By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

I’m guessing this is the only pink FJ on CarDomain. See all the pics on Jenny’s ride page.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Falken Tire just built ride pages for all of their drift cars. How cool is that? My favorites are Vaughn Gittin Jr’s Mustang and Daijiro Yoshihara’s burly Lexus. Check out all five ride pages!

By Fireball Tim

Movie Car Design Master

If you didn’t get a chance to see “EXTREME RIDES” on Discovery a few weeks back, it’s on again this Monday, the 21st. Lots of cool cars are covered, so check it out. 8 and 11pm pst.

Coming up soon is “WORLD MOST EXPENSIVE RIDES” The Series. 13 episodes of the most expensive, coolest, ridiculous vehicles on the planet. Cars, Bost, Planes. And I got to ride in them all! …Not.

I did sit a Bugatti Veyron once, though. Sans the cup holders…

By Alex Vickers

Katakuna

I fully and freely admit that I’ve test driven a couple cars, and boy did I give ‘em hell. I’ve raced on public roads, I’ve done my share of burnouts, but I’ve always had enough sense to perform such shenanigans in the safety of open space. Apparently when a car salesman began encouraging a prospective buyer to “see how fast it’ll go” while test-driving a 2009 Dodge Challenger, he didn’t realize that a car was coming in their direction, and they slammed into the Mercury Sable head on at over 100 miles per hour. The two in the Challenger survived, but unfortunately the two people in the Sable died at the scene. Thirty year-old Brian Lee was charged with reckless driving and vehicular manslaughter.

According to Bryan Lee, he thought he was driving around sixty miles per hour. The salesman was a little more honest with seventy miles per hour. Good thing all new cars come with black boxes that record crash data, because both were caught in a lie. The driver is the only one being charged, the salesman and Lee’s brother who was also in the car at the time of the crash aren’t currently in any legal trouble over the situation.

This has angered me to the point that I become dizzy just thinking about it. Where the hell were this guy’s priorities? I’m game for a spirited test-drive and all, but where do you get off pulling such dangerous stunts on a busy inner city street, especially with two other people in the car?  This is why one family just lost two of their loved ones, and this is why two others nearly lost theirs (Bryan and his brother, and the salesman). Obviously this is why insurance rates are as high as they are, and this is why my state of Kentucky has the highest rate of automotive deaths in the country. Looking at the photos, you can see that the passengers of the Sable didn’t stand a chance.

Continue reading "Deadliest Test Drive Ever?" »

By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

Featured in two magazines and in the Hemmings 2007 Classic Car Calendar, this might well be the best compact Dodge A100 pickup on the planet.

It’s no secret that I call Cars and Coffee my private hunting ground for feature vehicles for the many magazines I contribute to. Every Saturday morning more than 300 interesting cars and trucks vie for a coveted parking spot in the lot between the Ford and Mazda buildings. Several years ago I shot this eye-catching Dodge A100 and it was ultimately featured in the January 2008 issue of Cars & Parts. (It’s now featured in the September issue of Hemmings Motor News as well.) Look closely at this truck and you’ll see why. It’s a near-perfect example of the breed of compact pickups that were the domestic response to the sales success of the wide selection of the versatile yet under-powered Volkswagen trucks that were popular in the late fifties and early sixties. Besides the Dodge A100, Ford responded with its Falcon-based Econoline while Chevrolet’s initial response was the short-lived (1961 to 1964) Corvair-based Loadside pickup which featured an innovative side ramp making it exceptionally easy to load cargo.

But this truck is equipped with a Mopar V-8! Read more at Automotive Traveler.

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

We’ve had Imperials on the brain ever since we saw the footage of the one wrecked on the set of the Green Hornet movie. The good news is that we found one for sale in Minnesota. The bad news is that it is being prepped for demo derby action and will most likely be smashed to a pulp in the near future.

The seller claims that the body is mostly rust free, save for a small spot on the front fender, and the car has been stripped of virtually everything. It would still be a decent start for a restoration project, especially by the standards of northern BangShifters who normally have to deal with the rust monster.

This car is a rare one, with only 3,974 two door hard top coupes being produced in 1965, and deserves a better fate than the derby ring. It would have had a 340hp, 413 from the factory.

The car’s hefty 5,075-pound shipping weight and allows these to kill virtually every other car built in the demo derby world. Guys argue that only a suicide door Lincoln has the guts to take an Imperial on mano-a-mano.

Someone save this car! It is already suffering the indignity of being equipped with forklift tires!

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

Rob and I worked together to produce this S2000, which I ultimately give Rob all the credit for because his vision for the car has been absolutely timeless. Lets look at the details. No knockoffs here… Continue reading at The Real JDM

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

Took too many photos at Musclepalooza X over Labor Day weekend for us to reasonably include them all in the magazine. Even if we cull out the out-of-focus pics and the shots of McGean picking his nose. So instead, I bled off a few for us to enjoy. See the pics at Hemmings

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Our friends at Need for Speed are celebrating 16 sweet years of gaming by giving away 8 trips to the Formula Drift finals in Irwindale, California, October 16-17.

If you live in the US or Canada, and you want to enter the random draw, all you need to do is submit a photo or video – 60 seconds or less, please – telling them about your Need for Speed experiences, gaming, cars, or anything that drives you.

For more information and contest rules, visit happysweet16nfs.com We’ll see a few of you at Irwindale next month perhaps!

By Rod Chong

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Thanks to Evan for sending this one in. You know the drill: Come up with a caption for the picture below by noon PST next Thursday. If you submit the funniest one, we’ll send you some CarDomain swag. Three entries per member max. Good luck!