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Classic Moments in Rally: Tommi Mäkinen gets an important phone call
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One of the best Finnish motorsport clips doesn’t show any driving. I’m talking about the clip showing a taciturn Tommi Mäkinen receiving a surprise phone call at a British hotel lobby in late November, 1998. The 1998 Network Q Rally of Great Britain was the ’98 WRC season-ender, and Mäkinen was still battling for crucial…
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Obituary: Alex Mills, 1984-2019
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Alex Mills, also known by his online handle “Viper007Bond”, passed away yesterday after a long illness. He was 34. Alex was a web developer, working for years with WordPress-related things, but for many he was best known for setting up the FinalGear website and forum some 15 years ago. The site, initially meant for sharing…
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A Cabin in the Woods: We drive the 2018 Suzuki Jimny
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All aboard the hype train! When the all-new, 2018 model year Suzuki Jimny was first teased online and later shown to the world in its entirety, it suddenly became a phenomenon of sorts. The boxy and retro, ladder-frame Jimny, usually seen in the Kinetic Yellow launch color, received near-universal awe and affection just because of…
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The 250 GBP Challenge – Beating beater cars at a Finnish ice track
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I can tell you a little secret. Off the coast of continental Europe lies a little group of islands called Great Britain. I don’t know if you’re heard of it, but it is a noteworthy place for a car buyer, since the Brits have decided to keep buying their cars with the steering wheel on…
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The 60 Euro Polo does the Baltic Press Rally 2017 – Part 2
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Day two of the 2017 Press Rally in Lithuania opened with excellent weather. Having checked the Polo had retained all necessary fluids for it to compete, we rolled to the start of the first stage of the day. Despite good-hearted chatting with the other drivers, who had heard how little the car had cost to…
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The 60 Euro Polo does the Baltic Press Rally 2017
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Piece by piece, I’ve mapped out the story of the 60 Euro Polo over here at Hooniverse during the years I’ve had it in my ownership. Starting from that drizzly late October day in 2013 when I trailered the 1986 VW home from the parking lot where it had sat with a failed head gasket…
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Which car is the perfect Yacht Rock car?
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Cars and rock music are inseparably linked. From the cars’ inception on drawing boards where music easily helps designers visualize a new car’s shape and form and purpose, to the marketing material where the car hits a floodlit stage or a sweeping road, to actually using the finished car for a quality time while blasting…
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Frozen Wastes Weekend Edition: Opel Omega 3000
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On the other side of the town from the Bonneville-hosting junkyard, I found this black Opel Omega. A-body Omegas have been vanishing for a long time, as the B-bodies have fared better – though not without their share of rusty body panels. This wasn’t even a completely ordinary Omega, but a high-spec Omega 3000, meaning…
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Frozen Wastes Weekend Edition: Pontiac Bonneville SSE
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I took the Polo out today for a drive around the industrial districts. Snow had fallen a couple days ago, mercifully covering much of all the beaten and broken cars strewn around the junkyards. But as I turned the corner and saw this Pontiac Bonneville, I felt like I had hit the jackpot when it…
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Light Green Light Resto: 1971 Toyota Corona Mark II
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Driving through an industrial district earlier today, I spotted this light green Toyota Corona Mark II. It seemed to be a bit of a project, but available information told me it was actually road legal last week, likely needing a little fettling to pass inspection. That’s most likely why it was parked next to a…
