John Fluevog designs funky ’50s-inspired footwear. He also designed his slinky custom ‘65 Jag. The car was a rusted-out lump before restoration/customization began. He chopped its top, modified nearly every body panel, and dropped the whole thing on a custom frame. He also stuck a Chevy V-8 under the hood for good measure. Most builders don’t have the balls to mess with such a classic design, and for good reason—it’s easy to mess up. Fluevog actually made the thing look better, and made it unmistakably Fluevog. Check out Fluevog’s site for more pics and a brief story on the resto.

Source: John Fluevog

This past weekend I had the opportunity to do what few others get a chance to. I drove a 45 foot, completely optioned out, half-million dollar motor coach. I left Friday morning and made a 650 mile run down to Concord, NC to Tom Johnsons Camping Center. Now, this was no little car lot, but a facility that deals in some of the finest luxury motor coaches in the industry. Rigs ranging from $30,000 to well over a million. It’s also located right at the entrance to the ZMax Dragway and Charlotte Motor Speedway. This will be a multi-part segment as there is just too much to write about in one post.

Add lightness. And a new, sleeker face.

The new 2011 Lotus Elise takes a few cues from the Evora, most notably the refined schnoz and hood. The 1.8-liter Toyota mill gets a bump to 192 horsepower naturally aspirated and 217 supercharged. The base S model will come with a 1.6-liter tricked out with Valvematic and Dual VVI-i.

I could just eat it up.

Via: Jalopnik

Blastolene Indy Special, photo by Drew Phillips, Autoblog

You’d think Patton tank engines were a dime a dozen the way the guys at Blastolene throw them into outrageous roadsters. This is their latest creation, the Blastolene Indy Special. It has the same 1,792ci V-12 M47 Patton tank engine as Jay Leno’s tank car, but it’s mounted in a sleek hand-formed aluminum body inspired by the Watson roadsters of the ’50s and ’60s.

The colossal engine puts out an estimated 910 horsepower and 1,500 pound-feet of torque. It’s mated to an Allison automatic bus transmission. The whole thing weights an astounding 8,400 pounds and is 22.5 feet long.

It’s undoubtedly a work of art and utterly deserving of lust.

Hop on over and check out the gallery at Autoblog.

The words “affordable” and “Italian” generally don’t play well in the same sandbox. Italian sports cars as a whole bring up thoughts of big dollars, big repair bills and big ego’s, that is, until now. I recently had the opportunity to view one of these rare Italian beasties in person and was pleasantly surprised by what I found out, that being, that most anyone whose employed can own one.

What you see here is a 1960 Alfa Romeo 2000 and it is a beauty. Think of it as the Mazda Miata’s illegitimate great grandfather. These cars, although rare are actually quite affordable with the price spectrum ranging from about 20k-40k which really isn’t that bad when you consider this car was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro… never heard of him? Well, he’s the guy who also designed the Ferrari 250 Berlinetta Bertone, De Tomaso Mangusta, Iso Grifo and Maserati Ghibli, so in short… he’s got mad skills.

Performance wise the little Alfa is no pavement shredder. It’s little four cylinder cast iron mill churns out about 105 HP @ 5300 RPM and sounds glorious, not to bad for a car that weighs less than 2300 lbs. Although, if you want to get really crazy the later 2600 models did have an 2.3L inline-6 that produced 145 HP… BOOYA!! Make no mistake, these little Alfa’s are all Italian, all sports car and everything you’d need to fit in to any car show anywhere in the world. So before you go out and spend that 30k on some new pasta rocket or strudel wagon, take a look around and think outside the box, because if you do, you may just be amazed at what you’ll find.

Now everyone has pondered the idea of traveling to work like George Jetson.  Avoid the morning rush hour and traffic congestion prevalent in our modern cities. There have been many attempts at the flying car, some more plausible than others, but we are now almost there.  Its name, the Terrafugia Transition, as it can travel in both the air as well as on land. Now it’s not exactly as advanced as the Jetson’s car, but it is as advanced as we can ask for. It can switch between a car and a plane within 30 seconds, and can amazingly fit in any standard sized garage. On land it averages 30 mpg, not bad for a car/plane hybrid. In the air it maintains 115 mph and has a range of over 400 miles. Now the Terrafugia is not even considered to be a prototype yet but its developers plan on doing some additional testing to improve its performance and hopefully plan to get it into production. The real question we have to ask ourselves is if we really want to be flying around in the air thousands of feet above the ground with the same people who cut us off on our daily commutes and flip us the bird as if we did something wrong. Obvioulsy this flying car will not solve the traffic congestion problems in the city because there is no place to land, but if you were trying to avoid the traffic you may encounter between point A and point B, and you have the space to take off and land, the Terrafugia may be for you.

