Archive for April 2007

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    Fewer Cunning Stunts Say Top Gear Fans, Clarkson Responds

    Even a show as great as Top Gear is heir to the thousand natural shocks of success. The need to stay fresh, while keeping true to charter is a minefield for a regular, old blog; imagine how treacherous it is for an iconic TV show. This week, headmaster Jeremy Clarkson sounds off on the past season of Top Gear, derided on many message boards for abandoning good ol' hoonage on English country lanes in favor of stunt programming and gimmickry. But Clarkson says such are the realities of being the m

    By Mike Spinelli Read More

News (132)

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    Road Rage Roundup: Vicious Vauxhalls, Steamed Clevelanders

    So this dude you work with is dating your ex-girlfriend? Yeah, you totally need to ram his pickup with your own truck... only this time, the rammer's truck flipped over instead of the rammee's. Wouldn't it be better to save the money to get two chicks at the same time instead? [Gazette Xtra]

    By Murilee Martin Read More
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    Supreme Court Says: Police Not Liable For Running You Off Road, Crippling You

    Oh, Hoons of the dark side, the day you've feared is nigh! In a decision that really shocks no one, the Supreme Court overwhelmingly sided with the police who "do not have to call off pursuit of a fleeing motorist when they reasonably expect that other people could be hurt." So says Anton Scalia. And seven other top Justices agree with him. John Paul Stevens is the sole dissenter. We say shocks no one because we remember watching our fist LA Freeway chase live on the TV and at the end, the cops

    By Jonny Lieberman Read More
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    Porsche Makes An Offer: First, Volkswagen...Next, The World?

    German law mandates it, so Porsche is gonna obey. The automaker hoping to move up from mere Teutonic knight to King of the Teutons is officially asking the shareholders of the automaker representing Deutschland if they'd like to surrender their control in a united union for united Bruceness. Only problem is they're asking for the wee fee of but EUR 100.92 per ordinary share of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft and EUR 65.54 per preference share of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft. And really, that's

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Car Hack's Notebook: Top Of The Top Marques

    This past week took me to Top Marques in Monaco, the ostentatious home of pure money yet consistent proof money does not buy class. Monaco is populated by rich, orange women well into their 50s who still believe they can carry off miniskirts. But it is also home to the world's most glamorous car show, with passenger rides round the Grand Prix track thrown into the bargain. And faced with such hot metal it is only natural to revert to the child within and go begging rides in the best of the bunch

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Cast Your Vote For Hoon Of The Month!

    We've managed to scrape up a hoon for every day this month, so now that we're on the last day of International Hoon Month it's time to vote on just who combines guts, cars, and a possibly misplaced sense of invulnerability in the most impressive fashion. The setup is simple: we take the first- and second-place finishers in each week's Hoon of the Week poll and let them compete head-to-head. So throw away your helmet, unfasten your seat belts, start up the $50 car, and jump...

    By Murilee Martin Read More
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    Super Snake: Shelby To Create Bigger 'Stang With Longer Fangs And 725 Hp?

    Maybe not having the Ford GT's giving FoMoCo a bit of an empty stable complex. It's the only reason we can come up with for this ever-expanding need to expand the Mustang's horsepower and speed. Not that we mind, we're just trying to figure out the reasons why. Maybe there's no need to determine a why when it comes to numbers that we're told reach 725 hp. That's right, you heard me correctly. We're pleased to introduce you to what we're hearing are the newest performance packages from Mustang,

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    We Know That's The Camaro, But What's The Chevy Over Fritz Henderson's Shoulder?

    The breathless one's gotten what he claims to be a scoop from a PR pic released today from the General's design studio. It shows the terrible trio of "Slick" Rick Wagoner, "Maximum" Bob Lutz, and Fritz "Show Me The Money" Henderson standing in front of what they're claiming is "A full-scale production clay model of the 2009 Chevrolet Camaro" as it "starts to take shape at GM's Warren, Michigan, Design Center, Rear Wheel Drive Performance Studio." But the breathless one's less concerned about t

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Supercar Weekend: World's Hooniest Soccer Mom

    There are some who might say an RS4 isn't a supercar. There are also some that watched Alberto Gonzales testify to Congress last week and then publicly proclaimed that he did a good job. All we know is that an M5 is a supercar, and this Audi smokes it. She can drive us to practice anytime.

    By Jonny Lieberman Read More
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    Shop Tour: Foose Design And Gaffoglio Family Metalcrafters

    One of the pitfalls of being immersed in the constant barrage of all things automotive is the danger of becoming jaded. Walking the line between facilitating inadvertent product placement and conveying genuine enthusiam about automobiles can be a tricky balance. Just when we think we've seen enough and seriously contemplate going to get a job driving a flower truck, something comes along so astounding as to completely restore complete faith in the fine art of building automobiles and the enthus

    By Mike Bumbeck Read More
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    And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Parts: Replace Struts - Part 1

    The history behind the modern strut type suspension has its origins in the United Kingdom. Henny Youngman would find a joke here. Something about Scotsmen, a Lotus, a spring, and a shock absorber. The punchline would be the MacPherson strut suspension. I love this crowd! The integral spring and shock absorber arrangement was pioneered by one Earl S. MacPherson. Since Mr. MacPherson worked for Ford at the time as the head honcho of engineering, the MacPherson strut first appeared up under the un

    By Mike Bumbeck Read More
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    4/27: Who's The Hoon Of The Week? You Decide!

    Last week's champions, the Enzed dopefiend Kiwi Laser Leapers, stunned the competion with a best-yet 52% of the Hoon of the Week vote tally. However, our short-term-memory-challenged Ford-thrashers had the advantage of facing neither Arabs nor Scandinavians; this week's hoon crop features an entrant from each of the two hoonic epicenters. Make like a Volvo 244 and jump...

    By Murilee Martin Read More
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    Yeeha!! 2008 Corvette Gets Big Boosts Of Both Power And Torque

    Remember the spy shots of the LS3 engine we showed you the other day? Turns out that it was in fact the aluminum, variable valve timed 6.2-liter unit out of the Escalade, although heavily tweaked to the tune of 430 hp and 424 lbs. ft. of torque (up from 400-flat for both). Basically, Chevy slapped on LS7-ish heads (featuring bigger ports) and high-flow fuel injectors right out of the Z06. What's that? You want more? Well, you get more as the new 'Vette, going back to its ZR-1 roots, is (kinda) b

    By Jonny Lieberman Read More
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    Tirade Of The Day: Here's Why We're Losing The Hoon Race

    So you want to know why those damn Lada-drivin' Scandinavians and oil-money-flush Arabs are seriously stomping the good ole USA in the Hoonlympics these days? Why the Hoon of the Day entrants have been a bit weak lately? Well, goddammit? I'll tell you why, buddy: we're getting soft! It's like berserkers sacking your coastal towns and the OPEC embargo all rolled into one hoon-miliating package, while our hoons squander their potential by simply bashing perfectly jump-worthy cars against the mock-

    By Murilee Martin Read More
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    Gossip: US M3 Pricing Announced?

