Purple 1914 Rolls Royce Ghost First Owned By Tsar Nicholas II Going for €5.5 / $7 Million

The gruesome assassination of Tsar Nicholas II, who was shot in the cellar of an old house, along with his family, doctor and cook, was preceded the year before by the delivery of a new luxurious car, which had been commissioned from the UK – a classic 1914-built Rolls Royce Ghost. Now that car is reportedly up for sale in Germany.

The sale ad does not specify how long he had it for, or if he ever had the chance to to drive it, considering the fact that 1917 was a pretty busy year, as the Tsar was forced to abdicate by the Bolsheviks.

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This Is What It's Like to Live with a Lancia Stratos Every Day

Owning a Lancia Stratos Stradale has to be quite an experience. It was only built because Lancia had to make street versions of its Stratos rally car to homologate it for the World Rally Championship (WRC).

With that in mind, it should surprise no one that, in terms of quality and build, the road-going Stratos fares poor even when compared to a kit car. That’s because it was only an appendix to the rally Stratos, a car built with only one purpose in mind: to win WRC titles. And indeed it did - in 1974, 1975 and 1976.

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Opel Reportedly Bringing RWD Monza Coupe Concept to Frankfurt, May Preview Buick Model

Close to two decades after the demise of the Calibra, Opel (and consequently its British Vauxhall arm) will test the public’s reaction at the Frankfurt motor show in September with the Monza study, a coupe that may preview a future Audi A5 and BMW 4-Series rival.

According to a report from Auto Bild, the Opel Monza study will feature a sharp design and, surprisingly, a rear-wheel drive setup. The name Monza was also used by a RWD Opel coupe in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Frisky Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX MR Gets POV Test Drive

While the crew over at Winding Road Magazine usually specializes in doing POV test drives for the more interesting of new cars, occasionally feature a nice older ride, to reminds us of just how toned down cars are becoming nowadays.

Compare virtually any modern car with its older self, and you will begin to see that the inevitable progress of the industry has rendered its dashboard soft, along with its responses to your inputs. The same applies to sounds – I don’t really understand why all cars are getting so quiet (well, I see the point for family rides, but not for sports cars), but it seems to be an industry obsession.

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Matt Farah Walks Us Through Canepa Design’s Amazing Collection of Classics

Canepa Designs specializes in restoring classic cars, including Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and Shelby models, to name but a few, as well as racing cars from these and other manufacturers. They also have their own collection of privately-restored automobiles, which contains many interesting models, which they either rebuilt or imported. Read more »

Jay Leno Has Fun In New and Old Cop Cars

Little boys’ fascination with police cars does make genuine sense, but not necessarily because they believe in upholding the law or anything noble like that. I think it has to do with all of the gadgets they get, and their cool look all painted up with their specific liveries, as well as the fact that they can be driven quickly legally. Read more »

Toyota Camry Sales Hit the 10 Million Mark in the U.S.

Three decades since Toyota first launched the Camry nameplate in the U.S., and the Japanese sedan has reached the 10 millionth sales mark in the country. America’s top-selling passenger car for the past 11 years, the Camry makes up almost 20 percent of all the vehicles Toyota has ever sold in the U.S. The milestone comes on the same year Camry celebrates its 30th anniversary in the States. Read more »

BMW Showcases "The Great 8", Their Flagship Coupe of the 1990s

While the BMW 8-Series wasn’t a big commercial success, it was one of those interesting cars which was bound to gather a following in future years, simply because it represents an odd car from a very serious, traditional manufacturer that never strays too far from its core design philosophy of the era.

Dubbed the "Great Eight" by some, the GT coupe was a very sleek-looking BMW, and for many, the looks and the rarity factor alone are/were what drew them to the car in the first place.

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Volvo Celebrates 60 Years of Its First Wagon, the Duett

As its name suggested, the Volvo Duett was designed to be two cars in one: a van and an estate. The Swedish brand’s first series-produced estate car, the Duett is the model that made Volvo’s hallmark wagons possible.

On July 4, 2013, the Volvo Duett celebrates its 60th anniversary, as on the same day in 1953, Volvo produced its first 445 Duett. Based on the 445 chassis, the first Duett was bought by none other than Volvo’s boss at the time, Assar Gabrielsson.

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GM Says, Happy 60th Anniversary Corvette!

On June 30, 2013, the Chevrolet Corvette celebrates its 60th anniversary, but America’s favorite sports car is nowhere near the retirement age.

To mark the anniversary, Chevrolet has released some key facts about the Corvette’s history, and some of them are really interesting. For instance, did you know that the Corvette is the world’s longest-running, continuously produced passenger car nameplate? The longest-running vehicle of any type is also a Chevrolet, the Suburban.

