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  Pontiac GTO History1964-1974 Introduction: The Pontiac GTO is considered by many the first true muscle car. Whereas other manufacturers were concentrating on their fullsize lines, Pontiac saw the potential for dropping a big block engine into an intermediate frame and marketing it at a budget price. Pontiac sneaked past the GM restriction on this combination by making the GTO an option on the Tempest model, creating the hottest performance machine yet. The GTO sold in great numbers and would fuel the competition between GM, Ford, and Chrysler that would keep the muscle car industry thriving for years to...

Unlike the Mustang -- which has always managed to appeal to a broad base of buyers ranging from young women to old men and everyone in between -- the Camaro is and always has been a strutting muscle machine. A car for drive-throughs, Friday night cruising, and teenage boys. That works fine when it's 1969 -- and young, single guys can still afford to buy (and insure) such a car. It doesn't work so well in today's hamstrung, hyper-regulated and cost-inflated world. Part of what killed the latter-day GTO was its $30k price point. The young (under 30) guys who...

The owner of a Los Angeles car dealership is suing Mercedes-Benz, its parent company DaimlerChrysler and other affiliates, alleging that a $1.7 million car purchased in 2004 wouldn't run for more than 10 blocks without problems. The car, a Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK-GTR Limited Edition Roadster, was supposed to be one of only five made. In the lawsuit, the owner of exotic car dealership Grand Prix Motors also alleges that six were actually made, reducing the value of his car. A two-door sports car, the CLK-GTR has a carbon fiber body and a 6.9-liter 12-cylinder engine enabling it to go from...

Cooperation between German Luxury Car Brand and Tire Company Goes Back Sixty-Six Years Advertisements and specialty vehicles go hand in hand, particularly in the automotive world. Countless companies use specialty vehicles to portray new products, which have resulted in some of the most glamorous and far-out cars on earth. Fulda Reifenwerk, the German subsidiary of the Goodyear tire company, may have just topped the world's best with a one-off 700-horsepower Maybach Exelero Coupe, specifically designed to draw attention to its new Exelero, super-wide high-performance tire. Of all the different carmakers Fulda could have worked with, it chose Germany's ultimate luxury...

Legendary sports car maker Bugatti is to produce the world's fastest road car after a prototype last week exceeded 400kmh on a German test track, silencing critics who predicted the car would never achieve its ambitious goal. The multi million-dollar Bugatti Veyron 16.4 - its name refers to the 16-cylinder, quad-turbocharged engine that has more power than a Formula One car - achieved the feat on a Volkswagen test track. The German car giant bought the famous French Bugatti brand in 1998 and has been working on re-establishing its supercar credentials ever since. Bugatti says the 750kW test car, one...

Los Angeles, CA, May. 10 (UPI) -- The man who built the cars and trucks for generations of Hollywood movies is selling 80 of his icons, but will keep his all-time prize -- the Batmobile. George Barris said Saturday's auction in at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles will take advantage of an auto market that has "gone ballistic."

TOM: Well, the people have spoken. And what they've said is, "Yecch!" RAY: We held a contest to name the ugliest new cars for sale in showrooms today. Readers of the column and listeners of our radio show made nominations, and folks voted on our Web site. And the results are in. TOM: We'll work our way up (or should I say down?) to the ugliest car, starting with the runners-up. Now remember, we don't necessarily agree with all of these choices, although we wholeheartedly agree with some of them. But this is what you guys think. RAY: Runner-up No....

ATLANTA, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -Savvy Shoppers Trawl Internet for Latest Car Buying Tips How does an auto dealership rate? That's actually a very significant question. The average consumer still fails to correct the most common mistake made. He fails to get educated on processes involved before, during and after an automobile purchase. Consumers have long used their own lack of knowledge as an excuse for being ripped off, according to Clear Intelligence, an auto dealership comparison and rating service based solely on direct consumer intelligence reports (see www.mydealerreport.com ). "There's never been an easier or better time to turn the...

A concept car by Chrysler called 'Firepower' is displayed at the 2005 New York International Auto Show on March 25, 2005. The auto show, which showcases nearly 1,000 vehicles, will be open to the public through April 3. The Toyota FJ Cruiser is displayed at the 2005 New York International Auto Show on March 25, 2005. The vehicle will be available to consumers in the Spring of 2006. The new Dodge mustang Charger The Shelby logo graces the new Ford Mustang Shelby Cobra GT500 at the 2005 New York International Auto Show, March 25, 2005. This is the first...

What cars will drive the girls crazy? 1. A Beemer convertible. This is the BMW 330ic. It says you're sporty and have a few bucks of disposable income. 2. Jeep Wrangler. Says you are rough, tough and outdoorsy. You don't shave very often, but you smell like pine trees. 3. Mustang convertible. All-American sporty kind of guy. But no laying rubber in front of the women. It doesn't impress them. Really. Note to girls: This is a good car for getting the guys' attention, too. 4. A Mercedes always smells of money. This is the CLK coupe. It doesn't say,...

