Man's best friend relegated to running board sack in 1936 originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 15 Mar 2008 14:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For those customers who appreciate fine craftsmanship, opening the trunk of their new six-figure Italian GT can provide nearly as much excitement as the car itself. Okay, maybe not that much, but the custom fitted luggage found in the boot of The Boot's most exquisite touring cars has an appeal all its own. Ferrari has been at it for years with Schedoni leathercrafters, but with Maserati coming into its own, the Trident marque needed to offer its customers something special to put in the trunk. So they hitched up with one of the biggest names in the Italian fashion industry: Salvatore Ferragamo, a company best known for providing Hollywood with their red-carpet footwear.

The partnership was initially announced with the launch of the GranTurismo at the Geneva auto show - you'll forgive us if we missed it, we were a little preoccupied with the car itself. In any event, the joint venture between the two stoic Italian crafthouses just launched a new website highlighting the range of custom fitted leather luggage.

Follow the link for more information or the jump for the press release.

[Source: Salvatore Ferragamo via Italiaspeed]

Continue reading Italian Craftsmanship: Salvatore Ferragamo packs the Maserati GranTurismo

Italian Craftsmanship: Salvatore Ferragamo packs the Maserati GranTurismo originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The English take their convertibles seriously. They also take their road tripping seriously. Put the two together and, as far as luggage room goes, you usually come up with a very short short jaunt or heading to a destination that doesn't require much clothing. Well, as Darwin found, there is no end to the craftiness that takes place on an island. Antony Dixon, tired of driving from Britain to Le Mans in his Miata with a garbage bag full of items tied to a trunk-mounted rack ... has created a waterproof PVC bag that you can tie directly to your trunk. It's called The Boot Bag, and it gives you 50 liters of additional space (about two cubic feet). It sits on a non-slip membrane and has no sharp edges, so it won't nick your car. We do believe it will, however, make you look like you've been kicked out of your house. But if you really need the room, it's yours for $120.

[Source: Piston Heads]

Carry more in your convertible ... in a bag on your trunk originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 10 Jun 2007 09:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting on a rather disturbing trend among younger buyers of new and used cars - the tendency to buy outside of the culturally acceptable boundaries of age and generation. Why, there's an absolute epidemic of young adults, some not even yet out of their teens, cruising around in Oldsmobile Cutlass Supremes, Buick Park Avenues, and Chevrolet Caprices! Buick's Lucerne appears to be one of the heirs to the throne currently occupied by Chrysler's 300C, and there are more than a few youngsters roaming around Cadillac, Lexus, and Lincoln dealerships as well.  

We mock the WSJ only because this isn't a new trend (despite the CNW marketing data - specifically, its "stodgy index" - that shows the emergence of this buying habit). The release of the Chevrolet Impala SS in 1994 attracted buyers that were an amazing 10 years younger than typical Caprice owners, and lit off a B-body customization craze that continues today. Older RWD cars, including the large number of retired police cruisers that hit the market every year, are a blank canvas for the custom crowd. Want to throw it on bags and "lay frame"? No problem. Do you have a desire, as misplaced as it may be, to lift your car four feet and throw on a set of monstrous 28s? Go right ahead - it's as easy as lifting a pickup truck. There's also some serious performance potential. And for those going for a more subdued look, a clean set of dubs on an mid-nineties Buick Riv or Ford* Lincoln Continental is an easy and affordable way to stand out from the sport-compact crowd while still giving yourself and three or four friends plenty of room to stretch out during road trips. Of course, there's an ironic tinge to all this, what with so many pensioners going after 'youth brand' cars like the Scion xB.

In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that the author of this Autoblog post owns two vehicles with wire-spoke hubcaps and stand-up hood ornaments.

[Source: The Wall Street Journal]

*Thanks to the reader who pointed out my error - apparently, driving old-people cars can also cause slight dementia.

Young drivers going after "grandpa cars" originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 09 May 2006 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.