By Petrolicious Productions / 10 May 2013
2 Comments

VW’s known for some spectacular vintage advertising, ads which were instrumental in their success as a viable large-car alternative in America. During this time, the Type 2 was merely an inexpensive workhorse (as illustrated by these print ads and brochure images), designed and developed long before its days as a counter-culture icon, a time when the idea of a 21-window bus fetching nearly six figures was simply inconceivable.

By Petrolicious Productions / 7 May 2013
8 Comments

There’s no cooler way to scare yourself silly than behind the wheel of an early 911 Turbo. Big power, big lag, and a big ol’ wing took big talent and even bigger courage to tame—if you’re ready for the challenge, you’d be hard-pressed to find another 930 this clean. A 1979 model with a claimed 27k miles, the seller claims mileage and maintenance records are backed up with extensive documentation. Pictures aren’t abundant or very well composed, but it looks tasty from what we can see.

By Alan Franklin / 2 May 2013
4 Comments

America may have invented the term “hot rodding”, but as a concept its appeal is universal, with no one nation rightfully able to claim itself the inventor—as long as there’s been motorized vehicles there’ve been power-hungry madmen looking to extract more oomph from their engines. An all-time classic hot-rodding example comes from Germany, as many of them do, this particular time in the form of Mercedes Benz’s legendary 300SEL 6.3...

By Josh Clason / 2 May 2013
44 Comments

The next car I aspire to own is a Porsche 911 and more specifically a 964.  I get a lot of guff when I tell that to a lot of Porschefiles but nonetheless I hold to my assertion.  For myself, the 964 is beautiful, still reasonable, air-cooled, and even though I actually do love big bumpers I slightly prefer the non-impact bumpers.  Although this could all change if I find a clean SC or 3.2 Carrera when I am ready to pull trigger and join the Porsche ranks.

By Petrolicious Productions / 2 May 2013
4 Comments

Browsing through eBay as we’re prone to do, we stumbled across one of the nicest 2002 Tiis we’ve seen in ages, a ’72 model with 121k miles and presented in stunning condition. Claimed to be a garage-kept California car from new, the seller says it has no rust and is completely unmodified, with the only flaws being a non-operative clock and a driver’s side vent that doesn’t seal as tightly as it should—hardly deal-breakers!

By Jonathon Glazebrook / 29 April 2013
5 Comments

What would entice you to wake up early one Saturday morning each month and stand in the rain in front of an auto salvage yard? For the members of the Porsche R Gruppe, the enticement is a little bit about cars, and a little bit more about the cars' owners. The R Gruppe is an invitation-only classic Porsche car club with membership focused on the early 911. I spent a day with them to determine whether all the hype (or the hate) was valid.

By Petrolicious Productions / 26 April 2013
6 Comments

Take one standard LWB Ur-Quattro, strip, chop, weld and voilà, you’ve got a SWB Sport Quattro. In reality, of course, it’s more complicated than that, made even more so by the fact that the builder of this week’s Forum Report started the project on the second floor of his garage. The detail provided in this thread is extraordinary, with many photos and write-ups working hand-in-hand to provide a crystal-clear picture of what exactly it takes to embark on such an epic build.

By Petrolicious Productions / 24 April 2013
13 Comments

Little sports cars are great fun. They’re small enough to really take by the scruff and toss around, light enough that their little engines make the most of what limited power they make, and they’re usually very affordable to buy and run. These two go even further and add quirkiness and rarity to that shortlist of positive attributes. Which 3/4-scale sports car would you pick, the '72 Opel GT or the '74 Saab Sonett III?

By Petrolicious Productions / 18 April 2013
5 Comments

Our inaugural Crave-mobile is a lovely little 914/6 prepped for SCCA vintage racing. Painted in the iconic '70s orange that only classic Porsches seem to pull off, it’s well presented with pictures of what appears to be a very clean and well-prepped car, though is perhaps a bit light on history and specific information pertaining to this example. No claims of originality are made, but it is mentioned that the car has never been wrecked and the shop credited with its care is reputable.

By Alan Franklin / 16 April 2013
25 Comments

We should all be thankful that Porsche never had their way—they never killed the 911, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. The 911 was difficult and expensive to build, its basic architecture already over a decade old by the mid-seventies. Furthermore it was cramped, quirky, and rapidly losing sales. Intended to address all of the aforementioned shortcomings of the 911, the 928 was designed from the offset to be easier to manufacture, maintain, drive, and live with on a day-to-day basis.

