Christmas is creeping up on us, and if you’re scrambling to find a special gift for the car enthusiast, we think we can help you out.

Craftsman Nicholas Brawer has designed a set of decanters made out of radiators of famous luxury cars. The set of five are styled after the grilles of classic Rolls Royce, Bugatti, Mercedes, Bentley and Jaguar cars and are crafted using original materials like chrome and glass. Measuring in at 7.5 inches high, they are made accurately to so that they may be regarded as genuine collectors’ items.

You can put one under the tree for $4,000 each.

[Source: Luxury Launches]

The London taxi is a rolling landmark. It is as recognizable as Big Ben or Buckingham Palace, and the reason for that is, it hasn’t changed all that much in the last 50 years.

But it can all change very soon if Europe’s biggest car maker can have its way, as Volkswagen has just introduced the e-motion Taxi concept.

This Taxi concept is actually based on VW’s Up concept from a few years ago, which will eventually go into production. The e-motion version is powered by a 115 hp electric motor, which gets its power from a lithium-ion battery pack. VW says this concept has a range of about 180 miles, which is seriously impressive, plus it can get an 80% charge in just one hour. So a taxi driver could be on his lunch break while the car renews its own energy.

It won’t appeal to any boy racers though, as it only has a top speed of 74 mph, but that would be missing the point of this vehicle. The purpose of this vehicle would be to provide a city commute without contributing to the city smog.

It is a brilliant idea and all major cosmopolitan cities around the world can benefit from green transportation vehicles like this.

Will this e-motion Taxi ever go into production? Well it might not become a real taxi, but VW can certainly put this technology into production and thus give birth to a serious rival for the Nissan Leaf.

[Source: Autocar]

The words Rolls-Royce and sporty don’t often go together, but that is about to change… but maybe just slightly.

Rolls-Royce has just announced that for the 2011 model year, the Phantom Drophead Coupe will be getting some upgrades, which will make the car more sporty to drive.

No, the sportiness is not limited to a new color scheme, although new interior and exterior colors have been added to its ever growing options list.

To make the Phantom Drophead Coupe more engaging to drive, Rolls Royce has given it the suspension set-up and transmission calibration previously only seen on the Phantom Coupe.

A thicker steering wheel with a recalibrated power steering unit will give this car a more dynamic feel, although it is hard to imagine a 5,886 lb. land yacht ever feeling sporty.

The 6-speed automatic gearbox now has an “S” mode, which will hold lower gears for longer and also downshift more aggressively under braking. Its 6.75-liter V12 motor remains unchanged, producing the smoothest 453 hp you’ll ever come across.

So if you were holding back on the Phantom Drophead Coupe because it just wasn’t sporty enough for you, maybe now the car will be just right for you. By the way, if you are headed to buy one of these, do take at least $452,000 with you. That price might include your gas guzzler tax and destination charge, but any options will be extra, plus sales tax.

Volkswagen is recalling 380,000 Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, Golf, Rabbit and New Beetle models made between 2007 and 2009 due to a possible fire risk.

In a statement released by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, the government body stated that “The Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, Golf and Rabbit vehicles may have a small plastic tab located on the windshield washer fluid reservoir that may chafe against an underhood fuel supply line. The New Beetle and the New Beetle Convertible vehicles may have a fastening clamp on a hydraulic hose of the power steering system that may be located in an improper position which could cause chafing against an underhood fuel supply line.”

The chafing may lead to a fuel leak, which could present a fire risk if exposed to an ignition source. Volkswagen will begin the recall in January and dealers will either remove a plastic tab or inspect the position of a fastening clamp.

[Source: NHTSA]

Although the good Lord chose to take the Pontiac G8 from us far too early in its life, other countries can still enjoy GM’s Zeta platform superstar in all it’s Holden Commodore-based goodness.

The United Kingdom is particularly privileged, as it gets this Vauxhall VXR8, seemingly adorned in Rape Yellow, and it comes equipped with a 430 horsepower LS3 V8, capable of hitting 60 mph in just under 5 seconds. The VXR8 also gets the Magnetic Ride Control dampers from the Corvette ZR1, and a chassis tuned by Holden Special Vehicles, two items that were conspicuously missing from the Pontiac G8.

Of course, the VXR also costs an outrageous $78,060, about double the price of the top level G8 GXP. Still cheaper than an AMG or BMW M car, but a LOT of scratch for a General Motors sedan.

[Source: Top Speed]

Tim Aldrich, a Florida resident and Nissan 240SX owner, passed away in early August, 2010. Although I never knew Tim personally, he was a larger than life presence on Ziptied, an online forum that I’ve frequented for a number of years, where Tim’s ribald humor and offline friendships with a number of other Ziptied members provided fodder for countless memes, vulgar jokes and spirited arguments. Nearly all of Tim’s comments are too explicit to print, but his username, “EAT S**T, DIE SLOW” should provide you with ample indication of Tim’s sense of humor.

