Tag Archive for 'Carbon-Fiber'Page 2 of 4

…It’s Tuner Tuesday: Pimped Prius?

Sure, your Prius gets 45+ MPG when it’s rolling down the freeway doing 55 in the slow lane, but does it get looks from fellow motorists?

No, unless you’re head’s on fire and there’s a unicorn sitting next to you, then you probably don’t get looks like the Prius you see here does.

This Prius, customized by a crew from Classe’s Garage, is what happens when you dump over $180k into a car and film the process along the way. (The car was made for Sweden’s TV4, which wanted to do a show about ‘building a custom car’.)

Everything you see here (except for the chrome trim on the grill) has been smoothed, stretched, widened, waxed, painted, polished, and pampered to the limits of what most automotive enthusiasts, let along Prius owners, ever thought possible.

To get the body looking right, a wide-body kit from an XC90 Volvo was grafted on. The back doors were smoothed over, the fronts were given a scissor style opening, and the rear windows were reshaped, and the back window was scrapped all together.

A carbon fiber wind splitter sits under the front bumper, as do wind splitters under the doorsills, and a rear venturi made entirely from the stuff sits out back. Air suspension keeps all four corners planted, and the stock rims have been swapped out for 20-inch replacements, including an over-sized brake kit for extra stopping goodness.

Don’t think they stopped there though. The interior had to match the exterior, so a fully custom dashboard was crafted, along with a custom center console to house the 4,400-watt stereo (five subs, eight speakers, a 15 inch LCD, a tablet PC with internet access, and a quarter mile of cable). Racing seats keep anyone brave enough to get behind the wheel firmly in place, and everything was covered in orange, black and red so the colorblind won’t miss it.

Think you’ve got what it takes to roll around in the world’s most pimped green mobile?

Yeah, me neither.

[Via: Wired]

…It’s Things Thursday: Ruby?

Ruby Helmets

Featuring carbon fiber shells, chrome-plated trim, lambskin lining, steel badges, and a rear fin inspired by the helmets worn by knights of old, Les Ateliers Ruby’s Ruby line is “the leading brand for exceptional accessories committed to keeping you on the move”.

    Inspired by Steve McQueen, science fiction and the great tradition of French luxury, Jerome Coste has created Ruby, a brand which guarantees good looks and safety for everyday heroes and heroines.

With Ruby, safety becomes fashionable once again.

[Ruby]

[Via: Core77]

…It’s Tuner Tuesday: Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series?

Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series

The Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series takes the country club favorite and leaves it out in the rain until it’s good and mad and then unleashes it onto the streets.

Based on the already beastly SL65, the AMG Black Series lightens the load to the tune of 550 pounds through the use of a carbon fiber hood, fenders, and trunk, as well as a fixed carbon fiber roof with integrated roll cage in place of the SL65’s retractable hard top.

A biturbo, 6.0-liter V12 provides the motivation, and with 661 hp and 738 lb.-ft. of torque on tap, and 60 flies by in 3.9 seconds on your way to a top speed of 199 mph.

They’re only making 200 of them for the States, and with a price tag of $320,000, it’s probably not something you’re going to see everyday buying milk at the grocery store, but if a low slung, wide body Mercedes creeps up in your rear view, proceed with caution.

[Mercedes-AMG]

[Via: Autoblog]

…It’s Things Thursday: Push Skateboards?

Push Skateboards

The Push series from Element Skateboards takes skateboard design to the next level.

Featuring carbon fiber and featherlight helium, Push Construction is handcrafted from the most technologically advanced materials available for “the best choice in high impact skateboarding”.

The design is made up of a layer of layer of wood with holes that are filled with helium and then sandwiched between more wood and then covered in carbon fiber for durability. The end result is a board that is lighter but also stronger than any other board on the market.

Welcome to the future.

[Element Skateboards - Push]

[Via: Cool Hunting]

…Nike’s Mercurial Vapor SLs are amazing?

Nike Mercurial Vapor SL

Though I couldn’t find much in the way of official information, it doesn’t take a press release to know that these shoes are special.

Called the Nike Mercurial Vapor SL, they are made of nearly 100% carbon fiber, and weigh just 6.7 ounces.

It took Nike three years to design and produce the shoe, and features include an outsole plate made from seven layers of carbon composite material interwoven with TPU and polyurethane, a molded carbon fiber upper, and an internal carbon fiber chassis for “instant acceleration”.

