By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

So far Paul has managed to get into the low 10s, but he is working to get into the 9s–to do that he will have to change the camshafts and cylinder heads to more aggressive units. This is actually Paul’s second silver Mustang GT. The first one got totalled by an 18 wheeler in February of last year–the roll bar saved his life. Paul swapped the engine and suspension into the car you see here. See more pics on Paul’s 2006 Ford Mustang GT ride page and check out his track videos at StreetFire.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

How do you like the body kit and paint on Ghanim’s M5? Looks like he maybe customized the Hamann kit?

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

When I saw the ride page that Neil built for his Solstice my jaw dropped. This is the first project that Tjin Edition did with GM back in 2006. Since then they’ve done a Cobalt SS and the G8 GT, and they are hoping to build a Camaro for them in 2009

The Solstice was designed by Neil and Gene Tjin. It was built by Adam Carpenter and Unique Fabrication, the custom three-tone paint job was done by Dlight Customs, and it was built in conjunction with One Lug Wheels, Mobil 1, and GM. It has a fully functional, fully legit chromolly roll cage with a built in air jack system. I asked Neil if he was worried about bashing his head on that roll cage without a helmet and he said no!

The theme of the car is a show/drift car. It has custom suspension, a completely tubed rear end with a custom fuel cell, and features a HAHN turbo kit. It has not been on the track as of yet, but it will see some track time in 2009.

For 2009 the car will get a custom hard top and Neil will swap the 1bar map sensor for a 2.5 bar out of a Cobalt, swap the turbo from the 16G to a 20G, and add a boost controller to turn up the boost and presto. This beast will have 440 hp! See a ton more pics and get all the specs for this amazing ride on Neil’s 2006 Pontiac Solstice ride page!

Darrell has a very nicely modded Mustang, and he definitely knows how to take a photo. Be sure to check out his ride page for the full specs and a ton more awesome pics.

There is a lot of strange stuff on our site, but every once in a while we come across something that stops us in our tracks. What is this guy going for exactly? I’ve heard of people hacking steering wheels to get a Club off, and I’ve seen some funny steering wheels in rat rods, but I’ve never seen anyone do this. Have you?

Continue reading "Hacked Steering Wheel" »

Air travel is really the only decent excuse for waking up early. After all, you get to go somewhere, and at least if you’re supposed to arrive two hours before your flight, the bars open at six. But I don’t even care about the fact that I had to get up at at the crack of dawn, because I’m headed to Detroit—Motor City!—for the kickoff of the 2008 DUB tour. While I missed the 2007 stop, I was on the ground in Detroit in 2006, and at SEMA, I talked to head honcho Myles Kovacs about what was hot wheel-wise. So I’m curious to see what heats up the floor tomorrow. In ‘O6 I liked this two-tone Charger, and as always, the audio gear in the bed of the Meguire’s truck made me dizzy. And while I know it’s two Chargers in a row, I really like how this Mopar from last year looks like a shark. Right now, I don’t know what the coolest ride I’ll see this weekend will be, but as soon as I do, I’ll post it on the blog. Also look out for interviews with David Banner, Nick Cannon and Llyod. Stay tuned—Motor City here I come!

• The Alpine Imprint RLS will always be one of the most amazing demo cars ever produced. But before the Imprint made it’s impression on car audio history, the Alpine crew built the Sinister Six. What started out as an innocent $84,000 BMW 645ci ended up a jaw dropping, road raging, Sinister sports coupe. And SoundDomain has two videos  from Alpine following the crew through the amazing build.
• It interesting what you can find in life if you just look a little bit closer…. SoundDomain’s new guestblogger, Ben, writes about the hidden easter eggs found on circuit boards. Who’da guessed engineers had a sense of humor?
• Car manufacturers aren’t the only ones getting hit by Chinese knock-offs; even car audio manufacturers have to step into the ring. Check out the pics of this bogus Alpine amplifier found out in the wild. Would you have spotted it?
• Our main man Steve Meade is back and shaking up a ruckus at Taco Bell. Watch what happens when the two drive thru guys ask for a sample of the Tahoe’s beefy beats. Notice the bills in Taco Dude #2′s hand when Steve gives the magic knob a twist… The looks on their faces are pretty priceless too: from excitement to satisfaction to shock & awe. It’s always a good time with Steve.
• Bored? Add Bluetooth to your 5G iPod.
• We’ve also got a video of CarDomain member Jamminwagon plugging in and jammin’ out on his electric car through his Dodge Magnum’s sound ssytem. Boy’s got some skills, car’s got some beats!
• Scosche built out a pretty crazy demo car for SEMA 2006: a bright orange FJ Cruiser stuffed with EFX gear: eight 12" woofers, twelve amplifiers, seven monitors (including a 32"monitor in the rear door!), twenty speakers, three batteries, and over 9000 watts of power!

I remember once during a surfing trip, hundreds of miles from home, sleeping in my Eagle near the beach, I was woken up by a North Carolina state trooper who claimed that my New York plates were "expired" and demanded to know if my sister and I were "runaways." The DMV never makes mistakes, right? Turned out an error in their computer system was responsible for my supposed expiration. If I’d been in the UK instead of NC, a glitch like this might’ve gotten my Eagle crushed, under a program instituted last year that involves the seizure and disposal of vehicles belonging to supposedly dirtball drivers. As the Manchester Evening News reported back in September, the vaguely-defined targets of the crushing rampage seem to include anyone with unpaid traffic violations, anyone without their insurance documents in order, and anyone with a criminal background. A vehicle deemed "unroadworthy" can be hauled away as well. Sounds nice and hazy, doesn’t it? It’s probably safe to assume that many innocent cars have gone to the crusher already—cops in Manchester alone have destroyed over 10,000 vehicles since the law went into effect in January ’06. And we thought California’s street-racing crush campaign was scary! Via The Truth About Cars.

We had over 1,300 people enter our Trade For Our Scion contest and there were a ton of cool cars to choose from (though not everyone managed to follow directions, so quite a few were disqualified right out of the gate). So why did we pick Jonathon’s AE86? Well, for one, we like AE86s. Plus, he’s got a great ride page with an impressive list of mods. And it definitely helped that he’s a CarDomain regular (and member since July, 2006). Oh, and he followed the directions. So Jonathon, we hope you have fun with your new Scion. I’m sure we’ll have fun with your Corolla!