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The timeless cool of an Airstream trailer may always be the default first choice for stylish travelers everywhere but German caravan builders Tabbert are looking to give the top dog a run for its money with this Paganini model.

The stunningly designed 28-foot Paganini offers lovely interior accents like mahogany wood, ambient lighting, leather upholstery, advanced HVAC controls, and much more. At 4500 pounds the caravan isn’t too much of a load for brawnier vehicles, and its roughly $55,000 price tag is perhaps slightly more reasonable than one might expect in this rarified RV class. Have a closer look in our gallery above.

+ Tabbert

We’ve always had a bit of a love affair with the Yugo--who wouldn’t--but we’ve never seen an expression of that love quite so touching as this vintage Zastava commercial. Poignant, elegant, and terribly strange, click on the YouTube video above and fall for The Little Euro That Couldn’t all over again.

+ YouTube: Zastava Commercial

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After more than 40 years spent shuffling from auto shows, to museums, to the often careless hands of private collectors, a stunning one-off Lamborghini Miura Spyder has surfaced for the edification of the classic car-loving public.

Created by Marcello Gandini as a design exercise assigned by Nuccio Bertone himself, this topless Miura was finished in 1967 and proceeded to spend the next decade touring the auto show circuit around the world. Originally finished in a light blue metallic paint with an off-white leather interior, the car was later shipped back to Sant’Agata in a deal with the International Lead and Zinc Research Organization, which was looking for a sort of test bed/show car for various zinc-based components. The ILZRO refinished the Miura in a fetching metallic green, adding a raft of bright work and experimental parts in the process.

The spyder spent three decades moving from collections in the U.S., Japan, and Europe, before being purchased in late 2006 by a New York property developer who recognized the Lamborghini for the historic piece that it was. Read the full story of the Miura Spyder in the press release below, and be sure to enjoy a few choice images of the stunning car in our gallery above.

Even for students of history and those with really long memories, it’s been a long time since any automobiles built by Detroit Electric plied the world’s roadways. But today, the company (whose name was last affixed to a new vehicle in 1939) announced that it will be working with Malaysia’s Proton to build a lineup of pure electric cars, with the first one rolling out worldwide by the end of 2009.

Currently, Detroit Electric has implemented its drive systems into the Lotus Elise (the British sportscar maker is owned by the Malaysian concern) and a pair of Proton cars, the Persona and Savvy. There is no confirmation at this point of which cars will be released in what markets (and when), but DE is looking to put 30,000 of its powertrains on the world’s roads by 2010. According to Paul Tan of PaulTan.org (who managed to snag an invite to Detroit Electric’s press conference and test session at their test circuit in Shah Alam, Malaysia), Detroit Electric is actually talking with three different manufacturers about integrating DE drive systems into their vehicles. Proton appears to be the only named company at this point, although Tan says that the other companies are American and German, respectively.

Click on the link below to read more from PaulTan.org (including some limited drive impressions and photos), and check out Detroit Electric’s official press release below.

+ PaulTan.org: DRIVEN: Detroit Electric’s electric Lotus Elise

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1962 Porsche 804

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As the only American born Formula 1 Champion in history, Phil Hill place in racing’s pantheon is assured. The motorsports world sadly marked Hill’s passing yesterday, so we thought it only appropriate to further burnish his sterling reputation with a list of some of the finest motorcars Hill ever laid a booted foot to during his F1 career. Here then is a list of five of our favorite Phil Hill race cars, in no particular order.

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Purpose built to race in SCCA truck series events, Saleen was obliged to make 27 copies of this red-blooded Ranger to conform to homologation rules. Three of these Saleen Rangers went on to racing careers, with the remaining 24 trucks becoming among the rarest Saleen products of all time.

Now one of these rare beasts has come up for auction at eBay Motors, set to become the ultimate centerpiece in some lucky fast Ford collection. While still keeping its full-length bed, this 1988 Ranger has had a massive aero kit added on, as well as getting bodywork-matching white five-spoke alloy wheels, sport seats, and uprated suspension components. Strangely the 2.9-liter Ford V-6 was left untouched by the tuner’s hands, and is likely to offer less-than-inspired performance with its 140 horsepower.

