Your average electric motor is heavy. It’s all magnets and wire and heat-proof housing. Batteries, too, are full of lead and acid and such, and make good boat anchors door stops training apparatus just recycle them. So we tend to dismiss “performance” hybrids out right. The Honda CR-Z, for example, would be a far better car without all the unnecessary electrics. Hybrids are almost always too complicated, too unproductive, and too gimmicky to be taken seriously. Continue reading
Tire Smoke Eulogy:
Eight Shelby-influenced Treasures
written by streetsidemechanic | May 18, 2012
We took an opportunity earlier to remember Carroll Shelby’s life, but there are a few details you can’t cover in a short obituary. There are sounds and emotions, fender curves and high-rising cam noises, little nuances and details a few words could never begin to describe. So instead, we’ll show you. Throughout his life Shelby built and influenced many race-winning monsters. Here are a few. Continue reading
Carroll Shelby 1923-2012
written by streetsidemechanic | May 14, 2012
If you want to teach your children about race cars, not just about how they work, but about what they do, show them a 1964 Shelby Daytona. A Daytona coupe is nothing to glance at. It defies the cursory glance, the magnetic speed of its design and engineering requires more. It lingers there in your mind, drawing in bold, black, double lines the very idea of a race car. Only six of them were built, and they all remain, now outliving the man responsible for their creation.
Last Thursday, Carroll Shelby passed away at the age of 89, after complications with an illness. He leaves a wake of legend. Continue reading
The First Annual Amphibious Awards!
written by streetsidemechanic | May 11, 2012
Summer’s here, folks. Time to get out on the water and have some motorized fun. But isn’t it such a bother to tow your boat all the way to the landing? What if you could just drive it there? You wouldn’t have to worry about trailer parking, and you could even go alone, in case nobody else wanted to get up so early to catch the best fish. Continue reading
Ford Focus ST Fights the Power-With Power
written by streetsidemechanic | May 7, 2012
It’s been a good era for smallish, mid-size cars. Buick now has the uncharacteristic Regal GS; Cadillac the RWD, M3-killing ATS; and Dodge the evocative, peninsular Dart. All of them are stick-shifting, turbocharged oddities, but they represent a new wave of cars in America: Europe. None of these would have come around without European influence (which makes us wonder if we’ll start seeing small diesels soon), and now Ford has joined the fray with the Euro spec, 2013 Focus ST. It’s exciting for many reasons. Continue reading
Seven Sweet Cop Cars to Slow You Down
written by streetsidemechanic | May 4, 2012
We love police when they pull over that irresponsible miscreant who sped by you on the shoulder, but not so much when they’re looking through their aviator glasses into our own windows. But they probably don’t enjoy writing tickets any more than we enjoy trying to find out where the money goes. Continue reading
Why Ron Howard is Perfect for Rush
written by streetsidemechanic | April 30, 2012
Car people like us don’t get enough auto-centric movies, least of all thought provoking ones. Hollywood producers seem to be under the impression that we’re all 14, but while we do love a great unrealistic car chase, the Fast and Furious franchise and Gone in 60 Seconds do lack a certain depth. That’s fine on occasion. There’s nothing like muscular mindlessness to help you unwind after a horrible week of punching washers, shuffling papers, or whatever it is that you wish you didn’t have to do. Continue reading
The 10 Coolest Unreal Movie and TV Cars
written by streetsidemechanic | April 27, 2012
Production cars have always been bound by a few limitations. They’re not invincible. They don’t come with concealed machine guns. And they don’t change into giant, boss robots. Thankfully we have Hollywood to take care of this for us. So if you’re looking for a way to waste kill time before the work day is over Idol comes on your next pressing appointment, check out our list of the ten coolest cars, from both big and small screens, that could never really be. Continue reading
Lamborghini Urus: Corporate Cattle
written by streetsidemechanic | April 23, 2012
Aventador. Miura. Countach. Gallardo. Murcielago. Diablo. Lamborghinis have always gotten tough, threatening names. Because they’ve all been named for fighting bulls. The kind who stand still grunting until they get angry and try to kill you in a split second. But the new Lambroghini, unveiled just today at the Beijing Motor Show, isn’t named after a raging bull. Urus is the German word for “aurochs,” the gigantic ancestor of a common beef cow. This may be appropriate for this newest Lambo, though, because it’s an SUV.
Continue reading
Ten Cars Born Too Soon
written by streetsidemechanic | April 20, 2012
Every once in a while an automaker gets a sudden cash bonus, and instead of using it to add another speed to their already extremely unresponsive automatic transmissions or perfecting their beige paint, they throw it at something crazy, something inventive. Sometimes the idea works, hurling itself into the future. And sometimes it fails miserably, the technology or sociology involved still too natal. Sticking for now to post-WWII, here’s a few examples of both outcomes: Continue reading
@StreetSideAuto tweets
favorited by @streetsideauto | April 17, 2012
So it’s another #TechTipTuesday. Anyone have a superb piece of auto advice or tip they want to share? We’ll #RT the best ones!
Project Rhino: Small and Mighty
written by streetsidemechanic | April 16, 2012
Often we associate huge vehicles with more fun. A roller coaster can span an acre or more. An A-10 Thunderbolt was designed around its massive, 70-rounds-per-second, 30 mm Gatling cannon. And frankly, we don’t understand why the Hulk is so angry all the time, since being big and strong enough to turn an entire metropolitan area into a multi-level trampoline sounds like a lot of fun to us. Continue reading
Seven Sneaky Sleepers to Tuck You In
written by streetsidemechanic | April 13, 2012
There’s nothing more awesome than a well-sculpted supercar, looking like it’s going 130 while it’s parked in front of Starbucks. But even cooler is the sleeper car- the quiet little suitcase nuke with an amicable personality and a friendly, if forgettable, smile. Fooling countless cops and complainers worldwide, the sleeper has a long tradition of little-old-me buffoonery. Here are seven brilliant examples to make you reconsider your next traffic light rev-challenge. Continue reading
2013 SRT Viper: The Race Returns
written by streetsidemechanic | April 9, 2012
This year’s New York International Auto Show was largely a snore, per tradition, and that gems like the still-boring-but-re-blinged Chevy Impala got a sizeable percentage of attention is indicative of a consumer line-up. But thankfully, the automotive press still have their priorities straight, because far more of the attention went to the 2013 Viper, the first new asp from Chrysler since 2010. Here’s the skinny: Continue reading
9 Cars for which to Thank Ferdinand Porsche III
written by streetsidemechanic | April 6, 2012
Yesterday, in Salzburg, Austria, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche passed away at the age of 76. F.A., as he was known by his colleagues, or “Butzi,” to his friends, was the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who founded the timeless sports car firm in 1931. That Ferdinand and his son “Ferry” were both engineers, but F.A. never entered the field, focusing instead on the design aspect of car building.
He studied industrial design for a year, but was kicked out of his school for lack of potential. So he went back to the family business and started training in-house. His father Ferry, who came up with the beautiful Porsche 356, challenged him to design its successor. The result was one of the two cars F.A. designed for Porsche, and though they were both beautiful and fast, it became one of the most iconic sports cars in history: the 911. Continue reading
