1967 Alfa Romeo Spider on 2040-cars

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Industrial designer seeking classic car, sketches his finds as he shops

The process of shopping for a vintage car can be both a joy and a nightmare. Wrapped up with the exciting opportunity of owning a classic is the anxiety of picking just the right one. Canadian industrial design professor Bruce Thomson and his wife are chronicling all of those ups and downs in a fascinating way. On their blog Kicking Vintage Tyres, Bruce exploits his talent as an expert draftsman to create detailed sketches of the vehicles they are considering, along with driving impressions of each one. The idea for the site started on a whim. After selling his 1971 Mercedes-Benz 220 a while back, it was time to own another classic. Bruce was looking at a Triumph TR6, and a friend asked for a description of the car. Bruce responded with a massive email detailing everything he saw, and the concept for the blog was born. "It dawned on me early that my search was not going to be as easy or as quick as I had expected," he said to Autoblog in an email. "I decided that the best thing I could do would be to make a sort of 'game' out of the search by sharing it with others." Thomson's sketches truly set the blog apart. He clearly has an exceptional eye for a car's lines and often mixes his drawings with inset depictions of key portions of the vehicle. Beyond just the fabulous diagrams, the site is a great read too. While the TR6 initially topped the list, Thomson's search has broadened over time, and a Series 2 Alfa Romeo Spider and BMW 3.0CS also received consideration. "I'd not commit myself to any preferences though, as my head is easily turned," he said. The criteria are that the car must have a manual gearbox, be made between 1959 and 1976, preferably European, hopefully a convertible and cost 15,000-25,000 Canadian dollars ($12,525-$20,870). No matter how long it takes, this is a wonderful hunt to follow along with. Featured Gallery Bruce Thomson Car Sketches News Source: Kicking Vintage Tyres via Core77 Auto News Design/Style Alfa Romeo Car Buying Convertible Classics auto design alfa romeo spider sketch blog

Porsche 911 Turbo and Nissan GT-R Nismo star in World's Greatest Drag Race 4

We love Motor Trend's annual World's Greatest Drag Race video. Now back for its fourth appearance, the idea of lining some of the world's fastest cars up for a ten-wide, straight-line, full-throttle run is, well... it's pretty freaking badass.
The lineup this year boasts some impressively fast cars to be sure. The group of ten includes the following darlings: Alfa Romeo 4C, BMW i8, BMW M4, Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Ford Fiesta ST, Jaguar F-Type R Coupe, Nissan GT-R Nismo, Porsche 911 Turbo S, Subaru WRX STI and, last but not least, the Volkswagen GTI. Give us any one of those for the weekend, and we're happy to take the keys.
It must be said though, that for a publication that draws as much water as Motor Trend does, there are some big cars that we might expect to be here instead. The Lamborghini Huracán or Ferrari 458 Speciale would have added some exotic flare to the list, and the omissions of the Chevy Corvette Stingray (for the second year in a row) and the Dodge Challenger Hellcat are real head-scratchers.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: The next five years

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, you've no doubt read about all of the big future product news coming out of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles today. We had individual brand reports from Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Maserati and even Ferrari, but in the interest of simplifying and summarizing, we're going to list out the hard facts once more. Of course, with all of this still off in the future, there's still the possibility that a few changes will be made. But as of what we know right now, here's what's coming, and what's going away.
Chrysler
2014: Refreshed 300/300C, debuting at Los Angeles Auto Show