Intercept this.

I have long been a fan of the Jensen Interceptor's beautiful tail-end, but have always heard horror stories about the build quality. Anyway, I enjoy looking at this silver concept (middle image) that's been doing the rounds online but now I've discover today they're thinking of actually bringing it back!

Pictured: The original Jensen Interceptor.

Pictured: A concept illustration. I'd love to know who made this and whether they're attached to the new version.

Pictured: The new concept released to the press which will go head to head with Aston Martin. That's a tough market to break into!

Read the article from the Sydney Morning Herald here.

Wheels of misfortune.

This latest craze will horrify some and impress others. What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below. The video says 'glow in the dark' but I find this hard to believe. I think they must be lit somehow. Does anyone know?

Bavarian Babes

Check out the catalogue for Bonham's upcoming classic BMW auction (October 1) in Munich. There are more 2002s and 3.0s at this German sale than you can poke a ruthlessly efficient stick at. Check out just a sample of the motors below and click here to view the website.

1938 BMW 327/328 Cabriolet

1973 BMW '3.2' CSL 'Batmobile' Coupé

1959 BMW 503 3.2-Litre Coupé

Just add water.

As the BBC asks, does hydrogen represent the future of motoring? It sounds amazing and win-win but is it possible and viable? And where do electric cars stand in this battle for the roads? Electric cars sound fantastic for large cities with lots of charging points, but what about when you're in huge countries like Australia, Canada and the USA? Check out this report from the BBC here.

Would you ride in a car with no driver?

That's what a team have created in Germany. Read more here.

Unique Cars

Back in Oz, Unique Cars (An Australian used car magazine) was my absolute favourite but I haven't found the equivalent magazine in the UK yet, probably because there are so many more readers and therefore, more niche mags dedicated to single marques. Unique Cars featured a few stories and profiles, but really was just a great 'cars for sale' magazine. Can anyone recommend one? Really I just like looking what's out there for sale and the prices, so I can get a bit of a mental automative stock market established in my head. I just need to start saving for when the money falls out of the E-Type Jaguar market and I'll snap one up! If the bottom falls out of the market in about the year 2350, I should have saved up enough by then.

10 cars to drool over.

Click here to check out a Forbes magazine gallery of 10 cars to drool over.

15 most expensive cars sold at auction.

This is more a history lesson than anything else but some names are at least familiar, even if the models aren't. Click here to see the gallery and description, courtesy of Forbes magazine.

Pictured: A 1937 Mercedes Benz 150K Special Roadster which sold for US$3.6m in 2002.

Pictured below: A 1954 GM Futurliner which sold at auction for US$5.4m in 2006.

Why men shouldn't write advice columns.

Crashing an Enzo is no big deal?

NO BIG DEAL?!!!

Ah-Mazing

Best in Show

Have you ever seen the last Concours d'Elegance at Pebble Beach? It's this 1934 Voisin C-25 Aerodyne. Ever heard of a Voisin? 


No, neither had I.


But Wikipedia says that it was a French luxury automobile brand established by Gabriel Voisin. He was an aviation pioneer and manufacturer who in 1919 started producing cars using Knight-type sleeve valve engines at Issy-les-Moulineaux, an industrial suburb to the South West of Paris. Former student of the Fine Arts School of Lyon and enthusiast for all things mechanical since his childhood, Voisin's uncompromisingly individual designs made extensive use of light alloys, especially aluminum. One of the company's most striking early designs was the Laboratoire Grand Prix car of 1923; one of the first cars ever to use monocoque chassis construction, and utilising small radiator-mounted propeller to drive the cooling pump. The characteristic Voisin style of 'rational' coachwork he developed in conjunction with his collaborator André Noel-Noel prioritized lightness, central weight distribution, capacious luggage boxes and distinctively angular lines. The 1930s models with underslung chassis were strikingly low. In the early 1930s, Gabriel Voisin could not pay all of his draughtsmen any more and a young creative engineer called André Lefèbvre quit, recommended by Gabriel to Louis Renault. Lefèbvre finally entered Citroën where he conducted the three most profitable car projects of the firm: theTraction Avant, the 2CV and the DS, using a lot of Gabriel's lessons.

