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Carnival of Wheels: Resurrected!

Gary Grant — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:40:48 +0000

Long time readers will remember the Carnival of Wheels, my weekly tour around the automotive blogs. Many writers, including yours truly, spend more time reading than they do writing so it sort of makes sense to share what we read. The problem is, to do it well takes time. Time that was getting more and more difficult to justify while I was juggling a job, kids and a commute. Now that I have more time on my hands, I’m going to have a go at reviving the CoW. It might not be weekly, but we’ll see how it goes.

I suppose it is fitting to start at the roots of the CoW by visiting Mark Tapscott, who used to host the Carnival of Cars. That seems like a really long time ago. These days, Mark is with the The Washington Examiner and he’s exploring public opinion on the topic of web enabled cars. The lawmakers here in Ontario have banned cell phones, so I can’t see mobile surfing having a long life span here.

Somewhere along the life of The Garage, Californian racer Gary Faules went from commenting on articles to contributing his own stories. We followed Gary as he built Lucky the GT350R and we followed them to La Carrera Panamericana. This past weekend saw the official world premier of the movie “Rebirth of a Legend” following the team across Mexico. Do yourself a favour, visit Gary’s blog, follow the link and order your own copy. I’ve seen the movie and trust me, you’ll watch it over and over. I’d be willing to bet that Gary watches it at least once a week!

With the CoW and the CoC gone, Brian Vermette at Race Driven took things into his own hands and started Speedlinking. I think he’s got a pretty firm handle on how to get the job done. Now he just needs to get his template lined up again!

Over at Full Throttle, Marc is still banging away at the keyboard keeping everyone abreast of the racing world. We haven’t talked much over the past couple of years and Marc seems to have gotten a little bit crustier than he was the last time I checked in on him. He started the new year off wondering what the hell Mikey was thinking. Now, a few weeks later, maybe Mikey knew exactly what he was doing! Danica? Hellooooo…

At least the IRL officials will be looking snappy in their new alligator golf shirts!

You might say that Alborz Fallah is an online success story. You see, Alborz is a young guy in Australia who started a car blog called Car Advice. Shortly after he launched CA, Fallah began submitting to the original CoW. I like to thing that The Garage played our own little part in helping Alborz turn CA into the online source for everything automotive in Australia. You could say his project became the Aussie equivalent of Autoblog.

Speaking of Autoblog, even the North American mass market machine contributed articles to the CoW. Of course that was before AOL took over, but it was still pretty cool. Today, Jonny Lieberman has a post with some pretty cool officially unofficial Mini photos.

Before there was the internet. Before we had automotive blogs, we had Hemmings. Fortunately, the guys at Hemmings are a bright bunch and have adopted the interwebs alongside that iconic publication. Associate Editor Dan Strohl even poked his head into the CoW on occasion. Today, Dan has come across a pretty cool woody on e-bay. This 1948 Packard once belonged to Toronto born rocker Neil Young!

Another not so little, little guy like me, Chris Burdick at Automoblog has been at this for almost as long as I have. Yesterday’s post was a bit of new school stuff, as he is checking out a rather heavily tweaked GT-R.

For our last visit of the day, I think we should visit another one of the big-uns that has contributed in the past. I find it rather refreshing that Edmunds and their readers agree with my sentiments about the Honda CR-Z.

Thats about it for tonight. Looking back at this list, I realize that many of the automotive bloggers I e-met early on have moved onwards to other projects. The good ones though are still around, churning out great content at their original sites. I feel honoured that my little CoW experiment may have helped some of them get where they are or are going. We’re in our 5th year here in The Garage and there aren’t many online auto publications who can say the same. Here’s to 5 more!

See ya next week for another edition of the Carnival of Wheels!

Carnival of Wheels: Edition #62

Gary Grant — Sun, 25 May 2008 13:18:52 +0000

Life has been so busy around The Garage that the Carnival of Wheels has definitely taken a bit of a back seat lately. I began this edition a couple of weekends ago and now I’m watching the Formula 1 boys paddle their canoes around Monaco. So let’s get going on this hot lap around the auto blogs, because there are LOTS of submissions!

