[This press shot for the 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon Brougham – dig that 'not a hatch' fastback rear – for some reason includes an Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 CanAm car, as far as I can tell. Here is one picture of the suspected Alfa in similar guise from AlfaBB, and here's a general history of the Tipo 33.]
Today I learned that Nissan is basically an abbreviation for "Japan Industries" and a lot of Toyotas are named after things that sit atop your head. Sure, I knew a lot of car-and-car-company-name-origins already, but the always-excellent John Green from Mental_Floss just might teach you a few things.
In hardtop form, the Chrysler Crossfire was the best example of a car that looked great head-on, then slowly got worse as you walked around only to arrive at that bulbous rear end. And the interior was awful. It's not exactly mourned today.
Russia can be a scary place, for anybody on the roads. But we've also seen how it can be a helpful place . And here's more proof to show you that just because it's got exploding trucks and crazy boar chases doesn't mean it isn't also full of kind, caring people.
Turns out you don't need a shady, possibly-issued-from-the-governor lane closure on a major bridge to jam traffic. The sensor and signaling infrastructure on our streets is so vulnerable that all you need to wreak widespread havoc is a laptop.
GM's introducing a Special Service Vehicle variant of the 2015 Chevrolet Silverado for police use, so now you've got another headlight pattern to get paranoid about.
[Our thoughts go out to everyone, gearheads and otherwise, who were affected by the tornadoes in the South. This picture is what's left of Daniel Wassom's house and hot rod. Wassom died protecting a family member. Photo credit: AP]
Assembled here are the best Oppositelock posts from Wednesday and Thursday. It includes driving a car you love, rap's automotive influence, the enthusiast's quest and 'Rush' meets 'Senna' at the Nürburgring.
Toyota calls the 2014 Lexus GX 460 "a trail-driving 4x4" with "exceptional off-road prowess." We put one in the grass last week and I had trouble getting it through ditches without turning the front bumper into a land tiller, but the shocks and chassis seemed up for rough stuff.
Take a look at this teaser for the BMW M235i and notice how it's being driven. You could call it "quickly." It's fairly standard for launch films like this, especially BMW. But a group in Australia has complained that BMW basically broke every traffic law in the book with the ad.
The first crews to clean up Chernobyl were called 'liquidators' and they received many, many benefits for their incomprehensibly dangerous work. Here is a very cruel, very Soviet description of one of those benefits explained by a liquidator at the site in 1986.
I'm sure the engineers at Land Rover's Solihull HQ are simply overcome with "flattery" over being ripped off so hard by the Chinese Land Wind E32— a dead ringer for the Range Rover Evoque , down to the font on the tailgate.
What you are seeing here is a rare test of a fast attack nuclear submarine's ability to rapidly empty its ballast tanks via forcing high pressure air into them, otherwise known as an "emergency blow."
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A BAe-146 jet has made a safe return to Perth after an engine caught fire on takeoff Tuesday morning.
I've always loved the rather sad failure that was the VW Type 4 . This was VW's attempt to modernize and luxury-ize their old rear engine, air-cooled formula. Much like Porsche did, only with lots more failure in the mix. But I always liked them, which may be why these mockups of Type 4s that never were are so appealing.
A very lucky boy got his dream of riding in a Lamborghini for his 7th birthday. All his dad had to do was ask the local Lamborghini dealership if they knew of anyone who could bring one around to his house.
The front-engined, V8-powered Porsche 928 was intended to be an eventual replacement for the iconic but aging 911, but Porsche-philes everywhere made it clear that they prefer their flagship car has the engine in the back. That didn't stop the 928 from being great, and a lot of people long for a new one.
For those who feared Audi was going to dilute their brand by making a rebadged Volkswagen up! , there is good news.
Cars are better than trains, this is Fact. Don't get me wrong, I love trains, but the problem with trains is that they contain other people. And other people are the worst thing on Earth. Except when they aren't there. In that case, you just want to sing.
If you live in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, keep an eye out for a 21-meter beer blimp that is currently floating, aimlessly, through the Canadian sky.
Honestly, I can't even remember the last newer-ish car I drove that had an actual key instead of a fob and a push-button start. And in light of the General Motors ignition switch recall , the end of car keys may come sooner than we expected.
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The National Parks Service has designated the site of a devastating 1956 plane crash as a National Historic Landmark. On June 30th of that year, a Trans World Airlines (TWA) Lockheed Super Constellation and a United Airlines DC-7 collided at 21,000 feet over the Grand Canyon. It was the deadliest civilian air crash to date.
Apparently all of my talk about how great Texas is has rubbed off on Toyota, or perhaps the low cost of doing business has encouraged the automaker to move "substantial parts of its U.S. headquarters" away from Torrance, California to suburban Dallas as Bloomberg just reported. Howdy, y'all, I hope you like brisket.
Welcome to Sunday Matinee, where we highlight classic car reviews or other longer videos I find on YouTube. Kick back and enjoy this blast from the past.
Parents ask me all the time to recommend a vehicle for their 1st time driver. I try to steer them in the way of a mid-size sedan, something along the lines of an Accord or Malibu. However, many parents are stuck in the mindset that they want their son or daughter driving the largest tank possible, because it is "safer." A recent study conducted by Insure.com and published on Yahoo Autos analyzed the 10 best and worst vehicles for preventing passenger injuries. Unsurprisingly, passengers that were involved in collisions were less likely to be injured in very large vehicles and more likely to be injured in smaller cars. The issue is not with the findings but rather the implications and commentary. Here are some of the highlights from the study:
