Henry Ford famously said that "auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built". While he was probably right, it definitely started before he build his second Quadricycle in 1898, featuring chain drive and a whopping 20 mph top speed.

It's starting to feel like the main reason publications indulge in Car Of The Year awards is so the winning automaker will put their name in a bunch of advertisements, making the publication feel like a big shot. At Jalopnik, we don't buy in to this. We receive hand jobs from our partners, not from the automakers.

The Petersen Museum is a gem for car lovers, preserving and displaying some of the world's most important and interesting cars. Below the museum is "the vault" a.k.a. the Fort Knox of the automotive world. It's where they hide the collection's fascinating mobile artifacts in between exhibits and store cars they don't…

General Motors' new full size pickup trucks have arrived. Unlike pickups of the past, these are high tech machines using efficient engines with cylinder-deactivation to make sure those mpg figures stay as high as possible, even if they do have the aerodynamic profile of a brick on wheels.

While it seems like BMW is struggling a bit with its polar bear saving "i" sub-brand, it is worth knowing that they started experimenting with electric power around the same time Subaru introduced it's first all-wheel drive car.

What did you do this weekend? Maybe you raked leaves, bought stuff at Costco, or even went out and saw some live music. Whatever it is was undoubtedly tame compared to the massive, raucous music festival held at Altamont Speedway 43 years ago: the infamous Altamont Free Concert.

AMG came a long way from building racecar engines in the sixties to making our Editor-in-Chief write about their newest child with the caps lock on. Their cars are just that good.

Subaru's now famous Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive is 40 years old. Contrary to what you might expect, the first couple of Subarus using it were not turbocharged racecars fighting against the mud and snow but rather affordable coupes and family cars in need of some extra grip. The Japanese company has been commited to the …

When we brought you our feature on captive imports last month, many of you wondered why we didn't delve into the relationship between these two companies.

Right off the bat, let me make something absolutely clear: this is only freaky if you're a hard-core air-cooled VW geek. Many of you won't even realize what the big deal is, but if you're a hard-core Beetle person, lay down a dropcloth since your mind is gonna be blown.

We're all trying to come to terms with the fact Ford Crown Victorias won't be sneaking up behind us on the highway. And by coming to terms, I mean slowing down just about anytime you see something in the shape of a Crown Vic. Some day, they're all going to be gone and we're going to be left guessing if our state's…

People like to say that you should look at a Mercedes-Benz S-Class to figure out what sort of things are going to be on mainstream cars within a decade. Stuff like ABS and airbags showed up on the big Merc long before they did on, say, a Golf.

Sometimes having a kid brings unexpected benefits. In this case, my two-year old, Otto (known for his Porsche-hood-standing skills) is friends with another two year old, Lino, whose mom is a friend of my wife, and who is married to a man whose father happens to be 1970 LeMans winner and all around racing legend Hans…

While I was in Japan investigating many of Nissan's new science projects, one of the highlights of the trip (aside from seeing entire stores of claw machines) was a trip to the Nissan Heritage Museum, located on the grounds of Nissan's Oppama Motor Plant. The collection, also known as the Nissan DNA Museum, must be…

Last week, I pitted two Q-cars against each other and determined Mercedes was the first of the Germans to nail the recipe for a sedan that looks boring but packs a punch. The 300SEL 6.3 was the beginning, but the W124-based 500E was a high-water mark.

British carmaker McLaren made a pretty monumental announcement this week when they unveiled the P1 concept, a visually stunning supercar concept that they say will be the successor to the legendary McLaren F1.

It's okay if you don't think about the Opel GT a whole lot. While a pretty popular sporty car in its heyday, almost 40 years have gone by since the last ones were made in 1973 after a five-year production run. Most people probably see one in a backyard, labeled as a project car.

The traditional saint invoked to deal with cars has long been St.Christopher, the patron saint of travelers and traveling. There were even relatively popular dashboard medals for the guy. But I just found out that as part of Vatican II in 1969 (my Vatican guy's not really on the ball) St.Christopher's feast day was…

Five cylinder engines get no love these days. Long considered an oddball configuration with neither the power of a six nor the fuel economy of a four, the straight-five was only ever really embraced by a handful of carmakers.

When Citroën unveiled the DS in 1955, they did so before a Paris Motor Show audience who found their jaws on the floor. With its sleek, futuristic styling and laundry list of advanced technological features, the DS quickly became the most impressive car in the world.