zoomvroom Car Culture, Website Reccomendation

The Best Places on the Internet to Showcase Your Ride

As summer rapidly approaches, many of us who have classic cars, whether they be hot rods, muscle cars, whatever they may be, want others to see their cars.  Sure, there are cruises, parades, and driving your ride around.  But, if you want a LOT of people to see your car, put it up on the internet.  I’m not joking.  If you have, for example, a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 that you think others way outside of your state should see, put it up on one of the online car communities listed below for you.  Even if you have a brand new Mustang GT500 and you want the world to see it, drive it and put it up on the internet!  Cars are meant to be driven.  It’s what they like to do.  Cars aren’t meant to sit around in your garage waiting for some new parts to be installed, or wait for you to be driven.  Cars enjoy being driven.  Fast cars enjoy being pushed to their limit, whether it be on a canyon road, or down the dragstrip.  Drive your car the way it’s meant to be driven!  If you’ve got a classic musclecar, do burnouts, launch it down the quarter mile, do whatever it was meant to do.  Have fun with it.  Make a day out of it by driving it to work, pick the kids up from school in it, enjoy it.  Otherwise, it’s not meant for you.

Back to the original point of this blog post.  There are plenty of online car communities and forums on the internet that are just dying to see your ride.  Here is a list of the best online car communities.

  • eBay Motors is a great place to get parts for your car, talk with others on how to fix or modify your car, and share stories with your car.  The website even gives recommendations on what parts your car will need.  It’s intuitive, fun, and time consuming.  Using hashtags will help you find other garages similar to yours.  The stories of how the owners got their car(s) and what they did to their car(s) is just an added bonus.  http://www.ebay.com/motors/garage
  • My Classic Garage is one of the other awesome sites out there.  My Classic Garage is a cloud-based tool for classic car collectors.  I can’t say enough good things about it.  Many major classic automotive dealers are on My Classic Garage, which makes it fun to look through all of their cars for sale.  Plus, the Classic Trivia game is a lot of fun.  You can find my very own My Classic Garage page as Curbside Motorsports.   http://myclassicgarage.com/
  • Hagerty Car Insurance, believe it or not, has a place on its website where owners can share their stories.  It’s pretty neat that an insurance company does that.  And, no, the stories are not about how the owners got good insurance quotes!  The stories are about how the owners found their car, restored their car, etc.  Hagerty gives monthly prompts for you, but you are always welcome to tell your story without using a Hagerty quote.  Tell your story at http://www.hagerty.com/yourstories

Those are the three big, good online car communities that I would recommend, and if you belong to another one that I didn’t mention, please tell me what it is, and I will gladly do a Part II of this blog post!

 

zoomvroom Car Culture, World News

The World’s Fastest Electric Car!

Don Garlits is a drag racing legend.  It’s why he’s known as “Big Daddy.”  Garlits has set records, not only for the amount of wins, but also for eclipsed times, trap speeds, etc.  He’s been active in the drag racing world for the better part of 60 years.  Many credit him for actively starting to make Top Fuel drag racing safer.  He’s learned the hard way on how unsafe old nitromethane dragsters are.  His favorite engine is the 426 Hemi that propelled him to many a victory.  Now, at age 81, he’s trying to set yet another record.

The eerie silence of electric vehicles is a bit creepy to some.  Nowhere is it more apparent than a 1/4 mile dragstrip.  Top Fuel dragsters make 8,000 horsepower, shake your body to the core, and easily hit 150 decibels.

Big Daddy’s Swamp Rat 37 isn’t what he usually drag races.  This is evidenced by the fact that he went 323 mph six years ago.  He regularly drag races a 2009 Dodge Challenger Drag Pak (Dodge’s equivalent of the Ford Mustang Cobra Jet and Chevy COPO Camaro, except it’s got a 600 horsepower Viper V10 under the hood).  Anyhow, Swamp Rat 37 isn’t nearly as quick as other cars he’s sailed down the 1320 feet of a quarter mile in.  But, his new record proves that electric dragsters aren’t slow, either.  According to Wired, Garlits and Swamp Rat 37 just went 7.258 seconds at 184.01 mph at Brandenton Motorsports Park in Florida.  That’s a little bit short of the 200 mph Garlits is aiming for, but he still went 24.16 mph faster than the previous record.

