Of all the Aston Martin metal, the DB9 convertible always seems to be overshadowed by its more powerful brothers. That’s a real shame, too – especially considering just how lovely this drop-head beauty can be. Well, the crew at Wheelsandmore has taken it upon themselves to right this horrible wrong by producing the DB9 Volante. The result is an extra 60 horsepower from a reworked ECU and free-breathing exhaust. A set of coilovers drops the car on new 20-inch rollers, and a full body kit finished up the look. We like. Check the gallery for more shots.[Source: WCF]

Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here for some foreign friday love. This week is going to be a sweet sweet new ride outta Italy. Oddly enough… it’s named after our wonderful state of California. If that’s not international cooperation I don’t know what is. Hit the jump to check out the Ferrari California!

Feast your eyes on some serious Automotive sex drive.

Oh yeah baby. The Ferrari California is by far the hottest car to come from Europe in a good long while, and it’s a unique car in a lot of ways. For one thing, it represents several firsts for Ferrari: front-mid engine V8, Direct Injection, 7-Speed Dual Clutch Tranny, Multi-link rear suspension, and a folding metal convertible top.

Yeah. You read that right. Hard top convertible Ferrari. DAMMMMMMNNNNN. That’s not all though, this rear wheel drive beauty is capable of a top speed of 193mph and 0-60 in under 4 seconds. Go ahead and drool.

If that’s not enough, SURELY you’ve seen the lines on this thing. I mean, old world styling has always been a forte for European auto manufacturers but lets face it, the last few Ferrari’s were relatively narrow and boxy. The California is such a sharp departure from that design mentality and a return to traditionally rounded, flowing body lines that I can only hope that everything old is new again– welcome to the beginning of the automotive Renaissance. In this case, the Ferrari clearly takes some design aspects from Lotus and Aston Martin, as well as the Tesla (also designed by Lotus). However the look certainly works and fits in well with Ferrari’s of the distant past; a return to its roots if you will. Whatever the source of the design, Dr. VW heartily approves! If only I had the dough to drop for one of these sweet rides…

*sigh* I’ll just keep dreaming. Be sure to head down to the forums and check out the Gallery- thanks net car show! That’s all for this week Webriders, this is Dr. VW, signing off.

The Porsche Panamera

First, as usual, a little history lesson. In the early 90’s the chief of R&D at Porsche was a man named Ulrich Bez. He left Porsche around that time partially over disagreements with the board of directors over the development of the 989, a 4 door sedan prototype. Although the 989 never saw production, it would provide a dusty blueprint a decade later for the Panamera, Porsche’s first production 4 door sedan.

The Panamera, set for release in 2010, is arguably one of the strangest good looking cars ever designed. From the front and back it’s all Porsche, but from the sides… it looks as though someone took a Carrera and stretched it into a proper sedan; Motor Trend’s “gotta have cars” section had the newest prototype spyshots. However the trick here is that lines are retained, and the body still flows like a proper Porsche. Current R&D chief Wolfgang Durheimer has promised that the body lines aren’t the only thing thats going to stay true to the Porsche name, promising that performance will not be noticeably affected by the added weight. The Panamera will probably run a modified version of the Cayenne’s 3.6L V6, leaving the door open for a Porsche hybrid sedan… an interesting and revolutionary concept.

Now, the fact that the Panamera is being made at all is news in of itself, but there is an ironic twist to the story that made the news all the more interesting. Porsche was stunned when Ulrich Bez, now chief at Aston Martin, announced the plans in 2006 for a production 4 door Aston Martin sedan; the Rapide. It appears as though Ulrich never quite got over his denial at Porsche, and decided his revenge would be to produce a car that would compete directly with the Panamera. Ulrich has gone so far as to claim that the DB9 based Rapide will beat the Panamera into production! Now there’s a good old fashioned European showdown. It looks like WW3 might just be on the way for the automotive world… Do I smell shootout material?

Hope you guys enjoyed that juicy bit of sports car drama. Make sure to swing by the Forums and join in on the discussion. This is Dr. VW- out.