    We know what it looks like. We know how much power it makes. We know what it smells like, its favorite color, what it had for lunch on Tuesday and who it is voting for in 2008. We know that BMW's new M3 thinks it is OK to have white wine with beef, feels that Simon Cowell is cruel but funny, agrees with Nancy Pelosi on a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq and cries at the end of Bambi. The M3 enjoys long walks on the beach, hiking, will try anything once, likes getting dressed up for the opera b

    By Jonny Lieberman Read More
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    SUPER EFFICIENCY! 200 MPG Velozzi Micro-Turbine Electric Hybrid

    Using technology and design together to create a hybrid supercar is Velozzi. The company claims the first working model indicates a 0-60 time of 3 seconds and 200 mph top speed. The car achieves anywhere from 100 to 200 mpg in normal driving conditions. The key to this high performance parallel hybrid is the micro-turbine. The super efficient engine is designed to run on any "heavy" fuel - such as diesel, gasoline, biodiesel, or ethanol. The micro-turbine acts as an onboard generator to charge t

    By Mike Bumbeck Read More
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    Question Of The Day: Which Car Missed It By That Much?

    We slowly passed a black Mazda RX-8 today and from certain angles we thought it hot. But then you get along side of it and there they are — those stupid faux mini-doors. First of all, the fake-doors are too small for adults to get into, so the only thing they are good for is easing the rugrats' ingress and egress. And if you have little kids you know that all they want to do is climb all over stuff anyhow. Why not let them clamber over seats? And if the silly, useless doors go away (and please,

    By Jonny Lieberman Read More
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    Mulally Morning Mayhem! The Ford Quarterly Earnings Call Live-Blog

    Well, the numbers are out and things look both good and bad for FoMoCo. As we told you earlier, Henry Ford's baby is seeing things go from bad to worse on the money-makin' front here in North America. On the brighter side of life, they're losing significantly less money overall on a global level. What's this mean for FoMoCo? Well, we're going to listen to Chief Exec Alan Mulally try to make sense of the numbers for us on the automaker's quarterly earnings conference call, and we'll be the only

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Ford's Not Dead Yet: Feeling Better In First Quarter 2007, Loses $1.1 Billion Less!

    FoMoCo just released its preliminary first quarter 2007 financial results, and the numbers look less worse than last year. The Dearborn, MI based automaker reported a $282 million loss. That's not great, and certainly not money-making — but definitely less worse than the first quarter of 2006 when the losses hit ten digits, or $1.4 billion. That loss was cut drastically by profits in South America, Europe, Mazda and the Premier Automotive Group. But there's also a hell of a lot of bad news in

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Here It Is! The 2008 Mitsubishi Evo X

    Sometimes, after you've been teased to within an inch of your life, satisfaction just happens. Such is the case with the new Mitsubishi Evo X, which the company revealed today in Japanese domestic market spec, along with a release stating its intentions to show it at the Tokyo motor show later this year (not Frankfurt). Among the few tech details are the six-speed automated manual, which will share functionalty with VW/Audi's DSG box, and Mitsubishi's S-AWC3 traction and handling system, which t

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Huffing Diesel Fumes: Ford Earth Day Press Release Boldly Claims Diesel Emissions Leadership...From Behind

    FoMoCo made a real big show of their bold environmental moves this past weekend in a press release they titled "EARTH DAY 'TOP TEN' - A SAMPLE OF FORD'S 'GREEN' INITIATIVES." Obvs, we expect that type of trumpeting bold declaration, especially as it happens every Earth Day — and usually they're overblown as all get out. I mean what do you expect, a Greenpeace award for patching the hole in the ozone layer? Come on, these are automakers we're talking about. And we know this year's list's going

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Fast As A Shark: Living On Chinese Rocks

    I can't in truth call my Shanghai trip a comedy of errors, although there were errors, one of which resulted in my flying home first class. And while some of the Engrish I encountered was laugh-out-loud gut-busting. I can't quite refer to it as a tragedy, either. What it was, however, was a slightly nebulous, inchoate paradigm-fucker of a time/history/distance shift.

    By Davey G. Johnson Read More
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    Neighbors Manage To Ban Drifting At Altamont Speedway

    Before we launch into the coming rant about how completely and utterly inane this potential decision to uphold a proposed ban on drifting at a race track is, we must state that the few times we ever went to Altamont Speedway in Altamont, California was for the Pumpkin Smash 400. The track was watered and soaped down, pumpkins were strewn onto all four corners, and a collection of the most dented cars ever assembled turned it all into a soupy mess of smash-up mayhem for 400 laps. This race is a

    By Mike Bumbeck Read More
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    Spy Photos: More Of The 2008 Nissan GT-R On The 'Ring

    The result of Nissan GT-R's latest testing session out on Germany's N rburgring is even more media of the slightly-obscured coupe. The car's being shook down, flogged and otherwise worked over on the way to its unveiling and high-profile launch at the Tokyo show later this year. It was caught on the 'Ring's webcam as well as by bridge-view video. That's where we get to see a GT-R dusting a BMW M5 into a right hander. That's promising.

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Hoon Of The Day: BMW + Volvo Thrash In Redwood Country

    So Humboldt County is natural hoon territory, what with its ample doobage, beater cars rusting among the redwoods, economically-challenged gringo youth, and, uh, big stinky purple nugs (we're big fans of Kevin Hoover's awesome crime reports page in the Arcata Eye, of course). Here we have a group of Humboldt boys doing what they do best: acting the fool on a motorcycle, then decorating a couple of 80s cars (BMW 3-series and Volvo 200-series) with skulls-and-crossbones and playing "car chase" in

    By Murilee Martin Read More
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    OnStar And MapQuest Partnering To Help You Get Lost As Easily As Possible

    The subsidiary sitting atop a star that's owned by the General is taking the turn-by-turn downloadble direction nav system in GM vehicles pretty seriously. They announced yesterday at an embargoed press conference they're expanding their nav system by partnering with MapQuest to allow subscribers to send destinations from MapQuest.com directly to your OnStar-equipped vehicle. The system's called "OnStar Web Destination Entry" and they're planning to start with a pilot program in the summer o

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Stuck In The Middle Way-Oh, Way-Oh: IMSA GTO Audi 90

    In 1969, a man was born. His name was John Reis. At the tail end of the 1980s, he formed a band known as Rocket From the Crypt, which would go on to rock the faces off of the masses until their final show on Halloween of 2005. At the tail end of the 1980s, Audi entered two balls-to-the-wall 90s in IMSA GTO competition. The two prime movers behind the wheels were Hurley Haywood (who'd wrangled Porsche's Moby Dick and lived to tell the tale) and Hans J. Stuck. For longer events, the two were suppl

    By Davey G. Johnson Read More
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    Intermeccanica Murena 429 GT: Full On Raddest Car Of All Time?

    Yes. I wish you could have heard the sound of my head exploding the other day as I stumbled across this absolute gem. It is simultaneously both the manliest car ever made and a first-ballot Fantasy Garage inductee. Actually, I am not even going to bother putting the Murena up to a vote because a single "no" would crush my heart. And you slobs are not to be trusted. Just look at this thing! What we know is very little, but here it is. The Murena 429 GT debuted at the New York Auto Show in 1969. T

    By Jonny Lieberman Read More
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    Behold The Polaris, A Rear-Engined Pontiac!!

