Driving down the boulevard in their Italian supercars, wealthy but genuine car enthusiasts face the difficult challenge of separating themselves from the typical playboys in fast cars. To solve this first world problem, HRE performance wheels proposed that there is no better way to add a touch of class to an exotic than by installing performance wheels with vintage flair.

Introducing the new Vintage Series, HRE wheels recreated three iconic designs from the brand’s 34-year history, each of which range from 18- to 20-inches, and are completely re-engineered as 3-piece forged wheels from quality aerospace-grade forged alloy. What’s more, each wheel is hand-finished in order to meet customer’s specifications for their modern exotic.

HRE provided a press gallery to showcase its new wheels installed upon the successors of the same automobiles that once wore the originals. The German racing car roots of the “501″ wheels are instantly recognizable, as its mesh lace design suits the latest viper green Porsche 991 ducktail nicely.  The five-porthole “454″ is a modern take on the wheels from the sensational Lamborghini Diablo and are just as striking to look at when fitted to the new Aventador. Finally, the pentagram design “505″ is a proper ode to the Ferrari F40, although pairing the set of wheels to a Ferrari 458 Spider is slightly clashing.

HRE Wheels President Alan Peltier said, “The process of recreating vintage designs that captured the style and essence of the originals was very exciting and challenging for all of us at HRE. These designs take us all back to the ’70′s and ’80′s when we were kids falling in love with exotics for the first time and truly becoming car lovers. Capturing all the character and magic of these designs, while ensuring they fit modern super cars and met our current engineering standards, made the project tougher than simply creating replicas of the original cast wheels. We found inspiration in those original designs but created wheels that reflect the HRE of today; wheels that are truly inspired.”

Wealthy automotive connoisseurs, rejoice!

GALLERY: HRE Vintage Series

[Source: Autoblog]

The Dodge Dart is being billed as Chrysler-Fiat‘s foray into the increased efficiency market that is growing quickly in the U.S. Now, Dodge customers who are already planning on buying one when they become available in 2013 have a little more to look forward to.

Mopar is offering a list of accessories and a few performance parts to spiff up the little sedan, though nothing in the go-faster department. So far, we’re aware of the following: a brake upgrade including new calipers, rotors and pads and an 18-inch wheel upgrade are the only available mechanical improvements.

Beyond that, you can opt for a hood scoop, carbon fiber grille insert, a matte black chin spoiler, oodles of chrome pieces, rocker panel extensions and much much more. In fact, there are 150 total accessories. That should be enough to make sure that your Dart will be different than any other on the road, if you want to spend the money to make it that way.

Aside from that, Dart owners can take advantage of options like a smart phone app to do everything from remote start to checking tire pressure. Remote 3G wifi will also make it a potential mobile hotspot and wireless charging for cell phones and mp3 players adds some tech flair. All of these goodies will be available from the get go when the car launches.

If it wasn’t abundantly clear before, it is now: the Dart is aimed squarely at a young, plugged in and constantly connected crowd of consumers.

GALLERY: 2013 Dodge Dart

See AutoGuide’s First Look Video of the new Dodge Dart below:

Discuss this story at Dartforums.com

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If you thought the BMW 1M was fast you haven’t seen anything yet. Germany’s Kelleners Sport has dubbed their high performance 1M, the KS1-S. The German company boosted the power from the stock 340-hp to 410-hp  achieving this by lowering the weight to power ratio and improving air flow, and adding choice modifications like an exhaust system and revised front grille.

The KS1-S also features adjustable coil-overs and a custom aerodynamic body that gives the best down force possible cutting down on wind resistance. The BMW is also fitted with a spoiler and steel front grille inserts. Racing stripes also add to the exterior look.

On the inside, a mix of black and white leather with Alcantara covering the seats, dash and door panels. There is also contrast stitching, aluminium pedals, and an upgraded steering wheel finish the look.

The KS1-1 sits on super light weight 9 x 20′s in the front and 10 x 20′s in the rear wrapped in high performance tires.

Gallery: Kelleners Sport BMW 1M

[Source: egm car tech]

This red 1963 Volkswagen Beetle, known as the “Newman Bug”, isn’t your typical old Beetle, and it’s price tag of $250,000 should reflect that. The drop top Bug, owned by Paul Newman, is fitted with chrome bumpers and a black cloth top in good condition but the beauty of this car is in the rear engine compartment. A mid- mounted 351- cubic inch Ford Windsor engine has been shoe-horned into the little car to make it a deadly hot rod.

Paul Newman bought the convertible in 1963 after he fell in love with racing while filming Winning. He approached renowned Indy-car builder Jerry Eisert to modify the Beetle. Coupled with the 300-hp engine, is a five-speed ZF transmission as well as a high performance suspension components to keep the “Peoples Car” straight under load. The rear gets a custom A-arm setup for racing.

As the story goes, after Eisert finished modifying the car, Newman would speed up and down Mulholland Drive racing anyone who dared to line up with him at the stop light.

The bug has been restored twice. Newman donated the car to Sam Contino at the Chaffey College auto shop in Alta Loma, California. There, the car underwent its first restoration followed by upgrades such as a paint job and four Keystone chrome rims. The car was tweaked to be raced but was mostly used as a show car. After Contino retired, the car was given to him as a gift and was immediately garaged where it slept until 2009. Contino and his son restored the car in April 2009, hoping to show Newman the refinished bug, but the actor passed away before the restoration was completed.

