In 1999, the duPont REGISTRY held a survey where it asked its subscribers and the visitors to its web site to pick the 10 best cars of the century. Using those opinions, along with the picks from a number of notable persons like Mario Andretti, Don Panoz, Carroll Shelby, and Reggie Jackson, it compiled a list of the Top 100 Cars of the Century and dedicated a special book to its cause (in a way it was the precursor to our annual editorial-based Exotic Car Buyers Guide). The book hit newsstands before the turn of the century and was a great success. Today we are going to take a look back at that list and reminisce on what cars were picked and why and compare it to how those cars would probably rank exactly 10 years later.

Taking the number one spot on our top 100 list was the Lamborghini Diablo. Unveiled in production trim in Monte Carlo in January 1990, the Diablo was in its ninth year and still being produced at the time the book was written. We praised the “devil” for its “staggering 530 bhp from the…5.7-liter V-12,” and “0-60 mph acceleration under 4 seconds.” In the review we wrote “Lamborghini is rumored to be working on the next generation supercar. Though it’s hard to believe, they will create an automobile that will surpass our number one car in speed, power, and aerodynamic style.” Of course none of us knew the Lamborghini Murciélago was going to be so fast and so powerful and garnish as much admiration from the motoring public with its stout 580-hp 6.2-liter V-12 engine as it did. However, looking back, we can’t help but think that if a Lamborghini were to make the top ten list, shouldn’t it be the Lamborghini Countach? A model that has influenced the styling of all the company’s cars for the past 40 years.

Continue our look back at the top 100 cars of the last 100 years.

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duPont REGISTRY’s Facebook page, which previously held an artwork contest that we told you about here, is proud to announce that the winner of its Exotic Cars and Women Photography Contest is Tiffani Shipman, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Tiffani’s entry was a picture of her posing next to a white Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 provided by Lamborghini Las Vegas and was taken by A.D. Cook at an old Audi dealership in Henderson, Nevada. Shipman works for South Central Sportchassis, which caters to such well-known celebrities as Shaquille O’Neal and Chirs “Birdman” Anderson, as a salesperson and is not a professional model. She hopes to one day host her own T.V. show, maybe on the Speed channel, which focuses on her hobby: frame-off restorations. Read more about Tiffani Shipman on her web site.

Second place was a photo submitted by Dennis Canuto of an unnamed woman Sloan Stewart sitting next to his 1995 Volkswagen Corrado and taken by Garret Newsom in the lower level of a parking garage in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Corrado, as Dennis explains it, was a rare car imported into the United States from 1990–94. The model owned by Canuto is a 1995 model that he imported from the City of Hamilton in the Canadian province of Ontario. Garrett wanted to create a “beauty and the beast” sort of motif, with the dark underground and metal piping representing a beast 's lair. The girl was added to highlight the “beauty” aspects of the automobile. You see view more of Newsom’s work here.

The contest consisted of a select group of 15 entries; voting was held from July 6–8, 2010, via Facebook. In total the contest garnished more than 727 comments and 250 “Likes.” View all the entries on duPont REGISTRY's Facebook page.

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Photographs of an orange Gallardo prototype that is covered in black tape and undergoing testing on the Nurburgring Nordschleife is actually a spyder version of the LP550-2 Valentino Balboni. InsideLine points out that although very similar in design, the prototype shares its intakes and lack of fixed rear wing with the Balboni.

[via InsideLine]

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We at duPont REGISTRY held a car artwork contest on our Facebook page in the first few weeks of May; giving artists the chance to submit their artwork and have it voted on by the car enthusiasts with the winner being the entry with the most “Likes.” With more than 150 submissions, in excess of 1,500 “Likes,” and more than 380 photo comments, the victor was Shawn Lisjack of Exotic Engravings, with a total of 156 “Likes,” by way of his Aston Martin DBS engraving.

The engraving was created on a 12x16-inch piece of black-painted aluminum and took more than 190 hours to complete. Shawn uses a Dremel Tool with various bits to create his works by hand. Besides painted aluminum, Shawn has also engraved on sheet metal, anodized aluminum, aircraft aluminum, carbon fiber, glass, Zippo lighters, picture frames, racing helmets, and even once a pumpkin. His art work is not limited to exotic cars either, as Shawn will also produce animal, landscape, city scape, portrait, or flower engravings if that is what his clientele desires.

Shawn’s first engraving was a gift for a couple of friends on the grand opening of their tuning shop in California in 2007. After a warm welcome from not only the shop owners but the shop’s initial visitors, Shawn decided to expand on his talent and create his own company where he could work on, market, and sell his engravings. Today his one-of-a-kind engravings start at $500 and go up depending on size, detail, and imagery. The Aston Martin DBS engraving that Shawn entered into our competition would sell for approximately $16,000. Since Shawn still wants to give many people the opportunity to enjoy his art, he is working to make posters, prints, canvases, and maybe even laser reproductions available in the future.

