By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Generally, I don’t look at People of Wal-Mart, because it’s a huge time waster, and it actually makes me kind of sad. [Edit: This is a Lowe's parking lot.]  So I’m not sure if this Escort/trike has been posted there. From the photos, it looks like the Escort’s mill might actually be providing the power for this contraption, which is cool in a kind of Bizarro Superman way, and regardless of what you think about the concept, the way that the taillights and front clip have been melded is pretty clean. More pics after the jump. via The Coffee Shop.

Continue reading "DIY Trike in Wal-Mart Parking Lot" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Ah, motorsports–it’s so much more than racing these days. The motorsports contingent is always huge at SEMA, and it’s one of those categories that can literally go from A to Z: there are so many variations on automotive competition that there’s no way you can expect to capture a representative cross-section. That’s okay–it just allows us to focus on what we find cool, with shameless subjectivity. In the interests of inclusiveness, we’ve tried to hit as many of the hottest motorsports series as our five entries will allow. NASCAR is represented by the new Nationwide Series Mustang, running Ford’s all-new Roush Yates FR9. Then there’s the 2010 Camaro’s debut entry in Formula Drift, which will definitely be on our radar in the coming season. Chris Rado’s insane Time Attack Scion carries the torch for that genre. SCCA is represented, albeit in vintage form, by Bob Boileau’s multiple-championship-winning Civic. And the Traxxas short-course race truck rounds out the motorsports fleet for off-road racing. Um, yeah, we totally skipped NHRA. And a bunch of other stuff. Oh well, time to hit the polls!

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By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

I’ve never been shy about admitting that I love watching crash comps. But most of the time, the screaming engines, buckling metal and general noise of the wrecks is buried under some of the crappiest music imaginable. Really, you don’t need tinny European techno beats or ridiculous American rap metal to add drama to a rally crash. When the focus of a shot is a high-performance car spinning like an alternator pulley while shedding sheet metal, any additional elements are going to make it less compelling. And that’s why Crazy Finns Crashing is so killer. There’s no extraneous editing, no insipid soundtrack, no trippy title cards. All you hear is what the camera heard, and it’s perfect. Prepare for an exciting ten minutes….

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Like last year, Lexus’ booth was outside by the proving grounds, and the roar of the Bondurant Corvettes was audible over the tunes the DJ was playing. There was a definite attempt to give the space a club vibe, which was compromised slightly by the fact that the turntables didn’t have heads on them, and the cocktails were actually mocktails, but whatever. There was a grip of customized IS-Cs—including Brian Fox’s hyper-green example—on hand this year, but the red-hot LF-A was the star of the show. The matte black doesn’t photograph particularly well, but in person, it looked sick. The styling in the front is somewhat restrained, which makes the aggressive lines of its hind-quarters look even better. Hit the jump to see more shots of the new supercar, along with the pics of some fresh creations from Brian Fox, David Huang, Gordon Ting, Clark Ishihara and David Rahemi, and TRD.

Continue reading "All Up In Their Booth: Lexus at SEMA 2009" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Trying to figure out what car to buy next? Well, if you go to a forum like VWVortex and ask for advice, the response may look a lot like this:

By Ryan Porter

IN-N-OUT Editor

All the cool shit happens in California (except SEMA, but all the cool shit at SEMA is from California). Anyways this past weekend was the 3rd HellaFlush Meet hosted at Blacktrax Perfomance in Milpitas, CA. Apparently the place was packed and there were over 1,500 people who showed up with cameras in tow, fresh Nike Dunks, and crisp dark denim jeans. I’m just kidding on the whole get-up, but I’m pretty bummed that I wasn’t in attendance. I love the Hellaflush, almost-flush, and flush setups and can’t believe the crazy style that goes into these rides. Best of all it’s a melting pot of autos just like CarDomain. Hitting an all BMW meet is fun and all, but it’s really nice to get together with a crazy assortment of cars.

Check out more coverage of the HellaFlush meet over at Fatlace and at So Steezy’s Flickr.

Continue reading "HellaFlush III Meet: In California Of Course" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Some of you may remember when this car when it was covered with rust. Well now it has a nice patina and sports a fighter plane motif. What do you think? More pics after the jump! Via Stanceworks

Continue reading "Stanceworks Zombie E28 Gets a Makeover" »

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

This video takes us out of the drivers’ compartment and places us straight up in the grand stands. That’s A-Ok as you’ll find out when you watch the video, because there’s no way this car sounds better inside than it does on the outside.

According to the video description, the car is packing a G-Force five-speed and a 276ci small block Chevy. The video also claims that he launched the car at 12,000 RPM. Who knows if it is true, but is sounds awseome!

Here the video, turn up the sound!

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

Like the Land Rover and the Hummer, Mercedes-Benz’s Geländewagen came from militaristic roots before it became a yuppie status symbol, except here in the States, we tend not to see much of its “Franz goes to war” past, shown in this 1982 Geländewagen currently on Hemmings.com for $29,900. Continue reading at Hemmings

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

When living so close to ‘The Ring’ you sometimes feel spoiled as the high performance cars you’ll encounter at the track become normal. For example, Porsche 911 GT3s are nothing special to see when Speedhunting at the Nordeschliefe.  So you start searching for cars that are less obvious to satisfy your car craving. On my last visit I spotted this BMW E36 touring which certainly grabbed my attention. Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Jeroen Willemsen