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The Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic may be the most iconic of the Art Deco-era French teardrop coupes, but it isn’t the only one. Which is a good thing, because there’s only two or three of them in existence (and we had a photo session with one of them). The Talbot-Lago may not be as well known today – probably because the company’s not around anymore – but it’s arguably just as beautiful, and this one’s crossing the auction block.

This particular example – a 1938 Talbot-Lago T150C-SS Teardrop Coupe – is one of only 11 examples that featured the second-series “New York” bodywork by coachbuilders Figoni et Falaschi that made the Talbot-Lago the poster child that it is. (This writer had a purple one up on his wall as a child.) Underneath the unspeakably gorgeous sheetmetal (one of only a handful with a factory-installed sunroof) sits a shortened race-bred chassis and a 140-horsepower 4.0-liter inline-six with pre-Mopar hemispherical combustion chambers and triple carbs, along with an independent front suspension. Chassis number 90112 was the subject of a full restoration completed in-house by RM Auctions, and was decorated at both Pebble Beach in 2009 and at Meadowbrook in 2010. And we even like the color…

As if that’s not enough, there’s a 1937 Bugatti 57SC Atalante Coupe (the slightly more common – but still rare by any other standard – production counterpart to the Atlantic) also on the docket. One of just 40 examples produced, chassis 57551 was named Best of Show at Pebble Beach in 1976. The pair join the Bertone Museum collection and the Ford GT40 Roadster on which we already reported at RM Auctions’ inaugural sale on the shores of Lake Como at the prestigious Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. Read more about the Talbot and the Bugatti in the press releases after the jump, and do be sure to check out the images in the high-res gallery below for a closer look.

[Source: RM Auctions | Images: shooterz.biz, Troy Wood/RM]

Continue reading Art Deco French dream machines to cross the auction block at Villa d’Este

Art Deco French dream machines to cross the auction block at Villa d’Este originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The lines between vehicle segments and bodystyles are getting more blurred all the time. And it isn’t just the Germans with their “four-door coupes” and “sports activitiy vehicles,” either. Nissan has proven just as capable of blurring the line between SUV and hatchback with their crossovers – vehicles like the Rogue and Juke. And now the Japanese automaker’s sister company, Renault, appears to be following down the same path with its new Captur concept.

The Captur follows last year’s DeZir show car in showing the way forward for the French automaker’s design language, capturing, as it were, the spirit that future Renaults will be taking. Of course this being a French concept car, it encompasses certain elements that won’t ever see production. Things like the fantastical interior, to start with, and those 22-inch wheels whose white spokes seem to blend right into the tires. But if you want an overall picture of where Renault is heading, this is where it’s at.

Powered by Renault’s Energy dCi 160 twin-turbo engine giving 160 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque, the Captur also incorporates dual-clutch gearbox.

Although Renault doesn’t say so specifically in the press release after the jump, where you can scope out all the details, we’re assuming we’ll see the Captur on the show stand at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, from which we’ll be sure to bring you our up-close-and-personal impressions and images. In the meantime, you can scope it out in the high-res image gallery below.

[Source: Renault]

Continue reading Renault Captur concept is French for “Nissan Juke”

Renault Captur concept is French for “Nissan Juke” originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 12:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s a lot of allure surrounding Audi’s all-electric e-tron. We’ve seen prototypes out and about on public roads and collected a fair share of photo galleries from different auto shows. Our comrades at AutoblogGreen even had the chance to ride shotgun in the R8-based electric rocket. But until now we haven’t thought much about Audi’s choice of nomenclature for its torque-tastic supercar, and according to Green Car Reports, Audi may have fudged this one… slightly.

Étron, in French, is apparently not a word that signifies electric power, sex appeal or innovation. It is, in fact, a word that’s closely associated with the less-than-glamorous act of excretion. If you hit up any one of the numerous online translation tools, you’ll learn that étron has some pretty… crappy synonyms, which include words like “caca,” “excrement,” “dung” and “feces.” Unfortunately, Audi may have inadvertently named its entire lineup of EVs after a bodily function that’s seldom associated with spectacular vehicles. That is, unless the automaker intended that we translate e-tron as, “the Audi that’s as fast as, well, you know.”

Photos Copyright (C)2010 Drew Phillips / AOL

[Source: Green Car Reports]

Oh, Crap: Audi mucks up e-tron name in French originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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