Autoblog

Click on the image for more shots of the IDEA ERA Concept

The term Barchetta, which literally means 'little boat' in Italian, is applied to a small, two-seat open-air sports car called the ERA concept introduced by the Italian styling firm IDEA Institute. Like many past barchettas, the ERA is doorless, meaning drivers and passengers get to do their best Bo Duke impression as they enter the roadster over the doors. What's especially impressive is that such a cool design was drawn up, rendered and molded into reality in just 30 days. Conceived at a meeting on April 8, the vehicle is meant to commemorate IDEA's 30th anniversary and the initial design was approved on the same day. Feverishly working around-the-clock, the vehicle's team pounded out a very nicely designed model, which at this time features no powertrain. With its curvy body and peaked fenders all around, the ERA has a hint of the old Birdcage racer in its profile. Suggested layouts include both a transversely mounted four-banger driving the front wheels or a longitudinal V6 providing the proper rear-wheel-drive layout.


[Source: IDEA Institute via Automotive News - sub. req'd]

There is certainly no shortage of extraordinary stories about Ferraris being dug out of somebody's barn after decades of neglect, but few are quite as intriguing as this one. As a student at the University of Alabama in 1966, Darrell Westfaul bought a competition 1950 Ferrari for $1,500 which he drove during his senior year. He planned to restore the car after graduation, but plans changed and the car was relegated to moving from garage to warehouse to garage for forty years.

Now 63 years old, the owner took the car out of storage and donated it to the university where he enjoyed it four decades earlier. The university sold the car for upwards of $1 million under an arrangement that will provide Mr. and Mrs. Westfaul with dividends on which to live for the remainder of their lives, after which the interest from the capital will go towards a scholarship fund.

Sounds extraordinary? That's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Well researched and documented by the owner, the 1950 Ferrari 166MM Touring Barchetta turns out to be far more than an "ordinary" Ferrari, imbued as it is with an extensive race history and pedigree. Already one of the earliest Ferrari models, s/n 0046MM, originally owned by famed designer Nuccio Bertone, was made even more special by the fitting of custom bodywork by Zagato in 1953, after having competed four times in the famous Mille Miglia race in 1950, '51, '52 and '53.

The car was sold to a museum in Arizona, whose owner will put in an additional $300,000 to properly restore the car to original condition.

[Source: University of Alabama via Tuscaloosa News and Alabama Press-Register]

Although the primary attraction at Sbarro's booth in Geneva was the Citroen-based Cruise Crosser, the vehicle that caught our attention was this student-developed Turbo S20 Barchetta concept car. A group of 20 Espera Sbarro design school students pooled their resources, and in cooperation with the French TV show "Turbo," built this one-off concept in close to three months.

Powered by a 300 HP, 5-liter V8 pulled from a Porsche 928, this mid-engine track car tips the scales at just over 2,500 pounds – not quite a lightweight, but considering the lump behind the driver, a noble feat indeed. The ponies are harnessed by a five-speed manual and power is sent to a set of 11x20 inch OZ Botticelli wheels, wrapped in 335/30/20 Michelin PS2s.

Whether or not the Turbo S20 will make it off the show floor and onto the track remains to be seen, but regardless, it's a testament to what focused minds can create, with limited funding.

Bertone is cooking up something special for the Geneva show next month and has graced us with this photo of what's in store. This sharp-looking little roadster is based on the Fiat Panda 100HP -- that pumped-up little city car that's been lauded as more fun than a barrel of monkeys. In fact, the only thing not to like about the Panda 100HP is the styling, an issue Bertone seems to have resolved nicely with this concept car.

The show car was created to celebrate the Italian design house's 95th anniversary, an incredibly long lifespan that has been marked by a long-standing relationship with Fiat. As we reported previously, Bertone's been having some trouble and Fiat may be coming to the rescue. Industry analysts (read: some of us over here at Autoblog) anticipate that Fiat could end up buying out Bertone, and like they turned Abarth into their in-house tuning department (soon to be revived), Bertone could become a unique sub-brand within Fiat, tweaking the Fiat line-up with designer bits.

This concept car, meanwhile, is reportedly designed to recall the custom re-bodied 1947 Fiat 500 which Nuccio Bertone enjoyed driving on weekends. If this is what they've put together for their 95th birthday, we can't wait for their centenary.

(Thanks for the tip, Faustino!)

[Source: Quattroroute.it]

It's only cool when Lamborghini does it. Other carmakers can try, but it's only cool when Lamborghini does it. It may amount to chopping off the roof, cranking up the engine or simply slapping some decals on the side, but when the Raging Bull rolls out a special edition, it's show-stopping.

When Lamborghini teamed up with Versace to produce a special edition Murcielago LP640, they only built ten of the ultra-exclusive fashion accessory to beat all other fashion accessories. But now they've topped it with a one-off open-air version. Based on the new LP640 Roadster, Lamborghini painted this one black (the ten hard-tops were white) for Versace, who auctioned it off at a star-studded event in Beverly Hills to honor the late founder Gianni Versace. The one-of-a-kind Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Versace Roadster raised $500,000 for the Elton John AIDS foundation.

Click below for more pics.

[Source: Motor Authority]

The Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta is one of the most sought-after collector's cars of all time. It was the first true Ferrari; only 25 of them were built and only a handful remain in existence – these cars were raced, and raced hard. It was an especially big deal to classic automobile aficionados and Ferrari historians when s/n 0052 M was found after nearly fifty years in obscurity, stored by a collector in Arizona.

As exciting as it was to find a 166, nobody had any idea just how unique this car was until Ferrari expert Marcel Massini got it back to his workshop. Massini brokered the purchase of the car from the late owner's estate after his passing, and was commissioned for a full mechanical rebuild. The exterior was to be left as-is in reverence to the car's extensive racing history, but when Massini started disassembling the engine he found the car was actually fitted with a two-liter Formula 2-spec competition engine, with a gear-driven camshaft instead of the conventional chain drive. When the numbers were found to match, it became apparent that this was a factory prototype, built that way from the start, and not retrofitted somewhere down the line.

166 MM Touring Barchetta Speciale s/n 0052 M has a deep racing history, having competed at Le Mans, the Targa Florio, Mille Miglia and took the chequered flag at the 12 Hours of Paris. The restored machine, which appeared on the September/October '06 cover of Cavallino Magazine, re-emerged to the public at the 2007 Cavalinno Classic, and the guys at Ultimatecarpage.com were there to snap some photos. Check it out.

[Source: Ultimatecarpage.com]