Tag Archives: American Cars

Opinions

Edmunds Tests The Durability Of Ford’s Aluminum F-150

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I’ll admit to being one of the skeptics of the new aluminum-bodied Ford F-150. I could just see them getting banged up real easily on worksites, and being extremely expensive to fix. This video shows some surprising resilience in the F-150’s aluminum body panels, even after being pounded with a sledgehammer. No word on the repair bill as of yet, so we’ll have to wait and see. But thus far, I’m definitely impressed.

UPDATE: They got the bill!

So the aluminum body panels are sturdier than many had thought, but you won’t want to have to fix them. They are quite expensive, more than double the cost of repairing steel body work. Aluminum costs substantially more to work on than steel, and it takes more hours to do the work.

In a nutshell, it’s a good thing that the F-150’s aluminum body panels are pretty robust because many customers may find it a better idea to just live with a few dings and dents than spend the big money on repairs.

-Nick

Cars We've Seen

Hennessey Venom GT Spotted in Carmel, CA

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Hennessey Venom GT Carmel 1

There are exotic cars, and then there are hyper-exotic cars. During Monterey Car Week, you get used to seeing the “normal” exotic cars, but seeing a hyper-exotic will still make you go absolutely crazy. Running recklessly through the street or parking in a tow-away zone, you are willing to take the risk just so you can get a photo of such a beast in the wild. The car we have here is just such a thing. It is a Hennessey Venom GT, for those of you unfamiliar at first sight.

It is a very special occasion seeing the fastest street-legal car on Earth out in contrast with the real, often mundane world. With minivans and pickup trucks all around, the 270mph-capable Venom GT looked totally evil and menacing. I mean think about that for a second. I generally consider a Porsche Cayman S to be a pretty fast car, and that has a top speed of around 170mph. This Hennessey will do an entire 100mph more than that!

The Venom GT draws a ton of attention to itself too. It is obscenely wide, so it pokes out past the line of other parked cars, and those huge rear tires leave no guesses as to the car’s high performance capabilities. Simply put, the Venom GT is one seriously bad Mo-Fo.

This was actually John Hennessey’s personal car, and it was parked outside the hotel he was staying at in Carmel, CA. Even among the other hyper-exotic cars we caught roaming the public streets this summer, this brutal Hennessey Venom GT left a lasting impression on us.

-Nick Walker

Hennessey Venom GT Carmel 2 Hennessey Venom GT Carmel 3 Hennessey Venom GT Carmel 4 Hennessey Venom GT Carmel 7 Hennessey Venom GT Carmel 5 Hennessey Venom GT Carmel 6

Car Shows, SHOWCASE

1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 at the River Edge Car Show

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1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Front

While finishing up my stint at the River Edge Car Show, an aqua Ford Mustang Mach 1 showed up. While I’ve seen plenty of 1969s in my time, this one looked almost too familiar, and it hit me pretty fast. When I was 17 years old, a friend of mine asked me to help judge a classic car show in Parsippany NJ and this car was the Best of Show winner. Seven or so years later, and it was back–and I was more than happy to not only see it again, but to be armed with a camera to photograph it again.

This particular car is a single-owner vehicle. When we’re talking about a 1969 Mustang, that’s pretty special in its own right. The owner, Douglas Hakes, bought this car on a low-interest loan thanks to his stint in the Navy and he never looked back. More than 130,000 miles later, it’s been restored and has been a fixture at Mustang events and at North Jersey car shows (it’s based apparently out of Morris County) for some time now.

This one’s not your typical Mach 1–it’s not a big-block ground pounder with bright orange or white paint and psychedelic strobe stripes running down the sides. This one is Gulfstream Aqua, and it’s equipped with the 351 Windsor V8, a four-speed manual, and the Sportsroof body type (fastback body). It’s absolutely stunning, and although it came too late to this show to be judged, I would love to see it back next year to compete in its class and win a trophy to add to its rather large collection. Enjoy the photos. Continue reading 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 at the River Edge Car Show →

CARS 101

Ford Fiesta ST Tuning And Modification Guide

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Ford Fiesta ST Modification Guide

The Ford Fiesta ST is one of my favorite cars currently on sale in America. It’s just such a great package for a great price, and it puts most other cheap performance cars on sale in America to shame. If your budget is a strict $25,000 and you want a fun new car, you’d be a bit foolish to buy anything else.

