For sure, a 2008 Porsche 997 Twin Turbo is not a mild-mannered Clark Kent kind of ride. But after Evolution MotorSports smokes the tires of this great sports car into, and out of, its Tempe laboratory/ garage, it’s a super-car — prepared to mete out justice to bad street cars everywhere. Buckle up, grab your cape, and hold on for a trip across time and space. If you can catch up to him, ask Karim Mashouf of Beverly Hills, a 30-year-old entrepreneur. A former Bentley GT driver, he wanted a car that was more than its marque. Ferrari and Lamborghini? […]
KEEP READING >The Lady: Scottsdale’s Lynn Smith. The Beast: A Shelby Daytona Coupe from John Panfil’s Anthem Motors. Smith and husband Barry accepted delivery last October of the super-car from Panfils’s north Phoenix company. The continuation car is a natural for a woman who has loved horsepower since she was a child in North Carolina. A horse rider, she had her pilot’s license by the time she was 25. She’s also parachuted 99 times out of airplanes — two jumps with malfunctions. “My love for cars began when I was 16,” she recalls. “My dad used to take me on obstacle courses […]
KEEP READING >A purpose-built go-cart for the street. That’s the 2008 Exige S 240 — Lotus’ quickest, most powerful street-legal production car to date — as described by one man who knows. Road and Track also recently salivated: “There’s absolutely nothing else remotely like it,” its writer noted. “This Lotus is special in a lot of ways when comparing it to anything else that is offered from other manufacturers for the street,” says Chad Wilkens, sales associate at Scottsdale Lotus, 7652 E. Acoma Drive in the Scottsdale Airpark. The family-run, no-pressure agency will also put you into a new Elise SC or […]
KEEP READING >Tony Blair has driven the new Jaguar XF. Sometime in March, you can, too, at Scottsdale Jaguar Land Rover, 6725 E. McDowell Road. The former British Labour prime minister couldn’t comment, but he’d no doubt be joined by Conservatives across the aisle in acclaiming the new sports sedan’s convergence of luxury and performance. Almost 8,000 of his very proper countrymen have pre-ordered the vehicle which represents a new styling language for the Coventry-based luxury carmaker. “This exciting new vehicle will put Jaguar back on people’s shopping list,” says Michael Famileti, general manager of Premium Luxury Brands for Penske Automotive, which […]
KEEP READING >A Yenko, a Jag, a Cobra, and a Spyder. Scottsdale Photo Radar Alert: Drew and Josephine Alcazar have these sizzling-hot cars and 500 other collectibles revving up and rolling into town again. Their eighth Russo and Steele “Sports and Muscle in Scottsdale” auction-in-the-round returns to north Scottsdale Jan. 16 through the 20. Among their 500-plus consigned cars — most with reserve — will be a 1950 Jaguar XK120 Alloy; a 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda; an original, numbers-matching 1965 Shelby Cobra; a rare 1969 Chevrolet Corvette L-88; a 1966 Lamborghini 350 GT; a 1969 Yenko Chevelle; a 1973 Ferrari 365 Daytona […]
KEEP READING >A one-off Italianized ’63 Vette, a ’35 very English Rolls originally delivered to très French Montreal, and a fire-breathing California-built Robosaurus: Where else but Barrett-Jackson? These two collectibles as well as 1,000 other muscle cars, classics, hotrods, and customs will be offered at the 37th annual “Worlds Greatest Collector Car EventTM” Jan. 12–20, 2008, at WestWorld in north Scottsdale. Last year’s Barrett-Jackson auction spun out record sales of $112 million for 1,270 cars sold at no reserve during the week, including the world-record gavel price for an American car: $5.5 million for Carroll Shelby’s “Super Snake” 1966 Cobra. Attended by […]
KEEP READING >One day John Panfil may arrive as one of America’s car legends. To get there, he sells them. American Legends, 21242 N. Black Canyon Highway, specializes in home-grown race car classics you can park in your garage. If names such as Shelby AC Cobra, Shelby Daytona, and Ford GT40 excite you, as they have excited racetracks for almost 50 years, then pit stop at John’s place — and let everyone know you’ve arrived. At American Legends, you can purchase a variety of 21st-century versions of American supercars — classic lines with the finest contemporary components. His showroom and shop is […]
KEEP READING >Three tons, 12 cylinders, two coach doors, four seats and a base of just over $400,000: one superlative automobile. The long-awaited Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé, which began as the 100 EX concept vehicle at the 2004 Geneva Auto Show, has arrived, but if you want it to arrive soon in your garage, motor on down — now — to Rolls-Royce Motorcars Scottsdale, 6725 E. McDowell Road. Only 300 of these mega-convertibles will be delivered in the United States, and the waiting list will put you in with kings and queens and business royalty, but you’ll have to have the patience […]
