All Entries Tagged With: "ADL"
Dear Reader: Buy our Mug!
a page from our very own online catalog
OR >>>>>>click here >>>>> to have a t-shirt, clock, baseball cap, or wrist-band radio watch that signals home base just like Dick Tracy.
Just kidding on that last one, we’re still working on procuring that item from our obstreperous suppliers in Taiwan.
But as for that mug, I happen to own one. It’s beautifully crafted and handsomely finished. And what price for such beauty?
Our gut herr Jan did a fine job plastering our logo onto a white porcelain cup (digitally) so that you and others can think of us each and every time you sip your joe, tea, caffé mocha, or hot cocoa.
We’ve got travel mugs for those of you who drive post-circa 1992 German cars that feature actual OEM cup holders (Nein!).
Ahem, like I said, buy and support our endeavor. Or have pity. Noblesse oblige and all that.
Either way you look at it, you’re sure to win by buying.
Thank you kindly.
Yours,
G
[Linked: Automobiles De Luxe Gift Shop]
ADL Site Saved Thanks To Solostream
Help arrived in speedy fashion…
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG by AP
“I, uh, I dunno what happened! It all went blurry and then suddenly BANG! I’m landed and the world seems cockeyed!”
That was basically the gist of the email your panic stricken writer sent to Solostream, the company that crafted this website’s skeleton and who jumped into the troubled waters head first to save this stranded site in a moment of crisis.
The problem was, as many of you may have noticed but were too polite to call, that the content posts and the titles were all appearing in italics. Here on Automobiles De Luxe we do like to emphasize lots of points, but italicizing every one would constitute a double bird strike in logic’s flight path.
Needless to say, a miracle occurred when Solostream got us out of the water and into some dry clothes and wrapped a Red Cross blanket around us saying, “it’ll be okay.”
Thanks, Solostream. You’re our hero.
[Linked: Solostream]
Note: Given the innumerable horrors that occur unseen around the globe every day, it was a truly great moment to see that one crisis, which was witnessed by so many, did not turn into a tragedy. Cheers to every one involved yesterday in the rescue of the people on US Airways Flight 1549.
ADL’s Picks For 2008
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class made one of the lists…
By Gunnar Heinrich
IN a blogosphere filled with year-end automotive “Best” lists, it’s ADL’s turn to contribute its vibrato to the chorus. That having been said, and as is our M.O., we’re going to do things a little differently…
Automobiles De Luxe v. 2.5.1
The latest in a long succession…
By Gunnar Heinrich
OWING to the exemplary wit, wisdom, technical prowess, and charm of TMR’s Steane Klose, Automobiles De Luxe is treated to a brand new sheet from which to spread the “gospel” of luxury car infotainment. This marks ADL’s second major site alteration in 2008. If stuff don’t work, by all means please say so in comments. Otherwise, enjoy the fresh new look and watch for changes as there’ll be new features added on in the coming days.
Thank you, Steane.
U.S. News & World Report Finds Some Worth In Automobiles De Luxe
Louis Blériot must have felt similarly.
By Gunnar Heinrich
HATS off to Kimberly Castro.
Ms. Castro is deputy business editor of U.S. News & World Report and writes the magazine’s Luxe Life page.
It’s always wonderful having an appreciative light cast on your efforts. But for us web folk it’s especially thrilling when members of the traditional press give us credit.
In this case, it was the new arm of the Fourth Estate’s old guard who acknowledged Automobiles De Luxe as one of five luxury sites, “worth looking into.” The subtle thumbs up is gratifying.
“This website—mainly for aficionados of fine motorcars from the Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo to Audi, BMW, and Benz—offers comprehensive reviews complete with big, bold photos, and retrospectives on road tests and road trips for ‘every crank, piston, and gearhead.’”
Thank you for this bit of recognition, Ms. Castro. May we rise to the occasion.
[Linked: U.S. News & World Report]
ADL & CPTV
By Gunnar Heinrich
A number of people have been emailing me with various degrees of concern that ADL’s videos are offline.
One person’s email even started with, “ALARM!”
There’s no cause, friends.
I should have (but didn’t, sorry) explain before we took them off YouTube that many of the segments will premiere in a pilot series on CPTV, the PBS affiliate for Connecticut.
For the record, CPTV is the same station that brought you Barney, the purple dinosaur.
Unfortunately for our online audience, ADL’s current televised commitment means that many of the segments you’ve seen and ones that you haven’t (this summer’s romps with the BMW drop tops and the Caddys) will not be viewable online until some time after this season’s broadcast dates.
Our first show, which will contain the BMW enthusiast and NYIAS segments, is scheduled to air October 26th at 6PM. If you’re in the Connecticut market, tune in!
And be not alarmed.
Thanks again for your support and interest.
Ferrari California World Première Event
I did.
By Gunnar Heinrich
TARTAR sauce.
I missed it.
According to the PR notice in my Inbox, the “Ferrari California World Première Event” (note Team Ferrari’s conscientious use of the accent grave over the second ‘e’ in ‘Premiere’) was yesterday, Thursday, September 18th.
Suckertash.
I’m not sure what all transpired exactly that made the official unveiling of the Ferrari California so noteworthy. The email I received read precisely as follows:
Dear All,
Attached you will find a press release about the presentation of the California World Premiere online at www.FerrariCalifornia.com. Please contact us with any questions.
Regards,
Ferrari North America
That was it. Impersonal. Straight and to the point. No cordiality or frivolities.
Here it is boys, your red meat. And like Pavlov’s muts, us journos heard the bell ring and went yowling for our scraps.
In truth, however, the real meat will be when someone actually gets to drive the two seater V8 droptop.
And since one Ferrari rep. recently told the demanding man from CAR magazine to go drive a bus, it’ll be interesting to see if any of us will get a crack at the model that’s supposed to take Ferrari public, as it were.
[Linked: Ferrari California]
Automobiles De Luxe Promo
By Gunnar Heinrich
JUST over a minute long, this promo serves as a fast abstract of what Team ADL has accomplished over the course of the last 12 months.
It’s also teaser on what’s to follow.
You may recognize clips from the 733i, the Silver Cloud, Silver Spur, M5 Enthusiast Segment, and New York Auto Show, but you’ll also see more than a bit of what we’ve captured recently this summer with segments featuring the Cadillacs CTS and XLR-V along with the BMWs 1 and 3 series.
Bentley Continental GTC
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via Auto/Motor Cars
SINCE it is the start of Labor Day weekend, I thought a glossy picture of a car that would (and does for a few) truly celebrate the fruits of one’s labor was in order.
The Bentley Continental GTC has been on the market for a little more than a year and in that time the 2+2 droptop has managed to eclipse not only the chromium sheen of its Arnage superior, but successfully rival the ragtop competition from Aston Martin.
Far be it for me then to suggest that this is Bentley’s finest hour? For those precious few who’ll drive this magnificent car this (US) holiday weekend, I imagine they’re likely to agree.
[Linked: Bentley]
RennTech SL65 Burning Up
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via YouTube
SMOKE ‘em if ya got ‘em.
There’s an art to the righteous burn out. But from seeing this YouTube video, I’d say that RennTech’s boffins have taken that art to a Dali-esque level of the absurd.
Shot on a “closed course” (a.k.a. some back parking lot) somewhere in southern Florida, a driver with a certain flair for smoky showmanship lit the rear tyres of a RennTech modified Mercedes-Benz SL65 – with no fewer than 685 horses and 810 lb-ft of rubber shredding torque.
The result, as you might guess, was volcanic.
[Linked: RennTech]
