| IN A CLASS OF ITS OWN: Bentley's luxurious convertible has rare combination of style, performance | | Posted Thursday, November 02, 2006 2:46:48 PM by Blog57 Team | | Would somebody at least try to compete with Bentley? It won't be easy, but it can be done. It's hard to believe the rest of the world's automakers wouldn't like a slice of the rich, chocolate-truffle cake Bentley has to itself today. Would the menu at Tribute be so exquisite if the Lark didn't exist? Would the DIA scramble to mount the best exhibitions if it weren't looking over its shoulder to see what's up at the Art Institute of Chicago? Competition is good, but at the moment Bentley has the field to itself. No other brand offers the same combination of unique styling, opulent interiors, exclusivity and breathtaking performance. Rolls-Royce has the heritage, but lacks Bentley's grace and performance. BMW has the performance, but BMWs are not rare enough. Lamborghini and Ferrari have the style and speed, but not the passenger and luggage space.... | |
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| | | New Models Unveiled at South Florida Auto Show | | Posted Tuesday, October 10, 2006 10:45:46 AM by Blog57 Team | | MIAMI, Oct. 6, 2006; Opening day at the South Florida International Auto Show presented by Allstate featured debuts of new models by Jeep, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Mercury, Bentley, Chevrolet, Nissan and Subaru. The 36th edition of the annual show opened for a 10-day run at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Those who attend this year's big event can reach new heights in motoring adventure. Almost 20 feet, in fact, an attraction in the table-top terrain that defines Greater Miami. Consumers can visit Camp Jeep at the show and take a "Trail Rated" ride over gravel, rocks, 2,000 wheelbarrows worth of mulch and an 18-foot high bridge designed to deliver the experience of rugged conditions. Dan Tardella, senior marketing manager for Jeep, showed off the longer, wider, safer Wrangler and talked about the global advantage Jeep is getting from the new Compass and Patriot compact SUVs.... | |
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| | | 10 Best Key Fobs | | Posted Sunday, September 17, 2006 6:46:13 AM by Blog57 Team | | Edmunds listed the 10 best key fobs. They declared Bentley's key fobs for Continental GT/C/Flying Spur as the best ones on the market. I want to give out a secret; the Bentley key fob is actually a VAG key fob that has been pimped out with real fancy metal. The switchblade design is based on the regular Audi/VW key fob (#5 on the list) Read the article for rankings 2-10. Read Article .... | |
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| | | Topless Continental | | Posted Monday, September 11, 2006 8:45:58 PM by Blog57 Team | | ST. HELENA, Calif.At the recent Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, the conversation turned, as it often does at collections of great classic cars, to pondering what cars we might see at this event 20, 30, 40 years from now. In other words, is there anything being built today that anyone will give a flying wahoo about in the middle-future? All participants in said discussion agreed on one current car the Bentley Continental GT. It looks damn-near perfect. Drives particularly well, too. Costs $223,000. Shame about the weight, but you can't have everything. In a parallel discussion, most observers agreed that most convertibles look better than their closed-car equivalents. Ergo, how bad could a convertible version of the Bentley Continental GT be? Check out these pictures of the new Bentley Continental GTC.... | |
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| | | Traffic Rules Continue to be Suspended for Rich Bastards | | Posted Thursday, August 17, 2006 8:46:12 PM by Blog57 Team | | In other drive-by news, it appears that the ongoing clamp-down on illegal parking in Budapest hasn't gone so far as to inconvenience the city's most well-heeled and brazen parking scofflaws. Case in point is the delightfully tasteful Bentley Continental GT we happened on yesterday, jauntily parked in the middle of a pedestrian crosswalk on Andrssy t, a few meters from where a pair of traffic cops were putting tickets on the cars of motorists guilty of merely forgetting to adequately feed their meters, while being guilty of not having the money, influence or muscle not to give a shit. The good news is that our in-house parking expert M.F. swears he saw the same car with a boot on it somewhere in District V. The bad news is that this particular ride costs something in the neighborhood of 140,000, without taxes or handling, meaning that whatever tasteful rich bastard owns it probably didn't even care.... | |
