damage after hitting a highway sign.
UPDATE: According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, there are no injuries. MORE: bit.ly/2LHkpblHAPPENING NOW: A plane has landed on the highway at eastbound I-470 past Douglas Street. KCTV5 News is working to get more information.
Two companies, Tortoise and Go X, have announced a pilot program that will see electric scooters with autonomous functionalities take to the streets of Peachtree Corners in Georgia.
The companies’ say that as states across the United States start to re-open, consumers are demanding alternative forms of mobility to the likes of ride-hailing services. This is where these e-scooters are said to come in.
The pilot programme will work through a ‘Hail my Scooter’ smartphone application that will allow users to summon an electric scooter to their location. After a rider has completed their trip, the scooter will drive itself back to a safe parking spot. However, the scooters aren’t really driving themselves and are instead being piloted by remote teleoperators.
Peachtree Corners has passed an ordinance mandating that all shared micromobility devices deployed are capable of automated repositioning to increase the accessibility of such scooters while also avoiding sidewalk clutter challenges. Each scooter is thoroughly disinfected after being repositioned to a home base and every Go X Apollo employee is required to pass a daily Covid-19 health check.
“An important goal for us was to ensure that residents can enjoy the convenience of using e-scooters, while creating a world first in efficient, organized and advanced micromobility – right here in Peachtree Corners,” city manager of Peachtree Corners, Brian Johnson said. “As a reflection of our commitment to making cities smarter, we didn’t hesitate to partner with Tortoise to launch the first-ever fleet of self-driving e-scooters to be available for public use. Curiosity Lab empowers innovators like Tortoise and Go X to collaborate and discover other partners to test, prove and deploy novel technologies in a real-world environment.”
Ah, to be young and foolish again instead of just… foolish. It’s been proven time and time again that inexperience combined with youthful enthusiasm and lots, and lots of horses directed to the rear wheels are a recipe for disaster, something Mustang owners are all too painfully aware of.
And as with so many stories we’ve heard and seen involving Mustang drivers (as well as of other high-powered and relatively affordable sports cars, to be fair) of all generations and different kinds of crashes, it all begins with owners attempting to exhibit their drifting skills – or lack thereof – to their peers.
In this instance, the owner of what we are told was a brand new 2019 Ford Mustang GT coupe that was acquired just three days before the incident received a rude (and wet) awakening in Canada after a poor attempt to impress his friends with his potent ride.
It all went down in Cranbrook, British Columbia in Canada earlier this week at the parking lot of a local mall where young men usually gather outside a Tim Horton’s restaurant. The young, and up until then, proud owner of the “Need for Green” colored Mustang GT attempted to drift the muscle car that’s powered by a 460 hp 5.0-liter V8 in the wet, and not before long, he crash landed in an adjacent creek. Ouch!
We spoke to someone with knowledge of the accident who told us that the driver “was young and inexperienced and tried to show off” by drifting in the rain. “He lost control and crashed. It was a brand new car, bought it 3 days prior”. On the bright side, our source tells us that “nobody was hurt” – besides the muscle car. Well, that’s got to count for something.
As for the car, it doesn’t look good, as we’re guessing that with all the body, mechanical and possibly even water damage, it’s probably going to be a write-off.
Over the past weekend, police in Atlanta has charged 44 people with illegal street racing and reckless driving, WSB-TV reports.
Atlanta police were joined by the Georgia State Patrol, the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office, Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections in an operation that saw 114 citations issued as well as 29 vehicles impounded.
“We know they’re bored, the streets are less crowded and so you have a kind of perfect storm for this nonsense,” Atlanta police spokesperson Carlos Campos said.
Channel 2 Action News reports there has been a spate of street racing events across Atlanta in recent months that are becoming a growing concern for locals and authorities.
“The danger this poses to motorists and pedestrians alike is extraordinary. Spectators are the ones who are going to get hurt,” Campos pointed out. “The social media aspect to it. The thrill of putting these absurd videos on social media, and try to get as many likes or views as possible.”
Of the 44 people charged, 40 were arrested and taken to jail while four were released. Among the charges included speeding, ‘laying drag,’ drinking in public, reckless driving, aggressive driving, racing on highway and possession of marijuana.