When the media talks about women in motorsports, usually they are referring to drivers as they are the most visible and possibly the most news worthy. The reality is that women are involved at many levels, but few are seen in a team ownership capacity. Sheila Scarborough from The Driving Woman recently sat down with Lori Morgan from JD Motorsports who compete in the Nationwide Series. In this insightful chat we learn about Morgan’s roots on an Ohio farm, being the Mother figure on the team and get some idea of what it costs to run a car at that level. How does 14 grand a weekend just for tires sound?

We’ve all experienced the silliness that is overlapping programming when it comes to our favorite sports. You know the scene, you’ve popped some corn, cracked open a cold one and settled in front of front of the TV to watch the final race in the lawn tractor racing championship, when the network cuts out the first 20 minutes to show the Oklahoma corn husking finals. A few weeks back, Fox did just that to fans of baseball and NASCAR. Brian Vermette from Race Driven didn’t get to see the final 2 pitches of the Red Sox vs Yankees game or the green flag at Phoenix. Dumb.

Will Honda’s 2 superstars, the S2000 and the NSX soon be related by more than just parentage? Jeff at DrivingEnthusiast has comments on a report that says the new versions of the cars will be based on the same platform. Let’s face it folks, building cars is all about making money and even halo cars can’t go on costing more to build than they can sell for. Platform builds save money!

Woohoo! Alonso just switched to dry tires and there is rain coming again in 5 minutes!

When you write about cars, inevitably friends and family often come to you for advice on buying a car. Nick Borgia at Automoblog went into action to help his brother decide on a small, fun, 4 door for life in the city. They players? Mitsubishi Lancer. Mazda 3. Toyota Corolla. The winner? You’ll just have to visit and see.

They’re still talking about rain in Monaco and race leader Lewis Hamilton has gone to dry tires too!

Fans of car movies and cheesy horror flicks should head over to DrivingEnthusiast where Jeff has a review of The Hitcher. I’m not much for scary movies, so I didn’t even realize this was a car flick.

ooooohhh…Nico Rosberg just obliterated the BMW and Hamilton’s 40 second lead has been reduced to nothing. The aerial view from Rosberg’s car while hanging from the crane is pretty cool.

Newcomer to the CoW, Stephan Grindley has some info about buying an extended warranty for your car. Perhaps his best advice is to make sure the company has a good, long history so they’ll be around when you need them and to read the fine print. There is a lot of important stuff in the fine print of an extended warranty that can make or break the validity of the program. Read it carefully!

Aw crap! Raikkonen just destroyed the best drive of Sutil’s career.

Now we enter the gas mileage section of the CoW. You would think gas prices have gone through the roof or something!

Back to Driving Enthusiast again, Jeff has a bit about some electric muscle from HST and Tjaarda Design that will have you thinking twice about the need for the internal combustion engine in sports cars.

Mad Kane gives her absent minded hubby a possible solution for the price of gas.

I Want Better Gas Mileage (another no name newcomer) has a few words about E85 Flex Fueled vehicles.

Lewis Hamilton just won the time restricted Monaco Grand Prix! Now, I’m heading off to fix a flat tire and then to the ball diamond and the CoW will have to return later this afternoon.

Another newcomer to the CoW is Michael Bass. I hate to delve into politics like so many Americans do, but poor left wing Michael not only misunderstands many of the realities of gasoline, but he also doesn’t understand the realities of commuting. Michael submitted two posts, here & here. Unfortunately, I’ve been gardening and drinking and don’t have the patience to respond right now. Tomorrow however is a new day and I may just have to lay out a full comment about the commuting lifestyle!

Carnival of Wheels: Edition #61

Gary Grant — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 13:12:51 +0000

It seems like forever since we’ve had a morning like this. Here I am, on the deck with a coffee, starting this week’s Carnival of Wheels while the dog tries to decide whether to poo or not. Believe it or not, we still have snow in spots, yet here I am in my shorts enjoying the sunshine, feeling my batteries recharge. This CoW is probably going to come at you in dribs and drabs, as there is still lots of life going on in The Garage, so why don’t we get rolling with a pretty big CoW.

