Auto Clerks

Randy Moss, the man who combined with Tom Brady to give us quite the fantasy football season last year (and, apparently, helped take the Patriots to the Super Bowl), is going to be starting a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team. Fox Sports is reporting that Moss hopes to get the team running in races later this year in advance of a full 2009 season. At the moment he lacks a manufacturer, a driver and a sponsor. But he’s Randy Moss, so that doesn’t much matter. Plus, if Dan Marino and Troy Aikman can do it why can’t he?

From the Fox Sports article:

“There are a lot of NASCAR fans in the locker room,” Moss said in a statement released Tuesday. “We’ve seen a lot of football players get involved — guys like Dan Marino and Troy Aikman, to name a couple. I think it’s a good fit and gives some of the companies I am already working with an additional outlet. It’s a smart move on the marketing side of things, but on the personal side of things, I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

This is like that story from The Onion about Great African American Moments in NASCAR but suddenly real. [Fox Sports]

Original post by Matt Hardigree

The Chinese really knows who calls the shots around the world, and it’s obviously the tight-rope walking hippies, clowns and unicyclists. Liu Suozhu, better known as the Car King, managed to drive what appears to be some kind of a Chinese Sentra knock-off across 750 feet of steel wire while thousands of spectators watched. You know the only reason people goto air shows is to see a crash—this is kind of the same thing, but the Chinese crowd of thousands left the event disappointed as Suozhu didn’t plummet to his death. It took Suozhu 30 minutes to complete the journey and he provided his own color commentary during the entire trip over a loudspeaker to the crowd. [Ananova via Neatorama].

Original post by Travis Hudson

Could the OM617 be the most reliable automobile engine ever made? A very good case could be made for it, although its successors haven’t been around long enough for us to judge whether they might be even better. Sure, diesel engines have the advantage of using a fuel that is itself a lubricant, and they generally operate at lower RPM ranges than gasoline engines… but once you get past 500,000 miles (as so many 70s and 80s Mercedes-Benzes powered by the OM617 have done), that line of argument loses much of its power. Make the jump to see some video of this engine in action. [Wikipedia]

Here’s some video shot of a vegetable-oil-powered Mercedes-Benz at the 24 Hours of LeMons race last October; another veggie-oil diesel Benz finished 19th at that race.

Original post by Murilee Martin

When we first saw the Saleen S5S at the New York Auto Show, we thought, “That’s nice, but it’s got concept only written all over it.” Well, apparently there’s a greater degree of possibility there than we’d initially thought. Saleen Vice Chairman and Chief Technical Officer Chris Theodore dropped in to the offices of Automobile magazine to talk S5S. Seems they’re feeling out the market by touring the car around their dealers right now and thanks to an overwhelmingly positive response, the company no longer related in any way to Steve is considering sending it into production. Our favorite part of the whole discussion is about how they decided on the design:

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We had an in-house design competition among half a dozen designers, and it came down to two finalists. We had a Betty Crocker bake-off, and David’s design won.

Yep, The Saleen S5S is one sleek looking brownie. Or is that a lemon bar? Whatever, we’d eat it either way. [Automobile]

Original post by Ben Wojdyla

Think you’d already seen all the automotive counterfeits outside-design-influenced flatteries China has to offer during our Beijing Motor Show coverage? Well, think again. We’ve just found an SUV that’s a perfect example of how to take a car that’s merely a vague rip-off and turn it into a blatant copy. It’s like design reverse-engineering — being reversed. Originally starting life as a Shuan Huang SCEO, this SUV’s basic shape was already very BMW-like. All it needed was a twin-kidney grille transplant. Add the BMW round logos, and you’re ready to head for the country club. Just don’t get into a crash on the way there — or lick the paint. [via ChinaCarTimes]

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Original post by Mark Arnold

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While Farrah Fawcett merely allowed a cougar to sit on the roof of her car in her ‘75 Cougar ad, Cheryl Tiegs lets a mountain lion ride shotgun in her ‘78 (equipped with the hyper-Malaise “Midnight Chamois” option package). Not only that, but her hair totally out-feathers Farrah’s, and her haunted mansion gives her more of an air of mystery. Did we mention the 134-horse 302 that came standard in this 3,800-pound car?

Original post by Murilee Martin

Posted By:Phil LeBeauIn one week Ford has gone from being perceived as an automaker struggling to jump start its business, to a company and stock worth betting on. My how things can change in just a few days. So it’s time to ask yourself: Do you believe Ford will come back?     Read More Topics:Marketing | CEOs and CFOs | Economy (U.S.) | Automobile IndustrySectors:Automobiles and PartsCompanies:Ford Motor CompanyMEDIA:PHOTO Permalink

Original post by Ray Wert

Having driven both the Audi R8 and the Audi Q7, we are well aware they are good vehicles, but Iron Man Director and Producer Jon Favreau goes a little over the top talking about these two beautiful babies. Yes indeed folks, the theatrical release of Iron Man is just days away now and the marketing machinery is kicking into full swing. Since Audi is a major sponsor of the film, we get to see two different videos where the men in charge of the movie blab on about how great the cars are. Well, great for driving, but perhaps not for filming because they couldn’t get the Q7 to lock its brakes or do a burnout. Oh yeah and they couldn’t destroy an R8 as they wanted to. Destroy an R8? Nooooooo! Double video action below the fold, and possible ending or alternate ending spoilers.

