VW Rat Rod by JC Magana
Rusty cars are looked down upon in this new age of cars. We expect everything to be nice, shiny, show quality, with perfect lines, built with premium grade materials and unbreakable parts. In a way you can say that our generation of car enthusiast are spoiled. But what happens after time sets in and nature takes over the materials that our whips are made of? Rust, broken parts, non working stereos, motors that run like garbage, is it time to take it to the local scrap metal yard and watch them crush that old school car into a square that sponge bob would be jealous of? Most of us would say yes. To a certain few enthusiast this is a dream come true, the perfect time to unleash a rusty monster that only a mother could love, check it out. +Continue Reading
Dodge Challenger by JC Magana
A near and dear friend said it best, muscle cars are about standing quarter miles, blue jeans, and dime bars. So if you have lived under a rock the past few years you would not know who Richard Hammond is. You would not know he said this line, and you would never have watched Top Gear. So lets reintroduce you to the American way then. Muscle cars, they’re loud, they’re fast, and they are usually named after something cool. Muscle cars are what America’s speed addiction was built on, screaming down the boulevard in a big block Bel air, sliding around a corner in a Fire engine Red Mustang, or leaving that little Civic in the dust with a Corvette. From young to old this genre of cars has captivated everyone at one time or another, including myself.
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Drive Green - Photo by Caleb
Today we are taking a hiatus from the diesel discussions to talk about driving style. You may be asking yourself how driving style has anything to do with diesels, hybrids, mileage, and being “green”. It has to do with all of those. Believe it or not, not all cars were created equal. I’m not talking about horse power or sport suspensions or even about flashy body kits. I’m talking about regenerative brakes, manual transmissions, and torque power bands. I don’t want to get to ahead of myself so let’s dive in.
The Toyota Prius is the staple for hybrid cars. The car that screams I’m ECO! +Continue Reading
Chevrolet Camaro - Photo By Caleb
Last Sunday I had the chance to go to my first manufacturer show at the Jacksonville International Car and Truck Show located at the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center in Jacksonville, Fl. I wasn’t sure what to expect so I went in hoping for the best and it turned out to be a pretty good time. Just about every car manufacturer was there from Audi to Ford to Honda. Every brand had a local dealer to represent them most of which coming from Jacksonville. The only out of town dealership was Orlando Lamborghini who was the only one to bring any exotic cars. The show was fairly cheap at eight dollars and all the cars were in semi-dim lit rooms parked throughout the convention center. Each manufacturer and dealership took a corner or room to have their representatives answer questions about their cars. +Continue Reading
Toyota Pius - Photo by Caleb
Compressed natural gas, propane, liquefied petroleum gas, fully electric vehicles and bio-diesel fuel are great alternative fuel sources. They save the environment, most get decent gas mileage, and the concept is wonderful. I am all for alternative fuels. However, a big problem with some of the alternative fuels is that they are not readily available in the U.S. Compressed natural gas (CNG), propane, liquefied petroleum gas or electricity hook ups at fueling stations just don’t exist. The amount of time and money it would take to make these hook ups readily available to the public would be tremendous. Additionally, the governmental regulatory agencies, and entities with special interests against alternative fuels would have to be dealt with politically, which is another significant problem. +Continue Reading
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 photo by JC
Cars for the Cure is a car show for the cure of lung diseases. What makes this show so breath taking, no pun intended? It’s the sheer amount of exotic cars that pack the Lake Mary area shopping center for that cause. A total of 167 cars rolled into this cross shaped plaza including cars from Aston Martin, Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati, and Bugatti. Back to back and side to side these beastly four wheeled creatures stood, sporting v12 engines, turbochargers, and wide rubber tires. Some individual owners brought out their collection of cars, like Nelson Cambata who owns two Bugatti Veyrons. It was also nice to see institutions like the Central Florida Hospital showing the collection of Dr. Ben Kazim on their behalf. All of the collectors made sizable contributions for the cause. +Continue Reading
Volkswagen R32 by Xavier
Everyone judges people, whether or not you admit it you do. I’m guilty of it, I judge everyone I meet for the first time. When introduced to Peter Bennet I had a few thoughts. One, he is probably a cat owner. Two, he wears A LOT of Volkswagen shirts. Three, he has an unyielding obsession for cars. Hmm, three for three not bad. To be honest Pete is an avid Vee Dub guy, hard to the core and down to ride to any show. Pete has culminated this love not only into one badass car, but two! Check this out, the R32 is the GTI god, all wheel drive, VR6 engine, bad all the way down to the stitching on the Konig bucket seats. Then there is the Volkswagen Cabrio……hahaha! Cute little car, nice roll back top, and little quiet 2.0 engine. Pete’s Cabby is like the quiet chick at a party…..after she’s had about six Jager bombs! Both of these cars are awesome, and here’s why. +Continue Reading
FAIL!
The industrial age brought more products to the consumer at a reasonable price, but thishad little change on high-end products. For example, high quality coilovers, speaker cables, bolt in intercooler setups, and various other specialty items are still worth a pretty penny. With new technology and advancements in production smaller companies are now able to make their own high quality products at a semi-reasonable price, but there’s a problem. They are smaller companies! Since they can’t afford to buy a batch of 300+ coilvers and carry spare parts in stock for warranty work the turn around time to buy or get your product worked on sky rockets. For example there have been cases of people waiting for their B&G coilovers to come back from warranty work for over a year and B&G’s current suspension line is back ordered by about 50 orders. These 50 orders aren’t even going to go out for another three weeks after this article is published and then it’ll take another week or two for those to get to the customer. Who knows how long these orders have been on back order too. +Continue Reading
Lexus IS350 - Photo By Steve
I’m not talking about the limbo games you used to play when you were little, attempting to overcome gravity just to go under a stick. The childish game has now turned into something much greater and more entertaining to the masses. Even the tools have changed. Your body has now become a car, the stick has turned into a ruler to measure ride height, and the crowd that used to be your friends cheering you on has now become the car community. This game is much more serious now. The game of going low. +Continue Reading
Suzuki Hayabusa - Photo by Steve
People love four wheels and going fast, but what happens when you transfer that love to two wheels? As an avid rider of these two wheeled beasts that many people dislike and fear I have become very familiar with this love over time. There’s more to bikes than just the thrill of going fast; you can do wheelies, fly bys, or just cruise and let the wind flow around you. For most riders this is all they do with their bikes, it’s a toy in which to have fun with, not a daily commuter although they are very practical vehicles. Bikes can get great gas mileage and they are small so they can fit into places cars can’t go. Here’s an added bonus, they don’t have as many parts as a car so the repair bills for them are next to nothing. But then you also have the downside of owning a bike, the danger.
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