Lamborghini

- Dad pays!

Posted 19/06/2019 by Terje Bjørnstad

mayfair — Always nice cars in front of the fashionable Mayfair Hotel, London.

Foolishly drove and wrecked his beautiful Lamborghini in front of horrified people. Strolled home calmly. Let dad's lawyers sort it out.

Raced

Park Lane by the Dorchester Hotel - one of London's most fashionable areas - and busiest. Late one night a couple of years ago, two Lamborghinis raced down the wide four-lane avenue. At around 160 km/h, he who was in first was unable to brake before the traffic lights. He tried to swerve between two stationary cars, a Mercedes-Benz S-Class and a Vauxhall Astra. But it wasn't wide enough. The Lamborghini got peeled off both sides. The Astra had to be condemned. Out of the battered Lamborghini crawled out a young Arab boy who just wandered carefree into the street system behind the hotel. The car worth more than NOK 3 million was left in the road. No danger...Daddy pays!

The Bat

The tabloids The Sun and Daily Mail are detailing the accident with several photos. You can see the roll bar struts that have been shot to secure the cabin in the event of a rollover. The young, rich Arab had been playing around. Several people had previously seen him driving around the Mayfair district with his matte black Batmobile-inspired Aventador with the registration number "THE 84T", which can be read as "THE BAT".

Unfathomable riches

The district of Mayfair and Knightsbridge is called the Arab Quarter. There are other Arabs living here than in the sad 11-storey dysfunctional social blocks between Bayswater and Paddington, just 2 km away. The Arabs in Mayfair are incredibly rich. They are ambassadors, bankers and super-rich Arab businessmen.

There are strong economic interests between Britain and Saudi Arabia. Everyone knows that the Arabs have invested enormously. You have to accept that rich Arab daddy's boys are playing around. On paper they are students , but they live like playboys at daddy's expense. The police didn't make a fuss about it. They told the press that they were not going to pursue the case. They knew that they would soon be called by one of daddy's lawyers who would guarantee all the damages. Daddy doesn't like to see the heiress ridiculed in the tabloid press. I'm sure the owners of the damaged vehicles were offered a good settlement - in exchange for not saying anything to the press.

Carspotting in Mayfair

Mayfair is a district that lies south of Oxford Street between Marble Arch and Oxford Circus all the way down to Green Park. My wife and I walked in from The Dorchester. We had spent the night before at the fashionable Galvin at the Windows restaurant on the 28th floor of the Hilton Towers in Park Lane. Outside the hotels there are always exotic sports cars, and inside the embassies there are several Rolls-Royces and Bentleys. They are photogenic against the stately buildings. If you don't manage to take pictures, you can come back later. They stand there all the time.

Revisiting the Batmobile

Around a corner, discreetly parked in a side street, I spot the Batmobile - intact and fine. I have to cool it a bit before I can take a picture. A young Arab with wide gold trousers and proboscis shoes slips nonchalantly and worldly upwards. He shakes hands with his friends before they start to walk back down. I manage a "shot" at the beautiful, matte black Aventador before they cut us off. I have lived in Saudi Arabia. Believe me, life is a lot more fun in London than in Riyadh - especially if you have money.

Dad's Son

We continue towards Berkeley Square. I stop to photograph a foiled McLaren. As I bend down to get the right angle, a man my own age politely stops, so as not to cut off the photographer. I thank him and ask if it is his car. "-Nooo!", he replies firmly but kindly. From a distance, I understand the reaction. The sign "DA08 SON" can be read as "DADS SON". Well, it would have been nice to be 20 years old and have a McLaren in the streets and a gold card in your pocket - but that doesn't give you any glory in London. The owner of the Batmobile contributed to that - with good help from the tabloid press, of course.

PHOTOS

I am attaching some photos from Mayfair in London. We relaxed for an hour on a bench in idyllic Berkeley Square. I did a bit of window shopping at the Bentley dealer there. A Bentayga fills almost the entire room. To me, it's just a solid elephant. Speaking of elephant. On the other side, a reception was organized for Indian youth. Outside the decorated residence stood a rickshaw and an elephant. Man-made and alive. Poor those who had to spend the morning inside the elephant costume. Hope dad paid plenty.

mayfair hotel — Lamborghini Huracán (Mayfair Hotel, London).

