By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Most of the videos I’ve seen of car being clunked have been fairly undramatic, but this old F-150 goes out with one hell of a bang. Watching it made me wonder if anyone’s actually been injured while destroying a clunker, because it seems like there’s some definite potential for injury when you’re intentionally blowing a motor. Have you guys heard about anyone getting hurt while putting down a car?

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I went and checked out the dirt track races on Saturday night! I’d never actually been, and after all the over-sanitized high-dollar NASCAR I’ve gotten used to, it was pretty cool to see banged-up packs of midgets, modifieds and late models carving their way around a tiny oval of mud at Grays Harbor County Fairground. The racing was just as cut-throat as it is in the big leagues, the rules were looser, and the wrecks were intense but non-lethal. Racin’ the way racin’ should be!

How about you? What did you do this weekend?

Continue reading "What Did You Do This Weekend?" »

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

I got this press release from Chrysler today, and thought it was funny that they named the remains of the former ChryCo “Old Carco.” On the plus side, they have volunteered to retain liability for all Chrysler cars, something GM has not done.

“Decision reflects confidence in viability of the company”
Auburn Hills, Mich. -
In a letter sent today to Members of Congress, Chrysler Group LLC announced that the company will accept product liability claims on vehicles manufactured by Chrysler LLC (now OldCarco LLC) before June 10, 2009, and involved in accidents on or after that date. On June 10, 2009, Chrysler Group purchased substantially all of the assets of Old Carco.

More after the jump…..

Continue reading "Old Carco, LLC" »

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

As soon as I saw the photos of Ferrari’s new 458 Italia, I started wondering when we would see the first one wrecked. I even pitched the idea of putting a countdown clock on the CarDomain homepage, and calling it “Ferrari 458 Italia Death Watch,” and while everyone here liked the idea, we never got around to doing it. But the guys over at Wrecked Exotics actually got their asses in gear, and are offering $500 to the person who guesses the date of the first crash. Now, the new cavallino isn’t scheduled to go on sale until next summer, but Ferrari will be testing the car until then, so one will almost certainly get wrecked before the public gets their hands on it. I don’t know whether a picture of it burning will count, but I would imagine so. Head over to Wrecked Exotics for all the info on this sweet contest.

By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

Automotive Traveler magazine contributor Mark Fletcher shows why it’s always a good idea to keep your camera by your side as you never know when you’ll encounter a camouflaged prototype, in this case the US-spec version of Ford’s upcoming 2011 Fiesta.

While we know that the Ford Fiesta is coming to the North America next year, Ford is going to great lengths to keep front and rear details of the domestic version secret while the cars undergo their final validation tests. So while the 100 Fiestas currently taking part in Ford’s Fiesta Movement program gives us a good idea of its overall silhouette, we’ll still be seeking out the detail differences between the European and US versions. Yesterday, on his return trip from Las Vegas, Mark Fletcher hit pay dirt as he was able to capture some exceptionally clear images of Ford’s upcoming B-segment subcompact. Read more about this discovery at Automotive Traveler.

Continue reading "Spy Shots: The US Version of the 2011 Ford Fiesta Sedan" »

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

This will happen if your tire blows out at 240km/h. It happened when Daijiro Inada tried to beat the high speed record in the Silver State Classic held in the state of Nevada. His goal was to break the record in the unlimited category. It was powered by an VQ35DE engine that had been stroked to 3.8 liter, with the help of a T88 turbo it managed to reach 800bhp.

Check this video on youtube for the crash as it happened.

-By Jeroen Willemsen

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

It’s always neat to see cars formerly featured in the print mags hit the auction block on eBay. This particular Nova from a recent Car Craft cover shoot is one tough customer. It’s equipped with a 420ci small block Chevy and has been 8.90s on the spray.

Although the seller said that the car can be street driven if the new owner wants to, the 14.5:1 compression ratio may limit that to short, race-gas-swilling trips. The rest of the tech list on the car reads like a build sheet on a drag car. This puppy is hard core.

The asking price of $39,995 is not pocket change, but for the amount of work that has been placed into all aspects of this car, from the body, to the chassis, to the motor, it’s not out of whack either. If we had a the scratch this thing would be on a truck headed to us already.

This is roughly the third time around for this car on the Bay. Let’s follow along and see if anyone bites this time.

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

This was shown to me and suggested for the Hater Fodder category. After careful consideration, I decided it is not quite hater fodder material to me. This was a genuinely well considered attempt at doing something unique, with somewhat good execution (for the goals in which they intended). With that bit of respect being said, I absolutely dislike every ounce of this car. I don’t know who the maker of this widebody kit is, but I’ll affectionately call it the WTF YO AP1 S2000 widebody. I consider that to be an appropriate name for it.

It is interesting, there is a certian European style and taste for tuning Japanese cars that I’ve noticed prominently represented over the years. I cant describe it in words, but it jumps out at me in pictures. It is like Europe’s interpretation of spocom or something along those lines. In other words something bad, turned worse in translation. The rear of this WTF YO kitted S2000 defines exactly what I could use as a stereotypical example of my dislike for European aero tuning and styling. Continue reading at The Real JDM

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

And at what price? I’m waiting for Magnum R/Ts to dip under $10k…

By David Clarke

highspeedhijinks

In my years of driving, I’ve found I’m more of a handling kinda guy than a straight line speed kinda guy. What I mean is that I’m far more impressed with a car that’s capable of sticking to the road through hairpin turns, than I am with a car that can merely pin me to the seat. That being said, which would you like your car to be capable of: to run a 7.27 lap at Nurburgring, or a 10.55 at Englishtown’s Raceway Park ?