Last week, I bashed Brian Vermette’s grammar and this week, RaceDriven has fired back with a barrage of NBC’s automotive related programming. Can an American version of Top Gear get away with product bashing like the Brits do? Will a full series of the remade Knight Rider create ratings? Perhaps they should have Larry The Cable Guy stand alongside Adam Carolla to give a reel genuine American twist. Maybe cast Gary Coleman as the third spot!

After my little rant last week about anonymity, only one submission comes without a name this week. That’s it people, let your readers know who you are. Become the expert you believe you are!

Can video games make you a better driver? Alvaro Fernandez at Sharp Brains thinks so. While they can’t duplicate the real feel of what it’s like behind the wheel, there is no question that a good game can teach the basics and the rules of the road.

The Jesus car. The boys at Car Advice are always good at showing us poor North American bloggers the difference between our market and theirs. When was the last time I got invited to Bugatti? Ah, never! This time they have a stunning video that showcases the beauty that is the Bugatti Veyron. Funny to see Alborz entering the hallowed halls of Bugatti in a T shirt and jeans! Nice work boys.

Here we are a few days later and I’m getting around to a few more submissions!

Over at Driving Enthusiast, Jeff Fisher had some fun at Ford’s expense with the annual silliness that occurs at the beginning of the 4th month.

Women make up a substantial portion of the buying public. That is a somewhat obvious detail, I know, but the auto industry has taken many years to realize it. Perhaps the best way to understand female consumers would be to have female employees and leaders. That’s not as easy as it sounds, as not many girls aspire to work in the car industry. Don’t believe me? When was the last time your daughter placed Car Dealership? Over at Ask Patty, Jody Devere has a great post about the Girl Scouts are holding a pretty cool contest to get girls interested in the industry.

Carnival of Wheels: Edition #60

Gary Grant — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:29:11 +0000

Wow, life has been crazy in the real world lately, which means that the virtual world has been taking a back seat lately. Like the farthest back seat on a big yellow bus. It has been all I can do to create a post here and there every couple of days, let alone put together the Carnival of Wheels. Hopefully, life will return to normal soon, and with it the publishing frequency. For now, let’s share a pint and cruise some of the submission for the CoW that I was supposed to do last Sunday.

First up on the grid today is a newcomer who calls himself mleighto and writes a blog called Car Show Kiosk. mleighto has submitted a post about the care that needs to be taken when purchasing a clone type car. This is a pretty touchy subject with many people and I’m sure our own Gary Faules may have a comment or two on this post.

Our fave commercial blog here at the CoW has to be the auto parts sales folks at Pipstore. This week, they are talking about the marketability of automotive styled items. They missed out on one scary thought though: that Nissan tent was already done by Pontiac for the AZTEK!! Pip Pip old boy!

Over at RaceDriven, Brian thinks that the new, maturing racing surface at Bristol and the COT are going to work well together. Now if we can just get Brian to stop drinking while he’s posting! Man, da gramer in dis one wuz a bit ruf!

We have a newcomer to the CoW in the form of a a guy who calls himself Swollen Pickles. One of SP’s many blogs is MotorDude. Great title! His first submission to the CoW is his Top 5 car chase scenes. Not a bad list and one that can always stir up a bit of conversation. Now can somebody find that guys some cream for his swollen pickle!

Just for fun, I had to repost my fave scene from SP’s list. I’ll give you a hint that it isn’t where I think it should be on the list!

They say that Ford spent ten million bucks making the 2008 Mustang Bullitt sound exactly like the car in the movie. If this is true, then I think there will be a lot of unnecessary double clutching when we take one to Lime Rock this July!

Another newcomer is The Littlest Guy, who has a long post about carbon and it’s importance. I’m sorry TLG, but it’s too long and I’m sad to say that I didn’t read it!

Yes, I’m crusty as hell lately and I’m not normally like that. Life sucks sometimes. Get over it!

Yet another newcomer to the CoW is Arthur Gibbs, who writes AutoInsuranceSelect. This week, Arthur has a post about the incredible Bugatti Veyron. Perhaps an odd topic for an insurance blog, but at least Arthur has the stones to tell us who he is!
That said, I wonder what the insurance on a Veyron is worth.

