Dodge Split?

It became official a few months ago when Chrysler announced that they were splitting their Dodge brand in two. Today, a new sign was hung at Chrysler's Headquarters, and the Ram brand was officially debuted to the world. This new Ram brand will take care of the Dodge Trucks, Suv's, and commercial offerings. Not a bad move for Dodge, and i have to think its a good idea to separate out the Ram truck from the not so great cars Dodge has made in recent history.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is Today's Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is today's Ridiculous Car of the Day.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is today's Ridiculous Car of the Day! Its the 2010 Nissan GT-R Spec V.

Now what makes today's car of the day special is that, this is a picture from the game Forza Motorsports 3. Today the developers released the first Downloadable Content, in the form of a ten pack Hot Holiday's Car pack.

Also, check out this video of the newly introduced pack.

Hot Holiday's DLC Pack

Alright, so i lied, and my work has been way to intense lately to have time to update the blog. But here it goes.

There have been a lot of developments in the Auto world recently, and for me to try and update you on that would take about a month, so i am just gonna start back up today with fresh news, and a fresh car of the day ect...

I will also touch on some of the past news in the future from time to time.

So in a few minutes i will start back up posting new stuff.

Car of the Year

Motor Trend has named its car of the year.

The 2010 Ford Fusion won the honors.

Not a bad choice if you ask me, but we will see when we make our own selection for car of the year, and most ridiculous car of the year later on this year during Motor Lane's Blog awards.

Return

Well after a long hiatus where i had to deal with a lot of different things going on, i can finally rededicate some time to this blog.

First of let me start by giving you a run down of some things going on in the auto world.

Here is the 2010 Hot Rod Power Tour Schedule

2010 HOT ROD Power Tour Dates & Cities

Saturday June 5, Iowa Speedway, Newton, IA

Sunday June 6, Springfield, IL

Monday June 7, DuQuoin, IL

Tuesday June 8, Bowling Green, KY

Wednesday June 9, Chattanooga, TN

Thursday June 10, Birmingham, AL

Friday June 11, Mobile, AL

This is a great event and a must for anyone interested in classic cars. I went last year and had a blast, and hope to go again this year and provide some live updates from the Tour.

In the News segment:

• Recently it was announced that GM lost 1.2 Billion in the third quarter, better than last year, but not great. They also announced that they will begin to repay their loans at the end of this year/beginning of next year.
• Hummer announced that they are working on all new H4 and H5 variants, with the possibility of electric or hybrid vehicles.
• Toyota will more than likely be fixing/replacing somewhere around 4 million accelerator pedals because of a problem causing unintended acceleration that might have even resulted in deaths.
• Yesterday Senator John McCain came out publicly and said that he thinks that Chrysler won't survive. I would say a lot of Chrysler workers have to feel better knowing he isnt the man making decisions, and i would think that there is a man in France who would disagree with McCain, and his name is Marchionne.

Thats all for now, but i will try and update more later today.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is Today's Ridiculous Car of the Day!

It is a picture of a 1958 Pontiac Safari. A pretty sweet car for its time. I love the look of the 58 Pontiac's and you've got to love the 50's wagon look.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is today's Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is today's car of the Day! Its a classic 70's Camaro with an LS2 v8 in it out of a new GTO. It was truly a striking car, and looked beautiful in person.

Sorry it has been almost a week since i have posted, i have been really busy with work and other things so this was my first chance to get one here.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Sorry it has been a while since i have written an update. I was busy all weekend with work. Tomorrow i will have a review of Forza 3 up, if i can pry myself away from the game. Here is Today's Car of the Day!

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is Today's Car of the Day! Its a classic roadster, i love the beautiful red paint. This was an extremely nice car and looked great.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is Today's Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Today's Car is the Peel P50. It was the worlds smallest car until being recently dethroned. It has a top speed of 35 MPH and can almost stow away in the overhead baggage compartment.

Here is Top Gear's review of it. Definitely one of the funniest clips i have ever seen from that show.

Music Video from the Past

Check out this video from American Hi'Fi's song Flavor of the weak. The song is from 2001, its a little old, but classic early 00's. I'm not gonna say that its an amazing song, but you have got to admire the video. It is essentially a showcase of 70's F Bodies, kinda looks like a Trans Am convention collided with a high school battle of the bands.


