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Salvage team boards burnt ship Felicity Ace off Azores, towing begins

LISBON — More than a week after a ship packed with around 4,000 vehicles, including Porsches, Audis, Lamborghinis and Bentleys, caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a salvage team managed to board the vessel on Friday and started to tow it to a safe location off the Portuguese Azores archipelago. In a statement, ship manager Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd (MOL) said the Felicity Ace remained stable, and the smoke that for days billowed from the vessel, adrift around 170 km southwest of the Azores, had stopped. The 22 crew members of the Panama-flagged Felicity Ace, which was carrying around 4,000 vehicles including Porsches, Audis and Bentleys from Germany to the United States, were evacuated last Wednesday, the day the fire broke out. Some of the vehicles are electric and their lithium-ion batteries have made the fire very difficult to extinguish, port officials have said. Previous attempts to board the ship to assess its condition and start preparing it for towing had failed due to the fire and rough seas. On Friday, the team was able to board by helicopter and the salvage boat Bear started towing the vessel to a "safe area off Azores," the ship manager said. It was not clear where exactly the vessel was being towed to. It was being escorted by two tug boats and another salvage craft equipped with firefighting gear, MOL said. Related video: Image Credit: Portuguese Navy (Marinha Portuguesa) via Reuters Green Weird Car News Audi Bentley Lamborghini Porsche Electric fire car fire shipping cargo ship

Bertone's Lamborghini-V12-powered minivan was ahead of its time

PARIS — Italian design house Bertone traveled to the 1988 edition of the Turin auto show (which was still a big deal in the late 1980s) to unveil a Lamborghini-powered design study. This wasn't unusual, as the two companies had worked together for decades, but the Genesis concept turned every head in the convention center because it was a van. Now it's turning heads again this week at the Retromobile Show in Paris. Bertone's styling and prototype-building teams allegedly spent a total of 30,000 hours making the Genesis look more futuristic than the minivans many kids carpooled to school in during the late 1980s, and much sportier. It needed to tick both boxes. It was a concept car, so it had captivate the public's attention, and it was powered by a 455-horsepower, 5.2-liter V12 borrowed from the Countach Quattrovalvole, so looking the part was a must. The mighty, front-mid-mounted 12 channeled its power to the rear wheels through a rather lame three-speed automatic transmission provided by Chrysler, which owned Lamborghini at the time. Sliding doors gave the rear passengers access to one of the more unusual interiors we've seen. There were two front-facing seats positioned over the rear wheels, and a single rear-facing chair in the middle of the interior. The front passengers faced forward, as you'd expect, but they could also move their seat cushion around to look at the folks riding in the back. Someone still needed to drive, so this configuration was best used when parked. While naming the concept Genesis was a little bit optimistic on Bertone's part, putting a Lamborghini engine in a minivan with butterfly doors was a courageous move. It was ahead of its time, too, because blob-shaped vans are a dime a dozen at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and they're almost universally welcomed as the transportation of the future. Bertone may not have had autonomous technology to play with, but it had a V12. Related Video:     Featured Gallery 1988 Bertone Genesis at Retromobile 2020 View 9 Photos Auto News Lamborghini Minivan/Van Performance Classics

This Lamborghini could become the most expensive car ever sold on Bring a Trailer

The collector-car auction site Bring a Trailer has seen some wildly high sales results recently, including a 2000 Honda Civic Si for $50k, a 1997 Acura Integra Type R for $82k, and a '71 Datsun 240Z for $310k. Now, a 1968 Lamborghini Miura P400 up for auction right now could set a new high-water mark for the most expensive car ever to sell on the site. Any Miura is a blue-chip collectible, a seminal supercar that was designed by Marcello Gandini of Bertone and considered by many to be one of the most beautiful cars of all time. The transverse-oriented, mid-mounted, quad-cam V12 is fed by four Weber carburetors and was said to be capable of propelling the Miura to 170 mph. This one appears to be a compelling, restored example. As a P400, it is an early series car (the P400 S and SV followed). The audacious lime green paint is a color change from the original white and is paired with a blue interior that records show to be the original hue. The car has been shown at the Quail in 2016, has run the Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance in 2018, and won an award at Concorso Italiano in 2016. Bidding at the time of writing is $800k with 10 days still to go. In order for this Lambo to ring the bell as the most expensive BaT sale ever, it will have to top the current champion, BaT's own 1956 Mercedes-Benz Gullwing that was the first car sold via the site's premium listings. A no-reserve sale, it brought $1,234,567. Yes, we see what the bidder did. Current Miura values would appear to give this P400 a shot dethroning that Gullwing. Hagerty assigns the 1968 Miura P400 a value of $1.1m in #1 condition. Recently, Gooding and Co. sold a 1969 Miura P400 S at Scottsdale in January for $1,242,500. A never-restored 1969 P400 S sold for nearly $1.6m at RM Sothebys London sale last fall, while a non-running 1968 P400 sold by RM earlier this month in Europe for $800,000. It looks like it will be a close call for this Miura to achieve top honors at BaT. But whatever it sells for, the new owner may want to send a professional car hauler rather than simply bringing a trailer. Although the most ballsy move would be to fly in and drive it home. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.