Obscure Sedans of Yore

Posted on May 4, 2016 in Antique | Comments Off on Obscure Sedans of Yore

Today we will take a look at some of the most obscure sport sedans of the past. You may recognize some, but I bet a few will be new. Let me know if I missed any you want to see. Lancia Flaminia – This car was a sports saloon built until the 1970’s. It is notable because a convertible version was the car used in the film “The Italian Job.” When the mafia group...

Yugo, Victim or Victimizer?

Posted on Apr 18, 2016 in Antique | Comments Off on Yugo, Victim or Victimizer?

Car Design: The best way to start on this subject is to have some fun and start at the bottom. One thing I learned early on about cars is that the worse the car is, the more famous it will become. Take the Yugo (Please), a car that was not only voted one of the “Worst Cars Ever” but also one of the “Worst Cars of the Millennium” and finally “Worst Car in all of...

New Winter Driving Tech: Worth It?

Posted on Apr 13, 2016 in Safety | 1 comment

For the first 10 or so years of my winter driving career, my cars were equipped with nothing more than a slow-working heater and, maybe, a rear defroster. That made for some cold driving experiences and often required some extra time outside scraping the windows clear before hunkering down in the driver’s seat wearing a down coat and puffy gloves. (It’s amazing...

GM Innovates With Terrain, Offers Collision and Lane Departure Warning For $295

Posted on Apr 13, 2016 in Technology | 1 comment

While many have been fixated on the introduction of Apple’s iPhone 4S today (we’re in the disappointed camp wanting an all-new 5, but we digress….), automobile companies are innovating with new technology. General Motors promised recently that it had some new innovations coming for safety technology, the first of which was a new center front air bag on its...

Steaming Ahead for the Land Speed Record

Posted on Apr 6, 2016 in Racing | 2 comments

Here’s a little change of pace from all the bungled PR and confusion from Toyota we’ve been reporting. Also (no offense, tgriffith), enough already with the Super Bowl and its ads (except for the Kia Sorento sock monkeys in Vegas). Here in Mexico, the game was carried by Fox Sports, and all commercials were locally oriented, for the most part very ordinary, and...

Playmate of the Year AMX returns to its original pink

Posted on Mar 31, 2016 in Featured | 2 comments

Photos courtesy Mark Melvin. For decades, the pink AMX that AMC gave away in 1968 wore one coat of different colored paint after another to hide its factory-original hue. The coverup, however, came not from an overabundance of testosterone on the part of the car’s owner, rather on the part of its pursuers—longtime owner and Playboy Playmate of the Year Victoria...

Nitrous: Everything You Need to Know

Posted on Mar 23, 2016 in Technology | 2 comments

If you want to upgrade your car into a supercar, then adding nitrous oxide seems to be the way to go. But rather than going by hearsay, you should probably get familiar with what the hell it is, how it can benefit your motor and, most of all, is it what you need? What? Well it’s a gas, or a chemical or something. Do you really care what it actually is? Either...

12 Best Cars for Villains

Posted on Mar 22, 2016 in Antique | Comments Off on 12 Best Cars for Villains

“Neither love nor evil conquers all, but evil cheats more.” – Laurell K. Hamilton, Cerulean Sins Halloween may be gone, but it has left me with four pounds of stale Butterfingers and this article. In the spirit of all things macabre, I decided to make a list of the perfect villain cars. Whether you are a local scoundrel with a taste for whiskey and bad...

Reminder: Be safe out there in the garage

Posted on Mar 20, 2016 in Featured | 2 comments

There are jackstands under Jeff Koch’s Dart, he informs us. Springtime is upon us here in the Northeast (finally!). The salt is slowly dissolving off the highways, and that means—unless you’re one of those lucky souls who has a heated garage with heated floors and heated underwear—it’s time to get back to wrenching on our project cars and other collector...

Toyota Yaris: It’s a Car. That Texts!?

Posted on Mar 18, 2016 in Safety | 3 comments

2012 Toyota Yaris Even the most basic automobile is about to succumb to the stigma of added technology. The Toyota Yaris has thrived as one of the few remaining examples of basic transportation, free from touchscreens, integrated GPS and complicated user interfaces. Some of us just want to drive and not be distracted by unnecessary technology inside our cars,...

A Very Special Feature

Posted on Mar 3, 2016 in Editorials | Comments Off on A Very Special Feature

Supposedly, there’s a Powerball ticket somewhere in this house. It’s Wednesday night as I write this, a few hours before the drawing. By the time you read this, you will know that I did not win the Powerball, and neither did you. I feel mathematically justified in believing that not a single TTAC reader is in any danger of actually winning the Powerball....

The Real Cost of Being a Car Guy

Posted on Feb 21, 2016 in Editorials | 3 comments

Forgive me father, for not only have I sinned (at least for right now), but I’m going to make a sordid confession about my daily work life that will tick off 99 percent of the people here. I find that auto enthusiasts — that’s you — are completely irrational. In fact, sometimes you’re just plain nuts. It has nothing to do with conspiracy theories, the federal...

Warning Others of Speed Traps: Illegal?

Posted on Feb 7, 2016 in Safety | 2 comments

A simple flash of the headlights would’ve sufficed… As a driver concerned with the well-being of my fellow citizens on the road, I make an effort to warn oncoming traffic when I notice a cop stalking for speeders. That is, once I’m sure that Johnny Law hasn’t locked his sights on me. When I know I’ve made it through the speed trap unscathed, I...