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As if the adventures of Bernie Madoff weren’t enough to convince you that we’re living in the new Jazz Age, this might: A very custom, one-off 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom II 40/50 HP Continental, known in high Roller circles as the Star of India, is being put on auction for the seriously astronomical price of ten million Euros. That’s one Porsche Turbo over fourteen million Yankee dollars to you and me. Originally bodied by Thrupp & Maberly for the Maharaja of Rajkot, the Star of India has spent the last few decades in the private collection of Hans-Günther Zach at his Mühlheim/Main Rolls-Royce museum.

There’s no indication if Herr Zach is feeling the pinch of the world wide economic meltdown — or if he’s just moving on to greener pastures — but his entire collection is up for grabs. While there’s no doubt other impressive cars up for sale (like the 1926 “Aluminum Sculpture” Phantom I Open Tourer) the star is without question the Star. Never mind the royal pedigree, how can you get past the aluminum on orange carriage work?

Should it sell for its asking price, the 7.7-liter pushrod straight-six Rolls equipped with two additional headlights to follow the path of the steering (fourteen headlights total), would be the most expensive car in the world. After all, rumors of the Japanese man that reportedly paid $15,000,000 for a Ferrari 250 GTO before Japan’s economy imploded in the late 1980s have never been proved. Happy bidding. Thanks to Reddy for the tip!

Must. Beat. Godzilla. For some reason. Here’s the skinny. A tuner company called East Texas Muscle Cars is fitting a couple of turbos to a 2010 V6 Camaro in order to “beat” the ‘Ring time laid down by none other than the Nissan GT-R. That leaves us with two questions then: how and why?

Lots of folks are going to buy V6 Camaros, grok the 304 hp V6, scratch their heads and say, “More power.” In other words, there’s a market. ETMC will rip the guts come out of the 3.6-liter LLT and throw in forged rods, crank and pistons. And then, of course, you get the two Squires Turbo Systems turbos. These are remote-mounted turbos that bolt up under the car near the exhaust. With such a system, you’re basically trading a bit of lag for increased cooling and no need to mess around with new headers. East Texas thinks they can wring 500 horses out of the system no problem.

Then there’s the matter of dealing with the stock Camaro’s “tremendous understeer and cradle walk.” That’s pretty necessary if you want to do battle with a R35, which neither understeers nor cradle walks nor really does anything bad or sloppy. East Texas Muscle Cars will be addressing those issues via harder bushings and Pedders coil-overs, along with a Baer big brake kit and lightweight forged 20-inch wheels.

Then there’s the question: Why? Why go after Godzilla, such a high profile target? Unless you’re building Clubber Lang, why call out Rocky? Publicity, obviously. Would we even be writing about a bolt-on turbo kit for a V6 Camaro unless they publicly challenged one of the production car ‘Ring masters? Probably not. But there is one part of their scheme that we do like. Once the Camaro is finished, ETMC will be flying it and a friend’s stock GT-R out to Germany to run ‘em both simultaneously. Since that’s the case, no need to even mention the inherent fallacy of Nurburgring lap records. Good luck boys.

As devout gearheads you’re undoubtedly aware today marks Audi’s 100th anniversary, and in celebration of its centennial, one of Germany’s most historic marques is kicking off the festivities with a star-studded event at the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt, Germany.

The unveiling of the A5 Sportback was the first in a long line of events to take place over the coming days, but Audi also wanted to provide admirers a photographic glimpse into its past. And we’re all too happy to oblige while snagging a few choice wallpapers in the process.

Make the jump for Audi’s press release on the celebration, along with a video introduction by Chairman Rupert Stadler. And be sure to check out the four massive galleries we’ve put together, broken down into “Classic,” “Motorsport,” “Concept” and, of course, “Quattro.”

ooking for a spectacularly useless way to waste some time? Online car configurators are one of our favorites. You can sit for an hour or more playing with different color combinations and options on a car you’re never going to buy, and have absolutely nothing to show for it when you’re done. The most alluring are the configurators for the most exclusive European exotica, but typically automakers don’t launch these until the car’s on the market, or at least has been unveiled in production form. Rolls-Royce, however, has evidently decided to jump the (nickel-plated, mother-of-pearl-handled) gun in putting online a configurator for the 200EX, the concept car that previewed the upcoming Ghost model at the Geneva show this past March.

Labeled the “visualizer”, the utility is available for all your distracting, time-wasting needs on the 200EX mini-site. There you can play around with different color and trim choices inside and out, right down to the “silver satin bonnet”. Enjoy, but don’t come complaining to us when you haven’t gotten any work do

To keep the good times rolling, team Bimmer is again expanding the 1-Series lineup for 2010. Two new models, the Lifestyle and Sport models, will offer RWD performance in a three- or five-door package beginning this September. The Lifestyle model offers special edition Marrakesh Brown Metallic paint, unique brown body color interior components, chrome-tipped exhaust and 17-inch light aluminum rims. The Sport model includes the M Sports Package, with a sports tuned suspension, unique dual spoke aluminum rims, stainless steel pedals, and an M steering wheel and gearshift lever.

On the engine front, a pair of 2.0-liter engines find their way under the bonnet of a 1-Series. The petrol engine utilizes direct injection tech and packs 170 ponies to go along with 155 lb-ft. With the gas-powered 2.0-liter engine, the 1-Series can hit 60 in 7.8 seconds, and it carries a top speed of 149 mph.

