At this point I am pretty much over winter 2013/14 and all it’s nonsense. Rapidly approaching the mid point of February I know the end is year but to be honest it’s not nearly close enough.
Obligatory complaining aside this Road Runner is pretty bad ass. Classic 70’s muscle car styling at it’s very best.
OG’s keepin’ it gangster.
Doing Theme Tuesdays religiously since 2009 means that on occasion I draw a blank when it comes to what to post each week.
When this happens I generally disappear down a rabbit hole of forums and blogs hoping for inspiration to strike.
This time inspiration came from instagram user Tandem Knights who suggested I take a look at his Nissan Gloria.
After doing so I was interested in seeing more of the chassis and well, here were are.
Since I am not extremely familiar with the chassis I’ve extended the theme to include the cars close cousins as well in an effort to avoid mistakes.
Suggestions for next week?
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 SAG card holders who are true enthusiasts and joining their ranks is Idris Elba with his series King Of Speed.
Evidently a life long petrol addict Idris decided to use his star power as a way to get behind the wheel of an assortment of awesome cars.
I watched the first episode yesterday and quite enjoyed it, so to remind myself to get back to the second I am going to post them both here.
Now I just have to get ’round to finishing season 1 of Luther…
Like the Geo Metro the Ford Festiva is a vehicle that is largely ignored by the after market automotive community. Yes some people occasionally put Mazda’s 1.8L turbo motor under the hood, and a select few own the coveted Shogun, but by in large they are ignored and I am sure none of you can remember the last time you saw one at a show or track.
That said if you happen to see this one at your local track or meet you might want to take a second look because the standard NA four has been pulled and replaced with a fuel cell.
Why a fuel cell? Well because the original fuel tank got in the way of the mid mounted Hyabusa motor.
Currently for sale on Ebay ($19,500.00 reserve) there’s no mention of whether or not the car was built by a shop or just a talented DIYer, but despite not figuring out (or bothering with) a solution for going in reverse the work looks solid enough to send around a track more than once.
Hopefully someone meets the reserve and this car doesn’t get parted out because I’m fairly curious to see some video of this car running.
When I was in college a friend of a friend had a 190e Evo that served as my first real introduction to the platform. Though it was a little worse for wear it wasn’t hard to see it’s potential hidden under years of neglect.
Despite being a drift car this 190 is infinitely cleaner than that one and perfect example of just how awesome these cars can look (and perform) when put in the right hands.
Eager for the white stuff to take it’s leave the owner/builder Alex Lindquist brought it out for a few shots before scooting it back into the garage.
More info on the car can be found via this Speedhunters feature and these photos were picked up on the Stance Works Forums.
Last night, thanks to Performance And Auto Sound Magazine, I was fortunate enough to take in a pre-screening of the new Need For Speed Movie. After the film (which was quite a bit better than I anticipated it to be) director Scott Waugh stood up for a ‘Q and A’ session with Strombo.
One of the first questions asked was what car was his favourite of the movie and what he currently drives.
The answer to the first was a Torino featured in the first fifteen minutes, and the answer to the second is the car of today’s post; The Chevrolet Chevelle.
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 scenes.”
I’m not pretentious enough to call myself a prophet, but less than a month after I said that Alex Rosen this great video of a Tuesday night cruise with the Strongers Kar Klub in Japan.
There’s so much awesome American metal in this video that it could be easily mistaken for a boulevard in California.
I find it relevant to admit that I am whole heartedly in love with the bodied blue 62 Impala built by Cholo Kustoms known as the “Next Movie”.
Really hope to see more of it this year, perhaps one of you could put me in touch with the owner…
With a three cylinder motor that puts out less than 90 horsepower the Geo 1995 Metro isn’t exactly anyone’s first choice for an off road vehicle, so when Andy Miller told me he was going to turn said hum drum commuter into one I was both curious and skeptical.
However Andy held true to his word and over the course of about a year managed to turn his previously red throw away car into a fairly capable off road run about.
Besides the motor the biggest thing hindering a Geo Metro from being any sort of capable off roading vehicle is the ride height so to address this Andy gave the car a 2″ lift up front buy cutting the lower spring perch off, putting a metal spacer in, and welding it back together.
In the rear he kept things remarkably simple by just throwing a rubber spacer in between the coils and cutting the body to fit the 29″ tires.
Since the front end of the car required a small  (read: significant) amount of modification for the 29″ wheels to turn in every direction Andy rationalized that an exo frame would restore some rigidity to his Geo  so he had fellow Ratsun member Blackmarkit to weld one up for him.
The frame combined with the camouflage paint, aggressive off road wheels, tow package, and custom snorkel really help the Metro look the part.
On the inside anything deemed unnecessary has been binned while anything deemed vital has been water proofed as best possible.
The surprisingly heavy stock seats have also been replaced with a set of aftermarket ones to keep the occupants from sliding into each other too much.
A skid pan borrowed from a Jeep keeps in vital fluids while a stripped down gauge cluster keeps tabs of what the hamsters are up to under the hood. While the motor did stay fairly stock –save for the exhaust which runs through the body and terminates with a sport bike muffler–Â Andy assures me that the car does actually perform quite well off road.
He’s used it to go through mud holes, climb hills, rally cross and even taken it off some pretty sweet jumps.
As much fun as this car is Andy now has two proper off road vehicles and needs to offload this one so if  anyone interested in carrying on it’s legacy you can shoot him a message at [email protected].
Simply put I do not get to see enough of Rob’s awesome International. I saw it at Scrape (By The Lake) in 2010, and with the help of Steve Wharton (of Equals:22 Photography)Â I did a feature on it in 2011, but since then any event he’s brought the truck to I have not been able to attend and vice versa.
In the time that has passed since I saw it last it’s had two doors added, the engine bay cleaned up, and been featured in Minitruckin’ magazine.
…and I still have not seen it, I’m doing something wrong.
Here’s a picture of it pushing snow and one of it in sunnier times for good measure.
Here’s hoping I get my act together and point a lens at it this year.
This week’s Theme Tuesday was suggested by a reader and though I must admit I can’t exactly remember who suggested it (sorry) I do remember agreeing that it was a great idea when they did.
Last year I did a theme very similar to this (Lowered Trucks Pullin’ Stuff) but this one is a little different in the fact that it is not exclusively limited to vehicles with beds.
