At this time of year there are no shortages of holiday miracles. Most of them seem to involve animals, the cuter and furrier the better. Just today we read about a baby seal who sought shelter in a New Zealand woman’s house and curled up on the couch. Earlier in the week, it was the four deer who were saved from drowning by boaters in Alaska. Well, here’s a car story in the same vein.

It’s about a Beetle. A red, 1963 Volkswagen convertible to be specific. Earlier in the month, the car was listed on eBay and the seller, Eric, contacted website Bring A Trailer hoping to get a little wider publicity for his strikingly original car. Eric was offering the car with a treasure trove of documentation, including the original registration for its California “black plate.”

So who should happen to see the pictures of the car? None other than the son of the original owner, Jim, who was with his dad when they drove it home from the dealership almost 50 years ago. When he saw the license plate, those six randomly assigned alphanumerics lit up his memory and, well, then he saw his dad’s signature on a photo of the registration…

Let’s cut to the chase: Jim is the proud new owner of the Bug.

But that’s not all. It seems that Jim had saved one of the keys to his dad’s old VW, and sure enough, when he showed up at Eric’s house to look at the car, it unlocked the driver’s door. As if that’s not enough to make you believe in karma, destiny, and Fahrvergnügen, Jim bought the car on his son’s 15th birthday. So dad will teach son to drive in the same car that grandpa taught him in.

Take that, cute and furry.

Vintage VW Bug buyer already had key to the car originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anyone who’s ever driven through a busy city can appreciate having a view upwards. Sunroofs are good, but convertibles are even better. But while the Smart ForTwo is available with a folding roof panel, we don’t see many city cars offering the full drop-top experience. Audi, however, is here to ask, Why not? And what’s more, it’s not wasting any time in doing so.

Rather than roll out its Frankfurt Motor Show star-to-be Urban Concept as a fixed-roof coupe and then converting it into a roadster later on, Audi has opted to show us (or at least tease us with) the Spyder version right away, just a week after previewing the coupe and before the concept has even been unveiled.

Otherwise, the concept is essentially the same, with a 1+1 seating arrangement (now in the open air), lightweight carbon-reinforced plastic construction (just a little bit less of it) and an electric powertrain. Scope it out in the updated high-res image gallery and the new press release after the jump.

Continue reading Audi already going topless through the city with Urban Concept Spyder

Audi already going topless through the city with Urban Concept Spyder originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Sesto Elemento concept was envisioned as a design study, previewing the styling and technology we might expect to see on the next generation of Lamborghini supercars. But shortly after it was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show a few months back, reports began to emerge suggesting that the Italian automaker could put it into production, however limited.

Now an exotic car dealership in Germany is listing the car for sale. Although the reported original listing on the mobile.de online marketplace is no longer there to be found, Auto Salon Singen still has it up on its website with an approximately €2 million (.63M USD) list price – €1.9m before tax, €2.3m after.

Does Singen know something the rest of us don’t? The dealership has an impressive showroom packed with all manner of rare exotica. Or are they simply anticipating the same announcement as the rest of us?

[Source: Auto Salon Singen via Carscoop]

German dealership already listing Lamborghini Sesto Elemento for sale at €2M originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 28 Dec 2010 08:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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