Articles
-
CraigsList: The nicest 1988 Mercury Tracer wagon in the world
/
Ever since I first ran across one at my first 24 Hours of LeMons race, I’ve been intrigued by the first Mercury Tracers sold in the U.S. Unlike the 1991 and later Tracers, these early examples did not share a platform with their contemporary Ford Escorts. They were instead rebadged Asian- and Australian-market Ford Lasers, which were themselves…
-
Chicago Auto Show: Hooniverse chats with Nismo's Darren Cox
/
When Nissan announced and revealed their GT-R LM Nismo car that will run at Le Mans, the idea was radically different: a front-engined, front-wheel-drive beast in the LMP1 class where the competitors all run mid-engine, all-wheel-drive cars. The unique design was not unexpected from Nissan if you’ve paid attention to their recent Le Mans efforts…
-
Hooniverse Asks- What's the Dumbest Specialty Tool Required Maintenance Issue You've Ever Encountered?
/
Do you remember back in the olden days when all racers required a riding mechanic, and all the riding mechanic required was a stout Stillson for running repairs, and maybe a flue brush to de-coke the cylinders between races? Oh my, how times have changed. If you happen to own a Volkswagen CC, and it…
-
Last Call- Rad Taxi Edition
/
In the late 1920s in Berlin, hailing a cab would likely have resulted in one of these cool Motax-Droschken or D-Rad motorcycle taxis showing up. Deutsches Rad Werke built 180 of the Motax-Droschken exclusively for the Berlin market to counter the high cost of traditional automotive taxi service. The D-Rads could transport a single passenger for half…
-
Eurotripper European Car Show: The Air Cooled Edition
/
So recently, at the encouragement of a Bahamas cruise ship bound friend TheKenMan, this olelongrooffan ventured north to check out some action at the Eurotripper European Car Show at Jet Blue Park there in the town that is home to the Henry Ford Estate. There were some pretty cool vehicles to be seen, the bulk…
-
Diecast Delights: The (old!) Ford GT in 1:18 Scale
/
Talk about having your thunder stolen. With the brand new Ford GT concept car now wowing crowds it’s feasible that one might forget the last one. The last Ford GT concept wowed the world back in 2002 and the Blue Oval weren’t slow in realising just how much of a win they had on their…
-
Good News for Brooklands= Good News For ALL OF MOTORSPORT.
/
The image above says everything you need to know about Brooklands. Fast, banked turns on which wildly moustachioed, goggled, flying hatted playboys fought wheel to wheel to prove the superiority of their chosen steed and, as we can see, even sometimes getting it to hover. Amazing things happened on this two and three-quarter mile oval in…
-
This 1979 Fiesta Makes me Happy for No Good Reason
/
By now we’re familiar with the standard categories of car listings: the “I pay by the word, better not include any info”, the “I’ve got a burned out shell with numbers stamped on it that once related to valuable MOPAR bits”, the “here’s endless back-story and a Wikipedia copy/paste” and of course the “just needs…” that…
-
Retromobile 2015: What the Manufacturers Brought
/
Hooniverse’s Retromobile coverage continues with what the manufacturers brought to the Parisian car show. A handful of carmakers brought cars for their displays. For the most part, the cars were rare classics from the companies’ heritage collections. Mercedes had a substantial presence, and this beautiful C111 blew me away. Make the jump to see what…
-
Track Tuesday- Name That Track
/
Welcome to Track Tuesday where you are asked to identify a (maybe) famous race course from just one closely-cropped aerial image. The only other hint you get is that this week’s track is in… the Northern Hemisphere. Good luck! Image: ©2014 Hooniverse/Robert Emslie, All Rights Reserved
-
24 Hours of LeMons: 'Shine Country Classic' recap
/
As predicted in our preview before the race, The 24 Hours of LeMons commenced to show up at world-class racing facility Barber Motorsports Park 10 days ago to sully the track’s name with the series’ trademark terrible hoopties. When the oil-dry settled and the exhausted cars had wobbled with bent and broken A-arms onto trailers,…
-
Classic Captions – The 1974 Volkswagen Beetle "Love Bug" Edition
/
Welcome to the Hooniverse Classic Captions Post, and it’s that time of the week in which this feature appears, so let’s review the premise; I search for images that were used by the car companies in their print advertising, dealer displays or brochures, and it is your job to provide a humorous caption that is…
-
Hooniverse Asks- What is the Coolest Factory Motorcycle Livery?
/
I’ve always loved the concept of race on Sunday and sell on Monday, as I firmly believe that racing improves the breed, even when that breed is confined to the public tarmac. That being said, I don’t often find road cars painted in the hues of their racing brethren to be all that and a…
-
Last Call- Wild Bill In The Wild Blue Yonder Edition
/
“Wild” Bill Cassidy survived this nightmare-inducing crash at Arden Downs in Washington Pennsylvania, however he did receive seriously injuries as its result. Occurring on July 12, 1936, this was well before seat belts, roll bars, or pretty much any safety equipment was seen as a necessary part of a race car. Back then the thinking…
-
Pest Shots – The Greenest, Flashiest Trabant in Hungary
/
A friend of Hooniverse, the guy known as Frankiess, packed his bags as lightly as he could and took the next flight to Hungary. He’s wandering around both Buda and Pest, camera phone ready to be drawn, and amongst the numerous Trabants that putter around the Hungarian capital, he found this green gem. Modified with…
-
Hooniverse Concept Clinic: Proposal #3
/
Welcome to, as far as I know, the only live-action online theoretical product design test clinic in the entire universe, and it’s got the Hooniverse name stamped all over it. Last week we decided that the world definitely does have space for a back-to-basics, e-z customised four-wheel-drive vehicle. In fact, it’s a heinous crime that…