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Posts Tagged “

Austin

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choose your eternity

PCH, No Blood For Oil Edition: Veggie Oil Peugeot or Hybrid Austin Marina?

The French car beat the German one in our last Choose Your Eternity matchup, which means we need to give France's cross-Channel rival an opportunity to snatch the PCH Trophy (which features several rods hanging out the side and a spreading pool of oil below) today. We're going with something a bit different this time, however; ever since the What Should Mad_Science Drive To Work QOTD, we've been thinking about non-petroleum-fueled car projects. Not boring ol' electric cars that can barely buzz up to highway speed, or seen-one-ya-seen-em-all veggie-oil-powered Mercedes-Benzes, though. Something fun! Something... HELL!
More »

5:20 PM on Mon May 5 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,507 views, 58 comments

Latest by HUMONGUS: Find a Rover automobile, remove the engine and tranny, and make the Marina a V8 (they did make them). As for the Peugeot, I hear they're running entire cars thru the crusher in Denver... more »

choose your eternity

PCH, Priceless Race Car Edition: Hemi Bantam or Buick Devin?


We learned on Friday that Dante Alighieri would prefer to drive a '58 Fiat 600 Multipla in Hell, and that's an important lesson. Another lesson that all those sentenced to eternity in Project Car Hell should learn is the joys associated with buying a Hell Project without a price. Yes, literally priceless cars await us today, and not just any priceless cars. Old race cars!
See, this way you can negotiate endlessly with some hardball seller, drag your newly-acquired dilapidated carcass diamond in the rough home, and dream of old-timey racing glory as you recreate hand-fabricated components for the next decade.
More »

5:30 PM on Mon Mar 24 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,800 views, 37 comments

Latest by Tanshanomi: Bantam. Mo useless, mo betta. more »

choose your eternity

Project Car Hell: Alfa Romeo 2000 Berlina or Austin Gipsy?

Because not even a burned and wrecked 80s Ferrari can compete with a burned 70-year-old car mentioned by name in a Robert Johnson song, the '38 Hudson Terraplane ran away with the victory in yesterday's Choose Your Eternity Poll. Today we're going to skip the common theme tying the two PCH contestants together and return to that perennial battle between two of the globe's contenders for the Hell Machine Crown: Italy and Great Britain. Here we have two mighty PCH superpowers, each vying to put one of its products in your garage... and France is waiting to take on the winner tomorrow!
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5:40 PM on Thu Feb 28 2008
By Murilee Martin
2,509 views, 55 comments

Latest by mr.choppers: Could everybody please stop spelling Alfa "alpha"? It's upsetting me. Next someone'll be calling us "Alphisti"... more »

classic ad watch

Austin Princess: Hydrogas and Hitchhikers!

After seeing James May torturing himself with that British Leyland stalwart, the Austin Princess, on a recent Top Gear episode, we realized there's far more to the Malaise Era than 140-horse big blocks and tape-striped Brougham Edition Detroit land yachts. Thanks to British Leyland's inimitable devotion to engineering and build quality, the Princess set a new standard for, uh, luxury? Here we see how a Princess jaunt to the Continent with one's driver can lead to reversal of class roles and the possibility of Hot French Hitchhiker adventures.

2:00 PM on Tue Dec 4 2007
By Murilee Martin
1,430 views, 25 comments

Latest by skierpage: The Princess and the Rover SD1 were good futuristic car designs for the time — 1980 cars in 1976. The Wolseley variant (go go BL brand engineering) is particularly attractive, it looked like a 1980s Lancia. The vinyl more »

retro

James May: Malaise Era Unrest Made Cars Look Good

Sure, we all laughed at the shoddy rattletraps made by British Leyland, and the British Malaise Era background of boarded-up factories and long dole lines made it a bitter sort of laughter. Still, James May wants to point out that British Leyland managed to send some original-looking designs limping off the assembly lines. For example, the Triumph TR7; as Mr. May puts it: "But the 7 came from nowhere, and looked completely new in every way." Perhaps we on this side of the Atlantic should reevaluate the Chevy Monza? [Telegraph.co.uk]

3:30 PM on Mon Dec 3 2007
By Murilee Martin
1,247 views, 26 comments

Latest by goatman12: So, interesting that he does not mention Australia's P76 sedan. This large car came out in the early 1970's and was hailed as a breakthrough car. The 2 door, Force76 was nothing but outstanding. However, quality got the better of the more »

you put your enzo in my henry!