Over at Lemon Law Vehicle, Alex Maas has a post about the Wiesmann GT MF 5. I must admit that I don’t know a whole heck of a lot about these cars. M5 powered. 507 ponies. 3.0 0-60. All pretty heady stuff! The problem is that I can’t quite figure out the visual. Sort of a cross between a Moggie Aero and an XK-120 with a bit of beer barrel mixed in. One thing is for certain though: those numbers add up to one mean MF!

To finish up, we’re going to head back to the Car show Kiosk, where mleighto has a few recommendations on what to do before you fire up your pride and joy for the first time this spring.

That’s it for this week’s extra crusty hot lap around the auto blogs. Forgive my rare crust, as I have a number of friends and family whose health I’m worried about and it is beginning to catch up with me.

Crust aside, for those of you who are new to blogging or publishing of any sort for that matter, lose the BS names. In the pro blogging world, they call it transparency. If you can’t show your readers who you are, you can’t be an authority on your chosen topic. Grow some balls and put your name on what you write. Your readers will thank you for it!

The next Carnival of Wheels should hit the net somewhere around next Sunday. That’s April the 6th. If you are brave enough to be included, get your submissions in by Saturday the 5th at Midnight.

Carnival of Wheels: Edition #59

Gary Grant — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:56:54 +0000

Here we are in bright, sunny Ontario following yet another giant dump of snow. There is no less than a foot and a half of the white stuff out on the deck! Given that I smoked my shoulder yesterday, there will be no shoveling for me, that’s what 4×4 and snow tires are for. Instead I’m here to take you for a hot lap around the auto blogs, on time for a change! Grab a coffee and get ready for a big one folks!

First up this week we have Niharika from EcoTrekker who has an incredible list of suggestions on how to Hypermile. In other words, some strategies on how to improve your gas mileage. To be honest, I stopped reading after the suggestion (with a disclaimer) that drafting will improve your fuel consumption. Yes, it will decrease the fuel you use when you are dead under the back of a semi.

Over at Car Buying Tips, friendly GM sales dude Chuck Russell gives some great insight into the car buying negotiation process. He also has a few comments about the sales process: The job of a Car Salesman is to sell their car at the highest price possible and the customer is trying to buy the car at the lowest price possible. Let’s face it, isn’t the job of any salesman to sell their products and retain gross? If there is no gross, there is no profit and the dealership closes. End of story.

There is a brand new car blogger on the block who calls himself icecoldfire. One of his first posts is about the goodness that is the Audi R8. Nice set of wheels indeed. One recommendation ice: use your real name. Readers will relate to you better. Welcome to the CoW.

Hmmm… Long time contributor to the CoW, Wenchy Poo, had submitted a post about the Smart Car. Unfortunately, the post seems to have vanished from her archives. Still, it’s worth a visit to glean some wisdom from Wenchy.

Over at Automoblog, the boys are having a bit of a back and forth on the topic of Hybrid cars. Specifically on the sporting leanings of performance cars. Mike wonders if performance hybrids are an oxymoron, while Tony has a suggestion on how to build a better mouse trap. Hate to say it Mike, but I’m with T on this one. Bring on the Caterham!

What is the most expensive aspect of owning a car? The Used Car Guru asks just that question. You may be surprised at the answer.

Carnival of Wheels: Edition #58

Gary Grant — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 23:17:12 +0000

Well folks, I guess the two week cycle for the CoW is going to be more of a guideline, as I just can’t find the time to sit down and do this much reading in one sitting. I’ve got a couple of free hours this afternoon, so grab me yourself a cold one and let’s strap in and take a hot lap around the auto blogs.

First up, as we’ve done so many times, we have Brian from RaceDriven, who has a bunch of suggestions for the bigwigs at NASCAR. Hellooooo….anybody listening? Mr. V has some good ideas!

At PipStore, Alex has a bit of a history of the evolution of Hybrid cars.

