Automotive Legend Carroll Shelby Dead at 89

Image from source, Jalopnik

Awww. I know he was getting up there, but it's still sad that Carroll Shelby has passed. I'm not quite a gearhead (I'm more into the style of a car than its mechanics), but I'm quite familiar with Shelby's many "special edition" cars, from Ford and Chrysler, and of course his own cars. He's a genuine automotive rock star. But beyond that, I loved him for his fantastic Carroll Shelby's Chili Mix! It's been a dietary staple in my home since the eighties! RIP Mr. Shelby.

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Carroll Shelby, Automotive Legend, Dead At 89

Before reality TV, and even still to a very large degree now, the best known name associated with performance cars to the average person is Carroll Shelby, and with good reason. Shelby has been considered a legend in the field for decades, and his influence is still strong to this day. He died today at the age of 89, as a result of complications from an illness. . .

Read more at: Jalopnik

Ugliest Car, Chrysler Edition: 1979 Dodge Magnum

Not the ugliest car. But it shares the name.
Image from Wikipedia.

I got briefly stuck in a Wiki-hole this evening, first looking up the generations of Mitsubishi Eclipse (the sporty version of my Galant), segueing into the related Chrysler/Dodge products, and winded up landing on the Plymouth Barracuda, Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger. A couple of links later, I landed on the Dodge Magnum page.

The Magnum was a car I pondered when I traded in my old Jeep. By this time, circa 2010, that Dodge model had been discontinued, but I could have gotten a 2008 at a decent price. It was the wagon version of the Dodge Charger, and looked kinda nifty. I ultimately passed, because the Magnum is likely too big for my garage (and if you can find the double entendre there, good for you!). Anyway, what I didn't know is that Chrysler had not just named that wagon "Magnum" out of the clear blue sky. They had resurrected the name of a seventies model. Why on earth they'd ever want to conjure the previous version remains a mystery.

The 1979 Dodge Magnum looks like a joke. If someone showed me the picture, I would have thought it was designed by George Barris like the "Wagon Queen Family Truckster" from National Lampoon's Vacation! It is a hideous beast. A collision of lines and ideas that were never adequately resolved into a presentable finished product. So without further ado, the ugliest Chrysler product ever. It was only sold in Brazil for a reason.

Image from Wikipedia.

President Obama's Barnburner Speech on Auto Industry

This is what I like to hear from President Obama. The man gives a hella good speech!

Blast from the Past: The Cars I've Owned!

I've previously run (and rerun) a blog post on the cars I've owned. But I never tried to find commercials for them all. I think it's about time I did!

1. My first car was a 1973(ish) Toyota Corolla. This ad misses the mark by about six years. But I'm still not sure if it was a '73, '74 or '75.
2. My second car was a 1980 Datsun 210. The one in the ad is a year older-- and a hatchback--where mine had a trunk. But close!



3. My third car, a present for graduation, was a 1978 Dodge Colt Station Wagon. Try to find a commercial for THAT! And believe it or not I did, but missed it by a year. Mine did NOT have faux wood grain sides, however.
4. This was the first car I bought for myself, the 1980 Toyota Celica. And while the commercial is EXCATLY the right year and car. . .they used a 1979 model for the ad! You can tell, because the '80 had rectangular headlights and a different grille.



5. After paying off my first car, I got restless and bought an '86 Chevrolet Cavalier at auction (for $2490!), only two years old. Mine was the red, sporty model.
6. My sixth car was an ill-advised purchase, also at auction. The '87 Nissan Pulsar was cute, but it leaked and had all sorts of problems.



7. When my Pulsar threw a timing chain, and turned into sculpture, I bought a 1989 Mazda 626 Turbo hatchback. Loved that car! In Japan, it was apparently called the Capella, as shown in this ad.
8. After the Mazda was near death, I bought a 1998 Jeep Wrangler, which had been a vehicle I'd wanted all my life. Since I held onto it for nine years, you can be sure I loved it. But all good things must come to an end. . .



9. And we come to my current car, which is oddly enough, currently at the body shop after a minor collision. The 2009 Mitsubishi Galant--which is only superficially different from the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Galant--may not win any awards, but I love it. And I don't expect to add a tenth car for a while.

So, that's it for now. Happy Monday!

DeLorean Makes a Comeback: Heavy!

This is a great idea, as long as they aren't too faithful. Automobile interiors and exteriors have improved since the early eighties, after all. We're not expecting a flux capacitor, but we'd appreciate an MP3-ready audio system, and a bluetooth-ready communications system. And an interior slightly ahead of a 1984 Dodge Omni. Other than that, this is the coolest thing that has happened in America since Pixar. McFly!

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DeLorean Goes Electric 

Gas? Where we’re going, we don’t need gas.

Back to the Future, the movie to most prominently feature John DeLorean’s gull-winged icon of 1980s cool, ends with the future version of the DeLorean time machine running on household garbage. Well, folks, the future is now, and the new DeLorean doesn’t need gas or rubbish. The DMCEV, which will go into production by 2013, will run entirely on electricity. The expected starting price for the electric DeLorean is $90,000.

Read more at: CNBC