Pod Rods: the Brumos Five meet their new owners; the Big Apple's new taxi; and micocars on sale

Pod Rods brings you weekly updates on car news, automotive rumors and all the car events happening in the area.

This time, we give you a sneak peek at a new Jaguar, watch Honda help a rock band, and see who is coming to the next Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance.

Plus, don't forget to check out our news partner's First Coast Gears at First Coast News.

Now here's some automotive news:

-- And then there were none...

The last of five 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars commemorating Brumos Racing's 2011 Rolex Grand-Am GT championship was sold this week. Then the "Brumos Five," each priced at $265,259 and built in Germany and Jacksonville's own Brumos racing shop, were handed over to their new owners.

As we reported Friday in the Times-Union, this is the first time the Porsche factory has authorized the rebuilding of its race cars into commemorative editions of one of its race teams' cars. These started out as Porsche's last five North American-spec Cup cars for 2012. Each body-in-white 460-hp race car got an upgraded 4-liter racing engine. Each was shipped to Brumos Racing's Jacksonville shop for final touches including lightweight carbon fiber pieces, really cool polished metal rear wing uprights and the iconic red and blue Brumos paint job.

The result looks just like Brumos' 2011 Grand Am GT championship car, a stripe and color scheme that celebrates its 40th anniversary next month, said veteran Brumos driver Hurley Haywood.

"If you look back over the last 40 years, there is no other color scheme that is so closely identified with the company that races it," Haywood said. "I travel all over the world, and when people see a picture of that car they know exactly whose car it is, whose driving it and the whole history behind it."

The new owners -Ron Thomas, John Crosby, McGrath Keen, Michael Fux and an anonymous collector - got their new rides on Friday with race team drivers Leh Keen and Andrew Davis, as well as Haywood, on hand.

"Today we will write history, history for Brumos and history for Porsche," said Porsche Motorsport President Jens Walther.

And yes, like anyone with a new gift with all that power, they fired up the cars in the race shop in front of the team's race car transporter.

-- It was one of the oddest looking race cars to ever tackle the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, and showed the future until it was taken out by another race car. Now Nissan says the revolutionary DeltaWing race car comes to the Southeast Oct. 19-20 to compete in the American Le Mans Series finale at Road Atlanta. Drivers Lucas Ordonez and Gunnar Jeannette will pilot the slim dart-shaped racer at the 1,000-mile, 10-hour Petit Le Mans race, it's radical lightweight aerodynamic shape powered by a specially-developed 1.6-liter DIG-T 4-cylinder Nissan engine. Nissan also announced that as part of the ALMS merger with Daytona Beach-based GRAND-AM Road Racing, the DeltaWing will race again within the regulations of the resulting new championship, scheduled to start in 2014.

-- Speaking of Nissan, the next time you hail a hack in the Big Apple, it might be one of theirs. New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission officially approved the Nissan NV200 Taxi of Tomorrow as "the" taxicab of that city. And the first ones will start cruising in in a year, powered by a 2-liter engine designed to reduce carbon emissions and enhance fuel efficiency across the entire 13,000-strong taxi fleet. Nissan has also partnered with Braun to develop, engineer and produce a wheelchair-accessible taxi in 2013.

-- Honda has been doing some nice things with its "Honda Loves You Back" campaign. But what it did for a struggling band from LA called Monsters Calling Home was actually way cool. Autoblog says the band shot some music videos in the Hondas its members own, and Honda noticed one _ "Fight to Keep." So it lured the band to an auditorium on the pretext of having it play for some execs, only to cancel the gig as the band was warming up. But that wasn't the truth - Honda actually got the band a gig on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC-TV, and here's the result as seen on this Honda video. The original song, shot in a Honda, is there too.

-- Smart is showing off a new electric smart forstars concept, what it calls an SUC (Sports Utility Coupe). The cheeky little SUV-like car has room for two, its name a tongue-in-cheek reference to the glass roof above the passengers that gives a clear view of the starry sky. The concept also has a video projector in the hood that allows "the work of film stars" to be shown when the car is parked. The smart forstars premieres next weekend at the Paris Motor Show, powered by a 60 kW magneto-electric motor from the new smart BRABUS electric.

-- Another premiere set for the Paris show is Lexus' new mid-sized coupe concept, called the LF-CC. The rear-wheel drive full hybrid gets the company's new signature "spindle" grille, deep lower spoiler and a grille mesh with a LED-projector headlamp design. Power comes from a 2.5-liter gas engine mated to a compact, high-output, water-cooled permanent magnet electric motor.

-- A very special cat got leaked before it prowls the Paris show, thanks to well-known spy photographer Chris Doane, who showed an image of the new F-Type on his Facebook page with the following caption - "Something interesting just popped up in my inbox..." The production F-Type will look very much like the C-X16 concept that was parked at this year's Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, although that was a hardtop and this is a roadster.

-- You hear him elegantly sum up the beauty and grace of each weekend's Formula One race on SPEED, or read his historic prose in Road & Track. But the Connecticut Yankee that is Sam Posey is also a veteran racer and the honoree for the 18th Annual Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, set for March 8-10 at and near The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island.

Posey's radical Caldwell D7 Can-Am racer will be the centerpiece of "The Cars of Sam Posey" display on the show field, joined by the 200-mph Ferrari 512M he and Tony Adamowicz raced to a podium finish at Le Mans in 1971.

