Mystery Car

It’s May 18th, and on this day in 1980 Washington State’s volcanic Mount St Helens experienced a magnitude 5.1 earthquake and ensuing cataclysmic event. This resulted in the largest known debris avalanche in recorded history – mixing with snow and water to create volcanic lahars – flattening everything for miles and filled the Toutle and Cowlitz rivers with tons of debris.

Hopefully today will be a little less eventful. But, this also being Friday, we will shake things up with today’s Mystery Car. This one is tangentially related to the 1980 eruption in Washington, but you don’t need to come up with the connection. What you do need to provide is the make, model, engine and year, but seeing as we’re not looking for anyone to blow their stack over it, that’ll be all.

The identity of today’s Mystery Car may not be earth shattering, but hopefully determining it will be a reasonable challenge. And so, if you don’t have too much on your tectonic plate today, let’s get solving!

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Mystery Car!

Did you know that the word mystery is derived from the latin mystērium which was the term used for a secret rite or worship? No? Well, you do now. Here at the Hooniverse – or Hoonuniversum to you Latin lovers – we pretty much worship cars, and that’s no secret. Not only do we all venerate the automobile, but you have proven to be pretty adroit at the catechism of cars.

Today we have  a carrum mystērium and the whole concept of Latin comes into play in deducing its identity, as you will discover. Of course, I am never quite so forthright in the clue giving so you should probably take that with a grain of salt (or Sal as it were). Whatever your deduction, make sure when you offer up your solution to include the make, model, engine and year for full credit. 

This being Mystery Car day means that today is also Friday, or dies Veneris- Day of Venus in the era of togas instead of Togos. That should give you plenty of time to find the answer, after all, nobody works on Friday, right?

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Found in the Dumpster – Mystery Engine!

Yesterday I drove to the recycling center to throw away pots and pans as well as some cardboard boxes left over from ordering body parts for my Mazda, and in the metal dumpster lay this as-of-yet-unidentified four-cylinder engine.

I don’t know what car it’s come from, except it does look to be about 30-40 years old or so. It doesn’t seem to be very high tech from the angles that I could photograph it. Diving in and taking detail photos wasn’t an option, but I’m adamant these photos will be enough for our commentariat. Make the jump to see more. No, not in the dumpster!

… Continue Reading

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Mystery Car

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, which means that today is Star Wars day! That’s right, May the Fourth be with you. Seeing as this is such an auspicious occasion, I thought it appropriate that today’s Mystery Car should have some sort of connection to George Lucas’ epic space adventure. For todays contest I found a candidate that fits the bill, there being some fact about it that is shared with the original Star Wars film. The thing of it is though, I’m not going to tell you what that is.

That’s right, it’s a Mystery Car double header – you figure out the car (if it truly is a car) and then figure out the Star Wars connection. How hard could it be? After all many of you have shown Jedi-like mastery of automotive identification, which has led to only a few of you going to the dark side. So, give it up for today’s Mystery Car which strangly enough isn’t taking place a long time ago, in a Hooniverse far, far away.

And once again, May the Fourth be with you.

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Mystery Car

There are certain words that get expunged from society’s lexicon due to either obsolescence or their usage becoming warped from the original meaning and used as derogative fro one group or another. One of those words is ‘retarded‘ which once was a socially acceptable form of reference for those of limited mental faculties. As the word was usurped by those always seeking new and colorful ways to denigrate and dispirit others, its connotation became wholly negative and hence it’s no longer something that one utters in polite company when speaking of those with cognitive challenges.

Instead, today we use terms like developmentally challenged or special needs. In fact we also use ‘special’ to describe the efforts to bring those with learning disorders an education – calling such classes Special Education, or Special Ed for short. Those efforts, I think, prove examples of our society at its best.

I mention all that because somewhere in that ramble lies a clue to the identity of today’s Mystery Car. It’s up to you to not only divine what that clue is, but to then be able to apply it to the solution. When you do, remember to include the year, make, model and engine, because we’re kind of sticklers for that kind of thing around here. And if you do figure it out, no one will be questioning your cognitive skills.

Have fun.

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Mystery Car!

