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fast as a shark

Tulsa's Not That Far: Thrill of the Road


Tom Albrecht (front) and J.F. Musial, hosts of Thrill of the Road.

I always felt at home when we entered Colorado, where the plains became arid, the rabbit bush prolific. (Occasionally we would take "the southern route," heading into the harsh rocks of northern Texas or New Mexico.) Our search was for elusive river beds—sometimes full only in the spring. In the shallow pools, we would seine—this is a type of net—for fish, to find what species still remained or were gone, extinct due to human folly. When it got dark, we'd pull off to the side of the road, kick the rocks out of the way, throw tarps down, and prepare our sleeping bags. We never checked into motels. Mom would get out the Coleman stove and Dad would take notes about the day's proceedings. We kids would then run through the sagebrush until dinner. Next morning, we'd get up with the sun and shake our shoes out to make sure no scorpions had crawled in. Sometimes we'd change location every day.

I mention this only to explain why I am not bothered by my current lifestyle.
- Roger Miller

More »

Feature

12:00 PM on Tue Oct 30 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
702 views, 4 comments

Latest by TurboJew: I've always thought Tom was more of a Tom Ford (From 5th Gear/TG Mag) lookalike :) more »

fast as a shark

The Other Side of the Wind: The Trials of a Transcontinental Record

Ahhh, the French champagne has always been celebrated for its excellence! Alex Roy doused with bubbly upon successful breaking of the transcontinental record.

Orson Welles once spoke of "the confidence of ignorance" in terms of the beginning of both his stage and screen careers. Henry Rollins once remarked that he learned not long after he joined Black Flag that one could get away with a lot of shit if one merely acted as if it was all one knew how to do. Alex Roy simply wanted to make a lap of Manhattan as fast as possible after seeing Rendezvous. He ended up breaking a transcontinental record that stood for 23 years. More »

Feature

12:30 PM on Mon Oct 15 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
6,999 views, 9 comments

Latest by Trackback: Filed under: Etc.Click the shot above for over 80 pics, scans and images.If you were scouring the interwebs yesterday, you might have come across a story about Team Polizei's record-breaking transcontinental run from New York to L.A. Our friends over more »

aftermarket

Way to Ruin Hello Kitty...Again

So, we saw this a couple of days ago, but we've been taking some time to ponder our response to these aftermarket Hello Kitty wheels. Since one of us is a big Hello Kitty fan, people are always sending me links to all things HK, along with messages that say things like, "look how cute!" or, "I bet you'd love this!" The fact of the matter is, no, I do not like most of them. Sure enough, I got a similar message today when Kitty Hell posted a photo of the latest item to be butchered: A set of Hello Kitty wheels. More »

9:30 AM on Fri Oct 5 2007
By burstein
2,338 views, 57 comments

Latest by dculberson: Jeremy Clarkson, of all people, actually had a good point about the Boxster - Cayman - 911 thing. He had the performance specs for all three up on a board, neatly arranged in a grid. He pointed out more »

fast as a shark

Fifty Years of Kerouac's "On The Road"

Fourteen years before the United States mandated exit numbers on Dwight Eisenhower's brainchild of a road system, a Lowell, Mass native of French-Canadian extraction named Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac published a novel that would change countless lives; a mash note to an already-dead America living under the weight of what Igor Kurchatov and J. Robert Oppenheimer had wrought. More »

Feature

1:30 PM on Thu Sep 13 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
931 views, 18 comments

fast as a shark

Rolling Nirvana



Imperfect perfection as a child is rarely equaled as an adult. Why do we remember games of "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" more fondly than some random hookup with a hottie picked up in a bar? Adult perfection is just more complicated. Spouses, jobs, locales, children of our own that we want to stuff so full of perfect moments that they can't possibly fail in life. And hopefully don't go around picking up STD's in bars. More »

Feature

1:00 PM on Thu Aug 30 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
899 views, 20 comments

Latest by cargirl76: btw - the Mirage definitely went 125, I might have been trying to impress you when I said it went 135. I'm pissed about the Lotus too. more »

communism alert!

