L’Automobile Storms Miami Beach With Concepts, Customs, and Supercars

Second Annual Event Showcases World Class Cars

When you think of Miami, visions of the unhinged 80s immersed in a tropical lifestyle with a dose of narcotics come into focus. However, Miami is now recognized as an international hub of fashion, culture, and art renowned the world over for producing leading-edge designers. The car in Miami is more of a statement than basic transportation and even six-figure supercars are heavily customized and modified to make an impact in South Beach, Brickell and emerging hot spots like Wynwood and the Design District. With this fashion, art and culture movement producing a show like l’Automobile would certainly succeed, transcending car enthusiasts to cater to the design inherent in cars and the talent designers who visualize and craft them as well.

L’Automobile (French for ‘The Automobile’) is in its second year and being a new show, at a fresh venue with an innovative approach, gained momentum as car design aficionados caught on. The founder, Elo is no rookie in the high end, design and custom car scene. That’s right, the founder goes by only one name and comes by it honestly coming from the fashion world in the UK and Europe and setting up shop in Miami to establish a high dose of sophisticated car culture in one of America’s leading arts locales.

The 2021 show forged ahead through the pandemic with strong attendance for international cars and infamous car personalities such as:

• Fabio Lamborghini: The nephew of the famous Ferrucio Lamborhini, Fabio trained in engineering and worked at divisions of the fabled automaker until 2007. He was also active in contributing to the Ferruccio Lamborghini Museum in Sant’Agostino, Italy, which these days is more of a special guest at auto events around the world.
• Maurizio Corbi: Active designer from Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina and responsible for the Ferrari legends, the F355, the 550 Maranello and yes even the exclusive 349 unit F50 flat-12 supercar from the 1990s. 
• Malcolm Bricklin: Most famous for the mid-1970s composite panel V8 supercar bearing his name the Bricklin SV-1. Bricklin is an auto exec that has had many successes over the years and remained a force in the automotive business into his 80s.

Beyond the star power invited to the event, the Miami VIP car elite showed up en masse with millions of dollars in supercars, hypercars and classics sitting out in the parking lot forming a show itself. Dozens of Ferraris, Lamborghinis and McLarens graced the lot with the odd Koenigsegg and Pagani to make a statement. But inside the show the collection got even more eclectic, exotic and rare being hand picked by Elo himself.

Likely the most expensive vehicle at the show was the Red Bull HONDA-powered F1 car to promote F1 Miami. The show also included a high value of the late model supercars, as well as an array of customs and prototypes, which are truly priceless. We’ve seen the outrageous coachwork on the Lamborghini Espada rat rod built by Danton Arts Customs of France but in reality, the impact never fades on us. The Espada again graced another Miami show but it was it’s neighbor the Salvage to Savage DeLorean twin turbo widebody that shocked the crowds. This show was the first appearance of the 2021 SEMA hit show car, that easily made the largest impression on attendees at the Vegas show.

Built just north in Boca Raton, FL, the widebody DeLorean is literally a concept from famous 3D designer, The Kyza (Khyzyl Saleem) meticulously crafted into metal and composites. This is a true fantasy-concept sitting at the l’Automobile show but far from a rolling clay shell, this retro supercar makes real jam. Under the bonnet is Garrett twin turbo-powered 5.2L LS V8 channeled through a 6-speed Porsche 996 transaxle to the rear wheels. Not only was the first time anyone has seen the car wrapped in this rich gold hue, there is more to the build we are featuring soon.

A pair of retro highlights captured audience attention, the first was the Maggiore Project M. The limited to 40 units Project M, is based on the venerable Ferrari 308 with a fresh take on wider bodywork, composites and modern technology to make an all new approach to the Magnum-mobile. Another fan favorite was the Miami-themed Land Rover restomod. A nut and bolt restoration of this offroad legend, has been reborn with everything replaced or renewed and in a high-impact color-scheme that got a rumored $250,000 offer to buy the truck after the show.

