It Came from eBay Hell: Camaro Meets Batmobile

Fancying a GM classic with a little more, ahem, pizazz than your run-of-the-mill F-Body Chevrolet Camaro? Welcome to the wonderful world of eBay and the DreamRyder (that's how the owner spells the name of the car).

The DreamRyder is the creation of one Bill Logan who used a V8-powered 1984 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible as a base. Logan says he spent 13 years to complete all the customizations, which include a fiberglass body said to be inspired by a number of animals such as the bat ray and the eagle.

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New 2012 Porsche 911 Filmed on the Road…Again

Undisguised prototypes of the upcoming 2012 Porsche 911 are quickly becoming a more common sight than Bratwurst sausages in Germany.

In our latest encounter, a barely disguised 991 test car equipped with a sunroof was caught filling up at a gas station in Stuttgart before firing up its six-cylinder boxer engine and driving away.

Turn up the volume of your speakers and follow the jump to enjoy the video.

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Renault Samsung Motors Rolls Out Flagship SM7, Releases New Photos and Video

The South Korean unit of Renault has come out with full details on its new SM7 flagship sedan a week before the car officially goes on sale in the country.

The French carmaker, which bought a 70% stake in Samsung Motors back in 2000 to spearhead the brand's expansion efforts in the developing Asian region, said the SM7 will have a "radical effect on the big saloon car market".

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Video: The TIV-2 is a 14,000-Pound Armored Dodge Ram Storm Chaser

A tornado is a force of nature that almost nothing can withstand. Therefore, when Sean Casey decided to see what was going inside a tornado, he had to build a very special kind of vehicle. And that’s how the original TIV (Tornado Intercept Vehicle) was born back in 2003.

In 2008, and after the TIV made it on prime time television in a series called Storm Chasers that began airing on the Discovery Channel in October 2007, Casey and his team built the TIV-2 using a Dodge Ram 3500 as a base.

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This is What Happens When You Keep Your Eyes on the Girl and not on the Road

The title of this post is pretty much self-explanatory, but if you insist here's the skinny: a man riding his scooter on the road spots a young and apparently attractive woman dressed in a knee-high dress walking on foot.

And as it surely has happened to so many others, one quick look didn't satisfy our protagonist's curiosity (or possibly admiration) so he let his guard down and turned his focus away from the road to get a 360 view of the young woman… See what happens next after the break in the security camera footage.

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Land Rover Rumored to Reveal New Defender Concept in Frankfurt

Designing a new car from scratch is a relatively easy task for an automaker –provided it has the resources. Replacing an icon, however, is much more difficult.

Especially if said icon has a long and distinguished history and has made its manufacturer synonymous to hardcore 4x4 capabilities. The Defender is one such example.

However, that’s what Land Rover intends to do, and the first step will reportedly be the unveiling of a new Defender concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

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Two Guys, a Toyota FJ Cruiser and Twenty-One Minutes of Australian Outback

From Toyota’s Australian arm comes this documentary-style promo for the FJ Cruiser which has recently launched Down Under. It features two Aussie blokes dumped in the outback with nothing but each other – and an FJ Cruiser – for company.

With a GPS, limited supplies and more than a few hundred kilometres between checkpoints, it’s a race against time to get back to civilization.

Just keep in mind, its twenty-one freakin’ minutes long! That’s like half an episode of Top Gear, but without the boys to entertain us along the way... Gluttons for punishment if you can watch the whole video after the jump.

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Jean’s Back: 2012 Delahaye USA Bella Figura Type 57S Enters Production

It may have taken three years but at last Delahaye USA’s Bella Figura Type 57S is available for purchase. The Long Valley, NJ based specialist vehicle manufacturer has taken its design inspiration from Jean Bugatti’s legendary Type 57S coupe of the 1930s and ‘40s and modified it to fit a stretched and widened platform.

Using cutting edge materials such as carbon fibre and polished aluminium, Delahaye USA’s describes their new offering as, “much more than a replica”.

With air conditioning, power brakes and steering, electric windows and a choice of engine and transmission options, this certainly appears true.

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Ferrari to Drop the Top on New 458 Italia Spider at Frankfurt Motor Show?

Emerging from the rumormill are talks about Ferrari getting ready to reveal a convertible version of its new 458 Italia supercar at next month's 2011 Frankfurt auto show.

In a new report from Germany's Auto Motor und Sport magazine, sources close to Maranello say that like its predecessor, the 458 Italia Spider will be offered with an electrically operated cloth convertible top that disappears behind the front seats.

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GM is World’s Number One Automaker, Toyota Drops to 3rd Place behind VW

Well, it was almost certain to happen after the March 11 earthquake and Tsunami hit Japan causing multiple problems to the country's automotive industry. Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, saw its production drop by 23% to 3.37 million units for the first half of the year - and includes sales of Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino vehicles.

