After a week of suspense (sorry that SEMA got in the way of the announcement post), it's time to declare the winner of our month-long contest to find America's Next Top Car Blogger. And your new weekend editor is...
Our America's Next Top Car Blogger competition, a writing battle writ large for the chance to win a $10,000 six-month contract as weekend editor for Jalopnik, started with hundreds of competitors. Now we're down to the final two.
You bitched and moaned during the first round of America's Next Top Car Blogger, but now it's your turn to have your voice directly heard. Vote for your two finalists below.
The 1956 Fiat 600 Multipla is a precursor to the modern minivan. Recently, one was found in Michigan which had been transformed into a clown-car by local Shriners back in the sixties. Bozo’s back and he’s waiting in your nightmares.
He worked with Lotus, Vanwall, and Maserati. He cofounded Marcos. He was first to use a NACA duct in a car. His shapes were uber slippery. But mention the name Frank Costin and you'll probably hear "who?"
Back in 1979, a few enterprising Illinois Nazis discovered a very unusual secret on Interstate 794 in downtown Milwaukee: A portal to Chicago! We may all hate Illinois Nazis, but we should congratulate their amazing scientific discovery!
Stalin's "best kept" secret is like saying Toyota's most boring Camry, Bugatti's fastest Veyron SS or Nissan's ugliest Juke. There are no better kept secrets than Soviet secrets. Or are there?
After mentioning to friends I'm writing up the legendary NSU Prinz TT 1000, the response was a resounding O NOES! After all, why diminish our ownership chances by multiplying the Do Want levels? Because it's the Jalop thing to do.
We've all done it. Looked on eBay for car parts. And we've all seen the $100 full exhaust in polished stainless steel that looks 99% the same as the $1200 exhaust offered by the big brand name company. How do they do it?
This Power Wagon has sat baking in the sun, broken down and abandoned for 41 years in the hills near Barker Ranch, the final hideout of Charles Manson and his crime family.
Few people outside the Portland, Oregon area know that when International Harvester gave up on light duty trucks and SUVs in 1980 and closed up shop, one dealer franchisee stayed open. For 28 years.
In 1978, an artist half-buried and covered two dozen junker cars from the 60s and 70s with pavement in a suburban Connecticut mall parking lot. There the ghost cars sat for 25 years.
In the fall of 1997, two bands of engineers high on speed danced on the dry lake bed in Black Rock Desert, Nevada. One broke the sound barrier and the other didn't. We sat down with the team that didn't.
Somewhere in a suburban office park hides a secret stash of Daimler DS420 limousines, restored to perfection. It's perhaps the largest stash of running Daimler limos anywhere in the world.
I wouldn't be caught dead in a Kia. If you find my body in one, have the decency to drag me out. But one Kia is a well-kept secret. Cheap, disposable and effective, the Sedona is a 244-horsepower spork.
The scene, a local cruise night: Another '69 Camaro, another '57 Chevy, another '66 GTO, a '29 FrankAubilllac, another '66 Mustang...wait, a '29 what? FrankAubillac? What the... I love it! How do you build one?
Ever looked at your BMW's computer and thought "Wow, I bet I can do more with this"? You actually can thanks to secret menus BMW hides from the consumer. Here's how to find them.
In the mid-seventies, an export crisis pushed Brazilian auto import tariffs to near 50%. However, taxes for locally-produced cars were in the single digits creating an explosion of Brazilian auto manufacturers. One of them produced this leather-soaked apocalyptic wedge above.
You're looking at the seldom-remembered 1957 Packard Predictor concept, one of that company's last, futile attempts to stimulate interest in its products.
Imagine yourself sitting in a European airport, waiting for departure, when suddenly a neon yellow, beacon-encrusted Saab goes howling down the middle of the main runway at ludicrous speed. Too much Akvavit? Nope, just a Saab Friction Tester.