By Alan Franklin / 15 April 2013
9 Comments

Before Quattro was a household name, before it was fitted as standard to slews of crossovers and staid, automatic sedans, before the mighty R8 reinvented the entry-level supercar, and long before the current era of AWD, turbo dominance in WRC, there was the “Ur”. Ur translates roughly from German as “the first”, or “the origin”. Though officially called simply “Quattro”, fans of the car have given it this nickname in order to distinguish it from its lesser, younger siblings.

By Petrolicious Productions / 10 April 2013
4 Comments

Walt Baumgartner opened Burlingame Motors in 1979 as a factory-certified Mercedes repair shop. The shop thrived over 20 years under Walt's ownership until his passing in 1999.  Walt’s wife, who desired to keep the shop in the family handed the reins over to her son-in-law, Rene, who had been working with the shop since 1991. Over the past 14 years, Rene has helped build Burlingame Motors into a successful classic car maintenance and restoration shop.

By Petrolicious Productions / 5 April 2013
12 Comments

Period photos, graphic design, and visual data charts from vintage car brochures help capture a special, older car’s zeitgeist—its “timeghost”—endowing us with an even deeper appreciation beyond purely rose-tinted sentiment. Cars like the 911 carry such weight that it is difficult to separate machine from myth, metal from memory. We recently stumbled upon a collection of beautiful old 911 brochures from the early '70s—we hope you enjoy them as much as we have.

By Petrolicious Productions / 3 April 2013
7 Comments

The air-cooled Porsche 911 came in many different flavors. As a result of all this cross-pollination, finding two identically specced 911s isn’t easy. Hank Gries was lucky when searching for his dream 911, because someone already had the taste and courtesy to build it for him—they simply weren’t aware of it at the time. One of the loveliest ’74 Carreras we’ve seen in a while, Hank’s has benefited from a lot of upgrades executed in a subtle and tasteful way.

By Petrolicious Productions / 3 April 2013
29 Comments

From the early 1960s, the growing dominance of mid-engined designs, in almost every category of international racing, saw public demand for similar road machines rising. By 1970 the demand had reached a boiling point. Porsche’s 914 was the first affordable, mass-market, mid-engined sports car. Fiat followed two years later with the X1/9. Both cars relied on pre-existing mechanicals in order to keep costs low, but still managed to deliver the goods.

By Petrolicious Productions / 2 April 2013
9 Comments

Ashley Rodriguez, an amateur train photographer, has owned over 15 E28s in her lifetime. As a former trained BMW tech, she has spent her time buying and fixing various 5-Series models. She has owned every E28 model available, and as a lover of rare things, she now has her dream car, the M535i.

By Adam Kaslikowski / 28 March 2013
5 Comments

The Porsche 934.5 is an odd duck. With its strange name and even stranger looks it doesn’t exactly elicit the same kind of emotional lust or name recognition as its late 1970’s contemporaries. But then, it wasn’t built to. The singular purpose for which the 934.5 was crafted was to dominate the race tracks of the day. It was here that this odd duck turned into a track-ruling, competitor-crushing, legend-creating swan.

By Petrolicious Productions / 27 March 2013
15 Comments

Jim Bauer grew up in Long Island, New York, under the GM Flag.  A chance encounter led him from American muscle to German iron and he currently owns two Porsche 911 SC's.  Jim, now a creative director in Los Angeles, has used his artistic nature to build the unique details and color of his latest 911.

Click through to read the interview.

By Petrolicious Productions / 27 March 2013
9 Comments

Presidents, CEOs, celebrities, dignitaries, and dictators alike all need fittingly grandiose automobiles—something large, luxurious, expensive, and clearly demonstrative of one’s status in the world. The two cars we compare today represent the period’s pinnacle of style, prestige and comfort in two very different ways: the deceptively titled “short wheelbase” Mercedes 600 Grosser and a more subdued and traditional car, the Bentley T1.

By Alan Franklin / 21 March 2013
2 Comments

Development began in the summer of 1968, with the then-head of Motorsports Development (and grandson to Dr. Porsche), Ferdinand Piëch, at the helm. The Porsche 917 was designed to compete in FIA's Group 4 class, and Piëch presented the necessary minimum production run of 25 cars to FIA officials on April 20th, 1969—thus beginning the remarkable career of one of the most significant racing cars to ever turn a wheel in anger.

