9781422277096

OF A U T O M O B I L E S Hop Inside Most Exotic Cars the

OF A U T O M O B I L E S

The World of Automobiles

Written by Norm Geddis

Carmakers from Around the Globe Concept Cars: Past and Future Customizing Your Ride Hop Inside the Most Exotic Cars Toughest Trucks from the Streets to Showtime

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Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, Pennsylvania 19008 (866) MCP-BOOK (toll free)

Chapter 1 Cars Few Can Possess..........................................................................7 Chapter 2 Pre-World War II: Luxury Overkill.........................................................19 Chapter 3 Post-World War II: The Romance of the Sports Car............................33 Chapter 4 David Brown: The Man Who Made James Bond's Car.......................45 Chapter 5 Michelle Christensen: Exotic Car Designer of the Future....................55 Chapter 6 Today's Superstar Exotic Cars.............................................................63 Series Glossary of Key Terms.................................................................................72 Further Reading......................................................................................................74 Internet Resources..................................................................................................75 Educational Video Links and Photo Credits. .......................................................... 76 Index.......................................................................................................................77 Author’s Biography.................................................................................................80

Copyright © 2019 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

First printing 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN (hardback) 978-1-4222-4090-8 ISBN (series) 978-1-4222-4086-1 ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4222-7709-6

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Developed and Produced by National Highlights Inc. Editor: Andrew Luke Interior and cover design: Annalisa Gumbrecht, Studio Gumbrecht Production: Michelle Luke

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Cars Few Can Possess There is a well-kept secret people should know. Those sleek and ultra-cool vehicles taking movie heroes and villains to and from exotic locales—they really do exist. And vehicles as amazing as ones out of Hollywood blockbusters are as close as the next car moving down the road. Just like vehicles in the fantastical and weird world of imagination, the exotic automobiles that exist today inspire thrills, shock value, excitement, sometimes a little bit of risk, and even some fear. Does that sentence seem at all exaggerated? Maybe at first glance. But delving a little deeper into the world of exotic cars reveals some truly fascinating and beautiful machines. These cars have names

aerodynamics the qualities of an object that affect how easily it is able to move through the air exotic having a strange or bizarre allure, beauty, or quality horsepower a unit of measurement of the power of an engine mystique an aura of mystery or mystical power vintage representing the high quality of a past time

A vintage high-end convertible on display at the Saratoga Automobile Museum, in Saratoga, NY.

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like Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and Maybach. Additionally, these cars also have a direct relationship with everyday carmakers like Ford, Honda, and Toyota. Very few of these high-end cars are sold in showrooms. Owning one requires a great deal of money and is viewed by many as a symbol of one's personal achievement. Automakers like Ford, Honda, Toyota, GM and Chrysler sell more than one hundred thousand vehicles each month. Others like Hyundai, Kia, Audi, and Volvo sell tens of thousands of vehicles a month. The automakers featured in this book will sell as few as a handful of cars a year, but no more than a few thousand. As can be imagined, these cars cost in excess of $100,000, with many bearing a price tag of more than one million dollars. These automobiles cost a fortune—literately. Owning an exotic car can cost tens of thousands of dollars per year to

Let’s start with something important to know about cars. They transform the people riding in them. In a fast-moving car, humans become something that for thousands of years they only dreamt of—the fastest creatures on Earth. The feeling of speed turns riders into powerful travelers, free to go wherever the roads can take them. When someone has earned or amassed a great deal of wealth, buying an exotic car or two makes them travelers with swagger and high style. Many celebrities love using exotic cars to add to their glamour and mystique . Several exotic cars have made cameos in popular music videos and during on-stage performances. Famous people and show business personalities also like to collect flashy cars and display them proudly. Many of today’s and yesterday’s professional athletes are known for their taste in stylish, exotic cars. Jay-Z and Beyoncé love glamour; and along with abundant talent, their style sense helped them become a music power couple. Their love of the finer things definitely shows in their taste for exotic rides. A gift from her husband on her 25th birthday, Beyoncé became the owner of a rare vintage 1959 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II Convertible. This sublime Rolls is worth around $1 million (US). Another musician who likes to show off his Rolls is rapper Gucci Mane. He prefers a sporty red Rolls-Royce Dawn with red interior, a convertible unique to the Rolls-Royce brand. Not to be outdone in the fabulous gift department, Beyoncé gifted her husband a gorgeous Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. Some other celebrities also are known to own this particular Bugatti. These people include New England Patriot Tom Brady and boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. However, both of these amazing cars pale in comparison to one particular supercar, rumored to have been purchased

maintain and protect. Only specially trained mechanics are qualified to work on these cars. So expensive and sought after are some of these vehicles that owners must pay special, heightened attention to security, both at home and on the road. Typically, these cars almost never find their way into the neighborhood grocery store parking lot for fear of dings, scratches, and even theft. Why do people spend so much money on these cars? And who buys them?

Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z are pop and rap music icons who appreciate the finer things in life, including Rolls-Royce and Bugatti automobiles.

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by Jay-Z. In his video for "Lost One," Jay-Z is seen leaving his New York apartment and getting into an $8-million-dollar Maybach Excelero. A debate has been going on in popular media and on the Internet ever since about whether Jay-Z actually purchased an Excelero. So far, Jay-Z himself is keeping quiet. A possible explanation is that Mercedes, the owner of the Maybach brand, lent Jay-Z the car for the video shoot. This is a common practice so supercar automakers can get publicity by showing their cars alongside superstars. Either way, Jay-Z and the Excelero look sharp. Superstar athletes quarterback Tom Brady and boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. are each said to be owners of a Bugatti Veyron.

