To this day, the only car with leather seats my parents have ever owned is their 1994 Cadillac DeVille. That car was low (as a kid I often climbed onto the roof from the trunk), softly sprung, and had ashtrays filled with old candy wrappers. That last part wasn’t a standard feature, I was just lazy and no one in my…
That annoying screech in the distance you just heard was my voice cracking in the middle of shouting Hallelujah. For a miracle has occurred.
It didn’t look this steep from the ground. But once you climb the steps and look down...it gives me a new level of respect for NASCAR drivers. Not to mention the racers here tonight, their wakes whistling past me as they fight for first place, lap after lap. They share the same primal drive to win, the need to keep…
These past few weeks, one song’s featured heavily in my YouTube history: the late Japanese producer Nujabes’ “Shiki no Uta”, the beautiful ending theme to the phenomenal anime series Samurai Champloo. Please, before you do or read anything else, just take five minutes and do your ears an enormous favor, and listen:
There’s something satisfyingly solid about metal, especially steel. When you pick up an old wrench, you feel the cold handle slowly warm. It feels reassuringly heavy, dependable, when you heft it. The Man of Steel. Steel is real. It’s why it’s used in bike frames, and pickup truck beds.
Automakers dabbling in the world of cycling is nothing new. Peugeot was a bike maker way before they switched to cars, and bikes bearing the Peugeot name continue to be made in Europe to this day. Lotus famously designed the Type 108, one of the first carbon-monocoque aero bikes used in competition, and the bike…
I remember getting into the Hummer H2, as a kid at the Chicago Auto Show. I remember how unbelievably huge it felt. I remember climbing into the frankly enormous backseat, feeling like I was back at recess on the jungle gym. I remember walking around with my dad, joined off-and-on throughout the years by my uncle.
The Toyota Supra is, at this point, the Kingdom Hearts III of cars—or maybe the Final Fantasy VII remake. Teased endlessly, paraded in tiny, camouflaged doses every so often. We were always told a release date would be nigh, and yet four years after the show-stopping FT-1 concept debuted...nothing. I earned a master’s…
Venerated, replicated, but never quite duplicated, the Lancia Stratos rightly deserves its legendary status. Over the years, modern versions have attempted to recapture the spark of the original. One was even featured on Top Gear.
Commenters on Oppositelock and Jalopnik love taking pot-shots at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Though FCA has blessed the world with the likes of the Hellcat family pride, the hellishly-quick and over-the-top Demon, the 500 Abarth pocket-rocket, and stylish Pacifica, it’s arguably just as well known for its CEO’s…
Winter is often dreary: heavy iron skies, biting cold, salt and slush coating everything. But not every day is cruel. And even on miserable-looking days, one of the best ways to conquer the season’s doldrums is to get outside and move. It’s why I keep biking throughout the winter: it lets me get places without using…
I love going to Cars & Coffee events. It’s a chance to admire IRL what I’ve usually only seen on a computer screen or in a book. Reading about a Caterham Seven isn’t the same as squeezing into one. Seeing the grinning face of an Austin-Healey Sprite in person puts an effervescent smile on your face in a way a photo…
There’s practically nothing that hasn’t been shoved into a Miata’s engine bay. K24's, V6's, K20's, rotary engines, turbos, superchargers, and of course, the LS V8. Like the original Mini, the Miata is a blank canvas that anyone and everyone can turn into their own piece of art. Supplying a lot of the paint is Flyin’…
I’m liking The Grand Tour’s second season. Female tame racing driver, great locales, and some truly fun times (especially the latest episode, which has an amazing Lancia 037 vs. Audi Quattro segment). It’s also a great source of mystery, and I’m not just talking about how weird it is that they haven’t mentioned Abbie…
Most days, you just want a cup of good coffee. Nothing fancy, but something better than the office Mr. Coffee. You can’t walk down most city streets today without seeing a cafe styled in exposed metal and brick, maybe with a fixie or cafe racer in the window. It can be intimidating, though, stepping in there: all…
Motoring enthusiasm is something that has to be lived. You can read all the reviews you like, but until you climb behind the wheel of a Miata and hustle down a beautiful road, you will never truly understand it. Watching an IndyCar race on TV or on a smartphone may be convenient, but until the Wall of Sound throbs…
“I’m not an adult, I’m a child with a drinking permit.” That’s how I’ve been defining myself lately. I’m in my mid 20s now, but I still don’t feel like a responsible adult. I see my parents, mature in their older age; I see my sisters, roughly a decade older—they’re buying and renovating homes, advancing in their…
The very first anime convention panel I ever attended was at ACen (Anime Central), and it was called “Your Favorite Anime Sucks”. Name kind of says it all: bunch of dudes taking suggestions and detailing why, exactly, someone’s beloved show was cr*p.
In the 2018 PCOTY (Performance Car of the Year) issue of Road & Track, Preston Lerner writes an article about the future of motorsports, entitled “Terminal Velocity”. Over the course of the article, Lerner discusses the established giants—Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR, Le Mans, IMSA—as well as relative new comers—Global…
As I write this, I’m eagerly anticipating the moment I can get my hands on Brandon Sanderson’s new work, Oathbringer. It’s the third book in The Stormlight Archive, his epic fantasy series taking place on the Cosmere (the collective universe where many of his works take place) world of Roshar. Looking to my left, I…
