Turbo – The Unmuffled Auto News

December 26, 2016December 26, 2016 zoomvroom Car Culture, Car Reviews, New car info, Random, Website Reccomendation

Buy a New Acura NSX, Get a Custom Film!

Hey everyone! Sorry that it took me such a long time to put this post up, but school was especially stressful this semester. I’m glad that the semester is over, and that I’ll have more time to give the blog more attention. Look forward to more posts in 2017!

I have to admit, the 2017 Acura NSX is quite the looker!

The interior isn't bad, either. — The interior isn’t bad, either.

Did you know that Jay Leno’s 2017 Acura NSX is #0003? I’m sure you knew that already, right? Why am I talking about this? Well, you and I both know that Jay Leno has one of the most amazing car collections in the world. What makes his NSX really cool is you can watch it’s creation in Acura’s new campaign video called “NSX Originals.”

If and when you drop at least $157,800 on a 2017 Acura NSX, you’ll receive a personalized digital film that matches the exact specifications and serial number of your NSX! Seriously, how cool is that? Pretty damn cool in my book. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough for you, Acura will give you a customized 1:18 scale model that is identical to your NSX! Now, how cool is THAT?

You can immerse yourself in some amazing films of the twin-turbo, V6, hybrid NSX on the microsite (http://www.nsxoriginals.com/acura/en/). You can also watch the build of Jay Leno’s pretty slick NSX at: https://youtu.be/2KzAeU67SXw

According to a release from Jon Ikeda, Acura’s VP and General Manager, “The Acura NSX is a bespoke supercar inspired by an original concept and this campaign speaks directly to that heritage.”

What’s in these films? You can see some behind-the-scenes action of the NSX being built at Acura’s state-of-the-art Marysville, Ohio plant, which highlights the seven key manufacturing periods of the NSX. You might be wondering what those are. Let me tell you. They include: precision robotic welding, space frame construction, a zirconium bath, paint robotics, the three-motor sport hybrid power unit, custom hand assembly, and the rolling dynamometer.

I bet that there won’t be a dry eye in the house when you show your car friends the birthing video of your car!

Also, it’s best to keep that custom scale model out of reach of the kids (or grandkids) – I’m sure that they would LOVE to play with it! Hide it or risk an almost certain, “sorry, I just broke it.” I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the adults are going to want to take the full-size NSX for a spin. But hey, it’s your supercar after all!

Here’s my two cents on the 2017 NSX: After years of teasing us with various concepts, prototypes, and general speculation, the NSX has made a return. The original Honda/Acura NSX was the car that sent Ferrari, Lamborghini, and just about everybody who made supercars scrambling to the drawing board.

The 2017 Acura NSX is what Acura wants you to think of as a “usable supercar.” It’s jam-packed with the hottest technology out there. It’s definitely state-of-the-art, but according to just about everybody who’s reviewed it, that’s not what it is. It’s certainly fast, good-looking, and everything else you want a supercar to be, but a supercar is not designed nor intended to be a car that you can drive every day. While I certainly understand Acura’s point of view, Acura should have followed the original NSX’s footsteps. The 2017 NSX isn’t going to send anybody scrambling to the drawing board. Sticking to the tried-and-true supercar formula brings money in.

I think that the 2017 NSX will sell relatively well, but only time will tell. It’s got some stiff competition, what with the Lamborghini Huracan, Ferrari 488 GTB, Nissan GT-R, and Audi R8.

Does this mean that I don’t like the 2017 NSX? Far from it! I think it’s a fantastic piece of engineering, and certainly a novel idea. Sure, it’s got a lot more computers to save your bacon every day of the week, and twice on Sunday, but every supercar out there is that way. It seems to be a fantastic car. It’s definitely not the car of the future, but it’s one of the faster ways to get to the future. I think it’s safe to say that some of the technology on the 2017 NSX will trickle down to other Acuras in the next few years.

December 19, 2015 zoomvroom Car Culture, Gifts for the Car Enthusiast, New car info, Random, The auto dictionary. Look it up here!

What You Should Fill Your Two Car Garage With

If you had such strong brand loyalty that you had to fill your two-car garage, what car combinations would they be? Here are mine. Tell me what you would fill your garage with!

BMW i8 and X5 M: For the moment, the closest thing to a spaceship you’ll get is the BMW i8. It has liberal use of carbon fiber, and it’s fast enough for most of us mortals. The X5 M is fast, luxurious, comfortable, and can haul a lot of people or random things you get. The funny thing is that the i8 gets better fuel economy than the X5 M, and the X5 M is almost as fast as the i8. Sounds like a good combination to me!
Cadillac CTS-V and Escalade: Cadillac aimed for the throat when they introduced the CTS-V in 2004. That hasn’t changed one bit, and we should be grateful. The CTS-V uses a barely-detuned version of the Corvette Z06’s LT4 motor. If you need to haul a bunch of people in the lap of luxury, go for the Escalade. The Escalade radically changed the SUV game in 1999. This might be even better than the BMW combination.
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and Colorado Z71: The Corvette Z06 is the automotive equivalent of a fighter jet that an inexperienced pilot can dogfight in. The Z06 will hold it’s own against a flat-out racecar on a track, but you can daily drive it. However, you’d be better off daily driving the Colorado Z71. Get the Colorado with the Duramax diesel engine, and you’ll get great fuel economy and have more fun than with a gasoline-powered Colorado in the process.
Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 and F-150: You’ll get the utmost in performance with the Mustang Shelby GT350. Road & Track named it their Performance Car of the Year. I can’t say the 2017 F-150 SVT Raptor is the perfect garage-mate for it because it hasn’t come out yet. You’ll have to make do with the F-150, which is a great truck in it’s own right. Plus, good luck carrying anything bigger than a shopping bag or briefcase in your Mustang.
Jeep Wrangler Rubicon and Grand Cherokee SRT-8: Few unmodified cars can do as well off-road as a Jeep. However, when you build one towards the heavens to explore places few others have been, they tend to be horrific on the street. See, the solution to that is to have a Grand Cherokee SRT-8 for actual streets. If you’re only going to drive a Jeep on the streets, it might as well have 475 horsepower…
Mercedes-Benz AMG GT and E63 AMG wagon: Mercedes has a giant killer on their hands with the spectacular AMG GT. We shall see if it will topple the giant that is the Porsche 911. Either way, the AMG GT is a fantastic driver’s car. In fact, Motor Trend named it their Best Driver’s Car. If you need more utility than a two-seat supercar can offer you, but still want to go fast, get the E63 AMG wagon. It’s slower than the AMG GT, but you can take the whole family with you.
Porsche 911 GT3 RS and Macan Turbo: Unless you go out and buy a legitimate race car, the Porsche 911 GT3 RS is the closest you’ll get. It’s street legal, so you can drive it to the track. It won’t be at all fun with potholes, speedbumps, and road imperfections, so fill out your garage with a Macan Turbo. If you squint hard enough, you could convince yourself it’s just a hatchback with really big wheels.
Tesla Model S P90D and Model X P90D: I’m sure that most of us would love to own a Tesla. The Model S was a groundbreaking car. The Model X is pretty damn cool as well. I’m still holding out for the Model 3, and would love to see a Tesla Roadster version 2.0, but this would be the perfect electric garage.
Volvo S60 Polestar and XC90 T8: I’ve always been a fan of Volvos. However, very few of their cars are truly exciting. However, the S60 Polestar is by far the sportiest car that Volvo has offered in a very long time. The XC90 rivals Range Rovers in terms of luxury, but at a much lower price. Go for the T8, and you’ll have a 400 horsepower hybrid to play around with. How can you not love that?
Mazda Miata and Miata Cup Racer: It’s just like with Jeeps. If you buy one to build it up to win races, you should have a stock one to drive around. With the ND generation (4th generation) of the Miata, you can get a stock Miata for daily driving, and a full-out race car. The Miata Cup Racer costs a tad more than $50,000, and a loaded stock Miata goes for around $30,000. While not everybody can afford both of these Miatas, it’s likely that nobody on this list could buy the combinations of cars I’ve listed.