    Er, we mean a re-badged Corvair. Still though, as nifty as the Corvair was, it would have worked much better as a Pontiac. After all, what builds more excitement than flipping over? Oh we know, we know. Mean old Ralph Nader said nasty things about the poor little Corvair. And he wasn't alone. Here's what a Pontiac brand manager named John Z. Delorean had to say about the Polaris,

    By Jonny Lieberman Read More
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    Proof Is In The Pictures! AutoWeek's Phil Floraday Breaks Embargo On Buick Enclave

    At car industry events, Phil Floraday normally can be found arm-in-arm with his fellow AutoWeek mag o' war man, Bob Gritzinger. Somehow we're unsure if we'll be seeing either of them invited to another event of the General's. If you'll remember, Gritzinger was the motor-man who broke open the seal on the new-for-2007 GMT-900 twin pickups, the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra. Gritz dropped the AutoWeek piece well before the media drives were even completed by dropping into a local Chevy dealersh

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Porsche 911 GT3 Makes A Mess At Oregon Autocross

    From what we hear, it was a nice day for some AutoX action in Oregon on Sunday — we think that means the cloud cover parted for like an hour. But what do you expect from the great northwest? An hour of sunshine makes for a pretty good day out there. Unless, of course, you were an owner of the Porsche, Celica, WRX or Audi in the pictures below. If any of those were yours, you ended up not so much coming away with the thrilling experience of watching some awesome SCCA regional action. Instead,

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Jalopnik Fantasy Garage: Volkswagen Phaeton W12

    Yes, the Phaeton. Like everyone else, when I first heard Volkswagen would be producing a $100,000 car, I was aghast. Was this the same Volkswagen that built my friend Tristy's Scirocco? Aside from constantly belching black smoke, that car's passenger seat would snap off its runners on every left turn. Six figures for a fat Passat? I'll pass, thanks. But then, details started trickling in. The Phaeton would share an all-wheel-drive, air-suspended platform with both the Bentley Continental GT and

    By Jonny Lieberman Read More
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    God Save The Packages: The Ford Transit SportVan

    Ford Europe is going after a yet-untapped market with a new class of vehicle, the sport commercial urban delivery vehicle (SCUD), and it's created a squarish missile to represent. Unfortunately that van's been retired. But no worries, the company's just launched its new Transit SportVan at the Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham. It's just a reliable, old Transit spec'd up with 18" alloy wheels, dual exhaust (pipes), leather seats and an aero kit. It's powered by a TDCi Duratorq engine that ge

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Nostalgia Nitro Shootout Listens To Governor

    Even with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declaring that environmentalism in California is officially and henceforth to become hip and sexy, it's easy to forget that the very coolest motor going Californians have been messing around with alternative fuels with great success since the '50s. At the apex of California drag racing, hundreds of professional and homebuilt racecars descended onto quarter mile dragstrips every weekend and burned up some of the most exotic alternative fuels ever run thro

    By Mike Bumbeck Read More
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    Making Things With Light: The VW Gala In Shanghai

    In our day, we have witnessed some interminable press events, but this one literally wandered so slowly off with the cake that we're not sure that the cake was there in the first place or if the thieves may actually have left it behind. The shebang started off in a promising manner, oddly enough; the Pudong Expo building a stunning, gleaming cube featuring a lobby stuffed with art. We were then treated to a short fashion show. All well and good. Suddenly, the mind-numbing madness came. A televis

    By Davey G. Johnson Read More
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    And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Parts: Replace Shock Absorbers

    Without the shock absorber the modern automobile would simply flail about on its springs. The shock absorber is technically a damper. The shock absorber works to dampen the bounce created by bumps in the road and the weight of the vehicle acting on the suspension and springs. The less obvious yet more important benefit of shock absorbers is control. The four small patches of tire making contact with the tarmac won't do much good if the tires are spend more time bouncing in mid-air than staying

    By Mike Bumbeck Read More
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    The BMW Concept CS: Now With Video, Flowery Art-Geek Speak

    The BMW Concept CS has been one divisive piece of machinery. Detractors say it's the bastard child of Chris Bangle and a Dodge Charger. Proponents say it's the most tempered thing to come out of Designworks since the John Deere X Series lawn and garden tractor. Still, the kidney grille was a class touch.

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Shanghai Auto Show: GM Reveals Volt Concept Version 2.0 — This Time It's Hydrogen-Powered!

    Despite the addition of a hydrogen fuel cell in this new variant of the Chevy Volt concept car (now with E-Flex!) that provides up to "300 miles of petroleum- and emissions-free electric driving" — it still ain't going nowhere. The problem with version 2.0 is the same as the problem with version 1.0 — the batteries just don't have the capacity. So consequently the "300 mile range" in the new E-Flex system or the "640 mile range" from the original Volt are still nothing more than "conceptual."

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Shanghai Auto Show: Buick Riviera Concept

    Live from Shanghai, it's "not East, not West...it's Buick." We kid you not, that's one of the opening bullet points for the press release on the new concept car from the Woodsian brand of the General. Actually, it should be "whether East or West...it's still a Buck." Ok, actually this gullwinged concept's a wee bit different than any other Buick we've yet seen — which makes sense as it was designed jointly by the General and SAIC. So I guess yes, that's a Buick. Just sayin'. Full press release

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Shanghai Auto Show: Audi Releases Some Backseat Entertainment Action For The A6L

    The highly precise folks at Audi have been selling the Audi A6L, the long-wheelbase verion of the A6, in China since 2005. But only now are they using that big ol' backseat for something really special. Today at the Shanghai show, they've announced they'll be unveiling "an innovative entertainment system" that includes two big ol' 10.2" LCD monitors attached to a DVD player integrated in the rear seat center armrest. That armrest is like a central processing center for all sorts of multimedi

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Hooray, Beer! Shelby Gets A Red Stripe For The GT500

    Red Stripe Ambassador: Red Stripe! The beer in the short, stubby ugly bottle Mustang with the short, stubby front end. If ugly people stand next to a Red Stripe, they look beautiful! You sir... Ugly Man: Yeah? Red Stripe Ambassador: Would you say that you're ugly? Ugly Man: Well, I wouldn't say... Red Stripe Ambassador: You are VERY UGLY! Here, hold this Red Stripe. Ugly Man: Ok... Red Stripe Ambassador: Look, you are beautiful! Red Stripe — it's beer! Hooray beer!

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Forget The Weathered Camaro: 1970 Impala Model

    So I built my share of models as a kid, but I hadn't touched one for many years when I started hanging out with several professional modelmakers about 15 years back. These guys worked at a shop that made architectural models, courtroom exhibits, product prototypes, etc, and when they weren't on the clock they'd crank up the Melvins and ruin their eyesight scratchbuilding dioramas of bombed-out German factories all night long. It was actually pretty pleasant drinking beer, listening to loud/good

    By Murilee Martin Read More
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    Shanghai Surprise: BMW CS Concept

    BMW is showing off the CS Concept car — which may hearken a new high-end sports flagship — at the Shanghai auto show this week. It sports the latest refinements of head designer Chris Bangle's "flame surfacing" aesthetic, with more complex planar transitions and swage lines. We'll get more on the potential new "8-Series" from Shanghai as it comes.

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Shanghai Motor Show: Audi Cross Coupe? Concept

    Audi just released official pics and the release on their new concept SUV (we're hearing it will probably end up being the Q5) to be released this week at the Shanghai Auto Show. We haven't had a chance to digest the release yet, but here it is for your enjoyment — more pictures and analysis will be up momentarily.