California Driving Tax Bill AB616 Moves to Senate

A bill requiring annual smog inspections for vehicles over fifteen years old is moving onto the California state senate. AB616 also contains a provision for additional money generated by the previously bi-annual inspections to be deposited into an account. The funds in this account would then be used in part to scrap older cars. If these funds have anything to do with the voluntary accelerated vehicle retirement program then this bill is truly insidious. In essence California would be making citizens pay for pollution created by those who can purchase a pollution credit for each old car taken off the road. For more information on the bill and how to keep your classic rolling, head on over to the SEMA Action Network. [Urgent Legislative Alert via SEMA Action Network]

3:00 PM on Thu Aug 16 2007
By Mike Bumbeck
1,137 views, 27 comments

Latest by n/a: Thinking about the smog issue more, I would have BAR test cars annually if CARB EO was dropped. Other words meaning that one could tune their car as they like as long as it is tested in various ways yearly. more »

fast as a shark

I Voted No on the 250 GTO



While the Loverman and I agree on a great many things and have quite possibly slept with too many of the same women (all before we knew each other), now and then there is a great schism. DAF vs. FAF, Evo vs. WRX. Killdozer vs. Dave Matthews. Okay, so the last one was a complete and utter lie. But the 250 GTO is one of the only Jalopnik Fantasy Garage cars I've ever voted down. And it sounds like insanity, even to me. More »

Feature

6:15 PM on Tue Jul 31 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
2,471 views, 44 comments

Latest by n/a: I must confess, while I voted the 250 GTO in (solely because it is an undesputed classic), I'd rather have seen the F40 or even the 400i inducted. To make any sense of that, you need to know that I've more »

the dead emperor's clothes

Autoextremist Applauds Imperial Execution

His Royal Peetness is huzzahing like a madman at Chrysler's decision to do in the Imperial, calling it "the wrong car, at the wrong time, from the wrong car company" and hoping that the decision to cancel the ill-proportioned behemoth may be the sign of common sense beginning to prevail in the hallways of Auburn Hills. Needless to say, the situtation with CerbChryCo is touch-and-go right now, but here's to hoping that the 2008 round of show vehicles have a bit more in the way of er, zazz. Actually, could they do a rethought ZAZ? Murilee, for one, would blow his spleen with glee. [Autoextremist]

8:15 PM on Thu Jul 19 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
788 views, 10 comments

Latest by FЯeeMan: If they do an updated ZAZ, there'd be about 20 people from the Jalop that'd blow their spleens with glee. And that'd be about it. ChryCerbMoCo from the land where the sun never shines and the fires never abate needs more »

stillborn imperial

Phantom Margarine Dies on the Vine

We noted earlier that Chrysler has killed the Imperial. You know, generally, we're for V8, rear drive cars. Success, after all, begets success, so we were thrilled to see the 300, Magnum, Charger and revised Mustang lead to the Challenger, the Interceptor, Camaro and G8, but after the inital "What is that?" shock wore off, the car seemed a half-baked Hail Mary, and given the troubles that have come to light in the year and a half since the concept's debut in Detroit, that impression's gained a lot more in the way of context. According to Chrysler mouthpiece David Elshoff, bringing such a machine to market in today's climate would be "irresponsible." Instead, the Imp's place on the Brampton production line will be taken up by the next-generation 300. Please boys, don't crackrock it up with Sebringesque styling cues. Killing the Imperial means that there might still be some signs of life in Auburn Hills. Let's hope so.

7:45 PM on Tue Jul 17 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
638 views, 16 comments

Latest by squablow: ardistruth, if the Imperial was only there to force UAW workers to make consessions, then I love the car and hope more similar concepts are built. more »

stance in the place where you live

The Guild of Calamitous Intent

Walking up 22nd Street Hill is serious business for those of us not quite in the shape we'd like to be. It demands no smoking and an application of earnest Southeastern post-hardcore. And on the varying incline up 25th to Western Ave., we noticed a certain stride to the music, which got us thinking about the purposeful nature of certain cars. And we were surprised by what we saw. A last-gen Mustang didn't have it. A Mercury Villager and its Nissan Quest sibling did. Cars we'd never thought much of actually seemed to have a demeanor to them that actually mattered whereas some surprising examples didn't — a new Camry, the most performance-oriented of the breed absolutely didn't, and while we're a fan of the late-model Civics, the hybrid model pulling out of the Von's parking lot seemed lost. It may be a surgical transport tool, but it doesn't resemble a doctor born for a purpose. On the other hand, an early-'80s Toyota pickup absolutely did. Honestly, shutting off our brain and just looking for the intent in a car's makeup opened our eyes to a whole 'nother take on appreciating automotive styiling. Try it yourself and report back.