By Petrolicious Productions / 20 March 2013
16 Comments

Two doors, four seats, twelve cylinders and a lot of leather—it's a simple recipe that makes for perhaps the most indulgent of all automotive delights, the multi-cylinder GT car. The first rule of any cuisine is to use quality ingredients, and both our featured cars start with the smoothest and most prestigious of all engine configurations, a V12. Wrapped in delicately shaped and elegant bodywork, the style of each reflects the taste of its own unique national character.

By Petrolicious Productions / 20 March 2013
10 Comments

We're big fans of the classic BMW E9, surely one of the most elegant GT coupes of all-time. We interviewed John Tolle, owner of a highly-original and seriously gorgeous 3.0 CS. Impeccably preserved, tastefully modified and driven with enthusiasm, his is one special coupe.

Thanks for the submission, John!

By Petrolicious Productions / 19 March 2013
4 Comments

In conjunction with our video today and to share more information about the Volkswagen Beetle, we have created a Petrolicious infographic chock full of all kinds of interesting tidbits about the car. For instance, did you know that one can (but probably shouldn't) change a fan belt on a Beetle in under five seconds...while it's running?

Click through to view the full infographic.

By Petrolicious Productions / 19 March 2013
3 Comments

Maybe it is the idea of endless customization possibilities that endears so many to the Beetle, or perhaps it is that behind these cars there are no two owners alike. After many mishaps involving stolen, burned, and wrecked Beetles, Stephan Ruiz has finally found his personal Beetle. Clean is the best word to describe this one-year-only 1967 Beetle, and Stephan wants to keep it that way. Sometimes we change a car, and sometimes we find the car changes us.

By Josh Clason / 13 March 2013
51 Comments

My 1974 BMW 2002 has a few features that I get embarrassed about from time to time. One embarrassing thing that rears its head from time to time is an oil leak. There's nothing worse than pulling away from where you have been parked to see a fresh oil stain on the ground. The embarrassment only occurs depending on where I am or who I am around. At work, I am surrounded by Alfas, so I don't feel too bad about leaking oil (I kid, I kid). Does your car have any embarrassing features?

By Adam Kaslikowski / 11 March 2013
5 Comments

They say size doesn’t matter, but style does. For proof of that you need look no further than the Isetta. The diminutive little runabout shows that you don’t need acres of sheet metal to have beautiful style and clever engineering. This “bubble car” is a testament to thinking differently. It may be seen now as more of a historical oddity, but upon introduction the Isetta sold in huge numbers across the world. The Isetta is truly a case of imposed limitations breeding and greatness.

By Petrolicious Productions / 8 March 2013
6 Comments

Design your own Volkswagen Beetle, Volkswagen Bus, Porsche, or Type 3 with the site, BusSelecta.com. Bus Selecta first began in 2001 as a place to make your own VW Bus customizations. Since then, they've slowly added to the selection with pre-1973 Porsches, VW Beetles, and most recently, early and late Type 3s models. This is a fun site for vintage car people, whether they're looking for modification ideas for physical cars or just having some fun.

By Petrolicious Productions / 6 March 2013
1 Comment

We can all appreciate photography of early Porsche 911s, whether or not we have one in our garage. Bob Tilton, of Werk Crew, has put together a particular lust-worthy collection of of his own photography and with is designed a 2013 calendar. A bit of caution that should be heeded when staring at this calendar: it will inspire you to purchase a 911 and blast off to your favorite twisty roads. It's already March, so pick your calender up now.

By Petrolicious Productions / 6 March 2013
2 Comments

Richard Papy is a lifelong car enthusiast and collector from Savannah, Georgia. He spends his free time searching for cars and the next big find. Recently serving as the President of Savannah's Oglethorpe Driving Club, Richard is always happy to share his passion and his cars with others. We were able to photograph not one but two of his colorful cars, a Pantera and a 911. Click through for the interview.

By Alan Franklin / 5 March 2013
30 Comments

Imagine it's the 80s and you're a young, successful, patriotic German enthusiast living in proximity to the greatest highway system on earth, the Autobahn. Smooth, fast, and frequently very dangerous, its derestricted zones are steeped in both glory and infamy—perfect for testing your bravery and the accelerative limits of a shiny new domestic supercoupe. Which uber GT is for you? The Porsche 928 or the BMW E24 M6?