See

Shopping and Spotting

London offers holiday experiences, culture and history - and is also well suited for shopping and car spotting. The two activities can be combined.
**See more**

Champagne and Ferrari

Posted 12/06/2019 by Terje Bjørnstad

I recently attended the London Concours - an exhibition of exclusive cars in the surrounding park The Honorable Artillery Company near the City of London. The event spanned two days and was primarily aimed at the business world. The park became an arena where business associates, colleagues or the entire office could meet for breakfast, lunch or Champagne in particularly beautiful surroundings. I myself invited the wife and our London-posted daughter for Champagne and Ferrari.

The mid-mounted Ecoboost 3,5 V6 looks small from the outside, but delivers performance worthy of a supercar.

Fords in the Ferrari class?

The cars near the champagne tent weren't really Ferraris - "just" Fords. But when we talk about the new Ford GT, we are actually in the Ferrari class. One might wonder if EcoBoost will do? The engine is beautiful, sitting under the rear window with two separate, recessed exhaust pipes. The 3,5-litre V6 actually looks small compared to the Ferraris beyond. The performances are nevertheless impressive. 646 turbo horses, torque of 678 Nm and top speed of 347 km/h. This is undoubtedly a supercar. A privately owned car. The owner was very sympathetic and let us study his car in detail.

Classic Ferrari for sale

1958 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta "Tour de France".

The Ferraris were a little further behind. The majority belonged to one of London's Ferrari dealers. A new Ferrari ticks all the boxes of features an exclusive car should have. V8 and V12 engines. A blue F150 LaFerrari caused a stir. It looks like it's eating the road – even when it's standing still. I would characterize it more as raw than beautiful. I don't know what lies behind the model designation LaFerrari, - but interpret it as a kind of "this is it - definitive Ferrari", or something like that. The engine is – not unexpectedly – a V12. A 6,3 liter that produces 800 HP and provides a torque of 700 Nm at 6750 revolutions. Performance is delivered at high revs in pure sports car spirit without turbo. But the LaFerrari is equipped with a so-called KERS system (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) which recovers braking energy to give extra boost when needed. Together, it is possible to extract a boost effect of 963 HP and a torque of 900 Nm.

Of classic Ferraris, the Ferrari 250 GT from the 50s and 60s is perhaps among the most beautiful. It was clear that the crowd really liked them, especially the Lusso variety. And while we're on the topic of sex, we can also bring the yellow 275 GT. All models are true representatives of the Gran Turismo concept.

The world's largest Miura collection?

It's not every day you can study the Lamborghini Miura, - one of the world's most beautiful cars - and among the most expensive. On a French auction earlier this year sold a barn wreck with rotten interior for €560 plus fees. I would argue that the Miura must be one of the world's most preservation-worthy cars.

This is the same Miura used in the 1969 film Italian Job.

It is an experience to study every detail.

The characteristic eyebrows give the car a feminine touch.

Details from the Lamborghini Miura - signed Bertone.

Among the 7 Miuras at the exhibition, one could find the same car that was used in the opening scene of the movie "Italian Job" - the original from 1969 ( - not from 2003). In the film, the car and driver end up in a fatal crash inside a tunnel. The car is then mercilessly pulled out by a bulldozer and pushed off a cliff into the river below. Many believed that the film company had scrapped a well-functioning Miura until one day it appeared to the public. In 2015, it was put up for sale at $1,5 million. And now the orange Miura was on display at the London Concours! The car that was sent off the cliff was a wreck someone else had crashed earlier…

Bugatti's first resurrection

EB-110 — The detail picture says something about the finish on this Bugatti.

In the late 80s, some Italians decided to buy the rights to the Bugatti brand and create a new model. The EB-110 was named after none other than Ettore Bugatti, and was produced from 1991 until the company was liquidated in 1995. The EB-110 is in every way a supercar. It has a quad-turbo V12 engine which in the EB-110 Super Speed produces 612 HP.