Newcomer to the CoW this time around is the Customized Girl Blog. That title is giving me some warm fuzzies a la Weird Science. Mmmm…Kelly LeBrock! Ah yeah. so CGB has posted about the top 50 sexy gadgets. Ok, so the Garmin GPS is the only one that is even remotely automotive, it’s still a cool list. Who the hell needs an Electric Martini Maker? Most of us do just fine with a shaker.

Fewer and fewer people are smoking these days, and even fewer are still smoking in their car. Those that do still partake of the evil weed (as opposed to the happy weed) may wonder how to get the stench out of their car. Another newcomer to the CoW is Mark Bartlett from AutoWirez, who still smokes in his car too. Fortunately, Mark has a few ideas how one can eliminate the stink from your ride.

I wish I had a happy face vacuum named George!

Mark also has a few tips on how to make your car less attractive to thieves. I hate to say it, but most of them are common sense.

There is nothing I hate more than seeing a tech who is sidelined by a wrecked back. Unfortunately, it happens here and there, it’s just part of the gig sometimes. Long time friend of The Garage, Craig Wilson is one of those guys. On the plus side, Craig is putting his brain to good use to help enlighten the masses. This week’s contribution to the CoW is a tutorial on art of painting a car. If you follow Craig’s instructions you’ll end up with much better results than we had years ago painting a Fiat 124 Special race car with a wide brush and Tremclad!

That’s it for now. I’m taking the kids for dinner and I’ll finish up the CoW during the ad breaks in Lost.

So much for same day re-posts! Now we shall continue with the Carnival of Wheels!

Funny lady Mad Kane swerves to avoid some wayward cutlery.

As if we didn’t need another reminder of the cool metal that European buyers get that us poor North Americans can’t get our hands on, Alex from What you will drive tomorrow has some details on the Ford Kuga and Fiesta being shown at Geneva for the first time.

Car sharing programs are sprouting up all over the place. One of the car rental giants has set up WeCar in St. Louis and Vihar Sheth went along for the ride at the project launch in a Toyota Prius. For those who live in a downtown setting and don’t need a car every day, something like this could be a great solution.

Finally, this edition of the CoW wraps up! Sorry for the delay folks, but there has been tons of stuff on the go here in The Garage. Don’t forget to submit your post for the next Carnival of Wheels before midnight on March 8. The next edition will be published within a couple of days after that! Ok, so I’m getting non committal. It takes time to get this thing done!

See you then!

Carnival of Wheels: Edition #57 – Finally!

Gary Grant — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:25:55 +0000

Way back when Mark Tapscott decided to shut down the Carnival of Cars, I wondered why he couldn’t fit it into his week. After all, the content is basically handed to you on a plate. All you need to do is read it and write a little review. Right. After working on this thing for the past year, I’ve come to realize how much time it really takes! It’s fun to read what everyone has to say week after week, but it really does take a chunk of time. Edition #56 of the CoW was partially published 3 weeks ago and I haven’t had time to get it finished up. Today’s CoW will be jam packed full of 3 weeks worth of submissions. From the next while, I’m going to try this on a bi-weekly basis and see how it goes. For now, Join me in front of the fire with a nice cold beverage and we’ll take a fast lap around the auto blogs.

First up, let’s visit one of our old faithfuls. Brian Vermette from RaceDriven has been around the CoW from day one. This time around he asks “What did $1 Million dollars get you at the 2008 Barrett-Jackson?” Maybe the bigger question should be: What didn’t fetch as much as was expected? How about Ol Shel’s personal GT500 ragtop that went for just $675,000!

The Littlest Guy has all you’ve ever wanted to know about crude oil condensed into one tidy post.

Police car identification is one of a young driver’s rites of passage, just ask Alex Roy. Over at State of the Brand, Jason Voiovich takes an interesting look at the Carbon Motors police car as a study of brand visibility. A cool topic on a cool car that deserves more investigation.

Over at Girls Who Network, Heather Juma has discovered our friends at Ask Patty. Heather rightly points out that AP is a great spot for hip chicks to get all their motoring questions answered.

“I think maybe you should try the beach cafe”. I just love Dropkick Monkey. Maybe it’s the collection of cool ads, maybe it’s just the funny name. Either way, the monkeys have found a couple of Tata television spots that have some fun Bollywood style.

