Japanese car mods

You ain't never seen nuthin' like dis ever. An' needer have I.

Those whacky Japanese have their own way of modifiying the body styles of their vehicles to make them stand out.

Check out the pictorial right here.

(CrookedBrains)

The girls of Formula 1

I'm a pushover for a pretty girl. But you knew that already.

With the Indy 500 race just down the road a piece I offer up some pretty faces with tight curves and meandering s-turns.

Check out the F1 girls here.

(Funtasticus)

PT Bruiser

It never fails. At least once or twice a year I'm cruisin' somewhwere and I spot some car modified into a 4-by-4 rock crawler or some such.

I have no idea why people do this, but maybe it's proof that there's a rampant Redneck gene invading peoples' immune systems.

Here's the latest. A modded PT Cruiser which is/was up for sale on eBay. Dubbed the PT Bruiser, its Buy-it-Now price is 10 grand. Pfft!

Autoblog has a picture gallery here.

Car logo evolution

Auto emblems have evolved through the decades, some for the better and some that make you go, "meh."

The histories behind each insignia are quite interesting, if you have the time to read them.

Otherwise, just look at the pretty pictures right here.

(Neatorama)

A Ferrari for the kids

For all the well-off families who want to spoil the crap outta their kids, comes this unique Ferrari pedal car.

It comes in two versions: a stripped down street racer and a option equipped speedster with leather bucket seat, leather steering wheel and a kid's version of "dubs."

$725 for the drab and a bit better 'n $2100 for the cool. Hans device, airbag and seatbelt not included.

Check it out here.

Lucky guy in auto wreck

This is one lucky guy. He's in his truck, hanging on by a thread, nothin' but the framework hangin' on to the cab.

View this wreck and have your pick of other wrecks at this quite large collection site right here.

Four engine, all-wheel-drive Buick

Blast from the past. Years ago, a former TV star, Tommy Ivo got heavily into drag racing. He came up with some outrageous monsters, many of them being multi-engined, smoking beasts.

One of them was the Buick Riviera Wagon-Master which had four tilted and connected Buick engines which powered all four wheels.

This racer was soon banned by the NHRA and went on exhibition tours thereafter.

Check out a nice pictorial from Jalopnik right here.

Official rules for calling Shotgun

The "shotgun" position is the front, passenger seat of a car next to the window. This obviously hearkens back to the days of the stagecoach and the guy who sat with the shotgun next to the driver.

For example, you and your three buddies decide to drive Burger King (or anywhere for that matter.) If you want to sit up front, you have to be the first to call out, "Shotgun!" to get dibs on the passenger seat. The other guys have to sit in the back.

We did this when way back when I was a teen just after the Civil War. My kids still call "shotgun" today. But, there are rules. Yes, official rules for Shotgun.

Here is the history of the shotgun position. For the Official Rules of calling Shotgun, click here.

Traffic jams

The picture at left was taken in Moscow. I have no explanation for actions of the drivers in this situation. But we've all been in traffic jams at one time or another, and I pity the poor fools who drive in one every day.

Some Japanese scientists did a little investigating and devised an interesting experiment to prove how traffic jams happen and the shockwave that travels backwards through traffic.

The video is below.




Road construction engineers aren't helping matters any. They design some some crazy and ensnarled interchanges that would cause any GPS system to get a nervous breakdown.

Check out some of the world's worst interchanges right here.

(DarkRoastedBlend)

Big Rig racing

A couple of eighteen-wheeled behemoths, fully loaded, race down the track in Quebec.

So much for global warming.

Top 10 most extreme custom cars

The Blastolene B-702 is by far the most outrageous motor vehicle ever concieved. Something out of a 1930s comic book, perhaps. But there it is.

Read about it and the other nine cars, including a Chevy Caprice on 30-inch rims right here.

Auto company ownership

You can argue for days about the benefits of an American car and "buying American" and all that. My Tundra was built in Princeton, Indiana by American workers using Japanese parts (and who knows what other country's parts.)