With all of the gasoline-powered legends new and old, it was in fact a pair of EV concepts that caused a frenzy of activity. While gear heads play out the final decades of the internal combustion era, next-level projects like the EV-powered Shelby Daytona Coupe really commanded attention. This sleek silver car by Superformance was clearly missing trademark design cues like the massive side-pipes and gated manual. Although we did still spot a fuel pump switch, oil and water temp gauges, this work-in-progress has a dual EV motor set up capable of over 1000lb-ft of torque with a sub 3-second 0-60mph claim.

Beyond the Daytona Coupe EV was what appeared to be a Porsche 911 930 that curiously was missing the exhaust pipes out the rear fascia. The car called the Electric GT certainly looked like a gas car, yet had a pair of massive electric motors mounted to the rear axles resulting in one fast, yet silent assassin on the track.

Once again l’Automobile asserted itself as not a traditional Miami car show. Dozens of high-end and rare supercars from Bugatti, Koenigsegg and Pagani are seen regularly at many shows in South Florida but still the unique content at this oceanfront show setting sets itself apart. 

Exotics on Las Olas Takeover of Florida With Supercars Galore

Fourth Annual Show brings Exotics and Race Cars to Fort Lauderdale Streets

South Florida has money. Stupid kinda money where you regularly see yachts cruise by that are more than a lifetime net worth… multiplied by 100 lifetimes. For the supercar, hypercar and racecar scene, South Florida is a flurry of activity. There are collections here that will never see the light of day and having experienced a few in person, I can only verbally describe them as breathtaking because for security reasons, there won’t be any pics shared. However, Exotics on Las Olas is a show that has the owners of dozens of these rare exotics shined up and brought out to takeover the streets of Fort Lauderdale in a premium car show that realistically is a once in a lifetime opportunity. 

Show organizer Floyd Rag is not only a former NFL’er and celebrity-connected player but he is a huge car enthusiast who created and produces a number of popular car shows in South Florida. Floyd built up a hugely popular event called Supercar Saturdays for local dealer networks:Lamborghini Broward, Bugatti Broward and Koenigsegg Florida. With that show firmly established, he wanted to reach beyond the confines of a dealership or mall as a venue and takeover downtown Lauderdale to bring the magic to a wider audience. And now, for the fourth year in a row, the show plowed through the Pandemic to impress crowds with millions of dollars in supercars tough to find all in one place and certainly not in most states.

Past Exotics on Las Olas shows have showcased rare cars like Bugatti Divo, Pagani Huayra Roadster and even rare birds like the Maserati MC-12 Corsa, of which there are only 12. In 2021, it was more late model madness of pricey supercars, hypercars and tuned exotics that were one-offs of only a handful made. Probably the most impact at the show was garnered by the Apollo Intenza Emotizione from Ikonik Motors of Miami. Owner Barry Skolnick is a mega-millionaire that has stormed the Florida scene with his growing collection of exotics but has parlayed his passion into a retail business being the first customer to secure a V12 Apollo hypercar here in the US.

While many late model supercars graced the show, we took notice of not one but three Lamborghini Huracan STO examples in attendance. The STO is basically a street-legal race car, which in many ways is the peak of the Huracan platform as it enters its eighth model year. It seems like only yesterday the 610-4 trim came out but now there are so many variants, many of which were at the show including three Super Trofeo race versions.

While Italian supercars dominated Exotics on Las Olas, we have to tip our hat to cross-channel rival McLaren as there were many stunning examples on parade. A number of McLaren 765LT and 765LT Spiders baked in the Florida sun along with a handful of unique MSO examples on display with roof scoops and all. While the McLaren factory efforts amounted to loads of eye candy, we couldn’t believe the offering from German tuning house Novitec. The wider, faster and generally more outrageously styled Novitec 720S N-Largo was parked on Las Olas and we’re not sure just how rare people realized it actually is… there are only 14 beyond the one we were looking at!

The Novitec 720S N-Largo delivers on the performance and aero expected of the southern German tuner with a hint of Senna styling. The limited McLaren boasts 806hp and takes the already fast 720 platform to 60mph in only 2.7-seconds on the way to a top speed of 217mph. The wider wheel and tire upgrades increase the track by 2.3-inches up front and over 5-inches in the rear making the stance difference nothing less than intense.

