Suzuki Alto 2015 Coil Spring [0057550] on 2040-parts.com

Project Car Hell, Homely but Lovable Edition: Triumph Mayflower or Frazer Vagabond?

Welcome back to Project Car Hell, where those little carburetor screws always disappear down the intake and all the parts you need are hoarded by bitter curmudgeons in Alaskan survivalist shacks. The Hell Garage Demons have come to the realization that the ugly cars of the early postwar era just don't get enough restoration love these days, and so they've taken a break from their day jobs (boiler-room managers for a major telemarketing firm) in order to scour the List of Craig for a pair of suitably homely machines from the 1946-1954 period. There were many to choose from, but they've found a couple of appropriate cars made on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

Audi Urban Concept

Audi has released additional photos and information on the Urban Concept, which is set to make its debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September. As we previously reported, the new car – touted by Audi as a 'new kind of concept car' that combines aspects of a racing car as well as a fun-to-drive urban vehicle – is a diminutive two-passenger vehicle powered by two e-tron electric motors. Measuring in at 3200mm long, 1700mm wide and 1200mm tall, the Urban Concept is expected to weigh less than 500kg, thanks largely to a cockpit made from CFRP.

First Sight: Mercedes-AMG GT

“If I was to buy any sports car that wasn't a Mercedes, it'd be a Porsche 911,” says Mercedes' head of design, Gorden Wagener. “But when you see the two cars together, we think ours has the edge.” He's talking about the new Mercedes-AMG GT, a front-mid engined, two-seater sports car that's unashamedly aimed at higher-end 911s, and we've come to see it at Mercedes' Sindelfingen studio.  The GT replaces the larger SLS, and is seen by Wagener as the best example yet of his 'sensual purity' design philosophy: “The SLS is very much [he gestures] line, line with a surface in between. With the GT we started with the surface and worked to refine and reduce the number of lines.” Elements of the SLS's platform have been carried over, so the GT measures the same 1,939mm wide.