I recently attended John’s Rod And Custom Picnic at Pakenham, Australia’s largest rockabilly and hot rod festival, which spans three days each November. The thing that I really like about the rod and custom shows is the variety in the cars on display. One of the more unique vehicles was this VW. I have heard of Volks Rods before but this machine takes it somewhere completely different, and whether or not it’s a good kind of different is a matter of personal taste. Then there was this hearse. What I really like about it are the R.I.P license plates that are the real deal! Another thing that I noticed was the number of blowers on cars—it seemed that every second or third vehicle had some sort of wicked supercharger jutting through the bonnet, and I really liked the custom touch that the owner of this Ford had given his. See them all below the jump!

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What a weekend it was for the WRC teams in Japan, in the second-to-last rally of the season! Rally Japan is based in Sapporo—with its tight forest stages and open fast-flowing gravel stages, it’s been likened Rally Finland, but with over 27 individual stages, it’s got the most of any of the rallies on the circuit. The event takes place over three days, covers well over 250 kms, and is concludes each day with a stage run in the amazing Sapporo Stadium. This indoor/outdoor stage consists of an impressive 1.7 km "super-special" course so fans can enjoy wild, up-close rally action without having to hike out into the forest. More…

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My work as a factory representative for an import truck distributor takes me to a whole lot of automotive events, where my job is to talk up the truck brand that I represent. But in my downtime, I can’t wait to get away and wander the grounds a bit, and that’s when I’ll sometimes discover a gem like this one: one of only nine existing GM Futurliners. This ultra-rare coach is more than just a novelty—a Futurliner set records in 2006 by selling for $4.5 million at a Barrett Jackson auction. The coach pictured here is owned by Peter Pan Bus Lines in Springfield, MA, which completed its restoration in 2000. Congrats to Peter Pan chairman Peter Pickelly, and  Bill Sinico of Coach Builders, who have done meticulous resto work and shown great attention to detail in bringing this bus back to better-than-new condition, right down to having custom-order castings they’ve ordered to reproduce the lettering along the sides and front. Still, there are some significant differences separating this ride from the original Futurliner, including an updated driveline. Enjoy the pics, and check out www.futurliner.com to read up on these incredible coaches.

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While there have been many plugs for the new Dodge Ram pickup, nothing beats this campaign that Dodge is running at its site, clips of which you might’ve seen on TV. Head over to ramchallenge.com to check out this actually pretty clever reality-TV themed video series for yourself. The site is currently running the first episode in a series of four, which will show the new Ram competing in a variety of challenges from payload to offroad. And while it’s hard to gauge from only the first episode, what they’ve got so far is about seven minutes of absolutely decent advertainment. Watch!

When I attended the Callaway Cars open house earlier this month, I was really impressed by the Callaway Corvettes that this boutique builder is famous for. But nothing prepared me for this huge black Tahoe with the COAL nameplate on the grille. This beast was packing an Eaton-supercharged 6.2L V8, all very clean and tidy. So at first I was thinking that all Callaway did was drop in one of their highly engineered, blown Corvette V8’s into a stock Tahoe for novelty effect. More…

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Another weekend, another event, and this time it’s the OkTOWberfest "towing event" in Chicopee, Mass. This was the first time the show was held at a vacant lot that is the future site of a chain hotel, so it’ll probably be the last. The event included a lot of interesting activities, such as the simulated "Crash Site" featuring a tanker rolled over onto a few cars, and into a city bus. The object was to demonstrate how the tow workers extract the cars and right the overturned truck. They also had a “beauty contest” for all the trucks that were just a bit overdone in the paint and chrome department. Below is the fleet of Bach Towing from East Longmeadow, MA, all of whose trucks are black with flames. Click after the jump for detail shots of the paint, which incorporated a ton of airbrushed skulls. Now just imagine one of these bad boys pulling up next time you need a hand!

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The roads of France’s Tour de Corse appeared to be very unforgiving. Pinch flats and punctures plagued many teams throughout this weekend’s race. Without that handy self-inflating mousse in their tires this time, teams hemorrhaged time and positions after incurring flats. More…

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There are some basic rules of thumb that apply to situations ranging from home improvement to automotive work, like "measure twice and cut once." Well, on the weekend I only measured once and I wound up paying the price. I needed to replace the cable for the manual choke on my Valiant. I didn’t even make a measurement, I simply lined up the old choke cable with the new one and decided that it was as accurate as it needed to be and cut the new cable to size. Unfortunately what I failed to take into account was that the outer coating on the old cable was plastic and the coating on the new cable was a flexible spring. You wouldn’t think it would make that much of a difference, but it turned out that my new cable was too long. So what should’ve taken only ten minutes would up taking me at least a half-hour, with the use of a lot of creative language along the way. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been there—when have you been caught out only measuring once?

One of only 20 ever made, this Lamborghini Reventon has enjoyed some pretty steep appreciation—or so the seller thinks. With an original sticker price of "only" $1.6 million, they’ve got it listed with a Buy It Now of $2.5M. Sounds steep, but with the original production run long over, and most of the initial buyers hanging onto these cars, the seller just might hit the jackpot after all. Check out the auction.

I love innovation in the automotive industry, even more so when it comes from my part of the world, Australia. The country that gave you the Ute now presents the winner of the Ford Global Challenge. It’s been a hundred years since the Model T helped to change the world, and to mark the occasion, the Ford Motor Company invited six schools from around the world to present concepts for a car that embodies the essence of the Model T, 100 years later: the new car would have to be "simple, lightweight, practical, compelling and low cost." Sharing the win with Germany’s Aachen University is Deakin University of Melbourne, Australia. According to Bernard Rolfe, the project leader for the Deakin team, the "T2" concept offers value for money as well as being a green machine. Designed to run on compressed air, the T2 produces zero emissions and uses air rotary hub motors to give it an approximate range of 125 miles, which can be extended through the use of compressed natural gas. Running on three wheels, the lightweight T2 could be one of the answers we need to resolve today’s fuel crisis. Now if they could only come up with a compressed-air Hemi. Read more on Ford’s contest here.

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