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European Auto Group in Texas building a six-speed manual Ferrari 458

In February, European Auto Group in San Antonio, Texas, went public with our kind of wonder car: A Ferrari F430 Scuderia with a gated six-speed manual transmission. The standard F430 did offer a six-speed manual from the factory; the hardcore Scuderia version did not. It took a lot of work, and EAG apparently did the work right; Matt Farah called the coupe "The world's greatest Ferrari." CarBuzz spoke to EAG owner Art Bartosik about what's next, and Bartosik spilled just a bit of goss about the car he'll soon reveal: a Ferrari 458 with a gated six-speed manual. Whereas the 430 Scuderia didn't offer a stickshift, the 458 Italia wasn't even designed with one in mind. The 4.5-liter V8 with 562 horsepower and 398 pound-feet of torque only ever swapped gears with the Italian carmaker's dual-clutch F1 transmission. The 458 has a manageable 52 hp and 51 lb-ft more than the F430 Scuderia, but EAG needed to work up a gearbox to fit the available space. Bartosik didn't divulge how he made that happen for the 458. The reworked F430 Scuderia used all OEM Ferrari parts since they were available; not so for the later car. The DuPont Registry said EAG built "a transmission with upgraded synchros" to handle the additional power, had to find a suitable clutch and suggests the firm went through a lot of prototypes, but doesn't ID the gearbox source. All Bartosik would tell CB is that there's a limited supply and he'll "only be able to build around 10 or 11 of them." Seems there are already more customers than that ready to wire funds for purchase, unsurprisingly. Bartosik said, "People are screaming for a manual 458 and 488. If the demand wasn't there, we wouldn't do it." A final development car is a few months away, with customer builds scheduled to begin in January 2020. And what might EAG do after the run is complete? Maybe a six-speed manual Lamborghini Huracan, which owners have already asked about. "The Huracan should be easier than Ferrari," Bartosik said, "because there's hidden stuff in there that gives us more flexibility." Seems manual gearboxes, like life in "Jurassic Park," will always find a way.

In case you forgot, the Dubai Police supercar fleet is the coolest

Ever wonder why the Dubai Police have a fleet of vehicles worth millions and millions and millions of dollars? Why it has a Bugatti Veyron and a Bentley Continental and a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG with sirens and light bars? Well, here's the reason. This video shows the fleet on display on the Emirate's roads and highways, while also reaching out to the people the police are meant to protect. It's an impressive display of machinery, to be sure. Alongside the Bentley, Bugatti and Mercedes, we spy a Ferrari FF, a Brabus G-Wagen, a BMW M6, a Nissan GT-R, an Audi R8 and a McLaren MP4-12C (although the latest Dubai Police car, the Lexus RC F, is absent). The video even has a very cinematic look and feel to it, which works well with the night scenes and the blues-and-twos of the exotics cruisers. News Source: Dubai Police via YouTube Audi Bentley BMW Bugatti Ferrari McLaren Mercedes-Benz Nissan Luxury Performance Videos dubai ferrari ff mclaren 12c

Would you pay $2 million for a Ferrari F50? [w/video]

The F50 may not have been the finest of Ferrari's flagship supercars, but it remains a collector's commodity just the same – and its value keeps rising. F50s are already trading hands at upwards of $1 million apiece – and this year, at least one is expected to fetch upwards of $2.5 million. Ferrari launched the F50 in 1995 as the successor to the legendary F40 that came before. It eschewed the twin-turbo V8 that powered the 288 GTO and F40 for a naturally aspirated V12, setting the stage for the Enzo and LaFerrari that followed in the series. That high-revving 4.7-liter engine, according to Ferrari, was derived from the unit used in the actual F1 car from 1989 (known as the F1-89, naturally). This engine served as a stressed member of the chassis, mounted behind a carbon-fiber tub. With its removable hardtop, the F50 remains the only model in Maranello's flagship series (excluding the Enzo-based Maserati MC12) that offered an open cockpit. It was all very F1-like, but was barely any faster (if at all) than its iconic predecessor. Only 349 F50s were made, each carrying a half-million-dollar price tag. That would be a good $750k in today's money. Still, it is part of a highly collectible series. Only 349 were made, each carrying a half-million-dollar price tag that seemed astronomic at the time in the mid-'90s. That'd be about $750k in today's money, but it's still a far cry from what they're trading at these days. Last year alone, RM Sotheby's sold two F50s at auction: one in May at Villa d'Este for just under $1.4 million, and another at Pebble Beach (as part of the Pinnacle Portfolio) for nearly $2m. This compared to just a few years ago when they were selling for six figures, not seven, prior to 2013. At this early point in the year, two major auction houses have already announced consignments of F50s. RM has one (pictured above) on the docket that's estimated to sell for a good $1.5m. It's sure to be one of the top sellers in a couple of weeks at its sale in Paris during the Salon Retromobile (where Artcurial has another Ferrari for sale at over $30m). Gooding & Company has one lined up as part of the Tony Shooshani Collection. That example (depicted in the video below) was displayed at the 1995 Tokyo Motor Show and was owned by Jacques Swaters (of Ecurie Francorchamps fame). It has only 1,100 miles on the odometer and is expected to fetch between $2.5m and $2.9m, which would set a new record for the model.