April 14, 2015 zoomvroom Car Culture, New car info, Random

Why You Should Buy a Classic Station Wagon

Most Americans over the age of 40 grew up waging hell in the backseat of a station wagon. Most of those station wagons were Buicks, Fords, Oldsmobiles, Chevys, and Mercurys. Some might have even been Pontiacs. Here’s why they could turn into the next collector cars. Those Americans who grew up turning the backseat into a war zone fondly remember them. That same generation fondly remembers the Smokey and the Bandit Pontiac Firebirds (the one with the “screaming chicken” on the hood), so they buy them. Station wagons from the 1970s and 1980s are now being bought more. Prices are going up for these massive beasts.

The collector car market is going crazy right now. People have more money to spend, and they want to enjoy an older car with their family. They tend to buy cars that they remember fondly. That’s why Chevy Blazers, “screaming chicken” Firebirds, and station wagons are starting to creep up in price. Now is the time to buy them.

For all those people who say that station wagons are dorky and stupid, here’s a response: station wagons have as much, if not more utility than most modern crossovers, and some SUVs, look better, and are far more fuel efficient.

Some station wagons are already highly sought-after collector cars. They include the Chevrolet Nomad, antique woodies, and high-performance Pontiacs from the 1960s. However, there are still plenty of station wagons that can be enjoyed. Here are some classic, and new wagons that you should consider buying.

1991 Audi 200 20V Turbo Quattro Avant: There is no point in going into the details of the 1986 60 Minutes debacle that came close to killing Audi. There were some good cars that came out in the company’s darkest days, and one of them is the marvelous 1991 200 20V Turbo Quattro Avant. This one-year-only package is incredibly rare. Only 1,000 four-door sedans and about 200 station wagons got this package, and it was standard equipment on the two-door hatchback. It’s a close cousin to the 1986 sedans that Audi used to dominate SCCA Trans-Am racing. The twin-cam, 20-valve engine has five cylinders and goes through a five-speed manual to all four BBS wheels. Maintenance is going to be a wee bit tricky, but enjoying this car won’t.
1950-1991 Ford Country Squire: This behemoth of a station wagon is what many Americans grew up in. Early Country Squires are the expensive, sought-after woodies from the early 1950s. Avoid them unless you have serious money and plans to upgrade just about everything on them. However, starting in 1960, the Country Squire became the familiar family hauler. They’ve covered millions of miles, millions of Americans remember them fondly, and they have starred in multiple movies. They came with a Ford small-block V-8 (usually the 351 Windsor V-8 found in most Fords of the 1970s through the 1990s) and a mushy automatic transmission. If you get a pre-1976 model in California, you can upgrade it to make the ultimate family hauler. Just put in a modern Ford Coyote motor (the same engine as the Mustang), a Ford T-5 five-speed manual transmission, and some better suspension pieces and you’ll have the ultimate road trip/family hauler. They are fairly reliable cars to begin with, and Ford made a lot of them, so finding one isn’t the challenge of the century like the Audi mentioned above.
Volvo V60 Polestar: OK, who wouldn’t want a 345-horsepower station wagon that looks really cool? Speak now or forever hold your peace. While a mere 120 cars scheduled to come to the US over this summer isn’t a lot, it’s enough to make it a true collector car. It’s a fast car, and Volvo has a rich history of deceptively fast station wagons. It looks really cool with the big wheels, low-profile tires, blue paint, and it’s somewhat-bulbous styling. Get one while you can, and enjoy it! This is a car that’s meant to be driven, so drive the wheels off of it.
Saab 9-2X: Why buy a re-badged Subaru WRX because GM said so? Because it’s a more comfortable, tame early Subaru WRX. For Saab faithful, it was too Subaru, even though it wasn’t nearly as blasphemous as the 9-7X “Trollbazer” which was just a Chevrolet Trailblazer with different wheels and badges. For the rest of us automotive folks, it’s a more refined version of the spunky Subaru WRX. Unlike the WRX, it doesn’t turn the wheels 90 degrees when you floor it. Unlike other Saabs, you can get same-day service on it by simply going to a Subaru dealer. It’s a far better car than the sales charts show. Owners love it, and others snap them up. They aren’t very big, and are more of a hatchback than a station wagon, but they are fun, reliable little cars that can really take a beating. That’s something that most other Saabs can’t claim.
Morris Minor Traveller: This cute little station wagon is based off of the popular Morris Minor. Sir Alec Issigonis started his automotive success career with this car. The Morris Minor coupe and convertible debuted in 1948, and the Traveller station wagon followed suit in 1953. It came to our shores through 1967. When other station wagons were ditching real wood for fiberglass and vinyl, the Traveller had real ash wood from the tailgate all the way to the B-pillars. Not only does it look great, but it’s also the superstructure for the back half of the car. That means you’ll have to sand and re-varnish periodically, but that’s going to be the extent of your automotive woes with this car. Parts are cheap and easily sourced, and it’s an incredibly reliable car. Not something you can say about most British cars.
Buick Roadmaster/Chevy Caprice: Yes, they may have been the final gasp of GM’s RWD land barges, but who doesn’t want something that seats eight people, has a (slightly detuned) Corvette engine, and is gigantic? These behemoths were the final iterations of the big American station wagons that so many Americans grew up in. They are still available and cheap for us to thrash around and haul kids around with. You don’t need to do much to unlock the true potential of these engines – you just get the Corvette’s ECU, as the engines in these cars were the same as the Corvette’s LT1.
Cadillac CTS-V: OK, most of us would LOVE to own a 556-horsepower station wagon that comes with a six-speed manual. Look no further than the previous-generation Cadillac CTS-V wagon. I know that this implies that there is another one coming, which we can only hope for, but this is probably the ultimate family burnout/drift/autocross/trackday/hoonmobile. Period. My friend Jonny Lieberman of Motor Trend had one as a long-term car for a year, and I’m still feeling the pangs of jealousy. It has a detuned Corvette engine, but 556 horsepower is still plenty to rage through the quarter mile. It would make the ultimate backup car for your local autocross/track day, and it would be a fun daily driver to boot.

I’m sure that many of my readers have some fun memories of being in station wagons as kids…let’s here them!

December 17, 2014 zoomvroom Car Culture

The Vehicles That Forever Changed the Automotive Landscape

These are not the best cars ever made. Rather, they are the cars that have shaped modern cars. I hope that you enjoy my list. Please share any corrections if you feel necessary.