6:00 PM on Tue Jul 17 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
693 views, 19 comments

Latest by abecker1313: has there been an AMC that doesn't have it? more »

fast as a shark

The Toyota Prius -- Is it the Ronnie James Déesse?

When I was twenty, I studied in Germany. Bonn, to be exact. I had a friend there named Kai who loved techno and had just received his first car, some sort of Citroën hatchback. It was red, and he hoped someday to buy an Audi with an S in front of its numeral. But at that point, he had what we all ended up calling Kai's Rote Heiße Citroën des Liebes. I don't remember the model, but a couple of days before I met Kai, I'd seen a 2CV parked on the street. It was covered in bad EKG tape stripes, Laney amplifier decals and sported a giant die-cut Savatage decal across the rear window. I knew immediately and instinctively that Kai's car was not a patch on its forebear. Some may decry the Deuche as a rip of Hitler's Beetle with the drivetrain at the opposite end, but the car that debuted in 1955, spawned an obsessive geek-cult of wack-ass masochists and occupied the opposite end of the French motoring spectrum from the plebeian flip-windowed runabout was about as revolutionary as they came in those days. Having run into a DS on the street a few days ago, I got to thinking. Does the car have a modern-day equivalent anywhere in the world today? And if it does what could it be? The only answer I could come up with is the Toyota Prius. More »

Feature

4:45 PM on Fri Jul 13 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
1,565 views, 10 comments

Latest by B-town: @eltonito: Perfecto Eltonito. more »

fast as a shark

Return To Us Our Manta! It Shall Save GM!

Call me "Ich-Manni." Here in the electron-bright pages of tha Jalop, I have often implored manufacturers to bring back a simple, lightweight RWD sports coupe. We collectively have bemoaned the lack of availability of certain European models built by American manufacturers but not sold on our shores. And of course, I have professed my love of the Opel Manta so many times that it borders slightly on the ridiculous. Kind of like the time in college when I used to piss off the guy in the Doobie Brothers shirt by playing "Louie Louie" incessantly on the guitar while he attempted to extoll the virtues of Dave Matthews. But I have hit upon an idea, and if General Motors does not grab hold of it and run like a 400-meter relay medalist with a lit roman candle protruding from his keister, they're hopeless. And here is what I propose: Mssrs. Wagoner and Lutz, bring back the Manta. More »

Feature

4:30 PM on Fri Jun 29 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
1,841 views, 26 comments

Latest by brandegee: @Maymar: I think what ottomaddox means is that with the sheer amount of traffic in NYC area, it's not worth risking a near certain accident in a light-weight RWD coupe. It's one-thing to pilot a heavy CLK or G35 around more »

fast as a shark

The Way It Hits You, Or a Three-Way Tie For First

I've known my girlfriend for years. We met as teenagers and immediately connected. We kept in touch sporadically, went through a lot of parallel experiences and a multitude of different ones. Way back when, she thought I was a goofy punk rocker with bad taste in motor vehicles, but she wrote about my cars and I anyway. We danced around each other, intrinsically knowing that the other one had things to do. And since I'm seeing her tomorrow, and I figure that she needs more punk rock in her life at this juncture, I've made her a compact disc in place of the mixtape I was too shy to to give her over a decade ago. There's a freedom in letting go of seductive romance and saying, "Okay, the plays are over and here's where the collaboration begins." Not that I'm not a sucker for participating in seductive romance. After all, I did own an El Camino. More »

Feature

4:59 PM on Fri Jun 22 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
1,383 views, 23 comments

Latest by BLS: Honda. The Ferrari/Shell is amazing but it is one dimentional. Plus the Honda comercial is funny in a weirdly inspiring way. more »

bruce's train departs detwa

Autoextremist Upset About Porsche Detroit Snub

Denizens of the Motown are proud of their city. And we understand why. It's a great place with plenty of friendly people and lots of good food. But Detroit has one problem — when it comes to cars, it still thinks that it's the center of the universe. The Brucemeisters at Porsche obviously don't see it that way, leading Peet to totally castigate the company. But we ask you this, while Detroit is unquestionably still the king of the North American auto shows, LA saw a vast improvement this year. We wouldn't be surprised if the LA show begins to steal more and more of Detwa's thunder. Because who wants to go to Detroit in January when one can be in Los Angeles in the late fall? Will LA take the crown from Detroit? Discuss amongst yourselves. – Davey G. Johnson More »

5:45 PM on Thu Jun 14 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
895 views, 29 comments

Latest by my favorite car is a motorcycle: Seems many folks here think that because Detroit-based automakers continue losing market share that they should just allow the biggest auto show in North America to change from their hometown to LA, in the direction where most of the rapidly-growing more »

fast as a shark

Manta - der Film, Total Geil!