Then it comes down to which car companies have an ownership stake in which other car companies. Jalopnik has a great pictorial graph which you should print out and stick on your beer fridge out in the garage. The topic is bound to arise sometime in the future.

Jalopnik has 2 versions of the auto ownership graph, the second of the 2 looks like a wiring diagram for an old microprocessor and is impossible to follow.

Check out the ownership chart right here.
(Note: shouldn't that be "who owns whom? Probably, but then no one would understand it. - FCG)

Car show girls

The babes at a Japanese auto show are no different than their western counterparts. Or are they? Especially western car show babes.

The young ladies featured are somewhat more elegantly garbed and exhibit a special "style," if you will. One other thing puzzles me: they seem to have more "westernized" facial features as well. Some even resemble Anime-style faces. Perhaps I've been out of the loop too long.

The cars are unique as well.

Check 'em out here.

(Funtasticus)

What a load!

There are some places in the world where apparently they just hate making two trips. So, cleverly and carefully, they strap the entire cargo to the vehicle and proceed merrily down the road as if nothing's wrong.

Here's a cool pictorial of overloaded vehicles from places other than your county.

(CrookedBrains)

Bust your nuts

Forget WD-40. PB Blaster works better on breaking free rusted fasteners than oxy-acetylene. Spray. Wait. Loosen.

I've tried it and I think it's great.

Check out the bleeping video ad for PB-B below. You'll get a little chuckle.

(Incidentally, just in case you didn't know, WD-40 stands for "water displacement - 40th try. What the "PB" stands for is anyone's guess.)

Is this the next Hummer?

The U.S. Army is asking for proposals on a possible replacement for the seemingly ubiquitous Hummer, or HumVee, or HMMWV, or High Mobility Multi-purpose wheeled vehicle.

"On February 8, the military issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to suppliers, soliciting concepts for a new Joint Light Tactical family of Vehicles (JLTVs)."

So far, 8 companies are involved in the bidding process and, as yet, there are no details on the engine or other specs. Like miles-per-gallon.

MotorTrend has more info and more pics here.

Wearable motorcycle airbag

I've seen pictures of a motorcycle airbag that deploys from the dashboard, but that doesn't afford any protection if you put the bike down on her side.

This idea is for an airbag that the rider wears on his back. If he gets too far out of the vertical, the bag deploys across the shoulders and can offer some upper body protection when going down.

How soon before we see these? Maybe a coupla two-tree years. Watch the video.

(BoingBoing)

10 freaky car crashes

This will have you scratching your head, wondering how this could have happened.

Autos shown in various states of wreckage are photographed after the crash. The accompanying text gives a brief explanation, but still. How does stuff like this happen?

10 freaky car wrecks right here.

Spy Hunter Pontiac

Spy Hunter was a game in the arcades in the early '80s. Perhaps you've heard of it. Perhaps you've played it. Perhaps it bankrupted you.

Some marketing dude at GM had a brain tremor and decided to have Spy Hunter sell the new Pontiac G8.

I must say that it makes for a pretty cool commercial, shown below.

(MuscleCarBlog)

Potential automotive recall

Do you own a 2008 Buick Enclave? Or a GMC Acadia? Well, have I got news for you. There's a small (?) problem with your engine.

Two of my sons work at a car dealership in the repair shop and reported when I saw them at lunch today that these vehicles have camshaft problems. In the 3.6L, V6, DOHC (dual overhead cam) engine, the cams will "walk" in the cam guides as much as a quarter inch.

First symptom is the Check Engine light will come on. The computer error code thrown will be P0391 - camshaft sensor error. It could happen on cars with as little as 1,000 miles on the odometer.

There is a national backorder on replacement heads and there's no telling how soon this situation will be formally addressed and rectified. GM will inevitably issue a recall on these vehicles to correct the problem. The question is when, though.

The Ford guys are snickering up their torn and greasy sleeves, I'm sure.