Ever feel like there’s just not enough ’80s Pontiacness in your daily life? Fear not, there’s a perfect solution that enables you to get your Pontiac kicks in audio form whenever you crave them.
The aficionado of all things ’80s and awesome, TNUC, created an epic EP out of old Pontiac commercials. Make the jump to hear the soundbites in their full-on leathery neon power glory.
XT - Atom - 914 - Cimarron. Awesomeness or awesome mess?
In a bid to outdo Time Magazine’s relatively recent 50 Worst Cars of All Time list, Edmunds Inside Line decided to go big or go home and doubled that number. With that, they pretty unfairly clumped in a sizeable amount of perhaps weird but undeniably awesome cars. Add in some hastily Googled, often mis-tagged photos and the stew is complete.
Let me pick out some of the most offending put-downs.
Any category that includes both the Caparo T1 and the Peel Trident is awesome in my book.
Yes, Encyclopedia Hoonatica is still with us, it’s just been laying low. The Rumor Mill says that it’s being deliberately kept down by The Man (who wants to repress the propagation of Hoonistic lore in the name of decency and social order fiendish, power-mad tyranny). So, to avoid mass laptop bonfires in the streets, we’ll keep the torch lit by sneaking it in here every once in a while on the hush-hush, on the down-low, on the sly.
It’s frighteningly similar to the way The Man has tried to keep all those futuristic bubble-top concept cars out of our driveways and garages*. For decades, manufacturers hinted that they were just around the corner, but like the oft-rumored 200 MPG carburetor, they never quite materialized en masse on the showroom floor. Yet, a bold few have dared to stare down The Man through a huge plexiglass pimple. We celebrate these defenders of vehicular wierdness! In their honor, your Encyclo-Challenge is to name all the bubble-top cars you can.
… Continue Reading
Except when they’re not.
For today’s resurrected Encyclopedia Hoonatica what we want are the exceptions to this rule. Maybe, like Nathan Lane, they swing the other way. Or perhaps instead of swinging they’re just a hatch or a cover. Maybe they’re like the salad bar sneeze guard at Souplantation – letting you look, but not touch.
How many non-standard types of bonnet doffings can you name?
DIFFICULTY: Pretty easy, although a good bit is open to interpretation.
Earlier today, Lotte brought up the distinctly similar wraparound window treatments on the Scorpio and the Sable. This got me thinking about two GM offerings that were not only similarly similar to each other, but also had the same “stealth” C-pillar treatment.
So, your Hoonatica project for today is name other car designs had this wraparound greenhouse styling, in which the C-pillar (or C and D-pillar, for wagons) was either literally hidden behind smoked glass, or slimmed down, blacked-out and separated with trim pieces from the roof and body side to make it virtually disappear.
Dammit, even their engines are pretty!
I was asked this question at work, and could only come up with three engines; I’m sure there are more, so I therefore turn the question over to you, our astonishingly-well-read commentariat, to provide more answers.
Alfa-Romeo made a marketing point of this feature, so I am removing them as the low-hanging fruit. In their “Twin-Spark” engines, they utilized a dual spark-plug configuration, or eight spark plugs in a four-cylinder engine. The idea behind this is that it allows the engine’s timing to be set much more accurately, and allows for a more efficient fuel burn, and therefore an engine that can be run on a much more lean setting, using less gasoline.
This was actually a fairly common practice with Alfa-Romeo, so by all rights I should be removing their engines altogether, but let’s face it, Alfas are gorgeous, so feel free to list them all off with beautiful high-resolution images.
I can think of one other very common engine, and one not-so-common engine that used this technology. After that, it’s up to you guys!
[Remember the rules, lurk before leaping, and width="500" is your friend.]
While recording this week’s zany, alcohol-fueled podcast, the subject of rear-engined wagons came up somewhere. Back when one car model carried an entire lineup by itself, putting the engine in the back seemed like a great idea until it came time to actually get more room out of the back there, somehow.
Rear-engined wagons: they’re not just good for keeping your burrito warm; they feature actual usable storage space—front and back! After all, not many Family Trucksters can boast of having a cargo floor that’s at approximately nipple level, with just enough space for your luggage to ensure that you can’t see out the back. What’s underneath? Oh, just the most carbon-monoxide-churning impromptu luggage heater ever! Hope you’re not carrying plastic chairs or raw meat in the back!
How many rear-engined wagons can you name? I’ve picked out one of two low-hanging fruit already; you’ll just have to supply obscure Israeli-built continuations of Italian cars, or anything built under Soviet/Mexican/Greenland rule. After all, if these two low-hanging fruit could build pickup trucks, vans, and family sedans, and sell thousands to boot (no pun intended, if you’re British), then somebody out there must have thought it was a good idea too. Right? Right?
[Image source: Flickr]
How about a little Encyclopedia Hoonatica to make your hump day a little less humpy? It’s funny how one thing leads to another, and from where inspiration arises. A couple of days ago I was listening to the radio, and a story came on about a man who needed a new heart valve. Once the stuff of science fiction, prosthetic cardiac valves are now commonplace, and thousands of people go about their daily lives with one ka-thumping in their chests. All that amazing medical advancement got me to thinking about the valves that are almost as important as the ones in Cupid’s target, meaning the valves that allow the traditional ICE to work. But what if that engine, wasn’t so traditional?
Our afternoon series “Encyclopedia Hoonatica” hasn’t reared its ugly head graced this site in a while, but the rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.
In yesterday’s discussion of Sport Truck Graphic Packages, the discussion turned to both the Dodge Warlock and the Chevy Black Knight, whiched forced me to yet again divulge my secret affection for all things painted black and gold. It’s always amazing to me how long the list really is.
I thought for sure that I had already asked this in an E-H post, but looking back through the category, I found nothing. So here you go: How many cars can you name with the so-cheesy-its-cool, so-trendy-its-timeless, black/gold motif? Black paint with gold stripes gets you a base hit, but sizable amounts of extra gold trim/wheels/etc. and a dearth of air* chrome silver pieces knocks it out of the park.
… Continue Reading
Oh come on, you had to know I was going to jump on this one!
A wonderful discussion sprung up during last night’s Last Call, regarding all the different “side projects” that Lotus has done over the years. Little known fact, every project Lotus has ever worked on has been assigned a number; many of those numbers remain completely unknown, with Lotus never revealing their involvement in some projects for other manufacturers who feel they would lose face by calling in outside help. In many cases, these projects have been carefully covered up or explained away as generic “Formula One research”.
One wonders why they’d ever feel any shame about it at all, however; Lotus has had their fingers in so many different automotive pies over he years that there is certainly no shame in bringing them in as a subcontractor. Their work with improving a car’s handling is nothing short of artistic. Most cars wear the Lotus name as a badge of pride.
And there are quite a few of them that do. So that’s your Encyclopedia Hoonatica challenge for today. Name all the cars that are not built by Lotus, but do have some Lotus-designed or Lotus-built components in them.
DIFFICULTY: So easy that if this post doesn’t reach 100 comments by the end of the day, you’re all getting beatings.
Posting duplicates will get you shot, and not resizing your images appropriately will get your body fed to Hoonibbles. Alive.
Page optimized by WP Minify WordPress Plugin
