Yes, this is Car Lust, not Cable Car Lust. But when do we ever limit this place to just cars? We've had trucks, motorcycles, intergalactic starships, an occasional notable model year or few, and even some other cool [...]
Yes, this is Car Lust, not Cable Car Lust. But when do we ever limit this place to just cars? We've had trucks, motorcycles, intergalactic starships, an occasional notable model year or few, and even some other cool [...]
We have previously discussed in these pages the Trabant 601, East Germany's sorry excuse for a "People's Car." Homely, hapless, and mechanically helpless, yet somehow lovable in spite of [...]
Hafner's $2,500 Used Car Challenge
Part 1--The Search
Part 2--The Evaluation
Part 3--Final Decision
In the previous installment, I discussed how my search for my own $2,500 Car Lust had narrowed to three finalists, a 1978 Fiat X1/9, a 1990 Saab 9000 Turbo, and a [...]
As always, this is the venue for discussion that doesn't really fit anywhere else. Like, for example, how much you hate Chris Hafner wasting countless electrons blabbing on and on about his stupid used-car search.
--Chris H.
[...]Passivity is fatal to us. Our goal is to make the enemy passive.
- Mao Tse-Tung
Like so many of the trials and tribulations inflicted upon my family by the accursed Malibu of Malebolge, it could not have died at a more inconvenient time. Though [...]
Hafner's $2,500 Used Car Challenge
Part 1--The Search
Part 2--The Evaluation
Part 3--Final Decision
In Monday's installment, I described the circumstances of my search for a $2,500 occasional family car and the three finalists--a 1978 Fiat X1/9, a 1986 Audi Coupe GT, and a 1990 Saab [...]
Quantity has a quality all its own.
- Josef Stalin
A little more than a month ago, the Chevy Malibu that inspired sufficient feeling in me to write the venom-filled diatribe that started my Malibu-reliable and Malibu-regular [...]
Hafner's $2,500 Used Car Challenge
Part 1--The Search
Part 2--The Evaluation
Part 3--Final Decision
As you might recall, in our recent $2,500 Challenge (challenge, results) I mentioned that this particular used-car treasure hunt was not as purely theoretical as our previous [...]
As always, this is the right place for discussion that doesn't belong anywhere else.
Suggested topic: One of my favorite events during Thanksgiving weekend is the inevitable James Bond marathon on cable. I know I'm not the only one here who marries a love of cars with an insatiable enthusiasm for [...]
In the spirit of When Tuning Goes Horribly Wrong, I present another truly epic message board thread; this time it's on Honda-Tech.com and is titled, "So, Don't Buy a VW."
Because, after all, it's Volkswagen's fault that the author got a lug bolt stuck and took a [...]
Today is a special day; a day in which we take a break from the frantic flow of our regular lives and give thanks for the important things in our lives. Almost all of us are blessed in ways that we are too busy to acknowledge [...]
Some dark, dark news is circulating this morning--Koenigsegg has pulled out of its tentative deal to purchase Saab from General Motors. As usual, the best news and analysis is available at Saabs United.
This isn't quite the end for Saab; according to Bloomberg, the GM board will review Saab's [...]
As always, this is the place for random off-topic conversation.
Suggested Topic No. 1--When your vehicle needs repair, do you take the car in to the dealer, to an independent repair shop, or do you do the work yourself?
Suggested Topic No. 2--How far will you be driving for Thanksgiving, and will [...]
There are cars we could have bought. Cars we would have bought. But this is the car I should have bought back in high school. My well-meaning parents helped me get a 1972 Vega in 1973, before the self-destructive properties of that model became [...]
We recently ran the $2,500 Challenge, the latest installment in our series of used-car classifieds treasure hunts. And, for the record, the Car Lust community totally outdid itself with this challenge. The vehicles this time around weren't quite as spectacular as the results of the $25K Challenge--no surprise [...]
It was a simpler time. . . .a time of hope and faith in the future. . . blue jeans and white t-shirts were in. . .
A commercial for laundry detergent? A documentary on the 1950s? The last presidential campaign?
No, that was the iconic introductory commercial [...]
As always, this is the place for discussion that doesn't fit anywhere else.
A few notes:
- Yesterday on the freeway I saw a Ford Fusion. There's nothing particularly remarkable about that, of course, but it caught my eye because, in terms of pride of ownership, it was the rolling equivalent of a [...]
