Offbeat Southern Oregon Autos

In our travels around town we ran into our latest Offbeat Southern Oregon Auto. We're headed to Los Arcos http://www.facebook.com/losarcostaqueria over the weekend for some of the best Pozole you'll find in the valley when we spotted this one.

 

I'm not quite sure what the functionality of this car is with it's front end being the front end of a Ford and the rear end being the front end of a Chevy. Each end has a dashboard, steering wheel, and drivers and passengers seats. The owner jokes that if the registration expires on one side he just gets into the other side and drives that end :).

 

If you look in the background, you can pretty easily figure out which downtown Medford dealer this is...maybe they'll make you a great deal on it!

 

And if you do end up going to Los Arcos for their Pozole, pick up our latest copy of Auto Emporium to read while you're enjoying it!

 

 

Carscoop: 2014 Sorento May Look the Same, But Kia Says 80 Pe...

If you were to take a quick look at the 2014 Kia Sorento, which is enjoying its North American premiere at this week's Los Angeles Auto Show, what you would probably see is the restyled front and rear ends, and some barely noticeable tweaks in the cabin.
Ask Kia, however, and the Koreans will tell you that there's much more than meets the eye to the revamped Sorento. In fact, Kia claims that more than 80 percent of the parts in the crossover are either "all-new or significantly redesigned", including the 3.3-liter GDI V6 engine producing 290 horsepower.

Visit www.ButlerKia.com and shop the 2013 Kia lineup!

Revista Caminos Vehicle of the Month sponsored by Auto Emporium

Lets hear it one more time… who says females only drive cute small vehicles? Nowadays this is most definitely not the case, every type of person may own and drive every type of vehicle imaginable.  Times have change, for the better! From Mexican parents in search of the American dream, Maria Arias and her family settled in Oregon when she was four years old.  Growing up in the Rogue Valley, Maria received her education in the Phoenix-Talent school district.  With determination and the will to achieve her goals, Maria enrolled in Southern Oregon University in 2007.   In 2012, with great effort and dedication she obtained her Bachelors in Business Administration with a focus in the accounting field.

Maria is part of the select group of females willing to navigate such a grand truck with great character.  It is not everyday that we see a young lady such as Maria driving an enormous truck with a lifted suspension.  When she is seen in her truck, Maria typically encounters many shocked observers who more often than not assume she is not the owner, “everyone is surprised to see me step out of my truck, people typically think I am driving my boyfriends truck when in reality I am the proud owner.”  Maria’s 2008 black Toyota Tacoma was like love at first sight, “I just replaced the grill, added tread running boards and wheels making it the perfect truck for me.”

 

As published in November's Revista Caminos.

Mercedes-Benz Ener-G-Force Concept

Mercedes-Benz Ener-G-Force Concept

Making the world safe for SUVs, or maybe the other way around, the Ener-G-Force is concept for an environmentally friendly, but menacing-looking replacement for Mercedes-Benz's ancient G-Class off-roader, which first debuted in 1979. The extreme-off road vehicle sports a tub on top to collect rainwater that's converted into hydrogen for its fuel-cell powered electric drivetrain.

Source: Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes SLS AMG Coupé Black Series revealed… and it’s a beast

Chris Davies, Nov 10th 2012

Mercedes has outed its latest high-performance AMG branded sportscar, the SLS AMG Coupé Black Series, borrowing racing credentials for an achingly impressive road car. Wrapping a long-snouted, gull-wing chassis around AMG’s 6.3-liter V8 engine, the new car forces 631 HP through a 7-speed sports transmission, for a 0-60mph surge in 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 197mph.

That V8 comes with no supercharging or turbocharging, instead relying on natural aspiration for its 8,000rpm maximum and 635 Mb of torque at 5500rpm. However, various AMG efforts to slim the car have helped squeeze as much potential out of the powerplant as possible; the new sports exhaust system, for instance, has been crafted from titanium, saving 13kg from its steel predecessor.

In fact, at 1,550kg, the SLS AMG Coupé Black Series is 70kg in total lighter than the SLS AMG. The bonnet is carbon-fiber reinforced plastic, just as is used in motorsport, as is the rear panel behind the seats, the underbody bracing, and the torque tube. CRP replaces aluminum in sections of the space frame, and even the traditional starter battery has been junked, replaced by an 8kg lighter li-ion power pack.

For the driver, the most noticeable differences may be the new dual-clutch transmission – which has faster shifting speed and auto double-declutching during downshifts, along with a temporary manual mode for the occasional system override – and the AMG rear-axle differential lock, which promises better control over traction, even when most of the nannying electrics have been turned off. There are ceramic composite brakes as standard – now 16kg lighter than the old set – and an all-new chassis and suspension system.

Externally, Mercedes-AMG has borrowed FIA GT3 style for the SLS AMG Coupé Black Series’ flared wings, tinted lights, various carbon-fiber splitters, sills, and other components. Inside, there are bucket seats, metal elements across the dash, and plenty of leather and Alcantara. AMG even ditches Mercedes’ traditional COMAND APS entertainment/nav system to save weight, though it can be added back in as an option. That can be paired with a Bang & Olufsen sourced 1000W audio system with eleven speakers, two of which are illuminated.
Mercedes-AMG says the new car will go on sale in June 2013. No word on pricing at this stage.

Banned Toyota Commercial

Now this is a Chrysler product we can actually believe Clint Eastwood would drive.
The Legacy Power Wagon is a customized version of Dodge’s 1946-1968 vintage truck, refurbished and fitted with modern nderpinnings. Built by Legacy Classic Trucks,  a small outfit in the suitably rugged, yet upscale locale of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the old girl has plenty of new tricks.  Legacy starts with the chassis of an original donor vehicle, puts it through a frame-off restoration, primes and paints it on a rotisserie rig to hit every nook and cranny, then goes to work on the running gear and interior appointments.

 The trucks are built to order and can be had with a variety of engines including a fuel-injected 360 cubic-inch Magnum V8 stroked to 426 cu-in or a 4.5-liter 4-cylinder Cummins turbodiesel engine with 500 lb-ft of torque. Manual and automatic transmissions are available and a 4x4 drivetrain comes standard with Dynatrac and Dana axles, locking differentials and an Atlas transfer case.  The tow-rating is a healthy 8,000 pounds, while a long-travel leaf-sprung suspension with Bilstein shocks can be complimented with a set of beadlock wheels for off-road capability that would likely give a Jeep Scrambler a run for its money. Even if you overdo it, a 16,500-pound front-mounted winch should be enough to get you out of trouble.

Inside, the Power Wagon gets an all-new quarter-inch steel plate dashboard with bespoke New Vintage gauges and Carling rocker switches, along with a set of leather upholstered captain’s chairs.  Along with the standard cab model, Legacy can do extended cab and four-door versions or a Carryall-style SUV. Prices are slightly higher than the $1,627 list price of the 1946 original, starting at $119,950 and running up to $249,000 for a Woodie wagon with bodywork constructed from mahogany and ash that takes 2,000 man hours to make.

Nevertheless, business has been brisk by boutique auto shop standards. Company founder Winslow Bent says that in the three years he’s been in business he’s delivered 25 trucks around the world and has five more under construction.
Clint’s Super Bowl commercial may have featured the new Power Wagon, but, as with him, it’s clearly hard to resist the appeal of an original.


Read: ICON's 'new' 1965 Dodge pickup


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/11/01/legacy-power-wagon-is-reborn-american-classic/?intcmp=features#ixzz2B1gOPBkC