Cars

The Modulo originated on the sketchpad of Paulo Martin at Pininfarina, while he was honing the lines of the Rolls-Royce Camargue in 1968. Clearly feeling restrained by the staid surfaces of the Rolls, the outburst of Martin’s creativity planted a seed that he would refuse to let die. His enthusiasm drove him to work at nights in the Pininfarina studios to construct a full-scale model, despite mild censure from Sergio Pininfarina regarding his initial sketches – the company president believed it was too futuristic and that it would not sit well alongside some of its would-be siblings.

As regular Classic Driver readers will know, it’s not uncommon for a competition Ferrari from the 50s or 60s to sell for many millions. While Gooding & Co. stole the headlines with the $16.4 million 1957 250 Testa Rossa it sold last August, it's said that a UK-based, first-series 250 GTO has sold privately in recent months for a figure at least twice that.

The dragon symbol is well known in Chinese decorative art and features extensively on the special series of cars to be unveiled at the 23 April – 2 May 2012 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition. The number ‘8’ is highly prized in China, being associated with good luck.

The most obvious of these are the gold wheels and a dragon ‘tattoo’ lying inside the central black stripe that runs from the prancing horse badge on the nose to the rear spoiler. According to Ferrari, the inspiration for the livery is derived from a traditional Chinese idiom that means ‘the vigour and spirit of the legendary dragon-horse’.

The theme continues inside, with gold stitching in the headrests, a dashboard plaque and a starter button inscribed with the simplified Chinese characters for ‘start’. Just 20 examples of the car will be made, and they’ll only be sold in China.

Who would have thought in 1947 that an idea coming from Dutch VW importer Ben Pon (father of Ben Pon Jnr, a well-known privateer racing driving in the 50s and 60s) would prove so successful 65 years later?

Known as the ‘Type 2’ – coming after the ‘Type 1’ Beetle, and to be subsequently abbreviated to ‘T2’, ‘T3’, etc - the transporter made friends from Wolfsburg to Woodstock. Nowadays, the hippies need deep pockets in their kaftans as work on an early ‘Samba’ could cost up to 100,000 euros.

San Francisco-based Classic Driver dealer Bruce Trenery at Fantasy Junction has a discreet, black with tan leather example for sale. The 1988 car has covered just 30,692 miles, with all maintenance carefully stamped in the service book.

As the sales documentation states, “With cars of this era beginning to appreciate, it is those of limited production, that have been exceptionally well cared for, which are likely to enjoy the most significant gains in value.”

This, surely, is one, and reasonably priced at $55,000.

Twisted is a company with humble roots, formed in 2000 by Land Rover enthusiast Charles Fawcett from his garage in North Yorkshire. His passion – along with the Defender’s recent windfall in ‘coolness’ currency – has seen the company snowball, simultaneously earning a solid reputation with Defender stalwarts and newcomers alike.

As well as the record-breakingly powerful (not forgetting 1000Nm of torque) G 65 AMG, there’s also a new G 63 AMG version, with a V8 bi-turbo promising 536bhp – but the range-topping V12 AMG won’t be available in the UK. However, UK residents might not cry too many tears over that, when they hear that the base price is an eye-watering 264,180 euros, making it the most expensive model in the entire Mercedes portfolio.

The Starnberg district in the south of Germany is fairly rich with Porsches as it is but, since last week, a new addition has heightened the interest of locals. The detail-perfect interpretation of the classic Porsche 911 ST, now revitalised by PS Automobile, is a joy to behold. And what a sound… a pure, unfiltered listening pleasure, a well-rehearsed brass sextet starting up in the tail of the car. But how goes it on the road?

Building on the Cayenne’s reputation as “the most sporting SUV”, this latest addition to the phenomenally successful model range will sit between the Cayenne S and the Cayenne Turbo. The uprated 4.8-litre V8 engine, now with 420HP (414bhp), is based on the power unit from the Cayenne S, with eight-speed Tiptronic S transmission and integrated auto start/stop function.