Offline, Tim was known as a true stand-up guy, who loved animals and shied away from drinking alcohol and other indulgences. Tim’s death at age 30 hit hard precisely because so many members had a personal relationship with him that extended beyond a keyboard. Shortly after he passed away, one member announced that Tim’s father had given permission to some of Tim’s friends to crush his Nissan 240SX.

The genesis of the idea came from Tim’s repeated distaste for the idea that his car, or any part of it, should fall into the hands of a teenaged wannabe drifter who would defile his car by crashing it during a lame attempt at emulating their D1 heroes, or modifying it in a way that Tim would find offensive. Rather than sell the car and have it end up in the wrong hands, Tim’s friends decided to crush the car and videotape the proceedings.

A variety of ideas were bounced around Ziptied, with some suggesting the car be chopped into pieces, others commenting that Tim’s long standing wish of being “f***ing buried in this car” be honored. In the end, one member’s idea of having a backhoe trample the car won out.

Yes, the car was crushed with the RP-F1′s on it, but again, it was done in accordance with Tim’s wishes, and with the blessing of his family. In the end, the motor and transmission were sold, with the proceeds going to Tim’s family, but everything else was mangled in a final tribute to a dear friend of many in the Tampa Bay area, and online. Video of the ceremony can be seen after the jump.

Donations to the Tim Aldrich memorial fund can be made here, with proceeds going to the SPCA

[Source: Ziptied]

Video after the jump

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The Honda Fit and Mazda 2 will headline a new racing class, known as B-Spec, that’s been designed as a new showroom stock racing series. The rule set is expected to be finalized within the next 60 days, and both the SCCA and NASA sanctioning bodies have expressed interested in adopting the class.

Using OEM specified wheel, tire and suspension components, the cars will have stock chassis and engines, but will be able to use weight reduction and ballasting to gain performance advantages. The Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Accent, Chevrolet Aveo, Nissan Versa and Toyota Yaris are also eligible for competition.

[Source: Autoweek]

Spec Racing classes are touted as one of the best ways to find out who the best driver really is – with identical machinery, talent should be the only thing separating the heroes from the zeros, and most spec classes feature slower cars like Miatas, Porsche 944s and BMW E30s to let driving skill take the forefront.

A new series being whipped up at the famed VIR race course will take spec racing to a whole new level by creating a single make series for the infamous Ariel Atom sports car. With 10 racers taking place over 5 weeks, different configurations of VIR will be used to keep things fresh. Delivers of the Spec cars will begin in April, 2011.

[Source: Autoblog]

How did we ever amuse ourselves while on the subway, standing in line or just killing time at work before the iPhone came along? It doesn’t matter, because there’s another game you can play while fighting boredom on the go – the ContiTireRace.

The free app from Continental is the first tire game that can be run on the iPhone. In the game, you must make your way around the race track with ContiWinterContact TS 830 as quickly as possible. Along the way, you can collect valuable points that give the rolling tires additional speed and give you better lap times, but watch out for snowy and icy roads that can make driving tricky. Players can manoeuvre their way through the game using either the keys or by tilting the phone.

If you register by December 20, you have the chance to win one of three PlayStation 3 units that Continental will be giving away. All registered players can view their results on the iPhone and see who the reigning champion of the track is.

“With the ContiTireRace, we want to gather experience in the area of eGames and position Continental as brand in the app store,” says Carola Natzel, Manager Business Development E-Business at Continental. “Of course we would like to get young technology fans in particular interested in our company and its products.”

The app is available in English and German and is available for free at the iTunes Store.

2010 has been the sort of year Gemballa would never want a repeat of. It was in February when Uwe Gemballa, the founder of this high-end tuning company, was reported missing.

Sadly, his body was found a few months later, ending speculation of where he was and what had happened. With news of the company filing for bankruptcy and all operation coming to an immediate halt, it looked as if the days of ever seeing a new creation from Gemballa had gone.

Thankfully the company lives under the management of its new CEO Andreas Schwarz, and they have just released a new model, called the Tornado.

Named after the British fighter jet by the same name, the Tornado keeps with their tradition of naming their cars after fighter jets – like the Porsche Carrera GT variant called the Mirage and the Ferrari Enzo variant called the MiG.

Their newest model is based on Porsche‘s latest generation Cayenne model. Obviously it has a new body kit, which gives this SUV a very angry stance.  With its gaping mouth, vertical LED lights and huge nostrils, if you see this coming in your rearview mirror, just do the sensible thing and get out of its way.

But there is more to its looks than its looks suggests. Gemballa has used its knowledge in producing bits out of carbon-fiber, so as a result, not only does the Tornado look different, it weighs less too, and that is without compromising its safety features. In total, the Tornado is 154 lbs lighter than its Cayenne sibling.

Oh, and it has more power too. Gemballa says they are working on a stage two engine modification for this motor and will see a power output of around 700 hp and 738 ft-lbs of torque. Thankfully, upgraded Brembo brakes will also be available to stop all this fury.

Prices for the Tornado has not been announced yet, but if you want one you’ll need to hurry, only 30 are planned for production.