Longtime corporate partners Shell and Ferrari have teamed up to create this incredible road trip. 2 Ferrari 599 Fioranos left Brazil last Thursday on a 20,000 mile road trip that will end up in New York city. Along the way the cars will refuel at Shell stations. The cars will be driven by an alternating team of journalists along the way. You gotta hope there are no brain farts, or this project could come to an end really quickly.

press release after the break

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We took so many pics at AutoFest that I think we’ll post them by make. It only seems fitting that we should start with some of The General’s own. Fortunately there was tons of quality local iron to offset the missing Camaro. That said, it seemed like every Chevelle in Southern Ontario was there. I never really liked the car and it still doesn’t turn my crank, so you won’t find many pics of them but don’t worry, there’s lots more mullety goodness after the break!

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Depending on your point of view, Paul Tracy is either brilliant or a fool. At yesterday’s aborted Champ Car race in Montreal, PT donned a wrestling mask and a Fleur-de-lis cape as a poke at French Canadian drivers who are afraid to have a go at him without taking off their helmet.

For all you readers from other countries who may not know, the relationship between French speaking Canada and the rest of the country has been tenuous at best over the years. A province full of whining separatists would be considered traitors in the States. This political nonsense has spilled over into some not so friendly ribbing over the years between English and French speaking Canadians.

The fact that Tracy chose to pull this prank in Montreal is HUGE! It shows how little sense of humour these whiners have. In these times of political correctness in racing though, I’d be surprised if Pauly survives this with his wallet intact. Personally, I damn near peed myself when I caught this pic in the paper this morning.
via The Toronto Star

Every year, on the second last week in August, GM Canada plays host to AutoFest. Being one of Ontario’s largest outdoor car shows, we thought there might be a pretty good chance to see the new Camaro. Of course, the car was in Oshawa this week for the announcement that the car will be built here so we pretty much expected it would be there. It only makes sense, especially considering the number of times the car has been pictured rolling in to local cruise nights across the States.

The Camaro pulled a no show. Maybe they were afraid to bring it out on an overcast day in case it gets wet. Call this one a missed opportunity.

Mother nature threatened rain all day and that may have accounted for the fairly sparse crowd, but the parking lots were filled with all sorts of cars. Mostly American stuff, with lots of rods and more Chevelles than you ever need to see. Overall, the quality of the cars on display was quite high, with the odd competition show car here and there for good measure. There were Rat Rods, Dune Buggies, olde cars and new. Even a giant old 4×4 that was close to monster truck size.

Tomorrow, I’ll get around to posting some of the 181 pics I took today.

The Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise is one of the longest standing cruise events around. It is the home of street racing, as we used to know it. Heck, the muscle car wars of the Sixties were born and bred on Woodward. Once a year this stretch of pavement is visited by cruisers and spectators from around the world.

Real life friend of The Garage Jim Toumaris visited the cruise last weekend and snapped a TON of pics for us. Jim is a Nissan tech with a penchant for old American muscle who has decided that he should take a car down for next year’s cruise. Will it be the Chevelle of the 66 Mustang? Who knows, but let’s hope next year’s pics are as great as these.

A bunch more pics after the break

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Yipee, Mark Tapscott has been able to catch up with life enough that he’s resurrected the Carnival of Cars this week. It’s so exciting, as I’ve missed my Friday tour around the blogosphere.

Be sure to watch on September 5 over at AskPatty, as they are about to host their first series of blog carnivals. This one is going to be all about car advice for women. This should be lots of fun.

Isn’t this just the coolest, ugliest thing you’ve ever seen? Even better, it’s built right here in Ontario! The Gurka is a fully armoured vehicle, with protection that is unequaled by anything this side of a tank. Best yet, they are available for civilians to drive on the street, providing you’ve got a couple of hundred grand floating around. The first civilian model is of course going to Cali, to a friend of the Governator who wants to one up Arnold and his HUMMER.

We’ll see if we can’t get some seat time in one of these puppies and report back on their talents.

At The Star they have all sorts of details on other armoured vehicles made by Armet Armoured Vehicles

Two time Formula 1 World Champion and two time dad Mika Hakkinen and DaimlerChrysler have teamed up with a new project called MobileKids. Aimed at kids and teens, MobileKids teaches kids how to be smart on the road, from seatbelt use to helmet use when riding a bike. This is a great program, now if they can just figure out a way to get all those parents out there to teach by example, all of our kids would be safer.

another pic and the press release after the break

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Years ago, a friend and I spent an entire afternoon in The Garage of his Muskoka cottage. We were like little kids, sitting in the cab of his dad’s ‘59 Land Rover pick up truck. Fueled by Cohibas and a soon empty pail of Famous Grouse, we pretended to be on safari. In reality, the cool old truck hadn’t turned a wheel in 2 decades. Now it’s been over 3.

The new 2007 Defender has definately been designed with that spirit in mind. The only real exterior difference is the addition of the muscular hood bulge, that fits over a new 2.4 liter diesel that puts out 120 hp and 265 ft-lbs of rock crawling grunt. That grunt is improved by the use of a new 6 speed gear box, with a lower first gear and a taller 6th. Talk about the best of both worlds, off road capability with improved fuel mileage.

The interior has been upgraded with interior bits scooped from the LR3 parts bin, better sound and 3rd row seats in the long wheel base version.

Now if they would only bring it back to Canada.

Press release and some great pics after the break

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America’s 2nd richest man is apparently dividing up a big chunk of his 32 billion dollar fortune between 5 charities. Along with dishing out the cash, he’s unloading auctioning his personal ride on e-bay, with proceeds going to Girls Inc.

Now I know that Buffett has done an unbelievable job building a fortune and has built a reputation as a penny pincher, but there has to be something wrong with a billionaire whose personal ride is an 01 Lincoln. Talk about lame, it even comes with snow tires! To ensure that bidders spend a few hun more than a regular auto trader purchase, Buffett’s personalized plate comes with the car. The high bidder can claim to be THRIFTY after spending too much money for a crappy used up car, that is sure to lose value right off the block. It’s a good thing the money is going to a great cause.

Press release after the break

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