Spot any similarities? Holden surprised and delighted when it rolled out the Coupe 60 at the Melbourne Auto Show this past week. Motor Trend put two and two together and dug up some three-year-old photos that show off essentially the same car wearing a Pontiac suit, instead. The nose on the original concept shows what GM was planning for the next-gen GTO at the time. We're glad the prototype styling was deemed too expensive for production; the world wasn't ready for a modern interpretation of the 1982 J2000.

The Coupe 60 started life as Pontiac's replacement for the sales-proof GTO, but Motor Trend reports that development stopped when GM went full bore at getting its next-gen full-size GMT900 trucks to market early. The reappropriation of this past work to create the stunning new Holden show car could signal a return of the Monaro, which could trickle down to North America as another page in the G8 brochure, or a new GTO, but don't start holding your breath yet.

Gallery: Holden Coupe 60

MT claims Holden Coupe 60 is really 3-year-old Pontiac GTO replacement originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 09:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: Volvo XC60 Concept

Spy Shots: Volvo XC60 out playin' in the snow originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With the end of the year 2007, so came the end of Ferrari's 60th anniversary celebrations. Although the 60 special-edition 612 Scagliettis made to mark the occasion were nothing compared to the F40 and F50 supercars that were created to celebrate previous anniversaries, for its sixtieth Maranello partied it up in a number of ways, including an around-the-world rally. The relay baton that was passed off through each country on its global adventure was decorated with 60 emblems, each designed for the occasion and depicting an icon from each year of the company's history.

Now those emblems are being offered to customers as a collection, each minted in brass and mounted on a wooden base covered in red silk. Anchoring the display is the same Ferrari badge that goes on the boot lid of every new Ferrari road car. The collection is available for about $2000, but if you think nobody would drop that kind of cash on something like this, there are thousands of Ferrari collectors out there who are used to spending easily a hundred times that on a new car without batting an eye, and 1947 of them will have these hanging in their homes, offices or garage.

[Source: FerrariStore.com via Luxurylaunches.com]

Collector's Collection: Ferrari 60th Anniversary Icons originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 06 Jan 2008 18:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: 1971 Mazda Cosmo Sport

Continue reading For Sale: Mazda Hen's Tooth..err, Cosmo

For Sale: Mazda Hen's Tooth..err, Cosmo originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: 60th Anniversary Ferrari 612 Sessanta

Continue reading 60th Anniversary Ferrari 612 Sessanta

60th Anniversary Ferrari 612 Sessanta originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 23 Jun 2007 12:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This year is Ferrari's 60th anniversary, and Ferrari is doing Rossa-themed things all over the world to celebrate. In Britain, the Silverstone race track will play host to Ferrari Racing Days the weekend of June 8-10. Among the range of festivities will be Ferrari Great Britain's attempt to break the world record for the "Largest Parade of Ferraris." The current record is 128, and based on what they have planned, updating the Guinness entry sounds perfectly doable. In addition to a round of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli for F430 Challenge cars, the FXX will be appearing in the UK for the one and only (official) time, there will be races for historic road and race cars, a demonstration of F1 cars, and on display will be at least forty Ferrari F40's. The weekend will also commemorate the 40th anniversary of the UK Ferrari Owners Club. If that doesn't attract every Ferrari from Land's End to John O' Groats, we don't know what will.

[Source: Ferrari]

Gunning for Guinness: Ferrari eyes record with parade at Silverstone originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 14 May 2007 08:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Click image for high-res gallery

British police may not pack firearms, but when it comes to their motor pool, they've got us beat, hands down. True, those Vauxhall Astras might not look like much next to a fully-spec'd Crown Vic cruiser, but Scotland Yard seems to repeatedly be handed the keys to special vehicles that put even the most fantastic of exotic collections to shame, highlighted by publicity vehicles that have included a Renault Formula 1 car and a Lamborghini Murcielago LP640.

The latest to be adorned with the flashing lights on England's roads is a specially-prepared Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. The grand touring car was presented to British police as a sort of pace car to accompany the UK leg of Ferrari's 60th anniversary relay, a worldwide tour that has already been through the Middle East, the Far East, North America and parts of Europe, and arrives today in the United Kingdom.

Driving the GT will be police officers from five law enforcement agencies across the UK, leading a procession that will snake some 1500 miles through the British Isles from Belfast to Silverstone, passing along the way through such locations as Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and London. The Scag is adorned with police livery and an emergency lighting bar along with the GTS Handling package and all the options.

We assume that the bobbies will be returning the keys at the end of the event, but it's not exactly like Ferrari GB could call the police to report the car stolen if they didn't. For our British readers, we wouldn't recommend testing the speed cameras for the next few days, just to be on the safe side.

[Source: Ferrari]

Gallery: UK Police Ferrari 612

Continue reading Ferrari for the Fuzz: UK police receive 612 Scaglietti

Ferrari for the Fuzz: UK police receive 612 Scaglietti originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 18 Apr 2007 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of its legendary Crewe factory, Bentley unveiled the Diamond Series special editions of the Continental GT coupe and Arnage R sedan, of which only 60 and 400 examples were made available, respectively. (As if an "ordinary" Bentley weren't exclusive enough.) Clearly purchasing one of these choice motors would be an event unto itself, so you wouldn't go ascribing your name to the paperwork with just any old Bic pen, now would you?

Of course not. That's why Bentley has teamed up with Tibaldi, purveyors of bespoke Italian writing instruments, to offer a special series of pens to commemorate Crewe's diamond jubilee. The design emulates the unique styling cues of the Diamond Edition Bentley motors, with a machine-turned metal finish and knurled rings for secure grip. The nibs are crafted from solid 18-carat yellow gold, plated in rhodium and ruthenium. Each pen comes in a suitably unique box of diamond-quartered English oak, as applied to the interior trim of the Arnage Diamond Series, judiciously lacquered and inlaid with the Bentley logo.

To match the exclusivity of their corresponding automobiles, these choice writing instruments are only offered in limited quantities: 400 silver fountain pens, 200 silver roller-ball pens, 40 solid white gold fountain pens and 20 solid white gold roller-ball pens. If you've gotten this far, you're probably shaking at the prospect of the suggested retail price. (As for us, we don't know, and we're not asking.)

[Source: Tibaldi via Luxist]

Write-Hand Drive: Bentley diamond jubilee pens by Tibaldi originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 26 Feb 2007 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Volvo's giving us a little treat in releasing these pictures of the XC60 concept SUV, which they'll be showing in a few weeks at the Detroit show. While strictly dubbed a concept show car, the kid brother to the XC90 is expected to go into production in 2009. How closely it mirrors this shapely showcar is the question.

The exterior styling clearly takes on Ford Europe's latest "kinetic" design language, following along the lines (so to speak) of the Ford Iosis concepts, among others. And those lines mark a radical departure from the comparatively conservative styling production Volvos employ, and what was previously expected to continue with the XC60 as well. To compete with the increasingly crowded premium compact SUV segment, that could be just what Volvo needs to cut ahead of the pack. The interior, meanwhile, is very i, Robot ...tres slick, but don't expect much to carry over to production aside from the modern trademark Volvo floating console-dash panel.

Not much is known about the mechanicals on this concept, but we do know it's based on the platform of the Land Rover LR2 (a.k.a. Freelander 2, as opposed to the LR3/Discovery).

Follow the jump for more images.

[Source: Volvo via Carscoop]

Continue reading Detroit Preview: Volvo XC60 concept

Detroit Preview: Volvo XC60 concept originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 13 Dec 2006 15:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.