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newVideoPlayer(”Ironman_Behind_Scenes_R8.flv”, 494, 371,”");[Youtube and Youtube via WCF]

Original post by Ben Wojdyla

Exterior Design:***
The 2008 Mazda RX-8 shows all sorts of pleasing shapes amidst all of that strong idiosyncrasy. It’s good clean fun to look at the profile of the front fenders rising slightly above the curve of the hood while you’re driving. Molded-in Wankelry on the hood flows nicely into subtle twin speed bumps on roof, but then the line drops into the rear, which is just kind of there. Our test car had the optional chrome Wankelry on the front and rear air dams. Frankly, there are better ways to spend $159. From outside, the infanticide —er, “Free Style” doors are well-integrated. Overall, a rather handsome car with “grows-on-you” versus “…Damn!” styling — although we hear the Mazda killer-guppy front fascia will be somewhat improved for 2009.

Interior Design:***
The 40th Anniversary edition includes leather trim and seats in a color Mazda calls “Cosmo Red,” but your parent’s living room group knew it better as “Dusty Rose.” It seems, unfortunately, like a compromise color. The exterior Wankelry extends to the interior in the shape of the shift knob, headrest inserts, special badges on the floor mats… Rotors, rotors, everywhere rotors as far as the eyes can see. The instrumentation is crisp, but the luminous blue LCD-lit dials (Warning! Digital speedo, Will Robinson!) contrast with the red LEDs in the center stack, giving a pleasingly patriotic affectation to the dash.

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Acceleration:**
Thank the Lord this was the 232 horsepower version (both motors have the same 159 ft/lb torque rating) of the RX-8, because it needs it all. Serious tail-twisting mechanical Wankelry is required to make time in this car, and it’s a dog in traffic. On the numbers it might earn a third star, but persuading it to do so is more hard work than it should be.

Braking:****
Very nice. Precise, smooth, lets you know exactly what’s going on. And the calipers are plain old caliper-colored, despite recent attempts by automakers to turn them into some sort of jewelry-like accessory for your wheels. ABS shows up a bit earlier than many will appreciate.

Ride:****
Should be far worse than it is for as well as it handles. You ‘ll know it when there’s bad pavement underneath you, but you won’t worry about it too much.

Handling:*****
Outstanding, gorgeous, superlative, predictable, and lots of fun. Whether you decide to steer with your hands or your right foot, this car will do exactly what you want all day. The RX-8 is a rather light car to begin with, but once it’s in a groove it seems to drop about 500 pounds. A real hero-maker.

Gearbox:**
Look, our car may be an anomaly, as many RX-8 owners love their 5- and 6-speeds, but this Aisin/Mazda co-manufactured gearbox was kind of a chore. Short throws aren’t much of an advantage when you feel you need a home-run swing to select the next gear.

Audio:****
Nine Bose speakers with 300 watts behind them and a fairly intuitive button cluster. Very good sound, but no MP3 player hookup.

Toys:***
The 40th Anniversary Edition comes with just the normal stuff standard, like heated seats and Homelink and so on, although it’s very well-executed normal stuff. But don’t forget, it has fratricide —er, Free Style doors, if those count. We think they do.

Value:***
If you want one of these, it’s worth it—What else is like it? However, at $32,594, you might opt for, say, the 350z or the G37 with their increased torque and normalcy, not to mention far better fuel economy.

Overall: ****
There’s no denying the RX-8 is a lot of quirk and a lot of work. But this lovable oddball has charisma by the bucketload, even if you do need bucketloads of patience, good humor, and gasoline to live with it every day. Plus more than a few pails of high-quality synthetic oil. But even with all that, I’d own an RX-8 in a second. Maybe it’s because I’m a dedicated oddball and a sucker for a light, agile, fairly unique car. Maybe that should worry me, but to hell with it — I’m not yet too old to believe that lots of good moves and a few big laughs just might make up for a little drinking problem.

Also see:

• 2008 Mazda RX-8, Part One

All of our reviews are always available by clicking the Jalopnik Reviews tag in the masthead.

Original post by John Krewson

We know that not everyone spends as much time at auctions and junkyards as, say, Murilee. But that doesn’t mean most of us don’t occasionally wander around junkyards or auction sites searching for whatever we can find. Sometimes, you strike gold as with Murilee’s 1970 & 1971 T-Bird adventure. And sometimes you end up in Project Car Hell. I once spent an afternoon looking around for a replacement wheel for my beater Escort and found a pair of white older-gen Escort GT wheels that would look awesome on the front against the old rear black rims. The pattern looked right so I grabbed them and took them home.

It wasn’t until I got home that I noticed the pattern was ever-so-slightly off, meaning that I’d just invested in a pair of tetherball bases and was still without an unbent rim. It would have looked awesome, though. That qualifies as both my best and worst find, though feel free to separate yours out.

Original post by Matt Hardigree