Autoblog

If you want to see how that new Porsche is going to look in your driveway (or you just need to impress the women who frequent your favorite online dating service), our friends in Stuttgart have given us all the tools we'll need. Well, in a sense at least. Point your favorite browser here, and click on the "picture it" link on the bottom. Upload your favorite driveway shot, and then you can put either the Cayman, Boxster, 911 Coupe, or Cayenne on your own personal pavement. Once done, you can save it as a JPEG (we had to add the file extension afterwards) to share with your friends. While Porsche is kind enough to put a sports car or SUV in your driveway without charge, they won't be sending you the keys. For that, you'll still need some serious coin.

[Source: Porsche]

Is it possible to buy a car that's both inexpensive and ultra cool? Can a $22,000 Toyota Prius really get you the same respect from the valet as a $70,000 BMW? That's what "Wired Magazine" wants to know, and they're asking readers to decide which of five relatively cheap cars they would feel coolest driving.

So far, the most expensive of the bunch, the Prius, is in third place with only 18% of the vote. Behind it with 11% is an early-'90s Volvo and a 25-year-old Mercedes 300 SDL. In first place, with a big lead over a used Ford Mustang, is a 1995-1997 Jaguar XJ6.

Really? Those are the only choices we get? For the price of that 2005 V6 Mustang, you could get yourself a real tire-smoking, V8-powered 1966 Mustang. Sure it'll need some paint, probably some fresh Bondo and maybe a transmission overhaul, but that builds character in both owner and car.

Or if you're not into power, don't even think about that wheezy Volvo. Go German instead, and get a classic VW Beetle. You'll pay more than what that boxy sedan cost, but the cool factor of the Bug will more than make up for it.

So what say you, Autoblog fans? What cheap transportation would you choose for its cool-boosting properties? Or is "Wired" right on the money?

[Source: Wired Magazine]

Click above for another angle of the shorty Voyager

What would happen if an old Plymouth Horizon mated with a Plymouth Voyager? See above. Despite the fact that Chrysler used to offer its minivans with two different wheelbases, this is a vehicle that was fortunately never released out of the factory doors. Our guess is that the owner, like us, never really cared for those old non-powered sliding doors anyway. Why not just get rid of 'em completely? Our favorite view of the bus shows that there's nearly as much front-overhang as there is metal between the axles. In all seriousness, the work that went into cutting this sucker in thirds, throwing out the middle-section and welding it back together seems to have been done pretty well. Because the Voyager is a front-wheel drive minivan, the powertrain probably didn't need any tweaking at all.

[Source: Hemmings Auto Blog]

Well, that didn't take long. A company by the name of Auto Tech Plastics has gone and done what seemed inevitable and many a blogger feared would happen: endow the new Ford Flex's slab-sidedness with fake woodgrain. Make no mistake, we have absolutely no problem whatsoever with the classic woody wagons from a bygone era. Sure, they may take a bit more upkeep than normal, but the classic models with their real wood paneling are just fine by us. This... thing? Not so much. The last wood-applique'd machine that rolled off the assembly lines should have been in '91 when the final Grand Wagoneer met its demise.

For those of you who don't share our opinion, there are plenty of choices with which to fill your plasti-wood fix. If you must, *sigh* click here to see some of your options.

[Source: The Car Connection]

Click the Smokey and the Bandit Mustang for more

We hear it from the peanut gallery every time we post about another new Mustang variation. It doesn't matter if the car comes from a small niche manufacturer, SALEEN, ROUSH or even Ford itself – people have gotten sick of Mustang mania. CARandDRIVER.com decided that beyond the Bullit, Warriors in Pink, Black Jack, Parnelli Jones and Dan Gurney Special Editions, as well as various examples from Hertz, there are a few more Mustang models that have yet to be explored. According to C&D, the market's ripe for a return of the four-cylinder Mustang, and there are plenty of other worthy causes around which you could market a Mustang besides breast cancer. Plus, if KITT could go from being a Trans Am to a Mustang, why can't Smokey's famous winged muscle car do the same? If you couldn't tell by now, the C&D folk are just exercising their funny bone here. There's a couple more we haven't mentioned, so check 'em out in the gallery below and click the source link to read their funny background stories.