Trans Am Music Video

Today's News

Big news out of Tokyo today. Toyota has unveiled the production version of the Lexus LFA supercar. Here is an image of the production version.

Now, it is a pretty striking design, and has a lot of the design cues that are found on the normal lexus production vehicles. It comes with a 5.0 Liter v10 producing around 500 horsepower. The car is fast, with 0-60 reportedly at 3.7 seconds, and a top speed of over 200 MPH.

Here is where Toyota went wrong, the car has a price tag of over $500,000. Now i'm not saying that the car may not be worth that, but think about what you can buy for that money.

4 ZR1 Corvette's
5 Nissan GTR's
2 Ferrari F430's

Also, considering the fact that you can buy a 90's Toyota Supra and modify it to well under the 0-60 time above for a heck of a lot lower price.

To me, the LFA just doesnt seem like a great value, and i dont think it is so spectacular that it can justify a half million dollar price tag.

I mean come on, you can buy a ZR1 for about 120 grand, and then totally modify it for under 200 grand, and have a full on race car. Seems like a better deal to me.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!/Oil and Gas Prices

Here is Today's Ridiculous Car of the Day! Its a classic Ford T-Bird.

The Oil and Gas Prices of the Day.

Oil Closed at: $78.82

AAA National Gas Average: $2.57

Ridiculous Car of the Day!/Oil and Gas Prices

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Sorry about the Hiatus over the weekend. I had a lot of work over the weekend and didn't get a chance to post up.



Here is Today's Ridiculous Car of the Day! It is a 1995 Mitsubishi 3000GT Vr4 Spyder. They are extremely rare cars. They were all wheel drive, twin turbos, producing 320 horsepower from factory. The Spyders were also very expensive when new and cost nearly 70 Grand. Over 20 grand more than the most expensive Corvette of the same year.

Why were they so special? Because they were the first production car since this car in 1959 to have a hardtop convertible, the 1959 Ford Skyliner. They were also pretty rare in their day, and when i saw this one recently at a car show, i had to get a picture of it.



Which in 1995 was a pretty sweet thing to have, and immediately made the car a collector item. Now, i know that today you can buy a Pontiac G6 with the same style top, but the car is still one of my favorite oddball cars. Now, you can see how similar the designs of these two cars are, and they were built nearly 40 years apart.

Here is what the Spyder looks like with its top up in coupe form.

The Oil and Gas Prices of the Day.

Oil Closed at: $79.94

AAA National Gas Average: $2.56

Ridiculous Car of the Day!/Oil and Gas Prices

Here is today's ridiculous car of the day!



The Oil and Gas Prices of the Day.

Oil Closed at: $77.58

AAA National Gas Average: $2.48

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is today's ridiculous car of the day!

Daily Oil and Gas Update!

Starting today, we will have a new segment each day where we will highlight the Oil and Gas Prices of the Day.

Oil Closed at: $75.19

AAA National Gas Average: $2.48

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is Today's Ridiculous Car of the Day! It is a classic Plymouth Superbird. These cars dominated nascar at one point and to me represent a car that truly sacrificed a lot for a top speed. The cars were fast, and are very rare today.

General Motors at the Movies

If you have seen Transformers, then you will notice that the most promoted brand in the movie other than the Transformers themselves are the cars made by General Motors. Right off the bat you have a classic Camaro that transforms into a sweet 2010 Camaro. This scene alone probably had a huge influence on the sales of the car. GM didnt stop with having the main character as their star car though, they went on to have appearances by a Hummer H2, Pontiac Solstice, and GMC TopKick fullsize truck, Chevy Beat, and Chevy Trax. They also used the movie to showcase two vehicles that were shall we say placed into the movies with intent on building publicity. The first is a bright blue Chevy Volt that really showed off the body of the Volt well. The second was a special silver Corvette concept called the Stingray Concept, that led many people to question whether it would be the next generation Vette.




