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Irony in iron is what makes the American luxury cars of the 1970s and 1980s lovable. These were cars built with things like “opera windows,” “carriage lights,” and “landau roofs.” High-performance never really entered the conversation as they all seemed to have lazy, soporific, low-compression V-8 engines choked by primitive emission controls. Bolting up to those low-specific-output engines were three-speed automatic transmissions and suspensions tuned like mashed potatoes. To distract buyers from the mechanical deficiencies, most luxury cars of the era are as over-decorated as Liberace’s home. Quality? Why bother?The challenge on this week’s exciting (meh) episode of Window Shop was, apparently, to find a luxo-barge from this era that you could enjoy ironically like an old episode of Barnaby Jones or a lava lamp. The budget was $25,000 . . . which is enough to get something that superficially in good shape but horrible down to its dissolving marrow.One the episode’s finest contributors actually was dinked for finding a car that was too good for the challenge. That’s right, he found a car someone might actually enjoy driving as opposed to one that could wallow to Cars and Coffee at the Ann Arbor Arby’s.Yes, that would be the Ann Arby’s. Special guest Adam Wade, whose hair looks great runs a YouTube channel called “Rare Classic Cars” His channel is totally delightful, filled with tons of trivia, and this week he’s joined by the usual gang of mumblers including Jonathon Ramsay who contributes, K.C. Colwell who plays the testing game, John Pearley Huffman who migrates over from Road & Track, and editor-in-chief Tony Quiroga who orders everyone around.Is it a great time? Hey, what else are you doing anyhow?

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• Presumably a daily driver before it was refurbished 20-plus years ago, this 1971 first-generation Z dates from the desirable pre-5-mph bumper era.• Some 44,780 miles are shown on the five-digit odometer, but there’s no telling how many times it has rolled over during this car’s 51 years of existence.• Bidding is open until Wednesday, May 11, and the current high bid of $8000 already eclipses its original base price.This is not a concours-level example of the Datsun 240Z, up for auction on Bring a Trailer, which like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos. But it is a fairly clean car that has spent its entire life in California, apparently in the care of one primary owner until it changed hands last year. The car underwent a fairly comprehensive refurbishment back in 2000 and looks like it has been treated as the classic it has become since then. But 22 years ago is not recent, as evidenced by the included VHS tape that documents the restoration. Still, the end result is a Z that’s mostly faithful to its as-new condition in a way that suggests that this is how it may have looked when it was, say, three years old and still partially owned by the bank.The original skinny wheels and rim-protector tires have been replaced, as they almost always were, but instead of going for the slotted 5-hole mags that were the default choice back then, this owner opted for Center Line lookalikes. It also has period-correct aftermarket side mirrors but, thankfully, the owner did not see fit to install a set of the rear window louvers that were all the rage at the time.

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Looks-wise, this car’s best feature may just be that it predates the 5-mph bumper era. Z-cars that were produced from 1973 onwards, such as this other listing for a 1977 280Z, looked a little less cool because of the huge bumpers that were grafted on to meet the new rule. But that other listing also underscores a fact that is often overlooked. The first generation of the Z-car consisted of lookalike 240Z, 260Z, and 280Z phases, which is probably why people started simply calling it the Z-car. The second generation was called the 280ZX, with the added X probably deemed necessary by the marketing department at the time to denote the model’s redesigned status. And that’s why we’re not bothered by the fact that the 2023 Nissan Z is named Z. The number never mattered much. The Z was the thing.

