Yes, more Little Tree air fresheners! I've got 25 of these pleasantly-scented little fellas ready to ship out to whoever thinks up the best name for our soon-to-dominate-the-world transmission. And why do I have such a wealth of Little Trees? Well, the Car-Freshner folks were so impressed by my Little Trees In Junked Cars gallery that they decided to help us out with our 24 Hours of LeMons effort.


So, next thing I knew, they'd shipped us a big box of trees, in a variety of scents. We figured, hey, we'll pass 'em out to all the teams at the race, thus bribing them into thinking Black Metal V8olvo = your friend on the track.


Sure enough, the trees were a hit and just about everyone was sporting a brand-new Little Tree in their race car by the time the action started; here we see Team Make:Way with a Sour Apple tree hanging from the mirror.


The Black Ice trees were quite popular, as were the checkered-flag Victory Lane trees... and you'll have a couple of each if your transmission name is the best! With a couple hundred trees and only 90 cars in the race, I've got some leftovers.

So, here's the deal. You think up a cool transmission name- and we know you can do better than Crypto-Slumgullion Octo-Shift 999- and you write it up in a comment. We'll take the best few tomorrrow and put 'em up for a vote. Automatics, manuals, crashboxes, whatever- it's the name that matters!

Fine, you may say, but what's the payoff? Why, nothing less than a selection of Little Tree Schwag, of which I still have plenty (thanks to our helpful ideas for new products that we provided to the Car-Freshner R&D folks a while back). You get a T-shirt, a keychain, some air fresheners, a baseball cap, and some perfect-for-any-occasion Little Tree greeting cards!

We'll give you a hint: the photograph depicts a "make one good one from two bad ones" junkyard-based adventure, and the units in question were used in a fairly narrow make/model/year range. Another hint: that car tantalizing you in the background is not the car with which these parts are associated, so don't go crazy trying to identify it. And, yes, there are some distinguishing features that make this a non-impossible task! You guess the manufacturer, the vehicle, and any year within the correct range, and the Schwag is yours!

Yes, it's the Mega Schwag Pack of Little Tree Car-Freshner® gear! Because the folks at the Car-Freshner® Corporation thought so highly of your suggestions for new Little Tree scents, they've sent me a big box-o-schwag to give away to our beloved readers (by the way, JayP71, I have it on good authority that your "Eu de Minivan" idea was a big hit back at Little Tree HQ). The first commenter to correctly identify the year, make, and model of the car in the photo above will receive a T-shirt, a baseball cap, a couple of pens, some keychains, playing cards, and an assortment of the air fresheners that you'll find in every car, kid! And there'll be plenty of additional Little Tree schwag left to give away even after we ship off this batch, so stay tuned for more nerve-wrenching contests rat cheer!

Of course, I responded to her email with my sure-to-be-a-big-hit suggestion for a new flavor of Little Tree: The "British Car Smell" Little Tree, which is printed with a Union Jack and smells like burning wire insulation, with a hint of mildewed carpeting. I also suggested a full line of "You'll Find One In Every Car" trees, each printed with a different "Repo Man" character. Imagine, you could have Bud, Miller, Lite, Otto, J. Frank Parnell, Los Hermanos Rodriguez, Archie... I know I'd buy 'em all! So, given that their product-development and marketing staffs will no doubt read each and every one of your suggestions, let's have 'em!