The Car Tech blog

Blogger Alex Smolik spotted a rare Rolls Royce Drophead with a brushed-steel hood and a yellow Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano. Both cars are from Qatar. The 1.5 minute shaky, hand-shot video shows off these cars on a Parisian street.

Inspired by Ge Kiln porcelain, this one-off Ferrari 599 gets a special paint job by Chinese artist Lu Hao. The method for creating Ge Kiln was practiced in the Song Dynasty (between 960 and 1279). The unique look resembles cracked ice.

Several autoblogs today reported the car sold for $2 million at a charity auction.

A London-based super car fan site shot footage of 10 vehicles over the last two years.

The rare finds include the Lamborghini Gallardo, the Ferrari Enzo, and the Ferrari Scuderia.

The Frankfurt Auto Show (also known as The Frankfurt Motor Show) just concluded another exciting string of showcases for roughly 10 days at the trade fair grounds in the aforementioned city. This automobile exhibition has existed in some form for over a century, and is one of the biggest car shows in the world. This video clip from Edmunds.com gives us a quick snapshot of some of the hottest (and unfathomably expensive cars on display at this year's event.

One of the big themes in this year's Frankfurt Motor Show was electric battery driven automobiles, and there was no shortage of such vehicles on display from a variety of manufacturers. Featured in this video is the Audi E-Tron, and not only is it environmentally friendly, it's a sweet lookin' car as well. Other highlights in this clip include the Ferrari 458 Italia, the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo, and the new Lamborghini Roadster. Most of these cars are expensive as they look, and you'll probably have to sell your children and grandchildren into slavery to afford these vehicles. But I'm a sucker for the eye candy presented here, even if it does make me feel like a beggar. Oh well.

Last Friday, we had a bit of Web video fun with some classic European sports cars in action. Out of all those supersweet automobiles, my favorite has to be the somewhat quirky looking Ferrari 250 GT SWB Drogo, perhaps better known as the "Breadvan" because of its unshapely and boxy exterior. Despite its hard-to-miss appearance, a reader noted that the car I focused on about the 5:10 mark in the video was in actuality not the 250 GT. I'll be the first to admit my mistakes and reiterate for the Nth time that I do not proclaim myself a know-it-all on automobiles. Mainly, I just write this blog because I think Web video of cars and racing is good clean fun--a rare pleasure in this day and age. With that said, buckle up for today's "Breadvan" video as we get a view from the inside of this classic sports car.

This video gives us a first-hand perspective of the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Drogo as it shreds the asphalt at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex, England. Unlike a lot of video clips, whoever put this clip together did not ruin it with a bunch of crappy, overdubbed music. Instead, we get to hear that V12 roar around the track, and boy, is that music to my ears. Barring an instance where we can get behind the wheel and do the same, this is next best thing to enjoying what the "Breadvan" does best.

(Credit: Ferrari)

It's not every day that the world gets an all-new Ferrari to lust after (not that one, this one). So when the Italian automaker unveils a new rolling work of art, people take notice.

Polyphony Digital and Turn 10 have both created digital tributes to the super sexy Ferrari 458 Italia using their respective Gran Turismo 5 and Forza Motorsport 3 game engines. But which is better? Ultimately, a pair of glossy prerendered videos says very little about which game is better. Check them out below and sound off in the comments section.

I can barely tell the difference between digital and real life at times, so--while we're at it--be sure to check out Ferrari's official live action 458 Italia teaser video.

Lately within this blog I've been discussing classic European sports cars and classic sports car racing. Yesterday I dedicated my web video and blog time to the Ferrari 712. While I was searching for clips of the 712, I stumbled across another related subject that I thought would be fun to talk about here. It is perhaps the most unusual sports car ever built in terms of appearance, and it is the Ferrari 250 GT - a car most enthusiasts and historians refer to as the "Breadvan".

The Ferrari 250 GT was dubbed the "Breadvan" by British critics as it features a strange body style for a sports car and was far from sleek based on typical sports car standards. The 250 had a notably pointed front end, and the rear of the car was raised and squared off, almost like a Hearse. Despite the odd body style, the car could still square off with Ferrari's other sports brethren as one of the fastest European sports cars of the 1960s.

So here we go with another classic sports car race clip, this time from the famous Le Mans raceway in France. The camera has honed in on the Breadvan as the pit crew make preparations for the race. Leading up to takeoff, we get a glimpse under the hood from the sidelines, and even from there it sure looks pretty. Then about 2:40 the drivers dash to the vehicles to begin the race. There is plenty more eye candy to be seen here as far as sweet European sports cars go, but the camera has the Breadvan as its primary focus. We get a final go-round look at the 250 GT around the 5:10 mark and from there the video jumps into the night with the cars still going around the track.

After reviewing this last weekend's Classic Endurance Racing event at Silverstone, I went back to the CER website to read a little more about what they're all about. Problem is, the website is mostly written in French, a language that I'm only scarcely familiar with. Apparently, they have a special feature on the "Modele Unique" Ferrari 712 driven by Paul Knapfield at CER's final race at Silverstone. If only I could read French would I know what makes this vehicle "unique"...

Specific "modele" aside, any Ferrari is pretty bad assed. So in lieu of footage featuring Mr. Knapfield racing his Ferrari 712 over this past weekend (where he finished 42nd of 44 cars...not all that impressive for drivin' in a Ferrari), we get a web video clip that delivers three Ferraris in the same place at the same time. Not only is the 712 in action here, but we also get to see the 312PB and the 512M racing around the famed Spa-Francorchamps track (a place that incidentally is a regular host of classic sports car racing events). What a bargain!

The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG's retro design evokes the 300 SL.

(Credit: CNET)

Ultimates: Exotic cars at the Frankfurt auto show--photos

With all the very expensive new cars being unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show, you would think the economy never went into recession. It did, and yet here they are, a parade of new automotive objects of lust from the likes of Ferrari, Maserati, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin, and Rolls-Royce. Some emphasize sport, some luxury, but all have way more of each than your standard economy sedan.

Leading the parade is the spectacular new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, a monster of a supercar with retro styling evoking the gull-winged 300 SL. Porsche shows off a couple of 911s, the styling only slightly updated but big improvement where it counts: in the engine, transmission, and suspension. Ferrari comes up with a replacement for the F430, managing to improve on that already fantastic supercar. And then there's Abarth, which offers up a tribute to Ferrari in the form of a heavily modified Fiat 500.

A number of convertibles follow, the tops chopped off of an Audi R8, Lamborghini Reventon, and Maserati GranTurismo. And finally, a couple of stately sedans from Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce take the floor.