Car Lust

January 30 Weekly Open Thread: "Our Cars Week"

Well, here we go folks, with another Car Lust "Our Cars Week." We have guest writers from all over the planet contributing their personal vehicles for us to embrace, along with a familiar face or two.

Here are a few images from some previous "Our Cars" articles. This week has some nice ones as well, and with the volume of excellent submissions, we may even go longer... possibly even into a fortnight.

 

 

 

 

 

1985: It Was a Very Good Year!

It was "Morning in America," a time when men were real men, women were real women, and hair was real big. Ronald Reagan had just been sworn in for his second term after winning one of the most lopsided Presidential elections in American history. and the "national malaise" of just a few years before had been replaced by a mood of confident optimism. Technology was on the march: personal computers now had floppy drives and 12 MHz processors, fully-functional mobile phones were down to the size of a box of Girl Scout cookies, and used DeLoreans were being retrofitted with aftermarket flux capacitors. On the big screen, besides the one with the time machine, we had Out of Africa and Witness and The Breakfast Club and Rambo: First Blood Part II. On the small screen, you had The Cosby Show and Hill Street Blues and MacGyver.

On the radio was Springsteen, Madonna--this was way before Nirvana--there was U2, and Blondie, and music still on MTV. The cars then were old school, and you might think them uncool, but this post will be occupied with cars of Nineteen Eighty-Five.

January 23 Weekly Open Thread

Last chance to be on our blog! Our Cars will run next week and this is the last week we will be accepting reader submissions. For those unfamiliar with this, Our Cars is our semi-regular reader-powered feature in which readers are invited to share the stories about their own cars that they have loved and despised over the years. Car Lust's contributors will likely chime in as well, but this is really about our readers sharing their own stories.

Most of our Car Lust contributors began their career with this blog by contributing Our Cars posts. If any of you are interested in contributing to this blog, Our Cars is the way to start.

If you're interested in participating, here are some suggested steps and guidelines:

• Choose a car (or, I suppose, multiple cars) with which you actually have some personal experience. Ideally, this would be a car that you personally owned, but it's possible to put together a great Our Cars post on a car that you drove regularly (like a friend's car, a company car, or a parent's car).
• Tell the story of why you found that car interesting; the more the car interests you, the more it will likely interest the rest of us.
• Don't feel bad if the car you'd like to write about isn't a supercar; most of us find everyday cars as interesting, or potentially even more interesting, than exotic hardware.
• Include some pictures to help us follow the story and appreciate your car. Ideally, they would be pictures of your actual car, bu representative images are fine as long as you credit the source.
• E-mail your piece to us using the "E-mail Car Lust" link in the right column of the blog under Car Lust Contributors.  We'll take submissions through January 27.
• If you're looking for some good examples, read this, this, and this. Or, simply browse through all of our Our Cars posts; the farther back you go into the archives, the more reader-submitted posts you'll see.

--Amazon Automotive Editors.

Just A Little Neighborhood Car Show

It's the dead of winter here on the North American continent, and most of us are stuck indoors for at least a few more weeks. So what do we do to keep our automotive sanities until the buttercups bloom? How about a very short trip down Memory Lane when the days were longer and warmer?

Bellevue, Tennessee is a friendly suburb of Nashville and once a month in warm weather some local folks assemble at the Bellevue Mall parking lot to display the vehicles they've been waxing and/or working on. I had been wanting to see this car show for a few years, but never seemed to catch it. But as Fate finally dictated, I got the location, time, and date for the event together, and this show just happened to be the last one of the season, held on October 1, 2011.

There was taped music from the '50s, and a live band was making cool sounds. Somebody was cooking hot dogs and selling cold drinks, which greatly added to the spirit. Cars of many nationalities and ages were presented, and there wasn't a bad one in the bunch.

How to Polish your Glass Headlight Lenses, Step by Step

After searching the entire Internet, I couldn't find any information on polishing glass headlight lenses, so I decided to share my adventure in glass restoration.

I'm currently embarked on a now 5-month restoration of my daily driver, a 1995 Audi S6 Avant. I like doing almost everything I can myself for a number of reasons--I gain new skillsets and knowledge, save money, and have a lot of fun.

