New Honda Jet Makes First Flight

Honda Motor Co. says the first FAA-conforming version of the small business jet it has been working on for years made its first flight. The plane, called the HondaJet, flew from the company’s Honda Aircraft Co. operation at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, N.C.

While an earlier version called a proof-of-concept aircraft has logged more than 500 hours of flight testing, flying the version built to Federal Aviation Administration rules is what really counts toward bringing the plane to market.

Honda’s project is part of a renewed and growing intersection between automobiles and aviation that is occurring around personal- and business-transport. Honda touts the same qualities for the plane, such as “dynamic performance” and efficiency, as it does for its cars. The company has said it is essentially applying lessons learned in auto manufacturing to the aircraft business.
Cirrus Aircraft, a longtime maker of small single-engine propeller-driven planes is developing a small jet designed for personal use that it has described as a minivan with wings. Terrafugia, a small aircraft start-up in Woburn, Mass., plans to start selling a flying car called the Transition late next year.

Honda says it will build five FAA-conforming jets for testing before ramping up production in 2012. The company says it has more than 100 orders for the light business jets, which have a top speed around 483 mph and a ceiling of 43,000 feet. Honda plans to deliver the first one in the third quarter of 2012.

Source;
http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2010/12/22/new-honda-jet-makes-first-flight/

Barn-find Bugatti Type 38 makes seven times its estimate at auction

Huh?!?
A 'barn-find' Bugatti amounting to little more than a loose collection of bits has sold at auction for more than seven times its estimate.

Completely dismantled, incomplete and lacking its engine and body, the 1926 Bugatti Type 38 was expected to fetch only around £9,000 when it went under the hammer at a Bonhams sale in Australia.

But seven telephone bidders fought against six absentee bids and five people in the Sydney auction rooms for what was described as a 'restoration project'.

After a tense showdown, a mystery bidder - identified only as 'living in the northern hemisphere' - triumphed, with a bid of £68,000.

When Robert Glover, Bonhams' Head of Motor Cars Australia, informed the lady owner of the winning bid, said an auction house spokesman, there was a 'stunned silence followed by a tearful thanks'.

As the picture reveals, the new owner has quite a job on his or her hands. All that remains are four sorry-looking wheels, battered fenders bearing traces of red paint, the radiator, a headlamp, steering wheel, rear bumper, axles, other assorted components, seat shells and what is left of the doors.

A Type 38 in concours condition, however, would be worth around £200,000.
Bonhams says that a 'handful' of Type 38s found their way to Australia via the London Bugatti agent. The car in question was first owned by a Dr Feather of Roma, Queensland but passed through various hands until it was sold to the vendor in the 1960s, by which time it had already fallen into disrepair.

At the same auction, a 1925 Bentley 3- litre sold for £203,000, while a right -hand-drive 1949 Jaguar XK120 Alloy roadster changed hands for £154,000.

Source (via Jalopnik);
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/classiccars/8140984/Barn-find-Bugatti-Type-38-makes-seven-times-its-estimate-at-auction.html