By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

It’s become standard practice to pick up holiday gifties for the pets, but has automotive gift-giving caught on yet? My Eagle pretty much broke the bank this year: it got a full front and rear differential rebuild at Randy’s Ring and Pinion, with both pumpkins re-geared to 3.08 for a slightly better launch than its stock 2.73′s. Not exactly a planned purchase–but when I found that the front diff was ready to come apart after 175,000 hard miles, I decided I might as well go the whole hog and do the gear swap front and rear. I was lucky enough to have boyfriend, mom, and sister pitch in to help defray the colossal expense, though still, I kinda feel the Eagle is set for about the next ten Christmases or so.

How about you? Did your ride get any presents this year?

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

We were tipped to the eBay auction of this pristine 1992 Chevy Camaro BC4-package cop car by BangShift.com forum memember MR4Speed. The car was an active unit in Utah for most of its life before being retired from service and landing in the hands of a Utah Highway Patrol “expert” who grabbed it because it was never crashed and had no severe repairs in its work history. It was then completely restored. We want it.

Yes, it is a TPI 305 stick car that won’t win too many drag races, but it is a very neat car in its own right. The Camaro comes equipped with all the lights, radios, and tricky police gadgets that an officer would have been tucked in with back when the car was fighting crime on the mean streets of Utah. Add in the fact that it is one of less than 1,000 police package cars to be packing a manual transmission, and the motor is cleaner than most restaurant kitchens, and you’ve got a neat car!

There’s not a spot of rust on it and you could scare the wits out of everyone else headed to the car show with the flip of a couple of switches. How do you beat that? There’s just something about cop cars.

Click here to see the auction.

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

Some old-car enthusiasts dig old car wreck photos. I don’t. It’s not that I’m psychologically scarred by an old crash; it’s not that I don’t want to see imperfect representations of the cars we normally enjoy seeing in pristine condition. It’s not that I have a weak constitution and am morally outraged at the Ballardian aspect of it. It’s not that I’m denying my mortality. It’s probably more because I see it as a voyeuristic exercise, one step removed from rubbernecking on the highway, taking grotesque pleasure from somebody else’s misfortune, even if blood and guts aren’t in the picture. Morbid curiosity, to me, seems something you grow out of after adolescence.

So why link to the Salem, Massachusetts, police department’s collection of old crash photos? (Thanks, by the way, go to diskojoe for pointing these out, along with the story behind them.)

Though I thoroughly condemned the practice of viewing such photos above, I can also see their attraction. If we’re to be honest about the way things really were in past decades, then such photos are the natural counterpart to the normally bright and pasteurized picture we paint of old cars. And if you look past the destruction, you see that these aren’t apocalyptic photos – they’re simply scenes of everyday life interrupted by misfortune. Continue reading at Hemmings

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

For my final review story of the year, I want to share some observations on the general automotive and tuning trends of 2009. The economy might be on it’s way out of a giant hole, but people across the world are still finding ways to enjoy cars, and we’ve seen some bold new ideas popping up because of this.

So, what was big in ’09? Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Mike Garrett

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

I don’t know if Ken Block actually managed to top GYMKHANA with the sequel, but I still enjoyed it, and I think the director’s cut is great. Using Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades” as the soundtrack was just genius. What do you think he’ll do for part three?

By Chris Trout

Troutster52

It’s that time of the season again, the time in the Midwest where the wind turns chillingly sharp and the roads begin their decay into traction-breaking, salt corroding wastelands for the classic and performance automobile. This season sadly lasts a good while into the over-celebrated New Year.

Despite the joys of the holiday season which include family, food, and, if you’re lucky, some time off work, this time of transition into a long season of cold leaves me disappointed and hopelessly obsessive towards the future. Do not misunderstand me—driving my 4×4 F150 on nearly abandoned, snow-drifted roads and parking lots is nothing but a thrill to me. However, the evading dream of a performance car, offers me no consolation during the winter season.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "Seasonal Automotive Affective Disorder" »

By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

Each year during Christmas morning, street racers of Compton gather in protest and celebration. The local track is closed to observe the holiday, but the street racers still want to race! What happens is an annual celebration of the taboo past time. Read more about the Compton Christmas street races at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

By Rob Krider

Racerboy

Most of us gearheads experienced our first competitive car race in the Pinewood Derby. A seven inch long piece of wood, four nails, four plastic wheels and a sloped track –that’s it. Gravity is the only motor in this race. At first glance it seems like there isn’t much to the Pinewood Derby. However, after getting your ass kicked your first year you realize that a Pinewood Derby car can be as complicated as any real race car. Aerodynamics, rolling friction, center of mass, weight, alignment, lane choice, there are all sorts of things that can make the car roll down the track or get stuck halfway down the hill. Of course, as a seven year old kid you have no idea how to change the center mass of a Pinewood Derby car, that’s where dad comes along.

To learn the tricks of the trade on winning a Boy Scouts of America Pinewood Derby check out the Racer Boy column at Speed Sport Life.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Porsche’s 997 GT3 and GT3RS sound bad-ass straight from Stuttgart, but when fitted with SharkWerks’ Track Exhaust system, the engine notes are even sicker. The sound of the new unit is derived from the Porsche Cup race cars—listen to the test cars sing on the track, dyno and street!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

For many of us 2009 will go down as a year to forget. But there were a few bright spots, right? Anyway, here’s my list of the top stories of 2009. Let me know what you think, and what I missed.

Cash for Clunkers - This was probably the hottest topic this year. Was it a success? Some say yes, some say no…

Bailout and Bankruptcy - GM and Chrysler take taxpayer dollars, then file for bankruptcy. Are we out of the woods yet?

GM Kills Brands – First Pontiac, then Saturn, now Saab?

Chrysler Goes to Fiat – I still don’t know what to think of this one. I guess all we can do is wait and see…

Ford Kicks Ass – It was good to see Ford hang tough this year. No bankruptcy, no bailout money, just a solid product lineup. The Fusion won a ton of accolades, the new Taurus appears to be a success, and the Fiesta looks like the winner. And don’t forget about the Mustang. Now we just need a new Focus.

Pony Cars Wars Get Hotter – The Challenger looks best, the Camaro is the fastest, but I think the Mustang is the most fun to drive. And Ford has really upped the ante with the 5.0.

RWD Toyota/Subaru is a go – Hey, Detroit can’t hog all the headlines. The new FT-86 looks great and hopes are high for the Subie version.

The Fast and the Furious – Still stupid, and still a lot of fun.

Green – Ok, so green technology may have been drowned out by some of the drama this year, but that doesn’t mean it’s slowing down. The third gen Prius is a huge success, Tesla might actually be a real company, and the Nissan Leaf looks very promising. Oh, and do you remember the Chevy Volt?

Media Mayhem – First Riceboy went to StreetFire. Then CarDomain merged with StreetFire. Freiburger went back to Hot Rod. Motive shut down and then Alterman went to Car and Driver. Sounce Interlink filed chapter 11 and fired a bunch of people. What’s next?