car

For anyone who has cursed those couple of pieces leftover after putting together a model car, this is enough to make your eyes water. Frenchman Pierre Scerri spent 20,000 hours building a perfect, working replica of the Ferrari 312PB. His design drawing, based on photographs of the original, apparently took three years alone.

After that, he spent another 12 years building a fully functioning replica of the car, including a miniature version of its dry-sump fuel-injected 12-cylinder engine and its five-speed gearbox. Check out the video and listen to what Scerri calls the Ferrari "music."

Hybrid cars? Blah. Three-wheeled-cars? Blah. Three-wheeled hybrid cars? Blah.

Tilting three-wheeled hybrid cars? Now that's worth craving. Venture Vehicles has unveiled plans for its VentureOne, a two-seat plug-in three-wheeler with a glass canopy roof that can out-accelerate a Porsche Boxster, and gets 100 miles to the gallon. If that's not enough to get you reaching for your checkbook (estimated price is less than $20,000), then this might be: The VentureOne's passenger compartment and front wheel tilt when cornering for that authentic motocross experience.

The VentureOne will come with three engine choices: two gasoline-electric hybrids and one … Read more

Not much surprises us nowadays on the CNET Car Tech channel. In this age of mobile, voice-activated, wireless, digital, high-definition, mesh-networked, in-car infotainment, we hardly bat an eyelid as torrents of new automotive gadgets comes down the pike.

But here's something that made us sit up and take notice: an in-car phonograph. According to an article on the UAW-DaimlerChrysler National Training Center Web site, these record players--made by Columbia and offered as options on 1956 Chrysler, DeSoto, Dodge, and Plymouth models--could handle 45-speed records as well as 7-inch records in the new 16-2/3 format. The players were installed … Read more

Peugeot has announced the winners of its Peugeot Design Contest 2007.

Mihai Paneitescu, a design student from Turin, Italy, has taken first place for his Peugeot Flux.

In addition to being featured as a drivable car on an Xbox 360 video game, Paneitescu's Flux will be built as a full-scale model and a 1:43 model that will be sold by Norev. The full-scale model will be displayed at the Frankfurt Motor Show and the Geneva Motor Show

The Flux, according to Paneitescu's description of his design, references our ever-changing lifestyle. The car would run on a slim … Read more

The foundation of every good relationship is the ability to listen and understand one other. How fitting then, that our Valentine's Day delivery to the CNET Car Tech garage should be the Acura TL-S, one of the most understanding cars in the world. We climbed into the cabin of this souped-up version of Acura's midsized technosedan, and in no time we already were making ourselves understood with perfect clarity.

"Driver temperature, 65 degrees," we ventured after a press of the Voice button on the steering wheel. "Driver temperature, 65 degrees," responded TL's empathetic … Read more

"Does your dog bite?"

Just the thought of those four little words has sent me laughing ever since my mother introduced me to the genius of Peter Sellers.

If you know the rest of that routine from The Pink Panther Strikes Again, then you can imagine my delight at seeing the Coolest Gadgets write-up on a Pink Panther car.

Unfortunately, upon reading the seller's description on eBay, I found that the car is the MGM studio car from The Pink Panther Show, the cartoon series featuring a pink panther, available for about $146,000.

It is not … Read more

To celebrate this Feb. 14, what better way to show your affection than to fire off an audio Valentine to a fellow motorist who cuts you off? Horntones has taken the concept of custom ringtones and applied it to the car horn for use on those special occasions.

The FX-550 won't actually be ready to order until the day after this Valentine's Day, but that will give you more time to look for just the right tunes to match your various bi-polar moods on the road. Uber-Review says you can store eight audio files that can be loaded … Read more

Gizmag is gushing over the 2008 Can-Am Spyder roadster that was recently unveiled by Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), the Canadian motorcycle, ATV and snowmobile manufacturer.

Unlike other hybrid vehicles that tout stealth, satellite navigation or energy efficiency, this vehicle claims to be the offspring of a motorcycle and a sports car.

The three-wheel motorcycle has rear wheel drive, with two wheels at the front and one at the back. The trike is powered by a Rotax 990 V-twin liquid-cooled engine with a five-speed manual transmission.

It has antilock breaks, traction control and dynamic power steering as on a car. The … Read more

The idea of a car-board black box doesn't bother us, despite the obvious issues of data privacy and commentary on modern society. We are, however, offended by another aspect: aesthetics.

Just take a look at the most recent version from Gadget Universe. Would you really want to mount one of these things on your dash or in the rear window of your car? It's almost as bad as a dog with a bobbing head.

Sure, it's possible that your recorded evidence could come in handy after an accident. But what if you were at fault because your … Read more