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Triumph the Comic Insult Timing Chain – Stag 1, Your Wallet 0
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There’s nothing finer, perhaps, then waking up, fixing a pot of tea, and settling down to write about one of the shoddiest vehicles to ever disgrace the United Kingdom with its inimitable combination of congenital defects. That’s saying a lot, particularly considering that the UK is one of the few first-world countries to compete with…
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Hooniverse Asks – Do You Understand Automotive Marketing?
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For a nation of skeptical consumers trained from birth to hunt for great deals (“why yes, I do need 15 gallons of mayonnaise – look at that unit price!”), Americans are not only conscious of advertising in general, but sophisticated consumers thereof. Take the Super Bowl commercial trend; how many folks save their bathroom breaks…
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Handle With Caution: "The Wages of Fear"
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The job is simple. Drive a heavy truck 300 miles on a rough dirt road, and collect $2000. That’s a small fortune, enough to buy your way out of the South American hell you’ve been slowly rotting in, back to France and the promise of no malaria, a full belly, and peace of mind. There’s…
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24 Heures du Citrons: le Commercial
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Hey race fans! Your favorite race full of craptacular cars has now been somewhat legitimized by an advertisement on the boob tube. Sure, the hipsters among you will claim that LeMons’ street cred is going to nosedive faster than Fonzie leaping a goddamn shark, but let me tell you this: corny TV ads were deliciously…
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Cars You Should Know: Bristol's 450 Sports Prototype
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To understate it, Bristols have always been a bit, shall we say, odd. From the BMW-stolenderived inline six to the eccentric styling of their roadgoing contraptions, they’ve always marched to a different drummer. Their appeal lies not in their classical beauty nor in their raw performance, for the simple reason that most Bristols lack either.…
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Hoonicast #6: Salt Flats Driver's Ed Edition
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Hot off our Tatra V8-powered presses comes the newest Hoonicast, chock full o’ vitamins, minerals, and rambling stories. Pull up a chair and listen, won’t ya? This week we discuss our salt flat racer fantasies, the cars we learned to drive on, why moon hubcaps make any car better, and the mystique of work trucks.…
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Rule Britannia, Rule the Waves (of Bondo)
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OK, that’s a little harsh. There’s probably very little body filler in this admittedly unfinished little looker. But the pun was calling my name, and who I am to refuse the siren-song of a cheap, throwaway joke? Back to the Britannia. It needs work. And when it’s done it will look like a slightly frumpy…
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Celebrate President's Day with a Daihatsu Taft!
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It’s a well-known story in Japan that when the as-of-yet-unnamed Daihatsu Taft prototype was weighed to establish its gross vehicle weight, the engineer assigned to record what the scale read was an amateur history buff particularly interested in – nay, obsessed with – Presidents of the United States. When he glanced at the scale, he…
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The Car I Would Do (Nearly) Anything to Own.
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I’m just going to get right to the point on this distressingly (and distractingly) gorgeous February day in the great Pacific Northwest – as long as the bodycount was ultimately less than 10 and none of my limbs were required to be sacrificed, I would do nearly anything to get my hands on a Toyota…
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Datsun/Nissan LZ20b DOHC Group 4 Race Motor
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This 1980 LZ20b race motor is the same type that was originally fitted to the late-’70s/early-’80s Nissan Violet WRC cars, which won the Safari Rally in Kenya for 4 consecutive years. A race-only DOHC conversion of the existing and venerable L-block Nissan motors, this particular one made 210 HP in race trim. Incidentally, it also…