[Source: CARandDRIVER.com]

Remember last week when we told you about a tuner shop in Florida that got stuck holding a $16,000 bill after customizing some broke guy's Toyota Celica? That shop is resolving its dispute through the courts and will likely end up selling the car to make its money back, but a mechanic in the U.K. named Darren Tandy recently found himself in a similar situation with a very different outcome. A customer came to pick up his Land Rover recently and refused to pay the agreed upon price of £1127 for the service work that Darren had done. At first the owner offered £950, then £850, and when Darren still refused to release his vehicle, the Rover owner called the local constabulary. Shockingly, the policeman who arrived on the scene actually told Darren he had to lower the price, and when he refused to accept £550 for the job, which didn't even cover the parts, he was arrested and thrown in jail. He spent three hours behind bars and promptly filed a complaint against the Northumbria Police, who performed a full investigation and found themselves free of any wrongdoing. Convenient, eh?

[Source: The Sun]

Yet another example of a Homeowner's Association run amok... A Texas homeowner in Frisco (just north of Dallas) has been told by the Stonebriar HOA that his new Ford F-150 isn't allowed to be parked in his driveway. The Association, established to protect Jim Greenwood's interests (that's the theory at least), will allow his neighbor's Cadillac Escalades, Honda Ridgelines, and even a HUMMER or two, but his new pickup violates a rule that prohibits pickups in the driveway. When Mr. Greenwood inquired as to why a Lincoln Mark LT could park in the neighborhood, but his practically identical F-150 couldn't, the response from the HOA was, "'It's our belief that Lincoln markets to a different class of people." Doh! As of now, Mr. Greenwood's options are to get another vehicle, or move. If it were us, we'd replace the F-150 with a yellow Caterpillar 972H Wheel Loader. Yeah, that would get them to quickly change their mind... Thanks for the tip, Neil!

[Source: Dallas News]

Click above for more images of the Sunmotor EV

Lovers of good car design: avert your eyes! The Sunmotor Group, an EV hopeful based in Boston, has announced plans to release its first all-electric vehicle before the end of the year. We wish they wouldn't because this sucker is über-ugly. Obviously based on a smart fortwo clone, major modifications were required to allow the use of a large solar array on the misshapen roof, which has created a textbook case of function punching form in the mouth. The windshield has been disfigured along the way in an effort to meet up with the excessively long canopy, while the upper rear probiscis could easily behead someone standing behind this thing when it's backing up. Last joke: SsangYong called, they want their designers back.

Despite looking like a Scion that swallowed a canoe, the specifications of Sunmotor's EV sound decent for a low-speed EV. The company believes it can get 160 miles per charge, though only with a top speed of 25 miles per hour. Plus, with 10 horsepower pushing around 2,600 pounds of mass, the supposed acceleration of 0-25 in 5 seconds sounds rather optimistic.


[Source: Sunmotor via AutoblogGreen]

Standing seven feet and one inches tall and weighing in at 375 pounds, Shaquille O'Neal is one big dude. Must drive a big 'ol car then, right? Umm, not exactly. The Phoenix Suns star center has recently been spotted in his newest automotive purchase, a smart fortwo. Seriously. And, surprisingly enough, he fits! Don't believe us? See above for photo proof. Well, so he sorta fits. It's a good thing that Shaq opted for the convertible, as his head comes up several inches over the top of the windshield. Oh, and we can find no real proof that the door has ever completely shut with Shaq inside. Just sayin'.

[Sources: TMZ via MyRide.com]

Following the closure of his Sprint Cup ride last month, Dario Franchitti will run several races in the second-tier Nationwide Series before the end of the season. The Scottish driver was reportedly offered several options by Chip Ganassi, and chose to concentrate on NASCAR rather than move back to open wheels or elsewhere.

Franchitti will begin campaigning in the Nationwide Series after the season's road course races are wrapped up in Montreal and Watkins Glen. The No. 40 Fastenal Dodge he'll be driving has been a bit of a transient car, which will have been shared with Scott Pruett, Reed Sorenson, Bryan Clauson and Juan Pablo Montoya before the season is finished. By then, the former Indy 500 winner and IRL champion may have made one more drive in the Sprint Cup at the Pep Boys Auto 500 in Atlanta this October.

[Source: Autosport, Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images]