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    The Delphi Rhythm Method: Cerberus Pulls Out Early

    Jeez, can't the auto industry give us a break today? Don't they know we've got the new concepts from BMW and Audi at the Shanghai show to cover? People these days — so inconsiderate. Well, let's put our industry hats on for a moment and let you know what's going on at everyone's favorite auto supplier, Delphi. Apparently private equity fund Cerberus Capital Management won't be getting a second scare photo-op like the one they got from the GMAC sale we've got pictured above. That's right, the p

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Hoon Of The Day: Kiwi Laser Leaping

    We haven't seen too much of New Zealand in the Hoon of the Day entries, but let us not forget that the original hoons hailed from those islands! So we know we're in for some hoonage when we first spy these scruffy THC-enhanced gentlemen on the screen, and hoonage we get as they take a beater Ford Laser (a restyled Australian Mazda 323 and close Mercury Capri relative) and get some impressive jump height. +10 points for the excellent altitude and another 5 for the joint hanging from the driver's

    By Murilee Martin Read More
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    Tap Dancing On The Titanic: Global Oil Production To Peak In 2018, Scientist Says

    There once was a band called Fifteen. They broke up in 2000 due to "classism." We used to watch 'em play at Gilman Street in Berkeley with Green Day. They had a very similar East Bay punk rock sound. And while Green Day was no doubt more of the lady crowd pleaser, we found Fifteen — and particularly front man Jeff Ott — much more mentally stimulating. Especially when he would get up on the mic and apologize for having driven to the show, but he needed to move the drums and amps. Case in point, t

    By Jonny Lieberman Read More
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    Autodelta Alfa: GT Super Evo In Dubai

    Did you know Dubai is growing so fast that around 10 percent of the world's tower cranes reside in that emirate? But despite such expanding largesse, not every one of the big tuning shops are en scene to meet the demand for pricey horsepower conversions. That's why Autodelta dispatched a crew to the desert state for the sole purpose of tweaking a customer's Alfa Romeo Brera GT with AD's Super Evo package. The result is a 340-hp supercharged Alfa that will likely be parked near cars twice the pri

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Ad Watch: David Mamet Likes To Live On The Edge-UH! Part II

    As we heard yesterday, FoMoCo's got two new Edge-y ads by edgy director and writer David Mamet. We've already shown you the first of the two ads, called "Quicker than a BMW." Here's the second of the two ads, which the folks in Dearborn call "Quieter than a Lexus." We're waiting to see if there'll be a third ad FoMoCo will be calling "Able to stride across the edges of buildings on a single gas tank."

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Pony Up, Bubba Cup: Nascar Team To Be Parted Out

    Jeb, I think it's time to sell the meth lab and buy a Nascar team. PPI Motorsports of Hickory, South Carolina is being parted out. We'd imagine it's hard to make it as a single-car operation in the modern Nascar world, especially when your sponsor hangs up its hat. Apparently the team was unable to replace Tide for the 2007 season, and was forced to shutter its operations. Team Driver Travis Kvapil bugged out to the Craftsman Truck Series to drive for Roush Fenway Racing. Now, the shop, cars and

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Order Yours Tomorrow: Fiat 500 Limited Edition Goes On Sale Tomorrow, On Limited Basis

    Fiat is still pulling out every gimmick from its tome of promotional trickery to hype its revived 500 subcompact. Gimmick #17: the limited edition. Exactly five hundred models will go on reserve at the International Milan Furniture Fair this week (April 18-23) as an Opening Edition model. The numbered series comes with a choice of styling: A Cappellini edition that includes sky blue molding, and one in pearl white that comes with an engraved badge. The rest of the cars will go on sale July 4, ex

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Jalopnik Fantasy Garage: Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1

    Up to now, our rapidly growing Fantasy Garage has been devoid of American cars. This is a shame, as hundreds of USDA Choice machines await our consideration. Sure European rides are sexy and all that and the Japanese have built some heroes, but Uncle Sam invented the musclecar, bro. What to nominate? I have again returned to my youth and am presenting to you the upside of a vehicle I paid almost as much attention to as that one girl in French class with the black-and-white panties. Who am I kid

    By Jonny Lieberman Read More
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    Junkyard Find: 1987 Turbo Sprint

    Now we all love the Chevy Sprint; the little rebadged Suzuki won our hearts with jumping and yet more jumping. So when I stumbled across this freshly-placed-on-yard '87 Turbo Sprint I was sorely tempted to lay down a couple hundred bucks for the complete engine, buy an early Geo Metro to put it in, and look for the nearest ramp...

    By Murilee Martin Read More
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    Flying Coach: The Maserati GS Zagato

    Another year, another italian motorcar reskinned by Zagato. This time, it's been commissioned by Paolo Boffi, Italian custom-kitchen magnate. He's employed the Zagato team to work up his Maserati GS Spyder. The de rigeur historical antecedent is the Maserati A6 G Zagato of 1954, a car whose period sexiness is likely irreproducible. Still, Zagato is giving its best attempt in the GS, which will debut at the Concours d'Elegance Villa d'Este next week. Will it capture the original magic, or wind up

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Volkswagen Revives 200-Mpg Car Project

    Five years since Volkswagen showed off its 222 mpg "1-Liter Car" concept (shown), the company is apparently recommitting to the 200+ mpg project. Board chair Ferdinand Pi ch says it can be done — that advances in materials and a reduction in associated costs have put plans for a super-efficient small Volkswagen back on the table. According to Pi ch, one supplier says the components can be had for around $6,775, not $47,400 as had been calculated. Of course, the 1-Liter concept was powered by an

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    25 Years Since The Great Caldecott Tunnel Fire

    Ever wonder why most major highway tunnels prohibit tanker vehicles containing flammable liquids (except, in some cases, during certain designated hours)? Tanker drivers can blame the Caldecott Tunnel Fire of 1982 for such regulations. A drunk San Leandro bookkeeper hit the curb in the northern bore, stalling the car and triggering the wreck of a gasoline tanker and an apocalyptic fire that claimed seven lives. The scars from the fire were still visible on the tunnel walls until fairly recently.

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    Haas Builds Rolling Road Wind Tunnel

    Aerodymics play an ever greater role as racecars start hitting ridiculous speeds. Wind tunnel testing can help figure out what's going on, but wind traveling at 200 and something miles per hour likes to try to stick to the floor of the wind tunnel, and creates an error in readings. The race car usually makes this same ground disappear in a hurry as it rolls. Haas CNC Racing NASCAR team owner Gene Haas in conjunction with Jacobs Engineering has created the first rolling road testing facility in t

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    Hoons Of The World Rejoice: Perrin H6 STI For Sale!

    Your neighbor's STi might produce 600 hp, but that means each cylinder has to blast out 150 hp. With all that stress, he'll be needing a new engine sooner not later. However, for the low, low price of just $50,000, you can own a 600-hp (at the wheels, btw) STi that only makes 100 hp per cylinder. No, it's not the new math – it's tuner madmen Perrin and their six-banger uber-WRX. Essentially, they dropped the Subaru Legacy's 250 hp EZ30R (H6) into an STI and then tuned the bejesus out of it. Seri

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    Transformers Movie Update: Optimus Prime Has Lips?!

    WTF? That's it — Bay officially may have just ruined the movie for me. I'm going to go cry in my corner now and remember back when I was a kid before I accidentally crushed my Optimus Prime toy with a rock. Ooh, I know, maybe I'll spend some time looking through other, non-lip pictures from earlier posts.

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    Question Of The Day: Ruf CTR3, Cayman Or 911?

    Sure, R f has said its 700-hp, 235-mph CTR3 is based on the 911, not the Cayman has earlier reports indicated. And that may be true. But skeptics are sounding off, mainly in reaction to the heavily modded Porsche's mid-engine arrangement and Caymanesque taillight assembly. Some commenters have suggested Porsche wouldn't allow a Cayman to beat a 911, lest its badge's mystique threaten that of the higher-priced (and higher-margin) niner. So is it the stuff of urban legend or do you think someone's

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Hybrid Batteries: Nationalism Now Included

    The major limitation of hybrids on the market has always been the batteries that store energy produced on-board by the fossil-fueled side of the drivetrain or from regenerative braking. Those batteries, composed of nickel metal hydride, just aren't robust enough to max out the e-motor's benefit. And with 'merican auto manufacturers not quite being on the ball on development of gas-electrics, but with a clear market desire for hybrids of a plug-in variety, they're looking to Japanese battery co

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    Porsche Ruf CTR3 Not A Cayman, 911 Purists Smile

    Nope, it’s not a Cayman. An earlier report had indicated the Porsche tweakers at Ruf had based their CTR3 screamer on the mid-engine coupe. But purists can relax (sorry Farago); it’s derived from the good ‘ol 911. Butt damn, the specs. The twin turbo’d flat six propels it from zero to 62 mph in 3.2 seconds, and the top speed a landscape-engulfing 235 mph. It’ll cost a cool half mil in American money, but that’s about the going rate for this kind of thing. Details follow.

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    Retrofit Your R/C Car To Run On Hydrogen!

    Holy Castle Bravo test, Dr. Teller! Horizon Fuel Cell, whose H-Racer ready-to-run R/C car we told you about moons and moons ago, has come up with a fuel cell retrofit kit for Tamiya's TT-01 chassis. The kit also comes with some sort of futuristic body, but we're thinking that we'd resurrect that old '67 GTO body we stuck on our Tamiya Fox back in the '80s and go the kandy-kolor-brush-painted-by-a-preteen route. Either way, Horizon's setup allows uninterrupted, Dead Pool-style 1/10-scale hoonage

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    We'll Give You Eight Bucks: 18K Dodge Dart

    Leaving the New York Auto Show last week, several of the Jalops were approached by a enterprising Town Car driver. The gypsy-cabbie offered to bring us downtown for the princely sum of $45. Spinelli bid this soon-to-be-hapless hack to look for another sucker a guy with a carnation in his lapel to cough up the 45 bucks. Wrapping up the interaction was a final, unaccepted offer. Thus the name of this post. In this and future Eight Bucks posts, we'll find folks with cars for sale, who like the cab

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    Question Of The Day: GM Forum Fans Want US Version Of Park Avenue — Do You?

    We showed you the new Zeta-platformed Buick Park Avenue a little earlier today and we were pretty surprised at how non-Buick the styling is, and how plush and non-General the interior looks. Apparently the fervent fans of the General over at the GMInsideNews forums are feeling the same way. They're wondering why the world's biggest automaker doesn't offer said RWD vehicle stateside for the Wood-y brand, especially given what we've heard about the similarities between vehicular desires in the

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    China's Zeta Cake: Buick Park Avenue

    Just as GM put the breaks on its coming wave of rear-drive models born of its Holden division in Australia, Buick China is launching its latest feast for the east at the Shanghai auto show. It's the Park Avenue, a new model derived — like the Pontiac G8 — on the Holden-developed Zeta platform. In content, the Park Avenue is a China-built version of the Holden Statesman, powered by Aussie 2.8-liter and 3.6-liter V6 engines, exported from Fishermans Bend, Victoria. (Not to be confused with Fisherm

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    Startech Tunes Dodge Caliber, Still Not A Pig And Bear Edition

    The German tuners of all things from the 'merican side of DaimlerDouche market have taken it upon themselves to tune the killer of Pig and Bear for the Euro market. Specifically, they've made the Caliber CRD a bit more precise with an "aerodynamic-enhancement program" and some engine tunage. The aero-precision starts with some visual upgrades to the front fascia and a reduction in lift on the front axle and extends along the sides with body cladding that gives the Caliber a lower to the ground

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    New York Times Kills "DriveTimes" E-Mail To Focus On Making "Wheels" Blog Less Sucktastic

    Anyone who's a subscriber to the NYT's DriveTimes weekly e-mail knows two things. First, it's a re-hash of the weeks stories in the Times having anything to do with cars with random stories from elsewhere peppered in. Second, it sucks. Lucky for those of us who've been on the receiving end of this amazingly dull weekly re-cap, it looks like today's e-mail will be the last. Or at least that's what we're told:

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    It Had To Happen: Abt-Tuned Audi R8

    Well, kids, someone had to gain the first tuner advantage over the Audi R8. And the one is Abt. Aptly, Abt is one of the premiere Audi tuners in existence, so they've had the inside track on the R8's 4.2-liter V8 for nigh on a couple years now. This product of the shop's creative talents has yet to appear outside the realm of digital imagery and skunkwerks garage, but we're expecting a proper unveiling at the Essen motor show in Germany this fall. The result is a supercharged 530 hp from the V8

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    Dorks Ahoy! GoCar Spotted In San Francisco

    What gets 60-miles per gallon, is bright yellow, GPS-guided, has three-wheels, seats two and speaks five-languages? Apparently a GoCar. We had no idea what we were looking at when we clumsily snapped these photos with the world's worst camera-phone. We assumed it was some sort of new killer Google perk. You know, whoever drinks the most Odwallas before lunch gets to hoon around Chinatown in an electric trike. Nope, turns out GoCars are, "the world's first computer-guided storytelling car." Essen

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    Perspective Shift: Greener Cars From TreeHugger

    This week at TreeHugger: Love it or hate it, the niche for green muscle trucks is being filled. Does a biodiesel Hummer make any sense? Who decides? Readers got more than a little rankled at the thought, so we threw it open to a vote. Biofuels, for all their carbon-neutraly goodness, emit nitrous oxide (no, it doesn't make the car go faster). But which biofuels emit the least of this smog fog? Using no gas at all, Popular Mechanics gets a chance to goof around with the Mullen L1X-75 electric sup

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    It Had To Happen: Lowrider Warszawa!

    '50 Mercs and '51 Chevys are hard to come by in Poland, so any Pole who hankers for the feeling of rolling in a chopped-and-channeled lowrider to see the '59 Battle of the Doo Wop Bands in El Monte is forced to make do with local vintage steel. However, that's a good thing, as shown here by this FSO Warszawa (which is, of course, a Polish-made GAZ M20 Pobeda). It's got hydraulics, it does burnouts, and it's (apparently) available for wedding duties. The site's all in Polish, but that won't matte

    By Murilee Martin Read More
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    Detroit News Tells Tall Tale On Bush, Blames Blogs

    There's a big reason we didn't cover the silly little anecdote told by Alan Mulally at the New York Auto Show last week — we actually were watching it unfold live on CNBC at the time, and realized his comments in New York were nothing more than an embellished joke, hardly worth of a mention. But his anecdote, that he insinuated he helped save the president from setting himself and FoMoCo's hydrogen-powered vehicle on fire, were responsible for an online conflagration of epic proportions — necess

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    Jalopnik Morning Mourning: Pics Of The Dead Redline Enzo

    Let me first dispel a few myths. Most important, the car actor Eddie Griffin crashed into a wall, and that is now garishly on display in front of the Grauman Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, is indeed 100% Ferrari Enzo Ferrari. There is no doubt. I touched it. I smelled it. I took about 75 pictures of the poor thing's riven carbon fiber body and chassis. (See below for the fatal scars and wounds that will never heal.) You budding conspiracy theorists out there (Hi Tom Anderson!) had best call Ar

    By Jonny Lieberman Read More
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    UPDATE: Raising The RUF: Cayman-Based Tuner To Top Out At 224 Mph

    Get thee to the UAE. Later today, the Porsche tweakers at RUF will introduce the company's new Porsche Cayman tuner, the CT3, at RUF's new plant in the United Arab Emirates state of Bahrain. The CT3 gets its new lightness from aluminum and carbon-fiber body panels, and employs the same powerplant as RUF's 911 RT12 rocketship — that is a 3.8-liter, twin-turbo flat six producing 700 hp and 656 lb-ft of torque. Word is, the a seven-speed sequential automatic will put power to road. Top speed is pro

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    Six-Figure Hybrid: Lexus Prices LS600h L Flagship

    We knew it was coming, but the question was a matter of figures — five or six. But it's official, the Lexus LS600h flagship is a half-dozen figures, at an MSRP of $104,000. Toyota's selling the hybrid-drive system in terms of its efficient power boosting. Just as the hybrid GS430h L uses its e-motors to get the power of an eight-cylinder engine from a six, the LS600h L similarly gets the power delivery of a 12-cylinder from a six, the story goes. That is, 430 horsepower with combined fuel-econom

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    World's Smallest Supercharged V8 Engine — Now With Details!

