Best of the Blog 2009

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

As many of you know we lost John and Jen at the end of 2008 and I had to run the blog solo this year. Lucky for me a bunch of friends agreed to syndicate us their stuff, including Brian Lohnes at BangShift, the guys at Speedhunters, Dan Strohl at Hemmings, Ben Schaefer at The Real JDM, Antonio Alvendia at Motor Mavens and of course Fireball Tim. We also added a bunch of new contributors, including Chris Trout, David Belau, Michael Berenis, Patrick Ernzen and Ryan Brutt. And of course let’s not forget old friends like Mike Musto, Sam Barer, Katherine Helmetag, Steve Neil, David Wallens and Jim Brennan. Ryan Porter even managed to blog from time to time, when he wasn’t too busy looking for the perfect 993. So thanks to everyone! (And I’m sure I probably missed a few folks!)

Things started to pick up in May when John got back on board in Los Angeles (though he now spends most of his time working on StreetFire). I’m really hoping to find a way to get Jen back in early 2010. We have a few other schemes for 2010, so stay tuned… But in the meantime, here’s the best of the blog for 2009:

The Caption Contest has become the most popular feature of the blog. I think this pic was my favorite.

We found a ton of cool and crazy rides on eBay this year. I really loved this chopped Duster.

We always go all out at SEMA and this year was no exception. And as usual, you guys helped us pick the best rides of the show.

Since we merged with StreetFire, we’ve had a bunch of great video in the blog (John will post his ten favorite StreetFire videos tomorrow). Me? I’m torn between the Ram SRT-10 burnout gone wrong and the Ken Block spoof.

We covered the heck out of Formula D this year. I made it to the Seattle stop and had a great time. This 240SX blew me away (best paint of 2009?). Here are the walk-around videos I shot in the pits.

I think the Fox body with the leaf blower supercharger was the single most hilarious thing in the blog this year.

VWVortex is always a great source for material. The Rabbit with too much camber killed me. So did this Vette.

Will rusty hoods continue to be popular in 2010? How about stretching tires?

Jim Brennan really went beyond the call of duty with his Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot series. I think the 1970-71 Plymouth Sport Fury GT was my favorite, but I’m biased.

After the whole cash for clunkers debacle, it was refreshing to read Chris Trout’s post The Value of a Beater. We all really enjoyed Steve Neil’s The Forgotten Man of Chiba’s Shop. And David Belau’s tale of the possessed Dart was cool and creepy. Where else could you read a story like that?

Let me know if I missed anything, and post your favorites below!