It’s not easy picking just ten out of 647,000+ ride pages. But here goes, and in no particular order…

1. Brent’s Pro FWD Civic was one of the coolest cars I saw at SEMA.

2. Aydar’s smart fourtwo scored SOTW. Aydar was also a runner up in our pumkin carving contest.

3. Anna Beth’s awesome purple AMC Pacer was featured in Hot Rod, and now it’s on CarDomain!

4. Mike’s El Cutlass or Camino Supreme got a ton of comments in the blog.

5. Todd’s Uber FJ is beautiful and beautifully documented.

6. Dwayne’s Miss DD Doba is built to be the world’s fastest 1976 Chrysler Cordoba.

7. Cal Poly’s Ford Explorer runs on two 500-hp hydraulic motors.

8. Mr. Angry’s Dodge Daytona had a rough time on Bullrun this year, but it’s all sorted out now.

9. ICON’s FJ45 is an amazing feat of engineering.

10. Jay’s 240Z SCCA spec road car is simply incredible.

So there you have it. Like my picks? Hate ‘em? Post some of your favorites in the comments below. And if you want, check out my 2006 list and my 2007 list.

Back in 2002 Sound Classics started an annual New Years tradition: “The Classically-Tough Trivia Quiz.” While it used to run primarily in Sound Classics’ newspaper outlets and only find its way online via enthusiastic readers, this year I’m proud to bring it directly to the CarDomain community.

What sets The Classically-Tough Trivia Quiz apart from other tests of useless automotive factoid regurgitation is that just about everyone will find a couple questions no-brainers, a few hard and the rest more agonizing than the extra credit question on a graduate-level biochemistry final. Which questions fall into each category, however, changes based on your area of passion. Furthermore, the Sound Classics team goes to great lengths to make most of the questions unGoogleable.

Continue to the quiz after the jump!

Continue reading "Sound Classics Classically-Tough Triva Quiz 2008" »

Just check out the comments over at Chrysler’s blog. I don’t know, doesn’t seem like such a huge deal to me. What do you think?

What would happen if you tried to build a BMW 327, using a 1980 Camaro as your starting point? I guess you’d end up with something like this. Pretty awful, isn’t it? Via Jalopnik

Continue reading "Hideous BMW 327 Camaro Thing" »

We thought we’d close out 2008 with a bang. The GT-R beat the Porsche 911S in a previous match-up, but went down against the ZO6. Strangely, this is the first time the Viper has appeared in a Showroom Showdown. So this is it. New school vs. old school. High tech vs. low tech. Import vs. domestic. New era vs. the end of an era. A car anyone can drive vs. a car most people are scared to drive. Do you want four seats, AWD and a manumatic, or do you want two seats, RWD and a six speed manual? Do you want a twin-turbo 3.8 liter V6 making 480 hp, or do you want a 8.4 liter V10 making 600 hp? GT-R vs. Viper: which would you choose?

Some of you guys asked for a high res desktop version of the 180SX “wheelie” photo I took at Nikko Circuit during the MSC event, so here you go. Widescreen and standard versions are available now in the Speedhunters Desktops section.

Happy New Year!

-Mike Garrett

One of the best things about the Internet is that it gives freaks a place to gather and celebrate the objects of their freakosity, then lets us outsiders drop by to share in the scene. As borderline freaks about virtually all American cars, we often find ourselves soaking up the likes of MatadorCoupe.com.

Even within the AMC party, the Matador guys seem to be the ones standing around the edges. In fact, this site will tell you that many believe it was the Matador itself that took down AMC. After all, its reported that just 94,468 of the cars were sold during the ’74-’78 production run. Compare that to, say, 272,000 Camaros sold in 1978 alone.

The MatadorCoupe.com site includes all the stuff you expect and want from a niche-interest car site: production numbers, option codes, history, a registry, photos, and more. So when you go shopping for that rare AMC, stop here first. And when you buy one, please make it look like this:

Yesterday on my way back from a smog check in the old Volvo I dropped by British Sportscars and Classics on Aurora. I’d passed by the fenced-in yard filled with tarp-covered British classics for years, but had never stopped to take a closer look. Owner Robin Purington has been there for over twenty years, and his shop does a mix of restoration work and repair. They were working on a Fiat 500 and an amazing 1959 Triumph Italia—one of only 280 produced, and a three year project (so far) that has involved a lot of international parts scrounging and custom fabrication. I really loved Robin’s old Bugeye race car which was parked out front (hasn’t run in years), painted in a wild shade of House of Kolor green. A ton more pics after the jump!

