American classics at the Old Town Kissimmee Car Festival

WITH it being a bit wintry out there havent been too many classics out on Lancashires roads lately, with most waiting for the North West Indoor Show in a couple of weeks.

On the other side of The Pond, though, its a different story, and my sister, whos currently holidaying in Florida, was kind enough to send over these pictures of what American enthusiasts are getting up to.

The Old Town Kissimmee Car Festival sounds like a great event; every weekend, thousands of classic car owners congregate in the Old Town in the Florida city of Kissimmee to show off their pride and joy - and, with my sister reporting its around 28 degrees celsius there at the moment, conditions are rather more inviting than the sub-zero temperatures parts of the north west are currently enduring!

With it being an American show there was plenty of homegrown V8 muscle on offer - Corvettes, Mustangs, Thunderbirds and so on - but it was refreshing to see the people of Florida have just as much enthusiasm for Europes classics, with a Fiat 500, Austin Healey 100, Jaguar E-Type, and numerous VW Beetles among the entrants.

Life On Cars - or rather, Life On Cars sister Becky while she was on holiday - took these pictures at last weekends event:

Life On Cars would like to thank Rebecca Simister for providing the pictures from the Old Town Kissimmee Car Festival.

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this is how to grab attention at a international auto show think outside the convention center! REO in 1927 Helsinki Auto Show

this, is a showroom built by the REO importer Mr Peltola, outside the auto show, to grab attention and isolate potential customers from the rest of the makers

Mr. Peltola the importer did not want to join the other car dealers at the show and decided to have his own display in a market square called Kasarmintori in Helsinki. A look inside the novelty shown in the middle photo above, demonstrates just how well the display showcased the product for the firm. At the far end can be seen a sales desk set up under and inside the cowl and hood. All show photos courtesy of perrasmotornostalgi via http://www.retronaut.com via http://theoldmotor.com/?p=112284

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Qoros to launch new saloon at Geneva

ANYONE remember our exclusive piece on the talented designer from Merseyside who landed a job helping a Chinese firm to create its latest cars?

Well, this is that companys first European model - the Qoros 3 saloon, which is being officially launched at the Geneva Motor Show next month.  The company hasnt given much indication of how much involvement Alex OBrien, from Thornton, has had in the design, but did say its the first in a series of a models which will draw on young automotive talent from across the globe.

A spokesperson for the company said: "The new range of Qoros models is being designed and engineered by an international team of experienced specialists and new, young automotive talent, and has been developed with the support of internationally-renowned suppliers.

"Rapid expansion of the model range will be achieved thanks to an innovative modular vehicle architecture developed in-house at Qoros.  The clean, elegant styling direction – drawing heavily on contemporary European themes – has been developed to give all Qoros models an unmistakable brand identity."

Qoros, which is based in  Changshu, China but already has several facilities both over there and in Europe, says it is keen to launch a new model every six months.

For what its worth I reckon its not a bad looking car, and definitely better than its Chinese counterpart, the  Geely Emgrand EC7 which completely failed to win me over this time last year. What do you think?

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