Ford Model T: This was the car that made the production line possible. It was also the car that made cars affordable to the American public. Ford produced well over 15 million of them before production ended in 1927. They are fairly simple to own, and they can keep up with city traffic if you want. With so many built, there are many clubs and associations for the Model T all over the country. Just look up “Ford Model T club <insert your area here>” on Google. I can practically guarantee you that there is at least one club that you can join if you are the new owner of a Model T. People drive them all over the place on tours. You can take one into Alaska if you so please. There are always plenty for sale anywhere between $10,000-40,000. If you want to daily drive one, all you need is a good arm to crank-start it, and some adjustments to the timing. Just retard the timing a big, be gentle with the gas, and you’ll have a car that gets up to 35 mph. That’s plenty good for most city driving.
1916 Cadillac Type 53: Every single modern car owes a lot to this Caddy. It was the first car EVER to come from the factory with an electric starter and a modern control layout, both of which we take for granted today. The Type 53 wasn’t popular with Americans or the world, mostly because of it’s price (about $3,000). However, the Austin Seven copied the Caddy and set the die for all cars to come. Yet, I still credit the Cadillac.
1932 Ford: This was the first affordable car available to the American public with a V-8 engine. It had a flathead V-8 making a whopping 85 horsepower. Today, that’s comparable to a car making 500 horsepower from a V-6 (not unheard of). Anyhow, it was affordable to some Americans. It became known as “The Deuce,” as did the third-generation Chevrolet Nova. It was the fastest affordable car of it’s day, which is why it was the escape vehicle of choice for Bonnie and Clyde. It’s unclear how many were made, but it’s estimated that well over 1.5 million were sold. Remember that Ford was selling these cars in 1932, right before the peak of the Great Depression! It became one of the most popular cars to hot rod. I want one, and we can call ourselves lucky that there are reproduction steel bodies, chassis (yes, that is plural and singular), and used engines aplenty. How’s that for cool? You can build your very own reproduction Deuce for about $20,000. It’s going to be so much more fun than that Corolla you’ve had your eye on.
Willys/Bantam/Ford Jeep: WWII veterans say that the Jeep was the vehicle that won WWII. They are right. It can still embarrass most purpose-built vehicles on a dirt road or in mud. It was the first 4X4 to be sold to the American public en masse, and it proved to be popular. After WWII, Willys decided to market the Jeep as an alternative to a tractor for farmers. Chrysler still rakes in hundreds of millions on new Jeep Wranglers every year. It’s truly an iconic vehicle.
1948 MG TC: This little wood-framed British roadster is what allowed such amazing cars as the Lotus Elise, Mazda Miata, and even the mighty Shelby Cobra to be. Every single great American racing legend – Carroll Shelby, Phil Hill, Richie Ginther, and many others got their start in an MG TC. On a winding road, this little car that only made 55 horsepower and 64 lb-ft of torque would simply run away from any American car, regardless of power output. Much of what we hold dear as an automotive enthusiast was started by this little car. It’s influence on every single sports car from 1948 on is immeasurable. It’s still fast enough to embarrass a modern Chevy Camaro Z/28 on a windy road. That’s pretty damn fast for a car that makes 450 less horsepower.
VW Beetle Type 1: It’s the single most-produced car in history. It’s an elegantly simple design that has stood the test of time better than most cars produced at the same time. It was the foundation for the legendary Porsche 356, Meyers Manx dune buggy, and VW Transporter bus. It was FWD, came as either a convertible or a coupe, had a tiny rear-mounted four-cylinder engine, and cost far less than any new American car on the road. It became extremely popular with people of all ages and demographics. Many new parents went out and bought a Beetle, and it would serve millions of families around the world faithfully for 20 years or more without major problems. Most new cars can’t say that. In the hippie movement, it became extremely popular. Once the off-roading community got their hands on one, the legendary Baja Bug was born. It is still fast enough to keep pace with a modern Trophy Truck in the horrible dirt roads of Baja, or the sand dunes of Pismo Beach. Almost every desert town in the world will have at least several Baja Bugs running around. It’s fast, sturdy, and capable, yet can be driven around town without complaining. And the best part is you can build yourself one for about $5,000! That’s not including a starter vehicle, by the way! My grandparents owned one. You probably know somebody who’s owned one.
Toyota 2000GT: This was the car that put the Japanese automotive industry on notice with the world. It was a more expensive alternative to the Jaguar E-Type, Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Thunderbird, Porsche 911, and the like. It’s achingly gorgeous, and only a handful were built. It’s also achingly expensive. Toyota proved that they could hang with whatever Europe happened to build. James Bond drove one.
Lamborghini Miura: It’s not the quintessential Lamborghini – that goes to the equally-amazing Countach, but it set the standard for supercars. It came around because Ferrucio Lamborghini wanted to build a better Ferrari. When Lamborghini was going to debut the Miura concept car at the Geneva Motor Show in 1965, they didn’t even have a body! They had a chassis with a V-12, a transmission, and wheels. That was it. However, the Miura looks absolutely stunning. It’s one of the most beautiful cars ever built, and every single supercar owes a lot to the Lamborghini Miura.
Citroen DS: When it debuted in 1955, it was the most technologically-advanced car in the world. It had hydraulic suspension, a streamlined fiberglass body shell, four wheel disc brakes, a twin-cam V6, and many other technological innovations. It was one of the first truly modern cars. One can compare it to the Tesla Model S. That’s how revolutionary it was.
1955-1957 Chevrolet 210/Bel Air: The Tri-Five Chevrolet’s are some of the most beautiful cars ever produced. My personal favorite is the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air coupe. The 1955 Chevy became forever immortalized with Two Lane Blacktop and American Graffiti. Yes, the sinister ’55 is the same car in both movies! The 1955 Chevrolet introduced the revolutionary Chevrolet small-block (Mouse motor) V-8 to the world. The 1957 Chevy Bel Air with the 283 cubic-inch V-8 and Rochester mechanical fuel injection became legendary on NASCAR tracks and dragstrips around the country. It was as fast the Jaguar E-Type 10 years later. I’m still wanting one!
Austin Mini: Alec Issigonis sketched it on a bar napkin. He never knew that it would become one of the most popular vehicles of the 20th century. Let’s forget that it’s a cultural icon for a moment. It was the first FWD car to come with a transversely-mounted engine (the engine was mounted sideways), which means that it’s the template for most FWD cars on the road today. It became a motorsports icon in everything from endurance racing to rally racing. It also became iconic in several movies – The Italian Job, The Bourne Identity, Mr. Bean, and Goldmember. It’s also a major cultural icon.
Ford Explorer: This was the vehicle that kicked off the SUV craze of the 1990s-today. It was based off of the lowly Ranger pickup, but had a comfortable interior and the second generation had good looks. It’s still a best-seller today. It’s popular with the off-road community because it’s a Ranger with more space for people. My parents owned one. You probably know somebody who’s owned one.
Shelby Cobra: Yeah it’s an obvious one for this list. Carroll Shelby took a British roadster, and put a small-block Ford motor from the Mustang into it. Then, he went hog-wild and put a big-block Ford into it. That catapulted the Shelby Cobra into automotive fame. Anybody who knows something about cars knows of the Shelby Cobra. It could hang with anything. It could beat a Chevrolet Corvette with the coveted L88 big-block V-8 in the curves and straightaways. It dominated endurance and road racing for a glorious 3 years before Shelby stopped production of it. It also dominated the NHRA Pro Stock drag racing class for a few years. Today, there are at least 20 different companies who will sell you a Cobra replica. Get a Factory Five replica. It’s Shelby of North America licensed, and it comes with modern mechanical parts, yet can still hang with a modern hypercar.
Chevrolet El Camino: In it’s first generation, it was quite a looker. Chevy didn’t sell too terribly many of the Impala-based ute, but you’ve probably seen a few driving around your town/city. The second generation proved to be much more popular. It was based off of the massively popular Chevelle, and you could get one with the rare, coveted LS6 V-8. I remember reading an article about an owner of an LS6 Elco (a nickname for the El Camino), and he said that he has to drive it around with sandbags in the bed to keep it from spinning out. That’s what happens when you have a massively-underrated 450 horsepower and no weight over the rear tires. If you could get it to hook up, it would go through the 1/4 mile in 13 seconds flat at 125 mph. That’s about as fast as a modern sports car. I’ve heard driving one isn’t any different than driving a Chevelle, except for throttle modulation. Flooring it from a stop, even with the still-powerful 327 cubic-inch V-8 will give a glorious burnout. I want one.