News footage from the scene shows that a ride array of cars and motorcycles were in attendance. Many were muscle cars, including a blue Ford Mustang, a yellow Dodge Challenger, and a black Dodge Charger that were impounded.
There are few things worse than getting a nail or a screw stuck in your car tire.
Quite often, holes caused by nails and screws can be patched or plugged but that’s not always the case, especially if the foreign object is stuck in the sidewall or if you have literally dozens of screws stuck in your tires.
Over the weekend, Republic Tire & Supply based in Euless, Texas shared a series of images on its Facebook page of vehicles whose tires had been littered with screws.
The auto repair shop has suggested that hundreds of screws were seen strewn across Trinity Boulevard in the city and that, over the course of a day, there were at least seven people that had to come into its shop to get new tires or for the screws to be removed.
Photos show that many tires had literally dozens of screws in them, leading some on Facebook to suggest that perhaps someone actually took the time to screw them into the tires of various vehicles. However, doing so would take a lot of time and it seems more plausible that a tradesman carrying screws unknowingly had them fall out of their vehicle and cover the road.
A number of locals have also jumped on Republic Tire & Safety’s Facebook page posting images of their own tires that were littered with screws the same day, with one photo showing a blue Tesla Model X with dozens of screws in its left front tire.
A dashcam caught the moment the driver of a black Hyundai i30 brake-checked a large bus and tried to blame the crash on the bus driver.
This clip was recently posted to YouTube by police in Hungary and shows a black Hyundai aggressively swerving in front of a bus traveling in the right lane of a road. As soon as the i30 weaves in front, the driver hits the brakes, grinding to an almost complete stop before the bus slams into the rear of the Korean hatchback.
While the driver of the Hyundai is clearly to blame for the crash, he appears to get very angry at the bus driver, continually pointing towards the driver and gesticulating that he should have left some room behind his vehicle.
Local publication HVG claims the incident occurred in the early afternoon of May 11 and that police arrived on the scene to investigate the matter.
The Hyundai motorist reportedly told authorities that he suddenly hit the brakes to avoid a dog running across the road. Evidently, the man was unaware that the bus had a dashcam that filmed the entire crash and unsurprisingly, it reveals that no such animal ran across the road.
Police clearly were not happy with the man’s poor excuse and allegedly revoked his license for causing the accident and placing the bus driver and the passengers in danger.
If you ask Tesla, there’s absolutely no reason for a Model 3 owner to be “envious” of the BMW 3-Series, seen as how the former has a fully electric car which has been described by some as being almost as fun to drive as an M3, thanks to its low center of weight.
Then again if you’re just fond of messing around with the looks of your car in order to get a laugh and plenty of stares and weird reactions on the road, well, that would at least explain what we’re looking at here.
Judging by its license plate and from what we read online, this car is registered in Iceland, and based on the Twitter comments, it’s real and not Photoshopped. However, due to the low quality of the image, we can’t tell if they fixed an actual grille or (more likely) just used stickers.
Someone with the Twitter handle Nafnlaus posted the image online earlier this week, stating that “lots of people in our local Tesla group have seen it in person.”
So where to start? The Tesla Model 3 has a minimalist design language that makes for a decent visual, especially if you like simple and futuristic-looking things.
While we can think of a few ways to make it look better, what doesn’t work is adding any sort of new line or shape to such a design, which is why a grille-like add-on or stickers makes for such a negative here. It’s a completely pointless exercise, especially when you factor in the notion that electric vehicles have no need for a traditional front grille, real or fake.
Oh, and messing with the rear end doesn’t make the car look any better either, especially if you’re trying to turn it into a really weird Audi RS3.
Porsche is looking to increase its online marketplace presence with the launch of Porsche Finder, a pre-owned and certified pre-owned vehicle search platform.
The website searches through the inventory of all 192 Porsche dealerships across the United States. Customers can optimize their search results for model and generation as well as vehicle equipment and packages, pricing options, and interior and exterior colors, including cabriolet roof colors. The site was developed by Porsche Cars North America and Porsche Digital.
“Now is the time to put our foot on the accelerator to make the Porsche digital experience as stellar as our cars,” president and chief executive of PCNA Klaus Zellmer said. “Providing seamless access to our products is a top priority in our existing e-commerce strategy, with the goal of creating a one-stop shop for new and pre-owned vehicle search and purchase, which will follow down the road. For now, the new Porsche Finder platform for pre-owned vehicles will enhance the customer experience and greatly benefit our dealer partners.”
