Jalopnik: Car Culture

How I Put 750,000 Miles On My Honda Civic In Just Five Years

Matt Hardigree — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Surpassing 250,000 miles on a single car during its lifetime is a remarkable feat. Paul Habib, Jr. did that on his 2006 Honda Civic in just the first two years he owned it. This month, five years after buying it, he'll cross 750,000 miles. His goal? To hit over 1,000,000 miles. More »

These Gorgeous, Cheap Movie Car Posters Are A 'Must Buy' For Any Car Guy

Ray Wert — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:45:00 EST

Because car culture and mainstream culture intersect so often in movies, they can create a stellar opportunity for those normally unaffiliated with the love of the cult of cars to get a little taste of our gearhead obsession. More »

Photographs of a Mellow Car Purgatory

Peter Orosz — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:30:00 EST

Have you ever wondered what happens to all those old cars which turn into neither steel scrap nor gleaming restorations? Cars which simply fall out of the life cycle of cars and fade away. Alícia Rius has. She’s a photographer from Spain who describes her work as a “search for hidden treasures”. Her latest project, From the backseat of my car, shows the view out of cars which have passed the point of no return between car life and car death, not quite cars anymore but not quite landscape yet, a place where wildflowers and dashboard buttons mingle. More »

How To Park Your Car In Manhattan

Kathryn A Higgins — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST

The perils of New York City parking are legendary. Often times the space between a legal and illegal parking spot is often times no more than one sheet of paper. Here's Kathryn A Higgins' story from Thought Catalog that could probably be just as easily titled "How NOT To Park Your Car In Manhattan." — Ed. More »

A Letter To My First Car

Kelcie Moseley, Thought Catalog — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:30:00 EST

We all remember our first car, and although few of us still have it — even fewer of us probably were thoughtful enough to tell that car how we felt about it. But Kelcie Moseley did just that at Thought Catalog. Here's the letter she sent. Write your own in the comments below. —Ed. More »

Happier Days For Kim Jong-il’s Lincoln Hearse

Peter Orosz — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:30:00 EST

Back when Kim Jong-il’s hearse was not Kim Jong-il’s hearse but a member of his father Kim Il-sung’s official fleet, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu paid a visit to North Korea. The footage, excerpted from the 2010 documentary The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceauşescu, shows the massive, colorful Stalinist lunacy Kim welcomed Ceauşescu to town with. More »

Drive On! Is the Greatest Book About Cars Ever Written

Peter Orosz — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST

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LJK Setright’s last book is 400 pages of dense, hyper-erudite British prose about cars and humans and the ways we’ve come entangled. It’s the life’s work of the smartest motoring journalist who ever lived and if you care about cars, you should read it. Bonus: Tons of Hitler jokes! More »

Prada's 2012 Spring Shoe Collection Inspired By Classic American Cars

Andrew Liszewski — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:30:00 EST

Thanks Prada for once again completely befuddling me when it comes to high fashion. Because while I certainly love the designs of classic American automobiles, I would never have thought to apply their iconic spoilers and taillights to high-heeled shoes. More »

Naming Cars After Katabatic Winds

Peter Orosz — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:30:00 EST

This churning seascape off the coast of Antarctica, not a place you’d think of as the hotbed of car culture, shows in fact an undercurrent of automotive nomenclature: the katabatic wind. Blowing from the Aleutian to the Adriatic, katabatic winds have inspired a wealth of car names over the past 50 years, names of cars both great and not so great. More »

A touching story of a son reunited with his dad's long-lost Beetle

Bring a Trailer — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST

If the Internet is good for anything, aside from hate-filled comments and rage comics, it's good for bringing people together with cars they never though they'd see again. This feel-good story from the awesome Bring a Trailer may restore your faith in our ubiquitous "series of tubes." — Ed. More »

Lady Gaga blows up cars, writhes atop a Trans Am in "Marry The Night" video

Ray Wert — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:30:00 EST

Lady Gaga's got a history of dropping cool cars into her videos. I mean, come on, remember the Pussywagon from Kill Bill? Anyway, she's at it again. Skip straight through to 8:00 into the music video for Lady Gaga's new song, "Marry The Night." You'll be treated to the Gaga writing around, on top of, and inside a bitchin' black T-top Trans Am. Then, randomly, what looks like a 2nd generation Jeep Grand Cherokee and some sort of wagon explode into flames. More »

Kicking it with the cool kids of 1950s Kinshasa

Peter Orosz — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST

This must be the saddest photo of happy people in the world. Taken in the narrow slit of optimism between Congo’s passing from the most terrible colony in Africa to the most terrible failed state in Africa, Jean Depara’s photos of life in Kinshasa in the early 1950s show the rambunctious Congo that could have been. More »

