As we headed towards Mosport for the vintage festival last week, it seemed fitting that we were cruising in Chevy’s retro styled HHR. Fortunately, this was no plain Jane grocery getter either. We were headed for some twisties where the turbocharged 2008 HHR SS could get it’s boogie on. With pie wagon styling, substantial chrome wheels and pumping out 260 ponies this machine was just perfect for a dragging the cooler and cameras up for a day at the track, not to mention a few dance steps along the way.

Over the past years, we haven’t owned a car with overly sporting intentions. Reason? Kids. A herd of them. There hasn’t been too many vehicles conceived over the years that are capable of hauling a family of 5 and a bunch of their junk that can do double duty as a weekend warrior. The two jobs have distinctly different needs. Lately though, several automakers have managed to combine the needs of a parental taxi with the wants of an autocrosser.
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Few car enthusiasts manage to make the trip through the town of Whitby without noticing Fawcett Motor Carriage. Set in an ages old drive shed and attached to an almost as old hanger type garage, there is always a rich assortment of classic cars on display. They typically range from rusty old shells to the odd concours winner hidden away inside. On any given day, you can drive by and see car buffs pondering the possibilities awaiting their wallet.
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If you live in Durham region, this weekend is your chance to get out and see the Mosport Roadshow. On display will be a Nascar Canada car, Cup Lights car and a late model. There will also be daily draws for free tickets. The event begins today, so if you’re lucky you might even catch The Garage family there tonight.

press release after the break
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It looks like Ontario is set to become the muscle car capital of North America. Following The General’s decision to build the next generation Camaro in Oshawa, Chrysler has announced that it’s new machine will be built at it’s Brampton plant. When production begins in the summer of 2008, that will bring the total models built in Brampton to 7. It’s a good time to be an autoworker in Ontario these days.

For someone who spends a good chunk of time reading automotive stuff, I missed the fact that Chrysler is about to lay off 2000 people at Brampton. Perhaps not such a good time to work for Chrysler, even with exciting products coming down the pipe.

Chrysler press release after the break
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With news coming last weekend that DaimlerChrysler has given the new Challenger concept the green light, plant workers all over North America must be drooling at the thought that they may get to build the beast. The blogosphere is alive with the news and so is traditional media. Over at Leftlane News, they have reported that the Brampton, Ontario plant will built the Retro Rocket, but hold on a minute there bucko. They’ve actually misread the Globe and Mail article they are quoting from. The globe reports that the Brampton plant is the leading contendor in the race to win the gig. Their production numbers, along with the fact that the other models on the same platform are built here. As sales on the Dodge Magnum and Chrysler 300C have dropped, the extra 30-40,000 Challengers would allow the plant to add another shift.

Now, if GM would just announce that Camaro production will come back to Oshawa, all will be right in the muscle car world.

One thing you can count on in Durham Region is lots of car shows. Just down the road, Oshawa is home to one of GM’s highest quality plants. Having that many autoworkers in the region pretty much assures that there will be car buffs of all kinds. It’s odd that few of these shows are actually advertised, so often i just stumble across them. This show was held at Auto Accessory Zone and hosted by the Toronto Civic Club. This was definately a Tuner show and not a Civic show, as there was everything from Civics, to Saturns, Mazdas to a supercharged Cadillac. The old school was even represented with an old Galaxie 500. To see more pics, you can visit here.