Very few electric cars make supercars look slow, though the Tesla Model S does come close – very close.  However, Big Daddy’s dragster makes every supercar look slow.  Swamp Rat 37 has six 7.5-inch DC electric motors.  Total output from those motors is 1,500 kilowatts, equivalent to about 2,000 horsepower.  Power for those motors is provided by four lithium-ion battery packs that store 420 volts and 3,600 amps.  It’s a little bit more powerful than sticking your finger into an electrical outlet.  Since he’s living his life 1320 feet at a time, there’s no such thing as range anxiety.

Big Daddy built up to full power over the course of several runs, turning in a 10.9, an 8.75, and on his fifth run, he hit 178.42 mph.  His sixth run was the record-shattering run.  For me, the most striking noise is not the whir of the electric motors, but the tires.  The noise of the tires is always drowned out by the thundering engines used in Top Fuel dragsters.  For some,  this may devalue electric dragsters forever, but Big Daddy has shown the world that there’s potential in everything.

Enjoy the video of Garlits setting the record.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea4igN8Thtg

zoomvroom People's first car's and funny stories

An Amazing Car!

Just the other evening, I was driving home, and my 2003 Chrysler Town & Country LXi’s odometer rolled over for the second time.  For those of you who don’t know what that means, it means that the car hit 200,000 miles.  100,000 miles is a milestone for any car, but 200,000 is impressive.  I think that it’s a good time to reflect on some nice memories that the old minivan has provided me.

I’ll never forget the day we bought it in 2003.  Most people have some sort of memory about buying a new car.  I was a little tyke back then, and it had been raining that morning while the negotiations for the car were going on.  When they handed us the keys and the minivan was ours, there were three rainbows!  That’s a good sign.  I remember that it was simply beautiful driving it home.

Another amazing memory really isn’t just one memory.  Rather, it’s a series of memories from the summer of 2007, when I traveled the country with my mom and sister (my dad joined us for the return trip).  It was a lot of fun, and something that I would gladly repeat any time.  Just throw me the keys…

Yet another memory was when I had first received my learners permit from the DMV, and my mom took me to a large parking lot and let me drive around.  It was just the beginning of my (hopefully) long driving career.  I didn’t really know how to do stuff like park, but what better way to learn than do it in your own car?

Now that I have my driver’s license, an amazing old minivan filled with even more amazing memories, what could go wrong?  I’ve loved every moment I’ve been in this old minivan, and I hope to enjoy many more.

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zoomvroom Car Reviews, New car info, Tech Talk, The auto dictionary. Look it up here!, World News

Dodge Revives Classic Shaker Hoods and Scat Packs!

While it’s been a couple of months since the 2014 SEMA show in Las Vegas, I only recently heard about the legendary Shaker Hoods and Scat Packs returning to Mopar!

Since the 2014 Dodge Challenger looks like it’s 1970 ancestor, it seems fitting that the Challenger should have the legendary Shaker Hood.  Like the original Challenger, the 2014 Challenger can also be fitted with a hood that has the air scoop directly attached to the engine.  This Shaker Hood isn’t just a useless piece of retro jewelry, either.  It provides cooling air to the thirsty HEMI engine under that beautiful hood.

What makes the Shaker Hood even more accessible to enthusiasts who want a 2014 Challenger is the fact that it comes as its own special model!  It’s called the 2014 Dodge Challenger R/T Shaker, and it comes with it’s unique graphics, a period-correct Satin Black Shaker Hood, plus the optional Super Track Pack performance package and a few other cosmetic changes.  It also comes with a spectacular creamsicle-orange color that is a must!

Also returning for 2014 is the Scat Pack.  The last time the Scat Pack was seen on the 1968 Challenger, Charger, and Dart.  Back then, it was called the “Scat Pack Club” package, and it collectively referred to all of the performance models, and it also encouraged camaraderie among enthusiasts and owners.  This time around, however, Dodge is using the moniker as a performance package for, you guessed it, the Dart, Charger, and Challenger.

Each Scat Pack package is available in three stages, with each stage offering additional performance enhancements for the mighty 5.7-liter HEMI V8 on the Charger and Challenger and the turbocharged 2.4-liter four cylinder on the Dart.

