By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Allpar is reporting that Chrysler is considering launching Ram as a fourth brand to be used for trucks only. Dodge would then be reserved for cars, which would be more closely associated with Fiat-based vehicles. This makes absolutely no sense to me, but whatever. I just hope they don’t kill off the Challenger.

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

We have to thank our bud Matt King for this gem of a CraigsList sale. We all remember the classic (and infamous) Caddy-hack and later Ponti-hack stories that ran in Hot Rod Magazine. Staffers bought land barges and cut them to pieces, while running them down the drag strip. It was a great illustration of the performance enhancements that can be made just by shedding weight.

That concept makes loads of sense with respect to big Cadillacs and Pontiacs, but what about with a tiny car like, say, a Geo? This seller attacked his and made a self described, “1,000cc go-kart”. We want this thing so badly that it hurts us. We’d do some sweet jumps with it. This is the one and only Geo that we’ve ever wanted and ever will. Too much fun to be had with this car!

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

The first time I heard about Billetproof was in a Hot Rod Magazine article about eight years ago. At that time the traditional rod and custom movement was just starting to gain momentum, and shows like Billetproof were at the forefront of the revolution. There are now Billetproof events held across the United States, but the first was the California edition – held annually in the SF Bay Area . Even though I didn’t live terribly far from Antioch (the current site of the show), it wasn’t until this year that I was finally able to head up there and take in Billetproof in person. Without a doubt, it’s one of the biggest gatherings of traditional rods and customs on the West Coast, and possibly the planet. See more pics at Speedhunters

By Mike Garrett

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

While we have wicked awesome cars for sale in the current issues of Hemmings – as shown by the Maserati A6C54 and Highwayman truck we highlighted here recently – we also have 55 years of back issues of classifieds we can go through for interesting finds, and we even have some of the original photographs from those issues, so we scanned a few from the May 1978 issue for your perusal. See more pics at Hemmings

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

We were dissapointed Hyundai didn’t leave room for its V8 in the Genesis Coupe, so it’s cool that Rhys Millen is dropping one in. Of course, this is going to be a lot more than a simple engine swap—the new powerplant is going to be mounted in the middle of the car. The 500 beast will make it’s official debut at SEMA, but Bill Wood got a sneak peak.

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

Shout to our friend Jon Sibal on the blogroll. Jon continues to impress me with his impeccable taste, not just of his renderings but of the cars he selects for his blog. Jon recently featured this absolutely sick Levin. I love everything about this car.

I cant remember the last time I saw a Levin on the track without crazy countersteer angles. Could this possibly be a time attack Levin! Man…brings me back to going to Fuji Speedway ten years ago and watching the GT300 JGTC AE86 compete sponsored by ORC. This car is just killing it in every way. Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "One Of My Favorite AE86 Levins" »

By Antonio Alvendia

Antonio Alvendia

This just in! You heard it FIRST from MotorMavens.com!!! Some of our readers may remember Luke Loneberger’s Chevy LS1 turbo-engined S14 from our All Star Bash and Megan Racing Competition stories. Well, apparently we were just given the green light to release the big news that we’ve been keeping under our hats for the past couple months! Los Gatos, California based Luke Loneberger will be building Conrad Grunewald’s new competition car for the 2010 Formula Drift season – a brand new Chevrolet Camaro SS, with Hankook as the tire sponsor.

Apparently all of Conrad’s work as a driving instructor at Skip Barber Racing School and his unmistakable presence when driving the Tanaka Racing Corvette in Formula D last year has finally paid off. Let’s also not forget – Conrad isn’t a stranger to the Formula D podium! We have photos to prove it!

Thanks to Andrew and Conrad from CG Racing, we’re able to present you with these sneak peek photos on MotorMavens.com!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle and one of the richest guys in the world, went to Kirkham Motorsports and asked them to build the ultimate, cost is no object Cobra. The result? A car will a billet chassis. Go to the Kirkham site to download the book (in PDF format) documenting the build.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I’m not afraid to admit it: I’ve got a total weak spot for 80′s K Cars. I don’t know why, but at least I’m not the only one. Anyway, when this beat-ass Reliant wagon rolled into the garage where I work, with its saggy rear springs and an ailing 2.2 that sounded like a can full of marbles, I figured it was probably just another 500-dollar junker that some dirtball was driving into the ground–the usual fate for these rides. But that was until we got it up on the lift. Someone had actually taken the trouble to pack this little wagon full of goodies, including a Garrett turbo, Dynomax exhaust, four-wheel disc brake conversion, Falken rubber, Eibach coil-overs up front and Koni shocks in the rear. Wow! It turned out that the owner had been autocrossing it, but you’d never guess it if the wagon pulled up next to you at a stop light. Hit the jump to check out some of the mods.

Continue reading "Sleeper K Car" »

By Joseph DeLucca

Luxvelocity

This car is hot! When the fellas take it out on the highway for the first time and head out to Vegas, it was hard not to become reminiscent about taking a road trip with my best buds. Now I must ask , what is your favorite road trip car? How many times have you seen The Hangover? List them below and check out the rest of the post over at LuxVelocity