Tag: Offbeat News

There’s A Mercedes-Benz W124 Hiding Under These Weird Modifications

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The Mercedes-Benz W124 remains one of the German carmaker’s most identifiable vehicles. As it turns out, not everyone respects its iconic design.

The following photos were recently shared on Reddit and show a W124 Coupe (aka C124) that was spotted in Ukraine. Unfortunately, it is has undergone so many questionable modifications that, if you weren’t told, you’d have a hard time guessing what it really is.

Read Also: The Mercedes-Benz W124 Is The Prime Example Of The Brand’s Over-Engineering

Found at the front of the bizarre creation are headlights that (vaguely) remind us of those from the Chrysler Crossfire, while the car is also rocking a bespoke grille with three horizontal slats finished in white. Speaking of white, much of the front bumper and front quarter panels are also white to contrast the dark blue paint of the rest of the car.

This two-tone white and dark blue theme continues across the rear of the Merc’s body that has also undergone some rather odd changes. As bizarre as the front looks, the rear is perhaps even more weird and features a bespoke bumper with unique tailpipes, a trunklid lip spoiler, and a white diffuser. The car also sports unique taillights that appear incredibly cheap and were probably purchased for just a few dollars.

Not satisfied with completely butchering the exterior of the Mercedes, the owner has also customized the vehicle’s interior. Most notably, white leather bathes the dashboard, transmission tunnel, door panels, and steering wheel. The car also features large ‘R’ badges on the dashboard and steering wheel, seemingly in the same font as the badge of the Nissan GT-R.

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Van Driver Slides On Snow, Sends Truck Down An Embankment

A dashcam video shows the moment two vehicles crashed on a snowy Polish highway last month.

The clip was filmed from the dashboard of a truck that was traveling in the right lane of a four-lane highway. Patches of snow can be seen on the side of the highway, forcing motorists to drive slower than they ordinarily would.

A few seconds into the video, a white Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van begins to move past the cammer but as they do so, the driver appears to hit a particularly slippery section of the road. Suddenly, the Sprinter swerves to the right and hits the cammer. The force of this impact sends both the Sprinter and the cammer into the steel crash barrier on the side of the highway.

Watch Also: Pickup Driver Somehow Survives Falling 70 Ft Off Milwaukee Bridge

Ideally, the crash barrier would stop the vehicles in their tracks, but due the angle at which the truck hit the barrier (and its mass), it crashes through it and falls down an embankment, before grinding to a stop in a bunch of shrubbery. The driver of the truck can be heard screaming throughout the ordeal. It is hard to tell if the Sprinter also crashed through the barrier as well.

It was extremely fortunate that the truck didn’t flip onto its side as it slid down the embankment. In fact, it is understood that, thankfully, no one was injured in the wreck.

No injuries, but you can hear what he thinks about it from r/IdiotsInCars

Porsche Panamera Needs New Wheels After Thieves Steal The Original Ones

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There are few things more disheartening than parking your car outside and returning to find it damaged – or, as is the case with this Porsche Panamera in Stockholm, Sweden, with its wheels missing.

Images shared to Facebook through the GTBoard page show the car sitting in a parking lot on what appears to be two separate days, lacking wheels.

Watch Also: Is The Porsche Panamera 4S E-Hybrid A Credible Alternative To The Taycan?

In the first image, the expensive sedan can be seen resting on its brake rotors. Whoever stole the wheels must have been in quite a hurry as the lug nuts were left behind. Interestingly, the Panamera is sitting in what looks to be a private car park that includes a barbed wire fence. Considering that it’s not hard to find expensive cars in Stockholm that aren’t parked behind barbed wire and are, in theory, easier targets, means that the thief must, for whatever reason, have really wanted those rims.

The second series of images appear to have been taken at a different time, as evidenced by the different cars in the background. Additionally, the Panamera is no longer sitting directly on its brake rotors but rather two wooden pallets, probably a temporary solution on the part of the owner as they attempted to source some replacement wheels.

In all likelihood, the individual or individuals that stole the wheels sold them for a quick buck, meaning that tracking them down could prove impossible.

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Sounds Expensive: Bugatti Teams Up With Tidal To Create High-End Speakers For Your Home

Bugatti has chosen to associate its name with Tidal, a Germany audio system maker that has been in the game for over two decades.

The two companies are looking to “set a new standard for home music systems” with a new category of speakers of “unrivalled exclusivity and high quality like no other”.

Their partnership kicks off with the ‘Royale’ range of speakers that can be customized in numerous ways. There are two main themes, named the Monocoque and Duotone, and customers can choose between different material combinations, including piano finishes and avant-garde colors. Furthermore, each loudspeaker can be customized with leather, carbon fiber, aluminum, different fabrics and even precious metals.

Read Also: Extraordinary Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Watch Has A Tiny W16 Engine And A $280,000 Price Tag

Adorned with the ‘Bugatti’ logo on the front, the speakers are finished in polished stainless steel and feature a curved shape. The backside holds the ‘Tidal for Bugatti’ branding, and beneath the skin, each speaker boasts four subwoofer drivers and a 3-way front unit with mid-range driver and tweeter with diamond diaphragms, a feature also found in the hyper sports cars made in Molsheim. The active speaker also includes powerful amplifier channels and the controller allows it to connect to all kinds of exterior sources, being compatible with music streaming services and smart TVs as well.