"I can't think of anyone who has driven a more varied selection of racing cars than Sam Posey. Sam's raced everything but sprint cars and Top Fuel Dragsters!," said Amelia Concours founder and Chairman Bill Warner. "And for all I know maybe he's raced them too!"

Posey also raced in the Indy 500, Trans-Am, NASCAR, Can-Am and Formula 5000. He became a race analyst for the ABC-TV's Indy 500 broadcasts.

Accompanied by seminars, a gala dinner, charity auction and other events, "The Amelia" draws about 250 rare vehicles to the golf greens every March, and has donated more than $2 million to Community Hospice of Northeast Florida, Inc. and other charities since its founding. For information, visit www.ameliaconcours.org or call (904) 636-0027.

-- The cars that Bruce Weiner has collected over the years have been shown off in his museum in Madison, Ga., as well as the fields of major shows including the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. But Weiner has decided that after more than 15 years of collecting, it's time to sell off the collection, almost any of which are small enough to fit in a new owner's living room. RM Auctions will sell the entire Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum collection without reserve on Feb. 15-16 in Madison, including an eclectic assortment of period neon signs, kiddie rides, models, literature, vintage vending machines, and candy dispensers. From the smallest production car ever built, a 1964 Peel P-50, to the Italian iteration of the Messerschmitt, known as the Mivalino, the collection also includes four Goggomobil Transporters, a 1955 Kleinschnittger F-125 and two Voisin Biscooters, the extraordinary microcar built by legendary French aviation and automotive engineer Gabriel Voisin. There's even a Hot Wheels - a 1959 BMW Isetta 'Whattadrag,' with a 730-hp Chevrolet V-8. For more information, visit www.rmauctions.com or www.handlewithfun.com, and check out Autoblog's two videos.

Fall means cars shows, and here's some:

Florida shows:

• International Model A Ford Day - 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at Mike Shad Ford at the Avenues, 10720 Philips Highway. Presented by the Jacksonville Model A Club, the car was produced from 1928 to 1931, some built at a facility that still exists in Jacksonville.

• Second annual Ride for Pride Scholarship Rally - Registration begins at 9 a.m., kickstands up at 11 a.m. at Adamec Harley-Davidson, 8909 Baymeadows Road. Sponsored by the Florida State College at Jacksonville Foundation and the Ground Pounders Riding, proceeds provide scholarships for wounded veterans and their families to attend FSCJ. On-site registration is $35 per biker, $40 for rider and passenger and $15 for lunch only.

• Ponte Vedra Car Show at TPC Sawgrass - 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 23 at 110 Championship Way in Ponte Vedra Beach. Open to all cars, with awards for vehicles produced prior to 1988. The show is free for spectators on the grounds of the TPC clubhouse. Car registration is $35 for the first show vehicle and $30 for the second. Awards are set for 3 p.m.

• Southside Business Men's Club Car and Bike Show - 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at Hooters, 4521 Southside Blvd. Free for spectators and $25 per show vehicle, proceeds will benefit the Youth Achiever Program.

• Jacksonville Corvette Club Car Show - 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at Aromas Cigar and Wine Bar, 4172 Southside Blvd. Free to spectators and $30 per Vette show car.

• Cruisin' Mopars of Jacksonville Northeast Florida Region AACA Car-Truck-Special Interest Open Car Show in memory of John Guarnieri - 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, Baymeadows Junction Shopping Center at Baymeadows Road and Philips Highway. Free for spectators and $20 per show vehicle, proceeds benefit the Ronald McDonald House.

Florida cruise-ins:

• Informal cruise-in - 7 to 9 a.m. every Saturday at the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop at 11117 San Jose Blvd. in Mandarin.

• Sunshine State Chevelles Cruise-in - 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and every fourth Saturday of the month at Aw Shucks Oyster Bar, 9743 Old St. Augustine Road. Another SSC cruise-in will be held 12 to 3 p.m. Sunday and every fourth Sunday at Woody's barbecue, 226-1 Solana Road in Ponte Vedra Beach.

• First Coast Car Council - 5 p.m. Saturday at the shopping center at 445 Florida 13 and Race Track Road in Fruit Cove.

• Azalea City Cruisers - 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday and every fourth Saturday in the 700 block of St. Johns Avenue in Palatka. The Cruisers also hold a cruise-in the same time every fifth Saturday at the McDonald's, 2627 Reid St. off U.S. 17 in Palatka.

• Jacksonville Truck Nights - 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. the first Thursday of each month at Round Boys Grill, 11629-8 San Jose Blvd., and 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at Brewer's Pizza, 14B Blanding Blvd. in Orange Park.

Georgia cruise-ins:

• Southeast Georgia Car and Truck Club cruise-ins - 6 p.m. the second Saturday of each month at Sonic's, 395 Charlie Smith Senior Highway, St. Marys; and 6 p.m. on the fourth Saturday of each month at the Millhouse Steakhouse, 1215 East King Ave. in Kingsland, next to Interstate 95.

• Bike Enthusiasts show - 7 p.m. the first and third Thursdays, Cavagnaro's restaurant at 1810 South GA Parkway W. in Waycross.

• Zaxby's Car Show - 6 to 9 p.m. the third Saturday of every month, Zaxby's at 2316 Memorial Drive in Waycross.

Please send information on cruise-ins and automotive and motorcycle events to dan.scanlan@jacksonville.com or Dan Scanlan, Florida Times-Union, 1 Riverside Ave., Jacksonville, Fla. 32202