2013 Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG Auto Body Repair

Almost Everything's Car of the Day is a 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG. This car has visited us a couple of times with very minor chips and scrapes. The owner understandably likes to keep it in top condition. We repaired some dents on the rear bumper and repainted it with factory paint.

Before:

After:

After:

After:

After:

After:

More Ferrari Hill Climbing Mischief

Almost Everything's Wreck of the Day is a Ferrari F430 Spider. As you can see, the hill climb attempt was a bit too ambitious. One more example of why we strongly recommend Ferraris be used only on paved roads and not for rock climbing. We recommend Land Rover, Jeep and Steyr-Daimler-Puch for mud and boulders. (We should also mention that everyone involved in this accident lived to tell about it.)

Please send your abused Ferraris along with generous donations to:

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ferraris (SPCF)
c/o Almost Everything Auto Body
37414 Centralmont Place
Fremont, California 94536
USA

Thanks as always to WreckedExotics.com for the photos and alerting us to the destruction of another exotic car.

24 Heures du Mans (24 Hours of Le Mans)

The greatest auto race in the world starts tomorrow, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It's our favorite because since 1923, people have been racing whatever they could bring for a whole day without stopping. There have been cars taken straight off showroom floors: Porsches, Corvettes, Aston Martins, Jaguars, Ferraris, Maseratis, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Lotuses, Cobras. And then there are the prototypes--the no holds barred version of racing that exists nowhere else. These are the fastest vehicles on the planet with bleeding edge technology that defines where automobiles will be decades in the future. Or not. Some of the ideas are downright weird and fail miserably. Racing doesn't get any better.

Join us for live coverage at: http://en.lemanslive.com/
http://www.24h-lemans.com/live/en/

Start: Saturday, June 13, 2015, 3:00 PM in Europe, 6:00 AM in San Francisco

2017 Ford GT Start-up, Revs and Moving!

Stop Ferrari Abuse!

Almost Everything's Wreck of the Day--the latest in our long running series of what NOT to do with a Ferrari. Long envious of Lotus' lock on the supercar/submarine market, a driver in China decided to develop his own, Ferrari-based super-sub. As can be seen in these photos, it is still in need of development.

Please send your abused Ferraris along with generous donations to:

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ferraris (SPCF)
c/o Almost Everything Auto Body
37414 Centralmont Place
Fremont, California 94536
USA

Thanks to WreckedExotics.com for the photos and alerting us, as always, to the destruction of another exotic car.

Ferrari California vs Bus

It has been far too long since we've posted a Wreck of the Day. So today we are making up for the lapse. Almost Everything's Wreck of the Day  is a 2014 Ferrari California.

Astonishingly, everyone survived with only minor injuries. 

The accident took hours to clear and caused major traffic delays in the city of Ajman, United Arab Emirates. Police accuse the driver of excessive speed and reckless driving. First responders assumed the Ferrari passengers would have to be dead. Not only were they alive but not too seriously injured. It helped that the driver, a man in his 20's, had been able to slow before hitting the bus by plowing into 4 or 5 other cars (accounts vary.) Both Ferrari occupants went to the hospital and are expected to make full recoveries. 

Thanks to our good buddies across the bay at WreckedExotics.com for their regular doses of supercar mayhem. Thanks also to Carscoops.com, InAutoNews and Daljinder Nagra at AOL for additional details.

Video of Lamborghini Aventador Crash

We wonder what the Mazda driver's insurance rates were after this crash. Almost Everything's Wreck of the Day is a special edition Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 called the "Nero Nemesis." Amazingly, it was all caught on video. Lots of debate on internet over who was at fault--was the Lambo going too fast? Or was the Mazda driver just oblivious? (We fall into the camp of the Mazda driver needed to yield to traffic.) Either way, no one was seriously injured. DuPont Registry lists a Lamborghini Aventador Nero Namesis at $450,000. The crash happened on Sloane St. in London, England.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at WreckedExotics.com for e-mailing us with the photos and video.

Jaguar's Good to Be Bad Promotion

Jaguar are promoting their new F-Type sports car (and we do mean sport--it is completely, unreservedly awesome) with their #GoodToBeBadContest.

The most recent contest "mission" was, "Tell us what song's playing when you're at your most villainous." It brought to mind a song that I used to blast on repeat while road racing along cliffs and mountain roads on the California coast above San Francisco.

So. . . here is Frank's (from Almost Everything's) insane driving theme song, "The Floral Dance" by The Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band (#2 on the British Pop Charts in 1977) . . .

Ferrari FF and F355 Destroyed in Offroad Adventures

Almost Everything's Wreck of the Day is not one but 2 different Ferraris used for off roading. Sadly this isn't the first time we've joked about a Ferrari being used as a Jeep. The first wreck comes from Lancashire, England where an Oakley Design tuned Ferrari FF worth about US$300,000 stopped running up this hill when it finally hit a tree!

The second set of photos comes from Germany where a farmer was using his Ferrari F355 to plow his field. We are only speculating but it seems obvious that either an angry bull or a belligerent gang of llamas rolled the Ferrari several times.

Thankfully, both the farmer and the hill climber survived these crashes with few if any injuries.

Thanks to our buddies at WreckedExotics.com for always providing us with expensive mayhem.

Nissan GT-R End-Over

Here's something you don't see everyday. Almost Everything's Wreck of the Day is a Nissan GT-R Racer. In the video several GT-Rs pass by during the 2014 Long Tom Hill Climb race in the town of Sabie, Mpumalanga, South Africa. The last car takes the turn a little too fast, flips several times before disappearing down a ravine. This was the fourth run of the day for 47 year old driver Wilhelm Baard. Fortunately he was not seriously injured and attended the awards ceremony at the end of the event. Baard won South Africa's Knysna Hill Climb in 2011 in a GT-R.

