Archive | February, 2011

>Freak of the Week: Very Conspicuous.

27 Feb

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In New York City, it’ll take you days to find a parking spot. The experienced have many strategies. Some double park to stay put when they have a feeling that someone’s about to pull out of a spot, and others circle like vultures looking for gaps. Driveway… driveway… driveway… fire hydrant… driveway… driveway… don’t event think about it… driveway… driveway… no parking anytime except blue moons…. It really tires me out. Don’t get me wrong, I love driving, but I get fed up with parking very quickly.

You wouldn’t understand then, unless you live in a city yourself, just how ecstatic it feels to move on with your life. I get so ecstatic that I jump out the car and engage a full on sprint in order to make up the lost time and meet with my engagement scheduled yesterday. It’s that bad.

Just last night, I borrowed my parent’s car, and went to meet my friend for a movie. When it was time to leave, I was in trouble. The problem with leaving the car in a hurry is the terrible task of recalling where you had left it. It’s pathetic, I know, but I promise you that I tried! My solution has been to take a note on my cell phone to remind me where I parked.

Good, it’s 71st and 112th. That’s not so hard! Wait… 71st Street? Or was it 71st Road? Where am I now? 71st Drive? Forest Hills is impossible.

Finally, I found the damn car, and I realized that I had already walked right passed it twice. It was a beige Nissan. And so was every other car on the street. I’m sure you all can understand, then.

I can’t say the same for Mr. Yannick Sire, though, who’s the man behind “The Priapism”, the name of the car meaning– a state of constant painful, arousal. Quite appropriately named, for such an inappropriately sexy piece of work. Obviously, Yannick wouldn’t know a thing about beige Nissans at all.

Featured on windingroad.com, the video below is from OliandJoe.com. Freak of the Week #11! Enjoy!


YS from OliandJoe on Vimeo.

>No one can be as ‘clever’ as the British.

27 Feb

>And nothing is more British than a Triumph.

>Le Mans – A Classic

26 Feb

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>"The Ice in My Teeth Keeps the Cristal Cold"

25 Feb

>Remember a few years ago when everyone in the rap game had to rock a grill piece to be legit?  The trend caught on for a very short time and you’d see kids buying knock-offs in the mall.  Hell, you’d see some white dudes like this rockin them.

seemygrill.com

Apparently, the automotive community took things a little too seriously and ended up with this.

thetorquereport.com

Since this…err… face lift, the number of Navigators compared to Escalades seen in the wild has plummeted.  It would make sense if the automakers decided to not follow suit with giant grills.  Well nobody listened…

audipic.com

autobytel.com
netcarshow.com
conceptcarz.com

This is not saying that all these front ends are horrid and will be slow sellers like the Navigator.  The GTR, R8, and Evo are all selling very well for their respective niches.  The problem is that this giant gaping maw is a very uninspired design.  Innovative designers like Chris Bangle and Iam Callum seem to be very few and far between.  Please push the envelope in new and evocative ways, designers!

>"Your Moment of Zen"

23 Feb

>I don’t usually associate myself with any particular car or manufacturer.  However, my family has owned numerous Fords and they do hold a special place with me.  My uncle owned a ’95 Taurus SHO and it was the fastest thing that my 9 year old self could fathom at the time.


Today was just one of those days where I felt nostalgic for some Ford.


Some Old Ford from Ben Pender-Cudlip on Vimeo.

>Beauty in Racing

22 Feb

>When looking at an open-wheel race car as a piece of art, there are many differing opinions on its physical beauty.  To most people, modern cars possess little to no inspiration in their design.  They are just an amalgamation of airfoils, winglets, and scoops.  To others, that is the beauty of the design, the process by which all those little pieces unify to create a blisteringly fast car that seems to cheat fluid dynamics and defy the laws of physics.

grandprix.com

Still, nothing can ever compare to the classics…

The mid-engined cigar-shaped race cars of the 60s have always looked absolutely brilliant.  The flowing, uninterrupted lines of the Lotus 38 and 49 have brought casual fans as well as tech nerds to their knees.  From Colin Chapman’s mind came the finest examples of grace, elegance, and raw power.

carguychronicles.com

The 38 caused a complete shift in thinking for what an Indy car should be.  In 1965, this monocoque, mid-engined rocket produced 500hp from its Ford V8 and carried Jim Clark to victory in the Indy 500.  Lotus went on to replace the 38 with the forgettable 43 but redeemed itself in 1967 with the Lotus 49.

carpictures.com

The Lotus 49 used its Ford-sourced Cosworth V8 as a stressed member, much like the 43 did.  This meant that there was no need for a cradle in which the engine sat.  It was a part of the chassis itself with the front being bolted to the monocoque chassis and the suspension directly attached to the rear.  Without a traditional frame or chassis for the motor, precious pounds were saved.  Developed and refined in 1967, Graham Hill won the ’68 Formula One championship with it after Clark suffered a fatal accident in an F2 race.

