1964 Mercedes-benz Sl-class 230sl on 2040-cars

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2018 wrap-up, Ford Ranger and Mercedes A-Class | Autoblog Podcast #566

In the final Autoblog Podcast of 2018, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Alex Kierstein and Associate Editor Reese Counts. They kick off the conversation by talking about a couple of hot new vehicles: the Ford Ranger and Mercedes-Benz A 220 4Matic. Then they round up the biggest stories of 2018 before helping a listener choose a new car in the "Spend My Money" segment. Thanks for listening, and happy holidays. The Autoblog Podcast will be back next year. Autoblog Podcast #566 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Driving the 2019 Ford Ranger Driving the 2019 Mercedes-Benz A-Class 2018 news roundup The ups and downs of Tesla and Elon Musk Losing Sergio Marchionne and the arrest of Carlos Ghosn Lots of layoffs Trump and tariffs Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

2022 Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance Mega Gallery | The show in pictures

COMO, Italy — Held annually, the Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance is, in many ways, Europe's version of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It takes place in a beautiful location, and it brings together an impressive selection of rare and valuable cars. It's a real treat for the eyes, the ears, and, if you're into champagne, the palate. The 2022 edition of the show was no exception: About 50 cars were shipped to Lake Como from over a dozen countries, and it wasn't just the usual suspects. Sure, there were a lot of pre-war cars (including a couple of one-off models), but some of the icons that younger enthusiasts grew up with (like the Lamborghini Countach) were present as well. This year's event was split into eight categories: The Art Deco Era of Motor Car Design, The Supercharged Mercedes-Benz, How Grand Entrances Were Once Made, Eight Decades of Ferrari Represented in Eight Icons, "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday," BMW's M Cars and Their Ancestors, Pioneers That Chased the Magic 300 KPH, And a design award for concept and prototypes. The jury gave the coveted "best of show" award to a 1937 Bugatti 57 S owned by Andrew Picker of Monaco, while the aforementioned classes were won by, respectively: The Bugatti 57 S, shown below, A 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet, A 1956 Chrysler Boano Coupe Speciale, A 1966 Ferrari 356 P Berlinetta Speciale Tre Posti, A 1961 Porsche 356 B Carrera Abarth GTL, A 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL, A 1989 Porsche 959 Sport, And the Bugatti Bolide concept unveiled in 2020. Winning at Villa d'Este is a big deal: The cars are judged by a panel of highly experienced judges. No one gave me a scoring sheet, presumably out of fear that I'd award points to the late-model Fiat 600 lurking in the parking lot, but several cars that didn't win an award caught my eye. One is a 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, a grand-prix racer that was once owned by King Leopold III of Belgium and that has never been restored — its patina is inimitable. Another is a 1961 BMW 700 RS. One of two built (the other is in the BMW collection), it's a tiny, ultra-light roadster related to the 700 and powered by a 697-cubic-centimeter air-cooled flat-twin tuned to develop 70 horsepower. It won several hill-climb events during the 1960s, and it's one of the rarest cars ever to wear a BMW roundel. Aston Martin's freshly-restored 1979 Bulldog concept was cool to see as well; check out the cassette player integrated into the headliner!

Mercedes G-Class 'Designo Manufaktur' even more upscale

Catering to customers who want the brand to provide more customization instead of having to confer with aftermarket tuners, Mercedes-Benz has added a new design book of options to the G-Class called Designo Manufaktur. Developed to offer a range of personalizing choice, a studio in Graz, Austria where the G-Class is built adds exclusive colors and hand-finished touches for buyers, some of them reserved only for the AMG models. New exterior colors include a roof that can be drenched in obsidian black and sheetmetal dressed in non-metallic fire opal, metallic designo mauritius blue metallic, and matte hues like designo yellow olive magno. The wheel selection has grown, with alloys available in black, and the spare wheel cover - normally in a polished finish - can be painted body color. The side strips can be all black instead of black and chrome, or carbon fiber-look for AMG models. Throw the Night package on top of all that and you get more black touches in places like the mirror housings and dark-tint windows. The interior options add saddle brown, deep-sea blue, silk beige, and mocha brown to the collection of swatches, with coordinating topstitching. AMG models can be decked out in red, with red seat belts, and Dinamica microfiber accents. The press release below tells the whole story. Even more individuality ex factory: "designo manufaktur" for the G-ClassStuttgart, Dec 04, 2015 - The Mercedes-Benz G-Class has been writing an incomparable success story since 1979. "designo manufaktur" is now making the classic cross-country vehicle even more individual ex factory. Customers can now tailor the off-road icon to their personal style.The name says it all: "designo manufaktur" captures customers' imagination with individual equipment and appointments features, traditional craftsmanship and the highest quality. The new individualisation programme fulfils the wishes of numerous G-Class customers for their own personal, tailor-made cross-country vehicle. "designo manufaktur" offers exclusive, unique colour and material compositions inside and out. With a host of combination options, the off-roader develops its very special character and unmistakable style.The Manufaktur hand-finishing section, which turns a G-Class into a unique "G", is located in Graz. Be it exterior or interior, topstitching or model badge, virtually every detail is lovingly crafted by hand.