By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Everyone around the office figured that this image would spark—sorry, couldn’t resist—a ton of comments. So when I looked at the entries today, I was kind of shocked. But then I remembered that this week’s contest never made the homepage, so I guess that explains it. Oops. Anyway, this week’s winner is shields2618 who came up with; “Isn’t the grill supposed to be on the front of the car?” Congrats, man! Tune in tomorrow for the next installment of our naturally flavored Caption Contest!

By David Wallens

Grassroots Motorsports

You know, I don’t think I have shared this one with you guys yet. Or maybe I have; my memory isn’t what it used to be. Anyway, it’s your traditional rat rod built on a not so traditional donor: It’s an Austin-Healey Bugeye body on a Triumph GT6 frame. Yes, it rules.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

StreetFire is filled with drag racing clips where things blow up, catch on fire or otherwise fail spectacularly. But when this engine grenades, it takes most of the front clip with it. The severity of the explosion makes me want to see the twisted mess that’s under the hood, even though it’s the kind of thing that’ll give any gearhead nightmares.

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

I can’t say that I pride myself on being a champion of the environment or even really ever going out of my way to save trees, dolphins, owls, or any other limited edition woodland creature. What I can say is that I like old things and by way of that, I’m not someone who buys a lot of new things that consume resources like dolphins, owls, and limited edition woodland creatures. Recently I took a look around and saw just how much of my stuff is second hand. I was totally surprised to find that virtually all of the stuff I really like has been owned by someone else, and more accurately, was once someone’s trash.

That sounds like a nightmare and you’re already getting a mental picture that looks like something out of a horror movie, but hear me out on this. I have decent stuff, it’s used stuff, but it is decent. If the government’s nightmarish “Cash For Clunkers” program were expanded in some Orwellian fashion (and somehow I seem to think that’s something that could actually happen) future hot rodders will not have access to the good junk that I did and that most of us have in our time as tinkering recyclers.

My lawn tractor, a 1970s vintage Wheel Horse, was advertised on CraigsList as scrap metal. Naturally, I was broke at the time. My wife and I had just purchased our house and I had always wanted a lawn tractor. I drove out to find a heap of tractor parts sitting under a tarp in the “seller’s” driveway. After looking it over and judging that at least 75 percent of the parts were there (all the necessary stuff none of those “extra” parts that accumulate while assembling things) I loaded all the pieces into a work van and drove home. In the span of a weekend I had my lawn tractor and in some small way saved a woodland creature by stopping the potential construction of a new tractor that I would have bought. Continue reading at BangShift.com

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

I’ve been down to the Daikoku Parking Area rather often this last month. First it was the RX7 annual meeting in July, then the AE86 gathering last week, but last night it was more of a small get together with a few car-otaku friends of mine. I wasn’t expecting to shoot anything as it was just our monthly meet, but I brought my camera gear in the back of the 34, just in case. It’s a good thing I did, as there were quite a few interesting cars that dropped by over the course of the night. Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Dino Dalle Carbonare

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

Reader Marc Mullins of Santa Barbara, California, recently sent us some pics of a 1966 Ford N-series short conventional with a decidedly non-stock cargo box. All that’s missing are the peanut shells and spittoons on the floor. More pics at Hemmings

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

German designer Christian Förg came up with this wild futuristic transport system, which uses a network of linear electric motors to propel electric vehicles down the freeway. The cars themselves also shrink or elongate, depending on whether they are in the city or on the highway. Full story at Wired

By Chris Trout

Troutster52

The premise that “you are what you drive” is a concept that has been debated fiercely since the advent of the automobile. I contend, with limited caveats, that this is a factual truth. Now before you write off my article as a one-sided plea to evaluate people based on their automotive budget, I want you to make an effort to remove the monetary aspect of this paradigm for just a moment. Obviously, as we look at all cars on the road, (and in yards, fields, museums, etc. for that matter) it is hard to remove entirely the financial part of the equation. However, assuming all of us had equal financial footing, if we had the exact same automotive budget, not everyone would choose the same vehicle. It is in our choices that we define ourselves.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "You Are What You Drive" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Two weeks ago I showed you the pics, now here’s the video!

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

I’m sure many of you have been waiting for my photos and stories from Formula D Seattle, so I apologize to our readers for uploading these kind of late. It’s been a pretty hectic weekend. There was plenty of drama at Formula D on Saturday, and I apparently added to it by pissing off the Formula D safety steward while grabbing a quick shot of Dai Yoshihara’s smashed Lexus IS350 as it was getting loaded up onto a tow truck and pulled off the track.
It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, the Formula D/SCCA guy Randy Hembrey got pissed off at me and pulled my hard card on Saturday (competition day), which allows me to get track access for shooting photos. This was definitely a problem, as I was expected to produce good images that weekend (I was shooting the event for clients, who helped pay my way to get up to Seattle). I had a hell of a time trying to get photos for the rest of the day, especially without access to the hot areas, but I still managed to get some photos somehow. So here it is… Formula D Seattle through my eyes. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens