I snapped these pictures while at the Pebble Beach Concours de Elegance auto show recently. I caught these two new Tesla Roadster Sport all electric sport cars charging quietly behind the scenes. like any electric car, all Teslas need to be charged to juice up. You can see the large plug that comes supplied with the car. I am not totally sure if it can use a stand wall socket, but I don't think so. You probably need a special set up. Unlike gassing up your car, to charge an electric car you need to wait hours, not minutes.

Look into the cabin of the car and you'll find a charging status screen. A green progress bar like you'd find on a laptop computer or mobile phone is accompanied by a mileage indicator of how far you can go on the current charge. While the Tesla is charging, a light around the plug glows and beats to indicate charging is taking place.

Strolling by the scene it seems almost natural, until I realized that this is likely something we will see lots more of in the future. Not to mention the fact that most people have never seen an electric car charging, or even a Tesla for that matter. Gone here are the manicured details of the inside of a showroom or auto show. This image is just what you'd see by having your own Tesla (if you are lucky enough to get one) charging quietly in your driveway or garage. As times go on, more and more electric car charging spots are popping up all over the country. I am sure your city has at least a few with major cities having dedicated parking spots with chargers and more.

Hearing the Tesla start up and drive off is another strange experience. Unlike the bellows of a Ferrari, or the growls of a Lamborghini, the Tesla has a no engine noise, and just the soft sounds of a transmission and tire noise. Like a large radio controlled model car, but made for people. Tesla has had a lot of financial problems, but thankfully many have come to its rescue and the cars are finally ready for prime time.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

No worries, this auto overhaul is no sick joke. Japan based designer "Nigo" of A Bathing Ape (Bape) routinely asserts his brand of camouflage treatments to high-end and luxury products. The latest victim/subject is this Mercedes Benz 300 SL classic car. More than just a paint job, the car has been thoroughly mechanically upgraded by Mercedes in-house tuner AMG. Notice the wheels are new, and inside, the car has a new engine among a list of other goodies. Will this special one-off car be sold? Possibly? Price will be extravagant.

What else would you expect from the co-creator of another brand Nigo is involved in called "The Billionaire Boys Club?" With ongoing themes of luxury urban style - with an avant garde designer twist - BAPE creates some honestly creative fashion items, but of course succeeds in shocking or insulting many by what some would certainly describe as defacement of a classic icon car. Underneath, the Mercedes Benz 300 SL (made 1952-1963) is serious collector's car with its almost modern day handling and gullwing doors. Nigo pulls off design PR stunts like this for the attention, or maybe because he actually intends to cruise around in it. I'd keep it away from Stuttgart though. Click on the link below for more images.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Via Highsnobiety.

It is true that the Midas touch usually ends up appearing more like a beating from the 'rod of distaste.' Not always though, and thankfully this splendid Bugatti isn't actually suffering from Gold sheet metal, but rather a decadent paint job. With a slathering of two-tone gold paint, this owner of this charming speed demon pampers it like a new born - an almost 2 million dollar new born. Kept in a special climate controlled garage in Kuwait, this gold Veyron is a pride of the desert.

With needs like an occasional $10,000 detail job, this isn't the type of super car you just ignore until you get the itch to drive fast. Instead, the proud owner will likely be spending much of his time with a delicate cloth buffing the Veyron's flanks while whispering to it in soft German. The occasional drive through the boulevards of Kuwait with the luxurious gold paint job may not necessarily be to show off, but rather as camouflage to blend in with the sand while pushing the Bugatti's massive 1001 horsepower 16 cylinder engine to its over 200mph limit.

Gallery at Zero Customs.

Via Motor Authority.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

I like it when a limited edition watch partners with a limited edition car. In this case Hublot piggybacks on the lovely new limited run of 100 Morgan AeroMax cars. Most of the time, watches branded to cars have nothing in common with the car. That seems to be the case again in this instance, but at least you have the Morgan logo attached to a grill-like surface on the Aero Bang Morgan's dial. Again, on the rear of the watch, an decoration made specially for the Aero Bang Morgan celebrates the motorcar brand and limited edition vehicle.

Morgan is a British maker of retro-styled sports cars. While limited in production and not cheap, their prices are often much more reasonable than today's multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars exotic fare. Their newest AeroMax is a perfect edition to the line up, and utterly British. Last I heard, Morgan was using BMW engines, while the Hublot watch has a HUB44 SQ calibre automatic movement inside. Materials making up the watch are plentiful and sometimes as exotic as the AeroMax car. Nothing less than titanium, tungsten, ceramic, Kevlar, steel, and sapphire crystal make up the complex construction of the watch. At 44.5mm wide, it is a handsome statement worn in conjunction with the car, or otherwise. Interestingly enough, the limited edition watch will have 500 pieces, 400 more than the Morgan AeroMax car itself.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

This is ridiculous.

Remember the $350,000 Swarovski-studded Mercedes-Benz at the 2007 Moscow Millionaire Fair? Well, they've done it again.

The above photo is from the Tokyo Auto Salon 2009, and it features a customized Mercedes-Benz SL600 (aka the Luxury Crystal Benz) covered in 300,000 Swarovski crystals. We don't know how much it costs, but frankly, we weren't about to purchase it.

