By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

When done right, I think color-matched wheels can look pretty slick. But most of the time, I prefer clean, classic designs to new, flashy ones,  and I really liked the look of  Weld Racing’s new RT-S line.  They’re made from forged-billet, which not only sounds trick, but offers significant weight and performance advantages over wheels that are cast or constructed from standard billet. Personally, I liked the black center and classic spoke design of the on the S71 best, but I’ve posted a picture of the S74 model and the full press release after the jump.

Continue reading "New Wheels From Weld Racing" »

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

Back in early January, a news story came across the wires that an ultra rare Bugatti Type 22 roadster had been pulled off the bottom of an Italian lake. It had been submerged 70 some years ago when customs officials could not obtain the proper documentation on the car and had to destroy it. They chose to push it into a watery grave, and there it sat for seven decades. It was removed and sold at auction, netting $370,000!

The truly cool part is that the money from the sale is not going into the pocket of some treasure hunter, instead it is going to a charitable foundation founded in the memory of a young Italian racing driver who was attacked and died from his injuries. The car was located by a local diving club and they teamed up with the charity to haul the car out of the water.

The story we read on Yahoo! Cars said that the car needs to be 80% restored. We think they lowballed that number by about 20%. Either way, we’re sure that the buyer, who essentially paid for the honor to pay a bunch of money to bring the car back to life will do the machine proud and the next story we will see will show a gleaming Bugatti Type 22 roadster. Thanks to BangShift.com forum member Malc for the tip! Via Yahoo

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

I’ve lived in some places with tiny-ass garages, and I know that Rob’s Satellite won’t even fit in his, but this old dude’s garage is seriously tight. I love how he gets out of the car…

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

I don’t know why, but I’ve had Xterra’s on the brain this week. And I really like Ken’s first gen. His pics are great–I couldn’t decide which one to use so I picked thee! Tons more on his ride page.

Continue reading "Alpine Spirit Wolf" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

This was the #1 ride on CarDomain when I checked yesterday, and you can probably see why. From Ken’s ride page:

I did all the work myself in my garage except the final paint and the only time it’s been on a trailer was when I hauled it home the first day.

See all the pics!

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Modified Car Forums is StreetFire’s newest channel partner, and over the last couple of weeks, they’ve been pushing up some seriously awesome content. I mean, I’ve probably used the phrase “best burnout ever”  at least a million times since starting at CarDomain, but I can’t think of a single tire-shredding clip that tops the one below. Check it out, and head over to their member profile to watch more completely insane videos.

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

Tokyo Auto Salon brought the goods as expected, but some things were not in the same packages as traditionally expected. One of the topics I’ll continue to talk about when thinking of what went well at TAS is the resurgence of old school JDM tuning and styling. Rays wheels predicted it early with their release a couple months back of a retro sized and styled TE37 wheel. However it was not until TAS started that the world saw the resurgence of vintage JDM!

As much as I love modern cars and especially the latest R35 GT-R, this Rocky Auto S31Z Fairlady Z does everything that the modern cars can’t.

Yet it does it with modern technology in an old school package. Let me explain…

Continue reading "A Favorite Of Mine – Rocky Auto S31Z Fairlady Z" »

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Everybody knows that drifting is not all about going sideways, there is also a element of being different. Remember the Samurai drifter? Or Paul Vlasblom and his BMW touring. But when I got an email with this picture attached, I didn’t realized at first this was a drift car. So it certainly is different but can it drift? .

The base car is 1940 Chevy Coupe, the owner Karl Ebel bought it 10 years ago. The plan was to build it as a traditional hot rod but after Karl became more involved in Motorsport wiht his compnay Creative Carversions, the car evolved into this Drift Rod. The main body is still original but the front and rear fenders, hood and trunk have been made from a composite material.

The engine is a built 327 (estimated 400hp) with all the usual go fast goodies and it transfers the power via a Getrag 262 gearbox. The exhaust fumes exit through 3″ Magnaflow mufflers just behind the front wheels. They use a custom independent front and rear suspension which is still being improved. So now it is time to see this beast in action, can’t wait for some moving shots or maybe a video.

-Jeroen Willemsen

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

StreetFire had tons of options when we were looking for our latest project car, but we started big, and partnered with YoParts and GMG Racing to make sure the finished product is beyond ferocious. But the best part? You can win our baby! Watch this clip to find out how you can enter!

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

I figured I’d quickly post about a car that played an important role in my teenage years – a ’72 Ford Pinto. Yep, a Ford Pinto , the car that’s infamous for erupting into a ball of fire with a slight tap of the rear bumper. While this hot rodded Pinto was about as shoddy as it gets, its turbocharged engine swap also made it one of the funnest cars ever.

At some point someone took the rusty, weather Pinto chassis and added a turbocharged 2.3 liter motor from an ’80s era turbo Thunderbird. I bought the car in 2002 for something like 1,100 bucks, and I remember road tripping down to LA with my dad and driving the car 250 miles home – choking on gas fumes the whole way. Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Mike Garrett