By Adam Kaslikowski / 22 February 2013

BMW’s have always been about sharp lines and elegant style, and their advertisements are no different. Each of these BMW advertisements subtly speak to the brand’s virtues by way of less-is-more. From the Art Nouveau roadster hurtling up a mountain pass to the Bauhaus bold lines and organic curves of a BMW motorcycle speeding past, these advertisements speak to their decade of invention and to BMW’s style through the ages.

By Petrolicious Productions / 21 February 2013
17 Comments

The Mercedes-Benz W113 280SL is still living in the shadow of the 300SL Gullwing and Roadster, but it is slowly creeping up in price. While prices have recently started to shoot up, there are still some deals to be had in finding one of these beautiful Pagodas. Some of the prime examples are reaching close to six figures, but most are still in the 30k-50k range, and we believe that in ten years or less, you may be hard pressed to find one under 100k.

By Adam Kaslikowski / 18 February 2013
1 Comment

It's been 40 years since Stuttgart blessed the world with what is to many people the greatest Porsche of all time: the 1973 911 Carrera RS 2.7. With subtle rear fender flares, thinner gauge body panels and glass, unique fiberglass front and rear fascias, a spartan interior, and a one of a kind ducktail spoiler it is certainly all business—and pure function that dictates beautiful form. With just 1580 of these track terrors floating around the world, they are truly rare beasts.

By Afshin Behnia / 15 February 2013
5 Comments

I’m a sucker for vintage automobilia. I love looking for it, perusing swap meets, flea markets, and antique shops for little pieces of automotive history that survived the ages. Not long ago, I stumbled upon quite the find in a used bookshop in Milan.  It’s a 15” X 19” binder with a beautiful enamel Porsche emblem and leather strap forming a clasp. Inside the binder are 18 large-format lithograph color drawings of various automobiles in which Dr. Ferdinand Porsche was involved.

By Petrolicious Productions / 13 February 2013
6 Comments

Joey Bautista is a vintage car enthusiast in San Francisco. Joey's car collection has rotated from being made up of vintage Mercedes cars, to vintage English cars, to vintage Alfa Romeos, and most recently to vintage Porsches—until a few years ago, when he added this azure 1957 Volkswagen Beetle to the mix. These days Joey is finding himself gravitating more and more toward the Beetle because of its friendly demeanor.

By Jonathon Glazebrook / 11 February 2013
17 Comments

For many, the generation of BMW 3-series built from 1982 until 1994—identified by enthusiasts with the car’s chassis code, e30—represent the ultimate “Ultimate Driving Machine.” Crisp handling coupled with driver-oriented ergonomics and timeless looks make even the economy-minded “eta” model a joy to drive. There’s something about the car that is appealing to a broad range of people, even today, something that makes it a modern classic.

By Petrolicious Productions / 6 February 2013
9 Comments

I suffer from a burning desire for small European RWD cars. Porsche 912s, BMW 2002s, and Alfa Romeo Giulias are some of the most painfully beautiful automobiles ever assembled. I would really like to get involved with such magnificent vehicles, but I fear that my stature is a limiting factor. Classic car enthusiasts of the six-foot-four-inch variety have slim options. Which of the vehicles listed above would be in my best interest to pursue?

By Petrolicious Productions / 25 January 2013
3 Comments

The Fox was built in-house in Germany and debuted as the Audi 80 in Europe in 1972, where it received critical acclaim. When it came to Australia and the U.S. in 1973, it was marketed as the Audi Fox. The now-rare Audi Fox isn't the most popular of Audi models, but this Audi Fox campaign is a smart and beautifully designed campaign for Audi, which highlights all of the positive aspects of this little car.

By Petrolicious Productions / 22 January 2013
13 Comments

Classic car owners often deliberate whether to use their cars as daily drivers or keep them as garage queens. Why can't one car be everything? Black Beauty, Jack Olsen's Porsche 911 RSR, gets the royal treatment in The 12-Gauge Garage, but it also proudly wears rubber on the street and the track. Jack built an enviable shop out of a two-car garage and worked on it until its engineering, design, and function matched that of the 911.

By Petrolicious Productions / 18 January 2013
1 Comment

You're probably familiar with Jack Olsen's 12-Gauge Garage, as it is one of the most recognizable garages on the internet and even has its own website. Maybe you're familiar with "Black Beauty", Jack Olsen's 1972 Porsche 911, but regardless of whether you know of Jack through his garage, his 911, or this post, stay tuned for Tuesday's video, wherein we feature his 911 on the track, in some canyons, and his meticulously-crafted garage.