The diesel variant packs 143 hp and 221 lb-ft, helping to propel the 118d to 60 in nine seconds. The story of merit is fuel economy and CO2 emissions, where where it achieves 4.5 liters/100 kilometers (about 52 mpg US) and a CO2 emission rating of 119 grams per kilometer. Hit the jump for more info from BMW’s painfully

When the 2010 GMC Terrain begins rolling out of General Motors’ CAMI assembly facility in Ingersoll, Ontario and into dealerships this September, the new CUV will be clutching a $24,999 sticker price (including a $745 destination charge). For that sum, buyers will get GM’s latest direct injected four-cylinder engine, in this case displacing 2.4-liters and producing 182 horsepower and 174 pound-feet of torque.

Perhaps more importantly, this engine manages to deliver an EPA-estimated 32 miles per gallon on the highway, a class-leading figure. Also available will be a 3.0-liter direct injected V6 engine with 264 horsepower and 222 pound-feet of torque, a GPS navigation system and a rear-seat DVD infotainment system. The least expensive all-wheel-drive model will go for $26,745.

Standard safety equipment includes six airbags, StabiliTrak vehicle stability control and GM’s excellent OnStar service. On the technology front, every GMC Terrain will come equipped with a rea

he Ford F-150 SVT Raptor has just finished its close-up, and pretty soon you’ll be able to see it on both the big screen in “Raptor – Born in Baja”. The Blue Oval took its factory-built off-road runner to the Baja 1000 last year and documented the entire build and the race. The documentary is like Truth in 24, but with trucks and lots of dirt, and the Raptor only finished third in its Class 8 division (full-sized 2-wheel-drive), but that’s not bad for a team that had only three months to complete the build.

The movie will premiere in Hollywood on June 23 at the Egyptian Theater, and then air on Speed TV a few

Even though it’s bankrupt and the price of its stock has collapsed, General Motors is worth a lot more money than most people realize. And if the company were to take a radically new approach to how it runs its business the payoff could be enormous.

GM’s market capitalization is at ridiculously low levels. The total value of its stock is presently less than half a billion dollars. But the company is really worth a lot more than that. When you add up the value of all the land, buildings, tools, machinery, equipment, patents, research labs, proving grounds and every other asset it has, GM is worth over $140 billion. There’s even more value in the know-how, knowledge and experience of its peopleEven though it’s bankrupt and the price of its stock has collapsed, General Motors is worth a lot more money than most people realize. And if the company were to take a radically new approach to how it runs its business the payoff could be enormous.

GM’s market capitalization is at ridiculously low levels. The total value of its stock is presently less than half a billion dollars. But the company is really worth a lot more than that. When you add up the value of all the land, buildings, tools, machinery, equipment, patents, research labs, proving grounds and every other asset it has, GM is worth over $140 billion. There’s even more value in the know-how, knowledge and experience of its peopleEven though it’s bankrupt and the price of its stock has collapsed, General Motors is worth a lot more money than most people realize. And if the company were to take a radically new approach to how it runs its business the payoff could be enormous.

GM’s market capitalization is at ridiculously low levels. The total value of its stock is presently less than half a billion dollars. But the company is really worth a lot more than that. When you add up the value of all the land, buildings, tools, machinery, equipment, patents, research labs, proving grounds and every other asset it has, GM is worth over $140 billion. There’s even more value in the know-how, knowledge and experience of its people

2010 Ford Taurus – Click above for high-res image gallery

The new 2010 Ford Taurus may share nothing mechanically with the model that ended production a few years ago, but it will launch this September with one thing in common: incentives. A poster car for rental fleets, the last-generation Taurus was being sold with rebates of between $3,000 and $4,000 before Ford stopped selling it to retail customers altogether. The new Taurus, despite being better in every way and touted as the brand’s new halo sedan, will go on sale with an early-order incentive offering $500 to buyers who receive their car by September 1 and an additional $1,000 cash rebate on all but the base model Taurus.

The new Taurus shouldn’t be judged too harshly for launching with money on its hood. Poor sales can’t be blamed, because none have been sold yet. The incentives are meant to kick off Taurus sales and get the numbers up to where they might have been had the economy not gone sour. And to ensure the new Taurus doesn’t wind up clogging rental fleet lots like the last one, Ford has stated that it will keep rental sales in the single- or low-double-digit range.

Over at Clunkbucket, Mike Bumbeck has an “odd rod” feature highlighting one of the more interesting law-enforcement vehicles we’ve ever come across. Back in the early 70s, the Bay Area Pollution Control District decided to form a Vehicle Patrol section to issue citations to emissions scofflaws. Officers used a chart that told them what color color smoke was “good” or “bad” to determine whether the exhaust spewing from cars’ tailpipes was in compliance. Nowadays, this sort of endeavor would likely be carried out by humorless glorified metermaids in politically-correct Toyota Priuses. Back then, however, jauntily-dressed pollution-enforcement agents cruised the streets of San Francisco in specially-liveried Dodge Polara pursuit specials. Because, you know, when you think “clean air” you think “Dodge Polara.” Head over to Clunkbucket for plenty more photos, some additional program history, and details on the excellent replica you see above.

[Source: Clunkbucket | Photo: Mike Bumbeck]