The Rake Magazine

Over thanksgiving my wife and I were accosted in front of the Edina Lunds and asked about the "cute shoes" my wife was wearing. This happened as I was about to contribute to the Salvation Army and caused me to reflect for a moment on the true meaning of the holidays.

Then I lost my train of thought.

But heh, that's no reason for glossing over a meaningful discussion of the greatest car chases in movie history.

As you may know, "the list" is fixed and not open to argument amongst those in the know. Trust me, I constantly tabulate and cross reference this across the 14 or so automobile related magazines and websites I track on a bi-weekly basis (I do, its a sickness.)

Basically that list looks like this:

1) Bullitt*
2) French Connection/Ronin (tie) movies both directed by William Friedkin.
4) Vanishing Point
5) (open) Some say the recent car chase in The Bourne Identity but its too short.

* There is also an arcane French movie called The Chase (I believe) which was illegally shot in the early hours of the morning in the streets of Paris. Its a short 15 minute movie. The director placed a camera under the front bumper of his car and drove like a madman around the city. I will get more information on this. This is apparently even more impressive than Bullitt.

I promise to track down more details on that short French film and get you some video clips in the remaining hours of this all-to-brief holiday. In the meantime why not drive off some of that fat you've all accumulated over Thanksgiving and remember that cars can run on all kinds of fuel.

Yes, even salad dressing and turkey fat.

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Read the Road Rake for the latest in cocktail party patter. Surely they know about this in the Hamptons. Evo Magazine has the full story.

Its a shame that the drop-top won't be available in the US. The S4 drop top is really a boulevard cruiser.

I recently test drove this new beast. It features 414 naturally aspirated horsepower from the proven 4.2 liter Audi V8. With twin turbochargers you could be putting 700 flywheel HP to the pavement without usurious expense (a $7000.00 upgrade).

The American magazines talk like girlie men about the harshness of the ride while the British magazines pretty much wax about the car. It is comforting to know that the man behind Audi's recent LeMans triumphs is now the head of their in-house tuner division.

The only beef leveled at this car is the ratio of torque applied to the wheels and the streering feel -- a consistent Audi beef since forever. On the other hand, I will take the rush of a naturally aspirated V8 that revs to 8250 over a touch of steeing feel any day.

Competitors include:

Mitsubishi EVO 34k
Subaru Sti 31k

These both have equally fast 0-60 times but lack a certain finesse. Is it worth the 40k real difference in price? I guess I'll have to test them both.

Buying strategy:

Wait at least a year to have the prices come down to sub-50k (which they will.) At 50K this car is the best.

www.motorbooks.co.uk

It is well know that Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) is an avid automobile collector. He has a book that is available in England with a CD of the best engine note soundtracks called Into The Red (for redline, of course.) It is available at the link above (in British pound).

Of note: Luv the book cover. BTW the Ferrari 250 GTO is considered the best engine note, no controversy here.

What is less commonly know, however is the sound of the Matra 12-cylinder CanAm cars of the 1970s. They are reportedly among the loudest engines of all time. These French cars were all sound and fury signifying nothing however and proved very unreliable.

I'll try to capture some soundtracks for you on this blog soon. In the meantime please enjoy any BoyRacer SuperStreet car with a coffee can (street for real big muffler) and give thanks that these youngsters are merely making and not taking speed.

The lovely pagoda top Mercedes 280, a car you can still afford.

For some, the car is nothing more than a means of getting from point a to point b. For such folks, the automobile is an appliance that is less respected than a lawnmower (particularly if that lawnmower is electric and thus desirable to be seen pushing around.)

For other people, the car is a portable amusement park. The Road Rake is written for such people and will continue to be written until all its readers have found their very own Xanadu on wheels.

Compiling a list of portable Xanadus would prove quxiotic. Linking to evo magazine (included in my links) or perhaps Wheels of Italy locally will get you started. In the meantime, if you are looking for a great car keep the following in mind:

Shop for soul. That means you'll be interested mainly in pure breeds like sports cars, real trucks and the like.

This is tough because all manufacturers build cars from the same parts bin these days. Yet pure breeds still come into being. Best of all, they rarely sell well when they are made in larger numbers, which can mean a great deal to you. Witness the Lincoln Mark II (too understated for the time). The original Riviera (same thing). Or more recently the Mazda RX-7, the Toyota Supra Turbo and the current Corvette (sadly, not the Z-06 everyone realizes it for the brilliant car it is).

Of course this is not always the case. Pretty much all the Maranello Barchettas on the market are currently spoken for, as are the Pagani Zondas and the BMW M3s (the 2007 model). Yet some Ferarris in the mid-60s were not selling so well, given the craze at the time for mid-engined supercars (which Enzo firmly resisted), and even today there are great classics that are only now coming into their own.

Here's an example. Take the Mercedes Benz 280 SL convertible (with available Pagoda top), last made in 1971. A good example can be found for the mid-20s. Does this car have soul? Oh, yes-particularly from 40 mph to 100 mph. Is it a pure breed? You betcha, it is a beautiful roadster. Is it the purest example of the breed? No. That would have to be the 300 Sl, which can be had for a mere $150,000 more. But the average transportation appliance driver can hardly tell the difference, and most women go wild for both sets of wheels.

Heck, the ladies even go wild for my Alfa Spider (a mere 7k toy). I know this because I know no longer have the hairline to make it on my own.

(note: portions of this entry have been lifted from my own bulletin/blog groovyman.com.)