By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

Last year, I shared a pic of a poster of Alex the Dog sitting in a Stroh’s beer can-shaped hot rod. It was pure, unadultered awesomeness. The only thing missing was info about the promo car itself. Fortunately, Ron Wharton of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, stepped in recently to let us know that not only did he design and build the car, his business, Automotive Innovations, briefly offered a run of such can-shaped cars in the early 1980s. Though based on VW mechanicals, they weren’t kit cars; in fact, Ron said he fought hard to get a manufacturer’s license to produce the cars. Continue reading at Hemmings

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Just got this note in from the Twins Turbo crew:

“Guys, just a quick note. The Viper project we have been working on for the last year is up and running. Shane Tecklenburg has been on the DynaPack with the car all day and we are looking good to go. Results so far are 950 WHP and 806 TQ at 4 psi of boost.”

Continue reading "Twins Turbo Viper on the Dyno" »

By Sam Barer

Sound Classics

Ferrari sent me a link to its new online configurator for the just-presented 458 Italia. It’s one of the benefits of owning a Ferrari…of course Ferrari doesn’t take into consideration that the combined values of my 328 GTS and 308 GT4 wouldn’t cover the sales tax on a 458 Italia.

Despite the undeniable fact that it will take a minimum of 25 years of depreciation before affording one, I decided to create one to my specifications. I like to stand out in a crowd — except to police, so I’m going not for Rossa Corsa (red), but for TdF Blue with black and charcoal interior.

As with most Ferraris, color has a drastic effect on the overall presence of the vehicle. To me, black (angry), silver (sporty) and TdF (elegant) look great.

What do you think?

Continue reading "Configuring "My" Ferrari 458 Italia" »

By Fireball Tim

Movie Car Design Master

From my buddy, Roger Hodge…

This 89 year old lady has been driving her same car for the past 40 or so years. 540,000 miles! Her philosophy? She doesn’t care where the road goes, she’s just eager to find out.

If you want to grow old gracefully, drive adventurously. That doesn’t mean be stupid. It means don’t ever lose your sense of discovery. Be like a kid and “explore.”

You gotta see this. More HERE…

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

I can’t remember the last time I was in Las Vegas when I wasn’t covering an event or taking photos for work. It seems like a re-occurring thing when it comes to traveling for me – I never have time to hang with friends or just kick back. However my recent trip to Vegas was non-work related and I basically had the whole weekend to do whatever and go wherever my heart desired! After receiving a phone call from my dad asking if I would like to accompany him on his business trip to Vegas for the weekend, it didn’t take me long to respond with an enthusiastic “Yes!”. Once I arrived in Vegas I wasted no time getting in touch with people, while making sure I contacted a certain Internet celebrity!

Enter Josh Herron. This young and talented videographer has made some of the most creative drift videos I’ve ever seen, while also averaging 200,000 views on each video, and reaching the acclaimed Internet celebrity status all before the age of 21. And I thought I was a media prodigy. Continue reading and view more photos at MotorMavens!

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

What can we say about this orgy of automotive destruction? There’s a Daimler limo, a Jaguar XJ6 Coupe, and a slew of  other derby-prepped rides with wicked paint jobs. Then they circle wrecking each other until it’s over! Oh, and in a world where virtually all of the music in car videos completely sucks, this clip stands apart. Seriously, using the theme from the Exorcist? Brilliant!

By Mike Musto

RideLust.com

Two BIG THUMBS up to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and their commitment to saving lives. It’s simply amazing to watch this test and see how the Bel-Air just crumples up. There are those who will bitch that a Bel-Air was destroyed in this test, but as far as I’m concerned it was necessary to show just how much technology and engineering go into today’s new cars.

Definitely makes me think about putting full cages in the Charger and Daytona…

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

The inaugural Henry Canales Memorial National Capitol Beat the Heat race was held this past weekend in Washington DC. Read the recap by Jim Butler and see more pics after the jump!

Continue reading "Henry Canales Memorial National Capitol Beat the Heat Race" »

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

This Jeep is in Denmark…we think. Where ever it is, we want it. V8 powered CJ Jeeps have a certain air of coolness about them, but one packing a GM Performance Parts ZZ572 crate motor with nitrous that will carry the front end? Oh yeah, that’s totally us.

The video shows some good track action of the Jeep, some good static stuff, and it ends with photos of carnage. Is there a more perfect car video formula?

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

I’m a bit worried about SEMA this year. It seems like most of the good companies have pulled out of the show for financial reasons. Usually trade shows are some of the worst hit by the recession and this year SEMA looks ultra depressing.

I’m left with all of the really cool ideas/concepts of cars I want to make, but no booths to put them in. I really hope SEMA wont be as dissapointing as I’m afraid it will be.

As most of you already know, I built Toyo’s SEMA booth and ad cars two years in a row and now there’s no Toyo booth at all this year…

I think I might need to go one better this year and build a car for Tokyo Auto Salon instead of SEMA. I always wanted to build a car to compete on JDM home turf. That would be a really fun challenge. Plus I always wanted to run Tsukuba…hmm, now I’m dreaming up something worth while.

Is there any actually good news about SEMA this year? Anyone?