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BMW M5 going viral the right way

18 August, 2017

 


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The early 2000s were a simpler time. The internet was in its infancy which meant videos and ads didn’t have the avenues to go viral that they do these days. There are now billions of people making stupid people famous. We then make them rich(er?) by buying the products they promote online, thereby creating an endless cycle of shit.

Way back when, companies had to think about how they’d sell their products, and in doing so, they created some simply brilliant ads. And BMW got it right with these gems.

This BMW M5 ad must rate as one of the best car ads of all time. Perfect in its simplicity, we reckon.

Along with this, BMW made several short films for their 2001/02 model line up. Not just any student short films, mind you. They engaged the likes of action man John Woo, Ang Lee, Neill Blomkamp and Marilyn Manson (errr?) to direct character based films featuring the cars and some big Hollywood names like Mickey Rourke, Danny Trejo and Forest Whittaker.

The best of the bunch was directed by Guy Richie and starring his wife at the time, Madonna, entitled The Star. The star of the show really though, is Clive Owen driving the M5 like it should be. Even though Madonna is a dreadful actor, this is still worth a few minutes of your time.

 


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Almost mythical pony

25 July, 2024

The Shelby came to our shores in 2003. It went from the original New Zealand owner to an owner in Auckland. Malcolm just happened to be in the right place with the right amount of money in 2018 and a deal was done. Since then, plenty of people have tried to buy it off him. The odometer reads 92,300 miles. From the condition of the car that seems to be correct and only the first time around.
Malcolm’s car is an automatic. It has the 1966 dashboard, the back seat, the rear quarter windows and the scoops funnelling air to the rear brakes.
He even has the original bill of sale from October 1965 in California.

Becoming fond of Fords part two – happy times with Escorts

17 July, 2024

In part one of this Ford-flavoured trip down memory lane I recalled a sad and instructive episode when I learned my shortcomings as a car tuner, something that tainted my appreciation of Mk2 Ford Escort vans in particular. Prior to that I had a couple of other Ford entanglements of slightly more redeeming merit. There were two Mk1 Escorts I had got my hands on: a 1972 1300 XL belonging to my father and a later, end-of-line, English-assembled 1974 1100, which my partner and I bought from Panmure Motors Ford in Auckland in 1980. Both those cars were the high water mark of my relationship with the Ford Motor Co. I liked the Mk1 Escorts. They were nice, nippy, small cars, particularly the 1300, which handled really well, and had a very precise gearbox for the time.
Images of Jim Richards in the Carney Racing Williment-built Twin Cam Escort and Paul Fahey in the Alan Mann–built Escort FVA often loomed in my imagination when I was driving these Mk1 Escorts — not that I was under any illusion of comparable driving skills, but they had to be having just as much fun as I was steering the basic versions of these projectiles.