By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Sorry for the crummy bootleg. We’re all glad Dan came out of this nasty wreck ok. More details at BangShift.com

By John Naderi

StreetFire.net

What makes a classic car? Is it a pre-war Bugatti, a ’57 Chevy, ’32 Ford or perhaps anything slathered in British Racing Green and stuffed with a rat’s nest of Lucas electronics? But what about our automotive brethren across the Pac Rim, from the island nation most known for the Camry and Accord? There’s some deep history here such as Honda’s S600, Toyota’s 2000GT, Mazda’s Cosmo or this – Nissan’s OG “Hakosuka” Skyline spotted at the Japanese Classic Car Show held on Saturday, October 3 at Irvine, California’s Hidden Valley Park. This was the fifth anniversary of the show, which is open to any pre-1985 Japanese car. This particular PGC-10 is a 1971 model owned by Mickey Castillo. JDM urban legend says that of the handful of C-10 Skylines in the States only a few are authentic GT-R models. I really don’t care if Mickey’s car is an R because it’s chock full of sick Sonny Chiba style. Hit the jump to see more tasty morsels from JCCS.

Continue reading "Suntory Times! Classic Car Show with a Japanese Twist" »

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

As soon as it was announced that Hyundai was going to build a RWD sports car, enthusiasts started wondering about the tuning possibilities, and the turbo kits GReddy is planning to offer for the Genesis Coupe should come as great news. The company says that the first systems will aim to get 350 horsepower and 320lbs of torque out of the base model’s little 2.0,  and that eventually, it’ll be looking to make a kit which will deliver a whopping 500 horsepower. That sounds a little burly for stock internals, but hey, what do I know? The car pictured below will be on display at SEMA, so we’ll make sure to get plenty of shots of it when we’re on the ground in Vegas, but I’m actually hoping to catch a Genesis Coupe in the wild before then. Neither Nads or I have seen one anywhere but auto shows and tracks—which strikes me as a little strange. I mean, this is Los Angeles, you see all kinds of stuff on the street here, and not one Genesis Coupe? Weird. Anyway, hit the jump to read Hyundai’s full press release.

Continue reading "GReddy to Offer Turbo Kits for the Genesis Coupe" »

By John Naderi

StreetFire.net

See this car? It’s a piece of shit. It flies in the face of conventional motorsports wisdom and it’s an insult to the development and direction of the time attack ethos. And you know what, I freakin’ love it! The FX Motorsports Development crew and their NSX are so wrong they’re right again. Much like the GST Impreza RS this NSX is ghettolicious in the finest sense of the term. When I say this to the team’s driver and co-owner, Billy Johnson he gets a little miffed. But team principle Ken “Nami” Namimatsu is rockin’ my Kool Aid with some ice and a straw if you know what I’m saying. Hit the jump to figure out exactly what I’m saying (I’m not even entirely sure) and to see our StreetFire.net video feature on this NSX.

Continue reading "Ghettolicious: The FXMD Time Attack NSX – So Wrong it’s Right Again" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Finally, here’s a first real look at the Toyota/Subaru joint venture and spiritual successor to the AE86. This light, compact RWD 2+2 is actually smaller than the Nissan 370Z. So what do you think? A few more pics after the jump. See the rest at Jalopnik

Continue reading "Toyota FT-86 Concept" »

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

We’ve received word that Tasca Ford’s 2009 Mustang Cobra Jet has run into the 9.40s in recent testing. If this is accurate (and we have little to no reason to suspect otherwise) than it makes their CJ the quickest by a ton and a half.

The best numbers we have seen out of other cars have been in the low 9.60s, so a 9.40 pass, especially one in the low 9.40s is a literal cannon shot.

The scariest part of this deal is that the Tasca boys aren’t done yet. How quick are these things, anyway?

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

Our blog reader/friend Joshua Cloud just sent me another beautiful rendering. I wanted to share it with you all!

His words:
“Ben, in light of the recently released 458 Italia photos, I decided to make a rendering of my version. I thought a high gloss orange, more aggressive kit, and gloss black wheels will make this Ferrari stand out from the rest of the red, white, and black painted Italian crowd.”

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

The story of Steve Williams will probably sound familiar to many of you: Car collector amasses more cars than he could ever restore, and when he dies, the collection gets sold off. This time, at least, Steve’s family is trying to get the cars to other collectors who will appreciate them rather than crush the whole set, and a couple of the cars stand out. Continue reading at Hemmings

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

This is a car I’ve been meaning to feature for a while now. It was built by my friend Russ, the man behind the RE-Extreme blog, the place to go to for the latest news on anything and everything related to the RX7. Before Russ got rid of this, his second RE-Extreme project car, we met up in the Tokyo Bay ready to immortalize his very unique ride. After much searching we ended up at a Hotel in Tokyo Disneyland, which provided a very nice, yet very un-Japanese backdrop!

Before embarking on this project Russ took lots of time to think about what direction to go with his FD. One definite requirement was to be as original as possible choosing a good mix of bits and pieces for that bespoke look. There is no denying the FD3S is by far one of the most aesthetically pleasing cars ever to come out of Japan, without even beginning to consider the possibilities the aftermarket offers. Flick through the pages of the Hyper Rev series of books dedicated to this shape and you will be surprised at just how many body parts are available, a list that keeps growing even if the car has been out of production for years now! Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Dino Dalle Carbonare

By Patrick Ernzen

desert-motors.com

While part natural ability, photography, like many things, is largely knowledge and persistence. In this case, natural ability is the photographer’s artistic vision and eye: their ability to look at objects and a scene and compose them in a way that is interesting and appealing. While lucky few are born with this ability, fortunately for the rest of us, most of it can be learned and much of it comes with experience. However, compositional understanding isn’t the only important knowledge for a photographer. Understanding how the camera’s settings, the environment’s lighting and any number of other things will affect a shot is equally important. The other most important part of the puzzle is persistence: simply getting out there, trying new things and taking photos. The number of photos I’ve taken over the past several years is well into six digits and I’m still learning new things and improving my abilities almost every time I get the camera out. If I didn’t feel like I was, I would stop taking photos.

Regardless of the situation, subject or what you’re shooting with, there are a number of often overlooked, simple things that can drastically improve your photos. The three of these that I address in this article and how they directly apply to automotive photography are: the rule of thirds, being aware of your background and varying your photo height. Check out the full article along with examples of these tips in practice and more in Desert-Motors Magazine.