The Red Green Show officially went off the air in 2006, but the indelible legacy it left on DIY gearheads lives on and to this day, duct tape is second only to Bondo as the destitute crowd’s favorite repair tool. Among those most heavily influenced by Red Green’s jury rigging is a member of RideLust’s own staff (who shall remain nameless) that attempted a half-assed repair job of their own on an aging Volvo. Hilarity later ensued at the inspection station (followed immediately by a rejection sticker) and in honor of the laughs they elicited we’ve assembled an assortment of our favorite moments in Possum Lodge engineering.

Although some might reasonably argue that its bloated proportions cause it to lag significantly behind the competition (literally), the Dodge Challenger nevertheless continues to be a favorite amongst nostalgic muscle car enthusiasts and/or balding guys with a slight paunch. Since the part of that demographic that isn’t blowing their disposable income on alimony would gladly shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars to recapture the glory days of their youth, Mopar has released yet another aftermarket package for the Challenger.

The newest offering is dubbed the “Performance Appearance” Package, which achieves the same thing for the Challenger that a hairpiece does for its driver. Available in two parts, the exterior package includes body-color hood with scoop, body-color rear “Go-Wing” spoiler and strobe stripe performance graphics, while the interior package features a Mopar-branded T-handle shifter, bright pedal kit (automatic only), bright door-sill guards, premium carpet floor mats and a full vehicle cover. Prices begin at $1,995 and $945 (respectively) and do not include the ill-fitting Ed Hardy tee or the Journey’s Greatest Hits CD.

Adding to the Ford Flex’s already sizable reputation as one of the coolest people movers on the market, the Friends of the National Automotive History Collection (NAHC) recently bestowed upon it a new honor, awarding it 2009’s “Most Collectible Vehicle of the Future.” Apparently, the Flex’s unique, retro-modern styling not only makes it a hear turner today but also guarantees it plenty of limelight at the Woodward Dream Cruise in 2034.

Ford is naturally elated by the news. “We are delighted that the Ford Flex has been recognized by the NAHC as having a design that will become a collectible of the future,” said Kate Pearce, Flex marketing manager at Ford. “We knew from the start that we had a vehicle with stand-out design that looks like nothing else on the road, but that also meets the needs of our customers looking for passenger space with innovative technology and great fuel economy,” she said. “Reaction from our customers has been fantastic and we hope they will enjoy their cars long into the future.”

Of course, some critics may dismiss the optional wood paneling, mini fridge, and panoramic moonroof as red herrings meant to distract from the fact that, at its core, the Flex is nothing more than the Windstar’s cleverly-disguised successor. While they may be right in some respects, it is imperative that naysayers not forget that while the Flex may posses some inherently minivan qualities, it still remains unparalleled in its class. In 2034, the Dodge Caravan will be rusting out behind a tool shed in northern Michigan, the Toyota Sienna will be scattered in charred bits along I-95, and the Honda Odyssey will still be lame.

Full disclosure: the next journalist to use some variation of the word “cracked” to describe the Honda P-NUT’s debut is getting kicked in the shins at the next auto show. I’ll be watching.

Unlike the majority of the unpalatable concepts that have littered Honda’s booth for the better part of 2009, the Personal-Neo Urban Transport (P-NUT) does not immediately offend the senses. As a matter of fact, the angular front fascia and the well-defined, sloping shoulders are actually quite attractive and almost lend Honda’s design department an air of hope. “Almost” being the operative word.

Unfortunately, the P-NUT unveiled live in Los Angeles last week is not a production-ready urban crawler but a purely a conceptual interpretation of the soul-sucking enviro-friendly vehicles Honda promises to roll out in the future. Apparently, the RWD, rear-engined P-NUT’s primary objective is to demonstrate that there is hope for the ultra-compact city car beyond the ugly, underpowered options currently available today, which is basically akin to performing a digital makeover. The immediate reaction is positive…and instantly killed by the harsh smack of reality.

Bottom line: if you want small, fun, cool and only slightly fruity, buy a MINI Cooper. If you want small, marginally faster than a pair of Rollerblades, and guaranteed to score you plenty of dude poon, buy a smart ForTwo. See Honda? Theoretical problem solved. Now get back to work on the CR-Z.