Bo Diddley died this morning in Florida. Unfortunately, even though he was a huge influence on the development of rock music, evil recording contracts kept for him from earning the fortune he so richly deserved. Anyway, here's the news:
- Gas prices already have people howling, but if hurricane season really batters the Gulf Coast, we could be looking at paying six dollars a gallon. Experts are predicting a some burly storms this year, but given they're almost always wrong, I think that's an encouraging sign. CNN
- Cerberus has reportedly sold half of its interest in Chrysler, but the company is denying dumping any shares of Ma Mopar. How long before it retracts the denial? Freep
- The General has seen better days, and more bad news might be in the mail. It's percentage of the market dropping lately, and might have fallen below 20% in May. Auto Observer
- Sky-high fuel prices could turn out to be a great turn of events for Honda. The automaker is actually having to raise production to keep up with demand. Motor Authority
- Just when Detroit needs a little TLC, the organizers of the North American International Auto Show are threatening to hold the event elsewhere. They say that the current COBO hall isn't big enough, and want Motown to fund an expansion, but right now, the city doesn't have a lot of cash to throw around. Detroit News via Jalopnik
Some guy from South Carolina posted pics of his wild Aerocivic on Ecomodder back in December. The Cd dropped from 0.34 to 0.17 and he claims to get 95 mpg when he keeps the speeds between 30 to 65 mph (he was getting low 60s to low 50s mpg before he started the project). Mods to the '92 Civic CX took about 250 hours and cost roughly $400 in materials. More pics after the jump.
Continue reading "Aerocivic" »
So you've just finished re-flooring your house with Pergo, but you have a a few scraps left over. It'd be a shame to throw it away. There's gotta be something you can use it for...
I snapped pics of this Civic on the way up to Canada to cover the BC Classic & Custom Car Show--those photos should be up tomorrow.
Continue reading "Pergo Your Ride" »
Garrett's '98 Civic weighs in at 2,200 pounds with the driver, and its supercharged D16Y8 is pushing 230 hp at the wheels. The car appears to be very well sorted out, and I'm really hoping to see it at the Ultimate Track Car Challenge in June.
Want to learn more about the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge? Check out cardomain.com/grm!
Honda Civics are some of the most popular cars on CarDomain, but it's been a while since one as nice as Paul's has been nominated for SOTW. And it's well deserved. Inside and out, he's just done a killer job with this ride. Right now, he's planning to swap the stock motor for a JDM Integra engine, which should give him 100 more horsepower to play with. Good luck Paul, let us know how it comes out!
If you've ever wanted the looks of a BMW M3 without the hassle associated with wicked performance, then it's your lucky day. This 1996 Civic has been tarted up to resemble one of the German road-rockets, and from the pictures, it looks like the people responsible did a halfway decent job. Unfortunately, the "Buy it Now" price is a whopping 16,500 bucks, which is more than you'd pay for an actual M3 of a similar vintage. More pics after the jump.
Continue reading "Fake BMW M3 on eBay!" »
The Honda Civic was voted "most mod friendly car" two years running in our People's Choice Awards, so I guess you guys really hate hybrids. Either that or you really love the TDI. Cause the poor Civic Hybrid only got two votes in our latest Showroom Showdown. Even a Civic owner voted for the VW. Oh well. The Jetta is a pretty cool car. And I guess it doesn't hurt to have a kick ass race series, too.
Post your ideas for new week's match up! If I use it (and you leave me some way to contact you) I'll send you a CarDomain t-shirt!
You guys have all been hating on the Civic Hybrid in our latest Showroom Showdown, but I figured you'd still like to have a shot at winning one. The sweepstakes started yesterday as part of a promotion for the Honda Civic Tour, featuring Panic At The Disco.
If you won the car, what would you do with it? Repaint it? eBay it? Give it to your mom?
So you want to go green, but don't feel like you have to announce it to the entire world by buying an ugly ass Prius? Want something that's more of a driver's car? Two great options for around $23k are the Honda Civic Hybrid and the VW Jetta TDI. Which would you choose, the Japanese hybrid or the German diesel?
The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy—whew, say that three times fast!—just released a list of the greenest and meanest cars in America, and on the green side, Toyota's Prius came up a big, fat loser. Sorry. It actually came in second, behind Honda's greener-than-Kermit-the-Frog-on-a-lilly pad Civic GX, which runs on compressed air. As expected, small cars and hybrids make up the remainder of the green list, and also as expected, the rides on the mean list look way, way more fun. The VW Tourage—with the CFC-belching diesel V10—took the top "honors," while dream machines like Bugatti's Veyron and Lamborghini's Murcielago came in at numbers two and six, respectively. Of course, neither one of those models probably sees 1/10 the annual miles a Ford Focus—number nine on the green list—does, so in reality, they probably pollute a lot less. But whatever, check out the full breakdown over at Wired.
Tage isn't exactly comfortable with the whole "show off" thing at CarDomain. He doesn't even like taking photos of his car. But he really wants to be selected for the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge, so he built a ride page and scanned in an article and two ads featuring his '95 Civic. He has done all the work on the car himself, and says that "because the car isn't ridiculously excessive, it's easier than most to drive at the absolute limit." He won his class and set a track record in last year's Super Lap Battle. He promises that if he is picked for this year's Ultimate Track Car Challenge, he will be a top contender. And if he doesn't, "I promise to buy the entire staff at GRM lunch as well as a lifetime subscription." Sounds pretty confident to me.
Volkswagen's Dieselution tour has been on the road touting the environmental benefits of clean diesel-powered vehicles. As a fossil fuel, diesel just doesn't have the cachet of electric- and hydrogen-powered drivetrains, and it is pretty stinky. Diesel has historically been the answer to the questions no one in the US asks. But focusing on all that fuel efficiency and CO2 stuff misses the point. Diesel does answer one question we're all asking: What to do about street racing. Why? They don't tell you this part: passenger diesels are SLOW.
My spouse got a ticket last month for 61 mph in a 40 zone. We Google-mapped the location, and apparently he somehow got his 90 horsepower Golf (stock with an automatic) up to a 61-mph trap in the standing quarter mile. Up a hill. VW's professional driver on a closed (and presumably flat) course was barely able to eke out a 71-mph trap speed. Compared to a gasser Civic Si (94-mph trap), that's downright unmanly. We plan to head out to the local dragstrip soon for some timeslips to submit as evidence at the hearing. It should make for an interesting day in court.
Check out the airbrush work on Vlatko's 94 Civic!!! I have a feeling that photos do not do this car justice.
Civics and Integras from the 90s have a huge enthusiast following and a ton of aftermarket support. David, who has owned several of these cars over the years, says they have one of the best suspension designs you'll see on a FWD car. And thanks to a healthy supply of engine mounts, wiring harnesses and shift linkages, engine swaps are a snap. The Civic Si and Integra GS-R are highly sought after, and nice examples of the Type R will set you back as much as $15,000. John's Type R (below) won the East Coast Honda Challenge H2 title and finished second at the National Championship in 2006. He then raced in the Performance Touring "B" class in 2007 with full support from Hankook and Carbotech. You can read more about Civics and Integras and get info on a ton of resources for these cars in the December issue of Grassroots Motorsports, on newsstands now.
CarDomain member Brian seems to be starting in the right place for a ground-up build: in the engine compartment. Check out the the immaculate results! And keep an eye on this project as the bodywork progresses.
