As you can see in the videos below, Massa and Alonso try to help their boss out to no avail. What's a chairman to do? Just have the team send another Ferrari and let the track workers deal with it.

[GT Spirit]

Photo Credit: JOSE JORDAN/AFP/Getty Images

[GT Spirit]

First a Bugatti Veyron. Now a Ferrari California? Maybe we need to expand "Save The Enzos" to "Save The Super Cars." What say you all?

(Hat tip to erzhik!)

I'd been invited to a blowout Halloween party by The Sharks (aka Very Important Peasants), veterans of several LeMons races in their Ghettocharged™ BMW E28. It sounded like as good a reason as any to drive 400 miles, so off I went down Interstate 5.

Naturally, the LeMons Supreme Court came in full judicial regalia, as captured by the photo booth set up by the Sharks. That's us displaying the Fists Of Judicial Anger™, which racers around the country have come to fear.

The party was still going on come sunrise, but I'd brought my camping gear and pitched a tent in the back yard. It was kind of cool seeing the Hollywood sign through the trees when I finally crawled out of my sleeping bag.

On the way back, I stopped by Mad_Science's place to check out the progress on his team's Arse Freeze-a-Palooza-bound BMW 633CSi. The car suffered from guibo maladies and a nasty wreck with an MR2 at the Buttonwillow Histrionics, but it will be back in action at Thunderhill, faster than ever and ready to knock you on your ass with one of the greatest themes in LeMons history.

OK, here's the timelapse. I had the camera set to shoot a photo every 15 seconds; you get the trip from Alameda to the Peasants' front door, then the return trip yesterday: Casa de Mad Science to Buttonwillow.

You'd think that customers would love free admission, but it turns out that PYP's $2 speed bump was the only thing keeping hordes of tool thieves and generally scurrilous individuals out of the yard. Meanwhile, the employees had that "final days" look about them. Turns out the rumors were correct: Pick Your Part in Northern California is no more. The company website makes no mention of the closings, but only Southern California locations are now listed. Do any of you know the whole story? If so, please enlighten the rest of us.

That's hard for me to take, because I'd been a regular customer at the Hayward Pick Your Part since the mid-1980s, and hard for all the NorCal-based 24 Hours Of LeMons teams who relied on PYP's fast inventory turnover and low prices (generally lower than those at yards owned by powerful national wrecking-yard chain Pick-N-Pull, which is owned by Schnitzer Steel) to keep their heaps running.

The first-ever LeMons Scavenger Hunt took place at the Hayward yard. The Milpitas yard? Well, that's home to the junked Fiberfab Avenger GT-15 you saw earlier today. What will happen to that fine automobile? Straight to The Crusher, or will some lucky Project Car Hell Poster Child take it home?

Sharp-eyed reader Cameron took these shots for us. Here's what he has to say:

Spotted this survivor T6-body 356B in Eagle Rock. Original paint, Black license plates, sixties era band stickers — I couldn't get a look at the mileage, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is a one-owner car. Enjoy!!

Check out the 356 Spotters Guide at the 356 Registry — it might make a fun game "What year is this Porsche and why?" Answer: Drum brakes!! It has drum brakes and T-6 356C's have disks. It took me about an hour to figure that out. Enjoy!!

[Haman via Motor Authority]

Click next to start your tour across these grand states. This land is your land, now go and drive across it.

Photo Credit: Wolfgang Staudt

State: West Virginia
Route: U.S. 50
Suggested By: Scroggs
Reason: "West Virginia. Pick up US 50, south of Cumberland MD, and drive west until you hit the Ohio River. The scenery is rustic, the road twisty, and the state troopers infrequent."  

Photo Credit: Mike Quick

State: Utah
Route: I-80
Suggested By: Atomic
Reason: "You go from perfectly flat, perfectly white salt, to brown mountains, that you literally drive through like a gate. It's amazing. Oh, and also, you can read all the messages left in rocks on the salt if you're not driving, which is pretty fun."

Photo Credit: WisDoc

State: Kentucky
Route: I-65/I-75/I-64
Suggested By: GIC
Reason: "The roads are what keep me here in Kentucky - you're really not far from anything you could want: 
 
-Want to stage your own Top Gear videography? The rolling lanes bordered by civil-war era stone fences, verdant hills, ramshackle estates of the bluehair monied gentry and the compounds of their noveau cousins will fit the bill. The Irish and British have nothing on Springtime in the Bluegrass. 
 
