Chevrolet Orlando gets in a Harlequin Suit for the Sake of Art

Photographer credits: Mathieu Damiens

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This 1989 Batmobile Replica is Powered by a Boeing Jet Turbine! [+Videos]

Perhaps the most celebrated Batmobile after the 1966 model from Adam West's Batman TV Show is the Anton Furst designed version from the 1989 and 1991 Tim Burton films. And while collectors may seek the original Batmobiles featured in the movies, we're pretty sure that fans will take a special liking to this replica, which is up for grabs on eBay.
What separates this replica of the 1989 Batmobile, not only from the other clones on the market but the original as well, is that, according to the seller, it is the only turbine-powered car of its kind in the world.
Built and designed by Casey Putsch of Putsch Racing in 2011, the car was completed in 2011. Under the massive hood you'll find a Boeing turboshaft jet engine borrowed from military drone helicopter.
Putsch Racing says the engine, which can run on Jet A, kerosene, or diesel fuel, pushes out 365-horsepower (the seller doesn't say with which type of fuel), though we'll assume that most people will be more interested in the sound it makes and which you can check out in the videos below.
The replica tips the scales at approximately 2,800 pounds or just 1,270 kilos, and comes equipped with height-adjustable suspension. according to the seller, its street legal in the U.S.
Now for the bad news; even though the seller has dropped the price tag from the last eBay auction ($620,000), the car is still listed at a ridonkulous $520,000.
Link: eBay

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VIDEOS

It Came from a…Detroit Junkyard: 1968 Iso Fidia S4

Ask any classic car nut what’s on his or her list of must-have Italian exotics, and chances are there’ll be at least one Iso. The boutique automaker made several notable contributions to the world of motoring, among them the legendary Grifo and svelte Rivolta.

The company was also responsible for the Isetta bubble car and, sadly, the Fidia S4 sedan pictured here. Let’s just say it wasn’t one of the company’s finer moments.

Built from 1967 to 1975, only 192 Fidia S4’s were produced. Iso, which had not built a four-door before and would never build one again, describes the Fidia as, “the four fastest seats in the world”.

I call it, “an ugly box of a sedan that only a true Italian auto aficionado could love”. Giorgetto Giugiaro – later of ItalDesign fame – penned the Fidia while working for Ghia. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Giugiaro’s work but the design of this particular car has not aged well.

The interior featured a polished wood dashboard and hand-stitched leather, no doubt contributing to the Fidia’s high development cost and the subsequent pricetag that put it beyond Rolls-Royce territory.

Early cars came with a Corvette-sourced, 5.4 L V8 mated to a Borg-Warner 4spd manual; 1973 saw the introduction of a Ford 5.8 L V8. The latter was offered with the choice of either a 5spd ZF manual or Ford’s Cruise-O-Matic auto.

Today’s eBay offering comes from a man who rescued it from a junkyard in 1977. The car was originally owned by GM Chevrolet Engineering, where it was purportedly driven by such luminaries as Duntov, Mitchell and DeLorean and acted as a “benchmark” vehicle.

Sometime before 1977, GM decided to get rid of it and so ends our story. It has the original Corvette engine, a 4spd manual that tends to jump out of second when you decelerate and non-original wheels and seats.

Unsurprisingly, the reserve price has not yet been met, though at the time of writing the bidding had reached the US$15,800 mark.

Not bad for a Giugiaro-designed, Corvette-engined penis extension, eh?

By Tristan Hankins

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New MINI Celebrates 2 Million Units, British PM Joins the Party

One Mini is born every minute - or one minute and eight seconds to be exact. That’s not a joke, but a fact. And that’s how 10 years after production of the new model began in 2001, the two millionth MINI, a White Silver Convertible with a denim roof, rolled off the Oxford Plant production line with British Prime Minister David Cameron sitting behind the wheel.

“It’s a real privilege to drive this true British icon off the production line today,” said Cameron. “It is a fantastic symbol of the UK’s strength in the global automotive industry and a great British manufacturing success story”.

Never mind that the British automotive industry is now either dead and buried or owned by Indians, Chinese or, in MINI's case, Germans: a true politician knows that you must never let the truth ruin a good story.

BMW board member responsible for production Frank-Peter Arndt said: “Production of the two millionth MINI comes on the back of strong demand worldwide. Our recent announcement of an additional £500 million investment in our UK facilities demonstrates the important role that Oxford plays in our global production network.”

Of the two million units produced in the past decade, more than 1.5 million have been exported to over 90 countries worldwide. The Oxford plant, in which BMW has invested more than £1.5 billion ($2.4 million) since 2000, produces as many as 900 MINIs a day, with an annual capacity of over 200,000 units.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the MINI but were afraid to ask:

• The top five export markets for MINI in 2010 were the US, Germany, France, China and Italy.
• 2 million MINIs placed bumper-to-bumper would reach 4,626.7 miles, or 7,446 km, which is enough to stretch from Oxford to the Grand Canyon and go round the circumference of the planet Pluto.
• Stacked on top of each other, 2 million MINIs would be 318 times the height of the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, and 3,398 times higher than the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
• Of the 2 million MINIs built in Oxford, you’d struggle to find two the same. With 14 body colors, 4 hard top roof colors, 3 convertible roof options, bonnet stripes and several wheel and interior trims, MINI twins are statistically rare.
• A MINI is born every 68 seconds.
• Each and every MINI consists of around 2,100 components. A total of 500 different robots and 3,700 associates join forces to create it, with 4,000 spot welds required to build each bodyshell. Every robot works to a tolerance of 0.05 mm –half the width of a human hair
• The most popular MINI color is Pepper White, followed by Midnight Black and Chili Red

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Lamborghini Crafts New Collection of Bags made of Carbon Fibre Cloth

We are used to seeing carbon fibre applied in industrial as well as premium products such as bicycles, yachts, airplanes and of course, racing and sports cars, but Lamborghini claims to be the first company to utilize the lightweight but resilient material its un-stiffened, cloth form to produce fashion accessories, and in particular, bags.

The unisex collection, which was designed by Lamborghini and hand-crafted in Italy, comprises of Travel-, Messenger- and Envelope-style bags. The carbon fibre cloth is complemented by hand-stitched leather, palladium-finish galvanized brass accessories, hand-mounted studs and cotton lining.

"This line of bags explores an absolutely unprecedented use of carbon fiber, taking the thrust of technological innovation that characterizes our supercars, to the world of fashion," says Lamborghini boss, Stephan Winkelmann. "These are exclusive objects for those who are not content with practicality, but instead seek a way to stand out from the crowd and stamp their own personality on an accessory."

The range of carbon fibre bags will go on sale complete with a maintenance kit at Lamborghini's flagship boutiques and car dealerships around the world this fall.

Together with the travel bag collection, Lamborghini also released a new range of clothes and accessories for men and women for the fall 2011-winter 2012 season.

You can see photos of both collections in our gallery below (hands up if the male model seen the promotional photos reminds you of the Persian emperor Xerxes -played by Rodrigo Santoro- in the fictional film 300…).

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