Random Dope

Actors who just so happen to be gear heads seem to continually be coming out of the woodwork; Rowan Atkinson, Adam Carolla, Dax Shepard, Patrick Dempsey and the late Paul Walker are just a few...

Not too long ago in my, Ten Trends of 2013 post I said the following: "I still hold hopeful that the intensified media eye on Japan will help expose their thriving lowrider, minitruck, and hot rod...

When TAS2014 coverage started to hit the web one car immediately stood out among the over fenders, race inspired livery, FT86/BRZ/FR-S, outrageous exotics, and over the top VIP cars. This awesome hot rod influenced Mazda Miata.

While I was gathering photos for the Chevy Belair Theme Tuesday I came across this Impala wagon that just about steered the entire post towards wagons. It's got a great stance, impeccable paint, and a set of wheels that, despite their simplicity, really pull the car together.

...and by that time of year I mean the period where I wish I went to SummerNats in Australia. If I could choose one event for a wealthy dowager to fly me to I am pretty sure it would be this one. In addition to looking like a flat out awesome party the vehicles that show up are incredibly diverse and the burnout contest is, quite frankly, out of hand.

Found myself over on Street Source the other day where I came across this pretty cool Chevy Luv build. After a long period of ignoring his Luv, builder Daniel Maxwell decided that when the truck was fit for the streets it needed to be body dropped. The problem was he decided this after already putting a decent amount of work into it.

The fact that I like Audi wagons isn't exactly news, I've been a fan of the A3 for some time now and I've also dedicated a Theme Tuesday to various forms of Avants. This may be the first Allroad I've posted and, surprise surprise, at the right height I like them as well.

If you were to ask my late nineties self whether or not I liked the LS400 I my answer would have been no, partially because I was a dumb kid and partially because I wasn't much into luxury sedans, especially ones that were often two tone. Over time my tastes have matured and like a fine wine the LS400 has got better with age to the point where if I were in the market for big luxury sedan one of these would float to the top of my list.

I always get a kick out of low cars I am not exactly familiar with, and this Skoda Felicia Family is a low car I'm not exactly familiar with. I came across this one while collecting photos for a completely unrelated Theme Tuesday and was instantly intrigued by the little white hatch.

These days the Japanese car scene receives a lot of online attention. RWB, Rocket Bunny, and Liberty Walk, are covered so thoroughly that, if I were to be completely honest, they have almost begun to lose some of their allure. What's a little less exposed is Japan's take on tuning styles that are more commonly done this side of the pond, and from the brief glimpses I've seen Japan's mini truck scene is an underexposed mecca of awesome.

I'm sure many of you have seen these photos already but I am going to post it here anyway because I am that pumped on the idea of a bagged, LS powered, s14 drift car. When I was at the Air Lift factory back in March I had the opportunity to take a look at an early production version of their Nissan s14 kit and at the time they didn't say much either way about whether or not it would be released officially.

This Courier ended up on my screen a couple months ago while gathering photos for a Theme Tuesday and quite honestly blew me away. I'm not sure I have ever seen a Courier before (stock or otherwise) so happening across this was pretty rad, more rad is the fact that it is an Ontario build.