Power deficit to the contrary, Saleen did have a good deal of success racing the Ranger, and this model’s tiny production run can only mean good things for its long-term value.

+ eBay Motors: 1988 Ford Mustang SALEEN TRUCK

The news of legendary Phil Hill's death will indeed hit a soft spot for any historical motorsports enthusiast and has stirred some thoughts around the NextAutos office of other great American race car drivers. Thus, we want to know your thoughts on this topic.

Leave a comment and give us your pick for the greatest American racing driver of all time.

Phil Hill died this morning at Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula of complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 81 years old.

Hill is known to enthusiasts as the first—and only—American-born driver to win the Formula 1 World Championship (Mario Andretti won the title in 1978 but was born in Italy, even though he was and is an American citizen). Hill won the title in 1961, driving a Ferrari 156 “Sharknose” mid-engined racer for the factory. That year Hill battled the entire year with his teammate, Wolfgang von Trips, but captured the crown during the second-to-last race of the season when von Trips was fatally injured in a crash at Monza—one that also took the lives of 14 race fans. With the manufacturers’ and drivers’ titles wrapped up after that awful day, Ferrari opted out of the last race of the season (at Hill’s “home” track of Watkins Glen), leaving Tifosi to believe the Scuderia sat out the last race out of respect for their fallen driver and the lost spectators, while Hill and others wondered if Ferrari simply wanted to save money having already captured the title. Like most Ferrari lore, perhaps not knowing the real story is the best story of all.

What is known is that Phil Hill was one of the best racing drivers the world has ever seen. In addition to his landmark F1 championship, he was the first American to take an overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1958, driving Ferrari’s 250 Testa Rossa with Olivier Gendebien), the first driver to record a sub-9-minute lap at the Nürburgring, and one of only a handful of drivers who have won the 12 Hours of Sebring three times overall.

Hill was successful—if not a winner—in nearly everything he drove. And he drove the sorts of cars that most of us have on our bookshelves in 1:12 scale form. Cars like the aforementioned Ferrari 250 TR, Ferrari 156, Ford GT 40, various Chaparrals, Cobras, Cooper-Climax T73s, Cooper T70s, and the McLaren M1.

While the last few years of Hill’s life have been plagued by the awful effects of Parkinson’s Disease, his racing career finished at the top. His very last race was a victory—behind the wheel of a Chaparral 2F at the BOAC 500 kilometer at Brands Hatch in 1967.

Goodbye, Phil. You were one of the great ones.

+ PhilHill.com (Click to sign the online book of rememberance)

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To call this Italian-inspired Chinese project car a Ferrari replica would do it a kindness that it probably doesn’t deserve, but we’re nonetheless fascinated with this creation which would seem to ape some of the classic lines from the exotic’s racing heritage.

Looking mildly like the unholy spawn of a Ferrari 500 Testa Rossa and a Fiat Panda 4x4, this far eastern amalgam of fibreglass and donor parts is actually used by a Chinese wedding photographer. It seems that many freshly wed couple are tickled to have their nuptial poses captured in the preening mock-up, and with the lovely coastal mountain scene in the background, who can blame them?

The pseudo sports car doesn’t run at all, and is in fact rooted to the ground on a sort of swivelling pole. We don’t begrudge the builders this lack of mechanical completeness in their prop car, but do wonder if they could’ve studied the source photographs just a little closer. Have a look for yourself in our gallery above.

+ China Car Times: Ferrari spotted in China - Not really, its fake.

With both the Woodward Dream Cruise and Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance festivities having taken place this past weekend, we want to know: What is your favorite type of classic car event? Is it historic racing, a particular concours event, a swap meet, or just a cruise-in at your local ice cream shop? Recount your favorites in ‘Comments.’

I’ve just returned to the office after a weeklong stint behind the wheel of a Thrifty-provided Dodge Magnum rental. I could have done without the officer-baiting red paint and no, it didn’t have a Hemi, but the lowdown format struck me as a nice fit for a week at the beach all the same. As a sort of neo-surfer hot-rod wagon, it just needed a pair of long boards jutting out from its (admittedly sealed) rear window to complete the visuals.