I recently watched the movie Zombieland which i thought was quite an entertaining and funny movie. Many people i talked to felt that it may have been the best comedy they had seen all year if not the best movie of the year. Now i don't want to ruin the movie for anyone, however there are some funny things about the cars in the movie. First of all the movie is again littered with GM vehicles. Though they are used vehicles, its got to be a good feeling for those at GM to see that their vehicles are shown as the only ones being chosen in a world after people when the characters could choose to drive anything.
When you meet the character Tallahassee in the movie, he is driving the black Escalade seen above. Not only would this definitely be at the top of my list of vehicles in a zombie world, but it is interesting to see how a luxury vehicle has been converted to duty of plowing over zombies. The best part of the Escalade by far though is the 3 painted on the side that automatically makes you think of Dale Earnhardt. I cant help but think of what a great scene it would be to see the late Dale Earnhardt plowing over zombies and blaring country music out the windows of that classy black Escalade.
Later in the movie following a unfortunate incident of trickery, Tallahassee and Columbus(another character in the movie) find a yellow Hummer H2 that just happens to be loaded with weapons and ammunition. For most of the movie they are driving in these two vehicles and a road trip like atmosphere takes you on a journey from one Zombie encounter to the next.



Now, will the use of GM's Vehicles in this movie lead to sales increases at the lots, No. Recently Hummer was sold to the Chinese, so GM is not worried about their future anyway. As for the Escalade, I am going to go out on a limb and say that the people who go to watch Zombieland cant exactly afford a new Escalade, and probably wouldnt buy one if they could, they would buy a Camaro.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is today's Ridiculous Car of the Day! Check out those flames, a very nice car with a heck of a paint job.

Today's News

• Today news has come out that Chevrolet will play a larger role in the new GM. They will attempt to pick up the sales lost by Saturn and Pontiac. They want Chevy's sales to account for nearly 70 percent of the total GM sales.

• Also today, there is an interesting game that CNN came out with today called "Which car is built in America?" Play Here

• Oil prices are on the rise toward $74 a barrel.

• In other news on friday Hummer was sold to a Chinese company. No word yet on whether China will approve the sale. The sale does not include the Military branch of the company which will stay in the US and under American control.
  

Here is Today's Ridiculous Car of the Day! Today i will be giving you two cars, since i did not get a chance to post one up yesterday. I will have a write up and news tomorrow.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Todays ridiculous Car of the Day

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is today's ridiculous car of the day! Sorry about missing yesterday, but my computer crashed and i wasn't able to post.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is today's Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is today's ridiculous car of the day. It is a tribute to those days of beach dunes, and Volkswagen engines.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is Todays Ridiculous car of the day. It is Tony Stewarts Brickyard 400 winning car that is enshrined within the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is today's ridiculous car of the day. It is a 1996 Corvette Gran Sport. This represents one of the nicest Corvettes ever made. It was an extremely limited production run, and many of these cars are still being held by collectors and have very low miles.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is Today's car. Some of you may recognize it. It is the car from National Lampoons Vacation. I saw it this summer on the Hot Rod Power Tour in Bristol, TN. Although Chevy Chase wasn't driving it, it was still sweet.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Well at the start of today i had planned on using a picture of a car that i had taken in the past. Then today, out of nowhere, i see one of the most Ridiculous cars ever made on the street. First, i was walking down the sidewalk to go to lunch and i looked down the street and saw these cars on the street.


Now, i couldn't tell what they were from far away, so once i got up closer i saw that they were Bugatti's. Now at first i was thinking, these must be kit cars, but they looked very original. Then i looked across the street and saw this sitting behind the Hotel and realized they were definitely real.

It was one of those moments when you just think, what the heck is this doing here. There in front of me was sitting the car formerly known as the fastest car in the world. I had never seen a Veyron in person, and it was a sight to be seen. The interesting thing was, the people looking at the cars were spending more time looking at the old cars than the Veyron. The Veyron is a truly RIDICULOUS supercar. It has:

• 10 radiators for various things
  
• A 16 Cylinder Engine
• Can go 253 MPH
• AT 253 MPH will run out of gas in 12 minutes, before the tires explode in 15 minutes.
  
• 1001 Horsepower
• Base price of 1.6 Million Dollars
• Only 200 were made
• Needs tires replaced every 2500 miles at $10000
• Averages 8 MPG city, and 13MPG highway

After seeing this car, it made my day. I mean who knows, i may never see one again. When i was walking back across campus i noticed this at the bike rack:

I guess i can see a Bugatti every day and didn't even know it.

