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Before he landed his breakout role in The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman appeared in a 1966 television spot as a highly caffeinated spokesman for the Volkswagen Type 3 Fastback:
Sad news today, as reported by Jalopnik--Phil Hill has died today at the age of 81. Hill was the first American to win the Formula 1 World Championship, taking the title in 1961 at the wheel of the gorgeous shark-nose Ferrari 156. Hill also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times and was as stellar a sports car driver as an open-wheel racer.
Hill was as known for his classy personality as his driving skill, and he brought his unique insight to the pages of Road & Track as a journalist for several decades. A legend and a gentleman, Hill will be dearly missed.
--Chris H.
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?
A year ago, on Aug. 28, 2007, Amazon Car Lust sprung into being with the promise that "you'll get a reluctant glimpse into that dark place in my psyche that just can't get enough of Peugeots." As anybody who has been around for a full year of breathless odes to better-forgotten vehicles can attest, that promise has been kept in spades.
Thanks to all of you who read this blog, thanks to all of you who comment, and thanks to those of you who care enough to contribute. It's remarkable to me that we have evolved from essays about cars I like into a blog powered by a half-dozen contributors, each honoring the concept of Car Lust better than I could do myself. Thanks to all of you, and here's hoping the next year is just as much fun.
Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. Can
Hydrogen-powered powered vehicles kick butt in dry lake racing? If what I saw during Speed Week 2008 at the Bonneville salt flats is any indication, the answer is yes. Last week Ohio State's Center for Automotive Research entered Streamliner No. 2016, the Buckeye Bullet 2, and made history. The car was--you guessed it--hydrogen fuel cell powered. What about filling stations you ask? Filling stations are not an issue at Bonneville. There are none, for hydrogen or any other fuel. The closest thing I saw was a man holding a red can of racing fuel.
The team of engineering students worked most of the week to get their car in shape and make a successful run. There were several days of runs with no recorded times; this is not unusual, given that technical problems and blown engines are as common as salt at Bonneville. On Friday the team had real success. On three runs they consistently crossed the 200-mph barrier. Their best exit speed was 286.476 mph. The team easily entered the 200-mph club and was a scant 13.5 mph away from the 300-mph barrier, a great achievement for any car or team.
Today's Car Lust is the direct result of a little Internet link free-word association. It all started when I was reading Slashdot, where I found out that cows tend to point due north. At the bottom of this already strange article was a link to the Telegraph's special on the 100 ugliest cars of all time, which I felt preternaturally compelled to visit. Then, at No. 71, I saw this:
71 - Lightburn Zeta Sedan
Australian washing machine (and cement mixer) manufacturer turns its hand to cars. Fails.
No picture, no further explanation--just those two sentences. Just like that, I knew I absolutely had to look into this.
When I first laid eyes on a picture of this car, my jaw literally dropped. I had been perusing a book on cars of the 1950s, enjoying the various design excesses of that era, when I turned the page and ... there it was, long, sleek, and cool, like a little black dress at a hoe-down. There was just something about the simplicity of the design that immediately caught my fancy. While made in the 1950s it definitely does not seem of the 1950s. While other cars were swimming with enormous fins, acres of chrome and bulbous styling full of sweeping sheet metal, the Continental Mark II was clean and spare in its look.
Technically, this is indeed a Continental rather than a Lincoln. Ford created the Continental Division specifically to produce this model--it was, in fact, the Division's only model--and dissolved it after the model run was complete. Later Continentals were folded into the Lincoln lineup.
We have seen the future of hydrogen-powered vehicles, and the future is ... well, not now. This Reuters story reports on a 13-day cross-country drive completed by hydrogen-powered cars from nine different automakers. At first glance, this is a pretty encouraging story--hey, maybe hydrogen-powered cars are right around the corner! After all, if nine cars can drive from coast to coast on hydrogen, not only is that a great test of the in-car technology, but it's a testament to improvements in the much larger and thornier issue of fuel availability and distribution.
Well, no. The smoking gun is in the second paragraph--hydrogen filling stations are so scarce that the cars rode across much of the country on flatbed trucks, including one stretch from Missouri to New Mexico. If the object is to achieve zero emissions and infinite fuel efficiency on the back of a truck, well, a 1976 Chevy Impala would work just fine. Actually, unobtainum-powered cars of my own invention would get the same results too.
If the message is that cars can successfully run on hydrogen but the technology is impractical until we have an established hydrogen distribution infrastructure, well, thanks for the memo. In related news, the sun rose in the east this morning and is slated to set in the west this evening. The single biggest practical barrier to any alternative fuel, including hydrogen, is widespread availability of that fuel, so this empty PR exercise really didn't accomplish much other than reinforce that barrier and provide some easy punchlines. Anyway, Gizmodo already nailed the snark angle, so I'll leave it at that.
--Chris H.
Given the ho-hum response to the AMG CLK63 Black Series post and to other fancy sports sedans on this blog, I'm guessing not many of our Car Lust regulars will be singing the praises of the 2008 M3. Given my obsession with sedans that perform like sports cars, though, I just can't ignore this car. Besides, I've been waiting for the V-8 M3 for years, for reasons I'll detail below. Don't worry, folks, we'll be back in the bad cars soon enough.
In the high-pressure world of international sports car racing, highlighted by the 24 Hours of Le Mans and similarly prestigious long-distance races, Porsche and BMW have a highly entertaining red-hot rivalry. The two proud German manufacturers have been engaged in a back-and-forth hammer-and-tongs battle for supremacy for some time, resulting in an arms race that would not have been out of place in the Cold War.
(Note from Chris: We've touched on this subject in the past, but this bears repeating. Besides, David's is better--and it's fun to watch him rant.)
I don't care what your current ride--or even pie-in-the-sky dream ride--might be. A minivan is better. "But wait!" (I can hear you say)... "A minivan will make me look, well, like a minivan-driving loser." Get over yourself. If your self-image is based on what you drive, just put a Ferrari Owners Club license plate frame on the minivan. Awestruck onlookers will assume that your Ferrari is in the shop, which it probably would be anyway.
Continue reading "A Minivan is Better Than What You're Driving" »
