Articles
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Craigslist Crapshoot
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Welcome to Craigslist Crapshoot, our weekly search for the most bizarre, awesome, and/or terrible vehicles that the online classifieds has to offer. Like Burger King, last week we wanted you to have it your way. That meant cars that you would like to have but for whatever reason – whether it be government regulations, a…
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24 Hours of LeMons: 'Sears Pointless' preview from Sonoma Raceway
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No, you’re not hallucinating; the 24 Hours of LeMons is once again at California’s Sonoma Raceway this weekend for packed track of wheel-to-wheel action and inaction. Well, maybe you’re hallucinating. But that doesn’t change the fact that LeMons holds its sixth annual “Sears Pointless” at the Track Formerly Known as Sears Point and Infineon Raceway.…
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Hooniverse Asks: What Mass Produced Station Wagon Wasn't an Improvement Over its Sedan Progenitor?
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Small cars have always been the bane of the automotive stylist. The small canvases they afford do not generally allow for flowing lines, or provide enough room for connecting elements that bring cohesion to a design. That’s why stylists general prefer to work on larger cars, and they love station wagons. The Station Wagon, the…
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Last Call: A Sunday Drive Edition
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It’s been unseasonably warm here in LA the past week. No, let me reframe that, it’s been freakin’ hotter ‘an hell here. And like bears waking from their snowy slumbers, so too are the sports cars emerging from their winter keeps. My ever vigilant daughter caught this sweet MGA out for a cruise on Pasadena’s famed…
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Magic Numbers: Symbiosis at 77
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There is no place on earth more relaxing than in a 1997 Rover 825 Si at 77 mph. Seriously. At that speed, all the little resonances, rattles and shimmies unify and seem to cancel each other out. Wind noise vanishes to just the slightest murmur around the mirrors. The normally mediocre stereo somehow acquires extra…
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Streetwalker: 1988 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
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I’ve shot a lot of cars for this site, and a large number of those have been American cars strewn around the Finnish small-town landscape. Again, wintertime snow humps are receding, and the stateside-born metal is revealed, either by people bringing out their priced V8 behemoths or the melting snow just showing you what it…
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Track Tuesday: Name That Track
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Welcome to Track Tuesday where you are asked to identify a famous race course from just one aerial image. The only other hint you get is that this track is in… the Northern Hemisphere. Good luck! Image: ©2014 Hooniverse/Jason Connor, All Rights Reserved
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American Cars Living and Dying in Poland – Part 3
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There was a time, I am guessing sometime in the early 1990s, when container ships full of cars originally sold in the United States must have been departing Port Newark for Gdansk, Poland. Those cars varied from cheap econoboxes to limousines, to classic American land yachts. Also on these ships were European and Japanese cars that were…
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Pair of Opel GTs Makes a Great Tuesday Twofor
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The Opel GT should be a great car for the likes of us. And yet, beyond Team Tiny Vette, I’m not really aware of any great Opel GT builds around (cars like that tend to show up in the LeMons paddock). From what I can tell, they’re kind of Opel’s Fiero, in that they look sporty…
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Hooniverse Asks: Living or Dead, Who Would Be Your Top Top Gear Hosts?
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This just in: Jeremy Clarkson has quit Top Gear. Wait, I’ve just been handed an update… no he hasn’t! Maybe he quit along, long time ago? We’re not sure… You know what, all this kerfuffle over whether Jezza is leaving the show or not really doesn’t interest me. I’ve actually found the show to be…
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Last Call: You're Telling Me Edition
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I remember when I was a kid going to a mechanic’s shop with my dad and on the wall was a rate card with increasing rates if you wanted to watch, offer an opinion, or help. I thought it was pretty funny. I think this sign is even funnier. Last Call indicates the end of…
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Disposable Heroes: #1 The Ford Mondeo
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Time, I’ve decided, is a right bastard. Ten minutes ago, in 2004, I graduated University. The Chris Bangle era of BMW was getting into full swing; Rovers were still trundling out of Longbridge and Mercedes-Benz found a new niche for the banana-shaped car with the CLS. Put briefly, a terrifying number of things have happened…
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Found on eBay: 1965 Bobsy Vanguard Formula Vee project
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For a long time, the cheapest way to go wheel-to-wheel racing was simply to buy a Formula Vee, an extremely simple open-wheel racecar built almost entirely with stock Volkswagen Beetle mechanical components. With horsepower in the mid-double digits, Formula Vee was essentially a slightly bigger go-kart. Because of the cheap and plentiful nature of components, Formula Vees…
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Hoonivercinema: Monday Movie Trailer
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Do you like Hot Rods? How about Girls who save the World? If so, then you’ll likely enjoy the low-budget 2009 flick Hot Rod Girls Save the World. From what exactly do the Hot Rod Girls save the World? Well flesh-eating zombies created by a zombie ray from the planet Moosha of course. The plot – and…
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Encyclopedia Hoonatica: Obviously Absent Driving Lights
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Bumper and fascia mounted driving lights have been “a thing” since at least as far back as Pontiac’s love affair with them in the 1980s. Nowadays, almost every car model is available with driving lights as an optional extra, but very few include them as standard equipment on their base model. This presents a quandary…
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Hooniverse Asks: What Automotive Item From The Present Would You Put in a 100-Year Time Capsule?
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Many of you will no doubt recall the ’57 Plymouth Belvedere that in 2007 was unearthed from a time capsule in Tulsa Oklahoma. Some of you may even remember when it was buried. Hi Gramps! That capsule had turned into a bit of a watery grave, and instead of showing the people of the future an example of decadent…