With gas approaching $4 per gallon a lot of folks are starting to think about getting an econobox for their daily driver. There are a lot of cool options out there. My buddy keeps threatening to buy a Honda Fit. I kind of like the looks of the Yaris--I loved this one at SEMA. And the new Fiat 500 really needs to come to the US. How about old school econoboxes? Of course Jen loves her Escort. And I have a soft spot for Mark 1 Ford Fiestas. But if I had to pick I'd probably go with the Mark 1 Rabbit or the original Mini.
What's your favorite econobox?
Is this the most pure out-of-the-box dedicated track car you've seen or what? I really want to drive this car. After putting it through its paces on two different tracks, Peter Egan of Road & Track writes in the March issue that the 2-Eleven is "perhaps the most fun, balanced and just plain easy-to drive car I've had on a track, like a dream of racing without the usual annoying alarm clocks." Lotus has built 40 of these cars so far, with another 160 orders taken. The car goes for $80,000. Not cheap, but if you are rich and want a fun weekend track toy, why even consider anything else? Full gallery at Left Lane News.
You all know I like Fox bodies, and I love Mike's SVO Mustang, which is currently near the top of the heap in the GRM UTC Challenge rating category. Mike says:
"I cant afford a dedicated racecar, and a fun street car, and a V8 ground pounding racer/driver would kill me at the gas pump. So, here is the compromise, Ford's SVO 2.3 Turbocharged 4 cyl, it's good on gas, but still able to run a decent lap at the local track, I can enjoy it on and off the track."
Mike built this car to compete in NASA's American Iron class, and when he was done, he had the world's first four banger car to compete in the class. How cool is that? I'm definitely hoping Mike makes the cut for the Ultimate Track Car Challenge at Buttonwillow.
Back in the mid-70s Steve's dad shipped his '67 GTO over to Cyprus (an island near Greece). Then, while driving back home from a wedding with three friends, his father lost control of the car on a treacherous mountain road and pitched over a steep cliff. One of his father's friends was killed, and of course, the car was destroyed. Flash forward thirty-five years. Steve, who had heard the story from his father, who had seen the faded photos of the GTO in scrapbooks, who had searched for the car on several trips out to Cyprus, was finally able to locate the wrecked GTO after a fire burned away all the surrounding brush on the hillside. He even got a photo of himself standing on the wrecked car, just like the photo of his dad thirty five years ago. You can see all the pics and read the full story on Mike's '67 GTO ride page.
Mike wrote: "This story actually gives me the chills." No kidding! Thanks for sharing it on CarDomain!
Continue reading "Son Finds Dad's Wrecked GTO Thirty-five Years Later" »
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!
CarDomain member artie99 spent yeserday at the IIHS crash test facility in Ruckersville, Virginia. The photo below is of a 2008 Chevy Malibu waiting for the side impact test (it did pretty well). Be sure to go to page 5 of Brian's '67 Impala ride page for a full writeup and a ton of cool pics. He even got some video of the Malibu being smashed! Nice work, man!
Edmunds just started up a little fantasy car stock exchange game. Basically, you buy and sell stock in upcoming models--their value is based on predicting U.S. sales figures. You start off with a cool $1 million. It's kind of cool. They don't have a lot of models to choose from right now, but will be adding more. I'm waiting for the G8 to IPO. For the time being, I bought a bunch of stock in the EVO, and seem to be doing ok so far.
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?
Check out these promotional shots for a short-lived 1980 TV series called B.A.D. Cats (B.A.D. stands for "Burglary Auto Detail"). There are a few clips from the pilot on YouTube. These photos were probably taken shortly after the first episodes of Dukes of Hazzard had aired, so Daisy Duke may have inspired Pfeiffer's outfit (and her co-stars look kind of like Bo and Luke). Michelle Pfeiffer didn't get famous until she starred in Scarface in 1983. See the rest of the promo shots for B.A.D. Cats after the jump (most likely taken at Ascot Park Raceway in Gardena, California, which closed down in 1990).