The automobile is many things to many people, but it's fair to say that for most of us, it is a source of personal mobility above all else. Having access to a car gives us the capability to go where we need or want to, when [...]
There is a weird, almost pornographic subculture that has grown up around pictures of high-level sports cars that have been horribly wrecked, usually at high speeds by a wealthy and usually reckless owner. Wrecked Exotics.com is at the epicenter of this curious phenomenon; it features photos of trashed versions [...]
As always, this is the thread for any random, off-topic conversation that doesn't belong anywhere else.
I just returned from the SEMA/AAPEX trade shows in Las Vegas last week. If you're not familiar with SEMA, it's astoundingly large and vibrant event that features scantily clad models, [...]
So what is the very first thing you would improve on your new vehicle? (New, of course, meaning a broad range of things to a group like us Car Lust folk.) For me, it is the sound system. There are many varied ways in which you can modify and personalize [...]
To restore or modify, that is the question
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of authenticity purists
Or to take arms against a sea of old fuddy-duddies
And by slapping on new engines, trannies, steering and suspension, end them in a cloud of your [...]
This 1979 Dodge Magnum XE--the Dodge equivalent of [...]
(Quick note from Chris--I will be at the SEMA trade show all week, so my contributions will likely be scanty this week. However, we have lots of good content this week that takes the accessorizing theme so typified by the SEMA show and twists it in a couple of interesting [...]
Who are your favorite online automobile writers? Besides us, I mean. Here are some of mine:
Clark Novak calls himself "The Studeblogger", and his website chronicles his restoration of a 1963 Studebaker [...]
As always, use the comments for random conversation.
I've been thinking "Ask Car Lust" might be an interesting feature--just send in your questions to our e-mail address in the right column and we will do our best to give you some good answers. Everything from opinions on cars, buying advice, questions [...]
As usual, Autoblog is all over the Lexus LFA announcement, with the official press release, some analysis, photos, and video--all confirming that we now live in a world in which Lexus sells a $375K supercar. These photos and more can be found in the Autoblog image gallery.
The [...]
My first car, and the one I occasionally lust for, was a 1978 Ford Fairmont two-door. I had never driven a stick before, which led to some interesting stops and starts at the stoplight when I tried to pull away in third gear. It had a three-speed, [...]
As usual, this is the thread for general discussion that doesn't fit anywhere else.
-- Chris H.
[...]This is the car I wanted 30+ years ago, so much that I still have this brochure I got from the dealer when it was new. I was 19, full of vinegar, and needed an "image" car. The Mustang II I had was fun, [...]
A killer whale:
and Richard Hammond:
of BBC's "Top Gear" all have in common?
It is, in fact, something of a circuitous route to get to the common thread running [...]
As always, this is the thread for discussion that doesn't fit anywhere else.
Both MSNBC and Car and Driver recently took some easy shots at bad cars; MSNBC ran the obligatory "rolling atrocities" piece that includes such shocking inclusions as the AMC Pacer, AMC Gremlin, Edsel, and [...]
As always, this is the place for conversation that doesn't really fit anywhere else.
You know those exotic sports car clubs, in which club members rotate through Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, and the like? Membership in one of those clubs would be pretty fantastic--but how great would a Car Lust car [...]
On Sept. 30, 2009 GM announced that the sale of Saturn to
Penske fell through and that the division would be phased out. In my opinion, despite the much better products that followed, the Saturn Ion dealt the death blow for the division.
GM borrowed [...]
Car Lust is one of the consistent sources of joy in my life; what could be better than discussing interesting cars, both awful and fantastic, with an international community of like-minded individuals? Of all the wonderful things about Car Lust--our strange themes, the witty comments, Our [...]
Various media sources are reporting that dealership and motorsports magnate Roger Penske is pulling out of his tentative deal to acquire Saturn from GM after an unknown manufacturer declined to manufacture donor vehicles for the brand. I never completely understood Penske's business model--a dealer owns a brand that exists [...]
As always, this is the place for the random, off-topic conversation.
What did everybody think of Our Cars Week Undetermined Period of Time? Personally, I loved it--Car Lust is about cars, yes, but more than that it's about how we relate with those cars. A car can be just awful [...]
Submitted by RebeccaH for Our Cars Week
In high school, during my junior and senior years in the mid-1960s, I owned a black 1948 Nash that my dad bought for $50. It ran great, although the upholstery was pretty much shot (did you know they used [...]