Even Barbie wouldn't get in that gaudy thing.

[via Luxury Launches]

Talk about a great way to ruin a beautiful car -- paste pink Swarovski crystals on every visible surface. More than 300,000 crystals cover the car's hood, trunk, license plate, and even wheel rims, forming roses, hearts, ribbons, and lots of general over-the-top girliness to symbolize the beauty of marriage. Even the interior features crystals next to the shift knob and on front and backseat throw pillows (what?).

Designed by Zheng Zhiren the car is currently on display in Taiwan and is apparently a big hit. It's valued at approximately $306,000.

Imagine finding a Bentley parked in your driveway one day. That's what happened to a woman in Modesto, California. Rosa Warren was shocked to see the new luxury car outside her house. She wondered if it was a gift but there was no bow, no card and no one seemed to know anything about it. Warren called the police and found out that the car had been stolen from the owner's garage a few miles away. No one is sure why the thief parked it in her driveway. Hopefully she at least gets a finder's fee for her trouble.

Lamborghini is planning a single-make race series and the star of the show will be a competition-spec Gallardo LP560-4 called the Super Trofeo. It's all decked out with race-specific goodies like special adjustments to the chassis, ABS brakes, and wheels plus a more powerful 570hp engine (weee!). The series starts in May and each race will include 30 cars owned privately and by dealer teams, plus one celebrity-driven vehicle that will change at each event. €200,000 will get you in with a car and parts package, plus trackside support and admission to the luxury Lamborghini Village at each location.

It looks very likely that in the near future Rolls fans will have the option of owning an all-electric version of the Rolls-Royce Phantom. Tom Purves, the Rolls-Royce CEO, has revealed that he'd not only like to build an electric Phantom but thinks it would fit in perfectly with what a lot of Rolls customers are looking for. Thanks to the technology used in the new BMW Mini-E the hard part of developing an electric engine that measures up is already done -- it's really just about refinement and tweaking a few technology details.

No word yet on when an electric Phantom can be expected but it sounds like it could be as soon as the next few years.

I've seen the occasional Mustang or Camaro police car before and thought that the cop driving it must feel pretty special, but that's nothing compared to how awesome the Italian police must feel: they just got a brand new Lamborghini Gallardo.

The Gallardo LP560-4 is all decked out with the usual police decals and lights, plus they managed to squeeze in all the high tech police equipment like radio and video equipment, gun racks, and even a cooler (for body parts?!).

It's not Italy's first law enforcement Lamborghini (Rome has had one for awhile) but still! Pretty awesome.

Carlsson of Germany is premiering the CK63 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG this month. The list of exterior features includes a front grille insert, rear spoiler, and Carlsson stainless steel exhaust system while the interior boasts a Carlsson sport steering wheel, enhanced multi-media, and fully customizable trim options. That's all well and good (it does look awesome!) but the best part is how they've improved the vehicle's performance, giving it 565hp and the ability to go from 0-60mph in just 3.8 secs. The engine is capable of moving the car much faster but (to protect us all from the crazies out there) it's electronically limited to a mere 186 mph. Even so the whole deal sounds (and looks) pretty sweet.

Want to drive a luxury brand automobile but can't afford it? You might be surprised to find that many luxury brands (like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Lincoln) offer vehicles that start in the low 30s. Just by foregoing a few extras like a bigger engine and built-in GPS you could be driving a new luxury car for about the same as you'd expect to pay for a nice Toyota or Honda. It really comes down to deciding if the term "fully loaded" is really that important to you -- do you have to have that gas-guzzling V8? If the answer is 'no' then you suddenly have a lot more options.

Our sister site (brother site?), autoblog, a few days ago posted the news that British sports car manufacturer Lotus celebrated its 60th birthday on September 14 at its Hethel headquarters in England with a special edition of the Europa. Specially configured for the diamond anniversary to appeal to the socialite-type set, the special custom gear shift lever and other switches are in-set with diamonds in black metal. The high-gloss black paint has tiny bits of glass in it, boasting more sparkle than an average metallic finish. The Europa also gets some unspecified performance upgrades that give it a sub-five-second 0-60 dash and 146 mph at the top end. We don't know, though, if this £150,000 Europa is a one-of-a-kind or if Lotus is planning to build more. Autoblog has the full press release.

Here's a classy looking clutch that has absolutely nothing in the way of ruffles, gems, or other frills. It's even a fairly rugged shade of pewter gray. The perfect nice-but-just-a-little-casual clutch to go with a favorite sweater dress or maybe nice jeans and a cute top. The Rolls Clutch by Marc Jacobs features an old-time Rolls-Royce on its foldover front with silver-studded wheels, press stud closure, zipped compartments on both the back and on the inside, and an interior fully lined in smooth brown leather. Bring a small bit of unexpected fashion statement to your next get-together. $1,095

The next Aston Martin flagship automobile is due for release later this year (possibly in Paris) and recently a few of the much anticipated details were released. What we know about the new One-77 model is that it will feature a hand-built 7.0-liter V12 engine, an aluminum and carbon fiber chassis, a top speed of 200+ mph, and a 0-60mph time of about 3.5 secs.

Only 77 One-77's will be made, each able to be customized to the individual owner's tastes and each carrying a price tag of about £1 million.