It’s small, cute and compact, is available only overseas, and is perfect for that urban dweller who calls the city their home. It’s the Toyota iQ, the fun little runabout that was introduced back in 2008 at the Geneva Auto Show. The iQ’s small stature means that parking is never a problem. It’s little 1.3-liter 97 hp inline-4 means that it’s good on gas and the fact that it has a wheelbase of only 78.7 inches means that it’s simply awesome at typography. Wait… what? Now this is where it gets fun. You see a couple of young typographers and a pro race driver thought it would be a neat idea to give the little iQ its own font style by using the car as the actual artist. Interactive artist Zachary Lieberman came up with the idea to track the cars movements by using custom software, thus enabling the driver to actually create a new font whilst being behind the wheel. The concept seems a bit out there at first, until that is, you see the result.

Everyone who is into cars has that one favorite picture of their ride that they’re really proud of. It’s the one that they show to friends or use as their screen saver at work. For some it’s an action shot, for others it’s an automotive portrait. Whatever the case though, these photos generally portray your automobile in the best possible light, or at least the light that you’d like everyone else to picture it in. Over the years I’ve taken hundreds of photos of my 1968 Dodge Charger. I’ve got track photos, stills, burnout shots and pictures of the car with my ugly mug behind the wheel. So when I decided to narrow it down to just one, well… lets just say it wasn’t as easy as I thought. However, after a few hours of searching, I finally came up with one. It’s not all that glamorous, nor is it an action photo. Simply put, it’s my car sitting at a light in the place where it feels most at home – New York City. Like I said, we’ve all got our favorites, so my question to you is… what’s yours? If you’ve a photo of your favorite ride send it in to me at “mike@ridelust.com” and we’ll post it up for the world to see.

• Alexander: Porsche on Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles, CA

• Alexander: Police Interceptor, Los Angeles, CA

• Jose Armenteros: Honda S2000

• FD Griffin: Cobra

• Shahroz Hussain: Chrysler 300

• Mike: 1971 Chevrolet Camaro

• Victor: 2005 Mercedes-Benz CLK320

• Mark Ford: Porsche 968cs

• Mark Ford: Porsche 911rs

• Freddy: Camaro SS Convertible – Norway

• Johnny Ru: Nissan Xterra – Somewhere in the wilderness.

Marcos cars are madness. All have plywood chassis modeled after the De Havilland Mosquito fighter. Most run Ford engines and various Triumph suspension bits. They are lightweight, fast, and devastating on the track.  This is the fastest, most mental Marcos ever made. It’s the Mantis XP, a mid-engine monster powered by a 700-horsepower BRM-Repco V8 and styled by the brilliant Adams Brothers.

Source: Blenheim Cars

The Mantis XP is positively breathtaking. The sweeping body and long nose were shaped to slice through the wind. Its massive faceted perspex greenhouse glitters like a jewel. Its abrupt angles and curvaceous lines intersect to form a bizarre crystalline shape that defies all design conventions. But it works. My god, how it works.

The XP was built to conquer LeMans. The project was launched in 1968 by Marcos and was then handed over to designers/builders Dennis and Peter Adams. The two built the car in their second-story workshop, called The Forge. When they completed the chassis, they realized it wouldn’t fit in the freight elevator. They had to cut a whole in the floor of The Forge and lower it out. Thus, the Mantis XP was born.

When the car was completed, Marcos decided to run it at Spa in an endurance race. Marcos founder Jem Marsh took the driver’s seat. Then it started to rain. Hard. The XP had no seals around its perspex cockpit and soon the interior filled with water. Marsh had to pull off to have his team drill drain holes in the bottom of the car. Marcos marched on and the car went from dead last to 21st place (out of 38 cars) in just 10 laps. Marcos driver Eddie Nelson spun the XP soon afterward and lost five places. By that time water had infiltrated the distributor cap, causing bad misfiring. Because Marcos had only one (very expensive) engine, they decided to drop out of the race. But so did a third of all other entries.

Marsh tolk the XP home and swapped the expensive F-1 engine for a Buick V8. Legend has it that he made runs to the local market in the outrageous car.

The XP was purchased by a private collector and was recently given a full restoration. It appeared at Goodwood and has since been seen in the wild at several car shows. Today it survives as probably the penultimate example of quirky late ’60s engineering and design.

2010 was a good year. The venerable Lancia Stratos came back from the grave. Jaguar built a car with two jet engines in it. The Mustang shaved its mullet and proved itself as a more-than-capable sports tourer. Chevy’s long-awaited Volt turned out to be pretty good. And Cadillac made the most bitchin’ station wagon ever. But my favorite cars this year didn’t make the glossy magazines. They won’t end up in posters plastered to 15-year-olds’ walls. They won’t be featured in Forza or GT5. They are, however, spectacular in every way imaginable. Here they are, in no particular order.

