All Entries Tagged With: "UK"
Window Shopping: Lamborghini-London
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Lamborghini-London.com
LAMBORGHINI-LONDON is one of the UK capital’s many great candy stores.
When yours interned for the Shadow Leader of the House eight summers ago, not a workday went by when, on my way to Westminster via South Kensington station, I wouldn’t pass by the glass display full of raging bulls.
The Lambo dealer is situated quite literally across Old Brompton Road from the tube entry. An RBS, of all institutions, stands right next door for financial convenience.
In the evenings, the showroom is typically lit with automated lights that are synchronized to highlight different cars at different times. Unlike so many other exclusive dealerships, Lamborghini-London (true to form) invites you to gawk in gape-mouthed wonder.
And so I did. Day in and night out. Wouldn’t you?
Which is why I share this little West End warm spot with our London readers squarely in mind. According to Google Analytics, London ranks number one metropolis worldwide in traffic to this website; narrowly eclipsing New York.
LA, you’re a distant third, BTW.
So thank you, London!
Oh, and FYI: nearby there’s a Kulu Kulu at 39 Thurloe Place. It’s a great stop for fresh sushi that’s served in true metro-Japanese style – via conveyor belt and color coded dishes.
Silver Shadow on Milton Keynes
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FOR the United Kingdom, the 1960s were strange and interesting times.
As a nation, we had finally regained some national confidence after the devastation and long-term rationing of the Second World War (the rationing, after all, had only ceased for Britain in 1954). To add to this, there had been the political embarrassment of the Suez crisis, and the population was rapidly rising.
From the midst of all this turmoil emerged many notable things. Primarily, these included hippies, the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, and a ‘New Town’ called Milton Keynes.
If we discount the hippies for the moment, there is more similarity between the latter two than one might at first imagine.
In order to relieve pressure on housing in London in light of the population increase, it was decided by Parliament that several waves of ‘New Towns’ were to be built in the southeast of the country. Milton-Keynes was to be by far the largest and most ambitious of the scheme.
Consequently, on the 23rd January 1967, Milton Keynes was officially designated a ‘New Town’. What was fascinating about Milton Keynes was the forward thinking, modernist approach to town design and planning of founding architect, Derek Walker.
Walker took his inspiration from the Californian urban theorist Melvin Webber, and this inspiration is plain to see if one looks at Milton Keynes from above.
Unlike the majority of towns and cities in the UK, which have grown from little village centres over hundreds of years, the ‘clean sheet’ approach taken by the town planners allowed complete freedom to use any layout they chose.
Thus, Milton Keynes’ roads followed the American style grid and road naming system much preferred by Webber, rather than the somewhat higgledy-piggledy nature of roads in most British cities.
By now, you might well be wondering why on earth a piece on a 1960s British ‘New Town’ has appeared on a luxury car website. Indeed, that would be a very fair question.
The fact is, the similarities between one of the World’s best known luxury cars, the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and Milton Keynes are pretty strong.
You see, as with Milton Keynes, the Silver Shadow followed a modernist approach towards design. The head of the styling team, John Blatchley, was charged with shaking off Rolls-Royces’ hitherto old-fashioned image.
To his credit, Blatchley managed this feat without losing all the elements of character that allowed Rolls-Royce the undoubted success it had enjoyed until then.
Like Milton Keynes, the design of the Silver Shadow employed all the new fangled technical expertise available at the time, though this author would suggest that the lines of some of the more concrete ridden 1960s buildings of Milton Keynes have not mellowed with age quite so well as those of the Silver Shadow.
I must confess that I really warmed to Milton Keynes, much as I did to the Silver Shadow. Both are obvious contrasts to the accepted wisdom of what went before, yet both manage to retain an element of their predecessors charm and character.
Perhaps it is for this reason that both designs succeeded in their aim of subtle modernisation in such a big way.
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Surprise! Family Finds Fortune In Reclusive Uncle’s Garage
It’s a big surprise…
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Bugatti Trust
ONE family in the UK is set to have a strong fiscal start to their new year.
