By David Clarke

highspeedhijinks

Everyone knows that the economy has fallen on hard times, but things must be really bad when even Wayne Industries is downsizing the Bat Fleet. One of the screwiest vehicles we brought you from last year’s SEMA show, the BatSmart designed by custom legend George Barris, is on the block over at eBay. Take a look!

Via Autoblog.

CarDomain member Aydar knows how to make the most of a photo op, and has a ton of hilarious pics on his smart fortwo’s ride page. In addition to a bunch of shots of it toting his surfboards, he’s got the tiny ride mugging alongside things like rider mowers and giant plaster dinosaurs. He’s also done some nice mods on the smart, and has more planned, including a cold air intake and tweaks to his ECU. Check out his page!

Smart has issued its first recall. At issue are 43 of its fortwo vehicles that apparently got sprayed with a bad batch of paint. The caustic coating can apparently compromise the adhesive used to attach the fortwo’s roof and windshield, leading to separation of one or both at speed. Hmm, maybe they should be using something more than airplane glue to hold the roof down! More at edmunds.

Ryan got bored of the silver body panels on his smart fortwo and swapped them out for black ones.  He paid $850 for the front clip, rear clip, boot and doors, and the swap took him about three hours. The silver panels that the car came with were painted, whereas the new black panels are simply black plastic moldings with a gel clear coat. Check out the before and after pics on Ryan’s ride page.

Think four smarts in one parking spot is a feat? Mercedes is celebrating the smart car’s 10th anniversry overseas, and they’re doing what most people do on their birthdays: stuffing themselves silly. Mercedes-Benz World held their event at their "brand expierience centre" in Weyridge in the UK, where they treated their 1,200 Smart-owning guests to a little clowning around by cramming thirteen svelte professional contortionists into one smart fortwo. It’s an old gag, but somehow, in a smart everything is funnier. All I can say is that I hope Ryan is prepared for people who want to carpool with him now.

Source: Serious Wheels.

Continue reading "Thirteen Contortionists In A Smart" »

Of all the cars to get pulled over… The lone smart participating in this year’s One Lap of America, along with one of the BMW’s, got on the wrong side of the law today while crossing Kansas en route to Texas World Speedway. One Lap participant Joe, or more likely his co-driver, snapped the pic while blasting by in the Porsche 944. Looks like the sheriff is shaking them down pretty bad—hope to see both teams back in the running tomorrow!

On Thursday, I blogged about how Ryan’s new smart wouldn’t start. Well, after two days at the shop, his micro-machine is back on the road! So what was the problem, exactly? He says the dealer gave him the standard business—bad sensor, very unusual, etc—but the armchair grease-monkeys around the office think some javascript got tangled up in the wiring harness. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this new ride, and if it brain-farts again, we’ll let you know!

Toyota’s victory in our recent microcar Showroom Showdown probably doesn’t qualify for bragging rights, since the single most common answer to the question of which car you’d buy between a smart and an iQ was some variation of "neither, I’d rather walk." But among those who did decide between the two pocket-sized doodlebugs, iQ was the overwhelmingly popular choice. Good old Toyota build quality was frequently cited, and only those who were aware that smart was designed by Mercedes went with the smart on these grounds. We hope that Ryan’s recent no-start issues with his new smart didn’t sway the vote too much!

The smart fortwo has officially arrived Stateside, and the Toyota iQ got a lot of attention at the Geneva Motor Show last week. Toyota may bring the little iQ to the US if it can meet federal safety standards (those back seats may have to go). So, if this were to happen, which would you choose: the smart fortwo or the Toyota iQ?

On the ride page he constructed this very morning, Ryan nicknamed his new smart fortwo "death-trap." Given that the dude spent two seasons racing motorcycles, and survived owning a vicious GSX-R1000, I can’t really believe he expects this ride will hasten his demise. But hey, it’s a cool name. Right now Ryan is planning to tint the windows, and has floated the idea of installing four-piston Brembo calipers for doing stoppies. Given the guy changes cars more often than most people change their oil, everyone here is curious to see what he thinks of the little smart. Have fun man, and keep us posted!