The GLCOAT (Greatest LeMons Car of All Time)

The man who built this eight-wheeled monster never finished and sadly didn’t live to see it achieve Internet fame. It’s the GLCOAT, or Greatest LeMons Car of All Time. I like to call it the Octo-Rod, but that’s just me. It was discovered on eBay by curious car buffs, for sale as part of the builder’s estate. It has eight wheels, two Mazda rotaries, and more gumption than Calamity Jane. It was purchased by 24 Hours of LeMons veteran Speedycop, who plans to race it. How could it not be on my list?

Octo-Rod

University of British Columbia eBeetle

Student engineers from UBC built this electric beetle and drove it clear across Canada. It’s powered by an A/C motor and a lithium-ion-phosphate battery. It’s range is more than 200 miles at 42 miles per hour. It can hit 85, which is batty in a VW Beetle. I love the ingenuity of this thing, the sheer tenacity of the engineering team. And it’s a Beetle, which just makes makes me smile.

UCB eBeetle

Miura Replica

That is a Fiero. It’s a painstaking replicar built to exacting specifications. It rocks a Corvette V8, custom-fabricated interior, and a fiberglass body. And you’d be hard pressed to identify its domestic underpinnings. It’s a work of art, every builder’s dream. It was first featured on Buildthreads.com and is now a legend.

Miura Replica

Air Prance Citroën DS

In my mind, this car represents the greatest achievement of the 21st century. It’s a 1971 (or ’72?) Citroën DS and it ran, successfully, in several 24 Hours of LeMons races. With its hydraulic suspension system intact. It was ran by Team Prance and it’s still running. In fact, it recently made a trip across the country to run in another race. Brilliant.

Air Prance Citroën

Rx-2

Bob Maywell built this 1970-ish Mazda RX-2 for racing. It’s a good thing, too, because he works at Thunderhill Speedway in California. It’s powered by a turbocharged 12A rotary and has a full race cage. The RX-2 is a rare bird in the states, but it’s one sexy little coupe. It’s on my short list of dream cars.

Mazda RX-2

Honda N360 Electric

The guys at Hector’s Chop Shop in Santa Rosa, Ca., are building an electric, rear-drive ’69 Honda N360. The N360 was a Lilliputian Kei car, a 1,100-pound front-wheel-drive hatch with a 30-hoursepower 600cc twin. The thing was barely 10 feet from nose to hatch and only four feet wide. Forrest Koogle  and the crew at Hector’s scored a pair of the tiny cars, sold one, and decided to convert the other to an all-electric driver/racer. They picked up a massive 60-horsepower D/C motor with ungodly amounts of torque and, well, things got crazy from there. The build is still not finished, but it’s one of my all-time favorites.

Electric N360

Smyth G3F

Go green, go fast. It’s Smyth Performance founder Mark Smith’s motto and it means you can have a hyper-efficient car that won’t lull you into a state of suspended animation—and you can build it yourself. Smith is developing a fuel-efficient diesel kit car called the G3F, a true hoon’s alternative to the legions of vapid big-name hybrids. The first prototype is nearly finished now and Smyth is ready to deliver a few kits to brave beta testers early next year. I love the idea behind this car and it looks great, too. If I were to ever build a kit, it would be a G3F.

Mark Smith’s G3F

Slammed Previa

I used to make fun of the egg-shaped Previa. Now I dream of owning a Previa All-Trac with a modified supercharger and a swapped-in manual transmission. A Stanceworks.com forum member who goes by the handle “shawnthemonster” pimped out his Previa. He slammed the thing within an inch of its life, gave it independent rear suspension to get adjustable camber in the rear, and slathered the whole thing in red and black paint. I love it. It’s the perfect family van and damn sexy.

Slammed Previa

Manstretta MXT

The Mastretta MXT is a 1,980-pound powerhouse, a mid-engine coupe with a 240-horsepower turbocharged 2.0 liter inline four. The lightweight sports car will be the first car designed, engineered, and manufactured in Mexico. According to Mastretta, the first production units should roll off the assembly line in 2011. It’s one hot little number. And it helps that my favorite color is orange. Hopefully they’ll import the cuddly little thing to the US so I’ll have a chance to drive it.

Manstretta MXT

Dymaxion Recreation

Buckminster Fuller built the Dymaxion Car way back in the ’30s. It was extremely ahead of its time, a aerodynamically slippery minivan with supreme maneuverability and excellent fuel efficiency. But it was horribly unstable due to it’s single rear-wheel-steering setup. Still, its quite possibly the most spectacular car ever built. British architect Norman Foster had a Dymaxion built from scratch. Dymaxion #4 was built based on analysis of the only remaining Dymaxion Car and Fuller’s drawings. Race car restorers Crosthwaite & Gardiner put it together using Fuller’s original specs: Rear-mounted Ford flathead V-8 driving the front wheels, single rear-wheel steering.

