Alex Bellus
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Posts by Alex Bellus
Say Hello to the new Maserati Levante!
Apr 12th
Last night, we had the pleasure of unveiling the brand new Maserati Levante SUV. This was one of the first public reveals in the country and we were honored to have so many friends and customers there with us to see it. We’re really excited to start selling Maserati’s new twin-turbo V6-powered SUV soon and can’t wait to get behind the wheel too. With either 350 or 430-hp on tap, the Levante should scoot down the road pretty well with the air-suspension and Q4 all-wheel drive system soaking up the bumps and maintaining traction and confidence in all conditions. Pricing will start around $72,000 and we’re taking orders now.
Bentley Bentayga Preview Event at Morrie’s Luxury Auto
Dec 17th
Last night, we had the opportunity to unveil the all-new Bentley Bentayga to a number of our close friends and customers.
The Bentley Bentayga is the first SUV from the British automaker but still maintains all of the company’s luxurious DNA. With 600 HP and 660 ft-lbs of torque, the Bentayga is claimed to be the fastest production SUV in the world, hitting 60 MPH from rest in just 4.0-seconds and surging ahead to a top speed of 187 MPH. Despite having so much power on tap, inside the Bentayga takes SUVs to a whole new class of luxury with huge swathes of leather, wood, and metal throughout. The Bentayga also leads the way with technology, featuring 4G LTE WiFi, a pair of Android OS tablets for backseat passengers, a full-color head-up display, and a night vision mode. Of course, the trick air suspension system helps to make the Bentayga just as good off-road as on.
We can’t wait to start taking delivery early next year!
Five Automotive-Themed Watches To Keep The Car Lover On Your Gift List On Time
Dec 14th
Nobody likes being late and while anyone can check the time on their smartphone, it’s not a particularly elegant option. Watches have made a huge comeback lately (especially mechanical watches that don’t require batteries to run) and it’s easy to see why. With a style to fit nearly any wrist, there’s something cool about strapping a tiny little machine or supercomputer to your wrist. Being a bunch of car lovers here at Morrie’s, we figured we’d compile a list of our favorite automotive-themed watches to keep the car lover on your holiday gift list on time.
We’re big fans of Autodromo, not just for their watches, but also because the owner of the company is a big car guy. He races a vintage Alfa Romeo and creates some great driving gloves as well as sunglasses. Autodromo’s watches (ranging from $375 – $1,200) are offered in five styles, although we prefer the models that emulate the classic gauges of our favorite race cars such as the “Veloce”, the “Stradale”, and the “Group B”.
While Autodromo is a relative newcomer to watch world, Tissot has been assembling watches since 1853. While that was quite a while before the first cars (or horseless carriages) were ever created, Tissot has built a solid reputation for themselves with a line of automotive-themed watches. The range features both quartz (battery-powered) and mechanical watches with prices ranging from about $350 – $2,000.
For those that appreciate motorcycles, Tudor offers the Fastrider chronograph (about $4,000) in conjunction with Ducati. Available in three unique colors taken directly from the hot new Ducati Scrambler motorcycles, they also come with a really unique leather strap that reminds us of our favorite leather jacket.
One name synonymous with motorsports and cars in general is Steve McQueen. While Heuer (now Tag Heuer) has been around since 1860, Heuer went through a bit of a golden age when they began sponsoring motor racing events in the 1960s. That resurgence hit critical mass when Steve McQueen began wearing a blue and red Heuer Monaco at the track and on set while filming movies like LeMans. As such, that style of Monaco has been dubbed the “Steve McQueen” and now Tag Heuer is offering an updated version with their Caliber 11 movement for 2015 ($5,500).
One of the quintessential timepieces that harkens back to vintage racing is the Chopard Mille Miglia. Named after the famous 1,000 km street race through Italy, the Mille Miglia comes on a really cool rubber strap made from actual recycled tires and stamped with a cool vintage tire tread pattern. We especially like the Mille Miglia GTS Power Control ($6,640) model seen below because it features a power reserve indicator that looks just like a gas gauge to alert the wearer when the watch needs to be wound.
Those of you who attend our Formula One viewing parties at our Morrie’s Heritage Car Connection warehouse, you might’ve seen three-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton sporting his signature IWC Ingenieur Chronograph ($15,200) around the paddock. The titanium case, ceramic crown and chronograph pushers, and carbon fiber dial just scream motorsports.
But for those who aren’t part of the Lewis Hamilton Fan Club might want to consider something even more exotic: the carbon fiber-cased IWC Ingenieur Automatic Carbon Performance Ceramic. With a case made out of solid carbon fiber and accented with shiny and nearly indestructible black ceramic, this lightweight watch is just as much F1 car as it is a watch ($20,800).
OK, so that was more than five watches but with so many cool options out there, we didn’t like limiting ourselves, or you, from seeing some really cool watches. And since we already blew past our five watch limit, we’ve got one more holy grail of a watch to share with you…
The MB&F HM5 CarboMacrolon is a true piece of haute horology with a completely in-house designed movement and a sleek case that was designed as an homage to one of the most beautiful cars ever built: the Lamborghini Miura. Limited to just 66 pieces in each of three colors, we picked this version as the best of the bunch. What makes this watch so unique is the fact that this is a mechanic watch that displays the time in a digital way, showing the time in two little windows on the side of the watch. What would normally be the face of the watch is actually made up of intricate movable louvers that can be opened by the wearer to allow light to come through the watch and illuminate the time readout. But good looks don’t come cheap – the MB&F HM5 CarboMacrolon carries an eye-watering pricetag of $63,000, or about as much as this lightly used 2014 Maserati Ghibli S Q4.
