By David Freiburger

David Freiburger

This week’s eBay pick is another former Hot Rod magazine project car that has been up for auction many times in the past year or so. We’re guessing that the no-sale is thanks to the $75,000 opening bid and Buy It Now price. This ’71 Monte Carlo that was seen in the October and December ’91 issues of the magazine is a fairly nice car, but not $75,000 nice, in our opinion. The auction page gives a pretty good history of the car. It was owned by trans-shop guy Gene Christensen, who is mentioned in the rundown.

• While in Louisville a few weeks ago for a Mobile Electronics Industry event, I came across a pretty pimp widebody Scion tC in Pioneer’s booth. I really dug the custom painted deep dish wheels, but the fabbed fiberglass trunk-to-center-console was the real show stopper.
• How Not To Do It: Spring Break Nationals brought out some of the trickest custom rides I’ve seen in a long time, and this Monte Carlo was pretty sick. The custom Louis Vuitton tail lights were a cool touch, but what’s up with the dead fish floating in your trunk??
• Steve Cook is somewhat of a legend in the SPL competition scene. His Astro van hit 172.2 at SBN this year and blasted his windshield. Now, most of the time you expect a windshield to blow outwards, but Steve’s sucked in?! OMGWTF? We have pics and video!
• Tim from HzEmall Customs dropped some knowledge on us regarding the world of in dash radios, navigation, and everything in between. Get a little insight from this industry pro.

This Monte Carlo is wearing its original dark camel metallic paint and is powered by a 305 V8. American Muscle78‘s future plans include a ZZ4 crate motor, air bags and some new wheels. I hope he doesn’t change much beyond that, cause it looks pretty sharp as is.

GM is in a buying mood, making a big play for Russian car maker AvtoVaz, which came as a big surprise to me. Who knew the Russians made stuff other than AKs and vodka? Here’s the rest of the news:

• Thanks to the miracle of TiVo, I will soon watch Lewis Hamilton’s appearance on Top Gear. In the meantime, their write up is doggone entertaining (and now the race is on to give me crap about using the word ‘doggone’): Top Gear
• The New York Times gives a loving and cautionary eulogy to the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, the Ford Ranger, the Chrysler PT Cruiser and the Dodge Magnum: NYT
• Britain may go to a zero tolerance policy on drinking and driving and I, for one, think that’s not a bad idea: Winding Road
• A bad economic outlook is going to have big consequences for those who try to sell cars. My inner optimist says, "Sounds like it’ll be a buyers market next year!": Freep

By John

Community Editor

Over the course of this contest, there have been a couple of days when the editorial staff fought tooth and nail over which video would take home the GoPro. Today was not one of those days. Want to know why? Then watch the clip of this insane Monte Carlo! I just love the gull wing doors and tricked out front clip. Thanks for uploading it STRX01! Your camera is on the way!

All through October, we’ll be giving away an awesome GoPro Digital Hero each weekday! How awesome are these things? Well, they’re waterproof, the picture quality is fantastic, and they’re simple enough that even I could figure out how to use them. Honest! But don’t take my word for it, upload a killer video right now  and you might be the next to win!

First, I have to apologize, not only should I have blogged this yesterday, the headline I wrote congratulating MISSUPERSPORT called her car a "donk" not a "box." I’m so embarrassed, I can barely hold my head up. But let’s not allow my incredible stupidity to detract from the amazing job she’s done with this car. Congrats,  MISSUPERSPORT—you’ve built one hell of a ride!

My first car was an ’84 Grand Prix, and I always wanted to graduate up to Monte Carlo SS. Those cars look so incredibly tough! And while I’d never mount "24 wheels on anything that wasn’t designed to go mudding or rock crawling, I think the execution of David’s ride looks pretty sick. Of course, I have to wonder how many times those Pirelli rubber bands will take getting lit up, but that’s not my problem. Congrats man, go get us some great footage with your new GoPro!       

All through October, we’ll be giving away an awesome GoPro camera each day for the best video uploaded that day. Upload your coolest videos now and you might be the next to win!