Of course, with any performance-focused car, owners want to know how they can make their car faster with aftermarket parts and tuning. I thought the Ford Fiesta ST had pretty much everything going for it in stock form, but it’s only human nature to want to push things further.

A friend of mine just got himself a Ford Fiesta ST, and that has inspired me to write this overview on modifications and tuning for the car. Now, The Smoking Tire has already done some wonderful videos on upgrading their Fiesta ST. Because I want you, the reader, to have the best information available here, I will include those videos in this post. Also, see the table at the bottom for all the numbers in one place.

Let’s get to it!

Continue reading Ford Fiesta ST Tuning And Modification Guide →

Car Shows, SHOWCASE

1970 Plymouth AAR ‘Cuda at the 2014 River Edge Car Show

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1970 Plymouth 'Cuda AAR Front

When it comes to homologation specials, Plymouth is not the first name that should pop into anyone’s head. However, when all three major American automakers, plus American Motors, were participants in the Trans-Am racing circuit, they all had to produce something to homologate the engine and the body of the car they chose to race. In the case of the Plymouth ‘Cuda, the AAR ended up being the car to take that burden. Unfortunately, not that many were sold in this era of big engines, big personalities, and bigger insurance policies. Only 2,724 were produced and sold in 1970, and they all had a few things in common. All of them sported a flat-black finished hood, black strobe stripes (white was available) down the sides, chrome in the grille, and a set of mean looking side pipes. Side spoilers on the front bumper and a duck tail spoiler rounded out the trim. The look was loud and mean–just the right look for the Plymouth “Rapid Transit System.”

What wasn’t visible to the naked eye, however, was a screaming Chrysler L.A. small block V8 sporting 340 cubic inches of anger, topped off with three deuces–that’s three Holley two-barrel carburetors, for those of you that are not initiated. A four-speed manual was standard, while the three-speed A727 TorqueFlite automatic was an extra-cost option. With better handling than the standard ‘Cuda, the AAR was a corner-carver in a time of straight-line performance–a true rarity coming from an American automaker of the time. This particular car sports a bright paint job (appropriately deemed Vitamin C Orange) with a black interior and the all-important four-speed manual transmission. Everyone knows about the Hemi ‘Cuda. More people need to know about its wild sister. Enjoy the photos from River Edge. Continue reading 1970 Plymouth AAR ‘Cuda at the 2014 River Edge Car Show →

Car Shows, SHOWCASE

1956 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible at the 2014 Radnor Hunt Concours

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1956 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible Front

The Tri-Five Chevrolets are icons of the 1950s. In 1955, Chevrolet finally gave their lineup the shot in the arm it deserved via a flurry of bright color options, great new styling, and a new set of engines. 1955 would be the first year for the V8 option in Chevrolet’s passenger car line, and it set the precedent for the next few years. While the 1955 and 1957 models are the most iconic and valuable–for being the original, and the most outlandish (respectively), the 1956 model sometimes gets left out of the mix. This particular ’56 is a Bel Air convertible, possibly the most expensive way to buy your Chevrolet in 1956. It sports the 283 cubic inch V8 with a Powerglide automatic, but the appearance is straight as an arrow. The chrome, along with the neat two-tone blue exterior and interior, stood with the clear blue sky and almost seem to blend into the daytime light. The 1956 models were the middle child–with none of the middle child drawbacks. Enjoy the photos from Radnor. Continue reading 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible at the 2014 Radnor Hunt Concours →

Car Games

Santa’s 12 Cars Of Christmas Game

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Santa Car
Happy Holidays to everyone!
To celebrate, we are going to play a little game. Santa is going to give you 12 cars, any 12 cars you can think of, but there’s a catch. You must keep these 12 cars for the rest of your life. You cannot sell them, and you cant buy other cars ever again. So these 12 vehicles will need to cover every task you want to do in your life. But the good news is that Santa will enchant each of the cars so that they will never break down or need any maintenance (other than refueling).
So what 12 cars would you pick?
Our answers are below. Feel free to post yours in the comments!

