Petrolicious https://petrolicious.com Petrolicious is a leading automotive lifestyle brand providing world class short films and tasteful editorial around the world’s finest classic vehicles. en-us © Petrolicious / May Moon Media 2024. All Rights reserved. https://petrolicious.com/articles/three-pointed-unicorn-this-is-the-one-of-one-mercedes-benz-c124-based-boschert-b300-gullwing Sat, 25 Feb 2023 19:21:25 +0000 Three-Pointed Unicorn: This Is The One-Of-One Mercedes-Benz C124-Based 'Boschert B300 Gullwing' As kids most of us had a poster of our dream car on our bedroom wall. A Ferrari F40, a Lamborghini Countach, cars that belong to the enthusiast realm as well as amongst common denominator pop culture. Although at one time it might have been a life ambition, few of us actually ever managed to own the car on that proverbial poster. But Tino Zovko owns not just the same make and model of car, but the actual one that hung above his childhood bed. This feat is even more impressive seeing as this Boschert B300 Gullwing was the only one of its kind ever made. The story begins at a magazine stand when Tino was nine years old. On the cover of the September 1989 issue of Auto Motor und Sport was a car that looked like little else he’d seen. Tino was instantly besotted. But the magazine cost 5DM, much more than the 1.50DM his father usually paid for the lesser Auto Bild, so Tino had to earn an A on a maths test to be able to get it. Inside, he poured over how Hartmut Boschert was going to make 200 of these amazing looking cars that came with twin turbos and self-adjusting suspension and wondered how soon it would be until he saw one for himself… Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/rallying-on-the-road-this-collection-of-lancia-deltas-stretches-back-decades Fri, 03 Feb 2023 05:06:04 +0000 Rallying On The Road: This Collection Of Lancia Deltas Stretches Back Decades Story by Laura Ferriccioli Photography by Marco Annunziata Story by Laura Ferriccioli Photography by Marco Annunziata A round trip from Central Italy to Northern Germany isn’t exactly a short drive, but it becomes an even longer one when the journey is made in the type of car that turns every winding out-of-the-way road into an opportunity for a detour. Especially if your trip is taking place in the 1990s, and you’re sitting in the road-going version of a World Rally Championship (WRC) winner—like a high-performance Lancia—and the derestricted sections of German Autobahn are in abundance. Not that you’d be looking for straight lines to stretch the legs of this boxy but agile machine.  Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/gallery-go-behind-the-scenes-on-our-ferrari-f40-and-sf90-stradale-film-shoot Tue, 17 Jan 2023 19:17:06 +0000 GALLERY: Go Behind The Scenes On Our Ferrari F40 and SF90 Stradale Film Shoot One of the highlights of 2022 was Ferrari’s 75th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Petrolicious partnered with Ferrari North America to profile six significant cars from its history and their modern analogues. The first of these films features the perfectly preserved F40 belonging to long-time Ferrari owner and collector, Jerry Levy. The film is presented by road testing authority, Jethro Bovingdon, who compares and contrasts the F40 with Ferrari’s latest fastest car, the dramatic SF90 hybrid hypercar. You can watch the full film on YouTube here, or find it embedded below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=168CPwRuO04 ______ In the late 1980s, the Ferrari F40 set a new benchmark in the burgeoning world of supercars. Many today would argue that it has yet to be surpassed thirty five years after the fact.  In the time since, there have been dozens of well-appointed luxury sedans built that can trounce Enzo’s enlarged go-kart on the ‘Ring or down the quarter-mile, but as any actual driving enthusiast knows, on-paper performance doesn’t really matter once you trade your keyboard for the steering wheel. And it’s not like the F40 is a slouch in regards to the former, anyway; 200MPH-capable Ferraris with composite bodywork and twin turbos tend to resist such accusations of being slow. Outdated by definition, but slow? Not quite. Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/1973-porsche-911-rsr-from-the-targa-florio-podium-to-a-particularly-special-warehouse-in-zuffenhausen Thu, 05 Jan 2023 01:04:37 +0000 1973 Porsche 911 RSR: From The Targa Florio Podium To A Particularly Special Warehouse In Zuffenhausen Photography by Robb Pritchard Archival Imagery c/o Porsche AG Here is a question with hundreds of right answers: What is the ultimate Porsche? The 917? the first generation Cayenne? For a brand that’s often accused of making the same car over and over again, there is certainly plenty to pick from. It’s a question of subjectivity, surely, but with that said there is one man slightly more qualified than most to offer an opinion… Alexander Klein is the head of the historical car collection at the Porsche museum, a role that includes looking after the priceless fleet of some 625 machines kept in the storeroom at Zuffenhausen. And for him, one example stands out from the rest; the 1973 911 RSR. I went to Stuttgart to find out from the man himself what makes this car so important to the 911 story and the broader history of Porsche in motorsport. Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/horses-before-the-cart-looking-back-on-the-front-engine-ferrari-550-maranello-and-575m Mon, 02 Jan 2023 23:47:09 +0000 Horse(s) Before The Cart: Looking Back On The Front-Engine Ferrari 550 Maranello and 575M Photography by Marco Annunziata Story by Alexander Byles “When talking and arguing about the position of the motor in a Ferrari, we cannot forget that Enzo himself once remarked that ‘The horse pulls the cart.’ We know he loved the front-engine configuration, and how could you not?” asks Simone Beneforti, who counts himself among the many fans of Ferraris like the iconic 250s and 275s with their front-mounted V12s. His tastes extend to the modern classics as well, like the 550 Maranello and 575M featured here. Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/gallery-luftgekuhlt-8-and-the-perennial-popularity-of-air-cooled-porsches Sun, 16 Oct 2022 22:03:37 +0000 GALLERY: Luftgekühlt 8 And The Perennial Popularity Of Air-Cooled Porsches Since its first edition in 2014, Luftgekühlt has become the de facto template against which all other “elevated” car shows are judged. Accessible, laid back, and open-minded, it can be thought of as an antithesis to the stodgy concours circuit and the lazily strung-together “Luft” imitators alike.  One-make events are nothing new, but just as Singer almost singlehandedly redefined the restomod paradigm and set a new reference point for all that followed in its wake, the guys behind Luft took a very simple idea—a car show featuring only air-cooled Porsches—and showed us what’s possible when attention is paid to the very last detail. Every sight line is composed down to the inch, every theme is simultaneously easy to spot and perfectly woven together into the overall mesh. Only something so particularly prepared can feel so naturally occurring. Even those that are totally indifferent to Porsches will find their attention thoroughly yanked around at Luftgekühlt.  Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/the-koenigsegg-cc850-is-a-limited-edition-hi-tech-celebration-of-analog-supercar-history Fri, 19 Aug 2022 16:34:51 +0000 The Koenigsegg CC850 Is A Limited Edition Hi-Tech Celebration Of Analog Supercar History The newest member of the Swedish supercar kingdom known as Koenigsegg was unveiled today. It employs new cutting edge technology developed in-house, but still looks back toward the past.  Celebrating twenty years of the company’s founding, and paying homage to its first production model, the CC8S, this is the Koenigsegg CC850: a driver-focused, 1385-horsepower piece of extreme engineering that’s operated via a manual transmission… sort of. There is a clutch pedal with hydraulic force feedback and a gated six-speed shifter, but that’s all just a simulated analog interface for the cutting edge digital system doing the work behind the scenes. Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/this-is-the-new-porsche-911-gt3-rs-more-aero-more-adjustability-more-power-and-more-potency Wed, 17 Aug 2022 15:35:27 +0000 This Is The New Porsche 911 GT3 RS: More Aero, More Adjustability, More Power, And More Potency The latest Porsche to get the Rennsport treatment has officially been unveiled after months of appearing in spy shots testing on the Nürburgring. The camouflage has finally been stripped away to reveal just how wild the RS-specific aerodynamics are in comparison to the base GT3 that launched last year, and as is the case with every RS model, the GT3 RS has been sharpened and augmented over the base model GT3 to make it the most potent street-legal track-focused car in Porsche history. Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/dolce-vita-60-reliving-the-sweet-life-of-the-1960s-in-italy Tue, 09 Aug 2022 19:40:17 +0000 Dolce Vita 60: Reliving The Sweet Life Of The 1960s In Italy The sweet life—la dolce vita—of the 1960s isn’t limited to the past. It’s not easy to live as if you’re in a Fellini film, but if you find the right cast of friends, the right location, and scour your closet for costumes, it’s possible to spend a weekend doing so. Earlier this summer, I joined the Total Look Rallies’  “Dolce Vita 60” road rally for three time-traveling days around Rome. Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/this-abarth-1000-sp-sports-prototype-has-raced-around-europe-for-decades-and-counting Tue, 02 Aug 2022 21:56:52 +0000 This Abarth 1000 SP Sports-Prototype Has Raced Around Europe For Decades, And Counting. Story by Laura Ferriccioli Photography by Marco Annunziata It took a decade of passion, patience, and maybe a little obsession for this car to come back to life. All worth it, no doubt; imagine the feeling of sitting a few inches off the ground in an Italian sports prototype careening around historic road racing routes like the Targa Florio and formidable circuits like the Nordschleife. The fruits of all that labor are particularly sweet. This Abarth 1000 SP (Sports Prototype) chassis number 046 came back to life at the turn of the century thanks to its former owner spending countless hours scouring the physical and digital world for the correct parts and people to restore this old competitor.  Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/heres-why-the-maserati-sebring-ii-feels-at-home-among-the-skeleton-of-an-old-cement-factory Thu, 14 Jul 2022 18:31:26 +0000 Here's Why The Maserati Sebring II Feels At Home Among The Skeletons Of An Old Cement Factory Where the waves of the sea find the shore, in a secluded gulf on a ragged coast, a strange place reveals itself. It’s not a resort, not a fishing village, nor a garden or a palace, and it’s not what you might expect from a scenic location on the shores of the Mediterranean. Walk past the tree line and you find the telltale signs of massive machinery, clad in weathered concrete and covered in the patina of hardened dust and salted wind. Is it pretty? Not in the typical sense. Although if you look closer, there is a sense of pride. After all, there was an age when industrial buildings were seen as temples of the utopian future to come, rather than husks of what once was. Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/meet-the-restored-and-road-registered-nissan-r390-gt1-a-le-mans-finisher-with-license-plates Sat, 09 Jul 2022 21:08:01 +0000 Meet The Restored And Road-Registered Nissan R390 GT1, A Le Mans Finisher With License Plates “A race car for the road.” It’s a trite tagline to sell sports cars, but there are a few exceptions. This year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este saw the first outing of Érik Coma’s nut-and-bolt restored, street-registered Nissan R390 GT-1 Le Mans-finisher race car. The GT1 class prototype, presented in plain white with red accents, garnered plenty of attention on the shores of Lake Como last month, but this particular car’s story is just as impressive as its in-person presence.  Érik, in addition to a stint in Formula 1, was one of the drivers of the factory Nissan NISMO Le Mans team in 1997 and 1998. He not only drove these Nissans flat out on the Mulsanne straight, but he was the only driver on the team who was there from the very beginning of the R390 GT-1 program, and his dedication to the car has clearly not waned in the time since. I caught up with Érik in Italy to get the story from the source, and he was happy to share the history of his one-of-a-kind Nissan. Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/le-mans-classic-2022-racing-through-the-day-night-and-across-time Sun, 03 Jul 2022 21:46:16 +0000 Le Mans Classic 2022: Racing Through The Day And Night, And Across Time Historic racing is often maligned for being more like a parade than a race, and while that is not a baseless critique it does not always apply. One can still see old cars trading fresh coats of paint, in Europe especially, but no matter how hard the grid of near-priceless cars is charging it is simply impossible to recreate the stakes of the original competition. You can find some great modern battles between old cars at the front of the pack in vintage events, but it just doesn’t really matter who wins. The spectators are mostly there to experience the past (whether they were a part of it or not), and there are few better ways to travel back in time than the biennial Le Mans Classic. Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/super-subie-catching-up-with-the-wrc-and-subaru-impreza-22b-inspired-prodrive-p25-prototype Tue, 28 Jun 2022 18:47:10 +0000 Super Subie: Catching Up With The WRC and Subaru Impreza 22B-inspired Prodrive P25 Prototype Petrolicious photography by Robb Pritchard Others courtesy of Nick Dungan and Drew Gibson If you’re a fan of Subaru and reading this, your favorite model is probably the Impreza 22B. A few decades ago the World Rally Blue beasts were a common sight tearing up the stages of the WRC, and they did it better than most with 46 wins delivered by drivers with names like McRae, Burns, Sainz, Kankkunen, Mäkinen, and Solberg. The Impreza is one of the WRC’s most successful cars, and the 22B road car that was built to celebrate the rallying success became an icon. It’s funny to some to think of Subarus from the 1990s as classics or collectibles, but the proof is in the prices—cosplaying McRae in a real 22B costs a few hundred thousand. The car pictured here looks the part, but it’s even more expensive. Built by the same company that prepared the early Subaru success stories in rallying, the Prodrive P25 is the first comprehensive high-end restomod to wear a Subaru badge. Based on the styling of the 22B, but constructed almost entirely from carbon composites, the augmented bodywork is matched by a potent drivetrain packing 400hp and 442lb-ft of torque. It costs roughly $700,000, and all 25 cars are already spoken for. We caught up with the prototype P25 last weekend at Goodwood to go beyond the press release and get a closer look at this special Subie, including a chat with Richard Thompson, the chief engineer behind the car, as well as its test driver, Mark Higgins. Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/kings-of-the-hill-our-favorite-racers-restomods-and-the-rest-from-the-2022-goodwood-festival-of-speed Mon, 27 Jun 2022 05:04:49 +0000 Kings Of The Hill: Our Favorite Racers, Restomods, And The Rest From The 2022 Goodwood Festival Of Speed The high-performance car extravaganza that is the Goodwood Festival of Speed never disappoints—predictable as it may be, the incessant stream of amazing cars charging up the hill is something to look forward to each year. It’s predictable, but in the best sense: you know without a doubt that some of the rarest, fastest, and most significant cars in the world will be gathered together for a long weekend. The paddocks are lined with the canonized, lionized racing machines from nearly every era and discipline. The hay bales and fences outside the short hillclimb/long driveway are lined with forward-leaning people, looking excitedly beyond the marshals waving the next  vehicle into position. NASCARs display their super shallow of steering lock, doing five-point turns to get out of their bays. Nearby you might get lucky and catch the warmup routine of a Mercedes 300 SLR. Contrast is everywhere, but the calibre of car is consistent. For a motorsport enthusiast there is an opportunity for self-induced whiplash every few meters. From the hundreds of stunning cars that collectively make up the Festival of Speed, we picked a few of our favorites from this year’s crop.  Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/the-2022-mille-miglia-chasing-cars-and-memories-across-a-thousand-miles-of-italy Thu, 23 Jun 2022 00:21:15 +0000 The 2022 Mille Miglia: Chasing Cars And Memories Across A Thousand Miles Of Italy Il Sorpasso (The Overtaking). An Italian film co-written and directed by Dino Risi, starring Vittorio Gassman and a very young and still somewhat shy Jean-Louis Trintignant (who passed away last week, may he rest in peace). It was released in 1962, at the peak of an era full of optimism, when Italy was bravely emerging from the rubles of the war to once again become an industrial powerhouse. It was when dolce vita was coined.  It was a time when cars played a central part in the lifestyle of the affluent few, just as much as they did in the dreams of the many who were saving up for their first Fiat 500. In the film, Gassman is initiating Trintignant in the luxurious and adrenaline-infused lifestyle of a playboy. It’s a satirical kind of comedy, but one that also pays some homage to its subject matter instead of just poking fun at low-hanging fruit. The story ends with one attempted overtake too many, which results in Trigntingnant’s character being killed. Thankfully, the real Jean-Louis would go on to live on and shoot some 200 more movies in his life, as well as race cars on a few occasions—honoring his family tradition, which included a works Bugatti and a Formula 1 racer. Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/meet-the-terracotta-warrior-a-short-wheelbase-porsche-911-hot-rod-done-right Mon, 06 Jun 2022 21:50:35 +0000 Meet The 'Terracotta Warrior,' A Short-Wheelbase Porsche 911 Hot Rod Done Right The Terracotta Warriors are a stone army constructed and conscripted to guard an emperor’s tomb in ancient China. The name evokes a legendary, fearsome fighter, one that is quick, agile, and light on his feet. There is a short wheelbase Porsche 911 roaming the streets of San Francisco and the Bay Area beyond that possess many of the same attributes, and fittingly, its owner refers to it as the Terracotta Warrior. Unlike the stoic stone figures of its namesake however, this warrior is hardly immobile. Gen Shibayama is well-known among Bay Area Porsche enthusiasts, as the collector and R-Gruppe member is keen on exercising his own small army. Gen maintains a sizable collection of primarily air-cooled cars, routinely purchasing, upgrading and restoring, and driving the hell out of them before deciding which ones are special enough to stay in his longer term collection. Continue... https://petrolicious.com/articles/fractional-ferraris-how-a-company-called-rally-is-democratizing-the-enthusiast-car-market-one-share-at-a-time Fri, 03 Jun 2022 17:43:26 +0000 Fractional Ferraris: How A Company Called Rally Is Democratizing The Enthusiast Car Market, One Share At A Time With some knowledge, capital, and a little bit of luck, it’s possible to make money owning the types of cars that typically connote indulgent reductions in bank account balances. Pick the right vehicle, buy it at a fair price before the demand curve catches up to your prediction, and then sell it later on for more than what you paid; it’s a simple enough strategy, but not necessarily an accessible one. Having the correct opinions on what will appreciate is just one part of the process. A perfect crystal ball is useless if you can’t act on it. In other words, in order to sell something, you need to have bought it.  We’ve all read about the humble prices that now-priceless post-war sports cars traded for in the 1980s at their market’s nadir, but those opportunities are long gone thanks to the accessibility of our collective accumulated knowledge, i.e. the internet. But even at their lowest values that hindsight has since revealed as complete bargains, these cars weren’t being completely given away. Relative to a few million today, a few thousand seems like pennies, but it’s not like every newly licensed teenager back then was driving around in a Ferrari purchased with lawn-mowing money. Continue...