Remember to 'click' on these thumbnails to see them in full-size, with their complete captions!
Just check the rubber on those rear wheels! Porsches, while always fast, were not always the best-handling race cars. That's why successful Porsche drivers are among the most respected in the sport. Those who muscled this V8-powered car around the race tracks of the world were able to be successful more often than not.
Porsche's 908/03 was built for tracks where the company's 12-cylinder engines of the period made for race cars which were not manueverable enough. The smaller, more compact V8 more than made up for the loss of four cylinders with its race track adeptness.
This 350 horsepower sports car won almost every race it entered in '70 and '71 ... Then was retired by the factory. Its "Martini" livery is one of the most popular of any race car in world history.
Rear shot of the transmmission (and the engine up ahead of it) of the 1970/1971 Porsche V8 908/03.
Porsche's hardtop version of their excellent Boxster is the Cayman --- And they had the car lit perfectly for photography!
Another view of the media star of the Porsche exhibit, the $95K all-wheel drive supercar ... If you are confident enough in yourself that you don't need the Prancing Horse or some other super-exotic, this car will do everything those cars will do and more. I've driven it and take it from me --- It's for REAL driver's only.
All-wheel drive Porsche 911 at the LA Auto Show ... the $95,000 base price star of their huge display!
The Miata might be called the MX5 worldwide now, but the addition of an optional hardtop convertible makes it possibly the world's most perfect under-$30,000 sports car. The Miata was designed originally in Irvine, CA, by a design team led by Tom Matano and one of the only Americans fluient in reading, writing and speaking Japanese, Bob Hall. Hall's twin brother works in advanced design for GM. Bob-u, as buds call him, is stationed in Australia now. Brother Jim did much of the amazing styling work on a fantastic concept El Camino in the mid-'90s, which Chevy, well, didn't make ...
Mazda's "Nagare" ("flowing") concept car got a lot of attention, but the response didn't seem all that positive during the 15 minutes or so we stood near the car and listened to comments on a Tuesday evening ... Mazda says this is one version of what their design might be like in Mazda's future vehicles ...
Mazda's Queen of the Show was the 'Nagare', which means 'flowing' in Japanese. Well, whatever ...
Color-changing paint, an all-new interior built for those of us who are "real sport-o's" out there mark the Mazda CX7 Adrenaline as a winer, if they come out with a production version. This US-styled car got more positive response than Mazda's 'Nagare' concept car from the factory in Hiroshima, Japan.
Mazda's design studio in Irvine, CA, turned out this very cool-looking (inside and out) CX7 concept which they named "Adrenaline". The Miata originally came from Irvine, so the people in the So Cal studio have a good record!
Ford's Escape is the only FoMoCo product (along with its Mercury Mariner twin) sold in the US with a hybrid gas/electric powerplant.
Ford is making their Escape small SUV as a hybrid once more. The company plans to sell about 25,000 units annually.
Honda just went all-out to celebrate the earlier-than-ever LA AUTO SHOW. Here is a concept car called REMIX, a vehicle Honda says they are using to create a feeling for the driver and passengers as if they are in the cockpit of a small airplane. With Honda already building their own Very Small Jets for the consumer market (at about $2 million per), if Honda says they want people to experience a cockpit 'feeling', they probably mean it!
A rear 3.4 view of the Honda FCX fuel cell sports sedan. This is a running vehicle, powered by the electricity the fuel cells derive from the hydrigen. The only emission? Pure water vapor, H2O.
The LA AUTO SHOW was the first US-showing of the Honda hydrogen-fueled, fuel cell powered electric-motored FCX sports sedan. This was a more updated version of the car which we first saw (and showed you) in November, 2005, at the TOKYO MOTOR SHOW.
It wasn't the biggest or gaudiest display at the LA AUTO SHOW, but to California consumers, it might have been the most relevant. In two years, several car-makers, including Audi, VW (under the 'TDI' name) and M-B will be selling diesel-powered cars and trucks in the state and throughout the nation.
This Mercedes competed in a Paris-Beijing 'event' with other M-B vehicles, all using Bluetec diesel engines to prove their mettle. The distanxce covered in about 20 days was some 17,000 kilometers.