Autoblog

"Cao, nema više" reads the piece paper affixed to the tailgate of the red Serbian hatchback, as a small throng of proud workers gathered around the car to bid it "Goodbye, no more" this week. After a 20-year run, the last Zastava Koral, #794,428, quietly made its way to the Zastava museum and the scrappy Eastern European automaker has wound down production on all but one of its models. The very last Zastava, a Skala 55, will be the last of its kind when it makes its way down the production line on November 20th. After that, the proud, tenacious people who have been working at the Kragujevac factory aren't sure of what the future holds. Zastava has long been linked to Fiat, and when the lines restart, the Zastava 10 will be badged as a Fiat Punto, which it is.

Make as many Yugo jokes as you'd like, but Zastava has a long and fascinating history, and the company has managed to produce automobiles through several periods of war, even after the factory sustained bombings. The now classic Zastavas will live on; the company is working on setting up Skala 55, Koral In, and Florida In production lines in Africa and the Zastava 128 is still being produced in Egypt. In those climates, we figure they won't need to come with defroster grids to keep your hands warm when pushing.

[Source: Zastava]

300 horsepower. Not too long ago, that was a number to brag about. Nowadays, minivans edge close to that number, making 500 or even 600 horsepower the new 300. While the proliferation of big horsepower might scare the beejeezus out of average drivers, car lovers see it as an opportunity to get a musclebound automobile at a fire sale price. If you've got a need to have the latest, best stuff, then the idea of picking up 300 still-exciting horsepower under the hood of something interesting from the last two decades might not do it for you, but the idea that you can get 300 horsepower for less money than an Aveo has a real appeal to us. Next Autos has whipped up a list of what they think are some of the better options in the sub-10K marketplace that pack the magic triple-hundred rating. We agree with some of the picks, one we've even singled out in the past as a Future Classic, but as is the case with any list, opinions will vary. One thing to bear in mind when contemplating the purchase of some of these cars is that while the price of entry might be pleasant, service costs can add up to monumental sums. Not that maintenance costs would stop us from being suckers for the roar of enraged pistons and the firm shove of hundreds of horsepower. Hit the link to see if the list is right on or full of beans.

[Source: Next Autos/Winding Road, Photo: Edmunds]

Click above for a high-res gallery of Seinfeld's '54 Porsche 550 Spyder

Alongside the facelifted Cayman and Boxster, Porsche brought this gorgeous 1955 550 RS Spyder owned by none other than car nut Jerry Seinfeld. While we love the silver in which we usually see this car painted, the light blue really makes it stand out. The 550 Spyder holds a special place in the hearts of Porsche fans, giving the make its first overall win back in the 1956 Targa Florio. Just 70 examples were produced, making it one of the most valuable Porsches, as well. Power comes from a 1.5L air-cooled aluminum flat-4 producing 110 horsepower and 88.5 lb-ft torque. That might not sound like much, but the motor only had to push around a mere 1,213 lbs. Check out the gallery of high resolution photos below for more proof that Jerry Seinfeld has good taste in cars.

Live photos copyright ©2008 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

Hey, if you missed the For Yor Eyes Only Lotus Esprit sale a couple of years ago, your shot to own another Bond-driven Lotus is on the horizon. In December, Bonhams will auction one of the two 1976 Lotus Esprit S1s used in The Spy Who Loved Me. The film is well known for the car/motorcycle/helicopter chase that culminates with the Lotus flying into the drink and turning into a submarine (one of those famous prop cars sold last year); and the Stromberg hench-babe giving chase in a JetRanger turning into a charcoal briquette.

A look at the photos Bonhams includes with its listing make it pretty clear that the interior used in the chase sequence's dialogue scenes between Roger Moore and Barbara Bach did not match the one in the actual car being auctioned. The proud new owner of this one will surely revel in the splendor of its green-and-red plaid motif! Bonham's expects this Esprit to fetch more than £80,000 -- a healthy premium over what less famous S1s go for on the open market.. Still, we'd fork it over in about two seconds if we had that kind of walking around money. For some of us, this car was our first exposure to the Esprit, and it looks as good as ever. (Even better with Barbara Bach riding shotgun...)

Follow the jump to relive The Spy Who Loved Me's chase sequence.


[Sources: BBC, Bonham's]

American Motors may have lost its way towards the end of its life in the '80s, but the little car company that could created some very cool vintage American iron. When the muscle car era was still in full swing, AMC was a player with its Javelin, which went up against some stiff competition in the form of the Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro and Pontiac Trans Am. Later, the Mopar boys introduced the Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Barracuda into the mix, muddying the waters that much more. Though AMC had some success with its pony car, the AMX was quite possibly AMC's coolest production vehicle. Based on a shortened version of the Javelin's platform, the AMX had just two seats and was all about performance. The car turned into something of an icon for the automaker, and the name was subsequently used for a series of concepts throughout the '70s... right up until American Motors died.