Continue reading "Michelle Pfeiffer in Daisy Dukes, with Hemi" »
Ford is recalling 434,593 2005+ Mustangs. Why? Well, a test on a 2007 car revealed that the airbag deployment force was a bit too strong for "an unbelted, front passenger 5th percentile female anthropomorphic test device." Ford is asking affected Mustang owners (check your VIN here) to bring their cars in so that the dealer can "update the software in the restraint control module (RCM)."
The whole concept of having little sensors that weigh front passengers and tell the airbags how hard to deploy sketches me out. I've heard plenty of stories of airbag lights flickering while people drive thier modern cars over bumpy roads with light front passengers. Have you guys ever seen this in your cars? Creepy.
Anyway, there's a good thread on the recall over at Stangnet. Apparently some guys have already taken their cars in for the fix, and it was quite painless (though some owners are paranoid to take their heavily modded Stangs to a dealer, fearing the dealer might attempt to void their factory warranty). Az Pete at Stangnet reports:
Took my '07 Vert in today. They hook up a scan tool the the PCM, run it for about 35 min, unplug it and return the car. Car was in my sight the entire time, hood was not opened nor was anything else disturbed. Real simple. No effect on any performance.
I assume Az Pete meant RCM and not PCM, but you get the idea. It's easy as pie.
Check out Serge's 1970 Duster. First of all, this guy definitely knows how to take a photo. This is a very original 4 speed 340 car--down to the carb, alternator and radiator--with all factory documentation. I think we can all forgive him for adding the hood scoops, though.
Playboy is the third owner of this beautiful 1971 Chevy Impala, which is incredibly clean and straight. The numbers matching 400 SBC breathes a little easier with an Edelbrock intake manifold, 600 Holley 4 bbl carb, Hooker headers and Flowmaster exhaust. Playboy drove over 1,000 miles to pick up the low mile survivor, and I'd say it was worth it. And I'm generally pretty old school, but I think it looks great with those 24s (which, apparently, he is selling). What's next, 26s?
Edit: whoa, just noticed the truck nuts! And it looks like our buddies at Jalopnik noticed before I did!
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.
The blog Stuff White People Like is pretty hilarious. And recently, they hit on the Prius:
It’s a pretty sweet deal for white people. You can buy a car, continue to drive to work and Barak Obama rallies and feel like you are helping the environment! Some white people decide to pull the ultimate move. Prius, Apple Sticker on the back, iPod rocking, and Democratic Candidate bumper sticker. Unstoppable!
Then again, white people are an easy target, and as one person commented, "you’re really confusing white people with white liberals lately." I especially liked this comment by Jim Hawk III.
Actually, I bought a Prius to get that sexy touch screen. It’s the ultimate nerd car. Daggone, that’s so totally white. Anyhow, I don’t want to save the environment. The environment can go screw itself as far as I’m concerned. I just want everything to have a sexy touch screen.
So how do you destroy a new Bentley Arnage T in parking lot and lose your job? Dustbmx, a tech at a high end service shop in Chicago, explains in this thread at VWVortex:
I pulled the car out of the garage. It got stuck in the spot you see it in the side shot pic. I got out to go get a snow shovel to dig it out. As i am in the garage I hear a loud bang from outside. Walk out to what had happened I asked the porter who was in the car if he was ok and asked him what happened. The porter tells me when you went inside i tried to get it unstuck He put it in revers and then in drive gassed it and bang the airbags went off. He thought thats all that happened till he got out and walked around the car. I took side pic cuz thats what I walked out too from the garage. The pic of the trunk before the fire is what we found when we took the spare tire out too put it on the car. We then got the spare on it and pushed it back into its parking spot. The last pic is of the trunk after the fire that happened about an hour later. That tire that went through into the trunk must have cut the positive battery cable or something and just heated up till it started the fire. I was not in or around the car when this all happened. I don't know why i lost my job. I guess it just cuz i got it stuck. Or the owner wanted too just fire people. I understand it was a $400,000 car down the drain. It was the dealerships car so no one owned it yet. It did not have winter tires on it because it was in the showroom in downtown Chicago.
What do you think? A lot of people were calling BS in the thread.