For the 4th straight year, Exotics on Las Olas has weathered the storm and beat attendance numbers year-over-year. We ran into a few automotive media colleagues who traveled quite a distance to cover the show. Seems our little supercar show in the quaint streets of old Fort Lauderdale on palm-lined Las Olas Avenue has made the cut and gone prime-time around the world.

“Big Daddy” Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing

I first saw “Big Daddy” Don Garlits race in England at Blackbushe Airport, west of London, in 1964.  By then, Gar’, as he is often called, was already famous having begun racing in 1950. In 1959, he traveled west from his home in Tampa, Florida, to race at the 1959 Bakersfield Fuel and Gas Championships. He was not popular and whenever they moved his infamous “Swamp Rat” dragster it had to be pushed through a field of empty beer cans.

“It got so bad,” said Garlits, “that one of us had to walk in front of the car as we pushed it through the pits, to kick a path through the empties.” Unfortunately, for him, Garlits did not win but he learned a lot and came back in ’65 with three cars, two of which raced in the final that Don won against teammate Marvin Swartz.

Garlits continued to win race after race, but it was in 1970 while running at Lions Drag Strip that he would unwittingly cause a racing revolution.

One of us had to walk in front of the car as we pushed it through the pits, to kick a path through the empties.

While driving Swamp Rat 13, his home-built, two-speed transmission exploded and severed his foot in half. Shaken, Garlits came back the following year with a new rear-engine dragster that changed the look of drag racing forever.

In 1976, Garlits made another trip to the U.K. and while there came to the realization that the U.S. needed it’s own drag racing museum. Consequently, Don and his late wife Pat founded the “Big Daddy” Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing and in 1984 opened the original 25,000 square foot facility in Ocala, Florida, just off Interstate 75.

Over the years, Don has added to the facility that now tops 50,000 square feet and even that is nowhere near enough as the place is jammed to the walls with not only Don’s cars and memorabilia but around 200 other cars and related artifacts. Note some are housed in an adjacent building called the Museum of Classic Cars.

To be honest, it’s a bit much to take in on one visit; you really need several visits to see everything. Obviously, it’s great to see so many of Garlits’ Swamp Rat dragsters but some of my personal favorites include Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s “Yellow Fang” dragster that was driven by George Schreiber; Red Greth’s “Speed Sport Special”, Jocko Johnson’s “Jocko’s Porting Service” streamliner, Dean Moon’s Moonbeam Devin sports car and the Mooneyes dragster, and the Mooneyham & Sharp 554 Fuel Coupe.

Finally, and sadly pushed into a corner was Jim Lytle’s “Big Al” an Allison V-12-powered ’34 Tudor sedan chopped to the point that it had slits for windows and the driver’s head poked out through a hole in the roof.  Those were the days when drag racing was wild and unpredictable and racers experimented with the unconventional.

“Big Daddy” Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing is open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day from 9 am until 5 pm. Parking is free and admission is $20 for adults, $15 for seniors (60+) military, veterans, college students and teenagers (15-18) and, $10 for children (5-12).

As for Don, whose personal best was 318.54 mph in 4.76 seconds in 2002, you might bump into him working on one of his projects that includes an electric dragster that might just change the sport again—he’s done it before.

Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance

Coming up on a quarter of a century since it was established, the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance now ranks up there on the calendar of international “must see” events along with Pebble Beach, Goodwood, and Monterey Week.

I was lucky enough to be invited by my good friend Ron Hope—owner/driver of the world famous Rat Trap AA/Fuel Altered drag car that was part of the first-ever display of historic drag cars at Amelia—quite the honor.

Amelia was the brainchild of founder Bill Warner, and unlike other Concours events, focuses a bit more on racecars than pure automotive aesthetics. Of course, there are plenty of stunning classics to eyeball such as fabulous late-thirties Mercedes-Benz 500K/540K to the inevitable Duesenberg.

Unfortunately, one of the Merc’ 500Ks was involved in an accident that wiped out the right front fender—can you imagine the cost of the repair—it didn’t look like it would rub out. Apparently, there were at least four accidents in the narrow congested streets of Amelia Island and for all I know, maybe there were more.

Besides the dazzling array of classics, this year saw a huge celebration of Porsche with race driver Jacky Ickx honored.  Belgian Jacky won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times achieved eight wins and 25 podium finishes in Formula One.

