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2016 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance: It's all in the details

It's no secret that Pebble Beach is an ode to gorgeous, and mostly, classic cars. The car show may be a place for automakers to showcase extremely expensive cars to wealthy buyers, but it's also one of the go-to places for enthusiasts that love automobiles and culture. While it's easy to be overwhelmed by the overall beauty of a car, the real magic often needs closer inspection to be realized. Every car at Pebble Beach is a work of art, but the true beauty of the vehicles lies in the details. And Autoblog's photographer, Drew Phillips, managed to capture the details on some gorgeous cars. From the Lamborghini Miura's exquisite steering wheel to Rolls-Royce's Spirit of Ecstasy, it's all at Pebble Beach. We think the details on some of the cars are prettier than the cars themselves, but don't take our word for it. Check out the beautiful gallery above and enjoy the tiny bits and pieces behind some of the prettiest cars in the world. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2016 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Details View 75 Photos Image Credit: Copyright 2016 Drew Phillips / Autoblog Misc. Auto Shows Aston Martin BMW Ferrari Lamborghini Rolls-Royce Pebble Beach

Rolls-Royce Wraith Eagle VIII commemorates 1919 transatlantic flight

Rolls-Royce is building a 50-car limited edition of the Wraith called the Eagle VIII that will debut at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este event at the Lake Como. The vehicle commemorates two pilots that completed the first non-stop transatlantic flight 100 years ago. The story behind the flight is fascinating: Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Brown flew all the way from St John's in Newfoundland to Clifden, County Galway, Ireland, in a WWI Vickers Vimy bomber. The aircraft's engines were two 20.3-liter Rolls-Royce Eagle VII units, and it appears the engines were the only reliable thing on the flight apart from the crew themselves: the radio and navigation instruments failed right at the beginning of the journey as the wind-driven electrical generator broke, which also meant there was no heating. Because of this, the men had to rely on stars to find Ireland, when dense clouds finally subsided. And it's the clouds and stars that form the centerpieces of the special edition car. The headliner contains 1,183 fibers that light up to form the celestial arrangement at the time of the flight in 1919, with the exact moment when the Vickers plane emerged from the clouds highlighted in red. The decorative wood has silver and copper inlays so it resembles a night-time Earth seen from above. Plaques read "The celestial arrangement at the halfway point 00:17am June 15 1919, 50" 07' Latitude North – 31" Longitude West", and next to the brass speaker grilles, there is a Winston Churchill quote commending the crew, the plane and their unprecedented achievement. "I do not know what we should most admire - their audacity, determination, skill, science, their aeroplane, their Rolls-Royce engines - or their good fortune", it reads. The crash-landing location coordinates are engraved below the dashboard clock. The 1,880-mile ordeal with no heat, occasional snow and a constant barrage of noise from burst exhaust piping took Alcock and Brown 15 hours and 57 minutes, at an average speed of 115 mph. Both aviators were awarded the honor of Knights Commanders of the British Empire by King George V. Alcock later perished after crashing another Vickers plane en route to the Paris Airshow in December 1919. Brown passed away at the age of 62 in 1948. Other detailing on the two-tone Gunmetal and Selby Grey car is also related to the record-breaking Vickers plane, including the black grille vanes that mimic the plane's engine cowling.

Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini utilities await approval from German parents [w/poll]

A cursory look at the top of the automobile market would suggest that the world's carmakers are gunning it full steam ahead into a new stratosphere of ultra-luxury and high-performance utility vehicles. After all, companies like Bentley and Maserati are preparing to launch their very first crossovers, while established players like Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover keep producing ever more expensive sport-utes of their own. But that's not the case across the board.
Rolls-Royce, for example, has yet to receive the green light to start working on its proposed CUV project. Though the dimensions of its sedans may already eclipse those of some crossovers, this would be the first time that Goodwood would produce a utility of its own. But while the British automaker's financial performance may have earned it a degree of autonomy, the final call may still come down to parent company BMW, which just might be waiting to see how Bentley fares with its upcoming crossover - and how much money it brings in to the Volkswagen Group - before deciding on whether or not it should proceed.
However, Rolls-Royce may not be alone in waiting for its German parent company to approve its high-priced ute. It's been two and a half years since we first laid eyes on the Lamborghini Urus (pictured), but the Italian automaker reportedly has not yet received approval from its parent company Audi and the greater Volkswagen Group to proceed with development and production. Envisioned to share its platform with the next Volkswagen Touareg, Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and the production version of the Bentley EXP 9 F concept, the high-riding Lamborghini was originally set to reach production as the marque's third model line in 2017. But while Audi drags its feet - potentially waiting to see how the Bentley version pans out - the Urus' launch keeps getting pushed back, if it's ever to be made at all.