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Suzuki is said to be unveiling the Kizashi 3 at next week's New York Auto Show, so we thought we'd refresh our memories about the Manga-styled Kizashi 1 and 2 concepts we saw at the Frankfurt Motor Show and Tokyo Motor Show. There's still no information about what powertrain (we've heard talk of a V8) or platform any car derived from the Kizashi concepts would ride upon, but we like where Suzuki's going with the idea. We expect that the Kizashi 3 may be nearly production-feasible, from what Suzuki has to say. Does this mean there's a sports sedan in the offing for Suzuki? Possibly. Or not. For a taste of what it might be like to see one of these cars actually out in the wild, we've turned up some videos of the concepts riding around in a digital world, posted after the jump.

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Red and rare. Save for a few vegetarians among us, that's how we like our steaks, and that's how we like our Ferraris. But some are so rare, even the bloodlust-driven connoisseurs among us don't know what to do with it. Take this one-off Ferrari Conciso. It's absolute carpaccio. But nobody seems to be biting.

The Conciso was built by German studio Michalak Design based on the mechanicals of a 1989 Ferrari 328 GTS (s/n 80962). As the name implies, the idea was to trim the chassis down to its bare essentials. The car has no doors and little in the way of a windshield to speak of. The driver and passenger hop over the sides like an F1 driver, hunker down into the racing buckets, buckle the competition harnesses and strap on the helmets, stored in special compartments inside the cabin.

The concept was shown at the 1993 Frankfurt show and in Geneva the following year, and was awarded second place in the Eurosign Design Awards behind the Bertone Blitz electric vehicle concept and ahead of the Italdesign Nazca C2. The design theme would later pop up in subsequent concept cars like the 1996 Ford Indigo and 2000 Pininfarina Rossa. Although Michalak was ready to take orders to produce additional copies of the Conciso, only one was reported to have been built. That single vehicle is now available for sale on eBay, but with one day to go and a starting bid of $160,000, the Conciso has yet to receive a single bid. Perhaps the market for custom Ferraris that look like droopy-eyed platypuses isn't so strong right now. If you missed the auction and have the mint, get in touch with Mechanic Import.

[Sources: eBay, Le Blog Auto and Michalak Design]

Thanks for the tip Roman!

Show cars, dream cars and concept cars have long been a staple of the auto show circuit. Ever since Harley Earl dropped the 1938 Buick Y-Job on the unsuspecting public, automakers have been teasing us with concepts that more often than not fail to make it to production. Sometimes certain design elements or powerplants or nametags make it to showrooms, even whole vehicles occasionally slip through with minor changes, but there are always cars we wish automakers would have built but didn't. That's what The Car Connection addresses in its newest top ten list. "Ten Concepts Detroit Should Have Built," as you may guess, focuses on concepts American manufacturers should have made.

TCC gives a thorough description of each choice and an explanation of its merits, and also invites readers to weigh in on which they would choose as the pick of the litter. We encourage you to click over and check them out for yourself, but here's the list:

• Chrysler Norseman, 1956
• Chevrolet Astro II, 1967
• Chevrolet Corvette Four-Rotor, 1972
• Chrysler Phaeton, 1997
• Pontiac Aztek, 1999
• Jaguar F-Type, 2000
• Chevrolet Nomad 1999 and 2003
• Lincoln Continental, 2002
• Cadillac Sixteen, 2003
• Ford Reflex, 2006

Add our votes for the Astro II (pictured), the Nomads and Cadillac's Sixteen concept, though ourl list would have also included the Dodge M80, Ford 427 and Buick Velite.

[Source: TheCarConnection]

From the fertile mind that brought you such varied hits as the Clenet and premixed coolant, we present to you the Dimora JX Coupe. Done up the old-world way -- with real metal and skill -- and the results for all that effort are decidedly weird. They can call it a coupe all they want, but its certainly more El Camino than sleek GT. The JX moniker is a little strange too, as the Chrysler Concorde that this car began life as was an LH model. The JX is the designation for the Sebring convertible from '96-00.

No matter, this metallic tangerine wonder has had old school bodywork techniques applied to make it a landaulet-looking contraption. The car was built as a movie car, though Dimora is cagey about where we might ultimately see the JX's film debut. The write up at the Dimora website is filled with hyperbolic nuggets. Our favorite gem is this one, regarding the fitting of a 3.2-liter V6: "We replaced the stock engine with a 260 HP 3.2 liter V6 from ATK, which is backed by a three-year unlimited mileage warranty. We added a "Tornado" vortex component to the air intake. MPG was increased 10% and horsepower grew by 10%. We have not had a dyno test on the engine..." Uhh, what?! We're not sure how you can measure a 10% horsepower increase (from an intake restriction, no less) without, you know, measuring it. Ah well, at least the rest of the world continues to have vehicular reasons to ridicule us.


