Tag: passion

Video: Classic Rover Mini is a passion-inspiring plaything

Filed under: Classics, Budget, Performance, Videos, Hatchback, Mini, UK

1998 Rover Mini Paul Smith Special Edition

Ask anyone that’s driven a classic Mini, and they’ll probably tell you that their first reaction to driving it was a lot like the start of this video – whooping, shouting, laughing and a whole lot of smiling. This video, from Jon Quirk, editor-in-chief at Auto Trader UK, highlights the connection between him and his Rover Mini Paul Smith. He really nails the man-machine interface that makes owning a great car so much fun. Besides that, Quirk does a good job of enumerating what is so enjoyable about driving a fun car on a twisting road.

For our British readers, this video is also meant to test the waters for a new format from Auto Trader UK, called “I Bought One.” With Quirk’s Mini, the car-buying site is looking at telling the story of people and their interesting cars. We think this video is a great start, with high production value and solid content. Head on over to the YouTube channel, and let them know what you think. But first, scroll on down for the entire video on this awesome Rover Mini.

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Classic Rover Mini is a passion-inspiring plaything originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 01 Sep 2013 17:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Classic Rover Mini is a passion-inspiring plaything

Filed under: Classics, Budget, Performance, Videos, Hatchback, Mini, UK

1998 Rover Mini Paul Smith Special Edition

Ask anyone that’s driven a classic Mini, and they’ll probably tell you that their first reaction to driving it was a lot like the start of this video – whooping, shouting, laughing and a whole lot of smiling. This video, from Jon Quirk, editor-in-chief at Auto Trader UK, highlights the connection between him and his Rover Mini Paul Smith. He really nails the man-machine interface that makes owning a great car so much fun. Besides that, Quirk does a good job of enumerating what is so enjoyable about driving a fun car on a twisting road.

For our British readers, this video is also meant to test the waters for a new format from Auto Trader UK, called “I Bought One.” With Quirk’s Mini, the car-buying site is looking at telling the story of people and their interesting cars. We think this video is a great start, with high production value and solid content. Head on over to the YouTube channel, and let them know what you think. But first, scroll on down for the entire video on this awesome Rover Mini.

Continue reading Classic Rover Mini is a passion-inspiring plaything

Classic Rover Mini is a passion-inspiring plaything originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 01 Sep 2013 17:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading “Video: Classic Rover Mini is a passion-inspiring plaything”

Video: See why one man’s passion for Porsche’s 911 is a German thing

Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Porsche, Luxury

Restorer John Willhoit's Porsche 911 gets the Petrolicious video treatment - screencap

You’ll often hear Porsche 911 owners say the same thing about how they ended up buying one: They could never forget the feeling they experienced during their first ride. Top-flight Porsche restorer John Willhoit will comment on how the rear-engine layout gives the 911 its unique handling and plenty of room in the interior, but he’ll also tell you that, after his first ride in one, he was hooked.

Willhoit’s 1971 Pastel Blue 911T wasn’t his first Porsche; it was a one-owner basketcase parked outside his sister’s neighbor’s garage when he found it 20 years ago. Rain water had been draining onto and into it for years, so it was clear to him when he saw it in person that it would be a labor of love to bring it back to life. Of all the things we would expect in a restoration done to this level, it would be a paint job, but, amazingly, the paint is original! Everything else, however, isn’t.

Scroll below to watch this new video from Petrolicious, where you’ll find out what Willhoit did to restore his personal 911 hotrod and stuff 300 horsepower into it. Just don’t think he’ll do the same for your Porsche – unless you don’t mind waiting a year to get your car into his shop and have a cool $300,000 to spend on the restoration. Enjoy!

Continue reading See why one man’s passion for Porsche’s 911 is a German thing

See why one man’s passion for Porsche’s 911 is a German thing originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Jul 2013 19:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Infiniti gets boiled down to four P’s: Performance, passion, precision, provocation

Filed under: Motorsports, Etc., Marketing/Advertising, Infiniti, Luxury

So then we asked, “Well, what does that mean?”

We met Andreas Sigl, the global director of Infiniti’s Formula One involvement (that’s him above on the right), at the US Grand Prix in Austin last year, and our questions to him were aimed at understanding what Infiniti was doing and where it intended to go. In spite of regard for its products and increased sales, few outside – and even inside – Infiniti seemed to have a clear idea of what the brand stood for.

Its F1 partnership with Red Bull Racing was a key example of that. A brand with no motorsports pedigree – save for a listless dalliance with Indycar and the Infiniti Pro Series – was suddenly married to the world’s marquee racing series, but one being continually declined by other brands and even its own entrants for a lack of relevance to road cars. The introduction of the Infiniti FX Vettel Edition didn’t clarify matters; we still didn’t understand how Infiniti logos on Adrian Newey’s chassis’ made the G, M, FX, et al any better – or who was even supposed to make the connection – and if we were exceedingly cynical we could have said the terrifically expensive Sebastian Vettel-fettled FX mutant was a marketing mission that needed a hand grenade but instead got a high-impulse thermobaric weapon.

Seven months after that Austin Q&A with Sigl, during which time Infiniti has become title sponsor of Red Bull Racing and publicly anointed Sebastian Vettel its Director of Performance, we met Sigl again in Montreal during the Canadian F1 Grand Prix. It was there we got an answer to what Infiniti stands for: “We’ve boiled the brand down to the four ‘p’s,” he said. “Performance, passion, precision and provocation.”

So then we asked, “Well, what does that mean?”, and Sigl gave us some background on what’s been happening behind the scenes of the partnership.

Continue reading Infiniti gets boiled down to four P’s: Performance, passion, precision, provocation

Infiniti gets boiled down to four P’s: Performance, passion, precision, provocation originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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