<![CDATA[Jalopnik: Commentary]]> http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jalopnik.com.png <![CDATA[Jalopnik: Commentary]]> http://jalopnik.com/tag/commentary http://jalopnik.com/tag/commentary <![CDATA[Tulsa's Not That Far: Thrill of the Road]]> Tom Albrecht (front) and J.F. Musial, hosts of Thrill of the Road. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=316720&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[The Other Side of the Wind: The Trials of a Transcontinental Record]]> Ahhh, the French champagne has always been celebrated for its excellence! Alex Roy doused with bubbly upon successful breaking of the transcontinental record. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=310870&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Way to Ruin Hello Kitty...Again]]> So, we saw this a couple of days ago, but we've been taking some time to ponder our response to these aftermarket Hello Kitty wheels. Since one of us is a big Hello Kitty fan, people are always sending me links to all things HK, along with messages that say things like, "look how cute!" or, "I bet you'd love this!" The fact of the matter is, no, I do not like most of them. Sure enough, I got a similar message today when Kitty Hell posted a photo of the latest item to be butchered: A set of Hello Kitty wheels. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=307421&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Fifty Years of Kerouac's "On The Road"]]> Fourteen years before the United States mandated exit numbers on Dwight Eisenhower's brainchild of a road system, a Lowell, Mass native of French-Canadian extraction named Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac published a novel that would change countless lives; a mash note to an already-dead America living under the weight of what Igor Kurchatov and J. Robert Oppenheimer had wrought. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=298327&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Rolling Nirvana]]> Imperfect perfection as a child is rarely equaled as an adult. Why do we remember games of "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" more fondly than some random hookup with a hottie picked up in a bar? Adult perfection is just more complicated. Spouses, jobs, locales, children of our own that we want to stuff so full of perfect moments that they can't possibly fail in life. And hopefully don't go around picking up STD's in bars. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=294787&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[California Driving Tax Bill AB616 Moves to Senate]]> A bill requiring annual smog inspections for vehicles over fifteen years old is moving onto the California state senate. AB616 also contains a provision for additional money generated by the previously bi-annual inspections to be deposited into an account. The funds in this account would then be used in part to scrap older cars. If these funds have anything to do with the voluntary accelerated vehicle retirement program then this bill is truly insidious. In essence California would be making citizens pay for pollution created by those who can purchase a pollution credit for each old car taken off the road. For more information on the bill and how to keep your classic rolling, head on over to the SEMA Action Network. [Urgent Legislative Alert via SEMA Action Network] More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=290255&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[I Voted No on the 250 GTO]]> While the Loverman and I agree on a great many things and have quite possibly slept with too many of the same women (all before we knew each other), now and then there is a great schism. DAF vs. FAF, Evo vs. WRX. Killdozer vs. Dave Matthews. Okay, so the last one was a complete and utter lie. But the 250 GTO is one of the only Jalopnik Fantasy Garage cars I've ever voted down. And it sounds like insanity, even to me. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=284585&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Autoextremist Applauds Imperial Execution]]> His Royal Peetness is huzzahing like a madman at Chrysler's decision to do in the Imperial, calling it "the wrong car, at the wrong time, from the wrong car company" and hoping that the decision to cancel the ill-proportioned behemoth may be the sign of common sense beginning to prevail in the hallways of Auburn Hills. Needless to say, the situtation with CerbChryCo is touch-and-go right now, but here's to hoping that the 2008 round of show vehicles have a bit more in the way of er, zazz. Actually, could they do a rethought ZAZ? Murilee, for one, would blow his spleen with glee. [Autoextremist] More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=280514&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Phantom Margarine Dies on the Vine]]> We noted earlier that Chrysler has killed the Imperial. You know, generally, we're for V8, rear drive cars. Success, after all, begets success, so we were thrilled to see the 300, Magnum, Charger and revised Mustang lead to the Challenger, the Interceptor, Camaro and G8, but after the inital "What is that?" shock wore off, the car seemed a half-baked Hail Mary, and given the troubles that have come to light in the year and a half since the concept's debut in Detroit, that impression's gained a lot more in the way of context. According to Chrysler mouthpiece David Elshoff, bringing such a machine to market in today's climate would be "irresponsible." Instead, the Imp's place on the Brampton production line will be taken up by the next-generation 300. Please boys, don't crackrock it up with Sebringesque styling cues. Killing the Imperial means that there might still be some signs of life in Auburn Hills. Let's hope so. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=279523&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[The Guild of Calamitous Intent]]> Walking up 22nd Street Hill is serious business for those of us not quite in the shape we'd like to be. It demands no smoking and an application of earnest Southeastern post-hardcore. And on the varying incline up 25th to Western Ave., we noticed a certain stride to the music, which got us thinking about the purposeful nature of certain cars. And we were surprised by what we saw. A last-gen Mustang didn't have it. A Mercury Villager and its Nissan Quest sibling did. Cars we'd never thought much of actually seemed to have a demeanor to them that actually mattered whereas some surprising examples didn't — a new Camry, the most performance-oriented of the breed absolutely didn't, and while we're a fan of the late-model Civics, the hybrid model pulling out of the Von's parking lot seemed lost. It may be a surgical transport tool, but it doesn't resemble a doctor born for a purpose. On the other hand, an early-'80s Toyota pickup absolutely did. Honestly, shutting off our brain and just looking for the intent in a car's makeup opened our eyes to a whole 'nother take on appreciating automotive styiling. Try it yourself and report back. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=279450&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[The Toyota Prius — Is it the Ronnie James Déesse?]]> When I was twenty, I studied in Germany. Bonn, to be exact. I had a friend there named Kai who loved techno and had just received his first car, some sort of Citroën hatchback. It was red, and he hoped someday to buy an Audi with an S in front of its numeral. But at that point, he had what we all ended up calling Kai's Rote Heiße Citroën des Liebes. I don't remember the model, but a couple of days before I met Kai, I'd seen a 2CV parked on the street. It was covered in bad EKG tape stripes, Laney amplifier decals and sported a giant die-cut Savatage decal across the rear window. I knew immediately and instinctively that Kai's car was not a patch on its forebear. Some may decry the Deuche as a rip of Hitler's Beetle with the drivetrain at the opposite end, but the car that debuted in 1955, spawned an obsessive geek-cult of wack-ass masochists and occupied the opposite end of the French motoring spectrum from the plebeian flip-windowed runabout was about as revolutionary as they came in those days. Having run into a DS on the street a few days ago, I got to thinking. Does the car have a modern-day equivalent anywhere in the world today? And if it does what could it be? The only answer I could come up with is the Toyota Prius. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=278350&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Return To Us Our Manta! It Shall Save GM!]]> Call me "Ich-Manni." Here in the electron-bright pages of tha Jalop, I have often implored manufacturers to bring back a simple, lightweight RWD sports coupe. We collectively have bemoaned the lack of availability of certain European models built by American manufacturers but not sold on our shores. And of course, I have professed my love of the Opel Manta so many times that it borders slightly on the ridiculous. Kind of like the time in college when I used to piss off the guy in the Doobie Brothers shirt by playing "Louie Louie" incessantly on the guitar while he attempted to extoll the virtues of Dave Matthews. But I have hit upon an idea, and if General Motors does not grab hold of it and run like a 400-meter relay medalist with a lit roman candle protruding from his keister, they're hopeless. And here is what I propose: Mssrs. Wagoner and Lutz, bring back the Manta. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=273505&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[The Way It Hits You, Or a Three-Way Tie For First]]> I've known my girlfriend for years. We met as teenagers and immediately connected. We kept in touch sporadically, went through a lot of parallel experiences and a multitude of different ones. Way back when, she thought I was a goofy punk rocker with bad taste in motor vehicles, but she wrote about my cars and I anyway. We danced around each other, intrinsically knowing that the other one had things to do. And since I'm seeing her tomorrow, and I figure that she needs more punk rock in her life at this juncture, I've made her a compact disc in place of the mixtape I was too shy to to give her over a decade ago. There's a freedom in letting go of seductive romance and saying, "Okay, the plays are over and here's where the collaboration begins." Not that I'm not a sucker for participating in seductive romance. After all, I did own an El Camino. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=271491&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Autoextremist Upset About Porsche Detroit Snub]]> Denizens of the Motown are proud of their city. And we understand why. It's a great place with plenty of friendly people and lots of good food. But Detroit has one problem — when it comes to cars, it still thinks that it's the center of the universe. The Brucemeisters at Porsche obviously don't see it that way, leading Peet to totally castigate the company. But we ask you this, while Detroit is unquestionably still the king of the North American auto shows, LA saw a vast improvement this year. We wouldn't be surprised if the LA show begins to steal more and more of Detwa's thunder. Because who wants to go to Detroit in January when one can be in Los Angeles in the late fall? Will LA take the crown from Detroit? Discuss amongst yourselves. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=269020&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Manta - der Film, Total Geil!]]> Truth be told, my Manta fixation goes back over 25 years. As a kid visiting Northern Ireland, I was inextricably drawn to GM's Euro ponycar; it seemed the most American thing on the road, coiffed, as it was with cues that spoke of Yankee muscle. Camaro ducktail here, Monza curve there. Okay, fine. I was influenced heavily by 1970s muscle-appearance cars. But the Manta just looked like the baddest-ass thing on the road in what was then a fairly poor country. That said, I knew that Manta drivers, even back then, were revered for their manliness and reviled for their loutish nature. Eleven years ago, eight years after Manta production ended, I studied in Germany. Although nobody mentioned Mantas, per se "Manni" was shorthand for your stereotypical Bitburger-swilling, mulleted hoon. Which brings us to Manta - der Film. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=267145&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Standing at the Gates of the West: So-Cal Hot Rodding and the War]]> To Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, the Gates of the West may have been New York City. Or Saint Louis. Or San Francisco, where they holed up to record overdubs and vocal tracks for Give 'Em Enough Rope with Sandy "More Cowbell" Pearlman. But for many returning soldiers at the end of World War II, the Gates of the West were the breakwaters of San Pedro Bay, at the dangling, southwesterly tip of Los Angeles. Last night, Kasey Dubspeed and I did a runner from the coast up to Cole Coonce's place in Eagle Rock (or "Buzzard Boulder," as Cole perennially refers to it) for his annual Memorial Day barbeque. Cole's backyard is somehow an odd nexus of Los Angeles culture of the city's Golden Age. I spent much of the evening chatting with fashion-and-film-industry people, but at Cole's, one may just as likely end up in a conversation with a Top Fuel driver, a cycling fanatic or a random person who saw the Germs like 48 times and lived to tell the tale. The Second War, as Mike Watt refers to it, gave the world Los Angeles — a diverse, wonderful, maddening, depressing, stunning, sick megalopolis. The GIs who stepped off the boat here after the cessation of hostilities gave us hot rodding. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=263954&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Does Chevy Need a Four-Door Corvette?]]> It's a fait accompli Aston Martin and Porsche are launching a pair of low-slung, coupe-like sedans — the Rapide and Panamera, respectively — and whispers of a similar BMW peaked on arrival of the company's CS concept. Does that mean a new sub-class of touring sedan will be the latest must-have for sport-minded automakers? Probably. But a four-door Corvette? This week, Automotive News's Rick Kranz makes a case for Chevrolet to join the four-door coupe soiree by limo-izing its signature sports car. Purists would balk, he says, just as Porsche devotees will likely roll their eyes at the Panamera (though they've already had their first fainting spell with the Cayenne). And he even quotes GM's Bob Lutz as making the connection between the Porsche and Corvette brands, though no plans are in the works to follow its lead. What's more, if GM ever did stretch the 'Vette platform, Kranz says, it could be used for a desperately needed Cadillac flagship. But while it's not a completely hairbrained idea, we're going to have to side with the purists on this one. But the Cadillac? That's the one to build. – Mike Spinelli More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=261211&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Fast as a Shark: East of Eden: The Fall of the Gumball 3000]]> Alex Roy, Gumball organizer Julie Brangstrup and Michael Ross just before the cars are released at at the airport in Athens. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=258147&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Your Future Belongs to Us: NHTSA Embraces Orwell's Darkest Visions]]> As some of you know, the NHTSA has mandated that all new cars sold in 2012 have stability control as standard equipment. And trust us, during the Mayan apocalypse, you're going to need it. However, it turns out that stability control is just the beginning. Newer regulations will begin mandating technology like always-on adaptive cruise control. Or cars that steer for you in order to prevent a collision. The NHTSA's current leader, Nicole Nason, explains "automakers may have a hard time selling cars that automatically detect a dangerous situation and override the driver's commands." They may have a hard time? Gee, you think? The future looks bleak, my pistonhead brothers and sisters. Remember what O'Brian said to Winston towards the end of 1984, "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever." Or in this case, a boot stamping on your brake pedal - forever. – Jonny Lieberman More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=255598&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Fast as a Shark: Living on Chinese Rocks]]> I can't in truth call my Shanghai trip a comedy of errors, although there were errors, one of which resulted in my flying home first class. And while some of the Engrish I encountered was laugh-out-loud gut-busting. I can't quite refer to it as a tragedy, either. What it was, however, was a slightly nebulous, inchoate paradigm-fucker of a time/history/distance shift. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=255266&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Neighbors Manage to Ban Drifting at Altamont Speedway]]> Before we launch into the coming rant about how completely and utterly inane this potential decision to uphold a proposed ban on drifting at a race track is, we must state that the few times we ever went to Altamont Speedway in Altamont, California was for the Pumpkin Smash 400. The track was watered and soaped down, pumpkins were strewn onto all four corners, and a collection of the most dented cars ever assembled turned it all into a soupy mess of smash-up mayhem for 400 laps. This race is a wildly popular event.
