'83 Corniche, 72k, Light Oyster/tan, Well Serviced, Superb Car Throughout. on 2040-cars

Auto blog

The hottest modern sports cars rendered as rally racers

The modern-day World Rally Championship a monumental amount of fun to watch – I should know, as I recently was lucky enough to head to the UK to watch WRC Wales Rally GB – but even the most monstrous of the current WRC cars are based on fairly pedestrian European hatchbacks. Back in the heyday of rally, the Group B era in the 1980s, much hotter cars were the basis of even more incredible competition machines, for the most part. Take the exotic Ford RS200, or the Lancia Delta S4 with its twin-charged engine. And the hatchback-based Group B cars were bonkers, too. So what would some of our favorite modern cars look like if Group B had never ended? A British site named CarWow hired an artist to reimagine everything from the Rolls-Royce Wraith to the Porsche 911 as a retro-inspired rally car, and they were kind enough to let us share the results in the gallery above. The gallery features an Alfa Romeo Giulia in Martini livery, an Audi TT in classic Ur-Quattro colors, a Fiat 500 Abarth sporting massive flares and a hood blister full of auxiliary lights, a new Ford Mustang in RS200 livery, a Lancia Delta in Alitalia colors, a Porsche 911 in Rothmans livery, a Renault-Alpine in classic blue, a Rolls-Royce Wraith tribute to the Jules cologne Corniche Coupe, and a relatively modern-looking VW Touran. So far, the favorite around the office is the incredible Mercedes-Benz S-Class that is an homage to the wonderful 300 SEL 6.8 AMG "Red Pig" that essentially put AMG on the map. Check out the gallery above and see which one you like the best. Related Video:

Rolls-Royce to auction one-off 115th birthday Phantom

Rolls-Royce and RM Sotheby's has announced a partnership amidst an expected luxurious environment, with a five-course dinner at Sotheby's redesigned 90,000-plus-square-foot New York City headquarters. As part of Rolls-Royce's 115th birthday celebration (the official date was May 4), the two announced a one-off, bespoke 2020 Rolls-Royce Phantom will be auctioned off this fall exclusively on Sotheby's online auction service. The lead image shows an early-stage sketch of what the special-edition Phantom could look like. There are extremely limited details about the car, but Rolls-Royce confirmed it will be red. It will also include "an original hand-crafted leather work of art" as part of the interior. We expect this to be in the same vein as the dashboard inlays and hand-stitching we've seen in past bespoke Rolls-Royces. Because the one-off car will be honoring a birthday, we wouldn't be surprised if it featured several indicators that mark the occasion. Think numbered door sills, treadplates, dashboard or console plaques, and possibly special-edition badges. This, of course, is speculation, but these are often features on these types of vehicles. The base price of a Rolls-Royce Phantom is approximately $450,000, and when we first tested the uber-luxe personal limo, it reached as high as about $650,000. And that was just a "regular" Phantom. As a guaranteed collector's item, a set price for this vehicle would likely cost significantly more. But its price is not set, as it will be sold through RM Sotheby's online auction. It seems likely that this thing could easily tick right past $1 million. Rolls-Royce said the car will be auctioned in the fall but gave no specific dates. We'll provide updates as soon as we get 'em. Related Video:

Rolls-Royce dealer incentive could take $15K off a Cullinan or Ghost

When a carmaker wants last year's models off dealer lots at the beginning of the new year, one standard tactic is to offer incentives either to customers or to dealers. Rolls-Royce is an automaker with last year's models on dealer lots at the beginning of the new year, and on top of that, a refreshed Cullinan and a refreshed Ghost are due later this year. That explains the dealer bulletin Cars Direct said it saw that informs dealers, "Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA is introducing a Non-FS and Regional Rate Cash Program to stimulate sales and to promote all aging units to be retailed by the end of March 2024." The cash specifics: $15,000 that can be spent on the $375,000 Cullinan and Black Badge Cullinan, as well as the $350,000 Ghost, Ghost Extended and Black Badge Ghost.  The "non-FS" part refers to the financial services division, meaning the vehicles in the promotion can't be financed through the automaker's loan department. BMW, Rolls-Royce's parent company, makes this distinction regularly, offering a $9,900 "Non FS Credit" on the XM last November, for instance. In that case, buyers who did finance an XM through BMW Financial were also offered a $9,900 loan credit. No such deal on the English side of the Munich empire. Because this is a factory-to-dealer incentive, dealers don't need to disclose the offer nor give the buyer the benefit even if a buyer knows about it; this is a reward for the storefront for getting the model off the lot at a price the dealer is happy with, not an incentive for a shopper. Don't get the idea that Rolls-Royce shoppers are put off by discounts, though. It's all about the phrasing and the delivery. Dropping $15,000 on the hood would be unthinkable. A dealer asking an interested shopper who's on the fence, "What if I threw in the 21-inch tri-colored pinstripe wheels you want and took $10,000 off?" Well, that's making a deal, and everyone loves making a deal. So if Santa was especially kind, or you were especially naughty and made your own bundle, there's almost three months left to take advantage. According to the bulletin, the program ends March 31, 2024. Related video: 2020 Rolls-Royce Cullinan Tour