All Entries Tagged With: "GUNNAR"
Automobiles De Luxe on CPTV Tonight From 6-7PM
By Gunnar Heinrich
AIRING back to back from six to seven tonight, Sunday, May 10th, Automobiles De Luxe is on WEDH, WEDN, and WEDW – the three glamorous stations for CPTV, the Nutmeg State’s PBS member station.
Just in time for Mum’s Day…
- About CPTV -
CPTV and WNPR serve the entire state of Connecticut–reaching an estimated 750,000 television viewers and more than 180,000 radio listeners each week. The company operates with a $20 million annual budget, funded in large part through community support from individuals, corporations and foundations.
CPTV and WNPR’s community-supported, statewide public broadcasting networks are dedicated to serving diverse communities with a mix of educational, news, public affairs, children’s, and entertainment programming and services.
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 Videos Online
By Gunnar Heinrich
AUTOMOBILES DE LUXE videos are back online following a brief hiatus for our pilot series launch on CPTV, the PBS affiliate for Connecticut.
For more than a year, Team ADL has braved the elements, mapped the northeastern corridor, and clung to our artistic and editorial integrity to bring viewers in TV land and the Internet a new and quite unique perspective on de luxe automobiles.
In the posts that follow, you’ll see direct YouTube links to our original online broadcasts. First time viewers are encouraged to leave feedback either in comments or for those more circumspect emailing – gunnar [at] automobilesdeluxe [dot] tv.
Enjoy.
Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I Video
By Gunnar Heinrich
WITH all the tragicomic melodrama of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Automobiles De Luxe’s review of the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud is back online.
This story (TRT: 9:51) covers no ordinary “standard steel” Cloud, but rather a Series I, long-wheelbase, aluminum trimmed saloon was built -custom tailored if you will – by coachbuilder James Young expressly for its original Palm Beach patron.
Hewn from an era of cast iron engine blocs and solid craftsmanship, the Silver Cloud and this particular Nimbus is a testament to over-engineered, over-the-top luxury. A grand car.
Enjoy.
Party On Newt, Hardy, and Richard: The BMW Trio Are Back Online
By Gunnar Heinrich
BACK online following its televised premiere, the BMW Trio are ready to party on – online.
This segment, shot last winter in the Connecticut River Valley’s frost bitten hills, showcases three BMW drivers – Hardy Drackett, Newt Clark, and Richard Wolf – and their unique rides in a game of generational compare ‘n contrast.
The story’s central premise revolves around BMW’s legendary E39 (predecessor) generation M5 sedan; a car that some stalwart enthusiasts insist is, was, and forever shall be the most soulful M-car that the roundel hath wielded from metal.
As a juxtaposition to this most sanctified of four door time travel devices, the segment cross compares the old M5 with the current generation 550i (whose performance numbers come within firing range) and an M6 fitted with Dinan pipes (whose specs completely obliterate both Bimmer sedans).
Separated into Parts I and II, TRT is 16:25.
Enjoy.
Part I
Part II
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.
Pontiac G8 GT: What Price V8 Value?
By Gunnar Heinrich
BACK on September 9th, the Wall Street Journal‘s Sharon Terlep and Neal E. Boudette (“E.” for ecumenical?) put their heads together and wrote a piece on Motown steel from Wall Street’s perspective. As in -we don’t know why GM sucks, but GM does because the numbers tell us so.
And the numbers do suck. But that they do for the whole industry didn’t seem to stop WSJ from kicking the General while he’s regrouping his forces.
“A few months ago, General Motor Corp. flooded the prime-time airwaves with commercials introducing the G8, a big, powerful sedan that is supposed to re-engergize GM’s Pontiac brand. But the ad blitz hasn’t had much impact. In August, GM’s 2,712 U.S. Pontiac dealers sold only 1,915 G8s – not even one per dealer.”
The Journal‘s folk summed up the buying public’s dismissal of division Pontiac by postulating:
“The G8 illustrates one problem that’s often overlooked: The auto maker’s lineup contains many vehicles that deliver barely any bang for the buck.”
Really? Who knew a sedan offering 361 horses and -better – 385 lb-ft of torque at $30K could be so valueless?
Guessing that the earnest business writers were casting on old suppositions on GM quality which were true – in 2004 – I contacted GM and asked for the opportunity to gauge for myself.
This morning the folks from Fred Mackerodt delivered one crab-apple red on charcoal G8 GT. I was hoping for that 70s orange I saw in New York or the jet black in that cool Spy Hunter ad. Oh well. Special-to-ADL pics and driving notes to follow over the coming days.
Keep it locked.