The makers of SUVs, already under fire for poor gas mileage and safety issues, have a new strategy to reverse sagging sales: Putting bigger engines in them. In the past year or so, car makers have been adding horsepower to everything from luxury cars to family sedans. Now SUVs are being outfitted with engines that are so big and powerful that they can accelerate as fast as sports cars. Yesterday at the New York International Auto Show, General Motors Corp. introduced the 2006 Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS, a souped-up version of its midsize SUV with an eight-cylinder engine like the one...

I'm guessing I'm not alone among auto enthusiasts in having a special place in my heart for Shelby Mustang Cobras. I've driven a few examples over the years, with the most memorable an extremely rare and well preserved 1968 GT-500KR - KR being short for King of the Road. Such a title might seem more appropriate for Bill Ford and Carroll Shelby's latest Mustang, the Shelby Cobra GT500 Concept. Since the automotive businesses favourite octogenarian has been back with the blue oval gang he's been very busy. He oversaw the development of the reinvented Cobra roadster which debuted at last...

LONDON - Environmentally minded British motorcycle engineers have produced a zero-emission bike that ticks all the right boxes except one - it's too quiet.So quiet in fact that its designers are looking to introduce artificial vroom to keep potential customers happy. Powered by a high pressure hydrogen fuel cell, the Emissions Neutral Vehicle (ENV) produces the equivalent noise of a personal computer fan belt. Not only is that distinctly wimpish in the eyes of many bikers, it could also be dangerous. Makers Intelligent Energy are looking at ways to produce an artificial engine noise that will alert people to its...

If you're into off-roading -- and we mean really into it -- then Daimler-Chrysler recently unveiled the vehicle of your dreams. It's a Jeep with more horsepower, more climbing ability and more steering options than any car ever made. With two HEMI engines and the ability to turn itself completely around in place, the Jeep Hurricane concept car is truly one of a kind.The Jeep Hurricane is meant to be an extreme vehicle. It's certainly not intended for the average driver. According to Trevor Creed, Senior Vice President of Chrysler Group Design, "Jeep Hurricane is simply the most maneuverable, most...

BURBANK -- After Chris Reeves first caught a look at the EV1, he'd do nearly anything to lease the electric sports car of the future. Now he'd do nearly anything to get one back. Reeves is one of dozens of electric car buffs to stand vigil for 10 straight days hoping to save the last of the General Motors fleet -- 77 EV1s in California and roughly twice that number in New York -- from the crusher. "If I could get my car back, I would lie in front of a (car) transporter," declared Reeves, 46, of Burbank, among a...

These are no ordinary cars. Power comes from fresh air stored in reinforced carbon-fiber tanks beneath the chassis. Air is compressed to 4,500 pounds per square inch — about 150 times the pressure of the typical car tire. The air is fed into four cylinders where it expands, driving specially designed pistons. About 25 horsepower is generated. Though technical problems are being worked out, company officials say the car is capable of 70 mph and a 120-mile range under normal city conditions, performance that is comparable to electric cars. Critics say the car has had trouble living up to its...

IT'S Smart but it's certainly not clever, and it has cost Daimler-Chrysler more than e2bn (£1.4bn) since its launch. Now the question is: how much longer will the carmaker continue to underwrite the underperforming Smart car? Heralded as the future of urban personal transport when it was launched in 1998, the car was environmentally friendly, ergonomically appealing and space efficient. But DaimlerChrysler's unique minicar has been revealed in the German media as a costly failure with 2004 losses of about e600m, making the overall dent in its creator's pocket up to e2bn.

JASPER, Texas (AP) - For some drivers, even a Hummer may not be enough. At a curb weight of more than 3.5 tons, the Humvee-inspired Hummer H1 is no skinny guy who gets sand kicked in his face. But the Bad Boy Heavy Muscle Truck, a dressed-up military vehicle more than twice as heavy, is being billed as bigger, badder and more bodacious. "It's the rugged Bubba," said Daniel Ayres, president and CEO of Homeland Defense Vehicles LLC and its division Bad Boy Trucks. The East Texas company aims to market the machine to civilians with disposable cash and a...

‘Hello, I need help’ – UN-backed forum to discuss automated car emergency calls 8 February 2005 – Cars with futuristic communications systems, ranging from warning nearby vehicles that they are skidding and advising appropriate action to automatically generated in-vehicle emergency calls that could save lives, will be the focus of a United Nations-backed workshop at next month’s Geneva International Motor Show. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is joining with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), a network of national standards institutes from 140 countries, and the Geneva International Motor Show to host the workshop on the synergy between the information...