These performance enhancements include enhanced ECU tuning, and freer-flowing intake and exhaust systems.  The V8 cars come with more serious modifications:  Not only do they come with what’s mentioned above, but they get new Iskendarian camshafts, and ported-and-polished cylinder heads – in the upper levels.  The Dart has to make do with brake and suspension enhancements.  All three Scat Pack cars come with cool graphics and custom interiors done up with Katzkin leather.

The Challenger R/T Shaker and the Scat Pack Challenger, Charger, and Dart will arrive in dealers by mid-May 2014.

zoomvroom Gifts for the Car Enthusiast, Random

Roadkill Hat Give Away Coming Soon!

While I know that I just published a blog post a few minutes ago, I feel kinda bad that I was negligent enough to not post earlier this week.  For those of you who are keeping track of my blog posts, you will know that I have published 288 blog posts!  That’s a huge accomplishment, and I’ve decided that I am going to do a give away of a Roadkill baseball cap at 300 blog posts.  It will be like the give away that I had at 100 and 200 blog posts.  I will give each reader a random number between 1 and 100, and have one of my parents select a random number between 1 and 100.  Whatever reader is closest to that number will get a Roadkill baseball cap mailed to them, courtesy of the Unmuffled Auto News.  Please note that I am not doing this give away because I feel badly about not publishing Tuesday, I just think that a give away is something fun, and 300 blog posts is a milestone.

I hope you have a nice weekend, and stay tuned for a very special blog post next week!  It’s going to be a surprise, so much of a surprise in fact that my parents don’t even know about it…hopefully…

 

zoomvroom New car info, The History of Autos, World News

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse Black Bess Headed to Beijing Auto Show

Bugatti’s recently gotten into the habit of making special-edition Veyrons.  The special-edition Veyrons are a six-part series of limited-edition Veyrons offered to the public.  The one I am talking about, “Black Bess,” is installment number five in the series.

The “Black Bess” Veyron pays homage to the Bugatti Type 18 “Black Bess.”  Like the original Type 18 Black Bess, the new Veyron Black Bess is painted black with gold accents throughout the exterior.  I’ve got to say it looks pretty darn good.  Some of these gold accents, believe it or not, like the grille and rear badge, are made out of legitimate 24-karat gold!

Inside the Veyron Black Bess, it’s got beige leather seats, contrasting brown leather trim, and a red steering wheel.  All three of those are homages to the original Type 18 Black Bess.  The inspiration for the Veyron Black Bess is notable everywhere, especially on the  interior door panels, which feature hand-painted scenes of the Type 18 Black Bess in action.  Each of the six Veyron Black Bess’s will feature different artwork to ensure that no two are alike.

As for the Type 18 Black Bess, it got it’s name from it’s original owner, French aviation pioneer, Roland Garros, who named it after a British race horse of the era.  The Bugatti Type 18 was one of the original supercars.  It had a 5.0-liter inline-four-cylinder engine making around 100 horsepower.  That gave it a 100 mph top speed, and all seven Type 18’s had (or still have) an impressive racing pedigree.

The Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse Legends Black Bess  made it’s debut at the 2014 Beijing International Auto Show alongside the original Black Bess on April 21.

zoomvroom Car Culture, Humor, I Challenge You!, Random, World News

The World’s Craziest Go-Kart!

Go-karts are fun little vehicles.  Some of them can go up to 70 mph – in just a few seconds!  Others can climb up hills.  Most don’t have Chevy big-block V8 engines, though.  Dirt Every Day, a fun off-road show on the Motor Trend Channel has a go-kart with a 454 big-block.  I’m pretty sure that that just elevated the host, Fred Williams, to the crazy-maybe-stupid category.

In the previous episode of Dirt Every Day, Fred had an off-road club of college kids called the Poly Goats come and demolish a 1986 Pace Arrow motorhome.  For those of you who don’t know what makes it so special, I have one number for you: 454.  Nothing else needs to be said.  The Poly Goats made mincemeat of the Pace Arrow.  By the end of the episode, it was a bare chassis with a 454 cubic-inch V8, a Turbo 400 transmission, and a beefy rear end.  That’s a good start for a monster go-kart.