He also won the Can-Am Championship in 1979 and is a former winner of the Dakar Rally. As part of that celebration Porsche displayed a fleet of 11 962s that was just stunning. Other Porsches included a custom 356 built by Rod Emory of Emory Motorsports for musician John Oates of Hall & Oates fame. Rad to say the least.

“I didn’t see it as cheating, I felt that I just operated on an ‘alternative rule interpretation.’”Jim Busby

One of the highlights of Amelia was the Friday panel discussion The Unfair Advantage: Racing Around the Rules hosted by NASCAR driver and TV personality Ray Evernham with Jim Busby, Kevin Jeanette, Andy Petree, Mark Raffuf, Steve Roby and Jay Signore.

The tall tales they told of creatively navigating the rules was truly fascinating. Jim Busby said, “ I didn’t see it as cheating, I felt that I just operated on an ‘alternative rule interpretation.’ By the way, Ray himself may have been the sketchiest character in the room.”

Even the roster of judges was impressive and included 5-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell, Cobra Daytona Coupe designer Pete Brock, TV’s Wayne Carini, GM designer Wayne Cherry, Chrysler designer Tom Gale, racing drivers Hurley Haywood, David Hobbs, Jochen Mass, Brian Redman, and Lynn St. James. In total there were 121 judges reviewing more than 300 entries.

“By the way, Ray himself may have been the sketchiest character in the room.”Jim Busby

As I said, there we eight drag cars helping celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Gatornationals and there was also a special display honoring hot rod builder and designer Ken “Posie” Fenical, Hummelstown, PA.

Ken makes springs and to promote the business he has over the years built a string of hot rods and custom cars, that despite being slightly off-center, are recognized as automotive works of art.

Putting aside the display of 962 Porsches, one of the more interesting displays was of custom-bodied Volkswagens built by German carrosseria such as Hebmuller, Karmann and Rometsch.

The two most outstanding vehicles were the rare 4-door and the wrought iron Beetle “Wedding Car” designed by Raphael Esparaza Prieto. I liked them all.

Upon reflection, the 24th Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance had something for everybody and located at the Ritz-Carlton hotel on Amelia Island should definitely be on every car person’s bucket list.

Putting the ‘Porsche’ in Porsche Design

We Go 60 Stories Up In Miami’s Condo

They say the price of condos rises proportionally with each floor up but inside the Porsche Design Tower in Miami, it gets absolutely bananas by the time you hit the penthouse. While it might be widely reported on by auto journos of the world regurgitating press releases and the same old photos, we got exclusive access to one of the most expensive penthouses around — complete with an elevator to bring your toys up to your suite!

The project of the Porsche Design Tower was an ambitious one from the very beginning. Build a circular tower, the tallest in Miami on a tiny strip of sand in between the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. Fill the condo with the finest amenities, exotic interiors, and celebrity owners… and design an elevator system that can haul your cars to your suite!

Undertaken by Miami heavyweights Dezer Development, the project teamed up with Porsche Design to get the right aesthetic and clientele inside the building. If you have ever been to a Porsche Design boutique, it’s less about cars and more about style, gadgets, and apparel that tie into automobiles. Sales staff will encourage owners of many car brands to find gear that suits their lifestyle independent to what you drive. Yours truly has a few pairs of Porsche Design Carrera sunglasses and even though I have never owned a Porsche, I like Carrera shades and that is just one of many collabs the brand has — condos notwithstanding.

For a special party, my car club booked the Porsche Design Tower penthouse suite. This is a $32 million penthouse that is not only 20,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space but it also has parking for 11 cars. Eleven. Most driveways can’t handle 11 but here in bustling Miami, there is room for seven cars in the man cave, two in the rear garage and two in the showcase garage… 56 stories up.

The Porsche Design Tower is 60 stories in total, that is 56 plus four that are all yours should you want to drop the $32-milli. While you might find other bargains out there, the car elevator or Dezervator has no parallel in the world. The core of the building houses three advanced rotating platforms that pick up cars from the ground level and haul them up with a driver or not.

