Falling squarely in the “I gotta get me one of these” category is the just announced 50th Anniversary poster from Lola. In fact, I may just have to get 2. You see, this somewhat unique poster has images on both sides.

The poster has drawings of 50 Lola race cars, one for each year of the company’s existence, beginning with the 1958 Lola Mk1 to the 2008 B08/80. It will be available for free at selected events that are involved in the 50th Anniversary Celebration. The first two events will be at Brands Hatch World Sportscar Masters race in May and the Oulton Park Gold Cup in August. Let’s hope that they free up a few for the VARAC Festival at Mosport in June.

More images after the break
Continue reading →

I have so many childhood memories and some of them after all these years that stand out are about some homemade toys I used to play with in a dirt pile. Of all the toys I had my favorites were an old logging truck, an orange bulldozer and a crane, most handmade and hand painted but some were very old heavy metal types that made Tonka toys look like tinfoil. And then there was my favorite Ford tractor my father gave me which is extremely life-like.
Continue reading →

We first came across the Brightwork Sign Company a few years ago at a custom car show here in Toronto. Artist Matthew Labutte had been working with hand painted vintage style signs, but had made a transition to more hot rod related pieces. Since then, Matthew’s works have grown to include a wider range of automotive topics, from rods to racers. All of his work is done in a vintage style that just tickles us pink here in The Garage. Be sure to visit Brightwork Auto Art at their home page or at a show like Performance World.

We’ve made another new friend here in The Garage today. Dale Smith found us via Jeff Bressler’s post about board track racing on Long Island. Dale lives in Indianapolis and has some hard core enthusiasm for racing in his family. Dale and artist friend Brian Stinger have created this fabulous display of board track racing history. The Miller Splinter Special was built out of steel on a high pressure water cutting tool, while Smith built the replica track surface.
Continue reading →

Recently a retired minister here in Ontario was refused renewal on her license plate which read, REV JOE. To most people the meaning is obvious. To the ministry it was a potential invitation to street race.

The DMV in North Carolina clearly don’t keep abreast of current deviant trends, seeing as they’ve allowed the plate above. If you haven’t seen the “2 girls 1 cup” video, trust me, you don’t want to. I mean it. Do not go looking for it. The retinal scarring is not worth it.

via Jalopnik

While having a look through some of the Ranta collection for a few fun historical posts for the next couple of days, this great little find fell out of a Canadian Grand Prix program. A pristine entry ticket for the 1967 Grand Prix of the United States at Watkins Glen, October 1, 1967. The price? Just $8.

According to the Wikipedia entry on this event, Sarj Ranta was one of 80,000 people who watched Jim Clark nurse his ailing Lotus to a win over team mate Graham Hill on that bright, sunny day.

The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano borrows its name from the test track where Ferrari tests both its road cars and Formula 1 race cars, and it was designed to bring F1 to the streets. It replaced the 575 M Maranello. The powerplant is a front/mid-mounted V-12 rated at 620 horsepower. You can buy one today for around $270,000.

If your dream bubble just burst because $270,000 would be like five years worth of salary, you can still have a 559 for the amazing price of $5,368. Well maybe not so amazing, and maybe damn expensive for what you get.
Continue reading →

Like so many other racing addicts, the fever was started with a Bugeye Sprite. In my case though, it wasn’t my own car but my father’s first race car a full 2 years before I was born. The seed was planted though and that propelled Bud on to race with some success over the next few years.

The car is obviously an Austin Healey Sprite, which us North Americans call a Bugeye, while the Brits feel it is more of a Frogeye. It looks like the shot was taken on the pre grid at Mosport, prior to the Formula 1 garages being built. I believe the year was 1965. A bit of success with this car led to the Mark II Sprite that Bud won the first ever Ontario Sports Car racing championship in 1967.

Unfortunately this photo isn’t in the best of shape, but I believe it is the only one of this car.

It’s rare that I delve into the higher echelons of geekdom, but my Neanderthal brain can surmise something that looks cool.

A case mod is the modification of a computer chassis or video game console chassis. . Modifying a computer case in any non-standard way is considered a case mod. Well a cool case mod created by some car loving braniac has hit the limelight.
Continue reading →

We continue our crusade to expose cheesy products endorsed by some of the world’s premier automakers. First it was the Porsche snow sled, then the Saab ski, now a Ferrari phone.

Motorola, which has become one of the lesser lights in the cell phone industry, has teamed with Ferrari to produce the MOTOZ8.
Continue reading →