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June 12, 2009
Nuts. Cash for Clunkers Passes Senate.
By Dan Strohl
Hemmings
Just heard that cash for clunkers passed the Senate as part of the wartime spending bill. The good: It got cut from $4 billion to $1 billion. The bad: It’s almost certain to become law now. Still looking for a bill number so we can get the exact wording to see if the 25-year exemption made it through the Senate.
Also, thanks to Consumer Reports, we have a list of vehicles most likely to be turned in and crushed as part of this program. Some might say so what to the Ford Aerostar and Isuzu Rodeo, but a number of those on the list (Jeep Wrangler, Pontiac Firebird) can already be considered collectible cars, and many more can be considered potential collector cars. This right here is why we oppose any cash for clunkers scheme, regardless of how much bite it promises.
Legacy 2.5 GT Beats the Ford Fusion Sport AWD on CarDomain
By Rob Einaudi
Editor-in-Chief
I always like putting domestics up against imports, so it was fun to pit the American-built Subaru against the Mexican-build Ford in this week’s Showroom Showdown. The Legacy stomped the Fusion, winning by a 2-to-1 margin. Subaru’s well-earned reputation for AWD, combined with the fact that the Fusion Sport doesn’t come with a stick, helped the Scooby post an easy win. Stay tuned for another Showroom Showdown next week!
British Rally Championships 2009: Round One
By John Coyle
Deputy Editor
Most of the time, I like to keep the videos I put in the blog short and sweet, because I have the attention span of a fruit fly. But this coverage of the British Rally Championships was too good not to post. In the States, generally all we get to see of this insane form of racing are isolated crashes and turns, so getting to watch full professional coverage of a complete stage is a rare treat. Given that it’s 45 minutes long, it’s probably not the kind of thing you want to watch at work—not that, um, anyone ever does that—so if you don’t have time now, this action-packed clip will make perfect Saturday morning material. Enjoy.
The S14 gets a Swedish Massage
By Ben Schaffer
The Real JDM
While most interest in Nissan’s S14 has to do with drifting, I tend to have a soft spot for versions of the car that have been tuned for grip. The C-West car above illustrates that. It seems that someone in Sweden has a similar fascination with the sports coupe. Vizualtech is a firm that specializes in 3D renderings of everything from technical drawings to vintage racing art. Their blog is definitely worth checking out. They recently released rendering of a very extreme S14. Whether this car was inspired by an existing car or designed to be inspiring, the result is stunning. Here’s to hoping the potential of the design is realized.
More pics after the jump!
J-Complete Jag
By Speedhunters
Car Culture At Large
Hmmm…maybe I should just end my search for cool luxury cars to look at this month. Is it even possible to find anything better than this?
This Jaguar X300 is equipped with parts from J-Complete, an Osaka-based shop that specializes in customizing high end European cars. I actually saw this particular car in person last year at the Tokyo Special Import Show, and it’s even sexier than it is in the photo.
By Mike Garrett
The Swedes are Going to Own Saab Again!
By Brian Lohnes
BangShift.com
This week’s Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink is a cause for celebration because it appears that Swedish boutique sports car manufacturer Koenigsegg is going to purchase the Saab brand from GM. Why is this a time to celebrate? Because it means that weird Saabs are just a couple years from coming back.
The worst thing that happened to Saab when GM took it’s 100% stake in the company back in 2000 is that it lost all of it’s quirky identity, instead becoming a place where rebadged and mildly restyled Subarus and Chevrolets were being passed off as “real” Saabs.
Being that nearly 30% of the brand’s sales come here in the New England area, we see more of these cars that just about anyone else. The old Saabs are quirky, strange cars that have a cult following as ferverent as any. Even into the beginning of the 21st century, lots of them still populated college campuses.
With the Swedish company back in charge, it’s only a matter of time until the free thinking starts a-new and Saabs become Saabs again. We don’t think the two and three cylinder two-stroke motors are going to come back, but Koenigsegg’s super cars aren’t exactly cookie cutters so this has all the ingredients to be good.
The Chevy/Subaru period will be viewed as a brief blip in the company’s history.No one is really sure how the hell Koenigsegg plans on pulling this off seeing that they have 50 employees, but hey, it’ll be fun to watch!
Here’s a Wall Street Journal story on the sale.
For some backup, here is a Reuters story with more details.
Car Park Shrinkage
By Ron Honig
WaytooFurious
This might sound crazy but I have become convinced that there has been a gradual reduction in the size of car parking spaces in my part of the world. I can remember years ago when my father had his big Fords, he was always able to park them without any problems. This is something that I sometimes really struggle with when I am driving the Valiant, and please don’t get me started on the Plymouth. This is why I was absolutely amazed to find super sized car parks when we recently had to visit my grandmother in hospital. Check out this photo. I was able to park the Valiant with ease. So what do you think, are our car parking spaces getting smaller or am I just crazy?
Power Tour 2009: Day Six, Somerset
By Ryan Brutt
HemiPwr70
Waking up around 7 I realized it was still way to early to get up, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. I rolled back over to see what time it was after this little nap, and it was now 9:30 am. So I was late.
Rushing through everything. I got the Caprice loaded, checked out and on the road right around 10 am. The look on the desk ladies face was priceless as I came almost running down the hall with everything I had to check out.
On the road I thought I would be near the end of the pack, I was wrong. I was immediately greeted with throngs of Power Tour participants. I settled into a group and we headed out of Ohio for Kentucky.
Continue reading after the jump!
Mercedes Braking Bag
By Rob Einaudi
Editor-in-Chief
Want more airbags? Mercedes has ‘em! The weirdest one is the “braking bag.” Here’s how Mercedes describes it in their press release for the new Mercedes ESF 2009 Concept:
Braking Bag:This auxiliary brake accommodated in the vehicle floor is a new type of PRE-SAFE® component. If the sensor system concludes that an impact is unavoidable, the Braking Bag is deployed shortly before the crash and stabilises the car on the road surface by means of a friction coating. The vehicle’s vertical acceleration increases the friction, and helps to decelerate the vehicle before the impact occurs.
Watch the braking bag in action in the video, then read the full press release after the jump.
Can You Identify This Car?
Gotadime
In Round Five, Mini25 guessed correctly with “Panoz Esperante”. Also, as a small correction for Round Four, Klassic1 was the first person to guess correctly, but for some reason, his guess was blocked by our spam filters. His comment came in at 7:35AM on June 9th, which was nearly four hours before anyone even got close to getting things right. Congratulations Klassic1 and apologies for the mix-up with our filters.
Now, on to Round Six. The first person to guess the car correctly based on the pic below is a true car nut! Remember, all you need is the make and model—not the year. Here’s photo six:
