Whether you love them or hate them, it is tough to deny that the folks at Jalopnik are the edgiest of the car blogs and they certainly seem to have a bunch of fun. Over the past few months, their Down on the street series has been fun to watch. It really is a treat to see all the cool cars that populate the streets as daily drivers in sunny CA.

Today though, it seems like Murilee Martin is suffering from a serious case of insufficient cool cars. A Tercel wagon? Come on Dude!!!! Surely there is something with a little more personality than that DOTS.

What’s next Los Jalops? An automatic 82 Sentra?

Never one to mince words, Jonny Lieberman declares the Lotus Elise a Fat Pig! Wait a minute here, what the hell is that boy smoking?

Well, he’s just hi on the power of Se7en! You see, Jonny just had the time of his life traipsing up and down the legendary Tail of the Dragon in an assortment of creations based on the vision of Colin Chapman. The fat pig comment was the way the Elise felt in comparison to bright orange, Miata powered Westfield built by Autopro Motorsports.

Be sure to read the full story over at Jalopnik, where Jonny’s story may even bring a tear to your eye. Now how can I get invited down to Deal’s Gap myself?

I suppose there is no real reason to post this, except that it’s stupid funny!

See Jalopnik for the real details

Here I was, minding my own bidness, napping on the mother in law’s couch, when the news flashed on the TV. Colombian racing superstar is leaving his cushy gig in Formula 1, for the chicken and ribs atmosphere of NASCAR. I figured I could cruise home and blog about it before anyone else caught the news. Damn…those guys at Jalopnik are on the ball, they beat me to it. What’s even worse is they grabbed their info from TSN, the Canadian sports TV channel. To get all the news, visit TSN, but the short version is…get ready to cry in yer beer good ole boys. The guy from the real south is gonna whip some ‘merican butt!

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Cheating in NASCAR

Ricky Bobby

Chivalry is alive and well in Nicole Kidman’s life. Some of the other bloggers are making fun of Keith Urban opening the door for new wife Kidman when she climbs into her smokin black Bentley. I think it’s nice to see a celeb spouse acting properly in public.

I bet she ties him up in the bedroom if he doesn’t!

Source TMZ via Jalopnik

Ok, so there isn’t a story to go with it or anything, but this program cover for the CanAm race at Bridgehampton, posted by Jalopnik, fits in well with some of the programs we’ve got here in The Garage archives.

Like it or not, street racing is part of our culture. Long romanticized by song writers and authors, there is no denying that songs like “Dead Man’s Curve” are anything but a glorification of the danger surrounding street racing.

I was cruisin’ in my Stingray late one night
When an XKE pulled up on the right
And rolled down the window of his shiny new Jag
And challenged me then and there to a drag
I said, “you’re on, buddy, my mill’s runnin’ fine
Let’s come off the line, now, at Sunset and Vine
But I’ll go you one better if you’ve got the nerve
Let’s race all the way
To Dead Man’s Curve”

But isn’t that part of what it’s all about? The danger of getting caught. The risks. The humbling experience of losing. Somewhere along the way though, the reality of those same dangers sets in. Killing an innocent bystander is not an acceptable byproduct of some fun today, nor do I suspect it was a very welcome outcome in the Fifties.

Over at Left Lane, there was a bit of talk about Toronto’s own Jim Kenzie’s recent article about some possible upcoming legistlation to ban performance mods in the wake of the tragic death of a married couple. Joe at MyFordDreams2 and Jalopnik have posted about similar laws coming in the Bay area in sunny Cali. What nobody noticed though was the news from the day after Kenzie’s article was published.
A 31 year old Torontonian died when he wrapped his late model Porsche 911 around some immovable object while racing his cousin. It’s not just teens who do stupid things. You would think that this guy would have discovered the Driver Advancement days held by the local PCA region.

As true enthusiasts, it is all of our jobs to show the green, testosterone filled racer wannabes that there are safe places to drive their rods. Most car guys really have no training & the first time they have any advanced training they are blown away by how little they really do know about car control. A couple of weekends of autocrossing will change a driver’s skill level and awareness forever. All for about the cost of a decent lunch.

By all means folks, let’s keep enjoying the fun, impromptu stoplight battles. Just a little common sense and a little less cajones and maybe we can stop killing people in the name of fun.

Over at Jalopnik, they are talking about this really cool engineering wonder of the German car world. It looked pretty cool so I scooted over to the home site to find that this incredible car stacker is only just the beginning of a wild automotive adventure.

The incredible car dispenser is actually housed within a VW new car dealership and holds their complete new car inventory. Buy a new car, give a token to the attendant and the machine retrieves your car. A glass door opens and spits our your new car. I wonder how they shake the machine when a car gets stuck in it’s slot. When it finally falls, do you sometimes get two?

The Volkswagen dealership is actually one of 2 dealerships in Autostadt, an automotive theme park. The other store is none other than a Lambo shop! The park also boasts a Ritz-Carlton hotel, 7 restaurants and a car design studio. There is an automotive museum, a technology museum and even a theater with dance school. There are 3 driving schools, catering to Schumacher wannabes, off road newcomers and even little kids.

Anybody visiting Wolfsburg soon has got to check this place out. Just watch out for things falling from the vending machine!