2014 Maserati Quattroporte Gts. Bianco With Nero on 2040-cars

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Gary Cooper's 1935 Duesenberg SSJ fetches record price at Pebble Beach

The 1935 Duesenberg SSJ formerly owned by Gary Cooper sold for a jaw-dropping $22 million over the weekend at the Gooding & Co. Pebble Beach auction, setting a record for the most valuable pre-war car ever sold at auction. It also appears to have become the most expensive American collector car ever sold at auction, eclipsing the very first Shelby Cobra ever made, which sold for $13.75 million in 2016. The Duesenberg was also the lone American-made entrant in the list of top 10 sellers, which was crowded with the names Ferrari and Porsche. You have to go all the way down the list to No. 21 to find the next American car: a 1930 Packard 734 Speedster Phaeton, which sold for a mere $1.127 million. All told, Gooding & Co. said it realized more than $116.5 million in auction sales over the weekend, with a whopping 25 cars sold for north of $1 million, an 84 percent sales rate and an average transaction price of $947,174. Clearly this is how the other half 1 percent lives. Gooding & Co. said there were five world-record sales at the auction. Joining the Duesenberg were a 1955 Ferrari 500 Mondial Series II, which sold for $5.005 million; a 1958 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France Berlinetta, $6.6 million; a 1967 Ferrari 330 GTC Speciale, $3.41 million; and a one-of-two 1966 Ferrari Dino Berlinetta GT, $3.08 million. Oh, and that 1969 Ford Bronco test vehicle we told you about? The one that was rebadged by Holman & Moody as a Bronco Hunter? It sold for $121,000, which was well below the expected range of $180,000 to $220,000. Perhaps it was the presence of all those gorgeous Porsche Spyders and Ferraris that meant collectors weren't interested in boxy, utilitarian off-roaders. View 24 Photos Gooding and Co. had expected the convertible Duesenberg coupe to go for more than $10 million. It was one of only two of its kind built by Duesenberg — the other having gone to Clark Gable — with a specially shortened, 125-inch wheelbase and a supercharged straight-eight with double overhead cams, able to produce around 400 horsepower and a top speed of 140 miles per hour. It features a lightweight open-roadster bobtail body produced by LaGrande out of Connersville, Ind. The car was also owned at one point by race driver Briggs Cunningham.

2025 Maserati Grecale Folgore First Drive: Roughly translated 'electric Maserati SUV'

LECCE, Italy – Maserati believes its customers should decide if and when they go electric. While itÂ’s building up its range of EVs for motorists who think a twin-turbocharged V6 engine is the automotive equivalent of the horseshoe crab – the next-generation Quattroporte and Levante will notably be electric – itÂ’s still developing and selling gasoline-burning cars for those who are less than enthralled by battery technology. It launched the Grecale, its smallest SUV and its most affordable model by a significant margin, in 2022 and initially made it available with either a four- or a six-cylinder engine. ItÂ’s a bet that paid off: Aimed at the Porsche Macan, the Grecale has predictably become the Italian companyÂ’s best-selling model. The range expands later this year with the all-electric 2025 Maserati Grecale Folgore. In Italian, its name means "lightning," so that's fun.  Some carmakers, such as Mercedes-Benz, set their electric and gasoline-burning models apart by lumping the EVs into a sub-brand and giving them a powertrain-specific design. Maserati sees this approach as an avenue thatÂ’s best detoured, so the Folgore doesnÂ’t scream, “Hi, folks, look at me: IÂ’m electric!” It looks pretty much like the piston-powered Grecale with the exception of minor details. That's intentional. “In terms of the shape of the car, we donÂ’t want to change the customerÂ’s perception. Our customers know Maserati as a luxury brand, but weÂ’re also known for Italian design. We donÂ’t want to be generic; we want to be timeless. We donÂ’t want to follow a trend. Our mission is to achieve visual longevity,” Maserati designer Andrea Bruno told me on the sidelines of the Grecale Folgore launch. “These trends move fast. One month, everyone loves it. The month later, everyone has already forgotten it. We need to do something timeless.” Some of the visual changes made to the Folgore help improve driving range by reducing the drag coefficient. Up front, thereÂ’s a redesigned grille with a much smaller open area. Out back, Maserati added a redesigned air diffuser. Copper-colored accents also make the Folgore stand out, and the gasoline-powered modelÂ’s three fender-mounted air intakes are filled in and fitted with LED lights. Rame Folgore, a paint color that changes from gray-ish to brown-ish depending on the light that hits it, is EV-specific as well. It's the color you're seeing in our gallery, above. Other colors are also available.

Maserati's Levante crossover gets cold weather test

With winter in full effect in the northern hemisphere, automotive engineers from across the globe have flocked to the fjords and towns of northern Sweden for winter testing. That includes teams from Maserati, who are pitting a mule for the Levante SUV against the snow, ice and bitterly cold temperatures. The last time we saw a Levante mule was in August. That vehicle, though, was riding dirty without any license plates, meaning it's impossible to know if the vehicle shown above is one and the same. Both sport an eye-catching shade of blue beneath their shape-distorting camo, and the wheels and heightened roof are the same too. Beyond that, there's not a lot to see that's new here. Maserati's decision to move testing north to Sweden while still using a mule is an interesting one. As our spies point out, considering how long this particular vehicle has been testing, we'd imagine it's only a matter of time before we see a Levante testing with a more production-based body, rather than the Ghibli shell that's been fitted here. Take a look at the spy photos of the new Levante, available up top.