“Welcome, would you like a cocktail?” There’s a Best Western on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Across the street at the Andaz Hotel, attractive young hostess greet prestigious members of the automotive press in the lobby with vodka drinks, prepared with fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice.…
Twenty year old rookie Trevor Bayne became the youngest driver ever to win the Super Bowl of NASCAR this Sunday in only his second Sprint Cup race. Throughout the slop-fest, five minute-long replays from cameras with the visual omnipresence of white baby Jesus captured the…
I have a duty, a joyous obligation to take full advantage of any test drive conducted for this blog. Ford made it clear on the interactive bus ride to pick up our press cars that one of the key attributes of their 2012 Focus was…
The Emerald city has no shortage of celebrities. Some are human, others are vehicles. A few blur the line beyond comprehension. Below you’ll find a brief history of such local flavor, most of which do not have happy endings. To quote Bill Cosby, “If you’re…
C-MAX. Think minivan, crossed with a crossover, void of the unmentionable characteristics of a mini-van. It seats seven, has dual sliding doors, runs on gasoline, hybrid or plug-in hybrid technology. Ford claims it will out perfrom the Chevy Volt. With comparable dimensions to orignal mini-vans,…
You know him as Xzibit. The Feds know him as Alvin Joiner; a guy who owes them nearly $1 million in delinquent Federal taxes. Joiner blames the cancellation of Pimp My Ride for his financial woes. From The Detroit News: "Xzibit no longer enjoying a…
It was eight degrees and 12:43 in the morning when we arrived at the Dearborn Inn. Just inside the lobby a giant gingerbread Ford Model T lavished with a dizzying array of treats welcomed us in from the frigid Michigan winter. Ford Candy Land. The…
The car gods totaled my 1995 Honda Civic hatchback. In return they gaveth me a $3,511 check. With the blood money tucked into the glove compartment of a borrowed 1994 Ford Taurus wagon named Able, I had but one day off from my day job…
Ford likes MotorSpaceNW. So much so, they invited us back to Michigan and leaked privileged information on four blue oval wonders that won't begin to hit the market until 2012. They also spent $550 million retooling their Michigan assembly plant. It took me all of…
A custom racecar garage was an unlikely location to go searching for a reliable commuter. It didn’t help the only access to it was down an alleyway off of Highway 99 in Lynnwood, Washington between the Armadillo Restaurant and the coffee stand Jitters. On the…
Seattle Police have a new weapon in the battle against car theft: Twitter, ironically one of the many forms of social media that’s not supposed to be used while driving. Nonetheless the SPD is now extending the long arm of the law to the Internet…
With $3,500 to spend on a car and roughly 2.5 hours to do it, Highway 99 in Lynnwood, Washington wasn’t a bad place to be, relatively speaking. There were only two prospects on the strip: A 1997 Volkswagen GTI listed at $3,750 and a 1998…
My 1995 Honda Civic hatchback, Kimberly Hatcher, is dead, crunched like a little teal beer can in the wee hours of a Sunday morning by the hands of a grizzly drunk. At 3:57am, I was awakened by a frantic knock at my bedroom door. “Dude,…
That’s right kids, the American version of the UK juggernaut will premier Sunday, November 21st on The History Channel. Replacing the British power-trio of Clarkson, Hammond and May will be Adam Ferrara, an actor/comedian that starred in Rescue Me, Rutledge Wood, a race analyst best…
It happens all the time. A cliff, a car, planned or not, a terrible wreck ensues. Monday, police say former Pro Bowler Junior Seau was asleep behind the wheel of his Cadillac Escalade when he drove it off a cliff in southern California, only several…
As a result of the Susan G Komen ‘Paint it Pink’ campaign there are splashes of the signature color wherever a North Westerner’s eye might wander. I have a slight astigmatism in my left eye, which may have contributed to the random glimpse I caught…
It was only a matter of time before the gentlemen at Ford Racing got their hands on a Fiesta, and yes, they went so far as to milk 350hp from a 2.0L Ecoboost inline four. That’s comparable power to the 2010 Ford Taurus SHO between…
The U.S. Air Force has a new recruitment tool: Monster Trucks. Specifically, a Cadillac Escalade monstrosity designed to resemble an A10-C Thunderbolt Warthog, equipped with a Gatling gun that shoots t-shirts. You heard right, son. From Jalopnik: “The U.S. Air Force outreach project launched earlier…
One of the healthiest ways to live vicariously through a celebrity is to pick one that’s known for a particular car and build a replica of it. Looking back through pop culture history, many of the celebrity vehicles we’ve come to love can now be…
When Brian returned from a dirty romp in central Washington to exchange a 1996 Buick Regal for his own 1993 Geo Metro, he smelt of cigarettes and deceit. Little did he know the Beater Diaries had prepared a series of probing investigative questions regarding the…
Vehicles that are barely roadworthy are dangerous enough when they aren’t nearly twenty-two feet long, a full lane wide at the mirrors and known to catch fire periodically. The Wonder Truck runs on danger, and a quart of oil every 150 miles. An untrained pedal…
t’s been known to smoke, and catch fire. When both twenty-gallon fuel tanks are full, gasoline leaks out the passenger side nozzle. The oil to fuel consumption ratio is locked at one quart per tank. Unloaded or with over a ton of cargo in tow,…
To paraphrase, Dictionary.com defines Geo as, “the earth,” and Metro as, “a means by which to travel a metropolis.” To me, a Geo Metro is an abandoned little rust bucket that’s been parked in front of my house for the last two days. It belongs…
The last tweet of celebrity plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Ryan allegedly came moments before he drove his Jeep off a cliff and died. Ironically, the tweet regarded his dog, Jill, who was in the vehicle at the time of the accident and the sole survivor…
Dodge and MOPAR are returning to SEMA this year with a handful of new concepts that should have enthusiasts running for their gas cards. In particular, the 2011 Dodge Charger SRT8 will drop its 425hp 6.1 Liter engine from the 2010 model year to revive…
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