In a recent interview, Zellmer told Tech Crunch that the German marque is looking to develop a seamless e-commerce ecosystem for everything Porsche that will eventually allow customers to trade in their vehicles and complete the financing, insurance and final web signature.
As of writing, there were 4,389 used Porsche models available across the country.
Sorting by price, we found that the most expensive car currently for sale is a 2015 918 Spyder with an asking price of $1,214,948. The second-most expensive car is a 1997 911 Turbo S with a $474,844 sticker price. If you don’t have that much money to spend, there are 40 used Porsches available for less than $40,000 each.
Lamborghini is promoting the newly launched Huracan Evo RWD Spyder through a digital stamp.
Launched by the Italian company in partnership with Bitstamps, it’s available via the dedicated Bitstamps app and only 20,000 copies will be issued.
Each is accounted as a single digital object, whose history and uniqueness are guaranteed by Blockchain technology. Collectors will be able to purchase, store and sell them exactly like the usual paper stamps. Reselling can be made via the Marketplace that will open in a few months, and giving them away as gifts requires an e-card.
“The stamp is part of a themed series dedicated to the history of the Sant’Agata Bolognese company and over 20 of its most iconic cars: The Automobili Lamborghini Collection”, the automaker says.
Presented earlier this month, when Lamborghini resumed production after the COVID-19 shutdown, the Huracan Evo RWD Spyder is a rear-wheel drive supercar powered by the 5.2-liter naturally aspirated V10. It boasts 601 HP (610 PS / 449 kW) and 413 lb-ft (560 Nm) of torque that are channeled to the wheels via the 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
Tipping the scales at 3,326 pounds (1,509 kg) dry, it needs just 3.5 seconds for the 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) sprint, 9.6 seconds to hit 124 mph (200 km/h) and its top speed is 201 mph (324 km/h).
Pricing starts at $229,428 in the United States and €175,838 ($190,620) in Europe, excluding taxes. The first customers will take delivery of their rides this summer.
Four months after a dark colored 2007 Lexus RX was captured on a dashcam of a passing motorist jumping off a cliff and into the ocean in San Mateo County, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) believes it has finally solved the sad mystery of who was behind the wheel of the vehicle.
According to a statement released by the CHP, the driver of the Lexus was San Francisco resident Tracey Ivori Sinclair. The department said human remains and Sinclair’s Californian driver’s license were discovered at nearby Montara State Beach in the ensuing months.
“Additionally, a Missing Person’s Report filed for Ms. Sinclair by family members and a DNA match confirmed by the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office provided the remaining circumstantial evidence to indicate Ms. Sinclair was the driver of the Lexus captured on dash cam footage in December,” said the CHP.
“Although lacking sufficient information to positively identify the driver at the time of the incident, San Francisco CHP investigators remained determined and vigilant to solve the case and bring proper closure to surviving family and friends, ” the police department said in a news release. “The San Francisco area CHP would like to express our heartfelt condolences to the victim’s family and friends. We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to our allied agencies whose efforts greatly contributed to the outcome of this investigation.” [Updated 5/13/2020]
Original story follows below
Shocking footage has been released by police showing a car going over a cliff in San Mateo County, California, near Gray Whale Cove. The video was captured by a passing motorist on his dashcam this past Monday on December 30, at approximately 10:38 AM.
Sheriff’s deputies joined by crews from the San Mateo County Fire Department launched a search by land, sea and air but have yet to find the driver or the vehicle.
Now, the CHP-San Francisco office is asking for the public’s assistance in providing whatever information they can regarding the vehicle, which the Coast Guard believes to be a green Lexus (it looks like an older generation RX to us) and the person driving it. So far, search efforts have proven unsuccessful.
“Unfortunately, as beautiful of a drive as SR1 is, it’s also dangerous when you’re cliffside,” stated CHP San Francisco spokesman Bert Diaz.
Meanwhile, the CHP, U.S. Coast Guard, Cal Fire and other San Mateo County agencies provided air, land and sea crews to aid the search efforts. According to ABC7, while some car parts were found in the water, it is unclear whether or not they came from this vehicle.