The 2014 Long Tom Hill Climb took place on January 25th and 26th. It was sponsored by Renault (Nissan's parent) and the Sports Car Club of South Africa. The race covers 6.3 km (3.9 miles) along the banks of the Sabie River in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The next video shows cars leaving the starting line and beginning their assault on the hill. The sounds are great.

Many thanks to the spectators who recorded these videos, our friends at WreckedExotics.com who reliably find an astonishing amount of this type stuff on a daily basis, and to AutoEvolution who provided us with the background story and more images of the event.

Cars of the Century(s)

Video of 3 Lamborghinis on Fire!

We approach this with some guilty glee. You know we love reporting burning super cars. Today's Wreck of the Day is a trifecta. A group of 5 Lamborghinis were travelling in convoy from the city-state of Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The middle car lost traction and crashed into the center divide. The car behind it (not sure if it was the ugly BMW or one of the other Lamborghinis) crashed into an additional 2 cars then a bus hit the lot of them. Somehow 3 of the Lamborghinis, an Aventador and 2 Gallardos, ended-up on top of each other. Being Lamborghinis, they, of course, burst into flames. And there's video! Director Norazam of the local fire and rescue reported that drivers & passengers escaped without injury.

Thanks to WreckedExotics.com for sending us the links, Ilmu Pendoman Hidup for the back story and additional photos, sriganesh2005 and The Malay Mail Online for even more video and details!

Almost Everything's Annual San Francisco International Auto Show Give Away

Join Almost Everything Autobody at the 2013 San Francisco International Auto Show and win FREE PRIZES. Once every hour, the first person who finds Frank Barnard, President of Almost Everything, and says the magic words, "Almost Everything. . . and Nothing Else!" will win the Grand Prize worth over $1000. Every runner-up will receive a certificate good for $100! Details below.

Current Supercar, McLaren MP12C

2013 McLaren MP12C

Old school Supercar, 1930's Talbot Lago!

Which do you prefer? The McLaren or the Talbot Lago? If you're like us, you simply want BOTH

Almost Everything's lovely volunteer model enhances the Ferrari display

Now THIS is a Rolls Royce!

Makes the current Rolls Royce look a bit mundane, don't you think?

So what could be better than a Rolls Royce? Duesenberg afficionados can debate the point with you.

1920's Front Wheel Drive Cord

1960's Front Wheel Drive Oldsmobile Toronado

V16 Cadillac--yes, 16 Cylinders.

Not to be outdone. . . by anyone. V32 Stutz.

Art Center College of Design student draws cars

Art Center College of Design student car design sample

CONTEST RULES:

1. Contest open to all San Francisco Auto Show attendees 18 years of age and older excluding Almost Everything employees and friends and relatives of Almost Everything employees
2. To win, contestants must locate Frank Barnard at the show. He will be looking at cars like you will. When he hears you say, "Almost Everything. . . and Nothing Else!" he will automatically award you with a prize. Frank is easy to spot. He has red hair and will be wearing clothes with the Almost Everything logo. 
3. Contest runs Sunday, December 1, 2013 from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM
4. Grand Prize consists of a certificate good for a free Urethane Paint service plus Urethane Sealer plus Light Chip & Scratch Repair from Almost Everything, retail value $1060.00
5. A maximum of 3 Grand Prize Certificates will be awarded.
6. Grand Prize will be awarded to the first person during each hour of the contest who Frank hears say, "Almost Everything. . . and Nothing Else!" If it happens that Frank hears multiple contestants utter the correct phrase at the same time, Frank may, at his sole discretion, determine the Grand Prize winner using a coin toss to determine if a contestant advances toward the Grand Prize. If Frank does not hear a potential contestant or a potential contestant does not utter the correct phrase, a prize will not be awarded.
7. Runner-Up Prizes consist of a certificate good for $100 in free goods or services from Almost Everything with any order of $399 or more before discounts. 
8. A maximum of 50 Runner-Up Prizes will be awarded.Be one of the lucky ones to win the Grand Prize worth over $1000. Good Luck!
9. Limit of one prize per household.

2013 Ferrari F12 Put Out to Pasture

Almost Everything's Wreck of the Day is a brand new Ferrari F12 Berlinetta out for a test drive along the scenic lake front of the small town of Breukeleveen, Netherlands. Regio14.nl reports that the driver and his grandson were in the car when it lost control, rolled & hit a tree. Both occupants were able to exit the car without injuries.



We liked Paul Sliggers' comment on the Regio14.nl website that "The prancing horse is grazing." And Ton de Ruijter quipped, "Very fast, but do you have this in green. . . ?"

Here's what a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta looks like before being driven into a tree

Thanks to our buddies at WreckedExotics.com who find and distribute this type mayhem to us.

Jaguar F-Type Coupe Coming Soon

Almost Everything received a press release this afternoon. We drove the new Jaguar F-Type a few months ago and are fans. We just thought that it should be available as a coupe as well as a convertible. Apparently Almost Everything has more pull with Jaguar than we realized!

Here's what Jaguar announced today:

"The highly anticipated 2015 F-TYPE Coupe will  be officially unveiled on November 20, 2013 at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The all-aluminum F-TYPE Coupe delivers on the promise of the C-X16 Concept Car, which won Autoweek's Best in Show award at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. “We've been overwhelmed by the positive reaction to the F-TYPE Convertible, says Ian Callum, Jaguar Director of Design, “But for me the purity of creating a sports coupe is a uniquely satisfying process. I know that both visually and dynamically, F-TYPE Coupe raises the bar yet again.”

We agree.