AlanBrand.com

Autocar reports that Spyker’s Peking-to-Paris luxury SUV is back on track after first appearing at the Geneva Motor Show four years ago.

CEO Victor Muller said that development would now be accelerated due to due to the facilities, parts and technology it has at its disposal following the Saab deal with GM.

At an expected price over a quarter of a million dollars, it’s more than a bit out of my league, but it sure would help with the Owen Sound Winter Blues!

 

Fresh on the heels of the Toyota recall for millions of cars that may suffer from sudden acceleration - caused by carpets, sticky gas pedals, software glitches, or whatever - comes news of Honda recalling a huge number of their cars because of a problem with the driver side window motor - which can react badly to moisture and may short or even catch on fire.

This reinforces my distrust of modern cars - the more safety and convenience electronic options that are added, the greater the chance of a serious problem while driving.  All we really need in a car is a Morris Minor.

I know, I’ve always preached against the whole verbal diarrhoea aspect of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, but I have to confess to signing up for both as a marketing tool for Jam Jar News. Have I no integrity?

You can follow on         or    

I’ll no longer be posting Jaguar and other Car related news to this Blog.

All future postings about Classic British Cars will be posted on my new website Jam Jar News.

You can find Jaguar only posts at this link.

This beautiful Junior E-Type is being offered on EBay (item 300290510117) out of Tucson, Arizona.

The owner, Heather Anderson, is looking for more information as well as a buyer, she can be reached at 520-743-1281 Home or 520-404-1975 Cell.

 David Beckham has bought this £50,000 customized handcrafted small single-seater Porsche for his son, Brooklyn. BornRich.org reports that the car is powered by a diesel engine.

BBC News and the Evening Chronicle report on the surprise finding of a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante in a lock-up in Newcastle, in the company of an E-Type Jaguar and an Aston Martin . The reclusive Dr. Harold Carr had parked the Bugatti in 1960 and it has been gathering dust ever since.The valuable Bugatti was discovered after Dr. Carr died last year. His nephew said

We knew he had some cars and a Bugatti.

No-one knew how much it was worth.

Believed to be one of only 17 Atalante models ever made, the black Bugatti shows only 26,284 miles on the odometer. It is listed with a reserve of £3m in Bonham’s Retromobile car show and sale in Paris, but it is anticipated that it could sell for as much as £6m.

Update : January 15th, 2009 : AutoExpress has published a dozen pictures of this beautiful car in the lead-up to the auction on February 7th.

Morgan Motors are celebrating their Centenary in 2009. A new model to be released in August as part of the celebrations is this 2/3 scale Morgan SuperSports Junior, a replica of the original car produced by company founder HFS Morgan.

The 3-speed crank pedal car, similar to a recumbent bicycle, features lightweight aluminium bodywork with hand formed louvres, an imitation cast V-twin engine, and a tubular chassis.

The project is dependant on receiving a minimum of 200 orders of the proposed 500 unit model run. Morgan is accepting non-refundable £500 deposits on their website now. The final price will be £2,510 excluding VAT and delivery charges. The website has a link to a downloadable brochure with lots more lovely pictures. If only I were 50 years younger!

I was talking about my early driving experiences with a friend the other day, and remembered with great pleasure my adventures as a 6 or so year-old “driving” my Dad’s horse-drawn baker’s delivery cart back to the yard of Groom’s Bakery. It’s a good job that the horse knew the way!

The first motorised vehicle that I drove was only a few years later when I helped our local United Dairies milkman, Tom, on his rounds and he would let me move the 3-wheeled Wales and Edwards float a hundred yards or so down the road when no-one was looking. A great thrill for a young boy.

Yahoo Canada Finance were responsible for some panic today when they mistakenly reported oil at $126 per Ounce instead of per Barrel.

Quite a boost for the sale of electric vehicles, I’d have thought.