As a result, the Japanese company lost the title of the world’s largest automaker that it held since 2008 to General Motors, which saw its sales rise by 8.9% to 4.536 million units for the first six months of 2011. For the time being, second place goes to the Volkswagen Group which sold 4.13 million units worldwide.

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GM Releases Pricing on 2012 Buick GS and Buick eAssist

This fall will see Buick adding two more offerings to its Regal range, namely the performance orientated GS that's powered by a turbocharged four, and the fuel efficient eAssist featuring a "light" hybrid powertrain.

Pricing for the 2012 Regal GS starts at $35,310 while the 2012 Regal eAssist at $29,530 , with both prices including $860 in destination charges.

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Big Brother’s Latest Target: Sleepy Market Towns Like Royston

Royston, Hertfordshire is a sleepy and historic market-town in England with very little crime. It is also the proud owner of seven Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras covering every route in and out of the community.

The cameras have been in use since 1990 and provide police with alerts for untaxed, uninsured and / or suspect vehicles. These cameras, previously used only on main roads and motorways, will log the registration of every vehicle passing through and store them in a national database for two to five years.

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Fisker to Unveil New Crossover Model at Frankfurt Motor Show

The man behind the Karma extended-range electric sports sedan, company boss Henrik Fisker, revealed some ambitious new plans to develop the brand's lineup during the European launch of the saloon model.

According to one report from British magazine What Car?, Fisker confirmed the development of a new crossover that will combine elements from sporty estate and SUV models, and which will be revealed at the 2011 Frankfurt auto show in September before it allegedly reaches showrooms in 2012.

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BMW Turbocharges X3 with Two New Engines

A pair of new turbocharged engines will soon be added to the range of the recently-launched BMW X3. These include a base four-cylinder gasoline unit and a flagship straight-six diesel.

The new entry level version of the X3, the xDrive20i, is powered by a 2.0-liter aluminum four cylinder gasoline engine featuring a twin-scroll turbocharger, direct fuel injection, Double Vanos variable camshaft control and Valvetronic variable valve control system. It delivers 184HP at 4,800 rpm and 270 Nm (199 lb-ft) of torque from just 1,250 rpm.

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Alfa Romeo Says 4C to Appear in "New Exclusive Look" at Frankfurt

On Thursday, we brought you news on Alfa Romeo's plans to exhibit the 4C at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. Today, the Italian automaker's social network gurus released an updated announcement saying that the 4C will be presented in a "new exclusive look" at the German auto show.

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This Chinese Driver is the New Guinness World Record Holder for the Tightest Parallel Parking

Records are meant to be broken and even though the Guinness World Record officials are keeping a lid on the video of the Chinese driver who beat German Ronny Wechselberger's feat for the tightest parallel parking on July 21, live footage shot by someone from the crowd has made its way online.

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Toyota to Build RAV4 EV in Canada, Sales Start Next Year

Having cleared up the misunderstanding on whether or not the pure-electric RAV4 will be sold to the general public (it will), Toyota and partner Tesla Motors confirmed today that their jointly developed EV SUV will be built at the Japanese company’s Canadian manufacturing plant in Woodstock, Ontario starting from 2012. Read more »

Oops…He Did it Again: "Mr. Bean" Crashes His McLaren F1

Actor Rowan Atkinson, best known for his roles in UK TV series Mr. Bean and the Black Adder, may drive an original Mini on the screen, but in real life, he is a car enthusiast. So much that he once described in CAR magazine the process of ordering a Ferrari 456 GT and let's not forget that he owns one of the most exclusive and extreme supercars ever built: a McLaren F1.

Unfortunately, the 56-year old actor made headlines today for losing control of his precious F1, and crashing into a sign. No other cars were involved in the accident, which seems to have occurred when the McLaren met a wet patch on the road.

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Frankfurt Preview: Irmscher Sports up the New Opel Astra GTC

Well-known Opel tuner, Irmscher, is one of the first to get its hands on the new generation of the Astra GTC revealing details on its customazation program ahead of the car's world premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

The upgrade starts with a performance package for the Astra GTC with the 1.6-liter turbocharged gasoline engine. A stage 1 kit lifts output from 180-horses and 230Nm to 212HP and 274 Nm (202 lb-ft).

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Dodge Takes a Stab on the 2011 Ford Explorer with New Durango Ads

The Chrysler Group continues to aggressively market the newcomers in its vehicle lineup with new advertisements. This time the automaker has released numerous television and online spots to tout the new generation of the Dodge Durango SUV, all of which will begin airing this week.

While you can check out all the ads in the videos after the break, we must say that four commercials captured our attention including one that refers to Ferrari to show off the Durango's leather interior, another one that depicts seven Stig-lookalikes running to get into Dodge's SUV, and two spots featuring the 2011 Ford Explorer.

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