After passing on in 2007, the “reclusive” Dr. Harold Carr of Newcastle bequeathed the contents of his locked up garage to his family. It hadn’t been opened in years and no one had any clue as to what was stored there…
This Week @ Coys: Bentley’s Rolls Fighter
By Gunnar Heinrich
YOU are looking at what was in 1931 Bentley’s eight gun -er – liter shot across the bow of HMS Rolls-Royce. British auctioneer Coys of Kensington states that this Eight is mostly original – a good thing considering the model’s extraordinary place in Bentley history.
BusinessWeek nicely summarizes the importance of Bentley’s final pre-Rolls foray:
“Introduced at the London Motor Show in 1930, the Bentley 8-liter made an immediate impact. While the engine was an extension of the successful 6.5-liter engine that powered Bentleys to numerous race victories, the 8-liter was intended to knock Rolls-Royce from its pedestal,” the article read.
The hugely powerful Eight would run marathons at speeds exceeding 100 mph (Murcielago-level speed in its day). By sorry contrast, Rolls’ best could only struggle to reach 90 mph. This effectively meant that the Royce people up in Derby could sit on their hats for Team Bentley had managed what Rolls couldn’t.
Sad to say, the superior Eight faltered as Bentley’s main rival proved in reality to be the marque’s own bad timing.
The Great Depression had just silenced the Roaring Twenties and like some awful plague it proceeded to systemically dispatch the great and good marques of the early 20th Century.
W.O.’s company fell into insolvency shortly after the 100th Eight.
Rolls bought Bentley via hostile takeover. A checkered relationship ensued. The Eight lost its reason to be.
This particular Bentley, one of only 100 Eights left in the world, has seen the large part of the 20th Century and the collaboration and dissolution of the Rolls partnership. Now that its marque is now free from the double Rs and once again at odds, perhaps fate has handed this road-going battleship a new mission.
Coys is mum on the price (as usual), but according to BusinessWeek another Eight was sold last year at auction on Amelia Island for $962,500. The financial rag gave the Eight model it’s blessing with an “A” grade investment rating.
Right, hoist the rebel flag and ready the guns! We’re off to overtake Phantoms!
[Linked: BusinessWeek | Coys of Kensington]
Breckland Builds Vette For Cashed-Up Brits
By Steane Klose
THE U.K. is the undisputed refuge of the specialist sports car manufacturer.
Over the years we have seen extraordinary offerings from the likes of Caterham, Radical, Marcos and of course McLaren with their legendary F1. Arguably the most wonderfully bizarre of them all were the vehicles rolled out by TVR, whose founder Trevor Wilkinson has sadly just died at the age of 85.
TreVoR took three letters from his first name and combined them to name one of the world’s quirkier sports car manufacturers but the TVR story is one for another day.
It was a new(ish) U.K. based sports car manufacturer who hit the headlines this week and piqued my curiosity. Breckland Technology are not new to the world of performance cars, having rented their expertise to other low-volume producers including Mosler, however this week they unveiled the first sporty offering to wear the Breckland name, the Beira.
A United Kingdom Corvette?
Breckland like many low-volume producers are simply not in a position to develop their own platforms and engines and this is certainly the case with the Beira. Breckland have borrowed the General’s Kappa platform, the same one currently doing time under the Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky and Opel GT and combined it with a 6.0-litre 400hp LS2 V8, backed by a Tremec six-speed transmission. Brakes and wheels are suitably large items.
The striking bodywork is a combination of steel and lightweight composite panels with the headlights and rear quarter panels being the only carry over bodywork items from the Opel GT donor car. All of that composite goodness sees the Beira weigh in at a lithe 1300kg, a result that sees the 0-60mph sprint dispatched in under five seconds.
Is any of this sounding vaguely familiar yet?
Mike Rawlings, the director of Breckland claims that the “Beira carries on from where the Marcos and TVR left off in terms of providing maximum performance for money spent and real individuality”.
Hmmm… a two door roadster with lightweight body work, an LS2 V8, Tremec six-speed cog-swapper and GM underpinnings. There are no two ways about it, this is a U.K. Corvette.