-Fancy yourself a WRC wanna-be... do ya punk? Well, pick a back road: any back road. Preferably any of the ones that border the KY river, or the eastern end of the state. Just watch out for that low diesel rumble - because if the switchbacks and sheer cliffs and one-lane bridges and tunnels don't keep you honest - the coal trucks will. 
 
-A lonely slog balls-out through the desert? The Western Kentucky Parkway would otherwise bore you to tears. But it's great for unofficial trap runs, heh heh. 
 
-Urban post-apocalyptic wasteland? Well, not so much urban - but try some of KY's more depressed areas like McCreary and Pike counties. You'll be as enthralled as fascinated by the serenity of decay in a places that never had a chance, as you may be scared for your life. There are lessons in the land. 
 
-Country-corny Americana? Please, you can't drive 10 miles in any direction without tripping over yet another sign about yet another "Historic Downtown Bufu" just ahead. Thing is though, they speak the truth. So many of these small towns are time capsules, each in its own unique state of being, its own way to belie the past and in some cases, a present representing a future that never came.  
 
But if none of that is your fancy and you just want to just get the heck along on your merry consumer way, the I-65 and I-75 corridors are well maintained speedways. Plus you can see the Corvette and Camry plants respectively - so choose your flavor. I-64 connects the two, transitioning from rolling Appalachia on the east end to urban congestion on the west - and you'll be a stone's throw from Ford Truck (soon to be Ford Car) central when you reach Louisville. 
 
The Bigwigs of the Bluegrass (horse money is big out here) can often be seen sporting all manner of Exotics. Sure, it's no LA. But there's something more authentic about seeing a Ferrari or Lotus or A8 or Detomaso on a two-lane county road - a predator in its natural element if you will. They'll even respect you if you show it in kind. 
 
And if you're the rare soul who appreciates your metal in more pedestrian tones - trust me, Beaters still live in KY. You might have to get out of Lexington to see them, but… they're out there. And your classics and your WTFs and your survivors. You can't ever drive across this state for an hour without seeing SOMETHING Jalop-worthy. And oftentimes the driver may be none the wiser.  
 
Plus we got some funny place names. In addition to both a "Springfield" AND a "Shelbyville", we've got "Black Gnat", "Nonesuch", "Big Bone Lick", "Gratz", "Rain" and many many more of all flavors, always worth a chuckle.  
 
Yeah. The Paradox State is a great place to be" 

Photo Credit: VistaVision</em.

State: North Carolina
Route: Wilmington Highway/I-40
Suggested By: Deadmoon
Reason: "Beaches at one end, mountains at the other, and a whole lot of good pavement and dirt roads in between. The State Troopers are formidable "opponents," though very professional and polite. ( Frankly after driving there for many years, everywhere else has been a cakewalk... ) The interstates are nice, but if you like taking the long way home, NC's got my vote."

Photo Credit: Dr_Television

State: Tennessee
Route: Highway 74/Highway 129 (Tail Of The Dragon)
Suggested By: Pop Snicker
Reason: "Tennessee is great. You have the Dragon in the east with the Smokey Mountains, the Natchez Trace heading south from Nashville, and any road that is not I-40, 65, or 24, is a twisty, curvey, joy of Americana. 
Small 1 gas pump mom and pop shops, real roadside diners, and the nicest people you could meet anywhere"

State: Oregon
Route: Highway 101/I-84
Suggested By: TimTim
Reason: "Timing is critical. There's a one week window, at best, when the kids are in school, the tourists have dispersed, and it has not yet begun to rain... I'm talking about Hwy 101 through Oregon. The views are like no other, the roads are twisty, and there's 300 miles of it. But don't stop at the border, 101 continues up and around the Olympic Peninsula in Washington with more of the same. Only detractor is the small towns every 30-40 miles and the occasional State Trooper. But that's why you wait 'till after Labor Day, when the po-po and the Winnebago all take a break" Also, I-84 through the center of the state.