The 1936 Voisin was used in the 2008 film 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" as well as the 2005 Film "Sahara" which featured the inline 6 sleeve valve in capulae red.

2011 Pebble Beach Best in Show:

A Voisin C-27

Check out the art deco detail of a Voisin hood ornament. And considering it's like two massive knives on the front of a car, something tells me it wouldn't pass modern pedestrian safety standards.

Car-related song of the day.

Shannon Noll rose to fame in Oz with Australian Idol and he's from the bush in Australia, like me. In this film clip he's driving a 70s Ford Falcon GT Coupe, but I couldn't tell you the type. XC? XA? Can anyone clear it up for me?

Motoring fails.

Enjoy these 'fails'.

Just imagine owning a Veyron.

Then imagine crashing it.

Into a lake.

Bentley Brooklands

Now, I don't want this to be a blog of just rehashed top gear clips but I'm a little obsessed with the newish Brooklands and they do a great review of it. It is £230,000 in the UK but if you can't afford a new one, here's a cheap secondhand one.

Cars from my travels.

Does everyone take photos of other people's cars or is it just me?

A classic 80s SL parked in Maida Vale in West London, UK. I think these went through a period of unpopularity in the 90s but now these are holding their own and I often see very fashionable types cruising the streets in them.

I love the old Jags and I spied this Series 1 XJ on the same day as the SL above.

What a beast! This is a Bentley Continental parked near Acton in West London and it naturally caught my eye. And the next 20 minutes.

A jaguar series 2 with the obligatory 'pepper-pot' wheels. They must be tough to clean but they look great. This example was parked near Tower Bridge in London.

This is a pair of super cars outside the Dorchester Hotel in London's Mayfair. The one on the left is a Koenigsegg Agera R and the other is a Pagani Zonda. Want to pick up a secondhand one?

Another Series 1 XJ but this one was parked in Fitzrovia in London's West End.

A fantastic Citroen DS parked by the canals in Amsterdam. I have a real soft spot for these. After all, the DS was almost futuristic in a lot of its equipment, leaving the rest of the auto industry lagging behind!

Walking through Bristol in the UK, I saw my first ever Bristol. These cars are very rare and valuable but I need to research them more to be able to comment on them.

On the same road in Bristol I saw this car called a Scimitar. In fact there was two of them. I'd never even heard of the marque.

I used to see this quirky Messerschmidt on the street in Queen's Park in London's North West. I don't know if I'd be game enough to tackle the daily commute in one.

My ad for 5th Gear

Luckily through work I get to the occasional fun piece befitting a motor-mouth petrol head.

Dream Garage Continued.

No...it's not a picture of a structure with a roller-door, but what would be inside it. It's a motley crew of machines that won't be to everyone's taste but I'm sure we'll all be in agreement on a couple. If I had a all my dream machines, this would be them. They're in no particular order of favouritism.

Below: The Aston Martin DB5. It's a bit of a no-brainer. Who doesn't want one? You might recognise this from Bond, James Bond. I may be wrong, but I have a suspicion this example is owned by Jason Kay of Jamiroqui fame.

I just love a classic mini. This one in particular is actually modern, being built by Rover as a recreation around the late 90s/ early 2000s. As a little runabout it would be fun. Or stealing copious quantities of gold bullion, as per its role in The Italian Job starring Michael Caine.

The Range Rover. What a quintessentially British icon. You might recognise it from, well, every TV show and movie ever made in Britain. It's getting a bit of a gaudy reputation now but that wouldn't stop me. My favourite is the classic shape of the newish one. The brand new 2012 model is a bit 'bling' even for me though. I guess it's meant for soccer stars who have more money than sense. Speaking of which...did you ever hear of this version? Click here to watch.

