Goblin Works Mod Shop

The latest series in the Goblin Works Garage franchise sees the Goblins modding cars for individuals with tired vehicles.  I haven't a clue how they are chosen or who provides the funding - they seem to have a budget of £10K for each one.

OK, it's going to be Discovery funding it.

But in the past, they've always claimed to be making money on their vehicles in a Gas Monkey sort of way - notice the similarities between GMG and GWG?

The GWG bit of the Discovery Website is here.

I have enjoyed the series so far - today I watched the episode where they turned this Mk.V Golf GTi belonging to "Joel from Camberley" from this:

into this:

Although you can't see the biggest change here in because Jimmy de Ville is stood in front of it.

Not only did they give the car Lambo-style scissor-doors (which was surprisingly easy - you can buy kits) but he also added, and this is the controversial bit, a "brushed aluminium with rivets" look for the doors breaking up the garish but attractive green triangly finish on the rest of the car.

It is the first time a car owner has admitted to not liking something on one of their mods.

The only irritating bit for me is the formulaic nature of the show.

1. Meet the car owner and the vehicle.
2. A Goblin takes the car for a test-drive.
3. Helen draws a picture of what they will be aiming for.
4. A Goblin or two goes out to research something that they will do to the car.
5. A Goblin goes somewhere with the car owner to get some ideas.
6. The Goblins have a three-way split video call to feed back what was discussed with the owner.
7. They get some bought-in parts and fit them.
8. (This is the really irritating bit) The owner phones whichever Goblin is in the workshop at the time to pretend they are missing their car and would like some clues as to what is happening with it).
9. The car gets wrapped.
10. The car gets finished off.
11. The Goblin from number 2 takes it out for another test-drive.
12. The car is returned to its owner.

Not a lot more to add except:

1. It all seems to be filmed in the original Wheeler Dealers workshop.
2. Rumours abound that Helen Stanley and Anthony Partridge are a couple.

Oooh!

The Long and Short of It.

I saw this in an Autocar Story today:

It looks like a cobbled-together in a shed, kit version of a Lamborghini LM002:

But it is actually a hell of a lot more than that.

It is an electric vehicle with a range-extender engine "built for expeditions as extreme and diverse as crossing the Antarctic or penetrating uncharted Amazon rainforests."

It's about the size of a Transit but very light weight with a high ground-clearance - it is called The Fering Pioneer.

This is the story.

It also has a bit of a Jeep Gladiator look about it...

...which I wouldn't have spotted if I hadn't read this Fox News story which talks about the best and worst cars for tall and short people.  Although Consumer Reports should get the credit for it.

You would think that convertibles would be best for tall drivers since there is infinite headroom.

Think again:

Shame about the number plate but I'm sure the Fox News viewers would appreciate it.

Apparently the second-best car for short drivers is the BMW 7-Series and the first-best car for tall drivers is the BMW 7-Series.

I think it just means it has very adjustable seats.

Executive Chargeport Lounges

Audi are looking in to treating their electric car drivers as airline passengers.

Airport Executive lounges are a very acceptable way of spending time while trapped mid-journey.  So why not do something similar when you are waiting for your car to charge up?

The story is here.

It sounds like a good idea - presumably charge a bit more for the electricity but throw in some peanuts and phone charging and newspapers and toilets.  Will they let other drivers use their facilities though?  After all, your average Audi driver won't want to look up from his Financial Times and see a Dacia driver.

I'm sure that the rest of the VW Group brands will want to get some of this action too though.  The Scania one would have to be huge and the Ducati one would have helmet polishing facilities.

Presumably the Bentley one would have butler service and the Lambo one would be the most fun.

They all just need to make sure that they have a snooty person on the entrance to keep out the riff-raff.

This Morning I Overtook two Ferraris and a Lambo...

 

...and a Porsche and a Nissan GTR....

...and a couple more Ferraris and Lambos.

Some of them were travelling backwards!  Here's the proof:

Brand New

Did I miss a story in Autocar last week about a VW Group rebranding exercise?

