Category: News

Ecto-1 is the barn find of a lifetime in ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’

Following the women-led "Ghostbusters" reboot in 2016, a completely new chapter in the franchise will be born in 2020. "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" will feature a fresh cast, a modern story and cutting-edge cinematics. Yet, one thing will remain the same: the famous Ecto-1. The first trailer for the upcoming film shows the classic movie car — a highly modified 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Futura Duplex — still has a little gas in the tank, even after sitting in a barn for more than 30 years.

"Afterlife" follows a character played by Finn Wolfhard (Mike from "Stranger Things") as he, his sister and his mom are evicted and move to an inherited farmhouse in Summerville, Oklahoma. The property, previously owned by the kids' grandfather, turns out to be a secret storage facility for all of the old Ghostbusters gear. Grandpa was Dr. Egon Spengler.

The research, the uniforms, the ghost traps and the Ecto-1 are all tucked away and out of sight. Trevor, Wolfhard's character, finds the automotive relic and is able to start the old box of bolts. He and his sister Phoebe are then seen careening the Ecto-1 through a field and testing out the car's gunner seat in town. 

Paul Rudd enters the picture as Mr. Grooberson, a teacher at the kids' school who shows an interest in Phoebe's ghost trap. As somebody who remembers the Manhattan Crossrip well, Grooberson schools the kids on the past and, with them, explores their connection to it all. 

The trailer closes with a Bill Murray quote from the original film: "Call it fate, call it luck, call it karma ... I believe that everything happens for a reason." He, along with Dan Aykroyd and Sigourney Weaver, are expected to have some sort of involvement in the new movie, though it's unclear what that will be. We'll find out more next year when "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" opens summer 2020.

P.S. How about that Ford Ranchero GT?

Full-size Pierce Arrow Pikes Peak car built out of gingerbread

Fancy hotels love a big ol' fancy gingerbread sculpture this time of year. Forbes Travel lists a few of them, the exhibitions including a 10-foot-tall streetcar in at the Four Seasons New Orleans and an 18-foot-tall lighthouse at Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour. The Broadmoor, Colorado's luxury resort near Pikes Peak, has been in the gingerbread extravaganza game since 1964 and lately put together some stunning creations. In 2017, the hotel's pastry team built a 12-foot tall, 3.7-million-calorie gingerbread church, then followed that in 2018 with a 13.5-foot-tall replica of the original 1918 resort. This year the dimensions grow but in the horizontal, and the subject matter into our wheelhouse, with the resort's pastry team creating a 14-foot long replica of The Broadmoor Special, a 1918 Pierce Arrow Touring Car converted to race in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb eight times through the 1920s.

A gent named Spencer Penrose built the Pikes Peak highway to the mountain's summit, founded the hill climb race in 1916, and the resort that opened in 1918. To whip up interest in the ventures, he gave the The Broadmoor's master mechanic, Angelo Cimino, and his chauffeur, Harry McMillen, his Pace Arrow Touring Car and directions to turn the limousine into a racer. The car that became known as the Yellow Devil climbed the 14,433-foot mountain eight times from 1922 to 1932, finishing fourth in 1926 and 1930. The hotel submitted the Yellow Devil to a two-year restoration in time to run the race's 100-year anniversary in 2016. The car is now on display in the hotel's Penrose Heritage Museum.

The Broadmoor's done us all a favor by providing the recipe for the 14-foot Yellow Devil gingerbread replica. It took the 15-strong pastry crew two weeks to create, leaving any amateur chef plenty of time to get another one built before the holidays. Sourcing the recipe's 375 pounds of all-purpose flower, 482 pounds of sugar, 300 pounds of dark chocolate and 700 egg whites shouldn't be difficult. Locating the more arcane ingredients like "10 lbs of Joy" and "2 Magical Wood Workers" could prove a tad more challenging.

Autoblog video week in review | Dec. 1-7

The video roundup post is your weekly landing spot for all things Autoblog video. This week features a +$200K Bentley, the new F-Type, and the Porsche Panamera GTS. There's also new gaming content and a new Podcast episode to check out. 

Episode 5 of Behind The Wheel went live on Monday. In it, Senior Green Editor John Beltz Snyder shows off the 2020 Bentley Continental GT First Edition, a coupe that starts at $220,000.  

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On Tuesday, the 2021 Jaguar F-Type was revealed. Check out the playlist for the new F-Type below:  

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We also played some Rocket League, which you can see the rerun of here:

This Wednesday's POV drive features the 2020 Porsche Panamera GTS.

