The End. And a New Beginning.

I started this website almost three years ago. Over that time, to my surprise, the site has grown quite a lot. So much in fact, that it simply takes up too much of my time. The time has come to make a drastic change.

It happened during a casual conversation with Tim Odell, one of the founders of Hooniverse.com. Both of us were complaining about how difficult it is to run a website while managing the less important things in life, such as a day job and a family. In the end we agreed that it would be a great idea to combine the two sites. As of Monday, CarGuyDad.com will become part of Hooniverse.com, and I will be the Managing Editor there (mom will be so proud!).

All the typical stuff such as car reviews, news, motorsports, and other interesting stuff will carry over to Hooniverse.com. We will also revisit some articles from this site’s past and introduce a ton of new content.  The overall awesomeness that is Hooniverse will not change. I am really excited about this and motivated to create something really cool. Please follow me and the rest of the CarGuyDad.com contributors over to Hooniverse.com.

Thanks,

- Kamil

Cars and Copters 2011

Some places have Cars and Coffee events. Pfft… coffee. Here in the northeast when we do things, we do it BIG!!

No, wait… that’s Texas.

Uhmm, oh yea, we do it sophisticated-ly.

Uhmm, no, that’s the Greenwich folks.

Uhmm, well… yea, we, erra,… we do it…uhmm… WE DO IT WITH SPIRIT!!!

Hell, our damn license plates say that we’re “The Spirit of America“! And, being on the historical forefront of equal rights, everyone is invited. And then we added copters and blimps n’ stuff. And then we send all the proceeds to the Jimmy Fund.

That’s how we roll.

… Continue Reading

2011 Fairfield County Concours d’Elegance Auction Cars

Like every proper Concours event, Fairfield County also had an auction. Unfortunately, I got there late and I missed it. Fortunately, many of these cars were staged outside the tent, and what an interesting bunch of cars it was. I would have loved to see what some of these cars sold for. Check out the gallery which features a Syclone, a Civic wagon (!), Mercedes 600 Pullman, military Jeep, and a Land Rover. Some “Barn Finds” too. … Continue Reading

2011 Fairfield County Concours d’Eleance

While less known than the Greenwich Concours, Fairfield County Concours offers a more intimate look at fine vintage machinery. The cars and their owners are lot more approachable, as opposed to being distantly roped off from visitors, making it a more pleasant experience. Other than that, it’s very similar, even a lot of the same cars.

I photographed what I found to be interesting and different. There were a few cars which, to me, stood out from the rest: … Continue Reading

The News for September 16, 2011 – Frankfurt Auto Show Wrap Up

The 2011 Frankfurt International Auto Show is underway, and since none of us can afford to fly to Europe, we’re bringing you all the car news you care about from the comfort of our own desks. This week:

• Lamborghini shows off their hottest Gallardo ever

• Alpina’s B6 Convertible

• Ford Focus ST and race-ready ST-R

• Lotus Exige S gains power and weight

• Lotus Evora GTE is truly a racecar for the road

• Subaru VX Crossover is ready to hit the trails

… Continue Reading

1991 Frankfurt International Auto Show

The 2012 Frankfurt International Auto show is happening right now. We will cover it tomorrow in The News. Present are all the new 2012 cars, booth babes, and futuristic concepts that will never see the light of day. Today however, we will travel back in time to the 1991 Frankfurt International Auto Show.

Attending auto shows as a kid I would come home with bags full of brochures and posters. The bags were square with a handles that would lock via pins – very handy. The posters would be promptly wallpapered all over my room, replacing the one from the year before. I would study each brochure in detail over the upcoming weeks. I don’t know if that is still happening today; is there really a need for brochures and posters if all of the information is a mouse click away, including posters which have moved from our walls to the computer screens?

Brian Driggs of gearboxmagazine.com, reflects on his attendance of the 1991 Frankfurt Auto Show. He too brought back a ton of stuff from that show and luckily he has managed to hang on to it all these years. Check out the show plan, the ticket stubs, and the brochures. … Continue Reading

One weekend, two Ferrari FXXs Evoluzione

Once in the blue moon we hear about one of the thirty Ferrari FXXs: one recently got sold, one got stuffed into a wall, and another was on TopGear driven by someone who retired but didn’t, claiming to be someone he wasn’t. The truly lucky ones get to see an FXX in person, and if you see one being properly driven on the track, by all means buy a lottery ticket. Imagine my surprise when on the same day I received two emails from two different people, about two different FXXs spotted in North America on the same day.

The Ferrari FXX was a research and development project put on by Ferrari from 2005 to 2009. Where the project brilliantly differed from all other R&D projects was that the development vehicles were leased to a group of hand-picked Ferrari owners for a ridiculous amount of money. The manufacturer would retain the cars but transport them to scheduled track events around the world where the cars would be driven by the testers/owners and the data would be collected.