[Source: AutoWeek]

A Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG is a rather nice car. It combines luxury and power in a hard-top convertible package that would please just about anyone. However, some people want more, like more power and more exclusivity. For those, renowned Mercedes-Benz tuner Carlsson has the answer. It’s newest creation is called the Super GT C25 Royale, and it’s rather special.

For a kick-off, it is based on the SL65, which is the most powerful and the most expensive version of the SL-class. Carlsson begins by re-clothing the exterior and in the process, turns this hard-top convertible into a fixed roof coupe. The new sleek coupe styling is quite stunning, even though it looks like a Mercedes-Benz and Aston Martin love child.

The interior will be familiar to any SL owner, but now its just covered in the finest materials and in any color your heart desires.

Speaking of your heart, it will certainly start racing when you put your foot down. Carlsson has worked its magic on the twin-turbo V12 motor, so now it produces 753 hp and an electronically limited 848 lb/ft of torque. That means overtaking other vehicles will not be an issue. All this power is fed to the rear-wheels via a five-speed automatic gearbox with paddle shifters.

This Super GT is quite a car, and it will be rare. Carlsson will be building just 25 examples of this model, one for each country it’s products are sold in, so if you want one, you better hurry to find out if you can have one where you reside. Oh, and be sure your bank balance is rather healthy also. The C25 Royale will set you back $603,000 for a base model (specialty options can raise that price by quite a lot). That is a lot of money but then again, it is a very unique and interesting car and you certainly won’t see yourself coming the other way.

Hot on the heels of their Tokyo Auto Salon showing, Wald International has released a Black Bison Edition styling package for one of Japan’s top luxury sedans, the LS series from Lexus. To show off their new kit, Wald chose to use an LS600h as their demo vehicle, but promises that the Black Bison Edition is compatible with the LS460 and even the LS long wheelbase model.

Similar to all their other Black Bison Edition vehicles, the Lexus LS600h sports a full body kit which includes a new front bumper, blacked out grille, new fenders, side skirts, roof and trunk spoiler, and rear bumper equipped with a new diffuser. Playing tribute to Lexus’ IS-F is a stacked quad-tipped exhaust system with a design similar to the factory IS-F’s unit.

Wald chose to outfit their Lexus LS600h with a set of their own Mahor wheels, which are available in a variety of widths in a 22-inch and 24-inch variety. No pricing has been announced for the Black Bison Edition Lexus LS package.

GALLERY: Wald International Lexus LS600h Black Bison Edition

StarTech, a division of Brabus, is bringing performance and design options for Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles this side of the Atlantic. And if parent company Brabus is any indication, the results will be wild.

Or, maybe not as much. So far StarTech’s available packages are larger wheels, suspension lowering and interior trim. The company has just established itself in Irvine, CA, and already has appearance packages for the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, including the company’s signature Monostar IV alloy wheels, full leather interiors, and custom luggage.

There are no twin-turbo 700-horsepower V12 Rockets just yet for the British marques. But StarTech plans to unveil a customized Jaguar XJ at the Geneva show next month which may have some surprises.

[Source: Autoweek]

Fenice Milano’s Fiat 500 La Dolce Vita wasn’t exactly our cup of tea, but it looks like their rendition of Ferrari‘s 458 Italia might be more acceptable. Despite a horrible rendering released by the company, the tuner looks to be on the right track with this tuning package.

Based on our source, there is supposedly a performance increase from the vehicle, but the numbers released by Fenice Milano simply look like the stock figures of 400 ft-lbs of torque and 560-hp. The aerodynamics of the car are tweaked though along with a lightened body thanks to carbon fiber replacements on the roof, front and rear fenders, mirrors and spoiler.

Fenice Milano is also offering an entirely new aluminum frame for the 458 Italia which is paired with suspension tweaks. Outfitting each corner is a set of staggered 20-inch three-piece wheels wrapped with 235/35 rubber in the front and 325/25 rubber in the rear. The only performance modification they state in the release is a new exhaust system which we imagine is good for a few horses.

No pricing or availability was released.

[Source: GT Spirit]

Usually we bring you a build process in the lead up to the reveal, but with SEMA having passed we have these behind-the-scenes photos of the iForged Mish Designs Mercedes SL being put together.

Several finishing touches were done to the widebody SL, including match-painting the front grille and highlighting the intake valve covers in McLaren Orange to match the bright calipers. Carbonio then came through with a carbon fiber intake and engine cover while Status Racing harnesses will complement the interior modifications.

And of course the biggest highlight to the entire project is a set of iForged concave carbon fiber wheels. Before the built the car did have a 12.5-inch wide setup in the rear, but they were swapped out for an even wider pair of 14-inch wheels.

GALLERY: iForged Misha Designs Widebody Mercedes-Benz SL

[Source: Vincent Wong]

Renderings were released back in May for Vorsteiner’s vision of a Panamera Turbo tuning package, and now the vision has become a reality. Vorsteiner gave the Teamspeed forums a first look at their complete Panamera Turbo, which sports Vorsteiner’s new body kit and forged wheels.

With the Panamera’s exterior styling being its biggest criticism, it’s nice to see the aftermarket tweaking the Panamera into a much less controversially-styled vehicle. It’s easy to see how big of an improvement Vorsteiner’s styling package is on the Panamera’s aesthetics, with a new front bumper, side skirts, rear bumper and trunk spoiler. Their new 22-inch wheels look killer on the Panamera too.

[Source: Teamspeed]

GALLERY: Vorsteiner Porsche Panamera