The first re-creation of Bugatti did not end so well, in terms of business. The few cars that were made were obviously too expensive for the market. Everyone knew that New Bugatti was actually a completely new player. You had to be either rich or naive - or both - to buy a copy of this model. In retrospect, it has turned out that the cars are alright. Today, they are classics that sell for high sums. If you own such a car, you are unlikely to meet the same car on the road.

In retrospect, Bugatti has been resurrected again under the Volkswagen group. This has probably been a positive for EB-110 owners, although the "All-New" Bugatti is unlikely to have any obligations to original EB customers.

The world's toughest Aurelia?

1955 Lancia Aurelia B20 "Outlaw" in profile.

The Lancia Aurelia from the 50s is one of the world's most beautiful cars. Especially the coupe version. A company has specialized in making a hot rod variant of the Lancia Aurelia B20 GT. They call it "Outlaw". Each car is made to order and designed in consultation with the customer. A typical styling involves cutting the roof as shown in the pictures. The drivetrain is based on Flaminia. It therefore probably works with two classic cars to create one. In any case, the result is breathtaking.
Read more about the projects

More pictures

Click on an image (large or small) to see it full size.

Aston Martin ONE-77 - made in only 77 copies. Price exhibited model: 2 million GBP.

Gold in the barn

Posted 31/12/2018 by Terje Bjørnstad

It always causes a stir when someone uncovers a collection of old cars. One imagines an eccentric car enthusiast who has created his own mausoleum of old cars. What we car enthusiasts call a treasure trove is, for others, an environmentally damaging scrap heap. The difference is often subtle. One may wonder whether the cars that are now going under the hammer in France are treasures or just wrecks.

80 cars gathered in one place

The auction house ADAM Encheres will hold an auction in Tarberes (Hautes-Pyrénées) on January 20, 2019. The auction location will not be announced until January 17 at 2:30 p.m. The auction location is likely to be in the same premises we see in the pictures. This is not where the cars have actually been stored. According to the auction house, the cars have been stored in makeshift barns. Video and photos show cars stored in the forest without protection from the weather. It all resembles the Båstnäs car cemetery - the one near Töcksfors. The cars in France have not been stored for as long as in Båstnäs. Several of them still have the insurance certificate on the windshield, which is mandatory in France. The storage conditions can hardly be said to have been ideal, as cars that have only been stored for 6-7 years are completely rotten inside.

citroen — 1961 Jaguar E-type series 1 (Auction firm **interencheres.com**)

1961 Jaguar E Series 1

The gold colored E-Type is estimated at €40-000. It was first registered in 60 in Paris, has Jaguar's 000 liter six, matching numbers, 1961-speed manual gearbox, flat floor, mileage 3,8 (4-digit meter). Original color is anthracite grey.

Is the market willing to pay half a million kroner for a car that has to be built from the ground up? The good news is that it has no severe rust damage, that the engine has not seized up, that it has a vehicle license and that it is almost complete. A home-made radio cabinet adorns the area around the center console. Dynamo and front left brake caliper have been dismantled. I find the mate, car in Sweden, fully restored for sale for €152. The Jaguar E-Type is not just any car. It is an icon that will rise in value, even in its current state.

Offer price (before sales fee): €99

tarbered — A selection of the best objects (Auksjonsfirmaet **interencheres.com**)

Gold and greystone

The Jaguar is not the most expensive car in the collection. It is the red Lamborghini that is estimated at an insane €400-000. The other cars in the picture are estimated to be much lower. We see among others a 600 Packard Super Clipper estimated at €000-1947, a 300 Chrysler Imperial at €600-1937, – one 200 maroon Oldmobile Tornado at €300-1968 and another at €800-1200 which is believed to have been owned by Jean Richard, - a French actor who, among other things, has played Maigret in a TV series. Beyond is a 300 Buick Skylark for only €500-1975. It is is the price level of the majority of cars. I don't know what assessments have been made, but as far as I can see, the NOK 1000 cars are not possible - or financially profitable to save. They are "grey stone". Among other things, I find a 1965 Cortina estimated at one thousand Norwegian kroner. It is hardly worth more - as a shared car. It will be interesting to see what the bids end up being.

The contract prices (before sales fee):
1968 Lamborghini Miura: €560
1947 Packard Super Clipper: €8
1937 Chrysler Imperial: €4
1968 Oldsmobile Tornado (Jean Richard): €5
1975 Buick Skylark: €1
1965 Ford Cortina: €320

However, I have noted a couple of interesting cars...

Lamborghini P400 Miura

There are 4 Miura's on it mobile.de. The three cheapest have to be paid between 1,2 and 1,5 million - euros - for. From a financial perspective, it is therefore possible to make money from this project, although restoring a Miura is not something for everyone's wallets.

It is the original engine that is in it, 3,9 liter V12, 5-speed manual gearbox, mileage 77 km. Original color is silver metallic and the original interior was black, not "tan". First registered in Belgium, 886. The car must be complete, except that a window crank is missing. The wheel spinners are unoriginal (missing Lamborghini symbols) and there must also be rust in several places.

Offer price (before sales fee): €560

currus — 1968 Lamborghini P400 Miura (Auction firm **interencheres.com**)

Lincoln Mark III

Anyone who has collected cars out in the French forests must have liked Lincoln. There are several of them, including two Mark IIs, this Mark III and a Continental Mark IV. The white 1958 model is a very good starting point for restoration. 430 V8, 3-speed automatic. Last year in traffic was 2012. Estimated price is €4-€000.

Offer price (before sales fee): €18

Citroën Rosalie Currus Van

Do you know Currus? It was a body workshop in Paris that made some of the world's most spectacular donations. They created the body for this particular van based on the chassis of the Citroën Rosalie 850 (payload) from 1937. The Rosalie was a model range that ranged from passenger cars to light commercial vehicles – much like the Ford A and Ford AA.

The first owner was a French furniture factory. Imagine having furniture delivered in the 30s in Art Deco or Funki style from this great donation! Very French.

The car must be quite complete. The engine is a diesel inline four of 1766 ccm with a 3-speed gearbox. The rear door has been dismantled and is inside the goods compartment. The engine compartment has been removed. Maybe it's in the storeroom, too?

Estimated price is €3-€000. I expect that more people will show an interest in this. It can be restored. Even if the market price never matches the Lamborghini, it is guaranteed to attract at least as much attention.

Offer price (before sales fee): €8

Facts

Time: 20 January 2019
Place: First announced on 17 January 2019 on the auction house's website.
Pictures: Posted on the auction house's website. More photos will hopefully be published.

~~The auction list~~ (closed)

Tarbes is located in the Hautes-Pyrénées district (65), approximately 15 miles from Toulouse. Payment systems seem to be well adapted to international customers. Wondering what the contract prices will be. Maybe gray stone turns to gold?

17.01.2019/XNUMX/XNUMX: Latest news
The auction location has now been announced. It is 124 Avenue Alsace-Lorraine, 65320 Tarbes, France.
Time: Sunday 20 January 2019 at 14.30:XNUMX p.m.
Payment can be made via bank transfer or credit card - for foreigners - without additional bank guarantee up to 15 euros including taxes. Objects can be stored free of charge on the site until 000 January 31.01.2019. Bring a trailer!

21.01.2019/XNUMX/XNUMX: Latest news
The tender list has been published. All prices are exclusive of sales fees/fees.
The bid list from the auction

Something completely different: Currus Cityrama

If you liked the van above, you will like this bus. Currus was commissioned to create a series of buses for tourist tours in Paris, - almost the same concept as today's hop-on-hop-off double-deckers that roll around Paris, London and Oslo, and several cities. The Cityrama was built on the chassis of the Citroën U55, which is a 50s truck of the same size as the Bedford and Ford Trader at the same time. Unfortunately, today there are no vehicles left after the Cityrama project.