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We at Winding Road and NextAutos frequently get the chance to sample luxury offerings from Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, et cetera. And while all of those German manufacturers make wonderful vehicles, it’s a rare occasion that some Italian blood works its way into our test fleet. Our Maserati Quattroporte test car proved to be a sporty, elegant cruiser, and can turn heads in a way that none of the German automakers can.

Click through to read what all of our staffers had to say about the Quattroporte.

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Mario Kart Series

Since its first installment in 1993 (Super Mario Kart), the Mario Kart series has been providing endlessly entertaining, yet straightforward racing thrills for you and your friends. MK is no simulation but the physics of all of the games remain both compelling and consistent, broken only occasionally by the dreaded red shells. The newest version for Nintendo’s good-for-all-ages Wii console is perhaps the best yet, making superb use of the nifty (if expensive) Wii Wheel.

The battle mode won’t entice those who only have room in their hearts for racing but it is awfully addictive. We’ve seen more than one real physical battle stem from repeated beat downs in this mode though, beware if you’re challenging a known hot-head (or your older brother).

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Thousands of video games are developed each year but truly impressive driving games remain relatively rare in the world. We may be a little on the picky side when it comes to our motoring entertainment, but we just can’t stomach the idea of forcing our way through a title like Hot Wheels Ultimate Racing (seriously bad) when there are Pole Positions in the world.

Our list of ten is by no means exhaustive, but we do think it covers a pretty wide, certainly entertaining cross-section of the automotive gaming world. Click through our gallery above to read about what we liked, and then make sure to tell us what we missed (got wrong?) in comments.

Inspired by the pure badness (in the bad way) of both the gold-wearing Camry and what could be the world’s most foolish Corvette , we’ve been wondering about wrong choices today. While most cars can absorb some modifications and come out all right, others are better off left alone. Which cars are the very worst for modifying? Give us your answers, in comments.

Some have speculated that Mark Hamill’s lack of silver screen success after the Star Wars movies was a classic case of the actor’s being pigeon-holed as the tow-headed Jedi Hero, Luke Skywalker. We propose that it had more to do with role choices like the one in Corvette Summer. Thank the Hollywood gods that this duffer of a film wasn’t enough to burry Annie Potts though, we love us some Designing Women.

On a slightly more serious note though, we’d like to challenge our readers to come up with a worse looking Corvette body kit than the one seen in this movie. No mean feat, to be sure. Post an image of the worst Vette you can find, and we’ll pick a winner tomorrow. Happy hunting.

+ YouTube: Corvette Summer - trailer

While we were happy to come up with eleven examples of small cars that have (mostly) fallen off the car-lover’s radar, we know that there are other fine specimens to be discussed. Which lost-from-view small cars are still held dear to your heart? Let us know, in comments.

If you feel emasculated when driving the Bentley Continental Flying Spur at its promised top speed of 195, there is a cure. Bentley now offers the Continental Flying Spur Speed model, which will cruise at 200.

Click through to read on.

Alright, so perhaps this isn’t a “classic” in the truest sense of the word, but forgive us for finding joy in (what appears to be) a French-Canadian Chrysler Sundance commercial that features an oh-so-Eighties model, a bit of spirited building-scaling, and a vocal cameo by none other than Celine Dion.After all, we Yankees didn’t get to hear the Titanic singer in our Chrysler spots until 2003, a campaign that went over like… well, the Titanic.

+ YouTube:: 1987 Plymouth Sundance - Celine Dion

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10. Lancia Stratos

Electric blue, neon green, or any kind of yellow aren’t a problem for the rally legend. The Stratos being a fine example of how durable the wedge shape is when it comes to painting the rainbow. We do think it would struggle in pink though, so the Lancia finds itself on the bottom looking up.

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It’s no easy job to design a car that most people will agree is attractive. Start to throw wild shades of paint into the mix and the job becomes exponentially harder. While it’s safe to say that Jaguar’s XKE is a stunningly beautiful car, we’d imagine that Atomic Orange might be a tough sell to Jag owners when it comes time for new paint.

But there are cars that seem to look exceptional no matter what hue they’re cast in. They tend to be vehicles that are rather brash to begin with; being quite large or quite small seems to help as well. For the purposes of creating our list of ten cars that can look great in horrible colors, we made pink our “acid test.” If it couldn’t make out well in Barbie’s signature color, it didn’t make the list. Enjoy.