[Source: Dimora via Jalopnik]

We have already seen media pics of the Mazda Hakaze. We even have all of the details about the mechanicals. What we didn't have until today are live shots and personal impressions of what it's really like in the "flesh." Well, thanks to our own Damon Lavrinc in Geneva, we do now. He describes it as "ambitious," "beautifully fluid", and, when referring to all of Mazda's recent concepts, a "modern Pininfarina with a Japanese flare." It brings some cohesion to recent Mazda offerings like the CX-7 and CX-9.

Following on the heels of the Nagare and Ryuga concepts Mazda has shown over the past year, the Hakaze adds a "flying leaf" motif to the mix. The body surface mimics its predecessors with the ripples, this time looking like flowing sand dunes, which Mazda's designers are calling the "flop" technique of color manipulation.

Whatever. Besides giving us the emotional embodiment of "kite-surfing," the important thing to note about the Hakaze is the fact that Mazda has said it is the one concept of the three that has the best chance of seeing production.Ready for a CX-5, everybody?

Click away for our high-res gallery from Geneva with all of the media pics still available as well.

click on image above to view the high-resolution gallery of Barrett-Jackson dream cars

A few more concepts from the Barrett-Jackson catalog should prove to be interesting lots. Nobody really expects these to draw the same kind of money as the F-88 or Bonneville from years past, but you never know. Heck, they probably won't even approach the value of the Dodge Firearrows we previewed earlier. But these are pretty interesting vehicles in their own right, starting with a concept for one of America's most iconic limos, carrying through to a GM mixed moniker model, to an early electric dream car. A rundown of each is available after the jump and as usual, a high-res gallery of my own and Drew Phillips' pics are available by clicking the above image.

click on the image above to view our full high-resolution gallery of the Firearrow concepts

Now these are the cars that make Barrett-Jackson otherworldly. The cars that bring 2, 3, 4, or even more million dollars and create that surreal atmosphere of "How high will this kook go for this car?" The last few years have seen the Olds F-88 concept crack the $3.2 mil mark, and then the Pontiac Bonneville Special and GM Futurliner follow that up with $3 and $4 mil respectively. This year's crop of concepts is perhaps a bit light compared to those, but there are some fun ones in the group this year: The Dodge Firearrow II (pale yellow) and Firearrow IV (red) Hemi convertibles from 1954 should be the big ticket items.

[Source: Barrett-Jackson]

One of the cars we are most interested in seeing at the Detroit show is the new Ford Interceptor Concept. Although we've seen pictures already, this Mustang platform-mate has the potential to challenge the Mopar 300/Charger duo in the rear-drive large American sedan segment. We hope it makes it to production because by bringing its 427-esque styling to market, Ford will also win some street cred for not letting this bold design die on the vine.

Now we have a unique chance to see how the actual Interceptor show car was put together courtesy of USA Today. They stopped in at Aria in Irvine, California to get an inside look at how a show car is built. Aria is one of those concept builders that crafts million-dollar show cars mostly by hand and usually in total secrecy. They are also responsible for other Ford projects like the aluminum-bodied Ford Shelby GR-1 as well.

USA Today follows the Interceptor project over a couple of weeks from when it resembled nothing more than a giant pile of jigsaw puzzle pieces to the final days when the car was finished just in time for its shipping deadline. Pretty interesting read with some additional glimpses at the Mazda Nagare concept mishap that had the Aria team scrambling minutes before the debut. Check it out for yourself by clicking the read link.

[Source: USA Today via Kicking Tires]

UPDATE: high resolution image gallery added after jump

click on image to enlarge

GeigerCars.de is beginning to put some tuners in the U.S. to shame with its highly modified versions of American muscle. While working on its supercharger kit for the Mustang GT, it decided to go one (or 20) steps further and build a complete show car to show off their work. The stock 4.6-liter V8 of the Mustang GT has been enlarged to 5.2 liters, and with the aid of a belt-driven supercharger and an ample intercooler now develops 520 horsepower and 415 ft-lbs. of torque. The 520GT routes all those new ponies to the rear tires through a modified six-speed manual and can snap off a run to 62 mph in 4.2 seconds on its way to a 178 mph top speed. The suspension and brakes were also upgraded and a set of 20-inch GeigerCars chrome wheels was also added (gotta have the bling).

Since it is a show car, the 520GT has to look the part and achieves this with a specially developed aero-enhancing body kit that can fit on both coupes and convertibles. A deeper chin spoiler scoops up air and shovels it into the big oval air dam that feeds the intercooler, while an integrated diffuser in the rear fascia and large rear wing keep things steady at speed. The 520GT would also feel right at home in an IASCA event thanks to a 10,000-watt JBL sound system.

GeigerCars will be taking the 520GT on tour around the globe next year, so hopefully it will show up in the U.S. and teach our American Mustang tuners that there's no monopoly on pony power.

(Press release, more photos after the jump)

[Source: GeigerCars.de]