See

Rare species

Posted 11/05/2017 by Terje Bjørnstad

When I was at the Classic Car Show at Exporama earlier this month, I took note of cars that are not only nice, but also rare.

Arnardo's Mercedes

I believe this is the only Mercedes-Benz 600 type W100 in Norway with Norwegian history. The golden grin suited the colorful circus director well. Just as well as it suited former Hollywood stars and oil sheikhs in the Gulf. In 1972, 172 examples of this beautiful car were produced, one of which ended up in Norway thanks to Arnardo.

The Mercedes-Benz W100 was produced between 1963-81 and was never replaced. Many claim that Maybach took up the legacy several years later. I disagree with that. The W100 is a unique chapter in automotive history.

S-class

Lined up near Arnardo's huge battleship, the "Finn-Mercedes" W112 seems a little small, even though it represented the S-Class of the time. However, the 300 SE with a 3 liter inline six is no small car. I don't know if this car has Norwegian history, but such a car, with automatic transmission and air suspension as standard, would probably belong to a ship owner, or something like that. Therefore, early S-Class is a rare commodity... in Norway, that is.

Lamborghini Espada 400GT

Lamborghini has lived through several eras, and one can of course debate which one is the best. If I were to choose the most beautiful, I think it would have to be the Miura and then the Espada, - both from the first years of the car brand's history, and represented at the exhibition. I was able to take some pictures of the Espada. I've probably never been so close to an Espada before. It was a car that adorned posters in the boys' room and that the car magazines in the seventies wrote about - but that very few ever got to see up close.

A low center line and large glass surfaces were typical of the time. With a front-mounted engine and 4 seats, the Espada was not the toughest car in its class. It could still kick off with a 3,9 liter V12 and approximately 350 horses.

The Espada was made in 3 series from 1968 until bankruptcy in 1978. The model on display is probably a series-II car. You can see it in the design of the dashboard. Later, the radio was moved closer to the driver. I allow myself to be fascinated by the beautiful interior, which - after all these years - can surely be re-stitched.

Iso Grifo

Admittedly, the Lamborghini Espada is a rare car, but the Iso Grifo is even rarer. Extremely rare! It was only built in 413 examples, and it is said that they were built without any kind of rust protection, so several examples must have already been turned into crackers.

Iso Grifo only made one model, based on a Chevy powertrain (5,4 V8), as well as a beautiful body designed by Giugiaro while at Bertone, - a design I would without a doubt place in the top 5 most beautiful. This was actually the first time I have seen an Iso Grifo with my own eyes. It amazes me how classic and timeless this car is.

I wonder if there were more people than me who first became aware of this great car brand through the world of toy cars. For the initiated, both Corgi Toys and Matchbox had Iso Grifo in their model program, – and the advertisements for these were read with wide eyes. I see that it is still possible to buy them on Ebay.

Tatra plane

Talk about being ahead of its time!

This futuristic and streamlined spaceship was created in the 30s. The pictured model is probably from between 1949 and 1952. As it has old Swedish plates, I assume it also has Swedish history. I don't think Tatraplan was ever imported to Norway.

This is truly the "Back to the Future" car. It is extremely aerodynamic for its time, and brings to mind a spaceship with its small "stabilizer fin" growing out of the roof backwards above the engine cover. I think the show car would have looked best with the bonnet closed. But on the other hand, - how often do you get to look into the engine compartment of a Tatraplan? Common 4-cylinder rear engine solution, certainly not unlike the one we eventually saw in the later Skoda MB. But subsequent Tatras – the 603 – built in the communist era had air-cooled V8 engines placed in the rear. It was probably not just for the pleasure of the party pamps. I'm sure it must have been a great time for Czech engineers too.

Imagine if Audi had stepped in earlier and saved this fine car.

The forerunner of the Audi 100 C4?

The NSU Ro80 also belongs in the rare car department, although it is not as rare as some of the other cars featured here. The NSU Ro80 was sold in Norway through the NSU dealers and I remember seeing a couple of them on the road.