We had two '70s Fairlane 500s, a '78 LTD and a '77 LTD Town Car when I was growing up so they've always been close to my heart. Even the sight of them brings back great memories. Of massive long trips in the Australian bush. Eating minties and tearing up the wrappers into the longest strip possible. Nausea.

Anyway this is a 1977 LTD P6 and I hadn't heard of a P6 until recently but this is one sweet car. I don't know if I'd go the full custom spokes and lowering but it looks fantastic. There was one similar in the great Aussie crime film Gettin' Square starring David Wenham. Check out 10sec into this trailer.

The Lincoln Continental. This is the JFK-assassination convertible model (I'm guessing that's not the official name!). The hardtop version can be seen in the Matrix films and was sourced from Australia by an Aussie collector.

A Mustang Fastback GT. What a beast. This wheel and tyre combination complements the machine perfectly. These are relatively cheap in the US, expensive in Oz and rare in Europe.

A 1954 Bentley R-Continental Fastback. I love the spats over the real wheels. Look closely and you can see the little Bentley wings attached to them.

I absolutely love the Rolls Royce Corniche fixed-head. You can pick one up for around £15K in England but the thought of maintaining one makes me shiver. One day... One day. 

This is the Mercedes Benz 280SE Cabriolet and while the SL was always a glamorous ladies' car, the SE was a man's car. My friend in Sydney has one of these in burgundy and it is absolutely stunning. A silver version like this one can be seen the movie The Hangover. And you can just imagine what happens to the car in a movie with a name like that!

Like everyone else, I fell in love with the Ferrari 250 GT California roadster after seeing Ferris Bueller's Day off. These cars are so valuable though that rather than damage a Ferrari, the producers put a replica body over an MGB! The hide of them. Being an ex-MGB owner...that hurts me. Still, I'm glad no 250 GT California's were harmed. These babies come in short and long wheel-base, but I think the long wheel-base is better proportioned.

I remember seeing one of these Mercedes 600 Grossers for the first time on Top Gear UK. And as they pointed out, this is the all-time choice of dictators the World over. Idi Amin, Fidel Castro, Pol Pot, Kim Jong Il, Ferdinand Marcos, Saddam Hussein and the Shah of Iran all owned them. So basically, I'm trying to decide whether I take over the World first, then get the car. Or get the car, then take over the World. This also comes in a Pullman (stretch) version and a Landaulet  but give me the standard 600 any day.

There's something about old Jags I just love and the Jaguar MkII is such a beautiful car. I love the interior too and would love to take a long trip in it. With a mechanic trailing me, of course. I think the MkII is a much better looking car than the sportier and arguably more valuable S-Type from the same era. In their day, the MKII was like owning a WRX and was the choice of getaway drivers and crims. It'll suit me fine.

Yes, who doesn't want an E-Type? But for me (and this will be controversial) I want a fixed-head coupe. The roadster doesn't do much for me and the lines of the coupe just feel more complete. Yep, fighting words, I know.

And that special occasion car would have to be a Jaguar XK140 with it's split windscreen and curvy hips. What a looker! You might know this car from the 90s reinterpretation of Dangerous Liaisons called 'Cruel Intentions'. What's more, this is such a pretty car I think it looks fantastic in any colour. I used to love the Jaguar XK150s but the side profile of the 140 is to die for.

Land yacht of the day.

I love the old Rollers and while some people hate this 80s design, I love it. I think it's one of the best looking cars of the 80s/90s (this one is '91) and this one still looks concourse. If I could afford the fuel and the servicing, I would snap this one up tomorrow.

Dream Garage

Over the next few days I'm going to post my dream garage. Everyone has one and I'd love to know yours. The usual suspects will be in there...Range Rover, Ferrari, Jaguars and the like but there could be some interesting (read: questionable) choices.

Here was the first and only car I've ever owned. Her name was My Girl (MG initials) and while it wasn't a petrol-head's dream, it did turn heads and was a great economical first car. I would definitely love another one, one day. Maybe a little V8 MGB-GT in the future as a runabout.