Some things, however, like the actual painting of the vehicle itself, are best left to the professionals. To be able to afford my paint job, the guys over at Rose Custom and Collisions allowed me to disassemble the car myself and deliver it to them in pieces. This saved me thousands of dollars in labor and allowed me to get extremely intimate with the assembly and construction of a mid-1990s German super wagon.

The Original Mach 5 from Speed Racer: Mach GoGoGo

(Submitted by Car Lust reader and commenter Tigerstrypes)

Who of us born in the last 50 years doesn’t know who Speed Racer is? And who didn’t want a Mach 5?

Throughout any continuity of your choice that portrays the original silhouette of the trident-nosed homage to hypersonic speeds, the Mach 5 has been raced hard, stolen, sabotaged, shot at, imitated, damaged, crashed, rebuilt, has been in turbulent waters, crashed again, rebuilt hours before a big race, and traded paint with the best and the worst that international automotive racing and shady organizations and individuals could throw at it, among many other things. This two-tone (as it should be) machine is the embodiment of the never-give-up/never-say-die attitude of the Mifune/Racer family.

January 16 Weekly Open Thread

Not sure where you are? There's no shame in stopping at the Car Lust Garage to ask for directions, and after we get you re-oriented to your surroundings you can stick around for some hot cocoa and get lost in conversation on whatever topic you like.

Speaking of getting lost...

Great (?) Commercials--Subaru of America's "The New Look" (1969)

In the grand cinematic tradition of the action-packed Corvair in Action!, the romantic Koers Amerika met de Holland-America Line, the harrowing Death to Weeds, the insanely comic Inside Story of Modern Gasoline, and the groundbreaking classic Your Name Here, comes director Malcolm Bricklin's 1969 magnum opus, The New Look:

My comments come after the jump.

Subaru 360

Remember that cute but dorky (or is it "dorky but cute"?) imported subcompact with the air-cooled engine mounted in the rear? Didn't seem like much, slow and Spartan compared to the full-sized Detroit dreadnoughts and fire-breathing musclecars it shared the road with, but they sold enough of them to get a foothold in the US market. It proved to be the humble start to something much bigger: today, the manufacturer is an established player selling well over a quarter million vehicles in North America each year--building a goodly number of them in its ecologically friendly US "trans-plant" factory.

And no, I'm not talking about Volkswagen and its iconic Beetle, though there's a lot of parallel between today's topic and the Bug, in appearance, engineering, and purpose.

The subject of today's lesson is the first car Subaru sold in the US, a car you might think of as the "Japanese Beetle": the Subaru 360.

January 9 Weekly Open Thread

As always, this is the right place for all the other random conversation that doesn't belong anywhere else.

What we noticed:  Popular Mechanic's 10 Greatest Failed U.S. Auto Companies.  We mostly agree with their selections, what do you think? 

We're also delighted to announce that we'll be holding another Our Cars event in the next few weeks and are now accepting reader submissions. For those unfamiliar with this, Our Cars is our semi-regular reader-powered feature in which readers are invited to share the stories about their own cars that they have loved and despised over the years. Car Lust's contributors will likely chime in as well, but this is really about our readers sharing their own stories.

Most of our Car Lust contributors began their career with this blog by contributing Our Cars posts. If any of you are interested in contributing to this blog, Our Cars is the way to start.

If you're interested in participating, here are some suggested steps and guidelines:

• Choose a car (or, I suppose, multiple cars) with which you actually have some personal experience. Ideally, this would be a car that you personally owned, but it's possible to put together a great Our Cars post on a car that you drove regularly (like a friend's car, a company car, or a parent's car).
• Tell the story of why you found that car interesting; the more the car interests you, the more it will likely interest the rest of us.
• Don't feel bad if the car you'd like to write about isn't a supercar; most of us find everyday cars as interesting, or potentially even more interesting, than exotic hardware.
• Include some pictures to help us follow the story and appreciate your car. Ideally, they would be pictures of your actual car, bu representative images are fine as long as you credit the source.
• E-mail your piece to us using the "E-mail Car Lust" link in the right column.  We'll take submissions through January 27.
• If you're looking for some good examples, read this, this, and this. Or, simply browse through all of our Our Cars posts; the farther back you go into the archives, the more reader-submitted posts you'll see.

