Spy Shots: Next Ferrari F430? Enzo successor? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ferrari engines have found there way into a variety of different cars - Lancias, Maserati, even the forthcoming A1GP racecar - but this has to be a first. Someone is shoehorning the V8 from the late, great Ferrari 360 Modena into a 1960 Nash Rambler wagon, of all things.

Dropping V8 powerhouses into classic family-haulers may be nothing new, but this is another matter altogether. To be fair, it's only the bodyshell of the original Rambler. Because the Maranello screamer was made for mid-mounting, Divers Street Rods turned to Art Morrison to craft a custom frame, over which the restored bodywork was fitted. The set-up should be somewhat familiar to fans of the previous-generation Renaultsport Clio V6 and the Volkswagen GTI-W12 showcar, but this wagon is decidedly different from one off-Ferrari "shooting-brakes" like the 250 GTO "Breadvan" and the Sultan of Brunei's 456GT Venice wagon.

Along with the engine, the rodders took from the Ferrari its suspension and, from the looks of it, its wheels, brakes and probably a number of other components for the custom Rambler. Because Ferrari isn't exactly Mopar and doesn't offer crate engines, the parts were taken from a wrecked Modena - unfortunately there are all too many donor cars lying around thanks to drivers with deep pockets but shallow driving talent pools.

We're promised a showing at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show, and we'll be there, cameras at the ready to check out the finished product.

[Source: Carscoop]

Born a ramblin' man, reborn a stallion originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: Toyota MR2 Ferrari 360 replica

Fun things to do with your MR2: Ferrari 360 replica originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The motorsport press thought it was a big deal when Ferrari made their F1 car longer than last season's by a couple of inches. Well, some nutjobs in a chop-shop somewhere have taken things a step further by hacking a perfectly good Ferrari in two and adding a few seats, turning out a gran turismo even longer than the 612 Scaglietti.

To make matters worse, this wasn't some 80's-era $30k Ferrari, either: they've chopped up a previous-generation 360 Modena, arguably among the most beautiful of modern road-going Ferraris.

Although we hate to admit it, logistically speaking, stretching out a mid-engine car with rear-wheel-drive technically makes more sense than running a long driveshaft from a front-engined limo all the way to the rear axle (as Top Gear's Richard Hammond reckoned with his stretched MGF). But that's where our sense of charity ends and our sense of outrage kicks back in. This is the automotive equivalent of painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa.

If you can bear it, there's a video after the jump.

[Source: Bilfeber]

Continue reading VIDEO: Even for a Ferrari, that's a bit of a stretch

VIDEO: Even for a Ferrari, that's a bit of a stretch originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 18 Mar 2007 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ferrari North America has announced the schedule for the 2007 Ferrari Challenge series. The series gives private gentleman-racers the chance to compete in the longest-running sanctioned racing series behind the wheels of their own specially-prepared F430 Challenge cars at locations around North America, in parallel to series across the ocean.

The series has been running since 1993, when the 348 was the chosen vehicle, replaced two years later by the 355. While the earlier cars were retrofitted, the purpose-built 360 Challenge was introduced in 2000 and is being entirely phased out in the new season after one year of overlap with the 430. This season will bring the Ferrari Challenge series to Homestead, Florida the weekend of March 9-11, Infineon in California April 13-15, Virginia May 18-20, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal to coincide with the Canadian Grand Prix from June 8-10, up at the renovated Circuit Mont Tremblant the following weekend, down to California Speedway August 10-12, then at Laguna Seca the next weekend before the world finals in Italy in late October.

[Source: Ferrari North America]

Continue reading Ferrari NA prepares for 14th Challenge season

Ferrari NA prepares for 14th Challenge season originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 07 Feb 2007 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Why do bad things happen to good cars? It seems to us that Ferraris are getting crashed left, right and center, and we're here to say they don't deserve this. We're speaking up for the little red-headed sportscars that can't speak for themselves (except in indiscernible revs and exhaust notes... and in Pixar movies).

The latest, at least, was not an Enzo. The world supply of those rare supercars is being rapidly and dangerously depleted by ostensibly careless drivers who seem to be routinely writing them off. No, this one was "just" a Modena, a 360 Spider to be precise, crashed into a lamp post at an intersection in Perth, Australia. By the looks of things, it was just the front end that was wrapped around the pole, while the rest of the car looks fine. But there's bound to be some structural damage to the 360's aluminum frame, and you can try to fix that, but she'll never be the same.

In response to this latest assault on the Ferrari community, we're marching to the UN to drum up support for a new bill to be passed that mandates the death sentence for anyone who acts so carelessly as to kill an innocent Ferrari. Exceptions will be legislated for official factory drivers, but everyone else is hereby put on notice.

[Source: Le Blog Auto - French]

Another day, another Ferrari crashed originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 19 Dec 2006 16:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.