Phantom Cars

Lamborghini Miura – The Game Changer

cristobal — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 14:40:02 +0000

Lamborghini Miura – The Game Changer

Very few cars managed to change the automobile world like the Lamborghini Miura. With its central V12 engine and fascinating body, the Miura was a game-changer – seen as the world’s first “supercar” – a term automotive writer LJK Setright created for this car with reference to its exotic looks, advanced design, and incredible performance.

When first presented at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show, the two-seater redefined the concept of a sports car. The Miura impressed by Marcello Gandini’s sleek styling and the car’s revolutionary mid-engine design which has since become the standard for high-performance sports and supercars. Its 3,9-liter V12 engine produced 350 hp, and with a top speed of 280 km/h made it the fastest production road car at the time.

Unsurprisingly, the world got in fever with the new mid-engined Lamborghini. Pop stars and playboys snapped up most of the production even though each Miura cost 4 times the price of a Jaguar E-type. In less than 3 years, Lamborghini built 474 units of the first generation Miura P400.

Born in simpler times when designers didn’t have to contend with safety legislation and pedestrian impact requirements, the Miura was a car created when style reigned supreme. With bold, sweeping lines and the now-iconic wedge silhouette prominently featured on the Lamborghini Miura, all future Lamborghini models can be traced back to this iconic model to some degree.

The leather-clad cabin with roof-mounted switchgear and a low and reclined seating position was more akin to flying in a Concorde than driving a car, and the doors themselves were made to resemble a bull’s horns when opened, a reverence to its name’s origins, a famous line of Spanish fighting bulls. All of this could only be the product of its creator, Marcello Gandini, who had spent most of his time designing interiors for nightclubs prior to arriving at the Bertone Design Studio.

The car finally gained worldwide attention when an orange Miura is seen driving through the Alps in the opening sequence of the 1969 cult movie The Italian Job, before being blown up in an Alpine tunnel. Something that a film producer nowadays would certainly reconsider given its current 7-digit $ value.

Fortunately, You can bring some value back into your home while celebrating iconic Italian style, by owning a truly original piece of Automotive Art available from our Online Store.

Porsche 911 – The Legend

cristobal — Wed, 06 May 2020 10:47:25 +0000

Porsche 911 – The Legend

Very few products can claim they can be identified by a combination of numbers. But when you hear a combination of the numbers 9 and 11 it can only mean two things: There is talk about a disaster on an epic scale, or it’s about the ultimate sports car ever, the Porsche 911.

History is written by people. For example by Ferdinand Porsche, who started an engineering firm designing Automobiles with sporty genes at the beginning of the 1930s. That idea got carried on under the auspices of his son Ferry, who masterminded the classic Porsche 356, the first Porsche produced in a series at the Zuffenhausen factory in 1950. That model already bore the trademark features of Porsche fame and was then refined into an engineering stroke of genius: The Porsche 911.

Since first being presented at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt in September 1963, then called model 901, it has fascinated car fans throughout the world. Nowadays in its 7th generation, the Porsche 911 is unanimously recognized as an automotive icon and is considered to be the quintessential sports car, the benchmark for all others. The famous, distinctive, and timeless design has fascinated car enthusiasts the world over and is still the base of all subsequent variations until today. Virtually no other car in the world can look back on such a long tradition and on continuity over as many years. Form and Function elegantly combined, convince, and fascinate even those who cannot or shouldn’t afford themselves a 911.

Such devotion was manifested in the founding of the first Porsche Club in Dortmund, Germany in 1952. Today there are more than 700 clubs worldwide with more than 200,000 members. For all of them, their Porsche is more than just an object of desire, but a commitment, an attitude to life. An escape vehicle to flee from the dreary daily routine, even if only felt.

But the feeling is what counts, what sells: the interplay of robust boxer sound, the view over the arched fenders, called the bearing edges by the Porsche designers, the sometimes brute thrust combined with a firm road holding; experiencing the metallic clack of the air-cooled cylinders combined with the mix of cool air, gasoline and oil vapor leave you spoiled for life!

