The 67th Annual Geneva Car Show - 1997
by Paul Negyesi
The Swiss tuner introduced a 3.6 litre engine conversion for the C-class T-model Merceds
In Europe we now have all those kind of obscure carmakers from Far East. We are accustomed to Hyundai and Daewoo's agressive marketing plans also had their effects. But to some degree SsangYong, Kia and Proton remains in the background.
Proton is active in the UK for about a decade, but further European expansion started 1-2 years ago. The Protons offered in Europe are basically the previous generation Mitsubishi Colt/Lancer with tweaked front.
Last year the Swiss tuner vandalised the beautifully crafted Talbo, a replica of the Talbot-Lago T150SS "Teardrop" coupé by Figoni&Falaschi.
That yellow thing was made in conjunction with the creator of Talbo. The two teamed up again to repeat their crime against aesthetics, this time with the Mono Ego
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The Mono Ego is a one-seater roadster, styled like a '50s US sprint racer.
The idea came from the mind of Frank M. Rinderknecht, head of the Swiss
Rinspeed tuning company. It was designed by a Frenchman (isn't it obvious
if You look at the blue-white-red color of the car?), Jean-Charles
de Castelbajac and was built by TLC Carossiers Inc., maker of the Talbot-Lago
replica, Talbo.
The body and the engine are made of aluminium. It's powered by a 410 bhp V8 engine. The car weighs 960 kg and sprints to 100 km/h speed within 4.8 secs. Max speed is 258 km/h. The project was helped by various sponsors. They supplied the tires, the hi-fi system, the suspension components and so on: like the golf bag was specially made by De'Shama, a Swiss travel goods company, the running-gear is from Eibach, which contributos to the McLaren Formula 1 team etc. The interior is also the work of Castelbajac, who is a fashion designer. Rieter Automotive Systems supplied the finest of all carpets for the interior. - states the press release.
There's no price available at the moment. |
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AC Schnitzer shared the place with Rinspeed. They're making BMW engines bigger, more powerful, like a Z3 with 2.1 litre engine. And they created a rocket out of the 528i: 0-100 km/h in 6.9 secs and a max. speed of 258 km/h
His students turned out in full power: no less than 6 concepts were featured on their stand.
The Ionos, is a Lancia based coupé. It is a modern interpretatation of the Lancia Stratos.
The development was coordinated at Lancia and was also supported by them: like the 1:1 polystyrene model was milled at the Lancia style centre
The wraparound winshield, the rakish nose characterises the car. It is 3.8 metres lonw, powered by two 2.4 litre 5-cylinder units from the Lancia kappa, formin a 10-cylinder block. The transmission, front diferrential and all-wheel drive hardware are from Porsche.
The Berlingo Grand Angle takes the fantastic
There's an electrically powered raear seat, which can rise 1.3 m above
the vehicle. The car is also a mobile press office: satellite
telephone with digital picture capability, Internet-linked computer with
printer and modem, radio, television, electronic map reading and navigational
system are all equipments!
Phillippe Charbonneaux has been toying with unusually shaped four-wheelers
for decades: the wheels are placed in rhomboid style.
He believes that this unusual arrangement guarantees bigger safety.
Sbarro took over the concept and made a three-seater out of it. The 3.6-litre
Porsche engine sits in the rear with Tiptronic transmission and self-levelling
hydropneumatic suspension.
Formule Rhin
THere were two sportscar equipped with two steering wheels. These tiny
machines are ideal forteaching racing drive on tracks.
The Formule Rhin is the bigger with a three-litre V6, the Be-Twin
features a 1.6 16v Citroén powerplant.
Sbarro also exhibited a slightly changed Berlinette échappement.
This Frnech sportscar is the work of the French sportscar magazine,
Echappement. Sbarro did some styling changes. The last model was a very,
very small, egg-shaped town car - without announcing any details. I have
one: I'm 1.86 metres tall. I sat in the car and had to watch my head when
the door was closed on me, because my head was above the roof-line :-)!
Both are experimenting with hood mechanism along with their existing projects.
Valmet's latest offer is a brown-blue styling mock-up, named Boréal
which had an electronically retractable hard-top. There's no doubt: this is
an answer to Karmann's Mercedes SLK top.
Valmet's assembly profile is very wide: they had Calibra lines, Saab 900 Cabriolet lines, Lada Samara lines and now Porsche Boxster line!
Pick another exhibitor:
AC Schnitzer, Alfa Romeo, Alpina, Audax, Audi, Berard, Bertone, BMW, Brabus, Caterham, Chrysler, Citroën, Daewoo, Daihatsu, DeTomaso, DigitPower, Ferrari, Fiat, Ford, General Motors USA Gigliato, Heuliez, Honda, Hyundai, Irmscher, ItalDesign, IVM Engineering, Jaguar, Jimenez Novia Karmann, Kia, Lamborghini, Lancia, Lorinser, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes, Michalak, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opel, Peugeot, Pininfarina, Porsche, Proton, Puch, Renault, Rinspeed, Rolls-Royce/Bentley, Rover/Land Rover/MG/Mini, Saab, Sbarro, Seat, Skoda, Spectre, SsangYong, Strosek, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Valmet, Venturi, Volkswagen, Volvo, BEGINNING OF REPORT.
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