By Afshin Behnia / 18 January 2013
2 Comments

One cold January afternoon in the Navigli area of Milan, we came across this well-preserved WWII BMW R75 motorcycle with its original sidecar. We arrived just in time to meet the owner and his wife: a charming couple obsessed with all things from the WWII era.

The brave couple had just ridden the Bimmer from outside Milan in the freezing cold to visit the city for the afternoon.

By Petrolicious Productions / 15 January 2013
6 Comments

Petrolicious had the privilege to not only shoot one e24 Alpina but two of these incredibly rare machines. The e24 Alpina B10 3.5 is the only one of its kind that exists in the Western Hemisphere and is one of 14 that are known to be left in the world. It is a rare sight to see one of these cruising down the street, but seeing one together with another e24 Alpina is a whole different ballgame.

Click through to watch our latest video.

By Petrolicious Productions / 11 January 2013

We have been hard at work on editing a video on some Alpinas. The e24 Alpina B10 3.5 is the only one of its kind that exists in the Western Hemisphere and is one of 14 known to be left. It's a rare sight to see one cruising down the street, but seeing one together with another e24 Alpina is a different ballgame.

Check out the site on Tuesday for the full video release but until then, enjoy this sneak peek.

By Petrolicious Productions / 2 January 2013

Jim Goodlett’s passion for cars, and in particular vintage Porsches has led him to acquire during the last year not only a beautiful grey market 1984 930 Turbo, but also an impressive 1973 911 built to RSR specs for racing.  We had the opportunity to catch up with Jim at Roebling Road where he was testing his RSR-spec 911.

Click through to see more photos and read the interview.

By Petrolicious Productions / 12 December 2012
3 Comments

Saam Gabbay is a creative director who works in New York City and Los Angeles and is a serial car owner.  He's bought, owned, and then sold six cars in the last eight years (around 20 since he started driving) and will likely continue to do so for years to come.  One great car that recently had a meaningful place in his life was a 1988 BMW E28 M5.

Click through to read the full Quick Take with Saam.

By Petrolicious Productions / 11 December 2012
10 Comments

Even in seemingly mundane tasks such as running an errand to the grocery store, every car enthusiast has a choice to make: take the quick and efficient route from A to B or obey the siren song of the open road. With the wheel of a Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing firmly gripped, resisting that urge becomes nearly impossible.

By Petrolicious Productions / 6 December 2012

What the Karmann Ghia lacked in performance, it made up with a genuine sense of humor.  There, the Karmann Ghia excelled.  In an era of muscle cars with outrageous tail fins, larger than life bumpers, and blinding chrome, Manhattan-based ad men Doyle, Dane, and Bernbach had the anti-sports car to sell.

By Petrolicious Productions / 13 November 2012
2 Comments

Ken Sirlin and his Porsche 356 Cabriolet have spent many fun-filled years together. Ken bought the car in 1985 after it had been restored from a bare shell. Since then, he's driven it endless amounts of miles through Europe as a competitor in the famous Liege Rome Liege vintage car rally. Though he no longer races competetively, Ken would never part ways with his racing partner.

By Petrolicious Productions / 9 November 2012
3 Comments

After hunting for several vintage Porsche posters from the fifties to the eighties, we've narrowed down our findings to our favorites. As the posters progress by year, they also progress by style. The posters from the early and mid-fifties are more detailed and painterly, but in the the late fifties, we see a shift to more stylized designs with modern uses of type, color, and lines.

By Petrolicious Productions / 7 November 2012
2 Comments

Jay Javetz not only followed his family footsteps in the meat processing industry, he inherited their passion for classic cars and racing. A regular on the historic circuits, Jay doesn’t skip a beat. He’s always ready to hit the track in his original Porsche 914/6, with seconds to spare. Take a tour with Jay as he tells us all about his induction into racing and his amazing ride.

By Petrolicious Productions / 30 October 2012
2 Comments

In 1963, Don Minkoff bought this 1960 Mercedes 220SE for his wife on their 10th wedding anniversary. He blindfolded her, sat her in the front seat, and said "Honey, I bought you a station wagon." We're glad he didn't buy her a station wagon.

Watch Don's son, Mark, share the history of his family and their elegant car.