Silver’s on Top

Mercedes McLaren SLR

Here is some really hot news that you can celebrate over the weekend. Our gurus have learned that silver remains the world’s top choice in car colors—for the ninth year! If that doesn’t make you want to buy a German car right now, you have no racing blood in your veins.

In a variety of hues, silver paint lies on top of one of every four vehicles sold in the U.S. and covers 35 percent of new European cars and 34 percent of Asia-Pacific cars. We have this on good authoritiy from Jane Harrington, manager of color styling and automotive coatings for PPG Industries, as reported in the Detroit News and on MSNBC.

However, Jane didn’t really tell us why silver has remained so popular—other than saying it “looks great on any car, shows off all of the lines and helps people blend into the crowd.” What? Helps people blend into the crowd? Our take is that silver is popular because people want their cars to look like money. Anyhow, here are some great-looking silver cars, courtesy of flickr.

Ferrari F430 Spider

1962 Silver Corvette

BMW Alpina Z8

Buick Skylark

Which do you like best? Why do these cars look good in silver?

—jgoods

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Car-On-Car Action Video Gets Us Hot And Bothered For The Weekend [Super Cars]

The cinematic qualities of most automotive videos leaves us wanting more, but Advan Tech Studio knows what we crave. The video proof after the jump gets us real hot and bothered for the weekend.

We showed you a little 30 frame-per-second video of a Mustang burnout last summer and little did we know the awesome cinematic genius behind it was Advan Tech Studios. Take a peak below at the awesome collection of their work from 2008.

[Advan Tech Studios via TeamSpeed]

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Unique Volkswagen “Up!” Concept

VW Up! Concept

There are a whole line of vehicle concepts under the “Up!” umbrella from VW, meant to explore the possibilities of a new power source centered around the world’s first high temperature fuel cell and lithium-ion battery system.  With announcements on automotive innovations being made almost on a daily basis, it would be easy for VW’s achievements to get lost in the fray.  However, there are good reasons why this concept shouldn’t.

The properties of current fuel-cell technology require that it be operated within a very narrow temperature range.  If the temperature rises too much, the recovery of energy simply will not work.  That is why fuel cell designs usually have large and complicated cooling systems that manage heat and humidity.  VW’s new fuel cell design features a special membrane of electrodes designed to make the cells more effective at high temperatures, which has a hand in keeping cost and weight considerably lower than other systems.  To help distribute weight more evenly throughout the vehicle, the two main components of propulsion are housed in different areas of the vehicle.  The zero-emissions electric motor and lithium-ion batteries are housed in the back of the car and under the rear seats.  The high temperature fuel cell, on the other hand, is located up front.  In addition to the fuel cell, which extends the car’s driving range by 155 miles, energy can be supplied further by either an electrical outlet or a large solar panel on the roof that can supply up to 150 watts of energy into the battery.

Deflatable Up! Interior

Because the engine is in the rear, a whole host of interior and exterior design elements are possible that otherwise wouldn’t be.  Besides the front trunk, there is also one in the rear and interior cabin space can be further increased by a clever system that allows air to be sucked out of the seat surfaces via a valve. This means that the seats can be adjusted to mold to the individual body of the occupants who are seated, or completely deflated and folded to increase space when moving larger objects.  VW says that the 11 foot long “Up!” will have the roomiest cabin in its class.

More immediate production versions of the “Up!” could feature either new turbocharged gasoline or diesel-powered engines with a displacement of only .6 or 1.2 liter 3-cylinders.  VW claims that this would be enough for the car to accelerate to 62mph in 13.7 seconds and reach a top speed of 75mph while maintaining fuel economy near 80 mpg.  Whether the “Up!”, in any form, actually makes it to production, it is clear that the technology that is the centerpiece of its design may find use in future models.

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38-Hour Willie Rally Completed, Powered Entirely By Willie Nelson BioFuel And Lots Of Cheetos

On Wednesday, Nik Bristow and Brian Pierce arrived in LA after successfully completing the course mapped by the Gumball Rally in a record 38 hours, 37 minutes, and 41 seconds. Dubbed “The Willie Run 2008″, Bristow and Pierce’s cross country trek was made in a VW Jetta TDI, powered entirely by Willie Nelson’s BioWillie brand biodiesel. “I know the trip sounds crazy, but it’s more important now than ever,” Bristow explained to Autopia before the trip, “We’re on the cusp of a very important election where oil and energy are universal top concerns, and biodiesel is one of the cleaner, more viable fuel alternatives out there. We need to get the word out.”

Initially, the guys had hoped to make the trip in 36 hours, but fuel miscalculations and their grand arrival during LA rush hour set them behind schedule. “We spent the last hour and a half in stop-and-go traffic,” Bristow told Wired.com, “It was a little anti-climactic after driving across the country.” Other than a brief stop in Phoenix to stock up on more BioWillie, however, Bristow and Pierce completed the trek non-stop as per their original goal, even going so far as to forward all of nature’s calls to a Stadium Pal condom catheter.

Next year, Bristow and Pierce hope to make it in under the 36-hr time limit, and are already preparing for Willie Run ‘09. “We’re gonna run it by Willie,” Bristow said, “We’ve gotta have the patron saint sign off on it, but we’ve had a ton of people say they want to take part.”

[News Source/Photo Cred: Autopia]

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Breaking News! GM's Bob Lutz to Retire at the End of 2009

GM has announced that Bob Lutz, GM's Vice Chairman of Global Product Development is going to transition into a new role starting on April 1, 2009 as Vice Chairman and Senior Advisor. Lutz's new role will allow him to provide strategic input into GM's global design until his retirement at the end of 2009.

Thomas Stephens will take over as the Vice Chairman of Global Product Development.

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