Articles
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Adventures in model-hooning: An Interview with Michael Paul Smith, Part I
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If there’s any consolation to not being Jay Leno, or not having Jay Leno’s bankroll, or not having Jay Leno’s garage, or not having Jay Leno’s connections toward obtaining that which even vast bankrolls and ordinary fame cannot spring from the unobtanium well… it’s models – and the ability of the plebian class to amass…
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Speed Read – Merchants of Speed
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If you’ve never taken the time to listen to stories of what members of The Greatest Generation did with their free time in the 30s, 40s and 50s, you ought to. Seriously, just call up your parents or grandparents and let ’em talk. Rest assured, there will be rambling incoherence, and the stories may be…
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Hooniverse Parting Shot: The 1976 to 1989 Aston Martin Lagonda Saloon; A Dramatic, Flawed, and Unusual Design.
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Aston Martin is one of Britain’s most prestigious and historic car companies, forever linked to Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, surviving the 70’s after a close call with receivership, and prospering under the guidance of the Ford Motor Company. It is now again a proper British Motorcar producer, the marque owned by private investment firms…
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Hooniverse Asks- What Was Bob Lutz's Greatest Achievement?
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Bob Lutz, or Maximum Bob to use his porn name, retired from GM last Friday. At 78 years old, some would say it’s about time. Those who know him however, would probably say why so soon? Over his career, which has spanned decades and has touched all the major American manufacturers as well as some…
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Roadside Discoveries: Otto's Wheels, Inc.; A Classic in Classic Cars
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I ran this post in Automotive Traveler almost a year ago. Since then, I no longer travel about looking for these oddities, mainly because I no longer travel about…. The company I was working for decided they no longer need an articulate, cultivated individual within the medium truck world, just someone who says yes all…
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Found on Ebay: French Hot Hatch Edition
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Do I have your attention now?
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Hooniverse Asks- What's History's Greatest Dodge?
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We’ve previously asked about your candidates for the best from the bread and butter brands from Ford and GM, and today, we want to know your opinion of what’s the greatest car or truck that Chrysler’s blue collar make has ever offered.
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Last Call- Cars Are Too Complicated Edition
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It used to be you could fix most everything on a car with just a screwdriver and a set of open-end wrenches. And apparently, VWs needed even less than that.
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Great Moments in Advertising: 1987 Honda CBR600 Hurricane
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The Ninja-dissing TV ad Honda used to launch its brand new 600 Hurricane in 1987 was so skillfully executed that I’ve clearly recalled it for 23 years. While going through some old VHS tapes last week, I stumbled across a copy of it.
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Last Call- X-Box 360 Be Damned Edition
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With a steering wheel slightly larger than that of a Lotus Seven, and a build quality rivaling the dashboards of most GM products of the ’80s, the Tomy Turnin’ Turbo Dashboard taught thousands of tweens just how much fun blinking idiot lights could be. Never, in the history of toys, had 4 D-cells been put…
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'79 BMW 635CSI, for You, We Would Jump Through a Thousand, Million Hoops
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California’s Smog control policies get a mostly undue bad rap. First off, everything ’75 and earlier is a free for all. Post-’75, you have to pass a visual inspection and the sniffer test. It’s also pretty easy to do engine swaps, provided the new engine is from the same model year or later and still…
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1923 Model T For Sale in Calgary
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While browsing through Autotrader, I stumbled across this little beauty sitting on a dealership lot in Calgary. I’m tempted to head down there and ask them if they’d be willing to let me take it for a test drive.
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Nothing You've Accomplished is as Cool as This: Crawler Town
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Ahem: Crawler town roams the barren wastes of a post steam-punk world after cataclysmic climate change do to excessive coal use. Several such cities exist but Crawler town is the most popular due to the Aero 500 hydrogen fuel cell Air races that are held. Many people travel the wastes to Crawler town for vacation…
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Name That Part- Winter Olympics Edition
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While Vancouver has had to import snow so that the amateur athletes have something to land on when suffering the agony of defeat, the eastern seaboard of the United States has been inundated with the white stuff. All that makes for some hairy driving conditions, whether you like to drive like you’re on the luge,…
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Ok, Time to Stop Adding Lightness
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We’re all familiar with the famous words of Colin Chapman and their application to Lotus motorcars. Perhaps someone took this credo a little too far in application to a 1964 Elan. The seller claims the chassis is rust and accident free, which means either the body was accidentally washed with nitric acid, or…well…we’re not sure…
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Hooniverse Asks – What's a "True" Porsche?
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For some aficionados of the brand, Porsche stopped building real cars when the last 356 rolled off the assembly line. Others discount anything with a radiator. What do you think, do Porsches have to emulate the layout of the pre-war People’s Car in order to be accepted as righteous?