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You may remember the name Franz-Josef Paefgen. Until recently, the German engineer and executive was head of both Bentley and Bugatti. Before that he was chief executive of Audi, after working for several years at Ford. He technically “retired” earlier this year, but like the cars he helped create, an executive like Paefgen could never really retire. So it should come as little surprise that the Volkswagen Group has named Dr. Paefgen head of its Classic program.

In his new capacity, Paefgen will oversee the historic automobile activities of the entire VW Group, including those of Volkswagen, Seat, Skoda, Audi, Lamborghini, and of course Bentley and Bugatti. It strikes us as a suitable semi-retirement for the man responsible in no small part for the Bugatti Veyron and Bentley Mulsanne, to name just two, and who was decorated in 2006 by the ACO as the “Spirit of Le Mans” for his contribution to endurance racing. Read the official announcement after the break.

Continue reading Volkswagen Group names Paefgen head of classics program

Volkswagen Group names Paefgen head of classics program originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There were plenty of curiosities to see art the Frankfurt Motor Show this year. City cars converted into beach buggies. Electric supercars. Exotics with trick folding roofs. Even a tuner Porsche crossover posing as a new vehicle. But few were as intriguing as what we found in one of the back halls of the Frankfurt Messe.

What you see here is a pile of scrap metal transformed by artistic vision into a full-scale replica of the iconic Mercedes-Benz 300SL “Gullwing.” It’s made entirely of reclaimed car parts and random pieces of scrap by German firm Giganten Aus Stahl, which roughly translates as Giants of Steel. It’s just one of a number of creations the studio offers to those with enough, um, “scrap” to buy the unique creations.

Other projects have varied to include full-scale replicas of famous movie characters – from Peter Fonda in full Easy Rider glory to Aliens and Predators – as well as animals, athletes, even pieces of furniture. Of course we were most interested in the cars, and in addition to the Gullwing we found similar replicas of a classic Porsche Spyder and pre-war Auto Union grand prix racer.

You can check ‘em out in our trio of high-resolution image galleries, but if you like what you see, don’t expect them to come cheap: the Gullwing fetches a princely €69,000 (k), while the Porsche and Auto Union are available for €39,000 (k) and €54,000 (k), respectively. Head over to Classic-Sportwagen.de and Giganten-Aus-Stahl.de for more information.

Turning scrap metal into German classics is our kind of recycling program originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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