Real Man’s Shopping Cart

Seriously gents, we all hate shopping. Yes we go along to spend time with the wife – but it’s not our favorite activity. In fact one of the ways to alleviate some of the monotony is to “power-slide” the shopping cart around the aisles of the grocery store. Well if fishtailing a trolley sounds like fun, check this out:

It’s a full bore, 454 Big Block, with full Sprint Car suspension. The good folks at the Save Mart Supermarkets in the San Joaquin Valley of California use this toy for parades and promotional events and it’s a screamer. It will do burnouts and complete turns but would be a little difficult to get down the dairy aisle. But how much fun that would be!

Retro Cafe Racer

Retro cafe racers have become all the rage lately. An abundance of durable ’70s and ’80s Japanese bikes has given anyone with some desire, an eye for design, a set of wrenches and a hacksaw the ability to turn any mundane runabout into a stealthy homage to 1950’s British counter-culture.

I spied this beauty while walking along in FiDi this evening. It looks to be a Honda 550cc inline 4 cylinder. These were bulletproof little sportsters in the ’70s. I did “The Ton” for the first time on one of these at 16. Whew, how many of my nine lives were wasted on stupid motorcycle stunts? A wise man once told me, “Youth is wasted on the young!”

Revival of the Cruise-In

The once a week motorized gathering was a staple of my Mid-West upbringing. Each Thursday night my Dad would walk with me to the local Dairy Queen to have a cone and watch the hot-rods rumble in. There was everything from ’32 Fords to ’60’s MOPAR muscle to current model (1980’s) sportscars. But at that time we lived in land of the Chevy Vega, and the automobile was still part of the fabric of American life.

It seems like this slice of life has fallen off in recent years. Yes in special places – like “Cars & Coffee” – there are still gatherings; but the every day cruise-in at the local joint has been fading. I have also heard that one of the reasons for the decline in Motorsport ad revenue is because the kids today just aren’t “car people.” I hate that, but I can see why it’s slipping away too. I mean beyond a crappy body kit, stereo, and a coffee can muffler what can a kid really do to the modern car? Is it even en vogue to have a cool car? If a teen did have a car, how could they afford to put gas in it? My first car was a VW and my buddies had Chevelles, Malibus, and 240Zs – we could do anything to those cars with a shared set of sockets, one flat tip screwdriver, a timing light, and coat hanger! It was fun, and when the cruise-in night came along we’d take our jalopies there with pride.

Well I’m not in NYC tonight, I’m in the heart of NASCAR country – Charlotte. In fact I’m staying a stone’s throw from the speedway. Right down the street is a great little chain restaurant called “Quaker Steak & Lube.” If you haven’t checked one of these out, you should. It’s chock full of great car stuff – like an IndyCar and a Midget racer on the ceiling – and themed like a garage. You can Google their origins, but the first one was a reclaimed oil change place. Tonight was Bike Night. Every kind of cycle from Honda to Harley was there along with all you can eat wings. Sure there weren’t many kids there, but it was nice to see folks gathering and having a good time over greasy food and petrol fumes! I wish we would have more of these things in every neighborhood; get away from the video games and unplug from the TV/Internet. Let’s see what you drive – not to work and back but what you bust you knuckles on during your weekend. Let’s teach kids what it’s like to make something that’s truly your own and have pride in craftsmanship. Along the way we might all figure out the car is still a great thing, and so are we.

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Top Gear, One-77, & Huge Stones!

My hat’s off to the editors at Top Gear magazine and writer Tom Ford for their coverage of the Aston Martin One-77. First, they pulled of a test of the current world’s most exclusive car – they only way to drive one is to pony up the £1.2 million – and no press units.  Second for writer Tom Ford having the stones enough to give his honest opinion of the hypercar. To paraphrase:  it’s elegant and brilliant but the gear box is rubbish and it’s probably not worth the money of cars in the same class.

To my eye, Aston Martin makes the most beautiful road cars in production today. They hearken back to their classic roots but are real modern performers. Yes they are still British and I guess all of the mechanical bits can’t work like a Mercedes, but it’s great boyhood poster fodder! And after all, isn’t that what insane 7 figure cars are for?

Another Great Land-Yacht

Monday was another gorgeous day at the beginning of fall. I spied this excellent old Ford Galaxie convertible uptown. It’s confirmed, I’m definitely on a nostalgic kick lately.

My Week in Istanbul

I just returned from a wonderful week in the great city of Istanbul. Now I know that New Yorkers think our city is big and complex – but I’m here to say you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet! The grand old metropolis of Istanbul is home to 20 Million people! Yup NYC, that’s a whole lotta people. It seems to be all things at once: ancient but modern, crowded and isolated, clean and dingy, but always interesting.

The traffic is particularly shocking. I’ve driven (in order of craziness) Sao Paulo, Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Rio, London, Berlin and Atlanta. Istanbul takes the cake by a wide margin; traffic laws are merely suggestions. The term “shoot the gap” applies to everything from busses to motorcycles equipped with bumper guards.

The taxis are plentiful and affordable. But remember most of the city streets were planned before the invention of the car, so anything paved is fair game – sidewalks and oncoming lanes included. Kind of like the roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe everywhere.

The cars range from all of the Fiat/Citroen/Mini/Smart/etc small stuff to the exotic Porsche/Ferrari/Maserati fare. There’s quite a lot of money in the city so there are plenty of automotive toys. But the streets are poorly marked, over crowded, and so risky I couldn’t imagine piloting around anything costing more than twenty grand.

There doesn’t seem to be much of a car customization culture present but there aren’t any clunkers either. I don’t know what it takes to own a Turkish auto body shop, but it’s gotta be a gold mine!

There are some hot hatches like the Renault Megane, JCW Mini, Peugeot 208 GTI; but the most fun car to my eye was the Peugeot RCZ. Come on we need that thing stateside!

Here are a few fun pics, including a 1969 Buick Riviera 455 in mint condition!

A Big Convertible

You know there’s one kind of car that has disappeared from the American landscape – a big two door convertible! Eldorado, Bonneville, Impala, Riviera – these battleships are all extinct. Sure they’re not as sporty, efficient, or as easy to park as the new stuff; but wouldn’t you just love to take your friends out to eat on a beautiful day in this:

Dragon Wagon

Saw this bit of craziness in Tulsa!

Fiat 500 near the Seaport

 

Fall is definitely upon us in NYC and it is a brisk morning near the South Street Seaport. While walking the dog I spotted this great new Fiat 500c. Man these a fun little cars.

Forza 4 @ Chelsea Market

On a quick shopping trip to Chelsea Marketplace I passed by a special event for Forza Motorsport 4. The space was decorated with cool clothes, sneakers, and a soda machine. There were two new Hyundai Velosters tricked out with flat panel monitors in the trunk – these had XBox systems with the hands free system running the game. There were 3 other game consoles all letting users get a look at Microsoft’s newest racing sim.

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