MY FEEDLY

The Extraordinary Automotive Art Of Avakov Ilya

This is the art of Avakov Ilya, a Red Dot award winning industrial designer who graduated from the Saint Petersburg State Art Industrial Academy in 2007. After establishing himself as an industrial designer of some merit Avakov began experimenting with automotive art, a personal passion that quickly became a full time job.

Avakov’s captivating artwork was seen by Rupert White of Historic Car Art, and before long his work had been displayed at a slew of high end exhibitions including The Art of Motoring at Pall Mall in London, the Martini in Motorsport 50 Year Celebration at the Royal Automobile Club in London, Race Retro, Concourse de Elegance at AFAS in Miami, and the official Formula 1 “Greatest Race“ Exhibition at the Sochi Grand Prix.

The Miami exhibition was organized by the AFAS, the Association of Automotive Artists of America, fellow artists Ken Eberts and Klaus Wagger were essential in bringing Avakov onboard and showcasing his work in the United States.

Avakov largely works with both the more traditional oils and acrylics on canvas as well as more modern digital art creation methods. He focuses on classic cars and vintage racing mostly however he does occasionally create works showing more futuristic vehicles.

If you’d like to see more of Avakov’s art you can click here to visit the gallery listing. Alternatively you can click here to follow him on Instagram and see all of his new work as it’s completed.

He does take commissions, so if there’s a specific car you want immortalized as art, he would love to hear from you.

Images courtesy of Avakov Ilya – 2021

The post The Extraordinary Automotive Art Of Avakov Ilya appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/avakov-ilya-art/
via gqrds

A Tastefully Executed Chevrolet Corvette C1 “Fuelie” Restomod

The world of restomods (restorations that include modern performance upgrades) is often blighted by controversial decision making that isn’t to everyone’s taste. Things like big wheels and low profile tires on ’60s era muscle cars and colored fluorescent lights glowing up from beneath cars from the ’50s.

We could argue back and forth about choices like this for hours but at the end of the day, it’s the choice of each owner what they want to do with their classic. Even if some of it is truly harrowing.

What we are starting to see more of is cars like this “Fuelie” Corvette from 1957 – tasteful restomods that keep the core design and style of the original in place and just add some subtle upgrades that make it far better at handling modern driving conditions.

Upgrades like disc brakes on all four corners, more modern engines and transmissions, and upgraded problem areas like radiators, carburetors, gauges, and ignition systems.

This Corvette started life as an original “Fuelie”, a nickname given to Corvettes with fuel injection that was first offered as an (expensive) option in 1957 – the year this car was made. Just 1,040 were made in 1957 and now they’re among the most collectible Corvettes in history.

Sadly the fuel injected engine in this particular 1957 C1 isn’t the original, it’s a later fuel-injected 350 cu. in. (5.7 litre) V8 crate engine. Although this engine will likely be far easier to drive regularly than the original the fact that it’s not a numbers matching car means it’ll be selling for notably less than an original.

Above Image: The interior of the car benefits from some additional careful upgrades, like more modern gauges and a retro stereo that still looks period correct.

This is likely why the owner opted to go through the car from front to back and make some upgrades. The car is now fitted with front and rear disc brakes tucked behind aftermarket American Racing 16″ alloy wheels. Inside you’ll note more modern gauges an upgraded stereo that’s designed to look period correct.

Perhaps the only controversial choice is the fitment of an automatic transmission. Many motoring purists will decry this choice however it’s probably worth mentioning that when the Corvette was first introduced in 1953 it only came with an automatic gearbox – the manual didn’t become an option until 1955.

That said, due to the ubiquitous nature of the 350 cu. in. Chevy crate engine it would take very little effort for a future owner to get a manual gearbox installed if they wanted to – in fact there are kits available to buy online for this explicit purpose.

The first generation Corvette has long been lauded as the most stylistically pure, an American take on the European sports car phenomenon that took the world by storm in the years after World War II.