Over at the Money Blue Book, Raymond has opened up that age old oil change mileage can of worms. While Raymond may be a bit misguided on a couple of points, he is right bang on when he suggests that you follow the manufacturer’s suggested intervals. Oh yes, while today’s engines are more efficient, frequent oil changes are more important than ever. Ask anyone who works in the industry happens when consumers try to extend their intervals!

New engines aren’t cheap and if you miss a couple of oil changes you’ll find that you don’t have a warranty to fall back on!

Over at the Tip Diva, the Tip Dude has compiled a list of things every driver should keep in their car to keep safe on the road. It’s a gnarly list Dude but I hope your Woody is full size to carry all that stuff!

I just love a bit of historical digging. Over at Walking The Berkshires, Tim Abbott is trying to figure out what era an old family car picture was taken. I would tend to agree with the storm surge theory, as if the car were buried in snow I doubt the gent would be wearing only a shirt and tie.

Over at Automoblog, Chris was lucky enough to spend some time behind the wheel of the new Honda Accord Coupe.

Chuck Russell loves the 08 Cadillac CTS and would love to sell you one. He’s one of the good guys, so if you’re in the market, give him a shout.

As most of the world knows now, Autoweek broke the embargo on photos of the Dodge Challenger SRT8. As always, Jeff Fisher from DrivingEnthusiast has something to say about it.

Oh man, I’m just way too late with this CoW. Chris at Automoblog has a preview of the Chicago Auto Show. Of course I’m sure he also has show coverage by now!

Here in The Garage, we are all big fans of Carroll Shelby and all that he’s accomplished over the years. Some folks feel that his actions of late have been less than sporting. I think that most of these folks need to get their heads out of their ass and see the whole story. Sorry Jeff, but Shelby isn’t the bad guy here!

The Ferrari Effect. Over at Debt Free, Steve Faber points out that late model Ferrari’s are still more than holding their value. Could this be an indication that the US economy is still fairly strong? While it may not be a true indicator, it definitely shows there are still a bunch of folks with stupid amounts of disposable cash!

And that’s it for a very big Carnival of Wheels! Remember, the next issue will be in two weeks time. Bloggers, remember to get your submissions in by midnight on Saturday, February 23 for inclusion in the next CoW!

Carnival of Wheels: Edition #56

Gary Grant — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:12:12 +0000

This weekend was the beginning of the 2008 racing season, with the Rolex 24 at Daytona kicking things off. We’ve been pretty lucky here in The Garage to get some killer pit lane coverage from Will Faules, while yours truly runs from the SpeedTV coverage to the kids hockey games. Somehow, I even managed to get a nap in this afternoon while I tried to prepare myself for this week’s CoW. That said, it has been a long crazy day with the emphasis on crazy. I’m going to begin this week’s CoW with one quick but striking submission and then I’ll finish up tomorrow.

Over the past months, I have noticed an increasing amount of traffic to The Garage coming from India. Recently the CoW has been flooded with submissions from Indian auto bloggers, which really give us North Americans some idea how many enthusiasts there are in this far away land. None have made me realize quite how different our worlds are so much as CoW newcomer Sidhusaaheb who writes:

It appears almost surreal now. For all of a hundred and twelve rupees, a nearly destitute, sometimes-employed man like me could go and take a close look at some of the loveliest automobiles in the world. Twelve rupees, incidentally, was the to and fro fare for the train ride between home and the venue of the exposition i.e. Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, with the rest being the entry fee.

I’ve been excited to follow our man to Daytona this weekend, while real car guys like Sidhusaaheb hop on a train to grab a glimpse of the vehicles we see every day. The sight of an H2 is a great highlight, where here we see soccer moms battling for a parking spot in them every day. It shows that we are all car enthusiasts, regardless of our location or means, yet our worlds are so very different that many of us experience things daily that others may never even see.

I’m not feeling very eloquent right now, but Sid’s post has affected me.

See you tomorrow, for the rest of the CoW.

