Autoblog

You would think that giving someone a new car would be enough of a surprise for the holidays, but there's always someone looking to go the extra mile and, literally, wrap it up with a ribbon on top. We'd suggest raiding Toyota's warehouse of big red bows, or putting the keys in a box and wrapping that might be a perfectly reasonable approach. But if you're looking for the full gift-giving treatment, and live in the UK, Creative FX could provide the service you're looking for.

The company usually deals with promotional signage for cars, but this holiday season it went into the gift-wrapping business for a local Hyundai dealership. It took some 54 meters of wrapping paper, but workers managed to gift-wrap an entire Santa Fe, leaving only the tires, grille badge and front license plate frame exposed for effect. The service would cost between £400 and £500, but the Hyundai dealer pointed out that he'd be glad to throw it in for free on the cost of a new car – or maybe he'd factor it in to the delivery charge.

[Source: AutoExpress]

Think about everything your mom has bought you in your lifetime. Who paid for those car magazines before you were gainfully employed? Who gave you gas money to get back to campus after a quick visit home? And who was there with bail money when you really needed it? That's right, Mom.

Can any pure bred auto enthusiast deny that there is no more meaningful gift a son or daughter could give in return than a brand new car? It's a dream very few of us will fulfill in our lifetime, but one guy is planning to do just that this weekend when he presents his mom with a brand new Mercury Milan on Mother's Day.

Who knew that giving your mom a car could be so complicated? We didn't until we read this forum post written by the aforementioned good son who goes by Crystallas on the Ford Fusion Drivers Association website. Apparently, there are lots of things to consider that should ensure your mom's smile on Mother's Day stretches from ear to ear and doesn't turn upside down.

It might be small stuff like what color you should pick, but if you get that one wrong she'll leave your present in the garage like a cardigan that doesn't match her favorite blouse. And does she even want a new car in the first place? If you replace her trusty and reliable K-car, she may never forgive you. The presentation of the gift is crucial, as well. Make sure you have a glowing review of the winning car handy when you hand over the keys.

There's plenty more tips for giving your mom the ultimate gift by clicking the Read link below.

Thanks for the tip, Carl!

[Source: FusionDrivers.com]

The Holiday Season is upon us, and just like the rest of us, you're undoubtedly running around finding the perfect gifts for everyone on your shopping list, naughty or nice. But short of a Porsche, Ferrari or Bugatti race car with a red ribbon tied around it, what kind of gift would you get for a car nut? Especially when Autoblog already gives the automotive enthusiast all the octane he or she can burn.

Well, for what we can't give you, we give you this: the Autoblog Holiday Gift Guide. In it you'll find an assortment of gift ideas for the car nut on your list, everything from jackets to racing schools, toy cars to laptop computers and a whole lot in between.

So, from all of us at Autoblog: Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Kool Kwanzaa (and Festivus for the Rest of Us)!

You know what the fashionistas say, pink is the new black. Or is that black is the new black? Whatev. The point is that pink's a hot color. In fact, many of us with kids that lack a Y chromosome (read: daughters) are treated daily to the sight of Barbies with pink hot pants, Hello Kitty notebooks with pink covers and, perish the thought, diapers with pink waistbands. So it's obviously important to expose our impressionable young daughters to car culture as early as possible if we ever hope to raise the next Danica Patrick, Kathryn Legge or Ashley Force, and the best way to do that is to bring together their favorite color and your biggest passion. Automoblox does just that with its new limited edition pink sportscar, the C9p. It's just like the Automoblox heirloom toys we showed last year, except for the pink plastic greenhouse and pink rubber wheels. Fortunately it's not the hot pink that tends to scar the retinas, but rather a muted, subtler shade that's easy on the eyes. Little ladies, start your imaginary engines.

[Source: Automoblox]

click on image to enlarge

The official set of 2007 Porsche calendars makes me regret ever giving Google Calendar a try. Abandoning the old wall calendar for the digital domain is clearly a mistake if we have to give up looking at vehicles like these 365 days of the year. Porsche's new set of official 2007 calendars includes three large, traditional wall calendars and one date planner. Each calendar has a theme, like "Symphony of Colors" that shows various locations where the featured car's color either starkly contrasts with the surroundings or blends in. There's also "On the Move" that shows us behind the scenes of Porsche's museum collection and "Design... turbocharged" (shown above) that displays various design sketches and views of the new 911 Turbo from the men and women who designed it. Finally, the smaller date planner features 50 years of Porsche advertisements going all the way from 1957 up to the present. You can order the calendars at Porsche's website, and we suspect more than a few a Porsche-o-philes will find these under the tree at Christmas.

Follow the jump for a couple more pics of calendar pages.

[Source: Porsche]

Continuing a long tradition of offering special edition rides in its Christmas catalogue, Neiman Marcus and BMW announced today the availability of the Limited-Edition 2007 BMW Individual M6 Convertible in the 2006 Neiman Marcus Christmas Book. Only 50 examples of this rare beauty will be sold, but for the pittance of $139,000.00, one gets a 2007 BMW M6 convertible bathed in Ruby Black paint and upholstered in a special Gold Brown shade of BMW Individual merino leather.

We're glad to hear that in addition to the car, this Christmas present also includes a four-night trip to Munich where the proud owner and a guest will steep themselves in BMW culture and meet the designers who designed, or really picked out the color combo, of their unique M6 'verts. One question for Neiman Marcus, though: do you guys gift wrap?

[Source: Neiman Marcus and BMW]

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