CHP – San Francisco posted this message on their Facebook page just yesterday: “Search efforts had to be called off due to dangerous water conditions and have remained this way through Thursday morning. The CHP is requesting assistance from the public in gathering additional information. If you or anyone you know have any information that might be helpful, please call the CHP at 415-407-3741.”
HAPPENING NOW: Multiple agencies are searching for a vehicle that was reported to have gone off the cliff at Grey Whale Cove. One witness reported the incident. Tire tracks were found. Car parts found in water, unclear if the parts connected to this incident. pic.twitter.com/rPBUZYILWY
Security camera footage has captured the driver of a VW Passat in Switzerland putting on what is perhaps the worst display of motoring skills we’ve seen (OK, not ‘ever’ but certainly recently).
The clip shows the driver of the silver Passat quickly entering a parking facility. Right off the bat, the driver misjudges the entry to the parking lot, hitting a curb at speed and then bouncing across to the other side of the entry and slamming the passenger side of the vehicle into the wall.
Rather than braking, the driver then appears to accelerate and bounces back to the other side of the parking lot entry and this time takes out the ticket machine. The car then bounces back to the right and for a brief moment, is suspended up on two wheels while wedged in the entry. Not willing to accept defeat, the Passat owner slots the car into reverse to try and straighten up. It doesn’t go well as the car hits the boom gate and then accelerates forward, hitting the side of the entry yet again.
Eventually, the driver is able to drive through but some serious damage has been sustained to the Passat.
It is unclear just how the driver had so much difficulty entering the parking garage. We suspect that at some stage they got the accelerator and brake pedals confused. However, that doesn’t explain why the driver continued to smash into the concrete wall and the curbs. It’s entirely possible they were under the influence of something but that’s purely speculation on our part.
The Lexus ES is a comfy cruiser, but it’s no off-roader. One woman found that out the hard way as she managed to get her car stuck on a median.
As you can see in this video, a woman was apparently trying to leave a Walmart parking lot but didn’t notice the random median in front of her. As a result, her car got stuck on it when she tried to pull forward.
As the woman attempted to free her car, a small group formed and cheered her on. The person who filmed the clip reportedly offered to call AAA, but she want to give it a few more tries before admitting defeat.
After several attempts and a couple of near misses, she appears ready to give up. However, she remained in good spirits as she exited the vehicle and gave the camera man a high-five.
Approximately one hour after the saga began, the woman was able to successfully reverse the car off the median. While the exterior doesn’t look like it suffered any damage, the undercarriage probably wasn’t as lucky.
While the group was there to ‘help’ the woman, it’s unclear why they didn’t put their phones down and push the car. That could have potentially made the rescue much faster, but common sense isn’t so common in YouTube generation.
If you love coffee, adore classics Porsches, and have €10,200 ($11,053) to splurge, this magnificent espresso machine could be absolutely perfect for you.
The Espresso Veloce RS Black Edition comes from a company by the name of Super Veloce and has been designed to evoke design cues from the air-cooled flat-six engine used by the 993-generation Porsche 911. Spending as much as a car on a coffee machine is absurd but fortunately, the machine does include some rather exotic materials in its construction, including carbon fiber, titanium, aluminum alloy, and surgical grade stainless steel.
Super Veloce is based out of Johannesburg, South Africa and has reportedly sold different versions of its 993-inspired espresso machine around the world.
Looking more like a piece of art than something you would place on your kitchen bench, the Espresso Veloce RS Black Edition features black anodized cylinder heads and we’re sure makes a delicious espresso. Curiously, some of the photos show a small pixelated Porsche emblem on the machine, likely to make sure lawyers from the German automaker don’t come knocking on their door.
Espresso machines don’t need to be big but this one is. It’s also very heavy. Official specs list it as weighing a cool 47 lbs (21.5 kg) while measuring 14.96 inches (380 mm) long, 16.54 inches (420 mm) wide, and 13.39 inches (340 mm) tall. It’s not quite as large as a real Porsche 993 engine but it certainly makes a statement.
Super Veloce intends on producing (appropriately) just 993 examples of the machine.
Over the years, we’ve shared numerous stories about barn finds and people storing new cars for years, sometimes even decades, but the (ultimately, sad) story of the late Heinz Macchi eclipses anything we’ve seen so far.
