Rally driving lights galore: Cibie, PIAA, Hella, and Viceroy!

If there is one thing I love more than vintage rally cars, it's the arrays of frisbee-sized driving lights up front.  These are from a guy named Ariel on Flickr.

Tatra 603 Rally Car Vintage Photo

Check this out. No, not the two Eastern Bloc lads horseplaying. That's a Tatra 603 in a 1960s Polish rally!

Source.

Mercedes W123 Promotional Video

W123s were a dime a dozen in 1980s Southern California. My neighbor, a sheriff's deputy, had a side business importing grey market Mercedes and always had at least three or four small-bumpered (and rectangular headlighted) W123s parked in his driveway. Today, you'll only find smelly bio-fuel lovin' hippies and cabbies from non-oil-exporting Middle Eastern autocracies driving these bad boys.

This promotional video has it all: muscle-bound guy, W123 hoonage, and even rally footage. The scariest part has to be the 0-100 km/hr time for the 200D: 31.0 (!) seconds.

Jules Rolls-Royce Corniche Dakar Racer

This Roll-Royce Corniche is the first Jules-sponsored Dakar racer. The idea sprouted from a dinner bet over whether a Roller could be raced in the 1981 Dakar Rally. A few months and 2,000 man-hours later, this car was born.

The body is made of polyester and the doors, hood, and trunk lid are aluminum. The tastefully crafted wood dash from the original car was kept. The four wheel drive system, suspension, and axles are from a Toyota Land Cruiser. The 4 speed manual is from a Toyota too. This Frankenstein has a 350 Chevy up front and a 330 liter fuel tank behind the seats.

The car was in 13th place when it broke down. It took a while for the car to be fixed so it was disqualified. Nevertheless, the team continued and finished the race.

Good news. It's currently for sale for 200.000 euros!

Jules Proto 6x4 Dakar Racer

What do you need to know about this monstrosity? Well, it raced in the Paris to Dakar Rally in 1984. It did not finish. The sponsor, Jules, is a perfume put out by Christian Dior. Can this get any more weird? Yes. Because this is the second vehicle Jules sponsored. Stay tuned for the first car. Hint: It's a British car with R.R. as its initials but also has Toyota and Chevy mechanicals. And it had yellow French headlights.

As for this 6x4, it's four wheel drive, despite having six wheels. Personally, it reminds me of the protagonist's vehicle in the arcade classic, Moon Patrol. The mid-mounted engine is a Chevy 350, mated to a transmission from a 935 Porsche. The tubular monocoque innard is clad with Kevlar. A cool feature is a power unit for a welder's torch. According to a Google translation of a French site, the chassis "broke" and the car was unable to complete the rally.

Photo credit

Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo II

Tonight's Top Gear on BBC America was one of the best episodes in recent memory. Having Mika Hakkinen teach James "Captain Slow" May about car control was quite entertaining. Mika takes May out on the gravel in a friend's Mercedes 190E 2.5-16 Evo I.

For months now, I've wanted to post a piece about the Evo II, which in my opinion is the best looking Mercedes of the 1980s. But for one reason or another, I never did. Well, here it is. I'm not going to write a description of the car or its history. I'm just going to show you a couple of pictures and let you soak in the awesome.

CKY