    We've posted the above video from Weber Precision before, but we've now got the deets and pictures of the smallest...supercharged...V8 engine...in the world! Because although some folks may say size doesn't matter, we're of the opinion that's baloney. We mean, sometimes, it's cool to be a wee man. Like this little guy — a miniature four-stroke V8. It's got a 1.000-inch bore, 0.900-inch stroke, 9:1 compression ratio, 12,000 max rpm, rotary sliding vanes (mmm...supercharger), dual WALBRO carbs, du

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Jalopnik Fantasy Garage: Ferrari 288 GTO

    At first glance, Davey G. Johnson and I are barely distinguishable. We both exist in the form of a blog called Jalopnik.com as thirtynothing writers with some degree (however forced) of literary savoir-faire. We're bearded, the same height, lovers of cigarettes, in agreement that Jawbreaker's 24-hour Revenge Therapy is one of the most important awesome albums ever recorded and we not-so-secretly wish we were James May. But look a little closer and you'll see some major differences. Davey felt

    By Jonny Lieberman Read More
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    Swedish Meatball Morning: 2008 Volvo S40 And V50

    I was trying to figure out why the automaker from the land of Ikea was serving up two new meatballs this morning named the all-new S40 and V50. Then I realized — who the hell cares? Here's the scoop — although both are still built on Volvo's P1 platform, the message from Volvo is the coupe-styled S40 and it's wagon-brother V50 are "more different" in looks than previous models with the S40 moving a step closer to the new S-range design we've seen on the Volvo S80. The V50, on the other hand, ga

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    Performance Pays! Visteon Loses $163 Million In 2006, CEO Gets $10.8 Million Compensation Package

    I love that C-level execs are the only level in which compensation packages are rarely tied to overall corporate performance. Whether it was FoMoCo's exorbitant compensation packages for Mark "Flexmaster" Fields, Don "French Pastry" LeClair or Alan "Well-Paid New Guy" Mulally we saw last week, or whether it's this week with Michael Johnston, the CEO of FoMoCo's spin-off auto supplier, Visteon — they rarely appear to be constructed in such a way as to reward the performance of the actual compan

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    Chrysler Group Sales Speculation: It's Not So Much The Size Of Your Offer As What You'll Do With It

    AdAge's Jean Halliday claims the big pressure for anyone interested in buying the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid isn't so much what she claims is the "$5 billion to $7 billion" price tag. She feels the real questions are how the hell do you sell off the steel you've currently got taking up space on the lots and then more importantly how do you differentiate between these platform-prostituted brands? According to the "experts" she's queried, the two big problems are the Jeep and Ch

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    Ebay Find - Ultimate Hoon Edition: Evel Knievel X-2 Skycycle

    During the formative years of ages six through eleven, this Jalop lived a short bike ride from one of Evel Knievel's most spectacular failures (aside from the bone-crushing incident outside Caesar's Palace). That is, his 1974 attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon. Evel, the "paintron" saint of hoonage, hired an ex-NASA engineer to design and build what came to be called the X-2 Skycycle, a steam-powered missile that happened to have two wheels. With this batshit contraption he planned to jum

    By bwojdyla Read More
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    Red Hot Spy Photos: V10 Audi R8 Mule Goes Up In Flames On Nrburgring!

    Last day of track testing is always the best time to take a mule out and really see what she can do, right? Apparently not if it's one of the automaker of aluminum und shteel's highly precise R8 supercars testing the up-sized-from-standard V10 engine. Our spy photographing buddy Hans snapped some shots of what appears to be one of Audi's mules out testing the V10 version on the Br nnchen part of the N rburgring when the million euro Audi R8 prototype caught fire and burned up. Which is really

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    Watch Out For The Tree! Mazda CX-9 To Get Rearview-Mounted LCD Display

    Score another one for techno-ergonomics. Mazda says its CX-9 crossover will get a high-res 2.4" LCD display housed inside an automatic-dimming rearview mirror. The display will feed images from a back-up camera, giving a driver simultaneous, multiangle views of the shopping-cart morass he's about to back into. The system uses a "transflective" coating — that's a combination of transparent and reflective, achieved by putting a partially reflective mirror layer between the LCD and its backlight. I

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Go See Cal, Go See Cal, Go See Cal!

    Anyone who's spent any time in Southern California since 1950 knows exactly who Cal Worthington is; the TV ads for his dealerships make all other fast-talking cornball car salemen look like small-timers, and they've been an integral part of SoCal's cultural fabric since Richard Nixon was a freshman congressman. There's Cal's goofy "My Dog Spot" theme (Spot is never a dog) and, of course, the song: If you want a car or truck, go see Cal If you want to save a buck, go see Cal If your tailpipe is a

    By Murilee Martin Read More
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    The Other V8-Powered 3-Series: The BMW M3 GTR

    Hardcore BMW followers know the fourth-generation M3 isn't the first M-powered 3-Series to sport a V8 powerplant. Way back in 2001, the boys Bayerische built a run of 10 M3 GTR models, each powered by a 4.0-liter V8 producing 350 horsepower for the street (450 for the track). The GTR was created as a homologation model to qualify for the American Le Mans Series. That was back when the series required just one car to be sold publicly. These days, ALMS demands constructors build a series run of 10

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Las Vegas Grand Prix, 2007: Race Day

    Jalopnik's Las Vegas local, Curtis Walker reports on race day at the Las Vegas Grand Prix this past weekend. He spent Friday braving the rainy season and making faces at TV's Frankie Muniz, who debuted in Champ Car Atlantic. On Sunday he braved the desert sun to catch the KO of Champ Car favorite Sebastien Bourdais and more than six cars in the Champ Car Atlantic field. Check out some of the entries we copied from Curtis's notebook, which arrived at Jalopnik Central covered in dust, oil and drie

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    Jalopnik Goes To The Las Vegas Grand Prix: Pre Show

    We sent Jalopnik's resident desert dweller and Las Vegas go-to guy, Curtis Walker, to crash the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend. He spent Friday braving the rainy season and dodging TV's Frankie Muniz, who's making his debut in Champ Car Atlantic on Sunday. He also watched as Champ Car's Sebastien Bourdais missed pole position, and was reminded of the video game Pole Position by some historic open-wheel race cars. Check out some scratches copied directly from Curtis's notebook, along with some

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    Mazda RX-7 Chases Cat Up Tree, Ends Up On Ass

    While we've no idea if this RX-7 was really pretending it was a firefighter, we're pretty sure it's yet another example of what happens when folks get (what's been claimed to be) a brand new whip and decide to see how their new hotness will perform on-road. Or, as it would seem is the case here, the middle of suburbia. We'll let a.D over at ThirdEyeConcept take over the story-telling from here:

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    And In New York...There Was A Blizzard!