Continue reading Santa’s 12 Cars Of Christmas Game →

Opinions

The 2016 Cadillac CTS-V And The Identity Of New GM

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2016 Cadillac CTS-V Grill

Christmas came a few days early for American car enthusiasts this year. On Monday, General Motors released the first details on the new Cadillac CTS-V, the latest part of a blatant assault on their foreign rivals. But the offensive is about far more than just “beating” the competition. What these efforts are really about is cementing a solid reputation for the new-era of General Motors.

What I’ve seen happen in the last few years is GM creating their own identity, their own unique flavor of automobile. This is especially so in the high performance sector. GM isn’t trying to build a carbon copy of the latest BMW, quite the contrary. If anything, BMW has strayed from their own ideology in recent years, and GM has chosen to pursue the path that BMW and others have left behind.

Continue reading The 2016 Cadillac CTS-V And The Identity Of New GM →

Auto Idolatry

Drive’s Dodge Charger Hellcat Road Trip

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Join Mike Musto for an 800 mile road trip in America’s fastest sedan, the Dodge Charger Hellcat. Nothing like 707hp and the scent of roasted rubber to wake you up in the morning!

-Nick

Auto Idolatry

Chris Harris Drives The Ultimate ‘Ute, The Holden HSV Maloo GTS

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America’s two biggest contributions to the automotive world are the pickup truck and the muscle car. In Australia, GM makes a vehicle, called a ‘Ute, that is a perfect mix of the two, a muscle car with a pickup bed. The Holden HSV Maloo GTS is the ultimate ‘Ute, equipped with a 570hp supercharged LSA V8 under the hood.

Frankly, the HSV Maloo GTS is the most American car I can possibly imagine, but thanks to GM’s bean counters, it and all of the other ‘Utes have never been sold stateside. Idiocy, I know, and it’s extremely frustrating.

The HSV Maloo GTS marks the end of the current model, so hopefully GM may reconsider bringing the ‘Ute back to America with the next generation. We need a new Chevrolet El Camino. And if GM’s people cannot see the demand for such a car, then they clearly don’t understand the American market very well.

For now, though, just enjoy watching Chris Harris flog the Holden ‘Ute around on the track!

-Nick

Cars We've Seen

Classy, brashy 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz spotted in Pebble Beach, CA

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1960 Cadillac Front Right

The first day Nick and I were at Pebble Beach this year, we spent a lot of time relaxing at the Inn at Spanish Bay gawking at the cars coming in and the money rolling in. After walking around the RetroAuto collection (and grabbing a few golf balls for a co-worker), we left the Inn and headed for the auction tents. Right before getting in the car, I noticed an enormous American hunk of iron sitting next to it–this classy old Cadillac. The Eldorado Biarritz was the top-of-the-line Cadillac droptop in 1960 and stayed that way until 1964. This example is one of only 1,285 made in 1960 and one of only a few I’ve seen since we started this site. It’s a real treat to see someone driving a car as big, brash, and beautiful as this one, anywhere.

Continue reading Classy, brashy 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz spotted in Pebble Beach, CA →

Car Shows, SHOWCASE

1936 Chrysler Imperial C-10 Airflow at the 2014 Radnor Hunt Concours

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Imperial Airflow Front

The Chrysler Airflow was the first time, and not the last time, that Chrysler Corporation would build something that was so ahead of its time aerodynamically that the design ended up being a sales failure despite its innovation. In the mid-1930s, automakers were not necessarily looking at aerodynamic styling outside of motorsports applications. Chrysler, however, decided that even without a big racing program in the Depression, that the theory of streamlining the panels on their new mainstream model, now called the Airflow, could be a success. They weren’t just wrong, they were far enough off the mark with the American public that the endeavor nearly killed the company by 1938, and the more traditionally-styled models were quickly pressed into service to bring sales back to normal levels. Not many Airflows sold thanks to the radical, streamlined styling (with influence by Orville Wright) and seeing one at a Concours event, while not unheard of, isn’t a common occurrence. This gold example at Radnor looked incredible, with only 60,000 miles since new. Enjoy the photos. Continue reading 1936 Chrysler Imperial C-10 Airflow at the 2014 Radnor Hunt Concours →