Category Archives: European Car Culture

Gear head contributions from the British, the Italians and the Germans.

1968-69 Lamborghini R485 Tractor – Jay Leno’s Garage

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I guess we’re just going to have a “Weird Things Made by Well Known Car Makers” day here on Flux Auto. This week’s episode of Jay Leno’s garage features one of less than 20 Lamborghini R485 Tractors that was imported to the US. The 4-ton monster is powered by a 5.0 liter 4-cylinder diesel engine that makes 85 horsepower and 350 foot-pounds of torque that uses the same starter as the Lamborghini Countach. The owner, Bill Scott, tells us how Ferruccio Lamborghini got his start working on tractors after World War 2 and how famed test driver, Valentino Balboni, began working for the company as a mechanic for these tractors. It just goes to show how stupid it is for people to have stigmas against blue collar work. As long as their is a need for physical goods, we will always need people who are skilled and creative with their hands. When your car breaks down, you’ll want the guy with the dirtiest hands to fix it. When it comes time to bring new ideas into the real world, you’d be wise to ask the same guy his advice.


Source: Jay Leno’s Garage on YouTube

Quirky Cars of the Porsche Museum

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Porsche-Meuseum via http://auto.indiamart.com/autoblog/the-new-porsche-museum.htmlThe Porsche Museum is located next to Porsche headquarters in Zuffenhausen, Germany. The 60 million Euro facility is a wonder of architectural design that holds around 300 exhibits. Fortunately for us but unfortunately for the museum, Porsche’s history and racing heritage is far too large to be contained in 300 exhibits. Porsche released this video showing off the museum’s satellite storage area on the outskirts of Stuttgart. Cars that are being rotated out of the main museum come to this storage area before being transported to different displays around the world. Many of the cars are also restored to working condition here. Two of the staff historians detail some of the more obscure and quirky cars that have come through the storage facility:


Source: Porsche on YouTube

The Koenigsegg Factory

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The Koenigsegg factory in Angelholm Sweden is the birthplace of some of the most extreme hypercars in the world. The DRIVE channel had a chance to tour the facility earlier this year after they switched to production of their new Agera R. Koenigsegg took over the military aircraft hangar in 2003 after their original factory was lost to a fire. The group that previously occupied the hangar was Sweden’s oldest squadron. Koenigsegg inherited the squadron’s symbol, the ghost, which is painted onto every car they produce.

The tour gives us a look at what it takes the make one of the most extreme cars on the face of the planet. The carbon monocoque in the Agera has an aluminum honeycomb core that makes it stronger and safer in crashes. It’s also the stiffest production monocoque found on any car despite having no structural roof. Fuel is flown in from all around the world so that each customer’s engine can be optimized on the dynometer for their intended region of operation. Each car is then test driven on Koenigsegg’s own runway. The video is 30 minutes long, but every bit of it is absolutely fascinating.


Source: DRIVE on YouTube

The Best of Supercar Sounds 2012

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As we draw close to the end of this year, lets take a look back at one Italian man’s quest to share the exhaust tones of some of the world’s most exotic cars with the world. This is a compilation of the best of the Marchettino YouTube channel from 2012. This is pure car guy music. Just turn it on and leave it playing in the background. Enjoy:


Source: Marchettino on YouTube

Audi Quattro GmbH Factory – Motor Trend

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Motor Trend gives us an inside look at the Audi Quattro GmbH (the German equivalent of our LLC Limited Liability Company) Factory. This is where all of Audi’s top of the line sports models have been built since 1983. They are currently responsible for the RS3, RS4, RS5, RS6 and R8. Everything from the aluminum stamping to the painting and final assembly are done in-house.


Source: Motor Trend on YouTube