--Amazon Automotive Editors.

1978: It Was a Very Good Bad Odd Year

Ah yes, 1978. The year I obtained my driver's license and truly began my driving odyssey. I would imagine most people have a certain amount of nostalgia for their 16th year: the music, the TV shows, the fashions, and of course the cars. Okay, I admit that there are probably better years for fond automotive recollections. 1969, for example. Or 1962. Heck, even 1991 was pretty good, comparatively speaking. But no, 1978 is not generally considered the apogee of American (or anyone else's, probably) car design and implementation.

OTOH, much like I argued in that 1991 post, 1978 was, to my mind at least, one of those interesting years where much in the culture at large was changing from that which defined one decade -- in this case, The '70s -- to the next. And, as usual, 1978 is kind of an arbitrary year to hang a post off of; 1977 or 1979 probably would have worked just as well. But as I say, 1978 has some personal connections and I've always been rather fond of that year. A lot of neat stuff was going on and the cars reflect that. One cultural transformation in particular, music, was also ending one era and starting another, and contemplating that one eventually led me to this post. So bear with me, gentle reader, as I indulge myself in a bit of nostalgia for a bygone era that was, well, a little bit weird. . . . .

The Chandelier Tree

(A note from That Car Guy (Chuck): This post is dedicated to my Mother, who just left us recently. She loved all living things, especially plants, and would have been amazed at the sight of this magnificent tree.)

So when's the last time you've driven through a tree and did no damage whatsoever to your car, its occupants, or the tree itself? That's right, a tree, a big, growing, hard, wooden thing that gives you shade in the Summertime, usually drops its leaves in the Fall, and looks so grand in the Spring.

The Chandelier Tree in Leggett, California, offers just that opportunity. There's a small fee as you enter the grounds, where the "natural" potholes enforce a 5 mph park speed limit. And just in case you were wondering, the Tree gets its name from its limbs that resemble an ornate chandelier.

The Tree is a Giant Sequoia, stands 315 feet tall, and is estimated to be 2,400 years old. As a reference, it's the same height as the Old Post Office Pavillion in Washington, D.C. And to gain its claim to fame, an approximately 6-foot-wide by 6-foot, 9-inch-tall opening was cut into its base in the 1930s by Hazel and Charlie Underwood and some helpers.

It has branches so large that they support their own ecosystems with trees of other types growing on them. And though the Chandelier Tree is a spectacle itself, the tallest known living thing is another redwood tree, which is named named Hyperion, and is 379.1 feet tall.

January 2 Weekly Open Thread

The tree's been taken down, the lights and the ornaments have been put away, and the Car Lust Garage is ready for the new year. Join us in the back room for conversation and hot cocoa.

A few random items to get the conversation started:

• The day after Saab met its demise, two business school professors released their autopsy report. It makes for some interesting reading.

• Meanwhile, over at The Truth About Cars, Paul Niedermeier delivers the Saab eulogy.

• Speaking of dead car companies, the original General Motors--the post-bailout GM is a new entity formed in 2009 that, technically speaking, bought assets of the original from its bankruptcy estate--anyway, the old one was formally dissolved on December 15.

• Did Santa leave you a new ride under the tree? Well, if it's a bit higher performance than your old set of wheels, Car Lust recommends that you don't go all the way out to the edges of the performance envelope on the first drive. Go easy and get used to it first before engaging in full-bore hoonery so you don't end up like this guy.

• Over at Cars in Depth, a bit of history: "How Japan Won the West."

• To end on a more upbeat note, regular reader and commenter "jjd214" sends along this photo of Car Lust's imaginary staff member "Carl":

That Carl--such a comedian!

--Cookie the Dog's Owner

Welcome to 2012!

We interrupt our Saab story to wish you all a happy and safe New Year's! May your 2012 be blessed with fun, interesting and reliable vehicles!

Anyone looking at the new 2012 models?  I know I'm interested in the new Honda CRV for my wife, but I'm 99.999% certain we wouldn't buy a new model year car at this point in our lives/finances.

Car Lust Classic--1986-1992 Saab 9000 Turbo

Originally published by Chris Hafner on December 30, 2008.

