By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

One of my friends loves the GT-R so much that he bought a push pedal toy GT-R for his one year old daughter! We imported the toy from Japan for them last year. Here in this picture you can see a true GT-R loving family with the R34, R35 and the toy car!

I love this picture! (Quality note – this is a photo of a photo, taken with my iPhone and published remotely from my iPhone in NY)

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

The Chevy Vega is a little car that scores big cool points in the hearts of hot rodders. Anemic, unreliable, and built of a steel designed to dissolve, the cars were not exactly well regarded when rolling off of the factory floor. However, once they hit the used car lots and guys started installing V8s in them, all was right as rain.

This little panel delivery version that has been built into a drag car caught our eye as something neat. It’s an iron-headed small-block car that the seller claims has tasted the winners’ circle at an NHRA divisional event. The win came in Super Street, the NHRA’s 10.90 index class, so we’re guessing flat out, it’ll go a couple tenths under that. The car is located in Oklahoma.

The panel delivery Vegas are a lot more scarce on drag strips than the more often seen coupes. Looking for a fun Vega bracket bomber? This mustard yellow number may be just the ticket.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

As of Saturday’s awesome night race at Richmond, the Sprint Cup Series is now officially into its 10-race season-ending playoff, the Chase For The Cup. So it’s down to only twelve drivers who have a shot at this year’s championship: Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Brian Vickers, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Greg Biffle. Kyle Busch is notably absent, as is Dale Jr., though the greatest heartbreak for me this year was that Clint Bowyer, just barely, failed to make the Chase.

So, of the remaining twelve, who do you figure has the best shot at scoring the championship? More to the point, who do you want to see win this year?

By Chris Bicknell

Bick66

What better way to spend one of the last nice weekends of summer than cruising in a classic convertible, right? Well, this weekend’s trip to Snoqualmie Falls left Jen and I on the side of the highway waiting for a flatbed. We had been getting sick of a dump truck that was obstructing our scenic drive, so I pulled out to pass and put the hammer down. The first downshift was nice and crisp as the Impala roared down the road on the left of the centerline, but then it suddenly lost all of its gears–no matter how high the engine revved, there was no acceleration whatsoever. Luckily we had built up enough momentum to pass the truck and coast about a quarter mile, pulling off of the two-lane blacktop into a farmer’s driveway. Turns out the new torque converter failed under the stress of the freshly-built 383 stroker motor.

How about you? What did you do this weekend?

By Alex Vickers

Katakuna

When my friend’s Land Rover Discovery’s “Service Engine Soon” light dinged on, she brought it over and I checked it out.  I popped the hood and searched for the culprit, and I found a “THUMP” every thirty seconds from one of the pullies. She said that’d been making that noise since it was new. I saw what looked like a shredded throttle cable, it turned out to be one of those fancy ones that uses two cables instead of one.

I even drove it a couple miles (I’ve got to give her credit, that thing is a chore to drive) and heard a few new grinds and bangs when going over bumps that seemed to work themselves out after the first mile or so. The power steering pump was a little noisy, but that’s supposed to be normal.

We took it back to her place and her mother took it around the block, only to find out the damn gas cap was loose! It took her twenty minutes to find the culprit. Can you believe it? The one thing I didn’t think to check. I felt so stupid…

Good thing I don’t intend to be a Land Rover technician, because I suck at diagnosing their little issues. They’re the one brand of vehicles that put me through my paces. Land Rover technicians themselves can’t even remember to put on the center caps–it was missing two when she had the front-right wheel changed out.

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

It’s been an extremely busy week for those of us working on the Motor Mavens site! We’re all making lots of steps toward positive growth for the site, which is exciting! This past weekend, Travis Hodges and I went out to the IDRC Finals at the AAA Auto Club Dragway in Fontana CA. We thought it would be interesting to show a little bit of drag racing content on the site, since our site is just so populated with drifting content all the time (not that it’s a bad thing!).

Fontucky was extremely hot while we were there; the sun and Southern Cali fires weren’t helping matters at all, burning through our sunscreen like a magnifying glass being held over ants. If you’re interested in play by play bracketed info on all the classes, you’ll need to check an upcoming copy of DSPORT Magazine. However, if you’re like us and you just want to check out the cars at the event, please read on!  Continue reading and view more photos at MotorMavens

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Don’s Sentra SE-R was too rotted to be road worthy, so he turned it into a dirt track racer! See all the pics on his ride page.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Eighty 1 Design in Mukilteo, Washington built this wild Nova with an air-ride suspension, Chevy 502, custom exhaust, 20″ wheels, and a full custom audio system including navigation. The hood opens forward and the gas tank cap was relocated behind the driver’s side tail light. See more pics on their ’66 Nova ride page.

By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

Discovering rare and uncovered gems usually happens when someone contacts me after reading my column in Musclecar Enthusiast. So I received a lead about what might be the rarest muscle car in existence, a one-of-one Canadian built (at the same Oshawa, Ontario plant that currently builds the Camaro) Pontiac Parisienne Safari six-passenger station wagon powered by a 425-horsepower dual quad 409, the same engine immortalized by the Beach Boys song “409.”

Continue reading "Dual Quad 409 Equipped Canadian Pontiac Wagon!" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

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!