Video: Rare Ferrari 599 GTO Bites the Dust

While we are happy to see that at least some owners of the rare Ferrari 599 GTO (of which only 599 examples will be built) take their cars out to their natural habitat on the racetrack, it’s always a sad sight when one of those exotics ends up like this.

The Youtube poster of the video says that the driver lost control of the car “at the end of the straight at 250km/h (155mph)”, but given the relatively modest damages to the 599 GTO, we reckon that he either had a lot of space in front of him or the crash occurred at much lower speeds, perhaps even both. 

source: carscoop &  youtube

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Ever see one of those stupid competitions where a group of people try and see who can keep their hands on a car or a truck the longest, and the person who does actually wins that car or truck?

If you haven’t, there’s a documentary called Hands on a Hard Body that covers this in detail, but suffice to say it’s like watching American Idol if all the contestants were unemployed hicks and weren’t required to do anything but stand up there on stage.

So French carmaker Peugeot, never being one to shy away from reinventing something old for the internet age, took the concept and turned it into an interactive webpage.

Swedish ad firm Volt Stockholm was responsible for the campaign, which has rapidly taken off thanks to the ability to post your best time on Facebook. All the while, the site is pumping out facts and figures and advertising spin for contestants to read.

The winner gets their selected car for one week, and so far the longest time anyone’s clocked is 15 hours. And it’s not like you can just tape down the mouse button either: every so often the site will prompt you to press a random letter key on the keyboard to keep the contestants honest.

You can check out the video below, as well as the trailer for Hands on a Hard Body for those who are curious.

source: carscoop.blogspot.com & youtube

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Former U.S. Ford Police Interceptors find New Life in Britain as "Rare American Muscle"

You know what they say: “One man’s trash is another man's treasure”. While police forces in the U.S. are rapidly replacing their Ford Crown Victoria Interceptors with the latest batch of patrol vehicles from Detroit’s Big 3 including the Ford Taurus, Chevrolet Caprice and Dodge Charger, the Blue Oval’s geriatric model is finding a new life in the UK as a quirky alternative to those who want to stand out from the crowd.

The perpetrator in this case is a UK-based company named “USA Cop Cars Ltd”, which has recently started bringing fully refurbished 2009 and 2010 Ford P71 Police ‘Interceptor’ law enforcement cars into Britain.

The British firm describes the Crown Victoria as a rare “muscle car with a difference”. If that hasn’t put a smile to your face, maybe this will: the used Ford Police Interceptors carry a price tag between £23,000 and £29,000 or about US$37,000 and US$46,700!

USA Cop Cars Ltd says all vehicles come complete with all the usual police goodies including roof-lights, PA systems, and even detailed recreations of US law-enforcement liveries to individual customers’ requirements.

The company also states that the Ford Interceptors are not sold to the public in the U.S., though to our knowledge, this does not appear to be true as we’ve seen plenty of alleged ex-police cars available in the secondhand market. Perhaps the firm means not directly. In any case, if any of you can elaborate on whether or not this is true, we’d appreciate it.

Here’s what Mr Lindsay Groves from USA Cop Cars said on the matter:

“Neither Ford or US Agencies are allowed to sell ‘Interceptors’ to civilians – most see post-police service as cabs or with other US agencies. There are also many other hurdles to overcome before they are legal to drive here in Europe, which explains their rarity here.”

“You don’t need to be a fan of Americana to own one,” Groves continued. “They are tremendous fun to drive – the reactions from men and women, young and old alike is amazing – they love them! They are also very safe - the only car in America that withstands a 75mph rear impact, whilst the civilian version received the maximum 5-star crash resistance rating from the American federal road safety organisation for 14 successive years,” he added.

source: carscoop.blogspot.com

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