This all went down several years ago, but this is the first time we’ve heard about this story after stumbling on a listing for a very low mileage 1980s Mazda 626 earlier this week and which piqued our curiosity, leading us to investigate its origins.
Note: Back in 2014, I wrote about an abandoned dealership in Switzerland (see link below) that was discovered by a Reddit user, but we haven’t been able to confirm (yet) any connection with the Heinz dealer network
The abandoned Heinz Macchi building in Root, Switzerland
In 2014, when Heinz Macchi’s company was liquated, it was revealed that he had hoarded some 240 (mainly) family cars, out of which at least 110 were brand new and unregistered, spanning in production years from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s.
What makes this both extremely fascinating and bizarre is that the collection wasn’t comprised of any particular special or low production vehicles, but entirely of regular mainstream cars including various model years and editions of the Mazda 323 and 626, a few ho-hum Nissans and some vans, with the odd Saab 90 thrown into the mix. Perhaps we could understand the rational if the collection (or so to speak), included a variety of mainstream family cars from different brands and eras, but over 90% of the vehicles uncovered were Mazda 323s and 626s!
The 1979 Mazda 626 CB2 was one of many found in the collection
A successful businessman who went bankrupt
However, let’s rewind the clock a bit. In the 1960s, Macchi created “Auto Macchi” which in the following years became one of Switzerland’s largest dealer networks having secured the rights to import and represent several brands, including British-Leyland, Mazda, Saab and Nissan. Later on, he built an impressive 13,000 sq.m (about 140,000 square feet) facility called “Rontal Park AG” in Root, Switzerland, to run his business, with the basement including a kart track (!), a bar and even a bowling alley, while the two floors above housed several hundred cars. There was also an underground room secured by a concrete door, which served as a treasury and shelter.
It’s not clear why, but Macchi eventually started to compulsively hoard a large number of cars, mainly brand new and unregistered models from his regular inventory, storing them in the facility. This obsession ultimately lead to the collapse of his otherwise successful business. After Macchi died (we were told in “2013 or 2014”), the building and the 240 or so cars stocked inside were auctioned off.
This unregistered 1991 Nissan Sunny N14 had only 44km on the odo
What happened to the cars?
There’s not much information online about Auto Macchi’s mysterious story, but we spoke with the Polish dealer that ended up buying nearly half the inventory that was left to rot in the years that the business went belly up. Enter Michael Rozciecha who owns the classic and regular used car dealerships KlasykaGatunku and Gieldaklasykow respectively.
Rozciecha, who kindly shared his photographic material with us, told Carscoops that there were rumors about mental health issues and depression caused from the death of his wife and son, which allegedly led him to seclude inside the abandoned dealership for years.
“It’s a very sad story. He was a rich and successful person who had a good and thriving business but was left alone. He was sleeping in abandoned cars and burning company documents and car folders adverts to warm the building during the winter for the last four years of his life. From what we heard, he died in that dealership,” Rozciecha told CarScoops.
A trove of automotive literature from the 70s throughout the 90s were found in the building as well
“Drowning in debt, he was deprived of livelihood and his obsession was to watch over the cars he collected. Local people helped him by shopping or inviting home for dinner. Many of the cars imported directly from the manufacturer have never found their owners. These cars were intentionally prepared for parking and collected on the first floor of the building,” said Rozciecha.
Following his death, a bankruptcy judge ordered Macchi’s estate, including, but not limited to, the building and approximately 240 cars stored in the facility, to be auctioned off in 2014.
The Polish dealer who brought nearly 100 of those cars
Here’s where Rozciecha comes into the picture as he managed to buy several dozen new cars with delivery mileage from the auction.
“We bought 86 Mazda and three Nissan cars, out of a total of around 240 available vehicles on the premises,” Rozciecha told Carscoops.” “But not all of them were new as there were also normally used cars with 200,000 km (120,000 miles) on them. I counted 86 new Mazdas, 2 new Nissans, while a dozen or so Mazdas outside the building were new but trashed and partially dismantled. So according to my calculations, around 100 to 110 vehicles made between 1975 and 1995 were new”.
The Polish car dealer said that the “cars were without batteries and fuel” but “all of them started fine after some small maintenance” – you gotta love Japanese reliability. According to Rozciecha, he paid an average of 1,000-2000 CHF, which is somewhere between $1,000 and $2,050 or €950-€1,900 at current exchange rates, but keep in mind this all went down in 2014 and 2015, so it’s not an accurate amount.