In this car, you can see hints of what the new Z’s designers were going for. It’s even yellow, the color chosen for the 2023 Nissan Z Proto Spec, the special launch edition that will be limited to just 240 units. The long hood and its domed center appear on the new car, and they faithfully reproduced the sloping roofline and sharply-defined Kammback tail. The new Z’s taillights are reminiscent of the taillights on the Z32 300ZX, but the designers of that car were in turn paying homage to this one.It’s also worth looking at the squared-off grille opening just below the lip of the hood, which appears smaller than it is because the chrome bumper bisects it. There is a horizontal mesh grille above the bumper, and a similar-looking mesh also appears on the top half of the new Z’s grille opening. Inside, the three pods on top of the dash represent a through-line that appears on the new Z, but the interior is far more raw and bare-bones.It will be interesting to see how much this car goes for–and the 1977 280Z, as well. With the swell of hype and nostalgia in the air surrounding the new car, we can’t help thinking these listings are trying to surf that wave.
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Mercedes teamed up with will.i.am to create this one-off concept called WILL.I.AMG.It’s based on the AMG GT 4-Door and has a face similar to the G-wagen’s.The car supports will.i.am’s philanthropic project called “The Flip.” Musician and philanthropist William James Adams, Jr, better known as will.i.am, has joined forces with Mercedes-AMG to create a one-off concept car called “WILL.I.AMG.” The car will serve as the centerpiece of will.i.am’s latest philanthropic project, but, before we get into that, let’s examine the creation itself. It’s based on a Mercedes-AMG GT Four-Door and was built by West Coast Customs, a purveyor of multiple over-the-top one-off automobiles—you might recognize the name from MTV’s “Pimp My Ride.” This is the sixth project will.i.am has employed West Coast to build for him, and it’s far more restrained than most of the far-out rides he’s had West Coast put together for his personal use.Will.i.am and West Coast Customs reworked the AMG GT’s body to convert it from four doors to two—we’re thinking these must be in contention for the largest doors on any car, ever. Hinged at the rear, suicide-style, they open like a pair of welcoming arms. If this were a daily driver, you’d be trapped inside after pulling into a parking spot at your local grocery store.

Mercedes-Benz

We don’t know what inspired the squared-off, truck-like front end clearly taken from the G-Wagen, but it certainly won’t be confused with your neighbor’s AMG GT. The three-pointed Mercedes star in the grille was replaced with the image of a bear, which symbolizes the phrase “Bear Witness.” It’s the name of line of limited-edition apparel and accessories that Mercedes says will be available online and at its Mercedes-AMG Experience Center in Miami. There’s also a six-part documentary covering the build, titled “Drive” that will premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.The car is part of will.i.am’s latest philanthropic undertaking called “The Flip – Innovation for Purpose,” which is intended to give students from disadvantaged communities access to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) education. That, in turn, will enable them to grow the skills needed to earn future tech-focused jobs that help them lift themselves, their families, and their communities out of poverty. The rapper/song writer/singer and founding member of the Black Eyed Peas explained his desire to build a special Mercedes this way: “I grew up in a ghetto. I grew up with hip-hop. I watched legendary hip-hop artists rap about Mercedes, so it was always a dream to own a Mercedes. For a lot of inner-city kids, owning a Mercedes is a symbol of progress and advancing out of struggle.”

Mercedes-Benz

The Flip program is new, but it’s actually one of many STEAM educational initiatives supported by the musician’s i.am/Angel Foundation, which has been performing these good works for more than a decade. The organization supports and funds students in underserved communities including will.i.am’s home town, the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The support enables participation in courses focused on robotics, information systems, computer coding, computer-aided design, and art. The foundation has also supplied both after-school tutoring and scholarships that have helped inner-city students attend and graduate from college. The foundation has raised millions of dollars of funding for these programs.At this point, will.i.am and Mercedes have said only that all the activities surrounding the WILL.I.AMG will benefit the efforts of the singer’s i.am/Angel Foundation “to help build a STEAM-ready talent pool that will lift families and communities out of poverty.” When it comes to custom cars, there are as many opinions of what looks cool as there are people. But no one can argue with the good intentions, positive outcomes, and hopes for the future that this one represents.

Mercedes-Benz

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Acura announced that it has begun production of the 2023 Integra at its plant in Marysville, Ohio.The Integra is powered by a 200-horsepower turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four, mated to either a continuously variable automatic or a six-speed manual transmission.Pricing starts at $31,895, and the Integra will start to reach dealerships in June. Acura recently revealed pricing for the 2023 Integra, and now production has officially begun for the luxury brand’s new entry-level hatchback. Acura announced today that the Marysville Auto Plant in Ohio has started building customer-ready Integras, signaling the return of one Acura’s most beloved nameplates and the return of a manual transmission to the Acura lineup for the first time since 2015. The Integra is being built on the same assembly line as the larger TLX sedan, and it also shares the Marysville facility with the Honda Accord. This is the first time a car bearing the Integra name has been built in the United States, and it becomes the fifth car in the Acura lineup to be produced in Ohio.

The 2023 Integra comes standard with a 200-horsepower turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four borrowed from the Honda Civic Si. The base Integra starts at $31,895 and comes with a continuously variable automatic transmission, but buyers can also opt for a six-speed manual. This requires choosing the A-Spec and technology packages, adding goodies like a limited-slip differential and adaptive dampers but boosting the price to $36,895. The 2023 Integra will start to hit dealerships in early June and Acura is taking reservations on its website.
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• This 2009 Audi R8 4.2 has a current bid of $41,226 on the Bring a Trailer auction website.• The car shows 12,000 miles on its odometer.• Bidding ends Wednesday, May 11.The ever-faster march of technology makes it easy to stay focused on the next greatest thing. But it also makes it easy to forget how great some of the automotive world’s “less-advanced” vehicles were not long ago—and, in many cases, still are. Case in point is arguably one of the most underrated modern supercars, the first-generation Audi R8, such as this 2009 model we came across on the Bring a Trailer auction site—which, like Car and Driver, is owned by Hearst Autos.

The original R8, which debuted for 2008, hails from a simpler time, back when Ferrari SUVs and widespread electrification were only fever dreams. True, the R8 still exists in V-10 form as a 562- or 602-hp bastion of internal-combustion fury, but today’s second-gen car has been infected by more computer processors and has lost some of the original’s elegance. In contrast, the soft, sultry lines of the first-gen R8 say exotic without shouting it, and in base form it had a mere 420 horsepower from a 4.2-liter V-8. But that melodious naturally aspirated engine loved to rev and, unlike today’s automatic-only R8, could be paired with a six-speed manual transmission. Just as important is the satisfying clack-clack action you get from working that shifter through its exposed metal gates as you bolt to 60 mph in a little over four seconds.

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While that may be slow by contemporary supercar standards, it’s more about the theater of speed here, and the manual R8 is a Sydney Opera House of driving enjoyment. Which is exactly what you want in a comfortable, well-mannered performance car that you can savor every day. “The R8 will cruise the freeway with as little ride disruption and mechanical commotion as an (Audi) A4,” we wrote in 2007. “Yet at speed the R8 gathers itself into a tautly controlled crouch, heading where it’s pointed with remarkable precision and exhibiting none of the propensity for snap rotation that some mid-engined cars have made famous.” Pitted against the Aston Martin Vantage and Porsche 911 Turbo, the R8’s goodness earned it a comparison-test win in 2008. Much of the R8’s ”wonderfully neutral” character can be traced to its rear-biased all-wheel-drive system, as well as the optional magnetorheological dampers found on this 2009 example painted in Phantom Black Pearl with matching side-blade trim. Inside the surprisingly spacious cabin you’ll find lots of black leather, a Bang & Olufsen premium stereo, and long-haul friendly sport seats with heaters. Currently for sale in Texas, this car only has 12,000 miles on its clock, plus a recent service record, a clean Carfax report, and a clean Louisiana title.

Bring a Trailer

What really grabbed our attention is the current $41,226 bid on this car’s Bring a Trailer page. With six days left in the auction, that figure surely will creep upwards. But that’s still a discount-rack price for a car that cost around $110,000 when new. While that level of depreciation largely is the result of the greater popularity for the more powerful V-10 model that was added for 2009, we don’t care when it makes the standard car a viable alternative to a new Toyota Supra—and a far more special one at that. Besides, a little more speed is only an aftermarket supercharger away.

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Your next vacation could be a three-day rooftop camping adventure at one of two locations in Germany.These adventures, offered for €2490 through Porsche, include a roof-top tent and a Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo station wagon.Bring your friends along, as the excursions can be booked with enough cars and tents for up to eight people.If the road is calling you this summer, listen closely. Is it speaking German? If so, Porsche has two different camping road trips that may be of interest. You can even bring seven of your friends, so long as each camper has €2490, or around $2628 at today’s exchange rate, to drop on the three-day adventure.

Porsche

For that outlay of cash, Porsche will set you up with a Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo station wagon, a rooftop tent, and an itinerary of activities in either the Black Forest or the Rhine-Hesse wine region. Both start and end in Stuttgart, but the Black Forest outing includes a zipline tour and a hiking excursion while the Rhine-Hesse version offers overnight stays at wineries with a wine tasting and gourmet dinner at Sekthaus Raumland.

