By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I’m a fan of $1000-or-less cars and an even bigger fan of rescuing junkers from the crusher, so this is my very favorite kind of story. Mitch, the April winner for last year’s Mobilize Your Ride contest, used his prize cash to rescue this awesome ’68 Buick Electra convertible. The car had been sitting, sadly neglected and unwelcome, in someone’s driveway and was slated to be sold to the junkyard for scrap. But fortunately, with that thousand bucks in winnings burning a hole in his pocket, Mitch ponied up a paltry $800 to give the big-boat Buick the loving home it deserves. Fantastic job, Mitch! He’s already pulled and rebuilt the Buick’s 430 big block, and is now getting to work on the brakes. Check out his ride page to see how far this 800-dollar rescue project has come!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Last week FuryPaul sent me a PM to let me know he’d uploaded a bunch of old car show photos to his Flickr account. I really liked these shots from Mayo Beach taken between 1989 and 1992.

Now, after the jump I have a bunch of pics of Mopar convertibles that I selected from FuryPaul’s Mayo Beach collection, and I’ve placed them in new gallery format that we are toying with. You’ll be able to click to see bigger versions of each photo. So I’m looking for some feedback here. What do you think of this new gallery format vs. the gallery format in our Events section? Cause we’re thinking of making some changes this year. This may simply be an interim solution before we roll out something really cool, but still, we’d like to hear your input. Thanks!

Continue reading "Mopars on the Beach 1989 to 1992" »

Winter is here, so why not look at FWD retractable hardtops? Here are two of the more affordable options, priced just north of $30k. With the Pontiac you get a 222 hp 3.5 liter V6, but you’re stuck with an automatic. The VeeDub comes with a 200 hp 2.0 liter four banger, and it’s available with either the DSG automatic or a 6 speed manual. Which would you choose?

I think Infiniti knocked it out of the park with this one. Like the coupe, it comes with a 325 hp 3.7-liter V6, and either a 6-speed manual or a paddle-shift 7-speed auto. See more pics and read the press release over at Jalopnik.

First Dodge canceled the Challenger convertible, and now it looks like Chevy is gonna delay the Camaro convertible until GM figures out a way to stabilize their financial situation. Which, obviously, sucks. Motor Trend via Jalopnik.

Dodge may have canceled their plans to build a Challenger convertible, but you can’t stop the aftermarket. Coach Builders Ltd. will chop the top off the new Challenger for $16,000. The topless Mopar is reinforced via strut bars hidden inside the trunk, and includes an acrylic polyester cloth hydraulic top, matching fabric headliner and a heated glass rear window. The green SRT8 they are bringing to SEMA also sports a Vortech supercharger, a KW coil-over suspension kit and 22-inch Foose Challenger wheels. More pics after the jump. Via TopSpeed.com

Continue reading "Dodge Challenger SRT8 Convertible Coming to SEMA" »

There have been rumors about this for a few months over on Moparts, but I guess I was in denial. Now it looks like it’s official: no Challenger vert. Why? "We considered a convertible when we were developing Challenger, but the extra weight needed to beef up the car when the top was removed was too much of a penalty," said Mike Accavitti, director of Dodge brand marketing.  He added, "We didn’t see a huge market for a convertible that would justify the vehicle."

So let me get this straight. The Chrysler Sebring convertible is the "best selling convertible in America." It’s priced at $27k, about a $7k premium over the Sebring sedan. It seems to me that the Challenger SE vert could easily be priced under $30k, and go head to head with the Mustang vert (and the Camaro vert when it comes out). It would be a more practical and appealing convertible than either the Sebring or the Mustang. Who cares if it gains a few extra pounds? That’s the case with every convertible on the market. But Dodge says no go. Frankly, I’m pretty disappointed. Source: Kicking Tires

What would you daily drive if you won the lottery? I don’t play the lottery much, but this is still a question I ponder quite frequently. Well, I think I finally have the answer…

This weekend, Aston Martin kindly invited me to sample their new 2009 V8 Vantage. Although the sheet metal is basically unchanged (and seriously, why mess with it?) the car had received some modest updates, and the V8 had been bumped up to 4.7 liters and a very healthy 420 hp. Hey, that’s good enough reason to invite loyal customers and a few lucky journalists to come check out the new car.

Aston Martin had seven or eight cars out on display at the country club when I got there, and three of them were brand new ’09 Vantage demo cars. The Park Place Motors guys asked me if I wanted to drive the Coupe or the Roadster. It was a perfect, sunny 80-degree day, so this was really no question for me. They only had the Roadster in the Sportshift version, but I’d never driven a car with one of these Magneti Marelli systems (the same used by Ferrari and Lamborghini), so I was curious. The particular example I got to drive was white with a dark reddish-brown interior. This wouldn’t be my first color choice, but it still looked stunning. Continue reading…

Continue reading "2009 Aston Martin V8 Vantage" »

Earlier this week I showed you some new spy shots of the 2010 Mustang. Well, the folks at Car and Driver just scored some great pics of a Shelby GT500 Convertible. These are the best shots I’ve seen yet of the new Mustang–they give a really good idea of what the new car will look like. See the full pics–front and rear shots–and get more details over at Car and Driver.

While Nissan has been grabbing headlines with its ferocious all-new GT-R, Godzilla isn’t the only thing its engineers have been working on. At Pebble Beach over the weekend, the company revealed its long-awaited drop-top G37, and while the hind quarters do give me visions of Chris Bangle’s poison pen, overall it’s not a bad looking ride. Given that fans in the forums have been asking for this forever, and Nissan already sells a  convertible version of the 350Z—the G-series’ sister car—this move is kind of a no-brainer, and it’s hard to hate a RWD, four passenger convertible. Check out this interview with Shiro Nakamura, Infiniti’s Design Director, to get some info on what influenced the design.