Rap Star – Lorinser shows its recent E-Class creation

The new Mercedes E Class has been celebrated as one of the most classy, handsome and understated designs in years. As usual, it didn’t take long for tuners to change that. For those who want to look more like they belong in a rap video or the parking lot of an NFL training camp, tuner Lorinser has released photos of their latest E Class treatment for the W212 chassis. We will admit, we really like the more aggressive front bumper and the rear diffuser, but after that, we would leave it stock. Lorinser may be going for the DTM Racecar look with the vented front fenders, but it instead, screams boy racer. Now that every Civic, Integra and Scion is sporting this look, I think it’s time to let it go. Same goes for the 1990s throw-back boxed side skirts with the vent in back. I don’t car if it is functional, which I doubt, it looks ridiculous and dated.

Frankfurt auto show 2009: the light of the charge brigade

Please make it stop. Ever since the Mercedes-Benz CLS, car makers have taken to chopping the rooflines of their sedans and calling them four-door coupes. Guys, they’re not coupes. By definition, coupes have two doors. What you’re making are sedans with varying degrees of rear head- and legroom that range from barely adequate to what’s-the-point.

At least it looks as if Americans won’t be sent into fits of pedantry by the Audi A5 Sportback, because as handsome as this four-door-plus-hatch version of Ingolstadt’s lovely A5 is, Audi of America isn’t too fired up about bringing it Stateside.

Return Of The Gullwing – 2011 Mercedes SLS

The Mercedes Benz 300SL (SL meaning Sport Light) Gullwing was one of the very first iconic supercars in the world.  In 1954 the 300SL Gullwing reestablished Mercedes as King of road racing and sold for a ridiculous amount of money, four thousand pounds ($8,000USD). In 1954 you could buy a home for that kind of money. Mercedes only produced 1400 examples of these cars and today the 300SL Gullwing is prized among car collectors all across the world. A pristine Gullwing can fetch anywhere from half a million to a full 1 million US Dollars.

The beautifully crafted 300 SL Gullwing door was actually first created from a practical engineering stand point. The door sills were very high for chassis stiffness and the roof sat low for aerodynamics, which in turn gave its distinctive silhouette. Its power plant wasn’t new as it was borrowed from one their existing models, the Mercedes 300, but the 3.0L direct injection inline 6 propelled the Gullwing from a stand still onwards to 150. Impressive considering that most cars of its time were struggling to do half that. Out powering most of the competition by miles, the SL Gullwing was revered as one of the first and fastest production supercars of its time. Now on to present time.