Plus, if Cristiano Ronaldo approves them, then who are you to say otherwise?

[Nike Mercurial Vapor SL]

[Via: Uncrate]

…It’s Tuner Tuesday: Spada Vetture Sport TS Codatronca?

Spada Vetture Sport TS Codatronca

Spada Vetture Sport’s TS Codatronca looks like the car Batman would dive if the Batmobile got a bit boring one day.

The front looks like a cross between a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, and a Corvette, and the rear looks like…like…well, it doesn’t really look like anything else on the market right now, since a giant Tetris tail and stealth bomber lines aren’t exactly in vogue over at GM’s design shop.

The interior however is both beautiful and functional, with plenty of suede and carbon fiber to remind you that you aren’t in a car that will serve fleet time as part of a rental program.

The engine also reminds you that you’re in a race-bred car, with 600 horses on tap, and a short ratio gearbox to compile with FIA GT1 regulations.

For the green lovers, there’s an ad-hoc “converter kit” that allows you to fuel the car with E85 ethanol and also gives you a slight increase in torque and power.

It’s definitely not your daddy’s supercar, but then, who wants that anyways?

[Spada Vetture Sport - TS Codatronca]

[Via: Autoblog]

…It’s Tuner Tuesday: Mansory Renovatio?

Mansory Renovatio

Mansory doesn’t do subtle supercars.

Their latest project, called the Renovatio, is based on a Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren, and features a modified supercharger, new wheels, tons of carbon fiber additions, a tricked out interior, and plenty of gold paint.

The end result is a 700 horsepower beast that is guaranteed to turn heads.

[Mansory]

…It’s Tuner Tuesday: Lotec C1000?

Lotec C1000

Never heard of the Lotec C1000?

That’s because you’re not an oil baron from the UAE.

This one of a kind supercar was commissioned by one back in 1995, and originally sold for about $3.4M (with an M). At the time, and even today, it was one of the fastest cars in the world, with a reported top speed of 268 MPH.

The rest of the specs are no less impressive, as this custom cruiser would get you to 60 in just 3.2 seconds, and 125 in just 8.1 if the mood was right.

Ho did it pull off such amazing feats of physics?

A 5.6-liter Mercedes V8 was force fed by twin turbochargers through a five speed manual, with the end result being 1000 HP and 723 lb-ft of torque in a car that weighed just 2380 lbs. thanks to the liberal use of carbon fiber.

[Via: Jalopnik, Via: S2000 Forums]

…Kipp Wettstein makes beautiful large format cameras?

Kipp Wettstein

Kipp Wettstein makes his own large format cameras as part of what he calls The Camera Project.

The cameras are designed to suit Kipp’s “operational tendencies for the singular application of mobility”, and make a “simple, elegant and accurate method to connect the lens and film planes”.

    The beauty of the design is that it is built around the elegant form of the image cone produced by the lens. Not only does this design yield an attractive camera but it is extremely accurate. The lens and film planes have a parallel accuracy within the fractions of a millimeter. These designs have no perspective-controlling movements. They are small, lightweight and extremely precise.

His latest, called the 8×10 Carbon/Aluminum, is a beautiful “portable, wide-angle camera using a molded carbon fiber cone attached to a body plate machined from a solid block of 7075-T651 aircraft aluminum”. The lens is a Schneider 165mm Super Angulon, and “at four pounds, its weight nearly matches that of the camera body”.

Want one?

He’ll make one for you (or at least take your inquiry about one), but keep in mind that “ultimately, large-format photography is a costly process”.

[Kipp Wettstein - The Camera Project]

[Via: NOTCOT]

…Paganis sound good?

Pagani Stereo

Apparently, automakers that dabble in carbon fiber also have a penchant for high-end stereo equipment, because they seem to enjoy lending their name to pieces of audio art.

This Pagani system features an aluminum and carbon fiber turntables, CD player, and speaker pair that’s designed to mimic the Zonda’s sound system controls with additional details like the Zonda exhaust themed ports tying the two together.

I guess if you an afford a Zonda, then they assume you can afford something like this; because I don’t imagine shock absorbing carbon fiber turntables are a cheap addition to any home.

[Pagani]

[Via: NOTCOT]




Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.