More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=255185&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Sexy Time! Another Forbes List]]> It's that time again! The Forbesies have popped together yet another list of vehicles and assigned character archetypes to their drivers. Interestingly enough the "Newly Divorced Dad" only scores a 'Vette convertible, while the "Newly Divorced Mom" rates an SL65 AMG. Does this mean that Mom wiped out Dad in an acrimonious divorce? And what about the kids? All the divorced moms we know in our peer group drive wagons. Then again, none of the divorced moms we know read Forbes. The list of sexy cars after the jump. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=252274&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[What? No 'Rageous? 10 Concepts Detwa Should've Built]]> The folksy charmers over at The Car Connection have come up with a list two short of a dozen of concept cars over the decades that they feel Detroit should've put into mass production. Speaking as Los Jalopniks, we can't believe that Firebirds I, II & III didn't make the list. Freakin' pansies. No wonder the Motor City's in need of a scraping from the bowl with a terlet brush! Turbine power now. If we're indeed living in the future, we'd rather be somewhere else. TCC's list after the jump. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=251960&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Autoextremist: KirkKerks Don't Change Their Spots]]> Sweet Peet weighs in on Kerkorian's overture to the union in his attempt to buy out Chrysler and ends up making a very salient point:
"Kerkorian is a hustler with a capital 'H' and that's about as far as his interest in the well-being of a reconstructed Chrysler Group goes. He and York are in it for the short-term play, and your first clue should have been the words, 'Long term, patient investing has been Tracinda's approach...'"
And at 89 years old, will Kerkorian live long enough to even see out a seven-year plan for the beleagured DCX unit's turnaround? – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=251559&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Fast as a Shark: The Problem With Words]]> Conversation with three rednecks in beat Silverado in the middle of an intersection: More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=251318&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Fast as a Shark: No Sleep 'til Lynbrook]]> It's 10:46pm California time as I sit down to write this. But I'm not in San Pedro. I'm somewhere near Saint Marks Place in New York City, and the only sounds in the room are the tapping of two Apple keyboards and the rattling dull whine of air filters sucking the cigarette smoke out of the air of a spacious loft replete with a machine gun and a glass-encased model of the Bismarck. On the chairs at the bar hang three jackets, with a black, non-descript number in the middle. To its left is a navy blue Red Kap work jacket with a lakes modified roadster screenprinted across the back, reading "GEARHEAD." To its right hangs a high-visibility orange example sporting a rearing horse patch on the sleeve denoting a foreign police agency. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=250182&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[I Wanna See Some History! Coop's New Tackle Box]]> This has absolutely nothing to do with cars. Unless it does. Which it does. So it does. While garage-saling, Coop picked up a tackle box once owned by one Harold Underhill, replete with a collection of lures, as well as Harold's fishing license from 1959. For petrolheads of a certain age, this will immediately invoke the scent of a certain era of garages, before said garages were mandated for automotive storage by asshat homeowners associations. This tackle box, friends, is an optical scent memory of the two-car garage prior to the advent of enforcable suburban same-color dictatorial suckage; when real men dropped transmissions in driveways with nothing but a Chilton or Haynes manual to guide them and a well-used Craftsman set to do the work. When the smell of pre-mix was the comforting smell of fatherhood, rather than the distant scent of gardeners. Of the banks of Folsom Lake at dawn or camping vacations on the Mendocino coast. This tackle box is a visual representation of the smell of the glory of the suburban garage of the West. And I haven't even eaten fish in twelve years. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=247975&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Fast as a Shark: Cannibalism, In Pursuit of the Elusive Awesome]]> Now and then, I wonder if this malaise is not a thirtysomething crisis, and then I take a step back and realize that it really isn't. Age is merely a tipping point, where the enthusiasm of youth is finally allowed to a step back in the face of a broader historical perspective. There is a transitional moment where it's understood that while independence and DIY will always rule, they are not quite the all. There is a beauty to industry, but when industry becomes the be-all, end all, there's a spirit that gets lost. Lost yet? Let me extrapolate a bit. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=247572&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Superleggera!]]> There are few words in the English language as impossibly awesome as "superleggera." And since, Jalopnik's essential mission is to celebrate the awesome, we would like to point out that the superleggera version of anything this side of Glenn Seaborg's personal collection of transuranic elements, Fort Knox' stash of gold and Tony Iommi's guitar tone is pretty much the best rendition of anything the term is applied to. Go ahead and try it. Add "Superleggera" to your own car. If your neighbors do not envy the Colt Vista Superleggera, there is merely the simple matter of taking a machete to their mailbox to inform them of the error of their ways. Sadly, we now realize that Taco Bell with come out with a Seven-Layer Superleggera Burrito with all of the flavor and none of the carbs without realizing that "superleggera" is American, rather than Mexican. Such is the pain of being a Jalopnik. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=246802&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Question of the Day: Who in the Industry Should be Burned in Effigy?]]> Yes, loyal readers of tha Jalop, we are asking the question. Who should be represented by a hastily-yet-passionately-constructed totem of rags, jute, stuffing of used all-new-materiel and shop rags, soaked in Ancient Age and set alight on the palace lawn at the end of a stinking, fuming yellow nylon rope under a lacerated sky? What exec, designer, tuner or general personality needs a surrogate Joan-of-Arc taken out on him or her? Comments are open. Do your worst to the rapscallions, rapscallions. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=246455&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[The Apocalypse Dudes: An Open Letter to Auto Designers]]> Last fall, after the Paris Auto Show, I hopped the Thalys train to Amsterdam. It was my first time on a TGV, and other than the fact that the loos stunk to high heaven and the whiny kid who caused the occupants off the carriage to cheer when he and his idiotic mother exited somewhere around Rotterdam, it was a wonderful travel experience. I grabbed a hotel room and set off in search of my pal Aziz. If in Amsterdam, Los Jalops recommend a visit to his shop, Independent Outlet, as it is simply the business. We spent the evening tooling around town on bicycles, hitting the city's rock 'n' roll bars. And then not an hour or two before the time bell rang, we happened upon a man with salt-and-pepper hair wearing a denim Turbojugend jacket. Aziz said, "Hey! Dave! That's Tony Slug!" Tony had written for Hit List, a punkzine I'd art-directed and written for back around the turn of the century. More importantly, Tony had penned the immortal line, "I'll fuck you in the ass with glazed ham, bitch!" More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=245831&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[My Home's In Heaven, I'm Going There: Depression-Era Autos]]> The great migration across the plains and over Texas mountain passes and Prohibition-era Tucson and innumberable movable Hooverville speakeasy drinking glasses to California's Promised Land of easy orange-pickin' and subdevelopment makes for a whole dirty shitload of romance. Nobody captured the essence of it like A.P. Carter. Nobody recontextualized said essence like Uncle Tupelo, and it one of the movement's icons was the absolute inverse of the hot rod — yet it required the same level of go-hung American ingenuity. We've been to Salinas, but we're not John Steinbeck. Los Jalops' recommendation? Go re-read some Steinbeck, listen to Dave Alvin and then build a Tin Lizzie (or similar) out of sackcloth and ashes to save your family. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=245755&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[The Truth About the Aston Martin Sale]]> Mr. W.C. Montgomery, man of Texas and lately of TTAC, weighs in on what really went down with Aston, portraying a management group feeling shacked by FoMoCo and seeking out David Richards and consortium as a way out. Was the separation good for both parties? Ford gets to act like a supplier, Jaguar's now Ford's premium brand, which allows it room to grow, and the boys in Dearborn score the better part of a billion dollars for separating from Aston, leaving it in the hands of a man accustomed to dealing with large amounts of money and high-performance automobiles. It could all go terribly wrong of course. But what if it doesn't? – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=245415&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Lighter Question of the Day: What Should Michael Stipe Drive?]]> I returned to Pedro last night after three weeks in the sadly-arterially-clogged place of my birth. Over the last two months, I've regressed to the rock I loved from the ages of 18-24, then suddenly straight back to junior high. Other than Neko Case and Mates of State, I've been all up ons with Iron Maiden and early R.E.M. And it got me thinking. While Athens' most famous sons got their start tooling around in busted-ass vans; writing songs on matttresses out in the yard and gardening at night, they've gradually, quietly, emerged as paragons of some sort of rock 'n' roll righteousness; the Bizzaro-World version of Fugazi, as it were. And Stipe, of course, has always been a rather enigmatic character. We don't know what he drives, but we like to imagine an alternate-universe version of Stipe in anything that isn't that the Prius that the retard-safe money would put him in. Remember, they shot Smokey and the Bandit in Georgia. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=243159&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Autoextremist Not Hot For Wiedeking]]> Sweet Peet fires a few shots across Wendelin's bow in this week's tirade, calling the Cayenne an abject failure and current Porsche management a bunch of bumbling bureaucrats who've essentially pissed away Porsche's legacy. We're not so sure about that. Cayenne sales certainly have reached the saturation point; everyone who wants one has one. But the His Sweetness continually talks about Wiedeking's faithlessness to Dr. Porsche's legacy. Lest we forget, ol' Ferdinand designed tractors and tanks. Porsche, like Honda, is an engineering company, and while the Cayenne is ungainly and not something we would ever buy, it is an engineering feat. We'd probably buy a Tiger tank, though. Actually, we'd totally buy a Tiger tank and roll through the streets of Modesto cranking Wilson Pickett. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=242353&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[In Praise of the BMW E36 3-Series]]> Back in 1998, my parents picked up what was, for them, an uncharacteristically ostentatious automobile. In late 1975, I arrived home from the hospital in a 1962 Rambler, which is the first car I ever steered. Our other car at the time was a '64 Belvedere sedan with a 318. From there we graduated to a '69 Catalina and a '68 Country Sedan. And then an '83 Olds Firenza and an '80 Mercury Colony Park. The Firenza gave way to an '89 Camry in '91, while the Merc was supplanted in trailer-towing duty by an off-lease '94 K5 Blazer in '96, which to date, was the first time my folks had ever dropped over 20k on an automobile. They would likely still be driving the Camry today, had a man in a nearly-identical Camry not totalled the thing while it was parked. At a loss what to do, they purchased a '90 Legend from a friend, but the seats bothered my dad's back to the point that he felt that he couldn't drive it anymore. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=242166&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[The Future is Then: Coop on Decals]]> Pal-O-Tha Jalop Mike LaVella once said, "For some reason, and I'm not exactly sure why, American Culture seemed to peak around 1963." We'd be more likely to say '68, but we do understand LaVella's argument for '63. Regardless, the 1960s were simply an incredible time for design and popular art in this country; we grew up with its leftover detrius emblazoned on our brain, much in the same way you'll see a 14-year-old kid wearing a Black Flag or Metal Up Your Ass t-shirt today. Coop dug up this '60s-vintage decal sheet and comments, "I want these images tattooed on the inside of my eyelids." Click over for more of the man's musings on the fantastic. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=240832&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Autoextremist Knows Things You Don't, Not Afraid to Let You In On That]]> Whoof. Criminy and cripes if the Sweeter Peeter didn't wake up this morning in love with his own self-styled great import. The D. runs down the rumors flying about the Motor City this week, as well as parroting the downfall of the buff books. Interestingly, Peet comments, "Yes, a few titles will survive - Road&Track for the string back driving glove and pipe-smoking crowd who like to sit around the fire place and talk about the old days, and AutoWeek, which still clings to a modicum of immediacy in the Internet age." Wait a second, Mister Extremist, don't you publish weekly, as well? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=240373&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[25 Years of SUPER POTENTIAL!]]> The fans of amusing, relatively diminutive vehicles over at Sport Compact Car have put up a history of Mitsubishi in the United States on the occasion of the company's 25th anniversary here. Two problems: while Hawaii was a U.S. territory in 1941, it was not technically one of these United States for eighteen more years, sort of messing up the whole bit about Zeros being the first Mitsus in America. The second is less nitpicky and far more obvious: not nearly enough Starion. The whole story should've just been about the Starion. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=240144&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Autoextremist: Should GM, Chrysler, Marry?]]> Sweet Peet D. decides to weigh in on whether GM, the car company he knows "probably better than anyone else covering the business out there," according to himself and Chrysler, his former employer, should should just give up and get together. According to His Peetness, the road to a successful acquisition of Chrysler by the General would be fraught with difficulty, most notably by the crew led by Ron "Don't Lay a Finger on My" Gettelfinger and a whole pantsload of dealers that would require buyouts under franchise law. In the end, though, Peet thinks wading through the muck would allow The General to take a defensive posture against an onslaught from foreign automakers, and on that front, it might just be a worthwhile move. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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