RideLust

We told you about the new Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport breaking the production car land speed record here, and soon five lucky buyers will have the chance to park a black and orange Veyron 16.4 Super Sport in their heavily secured garages.

Bugatti will build a limited production run of the 1,200 horsepower special edition Veyron, which will be unveiled to the public at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. In addition to the extra 200 horsepower, the Super Sport version will feature enhanced aerodynamics, which assisted in the world record run of 268 miles per hour, as well as a stiffened chassis to further improve handling. Super Sport buyers won’t be able to attempt their own land speed records runs, as production Super Sports will be electronically limited to a maximum speed of 258 miles per hour. Why? Apparently Michelin, the exclusive tire supplier to the Bugatti Veyron, won’t certify their tires for speeds above 258 miles per hour.

The first five cars will be released in the special black and orange color scheme of the land speed record car, and Bugatti isn’t saying how many more Super Sports will be built beyond that. As Autoevolution reports, they’ve also been silent about the price of the über-Veyron, but that doesn’t matter since all five land speed record replicas have already been sold. If you’ve got the coin to buy and drive a Veyron, I guess you don’t need to worry about how much it costs.

A Bugatti Veyron Hermes edition.

One reason I don’t own a Bugatti Veyron is that 1,001 horsepower just isn’t enough for me. A zero to sixty time of 2.5 seconds seems positively glacial, especially when the Hennessey Venom GT will beat it for half the price. If only the Veyron put out about 200 more horsepower, and if only it was 3/10 of a second quicker to sixty, then I’d have to make room for one in my garage.

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Bob’s new ride wasn’t very fast or economical, but he never woried about road rage again.

Found on That Will Buff Out

Matt Farah from The Smoking Tire hooked up with the guys from Cars For A Grand to go big pimpin’ in a drop top 1973 Cadillac Eldorado. It’s got a 454 V8 good for a solid 8 miles per gallon, but the power goes to the wrong wheels unless you’re driving in reverse. Still, it’s hard to beat a ragtop land yacht on a perfect California beach day, and the video clearly demonstrates that sometimes RideLust isn’t about going fast. Sometimes it’s just about going in style.

If Shaft was an android, he’d drive this. It’s the 1977 Panther 6, a six-wheeled monster with a roaring 500-cubic-inch (8.2-liter) twin-turbocharged Cadillac V-8 stuffed under its louvered haunches. It has 600-plus horsepower and, theoretically, can hit 200 miles per hour. It is hideous, fascinating, and stunning. And it’s for sale in Geneva, Switzerland for £150,000 (about $219,300). Hit the jump for more info and photos.

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We already knew that Mazda would be pulling the plug on the RX-8 in Europe, a victim of ever-tightening emissions regulations. According to Motor Trend, the same thing will be happening on this side of the pond after the 2011 model year. Mazda has yet to confirm or deny this, so things don’t look good for the nimble four-door coupe.
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BMW, apparently, has been building armored vehicles for over 30 years. In Europe, personal security (especially for corporate executives) is taken much more seriously than in the United States. We have the occasional carjacking; they’ve been dealing with anti-corporate terrorists for decades. It makes good sense that BMW would sell a range of vehicles that offer light armoring (for protection from handgun rounds) to heavy armoring (for protection against rifle rounds and explosive devices).

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Blastolene Indy Special, photo by Drew Phillips, Autoblog

You’d think Patton tank engines were a dime a dozen the way the guys at Blastolene throw them into outrageous roadsters. This is their latest creation, the Blastolene Indy Special. It has the same 1,792ci V-12 M47 Patton tank engine as Jay Leno’s tank car, but it’s mounted in a sleek hand-formed aluminum body inspired by the Watson roadsters of the ’50s and ’60s.

The colossal engine puts out an estimated 910 horsepower and 1,500 pound-feet of torque. It’s mated to an Allison automatic bus transmission. The whole thing weights an astounding 8,400 pounds and is 22.5 feet long.

It’s undoubtedly a work of art and utterly deserving of lust.

Hop on over and check out the gallery at Autoblog.

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GM’s announcement that they’re closing the Pontiac (the city, not the defunct brand, in Michigan) truck plant after 37 years puts a big fat “!” at the end of news that truck sales have fallen off to their lowest point since Reagan was in office. High margin pickup trucks were the bread-n-butter of Detroit’s strategy since car buyers defected to the Japanese in the ’80s and ’90s, making up 15% of all light passenger vehicles being sold. That percentage has now dropped to 10% of the market, and unless something drastic happens those numbers are expected to slide further.

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The continuing saga of the Cash for Clunkers plan has gotten more interesting as new reports emerge that suggest that the program has actually increased the average gas mileage of all new cars sold during that period to a record 23 MPG. That’s an 8% increase from 21.2 MPG in August 2008 and the best numbers recorded since gas hit $4/gallon back in the dark days of 2007. So should we celebrate or sagely shake our heads? More after the jump.

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