I have an uncle that has always driven the gold chain wearing, boss mobile. First there was the automatic Supra, followed up by a Cadillac Allante. Somewhere along the way, he picked up a new T-bird. Amazingly, he never found his way into an automatic Vette. While in The Poconos, a few months back we had a chance to spend some time with the 2009 Cadillac XLR. This thing may just be my uncle`s ultimate ride.

The sharp edged hardtop convertible looks great and has all sorts of electronic trickery. Doors with no handles, electrically powered everything and luxurious leather clad interior ensures that the aging super dude will have more toys than the other guys at the club. Hopefully the club offers storage for his clubs though, as the XLR doesn’t offer storage for much more than that box of domes he keeps around for his mistress. We managed to squeeze a camera bag (sans domers) in the trunk and that was about it.

The 320 horsepower Northstar V8 sounds great and propels the XLR along quite nicely. The automatic tranny is a nice unit, but why oh why is there no 6 speed? Yeah, yeah, we know; the segment demographic is more interested in elevating their status rather than the actual driving experience.

Enough from me, check out our newest video after the break.
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AutoNews recently reported that Lincoln is considering a smaller, premium model in addition to its current lineup. No details have been released, and it is not clear how serious Lincoln is about heading into such a segment, an area they have never approached before.

If Lincoln has shown us anything over the past decade, it has been consistency. By that, I mean uninspiring, uninteresting cars that few enthusiasts have any real interest in. How about offering automotive answers to questions no one ever asked? Does anyone recall the Blackwood? How Lincoln thinks it can solve its problems with a small premium car, I have no clue. What car would this proposed vehicle compete against?

In the 1980’s both Cadillac and Lincoln were more or less on par with each other, in that they generally offered weak, thirsty V-8 powered cars with poor quality to boot. The Greatest Generation bought these cars up as fast as they could, so why improve them? Lincoln showed promise with the Mark VII LSC, powered by the Ford Mustang GT’s 302 V-8. I tested one of the last Mark VIII LSC’s, and I was stunned at all the comments I got about the car during my week with it. A great tourer, I was comfortable blasting down the Pennsylvania Turnpike, or sitting in NYC traffic in rush hour. Then Lincoln discontinued the car.
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In a year devoid of concept eye popping, I’ve got to have that car mania; the Cadillac CTS coupe concept has garnered much admiration. The interesting story is how this concept evolved.

Jim Taylor the General Manager of Cadillac told us about the coupe variant of the highly acclaimed CTS. It seems the design team wanted to do a coupe even though it wasn’t in their design plan. GM management riding on the wave of success signed off and told the team to proceed.
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Maybe this story can be attributed to President Bush signing into law last week new fuel economy standards that call for a 40 percent fuel economy improvement by 2020. Or maybe you could speculate that Cadillac feels that their current V-6 became the engine of choice on the 2008 STS because it’s so close in power to the V-8.

Either way you look at it GM has canceled plans to build a new advanced double overhead-cam V-8 for its luxury cars. The move means the future for Cadillac’s V-8 car engines is unclear.
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(Photo credit: Chris Doane for Brenda Priddy & Company)

Caddy has been getting it done with the popularity and honors received by the redesigned CTS. For luxury sedan high performance junkies a supercharged variant is now making its way through the spy channels.

The CTS-V will use GM’s LSA motor, a supercharged small block V8 good for an adrenaline pumping 500+ equines. The 2009 CTS-V will feature a supercharger integrated into the intake manifold, the same setup that the upcoming Corvette SS/Blue Devil will use in its LS9 motor.
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While we’ve had lots of west coast news thanks to Gary Faules and Lucky, it’s been a while since we’ve had any updates from Aaron Von Minden. While I’m sure things at Designworks are keeping him on his toes, it’s the stuff coming out of SSG that we’re interested in and it seems that things have been humming along quite nicely in the home of Savage Speed.

The smokin’ kool Ford above (and after the break) belongs to Kort Neumann, who is a designer at Honda. With designers who drive stuff this cool, maybe there’s some stylistic hope for Honda yet. Let this man design the next Ridgeline. Aw hell, let Von Minden have at it too!
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It seems like the worlds barns are falling open one at a time over the past few months. First it was the giant Vermont stash. Next up, there was the sealed building in Portugal and more recently, the Massachussetts garage. Each time, enthusiasts around the world get all clammy thinking about what they would do if they found a hidden trove. The reality is that with each find, our chances of scoring our own personal find lessen.

Now we have news of yet another automotive crypt that has creaked open for the world to see. The contents of this one are oh so much more special than some of those other finds. This Maryland collection contains cars from the Teens through to the Thirties with names like Packard, Cadillac, Overland, Empire, Dagmar, Stanley and the list goes on and on. Some of these cars are super rare and almost all are complete specimens. Some are so good all they need is a really good bath and a change of fluids before they trundle off to a new life on the car show circuit.

Over at Old Cars Weekly you’ll find Eric Killorin’s full tale along with tons of droolworthy photos.

This photography thing has thrown all sorts of new challenges my way, not to mention some self preservation instincts that I never knew I had. Standing in the spectator area of Mosport’s famed Corner 2 might be one of the coolest places on the planet to watch a race. Standing in the new shooter’s area at the end of the wall halfway down the hill is one of the most intense racing experiences I’ve had beyond actually being in the car. Shooting hyped up showroom stockers in the rain from this spot would approach suicidal. Contrary to some of the music I listened to in high school, I do not have Suicidal Tendencies. As a result, I ended up in the relative safety of the turn 1 outfield. Interestingly, I don’t think I’d watched a session here since the Group C race way back in 1984!
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As The Garage is so close to GM Canada’s headquarters, and a large number of Durham Region’s population depend on The General, I have spent some time over the years justifying my position that Traditional Domestics (ie American cars) SUCK. They ask “how can you say that when your neighbour’s income depends on those cars” or “we take great pride in the quality of our cars”.

It’s true, that the Oshawa plant has the highest quality rating of any of GM’s plants. That’s right, us Canadian’s build better cars up here than are built south of the border. These guys & girls have a right to be proud. They build the best cars they can, within the parameters that are set out for them. That’s right, this high end production facilty is predetermined to build crap.
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When was the last time you saw a Rod at full opposite lock? The guys over at Savage Speed in sunny CA have a serious handle on the cooler things that Hot Rodding has to offer. The gallery has some hot pics of Rods in action, not to mention some killer collectibles like a Don Garlits firesuit. What is that nasty stain on the leg? If you are looking for speed parts for your rat rod that have some real history, these guys can hook you up. How about a Cadillac flathead that ran at Bonneville in 1950. Too Cool.

Source: Jalopnik