Fezza And Fords, Photos

In some ways, hot rodding is an unfortunate ghetto full of Comic Book Store guys in either braided belts with denim shorts or full-sleeve tat-clichés. In others, it's a liberating act of can-do American yahooism; a tribute to those who came before and laid down the awesome. One can argue that guys like Jim Hall and Carroll Shelby were basically rodders who wanted to go around corners faster and had either in-your-face corporate backing (Shelby as part of FoMoCo's Total Performance program) or backdoor engineering and parts (in the case of Hall). In that light, how much of a stretch is a hop over to Maranello and take a peek at what Enzo came up with? And how different is Pininfarina from the stateside custom coachbuilders (especially given a return to that actual practice with Peter Kalikow's 612 Kappa and James "Jiminy" Glickenhaus' P4/5)? Ryan from the Jalopy Journal connects the dots and lined up a 575, his own Keith Tardel-built Model A Coupe and Steve Wertheimer's Austin icon, The Black Dahlia. We would drive any of these cars. Proudly. – Davey G. Johnson More »

2:45 PM on Wed Jun 20 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
397 views, 1 comment

Latest by BrettB: That one really makes you think, doesn't it? Car guys are car guys and there really isn't much of a difference between one in Italy or the Americas. The ironic part is that I would expect an article like this to more »

groovy, baby

Nanjing, Revival Firm Plotting Austin-Healey Return

Among the myriad plans to revive British sports car marques, the Austin Healey saga has been at the forefront. And considering two posts in the past two years equals the forefront, expectations are down at croc level. And while that's likely for the best, there's this: Trademark owners Nanjing Auto have signed on with Healey Automobile Consultants Ltd and HFI Automotive Ltd to develop new cars badged as Healey and Austin-Healey. Last year, HFI released the teaser above to attract interest in its cause, and reportedly started taking deposits. The interest likely filtered to the top of Nanjing, which is looking to leverage its MG-Rover assets to expand its fledgling British empire. Maybe more lads from Longbridge will be picking up their mothballed lunch pails sooner than we'd thought. – Mike Spinelli More »

7:18 AM on Wed Jun 13 2007
By Mike Spinelli
455 views, 5 comments

Latest by Retiree: I see a lot of Astin Martin in there. Not that this is a bad thing. Maybe it's just the badge on the rear lid that gives it that look... more »

news

Austin, TX Cops to Get Bait Cars

Presumably flush with cash in the wake of SXSW, Austin's announced that they're handing the po-po's $85k for bait cars. Jalopnik's favorite Texan city — and indeed one of its favorite cities in general — has decided that it's time for the hand of law to come down on those who make haste with another man's vehicle, and as such the APD feels it's in need of enforcement downtown between First and Seventh Streets. Which makes a boatload of sense, given the mass of vehicles that congregate down there, especially late in the week. We just always stuffed it and parked in a lot. Compared to San Francisco or LA, it's dirt cheap. – Davey G. Johnson More »

11:30 PM on Mon Mar 19 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
462 views, 4 comments

Latest by squablow: I like bait cars, makes for great "Police Videos" shows, hosted by John Bunnell of course. more »

retro

Bleed for the Dancer: Clarkson on the 2CV


We posted the brilliant precision-driving-in-a-parking garage/death of an Austin clip from Clarkson's Heaven and Hell video a while back, but just fast forward to 5:24 if you've already seen it. According to Clarkson, the 2CV "Was built from used Algerians in an asbestos factory, and its weedy, useless little engine ran on um...rat poison and acid." And then, well, just you watch. We're still traumatized. – Davey G. Johnson More »

1:15 AM on Sat Jan 27 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
762 views, 15 comments

retro

Britcamino Madness!