The Thursday re-run from our Twitch stream has host Erik Maier playing Need For Speed: Heat with Autoblog Editor Zac Plamer.  

On Friday's podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore, along with editors John Snyder and Joel Stocksdale talk Jeep Wrangler EcoDiesel, Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid and Tesla Cybertruck. Then, the panel helps a listener make a decision on a new, sporty sedan in this week's "Spend My Money" segment.

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Car jumps 12 dealership vehicles in wild Florida accident

A Florida man can now say he has successfully jumped 12 cars in a Toyota Camry. It wasn't on purpose, but hey, that detail can be left out. According to ABC Action News, the driver reportedly became dizzy before ramping up an embankment and crashing into a nearby dealership. Somehow, nobody was seriously injured. 

Employees and customers at Crystal Ford Lincoln, which is on the west coast of Florida, had one of the shocks of their lives when a white Camry soared through the air, slammed into the parking lot and collided with a few parked cars. At around 1:30 p.m. a driver reportedly felt dizzy while on U.S. Highway 98 and hit an embankment at full speed. His Camry traveled 139 feet in the air and reportedly cleared 12 vehicles, many of which were left with dirt trails spread across their hoods and roofs.

"It was a Christmas miracle, you know, for it to happen with that amount of people and nobody to get hurt seriously," said dealership sales manager Bruce Azevedo. "We had customers that were over here to the right, some customers that were behind me, and some customers also over here to the left. We had 15 to 20 people on the lot at the time."

Four cars were hit by the identified flying object, and damage is estimated to be in the thousands. Watch the crazy moment above and read more at WTOC and ABC.

Bond does a machine-gunning Aston Martin donut in first ‘No Time to Die’ trailer

James Bond doesn't just drive an Aston Martin. He doesn't just do donuts, and he doesn't just shoot machine guns. Double-oh-seven does donuts in an Aston Martin DB5 while Gatling guns pop out of its headlights and snipe his enemies. The stunt is one of the most eye-popping visuals in the first official trailer for the newest film in the Bond franchise, "No Time to Die."

For the last time, a Bond trailer debuts with Daniel Craig as the lead man, and it puts all of the information we've been collecting throughout the past few months into an action-packed 2½-minute clip. The trailer starts exactly how we'd hoped, with a car chase between the DB5, Jaguars, and some motorcycles.

Even before the new footage, Aston Martin detailed exactly which cars we'll see in the new flick. To some degree, the  Valhalla, the  DBS  Superlegerra, the  V8 Vantage, and the DB5 will all make appearances. While the DB5 seems to be Bond's vehicle of choice, the trailer shows newcomer Nomi (played by Lashana Lynch) driving the DBS. In addition to the Range Rover seen flipping in the clip, we also expect to see the new Land Rover Defender in the film. 

As is typical of any Bond story, 007 seems to get caught in a trap, as he navigates his relationship with Léa Seydoux as Madeleine Swann and chasing Rami Malek, the new villain Safin. Here's the synopsis straight from YouTube: 

In No Time To Die, Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.

We also see appearances from Ralph Fiennes as M, Christoph Waltz as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, and Jeffrey Wright as Leiter. "No Time to Die" releases April 8, 2020.

This aquatic robot can transform to sprout arms

Transcript: Transforming aquatic robot. Aquanaut is an all-electric underwater service robot. It does not need to be tethered to a home ship. Aquanaut is an AUV or autonomous underwater vehicle. As an AUV it can cover 124 miles. Performing tasks like seabed mapping and structure inspection. But it can also transform into a two-armed seabot. The hull separates to reveal additional thrusters and two arms. As a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Aquanaut can turn valves, use tools, and much more. The operator uses just a few mouse clicks to operate Aquanaut. Learn more at houstonmechatronics.com. 

Autoblog video week in review | Nov. 24-30

The video roundup post is your weekly landing spot for all things Autoblog video. This week you can join us behind the wheel of six figures worth of off-road machinery in the form of a Mercedes-Benz G550, and experience the first turbocharged Outback in over a decade.

Monday, of course, means it's time for the latest episode of Behind The Wheel, and in episode 4 Senior Producer Christopher McGraw tells us why he hates to love the Mercedes-Benz G550 SUV.

Our live Twitch stream Tuesday featured host Erik Maier playing some Rocket League. You can also now check out last Thursday's re-run on YouTube, where Erik and Green Editor John Snyder struggle through the absolute hell that was Garfield Kart: Furious Racing. It was a rough 2 hours.