For a violent and chaotic life, get a Grand Prix Band-Aid

Peter Orosz — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 10:00:00 EST

The Formula One season has been over for a month and we’ve still got two races to go. Can you believe it? This Sunday will see the third staging of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which, after last year’s four-way title battle, will be a non-championship race on a terrible circuit. And you can’t even get booze because it’s the Gulf. Oh dear. More »

In his front yard, this man built America's largest private racetrack

Mike Spinelli — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EDT

Alan Wilzig is just like you and me. He has a family, he loves cars and motorcycles and he's got a mile-long, 40-foot-wide full racetrack in his front yard. Did I say just like you and me? Ok, maybe not. More »

New Zealand’s national car is a DIY Škoda

Peter Orosz — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:30:00 EDT

This is the Trekka, the only car ever designed and manufactured in New Zealand. It looks like the facsimile of a Land Rover Series I, it had a 1.2-liter Škoda engine, and it was built in 1966 to give overtaxed Kiwis wheels. More »

The differences between people who can and can't drive a stick

Ray Wert — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:30:00 EDT

The latest infoporn from Hunch.com delves into the site's proprietary user data system to uncover the characteristics of people who can drive cars with a stick shift vs. those who can't. More »

Squeegee men return to harass New York City motorists

Mike Spinelli — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:30:00 EDT

Back in the '80s, drivers in NYC knew the routine. Stop at a light, get swarmed by guys wielding squeegees and buckets of questionable liquids. Slip one a buck to back off — blackmail by piss — and drive on to the next stoplight, and the next squeegee guy. Well, 19 years after Giuliani claimed to exile them from the island, they're back. More »

Woman who defended BMW from Vancouver rioters was "total stranger"

Justin Hyde — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:30:00 EDT

Of all the videos to come out of the Vancouver riots, the most striking was a woman defending a BMW from the hordes of angry protestors. Now we know the rest of the story: Not only wasn't the car hers, amazingly, she didn't even know the owner. More »

Heinz debuts car-friendly ketchup packet

Ray Wert — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 13:45:00 EDT

Heinz debuts car-friendly ketchup packet More »

This Ferrari has left the American sector

Peter Orosz — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 16:30:00 EDT

Now here’s some parallel parking with a heavy political vibe. A Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, rendered gray and graceless by the German tuning company Hamann, parked on the East Berlin side of Checkpoint Charlie, the famous fortified hole which used to connect the two sides of Berlin across the Wall. Things have certainly come a long way since the decades of Trabis and Wartburgs. More »

A statue to celebrate Congo’s most important utility vehicle

Peter Orosz — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:00:00 EDT

A massive piece of public art depicting what is essentially a crude wooden bicycle may look silly, but remember that this is the chukudu, East Africa’s homebuilt truck of necessity, life, and death, which can carry 1,300 pounds of cargo. More »

These are the commuter cars of Apple’s future

Peter Orosz — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT

Newly released development plans of Apple’s proposed corporate campus, which will look like a galactic portal and will be bigger than the Pentagon, hint at the company’s peculiar indifference to cars. More »

Today I met the track girl I'm gonna marry

Ray Wert — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:00:00 EDT

There's something extraordinarily sexy about a woman who can handle a car. Especially when they also dream that their plain-Jane-Z4 is really a BMW Z4 GT3 — just like the woman in this BMW web advert. Rowr! More »

This girl got a Senna tattoo after watching the movie

Mike Spinelli — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:00:00 EDT

Jalopnik commenter CaughtYouLooking was so inspired by Asif Kapadia's Senna documentary that she (yes, she) got "Senna" tattooed, semi-Ozzy-style, across the tops of her fingers. It's no henna Senna, either — it's the real deal. We'll let her explain. More »

This is the first bottle of champagne sprayed after winning a race

Peter Orosz — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:00:00 EDT

You'd think that the tradition of spraying a bottle of champagne from the winner's podium after a race was as old as sports itself. It's not. It didn't start until 1967 when Dan Gurney did it for the first time after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This was the bottle he used. More »

Down the rabbit hole of a Ferrari tattoo

Peter Orosz — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 10:30:00 EDT

Mix brand-nervous Central Europe with motor racing and this is what you get, a young woman with a Ferrari logo tattooed on her back, photographed at the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix. This has interesting cultural implications for the future of Formula One, which is increasingly the plaything of billionaires and oil countries with no roots in motorsports. More »

This Lamborghini Miura is a daily driver

Peter Orosz — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EDT

Trust your doctor when it comes to caring for your vintage supercar. This 1970 Miura S is owned by the Zürich-based gentleman racer and OB/GYN man Konstantin Ioannidis, and he does what few owners of very expensive vintage cars do. He takes his Miura out on the open road for regular drives. More »