KEEP READING >The Trident has made its points, again. Meet the Maserati GranTurismo. Grand touring cars combine power with roadability, strength with elegance, assurance with grace. They meet the road with the panache of a race car and the dependability of the family car. They’re long distance and short-trip to the market, regal as well as every day. They can show it off on the track, the autobahn — or to the in-laws, due in on the 5:15 at the airport with all of their baggage. The new four-seater from the great Italian automaker delivers all of these qualities: 405 horsepower from […]
KEEP READING >Ed Brace just helped many kids by helping out the kid in him. The owner of Scottsdale-based Diamond Back Automotive Group recently purchased the “Black Hornet,” a one-off 1968 Shelby EXP500CSS — Carroll Shelby’s personal car. Providing late-model foreign and domestic luxury and exotic automobiles for more than 20 years, Brace’s company sells highline cars in a retail showroom/warehouse at the Scottsdale Airpark, 15270 N. 83rd Place (phxcars.com). The proceeds of the undisclosed sale price benefit the Gardena, Calif.-based Carroll Shelby Children’s Foundation™, which the racing automotive manufacturing legend established in October 1991 following a heart transplant the preceding year. […]
KEEP READING >To move their high-profile wheels, Norman and AC Celik sometimes get high. So high, the cofounding brothers of Forgiato once booked an employee on Delta Airlines with a set of the company’s forged-aluminum wheels to deliver in time for a Texas car show. Based in Arleta, Calif., Forgiato (“forged” in Italian) manufactures luxury wheels for high-performance vehicles such as Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Porsche, Mercedes Benz and BMW. These luxury cars elicit admiring looks without Forgiato’s — and coveting stares with them. The Celiks’ American alloy wheels, built in their factory/warehouse to jewel-like specifications, are available in 17 styles, with […]
KEEP READING >The Trident has made its point — and points — again. The Maserati Quattroporte Automatic, the latest from the Maserati factory in Modena, Italy, slickly unites luxury with speed, functionality with the pleasure of the road, everyday four doors with weekend zoom. An authoritative mark of command on all of the vehicles, the company signature is the trident — symbol of the Roman god of the seas, Neptune. Roman gods these cars are — with a heritage in racing and the open road. While some await the arrival of the Sergio Pininfarina-designed Maserati GrandTurismo, scheduled for a late October U.S. […]
KEEP READING >“For the tenacious, no road is impassable.” For the lover of handcrafted performance cars, no Spyker is undesirable. The Dutch-designed and handbuilt sports car, bearing the Latin motto, “Nulla tenaci envia est via,” is now available at Motorsports of Scottsdale/ Lamborghini of Scottsdale, Raintree and Hayden roads. The Spyker C8 Spyder convertible starts at $269,995 and the C8 Laviolette coupe at $292,500. These are high-performance, low-production two-seater mid-engines very much at the Ferrari and Lamborghini pinnacle, with naturally aspirated all-aluminum Audi V8 engines, fueled through eight injection throttle bodies and four overhead camshafts and five valves per cylinder. The output […]
KEEP READING >Here’s a high-performance challenge: Start with the legendary 575 Maranello, unveiled by Ferrari in 2002, and create a front-engined V12 berlinetta that would exceed its extraordinary performance on the track and street. A challenge, indeed, as the Maranello had won both the attention of sportscar buyers as well as two FIA GT championships. The result from the people of the Prancing Horse: the 599 GTB Fiorano, let loose into the streets and into car lovers’ dreams last year. Indeed, this is a mid-front-engined two-seater that continues the great tradition of Ferrari, from the 250 MM more than a half century […]
KEEP READING >Top this: Top down, you accelerate from that irksome freeway red-light to 60 miles an hour in 3.4 seconds, and this graceful V12 will see green until around 205 miles per hour (photo cameras or police chasers excepted) — enough to get you from Phoenix to Flagstaff in a cool hour and 15 minutes. Could a beauty with a Pinnafarina body sunning on the Italian Riviera deliver that much excitement? The Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster, which debuted at the 2006 Los Angeles Auto Show, retains the many assets of the LP640 Coupe while adding drop top excitement as well as bodystyle […]
KEEP READING >Feel left out in the collector-car parking lot? Want to sell your two-door classic but can’t get in the proverbial front door of other auctions? Like car auctions but wish they were also vehicles for family fun, for everyone to enjoy? Nancy White, Joe Schott and Eric Jones of Peoria, Ariz.-based Classic Carriages LLC have heard your automotive angst. Their Collector Car Auction and Show, March 14–18, at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, responds directly to the needs of those consignors with great vehicles who have been denied the opportunity elsewhere. The triumvirate has also designed an event […]
