Alfa Romeo 8C Spider to Climb Goodwood Hill

The first Alfa Romeo 8C Spider production car to be seen on the move in Britain will participate at next weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Spider will be joined on the hill by several famous motor racing cars from Alfa's historic museum collection in Arese, Italy, including a 1924 P2 Gran Premio which won the first World Championship in 1925 and the 6C 3000 CM that was driven to second place by Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1953 Mille Miglia.

The Italian firm which is a year shy of its 100th anniversary, said that it will also bring along two special concept cars, the wedge-shaped 1968 Alfa Carabo featuring hydropneumatic-powered gull-wing doors and multi-coloured one way glass windows, and the 1978 Najavo study.

Porsche Four-Door Sedans of the Past or How to Make the Panamera Look Good

The famous automaker from Stuttgart is no stranger to controversy. And like the Cayenne SUV, Porsche's first ever production four door sedan, the all-new Panamera sports saloon received some decidedly mixed reviews in concern of its styling. But compared with some past attempts to create a four-door Porsche, the Panamera looks like a piece of art -okay, okay, maybe we're exaggerating a bit here just to make a point.

The first Porsche saloon you see pictured on your right hand was based on the late 1960's 911. It was a one-off custom creation built by California coach builder Troutman-Barnes with the blessings of Porsche.

It is claimed that the eerie-looking sports saloon with the rear suicide doors and the four-seat layout was crafted by conjoining two crashed 1967 911s.

In the mid-1980s, Porsche and AMG (then, an independent company) developed a fully working prototype of a four-door 928 S4 that could be viewed today as the Mazda RX-8's forefather. It featured an extended wheelbase, half-sized suicide rear doors and looks that kill - literally...

The bizarre-looking 1986 928 S4 saloon was delivered to the founder and CEO of American Sunroof Corporation (ASC), Heinz Prechter. In August 2002, the car was changed hands at the RM Monterey Auctions for $44,000, or $1,000 less than the low estimate.

And last but perhaps not least as there may be another custom built or concept Porsche sedan that we are not aware of, is the 989 prototype that was created under the watchful eye of Dr. Ulrich Bez, now in charge of Aston Martin.

Quite possibly the closest relative to the Panamera, the V8-powered 989 sedan project kicked off in the late 1980s but was terminated in the early 1990s as falling sales of the 928 made Porsche rethink the idea twice. Even though the Stuttgart-based automaker initially said that the concept model had been destroyed, later on, officials claimed that the 989 remains in storage hidden away from prying eyes.

Via: Insideline , Photo Sources: Tamerlane's Thoughts & Conceptcarz

VIDEO: Mazda MX-5 20th Anniversary Meeting at Le Mans

During the second weekend of June, more than 200 Mazda MX-5 / Miata roadsters of all sorts of colors and types took part at the model's 20th anniversary birthday party, which was organized in cooperation with MX-5 clubs around Europe, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. Our French friends from Supervroum2 participated in the event following the huge convoy of Miata roadsters to the Le Mans circuit. Watch the video after the jump.

VIDEO: BMW 'Joyful' Promo Film with Some Neat Classics

The maker of 'The Ultimate Driving Machine' has released a new promotional video featuring past, current and feature production and concept bimmers such as the Z1 and Z8 roadsters, M3 E30, 2002 Convertible and the controversial 5-Series GT. As with the Z4 Roadster, the Bavarians chose to use the 'Joy' slogan in their latest film. As you can see in the video, BMW overdid it with the joy theme as everyone is smiling like a Cheshire cat on dope. And oh, for those that don't understand a word of German, no need to panic as we've added an official translation right after the jump.

Translation: We are a car company. But we don't just make cars. We make time machines, Build Snowplows, And create works of art.

We inspire fans, And fan clubs. We are efficient and dynamic. We even shape the future.

We realized a long time ago that what you make people feel is just as important ... as what you make. And at BMW we make Joy.

