Last weekend a bunch of cool old Mopar cop cars turned out at the National Police Parade in Newport, Rhode Island. Examples include a NYPD '88 Diplomat and a RISP '79 Newport owned by Phil Masso, a CTSP '74 Fury owned by Tom Weglarz, and a CHP '73 Polara owned by Tracy Claus. There was also a CHP '91 Crown Vic owned Steve Spaulding and Tracy Claus, and even a super cool 5.0 Mustang (I'd love to have one of those). You can see all of these cool cruisers after the jump. Thanks to Steve Spaulding for the pics!
Continue reading "Mopar Cop Cars" »
One of the hot topics in the race for the White House has been a so-called "gas tax holiday." And while this would temporarily lower prices, the plans has been met with skepticism from economists, who believe—quite correctly—that the idea is political bluster. But given the amount of ink the prospect of cheap gas is generating, Ma Mopar has decided to launch a gas plan of her own. The "Let's Refuel America" program would guarantee purchasers of some Chrysler vehicles $2.99 per-gallon fuel for the next three years, which should mean substantial savings for buyers who bite before June 2nd. What do you think: Will this help combat Chrysler's dismal drop in sales? Or will it wind up doing more harm than good?
In April, Chrysler and Nissan announced that the next version of the Nissan Titan pickup will be based on the Ram 1500 and built in Chrysler's plant in Saltillo, Mexico. Since then, more details have emerged, including the fact that this new Chrysler-built Titan will most likely be available with Hemi power. That's right, a Mexican-built Hemi-powered Japanese full-sized pickup. More at pickuptrucks.com.
Some of you may remember the modern 'Cuda in the Chrysler booth at SEMA last year. The one-off concept was based on a new Charger, and was built by Metalcrafters of Fountain Valley, California. Well, this weekend at Spring Fling, a convertible version was spotted with Metalcrafters badging. I'm not sure I'm that crazy about it, but it definitely makes me eager to see a new Challenger convertible.
When Jeff hasn't been busy working on his Retro Rides Camaro or shipping cars between California and Australia, he's been finishing the restoration on his Aussie Charger R/T clone, which he just put on eBay (why? to help fund some new projects of course!). Gotta love the triple Webers and old school slot mags! More pics after the jump.
Continue reading "OzHemi's Aussie Charger on eBay" »
First, it was a 2003 recall for same-year Liberties with lower ball joint problems. After some of the replacements were apparently botched, Chrysler issued a new recall three years later that included 800,000 2002-2006 Liberties, addressing LBJ's that were showing "excessive wear and looseness." This time around, it's the upper ball joints that are the problem on over 300,000 '02-'03 Liberties. There've been a series of high-profile incidents in which the BJ's have separated, dumping the body onto one or both front tires and thus seriously ruining the driver's day. At least one ball joint has separated at 75 mph, and a handful have let go while the driver was either pulling out into traffic or making a left turn, leaving the stricken Liberty stranded in the path of oncoming traffic. To make a bad situation worse, Chrysler hasn't yet actually issued a recall on this particular problem, instead awaiting the results of the NHTSA's "engineering analysis" and attributing complaints to customers' "confusion about the difference between the [previously recalled] lower and upper ball joints." Sure, yet another recall of the 300,000 affected Liberties wouldn't be cheap, but can Chrysler afford to hem and haw while Liberty ball joints are coming apart at highway speeds?
Source: AP
You might remember MUD-DUBS, the tricked-out Tacoma with the lambo doors and the unconventional wheel-tire package. As it turns out, owner Chris has more than one unique ride: he also owns this '88 Chrysler Conquest. Though he doesn't come right out and say it, it sounds as though he might've let the motor blow up when he was a kid ("I was young and stupid"), and now this interesting ride is "sitting in my driveway being used as a storage facility." Don't let it rot, Chris! There's so much you could do with a rear-drive, turbocharged little whip like this—so get going on that engine swap already!