When I see it in the showroom, it reminded me of an Audi 100 C4 that I owned in the 90s. I would have thought that the same designer was behind both the Ro80 and the C4, but it's not official, although the designer behind the Ro80 worked for Audi after they bought NSU.

Unfortunately, the Ro80 was only known for its engine problems. The Wankel engines were probably not properly tested before they were put into production. It is said that whenever two Ro80 owners met each other on the road, they would show their fingers the number of times they had changed engines. However, the problem has long since been identified and fixed, so that today's Ro80 owners are unlikely to have to point fingers at each other.

It's a shame that such a fine car should end up in disrepute. I'm sure if NSU had more capital behind them, they would have offered an alternative engine offer during the life of the model, or had the wankel engine fixed.

Fiat 130 Coupé

There were two Fiat 130s on display, a sedan and a coupé. The two are totally different. The coupé has a typical late 70s feel, and seems to have been developed 10 years after the sedan version. I've always been fascinated by the coupe version, but have only seen a few in real life. For several years the car magazines "Motor" and "Nå bil-ekstra" had full-page advertisements for the Fiat 130 and 130 Coupé. But there was no one on the road. At least not the significantly more expensive coupe.

The coupe has some similarities to the sedan, but nothing visible. Not a single piece of sheet metal. Nothing of the interior. Pininfarina redesigned the entire car from the inside out. What these cars have in common is related to the chassis, suspension and brakes. The engines are different. The sedan has a 2,9 liter while the coupe has a 3,2 liter V6. I have forgotten what the cars cost in the 70s, but the coupe was in any case a lot more expensive than the sedan. Not surprising, because it was a completely different car. But the fact is that few in this country dared to put serious Porsche money into a Fiat. I don't think Fiat managed to sell more than a handful. Maybe not even that many.

In the 6 years the 130 coupé was in production, 4 cars were sold worldwide. That's about twice as many as the Lamborghini Espada sold at the same time. The probability that you will meet a 491 coupé on the road is nevertheless staggeringly small.

A few more cars

I'm taking some other cars with me too. They're not as rare, or not rare at all. I found two of them as private cars outside in the parking lot. One is a Daihatsu Copen. A funny name that I remember getting a lot of attention in CAR Magazine . Was it a pun on "coupé" or "Coupé open"? It reminds me a bit of the Ka convertible. I took a picture of the car because it's very rare in Norway. One of the reasons is that I think it was only delivered with the steering wheel on the right side.

The name doesn't hurt anyone, but British motoring media didn't like the name "Copen".

We have previously photographed the Lancia Flavia Coupé here at Terje's cars. It is a rare car anyway.

Also includes this nice picture from the exhibition's Amazon section.

Not rare, but very nice.

Lambo all year round

Posted 14/01/2017 by Terje Bjørnstad

We have a long winter in Norway. That's why I have a great sense for people who let life take its course even if it's dark, muddy, slippery - and occasionally white. They use the boat all year round, take a bike ride even if it's winter, - and like to drive a Lamborghini all year round.

If the Audi R8 gets too boring, you can always opt for the Lamborghini. The car brand was supposedly on the verge of collapse once upon a time, but was turned around by German capital and skilled Audi engineers. I parked next to a Huracán LP 580-2 the other day. The orange color lit up among all the shades of gray in the parking lot. BMW and Mercedes with a ski box are nice, but don't get the heart rate up very much. A Lamborghini does.

Like the R8, the Huracán is available in two body styles, Coupé and Spyder. The model shown is a 580-2, with V10 580 horses and rear-wheel drive. You can also get it with 610 horses and operation on all fours. The Huracán's brother, the Audi R8, comes with a V10 with 540 horsepower and one with 610, both with rear-wheel drive and the same good sound as in the Huracán.

When I was handed an orange Renault earlier this autumn, I expressed dissatisfaction with the color choice. Orange? On a completely normal Renault? Isn't it a bit daring among all the gray cars? On a Huracán, on the other hand, the color seems completely natural.

See

Lamborghini Huracan at Finn.no