Or at least it could be if it wasn’t for the price. Currently only available in the U.K. it will take a hefty £55,000 to pry a Breira out of your local Breckland dealer’s clutches and I’d be wanting them to do something (anything) with that rather proboscis like gear shifter.
Part I > The W203 C-Class Revisited
Cheap ‘n cheerful.Considering most economy cars, the Mercedes-Benz C180 Kompressor ain’t bad. To behold, it’s actually attractive.
The W203’s amoeba headlamped body post refit is especially cheerful . The seven spoked, 16” wheels suggest a sporting nature to an otherwise average performer.
The lower front airdam stretches aft as if a designer took two index fingers on either side of the car’s mouth and pulled backward to create a wallet-opening smile.
And wallets did open for Stuttgart’s last generation C-Class.
Unfortunately, like those few Stateside who actually “bought” the C230 Kompressor hatchback, I fear that the badge conscious were taken for a ride; myself included.
ECONOMY CAR
Using “economy” is deliberate wordage that’s more a reference to apparent quality and less a price point statement. The relatively costly C-Class ranks as a standard European economy sedan – even when CLASSIC-ally packaged with traditional leather interior.
AMG’s C32 stood as the sole standout; the merits of its Wagnerian V8 ringing loud and clear.
Against the roomier and comfier Ford Mondeo, Saab 9-3, or VW Passat, the benefits of buying Mercedes aside from the cachet of sitting behind the star (mostly hidden from driver’s view) were dubious. Considering the W203 as a horizontally priced alternative to an E46 BMW 3-Series made less sense than navigating an Escher lithograph.
There’s just no comparison. The Bimmer was by far the superior auto by every conceivable merit. What’s more the 3 delivered on quality and value for money.
DELIVER US
From London, I’d rather walk to Oxford than drive a Peugeot or Renault.
Few cars outside the European market give you a stronger audible sensation that you’re dragging a large piece of undercarriage beneath you. At any moment what you’re positive is loose trim will surely give way causing following cars to dart and swerve.
Of course nothing’s loose. In fact, what you suffer and dread is simply a lack of road insulation (and bother).
Regrettably this trait is shared by other European makes that populate most rental parking lots.
So when borrowing a set of wheels, as yours truly did this week past, the clear choice that winked at me from a lot of generics was the late model C180 Kompressor.
Surely, if memory served, this little Benz would provide comfy if somewhat cramped transport and be well insulated from the bruit that drivers suffer at the hands of the French.
NON AND NEIN.
Sit in the C180 and you’re greeted with decidedly repressed surroundings.
There’s forced emotion in the tucked curves of the dash and the fluidly rolling waterfall that’s the center console. All that undulation is constrained by boxy door frames. To temper things further is a prodigious use of the color graphite. Coal would provide more character.
The auburn color of the glossy burl trim that adorns doors and console does little to help matters as I’m convinced it’s carved from the plastic tree.
Looking out the windshield over a very slanted hood, I reckon the electric neon blue finish on the outside is meant to make up for the subdued interior.
TWIST AND…
Take the plastic pseudo laser key, insert into ignition, quick twist and leggo.
The 2.0 liter straight, supercharged four banger jiggers crudely to life. I might pause to ask why the model’s called “180” if the engine sports .2 more liters than its name suggests, but there’s more to pick at.
Confusingly, the front seats are both manually and electrically adjustable. There’s no moonroof to offer us vertical reprieve from drab graphite. And because we’re in Britain during the dark days of winter, I guess there’s little point in having one.
Shift the leather wrapped gear selector back and it finds its way to Drive in a buttery motion that’s foreign to anyone at home with the old slotted Benz shift gates of yore. To its credit, the setup’s comfy in a generic, Chrysler sort of way.
Driving briskly through traffic, I skirt the fringes of Communist surveillance and taxation otherwise known as London’s Congestion Zone to find my way onto the A40 due West Northwest.
And as the road finally opens, a new sedan emerges.
— Part II tomorrow @ 12:00 EST *amended