Classic Find: First-Generation 1970 Nissan Skyline GT-R Coupe S45

What looks to be a pristine (or fully restored) example of the modern day Nissan GT-R's granddaddy, a 1970 Skyline GT-R Coupe S45 with only 89,000 kilometers or a little over 55,000 miles on the odometer, is up for sale by a Japan-based dealer. There's no asking price on the seller's website but understandably, we reckon that a historic model like 1970 Skyline GT-R with such low mileage won't be offered for a low price.

The first Skyline GT-R was launched in Japan originally as a four door sedan in February 1969 (pictured here), followed shortly after by the coupe model you're all gawking at in the photo album below -no need to apologize, we did the same thing, ain't she a beauty?

Like its sedan counterpart, at the heart of the 1970 Skyline GT-R is Nissan's S20 2.0-liter straight-six DOHC 24-valve engine. It produces (or at least it did when it came out of the factory) a maximum output of 160PS at 7,000 rpm and a peak torque of 18.0 kgm or 130-lb/ft at 5,600 rpm. Power is transferred to the rear wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox.

We don't have any official performance figures for the Coupe (maybe some of you Nissan fans can help us out here), but we did manage to find out that the 1969 Skyline GT-R Sedan with the same engine was capable of achieving a top speed of 200km/h or 125mph while it covered the first 400m from a standing start in 16.1 seconds (official data from Nissan).

Link: Wintel

Teaser Video of Porsche's New DVD that Covers 80 Years of History

'The Porsche Way' is a new 2 1/2 hour film that covers the entire history of the famous German sports car manufacturer. The DVD, which is based on Porsche's official archive, begins with the story of Ferdinand and Ferry Porsche and continues with eight separate chapters that focus on the development of the brand proceeding from one decade to the next. If you hit the jump, you can get a taste of the film through the official teaser while those of you that are interested in buying the DVD, 'The Porsche Way' is available in both German and English at the Porsche Museum Shop at a price of €24.9 or about $35 US.

Restored 1960 Morris Mini to be Raffled at UK Classic Motor Show

A fully restored 1960 Morris Mini with 56,600 miles on the clock will be raffled at the British Classic Motor Show to be held at Birmingham's NEC from 13th to 15th November 2009. The red Morris Minor was restored to its former glory live on stage at last year's classic motorshow by Edd China from TV's Wheeler Dealers programme. The car will be given away in a text-to-win competition where participants are asked to answer a rather lame question of the sort "Which anniversary is the classic Mini celebrating in 2009". For the record, the answer is 'Mini Golden'...

Chevy Volt's Granddaddy: GM's 1969 Gasoline-Electric Hybrid Kadett Stir-Lec 1

More often than not, people tend o believe that technologies like hybrid or all electric drivetrains are a recent discovery, something which is entirely wrong. Among the many examples throughout automotive history is GM's own Stir-Lec 1 concept. Seen here in an advertisement from 1969, the Opel Kadett based study used a hybrid drivetrain that worked in a similar way to the one found in the modern Chevrolet Volt. In particular, the Stir-Lec 1 was equipped with a small capacity Stirling engine mounted at the rear that recharged a pack of 14 conventional lead acid batteries which in turn powered the electric motor that drove the rear wheels.

General Motors claimed in the print advert that the experimental hybrid vehicle was capable of reaching a top speed of 55mph or about 88km/h.

And while there's no doubt that modern hybrid gasoline-electric drivetrains are far more advance and reliable enough for everyday use than their experimental predecessors, one cannot but wonder what today's world would have been like if GM or any other automaker for that matter, had focused on the development of these type of alternative powertrains.

Scan via: Bangshift - Thanks for tip Alex!

Photo Album from MINI's 50th Anniversary Festivities at Silverstone

This past weekend (May 22-24), the MINI celebrated its 50th birthday with a three-day festival at the Formula One track in Silverstone, England. More than 25,000 MINI aficionados from all four corners of the world made their way to the event with some 10,000 MINIs of all sorts and colors being displayed. The British automaker also unveiled three special edition MINIs at the event, including the limited run Mayfair and Camden specials plus a one-off interpretation of George Harisson's 1966 Cooper S painted with psychedelic images. Follow the jump to check out the full gallery from the MINI United event.