On October 7th they told us that VW has a new look for it's sporty "R" brand.

On October 14th they told us that Seat could be rebranded as Cupra.

On October 21st I think I must have missed one because...

On October 28th they told us that Skoda may or may not be rebranded as a budget brand.

Checking back, there WAS a rebranding story on the 21st but it was GM rebranding Hummer as an EV brand - a more suitable story for April 1st I'd have thought.

They also had a very interesting slideshow listing what they believe to be the most significant car for every year from 1945 to 2000.  The one for the year of my birth is the Fiat 124.

But I digress.

Traditionally, the VW Group's four main brands have always been:

• Skoda - the cheap one
• Seat - the sporty one
• VW - the mainstream one
• Audi - the posh one

Then you've got the likes of Porsche, Bentley, Lambo and Bugatti as luxury, sporty add-ons.

So they really don't need an R Brand.

Or do they?

The Pirelli World Challenge

Autoguide today are recommending that I watch the Pirelli World Challenge racing series.

It has to be said, it looks very tempting.

Their Website is here.

It also looks a bit confusing with lots of different classes of car competing - a bit like the BTCC used to be.

And what's with this "world" business - it's only in America.  I know the World Series has an excuse because it was sponsored by The World newspaper but this seems to be sponsored by Cadillac - the coverage at least.

The lineup seems very impressive, especially the GT3 class:

They have Ferraris... 

...and McLarens... 

...and Lambos and Audis and non-European stuff too like Acuras and Caddies.

 

And, like the BTCC, and unlike F1, the coverage is free to watch.

 

So I decided to give it a go...

Bugger.

 

Never mind, BTCC starts this weekend too and it looks like another brilliant season with SEVEN champions competing.

Ferrari Dayto-forget

I heard this story out of Japan on Radio 2 this morning but it wasn't on the BBC Website (probably will be by the time you read this) but Bloomberg had it. Nobody badly hurt though. It was caused by a sixty-year-old who lost control on a wet motorway. He's now under threat of prison.

Maybe it'll make this bimbo from this story in July feel a bit better though. No, it's not Patsy Kensit, it's some anonymous French woman who drove a Bentley into four other prestigious cars in Monaco. And because she was trapped inside the car and it was a convertible, she was soon surrounded by tourists with cameras and camera-phones. There are hundreds of photos all over the Web.

Like this one...

A Load of Bull

Auto Express are covering a story today about a new SUV from Lamborghini. "Oh No!" thinks I, "...not another 'jumping on the bandwagon' offroader or four-by-faux" but then I saw this picture at the top of their article......and realised that I had completely forgotten about the predecessor of the luxury-brand off-roader - the Lambo LM002. Looking like an even-squarer Humvie, if that is actually possible, it was powered by a Countach engine and ran from the mid-Eighties to '93.

The new one, currently called the LM00X will share platforms and engines with it's VW-Group sister companies Audi and Porsche. Lambo, of course, currently offer 4WD in their current car range and do have a history of it as you can see from one of their older production models: Sorry, my mistake - that was a Porsche - here's the Lambo:

Parking Offensive

Spotted this story on the BBC News Site last week. It came with this picture...For those who think all supercars look the same (and I do have some sympathy with that view, especially looking at this picture) what you have here is a Lamborghini Murcielago parked behind an extremely rare £1.2Million Koenigsegg CCXR.

£120 penalty charge notices were issued for the illegal parking, but the cars were released for £70 each as the fines were paid within 14 days. No mention was made of the crime of painting these cars in that awful shade of turquoise.

A Harrods spokesman said: "Any matters relating to parking tickets and enforcement are strictly the domain of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea." In other words - "It's nothing to do with us - even though we have recently been bought by the Qatari Royal Family." Who, though, could be the owners of these vehicles? - after all, it's not like the Qatari Royal Family have a habit of painting supercars turquoise like this Pagani Zonda they own: