Detail demon: the 138-hour professional detail of a McLaren F1 GT-R LT

4 October, 2016

So you like cleaning your car on the weekends? Do you use two buckets? That’s cute — these lads just completed a 138-hour detail. Four professional, efficient detailers taking 138 hours as a team to complete the task.

Why, you ask? Larry Kosilla, Kevin Brown, Dan Miele, and Joseph Torbati detailed this 1997 McLaren F1 GT-R LT for the Quail Concours on August 19 in California, and even managed to win the Spirit of the Quail award, which is awarded to the vehicle that best represents the true spirit of motoring.

If you’re keen to see the folk hard at work, then check it out. This is an incredible channel to follow if you’re into detailing. 

Motorman – The saga of the Temple Buell Maseratis

Swiss-born Hans Tanner and American Temple Buell were apparently among the many overseas visitors who arrived in New Zealand for the Ardmore Grand Prix and Lady Wigram trophy in January 1959. Unlike Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Ron Flockhart, Harry Schell and Carroll Shelby who lined up for the sixth New Zealand Grand Prix that year, Tanner and Buell were not racing drivers but they were key players in international motor sport.
Neither the rotund and cheery Buell nor the multi-faceted Tanner were keen on being photographed and the word ‘apparently’ is used in the absence of hard evidence that Buell actually arrived in this country 64 years ago.

Luxury by design

How do you define luxury? To some it is being blinded with all manner of technological wizardry, from massaging heated seats to being able to activate everything with your voice, be it the driver’s side window or the next track on Spotify. To others, the most exorbitant price tag will dictate how luxurious a car is.
For me, true automotive luxury comes from being transported in unparalleled comfort, refinement, and smoothness of power under complete control. Forget millions of technological toys; if one can be transported here and there without the sensation of moving at all, that is luxury — something that is perfectly encapsulated by the original Lexus LS400. It was the first truly global luxury car from Toyota, and one that made the big luxury brands take notice.