    Ok, not really, but the few flakes we did see yesterday outside the Javits Center as we left another New York Auto Show were significantly more than those I saw during the 60-degree-plus temperatures we had in Detroit during the LA Auto Show. But because that didn't stop Times freelancer Jerry Garrett from making the claim a few months back that we were suffering from a cold and snowy blizzard, we figure we'd return the favor of tossing this inaccuracy out there, mostly because it would seem we'

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    Fast As A Shark: No Sleep 'Til Lynbrook

    It's 10:46pm California time as I sit down to write this. But I'm not in San Pedro. I'm somewhere near Saint Marks Place in New York City, and the only sounds in the room are the tapping of two Apple keyboards and the rattling dull whine of air filters sucking the cigarette smoke out of the air of a spacious loft replete with a machine gun and a glass-encased model of the Bismarck. On the chairs at the bar hang three jackets, with a black, non-descript number in the middle. To its left is a navy

    By Davey G. Johnson Read More
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    Seoul Motor Show: The GM Daewoo L4X

    The amortizing of GM's Holden-built rear-drive Zeta platform continues on the Korean Peninsula. It's a rear-drive show car dubbed the L4X, intro'd at the Seoul auto show this week, amid well-dressed salarymen and the prom queens who sweat them. The pre-production model, whose design is based on several Holden models like the Caprice and Statesman, will become the latest GM-Daewoo flagship when the series model arrives in late 2008. It's powered by Holden's 3.6-liter Alloytec V6 (258 hp) hooked t

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Down On The Street: '66 Mercury Comet Cyclone

    Even though I grew up worshiping 60s Detroit muscle cars, I'm left a little cold by the tedious sameness of the ones I spot on the street today. If it's not a '66 Mustang or '69 Camaro, it's gonna be a '68-'72 GM A-Body or maybe a Mopar E-Body. Most of the Javelins, Dart GTs, and the like have been crushed by now, with the few nice survivors living (if you can call it that) in a gilded-cage world of car shows and nostalgia cruises. So it was quite a treat when I spied this clean '66 Mercury Come

    By Murilee Martin Read More
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    I'm A Seoul Van: Kia KND-4 Concept

    While we were sorting through the New York auto show's new releases, refreshes and free coffee that tasted like a composite of Bon Ami and roasted peanuts, news from the Seoul auto show was breaking. One such story was on a new concept 4x4 dubbed the KND-4. It's one of those "active lifestyle" jobbies, with high ground clearance, LED lighting, 20" wheels and a sharp-angled C-pillar only a student of Philippe Starck could get excited about. Inside, it's got the requisite metallics, indirect light

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    A Fourth Of B-Thoven: The New BMW M3 Photo Dump

    BMW's released a corporate-sanctioned photo spread on the new, fourth-generation M3, of a scale rivaling the baby pictures of Ludwig II of Bavaria. Of course, Baby Ludwig was likely rendered in oils, whereas the M3 gets the latest in photographic geegaw. Some of the collection's highlights are "M3 Rounding Corner," "M3 About to Round Corner," and "M3 Parked on Test Track." We hear a more subversive photo, "M3 Descending Staircase" was redacted. Enjoy. (Specs after the junp.)

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    New York Auto Show: Suzuki SX4 Slingshots Into Sedan

    The folks that brought us the GSXR, and a motorcycle that came to be known as the water buffalo have added a sporting sedan to the SX4 fleet. Suzuki plans to build more motorcycle into every one of their their cars, and is offering yet another version of the plucky SX4 for folks who enjoy driving the snot out of their econoboxes along with saving a few bucks. A quick look under the car revealed no drive axles connected to the rear wheels, so we can only assume the production SX4 sedan will be a

    By Mike Bumbeck Read More
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    Chrysler Group Sales Speculation — Taken For A Ride II: Judgement Day

    Everyone knows who Bill Vlasic is right? He's the Detroit News reporter who co-wrote the definitive account of the how Chrysler and Mercedes became the stilted and fubar married couple they are today. Vlasic and co-author Bradley A. Stertz's "Taken For A Ride" starts with an attempted takeover by a certain peppermint patty-flavored corporate raider...by the name of Kirk Kerkorian. So it's quite interesting for us that with Walter P. Chrysler's name-sake getting taken for a second ride in the p

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    New York Auto Show: Subaru Impreza WRX, 2.5i

    Subaru wiped the cosmoline off its new Subaru Impreza WRX, in the upcoming sedan configuration. It's the one an informal survey of Jalopnik comments chose as the best looking of the new Impreza models. And it does look pretty good in three dimensions, if slightly more generic that its blocky predecessor. Overall, the design appears more unified, with a pair of fashionable swage creases ala BMW 3-Series, and a monocular hoodscoop that's more integrated into the forward sheetmetal. We'll have to l

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Junkyard Finds: 1984 LTD Crown Victoria

    The days of junkyards bursting at the seams with rear-drive cars packing big V8s are long gone, but you can still go into most self-service yards and find a couple of big 80s Fords with complete 351 Windsors...

    By Murilee Martin Read More
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    New York Auto Show: In The Year 2008: Honda S2000 CR

    With minimal fanfare, Honda dropped the prototype S200 CR, which the company says "introduces a higher level of track-worthy performance and style to the S2000 roadster." Taking a Chapman-esque approach to the high-winding screamer by adding stiffness and lightness. The covertible top takes its leave, replaced by a standard aluminum hardtop. Power numbers? 237hp at 7,800 RPM and 162 rapidly-pounding feet at 6,800. Press release after the jump

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    New York Auto Show: Infiniti G Coupe And EX Concept

    Amid the smoke of grilled lunch and some manner of Calder mobile-esque covering, Infiniti revealed the 2008 G Coupe and the EX Concept. The G coupe, also known as the G37, packs a refined version of the already stout VQ-series engine tweaked to churn out 330 hp. Four wheel 4WAS steering returns from the Nissan 240SX Super Hicas past to help the G37 carve around corners. Infiniti also turned the shrink ray on the QX45 and came up with EX concept, which holds super potential to break into the ever

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    New York Auto Show: Hyundai Concept Genesis

    So it's a little derivative of a few luxury sedans of the early century. But Hyundai bosses say the Concept Genesis is a technical marvel. They also say it'll be arriving in the second quarter of 2008 at a starting price of under $30,000. Word is, it'll come with Hyundai's new Tau DOHC 32-valve V8, producing upward of 300 hp, and have more interior space than a BMW 5-series. How will Hyundai upgrade its econo brand image to accommodate a premium luxury model? Look for lots of TV spots featuring

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    New York Auto Show: Volvo XC70 Tougher And Safer, Less Teal

    While Volvo may have given up finishing motorcars in teal leather, their quest for safety has evidently become stronger and more exciting. The designer cited the elegant lines and rippling muscles of the new and improved XC70 as an example of this continued move away from the staid image and iron duke slowness of older Volvos. The Swedes also continue to install free will into these machines, which may in fact conflict with the safety built into the DNA of every Volvo. The comfort level has also

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    Fire!! Mercedes-Benz Drops The AMG CLK63 Black Series

    Mercedes chose a "Mission Impossible" theme, complete with stilted script-reading and allusions to secret messages self-destructing in ten seconds, to intro the CLK63 Black Series. Then they whipped off some sweet LA Guns-grade pyrotechnics, which added paramilitary violence to the CLK63's latent motorial violence. All of the calculated theatrics was set entirely to spotlight AMG's 186-mph 'bahn blazer, which appeared in Formula One safety-car guise. Then, a pair of mock goons stripped off the l

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    New York Auto Show: Secret Ford Car Not A Ford; World Car Of The Year Winner?