Photo Credit: SaraMcD

State: California
Route: Highway 1/101
Suggested By: Scandinavian Flick
Reason: "The entire Pacific coast. Start in Southern California and take Highway 1. Then follow Highway 101 all the way up to Washington and trace the Puget Sound. You will never see such sights anywhere in the U.S. It will take a while, but it will be worth it for the sheer beauty and pure driving enjoyment on some of the best windy roads I know."

Photo Credit: Extra_Medium

State: Washington
Route: I-90 / Hwy 26
Suggested By: Joshman
Reason: "I'm partial to my native Washington. Head east from Seattle over the mountains. From the forests of the western slopes of the Cascades you transition to pine trees and scrub brush on the eastern slope. Choose between wine country near Walla Walla, apple orchards near Wenatchee, or just stay on I-90 before driving highway 26 through the Palouse"

Photo Credit: Aribix

State: Montana
Route: I-90
Suggested By: Stinky Catfish
Reason: The wife and I just drove through there this summer. Low traffic, good scenery, high speed limits, and no patrols. I also appreciated that the speed limits appeared to be set high. Here in California the limits seem to be set such that no matter how bald you tires and wet the roads, your car will make it around any corner with no issue. The limits in Montana appear to be set such that you might not make it around the corner if you mis-judge your cars abilities. I appreciated that.

Photo Credit: gmark1

State: Maryland
Route: All of them
Suggested By: Ash78
Reason: In a tiny state, you have LOTS of old, winding roads and Revolution-era towns to see. You have a mountainous west, a hilly center, and a marshy east, each with a distinctly different character. Whether you're looking for the natural beauty near Hagerstown or the WV border area, or the amazing history and maritime scenery of Annapolis or the Eastern Shore, it really has a lot to offer in a small package

The as-yet unnamed leasing company immediately contacted Australian authorities in an attempt to retrieve the Ferrari, but according to local laws, the car must remain in impound for 7 days.

Acting Police Commissioner, Chris Dawson said;

"There has been an application made by the owners of the vehicle to get the vehicle back, that application under hardship has been refused so the vehicle remains seized for seven days."

It's unknown what fines or penalties the journalist will face, but we're guessing his car borrowing days are slightly numbered. (H/T To Sam!)

[via ABC Australia]

According to a report by the LA Times, the cash-strapped state pays a monthly allowance to California state legislators for car expenses. This comes to about $3.2 million over the last three years. To top it off, a whopping eight of the ten most expensive legislator cars are hybrids. And not just any hybrids. Half are Lexus or Chevy SUV hybrids that cost upwards of $45,000 each.

The state did vote to cut the allowance by 18%. But wouldn't that money be better spent on rail within the state rather than token environmentalist plays by politicians? Some of Amtrak's busiest and highest revenue-generating train lines are within California and four of them pass through Sacramento. Maybe the legislators should be taking Amtrak rather than driving on the taxpayer dime in this time of crisis?

[Los Angeles Times via Straightline]

Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

George is one of the first people to take delivery of the $200,000 hard top convertibles, one of the cheaper models in Ferrari's range. He chose to have his in black, creating the opportunity for all kinds of jokes combining that color and large phallic objects like this front-engined Ferrari. [WENN via Luxist]

I found the shot, all right, but I forgot all about my Island Auto Movie 1984 piece once I took a look at the rest of the photographs in the set. San Francisco native Dave Glass has been shooting cars down on the street since the late 1960s- mostly in the Bay Area, but he's hauled his camera to such places as Mexico and Louisiana as well. This is some amazing stuff, and I think I may have to buy myself a print or two from the Automobile As Landscape series. Send him an email if you're interested in any for yourself. And now, a couple of galleries:

I went to college in SoCal during the mid-to-late 80s and often took the 430-mile drive back to the East Bay, nearly always on Interstate 5 (rather than the slower, prettier Highway 101 or the stuck-behind-'66-Dodge-pickup-full-of-refrigerators Highway 99). In those days, most people died of diptheria by age 30 and cameras depended on toxic silver salts to capture images; I was doing a lot of photography at the time and generally dragged the ol' Canon AE-1- and occasionally a thrift-store Kodak X-11 shooting 126 cartridges- along on my trips. I posted a few of these back in '07, in addition to the MGB-GT I-5 adventure slide show. Many of these shots were taken from the passenger side of my then-girlfriend's '78 Olds wagon, while others were taken from the driver's seat (yes, operating a full-manual SLR while driving isn't such a great idea) of the MG or my '65 Impala 4-door.