Saturn Dead At Age of 24

Today, we mourn the loss of the Saturn car company, a division of General Motors. It was such a young divison at the age of 24. It is proceeded in death by the Pontiac Motor Division and Oldsmobile. It is survived in death by the remaining General Motors brands, Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC. The Saturn division was meant to evoke youth and promote a great car buying experience when it was created. Well, they were more successful on the car buying experience part. Following a break up of negotiations between General Motors, and Roger Penske's Corporation, the company will be no more. The cars faced problems for much of there manufacturing life. We will miss the Sky, as the best car that Saturn ever produced. Other cars that will be less missed are the Ion, L Series, S Series, Vue, Outlook, Aura, Relay and the Astra. A final day of execution has not been set, but one can not help but think it will be close to the time of Pontiac's Death.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Here is today's Ridiculous Car of the Day! It is a Classic GM Electric Vehicle that i saw recently. This definitely makes me want to switch to a Hybrid....NOT....I am guessing many of you have never seen one before.

Rising Oil Prices, and Other News.

• Today it was reported that Toyota has issued "instructed" 3.8 million owners to remove the floor mats from their vehicles. They feel this "may" lead to unusual acceleration. Considering this story that came out last week.

Floor Mats may be cause of Deadly Lexus Crash

I find it hard to believe that more stories will not come out about this in the future. Toyota may have themselves a true Ford Explorer fiasco on their hands soon.

• Also news today out of Detroit that the head of GM's Electric Vehicle Projects, Bob Kruse, has resigned to form his own consulting firm. This is really not good news for GM as the Volt is only a few months away from production, and his resignation has come at a crucial time.

• The Biggest news today though, has to be the steep increase in the price of Oil. This has been caused by mounting fears of the situation in Iran and also a dip in the Gasoline Inventory. This has caused the price to rise to over $70 per barrel, an increase of nearly 6 percent from yesterday. This is definitely not a trend that we want to see continue, as it will mean gas will rise, which will add pain to an already sick economy.

For now though, lets hope we don't see prices like this next time we fill up.

Ridiculous Car of the Day!

Check out today's rediculous car of the day. We will offer a new and ridiculously cool, or awful car each day. Check back for tomorrows car of the day.

Gas Prices on the Downhill Slide

Gas Prices have continued to drop again this week. With the average currently at $2.48 for a gallon of regular gas compared to last month when it was at 2.60. Here's to hoping that this trend will continue.

Dirt 2 Takes Rallying To a Whole New Level.

I bought Dirt 2 after playing the largely successful and intense game Dirt. This is the sequel to that game, and has many of the same features, cars, and overall the same feel.

The game has changed from the first Dirt. Gone are the hill climbs that many people including myself loved to race. Dirt 2, introduces you more to the arena style of rally racing that has become popularized by the X-Games introduction of rally racing as one of its most exciting sports. The actual feel of the game interface is much better than the first game. You get to chose where you want to compete and get there in your slightly ancient motor home.

The level of detail in the graphics is unmatched by any rallying game on the planet. The simple fact that you can actually see the mud hitting your car, and the splash when you hit the water is simply amazing. The view from inside the car is almost as good, to the point that it feels like you are driving in the car. Equipped with a steering wheel, it is easy to say that this may be the most fun, and most entertaining driving game on the market.

The variety of the vehicles in the game does make it more interesting. You can go from driving a sweet Subaru WRX STI one minute, to trucking along jumping ramps in a full size Dodge Ram the next minute. The STI is a smooth and fast racer that just begs you to push it going into a corner. The Dodge Ram on the other hand, well its Hemi doesnt help the handling or the braking. Some of the manufactures include, Dodge, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Hummer, Toyota, Nissan, Pontiac...and others i cant think of at the moment.

One of the best improvements over the first Dirt is that you now race alongside a major racer in nearly every race. From Dave Mirra to Ken Block, there is no shortage of stars to have fun and beat fenders with. The only gripe i have about the game is that i wish there were more time trial rally stages, these open road situations are fun in Dirt 2, especially since the other competitors are on the course at the same time as you. This makes it fun to set the goal of catching the other driver and beating up some of the sheet metal on your car.

Overall, the game is great, and i will give it a rating of 7 out of 8 Cylinders.

Here is a link to the Trailer for the game, watch it and check out the great graphics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCxfS7UmGsU

Welcome to my blog!

The purpose of this blog is to keep you up to date on everything involving wheels turning. Whether it be news on the newest Corvette, or reviews of the latest auto based video games available, we will have it for you here.
More information will be coming later, but for now, Steer the Wheel clear.