    Ok, so we're pretty certain that car we snapped shots of earlier (and have reproduced above) under cover is neither a Ford or a Flex. But what is it? Well, since it was sitting in the "Special Events Hall" at the Javits Center — one would think it's there for some other event. The only other event that's on the schedule in the Special hall is the World Car Of The Year (WCOTY) breakfast tomorrow morning. Our guess is that vehicle under cover is the winner — but here's a question — who's the win

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    New York Auto Show: Ford Does The Minivan Muscle Flex Live!

    Alan, Mark, Horbury, Mays — the whole gang was on hand to preview two new cars for the auto-show media fleet here in New York. The first, the Shelby GT500/KR. But you know, we've seen that already. What haven't we seen? Well, we haven't seen them Flex yet. Until today. Here's the press release and the live shots from here on the Javits floor. We'll have more on Ford's minivan muscle flex soon.

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    New York Auto Show: Chevy Leverages The Sexual Appeal Of Faux Hipsters, Reveals Trio Of Minicars

    Mmm...Chevy wants to bring SexyBack (Yeah!), and they've attempted to use faux hipsters to spice up the new trio of "urban" minicar concepts to do it. Whether or not it works is up to you, but hey, sex usually seems to sell — even when it's like we're watching Rent on stage at the Javits. If you want to find out anything about the minicars themselves, hit the jump or check out the PR shots we'll have up shortly. We're off to watch and see if FoMoCo skips the hip and just goes straight to strip

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    New York Auto Show: 2008 Jeep Liberty

    Oh for the love of god, this is the new Jeep Liberty for 2008? What has the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid done to my baby? I'm in shock — it's like they took the Dodge Nitro and slapped a Jeep grille on it. I know that I'm the first person to scream from the mountains how much I love my little Liberty, but after seeing this, I think I just vomited in my mouth a little. I'm sorry, I'm going to need to spend some time alone here and mourn my cute little bug (ask Lieberman about tha

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    Skyscraper Taxi Rolling Out RIDES

    The New York taxi as we know it has been around for 100 years as of this Wednesday. Some of the Crown Vics in the medallion fleet look as if they've been around for twice that long. Not this one. The crew at RIDES have built a skyscraper cab to celebrate this historic anniversary. The Donk-o-Cab will be on display at the New York Auto Show, and may be pressed into service post-show as a genuine New York City medallion was part of the build up. Just don't let the 30-inch spinners hypnotize you in

    By Mike Bumbeck Read More
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    It's Combustin' Time: Driving The BMW Hydrogen 7 In NYC

    BMW endowed us with some cruise time in the company's Hydrogen 7 earlier today. If you're not familiar with the Hydrogenization 7 — as one punch-drunk New Yorker dubbed it — it's BMW's V12-powered 7-Series that's been tricked with a liquid hydrogen tank, heat exchangers and other gear that allow it to run on either hydrogen or gasoline combustion. Hydrogen mode is engaged via a button on the steering wheel. Under hydrogen power, the most notable difference is a slight growl under hard accelerati

    By Mike Bumbeck Read More
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    Road Rage Roundup: Aggro Aussies, Loogie Hawkage

    Off-duty cop in a Jetta, 18-year-old girl in a Maxima. Cop believes girl is too slow, and the whole thing ends up with them at the side of the road and him tapping on the window with his loaded nine, stating "I could shoot you right now, you know that?" Thing is, the recording of her 911 call picked up that career-tarnishing utterance. Welcome to jail, Officer Cmeyla. [Richmond Times-Dispatch]

    By Murilee Martin Read More
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    Jalopnik Fantasy Garage: 1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Corsica Drophead Coupe

    You have been warned. Anyone who votes against the Daimler Double Six 50 Sport Corsica Drophead Coupe's induction into the Jalopnik Fantasy Garage will be ceremoniously banned, without possibility of appeal. Sayonara. Auf Wiedersehen. Fugedaboudit. [Not really, but you get the sentiment — ed.] However, we are not totally without heart, as Larry Forney can vote however he likes. No such luck for Tom Anderson. And now, we invite you to jump.

    By Jonny Lieberman Read More
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    Flying What, Now? Subaru's New Tribeca Face

    Say goodbye to the Subaru Tribeca's former what-if-Karl-Malden-were-an-Alfa-Romeo nose. Say hello to a more generic grill that looks equal parts Chrysler Sebring and Ford's "Dave." Nonetheless, the new styling does carry to the new Impreza, and soon to the rest of the Subaru line. We'll see in New York. See the high-res picture here.

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    New York Auto Show Preview: 2008 Mercedes C-Class

    We'll be seeing the new and slightly bigger C-Class in person this week in the Javits Convention Center at the New York Auto Show. What Mercedes is telling us so far is that it'll be launched in the fall with three V6-powered models — a C350 Sport, the C300 Luxury and the C300 Sport. The C300 Sport and Luxe models will be available with the all-new 4MATIC AWD system and a seven-speed tranny. The C-Class Sport models, which Mercedes is calling "AMG-inspired" (right, inspired, but not "tuned by"

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Color Us Impreza: More Subie Shots Surface Ahead Of New York Unveiling

    Little by little, the 2008 Subaru Impreza is emerging ahead of its IRL debut at the New York auto show this week. In that vein, above is the often-discussed sedan version of the new Subie in WRX trim. We're willing to bet, seeing these shots won't do much to tighten the consensus on the redesigned Impreza's looks. In fact, we're pretty sure it'll create even more polarization among Jalopnik's many Subaru connoisseurs.

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    New York Auto Show Preview: 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee

    If it's the New York Auto Show, it must be time for new Jeeps. For some odd reason the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid has found New York's the place to show off their new rock-crawlers — last year showing off the new Jeep Patriot and the four-door Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. This year the boys n' girls from Stuttgart Auburn Hills have so far unveiled the new 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee. And let's just say — it's amazingly similar to the old one. Except for like, one big difference. This

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Spy Photos: Henry Ford To Debut New "Horseless Carriage" In New York This Week?

    We've been covering this whole "horseless carriage" phenomenon for some time, but we're hearing this guy down the road from here's got a new way of making them. He's calling it "mass production" and it sounds like the cat's meow. In fact, with an emphasis on making workers jobs on this "assembly line" totally unimportant and meaningless, it's going to drop the cost of making these newfangled people-carriers to even the point that you or I can pick one up. And they're efficient — we're hearing

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    B-List Action Figure Found Dead On Lawn In New Jersey

    Action figure Steve Houston was found dead in his "Earth Speeder" vehicle at a residence in Montvale, New Jersey early Sunday morning. Houston, who was once described as "sucky" and "who the hell is that?" was purchased from P&J's Stationary in New Brunswick on December 25, 1978 by a local man. Sources say the man, Uncle Jeff, now 60, had been out drinking with his girlfriend the evening before, and allegedly chose Houston's "Intergalactec [sic] Playset" over a bag of Crazee Novelty pick-up stic

    By Mike Spinelli Read More