1968-1970 Dodge Charger/Charger 500/Daytona: The second-generation Dodge Charger is one of the most beautiful cars ever built. It’s got muscular elegance. It had curvy “Coke Bottle” styling, and a plethora of engine choices. The base engine was the “poly” 318 cubic-inch small-block V-8 that stayed in production in one form or another from 1959-2004. The next step up was the 383 cubic-inch “Commando” big-block V-8. After that, it was the 440 “Super Commando” big-block V-8. One rung above that was the 440 Six Pack – a 440 with three two-barrel Holley carburetors. The top of the ladder was the mighty 426 HEMI “Elephant Motor” big-block V-8. The Charger 500 was designed for NASCAR, so it had a rear window flush with the body, along with other small aero modifications. The Daytona was truly legendary. Only 503 were sold to the general public, only 70 of which had the 426 HEMI. The rest had the 440 Six Pack. It was designed for NASCAR superspeedways, and it truly dominated. It looked comical with it’s 19-inch long nose cone and nearly two-foot tall rear wing. The only reason the wing was so high is that anything shorter and the trunk wouldn’t close! The Charger was catapulted into fame by The Dukes of Hazzard for one generation, and for the millenials, they were captivated by the supercharged 1968 Charger used in Fast & Furious.
Datsun 240Z: This little Japanese sports car wasn’t a smashing success, but it certainly left it’s mark on sports cars. It was light, looked drop-dead gorgeous, had a reliable, powerful engine, and a five-speed manual transmission. Very few cars at the time had a five-speed. All of that combined meant that it was a serious threat on a windy road. Today, they are becoming collector cars, which is a shame, as they are built to be driven. That’s not to be said that you can’t find a cheap one – you still can. Hot rodders who are enamored by Japanese cars, but love the power of an American V-8 put a Chevy small-block V-8 and some suspension bits in, and have one hell of a ride. My grandparents and dad owned one.
Audi Quattro: This AWD notchback with a turbocharged 5-cylinder engine was so successful on the rally circuit that AWD was banned from the sport for about 10 years. Stock, it’s not at all reliable (except for the first two years of production), but upgrading the engine internals will give you a strong, reliable, fast, and cool daily driver. It’s truly an all-weather car. I chose this car because of the impact that it had on rallycross and rally racing. Any car with AWD past 1985 would have been much worse if it weren’t for the Audi Quattro. My uncle owned one. He should have kept it and given it to me.
Ford Mustang: This was the car that started the ponycar craze. No matter how much Ford hypes it as a muscle car (and Chevy with the Camaro), it IS NOT and never will be. It is a pony car. The Dodge Challenger is a muscle car. Sorry Ford, but I’m just stating the truth. Don’t shoot the messenger. That being said, Ford introduced a whole new type of car to America. Buying a Mustang with the base six-cylinder engine meant that you were carefree but had to watch your cash. Getting it with the V-8 meant that you were carefree, but who cared about money – you only live once! Getting it as a convertible only reinforced that. The Shelby GT350 Mustang of 1965 was part of a deal with Hertz where you could rent the car on Friday, drive it to the racetrack on Saturday, race and win, go again on Sunday and win, and then drive it back to the rental lot. It was somewhat streetable, but it really did well on the racetrack. Carroll Shelby originally didn’t want to do it – he told Lee Iaccoca that “Lee, you can’t make a racehorse out of a mule.” Yet that so-called mule became a massive racing success. It’s still in production 50 years later. Many American moms went from a station wagon to a Mustang and never looked back.
Pontiac GTO: Originally offered as a package on the mid-size Tempest in 1963, the GTO took the thundering 389 cubic-inch V-8 from the Le Mans and shoved it into the considerably smaller Tempest. It was a smashing success, so Pontiac decided to turn it into it’s own model in 1964. It was much more popular that way, and the ultimate model was the 1969 Judge Ram Air IV. It came with the then-new 455 cubic-inch V-8 and a functional Ram Air hood (the Ram Air package came in four stages), a Muncie M-22 “Rock Crusher” transmission, and bodywork that let you know that you really were king of the street. It was truly stunning, especially in green. It went dormant for 20+ years before appearing as a rebadged Holden Monaro in the US. It wasn’t very popular. It’s probably because Ford launched the retro-styled S197-generation Mustang right around the same time. The 2004-2006 GTO looked nothing at all like any other GTO. It didn’t look very good. Nowadays, the modern “Goat” is popular with hot rodders who want to have all of the modern conveniences and glorious power. Some even take the body off of the GTO and put on a classic car’s body. Voila, you have a car that looks like a classic, but handles and drives like a new car. Plus, they are easy to put bigger engines in. Drifters are starting to find them. Beware.
Lexus LS400: This big Lexus was the car that sent Germany scrambling back to the drawing board. The LS400 competed with the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7-Series. The German cars were stodgy cruisers that were heavy, large beasts on the street, but smooth on the highway. The Lexus took that trademark Japanese agility and feeling of being a smaller car, threw in a buttery-smooth engine and transmission (the ads showed a champagne flute on the hood while the engine revved. The champagne never overflowed – or came close to that!), a sumptuous leather interior, and made it a fun car to drive. Lexus kept it in production from 1989-2000 in one basic form or another. It sold well, and is a completely bulletproof car in terms of reliability.
Chevrolet S-10: OK, I am a bit biased on this, but hear me out. The Chevrolet S-10 replaced the dismal LUV pickups of the 1970s in 1982. It came with an underpowered 4-cylinder engine or a more powerful 2.8-liter V-6. In 1988, Chevy added their new 4.3-liter V-6 to the S-10. It literally doubled the towing and hauling capacity, as well as making it a far more enjoyable truck to drive. My S-10 is a 1989 Tahoe model. That means that it was top of the line. It has a cloth interior, an AM/FM radio, air conditioning, and it has fuel injection (the 1988 model had a carburetor). You could get it as a regular cab or an extended cab. Bed sizes were a 5-foot bed or a 6.5-foot bed. That’s not huge, but for somebody in a crowded city who needs a pickup, it’s perfect. You could get it in 2WD or 4WD. Mine is 2WD. It was wildly successful, and you can still see a lot on the road. Some people are taking modern Chevy LS3 E-Rod engines (smog-legal V-8’s) and stuffing them into an S-10. They’re quite the sleeper.
Porsche 911 Turbo: When it first debuted in 1975, it was a total animal of a car. Lift off of the gas going into a corner, and you’d hit the guardrail with the backside of the car. You had to keep your foot in it. It made an underrated 276 horsepower (think closer to 350), had no ABS, a clutch that was so stiff that some had to literally push their leg down to depress the clutch, and a 5-speed manual transmission. It was a total monster of a car that dominated the racing circuits, but was completely and totally unstreetable. But, put one on a windy canyon road, modulate the throttle, and you had a recipe for speed. Porsche still makes it. However, it now makes a ridiculous 520 horsepower, and is truly the ultimate all-weather supercar.
Ford GT40: This was the car that dominated endurance racing during the 1960’s. It was the result of Enzo Ferrari refusing to sell his company to Ford in 1964. Henry Ford II decided to beat Enzo Ferrari at his own game on his own turf. Talk about owning a bully. The GT40 was aerodynamic, muscular-looking, and was built for racing. Ford built about 20-40 for the street (it’s unclear how many). The first models came with a Shelby-tuned 289 cubic-inch V-8 that made 300 horsepower via a tri-power (three two-barrel carburetor) setup and forged internals and an Isky cam. This engine was so durable that when Ford disassembled the engine after the season was over, it looked brand-new. Later models came with Ford’s mighty 427 cubic-inch FE-Series “Cammer” engine. This engine was the same one in the Shelby Cobra. It made about 500 horsepower. Both engines were mated to a four-speed manual. The GT40 simply dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Nurburgring. It was insanely fast, and it could be heard from over a mile away. It beat Ferrari at their own game for years, before the FIA changed the rules, and both Ferrari and Ford had to comply. Ford pulled out of Le Mans endurance racing for 20+ years and let Ferrari dominate.