Submitted by Nick Dimondi for Our Cars Week
My father was a fan of American steel, so growing up we had a gaggle of some forgettable and infamous vehicles grace our driveway. Coming from a big family, I started driving on my [...]
Submitted by Roger Klein for Our Cars Week
First off, I've always found it somewhat shocking that the Reatta hasn't been a subject for Car Lust. I have been obsessed with the Reatta from day one, but my paltry earnings when the car was released coupled with the Reatta's high [...]
Submitted by Kenny Heggem for Our Cars Week
Growing up, I always had a fascination for hot hatchbacks. Even as a 12-year-old, while friends spoke of their future dreams of owning a Porche 911 or Lamborgini Countach, I was eyeing Ford Fiestas, Rabbit GTIs and Escort GTs.
In middle [...]
As always, this is your home for random off-topic chat this week. I know we've been running the Our Cars theme for a few weeks now; we have a few more really good ones we'll run this week, but we should be back to normal service after that.
[...]Submitted by Roy "Griff" Griffis for Our Cars Week
This 2004 Scion xA is the first brand-new car I ever bought, and it came standard with air conditioning and power windows. I have a daily round trip commute of more than 100 miles, and the car now [...]
Submitted by Jason Howell for Our Cars Week
What is it about a car that compels you to make changes in your life, often repeatedly, to obtain or maintain it, and what kind of car is it that has this power? Every car enthusiast has a different [...]
Submitted by Collin Pillars for Our Cars Week
This is my 1991 Honda Accord. My dad gave it to me for my 17th birthday, and I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical at first--I had never seen a car with 225,000 (it now has [...]
Submitted by Joe Reinhart for Our Cars Week
I worked for the city between my high school junior and senior year to save money for a car. It was 1951. I lived in Dayton, Ohio. I bought a black 1937 V-8 Ford business coupe for $200.00. [...]
I was only three or four the first time I rode in Uncle Myron's Cadillac. Since I was born in 1961 this must have occurred in 1964 or 1965. I vividly remember sitting in the back seat and playing with the power window.
Of course, there's a bit [...]
Submitted by Paul C. Perkins for Our Cars Week
The year was 1965. . . I had seen cars with the name Cooper and Lotus perform at Indianapolis. I watched a very fetching Diana Rigg tool about in a Lotus Elan as [...]
Submitted by Tim Jones for Our Cars Week
This is nothing really special, and I’ve got no pictures. But I love my truck. I own a 2008 GMC Sierra short-wheelbase, regular-cab pickup, bought new in November 2008 during GM’s Red Tag event. I couldn’t pass it up--it was a great [...]
Submitted by Rob Waterson for Our Cars Week
I am sure we must call my parents' 1953 Ford two-door a sedan because of the central pillar--I am not a car expert, but I am sure a coupe can't have a pillar separating the front and back seats. [...]
Submitted by Chris Atwell for Our Cars Week
This is my dream car. I ordered it from a country dealer a few miles up the road from my parents’ house. The saleslady was the owner’s daughter. I was very specific--power locks, manual windows, sunroof, posi-traction, 5-speed manual, power steering, [...]
Submitted by Joe M. for Our Cars Week
I had absolutely nothing of my own--not my time (three kids under age 7 means no golf on weekends and no happy hours; and being a partner in a growing law firm means 65+ hour weeks), not my [...]
Submitted by Rob Waterson for Our Cars Week
I love this car. It is a true sports car, not the luxury performance things they make these days. Sure, it has the typical 911 terminal oversteer problem but if you know how to manage that there is nothing better in a [...]
Submitted by Bill Safreed for Our Cars Week
My first real car was one my parents gave me to drive when I was a senior in high school (1972 to 1973)--it was a snow white 1966 Plymouth Belvedere II with blue interior. I didn't have much of a job [...]
Submitted by Chris Mallow for Our Cars Week
I'm writing to talk about my 1977 Dodge Ramcharger. I was having quite a bit of financial trouble early last year, and ended up ditching a nice vehicle that I just couldn't keep. I needed something dependable that would just run and get [...]
In our Cash For Clunkers open thread a few weeks ago, I made the point that the decimation of older cars is a profoundly sad thing--that these oft-overlooked cars are precious, non-renewable resources. I went further by making the observation that, for instance, [...]
Submitted by Bradley Cooke for Our Cars Week
This is my favorite car, a 1992 Mazda MX-3 with a 1.8-liter V-6. My friends called it the pocket rocket, probably because it had the sweetest exhaust note, it loved to rev, and could corner like it was on [...]
What better way to describe our own car lust than to share the cars we have? Though I don't exactly have the stable of exotic Italian stallions or Teutonic treasures we all dream about, here are my rides, at least for now:
2003 Ford F-150 XLT [...]
Submitted by Michael H. Epstein for Our Cars Week
For last year's Our Cars feature, I wrote about my first car that I got back in 1970 when I was 16--my beloved 1970 Grand Prix 455 4V. It is almost complete after a 30-month-long restoration.
I was [...]
Submitted by Ann Stetson for Our Cars Week
Here is my 1997 Chevy Express parked in a road-side rest area in Kansas, on my way to New Mexico in 2001. I had two dogs along (if you look close you can see a water dish on the ground [...]
"Space... The Final Frontier..."
Those words opened the original "Star Trek" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation" TV shows, and also closed my favorite Star Trek movie, "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan." Whether spoken by James T. Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, or Mr. [...]
Submitted by Brettski for Our Cars Week
I just have to mention my Mitsubishi Galant VR-4. It was sold in the U.S. in small numbers (3,000 in 1991-92, I think) and in Japan and Austrialia (where I am) in a similarly restricted way. It was very much a [...]
Submitted by Iowahawk for Our Cars Week
When Car Lust asked readers for personal stories about "that" car, it was difficult for me to narrow it down. Truth is, I have an emotional attachment to every car I've owned. Even cars I haven't owned. At [...]
It's a quarter after seven on a late August morning. There's a light fog with the promise of a sunny day later. Tom Petty's "Refugee" is playing on the car stereo, and all [...]
As usual, this thread is the place for all random conversation that doesn't fit anywhere else.
The open Our Cars posts will start going up this week, so this is the right place to discuss any current events or breaking new. If you have a story about your own car to [...]
We are going to attempt ... time travel.
I am painfully aware of the fact that it has now been more than one month since the last entry in the Star Trek cars series--my attempt to tie the Hyundai Genesis sports coupe to Star Trek III. I [...]
I have a checkered past with the Fiat X1/9--as checkered, in fact, as is possible with a relationship that is limited to lusting and blogging. You see, I wrote a post about the X1/9 back in 2007 in which I detailed both the high points of the [...]
As of today, Car Lust is two years old. As we roll into our "terrible twos" in top gear, with the tach needle firmly in the powerband, I'd like to ask our readers how we're doing so far. Hit the comments box and tell us:
What's your favorite "Car Lust" post [...]I'm not sure if this comes through in my posts, but generally speaking I'm not particularly easy to perturb. I try to be a cheerful, happy person who rolls with the punches and makes delicious, refreshing lemonade out of life's metaphorical lemons. Unfortunately, as a [...]
As usual, this is the thread in which you are free to discuss anything you like--within our usual comment guidelines, of course.
Some suggested topics and miscellaneous (and, for the most part, irrelevant) notes:
- Cookie The Dog's Owner recommends The Truth About Cars' editorial series "How GM [...]
Jed Clampett may have once said, "Wellllll, doggies! Done looks like Jethro is gone to bein' a double naught spy. He's commenced to puttin' a pair of Granny's shotguns on the back o' the truck with a pull string fer reemote control, thowed a spring under [...]
It's Wednesday, and it's sunny outside, mild and pleasant. Let's go to the cruise-in at the Dairy Queen tonight after supper for a little ice cream with our gasoline.
Wonder what we'll see this week.
Probably will be a few "shoebox" Chevys.
Aside from a preview last December, to this point Car Lust has been mostly silent on the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), better known by its colloquial name, Cash for Clunkers. I know my fellow Car Lust authors have been itching to discuss it, and I'm sure many of [...]
We all like to drive ... that's why we read this blog! But hey, what if we were to take the back seat for a while? Take some time off, let somebody else deal with the traffic. When that day comes for me, whether by choice or necessity, [...]
"Shhh... be vewwy, vewwy quiet... I'm hunting wabbit! Hahahahahah!"