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| | | Phantom Respect | | Posted Wednesday, August 16, 2006 10:46:05 AM by Blog57 Team | | BMW's new Rolls-Royce Phantom drives like a dream, but does the brand still turn heads? Rolls-Royce: The name reeks of wealth, luxury, and excess. For a kid like me growing up in rusted-out Syracuse, N.Y., it stood for something otherworldly and unattainable. It was enough, the vision of this powerful car with its endless front, to once make me pump $5 into a gumball machine trying to coax out a cheap plastic copy of Rolls's "Spirit of Ecstasy" hood ornament. .... | |
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| | | Bentley Continental GT “Birkin Edition” from MTM | | Posted Wednesday, July 26, 2006 12:45:52 AM by Blog57 Team | | German tuners Motorentechnik Mayer have made some important changes to the Conti GT that not only give a different visual stance, but also boost power to a maximum of 650 bhp. In this configuration the tuned motor generates a staggering 795 Nm of torque with ease, instead of the already impressive 650 Nm of the production version. advertisement The MTM Continental GT achieves this increased power by means of an MTM exhaust system from the catalytic converter, including a centre- and end-muffler with throttle control all developed on a dyno. The crucial factor in the development is to ensure a maximum level of throughput and performance whilst abiding by the legally prescribed noise limit values. By means of an intelligent choice of material, namely high-grade, polished stainless steels, MTM achieves a low-weight design, which offers maximum durability at the same time.... | |
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| | | Hedge fund operator's stuff must be sold | | Posted Monday, July 24, 2006 10:46:19 AM by Blog57 Team | | His investments business may have been a house of cards, but two of Kirk Wright's homes are brick-and-mortar real. Both will become his ex-residences Saturday, when the troubled hedge fund operator's personal and work possessions are auctioned off to defray massive debts owed by his belly-up firm, International Management Associates, to investors. Sellers are shooting for $2 million in proceeds from the entire package, mere crumbs for the hungry, angry investors. .... | |
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| | | Film documents early days at Greenpeace | | Posted Sunday, July 02, 2006 8:46:13 PM by Blog57 Team | | BOB HUNTER and nine other environment-sensitized ragamuffins sailed the halibut-packing vessel Phyllis Cormack toward -- but not to -- Alaska's Amchitka Island in 1971. By opposing an underground nuclear weapon test there, they spawned the now-global Greenpeace organization. In 2004, the Raincoast publishing firm released Greenpeace pioneer-careerist Rex Weyler's Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists and Visionaries Changed the World. On the University of B.C. campus Tuesday, producer-director Leigh Badgley premiered an Omni Film Productions documentary -- Greenpeace: Making a Stand -- based on Weyler's book. The film will air on Global Television at 7 p.m. Sept. 23. It was screened this week to coincide with the World Peace Forum here. Badgley's works have sometimes touched upon more belligerent matters.... | |
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| | | PHOTO GALLERY: Bentley Continental Flying Spur infotainment screens | | Posted Saturday, July 01, 2006 10:45:46 PM by Blog57 Team | | Continental Flying Spur owners will want for nothing inside their car, whether behind the wheel or enjoying the ride as a passenger. The car is equipped with the latest advanced cabin technology from its power-latching doors and 16-way electrically powered front seats (that are also air-cooled and heated) with new electro-mechanical lumbar control, to its four-zone climate control, LED mood lighting and advanced infotainment system. Whether specified as a four-seat model with a centre console between two electrically powered rear seats or the five-seat cabin with full-width rear seat, passengers will experience an environment that simply cannot be found in any other car. The four-seat option cradles its rear occupants in large, sculpted seats that are electrically adjustable for optimum comfort.... | |
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