Yes, that is a young Harrison Ford standing next to one of the most iconic hot rods ever. It’s a 1932 Ford Hi-Boy (the body was lifted off of the frame so the frame could be tweaked). It has a Chevy 283 cubic-inch small-block V-8 with crackling sidepipes. This was the car that made me appreciate the little deuce coupe.

This is a fuelie 1957 Chevy Bel Air. It became known as the “Black Widow” because it only came in black with white tape stripes, a black-and-white interior, and the red center caps on the wheels.

This is a gasser. Gassers got their name because of the drag racing class they were in (B/Gas or blown/gas). They had big engines with no supercharger, or smaller supercharged engines. Look up “Roadkill Blasphemi” on YouTube for the build and cross-country blitz of one of my favorite cars – “Blasphemi.”

This is probably the ultimate Shelby Cobra. It’s called the “Super Snake” because it has twin superchargers on top of an already-powerful engine. Bill Cosby almost bought one, but took it on a test drive and thought he was going to die. Carroll Shelby bought it. Only two were made, but it was incredibly fast. It’s rumored that in testing the car hit 210 mph – in 1966! To me, it’s the ultimate factory hot rod.

This is a 1969 Dodge Daytona replica made by a host of the /DRIVE Network, Mike Musto. It’s one of my favorite cars ever. He took a 1969 Charger and turned it into a Daytona. It’s the ultimate cross-country cruiser. Just looking at it sends shivers down my spine.

The only stock part about this Mustang is the roof, A-pillar, and C-pillar. It’s the latest creation from the brilliantly mad folks at RTR and Hoonigan. Ken Block had it built. It’s got a stroked NASCAR-spec engine that makes 850 horsepower that goes to all four wheels. That’s right, this car is AWD. You need to watch “Gymkhana 7” if you haven’t already. It’s simply amazing.

December 12, 2014 zoomvroom Car Culture, Random, The History of Autos

What Era of Motorsport Was the Best?

This idea is simple: What era of motorsport was/is the best? What drivers were/are the best? What motorsport was/is the best? What cars were the best? What track was the best?

For me, I can’t choose just one. 1960s Top Fuel drag racing was the best of the 1960s. There were plenty of big names competing against smaller names, many of whom have been lost to the sands of time. Some of those names we are familiar with – Don “Big Daddy” Garlits, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen (anybody who’s ever had a large collection of Hot Wheels has/had models of their cars). Their cars were spectacularly fast (Garlits was the first to break 200 mph in his Top Fuel dragster), and they always put on one hell of a show. I’m going to say that Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach, CA was the best. While I never visited it (it closed in 1972), it is rumored to have been one of the best drag strips ever. If you’re into Facebook, look up “THE GLORY DAYS OF DRAG RACING.” It’s a closed group, but they will let you in. It’s got a lot of great vintage photos. Read their rules before posting something.

Another great one for me was 1980s Formula 1. Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Mario Andretti, and the late Clay Regazzoni. It was a fierce era of turbocharged cars with well over 1,000 horsepower duking it out on the fastest tracks on the planet. BMW had cars with 1,400 horsepower and manual transmissions (yes, you had to take your hand off of the steering wheel in a tight corner in a powerful car to shift). Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost simply dominated the sport until the tragic death of Senna in 1994.

Finally, I’m going to say that 1980s-current off-road racing is great. I mean, who doesn’t like watching Ivan “Ironman” Stewart bombing around Baja in his Toyota trophy truck? Or for those American car fans, how about Robby Gordon and his HUMMERs from a long time ago? To me, it’s the most entertaining form of motorsport, and I’ve been hoping to travel to Baja to watch the Baja 1000 for a while.

Here are some of my favorite pictures to prove it.

July 11, 2014 zoomvroom Car Culture

The Greatest American Turbocharged Cars

Many people think that turbochargers belong in heavily modified import cars. Well, that’s partially true. Europe has turned out some impressive turbocharged cars, as well as the US of A. Here are America’s greatest turbocharged cars.

