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:
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:
In the list of 16 manufacturers to have won Le Mans since the end of World War II, only one of them hails from the “land of the rising sun”. Mazda is the only Japanese marque to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall. Recently, the race winning Mazda 787B was restored and driven in demonstration laps at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans. You may have seen the videos, but do you know the whole story behind that historic win? Read on.
Mazda has an incredible racing history, and group C sports car prototypes are just one facet of the Mazda racing diamond. However, as professional racing goes, this facet was their most successful. Having competed in every Le Mans event for nearly twenty years, Mazda stepped up to the top level class in 1990 with the 787. The 1990 race was not very favorable toward Mazda, as two 787s retired having completed just fewer than 150 laps. The third 787 did finish the race, however troubles mired them down in 20th position, finishing more than 50 laps down to the winning Jaguar. … Continue Reading
Welcome to CarGuyDad News 2.0; now new-er-ish and hopefully improved. This is the weekly recap on 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…
Pull out any book dealing with the history of Mercedes-Benz and most likely the vehicles featured are the Silver Arrows race cars, the 300SL Gullwing, 300SEL 6.9, and the 190E to name a few. But one family of Mercedes-Benz vehicles played an important role in the brand’s future and would create a dynasty of midsize Mercedes-Benz sedans, coupes, and wagons that would last until 1996. That family of vehicles were the W114 and W115 series and today will look at a 1975 Mercedes-Benz 280C.
Welcome to CarGuyDad News 2.0; now new-er-ish and hopefully improved. This is the weekly recap on 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…
This is a weekly (or whenever I get around to it) segment which will briefly outline some of the week’s most important and exciting stories which relate to dad-stuff, car-stuff and kid-stuff. This week we have the L.A. Auto Show special as tons of cars make their debut and dominate the headlines this week. … Continue Reading
In December of 2009 New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission issued an Request For Proposal for the next generation of NYC Taxi cabs. Recently, three finalists were selected: Ford Transit Connect, Nissan Minivan, and a Turkish Karsan Taxi. The first one is a solid choice, the second is an obscure JDM minivan, and it is anyone’s guess what the Karsan is.
Clearly, there is serious room for improvement. … Continue Reading
Perhaps it is the name itself that conjures up thoughts of big, bulky hunks of metal forcing us on boring road trips to Grandma’s for the weekend. In United States, the term “station wagon” comes from its initial use as the taxi from train stations in the early 1900s. Before the term station wagon was adopted, they were called “depot hacks.” Good change huh?
When Ford introduced their Model A in 1929, the station wagon was officially born. Other manufacturers quickly followed in Ford’s footsteps. For decades wagons were loved throughout the world and every manufacturer had at least a few in their model lineup.
Compared to those from the mid 20th century, wagons, like most cars, have lost quite a bit of flair becoming longer versions of boring sedans. The 1970s through the early 1990s were especially rough for the wagon’s image. Those years shaped Baby-Boom and Gen-X buyers to despise the station wagon, which is reflected in sales numbers. For whatever reason, the image of the station wagon is tainted with thoughts of the uncool. But could 2011 be the year that marks the return of the wagon? … Continue Reading
I get an email from my friend Kelly this morning about how he saw a camouflaged car on his way to work (LA area). He sent this over, a picture of what appears to be the next SL or SLK. Probably SL, judging by the size.
Ok, now what?
I never understood the fascination with automotive “spy” photography. Here is a car, all decked out in all kinds of crap, showing nothing more than a silhouette, which in this case hasn’t changes much in twenty years, and that is pretty much it. Now, is any sane person not going to go buy the excellent 2010 SL63 because they saw this and said “wow, I love it, I’ll keep my ’89 SL another year just so that I can get this!”? I doubt it.
And auto manufacturers, if you don’t want your new models seen in public, why do you insist on driving them in public? Why not load up your super secret vehicle into an enclosed trailer and bring to the testing facility? I’m going to have to raise the good old BS flag here – you want those test mules to be seen.
Looking for a two-passenger sporty convertible? Perhaps something to compliment your Range Rover? Here are three best suggestions ranging in price from a lot to a lot more, surly one will appeal to you senses. … Continue Reading
Imagine meeting a famous actress, one who is so unbelievably hot that you sat through her crappy movies just because she is in them. For the sake of visualization let’s pick that actress to be Megan Fox. Now imagine having the opportunity to meet Megan and right away realizing that she is much hotter in real life than she is in pictures.
You compose yourself, keep your cool, and before you know it you’re making small talk. Very small talk, because next thing you know the talk is over and you find yourself gettin’ it on with Megan. At this point it doesn’t matter if you’re a man, woman, gay, straight or other; you are with Megan Fox, and let’s be honest here, no sane human on earth will refuse her. Wham, bam, just like that it’s over. Things get a little cloudy until you find yourself sitting at a bar, smoking a cigarette. Finally calm, you are trying to sort out exactly what the hell has just happened. And that is pretty much how I felt after a quick drive of the Mercedes SLS AMG. … Continue Reading
Pop culture would have you believe that The King drove only in big pink Cadillacs. After a recent visit to Graceland I was pleasantly surprised that this could not be further from truth. It turns out that Elvis was quite the carguy and his wealth allowed him to purchase some exotic and rare machinery.
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My whole family likes to travel. Both of my parents have been all over the world. My wife and I met in China (no, neither one of us is Chinese) and since then we have traveled together to India, Costa Rica, and all over Europe. When I was 13 and my brother 3, our parents packed up our ’84 Buick Regal sedan and drove cross-country for a period of almost four weeks. When I was 20 I spent five weeks in Southern Africa riding around in a Land Rover 110 TD5 ( I need to find and scan the pictures from that trip). In the summer of 2009 my mother, her husband and my sister-in-law along with a group of thirteen other people spend four weeks in southern Russia and Mongolia, and here is a bit of car-related photo-journalism from this trip. … Continue Reading
October is here and only few more Lawn Events at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Boston remain. So far, you have seen British Car Day, German Car Day, Miata Day, Italian Car Day, and now Mercedes Benz Day. I was raised under the belief the Mercedes Benz is the oldest car company in the world and they make the best cars, which in the 1970′s and 1980′s was probably true, so seeing all these cars in mint condition gave me that warm fuzzy feeling. … Continue Reading
This is the first of three articles on Rally Racing. I intend to cover car set-ups, driver training, different classes, and whatever else I may come upon. This part will show a built of an Open Class rally car, which is …
I have recently had the opportunity to drive the new Jaguar XFR on the road and on a race track. With the XFR competing directly against the BMW M5, which I have also had the opportunity to drive on the track …
While you may have already read a thing or two about BMW’s new compression ignition offerings, you may not have heard all the details, and you may have some questions. I sure did, and I did my best to answer them …
French cars; some say they’re ugly, some say they’re beautiful, all agree that they’re unreliable. However, there is something about them that makes you want to look. These pictures were taken in March of 2007, my wife’s and mine last trip …
Do you think your ’02 Chevy Tahoe with 170k miles is at the end of its life? Try driving a ’55 Suburban that you inherited from you father. This is a gallery of car pictures from Cuba, where the only way …
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