This motorcycle was built with Bolt-on products by Low and Mean. There was no cutting, no welding to create this custom. Low and Mean does the hard work so you can purchase their products for your Star® Motorcycle. You can see all Low and Mean products at LowandMean.com.
The Italian manufacturer Moto Guzzi visited the exhibition EICMA 2013 and introduced line of motorcycles in 2014 V7: V7 Racer, V7 Special and V7 Stone. All three bikes are made in the style of the 70th. They are equipped with a 750-cc V-twin engine: 48 hp power, torque 60 Nm, fuel consumption is 4 liters per 100 kilometers, Crankshaft, service intervals of 10,000 km, a simple electronics.
- New flywheel - Slightly modernized front of the engine - The new color to the rest of the 2014 models is identical to the current model year motorcycles. In the catalog of accessories you can find the following items: racing exhaust Arrow Slip-On, the upgrade kit V7 Stone / Special to the single motorcycle shock absorbers Bitubo, aluminum fairings, travel windshield, saddlebags, gel saddle, and much more.
This immaculate 1959 Porsche 356 A Carrera 1600 GS has been appraised at somewhere in the region of $550,000 to $650,000 USD, making it a fantastically affordable acquisition for people like Jerry Seinfeld, Jony Ive and that guy who invented Scientology.
The 356 was the first production car from Porsche, the Austrian factory began turning them out in 1948 and by the time a 356 won its class at Le Mans in 1951 the car had become renowned for its build quality, handling and speed. The model would stay in production for a total of 17 years from 1948 till 1965, many iterations of the model rolled out of the factory but the most important was probably the “A” version which was introduced in 1955 as the first real update to the original 356.
Later years would see “B” and “C” versions made to keep the car as current as possible until the 911 arrived in 1963, though even after the arrival of the faster and more modern 911, the 356 still sold in solid numbers and so Porsche kept making them for 2 further years.
This 356 is the “A” model revision and it was ordered from the factory with a fully ticked options list, back in 1959 this list included things like a Blaupunkt radio and two loudspeakers, a rear luggage rack, an electric clock, an 80-litre fuel tank, a factory-installed roll bar and a very desirable (and rare) sunroof.
Over the course of its life, this car saw plenty of mileage between its 3 owners, the most recent of whom sent it for a full, concours-level restoration with Porsche specialist Gary Kempton at GK Restorations in Florida. Post-restoration the car went up against some tough competition to win Best in Show honors at the 2010 Saint Louis Regional Porsche Show and has only been driven very sparingly since.
If you’d like to bid on it you’ll need to register with RM Auctions and then make your way to New York for the “Art of the Automobile Auction” due to be held on the 21st of November 2013 – click here for further details about this car and the auction.
Is Liberty Walk taking over the internet? Has the Nagoya-based company declared war on the SEMA Show? It sure seems like it if the number of cars we’ve seen wearing the company’s signature wide body conversions is anything to go by. If Kato-san was attempting to get our attention, it’s safe to say he definitely has! After taking a closer look at his Ferrari 458 last week, it’s now time to move onto his second SEMA project…
… a CG image that Miura-san at TRA Kyoto – the man that Kato-san has entrusted to design and produce his aero kits – later showed in a variety of body colors and angles. So like the 458, we all had a pretty good idea of what the car would look like in its finished form. However, as was the case with the Ferrari, seeing 3D images on the internet can never prepare you for the full impact of witnessing the completed car.
If there’s one car out there that probably doesn’t need its fenders blistered it’s the R35 GT-R. The big Nissan – successor to the Skyline GT-R – boasts a pretty robust stance to start off with: big Aeroblade (in Nissan talk) front fenders joining a chunky, bulbous rear end that makes it one of the most imposing cars on the streets today. But who the hell said aggression has limits?
Kato-san certainly didn’t, so when he asked TRA Kyoto to make those works-style overfenders as “in your face” as possible…
… Miura listened, and delivered. The bolted-on look is once again used, exposed screws…
… showing each mounting point onto the cut stock fender below it. The FRP addition follows the primary crease line of the GT-R’s wheel arch…
… extending downwards along the side air outlet, then all the way down to the main skirt line.
Making the LB☆WORKS aero stand out as much as possible, while sticking to the company’s recognizable design ethos, was all part of the plan.
Color is always important – especially for a show car – and the OEM dark metal grey makesevery line of the GT-R’s exterior pop under the sun’s rays.
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The GT-R has been captivating the minds of the worldwide tuning industry since it was first revealed back in 2007, and it’s quite cool to see that Liberty Walk decided to do something with a domestic car instead of the usual imports and exotics it tends to concentrate on.