The process is fascinating to experience and I truly felt like peering into a window of the future. Essentially you roll your exotic car into the loading level into one of three illuminated pods. The concierge will direct guests through the process but it’s about as simple as a car wash, well one that goes up 600-feet vertically.

After entering the pod, a caddy rolls out and snatches the tires with thin rollers to elevate the car just an inch off the ground. From there the long stainless steel dolly retracts the car back into the elevator and up you go. When arriving at your floor, the car is slid out on a long track into your suite or in the case of this penthouse, you can move your car around an open garage space. The whole operation is orchestrated by technicians and computer programs on the main floor to ensure all goes smooth.

As for the unit itself, this lofty penthouse leaves everything to the imagination. It has cavernous open spaces and the living space will be built to the specifications of any buyer. The maze around four floors of living area with massive patios, pool, hot tub and balconies facing every direction are almost too much to comprehend. This is obviously the most expensive of the 135 units in the building that has attracted the most billionaire owners of any condo. There is nothing like it and the wealthy car guys snap them up just to be closer to what is important and far enough away from what isn’t.

With your luxury or exotic car locked away but visible to you from nearly every angle, who needs a security system?!

Decorating the Bachelor Pad

The New Zonda Really Ties the Room Together

In this line of work, you get to see many rare automotive sights. We realize an average person might never even see a Pagani, let alone at a local car meet with four of them, or a national Concours show with an assortment of 14 Zondas and Huayras at a Pagani display! A sighting of a race-only Zonda Revolución never gets old and considering there are only five of them ever produced, the way in which one Miami race car driver decorated his condo, was nothing short of spectacular.

First off, let’s get one thing sorted; this is a carbon fiber replica of a Pagani Zonda Revolución. Sure the owner has the money to go real, but this is a 1:1 scale model using the original carbon fiber plug from Pagani direct. The owner is Pablo Perez Companc, the billionaire son of the wealthiest man in Argentina and a client who happens to know Horacio Pagani personally.

Companc is a dedicated customer of Pagani with his own Zonda Revolución, which he named Black Minion. Most of his nearly 800K Instagram followers believed the art car was real and were quick to critique the wall sculpture with all the ferocity the internet can muster. Many media outlets were guilty of spinning incorrect articles about how Companc essentially wasted “$1.5-million dollars” on V12-powered wall art that should be driven instead.

What Companc and his general contractor Finish My Condo did to his Miami abode was far from the fake news reports. First, there are only five Zonda Revolucións in the world and each one cost nearly $3-million, so not only is it double the estimates but no sane person is going to buy two of five and destroy a rare race car! Others believed it was his functioning race car, Black Minion. Again he had to clarify on Instagram: “…structurally will never be able to receive an engine or the entire mechanical part. I would never condemn Black Minion to being locked in a living room. Race cars are for driving.”

With that cleared up, let’s get down to the mechanics of how they did this feat that only Miami could pull off. The Pagani tooling still existed to pull a custom carbon fiber Zonda shell that had no interior, no engine mounts, and the chassis was designed solely to support its full weight of only a few hundred pounds. Before the condo interior was done, the floor to ceiling windows were removed in order to accept the shell and mounting column. After the Zonda was hoisted by crane on a wooden skid and the assembly of the aluminum mounting column started with a plate at the top. From there, the vertical plate for the column was bolted to the underside of the shell and hung by straps before bolting to the ceiling. The bottom was secured with a footing, then finished off with a polished aluminum plate to be surrounded for finishing materials, like flooring and drywall ceiling to wrap it up.

The end result is one of the most unique room dividers ever seen in Miami if not the entire country. In Miami, sometimes an $8-million 4,200 square foot condo just doesn’t create enough of a reaction and you have to flex on everyone like this. Talked about the world over, the Black Minion tribute is just that, a tribute to one of the best cars ever made. With a snarling V12 pumping out 789 horsepower and shredding 0-60 mph in only 2.6 seconds on the way to a 217 mph terminal velocity, the Revolución is the real deal. The Revolución is also beautiful to look at, which is why Companc has one to admire on his wall. Then again the Revolución isn’t road legal anyway and can’t be enjoyed all the time, so another member of his fleet, Wild Minion, is for that. Wild Minion is a Pagani Huayra BC but we’ll get into that insanity another time.