KEEP READING >Dream of sandcastles and kick sand in the face of Ferrari, whose muscle-bound cars were already legends on the raceways, on the roads, in the motoring mags. This is how Ferruccio Lamborghini chose to begin his journey into sports-car history. A proud and driven Taurus, Lamborghini paved his own legendary road, creating his own roar in the Po Valley and in lands far beyond Emilia-Romagna. Today, his cars — with names as muscular and sensuous as their bodies and powerplants — pound roads and autobahns and superhighways from Africa to Asia and Arizona. His speedy Miura S, sculpted two decades-plus […]
KEEP READING >Cruising for a vintage Ferrari and a ‘60s Corvette? A classic Aston Martin and a thundering Mopar Hemi? The elegant French lines of a half-century-old Jaguar and a mean, muscular Shelby Cobra? Looking for European class and American muscle in one place? But you don’t have the discretionary time to dial in all of the Web sites, auctions, ads and collections — or walk around events attracting many times the number of gawkers than hawkers? Then drive up to Russo and Steele, a collector car auction designed as a targeted alternative to the others. Formed in Scottsdale in 2001 by […]
KEEP READING >This Lamborghini may be an “entry-level” bull, but it won’t be bullied. Named for the legendary breed of fighting bull, the Gallardo (ga:yàrdo) may not quite rumble out the straight-end and high-end of its distinguished brother, the indomitable Murciélago, but don’t swing your cape too cavalierly its way. Although the name also means “gallant” in Spanish, you may get gored. It’s been featured on film and television, including “Mission Impossible III” and “CSI-Miami”; even “The Simpsons” irreverently dubbed it the “Lamborgotti Fasterossa.” The Italian State Police have a few of them for emergencies such as transporting organs for transplants. Various […]
KEEP READING >Drive out; ask them. That’s what Infiniti did to find out what drives G35 owners. With expected Japanese attention to details and comprehensiveness, Infiniti sent the opinion pollsters to the homes of sedan owners, including those who had purchased the original G35 sedan. Following this, with similar efficiency, the Japanese luxury car marker, a division of Nissan, also drove leading sport sedans such as Lexus and BMW. What the designers and engineers learned they meticulously incorporated into the 2007 G35 Sedan, unveiled April 12 this year at the 2006 New York International Auto Show in Manhattan. This new second-generation G35 will […]
KEEP READING >How do you make the legendary bull stronger? You bore it out, so that it runs faster toward any matador’s capa. You make it sleeker, so that it remains in admirers’ eyes, instilling admiration, even fear. You improve gearing, interior comfort, handling, and offer a ceramic braking system that allows this Italian bull, celebrating the great Spanish bull, to stop and turn on a lira. The new Murciélago LP640 Coupé, unveiled at the 76th International Car Show in Geneva this spring by Italian Automobili Lamborghini, somehow toughens and beautifies the sports car icon — already a leader among alpha automobiles […]
KEEP READING >Meridian Automotive Design, with their stellar reputation and ability to boast “perfection,” has built the foundation of their business on transforming and improving upon some of the most exclusive vehicles by raising the performance standards above and beyond the benchmarks set by many of the finest manufacturers in the world. Their combination of factory perfect product, unparalleled customer service, and impeccable installation all working in concert, allows Meridian to be able to provide the ultimate atmosphere for even the most discriminating automobile enthusiast. Meridian offers the highest level of vehicle enhancements, accessories, safety upgrades, and style refinements for Europe’s superior […]
KEEP READING >Unveiled at the New York International Automobile Show in April, Bentley’s Continental Grand Tourer Convertible is a sleek top-down version of the British luxury car maker’s Continental GT and four-door Continental Flying Spur. The 2+2 Continental GTC follows the wake of the Azure — Bentley’s ultimate Arnage-marque four-seater convertible. The Continental GTC should appear in the Valley this fall and list at about $189,990. The company’s chairman and chief executive, Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen, calls this elegant car “emotional”: “The GT coupé may be the driver’s car and the Continental Flying Spur the more practical four-door Grand Tourer, but the new […]
KEEP READING >Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting with John and Tarja Panfil, owners and operators of a boutique car dealership specializing in the sales, service and parts of high performance sports and muscle cars – Anthem Motors. It’s hard to believe that this family owned business started only four years ago with just a few cars, and 2,000 square feet of space. Now in 12,000 square feet, Anthem Motors LLC has grown into a full service center for high performance specialty cars that utilizes top-of-the-line equipment – including Dyno and alignment machines – and maintains an in-house fabrication shop and […]
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