My grandmother loved to drive. Way back in the '20s, she was the first woman on her street to get a license. But when she decided she wasn't safe behind the wheel, she sold her Buick, and everyone in the family was really proud of her. So I have to hand it to this English chap who just made the same decision. You have to admit, 76 years without an accident is pretty impressive. And the wreck which prompted his retirement? Well, that was pretty impressive too. Here's the news:
- Oil is now $113 a barrel, which is a new record. Of course, the rising prices don't have as much to do with oil production as they do with the fact that the dollar is in the toilet. Auto Observer
- Ma Mopar is in talks with Fiat—which owns Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati—to produce Alfa-branded cars in US factories. So I know a cheap, Italian-designed, RWD, 2+2 is out of the question, but I that doesn't mean I'm going to stop begging for one. Automotive News
- In other Italian news, Ferrari race cars will no longer wear Marlborough livery, as it turns out there are only three countries—Bahrain, Monaco and China—that still allow tobacco ads on race cars. I have to wonder, how long will it be before tobacco companies become invisible? AutoWeek
- John McCain wants the Big Three to take care of themselves. If he becomes president, there won't be any bailout. Strange... it'd seem like someone so eager to go to war would want to keep some heavy industry Stateside. Detroit News
- The folks at Tesla are busy trying to shake the perception that the Roadster is vaporware—for the record, I think it's not—but that hasn't stopped them from suing Henrik Fisker. They say his ultra-gorgeous Karma is a direct competitor to the sedan he designed for the California company. Wired
I'm not sure if this is the best thing you could do with a PT Cruiser, but maybe it's close. The body's been mounted on a 1979 Blazer frame, given a 4" suspension lift, fully caged, and fitted with a 350 small block and 36" tires. At least the revised ride height could help address the PT's visibility issues. Best of all, at press time, bidding's only up to $2.25—probably best to get in on the ground floor with this one. Get it?
Lest you think that all I do is cover Mopar events, let me tell you up front, that's not the case. Sometimes it just seems that way, as it did last weekend when I took a quick sprint up Interstate 15 to pop in on Mopars at the Strip, an annual event held for Mopar fanatics at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
While it is just the last weekend in March, it was already uncomfortably warm, and the bright sunlight made it almost impossible to photograph some of the outstanding Mopars in attendance. The event--which is part car show, part vendor midway, and part drag race on the facility's 1/8-mile drag strip--had something for virtually everyone, if your interests tend to slant towards Chryslers, Dodges, and Plymouths (alas, there were no AMCs, Chrysler's red-headed step child).
A lucky break, as far as photography was concerned, was that on the way back to Los Angeles Friday night, I stopped off at The Cannery north of downtown for a bite to eat--taking advantage of an excellent $11.99 Prime Rib dinner--which just happened to be the host hotel for the event. And as participants returned from the track, they set up a car show in the rear courtyard and on the rear street which was blocked off.
Taking advantage of the great light, I was able to get some shots of some truly stunning Mopars. I have twenty more shots after the jump.
Continue reading "2008 Mopars at the Strip" »
This is a big story, so I'm just going to dispense with my usual blathering and get straight to the point. Just over a week ago, Chrysler honcho—and former Toyota man—Jim Press said:
"The Japanese government paid for 100 percent of
the development of the battery and hybrid system that went into the
Toyota Prius."
Almost immediately, Toyota's spokesman Paul Nolasco hit back, telling the Associated Press:
"I can say 100 percent that Toyota received
absolutely no support—no money, no grants—from the Japanese
government for the development of the Prius."
So who's telling the truth in this transcontinental slug fest? Nobody knows yet. But in the interest of the hard, uncompromising journalism this blog is known for, I decided roll up my sleeves and get to the bottom of the whole mess—so I called the Japanese government. Unfortunately, there's kind of a burly time change—like three days?—between Seattle and Tokyo, so I just got an answering machine, or at least what I think was an answering machine, because I don't speak Japanese. At all. So then I gave up. Who do you think is telling the truth? And what would be Press' motivation to lie?
If you think yesterday's antics were mentally challenged, wait'll you get a load of what a bunch of kids out in the country did with an old Mopar and a bunch of multicolored milk crates. I guess we'll never tire of exploring innovative but mostly useless ways to propel the human body through space, but seriously guys—don't try this. Just think of your poor mother, at your funeral.
By Rich
Automotive Traveler
California proved that tuner cars need not always be imports when the Southern California LX Forum hosted their third annual Spring Fling. I posted a story over on Automotive Traveler about the meet, which was attended by more than 600 Chrysler LXs (Chrysler 300C, Dodge Magnum and Charger), and where Dodge execs from Auburn Hills premiered the first production-spec 2008 Challenger while blues rocker Kenny Wayne Shepard took the wraps off of his latest Mopar, a bitchin' pro-street '72 Charger powered by a new-gen 6.1-liter SRT8 Hemi V8. Read all about it here.