However, Fred needed to build and install all of the necessary components to ensure that this crazy contraption starts, stops, turns, and shifts.  However, every go-kart needs to be safe, so Fred turned to his good friend, Frank, who is an engineer.  Frank helped Fred out by giving him tips about the rollcage.

After Frank, some of the Poly Goats come to help Fred get the crazy kart good to go.  After a long day wiring the pedals, steering column, and shifter, fabricating the wide wheel set, and wiring the engine up, the go-kart is good to go.  Fred wisely decides to not drive the go-kart around his neighborhood.

The next morning, Fred trailers both his mini go-kart and his recently built monster go-kart out to a remote ranch for some off-road hoonage.  He is going to have a shootout.  Instead of him driving both go-karts, he has a couple of Poly Goats come and assist him.  They are brave souls.

One of the contests is where the contestants have to see who starts their engine first.  The big go-kart wins by a mile.  The next contest is a timed obstacle course where the drivers have to go around one or two trees depending on kart size, moving around bottles, and going in between cattle skulls.  The tiny go-kart wins.  Then, a drag race, as drag races have proven to be popular on the Motor Trend Channel.  The big go-kart wins.  You just don’t expect a tiny gas-powered go-kart to win against something with a 454.  Then, Fred decides to have a tug-o-war competition.  Yeah, we all know who won there.

After all of the contests, Fred takes the monster go-kart off-roading.  It looks like a lot of fun.  Don’t do this at home, kids.

zoomvroom Humor, World News

Break My Window – I Dare You!

You know what usually happens when you park your car in front of a fire hydrant – you get a ticket, your car is towed to impound, and you get a bunch of impound fees to top it off.  Notice the emphasis on usually.  However, the owner of a BMW 335i Coupe wasn’t so lucky.

A couple of days ago in East Boston, the BMW owner parked their car in front of a fire hydrant.  Shortly after that, a fire broke out in a nearby house.  When Boston’s best came, they had no choice but to smash in some of the left side of the Bimmer to get access to the fire hydrant.  They also needed to have more room for the inflexible fire hoses, so they literally bounced the BMW about a foot and a half.  Then, they broke in the windows of the BMW and fed the fire hose through.  Oh, and to add insult to injury, the Boston Police Department towed the BMW, AND sent a $100 ticket to the owner.  As if getting smashed windows, a big dent, and a lot of embarrassment wasn’t enough…

While the Boston Fire Department said that the firefighters didn’t take any glee in doing such a thing as that.  If that makes them sleep at night, okay.  However, the BMW window-smashing went kinda viral on the vast expanses of the internet.  Ex-firefighters said that they all pray to do what their brethren in Boston did to jacka**es.  Conflicting points of view?  You bet.

I’ve got to tell you looking at the pictures and videos of the BMW, it’s definitely a feel-good moment.  Everybody has at least one automotive-related mess up.  While I don’t know the owner’s name, I can quite confidently say that this is one of them.  Bummer to the Bimmer owner!

zoomvroom Car Reviews, New car info

A Lincoln Town Car for the Modern Day

Fans of Ford’s Panther platform will no doubt cry “blasphemy” and a whole other host of names.  Haters gonna hate.  If you’re a Panther fan, keep it to yourself and read this blog post, or come back next Tuesday.

Not only does the Hyundai Equus Ultimate serve as Hyundai’s flagship, it also costs as much as a premium midsize sedan like the 2014 Cadillac CTS.  I’m not suggesting a comparison – the CTS is in a completely different league than the Equus.  While Hyundai’s execution of a fullsize flagship sedan is good, it’s not quite as good as the Lexus LS460, Mercedes-Benz S550, and BMW 750i/Li.  It’s just that you can’t really build a value-oriented flagship and expect it to compete against manufacturers that have at least 25 years of practice.  It’s the equivalent of In-n-Out going completely vegan.  You just don’t expect it to be good.

Panther platform enthusiasts will be quick to point out that the 12.3-18.3 inch-shorter Equus doesn’t have body-on-frame construction.  The Equus DOES, however, have a 2.7-inch longer wheelbase than ANY Panther platform car.  Like the Town Car, the Equus is styled much more conservatively than the love-it-or-hate-it Cadillac XTS and bulbous Lincoln MKS.  The Equus has a roomy, comfortable interior filled with amenities and options that the Lincoln Town Car never offered.  It’s also rear-wheel-drive, and it’s got a smooth, very powerful V8 shared with the Hyundai Genesis.  It’s the only modern car to have clear Lincoln Town Car DNA in it.  It’s obvious who Hyundai is trying to attract.