Ford Mustang SVO: The 2015 Ford Mustang has a 2.3-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, just like the SVO Mustangs of the 1980’s. The first turbocharged Ford Mustang showed up in 1979 with a 135-horsepower, turbocharged, 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine. It was an alternative to the downsized 4.2-liter V8 found in the Mustang GT. But, it wasn’t until Ford’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO, now known as Special Vehicle Tuning or SVT) got their hands on one that it became anything noteworthy. It came with a factory-installed Hurst short-throw shifter, revolutionary Koni adjustable shocks, ABS disc brakes at all four corners, a limited-slip differential, and a screaming, turbocharged 205 horsepower. Drivers even had the cool option of flicking a dash-mounted switch that allowed the car to run on lower-grade fuel for a certain amount of time. When it ended it’s production run in the late 1980’s, it was something to be feared. It looked especially menacing in grey.
1965 Chevrolet Corvair: Believe it or not, the Corvair actually had a go-fast option. It had two, in fact. One was the Crown Corvair, which used a mid-mounted 283-cubic-inch Corvette V8, and the other was a turbocharger bolted onto the engine. From the factory. It made 150 horsepower initially, but by the time the Corvair died, it made 180 horsepower. Unlike many other turbocharged cars, the turbocharged Corvair did not use a wastegate, the internal exhaust flap that opens at higher engine speeds to prevent over-spinning the turbine. Instead, Chevy engineers simply built enough backpressure into the exhaust system to prevent overboost and serious engine damage. Very few Corvairs with the turbocharged engine were ever made.
Oldsmobile F85 Jetfire: Oldsmobile was one of the early adopters of turbocharging technology. It released the powerful F85 Jetfire in April of 1962, and the car was something of a small success. It took the fabled 3.5-liter high-compression “Rocket” V8, cranked up the boost, and let it rev. It made a screaming 215 horsepower, and it was easily quicker than many naturally aspirated cars of 1962. Plus, owners got an ashtray-sized boost gauge in front of the shifter. The engine had problems with detonation, which is the process where the hot air-fuel mixture under pressure spontaneously ignites before the spark plug has a chance to ignite it. So, the Turbo-Rocket engine was fed a mixture of methanol alcohol and water (the same stuff fed to dragsters). This allowed the mixture to not ignite as quickly and get a higher octane level. Today, water/alcohol injection is commonplace in high-performance tuner car applications, but isn’t it cool that F85 Jetfire owners had to periodically fill their “Turbo Rocket Fluid” reservoir?
Buick GNX: If there’s a poster-child for American turbocharged cars, the Buick GNX wins, hands-down. The all-black, tire-smoking, Ferrari Testarossa-beating, quarter-mile waltzing Buick GNX was and still is a force of nature. Buick initially started turbocharging it’s anemic 3.8-liter V6 in 1978 for the Regal and the LeSabre, introducing the fast Regal Grand National line in 1982. It culminated with 1987 with the GNX. Buick purposefully underrated the crank horsepower at 276 horsepower, but dyno tests showed that the car made at least 315 horsepower at the wheels. This means that the car made somewhere close to 360-370 horsepower at the crank. It even beat the twin-turbo Callaway Corvette that I featured on my blog a couple of months ago in the quarter mile. The GNX would go through the quarter mile in the low 13-second range at around 125-130 mph. Just 547 GNX’s were built in 1987, each specially massaged by AMC/McLaren. Today, the turbo Buick’s are something of a legend, and many go for upwards of $30,000. The car was so successful on the street the Buick entered a naturally-aspirated V8 version of the car in NASCAR’s Grand National series (now known as the Nationwide Series), where it was extremely competitive.
1989 Pontiac 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am: The all-white Pontiac Trans Am picked to be the pace car for the 73rd annual Indy 500 was completely different than the first turbocharged Trans Am, which was all mustache and no Burt. This 1989 force-fed pony car was something completely different. I liken it as the Pontiac storm trooper to the Buick GNX Darth Vader. Pontiac subcontracted an engineering firm to swap Buick GNX engines (made by Buick for Pontiac) into the Trans Am. But, the story doesn’t (and shouldn’t) end there. Anniversary-edition Trans Am’s got better-flowing heads than the GNX, stainless-steel headers, GNX-sized Eaton intercoolers, a cross-drilled Comp Cams crankshaft, and their own engine tuning higher up in the powerband. The net result was a car that officially produced 250 horsepower at the crank, but made closer to 320 horsepower at the crank. This marked a return to the horsepower-underrating days of the muscle car, started by, you guessed it, Pontiac. It was the fastest pace car ever in the history of the Indy 500, which is impressive, given the fact that many fast cars have been chosen since then.
Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe: The Beach Boys made the T-Bird famous with the line, “fun, fun, fun, until her daddy takes it away.” The T-Bird was fun until Daddy (the EPA) introduced emissions regulations that took the fun out of the T-Bird. By 1982, the T-Bird was a horrible, anemic shoebox of a car. Happily, 1983 saw the rising of the phoenix. It’s beak-like hood had twin nostrils that meant that there was a turbocharged engine underneath that pointy hood. Other than the amazingly 1980’s-FILA edition, the T-Bird Turbo Coupe was at it’s peak in 1987 and 1988. That was when stick-shifted version of the Fox-bodied T-Bird came equipped with a whistling 190 horsepower, four-wheel ABS disc brakes, and a limited-slip differential. Those nostrils on the hood, by the way, are functional, as they feed air directly to the top-mounted intercooler.
Shelby GLHS: It’s hard to find a car that has a shape that’s more square than the Dodge Omni. The blocky Omni had all of the sporting pretensions of a worn-out water shoe. Then, you hand the Omni over to Carroll Shelby. Early Omni GLH (unofficially Goes Like Hell) cars weren’t turbocharged, but by the mid-1980’s, America was becoming obsessed with the turbocharger. So, by the mid-1980’s, the Omni GLH had enough punch to beat any VW GTI of the era. For the 1986 model year only, 500 cars were further tweaked by Shelby to become the Omni GLHS (Goes Like Hell S’More), which was a 175-horsepower breadbox with more boost, better suspension, and factory options like a roll cage and heavy-duty oil cooler borrowed from the Ram 250 with the Cummins Diesel. Quite possibly the best part of the GLHS: The uprated top speed of the GLHS was too much for the regular 85 mph speedometer of the Omni, so Shelby simply added a sticker to the bottom of the gauge with increments up to 135 mph.
Shelby CSX-VNT: Another Shelby creation was the CSX-VNT, which was based off of the homely Plymouth Sundance and Dodge Shadow. Initially, the CSX-VNT packed 175 horsepower, and like the earlier GLHS, went like a bat out of hell. Shelby built a small run of 1,001 cars for the Thrifty rental car company with slightly less power. In the final year of CSX-VNT production, 1989, the CSX-VNT included some new, unique technology previously only seen on race cars – variable turbine geometry. Computer-controlled vanes moved to direct the hot exhaust gas stream to improve spool-up time. While it’s power rating remained the same at 175 horsepower, it had dramatically better response time in the low end, virtually eliminating turbo lag. The next time this technology would show up in the U.S. market would be in 2011, with the 997-generation Porsche 911 Turbo. That was more than 15 years later.
GMC Syclone: In 1990, Gale Banks Engineering cracked the 200-mph mark at the Bonneville Salt Flats in a compact GMC pickup truck with no turbocharger or supercharger. In 1991, the streetable version of that high-powered pickup showed up on dealer lots. It’s 4.3-liter Vortec V6 engine was turbocharged with the help of Gale Banks himself. It came standard with ABS and AWD, neither of which were options on the S15 Sonoma. You couldn’t haul much with the Syclone, unfortunately, as it was only rated to haul 500 pounds. Too bad, but you could still fill the bed with the egos of every single Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati driver on the road. This all-black, one-year-only mini-truck was the fastest-accelerating production vehicle in America for a few years, easily getting off of the line, thanks to the torque-rich engine and AWD. It got to 60 mph somewhere in the low 4-second range.
GMC Typhoon: A spin-off of the one-year-only Syclone, the Jimmy-bodied Typhoon was officially rated at 280 horsepower, though dyno tests showed that it made at least that at the wheels, meaning that it made somewhere around 320 horsepower at the crank. It could easily beat a Ferrari 348 off of the line and up to about 70 mph, when the 348 really got into the powerband. Just under 5,000 Typhoons were made between 1992-1993, and unlike the black-only Syclone, could be bought in a variety of colors. In fact, Clint Eastwood used to drive a Forest Green Typhoon around in his Dirty Harry days, where he would pull up to a stoplight and ask punks if they felt lucky. Most thought they were going to beat some middle-aged guy in his SUV with their Mustang or import car.
Dodge Neon SRT4: In 2003, Chrysler/Dodge’s Street Racing Technology (SRT) team got hold of the friendly-faced Neon subcompact car, and built what is still the car to beat for bang-for-your-buck performance. A frog-eyed four-door sedan with a functional front-mounted intercooler peeking out of the grille, the tiny Neon made mincemeat out of everything from a Porsche Boxster to a Nissan 350Z. Dodge claimed 230 horsepower, though dyno testing showed that the car made at least that much, if not more at the wheels. This means that the engine was making close to 280 horsepower at the crank. Something else that is cool about the Neon SRT4 is the fact that it doesn’t have a muffler on it. This allows it to have vastly better turbo flow. Resonators keep the volume semi-sane, but the Neon really makes a lot of noise when you give it some go-juice.
Chevrolet SS Turbocharged: Initially available only as a supercharged coupe, the Cobalt SS was always OK in performance testing, but it wasn’t going to set any records. Starting in 2009, the Cobalt SS came as either a sedan or coupe with a turbocharger bolted onto a small four-cylinder engine. It made 260 horsepower. Should you want a cool sleeper, if you aren’t afraid of the ignition recall, you can get a Cobalt SS, take the badges off, swap the big chrome rims for something more discreet (like the regular Cobalt rims), and you’d have the makings of a good sleeper. It had a no-lift-shift system – just keep your right foot floored so that you don’t loose boost – and you’ll see the quarter mile fly by in under 13 seconds, and will keep up with a Porsche 911 on a road course. Take it out to the twisties out on the road, and you’ll be able to keep up with a motorcycle, thanks to the tiny size of the Cobalt.

