Kia has teamed up with Antenna magazine to create a special surf-themed concept for this year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas. The publication turned its attention to the 2012 Kia Rio 5-Door. With a special sunset-metallic paint, custom gold wheels and a wooden front splitter, there’s no mistaking the machine as a run-of-the-mill Rio.

Inside, the vehicle has been fitted with a special ’80s gaming console as well as a vinyl record player and shelves for shoes and swimsuits. Oddly enough, there’s no surf rack on top for transporting your boards to and from the beach.

If this isn’t the pure essence of SEMA, we don’t know what is. We’re a little concerned about the thought that went into putting the record player below the shoe shelves as sand and LPs don’t typically hang out at the same bar… Kia and Antenna plan to show off this particular 2012 Kia Rio 5-Door on Tuesday, November 1. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Continue reading Kia partners with Antenna mag for retro surf-themed Rio

Kia partners with Antenna mag for retro surf-themed Rio originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While the Holden Commodore VE had a rather short visit to the U.S. in the form of the Pontiac G8, it’s still in production Down Under – and still a worthy platform for hotted-up special editions. This one comes from none other than Holden Dealer Team, the revived tuner once owned by Aussie racing legend Peter Brock.

The theme here is a time machine tribute to the 1986 Holden Commodore VL Group A Plus Pack, the car that led to Brock famously severing his ties with Holden. The row was the result of Brock’s insistence in fitting an “Energy Polarizer” to the Plus Pack cars, a device containing crystals and magnets that the new age race driver claimed improved the performance of the cars through a process of molecular realignment.

Well, not only has the VL-series Group A look come back, but so too has the Energy Polarizer, one of which will be fitted to all 250 of the HDT VL Group A Plus Pack Heritage Series cars. Perhaps more importantly, these special HDT Commodores will receive a 470-horsepower, supercharged 6.0-liter LS V8. Other kit includes a Bilstein suspension package, complete body kit including hood scoop, Harrop performance braking package, 20-inch wheels, and a customized interior.

Holden Dealer Team brings out VE Retro Commodore originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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25 Years After Launch, Original M5 Still Stirs The Soul

“How would you like to drive a 1988 M5 up Highway 1?”

That wasn’t a call I was expecting, especially in the late summer of 2010. As far as I was concerned, any car from the 1980s still on the road was sure to be showing a few hundred thousand miles, springs coming through the seats and air conditioning blowing warm.

However, BMW North America was on the other end of the phone, and the vehicle we were discussing had been pulled out of a factory museum on the East Coast and shipped to California in a covered truck. Not only did it have low miles, but this unique model was in near-mint condition.

The 1988 BMW M5 is special in more ways than one. In addition to being the first-generation M5, its production was extremely limited and each and every copy sold in North America was jet black with blacked-out trim. And there was the powerplant… BMW had essentially dropped the M1′s 24-valve 3.5-liter racing engine under the hood.

You can guess what my answer was.

Continue reading…

Photos copyright (C)2010 Michael Harley / AOL

Continue reading Retro Spin: 1988 BMW M5

Retro Spin: 1988 BMW M5 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 08 Oct 2010 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now here’s a pleasant surprise. The designers at Helvetic Motor Company have officially pulled back the sheets on their Hidalgo, and we have to say that while we were expecting the worst, this Swiss Miss is actually pretty sharp. When a builder announces their intention to reskin a perfectly amiable vehicle like the Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG, that typically means bad-news bears. But the Hidalgo seemingly manages to blend heaping helpings of Bugatti Atlantic-era styling with the benefit of the Silver Arrow’s considerable running gear. Power from the 5.5-liter V8 has been kept to the stock 355 horsepower and 376 lb-ft of torque, enough to make this an interesting alternative to today’s contemporary BMW-powered Morgans.

If you’re thinking the car looks like something you’d like to get your hands on, you should probably be on the phone with HMC right now. The company is apparently only planning on building six examples per year at most, each one with a price tag of 0,000 at today’s current conversion rates. Hey, we never said nostalgia was cheap.

[Source: Autoblog.nl]

Shamelessly retro Mercedes SLK-based HMC Hidalgo looks better than expected originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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