Wednesday's  POV drive features the 2020 Subaru Outback XT. Senior Producer Chris McGraw takes the Outback for a spin along the snowy roads of Golden, Colorado. 

Thursday  and  Friday.  The Live Stream and Podcast are off for the holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for watching!

The Mercedes-Benz G550 is unnecessary (and awesome) in every way | Behind the Wheel S01 // E04

Behind the Wheel is a new video series that shows you a bit of what it’s like to work at Autoblog. The editors and video producers will show you the cars passing through our fleet, and you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at some of the personalities who help make the site run. 

Episode 4 features the 2019 Mercedes-Benz G550 and Autoblog Senior Producer Christopher McGraw. Even though most G-Wagen owners will never take their vehicle off the pavement, we take it to Gross Reservoir outside of Boulder, Colorado, for some light off-roading, and wind up dealing with warning lights lit up like a Christmas tree.

Do you like this video? Disagree with our take on the G-Wagen? What cars do you want to see in our fleet? We’d love to hear from you so please comment below.

Gear the Video team used to make this: 

Panasonic GH5

Panasonic Lumix 12-35mm F2.8

Rode VidMic Pro

Tiffen 58mm Variable ND Filter

GoPro Hero 7 Black

Adobe Premiere

Watch this father and son drag-race and crash in NYC’s Lincoln Tunnel

What kind of driver is dumb enough to drag race through the Lincoln Tunnel? The same kind who is dumb enough to post dashcam footage of the ensuing crash on Instagram.

The tunnel, which connects Midtown Manhattan and Weehawken, New Jersey, with three two-lane tubes, is usually a traffic-choked nightmare with a 35-mph speed limit. But taking advantage of relatively sparse nighttime traffic, a father and son from Hewitt, New Jersey, drag-raced their Corvettes through the 1.5-mile tunnel. Predictably, this led to a crash, as the younger driver lost control of his car, hitting a vehicle in the adjacent lane, bouncing off the wall, and then taking out an SUV.

The younger driver was originally charged with leaving the scene of an accident, but police re-opened their investigation after he recently posted dashcam footage of the incident on his Instagram page. Now, both drivers have been arrested, and the new charges include reckless driving, reckless endangerment, and illegal speed contest.

‘Shelby American’ documentary tells the outsized truth about Carroll Shelby

The cineplex version of Carroll Shelby's generalissimo charge into Europe with Ken Miles and a Ford GT40, otherwise known as "Ford v Ferrari," won the weekend box office. Due to a desire to put the best story on screen within the allotted run time, that film edited some of the events and facts out of the tale. If there's one thing Carroll Shelby's life didn't need, though, it's creative license. The story of how the son of a rural mail carrier became an enthusiast icon is just as outrageous as any movie because it's true, and a new documentary by Adam Carolla and business partner Nate Adams called "Shelby American" tells the man's biography straight. 

In 2016, Carolla and Adams released the doc "The 24 Hour War," their telling of the Le Mans showdown between the GT40 and Ferraris. While putting that film together, the two learned so much about Shelby that they approached the Shelby family about doing another film focused on the Texan's story. Adams said, "The more research we did, the more we learned Carroll Shelby was an amazing character. It wasn't just him; it was Phil Remington, Peter Brock, Charlie Agapiou, and the others he surrounded himself with. They were all incredible. We knew we had to devote an entire doc to him."

The film team worked with Carroll's relatives for another 18 months to get more detail on his life, and carried out more interviews with the man's colleagues and competitors. The two-hour-long "Shelby American" has new vintage racing footage. There are interviews with members of Ferrari's Le Mans team including Piero Ferrari, John Surtees, and Mauro Forghieri, a vital part of the history often overlooked with the hubbub around the race. There are more interview clips from Henry Ford II and new interviews with Edsel Ford II, as well as designer Peter Brock, Bill Krause, who raced drove the Cobra in its first race, the late Dan Gurney, and longtime Ford exec John Clinard who'd go on to father the original Cars & Coffee event, and more. 

Two of the comments made by viewers at a private screening were, "Brutally honest," and, "One of the upcoming films will be entertaining and the other will be factual." But the best quote is this, from the man himself in the "Shelby American" trailer, after winning Le Mans and referring to the heart issue he'd had since the age of seven: "They told me I had five years to live. I figured, so what? I might as well try to build the car that I'd dreamed of." 

There's every reason to see both films. When you're ready for the factual version head to Carolla's Chassy Media site, where the documentary is available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and as a streaming download. While you're there, you might as well pick up "The 24 Hour War," too.

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