There was also a mid-1980s Saab 90 with just 400-500km!
We asked Rozciecha if he had noticed any other new cars from other brands. “There were two Bedford trucks with around 1,000 or 1,500 km (600-900 miles) and a mid-1980s Saab 90 with about 400-500km (250-310 miles) on it, but I was too late as it had been sold for just 5,000 CHF (about $5,150 in today’s rates – again remember, this was in 2014). The Saab 90 was bought by a collector from Holland.” No need to tell you that with Saab’s demise, this would have been a prized possession for any enthusiast of the Swedish brand.
You can buy one of Heinz Macchi’s Mazdas today
Originally sold in Poland, the Macchi-sourced 1986 Mazda 626 GT is now for sale in Germany with around 1,500km
One of the cars that Rozciecha sold a few years ago, a then brand new and unregistered 1986 Mazda 626 GT with just 17km (10 miles) on the odometer for 59,000 PLN (about $14,100 or €12,800 in today’s money), has been listed for sale on Autoscoutin Germany for €14,000 ($15,400) having now covered 1,500 km (930 miles). As you can tell, it still looks as good as new, a true time capsule for any automotive enthusiast, even if the 626 GT was no enthusiast model, with a perky for its category, 120hp 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine.
So there you have it. We’ll see if we can uncover more details about this story and add new information in the following days, but if you happen to know anything, go ahead and give us the tip.
Meanwhile, head below and take a gander at a wealth of pictures kindly provided by Michael Rozciecha. It’s literally like taking a trip back in time, when some of us were glossing over new cars in the near forgotten now era of magazines – you can almost taste the smell of paper just by looking at those pristine interiors.
All photos copyrighted and provided by Michael Rozciecha. You can check out his dealership webpages at Gieldaklasykow and Klasykagatunku
An unbelievable incident surrounding a purportedly disgruntled trucker in Chicago who drove his semi on top of his boss’s Ferrari GTC4Lusso has been making the social media rounds since last night.
We’re still digging for details, including to confirm the circumstances that led to this episode as well as the identity of the involved parties. Meanwhile, a number of Illinois truckers posting on social media seem to agree that the impulsive truck driver purposely ran over the transportation company owner’s Italian exotic after a disagreement. The crash apparently happened sometime over the past few weeks.
Now, here’s where the details get murky. A few, seemingly more credible, second-hand accounts are claiming on social media postings that the unnamed trucker did so after being denied a newer semi, which sounds insane, yet insanity is the only thing that would explain what we’re seeing in the pictures if this is not an accident – something we obviously can’t rule out yet.
“This driver was promised a 2020 truck but he was not producing enough to get a 2020 truck so he was denied the new truck… He got mad and slammed the truck on the owners car out of anger !!! I seen the actual video with voice and is on video the whole incident!” wrote Cordoba Beto, an Illinois driver on a Facebook posting on United Truckers.
On the same thread, another truck driver, Viktor Furce, said: “They agree when the driver came in Chicago to start driving a new truck ,and they offer him a 2019 Volvo with 50000mil and he refused to drive that 2019 Volvo asking for 2021 and he start yelling to everybody, and after couple of minutes he drove the truck into the owner of the company who was in front of that Ferrari trying to kill him.”
Other accounts are claiming that the trucker in question jumped out of the semi right before it toppled the expensive Ferrari, which is worth between $200,000 and $280,000 in the used car market.
Some postings on Reddit supported (falsely, from what it seems) that the trucker lost his marbles after the company owner stopped paying his drivers, but from what we can deduct, that doesn’t hold true.
After checking out some additional photos of the incident that were shared on imgur by Reddit user Nemomilo and who claims to have received them from a friend, in one of them, it appears that the trucking company is named “Surehaul Inc” with a USDot number 1752290. However, when we called in this morning to see if we could verify it, we were told by an employee that “you have the wrong information”.
Know more? Tell us!
We’ve reached out to a multitude of sources that have spoken out about the incident and we’ll post an update if and when hear back from them. In the meantime, if any of you have additional information and/or material, please send us an email at tips(at)carscoops.com and we’ll get back to you.