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EVO Drives Classic Lamborghini Espada Through France

The Lamborghini Espada, built for exactly ten years, starting in 1968, was never intended to be a sharp-driving supercar, being more suited to carrying people and some of their bags in comfort and at great speed, if necessary.

For me that had something to do with the way it looked, and in particular the design of the rear, which appeared to have been enlarged for extra boot capacity – it is a more practical sports car, then.

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Gulf Oil-Livered 1967 Ford Fairlane 500 Prepared for SEMA

Just because we're a very long way (news-wise) from this November's 2013 edition of the SEMA aftermarket show in Las Vegas, doesn't mean that there aren't any related stories to report on.

Today, the folks from Morgan's & Phillip's Speed Apparel (M&P) sent us an email informing us about a project car they're working on for the upcoming SEMA event. Whereas last year, they went with a classic Mini Cooper, for the 2013 show, they've chose a 1967 Ford Fairlane 500 Coupe.

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Man Sells BMW Isetta, Buys It Back by Chance 20 Years Later [w/Video]

It’s hard to believe looking at the current BMW range, but the Isetta was once built and marketed as a BMW. Various companies built the Italian-designed Isetta under license in a number of countries, but to this day, the BMW version remains the best known.

Powered by a single-cylinder engine ranging from 250cc and 12hp to 300cc and 13hp, the BMW Isetta was a cute-looking bubble car that had (and still has) a broad fan base. However, it is pretty rare to find the owner of an Isetta who bought the car new and still keeps it running.

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James Bond's Lotus Esprit Series 1 Submarine Car Going Up for Auction

Of all the cars featured in the 23 James Bond films, two stand out the most, beginning with the original Aston Martin DB5 used by Sean Connery in the now classic 1964 Goldfinger and 1965 Thunderball movies, which was sold for a paltry £2.9 million (US$4.4 million / €3.4 million at the current exchange rates) during its 2010 London sale.

The other one is the Lotus Esprit Series 1 ‘Submarine’ Car used more than a decade later in the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me, starring Roger Moore, and now, it could be yours – well, theoretically, that is.

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Buick Reattas Assemble Again in California for 2nd Annual Rally

The funny thing with cars that you may have dismissed for any number of reasons when they were parked spanking-new in dealership lots, and which could range from their design to their engineering and cost, is that there's always the possibility you may find them interesting enough to collect after few decades have passed by.

The even bigger irony is that sometimes, it's precisely those quirky characteristics and features, which would have once deterred you to buy one new, that make you want one as a used collectors model…

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The Ultimate Barn Find: Chevrolet Dealership Is Unearthed Decades After It Was Locked Up

This has to be one of the most improbable barn find in years: a former Chevrolet dealership from Nebraska that had been locked for decades has been opened so that employees of an auction company could assess the inventory.

Their surprise couldn’t have been greater: among the 500 vehicles that formed Lambrecht Chevrolet’s inventory were 50 “brand new” cars, such as a 1956 Chevrolet Cameo pickup truck with only 1 mile on the odometer, a 1964 Chevrolet Impala with 4 miles, a 1978 Corvette with 4 miles, a 1960s Chevrolet Corvair with 17 miles and many more.

All these cars still have their window stickers and plastic on the seats, so there’s a good chance they will regain their brand new look once the dust is removed and a mechanical check is done (provided that rust hasn’t crept into the bodywork).

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Original Porsche 959 Converted Into a Speedster Up for Sale for a Cool Million or So

Although Porsche never officially built a drop-top version of the 959 supercar, it doesn’t mean that other people didn’t think about doing it. We have the proof right here - a white 959 that has surfaced for sale in Italy.

Even though at first we were tempted to think this was a 959 replica, a closer look and some “forum digging” revealed this is very likely a genuine 959 – at least from the waist down.

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Michael Schumacher’s Unique Black Ferrari FXX Could Be Yours for €2.03 Million

It goes without saying that, when the people at Ferrari offer one of their drivers a unique car as a gift, they don’t expect to find it later up for sale in online classifieds… If the folks at Maranello were to check the website of a Swiss exclusive car dealer called Garage Zénith, they would be surprised to find two very special Ferraris that belonged to Michael Schumacher. Read more »

Jay Leno Shows Off Finned and Chromed 1959 Oldsmobile Super 88

It’s amazing what sort of cars were considered common in the US in the late 1950s, early ‘60s. They were huge vehicles by any standards, with more space than many modern minivans inside, and pretty much all were flamboyantly-styled and eye-catching in some way. Take Jay Leno’s Oldsmobile Super 88, from 1959. Read more »

Rally-Ready Citroen DS Short Wheelbase Coupe Is As Cool / Funny As French Gets

The Citroen DS was a very advanced car for its day, and for what it achieved in its day and age, it is a highly commendable result. Imagine a modern automaker pushing forward the idea of the car today, as much as it did – the result would probably need wings. Read more »