Here is a brief excerpt from the abridged version of my latest book, Mike’s Guide to Attracting Attention in Your Car Without Being Even the Least Bit Pretentious. All you hipster kids trying out out-attention whore each other with stickers of cartoon characters and colorful wheels, please take note:
Here is a little bit of trivia from the day the Cameron’s article “Modifying Shock Hangers on My 1996 C2500“, took place.
That day was memorable to me for several reasons.
From 1964 through 1974, the GTO was the king of the road in Pontiac’s fleet. The GTO was a perfect muscle car of the era because it paired a big, powerful engine with an affordable car. In almost every configuration, these cars left the assembly line with more than 300 HP.
Sadly, consumer interest in muscle cars dropped sharply during the energy crisis of the 1970s and the GTO was discontinued in 1974 – a sad fate for a car which had won Motor Trend’s coveted Car of the Year award in 1968.
[printprofilepic]
I am pleased to announce the arrival of a new category: The Rice Report!
Surely you remember a time when it was impossible to drive anywhere without being constantly surrounded by ricers. It seemed to really peak right around 2003-ish. At the time I was driving an S10 with a loud exhaust and it seemed like somebody wanted to race me at every light. I remember receiving constant “rice-bys” on the way to school. (Who really feels like driving like that at 7AM, anyway?) I remember going to AMC 30 around that time and just marveling at how basically every spot in the gigantic parking lot was full of cars with unpainted body kits. And then, thankfully, the whole thing started fading away just as suddenly as it had appeared.
When it comes to British car manufacturers, most people think of Jaguar, Aston Martin, Land Rover, and Rolls Royce. However, the Sunbeam Motorcar Company was a British car maker that gave the world some pretty notable cars in its heyday.
Sunbeam was founded in 1901 but had been in business before that as a bicycle maker. Like many troubled car companies, Sunbeam changed ownership a number of times throughout its history. In 1919 the company merged with Talbot and Darracq to become Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq, or STD Motors (seriously).