The funeral strippers of Taiwan

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:00:00 EDT

Perhaps we've got it all wrong. People frequently say they want their funerals to be parties, but they rarely are. As this trailer for the film "Dancing for the Dead: Funeral Strippers in Taiwan" shows, rural Taiwanese assure a party atmosphere with stripper-covered Electric Flower Cars. Just don't expect many tips. (Hat tip to Nosrat!) More »

When Ladas become weirdly Japanese

Peter Orosz — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:30:00 EDT

The inoculation of Work Equip wheels, the military flag of Japan, riveted fender flares and Japanese license plates into a humble VAZ 2106 sedan is a stunning display of modern tuning culture, where ideas, memes, details and styles flow like bits and JPEGs. More »

Art of the pinstripe

Tom Joslin — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 11:00:00 EDT

Last month we showed you Josh Clason's excellent video highlighting the cars of Viva Las Vegas. Although we watch a lot of car videos in the name of bringing you the best weekend Jalopnik possible, Clason's VLV video was one of the best we'd seen in a while. Accordingly, we were very excited to come across a newer video of his this week on the Hemmings Motor News blog. More »

Postal stamp dreams of vintage cars in the Congo

Peter Orosz — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:30:00 EDT

These stamps of classic cars are from the Congo. The Congo is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think about classic touring and race cars. Mind you, this is the Republic of Congo, not the big crazy Congo of Ali vs. Foreman, the Concorde landing strip in the jungle and the Second Congo War: that’s the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Republic of Congo is slightly less crazy. That said, rumbling along its roads in the red MG MGA (bottom row, middle) would still be a weekend to remember. More »

Men care more about cars than health

Ray Wert — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 10:00:00 EDT

In a recent survey, almost 70% of American men said they it's easier to care for their cars than their personal health. And 40% said they would be more likely to address issues with their car than their health. More »

How I found the first Bugatti EB110 prototype on an Italian street

Peter Orosz — Tue, 24 May 2011 14:30:00 EDT

If one likes supercars, a first visit to Modena is loaded with subtle anticipation. There is surely a Ferrari parked on every medieval corner! The truth is stranger, more subtle, and rather more obscure. It is a Bugatti that looks nothing like a Bugatti. More »

Trucking along Pakistan’s most dangerous mountain pass

Peter Orosz — Fri, 13 May 2011 10:00:00 EDT

The Lowari Top is a 10,000-ft high pass in northwest Pakistan and the road that crosses it between Chitral and Dir is one of the most dangerous in the world. Despite the danger, trucks are the only way to move goods in this part of the world. More »

Spinning round the Nürburgring at the annual Carfreitag

Justin Hyde — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:30:00 EDT

In German, the Christian holiday known as Good Friday translates as "karfreitag." Every Good Friday, German auto enthusiasts flock to the Nürburgring for Carfreitag, where vehicles from around the world suffer for the sins of their drivers, with a few saved through grace. More »

Homeless Brazilian carbuilder auctioning his "Shrimpmobile"

Justin Hyde — Fri, 06 May 2011 09:30:00 EDT

Two months ago we told you about Orismar de Souza, the Brazilian man who built his own car while homeless. Now he wants to sell his beast — but has already turned down an offer of about $15,000. More »

Ingenious owner saves Rare Porsche from flood with floating parking spot

Matt Hardigree — Wed, 04 May 2011 14:00:00 EDT

The owner of what appears to be a rare 964 Porsche 911 saved his car from the floodwaters encroaching his or her property near Louisville, Kentucky with the help of what looks like an inflatable cushion tethered to the house.Update! More »

"Mudflap Girl" was my mom

Keith Barry, Wired Autopia — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:15:00 EDT

If you've driven anywhere in 30-odd years, you've likely seen the chromed silhouette of a large-bosomed reclining woman affixed to the mudflaps of big rigs. She's known as Mudflap Girl, but Ed Allen has another name for her: Mom. More »

The Mole and the Car: Automotive dreams from behind the Iron Curtain

Peter Orosz — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:00:00 EDT

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In 1954, the Czech cartoonist Zdeněk Miler was tasked with creating educational films about the merits of Communist industry. Miler subverted the project to create Krtek (The Mole), and showed children behind the Iron Curtain the wonders of American cars, rockets, and skyscrapers. Not in vain: this Friday, Miler’s creation will ascend to low Earth orbit aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour. More »

Chinese motorist saves 580 dogs from slaughter

Matt Hardigree — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 09:30:00 EDT

Mr. An was driving down a crowded Beijing highway when he noticed a truck carrying hundreds of dogs, many sick and crying, cramped into a tiny space. In a rare act of dissidence, he swerved in front of the truck and prevented it form carrying its living load to the slaughterhouse. More »