Bizzarrini GT 5300s For Sale

by Mike -

RM Auctions will be auctioning a 1968 Bizzarrini GT 5300 Strada at Villa d'Este on May 21. It is a beautiful and rare green.

This silver GT 5300 below is for sale by Coys. The seller says this car was a Bizzarrini development car and was later personally owned by Giotto Bizzarrini.

This yellow car below is in Australia for sale by Classic Throttle Shop. It is unfortunate but this car has the same chassis number as a well known race car that was a Bizzarrini factory race car in the 1960s. The history of this car is not clear.

The serious buyer should research the history of a particular car, including chassis number and ownership history.

Click on the images for a larger view.

The Tesla and Top Gear Silliness Continues

by Mike -

Tesla responds to BBC's Top Gear response to the Tesla lawsuit here. Confused? Me too, but in my opinion two companies should not be discussing their legal battle in a public forum. Who is giving legal advice to Tesla and BBC? This is just Goofy.

I repeat my advice to Tesla: instead of a lawsuit arrange for Top Gear to do another test on the latest Tesla Roadster. Now that the lawsuit has been filed then start negotiating a settlement where the outcome is this re-test of the Tesla Roadster to be broadcast on Top Gear. I predict a very high probability that Jeremy Clarkson will be in a good mood for this episode.

Tesla should realize that Top Gear is primarily an entertainment show and sometimes they test new cars.

BBC should realize that it is generally not a good idea to discuss a pending lawsuit in a public forum, this advice also applies to Tesla. Do both Tesla and the BBC believe that there is no such thing as bad publicity? Both are behaving as if they do believe this old wives tale, perpetuated by publicity firms and maybe some lawyers too.

The Top Gear video review of the Tesla Roadster in question is below. See how the publicity continues? All because Tesla filed a lawsuit.

My previous articles on this subject are here and here. My own test ride in the Tesla Roadster in 2005 is here.

This Iso Grifo Wins Best In Show Again

by Mike -

Darren Frank's 1969 Iso Grifo is a special car that I have written about before.

The event was the fifth Annual Motori Italiani, A Celebration of Italian Motoring Hosted by CAFE (Charlotte Area Ferrari Enthusiasts) on April 2, 2011 in Charlotte, North  Carolina.

There were ten awards handed out for the day and Darren Frank's beautiful Iso Grifo took home three of the ten awards: Best in Class for the Speciality Italian, Ladies Choice and Best in Show.

Here are all of the winners:

Ferrari Classic 8-Cylinder:
Ron Archer
1982 308 GTSi Euro

Ferrari Modern 8-Cylinder:
Steen Marcuslund
2002 360 Spider

Ferrari 12-Cylinder:
Fred Woltz
1969 365 GT 2+2

Lamborghini:
Russ Boxall
2008 Murcielago LP-640

Alfa Romeo:
John Hasty
1984 Spider Veloce

Specialty Italian:
Darren Frank
1969 Iso Grifo

Motorcycle
Wade Nunez
1972 Moto Guzzi Ambassador (unrestored barn find)

Children's Choice:
Pat Lewandowski
1989 Ferrari Mondial Cabriolet

Ladies' Choice:
Darren Frank
1969 Iso Grifo

Best in Show:
Darren Frank
1969 Iso Grifo

Darren says, "There's definitely something to be said for being unique.  Many of the spectators were very excited to see an Iso for the first time, and those that knew nothing about cars remarked about how beautiful the lines of the car are."

My thanks to Kevin Fielden, Founder of CAFE, for the information and to Darren Frank for the pictures.

Click on the images for a larger view.

The BBCs Top Gear Executive Producer Blogs About The Tesla Lawsuit

by Mike - 

As previously reported Tesla served the BBC's Top Gear with a lawsuit recently for libel and malicious falsehood about an episode of Top Gear in 2008 where the test results for the Tesla Roadster did not please the Tesla management.

Article first published as The BBCs Top Gear Executive Producer Blogs About The Tesla Lawsuit on Technorati.

Andy Wilman is the Executive Producer of Top Gear writes in the Top Gear blog.

He is claiming that Tesla is using the legal action as a publicity stunt to promote their cars and that the BBC received an email from the Tesla public relations firm by accident that proves his point. 

He also goes on the make the following points:

1. We never said that the Tesla’s true range is only 55 miles, our actual words were: “We calculated that on our track it would run out after 55 miles”. Wilman then claims that the 55 mile number actually came from Tesla employees in California based on driving the car hard on the Top Gear test track.

2. We never said that the Tesla was completely immobilized as a result of the motor overheating. We said the car had “reduced power”. This was true.

3. Tesla claims we were lying when we said the brakes were “broken”. They now say that all that had happened was that the fuse to the vacuum pump had failed, which meant that the brake just had to be pushed down much harder than usual. Well – if this happened to your car, you’d take it to the garage to get it fixed. 

It’s alleged by Tesla that on the day of filming one of their employees caught sight of a script that had been written, before the car had even been driven, already containing the verdict that in the “real world” the Tesla doesn’t work. 

In response Wilman says:

a) The truth is, Top Gear had already driven the car prior to filming, to enable us to form an opinion on it in advance.

b) Our conclusion was based mainly on the fact that the Tesla costs three times more than the sports car upon which it’s based. It takes a long time to recharge, so you can’t use it as easily as a gasoline powered car. 

c) Wilman then goes into details about how a TV program is filmed and the necessity to have a plan in advance.

It seems to me that it is probably not a good idea to talk publicly about legal actions that are in progress for either Tesla or the BBC’s Top Gear.