Pop quiz time: What vehicle holds the highest average speed on the famed Mille Miglia circuit? A BMW 328. Their average speed was 103 miles per hour, and it was set way back in 1940. That car, the BMW 328, is a legend in the automaker’s halls, and was named one of the 25 greatest cars of the century. This year marks the 328′s 75th birthday, so BMW has prepared a unique concept car to pay tribute to one of its own iconic vehicles.

Dubbed the BMW 328 Hommage, this ultra-lightweight sports car was built to mirror the principles used to create the original 328. The 328 Hommage weighs in at a svelte 1,720 pounds, accomplished through the use of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic. While CFRP wasn’t exactly around in the 30′s and 40′s, BMW engineers of that era kept the 328 light through the use of aluminum and magnesium. Both cars are cut from a similar cloth to achieve a lightweight end result, even if the methods to get there are very different.

Many design elements are shared between both cars. The original 328 was one of the earliest BMW vehicles to show off the now familiar kidney grilles. Those grilles nearly jump off the face of the 328 Hommage. Out back, the wide-set taillamps help close off the wide stance that runs the length of both versions.

BMW casually mentions that the 328 Hommage is powered by a 3.0-liter six-cylinder engine. Yet, we have no word on any potential output figures or what type of transmission it might be connected to. Of course, BMW fans might remember that the automaker built a similar concept a few years ago. It was called the Mille Miglia Concept Coupe. Stunning at the time, the 328 Hommage ups the wow factor several notches. Dive into the gorgeous photos in the gallery below, and click past the jump for the full press release.

Continue reading BMW 328 Hommage unveiled to celebrate 75th anniversary of original

BMW 328 Hommage unveiled to celebrate 75th anniversary of original originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 20 May 2011 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, full disclosure – We have to tell you that we have a conflict of interest on this one. The Jaguar XK-SS is one of this author’s top ten sports car designs of all time. This partially-civilized, D-Type-derived, semi-comp car is just plain awesome. Seeing one of them at a museum or event is like glimpsing the Pietà as you enter the Vatican – Its beauty can overwhelm you if you’re not prepared to see it. Imagine our delight, then, when we learned that the organizers of the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance had put together a small gathering of XK-SS roadsters to celebrate Jaguar‘s 75th birthday. It’s their birthday, and we get the presents.

Just 25 of these incredible machines were built during their short run – a tragic fire at the factory took nine of them and halted development of not just the XK-SS, but of the D-Type as a whole. Try as they might, the Pebble Beach folks simply couldn’t get all 16 of the survivors together for this occasion…but how does a full dozen sound? Any event that has one SS in the field is pretty remarkable in our books. Having more than one is almost unheard of. Having a dozen on hand, all in one place at one time… in an almost perfect line on the Pebble Beach golf links with nothing behind them but the course and bay? Sublime.

Why does the XK-SS draw such admiration? Well, all you need do is look at it and you have your answer, but there is much more to the story. When Jaguar withdrew from racing at the end of 1955, they had a few spare D-Type chassis on hand. They also had something of a budget crisis at the time. Why not make a few changes for road use and offer the unfinished cars to the public? Jaguar added an extra seat, another door, a full-width windshield, luggage rack and folding top and the SS was born. It weighed but 2,000 pounds and had the D-Type’s 250-horsepower 3.4-liter straight-six under its shapely bonnet. It only weighed about 100 pounds more than the full-on racer and was sold at a 30 percent discount over the D.

Doesn’t that strike you as something of a bargain for a wild, hairy beast for the street? Steve McQueen thought so. In fact, the legendary actor and racer owned the same example twice. After buying one new, he had the interior customized by artist Von Dutch. He later sold the car but missed it so much that he bought it back a few years later. He had the car in his collection until the day he died. It’s now in the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles, but was in Pebble Beach for the Concours on Sunday…along with eleven of its friends. Check out our stunning gallery of high-res images below.

Photos Copyright (C)2010 Drew Phillips, Frank Filipponio / AOL

Monterey 2010: Pebble gathers a dozen Jaguar XK-SS roadsters for Jag’s 75th originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already shown you that Jaguar was honored at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance with a dozen XK-SS roadsters showing up for the party, but there were other Jaguars on hand as well – lots and lots of remarkable Jags.

The history of Jaguar actually began almost 90 years ago when two young men hell-bent on motorcycle glory set up a small company to produce sidecars under the Swallow name in 1922. The younger of the two was William Lyons, who later became Sir William Lyons, mainly because Jaguar went on to bring Britain so much motoring glory. The sidecar business eventually turned into an automobile coachworks, with custom bodies on a bespoke Standard brand chassis that became know as the S.S.I. and S.S.II.

For the follow-up to those early S.S. models – Standard Swallow some think – Lyons had commissioned a new overhead-valve six-cylinder engine that was about 50 percent more powerful than the old side-valve engines they had been using. They put the new engine in a new chassis, enclosed it in the company’s first four-door sedan body and Lyons personally chose what he thought was the most appropriate name from a list of choices given to him by his advertising people – Jaguar. On September 23, 1935, the company unveiled the SS Jaguar to London’s assembled press. That car led to the short-wheelbase SS Jaguar 100 sports car that helped establish Jaguar’s reputation for performance with its early racing success.

After World War II, the company decided to change its name to simply ‘Jaguar,’ dropping the newly infamous “S.S.” label. The automaker also started focusing less on inexpensive sportscars for the homeland market, and more on luxurious models aimed at capturing rich American buyers. One way to do that was with new product and Lyons and his crew were cooking up a duesie – a new sportscar featuring a double overhead cam engine just like the race cars of the era. The goal was 160 horsepower from the engine’s 3.4-liter capacity and a 120 mph top speed. That car was the iconic XK120 – “XK” for the engine and “120″ for the car’s top speed. That begat the XK140 and 150 and a whole slew of other legendary vehicles that bore the Jaguar name.

Some of the finest examples of Jaguar’s pedigree were on hand at Pebble Beach on Sunday. Take a look in our high-res gallery below.

1935 S.S. 90
1935 S.S.I. Drophead Coupe
1938 Jaguar SS100 Roadster
1952 Jaguar C-type
1953 Jaguar XK120 SE Roadster
1955 Jaguar D-Type
1961 Jaguar E-Type Fixed Head Coupe
1966 Jaguar XJ13 Prototype

Photos Copyright (C)2010 Drew Phillips / AOL

Monterey 2010: Jaguar’s 75th birthday party at Pebble Beach originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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