Denis, who inexplicably lives in Canadia yet has the last name of a nowhere town east of San Antonio with one of the best Mopar-centric junkyards in the US kicked down this link, and oh hoo-ha is it a humdinger for the Caminophiliac. Featuring practically any and every British passenger vehicle converted to cargo-hauling duty, it's got everything from Austins to Land Rovers, making it your one-stop shop for notoriously unreliable truckcars and cartrucks. Ruling. More »

11:32 PM on Thu Jun 8 2006
By Davey G. Johnson
111 views, Comment

auctions

Oh Cripes, An Austinamino!

We were once supposed to marry an Austin (TX) princess, but we didn't know there was actually a vehicle called an Austin Princess, because, like Austin princesses, British vehicles are too high-maintainence for us to effectively deal with. Regardless, there's one on eBay that's been all hopped up for classy-Camino duty, and if you wanna own it, go bid. We're gonna go eat tofu and get psyched for our Texas trip. Did we win? Um, we'd like to think so. [Thanks to Alan for the tip.] More »

3:38 PM on Sat Jun 3 2006
By Davey G. Johnson
118 views, 4 comments

Latest by junkman: The Rolls grill on this thing is probably the least of its sins. There's nothing "proper" about this beast, but I love it! more »

auctions

Chasing the Wildgoose: Motor MiniHome!

DannyBoy, no doubt longing to see us after our post on the Toppola bit, kicked down a current eBay auction that's a total must-observe. It's the Wildgoose, a vintage Mini converted to motorhome duty, and really, with a Buy it Now of $7.500, can you afford to be without it? We can't, we just don't have $7,500 lying about. More »

9:36 PM on Fri Jun 2 2006
By Davey G. Johnson
385 views, 5 comments

novelties

An American Revolution: Via Britain, Circa 1982

After seeing our Austin Ambassador post this morning, CTE posits that GM may well have looked to an ungainly British five-door of the early 1980s for inspiration in designing an ungainly American five-door for the naughts. We think he may well be right, and if that's the case, we've so got the jibblies right now regarding the General's future. More »

3:25 PM on Fri Jan 27 2006
By Davey G. Johnson
54 views, 9 comments

retro

The Ambassador of Bad Will: Hecklerspray on the Big Austin

Ferfookssake. The Austin Ambassador is certainly a rubbish car. But we don't know if it's really in any way, shape or form actually lovable. We don't think Laverty even thinks so. His defense of the car really comes down to this: "It is a man s car, a throw back, a true-blue with the ride of a floating duvet and the sturdy electrics of a Texas prison. It will make you stand out more than anything else with a plastic steering wheel cover ever could." Thanks, Chris. We'll take an AMC Matador instead. More »

12:26 PM on Fri Jan 27 2006
By Davey G. Johnson
169 views, 4 comments

Latest by Mojo: Well at least the colour was right. more »

news: industry news

Healey Hullabaloo Simmers, Will it Boil?

HFI, an Anglo-American consortium, has purchased Healey Automotive Consultants from the family of Donald Healey, and they've apparently got one roadworthy prototype done and another in the hopper. But here's where the plot thickens Austin Healey fans may remember that a group called GB Sports was in negotiations with Nanjing, who bought the withered husk of MG last year. The wicket gets stickier after the jump. More »

7:16 PM on Thu Jan 26 2006
By Davey G. Johnson
173 views, Comment

custom cars/hot rods

Lone Star Rod & Kustom Roundup Roundup

The expense- account-havin' guys at Rod & Custom popped out from their LA base to check out the Lone Star Rod & Kustom Roundup, an event that despite its short history, has become one of the must-attends in the rodding world. Plus, it's in Austin, which means, for those of you not inclined to pick up on rockabilly chicks, have your pick of perky collegiate Republicans, jaded (but in a friendly way) indie girls, cowgirls and of course, crunchy-granola daughters of Sappho. More »

10:08 AM on Tue Aug 2 2005
By Davey G. Johnson
817 views