>Freak of the Week: Marcus Moto Design F1 Tracker

21 Feb

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Marcus Moto Design F1 Tracker

Freak of the Week #10, woohoo! Every week, I’m out looking for something balls off the wall crazy, polarizing or just weird and worth talking about.

And this time, I thank BikeEXIF’s Facebook fanpage for this week’s find. Really, it is a bit odd that BikeEXIF decided to post this incredible motorcycle on their Facebook fanpage wall, but not on the main site. On the other hand, I kind of see why. The fans of BikeEXIF that regularly come to the site to see custom classic cafe racers won’t be ready for this at all!

Older F1 fans will remember the Ferrari 312T driven by Ferrari’s ace, Niki Lauda. Not a particularly attractive race car, I’ll admit, but it did win the 1975 World Constructor’s Championship before tall air boxes were banned in 1976. If anything, this is a testament of creativity and courage from the custom motorcycle builders Marcus Moto Design when they embraced such an unlikely race car for inspiration.

Based on a Ducati 996, this custom motorcycle features flat track style bmx handlebars as well as an extensive use of carbon fiber.

I’ll be honest, I’m an idiot when it comes to bikes. But, stylistically, custom bikes are absolutely fascinating and thanks to BikeEXIF, I’ve caused myself a bit of an addiction.

So if you like this bike half as much as I do and also have the funds to make dreams happen, you’d be happy to know that you can buy this bike now! For more information, contact Marcus Moto Design  and be sure to have your check ready.


Happy President’s Day to our American viewers! Hope you guys enjoyed the three day weekend!

>A Lady In Red.

20 Feb

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>Till Death Do Us Part.

20 Feb

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‘Soul’ is what you get when you’ve won the Formula One world championship and Le Mans 99 times. You can’t design ‘soul’ or ‘character’. You can earn it. -Jeremy Clarkson


I was watching Jay Leno’s garage the other day and if there’s anything the man doesn’t get enough credit for, it’s the fact that he doesn’t really sell any of his cars. Leno just collects and collects and never tosses one after he’s had enough. Moreover, none of the cars in his garage look neglected. Conan O’Brien is another one of these people too; how long has he owned his green Ford Taurus SHO?

Now I don’t know if I can do that. Later in my life, when I start a family, will I actually find a family car I like so much that I’ll keep until the very end? I really like the smart looking 2012 Ford Focus hatchback but what about three years from now? Unfortunately, I’m very fickle so I wouldn’t be so sure…

Save for an exception. There are cars out there that disregard fads and trends (landau tops and pop-up headlights, anybody?) and are more than just the sum of its parts. Cars made thirty years ago that have a strong cult following today. Cars that are made today that will still be relevant thirty years later.

So, if there was ever one car I would choose to grow old with, to love more and more each day, to have each other in sickness and in health, to learn from and be a better person because of it, it would most likely be a sports car.

This can still be tricky, as buying a sports car is an art. James May made the classic mistake when he bought his Ferrari F430 Spider. He didn’t have the foresight to consider the Ferrari 458. This extends to 360 Modena man, F355 Berlinetta man, 348TB man, 328GTB man… Shall I go on?

If a car wishes to be immortal, it cannot rely on its performance as the be-all and end-all of the equation. What it should do, instead, is forever be a benchmark of excellence. On the other hand, it may also be so extreme, so out of proportion, that it can never ever be compared to anything at all. But most importantly, it must possess soul. But the word “soul” has been, and still is, a point of eternal debate between car enthusiasts. Why do some cars have it, and some do not?

Recently, I read a passage from Jeremy Clarkson while he was discussing the Nissan GTR,

‘Soul’ is what you get when you’ve won the Formula One world championship and Le Mans 99 times. You can’t design ‘soul’ or ‘character’. You can earn it.

And if you really think about it, “soul” is a lot like the word “love”. Ugh, now I’m only substituting a word with a very complicated definition with another that’s even more complicated. In my efforts to find something tangible, I’ve come up with something a bit cliche but effective; a car that can’t help but bring out “the orphan puppy factor”. You would feel unexplainably awful if you must ever part with it. You would make sacrifices in other parts of your life just so that you can keep it. You’d go the extra mile to make sure it gets sent to a good home should you ever have to let it go.

Nothing too crazy, here are some of the cars that fit my bill.
Hopefully, there will be a day in the future when I can afford to pay for theirs.


Your turn: Tell us about your soulmate!

>It’s Danny Chin’s Birthday!

18 Feb

>Happy Birthday, Danny!

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