By Jim Brennan

UDMan

Welcome to the CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot, a regular feature which aims to expand the notion of what a muscle car is, and to show that obscure muscle cars came from all over the world. For 2003 Nissan has decided to fill the $15,000 hole in their line-up between the hot selling G35 and the not-so-hot selling Q45, with a sports sedan retailing near $42,000. Now, the company wasn’t loaded with money at that time, so they found a way to do this one cheap. They took a home market luxury sedan (the Nissan Cedric/Gloria) complete with styling from a couple decades ago. They called it the M45, and it’s the subject of this installment of the Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot. Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot: the 2003-04 Infiniti M45" »

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

It was last summer when I got a call from Miguel over at Newera Imports, saying I had to come over quick to check out one of the cleanest AE86 he had ever picked up. He was under strict orders from a customer to find a spotless “panda” Trueno, preferably with a AE92 4AG-GE swap, or black-top 20-Valve motor to the non “hachi-otakus” out there!

The search began and lasted several months, until Miguel heard from a well informed contact that a very special car was up for sale. Even though it was not exactly what the customer wanted, a few pictures were sent by e-mail and the decision was made. Miguel headed down to Nagoya to pick up the Levin you see here. Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Dino Dalle Carbonare

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Right before we turned our 2010 Camaro SS back in, I asked Mike for his thoughts on the car. Here’s what he said.

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

As if it weren’t ridiculous enough, Japan has now apparently adopted its own version of a cash for clunkers program, offering “up to 250,000 Yen (roughly $2,500) to trade in vehicles 13 years old or more for new, more modern ones,” according to Michelle Krebs at Edmunds. The plan is expected to cost Japan $3.7 billion and increase Japanese auto sales by 20 percent. And apparently, Japan’s auto manufacturers estimate 10 million – or one-eighth – of the cars on Japanese roads are currently 13 years old or older.

I don’t have any facts to contradict that, but that number does sound rather suspicious to me. The problem is that Japan’s taxation system has already forced many cars more than three years old off Japanese roads. Continue reading at Hemmings

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

Someone asked me if the ASI F430 Ferrari is really going to happen. The answer: YES IT IS! I really like the guys over at ASI and they’ve become friends of mine after having our demo cars side by side two years in a row at Toyo’s booth at SEMA. I’m glad (and still a little surprised) to say that we have a mutual respect for each other (gaining their respect seemed like an impossible thing to me since the level of the game they play at is so off the charts). After them pulling me aside at Tokyo Auto Salon and saying that they liked my cars and wanted my input on their future designs, I pretty much didn’t care what happened the rest of TAS…that moment made my trip. I love guys that push the envelope and whether you love or hate their Testsu GTR Bentley, that car embodies creativity, quality, art and function. ASI is slowly starting to become a company I idolize and if they score a huge win with the F430 then they’ve got my heart for good.

Continue reading after the jump!

ASI F430 Concept 1

Continue reading "ASI Ferrari F430 Project: Two Concepts" »

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

I’m calling a mulligan on this one. I am familiar with this car. It’s the twin-turbocharged, big-block-Ford-powered 1967 Mustang of Canadian Frank Pompilio. I wrote a feature on the car not too long ago for Drag Racing Action magazine.

This car is awesome to the sixty-third power. The motor makes something like 2,000 hp, it runs on smallish tires, and the whole crew, including Frank and his dad, are top shelf dudes.

Anyway, onto the video, it’s only 13 seconds long so you’re going to have to watch it a time or ten, but realize that this car spends nearly an entire quarter mile lap on its wheelie bars. It actually crosses the finish line on the bars while laying down a 6.90 second, 230 mph lap.

By Ron Honig

WaytooFurious

Sunday was an interesting day. My friend John and I decided to check out the 2009 Australian Van Nationals. Unfortunately we were rather disappointed. The number of spectators and vans was low for a national event. I think that the organizers failed to take into account the fact that people don’t like going to car shows when they are held in dust bowls. On the plus side I did manage to take some interesting pics that you can see after the jump.

Continue reading "2009 Australian Van Nationals" »

By Mike Musto

RideLust.com

This past week Rob and I had a blast covering the New York International Auto Show for CarDomain. We got to enter early, have some great meetings and generally got to poke around more so than your average Joe. All in all, a great experience. One major highlight of the week was our meeting with Ed Wellburn, Vice President of Global Design for GM. This is the guy responsible for bringing the 2010 Camaro to light. We spoke about the Camaro and GM’s plans for the car. Then, when Ed asked if we’d driven one, we simply sighed and said, “no…”

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "2010 Camaro SS: Meet the Back Roads Brawler" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Bryan has put a lot of work into his 2007 Acura TL. Check out this video of his car on the dyno. Shoots flames at the 53 second mark!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

We’ve been following Mike’s build for a while now. His awesome project even made our list of top ten ride pages of 2008. Well, looks like the car is nearing completion–check out the new red paint! Oh, and Mike settled on the name “Camino Supreme,” and he even started a new ride page–it’s now listed as an Olds and not a Chevy. Check out all the pics!