THE ARCHIVES
A collection of cars, travels and other fun stuff
Supercars delivered to your door just like a newspaper? You bet! Just call Park Place in Dallas!
Forget, for a moment, the automotive media’s glowing reviews of the 2018 Lotus Evora 400. Instead, consider the recent reaction of a sharp-eyed third-grader in the carpool line, who sighted the low-slung British 2+2 amid assorted SUVs and minivans and bellowed with all his might, “Hey, look at THAT!”
Gilligan and his merry band of misfits would have loved to wash ashore at Valley Trunk Estate. Nestled within the British Virgin Islands on Virgin Gorda, an 8-mile-long spit of glorious, lush tropical topography, Valley Trunk offers a serene setting, spectacular views and an ever-present yet unobtrusive staff dedicated to fulfilling a guest’s every whim.
It’s 8 a.m. and I’m dipping a hot churro into a little white paper cup of rich, thick, gooey chocolate. Crunching away as the chocolate drips down my face, I marvel at a city where such a glorious concoction bears the name “workingman’s breakfast.” The average Jose starts his day in Barcelona this way? Definitely, as Sinatra warbled, “my kind of town.”
We at the North Pole Workshop Facility take pride in the magical craftsmanship of our work. Thanks to the time-honored example set by Godfather Drosselmeyer, our toy-making division and reindeer care programs are deservedly legendary. To continue that tradition of excellence, we are pleased to present you with an innovation worthy of your right jolly old elf self: We’re replacing your sleigh with a Rolls-Royce Ghost.
Saturday after Thanksgiving — a big day on little Nantucket Island. That’s when Santa Claus and the missus bid a fond farewell to the sleigh and reindeer, sail into the historic harbor aboard a Coast Guard cutter, clamber onto an antique fire truck and clatter up Main Street’s cobblestones, waving at cheering grown-ups and wide-eyed children. Laughing all the way, of course.
We all know that Toyota’s upper-tier brand builds safe, reliable, luxurious sedans, coupes and SUVs. “Edgy,” however, hasn’t really been their mass-market, stock-in-trade adjective. It’s not for lack of trying.
Figuring, probably correctly, that you can never have too much of a good thing (namely, the superlative twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 at the heart of every AMG GT), Mercedes is upgrading and expanding the AMG GT lineup for 2018.
There are basically two types of tropical travelers — those who spot a gecko on their hotel room wall and give it a cute name, and those who holler less salubrious names while hunting for suitable footwear to hurl. For those in the former category, Gaïa Riverlodge, deep in the Belizean rainforest, with its rushing river waterfalls and jungle hiking trails, caves, bird watching and airy cabins cooled by the wind (and visited by the occasional gecko), is the place to be.
Dearly beloved, we are gathered together to celebrate BMW’s M5, the latest in an enduring lineup that’s prospered since 1984. More specifically, we honor the family’s sixth generation, the all-new 2018 BMW M5. It’s their best yet.
It’s only 7 a.m. on an already warm August Monday, but the expansive hallways of Las Vegas’ massive Bellagio hotel are already awash with people — an estimated 5,600 — attending an uber-glitzy annual event called Virtuoso Travel Week. Sponsored by Virtuoso, one of America’s top travel networks, the eponymous, invitation-only event is widely regarded as the industry’s “Fashion Week” equivalent.
It was bound to happen. In a world of still-life selfies, the next logical step could only be live mobile-streaming video of you. Because, really, what’s more interesting to the planet than what you’re doing right now this very second? And if cats are involved, it’s a million times better.
Blue Bell’s back! Deliveries resume Monday, just in time for this humble writer’s birthday. And a big ol’ tub of Dutch Chocolate is all the present I need. Like many of you, I'm a lifelong superfan of the Little Creamery in Brenham, weaned from mother’s milk to Homemade Vanilla.
An exhaustive Google search — 0.69 seconds — offered this definition of style: “A distinctive appearance, typically determined by the principles according to which something is designed.” If that “something” happens to be a sinuous, low-slung, wide-tracked, muscular two-seat American sports car, burbling with power and endowed with supercar handling, then the Corvette Grand Sport definitely lives up to its design principles. Boy howdy, does it.
If you’re not among the supercar cognoscenti, you might — MIGHT — be forgiven for not recognizing a McLaren on the street. After all, for the past 50 years, the British manufacturer made its name primarily with Formula 1 race cars (1993’s one-off, mind-blowing, street-legal McLaren F1 notwithstanding).
The all-new Velar — from the Latin “to unveil,” the name originally given to the first Range Rover prototypes built by Land Rover in 1969 — is the company’s fourth family member and slots between the slightly smaller Evoque and the slightly larger Sport. The biggest difference, however, isn’t about size as much as suitability.
There’s no real American automotive equivalent for what Aston Martin means to the British. There’s pride, craftsmanship, luxury and performance — but Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Jaguar have that, too. What is it about an Aston Martin that sets Brits’ stiff upper lips quivering?
When one thinks of an entry-level vehicle, one thinks of spartan tin cans with doughnuts for tires, rubber bands for engines and lint for upholstery. But when the term applies to a car with a starting price hovering around $230,000-plus, it sounds “jumbo shrimp” oxymoronic and just flat-out wrong. Perhaps the more appropriate term would be “heir.”
Tom Brady’s Super Bowl fireworks weren’t the only things lighting up TV screens in February — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ran not one, not two, but three hugely expensive TV ads announcing its sleek new Alfa Romeo Giulia. In the ads, the sinuous red — of course, it’s got to be red — Italian sedan carved up scenic roadways to a pulse-pounding soundtrack amid whispered promises that “Some cars take your breath away; only one gives it back.”
Here's the tale of how I almost met my maker when 7,620 volts of electricity coursed through me. The story's moral? Hire a yardman.
