Chocolatey F1 Cars, Tweaked Luxury Taxes, and the Car of the Century

Behold the Sultan (snicker)! Destined to become the joy of Iranian motorists, the Sultan will be built in that country using mostly Renault parts by a company organized by an Iranian living in Britain, Kamran Naghdi. The front-wheel-drive, 90-hp Sultan will be dubbed an MTV, for "most terrain vehicle." The manufacturer, BMS, wants to build 10,000 a year.

The cost of luxury: In the waning days of 1999, Congress voted to increase the luxury-tax threshold by $2000, to $38,000, effective on Y2K doomsday. On that same day, the lux-tax rate also dropped a point, to five percent. That means folks buying a $40,000 car get socked with a five percent tax on $2000, or $100. We knew about the rate change, but the threshold vote caught us by surprise, so prices published in our January and February issues for cars costing more than $36,000 are high by as much as $100.

That's how the chocolate crumbles: French artist and chocolate maker Pascal Guerreau spent 400 hours crafting a life-size Formula 1 car as a tribute to his hero, former driver Alain Prost, to be displayed at the International Festival of Chocolate in London, only to have his half-ton creation literally crumble into tiny, but presumably tasty, shards. Evidently, the truck ride through the Channel tunnel was too much for the chocolate race car, with the festival organizer citing "the cold or the vibration" as the culprit.

Hey, don't be so hard on him! Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company, will sponsor the Eel River Racing NASCAR Winston Cup entry for the 2000 season. The product that will be advertised on the side of the Pontiac Grand Prix: Viagra. Part of the ad campaign will be towing a trailer from race to race that will screen fans for medical problems, such as erectile dysfunction. Make up your own jokes.

And then, out of the woodwork . . . A sculptor in Italy has finally answered the question that has plagued us for, like, five minutes: "Why won't someone carve a wooden Volkswagen Beetle that floats?" Since sculptor Livio de Marchi lives in Venice, Italy, where roads are scarce but canals aren't, his VW, carved to life-size proportions, is essentially a motorboat.

Car of the Century: A panel of presumably distinguished automotive journalists (oxymoron alert!) has selected the Car of the Century: The Ford Model T. The other four finalists, in order of their finish, are the Mini (all types), the Citroën DS, the Volkswagen Beetle, and the Porsche 911.

GM hums: General Motors is now the official owner of the Hummer name and marketing rights, and plans bigger --if that's possible --and better things for the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle. The Hummer will continue to be built in the plant in Mishawaka, Indiana, and could be joined by other products that bear the Hummer name.

New Blazer spied: We likely won't see it until 2001, but it appears GM is quite far along with the replacement for the long-in-the-tooth Chevrolet Blazer and its twin, the GMC Jimmy. The rounded styling gives a sense of family with the new-for-2000 full-size SUVs. They'll be larger than the current models, with the option of a third row of seats.