Monday, September 21, 2009

1991 Isuzu Geo Storm GSI AMT 1:24










The Geo Storm is a sport compact car manufactured by Isuzu that was sold in the United States by Geo from 1990 through 1993. The same vehicles, with minor variations, were sold in Canada in the 1992 and 1993 model years only. The Storm was intended to be a budget car with the look and feel of a sports car. It was sold in two-door liftback and hatchback forms.

The Geo Storm was a rebadged version of the sporty, second generation Isuzu Impulse minus some of that car's more expensive features. The Storm was sold in Japan as the Gemini Coupé and also as the PA Nero through the Yanase dealerships. The Storm lacked the Impulse's Lotus-tuned suspension as well as the Impulse's optional turbocharger and all-wheel drive drivetrain. Although they were essentially the same car, sales of the Storm were much stronger than those of the Impulse—indeed, the Storm sold better than most small GM cars of that era. Slow sales of the Isuzu version doomed the Storm. When Isuzu ceased building passenger cars in 1993 due to the effects of the crash of the Japanese Bubble Economy, the Isuzu-made Geo Storm was also discontinued with them. Geo offered no sport coupe replacement for the Storm before the brand was folded into Chevrolet after 1997. As of 2010, there were only 40,300 Storms registered for road use.

The Storm was manufactured at Isuzu's main plant in Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan. The Storm and Impulse were also sold in Canada by General Motors Canada as the Asüna Sunfire.

Monday, September 14, 2009

1995 Herdez Lola Ford Goodyear Dick Simon Racing #22 Carlos Guerrero IndyCar.











Carlos Guerrero (born November 20, 1957, Mexico City, Mexico) is a former driver in the CART Championship Series who was a multiple Formula Three and Formula Two champion in his native Mexico. He raced in the 1995–1996 CART seasons with 17 career starts, including the 1995 Indianapolis 500. He was eliminated in a crash on the first lap, becoming one of a handful of drivers to qualify for only one Indianapolis 500 and fail to complete a lap. His best career finish in CART was 11th position at the 1995 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

He is not related to race driver Roberto Guerrero.

Monday, September 7, 2009

1998 Chevrolet Corvette C5 Convertible Burago 1:24











The Chevrolet Corvette (C5) is the fifth generation of the Chevrolet Corvette sports car, produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1997 through 2004 model years. Production variants include the high performance Z06. Racing variants include the C5-R, a 24 Hours of Daytona and 24 Hours of Le Mans GTS/GT1 class winner.
A major change from its predecessor the C4, was a hydroformed box frame, a design that offered an improved structural platform, especially for a convertible bodystyle. To improve handling, the transmission was relocated to form an integrated, rear-mounted transaxle assembly. Connected to the all-new LS1 engine via a torque tube, the engine/transmission arrangement enabled a 50-50% front-rear weight distribution. The LS1 engine initially produced 345 hp (257 kW), subsequently increased in 2001 to 350 hp (261 kW). The 4L60-E automatic transmission carried over from previous models, but the manual was replaced by a Borg-Warner T-56 6-speed capable of a 175 mph (282 km/h) top speed. Relative to the C4, the new platform and structural design substantially reduced squeaks and rattles.

Friday, August 28, 2009

1955 Volkswagen Type 1 Käfer Beetle Fusca Bug Sedán Oval Window 1:25 SS












The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German der Käfer (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, intended for five occupants (later, Beetles were restricted to four people in some countries), that was manufactured and marketed by German automaker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003.

The need for a people's car (Volkswagen in German), its concept and its functional objectives were formulated by the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap, simple car to be mass-produced for his country's new road network (Reichsautobahn). Members of the National Socialist party, with an additional dues surcharge, were promised the first production, but the Spanish Civil War shifted most production resources to military vehicles to support the Nationalists under Francisco Franco. Lead engineer Ferdinand Porsche and his team took until 1938 to finalise the design. Béla Barényi is credited with first conceiving the original design for this car in 1925, notably by Mercedes-Benz, on their website, including his original technical drawing, five years before Porsche claimed to have done his initial version. The influence on Porsche's design of other contemporary cars, such as the Tatra V570, and the work of Josef Ganz remains a subject of dispute. The result was the first Volkswagen, and one of the first rear-engined cars since the Brass Era. With 21,529,464 produced, the Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single platform ever made.

Friday, August 21, 2009

1991 Chevrolet Beretta GTZ AMT 1:25











The Chevrolet Beretta is a front-wheel-drive two-door coupé produced by Chevrolet from 1987 to 1996. The Beretta was designed in the same design studio as the Camaro and the Corvette, Chevrolet Exterior Studio 3, and was built at the Wilmington, Delaware, and Linden, New Jersey assembly plants with other GM L platform models, the Chevrolet Corsica which came shortly before the Beretta, and the Canada-only Pontiac Tempest four-door sedans. The Beretta was produced in base, CL, GT, GTU, Indy, GTZ and Z26 models. A convertible was the pace car for the 1990 Indianapolis 500, and GM initially announced a production convertible replica, but a coupe version was offered instead.