[Linked: Pontiac Spy Hunter Ad | Pontiac Showcase in NY]
BMWs on Block Island
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG by Kevin Kusina and Neil Rogers for Automobiles De Luxe
SETTING up a time-lapse shot can be a bit of a pain.
When you’re dealing with the elements, time, and herds of Block Island tourists who switched off their reason and rational faculties when they boarded the ferry at Port Jervis, it can be a royal pain.
Luckily, we had the patient and diligent Benjamin Winchel at work to capture the magic of a summer’s sun setting over Block Island Sound.
It was beautiful.
The Bimmers – flame surfaced though they were – looked captivating.
Our man Kevin Kusina shot this image and with a little doctoring from Neil Rogers – voila – you have the image that I’m now using for my desktop.
As for the time lapse footage, well, let’s just say it was worth it.
Busy, Busy, Busy: ADL Production Update
By Gunnar Heinrich
DEAREST reader, surely you’ve not thought that I’ve forgotten you?
It’s been a very busy last week and a half for Team ADL. Luckily, our contributors Christopher and Steane have both done their part by pitching in to keep the words rolling forth on these blog pages. Major domos to them.
Triangulating between Gotham, Lime Rock, and Block Island, production has had the crew running in sixth gear @ 6000 RPM. It’s been dense.
Here are a few tasty details…
- SoCal transplant Alexandra Harbushka voyaged with the crew out to Block Island (a six mile wide block of hills and beaches 12 miles off Rhode Island’s shoreline) to lend her consumer’s viewpoint in determining which convertible – the 128i or 328i was the better buy. Mercifully, no moped riders were hurt in the course of taping.
- We wanted to capture a performance comparison test between Richard’s E39 M5 (see M5/M6/550i video) and Hardy’s current gen. 550i. The two sedans’ specs are so close – we figured we’d answer the question that nobody seems to have yet asked but some have surely wondered – would a standard 5-Series now have the capability to beat a previous gen. M car? So, we scheduled time at Lime Rock Park to make that happen. Third lap into the warm up and the M5 lost its brakes. Coming to find out, in a recent service RD’s trusted mechanic forgot to change the fluid. By lap three the liquid in the reservoir simply boiled.
- We then pitted the talented Mr. Drackett and his enflamed 550i against Cadillac’s supercharged, 4.4 Liter, 443 horsepower V8 XLR-V. My uncle, former NHRA record holder Joe Ficca, took the reins of the big Caddy. Several hot laps, plenty of tyre squeal, and some sideways action later – both drivers’ lap times returned just a consistent two second difference. You’ll have to watch the video, to see which car won…
Quick shout outs to the folks at A&M Specialists, BMW NA, GM, Fred Mackerodt, Lime Rock, and the Block Island Chamber of Commerce – without you parking on the island would not have been possible.
First Reaction: BMW 7-Series
By Gunnar Heinrich
BMW’s recently revealed next generation 7-Series (F02), a technical tour-de-force of the (über popular) Bavarian automaker’s best efforts to cosset and propel vehicle occupants in equal measure, has received a muted reception from the auto press.
Frankly, for many there’s little cause to celebrate an ode to excess in such a dour economic climate – even if the big 7 stands a little leaner thanks to aluminum trimmings and is a little more frugal on the go-juice thanks to extra smart electronic engine management.
But that’s not really the base of why BMW’s flagship is being treated to the deafening silence of media apathy. It’s the lack of shock factor.
Munich played it safe.
Chris Bangle teamed with and tempered by protégé Adrian Van Hooydonk has brought back a little self restraint and conservatism to Bavarian design sprache.
Shock! There are even tributes to be the marque’s past in the “concave and convex” curves of the sedan’s slightly less flamed broiled body .
E32 generation fans (of which I include myself as a kindred spirit) can find plenty of tips of the Tyrolean hat to the hallmarks of the roundel’s late 80s/early 90s style in the sedan’s taller, more angular profile, signature inverse hockey-puck taillights, and the reintroduced driver-oriented front cabin.
Gone is the column shifter and returned is the gear shifter that is – as God intended – back on the center console separating both front seats.
BMW’s design team have dialed back largesse and dialed in intimacy; a fundamental and sorely missed aspect in the current generation 7’s layout.
Trouble is, for all the keen effort in reconciling the Bangle But trunk, the vehicle’s front shows a sallow void of imagination. If the low snouted predecessor 7s like the E32 or E38 generations appeared like voracious Tiger sharks ready to hone in on pray, this new 7 transmits the creepy Megamouth.
But these grappling notes represent the first take of many to follow. What can be summed up in these early days is that the new 7 is set to eclipse its predecessor visually by being conservative. A feat both easily accomplished and entirely welcomed.
[Linked: TMR]