Rear seat passengers can now individually control the infotainment system, look up restaurants on the go, and even enter destinations while moving.  All 2014 Equus models get a standard three-zone climate control system (driver, passenger, rear passengers) standard.  Ultimate models now seat five people instead of four.  Very few of its competitors offer four seats instead of five in top-of-the-line models.  Ultimate models also come with cruise control with a unique 0 mph stop-start function, front, rear, and multi-view cameras.  It also comes with a proximity key that turns the exterior and interior lights on and off, as well as unfolding the side mirrors.  The doors automatically close a la minivan, and power lumbar support for rear outboard passengers.

For those drivers who want to have performance, fear not.  The engine is a 429-horsepower 5.0-liter V8.  The front bushings are completely new.  As for the Sport and Tour modes, they have been revised for improved ride and handling, respectively.

Because its cabin is so insulated, and its powertrain is so smooth, the optional heads-up display is justifiable.  Since the suspension is engineered for comfort, lots of brake dive and body roll make it less than ideal for back road barnstorming.  It also probably diminishes driver confidence on the street, especially in the city.

While the Equus isn’t quite up to par with the Lexus LS460 in terms of interior quality, it has a 12-way power-adjustable driver’s seat with separate lumbar controls.  The front passenger seat has 10 ways to make you more comfortable.  Outboard rear seats have four ways and lumbar.  Like the S-Class, the Equus has many of its front and rear switches conveniently located high on the doors.

Up until the end of the 2013 model year, the Equus Ultimate only sat four people.  It had a massage function for the driver and the right rear passenger (where many passengers sit).  The 2014 model offers seating for five people, but no massaging seats.  The 2014 model also has controls for the:  Infotainment system, rear climate control, and rear seats on the fold-down center armrest in the rear seat.  A “Relax” button moves and tilts the front passenger seat forward before reclining the rear passenger seat.  The “Return” button returns both seats to their previous positions.  Now that both rear seats recline, the available power footrest is no more.

Like the Lincoln Town Car, the Hyundai Equus Ultimate offers full-size space and all of the luxury touches one would expect in a flagship.  Another similar thing between these two vehicles designed for those like to be chauffeured around – neither lives up to the standard set by the Lexus LS460, Mercedes-Benz S550, and BMW 750i/Li.  While the value-oriented Equus can be compared to a modern Lincoln Town Car, it does have something that the big Lincoln never had – a 429-horsepower, 5.0-liter V8 and 8-speed automatic transmission.  In my mind, the Hyundai Equus picks up right where the Lincoln Town Car left off.  Now, the one thing that Hyundai has left – the monumental task of convincing everybody the virtues of a bargain-priced flagship sedan.

 

zoomvroom Field Trips, Humor, Movie Cars, World News

Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6X6 to Appear in Upcoming Jurassic Park Movie

When Mercedes-Benz turned the off-roading world upside-down when it released a civilian version of it’s six-wheeled G-Wagen that it builds for the Australian military, lovers of specialized military hardware clinked glasses with those wealthy enough to afford it.  Not surprisingly, the rest of us mere mortals able to buy a G-Wagen had to settle for the four-wheeled G63.  How depressing.

Anyhow, the G63 AMG 6X6 will be making an appearance in Jurassic Park 4.  That doesn’t seem all too surprising, considering that Mercedes-Benz vehicles have been in the Jurassic Park movies since the second movie.  This has been confirmed by the Jurassic Park 4 Committee Facebook account.

A picture of the G63 6X6 was shown veiled by a white tarp and strapped to a pallet, en route to Hawaii.  Not much else is known about the G63 6X6 being in the movie, but I’m sure that it’s going to be awesome!  I mean, how can you go wrong with six wheels?  Well, I guess if they need to have something that’s heavier-duty, they can always go for an AM General 5-ton troop carrier!

The one thing that I’m absolutely sure that they need is a teenager as a stunt driver…They don’t need to look far!