Carnival of Wheels: Edition #9

Welcome to Edition #9 of the Carnival of Wheels! As always, it’s been a busy week here in The Garage. Along with preparations under way (ie packing the dining room) to lay a new floor in the dining room, I’ve been hard at work (well…sorta) editing our first podcast. If all goes well, you should all get to hear our first interview within a few days. For now though, lets get on with the Carnival!

First off, we’ve got a rookie in The Garage this week. Except that this guy is a rookie to the CoW the way that Montoya is a rookie in NASCAR. Joe Sherlock is a long time auto industry guy who also happens to be one of the earliest car bloggers. This week, Joe has a unique suggestion how we can save Chrysler. Now lets think, I always thought my old 69 Fury II should have had a Hemi instead of that anemic 318 drinking through a skinny straw! Some disc brakes would have been nice too. Welcome to the CoW Joe.

With the 2007 edition of the Daytona 500 in the history books, Brian at RaceDriven has had some time to reflect on whether this one one of the greatest ever season openers. As you all know, I’m no NASCAR lover. In fact, I rarely watch, unless it’s to see how the extended family friend is doing. What I could see though was some really good racing. I’ll assume that the restrictor plates even up the field a whole bunch. It’s really cool to watch how the draft can work for or against the lead pack. Oh yeah, what does Brian think? Well, you’ll just have to visit to find out.

Jeff from Driving Enthusiast really hates the Chevy Equinox. Now I’m not expert, but I don’t think press fleet guys are going to line up to give out testers based on a bashing like this. I can’t say that I’ve ever driven a vehicle that didn’t have at least some redeeming qualities. Heck, even the Aztek was pretty cool if you could get past the fact that it looked like the hind end of Andy Granatelli!

Satellite radio has had it’s problems, like nobody wants to pay for radio. Traditional North American manufacturers have had similar problems. Nobody wants to drive them unless they get them for free! Chuck at Car Buying Tips thinks that the merger in satellite radio this week might be an indication of what’s to come for the traditional domestics.

We had a couple of disappointments at the Canadian International Auto Show, and likewise Egon was disappointed that a few cars were missing from Chicago. To answer your question about the Acura ASC…it wasn’t in Chi Town because it was on a truck headed for Toronto!

Hey…those NASCAR boys are rolling out onto the track! This might become a cool habit. Watch roundy rounds while writing the CoW.

We haven’t heard from the folks at Wisebread for a few weeks. Paul Michael has a pretty interesting look at ways you can save a bit of green with your fuel buying habits. This one is a timely read, now that gas prices are creeping up again.

Years ago, I recall a certain pizza chain getting into all sorts of trouble over the driving habits of their delivery guys. Today, we have the tale of the $600 pizza wagon courtesy of Pizza Delivery Stories, another newcomer to the CoW. For all you adults out there, this story might make you think twice before you complain that your pie is taking too long. Do you really want this guy speeding on your local streets? To all you young car buyers out there, there is an even more important message. Sometimes, cheap isn’t a good deal, it’s really only cheap. I’ve added Kevin’s blog to my feed reader, there’s got to be some fun stories coming from this Pizza Dude!

I’ve got to admit that I haven’t paid too much attention to the goings on at Ford. They just don’t interest me all that much. That said, I was under the impression that Hau Thai-Tang was pretty popular with blue oval enthusiasts and his move to head up Ford of Brazil was a congratulatory move. I thought the SVO division might suffer as a result. Jeff at Driving Enthusiast has a different outlook. If I paid attention to Ford stuff, I’d have opinion about his opinion. Hey Joe, what do you think?

Do toilets really flush the other way around Down Under? I really don’t know, but I know that they built some tough ass bloggers in the wilds of Oz. Craig at Autofix is working through the pain of 6 broken vertebrae to impart his knowledge to his (and our) readers. This week he gives us the lowdown on what we in the industry call a pad slap. In other words, changing front brake pads when disc replacement or caliper work isn’t needed. Nice job Craig. Now don’t enjoy those pain killers too much!

DE smooth. Now there is a cool description of driving style. It comes from AC at Axis of Oversteer. A of O is really one of my favourite blogs, as they are heavily into high performance driving & have some great videos. So what is DE smooth? Well, head on over and visit. There are a bunch of videos that I haven’t had a chance to watch yet, but I’m dying to. This topic is a good one that I’ll be posting on over the next day or so, as I have a couple of opinions on it!

I’ve often talked about the blurred lines between the Traditional Domestic and the Traditional Import. With the inclusion of Toyota in NASCAR, the good ole boys are havin’ a heyday with the newcomers been caught cheatin’. Wait a minute, NASCAR’s foundation is built on moonshine runnin’ rule breakin’ southerners. Maybe that’s the problem, these guys still haven’t gotten past the arrival of them Yankees! Yet another CoW newcomer, Sheila from FastMachines shares her views on the situation. One of her statements just about sums the whole thing up: Do Toyota vehicles belong in top-tier NASCAR events, or only American cars? Here’s the problem — there ARE no “American” cars.

That wraps it up for this week’s Carnival of Wheels. I think this edition has taken longer than any other to write, as there was so much good stuff to read. I hope you’ll all visit our contributors and help them spread the word.

For all you car bloggers, keep the great work coming! Each week we meet new bloggers and spread the love. Don’t be afraid to spread the word about the CoW and definitely keep those submissions coming. Our next Edition will be one week from today.