By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

This week’s win goes to ThejoyRiDer for “yep that’s right…it’s got a big block.” Tune in tomorrow for another heavyweight caption contest!

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

The minute I laid eyes on this little Honda N600 at the Nisei Showoff on Saturday, I knew I had to share it here. In Japan, the Honda N600′s sister car, the N360, helped launch the kei car segment. Here in the states, the N600 helped to pave the way for the game-changing Civic. As for this particular one, it shows every one of its 40+ years on the planet, and that’s part of what makes it so cool.

Another thing that makes it cool is the hopped up two-cylinder under the hood. I once went to an event at Tsukuba Circuit that featured nothing but modified micro cars, and this car definitely reminded me of that. My favorite element of this car and other modified N360′s and 600′s is the way exhaust dumps out from the middle of the front grill. Check out the tiny little BFG “For Racing Purposes Only” tires. How incredibly fun would this be on a gymkhana or autocross course? See more at Speedhunters.

By Mike Garrett

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

A cross between a Prius and… a coffin? Looks like it’s been expanded and improved from how he had it before. Via Thereifixedit.com.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

As much as I love driving my cars (yes, even the diesel), it can be a total jungle out there when it comes to getting from a to b. Everybody’s got a slightly different combination of traffic aggravators that can leave them at a standstill during their daily grind, and the holdups you encounter will obviously be determined by where you live. In the overpopulated and geographically constrained port-town of Seattle, my top three impediments to a hassle-free commute generally consist of the following: 1. Damn trains. I’ll never know why they wait until rush hour to do their interminable back-and-forth shunting dance on stretches of track that cross major urban throughfares, but the operators clearly get some kind of sadistic glee out of it.  2. The drawbridges: Seattle’s got a ton of waterways spanned by a lot of low bridges, and all boaters want to do all day is go in and out, presumably because it’s fun to make the bridge go up and down. 3. Idiots who decide to wreck themselves on the way to work. Come on, people, could you pick any other time? With only two major highways going north-to-south and not many other ways around, even the smallest smack-up will turn the road into a parking lot. Especially when accident participants are dumbasses and don’t move their perfectly operable vehicles to the shoulder.

So those are the hazards that tend to make it to the top of my roster of excuses for tardiness. What’re yours?

By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

It was the motorcycle that revved up, not the Lambo, but the Lamborghini still takes the fall. Police seize the vehicle, and then they have to figure out how to drive the thing. Key, clutch, gas: it’s really quite simple. If this was your Lambo, how would you react to this authoritative abuse? Read more about the two part accidental police seizure video at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Todays pic comes from Mark’s Porsche Carrera ride page!

By Karan Singh

StreetFire.net

This is why we love rally. Patrick Richard and his navigator crash their Subaru at Round 3 of the Canadian Rally Championship but instead of throwing in the towel, they flip their car back over and go on to win the race! We love how calm Alan Ockwell remains during the accident and patiently waits for the car to be turned back over.

Rally BDC Pat Richard FLIPS car and still WINS race!

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

The NTHSA almost never investigates an automaker for a single incident of component failure, but they decided this one was serious enough to look into: the steering shaft of a brand-new, low-miles Kia Soul literally fell apart in the driver’s hands, uncoupling at the steering wheel and resulting in a complete loss of steering ability. The shaft also slumped down in such a way as to partially block access to the brake pedal, compounding an already awkward driving situation. The Kia was 2 months old and had only 4300 miles on the clock, and it sounds like what happened is someone forgot to tighten something down at the factory. But damn.

What do you think: just another example of cheap newfangled junk predictably falling to pieces? Or a freak occurrence that could happen to anything?

Via Carscoop.

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

The Matador coupe is one of those 1970s love-it-or-hate-it designs, perhaps even more polarizing than the Gremlin, Pacer, Vega and Pinto. It’s, of course, the bug-eyed Colonnade-like design that makes it so: After all, the coupe generates way more comments than the more conservative Matador sedan. This 1977 AMC Matador coupe, one of the desirable Barcelona editions, looks from the photos to be a well-preserved example. From the seller’s description:

Only 45,737 miles on this rare AMC!! – An exceptionally clean, well cared for luxury Matador – Equipped with the 360 V8 – Automatic Transmission – Power Steering – Power Disc Brakes – Cold Factory A/C – AM/FM Radio – Cruise Control – Vinyl Top – Twin Grip Differential, and Turbine Styled Wheels – Classic Black w/ Pillow Tufted Camel interior – A real Head Turner!

See more at Hemmings.

By Alex Quail

Alex Quail

Today I went to photograph a wide-bodied S13 at a friend’s bodyshop. This car is beautiful in person, and I’m yet to see another Japanese car with a brown/cream colour scheme! Aftermarket products for the S-Chassis cars have become quite stale of recent, so this car is truly a breath of fresh air. Featuring a custom front bumper, wings and skirts, this car is unlike any other S13 currently in existence. The aggressive SSR Professors fit the car perfectly (they’ll also be getting their centers finished in the root beer colour seen on the roof and pillars). This kit has been 5 years in the making, and you can find the full story and more photos here!