The research and development phase includes more work than people are aware of. For instance, Ford is testing the paint of new cars against bird droppings, and since there’s no need to go out and catch birds, they have come up with a process to replicate in it the lab.
Simply called ‘the bird poop test’, it’s “one of the ordeals paint samples are put through”, the company explained. The body panels are sprayed with a mix of phosphoric acid and soap detergent, as well as synthetic pollen, before aging them in ovens at 140 and 176 F (60-80 C).
The results of the test are then used to improve the paintwork. Here, the Dearborn automaker fine-tunes the pigments, resins and additives, and technicians ensure that the coating applied to a vehicle has the right stuff in it to resist such pollutants, no matter the environment, weather or outside temperature.
“With so many cars parked up at the moment as people stay at home, it’s likely birds are leaving their mark more than usual”, said Ford of Europe’s Core Engineering Paint Manager, Andre Thierig. “It’s wise to remove it before it gets too baked on, but our customers can at least take some consolation in the work we do to keep their paint protected.”
In addition to subjecting the panels to artificial bird waste, Ford conducts other paint tests that replicate extreme weather conditions, from sub-zero temperatures to high humidity, salt and fuel staining. In one test, the paint samples are bombarded non-stop with ultraviolet light for up to 6,000 hours (250 days) in the lab, to simulate what the sun does to the paint in the brightest place on the planet.
Police in Greenfield, Wisconsin were involved in a scary pursuit yesterday morning that could have easily turned deadly.
According to a post on the department’s Facebook page, an officer spotted a Dodge Durango that matched the description of a stolen vehicle reported by the Oak Creek Police Department.
After following the vehicle for a bit, the officer activated his lights and sirens in an attempt to pull the Durango over. The driver ignored this and blew through a stop light in an effort to get away.
The officer pursued the fleeing Durango which eventually turned down residential streets, before returning to main roads where it drove in lanes meant for oncoming traffic. Later, the officer attempted to perform a PIT maneuver but came up short.
A short time later, the Durango turned onto a residential street and the officer used the opportunity to slam into its rear end. This caused the crossover to spin 90° and nearly flip over.
Despite this, the driver doesn’t give up. He throws the Durango into reverse and slams into a Kia Soul while trying to turn around. Another officer uses their vehicle to block the Durango’s escape, but that doesn’t stop the driver from slamming into the cruiser and attempting to push it out of the way.
The driver continues trying to escape even though the first officer has his gun pointed just feet from his head. He’s eventually enable the free the model, but quickly reverses into a minivan. The second officer uses this opportunity to box the Durango in once and for all.
The driver continues trying to escape, until an officer opens the front passenger door. The man then surrenders and is thrown to the ground.
While three passengers managed to escape from the Durango, no officers were injured. The driver was taken into custody and is facing a long list of charges as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports police cited the man for seven traffic violations and are also requesting charges for fleeing an officer and recklessly endangering safety.
***WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE***On Tuesday, 05/05/20, at 12:44AM in the 4700 block of South 27th Street, a Greenfield Police Officer observed a vehicle matching the description of a vehicle reported stolen through the Oak Creek Police Department. Theofficer attempted to stop the vehicle and the suspect vehicle fled northbound on South 27th Street. A PIT (Pursuit Intervention Technique) maneuver was successfully performed at South 11th Street and WestOklahoma Avenue. Three passengers fled on foot from the vehicle. The driver continued his reckless behavior, attempting to flee in the stolen vehicle by ramming an occupied, fully marked Greenfield patrolsquad. Fortunately the officer was not injured and continued to attempt to stop the suspect’s dangerous actions. After several attempts the vehicle was disabled and the driver was taken into custody. This case will be reviewed by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office at a later date.For more information, please contact Captain Scott Zienkiewicz at (414)761‐5344 regarding case #20‐9401.
The Cadillac XTS doesn’t have much in common with monster trucks, but that didn’t stop one Florida resident from doing their best Bigfoot impression.
According to Fox 13, the elderly driver of the XTS was at a SunTrust Bank drive-thru when they accidentally put their car into reverse instead of drive.
While accidents happen, the driver kept their foot on the gas. This caused the car to fly out of the parking lot and onto County Road 486.
Instead of stopping, the driver started turning as they hit the median. After narrowly missing a pickup, the XTS drove through an intersection in reverse.