AMC devotees have speculated on a possible return of the AMX, and though it seems extremely unlikely, we have no problem indulging in the fantasy. So-Cal AMC Club members commissioned Jeff Teague, a designer who just so happens to be the son of classic AMC designer Dick Teague, to come up with his ideas of Javelin and AMX revivals... and what AMC discussion would be complete without a mention of the Gremlin. See all of the renderings in our gallery below.


[Source: Hemmings Auto Blogs]

When artificial intelligence finally figures out that its creators are inconvenient pests in the way of its quest to control the entire world, some of the first machines created by the supercomputers will be motorcycles. Come on, it makes sense, doesn't it? Single-track vehicles can go places that their four-wheeled brethren can't fit, and are quicker in getting there to boot. Of course, it's a bit harder to fit a butt-load of weapons on a two-wheeler, but AI is smart enough to have that problem fixed with gyroscopic turrets on each side, particularly when there's no carbon-based rider.

Looking at the early preproduction pictures of the concept Moto-Terminator makes us pretty excited to see what else is in store for the fourth Terminator installment. We're pretty geeked by the way the bike's backbone is made up of a mechanized humanoid, complete with the requisite red eyes up front instead of headlights. In a word, awesome.


[Source: Next Autos]

The eBay auction for this 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest started out innocently enough. Obtained after owner died. Appears to have original interior but no motor, no transmission. Body has a little rust and some dents. There's stuff in the trunk, but no key to open it. Opening bid nine days ago was a mere $500. After one week, eBay seller 123ecklin will pocket $226,521 before auction fees. What happened between Day 1 and Day 9 is an amazing story.

The car's plexiglass windows, unusual suspension setup and a dash plate bearing the name of a racetrack tipped the owner to its racing history. But what he didn't know is that the car is one of only six 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest Super Duty coupes ever made. Hemmings recently did a story on the rare cars in which they listed all ever built. This one looks to have been driven by Stan Antlocer and was the fastest drag car in 1963 before disappearing.

Reading through the questions on the auction gives us reason to believe the seller truly didn't know the car's provenance. In his answers, he seems both surprised by the car's potential value as well as overwhelmed by the attention. He turned down an offer of $160,000 to end the auction early because he feared getting negative eBay feedback. That decision paid off. With only seven minutes remaining, the highest offer was $95,000. When the virtual gavel fell, eBayer ccsi2000 had bought a very rare, if a little rusty, LeMans for $226,521. Thanks for the tip, Trevor!


[Source: eBay Motors]

Click above for high-res gallery of the ThunderFlite Thunderbird

Suzie and Dean Arnold dreamt of building a show car that would evoke the spirit of the dream cars that manufacturers used to build in the '50s and '60s. They decided to use a 1961 Thunderbird as the base vehicle and got long-time collaborator Don Johnson to finalize the design. Then Dean got to work building it. The result is the car you see here. To most of the people passing it at SEMA this week, they probably thought it was a vintage dream car rather than a modern custom. It certainly looked like it had just been dusted off and shined up after sitting mothballed for the past 40 years. Every detail seems period correct, and we particularly liked the Batmobile-esque double-bubble roof. Click over to ThunderFlite.com for more background info, and check out our gallery for more high-res pics.


Photos copyright ©2008 Frank Filipponio/Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for high-res gallery of K.I.T.T. and the Mio GPS

There were a lot of movie and TV-themed vehicles at SEMA this year, but one of our favorite entertainment tie-ins had to be the Mio Knight Rider GPS system. We told you about this way back in June, played with it when the new K.I.T.T. visited the Autoblog Garage, and messed with it some more in Vegas. It sounds exactly like you'd hope it would. "Michael, you're going the wrong way, you ninny," isn't in the regular playlist, but it did have some attitude. Even better than laying hands on the Mio, however, was the fact that K.I.T.T. ( no, not the Mustang) was actually in the Mio booth selling the product. It was almost too much to handle. As we told you in June, the Mio Knight Rider GPS unit uses the voice the one-and-only William Daniels, the original voice of K.I.T.T., and asks cordially "Hello Michael, where do you want to go today?" when powered up. The 4.3-inch LCD display is also flanked by a series of red LEDs reminiscent of K.I.T.T.'s nose-mounted lights. It's available for sale now at about $270.


Photos copyright ©2008 Frank Filipponio/Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for high-res gallery of the Charger Coupe

We had heard rumors that there was going to be a Dodge Charger Coupe at SEMA this year. We had hoped it would be something like the Charger show car from several years ago, the black one that looked a lot like the bad guy's car in Bullitt. In fact, that car was supposed to be made and shown at SEMA, but we never tracked it down. What we did find was probably just as good. If it wasn't going to be black, it might as well have been orange, and orange it was. Orange with a black confederate flag on the roof and a big "01" on the doors. Yep, it was the General Lee. In a year when we saw a Fast and Furious real Charger, a Bullitt movie Mustang, the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters, and a smart fortwo that had made a trip to the Batcave, it was probably inevitable that we would find the General amidst all of the Challengers and other MOPARS on display. Not that we're complaining or anything.


Photos copyright ©2008 Frank Filipponio/Weblogs, Inc.