By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Today’s photo briefly appeared on EIJesselok’s new ride page for his ’79 Malibu wagon, but it doesn’t seem to be there anymore. The big rims look just seems to work on late-70′s, early-80′s Chevies when it’s done right, don’t you think? Keep those Photo of the Day tips coming!

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

I’ve always thought it’d be fun to make a driving simulator by transplanting a video game wheel into a junker and mounting a monitor on the hood. But this Scirocco shows what you can do if you’ve got mad coding skills and a little more ambition. These hackers in Finland used an ODB-II connector to patch into a new Scirocco’s CAN-bus, so that the car’s wheel, pedals and stick can be used to control the video game. They’re playing Rally Trophy in this clip, but this set-up could conceivably work for any game and with any vehicle. One of the commenters over on Hack a Day joked about the airbags going off if you crashed, and I thought that was a hilarious—if dangerous—idea. Hack a Day via Jalopnik

VW Scirocco as Game Controller

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

The seller threw out the junk rotary engine that came with this RX7 and started from scratch. The little 2800-lb Mazda is now powered by the same 4.1L six cylinder that Buick ran in the early Grand Nationals, topped off by a Turbonetics T70 along with methanol injection and a Dodge Viper rear end geared to 3.08. Ten-second quarter-mile runs and 30 mpg on the highway? Not bad. Check out the auction here.

By Stephanie Porteus

HotRodHoney

New York is no different from any other state when it comes to changing up the old license plate every 10 years or so. However, this year’s change has many people furious.

The first plates I remember putting on my car were the Miss Liberty plates. The Miss Liberty plates had a red Statue of Liberty pictured in the center against a white background. These looked pretty good on most cars since they were white, though some people found them rather plain. Read more…

Continue reading "New York License Plate Drama" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

NASCAR has been putting together some nice hightlight reels from the races that they’re calling Sights and Sounds. Here’s the latest one from Sunday’s awesome race at Talladega, posted on NASCAR’s Facebook page this morning.

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

This video is incredible, this has to be the first time I’ve ever seen an invisible car that runs. Really impressive stuff right here. Check out this invisible Nissan 370Z. Thanks goes to my friend Justin who put me on to this.

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

There are lots of great sleepers out there. The amazing farm truck that surfaced a couple years back still leaves our heads shaking, but this plumbing van from Australia ranks right up there with it. It began life powered by a suck-ass, small-displacement Mitsubishi engine and now packs V8 umph. The best part is the fact that it still has pipe on the roof rack and it handles like a fuel altered.

The fact that this beast blazes the tires at will, and clearly could run 10′s if it could hook, may make this the most entertaining 11-second pass we’ve ever seen.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Of course while I was in Stuttgart I had to stop by the Porsche Museum! Check out my walk-around video below and see all the pics in our events section! My friend Jean also took some great shots of the sliced up 911s in the design display.

Porsche Museum

By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

Creativity is at its peak during mass boredom. The following prankster decides to make good use of a hose clamp, hot water bag, and an unsuspecting motorist. Starting the car with the bag on the exhaust simulates a blown engine as their is power loss followed by a very loud explosion. Read more about the funny car prank at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

By David Wallens

Grassroots Motorsports

A hazard of this car-loving life is just all the weird stuff you accumulate. Take this Hella bucket hat, for instance. After graduating from college, I worked at Automod for about two years. We were a big wholesaler and retailer for all of the big names of the ’90s, from Xenon aero to Momo road wheels. We also did Hella, and somehow I scored this bucket hat. It was even old back then. My dog, Aimee, was mildly impressed with it.