RideLust

All I ever wanted to do was drive. Be it a car, boat or lawn tractor, it honestly didn’t make any difference. In fact I wanted to drive so bad that I actually convinced my Mom to teach me in a 1979 Ford LTD wagon at the tender age of 13 (my Dad was a harder sell). Kids today are more concerned with smartphones then actually driving, however thanks to the magic of Youtube we were able to find one shining star. This is Evan and thanks to his dear old Dad he’s been given the gift of speed by way of a souped-up power-wheels racer. Gone is the stock power source and in its place are dual sealed gel batteries with an output of 24 volts and a 500 watt .66 horsepower electric motor. What this means is that little Evan can now not only rip up his surroundings, but get back to being a kid again.

Source: Youtube.com

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If you’re a fan of all things Clarkson, then you’ll want to add the new TomTom Top Gear edition GO Live to your holiday wish list. In addition to voice guidance from none other than Jezza himself, the special edition GO Live includes Top Gear themed startup and shutdown screens, and unique icons (although we can’t confirm whether or not one is really a hamster). In case that’s not enough, there are also Top Gear-themed points of interest, which leaves us Americans scratching our heads wondering what they may be. Perhaps the Miami used car lot where the salesman showed Clarkson his Saturday Night Special? Read More…

States are getting smarter when it comes to vanity plates, and the days when you could sneak a tag like A55 MAN past the DMV are long gone. Ditto with FOR PLAY, which really can have a relatively innocent meaning on a Jeep or sports car (though probably not on a Harley). Still, you’d be amazed at the tags people request, assuming that no one at the state motor vehicle office is paying attention. Read More…

Form over function... Image: Flickr user yapsnaps

There’s a fairly active Volkswagen community in Jacksonville, and the guys from Stateside Euro are regular attendees at the monthly Cars & Coffee event here. All are well versed in their rides, and can fill you in on an incredible amount of obscure detail about Volkswagen and their specific year, make, and model. Most have invested a significant amount of scratch in their rides, and by anyone’s definition of the word, these guys are hardcore enthusiasts. Read More…

Ford's latest innovation? Seats that monitor heart rate. Image: Ford Motor Company

I drive an average of about sixty different new cars per year, and every end of the price spectrum is represented. I’ve driven bare-bones transportation, complete with crank-down windows and manual door locks. On the other end of the scale, I’ve driven European sports cars and luxury sedans that cost more than my first house; hell, I’ve even driven some that cost more than my second house. In between is the pond that most automakers want to be the big fish in, and I’ll call that “cars that most of us would buy”. In order to grab the attention of new car buyers, automakers are packing a lot of content and technology into mainstream vehicles these days. Every car, it seems, is now available with a “premium audio system”, and you can get most models with factory navigation. Back up cameras (or at a minimum, back up sensors) are now common, and Bluetooth integration generally includes both cell phone and audio. All of these features were once the exclusive domain of luxury cars, but they’ve now trickled down to the common man. Read More…

Image: Callaway SportTrucks

What do you do if you like to go fast, but still need the ability to haul stuff? You could buy a Ford Raptor, but the truck is set up for desert pre-running, not on-pavement fun. Dodge no longer makes the V10 equipped SRT-10, and the Chevy 454 SS is a distant memory. If your pickup tastes run to something with a bow tie on the grille, Callaway has a bolt-on kit for the Silverado 1500 that adds 135 horsepower and 115 ft lb of torque to the stock 5.3 liter V8, bringing it up to 450 horsepower and 450 ft pounds of torque. In case that’s not good enough for you, Callaway also offers a kit with 540 horsepower and 522 for pounds of torque, which should ensure you get the mulch home from the garden center, pronto. Read More…

*Photo Credit: GoMediaNetwork.com

It’s no secret that car manufacturers are always trying to get us to buy their products. They offer us incentives, rebates and love to shower us with statistics on fuel economy, performance and safety. Media outlets like Facebook and Twitter are used to silently inform us of new product revelations that have come out of their R&D departments in the hopes that we will be enticed to enter their showrooms. However as consumers I sometimes wonder if automakers are truly hitting the nail on the head when it comes to marketing. Most of us out there are brand loyal in one way or another. Some of us like Ford’s, others Honda’s or Audi’s. I’m more curious though as to the factors that influenced your purchasing decision and why, at the end of the day, you bought what you bought.
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Years back, buying wheels for your ride was a pretty simple task. Unless you had a Camaro or a Mustang, chances are that you only had a few custom wheel options open to you. Today, it seems like every auto parts store sells custom wheels, ranging in price from “unbelievably cheap” to “you’re kidding about those prices, right?”. Even reviews aren’t always a big help, since it’s hard to find an objective opinion on wheel quality or even appearance. A buddy of mine just launched a Wheel Buyer forum, with the intent of building an online community dedicated to custom wheels, tires and related products. It’s still in the early stages of ramping up so there’s not much content (yet), but I like the idea. As far as I know, there isn’t another forum on the internet dedicated to non-marque specific wheels. Give Wheel Buyer a look and feel free to offer suggestions for content. I’ll pass them along to the site owner, who’s a true gear head with the rest of us.

If you spend any amount of time on the road, one of the most important things you can invest in is a decent pair of sunglasses. I’m not talking about the $10 Fauxkley wrap-arounds you pick up at the flea market, which are disposable at best. On the other hand, you don’t have to spend Sunglass Hut prices to pick up a decent set of shades. I’ll admit that I’m heavily biased when it comes to sunglasses, since my eyes are particularly sensitive to color (the by-product of too many years spent color correcting photographic images and digital files). I literally can’t wear knockoff sunglasses with cheap plastic lenses, since their odd tints and distortion give me a brain-splitting headache in just a few minutes. Bad drivers are nearly enough to turn me into a serial killer, so I don’t need any help from cheap sunglasses. Read More…

Chip Foose, Steve Strope, Troy Trepanier and the late Boyd Coddington, are and were considered to be some of the best hot-rodders and custom car makers in the business. Their vehicles are generally considered to be works of art, with their attention to detail being second to none. I’ve seen some of their creations in person and can safely say that these guys are the best at what they do. But what about everyone else; I mean how do civilians in the custom car world make it on their own? I’ve built two custom cars in the last six years, so I can tell you from experience that it’s no easy task. I have to confess that this article has nothing to do with the names mentioned above, good looking cars or actual customizing talent. In fact every one of the machines that you see below looks to have been put together with duct tape, vinyl siding and bailing wire. Oh, and lets not forget the bondo, lots and lots of bondo…
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