Dymaxion Recreation

Mazda 5

I only wrote one car review last year, and it was of a rented Mazda5. I loved it. The sporty little five-passenger vehicle (okay, minivan) won my heart. So much so, in fact, that I bought a 2011 model with a five-speed manual transmission. It’s a great family hauler and road trip car and, to be honest, the nicest car I’ve ever owned.

Mazda5

Every so often a vehicle inspires gearheads to shout from the rooftops, to announce its glory to the broad automotive world. Jim Brennan over at Hooniverse found this spectacular 1965 VW Type II bus at Motormavens.com. Now I, your faithful town cryer, bring it to you. It is absolutely perfect. It was restored to intergalactic concours condition by its owner, Rolando Alvarado. It wears a scrumptious shade of vanilla cream topped with a dollop of lustrous licorice black. It hugs the ground like an angry pillbug. It has just the right amount of blinding chrome. But this bus isn’t all show and no go. Alvarado took it to VW miracle worker Victor Nemjivar of So Cal Performance Lab, who punched its stock 1600cc air-cooled flat four to an incredible 2276cc. Then he added forged ceramic-coated pistons and custom ported and polished heads with turbo chambers. Finally, he topped it off with a Garret T3/T4 turbo. The batshit-crazy mill pumps out 235 horsepower with 12lbs of boost on pump gas. And it’s air cooled. Madness. Glorious madness.

Source: Hooniverse, Motormavens

I have to say that Monterey, California is probably one of my favorite places to spend time. You’ve got the pristine surroundings of Monterey Bay, wonderful restaurants, and then, on one fabulous weekend out of the year, you have the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The Concours d’Elegance captures the best vehicles from around the world and puts them on display for the world to see. Keep in mind that these are not tired out old relics, but the best of the best from around the globe.

Before the festivities begin however, there is one event that is a must for first timers. On the Thursday night before the big weekend, there is a little restaurant called the Baja Cantina that is located about 2 miles from downtown Carmel. Now, not only is the food wonderful but on this particular Thursday evening you will see some of the coolest muscle cars, vintage exotics and old rally cars on the planet. While their owners dine on burritos and tamales, the cars sit stationary for the world to see.

The beauty of this event is that the people who attend it are simply wonderful. Guys were showing up with vintage hot rods and t-buckets, old race cars and of course some super exotics. The festivities start at around 4pm and run until the sun goes down, but as far as attending a great kick-off to the weekend, there is simply none better in my opinion. These pictures show just some of the highlights that were scattered around the parking lot – enjoy.

Whatever game you’re playing, the stakes can’t be too high if you’re driving a Sentra.

Source: That Will Buff Out

One of the best things about being in the car hobby are the friends you make along the way. I’ve met people from all walks of life, both rich and poor and at the end of the day we all have one thing in common – we all love our cars. Not too long ago a good buddy formed the New York Motor Club. It consisted of a group of like minded guys who got up super early on a Sunday morning for the sole purpose of ripping up the roads in upstate New York. We’d drive, stop to bullshit for awhile, drive some more and then grab breakfast at some greasy spoon. By 11 am our driving time was done and we’d head home, but from about 5am-9:30am on most Sunday mornings in upstate New York, the roads belonged to us.

When a guy buys a car one of the first things they think about is what kind of impression their new whip will make on members of the opposite sex. Guys hope that their new ride will act as a big fuel belching pheromone that will make the ladies come running. More often than not however guys greatly overestimate the power of their cars appeal and it winds being more of a “Chuck” magnet than a “Chick” magnet. Keep in mind also, that since we’re guys and have no real understanding of how the female mind works, we usually end up just causing more problems for ourselves. I’m going to break this down into categories and give you a male pictorial perspective as to what kind of women we think certain types of cars will get us, versus what generally happens in reality.

Exotic: Lamborghini, Bugatti, Porsche and Lotus

• Fantasy

• Reality

Import: Honda, Subaru, Mitsubishi and Hyundai

• Fantasy

• Reality

Muscle: Dodge, Chevrolet, Ford and Pontiac

• Fantasy

• Reality

Environmental: Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and Nissan Leaf

• Fantasy

• Reality

Luxury: Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus and Cadillac

• Fantasy

• Reality

4×4: Jeep Wrangle, Hummer, Pick-up’s, SUV

• Fantasy

• Reality

Family Sedan: Ford Taurus, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Nissan Maxima

• Fantasy

• Reality

The art of taking video and then splicing it together to create one fluent, entertaining movie is an art. It takes practice, patience and an amazing eye for entertainment. The above demo real is for one Mike Flores, off road and automotive filmmaker extraordinaire. The shots he manages to capture with the camera are some of the best I’ve ever seen. Tie that in with some amazing editing and you’ll see why he’s one of the best in the business.

Source: RalfBecker.com