Truth be told, my Manta fixation goes back over 25 years. As a kid visiting Northern Ireland, I was inextricably drawn to GM's Euro ponycar; it seemed the most American thing on the road, coiffed, as it was with cues that spoke of Yankee muscle. Camaro ducktail here, Monza curve there. Okay, fine. I was influenced heavily by 1970s muscle-appearance cars. But the Manta just looked like the baddest-ass thing on the road in what was then a fairly poor country. That said, I knew that Manta drivers, even back then, were revered for their manliness and reviled for their loutish nature. Eleven years ago, eight years after Manta production ended, I studied in Germany. Although nobody mentioned Mantas, per se "Manni" was shorthand for your stereotypical Bitburger-swilling, mulleted hoon. Which brings us to Manta - der Film. More »

Feature

4:45 PM on Fri Jun 8 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
1,200 views, 19 comments

Latest by Turboner: Oh, and this dude I went to high school with, who rocked an OG mullet, had a 429 Pinto with straight pipes. It was almost as obnoxious as it was awesome. It was like a penis on testicle-shaped more »

fast as a shark

Standing at the Gates of the West: So-Cal Hot Rodding and the War

To Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, the Gates of the West may have been New York City. Or Saint Louis. Or San Francisco, where they holed up to record overdubs and vocal tracks for Give 'Em Enough Rope with Sandy "More Cowbell" Pearlman. But for many returning soldiers at the end of World War II, the Gates of the West were the breakwaters of San Pedro Bay, at the dangling, southwesterly tip of Los Angeles. Last night, Kasey Dubspeed and I did a runner from the coast up to Cole Coonce's place in Eagle Rock (or "Buzzard Boulder," as Cole perennially refers to it) for his annual Memorial Day barbeque. Cole's backyard is somehow an odd nexus of Los Angeles culture of the city's Golden Age. I spent much of the evening chatting with fashion-and-film-industry people, but at Cole's, one may just as likely end up in a conversation with a Top Fuel driver, a cycling fanatic or a random person who saw the Germs like 48 times and lived to tell the tale. The Second War, as Mike Watt refers to it, gave the world Los Angeles — a diverse, wonderful, maddening, depressing, stunning, sick megalopolis. The GIs who stepped off the boat here after the cessation of hostilities gave us hot rodding. More »

Feature

4:30 PM on Mon May 28 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
1,205 views, 5 comments

Latest by phenotyp: Oh, and a P 38 and a reference to the Me 163? Awesome. more »

vette-renarian

Does Chevy Need a Four-Door Corvette?

It's a fait accompli Aston Martin and Porsche are launching a pair of low-slung, coupe-like sedans — the Rapide and Panamera, respectively — and whispers of a similar BMW peaked on arrival of the company's CS concept. Does that mean a new sub-class of touring sedan will be the latest must-have for sport-minded automakers? Probably. But a four-door Corvette? This week, Automotive News's Rick Kranz makes a case for Chevrolet to join the four-door coupe soiree by limo-izing its signature sports car. Purists would balk, he says, just as Porsche devotees will likely roll their eyes at the Panamera (though they've already had their first fainting spell with the Cayenne). And he even quotes GM's Bob Lutz as making the connection between the Porsche and Corvette brands, though no plans are in the works to follow its lead. What's more, if GM ever did stretch the 'Vette platform, Kranz says, it could be used for a desperately needed Cadillac flagship. But while it's not a completely hairbrained idea, we're going to have to side with the purists on this one. But the Cadillac? That's the one to build. – Mike Spinelli More »

9:26 AM on Thu May 17 2007
By Mike Spinelli
2,013 views, 32 comments

Latest by mgrosser: To me, this car always stood for freedom. I always took the 'vette out to get AWAY from the family. I think that four doors would dash the heart of what this car is really about. more »

commentary

Fast as a Shark: East of Eden: The Fall of the Gumball 3000

Alex Roy, Gumball organizer Julie Brangstrup and Michael Ross just before the cars are released at at the airport in Athens. More »

Feature

1:00 PM on Mon May 7 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
12,209 views, 35 comments

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