So said Elmer Fudd in the timeless Looney Tunes classic "Rabbit Fire". He finally finds his wabbit, and the exchange between Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck may just be the funniest dialogue ever set to cartoon:
Daffy: "It's [...]Proving definitively that my RSS feeder isn't the only lint brush picking up stray bits of miscellany from the Internet, Car & Driver unearthed the latest Flash game to come from the [...]
Some cars are proudly possessed of the stuff of pistonhead passion: raging horsepower, legendary handling, avant garde design, [...]
This is the back corner of the Car Lust garage, where you can pull up one of the folding chairs, crack open a can of root beer, and talk about whatever comes to mind.
Suggested topic: road music. Is there a song or two, or maybe a [...]
As usual, this is the post in which you can comment on any topic to your heart's content, within the obvious limits.
I don't have any suggested topics this time, but I do have two comments from a business trip I took to Detroit last week with some of my colleagues.
1. [...]
The local TV ad said, "Come by and drive the New Chevy Camaro!" I was in the area, and so I did. The dealer had three brand new 2010 Camaros on the lot, but all were already sold. There was a black one, a dark gray example, and [...]
The other day I happened to be leafing through the All-Stars story in Automobile Magazine’s Feb. 1994 issue. While doing so it struck me that I’d rather have a pristine example of many of the chosen vehicles than those models' new replacements. This has to do with my impression that' [...]
My youngest son Alex and I went on an extended father-son road trip this summer which included a stop at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, [...]
As usual, this thread is the place for all random conversation that doesn't fit anywhere else.
A few possible topics:
- I was flabbergasted yesterday to see a Jensen Interceptor convertible, of all things, parked on the side of I-90 yesterday. Only a few weeks ago, I spotted an [...]
The word? The word is no. I am therefore going anyway.
Thus begins the best sequence in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, and one of the greatest scenes in all of Trekdom--the scene in which Admiral Kirk and his officers steal the USS Enterprise from space dock [...]
My youngest son and I had occasion to visit the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana last week, in the company of Car Lust contributor and [...]
As usual, this thread is the place for all random conversation that doesn't fit anywhere else.
Suggested topic:
- In last week's thread, reader Bill T. threw out three of his favorite engines, apparently with an emphasis on reliability and durability:
- the 225-cubic-inch Chrysler slant six
- the 3.8-liter [...]
Just for the record, regardless of how this looks, this is not an RIP. Nobody has died
In the August issue of Car and Driver, editor at large Pat Bedard announced that he's leaving the magazine after 41 years in the saddle. This might not sound like [...]
Quick administrative note: Based on some reader feedback, it appears that Typepad commenting software is having some problems.
If you are encountering issues, please drop us an e-mail and let us know which browser you are using and a short description of where the process broke down. Any feedback you [...]
How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life.
David Colborne: It's difficult to understate the importance of the Reliant. It single-handedly revived a moribund franchise, one which made some truly disastrous decisions in the late '70s. It made its parent brand [...]
Forget wimpy truck-ettes like the Ford F-150 or Dodge Ram. You want a truck? This thing is a truck.
I spotted this display of rugged machismo at the parking garage near my wife's workplace after I had occasion to park there last week. I was utterly entranced. The [...]
As always, this is the thread for open reader discussion of any relevant topic. Don't feel limited by the suggested topics!
Suggested topics:
- As many of us hoped, the Pontiac G8 will live on as a Chevrolet Caprice. It seems a slightly weird fit as a Caprice instead of an Impala [...]
On the rare and unfortunate occasion that one thinks of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, one usually tends to think of the slow, ponderous pace of the film, the drawn out periods showing nothing but blue clouds, the soundtrack periodically intruding with the mechanical whine of [...]
As David Colborne noted this morning, we're going to be geeking out in the next week and featuring a string of cars with highly pun-ny Star Trek associations. As odd as this theme is, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise. After all, our baked-in Trekkie leanings [...]
As some of you have undoubtedly noticed by now, we are a little theme-happy here at Car Lust. The reason, of course, is quite simple: Laziness. See, the trouble with writing about random cars all of the time is that you eventually run out of cars to write about. By introducing [...]
I'm out on vacation until Tuesday morning, so here's the open thread for the holiday weekend. The usual rules apply.
Possible topic for July 4:
What car would George Washington drive? Thomas Jefferson? John Adams? Benedict Arnold?
--Chris H.
Cookie the Dog's Owner, Chris Hafner, Big Chris, That Car Guy, Anthony Cagle, David Colborne
