Tag Archives: American Cars

What American Muscle Car would I buy on a $15k budget?

May 22, 2017 ndubs77 3 Comments

$15,000 is an interesting price point if you’re looking for a solid muscle car. You can have most of the early-mid 2000’s contenders with reasonable miles on them, or you can have one of the newer 400+hp options with higher miles.

I’m more on the high performance side of things, rather than wanting a muscle car for the style just to cruise in. I do intend to do burnouts, I do intend to explore the car’s high speed capabilities, and I do expect it to handle corners competently. Also, there is no such thing as a muscle car with 4 or 6 cylinders, so 8 cylinders is a given here. Lastly, a manual transmission is a must for me. This is a car to be driven, not an outfit to wear.

I should also state up front that I am pretty much non-partisan when it comes to American Muscle cars or American car brands. I know there are those who live and die by Ford, GM, or Mopar, and for them the $15k choice is a lot simpler.

My top 3 options for a $15,000 muscle car are as follows…

Continue reading What American Muscle Car would I buy on a $15k budget? →

Car Shows, Cars We've Seen

The All-New Lincoln Navigator at the 2017 NYIAS

May 17, 2017 Albert S. Davis Leave a comment

It’s kind of a shame that no one pays much attention to the big Navigator. What was once the baddest, most blinged-out SUV on the road was quickly overtaken by the Escalade, and rather than keep up, Lincoln merely turned the Navigator into a Ford Expedition wearing a cheap Mens’ Warehouse tuxedo (that was at least a size too small and smelled funny). Luckily, it looks like Ford has decided to make a change to this. As we see here, the new Navigator takes a much more imposing face to do battle in the always-hot luxury SUV market against the new Infiniti QX80, Cadillac Escalade, and Lexus LX-570. Ford has junked the old 5.4L V8 in favor of the well-regarded EcoBoost twin-turbo 3.5L V6, added much larger wheels, and supplied a sumptuous interior. Continue reading The All-New Lincoln Navigator at the 2017 NYIAS →

Auto Idolatry, Automotive Lifestyle, SHOWCASE

How does the new Ford GT stack up against the old Ford GT?

May 16, 2017 ndubs77 Leave a comment

Cars We've Seen

Ford GT Heritage Edition Spotted in Greenwich, CT

May 8, 2017 ndubs77 Leave a comment

We caught this incredible Ford GT Heritage Edition out in Greenwich, CT. I loved the added touch of its orange wheels that matched its livery. This is the most valuable version of the Ford GT, so it was awesome to see it out in the wild.

Continue reading Ford GT Heritage Edition Spotted in Greenwich, CT →

Car Shows, Cars We've Seen

A Super-Sized ’64 Caddy at the Scarsdale Concours

April 20, 2017 Albert S. Davis Leave a comment

Back in October, there was one car at Scarsdale that made everything look like a toy. Even the Ferraris and Jaguar sports cars trembled in its wake. It may not outrun the Corvettes, or the Z28 at teh show, but it will certainly sit in their rear view mirrors, making them tremble and wonder which politician’s palm they forgot to grease. Say hello to this big, mean, imposing 1964 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 four-door hardtop. I did. Then I checked my messages to see if I’d forgotten about a sports book debt I owed.

Time to pay up.

-Al

Auto Idolatry, SHOWCASE, Uncategorized

Motor Trend Tests The Ford Raptor In The Dunes

April 13, 2017 ndubs77 Leave a comment

The new Raptor is our favorite truck, and Motor Trend did it the justice of testing it where it belongs!

-Nick

Opinions

The Dodge Demon Heralds a New Era of Hyper Muscle Cars, and I’m Pumped!

April 12, 2017 ndubs77 1 Comment

The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon has now officially dropped. I must say it’s mighty impressive, and I feel similar to how I felt about the Bugatti Veyron when it came out. The Bugatti marked the real jump from supercar to hypercar in our modern era, and I think the Demon could do the same relative thing in the muscle car sector.

Yes, Chevy made the COPO Camaro a few years ago, but you can’t put a license plate on that one so it doesn’t count. The Dodge Demon is set to be the new King of the Streets, in the most-classic muscle car sense.

The Challenger SRT Demon is a street legal drag-prepped hyper muscle car, and it runs an NHRA-verified 9.65 sec 1/4 Mile @ 140 mph, bone freaking stock. That’s at least 2/10ths of a second faster than any of the hypercar hybrids from Porsche, Ferrari, or McLaren. Sure, the Demon isn’t made to conquer such cars on a road course, or even top end, but at the drag strip, it will rule.

Having said all that, the NHRA has also banned the SRT Demon from any official street car competition. Dodge says “because it’s too fast,” but that can be fixed with the proper license and some extra safety bits.

Also, the Demon will only come with a drag-optimized automatic, but I’m okay with that so long as we can still have a Hellcat with three pedals.

Other impressive features for the Demon include a max output of 840hp and 770ft/lbs, 0-60 in 2.3 sec (or 2.1sec on prepped tarmac), 0-100 in 5.1 sec, a charge cooler that runs off the air conditioning, and a supercharger with more displacement than the engines in all three of my own cars, and a factory switchable tune for race gas. The price will also, supposedly, be reasonable, like south of six-figures (until you actually go to buy one at a dealer). That said, with only 3,300 being built values may go up long term, or at least not fall too much.

Lastly, can we just take a sec to appreciate how badass those wide fenders look?

So with the Demon dropped on the world, we can now anxiously await the response from Ford and GM. This should be a horsepower war that is too good to pass up.

-Nick Walker

Automotive Lifestyle, Cars We've Seen

This C1 Corvette is Teal for Real

March 30, 2017 ndubs77 Leave a comment

Spotted in the parking lot of the Quail Lodge during Monterey Car Week.

Auto Idolatry, Automotive Lifestyle, SHOWCASE, Uncategorized

Motor Trend takes us out in the new Camaro ZL1

March 29, 2017 ndubs77 Leave a comment

The new-gen Chevrolet Camaro has been pretty damn impressive thus far. How does the most powerful ZL1 model improve it? And could the manual version be faster than the fancy new 10 speed automatic around a racetrack?

-Nick

Auto Idolatry, SHOWCASE

Doug DeMuro takes us around the new Ford Raptor

March 23, 2017 ndubs77 Leave a comment

I’m not really a “Truck Guy,” but this Raptor08 is definitely my kind of truck.

-Nick

Automotive Lifestyle, Opinions

Are Electric Cars REALLY the Future for Driving Enthusiasts?

March 22, 2017 ndubs77 3 Comments

Watching the first episode of the new season of Top Gear, and Chris Harris made a comment about the Ferrari FXX K possibly being the last gasp of the combustion engine. It’s a comment we’ve heard before, and I’m sure it’s a comment many will continue to make. But I don’t buy it for a number of reasons.

Sure, I do think electric cars, specifically self-driven electric cars, are the future for mass independent transportation. I think so many people out there have so little interest in driving that they’re a danger to themselves and everyone around them when they get behind the wheel. Those folks should leave the driving to the machines, the world will be a much happier place.

But what about those of us who live to drive for recreation, just because driving is so much fun? Obviously you can totally forget the self-driving cars, but are electric cars even that desirable to us?

Continue reading Are Electric Cars REALLY the Future for Driving Enthusiasts? →