Carnival of Wheels: Edition #55

Gary Grant — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:39:44 +0000

Yet another week of mind boggling car industry wanking here in The Garage, most of it of little interest to readers so I won’t elaborate. Suffice it to say that I’m happy to be hanging out in front of the laptop on a wickedly cold Sunday afternoon reading this week’s contributions. This week’s CoW is a bit light, but we have some fun reading so grab a cold one and get ready for a hot lap around the auto blogs.

First up this week we’ll stroll on over to the Madeline Kane’s fun place. Mad is looking for readers to submit their very own limerick or haiku. Her own creation is a little ditty about the dangers of consuming Italian Fare while driving.

Next up, we have an odd little post at Green Rising. It’s a post about the evils of coal and I wasn’t sure just how Vihar was planning to tie in the Wheels portion of the CoW until I got to the end. The final question seems to be GM or Toyota? I’m leaning towards Toyota.

I’ve been aware of our team mate Gary Faules for a number of years, even though The Garage’s Ontario headquarters are thousands of miles away from Silicon Valley. Why? Because Gary’s son Will was the kid who began racing a Viper at the ripe old age of 13. Stuff like that travels through the enthusiast community. So what does this have to do with today’s CoW? Well, as Brian Vermette points out, NASCAR is thinking about raising the age limit for drivers in the Cup Series from 18 to 21. As Brian points out, perhaps they should be thinking more about experience rather than age. On the other hand, I don’t know if I agree with excluding a former World Champion due to a “lack of experience”.

That’s it for another week. Be sure to swing by next Sunday for yet another hot lap of the auto blogs. Bloggers, remember to submit your post before midnight on Saturday to be included in the next edition.

Carnival of Wheels: Edition #54

Gary Grant — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 14:57:08 +0000

Another week has come and gone here in The Garage and that means another Sunday morning sifting through submissions for the Carnival of Wheels. It is interesting to note that 4 out of 5 of this week’s submissions are on the same topic. Obviously the auto industry has some big changes coming and a lot of bloggers are interested. First off, let’s head to one of our long time contributors.

Brian Vermette from RaceDriven is getting all in a tizzy waiting for the 2008 Barrett-Jackson auction to start next week. I must admit that it is exciting watching all the characters have at each other over a hot ride, not to mention the bidder helpers. Who’s gonna win, will it be the hottie or the screamer? What is going to bring the most outrageous number when the dust settles? Will it be Carroll Shelby’s GT500 convertible, or John Schneider’s General Lee? We’ll just have to tune in and watch for ourselves.

So what is the big news this week? Here in my little corner of the automotive universe, I saw the $2,500 car from Tata as an interesting sideline. After all, this little disposable car is on the other side of the world, it will never have any impact here in North America. Or will it?

We have quite a number of CoW contributors who either live in India Or surrounding countries, or who originally called that area of the world home. It has become quite clear to me that the Tata announcement is far more significant to them & that maybe I should get my head out of the sand!

Is there money at the bottom of the pyramid? Vishal Gupta from The People’s Car points out that may be right, as Toyota, Nissan and Suzuki are also working to build cars that will challenge the Nano for the king of the cheap seats.

Not everyone thinks that cheap cars are a good thing for India. Many think that fueling the personal transportation generation is wrong on many levels and Vinu Shankar points out just a few of the negatives. Pave paradise, put up a parking lot and staff it with suicidal traffic cops!

I had heard that there are some political factions in India that aren’t so happy with the fact that the Tata is coming from a certain region. That seems to be the case with Aishwish from Autocars Blog, although I’m not quite sure.

It’s interesting to note that with 4 submissions about the Tata Nano, only one of them actually addresses the car rather than the social climate surrounding it.

Sagar from Breaking News Online has actually listed a few details about the Nano. Smaller than the competing Maruti 800, the Nano boasts more interior space, meets emissions standards and has AC. Cool. A quick glance at the Maruti web site shows a bit of motorsports interest, so can it be long before we see an Indian single make racing series with these little 2 strokes? 30 Nano’s buzzing their way around the track would certainly be fun to watch!

That’s it for another week’s lap around the auto blogs. Be sure to swing back next Sunday for another visit. Bloggers, be sure to get your submissions in before midnight on Saturday to be included.

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