Men Free Blog

Head to Maserati’s website and you’re greeted with a tantalizingly coy poll, asking users to guess what event will take place on October 2nd, the first day of the Paris Motor Show. The overwhelming popular opinion is that a new car will be debuted, possibly the smaller Maser that’s supposed to take aim at Porsche. A test mule was spied a while back, though that car didn’t have the folding hardtop the new mini-Maserati, based on a hacked-down GranTurismo, is whispered to be carrying. We’ll all just have to wait, each day feeling longer than the next. What else could it be, other than a car? The idea of generating such buzz over a new website, logo, or advertising campaign (all three are choices) is ludicrous, but the rest, including a new production facility could seem plausible. Even more intriguing, it could be all of the above. We want a smaller Maserati, and we’re going to hold our breath until we turn as blue as the website’s banner image to get one.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving, your conundrum has arrived: cars and wine have met in support of the disadvantaged children of south Florida. Every year for the past eight, the auction at the Naples Winter Wine Festival has drawn the most discerning connoisseurs in the Sunshine State to bid on rare bottles of epic vintage to raise funds for the Naples Children and Education Foundation. Our sister-site Luxist reports that the auction raised $14 million this year.

In addition to the potable lots, every y

ear the auction also features some of the most luxurious automobiles in which the benefactors could haul their cases of vino home. At last year’s auction, the first Rolls-Royce Phantom DropHead Coupe raised $2 million, a Bentley Continental GTC sold for $1.3 million, $790k was raised through a raffle for a special Maserati Quattroporte, and $260k bought a Lexus LS 600h L. This year the auction featured two luxury coupes: a Bentley Brooklands and a Maserati GranTurismo. Surprisingly, neither of the two luxury coupes was painted wine red or burgundy, but that didn’t stop them from selling for big bucks. The Bentley is the first of the new Brooklands to reach the US market, and sold to Monte and Usha Ahuja for $450,000 – more than a hundred grand over list price. The specially-prepared Maserati GranTurismo, meanwhile, went for more than three times its MSRP for a bid of $350,000.
[Sources: Bentley and Maserati]