The Sacramento-to-Tahoe Snowball is open to pre-1974 sports and touring cars (the rules specifically prohibit forklifts and steamrollers) and offers participants the joy of climbing the Sierra Nevada mountains on funky back roads during snow season. Much Jalopnik-approved machinery took part, including at least one Opel GT, the usual cast of beater seasoned Alfa Romeos, some MGs, etc.






Along the way, the rallyers passed the kind of mountain junkyard we dream about. Citroëns were just part of the goodness.

Thankfully, no one was seriously injured when the unnamed woman drove her fancy-schmancy BMW into the drink at the Garden Fitness pool in Monterey, California. According to the Daily Mail, the car flipped on impact and landed upside down in the pool. The owner of Garden Fitness, Matt Lamarque, said there was one member in the nearby jacuzzi, but no one was in the pool during the incident.

'I was inside and somebody came running over to me and said one of our members had gone into the pool with her car,' Lamarque stated.

So, is this why people think BMW drivers are asshats? [via dailymail.co.uk]

Watch as that Model B flies up Fish Ranch Road (which looks exactly the same today) in top gear, and check out that cool tracking shot through the dealership- why, you can even catch a glimpse of the closer sweating a customer into signing on the line that is dotted! Thanks to Maxichamp for the tip!

(Hat top to Ritch!) [via Inside Bay Area]

Full Disclosure: Mazda flew me out to a ritzy Laguna Beach resort, fed me mountains of delicious food and allowed for carte blanche access to the minibar. It was a tiny bottle pogrom, more or less.

For those not in the know, the Bedazzler, a kitschy rhinestone-applying device that your mom probably used as an unpopularization tool, to great effect, by fastening sparkling kitty cats and ladybugs to all of your favorite tees and then sending your sparkling ass to school.

The new Mazda3 has no rhinestones or sparklecats, but the top-of-the line S Grand Touring comes loaded with automatic headlights, rain sensing wipers, bi-xenon headlamps, Adaptive Front Lighting (AFS), Dual zone climate control, heated seats, heated mirrors with integrated turn signals, Bluetooth everything, Ford-like interior lighting, leather, full-color navigation, Sirius satellite radio, 8-way power drivers seat and a blasting Bose Centerpoint sound system. These are typically features reserved for high-end Cadillacs and Lexi, right? Never on a sub-compact and surely not on a Mazda. These are the folks that have brought us the near-naked MX-5 through all these years — and it has stayed simple and beautiful. Has Mazda gone soft?

The scene is southern California. We're zooming past fields of grapes, acres upon acres of obsessively arranged rows. We're neatly packed into a Mazda3s Grand Touring GT with every widget in the book. After descending from the steep curves of the Ortega Highway, we glide to a stop at a four-way intersection and get a lay of the land. After a brief moment of stillness, our wake catches up to us and washes our noses with the scent of hot, steaming brake linings. This is to be expected as we've just hot lapped just about every cliffside curve the area of Temecula has to offer.

I'm piloting this bright red 5-door packed with auto journos. Ease into the gas, release the easy clutch and we're gone. The standard 6-speed manual clicks into each gear with just a breeze of effort, but the action is intentional and predictable. Our 167 HP 2.5 L four-pot is a rev-happy, strong mill with proper gearing, all while returning 21 MPG in the city and 29 MPG on the highway; it'll hit 60 in 7.9 seconds and continue on to a 117 MPH top speed. The other option is an anemic 148 HP 2.0 L bringing in a frugal 25 MPG in the city and 33 on the highway. Before long, we're ascending another rocky hill only to slide down the other side into another sharply graded turn. The all-season Yokohama Avis tires are squawking in displeasure as they're twisted and torqued to meet the demands of the 3,005-pound hatch. With a slight mid-turn lift throttle, the rear end comes around and tries the limits of the center dividing line, briefly chattering on the rumble strips. For a front-wheel drive car, this little hatch has plenty of rear-ended aggression. Even on some of the most treacherous mountain passes, the 3 totally resists understeer. Usually reserved for the most perfectly balanced rear-drive sports cars, the fresh 3 has excellent front bite and lightning fast turn-in. You'll actually oversteer before it'll let the front tires go. All this isn't down to any fancy new technology, just perfectly specced suspension. The single downside of the driving experience was solely attributed to the pedestrian tires. The properly calibrated suspension simply overloaded the budget-conscious Yokos to a large effect. We're hoping this malady is corrected in spades once the Mazdaspeed3 hits the scene. With this new car as a starting point, the next Speed should be an absolute terror.