Well, it would appear that many of us survived last week’s slasheriffic Friday the 13th Mystery Car contest – yay virgins! What didn’t survive was the anonymity of the contestant, which, after an atypical 2 hours, was revealed to be an Isuzu Panther Royale. Well done and that proves a testament to the fact that not being sold in the good ol’ U.S. A. is not impediment to your amazing automotive identity pegging skills. Your other pegging attributes won’t be something we’re going to get into here.

Today we’re going in for our close up, and have a contender that appears to be all about the headlamps. The fact that it’s rocking a pair of 5-inch sealed beams may prove a clue to its origin and era, or perhaps it won’t. But then you don’t need clues, requiring only to tap into your deep Car -Fu abilities to discern a contestant’s true identity. When you do, remember that much like the game of Clue, your choice must not be in the form of a question, but a declaration – and you need to sound off like you’ve got a pair. I mean, you need to include the make, model, engine, and year, in order to be crowned this week’s champion, and be feted from afar by your less worthy fellow Honniversarians.

Okay Hoons, get a hoonin’.

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Mystery Car!

Okay, it’s Friday the 13th, and you know what that means. That’s right, it’s curtains for promiscuous teens visiting camp Crystal Lake. It’s also time for Mystery Car! and hopefully that will offer you enough of a distraction that you won’t end up a serial killer’s victim. There are certain rules of idiot behavior that are common in slasher movies – always go into a dark basement, never call the cops, and whenever possible girls should wear nothing more than skimpy underwear when going outside to check the breaker box. 

Fortunately Mystery Car rules are much simpler and let you be more fully dressed. There’s also a significantly lower likelihood of death while playing. There is always the slim chance of a brain aneurysm from thinking too hard, but today’s contest shouldn’t be that taxing. One thing it is, you will note, is some sort of wagon.  It’s also in black and white, which was coincidentally the case of one of the scariest movies ever made – Night of the Living Dead.

It may be a day when the superstitious stay home, and getting busy teens get their comeuppance, but for us, it’s just a day to figure out the make, model, engine and year of the above Mystery Car. And after that, I’m going to go down into the basement to figure out why the lights aren’t working- in just my underroos. 

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Mystery Car!

Today is April 6th, and on this date in 1973 the American League instituted the designated hitter rule forever making, in my opinion, that MLB division inferior to the National League. It’s also Friday, and while the 2012 MLB schedule is in full swing, so is this week’s Mystery Car! The reason I bring up baseball is because last week y’all hit one out of the park, almost immediately identifying the TVR Griffith by its shapely derrière. That means this week we’re going for a change up and hopefully will be able to brush back any such quick resolutions.

I’m not saying I expect this Mystery Car to go into extra innings, but I hope that it’s more of a match up than was last week. The image, as you will note, is once again black and white, which should help in masking its identity. It also appears to be taken from a very low angle which, if this were a stick ball game, might be considered a grounder.

That’s pretty much all I have to say about it, but we will revisit the rules as that’s always a good way to wrap these up – you need the make, model, engine and year of manufacture to claim the prize of Mystery Car King (or Queen). Okay ready? Batter up! 

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NYIAS Mystery Car!

When the great Mr. Emsile does Mystery Car on Fridays he writes something clever or thought provoking here. I won’t do that. You know the drill: make, model, engine and/or motor.

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Mystery Car!

Today is March 30th, which happens to be the birthday of Stanley Kirk Burrell, better known to most as MC Hammer.  This leap year, March 30th is also a Friday, and that means Mystery Car! here on the Hoon, but will today’s candidate prove that doo, doo, doo, doo, you can’t solve this? 

Last week, that almost seemed the case as the Vauxhall Equus proved a vexing challenge – taxing the collective hive mind more so than usual. Hopefully this week you’ll be back in the swing. My addiction to red cars has not abated, and hence once again I’ve taken to de-saturating the picture to its ’50s TV show basics. That, along with the judicious application of the blur to hide some of the more easily identifiable parts of our contender, will hopefully make this a challenge worthy of your immense automotive-identification talents.

Okay, Let’s get started by reviewing the rules – make, model, engine and year are required to win. No substitutions allowed, void where prohibited, check with your doctor before engaging in any strenuous activities, and if this Mystery Car! lasts for more than four hours, you may need to go to an emergency room. Ready? Hammer time!

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