Subaru Impreza P1 Coupe Owners Celebrate 10th Anniversary

The first and only Subaru road car to bear the Prodrive name, the Impreza P1 coupe, is ten this year. To commemorate the event, 100 owners of the Impreza P1 made their way to Prodrive's headquarters at Banbury on Sunday 9 May. They were joined by some 300 owners of various Subaru Imprezas and more than 1,000 fans of the brand.

Considered by many as one of the most sought after limited edition Imprezas, the P1 was developed as a joint venture between Subaru UK, the Japanese firm's STI division and Prodrive, which was responsible for the automaker's WRC cars.

Based on the Japanese market Impreza Coupe, the P1 had significant enhancements engineered by Prodrive to the suspension, drivetrain, trim and aerodynamics.

It was powered by a modified version of the Impreza Turbo's boxer engine producing 280 horsepower and 363Nm of peak torque, compared to 218HP and 290Nm of the standard version

It came with Subaru's all-wheel drive system featuring a centre differential with viscous coupling while it also shared the Turbo's limited-slip rear differential.

British designer, Peter Stevens who was responsible for the McLaren F1 and Subaru WRC car developed a special front spoiler extension together with a new design of rear spoiler following extensive wind tunnel tests to reduce lift and improve balance.

The two-door car was unveiled by England's only World Rally Champion, the late Richard Burns, at the UK motorshow in 1999, and went on sale in 2000. At launch, Subaru and Prodrive planned a 500 car production run, but due to high demand a total of 1,000 examples were produced, all in the same unique blue color.

Rare Sbarro Mercedes-Benz Gullwing 116 6.9 found on eBay

Swiss coachbuilder Franco Sbarro is known all over the world for its extreme production and concept cars like the wacky Autobau supercar. However, it's not often that we find the firm's creations on eBay so we were surprised to see that one of its production cars from the 1980s is up for grabs on the auction site.

The Mercedes-Benz Gullwing 116 6.9 - we're not entirely sure about the name- is a odd-looking two-door Grand Tourer with gullwing-style doors.

Even though at first it appears to be based on the 1980's Mercedes W126 coupes (420 SEC / 560 SEC etc), the different styling of the roof and window lines, the dashboard and the fact that it is powered by the 6.9-liter V8 engine (not to mention the name given by the seller) point towards a modified version of the previous W116 S-Class of the 1970s.

For the record, a quick search on the internet revealed that Sbarro built a handful of similar-looking Gullwing models that were 100% based on the W126 560 SEC in the mid 1980s.

This particular example you see here is offered for sale on eBay Motors with a starting price of US$50,000.

Link: eBay

James Bond's Original '007' Aston Martin DB5 up for Sale! [Plus 125 High-Res Photos]

Along with George Barris' 1966 Batmobile, James Bond's 1964 Aston Martin DB5 is if not the, one of the most recognized movie cars of all times. And now, for the first time in history, it's going under the hammer by RM Auctions, a leading auctioneer of classic cars. The auction will take place in London on the 27th of October, but don't get your hopes high as 007's original Aston is expected to fetch north of US$5 million.

And all for good reason as the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 with UK registration number FMP 7B is one of only two, and the sole remaining, of the original '007' DB5s featured on the big screen with Sean Connery behind the wheel in the classic 'Goldfinger' and 'Thunderball' movies.

The authentic Bond movie car comes factory-fitted with all the modifications conceived by Oscar-award-winning special effects expert, John Stears.

"Q's" bag of goodies include machine guns, bullet-proof shield, tracking device, revolving number plates, removable roof panel, oil slick sprayer, nail spreader and smoke screen, all of which are controlled from switches in the center arm rest.

The car's history is short in terms of owners, in fact aside from James Bond, only one other person has owned the car.

The DB5 was originally loaned to EON Productions for the filming of the two Bond movies, and returned to the Aston Martin Lagonda factory following a special promotional tour.

In 1969, Philadelphia-area radio station owner Jerry Lee bought the car from the factory for US$12,000. It remained in his possession and has rarely been seen publicly over the past 41 years. But now the time has come for DB5 to find a new owner with Lee claiming that he will use the proceeds from the sale to further the charitable work of The Jerry Lee Foundation.

"The James Bond car has brought me much enjoyment for some 40 years," said Jerry Lee. "Even as I sell it and use the proceeds to fund the Jerry Lee Foundation, the car will continue to give me great pleasure as it furthers the mission of the Foundation to do good around the world."

For now, you can enjoy our mega gallery with high-resolution photos of 007's original 1964 Aston Martin DB5.