As we leave the rocky driving paradise and re-enter the boring city, we get a chance to poke around the interior. Gentle curves play intricate games on the dashboard while ultimately tying everything together for the driver. Special attention was paid towards the driver's natural cone of sight as everything vital is situated within range while looking at the road. Our only major qualm with the control interface is the extremely difficult to navigate navigation and radio controls. The navigation, while a good intention, is total crap. It feels like an ancient, digitized version of Honda's "scrolling map" system of the ‘80s. The screen, even in high-contrast black and white in the lower models, offers very little information and is solely controlled by a dumpy joystick on the steering wheel. Whereas the BMW iDrive of old was overly complicated, the Mazda3's navigation is over simplified to the point of unusability. A good standard of quality would be the $100 TomTom One LE. I can safely assert that a person would be better off skipping the Nav option and sticking Tom on their dashboard. The controls for the satellite radio aren't intrinsically bad, but the one-line display is trash. You'll find yourself stumbling between stations for long minutes before eventually memorizing the 100+ station line-up for quick selection.

The Mazda3, after all the sliding around the mountains and poking the interior, leaves us feeling a bit Bedazzled. Imagine your favorite tee, maybe some vintage shirt in perfect condition. A Boz Scaggs screen print. The shirt fits perfectly, great fabric and impresses the ladies in the way only Scaggs could. Overnight, your mom snags your Scaggs out of the closet and molests it with one of her many Bedazzlers she's collected over the years. You end up wearing the tee to school without noticing her sparkly edits. Your friends quickly catch on, and shockingly, they applaud your fresh taste and daring fashion. You feel slightly cheap and ultimately sullied. Boz was so fresh before the Great Sequinning. Now, people only pay attention to the flashing adornments stuck to his once naturally beautiful eyes.

The new Mazda3 is a bit like that tee. In its previous iteration, it was a superb driver's car with very little in the way of excessive creature comforts. The weight and price was kept very low for the offering and enthusiasts quickly picked up on its winning formula en masse. What was once a stellar econobox still is, but now it doesn't hide its substance beneath a bland exterior. While that incredibly fun, economical chassis is still there and responsive as ever, the superfluous accessories tacked onto it are achieving greater fanfare than the car itself. As stated previously, we're staring towards the future for the return of the Speed3, which should herald the same car - plus power, minus fluff. The Great Undazzling, if you will.

Looks like we've got three decades represented here: a '71-73 Dodge Tradesman 200 custom van, a star-spangled '67 or '68 Jeep Commando, and a well-worn '48-50 Dodge pickup. Here's what DodgePolara500 has to say:

I had to stop and get this one. A 70's Dodge Van tricked out in pimpin glory with a 1960's vintage Jeep Commander decked out in Bicentenial Garb! They were captured on a busy blvd in San Jose CA. which i think is home to many DOTs vehicles worthy of notoriety.
The Van is parked there regularly and they owner seems to move it often given the lack of debris and dirt on the tires. The Jeep is a new edition and I only saw it this morning. In one of the Snaps, you can see a VERY NICE 65 Caddy Couple deVille drive by. A veritable trifecta! I wish my shutter was quicker to grab some more shots.
I'll have to let your reader pick out the dates of the Jeep. The Dodge is most likely a 1972-3 model given the grill. The jeep has a sticker on the other side that says "This is not an abandoned vehicle" I didn't get it due to the heavy traffic, but I'll try again later.
This Dodge Pickup pilot house is around the corner from my house and has been on the street for as long as I have lived in my home (1992). It looks to be 100% original and unrestored with some great patina to it. The owner drives it regularly and has a model T tucked away along with a 64 Buick Wildcat Convertible which his son drives. I haven't seen it in a while, but when it comes home again, i'll snag that one too.