The driver then continued turning and launched the car into parking lot where it landed on top of a Dodge Journey and Volkswagen Jetta. The XTS looks to be in remarkable condition, despite the accident, as the only damage appears to be banged up bumpers.
The others cars weren’t as lucky as the Jetta’s hood and windshield were destroyed. The Journey, on the other hand, appears to have a deformed roof as it was never designed to have a Cadillac parked on top.
Police are reportedly investigating the accident but, given the age of the driver, it’s likely they were just confused and panicked once they started going in reverse. That’s a terrifying combination, but we’ve see it happen countless times in the past.
Thankfully, no one appears to have been injured but things could have easily turned tragic.
The Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet is not an off-roader. Let us repeat that. The Porsche 911 is not an off-roader. Evidently, the driver of this particular 911 in Bulgaria thinks different.
Limited details about the video in question are known, other than the fact that it was filmed near Sofia, Bulgaria. It appears to have been filmed by a pair of mountain bikers who had their ride interrupted by the arrival of the German sports car.
The clip shows the black Carrera 4S Cabriolet, complete with a lovely red roof, being driven by an elderly gentleman down a narrow path covered in rocks. While an SUV would have no trouble driving down the trail, the low ride-height of the 911 makes it less than ideal for such surfaces.
At the 20-second mark of the video, the front right wheel momentarily lifts off the ground as the sports car slides along the dirt. A few seconds later, the underside of the rear bumper can be heard scraping along the ground.
Not dissuaded, the driver continues on, and crosses a small stream in the car. We have no way of explaining just what is going on here but a comment on the original Facebook post suggests this isn’t the first time the man has been spotted by locals driving his Porsche off road.
Perhaps this is his ‘driveway’ and he lives in a property at the end of the rocky path? Or maybe he just splurged some of his retirement money on a Porsche and is looking to enjoy it without speeding around on public roads? Give us your best guess down below.
To those in the U.S. as well as markets around the world, the Cadillac CTS is a very recognizable vehicle that’s hard to mistake. Despite that, the owner of this particular CTS has gone to considerable lengths to make sure everyone knows what they are driving.
This image was shared on Reddit and depicts one of the ugliest Cadillac’s we’ve ever seen. Judging by the address on the building sign, the car (fittingly) resides in Texas, and is the epitome of the saying “everything is bigger in Texas.”
First, there’s the front. For whatever reason, the owner decided to craft out a custom grille in the shape and colors of the Cadillac badge. It makes even the largest kidney grilles from BMW look small and somewhat reminds us of a colorful Toucan with a brightly-colored beak.
As if the presence of this swollen Cadillac badge/grille at the front wasn’t enough, the CTS is also rolling on a set of aftermarket wheels with blue and chrome hubs and huge Cadillac badges. The bright shade of blue adorning the sedan tops things off.
We’ve seen some bizarre modified cars in recent months but this ranks up there with some of the funniest and the looks are made all the more garish with the chrome on fog light surrounds, window surrounds, and fake grilles on the front wheel arches.
An 81-year-old was taken into custody last week after crashing his Subaru Outback on a pedestrian walkway in Florida.
According to an IONTB report, Joseph Low of Palm Harbor was traveling eastbound on Causeway Boulevard and entered onto a pedestrian walkway near the entrance of Honeymoon Island State Park. Low drove along the bridge for several hundred feet before the Subaru got jammed.
Witnesses helped the elderly driver out of the car before Pinellas County police officers arrived on the scene. Low told a deputy that he didn’t notice people banging on the side of his vehicle as he drove along the pedestrian walkway.
The officer investigating the incident noticed Low had glassy eyes and an odor of alcohol on his breath. He subsequently failed a field sobriety test and was taken into custody and transported to the Pinellas County Jail. Officers performed a breathalyzer test and he returned levels of .109 and .108, above the legal minimum for presumed alcohol impairment of .08 in Florida.
A video taken from the scene shows a man banging on the Outback’s driver’s side window shortly after it got stuck on the walkway. The person filming asks Low if he’s fine and he responded by saying “I’m fine. I don’t know how the hell I got in this lane but I thought I was in the right lane.”
Low was ultimately released from jail on $500 bond. The Subaru suffered quite a lot of damage with the passenger side front wheel almost ripped off, indicating significant suspension damage.
