Forum Is Down

The Garage is back down again after more server issues.  Further updates and Car of the Day can be viewed on our Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/369001486480145/

Success!

It appears the forum is back up and running at full speed and strength. We'll work at getting Car of the Day back up to date and have polls up this week.

Thanks for everyone's patience!

Broken Record

As quickly as the forum went back on it's gone just as fast. It's still an issue on part of zetaboards. If they do not remedy the situation, the moderator team will begin to look at alternative options. For now we'll wait and see about zeta.

Forum Is Back

Knock on wood, the Garage appears to be back up and running. Zetaboards seems to have fixed what was wrong on their part. http://swiftysgarage.net/index/

Forum Is Down

As many of you know, the forum for Swiftysgarage.net has been down for several days. This is a Zetaboards issue and there is nothing currently Swifty or the moderator team can do to fix the problem. We must remain patient for the time being. Updates are also being posted on our Facebook page as well as on Deviant Art. When updates are available to us we will pass them on in a timely matter. Thank you. The Swifty's Garage moderator team.

Car Of The Day: October 29, 2012

Today's car of the day is from Firehawk73's collection, and is Kyosho's 2002 Ferrari Enzo GT Concept.

The Enzo Ferrari is a 12 cylinder mid-engine berlinetta named after the company's founder, Enzo Ferrari. It was built in 2002 using Formula One technology, such as a carbon-fibre body, F1-style electrohydraulic shift transmission, and Carbon fibre-reinforced Silicon Carbide ceramic composite disc brakes. Also used are technologies not allowed in F1 such as active aerodynamics and traction control. After a downforce of 1700lb is reached at 186 mph the rear wing is actuated by computer to maintain that downforce.

For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Ferrari Enzo

The Enzo's V12 engine is the first of a new generation for Ferrari. It is based on the architecture of the V8 found in sister-company Maserati's Quattroporte, using the same basic architecture and 104 mm (4.1 in) bore spacing. This design will replace the former architectures seen in V12 and V8 engines used in most other contemporary Ferraris.

The Enzo was designed by Ken Okuyama, the Japanese former Pininfarina head designer, and initially announced at the 2002 Paris Motor Show with a limited production run of 349 and at US $659,330. The company sent invitations to existing customers, specifically, those who had previously bought the F40 and F50. All 349 cars were sold in this way before production began. Later, after numerous requests, Ferrari decided to build 50 more Enzos, bringing the total to 399. Before being unveiled at the Paris Motor show, the Enzo (that was used in the show) was flown from Italy to California to be filmed in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. It was driven on a beach by actress Demi Moore. After filming was complete, the Enzo was flown to France to be in the Motor Show. Enzos are listed as being built in 2003. In 2004 a 400th Ferrari Enzo was built and donated to the Vatican for charity, which was later sold at a Sotheby's auction for $1.1 million.

Car Of The Day: October 27, 2012

Matchbox #60 Holden Pickup (early '70s Kingswood UTE)

This casting is from juantoo3's collection

The Holden Kingswood is a full-size car that was manufactured by General Motors-Holden's, the Australian subsidiary of General Motors (GM), from the beginning of the HK series in 1968 through to the conclusion of the WB series in 1984. It was regarded as the continuation of the previous Australian family car and was actually marketed as part of a range of models which included the basic Belmont (replacing the Standard), the Kingswood itself (replacing the Special), and the luxury-oriented Premier, all of which were manufactured in a choice of sedan and station wagon bodies. Commercial variants were offered in three types: coupé utility, panel van, and later, a heavy-duty One Tonner cab chassis. The utility (ute) version was originally marketed in both Belmont and Kingswood configurations. However, after the Belmont versions were deleted in 1974, the base model commercials were sold only with the "Holden" badge.

Outside of Australia, the Kingswood and its derivatives have been sold in New Zealand, parts of Asia, and South Africa branded as Holdens. Following the late-1960s import cessation of the Canadian-sourced Chevrolet Impala and Chevelle in South Africa, the Holden Kingswood and Premier models were badge engineered as Chevrolet Kommando and Chevrolet Constantia, respectively. In 1971, following the dropping of the Holden brand in South Africa, the Holden utilities became known as the Chevrolet El Camino. Between 1974 and 1978, the one-tonne utility was sold as the Chevrolet El Torro.

Kingswood passenger cars ceased production with the demise of the HZ series in 1980, succeeded by the smaller Commodore released two years earlier. However, the Kingswood name survived via the utility version that comprised part of the WB series range manufactured between 1980 and 1984.

The HQ series of 1971 was a completely new design, introducing larger capacity 173-cubic-inch (2.8 L) and 202-cubic-inch (3.3 L) six-cylinder engines, with the continued availability of 253-cubic-inch (4.1 L), 308-cubic-inch (5.0 L) Holden and 350-cubic-inch (5.7 L) Chev V8 engines. HQ was the most radically engineered Holden since the introduction of the original 48-215 model of 23 years prior. It featured a perimeter frame and semi-monocoque (unibody) construction, and was the first full-size Holden to have coil spring rear suspension. As a cost-saving measure, HQ was only engineered for right-hand drive, hence it was not feasible to sell the car in left-hand drive markets. Thus Holden exports declined from 41,181 in 1973 to just 7,440 in 1975. Despite this, HQ became Holden's most popular car, selling 485,650 units, a total yet to be surpassed in a Holden. It was however, sold over a longer timeframe than previous models.

More info on the real car can be found here.

This casting was occasionally marketed by Matchbox in North America as a Chevy El Camino,  The removable motorcycles come in a variety of colors.