December 21, 2013December 21, 2013 zoomvroom Car Culture, Car Reviews, New car info, Road Trips

The Best Cars for the End of the Holiday Season!

I think that this is a bit of a tradition for me. Last year, I wrote a post about the same time as this one. It was also about the best cars for the end of the holiday season. I have fond memories of picking through cars that I thought deserved to be on this list. While my list may not be as prestigious as Car & Driver’s 10Best, I would like to think of it as my personal version. Except, I will be doing a list like this for every season! That’s right: Winter, spring, summer, and fall! After much thought, I have finally decided what cars deserve to be on my list. The criteria for the cars: The cars on the list must all be new or substantially updated, they must be able to be entertaining in a snowy climate, and they must be able to seat at least four people comfortably (that way you can go on a road trip with the kids or friends!). Enjoy my list!

Bentley Flying Spur: The Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed was on my list last year. However, the Flying Spur is no longer burdened with the Continental name. It does still share a platform with the Continental, though. It’s a brute of a car, weighing in at 5644 pounds. It’s definitely as large as an elephant – it is 17.4 feet long, and it it weighs as much as a male elephant bull. Don’t despair – this car rockets to 60 mph in an equally stunning 4.3 seconds. This car will keep pace with a sprightly Lotus Evora S all day, without much drama or effort. This car has 616 horsepower mated to a superb ZF 8-speed automatic transmission. The powerful W12 engine is more efficient – it gets 12/20 MPG city/highway, according to the EPA. However, snowy hoonage will likely lower that number… It has every option one can imagine, including private multimedia screens for the kids. Bang & Olufsen sound-deadening wireless headphones will keep the people in front sane.
Ford F-150 FX2/FX4 Sport Tremor: The Ford F-150 SVT Raptor Crew Cab rumbled and burbled its way onto my list last year because of its substantial updates, most notably the 6.2 liter V8. This year, it’s more efficient, yet just-as-fun sister joins the party. The Sport Tremor comes in 2WD or 4WD, regular cab only. It comes with Ford’s powerful, efficient 3.5-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost V6. Power gets there through a 4.10:1 rear end, so these trucks will be fast. I know that it doesn’t seat four, but don’t despair – you can always get the Raptor! The performance figures for the Sport Tremor aren’t out yet, but a 2012 Ford F-150 XLT 4X4 Crew Cab got to 60 in a quite-respectable 6.2 seconds. Expect the Sport Tremor to get there in about 5.8-5.9 seconds. While it won’t keep up with the Bentley in a straight line, it CAN haul a whole lot more, and get better gas mileage!
SRT Viper/GTS/TA: The Viper has a ground-shaking 8.4-liter V10 that pumps out 640 horsepower. It comes with a 6-speed manual transmission and RWD only. This will play with the boys. I know that it doesn’t seat four, but hey, it’s a Viper. It’s not a Bentley! The RWD, 640 horse Viper should be a hoot to hoon around in the snow. Stability control and traction control will help.
Porsche 911 Turbo/Turbo S: The Porsche 911 Turbo is a great car to own. Not only will the 991-generation Turbo remain a collectible for a long time, but the 991 911 Turbo/Turbo S has a bunch of new technology designed to help the driver get around a track faster. It has AWD, 560 horsepower in the Turbo S, and seats for four. While the rear seats may only be fit for presents, the kids will have to suck it up and squeeze in there for a bit. But, the drive there will be worth it. The 911 Turbo/Turbo S is turbocharged, which makes it a cinch to drive fast, especially in wet or low-traction environments. This car was designed to make the worst of drivers look good, and the best of drivers look legendary. Have fun with this car.
Porsche 918 Spyder: If you own this car, I want to go for a spin in it! Porsche has had the 918 Spyder in testing for years – prototypes were running around Germany as far back as 2007. The 918 Spyder has a hybrid-electric system that distributes the gobs of 874 horsepower and an astounding 944 lb-ft of torque to all four wheels. The 918 Spyder Weissach Package loses 88 pounds by using ceramic wheel bearings and film wrap instead of conventional aluminum and paint. It won’t seat any more than two, but that’s okay. This car will blow your mind at the speeds it reaches without effort, as well as the confidence it gives the driver at any speed.
Subaru WRX: Subie is legendary in the rally world for building fast, reliable cars that don’t look like much. The 2015 WRX lives up to these statements. It loses the massive rear wing found on the previous generation of WRXs, but it has power and fun. It is bigger, but it makes 268 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque. It’s suspension has been firmed up 39% in the front, and 62% in the rear. This car will play all day with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, and be as flat as a Porsche Cayman S while cornering. The torque vectoring system uses the rear differential instead of the brakes to vector the torque. It doesn’t look pretty, but then again, no Subie in recent memory has looked mesmerizing. Subaru invests money in engineering, not in styling. That’s fine with me.
Jeep Cherokee: For those of you who remember the Jeep Cherokees of yore, close this tab, shut off your computer, grab your wallet, and go get a Jeep Wrangler. This Cherokee is NOTHING like the harsh-riding Cherokees of the 1980s and 1990s. This Cherokee comes standard with FWD, but 4WD is optional. The Cherokee Trailhawk will keep pace with a stock Wrangler or SVT Raptor all day long without breaking a sweat. The Cherokee is packed with lots of useful, cool tech. I won’t bore you all of that technology, but I will say that for those in need of something affordable with 4WD, the Cherokee deserves a second look.
Chevrolet SS: The Chevy SS is the thunder from down under. It’s based off of the Holden Commodore, and it’s got a high-performance 6.2-liter V8 with 415 horsepower. The SS is the first RWD Chevy sedan since 1996 for civilian use – the Caprice PPV is available for lucky cops, and it’s truly spectacular. It is capable of making those who owned a muscle car as a teenager feel young again, while allowing Mom and the kids to experience the fun. It’s not all about burnouts – the SS can hold its own in the twisties. The 415-horse V8 and six-speed automatic mated to RWD will make it entertaining for anybody to drive, any season, at any time. I want one, if you haven’t noticed!
2014 Chevrolet Silverado: Chevy is good at this game! Two cars on my list is kinda hard. Yet, Chevy introduced two cars capable of being on this list, which both of them are. The 2014 Silverado truly gives the buyer everything that is needed or wanted, and then some. There are literally 50 different cab/bed combinations, let alone the plethora of engine/transmission/2WD/4WD combinations. The 2014 Silverado was designed to be one of the best in the game, and it doesn’t disappoint. It’s got clever tech for all of the engines to make the engines more competitive in an ever-evolving segment. The Silverado doesn’t come with the option of an extended cab anymore – safety regulations and loss of demand killed it for Chevy, but it comes with a “Quad Cab” option that offers more space than an extended cab, as well as the look of a crew cab. It starts off as a perfectly nice base model, before climbing the ladder of expensive and unneeded options to become a pure luxury truck.
Ram 1500: The Ram 1500 has long been one of my favorite 1/2 ton trucks. Ever since it’s massive – and popular redesign in 1993, the Ram 1500 has always had a brutish Hemi V8 underhood. Recently, Ram introduced an EcoDiesel V6 shared with the Jeep Grand Cherokee. It’s the first diesel in a 1/2 ton pickup since the 1980s. I know the deal about diesels. My dad owns a 2003 GMC 2500 4X4 with the Duramax diesel. But, the Ram 1500 offers the same noise levels as the Ram equipped with the Hemi V8. If you don’t want a diesel, you can always opt for the refreshed Hemi V8, which has more cool tech to aid in towing and hauling.

Have a fun, happiness-filled end of the holiday season! In these final days of 2013, I urge you to take a walk in the park with friends, your kids, and/or the family dog (if you have one), and do whatever fills your heart with enjoyment. Have a wonderful Winter Break!

Enjoy the pictures of the cars (and trucks!) on my list:

June 14, 2013 zoomvroom Car Culture, Field Trips, Out N' About, The History of Autos, Website Reccomendation

Coverage from the 11th Annual Peggy Sue All-American Cruise!

Every year, the Peggy Sue All-American Cruise and its related events take over sunny Santa Rosa, CA. Restored cars, hot rods, low riders, raised Jeeps, and antique American cars are all part of the mix. We have entered our 1950 GMC 100, “Betsy” twice. It’s always been a lot of fun for me to see all of the classic cars in the parade or the massive parking lot where they are displayed! This year, one of my good friends joined me in watching the classic American cars cruise around downtown Santa Rosa. Revving engines? Check. Drunk people yelling at drivers to “Step it up, dude!”? Check. Squealing tires? Check? The smell of burnt brakes? Check. Annoyed and overworked event staff? Right on. I know that you are getting bored reading my words about what was going on. I’ll cut to the chase: It was a LOT of fun, and you should join me next year. Enjoy the pictures.

I don’t know what this Chevy Nova had under the hood, but it sounded NASTY! Many of the cars at the parade were either restored to Concours-levels or were built for the drag strip. This one was built to rule the streets.

This 1959 Chevrolet Corvette is a rare “Fuelie.” Instead of a carburetor, it has a primitive version of fuel injection. This particular example was restored to a “Level 1.” Level 1 means that it is virtually perfect. That it is.

This 1966 Chevrolet Biscayne is a powerful, efficient, and stylish family sedan from the muscle car era. It has a 327 cubic-inch V8 engine and a two-speed automatic Powerglide transmission. It’s lovely.

I find it nice that the interior of the same Biscayne matches the exterior of the car. Even the steering wheel has chrome on it!

Same car. This is the model designation. The car is a barn find from somewhere around Redwood City, according to the owner. He restored it himself, and he did a very good job of it!

For those of you old enough, you should remember the aero-wars days, when big engines and aerodynamics were all the rage. The 1971 Plymouth Roadrunners and Superbirds were the car of choice for many famous NASCAR drivers. Richard Petty left Ford in 1969 to go to Plymouth. He did so much better in a Plymouth Superbird that Ford built the Torino Talladega as a response. This particular Roadrunner has the 440 Six Pack (a 440 cubic-inch V8 with THREE two-barrel carburetors!), which was just one step below the mighty 426 Hemi engine. It is painted in the iconic Lime Green that is popular with automotive restorers.

This Corvette is one of the nicest Corvettes that I’ve seen in a LONG time! It is painted Aqua Blue and Snow White, with a matching interior. It has the 283 cubic-inch V8 and a four-speed manual. It is a 1956 Corvette. The only shame? That it’s far too nice to tour Route 66 in.

Sorry about the fingertip on the top of the camera view. The sun was shining and I REALLY wanted to tell you about this truck! It’s a 1965 Chevy K10 with the optional 327 cubic-inch engine and a three-speed manual. It is built to tackle any trail, and take anything that you want with it. It may not be stock, but it looks like it will outrun just about any Jeep from the same era off-road.

Remember the Chevy Vega? If you don’t, it’s okay. The Vega was powered by a 305 cubic-inch V8. It was relatively powerful and fast, but it was a minor disaster for Chevy. This Vega is a 1974 model. It wasn’t the nicest car there, but it was one of the newer cars there.

The best part about this 1969 Chevrolet C30 is that it is used a lot. I don’t know how much, but I have seen it at Sonoma Raceway’s Wednesday Night Drags as a tow vehicle. It’s the perfect tow vehicle. It’s got a 350 cubic-inch engine that’s all-original. So is most of the truck.

This rare 1971 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am is one speedy car. It’s all stock, and plenty fast that way. It’s got the 350 cubic-inch V8 engine found in many GM vehicles from 1969-1999. The top speed is 130 mph. This car means business. The lucky driver had to keep the car in first gear. he also kept touching the brakes because the car wants to leap forward. Lucky him.

I’m going to apologize in advance for the direction of the photo. This 1951 Dodge cab-over semi has been so heavily customized that the only thing original about it is the cab. That’s it. The rest of it is custom-built. The truck is a heavy-duty car-hauler with three axles. The engine is a brand-new 6.7-liter Cummins Diesel engine that has two turbos instead of one. Wow!

While motorcycles aren’t as common in the parade as cars, there were still a good three or four. This 1946 Indian Roadmaster has the iconic “shovelhead” engine that many motorcycle enthusiasts favor. This Indian Roadmaster is banana yellow with the “caramel cream” seat. I like old motorcycles like this. Maybe some readers will buy me one…

The Indian logo is still in the original chrome, almost 65 years later. The gas tank can hold 10 gallons. It says that on the chrome gas cap.

I like the way that Indian made the front wheel cover so stylish. I was talking to the owner for a minute, and I found out that he drove it all the way down to Santa Rosa from Healdsburg. That’s not a lot of fun on an old motorcycle, yet Indian motorcycles are built to cruise. I’m guessing that it was probably a comfortable ride down to Santa Rosa.

This 1932 Ford Roadster is a sick hot rod. The lady standing by the car is the owner. The car has a Ford 351 Windsor V8 engine. It has a Jaguar rear end, and a five-speed manual. This car means business. I don’t know what I like more: The mechanical parts of the car, or the exterior? That’s a decision that YOU will let me know in the comments section…

This Ford Bronco looks like it came out of some post-apocalyptic movie. It’s got aggressive tires, a six-inch lift kit, and a 302 cubic inch V8. I don’t know the exact year, but it looks like it’s from around 1967-8. This is one nice Bronco.

This is one of the coolest, most amazing Jeep CJs that I’ve ever seen. And that’s saying a lot. This CJ is stock, and is a 1947 model. Between the drivers seat and the passengers seat, there is a metal rifle/shotgun holder for two high-powered guns. Not that it would be used for that!

How often do you see a stock 1932 Ford roadster? Not at all often! This is a stock 1932 Ford roadster that could sell for upwards of $150,000 in its current condition. It even has the rumble seat and the original interior! It’s beautiful!

That’s all, folks!

If you would like to check out the Peggy Sue’s Cruise website, it is http://www.peggysuescruise.com/home/