The Corvette was one of the first production cars to feature a body made from lightweight fiberglass, a state-of-the-art composite material in the 1950s. Initially its sales figures weren’t particularly impressive however Americans soon warmed to the new Chevrolet sports car and today it’s in its 8th generation with the C8 Corvette featuring supercar capabilities and a mid-engined layout for the first time.

If you’d like to read more about the unusual restomod C1 Corvette shown here you can click here to visit the listing. It’s currently being auctioned live on Collecting Cars.

Images Collecting Cars

The post A Tastefully Executed Chevrolet Corvette C1 “Fuelie” Restomod appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/corvette-c1-restomod/
via gqrds

For Sale: The Rolls-Royce That Belonged To Both Princess Margaret And Burt Reynolds

There can’t be many vehicles in the world that can boast of former owner provenance as varied as this 1975 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. It was first owned by Princess Margaret, then 10 years later in 1984 it was exported to the USA and into the ownership of Smokey and the Bandit star Burt Reynolds.

The British Royal Family are well known for their love of opulent vehicles, Rolls-Royces have been family favorites for many years of course but a number of other marques have been parked on royal driveways over the years including cars from Bentley, Aston Martin, Range Rover, and MG.

Few of the cars that are ordered by royals remain in stock trim, typically a slew of upgrades are requested and they can include anything from those little flagpoles for holding royal insignia to bulletproof glass.

Princess Margaret’s Silver Shadow

Princess Margaret, the Countess of Snowdon, ordered this Silver Shadow in November of 1974 to replace her previous model. She specified that it be finished in the same color scheme, Cardinal Red with a black vinyl top and black leather interior with cherry red carpeting throughout.

The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow is one of the most important models in the British marque’s long history, it was the first Rolls-Royce to use unibody construction and to this day it has the largest combined model run production volume of any Roller – helping to keep the company in business throughout the turbulent years of the 1970s.

From a styling perspective the Silver Shadow was a perfect balance between the sweeping curves of the earlier Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III and the more angular design of the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit.

Rolls-Royce engineers incorporated a significant number of upgrades into the Silver Shadow including the aforementioned unibody constriction replacing the outdated body-on-chassis construction of earlier cars – it also boasted disc brakes and independent rear suspension.

Above Image: The car’s interior is as opulent as you would expect for a Rolls-Royce, with all the bells and whistles that many production cars of the era went without.

As you would imagine the interior of the car wasn’t left out of the upgrade cycle, it was now wider and more roomy thanks in part to the space savings from switching to unibody architecture. The passenger compartment of the Silver Shadow was almost certainly the most opulent of any production car in the world when it was released in 1965, and it remained a favorite with wedding car companies for decades in part for this reason.

Rolls-Royces have a well-earned reputation for their prodigiously sized engines and the Silver Shadow is no exception, the model was initially powered by a 6,230cc V8 from 1965 until 1970 when the swept capacity was increased to 6,750cc.

The specification list for Princess Margaret’s Silver Shadow included many non-standard items like an illuminated blue police lamp, a flag mast, and an illuminated shield above the windscreen. The Princess kept the car for a number of years, replacing it in 1979 when she upgraded to the then-new Silver Wraith II.

Burt Reynolds Takes Ownership

The car’s next claim to fame occurred in 1984 when it was bought by Burt Reynolds Productions on behalf of Burt Reynolds and shipped to the United States. This was the same year Cannonball Run II was released though this particular car didn’t appear in the film.

In the years after this the car was returned to Europe and spent time in a number of private collections before landing in the ownership of the current keeper, who is now offering the car for sale with RM Sotheby’s on the 19th of June.

The current price estimate is CHF 65,000 to CHF 110,000, which works out to approximately $71,815 to $121,533 USD. If you’d like to read more about the car or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

The post For Sale: The Rolls-Royce That Belonged To Both Princess Margaret And Burt Reynolds appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/rolls-royce-princess-margaret-burt-reynolds/
via gqrds

A BMW 325iX Rally Car – The First All-Wheel Drive Production BMW

The BMW 325 iX was the first BMW road car to be offered with all-wheel drive, it was first released back in 1986 as an answer to the Audi Quattros which were dominating in the world of rally and enjoying a sales boost as a result.

It was clear by the mid-1980s that AWD was the future of rally, some went so far to argue that it was the future of road cars too due to the improved control on snow, ice, mud, and other slippery surfaces.

Development Of The BMW 325iX

Rather than developing an all-new AWD car from scratch BMW’s engineers created a new version of the popular E30 with a newly developed center differential to send power both forwards and backwards with a 37/63 front/back split.

Complex computer controlled traction systems did exist in the 1980s however they were beyond the scope of the BMW iX project. BMW instead fitted the car with a Ferguson-type viscous coupling filled with silicon to split the torque front and rear, with a second silicone filled viscous coupling in the rear to act as a limited-slip differential.

Although relatively simple by today’s standards, the central viscous coupling could send up to 90% of torque to the front or rear depending on which wheels had the best traction and it was lauded by journalists in period magazine reviews.

Rather than going into too much detail about how the drive system worked I’ve added an excerpt below from the comprehensive history on the BMW iX from the (highly recommended) Bimmer Forums below:

“Two “limited-slip” Ferguson-type viscous couplings are fitted on the 325iX. These are filled with silicone and are not computer controlled. The one behind the transmission splits torque front to rear (nominally 37/63%). A series of plates with holes and slots turn in the silicone fluid. Some plates are attached to the front axle driveshaft and some are attached to the rear axle driveshaft.”

“Normally the plates turn at the same rate without relative motion. The silicone becomes very viscous as soon as it is heated by friction and shear caused by differences between the motion of the plates. This tends to lock the driveshafts. If the rear wheels and driveshaft are slipping and turning faster than the front, friction between the plates increases, slippage is reduced, the rear wheel spin is reduced and the power from the input shaft is transferred to the front.”

Above Image: The 325iX has slightly wider wheel arches than the regular 325i, there are a number of other significant changes under the skin too, all to get the AWD drivetrain to fit in.

Although from the outside the BMW 325iX looks almost indistinguishable from the regular BMW 325i there have actually been significant changes made. The track width of the iX is slightly wonder and so the wheel arches are wider, the ride height of the car is about 20mm higher as well, and the front suspension was modified to fit the new front drive system in place which is immediately noticeable when you open the hood.

In the years that have passed since the 325iX was introduced the model has proven reliable, particularly remarkable when you remember that this was the first all-wheel drive production BMW and many of the engineers were designing these system for the first time. Once notable difference between the iX and the regular car is that the iX needs to have its viscous couplings rebuilt approximately every 70,000 miles.

Over the course of the 1986 to 1991 production run a little over 15,000 examples of the iX were built, all left-hand drive save for a few that were converted after leaving the factory. Both two and four-door versions were offered and some of these cars were converted by their owners into rally specification to try their hand at racing.

In the years since the 325iX left production BMW has released dozens of all-wheel drive vehicles, all of which can trace their lineage back to the boxy little modified E30 from 1986. It’s not known how many 325iXs have survived, many succumbed to rust and neglect, a few were put sideways into trees by owners who found a gravel road and decided to try their hand at being Walter Röhrl.

The 1986 BMW 325iX Shown Here

The car you see here was driven in the 1991 Spanish Rally Championship by José María Ponce with co-driver José Carlos Deniz finishing second in class at the 1991 Rally de Catalunya.

The vehicle features a Group N rally pack, including Bilstein shock absorbers, Ferodo racing brake pads, Sparco seats with Sabelt harnesses, a roll cage, an uprated exhaust, and a limited-slip differential.

It’s accompanied by FIA Historic Technical Passport and homologation book sheet, along with a raft of photographs documenting its life as an active rally car.

It’s not everyday we see a 325iX come up for sale that was raced in-period, and the fact that this car comes with its FIA Historic Technical Passport means that it will be eligible for a slew of vintage motorsport events should the new owner wish.

The car is currently being offered for sale by Collecting Cars and you can click here if you’d like to read more or register to bid.