What stuck me about this particular Mercury wagon is the name: Meteor Montcalm. Something just feels weird about that combination. A Meteor and Mount Calm? It sounds like a strange fable about a a little sleepy Swiss town on a mountain that’s about to get wiped out by a meteor but they’re all too calm and lazy to give a shit and they end up a smoking crater except for like a little shepherd girl and her sheep....
Many dog owners were accused of doping as well, including one recorded incident with a Pomeranian that hit 45 mph. Also, I may be making all this up. https://twitter.com/mojonaut/status/1532608426517450753?s=21&t=PBw9BGINxk_zcz9zPv7oLg I had two B5 A4’s. I had no end of minor issues with them (under warranty at least). I was smitten with the look and driving experience and recommended Audis to all my friends and family. Some of those people don’t speak to me anymore....
Even more confusingly, the Fiat-NSU plant not in Neckarsulm is the one that decided to brand their cars as “Neckar” just so every one stays nice and confused. That said I sure do like the bold, colorful graphics in this ad, with those ultra-saturated 1950s colors. I don’t think the design has anything to do with that license-built Fiat 1100, but it looks modern and suggest this car must be, too....
It looks like good things come in threes, as this rather cheap 330i pulled out a win over the Infiniti J30 with almost 60 percent of the vote despite its automatic gearbox and need of a steering rack. Hey, at least parts support is plentiful, although I’d be a bit concerned about the trunk floor. Anyway, fun economy cars. They used to be absolutely everywhere, from Ford ZX2s to Nissan NX2000s....
Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday. Hyundai Supplier Pays $30,000 For Allegedly Employing Children Reuters reports that a Hyundai supplier in Alabama accused of using child labor has been fined what appears to be a rather small amount of money....
This week, I’ve kicked my wife Sheryl out of bed and I’m back in control [Ed Note: You keep telling yourself that. -DT]. It’s been a very long time since I last featured a big rig, so there’s a beautiful old Kenworth. There’s also a Nissan Skyline here that won’t cost the price of your firstborn. Here’s what I’m looking at this week! 1985 Mercedes-Benz 250 Lang – $19,995 The W123 is a classic Benz with fans all over the world....
Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday. GM Goes Upmarket In China China’s car market is booming and GM is losing ground to homegrown vehicles. In fact, Chinese sales of Buick, Cadillac, and Chevrolet models have dropped by a third over the past five years....
Keen to find a larger audience, VinFast has announced two smaller models for the North American market that should carry lower price tags. Say hello to the VF 6 and VF 7. While this isn’t the first time we’ve seen these crossovers, it’s the first time we’ve seen them in America with production-like glass, updated amber reflectors and whatnot. With that in mind, let’s delve into the cars that aim to make VinFast a household name....
Now, with over 550 cars in the collection, I’ve only selected ones that I find interesting looking. There are several cars that either don’t need a key to start the engine in the first place, or don’t have a working ignition lock anymore. Let’s dig through the Lane’s key cabinet, shall we? These old-timey fellas are known as ignition nails. While they are all pretty similar in shape, the ends of the nails are tapered or shaped differently depending on make or model....
The Autopian came into being after hundreds of people kept messaging Jason and me — then writers at Jalopnik — asking us to do something. Readers were yearning for an easy-to-use website that championed car culture, and after a while, the calls became impossible to ignore. So Torch and I, two car-nuts who were just big enough dipshits to think we could pull this off, reached out to Jason’s friend and diehard car-person Beau Boeckmann (whom you’re going to see more of on this site soon!...
Will a Bluetooth connection ever offer the fidelity of a wired connection? Absolutely not. However, let’s say that you have a modern phone that doesn’t have a dedicated 3.5 mm auxiliary port. If you need to charge and use a dashboard mount for navigation, Bluetooth is likely your best option. Despite this, there is a small problem when it comes to fitting most Bluetooth receivers to cars like my BMW 325i....
Okay, let’s back up: a self-propelled vehicle is pretty much any sort of conveyance that, you know, can make itself move. This includes everything from wind-up cars to Japanese Shinkansen trains to rockets to a hovercraft to your friend’s dad’s old Fiat 128 to that moped you always wanted as a kid and never got. Now, let’s think a little more about self-propelled vehicles. Let’s consider old cable cars. The famous San Francisco cable cars worked like this: in between their tracks was a channel with a moving braided cable....
Oh man, look what this has: those fantastic push-pull headlight wipers! Ever see these in action? It’s weirdly satisfying. Here, look, this is a video of them on a Saab 99 – a bit newer but essentially the same: So good. I’d drive through huge mud puddles just for an excuse to use these. The rear of these retains the traditional early-Saab teardrop shape, along with a pair of Hella-made taillights that are like strange brothers to old VW Beetle taillights....
Many old sales documents like brochures and order guides are essentially lost media to Alfa outsiders; such is the nature of printed materials designed to be disposed of. However, Alfa Romeo itself has kept all sorts of records and will soon happily tell you all about your slice of Italian magnificence. In its press release titled “Alfa Romeo Creates Historical Vehicle Certification Program to Protect and Promote the Brand’s History and Enthusiasts,” the company discusses its new Heritage Program, which offers of a Certificate of Origin, a Certificate of Authenticity, and a Restoration service....
Still, it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. New Year, new attempts to improve the quality of our futile existence. David is moving to sunny Los Angeles if his questionable dietary choices (or Torch) don’t kill him first, Mercedes has discovered a new love in the Volkswagen GTI (I’m gonna open a book on how long it is before she buys one) so while you lay on the couch fattened by holiday excess maybe you could take a lesson from these two....
One of the rides we went on was this Millenium Falcon ride that made you feel like you were really piloting the ship; it was pretty incredible. Also incredible was the length of the line to enter, but Disney’s experience designers made sure the whole labyrinthine length of the line was full of evocative props and details, some of which you can see in the pic up top. Because that’s a modified engine block and some piston rods, and I’m wondering if anyone here can possibly ID it....
Beau chose the Rinspeed 969 for Jason Torchinsky because Jason is a VW Beetle connoisseur. And let’s be honest, the Rinspeed is just a Beetle except with more strakes, pop-up headlights, a hilariously-1980s interior, and a much more powerful turbocharged flat-six motor. These may seem like big differences, but the car does still feel rather Beetle-y to drive, per Jason. I agree. The car Beau chose for me was the Shelby Series 1, and not just any of the 250 Series 1s ever built: This is a supercharged 450 horsepower version....
The Forest Lecture was a way for Soviet teens could try to meet one another and express subversive ideas privately, along with a way to meet romantic/sexual partners. The common method was for a trio of teens to arrange to meet; by having three, suspicions about their potential romantic intent could be allayed, and books and other study materials were used to suggest an academic or political intent. Clothing was formal, also to convey a tone of solemnity....
Here’s what the NHTSA recall report has to say. If you’re not familiar with seatbelt pretensioners, that’s okay. I’m here to help. They’re basically little explosive charges that detonate in a crash to cinch up a seatbelt, with the aim of preventing your neck from becoming a curly fry. While that’s likely a massive oversimplification, the pertinent information is that explosions like these can create hot gas, and hot gas often doesn’t pair well with flammable stuff like carpet....
Welcome back to Holy Grails, the Autopian series where we show off some of the coolest, most underrated cars you love. Readers from all over are voicing their opinions on what they think is a holy grail. Some submissions thus far have been just regular cars but in a desirable configuration. Two of you have sent in holy grails that meet the definition even in the strict sense. Those two submissions are for vehicles so rare that no pictures or verifiable information seem to exist about them, which is absolutely incredible....
