By Tony Castellano

Tcassa

The annual Wintersun festival has come and gone, and boy what a show it was! The rock ‘n’ roll event is held each year on Queensland’s Gold Coast, and is an absolute must for anyone interested in all-things American. The festival is now in its 32nd and final year, with government bureaucracy relocating the show 6 hours south, much to the disappointment of all those involved!

My family and I made our way down early Sunday morning to enjoy a nice breakfast before hitting the strip to view the muscle on show. The festival caters for all American muscle enthusiasts, with a variety of 60s and 70s Mustangs, Camaros and Mopars pulling plenty of crouds. I payed special attention to the hot rods that were on display, with my favorite being a beautiful 32 coupe that was near spotless. Plenty of pics after the jump!

Continue reading "Wintersun Rocks On" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

This guy took a “rust-bucket Alpine” and turned it into a twin-turbocharged 5-liter LSR that ran 192.5 mph at Bonneville last year. It’s nice to see a basketcase rescue turn out that well, but my dad, who sent me this page and who’s building a Sunbeam Tiger that he hopes to run on the salt flats, is a little disheartened by what it’s going to take to get one of these cars up to 200 mph. He’d hoped to also make his streetable! Check out the Alpine’s website.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Yeah, it looks kind of bland, but it’s bigger and cheaper, which for the US market should be a winning combo. Drivetrains carry over from the current car. Details are still a bit sketchy but you can see more pics at Autoblog. It should hit dealer lots in October.

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

The first time I ever saw the Pagani Zonda R in person was a quick glance last year at the SEMA show. Today though, I got to spend a quite a while taking in its ridiculous lines and details, as the car was oh-so carefully rolled into the NFS booth at the E3 show in LA.

I have to say that watching the crew trying to roll the car onto its stand was just as intense as a Formula D final match, or the last few laps at LeMans. The two million dollar hypercar is now sitting safe and sound, ready to be centerpiece of the booth as people come check out the just-announced NFS Hot Pursuit game this week.

For more on these brilliant cars, be sure to check out the stories from Rod and Dino’s trip to the Pagani factory last year.

By Mike Garrett

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

We were tipped off to this totally awesome 1965 Chevy Impala stock car by BangShift.com forum member Blazerteam (who lives in Norway!) and immediately fell in lust with this cruddy hulk of a former NASCAR racer. Located in Georgia, the car supposedly saw racing action back in 1965 and 1966. The seller claims that it was run at “all the major NASCAR tracks.”

Details are a bit light, but the photos really seem to show a car that was raced and put away in a barn, not to see the light of day for 30 years. Going back to the seller’s ad, he claims that the car was run with a 409 engine, which is certainly cool all in itself.

Rolling on huge meats, packing a rudimentary roll cage, window tabs, tape wrapped steering wheel, and simply perfect hand lettering, hopefully the buyer takes it back to the original shape it was in when the car raced.

According to some online research, the car’s driver Roy Mayne finished 4th at Darlington in 1965. Did he do it in this car?

Source — eBay Motors.com — 1965 Impala former NASCAR racer

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

These Germans are deadpan serious about demonstrating the fact that if you flail around outside of a moving vehicle like a crazed soccer fan, you will likely get messed up in the event of a crash. I love that they even remembered to turn the cap backwards on the window-sill riding dummy. Watch!

World Cup Crash Test

By Karan Singh

StreetFire.net

It takes someone of a unique IQ to use a windowless moving van to transport their personal watercraft. It takes an even more unique person not to se the parking break!

Jet Ski Loading Fail

By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

Riding on 28′s used to be for only big boys, and now the 2010 Camaro SS is on the scene standing strong. With 28 inch DUB Jokers, the 2010 Camaro SS found at South Beach, Miami during the Memorial Day Weekend was quite a site. Floating through the crowd on 28′s, is this a hit or a POS? You decide. Read more about getting donky at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

By Fireball Tim

Movie Car Design Master

So I went out to Canyon Country to visit my friends, Andy and Jen. Newlyweds. Just bought a slammin’ new house and wanted to hook up with us at the Route66 Grill. …Where there just happen to be some sweet rides. I unfortunately forgot to tell Kathie that there was a car show in the parking lot. Wups.

Rides. Burgs. Bitchin.’ Like goin’ into a Classic Car CandyStore, these cars came in all shapes and sizes. And the only thing better was the owners. They loved their cars, even the guy with the beat up Pinto Wagon.

Best of Show? The ’49 Merc Sled. That’s was my pick… Check out the whole show…

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I’ve always felt that the time-honored dirtball technique of punching a screwdriver through an oil filter was just plain asking for trouble, but from the looks of it, this poor guy was doomed from the start no matter what he tried. In the course of the struggle, the filter ended up getting sheared off down to its base, so there’s now basically nothing left to grab onto to make it turn. I’m not exactly sure how the Saab 9-5 is set up, but from these pics, it doesn’t look like getting to the threaded spigot from the other side of the block wall with the motor disassembled is much of an option either. Ever had this happen to you? What should he try next? Via VWVortex.

Continue reading "How Not To Un-Stick A Stuck Oil Filter" »