Autoblog

I wish my S60 could conjure up a little coffee avatar in the LCD screen like the new S80 can. It'd be even better if it could perk a cup up for me. The new pictogram fun is part of a rollout of new safety features from the Swedish automaker. Coming to Volvo stores before the end of the year should be a Collision Warning with Auto Brake system, Driver Alert Control, and adaptive cruise control. The new safety features will be in the new large Volvos based on the EUCD platform; the S80, XC70 and V70.

Collision Warning with Auto Brake is a descriptively named system that will sound alarms should sensors detect a collision is imminent, and if the driver doesn't react, the system will apply the brakes. Driver Alert Control is a vehicular big brother that keeps an eye on how you're doing. If it detects erratic driving, it will suggest that you take a breather. We bet you could trigger the coffee cup icon by clipping an apex or two and making sharp, decisive inputs to the controls, but then again, Volvos tend to be tuned to allow a bit of entertainment before they say "Ja, shoor, dat's fun, but you could crash, don'tchaknow."

[Source: Engadget]

The 2007 Woodward Dream Cruise is an event that can be best understood in person, but video is a close second. Over 1.5 million people walked up and down the five-mile stretch of Michigan's most famous road, and thousands of cars of all makes and models were on display for their visual consumption. Click on the video above to take in the sights from the cruise just in cased you missed us streaming it live earlier in the day.

Click the image above to view high-resolution photos of the Gratiot Cruise imports

There just isn't a whole lot of import metal in most Michigan classic car events, but luckily for us, there was a BMW dealer right in the middle of the Gratiot cruise. The dealer and its employees brought out their most souped-up Mini's, which outdid anything from Bavaria. There were a couple early 90's M-Series also and a 2002 that was very sharp. One of the most breath-taking vehicles on display at the event was the Porsche pictured above (more pictures of the Porsche are in the gallery). Talk about perfection.

To attract anywhere near the foot-traffic of the bigger Woodward show, the Gratiot cruise also has an annual talent competition, lots of great bands, and even a large machine gun. We snapped a few photos to give you an idea what the event was like. The high-resolution pictures are located directly below. Enjoy!




All photos Copyright ©2007 Chris Shunk / Weblogs, Inc.

Click the image above to view the high-resolution Gratiot Oldies pics

With the success of the Woodward Dream Cruise over the past 10+ years, Michigan has earned the designation of "World's cruising destination." To many, Woodward makes sense since it is the oldest thoroughfare in the Motor City, but for five generations of Michigan east-siders, Gratiot was the original cruising hot-spot. My grandfather, dad and I all headed for the avenue named after Fort Gratiot, looking for young ladies or trouble, and usually striking out with both. Tuners have been hitting the scene since before any of the Autoblogers were born, with everything from forced induction to louvers, ground effect lighting, or mag wheels. Since it is southeast Michigan, most of the cars are of domestic nature, but in recent years import tuners have also had their time in the spotlight.

To understand the sheer volume of classic cars in the southeast Michigan area, this past weekend there were two massive classic car shows, plus parking lots full of reconditioned metal in various cruiser hot-spots like Eddie's Drive-In and a local bowling alley. Cars from the '30s-'50s started the classic car craze, and there were plenty to see on Gratiot avenue. Some were a work in progress, but others were highly polished, mobile history with chrome and fins-a-blazing. We were able to grab quite a few shots of these beauties, and they're available in the huge high-resolution gallery below. Make sure to tell us which vehicle you thought was the best. Enjoy!

All photos Copyright ©2007 Chris Shunk / Weblogs, Inc.

Ferrari's newly-minted record isn't in jeopardy, but we bet the driver of the lone Ferrari was kicking pebbles while hanging out with the dude who brought the SLR. Okay, probably not. Pagani's frontal assault on the supercar world, powered by an AMG V12 must have made for some sweet sounds and beautiful sights as 13 of them rolled from Milan through Como Lake to Monte Carlo for the Third International Pagani Gathering. The three-day tour just wrapped up on June 10th, so some owners are likely still en route home.

We're going to put a Zonda on the Autoblog budget request for next year and see if it'll come through for us. Supercar culture is valuable research, so maybe it'd even be tax deductible, since we'd be using it for work. Some of the most exclusive Italian exotics on the market, Paganis are mesmerizing when there's just one. Thirteen in a row must have been cause to stand and stare for as long as you could, before they disappeared at the horizon's convergence point. The website Swiss Car Sightings has put together a gallery of 100-plus pieces of eye candy, so without further ado, Andiamo!

Talk about a piece of history. On eBay is the last of the Mellow Yello Chevy Luminas from Days of Thunder. Before Katie and TomKat, before Mission Impossible, before Tom thought it was okay to jump up and down on couches with Oprah, back when Tom still made sense to most of us, there was Days of Thunder -- arguably the first movie to make NASCAR a mass market proposition. Days of Thunder is also where Tom met Nicole Kidman. The seller says this is the car used for closeups, documented by Hendrick Motorsports (which prepared the cars for the film) and that Tom actually sat in its seat and used its steering wheel. The press release listed with the sale indicates that the car has 650 HP. The seller doesn't mention that, but really -- it's Tom, it's Nicole, it's NASCAR, it was the best of times. Need we say more?

[Source: eBay]

On a Saturday in August every year, more than 1.5 million people and 40,000 muscle cars, street rods, exotics and collector cars descend on Detroit for the Woodward Dream Cruise. The Cruise is a 12-hour petrol-powered ode to 50s and 60s and the days when Woodward Avenue -- the Boulevard of Dreams! -- was the heart of Cruising, USA. Now in it's 12th year, the entire cruise and the satellite events that surround it during the weekend are being protested by a 63-year-old retired schoolteacher named Joellen Gilchrist.

Her complaint is that the Cruise is environmentally unfriendly, and her protest is part of the Step It Up campaign that has an admirable goal -- to convince Congress to reduce carbon emissions by 80% in time for 2050 -- that targets "the world's largest one-day celebration of car culture." The Cruise features vehicles from before the passage of the Clean Air Act, so they aren't sterling examples of eco-friendly motororing. But as AutoblogGreen rightly points out, most of the vehicles in the Cruise don't get many miles outside of events like the Cruise and the random joyride. While she aims to keep her protest friendly, even humorous, it might make more sense if she simply protested the commuters headed to and from work every day. This kind of enthusiast event, however, provides a target that will be sure to get some attention.

Intriguingly, even The Sierra Club has remained on the sidelines. The Club hosts a Green Cruise the weekend before -- sans motorized appliances -- and the folks who don't like the cruise simply spend the weekend out of town.

[Source: Detroit Free Press via AutoblogGreen]