Porsche

Porsche provides meals, bedding, and other camping equipment for you, so if you’re flying in from the United States, all you need to bring is your personal items and your sense of adventure. You could, of course, get a rooftop tent for your own car but not every model can accommodate something like that. Plus, your Subaru or 4Runner isn’t going to be as much fun to drive as a 670-hp electric Porsche station wagon.
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The 2022 Audi RS3 has a starting price of $59,995.It has a 401-hp turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-five engine and all-wheel drive.Audi says it will reach U.S. dealerships starting this summer.The new 2022 Audi RS3 keeps many of the best characteristics of the old one, most notably its characterful turbocharged five-cylinder engine. But the price will rise somewhat to a new starting cost of $59,995, in accordance with some new features and the redesigned exterior and interior shared with the latest generation of the lesser A3 and S3 models.

The turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-five stays roughly the same as before but now produces 401 horsepower, compared with 394 hp for the 2020 RS3 (Audi skipped the 2021 model year). Torque is also up 15 pound-feet, to 369 pound-feet. A seven-speed dual-clutch transmission is standard, as is an all-wheel-drive system that now boasts torque-vectoring capabilities and a drift mode.Audi hasn’t released detailed pricing information for the new model, but if it’s anything like the old car it’ll be offered in a single trim level with various option packages. We know for sure that an upgraded exhaust will cost extra; summer tires are standard, but aggressive Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R rubber will be optional, too. Eight colors will be offered, including the Kyalami Green you see here.Audi says the new RS3 will start arriving at dealerships this summer.
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Tobias Moers is replaced as the boss of Aston Martin after less than two years. Former Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa is the new Aston boss. Another ex-Ferrari exec, Roberto Fedeli, is set to become Aston CTO.It has not quite been two years since we last told you about Aston Martin ousting a CEO and installing a replacement from another automaker. Now history is repeating with confirmation that the AMG executive who took the top job at the British sports-car maker in 2020, Tobias Moers, is himself leaving—and is being succeeded by one-time Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa.The official release announcing the change thanked Moers for his service to Aston, and said that—although he has already left the company’s board—he will continue to support the leadership team until the end of July. Felisa is already a non-executive director of Aston Martin, but previously worked at Ferrari for 26 years, leading road car development for much of that time and latterly as the Italian company’s CEO. Yet at 76 years of age, Felisa seems unlikely to be taking on such a demanding and likely stressful new job for the long haul. He will be joined at Aston by another former Ferrari executive, Roberto Fedeli, who will serve as Chief Technical Officer.

While Moers’s sometimes abrasive management style was at least partially responsible for some of Aston’s executive exodus (chief designer Miles Nurnberger, chief engineer Matt Becker and head of Special Operations David King all left last year) the German did help to bring some much-needed stability to the brand and also to increase sales. Aston’s first-quarter results for 2022, released alongside news of Moers’ departure, show that although the company is still losing money it has increased revenues and is on track to deliver more than 6600 cars globally this year. Last year it managed 6182. Moers also spearheaded development of the well-received Vantage F1 Edition, DBX 707 and the sold-out Vantage V12.

Aston Martin DBX 707
Aston Martin

But Moers also seems to have had a strained relationship with Aston’s executive chairman, Lawrence Stroll, the Canadian billionaire who also owns a substantial stake in the company. In January Autocar reported that Moers’s future was in doubt, and although the company responded with a statement denying the claims, the relationship only lasted for another five months.What does this mean for Aston products? In the short term, probably not a great deal: development of revised versions of the company’s sports-car range is well underway, and Aston has already agreed a deal with Mercedes for widespread technology sharing. But Felisa’s arrival suggests there may well be another change of direction for Aston’s supercar projects, with the company having previously committed to developing two mid-engined models around a hybridized powertrain. The original plan had been for Aston to develop its own electrically assisted V-6 for these, one that Moers switched to proposed use of an AMG-sourced V-8. Given Felisa and Fedeli’s long association with Ferrari, another new direction may be on the cards, with Aston insiders saying consideration is already being given to opening an engineering center in Italy. Whether those models can bring the volumes that Aston needs for long-term viability is a different question: the official target is to move production to 10,000 cars a year, something that would doubtless be made easier in the current market with more SUV variants than pure-blooded sports cars.One thing we can safely predict is that Aston’s future will continue to provide plenty of drama, as well as—we hope—compelling products. We promise to report all of it.

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