Despite the popular saying, history cannot simply repeated. So, when faced with the possibility of losing the entire classic collection of cars that had made up the official Saab museum in Trollhättan after the officials in charge of the automaker’s bankruptcy proceedings threatened to break it up, a few organizations stepped up to the plate to keep it together.

According to a report from Autocar, the city of Trollhattan, SAAB AB and The Wallenberg Foundation came up with the .05 million required to purchase the entire collection outright. A total of 120 cars are included, including the Ur-Saab, which is the first automobile built by the Swedish company.

Trollhättan buys entire classic Saab collection to preserve museum originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Over the past half-century, James Bond has driven a wide variety of vehicles. (Okay, so most of them have been Aston Martins. The point is there’s been a lot of them.) And while the occasional former Bond vehicle may pop up at auction every now and then, seeing more than one or two in the same place is a rare occasion indeed.

Next year, however, the Bond franchise is turning 50, and to celebrate, a number of parties are teaming up to put together the largest display of Bond cars ever. The exhibition will take place at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, England, and is being orchestrated with help from Empire (the world’s foremost movie magazine) and EON Productions (which puts together every Bond movie ever filmed).

The display will be part of the Big Screen exhibition there, which already includes the Aston Martin DBS from Quantum of Solace, the DB5 from Goldeneye, the Jaguar XKR from Die Another Day, and the 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom lll from Goldfinger. All told, some 50 cars from various Bond movies will be on display from January through December 2012. Follow the jump for the full press release and scope out the quartet of high-resolution images of the four aforementioned vehicles in the gallery.

World’s largest James Bond car collection coming together next year at British museum originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If there’s any one vehicle that can realistically challenge the Beetle in the annals of historic Volkswagens, it’s the Transporter. More often referred to as the Microbus or just the Bus, the real original minivan first saw the light of day in 1950 as the Type 2 (the Beetle, naturally, was the Type 1).

As with the Beetle, it’s the earliest models that incite the most butterflies in the hearts of air-cooled VW enthusiasts, though the machines remained collectible all the way through the early 1990s. And, if Volkswagen executives have their way, the iconic Bus may once again enter production.

Previewed by the Bulli Concept from the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, the production model would likely ride atop the same platform as the latest Volkswagen Beetle and sport seating for five occupants and their cargo. If that’s the case, expect a range of four-cylinder engines (maybe even a five…) sending power to the front wheels.

If Autocar is to be believed, the next Microbus may be ready for the road by 2014, and it would likely come to the States. We’ll begin the finger-crossing now.

VW execs want Bulli to compliment Beetle in Heritage Collection originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nobody does Art Cars quite like BMW. Others try, from time to time, sure. But over the past 40 years, the Bavarian automaker has collaborated with world-renowned artists to create no fewer than 17 unique art cars, each a work of art in its own right.

One of the things we love the most about BMWs art cars is that, as creative as they are, they’re not just for show. Many of them have been raced, and raced hard – from the first 3.0 CSL painted by Alexander Calder (pictured above) to the latest M3 GT2 by Jeff Koons.

Unfortunately, while the cars have gone on display in galleries and museums around the world, seeing all 17 in one place is a rarity. So to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the art car program, BMW has put the entire collection online. Each car gets its own exhibit and film highlighting its creation, all laid out in a virtual museum.

There’s also a forty-minute video on the history of the program, a short synopsis of which we’ve got in the clip after the jump along with the full press release, along with a smattering of official images in the first gallery and our own photos in the second gallery from when four of the collection’s finest came to LA. Click on to check it out, and follow the link to BMW’s online art car exhibition.

Continue reading BMW opens Art Car collection to the public with virtual gallery [w/video]

BMW opens Art Car collection to the public with virtual gallery [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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