The Quattroporte is the flagship car for Italian carmaker Maserati.

The Maserati Quattroporte has been in production since 1963. It is Maserati's flagship car. Many European soccer stars drive the Quattroporte. Here in the United States, Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners is also the proud owner of a Quattroporte. The parent company of Maserati, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, has made an effort in recent years to sell more Maserati cars in America. The car comes with a choice of a 3.0L, 404-horsepower V6 or an even more powerful 3.8L, 523-horsepower V8. Both engines could give Beyoncé's Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud a run for its money. The Bentley Continental is the car that clearly shows off luxury. It's hard to say which car sits at the pinnacle of

Cars are usually referred to by their make and model, such as: Toyota (make) Corolla (model). The make is usually the auto company's name and the model is the brand name of the car. An example of an exotic car make and model would the Bugatti (make) Veyron (model).

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Lamborghini is one of the world's best- known exotic sports car makers. The Aventador is one of Lamborghini's more recent offerings, after the Huracan and the Centenario (still in production as of 2017). Five thousand Aventadors

luxury. The Rolls-Royce? Aston Martin? Bentley? But it's certainly up there at the top. Bentley has manufactured the Continental every year since 1952. The GT version of the Continental weighs two and a half tons. Buyers have a choice between a 4.0L turbocharged V8 or a 6.0L turbocharged V12. Tennis star Serena Williams owns one of these beautiful Continental GTs. If she wants, Ms. Williams can go from 0 to 60 mph in four seconds. The Lamborghini Gallardo is the company's top seller of all time. The car was available for purchase between 2004 and 2014. The Gallardo was a little less powerful than its new cousin, the Aventador. But with a maximum of 562 ear- splitting horsepower , the car is still a powerhouse. Retired basketball star Shaquille O'Neal owns a Lamborghini Gallardo. The 5.2L V10 engine can go from 0 to 60 in 3.4 seconds.

Drive California canyon country from the front seat of a Ferrari 430.

have been sold since the brand launched in 2011. One of those was sold to Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant. The car comes with a blazing 6.5L V12 engine. With 690 horsepower,

the car is well justified in having a 7-speed transmission. Get in this baby and go 0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds. The Ferrari F430 was built from 2004 to 2009. A 4.3L V8 engine gives this car 491 horsepower that reaches speeds of more than 300 mph. NBA star LeBron James and pro football player Reggie Bush each own one of these elegant Italian beauties. The McLaren is Britain's answer to Italian sports cars. The car came into production in 2011, the same year as the Lamborghini Aventador. Formula One race car driver Lewis Hamilton drives one of these when he's motoring on regular roads.

NBA superstar LeBron James is the owner of a Ferrari F430.

The Gallardo is the best-selling Lamborghini model of all time.

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The influence of exotic cars extends beyond the rich and famous (or just plain rich). The designers of these cars influence the entire auto industry. Innovations in body design, the engineering of how a car looks, and how the body adds to performance come from the top-tier engineers who are the ones that create these amazing cars. Back in the 1950s, race car makers started experimenting with aerodynamics . Aerodynamics is the branch of mechanics that deals with the motion of air and the effects of such motion on bodies in the medium. The makers of these cars discovered that air travels faster around curves, so a car with more rounded surfaces faces less drag from the wind. Drag is the measurement of the aerodynamic force exerted on a vehicle that tends to reduce its forward motion. By reducing drag, a car travels faster. The lower the drag, the less fuel a car burns. Ever since the 1960s when the second generation of exotic automobiles came to prominence after World War II, exotic cars have led the way in car design. Take a look at any of the Lamborghini models produced around 2007. The bodies are already very angular. They become even more angular over the next decade. Over the last ten years, Lamborghini bodies have become cut like diamonds, with each new model having more and more shaped angles constructed into the body. This was done because today's computer models show that these angles decrease drag over the curved shape most cars had in the last decades of the twentieth century. The 1980s and 1990s were the first decades where computer models helped design automobiles. Now compare the Lamborghini of today to the 2017 Honda Civic. Today's Civic looks a little like a Lamborghini with shaped, or what are called faceted, angles cut into the body.

The design of the 2017 Honda Civic is influenced by that of a Lamborghini.

The Civic from 2007 has a curvier design. This demonstrates how the design of so called supercars influences the design of everyday automobiles. Of course, the supercar projects attract the best designers and engineers, and they get to test their best ideas on these vehicles. The result is that ideas that are proven to improve performance, comfort, and ease of use get adopted throughout the automotive industry. The story of the exotic automobile is a story of perseverance, innovation, and a little bit of luck. Some of these exotic car companies started out of a garage; others were planned at the highest levels of industry. And a few times throughout

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the brief history of automobiles, the guy or gal working out of the garage (women invented the turn signal and windshield wiper) got the better of the world's top car companies.

1. True or false: increased drag helps a car moves faster. 2. How do exotic car designers influence the common carmakers? 3. How do exotic car makers sometimes get publicity for their cars?

The 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France has been held every year since 1923, making it the oldest endurance race in the world. Research the 1959 Le Mans race and discover how the life of one of the winning drivers transformed American car design. Write a four-hundred-word report on the story.

Many exotic cars are planned at the highest levels of the industry, but sometimes they are the startup idea of new and innovative designers.

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