… Continue Reading

Motorsport News for the weekend of September 11, 2011

A new weekly, or bi-weekly, or whenever-we-get-to-it section, bringing you the most important race news from the weekend. Everything you need to know and nothing you shouldn’t care about, plus some opinion. Feedback is always welcome.

This week:

• Some NASCAR race
• Dramatic F1 race with predictable results
• News bits and highlights
• And a few for the road….

… Continue Reading

Modern Classic: GMC Syclone

“The wonder of the Syclone is not so much a pickup that’ll do a Ferrari blur on the local scenery, although that’s no small trick. The real magic is the way it makes this capability seem like a perfectly wonderful idea.”

– Patrick Bedard, Car & Driver September 1991

It was like nothing else on the road. It was a freakin’ pickup truck capable of destroying most sports cars of the time in a straight line street race. An unfavorable, front-biased, weight distribution, rear drum brakes, live axle on leaf springs were its shortcomings. Those shortcomings were rather quickly overshadowed by a 4.3L V6, which itself is a small-block V8 with two cylinders chopped off, a Mitsubishi TD06 turbo, and an all-wheel-drive system. … Continue Reading

The News for September 2nd, 2011

This is the weekly recap of everything in the automotive industry that you should care about without all the fluff. We also throw in our opinion, just because we can. This week it’s a mostly high-octane edition with:

• Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 gets ready to race

• Nissan GT-R GT3 is already racing

• AMG stuffs a giant V8 in the SLK Roadster

• Audi fills us in on three new S-line members

• Toyota updates the best-selling car in America

… Continue Reading

Street Shots: Aston Martin One-77

GooglePlus is the new Facebook. While sipping coffee and browsing this morning, I came upon these shots of the new Aston Martin One-77 taken by Jason Thorgalsen. Turns out that Jason is a freelance photographer with a taste, and an eye, for the exotics. Checkout his website at jtphotos.net. No relation, I don’t know the guy.

The Aston Martin One-77 seen here is driven by Aston Martin CEO, Dr. Ulrich Bez in Los Angeles. This is the first time I am seeing the One-77 is this color and… it looks amazing. For those that don’t know… … Continue Reading

Porsche’s new 7-Speed Manual Transmission Shift Pattern

By now you have heard that Porsche will offer a 7-speed manual transmission on the new 2012 Carrera 911, code-named 991. In case you wondered what the shift pattern will look like, wonder no more.

Some thoughts: … Continue Reading

Quick Drive: 2012 Ford Explorer Ecoboost and Ford Edge Ecoboost

For 2011 Ford introduced an all-new Explorer. Upon the introduction Ford said that there will be a four-cylinder Ecoboost version, but not until a year later. It is now a year later. The six-cylinder Explorer has been a great sales hit for the company, and now here is the promised only four-cylinder.

Disclosure: Ford invited me to Detroit to sample the Ecoboost Explorer and Edge. I have never been to a press event like this and I reluctantly accepted as I had difficulty taking the day and a half off work. I also read enough of Jack Baruth’s articles to know what to expect. Ford paid for transportation and a nice hotel. I paid $20 for a taxi ride to the airport and worked late the other three days that week. … Continue Reading

The $220,000 BMW 325i – Hartge H50 V10 Sedan

$40,000 buys a base model 3-series sedan. What kind of BMW does $220,000 buy? Turns out that it buys the same base model 3-series but with a few extra goodies. Try as it may, don’t let innocent little sedan pictured here fool you, it’s a monster.

Hartge is a well known BMW and MINI tuner. Most enthusiast spruce up the interior of their Bimmers with a Hartge shift-knob, some perhaps get a set of their beautiful wheels. Rarely does one see one of their fully tuned cars and even less frequently does an original come up for sale. … Continue Reading

LEGO VW Camper – Old Customers are Best Customers

There was no internet. There were no apps to download for a device which did not yet exist. Games like Pac Man and Pole Position were mastered within days. Chances are that if you are in your thirties and still very much into cars (you’re reading this, right?), you probably spent a significant amount of time playing with LEGOs.

Apparently LEGO realized that word-of-mouth is the best advertising money can’t buy, and in the world of apps, games, videos, how does a company such as LEGO market their product? Simple, sell it to dad. Just imagine yourself with your kids, sitting at the little kids’ table, assembling the Unimog or this here VW Camper. The bonding and the precious time spent together would make a fantastic postcard. Right up to the time when you put YOUR Unimog or VW Camper high on the shelf away from their grabby destroying little paws. … Continue Reading