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Garage mates!

Two's company. A dozen of the best car-bike pairs ever. Go buy

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BS Motoring Desk Mumbai
RR Phantom "� Honda Gold Wing
The menace on four wheels is doing better than the Maybach. What would you be riding if you have one of these super-duper-ultra-luxo barges in your garage? A Gold Wing, of course.
 
Well, maybe Queen Elizabeth will never be seen riding one about, but the big Honda is the absolute pinnacle of two wheeled luxury. Like the Phantom, it has leather, a music system and reverse gear too, apart from heated grips, a ventilation system... Hip, right? And it comes in twin-tone paint jobs too. Long live the Queen.
 
Phantom: 6749cc V12, 453 bhp, 240 kph tops
Gold Wing: 1832cc boxer-6, 118 bhp, 200 kph tops
 
Lotus Elise "� Yamaha YZF-R6
Track day freaks out there, rejoice. The Lotus Elise is a better bet than, say, a Caterham Seven for track/road use and what'd be better than the Yamaha R6 to go with it?
 
In the morning, learn to drift through corners in the most forgiving, willing scream of a car and by afternoon, you can scare yourself silly with the nimblest of heart attacks on two wheels.
 
Elise: 1796cc inline four, 156 bhp, 211 kph tops
R6: 600cc inline four, 120 bhp, 270 kph tops
 
Hindustan Ambassador 1800 ISZ "� Royal Enfield 350
You've seen the fast and luxurious machines. How about time-warped machines still in production, even after four decades? And guess what, you don't have to go outside India either.
 
The good old Morris Oxford and the Royal Enfield 350 are still being built in India and to be fair, they are more refined and reliable than ever before.
 
While you get the oldest production car in the world in the former, you have what is possibly the oldest production motorcycle in the Enfield. Maybe old is gold, after all.
 
Ambassador: 1817cc inline four, 75 bhp, 120 kph tops
350: 349cc single, 22 bhp, 120 kph tops
 
Ferrari 360 Modena "� Ducati 999
So you wanted an Italian exotic that makes all the right noises, in the right colour, right? How we hope we could match the 360 Modena to the Cagiva four cylinder experiment that was supposed to be the Ferrari on two wheels!
 
For the time being though, the Duke 999 is where on-road super-motorcycling has reached. An extremely driveable/liveable-with supercar and motorcycle that are, well, expensive to buy. Buy the 999 in yellow if you like contrasts.
 
360 Modena: 3586cc V8, 400 bhp, 293 kph tops
999: 998cc V-twin, 140 bhp, 269 kph tops
 
Porsche 911 "� BMW K1200 S
Here we were looking for contemporary classics that look quite similar to their classic predecessors. We found them in Sindelfingen and Munich respectively.
 
The New 911 is a brilliant machine that has been perfected over the last 30-odd years, while the new BMW is a sport tourer that matches it when it comes to sheer build quality and engineering.
 
We could have chosen the Yamaha R1 to go with the NineEleven, since both are benchmarks in their respective segments (supercars and supersports). Actually, er... maybe we should have done just that.
 
911: 3596cc boxer-6, 325 bhp, 285 kph tops
1200 S: 1157cc inline four, 167 bhp, 200 kph plus claimed
 
Mini Convertible "� Vespa 125
So you're the retro guy. The New Beetle is getting a bit too old and there are far too many retro-Fords to feel exclusive in "� so the chic Mini Convertible it will be for you.
 
And to go with the most trendy retro chic car in your garage? A Vespa 125, of course "� it looks an evolved specimen of the machine of yore from Pontedera, but meets current emission norms. Italian Job meets Roman Holiday...see, even Hollywood would approve.
 
Mini: 1598cc inline four, 170 bhp, 215 kph tops
Vespa: 124cc single, 14.5 bhp, 102 kph tops

 

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First Published: Dec 18 2004 | 12:00 AM IST

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