Carey gets up-close-and-personal with the digital video equipment to get the inside scoop on this very custom Toyota FJ Cruiser, the (clear and obvious and best) choice for the LA Show's "official" vehicle of the year.
Video screens and thumper bass everywhere you look (or could be stuck, shoved, glued or welded in) ... The rear look of this FJ Cruiser reveals all the high-tech one can have off-road. I can remember when the biggest challenge off-road was locking the front hubs while trying to get the damn rig into four-wheel drive ... Times change!
Toyota's FJ Cruiser was the basis for the 'Official Vehicle' of the LA Auto Show, upgraded with aftermarket equipment from numerous suppliers.
A real California license plate with the proper state registration tags and everything ... This year mounted on a 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser.
It's kind of a shame when the best-looking version of your (arguably) best-looking and (consistently) best-selling car is the highlight of your show stand ... and comes from an Italian design house. What's wrong with FoMoCo coming up with something as exciting as this themselves?
As my un-sainted mother would have said, "What's not to love?" --- Sleek front end which appears right out of the wind tunnel the original Mustang designers wished had been available to them, and those semi-gull wings? Yowzah! "Babe magnet!", anyone?
What can you say? If American Motors and their AMX and Dodge and their early Barracuda had all had mated with the original Mustang, THIS might have been what the 'Stang's original rear deck might've looked like. As it is, this concept car looks PERFECT from this angle.
This car got a lot of well-deserved attention, but Ford got even more attention (mostly bad) when they announced at the LA Auto Show that future iterations using the iconic name "Mustang" might well include a station wagon and a four-door sedan ... yech! Perhaps (and this is a BIG perhaps) Porsche can get away with a four-door version of their classic 996 (and it's called Panamera and bows this coming year) ... but Ford and the Mustang? Not what Lee Iacocca had in mind when he first imagined the car in 1961 or so ...
Hey Ford! Austin Powers called and he wants his interior back! Seriously, apart from shage-licious inside touches like shag (yes) carpeting, Giugiaro stuck with the '60s theme and went one step (or two or three or...) better.
One of the hits of the LA Auto Show, a Mustang completely modified inside and out (with shag carpeting, baby!) by Ital'ys Giugiaro studio.
Aggressive, powerful, mighty-looking (as Japanese designers say) front grille of the new Tundra.
Front view of the Street Concept, turned out by Toyota Racing Development (TRD) in Gardena, CA. Under the hood is a supercharged 5.7 liter V8, pumping out about 450 horsepower.
Rear view of the slammed and outfitted Tundra Street Concept, note the large dual exhaust pipes.
Front headlights on the Lexus LS600hL are of the all-new LED variety, the first Toyota product with them. The LS460 does not get them. Stylists can do a lot more with these lamps than they could in the past with HID lights or more conventional lighting systems.
Low rear 3/4 view of the Lexus LS600hL. Not a bad angle on the vehicle; not easy to do with such a large vehicle.
Front low 3.4 angle of the large sedan ... Not bad-looking at all. Essentially the same size as the LS460l, the long-wheelbase model.
Front interior of the Lexgus LS600hL, pricing expected to be near $100,000, on-sale next year.
Interior of the German-made sports car, the Konegsegg (spelling is wrong, I know, I'll fix it later) ...
Here's what's left of a Porsche Carrera GT crashed during the making of "Redline", at least according to the filmmakers. No engine or transmission left in the car; I'd bet those parts as well as the VIN and other ID plates have been taken off this car and someone is building an all-new Carerra GT from the ground up, using this car's VIN, engine, transmission and who knows what-else. Look for it soon at one of the big auctions.
Ferrari's Enzo takes the stage ... Of the 399 of these cars built, almost 10 of them have been documented as 'destroyed' in various wrecks, including the Swedish crook who ran into a Pacific Coast Highway telephone pole in Malibu, CA, at 160 miles per hour ... And walked away without a scratch (except for a cut lip from the airbag).
Porsche Carerra GT, Saleen S7 and Ferrari Enzo ... About $3.5 million worth of hardware ... all stars of a new film called "Redline".
Suicide doors (!) are a design feature on this concept car from Chrysler, their IMPERIAL.