When Saab debuted the 9000 in 1986, it raised some eyebrows. It's not often that a car garners attention because of its normalcy; but such is the case when a noted oddball carmaker like Saab introduces a car so seemingly bone-stock conventional as the 9000.

Saab had always been known for cars with profiles that could best be described as quirky. From the early 92 and 95, to the swoopy Sonnetts, to the swollen and hunchbacked 99 and 900, Saabs looked different than normal cars and were seemingly proud of that fact. By contrast, the 9000 was clean and attractive but otherwise unremarkable by the standards of 1986. The aero headlights and the smoothly contoured sides were handsome and aerodynamic, but reminiscent of the ground-breaking Audi 5000 and Ford Taurus. Without the Saab grille and insignia, it would be difficult to identify the 9000 as a Saab--while the 900, on the other hand, showed its Saab heritage clearly and proudly. Only the five-door hatchback bodystyle betrayed Saab's quirky tendencies.

In another break from non-conformity, the 9000's platform was the result of a joint development effort with three other European carmakers. The 9000's chassis and, in some cases, body panels, were shared with the Alfa Romeo 164, Lancia Thema, and Fiat Croma. Sharing a platform with the likes of Alfa and Lancia doesn't exactly raise the spectre of awful and irrelevant clones like the Cadillac Cimmaron or Mercury Bobcat, but its conventionality was a bit worrying for this slavish Saab-ite. Had Saab sold out and built a bland every-car?

Click here to read the rest of the original post, and to leave your comments.

Car Lust Classic--1986 Saab 900 SPG

Originally published by Chris Hafner on August 28, 2008.

This is the big one, the big Kahuna, the lustiest of my Car Lusts. One year and nearly 300 posts into this blog, we've finally reached my favorite car. I've made a point of only writing about cars that genuinely inspire my passion, and in the process I've repeatedly bared my various automotive psychoses. Well, this car cuts right to the quick of everything I am. It is an inseparable part of my very soul.

Yes, it's a Saab 900--best-known for its center console-mounted ignition key switch, and slightly lesser-known for its quirky unreliability. To unbiased observers, the Saab 900 has a weak chin and a truly curious hunchback profile that looks oddly lumpen and mollusk-like. Like a stranger Renault Fuego, if that's possible. Sure, Saabs of this era were known for their durability and winter traction, but what makes them even remotely lust-worthy?

To read about what made the 900 SPG Lust-worthy, and to comment, please visit the original post.

Car Lust Classic--Saab 99

Originally published by Chris Hafner on September 6, 2007.

... Back in the 1960s, when huge, rear-wheel-drive American cars ruled with their blunt-object V-8s, Saab was serving its miniscule cult of fans with tiny front-wheel-drive cars powered by two-stroke engines (envision the smoky, ZING-ZING-ZING engine in your weed whacker). Even once Saab decided to go conventional, the company replaced the two-stroke with a V-4--a design so odd that virtually no other semi-modern manufacturer has dared to use it....

Everything changed for Saab with the 99--the car that launched the company into its own modern era....

Click here to read the rest of the original post, and to leave your comments.

Car Lust Classic--Saab Sonett III

Originally published by That Car Guy (Chuck) on February 24, 2010.

... I'd like to pay tribute to the Saab that I hold dear and true. From my high school days of wanting a true "image" sports car, as well as getting away from all the same cars my friends had, I chased after the Saab Sonnet III more than once.

Its styling has been called Italian-inspired, and for good reason. These cars were, and still are, stunningly beautiful to the eyes. What other car could wear this shade of lime green and get away with it? In fact, the color and the car seem to compliment each other, in my opinion. This is the Euro version; after 1972, we got some really nasty bumpers on them ...

Click here to read the rest of the original post, and to leave your comments.

December 26 Weekly Open Thread

This week we have a video on a "time capsule" car, of a sort. I stumbled upon Rachel and her 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente through various and sundry links while looking into true time capsules -- namely this list of 10 Incredible Time Capsules first posted a couple of years ago. Anyway, here's Rachel from 2009:

"Yes, Virginia...."

DEAR EDITOR:

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Car Lust. Papa says, "If you see it on the Internet, it's so." Please tell me the truth; is there a Car Lust?

--VIRGINIA

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong....