Succinctly put

Why old cars suck

To put it in bullet format:

• Terrible ignition systems
• Maddeningly temperamental fuel-delivery systems
• Early emission control systems
• Four-wheel drum breaks
• Short-lived suspension components
• Ineffective climate-control systems
• Safety
• Corrosion

Word.

blue oval

Check out Ford Barn for all of your early Ford photo / forum needs, e.g., photos of early Seattle Fair attendees, balancing their cars to a 'T'...

Coolography something or other

Coolography 27

Corvette Summer - edition.  Skip the matching numbers and NOS fan belts, and add some coke bottle mags with some meaty billboard tires...

Bolting Godzilla together

Gearhead Gnarliness: Speedhunters visits the Nissan GT-R assembly line.

I wasn't crazy about the car's looks initially, but a guy in my neighborhood bought one, and having seen it rolling down the road, it works. And even more so than a wouldn't kick it out of bed way. The brakes really are the size of man-hole covers. I'll take my in red please, and sacrilege! I'd repaint the wheels bright silver.

Coolography 6

White roof edition.

Murdered out, as they say in the vernacular

Mobsteel.

coolography

Vroom vroom

If you think that the no-holds barred F1 engines are light years ahead of the good ol' 'Merican NASCAR engines, you might want to geek out on this bit of engine analysis: Comparing NASCAR Cup engines to Formula One engines.

Get on your bikes and ride! (kinda)

Very cool: CycleKarts.

I'd hit it 2.0

Jaguar XFR (slightly modified) goes 225 mph at that altar to speed, Bonneville. Looks like they got the boys from Top Gear to film it, too. Incidentally, that's very fast.

On a related note, here's a Porsche 911 turning a nine second quarter mile.

I'd hit it

I always go for stylishly bland cars, so yeah, I think the new Buick Regal looks mostly great (the rear is a little awkward). It's got a new engine, which I'd rather wait for a year or two for any flaws to get tweaked, with the caveat that GM may not exist then. I've noted that I liked Buicks before, so this may constitute a worrying trend for my youthful reputation. Or is it just an encouraging trend towards my graceful aging? On a related note, I like the Lincoln MKS's looks too, but I wouldn't pay sticker for one. I suspect you don't have to. And if it came down to it, would you still take one of these over an Infiniti/Lexus?

Gas is going to get very cheap

Americans driving less, unmoved by lower gas prices
By Haya El Nasser and Paul Overberg, USA TODAY

Americans are driving less despite falling gas prices, reflecting the deepening recession and signaling a shift in lifestyles and driving habits that could outlast the current turmoil.

Drivers logged 10.7 billion fewer miles in September than they did the same month a year earlier — a 4.4% decline, according to data issued Wednesday by the Federal Highway Administration.

I don't believe their argument that this time is different, and that these changes are permanent. People are very pessimistic right now, and until they feel optimistic again, there will be less driving. This rapid drop in demand is going to drive oil down to the minimum level OPEC can hold. Which is probably less than $45 a barrel, but that's a WAG on my part.

MORE: Fall in Gas Prices + Less Driving

"Bad decisions are more likely in a 1977 Camaro"

Hoopty Rides: Some Expenses Spared.

Myself, I dream of wearing a sport-coat with an unbuttoned collared-shirt while cruising around Malibu beach in a gold 1974 Pontiac Firebird Esprit, but you know, same difference.

Billetproof

Nifty photos from the Billetproof auto show.

the new snake-oil

How to buy a new car

That's not a knife

Pardon the car-kick - I fall off the wagon once in awhile, but -- Dayamm (that's an Ultima GTR, mit turbos, sans rear cover).

Someday

This one is just about perfect: 1967 Porsche 911.

And while I'm in never-never land, here's an all-aluminum Ford block with repoped Ardun heads. Just nestle it in between the rails of '32 highboy roadster, and well, that'd be pretty sweet...

F1 and the Preakness

I don't follow F1 at all, but this is facinating: Inside the Scandal That Rocked the Formula One Racing World.

It's amazing that some of the most advanced machines in the world are built just to go around in circles really fast. That presupposes that there's something grander or more profound for them to do, but I think there is. There has to be.

Speaking of going around in a circle at tremendous expense, I went to Pimlico field last weekend for the Preakness
with a group of friends, where we saw Big Brown walk away from the field in the home strech. That was remarkable. Less remarkable was the $24 I collected on a $20 bet, but hey, I won. Unlike the S&P500. And the IRS will be duly notified. Maybe.

Much more remarkable than either of those tidbits, is that the infield, where we observed all the action from, was a madhouse. Imagine ten thousand Britney Spears Gone Wild with ten thousand Kevin Federline's and Frathouse Meatheads, drunk out of their minds, mired in a field of mud, with random fistfights and debauchery sprinkled like peanuts in a turd, and you'll get the picture. The port-a-potties were a holocaust, or rather, I wish they had been. Setting them on fire would have been an improvement. Not quite the ladies-in-sun-dresses-and-big-hats with gentlemen-in-seer-sucker-suits and drinking some sort of Maryland mint-julepps that I had in mind. Unless you're an idiot, yo, spring for the grand-stand tickets. The Bring All the Beer and Wine You Can Carry Policy should have been a tip-off.

Anyway, even if I would repeat it, it was still an interesting and informative experience. Not unlike college if you went to a party-school. And if Big Brown wins the Belmont, the story will be that I was there at the Preakness finish line. Capping the night off at Fells Point at Bertha's was a pretty nice capstone.

Way way cheaper

But apparently pretty close to the real thing: Games so real the best of drivers take them seriously

By PETER LYON
Special to The Japan Times

Advancing technology blurs the line between virtual and real-world driving as today's champions practice on television screens.

News photo
Creator Kazunori Yamauchi constantly refines his "Gran Turismo" racing video game. PETER LYON PHOTOS

When I suggested to Kazunori Yamauchi — creator of the "Gran Turismo" video game — that he codrive with me in his first ever "real world" race, a one-hour Mazda MX-5 endurance event at Tsukuba Circuit in Ibaraki Prefecture in 2006, he vacillated for a day or so. Despite being a very good driver, he said no one had ever invited him to join a real race before.