Marking the beginning of their collaboration are two sets of home audio systems, the ‘Edition Noir’ and ‘Edition Blanc’, each one limited to 15 units. Pricing was not disclosed at the time of writing, but this is likely one of those cases where if you have to ask how much it costs, you probably cannot afford it.

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An Airplane, Yes An Airplane, Rear Ended Car During Emergency Landing On Minnesota Highway

In a very odd incident, a small plane collided with a car on the I-35W in New Brighton, Minnesota.

Authorities report that at approximately 9:30 p.m. on December 2, the pilot of a single-engine Bellanca Viking was forced to make an emergency landing on the northbound lanes of the highway. CCTV cameras placed next to the road captured the entire thing on film.

The Minnesota highway didn’t have much traffic at the time and the pilot of the small plane can be seen finding a small gap in traffic and going for it. They managed to expertly avoid hitting any of the lamp posts and can be seen gently gliding the plane down to the road with seemingly very little fuss. Unfortunately, there was a car traveling in the right lane.

Watch Also: NYC Parking Spot Dispute Spirals Out Of Control As Car Crashes Into Bakery

While it’s a little hard to see from this CCTV footage, one of the plane’s wings hit the rear of the car. It is unclear how much damage was sustained to the car, but it is reported that the plane will need some costly repairs if it is to ever fly again.

WKYC reports that officials needed to close Northbound 35W for several hours while they cleared the road. Fortunately, no one involved in the incident was injured.

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This Ford Focus Owner Has Found An Unusual Way To Turn Heads

What do you do if you own a standard Ford Focus but want to make it look like something that’s performance oriented? An owner thinks they have found a solution.

The first thing that makes this orange Focus stand out are the wild exhausts. The owner was clearly looking to improve the soundtrack of the hatchback’s engine and also wanted to make a visual statement so has fitted a pair of custom tailpipes that reach out from under the bumper and stretch up by about 1.5 feet, pointing towards the sky. The tailpipes are bizarre, to say the least.

Read Also: Ken Block’s Ford Focus RS RX Gymkhana Car Just Sold For $200,000

Some other modifications have also been made. For example, there is a large rear spoiler stretching up from the roof and finished in black. Interestingly, this spoiler looks similar to the one offered on the Focus RS but features a large gurney flap that has been bolted on to make it even larger.

The owner of the Ford has also fitted a set of bolt-on fender flares and aftermarket wheels. You may also notice that there is a Decepticon badge on the tailgate, as well as tinting over the rear license plate and the Ford emblem.

While we’re not fans of the modifications made, this is far from the most distastefully modified car we’ve found while browsing Reddit. In fact, if not for the rather awkward tailpipes, we think it wouldn’t have raised too many eyebrows.

Italian Police Used A Lamborghini Huracan For Urgent 300-Mile Kidney Transport Run From Rome To Padua

A few weeks back, the Italian state police received a call to facilitate a kidney being transported from Rome to Padua rapidly, and instead of using a police escort or get approvals for a helicopter flight, they just “threw” it in the frunk of a Lamborghini Huracan and blasted off.

The supercar then went on a nearly 300 mile (500 km) journey, which would normally take more than four hours to complete. The Huracan did it in just over two hours, averaging 145 mph (230 km/h).

After reaching Gemelli University Hospital in record time, the kidney was taken into an operating room for a life-saving surgery, reports En24.

Watch: Lamborghini Huracan Spyder Not Impressed By Tropical Storm, Drives Through Flooded Road

The state police then posted the following clip on Twitter, saying that you don’t need superpowers in order to save lives, because solidarity, technology and efficiency can also get the job done.

There are multiple Lamborghini Huracan police vehicles in Italy, featuring recording equipment, video cameras, VHF police radio, portable fire extinguishers and of course, a refrigeration system for the luggage compartment in the front, designed specifically with organ transportation in mind.

Now, could this run have taken place with any other type of vehicle? Yes and no. There are less exotic models that can average 145 mph over that distance, say for instance a BMW 330i – doesn’t even have to be an M3. However, you still need the refrigeration system, which was obviously key here, making this Huracan an ideal choice for such a time-sensitive matter.

Lamborghini Huracan Spyder Not Impressed By Tropical Storm, Drives Through Flooded Road

With tropical storm Eta touching down in South Florida this past weekend, many drivers found themselves having to navigate their vehicles through floodwaters. It was especially bad in Miami, where a yellow Lamborghini Huracan Spyder was filmed making its way down the street almost entirely submerged.

Thanks to its mid-engine layout, the Lambo was able to plow ahead, seemingly uninterrupted. Whether that’s OK or not is a whole different story.

Videos of this “accomplishment” made their way onto Twitter and subsequently various media outlets, with people generally impressed with the Lambo’s ability to carry on where others had gotten stuck. We, however, can’t help but see things differently.

