Hautos

Watching Tesla

In March, Tesla Motors used the platform at the Geneva International Motor Show to debut the TAG Heuer Tesla Roadster, a one-off version of its $128,000 Roadster Sport, the hotly debated two-seat exotic sports car that can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds—and can be recharged from an electric outlet in the owner’s garage. During a presentation at the annual Baselworld horology tradeshow, TAG Heuer CEO Jean-Christophe Babin, flanked by Tesla founder Elon Musk and actor/environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio, announced that the car would serve as an Olympic Torch of sorts, leading a tour around the world to present TAG’s latest concept watch, the Grand Carrera Pendulum, during a touring road show dubbed “Odyssey of Pioneers.” The “pioneer” name is fitting; the Tesla Roadster is the first electric supercar, and the Pendulum timepiece forgoes the traditional hairspring found in timepieces and instead utilizes a radical new power regulation technology based on magnets. The Odyssey of Pioneers tour has completed stops in Monaco, Milan and Moscow, and soon will head to Delhi, Shanghai, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, London, and finally Paris.

The one-of-a-kind TAG Heuer Tesla Roadster has the same body as a typical Tesla, but it features a complex, five-layer paint job in Foucault Field Gray, complemented by pin-striping and precision-designed TAG-themed vinyl wraps, influenced by the imagined arc of a pendulum in honor of the watch’s name. Inside, Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla Motors’ senior design executive, integrated several unique design concepts inspired by TAG’s 150-year history. “There are a lot of very bespoke, one-off elements of the car that are unique to this vehicle,” he explains. For example, the center console features a TAG one-fifth second limited edition stopwatch and a Meridiist mobile phone, as well as the Grand Carrera Pendulum concept watch, displayed in a specially designed box.

In addition to promoting TAG’s concept watch and the brand’s anniversary, part of Tesla’s mission behind the Odyssey tour is to demonstrate the daily usability of the Roadster to markets that may not be familiar with the car. “We still see that people don’t really believe that electric cars are here right now,” explains von Holzhausen. “And when we show up with an actual vehicle, and they see it drive under its own power, it’s still a jaw-dropping moment for a lot of people. But you just need to be behind the wheel of a Roadster for five minutes before you realize that this really is the future.”

The Legend of Greystone

To an untrained eye, the event that took place at Beverly Hills’ Greystone Mansion on Sunday, April 11, could have easily been mistaken for a cocktail party thrown during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Guests were treated to complementary fine dining, flowing open bars, and bird’s-eye views of the Los Angeles skyline from the grounds of an expansive estate. Rita Hayworth’s Cadillac and Fred Astaire’s Rolls-Royce were parked in the mansion’s motor court, while a host of scintillating prewar and vintage cars could be found in the guest parking lot on the north side of the grounds.

In actuality, the City of Beverly Hills opened the gates of the hallowed estate, once home to the legendary Doheny family, for the inaugural Greystone Concours d’Elegance, a daylong celebration of food, fashion, and collectible vintage sports cars and luxury automobiles. The $100 price of admission ensured that guests were part of a pedigreed and affluent crowd, and the group of automotive aficionados and classic car enthusiasts in attendance enjoyed self-guided tours of the opulent mansion, a fashion show on one of the manicured lawns, and a judged exhibit of a wide selection of rare and desirable classic automobiles.

Santa Monica-based auction house Gooding & Company, which has shot to the forefront of the industry thanks to its annual Pebble Beach sale of classic autos, and Petersen Automotive Museum, a recognized leader in the local auto culture, both made a considerable impact on the event. Gooding displayed the Palm Beach Special, a one-of-a-kind 1956 Nash Rambler bodied by Pininfarina, as well as a 1938 Talbot Darracq T23 Drop Head Coupe. The Petersen Museum brought the aforementioned 1927 Phantom owned by Fred Astaire as well as the 1953 Cadillac that was once gifted to Rita Hayworth by her husband Ali Khan. The Cadillac has a Ghia-designed body, one of only two ever made, while the Rolls features a valuable-in-itself piece of Louis Vuitton luggage monogrammed with an “A” and packed with Astaire accoutrements including a cricket paddle, tennis racket, cane, top hat, and decanter.

-Best of Show 1933 Minerva AL Cabriolet, owned by Paul Emple
-Spirit of Greystone 1929 Packard Convertible Sedan, owned by Michael Harrah
-Tiffany & Co. Most Elegant 1937 Delahaye 135M Roadster, owned by Peter Mullin
-Mayor’s Choice 1956 Maserati A6G/2000 Zagato, owned by David Sydorick
-People’s Choice 1956 Fiat 8V Zagato, owned by Scott Gauthier

Gran Turismo Omologato

Of all of the alphanumeric abbreviations that float around in the greater automotive lexicon, few draw as unanimous a reaction of admiration and respect as GT0. So inspiring is the lore surrounding the moniker that it has been used no more than five times in various models over the last 50 years. Although Americans may connote the term with the recent (and short-lived) Holden-produced Pontiac or the original 1960s Pontiac muscle car that inspired it, both of those cars blatantly co-opted their names from the 1962 Ferrari GT0.

To bring the uninitiated up to speed, Ferrari’s Gran Turismo (or Gran Touring) cars had been around for some time when the company chose to rework its popular 250 GT for improved racing performance. Under FIA rules, manufacturers had to homologate (read: approve) a proposed racecar, meaning that a prerequisite number of road-going examples had to be produced for the car to qualify for competition. Famed designer Giotto Bizzarrini redesigned the 250 GT0’s body with the assistance of a wind tunnel, resulting in a sleek looker that was christened the 250 GTO, the “O” standing for Omologato (Italian for homologated). Ironically, Ferrari never produced the 100 road cars necessary to satisfy the homologation requirements, although that didn’t stop the GTO from winning three consecutive Manufacturer’s World Championships.

Now considered to be one of the most sensational sports car designs of all time, a cachet that is amplified by the model’s racing success and paucity of production (only 39 examples ever made), the 250 GTO has reached an unheard of echelon of desirability. In today’s auction market, it would take between $5 million and $10 million for one of the cars to change hands. But other than a brief resuscitation in the 1980s that saw the name applied to a 308-derived supercar called the 288 GTO, Ferrari has kept its classic moniker in the garage over the years…until now.

In April 2010, Ferrari officially unveiled the 500 GTO, the third evolution in the nameplate’s rich tradition. Visually rooted in the company’s current 599 GTB Fiorano, the new GTO has received considerable technological input from the development of the new 599XX experimental track car. The 599 GTO is the company’s fastest road car ever, accelerating from zero to 62 mph in 3.35 seconds with a top speed in excess of 208 mph. Such gaudy numbers have been achieved through weight-saving measures like thinner-gauge aluminum body panels and thinner glass, as well as a host of redesigned scoops and intakes. A new crank shift and 60-millisecond shift times also contribute to the GTO’s blast-off power. Though the new car’s 12-cylinder engine shares the Fiorano’s 5,999 cc displacement, its 599XX-derived improvements have resulted in 58 more horses for a total of 670 horsepower. With plans to produce only 599 examples of the new GTO, all of which have already been sold, the word “exclusive” is apt.