Below is a time-lapse video of a Lamborghini logo that Shawn engraved. For more information go to Shawn Lisjack‘s web site at ExoticEngravings.com or e-mail him at ExoticEngravings. View all the artwork submitted here.

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Lamborghini is recalling 428 Murcielagos manufactured for the 2007 and 2008 model years for a possible fuel pump defect that could result in a vehicle fire. The welds holding the fuel pump inside the fuel tank would detach and cause a fuel leak that, along with an ignition source, could result in a fire. The recall affects both the Murcielago coupe and Roadster. Authorized Lamborghini repair centers will be replacing these fuel tanks at no cost to the consumer.

[via SaferCar.gov]

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duPont REGISTRY's 2010 Exotic Car Buyers Guide is your ultimate source on the newest exotic and luxury cars and accessories. This issue offers modified exotics, a wheel guide, and more than 110 reviews of the top exotic and luxury cars from all the premium manufacturers.

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Scott Rothstein was able to use his position as a lawyer to coax millions of dollars out of people that trusted him. The man known for wearing and driving in only the best, Rothstein is now awaiting sentencing in what has turned out to be a $1.4-billion Ponzi scheme. Rothstein’s sentencing is June 9, 2010, where he faces up to 100 years in prison. In the meantime, ten of Rothstein’s cars, only a small part of his exotic car collection, will be going up for auction on June 3, 2010, to give back some of the money to those he swindled.

Among the cars to go up for auction that day are a 2008 Bugatti Veyron, two red Ferrari 430 Spiders (a 2006 and a 2008), a 2010 Lamborghini Murcielago LP670 SV, a white 2009 Bentley Continental GTC, a red and black 1967 Corvette, a yellow 2008 Mercedes-Benz SLR Roadster, 2008 Cadillac Escalade, a blue 2009 Maserati GranTurismo, and a 2007 Ford Expedition limo.

If now of these vehicles perk your interest, we are still awaiting a 1990 Ferrari F40, a silver 2007 Rolls-Royce Phantom, 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe, 2009 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, 2008 Mercedes-Benz S65, and a couple boats to go up for auction.

[via Sun Sentinel and Rick Levin Auctions]

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For those that yearn for the feeling of excitement, the rise in heart rate and the euphoria that comes after your blood vessels and air passages dilate as epinephrine (read: adrenaline) pumps through your body, that comes from driving an exotic car at high rates of speed but just don’t have the money to buy one, your dream just moved a smidge closer to becoming a reality. Taku Imasaki, a U.S.-based producer for Gran Turismo 5, said in an interview that the game will be available later this year with 3-D features, which should increase the game's feeling of depth and heighten its sense of speed. To take advantage of the new features you will have to own one of the new 3-D TVs and 3-D glasses. Of course, this is all dependent on new Gran Turismo actually ever making it to market. The game was 90 percent ready in January, which puts it on track for a release in summer of this year at the earliest. The game is said to use 80 percent of the Playstation 3’s processing power and may incorporate the PS3 Move control stick, which works much like the Wii controller.

[via GTPlanet.net and Destructoid]

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Besides giving us a behind-the-scenes peek at how the Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SV, the Rolls-Royce Phantom, the Chevrolet Camaro, and the Porsche 911 are built in its Ultimate Factories program, National Geographic aired an episode last Tuesday at 9 p.m. that showcased the Bugatti Veyron as part of its Man Made series. If you missed the show, you can find some snippets below.

You may want to stay tuned to that channel because National Geographic is going to be offering more programs like this in the near future, including a look in the Audi R8 factory on Thursday, May 6, 2010, and a peek into GM’s Bowling Green, Kentucky, factory where the Corvette Z06 is built on Saturday, May 22, 2010. Check your local listings for details.

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Back in March a man named Richard Holt made a 250.1-mph run at a one-mile event in the Goliad Industrial Air Park in Texas. He was piloting a 1,000-plus-hp twin-turbocharged Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera tuned by Underground Racing and John Reed Racing. A video of his feat can be viewed below.

Hoffman Motorsports and Heffner Performance could not let Mr. Holt have all the fun so they brought out their twin-turbo Ford GT to the Exotics Car Rally in Miami, Florida, this past weekend. The bright yellow supercar set a standing-mile record of 266.93 mph. The Veyron-eclipsing speed was due to the car's rumored output of 1,900 hp achieved by stuffing the engine with 41 pounds of boost. Unfortunately, some people say that the GT’s record-setting number, which is much higher than the car’s last top run of 249.9 mph in Texas, may be skewed due to faulty timing equipment.

[via Dragtimes and Jalopnik and WorldCarFans]

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