Watch: Tesla Model 3 Drives Through Deep Flood Waters In China

It really shouldn’t matter where the engine was and how expensive of a car you’re in. Trying to drive through a flooded street is a really bad idea, unless you’re in something massive like a heavy duty pickup or a vehicle with really high ground clearance.

Floodwaters should equal turning around immediately and finding a safe parking spot, or at least a way through where you don’t submerge half your car – that Huracan Spyder looked more like a submarine at one point.

Unfortunately this wasn’t the first driver to try their luck in these types of situations. It wasn’t even the first Lamborghini; as you can see video after the jump, a white Gallardo in San Diego did pretty much the same thing. You can also see how much damage Eta caused in Miami, as some vehicles, like this Mini, had to be literally rescued.

Tropical storm Eta made landfall in South Florida on Sunday night, flooding multiple areas including Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

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Woman Who Sued Body Shop Over Aston Martin Repair Bill Now Ordered To Pay $250,000

A judge rejected claims by the owner of a crashed Aston Martin DB9 that a body shop tried to scam her, and was ordered to pay more than CA$330,000 or about US$250,000 in current exchange rates.

The three-year legal battle between Jessica Liu, the owner of a crashed Aston Martin DB9, MCL Motor Cars, a dealership based in Vancouver, and Burrard Autostrasse, the body shop in question, came to an end as the owner now has to pay almost twice the value of her car.

Read More: Owner Of Crashed Aston Martin DB9 Refuses To Pay $100,000 Repair Bill

Jessica Liu crashed her 2014 Aston Martin DB9 (worth around CA$200,000 at the time) in December 2015 into a rock and had the car towed to Burrard Autostrasse. Liu, who only had basic insurance, received a formal initial estimate of between CA$85,000 and CA$132,000 Canadian (US65,000 to US$100,000) as the car had suffered structural damage. Liu paid a deposit of CA$50,000 (US$38,000) but refused to pay the remaining sum, filing instead a lawsuit against the auto shop and the dealership.

In her lawsuit, Liu claimed that she had been taken advantage of due to her lack of English skills and perception of wealth, and accused the dealership and the auto shop of breach of contract and collusion between the two defendants, Richmond News reports.

Since the owner didn’t pick up the car, Burrard Autostrasse stored the Aston Martin DB9 indoors for protection and charged her CA$200 per day.

In her lawsuit, Liu was seeking CA$300,000 Canadian (US$226,000) as compensation as she claimed she suffered a long list of personal injuries that included depression and anxiety, sleeping disorders, low self-esteem among others. She went through four different law firms before eventually represented herself in court.

In her ruling of the case, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Nitya Iyer found there was no evidence and no legal basis for any of Liu’s claims. The judge ordered Liu to settle not only the unpaid cost of the repairs and indoor storage fees, which amount to about US$330,000 Canadian (US$250,000), but to pay some of Burrard’s legal costs as well.

“Ms. Liu’s claim is meritless and she has made resolution of the issue virtually impossible,” Iyer wrote, as reported by TheBreaker. “Objectively assessed, her allegations of fraud, conspiracy, fraudulent misrepresentation, or breach of fiduciary duty are without legal foundation and she should not have advanced them. It is clear that Ms. Liu’s conduct of the litigation has been frustrating and extremely unpleasant for Burrard.”

“Notably, over $97,000 of this amount represented the cost of the parts Burrard purchased from Aston Martin to perform the repair. Burrard’s labour cost was about $12,000, or just under 9% of the total invoice,” the judge continued.

“She claims damages for various personal injuries and for travel to and from China, along with the value of a new vehicle, $300,000 and increased costs,” said Iyer’s verdict. “The stated legal basis for her claims is coercion, breach of fiduciary duty and extortion of her as a ‘financially well off’ person whose first language is not English. None of the evidence before me supports these allegations.”

 

Note: Stock Aston Martin pictures

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Audi Driver Quickly Discovers Quattro Doesn’t Work Under Water

Audi’s quattro all-wheel drive system definitely is very capable, but apparently is no match for a flooded underpass.

While that should be common sense, almost every time there’s flooding someone thinks their car can make it.

This time it was an A7 owner who decided to try their luck. As you can see, they went into the water at speed and things quickly took a turn for the worse.

Also Watch: McLaren 600LT Driver Tries To Cross Flood Waters, Promptly Gets Stuck

After getting a short way through, the front end sinks beneath the water. The rear end then floats up and car is taken away by the waves it just created. It then bobs around, before smacking into one of the walls.

The underpass was reportedly closed at the time and it remains unclear what happened next. However, Hungary’s Index reports the underpass has drainage issues and flooded days before this incident occurred on June 17th.

According to the the same source, an inch (27mm) of rain fell and flooded the underpass. Several people attempted to get through, but a number got stuck including the driver of a BMW who reportedly had to be rescued by firefighters. An “old Suzuki” did make it across, but the news outlet noted that there “wasn’t as much water as in the new video.”

Driving through a flooded area is obviously not the best of ideas. Not only can you get swept away, but it can easily cost thousands of dollars in damage – not to mention the fact that you’re putting your, and any potential passenger’s, life at risk…

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