James Bond: SPECTRE Premiere Event at The Loop and ICON Theatre
Nov 6th
Last night Morrie’s Luxury Auto hosted a movie premiere party for the release of the new James Bond movie “SPECTRE” last night at ShowPlace ICON Theatre at West End with a pre-screening happy hour at The Loop. Continental Diamonds came out to support the event with a range of Omega watches including the special edition Seamaster worn by James Bond in the movie. To mark release of the movie, we features three gorgeous new Aston Martins in front of the theater, including the new 2016 DB9 GT model in special Spectre Silver.
Thanks to everyone who came out to the event last night and we hope you enjoyed the film!
Fascination Motors: A New Reason For Car People To Go To The Mall
Oct 26th
This past Friday and Saturday, Morrie’s Luxury Auto had eight vehicles on display in the East Rotunda at the Mall of America as part of Fascination Motors, a proof of concept to see if having an automotive-centric store would bring in more shoppers. From the huge amount of feedback from mall-goers over the weekend, it seems like having Aston Martins, Maseratis, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, McLarens and more is a nice treat to see in the mall. We also had an awesome time talking to everyone about the cars and sharing in the experience. We’d like to thank everyone that came out to the Mall of America this weekend who stopped by the rotunda to check out the Fascination Motors display and make it a success!
Winter is coming. How are you planning to store your vehicle?
Oct 13th
October is Car Care month and with winter just around the corner, now is the time to start planning out how you’re going to be storing your pride and joy to protect it from the elements. To help, we’ve come up with a helpful checklist of what you can do to make sure your vehicle is ready for hibernation and will be ready to drive once the snow melts next spring.
First, there are a few maintenance items you’ll want to take care of before you store your car. We recommend that you do the following.
- Change the oil – this will keep any debris or sediment in your oil from settling over the winter
- Wash and wax your car – to ensure there aren’t any contaminants on the paint that could leave marks
- Make sure it has a full tank of gas – we would also recommend adding some fuel stabilizer such as STA-BIL
- Increase the tire pressures by 10 PSI – tires naturally lose air pressure over time so over-inflating your tires will prevent flat spotting
There are a few other things you can do to protect your car while it’s in storage.
- Leave a few dryer sheets and dry packs (silica gel) in the car – the dryer sheets will deter bugs and rodents while making your car smell fresh, while the dry packs will absorb any moisture
- Put a handful of steel wool into the exhaust tip – again, this is to keep rodents from climbing into your exhaust system and making a nest
- Park the car with carpet (or a yoga mat) under each of the tires – this will also help resist flat spotting and will avoid the tires making marks on your garage floor over the winter
- Hook up a battery tender to the battery – this will keep the battery from losing its charge over the winter and help ensure the car will be up and running right away in the spring
- Get a car cover – covering your car for the winter will keep dust from settling on the car and will help protect it from the elements, scrapes, scratches, and door dings while it’s in storage
- Don’t start or run the car until spring – firing up the car and not getting all of the components up to operating temperature is worse than just letting it sit
Just like you, we’re not looking forward to taking our fun cars off the road for the winter but by following these steps, you and your car will both be better prepared for next spring!
Morrie’s Luxury Auto Grand Opening
Oct 9th
With much build-up and anticipation, we are excited to announce the grand opening of the new Morrie’s Luxury Auto store at 7300 Wayzata Blvd in Golden Valley. To celebrate the occasion, we welcomed 300 of our clients, friends and neighbors to our new location with food, drinks, music and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. We rolled out the red carpet for our guests and also had representatives from Aston Martin, Bentley, and Maserati to check out our new store.
Highlights from the event included the Hairstream trailer (where we had two hair stylists from Jon Charles Pure Salon on hand), a cigar lounge with hand-rolled cigars, 3 signature cocktails (the “Alfieri”, the “Azure”, and the “Vulcan”), as well as Chris Dyson’s actual Bentley GT3-R race car from the Pirelli World Challenge that we saw win at Road America this summer.
This new location in Golden Valley has been in the works for almost 5 years, and we’re thrilled to have the new Luxury Autos store sitting alongside our Cadillac building. The new building offers 3 distinct show floors to showcase Maserati, Bentley, and Aston Martin and we have the largest elevator in the Midwest to move vehicles up to the 2nd floor.
Our event was a wild success but we couldn’t have done any of this without the support of our customers. Thank all of you who have supported us over the years as we strive to provide the ultimate in luxury experiences in Minneapolis.
Keep an eye on our Instagram for more photos from the event.
We’re open for business at 7300 Wayzata Blvd!
Aug 5th
We’re proud to announce that we recently transitioned from our showroom in Minnetonka to our brand new, state of the art facility at 7300 Wayzata Blvd in Golden Valley. We now have separate show floors for Maserati, Bentley, and Aston Martin, and the dealership features on of the largest elevators in the Midwest! Stop by during business hours (Monday through Thursday: 8:00AM to 9:00PM, Friday and Saturday: 8:00AM to 6:00PM) and check out the new space.
UPDATE: New Morrie’s Luxury Autos building progress
Jul 16th
With the new Morrie’s Luxury Auto location opening in just 11 short days (July 27th), we’re excited to share some photos of the progress being made!
New signage is up for Maserati and hopefully Bentley and Aston Martin logos will grace the building soon as well.
We can’t wait for customers to start using our new service drive.
The show floor is coming along nicely as well. Being two stories tall, the new Morrie’s Luxury Autos facility features one of the largest elevators in the midwest.
This is part of the Maserati lounge area where customers can find various Maserati accessories.
And this is the Bentley side of the show floor. The various displays are used to immerse customers in luxury, showcase vehicles, and allow customers to configure their own Bentley while looking at every available color, leather, wood, and stitching sample.
We hope to see you in our new store soon!