Continue reading "British Sportscars and Classics" »

Check out this awesome custom gauge setup in David’s Scion xB. To quote Dave—a Vegas native—it’s “amazing what can be done with a scanner and photoshop.” Nice work, man!

The old Volvo passes once again!

Continue reading "Smog Check" »

Yesterday I selected some of my favorite blog posts from this year. Today I’m going to focus on the big stories of 2008. So here goes…

1. Big Three Meltdown. This whole Detroit situation has been pretty ugly. Katherine was trying to keep a cool head, but it wasn’t easy. The bailout happened, but will it make a difference?

2. Tuners in Trouble. First Nopi got cancelled, then GReddy went bankrupt. SEMA was pretty quiet for the tuner crowd as well. Will 2009 be any better?

3. Nissan GT-R. The GT-R was hot this year. First there was the dealer price gouging. Then the whole Porsche rivalry was big news. And then came the stories of the electronic nannies and voided warranties.

4. Dodge Challenger. The Challenger helped bring back the pony car wars, and it was probably the hottest car at SEMA this year. We got a R/T for a week and loved it. Will it be able to stand up to the Camaro next year?

5. Fast and Furious IV. Jen did some great coverage of the upcoming Fast and Furious movie, and you guys couldn’t get enough of it. Some CarDomain members even got their cars into the film!

6. Gas Prices. First prices went up. Way up. Then they went down. Way down. What the hell is going on here, anyway?

7. Electric Cars. Tesla sure had its ups and downs this year. But we drove a validation prototype and came away impressed. Then of course there’s the Chevy Volt. But is it gonna happen? And don’t forget the electric 911 and Duster!

8. Nick Hogan is an Idiot. Not much else to say here. He’s loose again…

9. Death of Legends. Phil Hill and Paul Newman both passed away this year. And they will be missed.

10. Ken Block is Still Insane. The guy jumped his Subaru 170 feet at the end of 2007. So this year he upped the ante by doing a bunch of crazy stunts with his pal Travis Pastrana. And then last month he released this wild drift video. What does he have planned for 2009???

So let me know what you think of my list. Did I miss any big stories for 2008?

No really, it is. I guess someone thinks drunk sloths, women and ELO can sell cars. There is an actual Alfa in this ad.

The new Ford Fusion Hybrid is getting a lot of great press. Its EPA certified 41 mpg rating will make it the second second-most fuel-efficient vehicle (after the Toyota Prius) and the most fuel-efficient midsize sedan on the market. But will it sell when it hits dealer lots next spring?

Let’s face it, part of the reason the Prius has been so successful is that it looks like the automotive equivalent of a Birkenstock. The Honda Civic Hybrid is just as good (maybe better) but hasn’t sold nearly as well. Why? Cause there is almost nothing to distinguish it from the regular Civic.

And part of the reason the Volt has been getting so much attention is that it looks so darn futuristic (well, the concept did, anyway—the production car looks pretty ho hum, and I would say some of the excitement has diminished as a result).

So I’m a little worried about the Ford Fusion Hybrid. It’s not hideously ugly, and it’s not terribly futuristic. It just looks kind of… normal. Oh, and gas is cheap again, which can’t help much, either.

What do you think?

Besides being a car nut one of my other hobbies is wood working. I would never think of combining the two. However that didn’t stop the builder of this Ariel custom listed on eBay. Built back in the 50s, it is powered by an Ariel motorcycle engine and uses a Citroen suspension. It reminds me of a Clubman and it looks like it really would be a lot of fun. The only thing that I would add is some comfortable seats. So what do you think, would it be good to drive in wood? More pics after the jump!

Continue reading "One of a Kind Wood Ariel Custom on eBay" »

Over the past days we’ve made a number of posts looking back at the year in various racing series around the world, and I want to continue on that theme with this post. Since Japanese tuning culture is a big part of Speedhunters, I figured I’d put together a post looking back at some of the tuning trends and breakthroughs seen in Japan over the past year. Like most other countries, 2008 has been a tough year for Japan economically, but there was still a lot to talk about in the world of car JDM car tuning.

First up, 2008 saw the debut of new versions of the Evo and Impreza, and of course the return of the GT-R. Within days of these cars hitting dealers, parts were already being developed, and the big tuners were finding ways to improve on the already capable cars. The GT-R in particular was interesting to watch, given Nissan’s official “no-tuning” stance on the car. Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Mike Garrett