Will this car appeal to everyone? Of course it won’t – it’s not meant to. Like all the cars that bear the LB☆WORKS name, it’s aimed at a very unique individual – one that just isn’t content sitting at the wheel of a car that everyone can own.
So it seems that this sort of aero package is born out of exclusivity; the need to satisfy a very small niche…
… and judging by its rump – the sheer need to shock! Miura may as well have come up with the biggest works-style overfenders ever created for a car – the massive rear pieces extending from underneath where the door ends and arching all the way around and touching the high hip line. Over the top touches like this were sort of a necessity, you don’t try to make a statement with a car like the GT-R and not go full out.
Take how the overfenders end abruptly once they pass the bumper line…
… and tuck in, quickly merging into the original dimensions of the car. Miura here gave a nod to aerodynamics, the recess behind any fender helping the extraction of air from the wheelarch and some of the flow form the underside of the car, which if you recall is completely flat on the R35 to smooth air passing underneath it. While this detail may or may not add a functional aero effect, the fact that you end up seeing more of the rear tires is a big bonus in the looks department, that aggressive offset of the rear wheels making quite the statement.
Does it all seem a little exaggerated? Yes, but that was the obvious intention, having been given carte blanche there was little if no conformity to what he was sculpting away at.
Take the rear wing for example; Miura keeps up with the times, he gets his inspiration from a variety of styles, is always paying attention to how things change in the vastness of the car world and it was motorsports that provided the idea for the spoiler. As we have seen, with the introduction of DTM regulations in Super GT most GT500 teams are adopting the swan neck wing stays which literally hangs the wing from the top side over the car. Here it’s purely a style driven addition of course, but one that brings a touch of race spirit to the road. I’m sure we will be seeing more of these type of wing stays in the aftermarket during the course of 2014.
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Race car touches don’t end there of course, the Liberty Walk GT-R sports a GT-3 inspired extended front lip spoiler to help slice through the air and actively boost downforce while at the rear Miura has extended the centre section of the diffuser and bolted additional winglets onto each corner, for an additional visual impact.
The LB☆WORKS treatment has created a one-of-a-kind GT-R that’s just as aggressive as the BenSopra R35, but in a totally different way.
No show car is ever complete with out a well chosen set of rims, and serving as a dark contrast to the silver-bronze body, Liberty Walk went for a set of Forgiato Maglia wheels…
… custom painted in satin black and measuring 20×11-inch up front and 20×12-inch at the rear. The LB☆WORKS GT-R runs Toyo Proxes tires, 285/35ZR20 at the front and rather large 315/30ZR20s on the rears, boosting grip levels considerably.
Providing the unmissable stance element and dropping the car right to the ground is the CSD Platinum VIP adjustable suspension…
… featuring air cups at each corner that allow the R35 to go from normal-ish low ride height…
… all the way down to show car mode at the push of a button. See what I mean with the tucked in rear over fenders? Can you see how much of the rear tires you can actually see? Yes we like!
The Japanese phrase Jiyū ni aruku underneath the Liberty Walk logo on the rear bumper roughly translates as ‘walk freely’, and it’s somewhat of a motto for Kato-san. It’s an emphasis on the way in which he approaches his cars and his products, and to some extent, his life – doing his own thing and striving to reach his goals in his own unique way.
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While under the knife, the GT-R also gained some extra performance courtesy of a complete Trust exhaust system and a full hard piping kit which gets rid of the cheap looking stock items with lots of polished aluminum goodness. Trust Gracer Airinx filters have been positioned right behind the front grille so they are not only in the best position possible to suck in cool air, but also away from engine bay heat. Trust blow-off valves dump unneeded intake charge when backing off the throttle and also supply that must-have whooshing sounds many R35 owners dream of. An ECU remap takes full advantage of these upgrades, helping to obtain a slight bump in horsepower and a more responsive set up. However as the car was just completed the day before SEMA, no power measurements have been made.
The interior has been given a little custom touch too…
… thanks to a two-tone quilted leather seat re-trim courtesy of Newing…
… which also stretches to those tiny seats in the back!
If you are a purist and insist that any modification made to a car must be functional and bettering performance even in the slightest of ways, then the LB☆WORKS GT-R will probably make you angry. But if, on the other hand, you are more like Kato-san and are happy to enjoy the more aesthetic approach to car customization, then I think this R35 will be doing it for you. No matter what camp you may belong in though, the Liberty Walk GT-R has done its job – it has awakened some emotion within. Love it, or love to hate it as they say…