Grace the walls of your home or office with a truly legendary work of automotive art to celebrate this truly legendary vehicle, available from our Online Store.

Jaguar E-Type – The Shock

cristobal — Wed, 06 May 2020 10:47:09 +0000

Jaguar E-Type – The Shock

The Jaguar E-Type defined its generation and epitomized the glamour and excitement of the Swinging Sixties and became the car of choice for the international jet-set, supermodels, and rock stars alike. I can’t think of any other car that sets the bar for just pure iconic product appeal better than the E-Type. It’s this really juicy cocktail of near-perfect proportion, form, style, and sex appeal.

First unveiled at the 1961 Geneva auto show, the Jaguar E-Type shocked the world and quickly catapulted to iconic status. Its drool-inducing design helped sell more than 70,000 cars from 1961 to 1975. The fact that it went faster than a Ferrari for half the price didn’t hurt, either.

Its superb lines – the work of Malcolm Sayer and Sir William Lyons – led Enzo Ferrari to concede, at the E-type’s unveiling in Geneva in 1961: “That is the most beautiful car in the world!” Its immensely long bonnet set it apart from all other sports cars, along with its passenger compartment, whose rounded shape was as elegant as it was original.

From a technical point of view, the Jaguar E-Type didn’t disappoint either. Work on the future E-Type had begun just after its predecessors, the D-type’s three successive victories in Le Mans from 1955-1957. The newly designed E-type featured four disc brakes, independent suspension with telescopic dampers at the rear, monocoque construction with a tubular subframe carrying a 3.8 litre 12 cylinder engine, fitted with two overhead camshafts. From the time of its launch, it had a place on the starting grid of English racetracks. The famous racing driver Graham Hill once won a race in the spring of 1964 driving a completely standard E-type.

So everything was in place for the birth of a legend. And the classic Jaguar E-Type certainly left its mark on history!

Now the Jaguar E-Type can leave its mark on your home or office decor with our superb automotive art that perfectly captures this timeless iconic vehicle, available from our Online Store for the discerning classic Jaguar enthusiast.

Corvette Stingray – American Icon

cristobal — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 13:06:31 +0000

Corvette Stingray – American Icon

Just about everyone recognizes the fabulous 1966 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray who quickly became an icon of American pop culture. Since its introduction, the Corvette has ignited the imagination with its sleek design marked by hidden headlamps, peaked fenders, and a neat “ducktail” aft section. It was famous for its powerful engine and considered the best Corvette yet and has since become one of the most sought-after collectibles ever to come from Motor City, aka Detroit.

Pure Motor City muscle, the Stingray was the name used for several model years of Corvettes from the first concept cars in 1959 to the seventh generation Stingray in 2014. The first-ever production Corvette coupe sported a fastback body with a long hood and a raised wind split that ran the length of the roof and continued down the back on a pillar that bisected the rear window into right and left halves. The second-generation Corvette design introduced in 1963 was inspired by several contrasting sources: the radical concept car Stingray Racer designed in 1959, the contemporary Jaguar E-type, and a Mako shark GM chief stylist Bill Mitchell caught while deep-sea fishing.

And in my view it is this 1966 version of the second generation Corvette that had all the defining Stingray design features in place: Hidden headlamps creating a sharp edge over a rectangular front grille and the newly designed vertical side vents, all combined creating that menacing open mouth shark look…

When it comes to power, in 1966 the Corvette Stingray also had outgrown puberty, and following the “more is always better” rule, General Motors powertrain engineers bored the 396 V-8 out to 427 cubic inches, which was conservatively rated by Chevrolet at 425 hp. Those in the know, though, realized that further up in the rev range, the motor was making more like 450 hp helping it to an impressive 0-60 sprint in 4.8 seconds.

The early astronauts were so infatuated with this space age-looking sports car that almost all of them owned a Corvette. How much more iconic can you get?

Well, you can certainly own an iconic piece of automotive art, reminiscent of the same inspired design and styling which marked the Corvette Sting Ray, available for all those American muscle car lovers, from our Online Store.