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.

GM’s announcement that they’re closing the Pontiac (the city, not the defunct brand, in Michigan) truck plant after 37 years puts a big fat “!” at the end of news that truck sales have fallen off to their lowest point since Reagan was in office. High margin pickup trucks were the bread-n-butter of Detroit’s strategy since car buyers defected to the Japanese in the ’80s and ’90s, making up 15% of all light passenger vehicles being sold. That percentage has now dropped to 10% of the market, and unless something drastic happens those numbers are expected to slide further.

The continuing saga of the Cash for Clunkers plan has gotten more interesting as new reports emerge that suggest that the program has actually increased the average gas mileage of all new cars sold during that period to a record 23 MPG. That’s an 8% increase from 21.2 MPG in August 2008 and the best numbers recorded since gas hit $4/gallon back in the dark days of 2007. So should we celebrate or sagely shake our heads? More after the jump.

According to several sources, Audi is purportedly giving very serious consideration to replacing their famed V10 with a turbocharged V8. Apparently, the Gallardo-derived 5.2L FSI V10 which currently powers the RS6 and the R8 V10 is too much of a gas-guzzling behemoth to hold the interest of most consumers, and Audi isn’t willing to lose money in the name of snarling performance. Offering a turbocharged version of the naturally aspirated V8 in its place would be a far more economical option for both Audi and enthusiasts, and as much as we’d be loathe to see it go, we have to admit it’s a smart choice.

About a week ago, we brought you the first photos of the new 2010 ROUSH STAGE 3 and what little details we could scrounge together. Now, we’ve got the full scoop:

ROUSH unveiled two new models recently, the aforementioned STAGE 3, and a new model dubbed the 540RH.

Now, the STAGE 3 makes use of the same hand-built 4.6L V8 used in the P-51B, except this one finds an additional 30HP by way of a massive Roush-Eaton TVS intercooled supercharger, forged aluminum pistons with an increased dish to lower the compression ratio from 9.8 to 8.6, forged steel H-Beam connecting rods and a forged steel crankshaft, new fuel rails, fuel injectors, and a remapped ECU program for a grand total of 540 ground-pounding horses. And thanks to the forged bottom end, ROUSH can offer an impressive 3 year/36,000 mile warranty to owners.

With all of the performance and mechanical updates to the 2010 Range Rover Sport, you might anticipate that Land Rover is re-energizing themselves by returning to their off-roading, go-anywhere roots. You’d be wrong. While built well, off-road capable, and with a huge amount of new engineering clearly on display, little of its expensive high-tech trappings are meant to make the Range Rover Sport any better off of hard pavement.

Geiger, the long time tuning firm of German persuasion which specializes in refining coarse American cars for sophisticated European palettes, has offered up their G-treatment for the latest and greatest slice of pure Americana–the Corvette ZR-1. But all is not beer and skittles (if you didn’t know already). Geiger subjected the Corvette to some “diverse tuning measures” to the tune of some 72 additional horsepower, bringing the grand total to 710HP at the crank, meaning–in their own words–that “propulsion only ends at a speed of 342 kilometres per hour.” That’s 212 mph to us chili-doggers here in the colonies. But don’t go thinking all this tuning has resulted in some stellar sub 3-second 0-60 time. The Geiger GTS is actually .2 seconds slower to that mark than the stock version. And we’ll give you two tortured rubber reasons why.

The fact is, performance wise, Geiger is intruding into Brabus territory by producing an obscenely powerful version of a car that is already too strong for its own good. Most cars simply cannot apply 677 ft-lb of torque in a productive manner, unless your intent is to produce half a mile of gooey rubber stripes.

So then, what about that svelte Euro-styling? Meh we say. Out back, it’s all Modena. And up front, it’s sort of like a Sabertooth Tiger–intimidating up close, maybe, but from a distance it just looks silly. And a bit pretentious. Geiger says the styling is “reminiscent of the large Gran Turismos of the 60’s and 70’s,” but we’d rather they not turn quite possibly the world’s biggest supercar bargain buy into a Ferrari Daytona knock-off.

But tell me: Would you replace Daisy Duke’s cut-offs with a floor length evening gown so your out of town relatives would approve?

Those GT’s had style, but so does the ZR-1, oodles and oodles of it. And all the GTS does is steal that brawny American charm we all know, and sometimes even love.

For more info, a full hi-res gallery, and a taste of German-to-English translation goodies, check the press release after the jump:

In the landscape of mid-size SUVs, the FJ Cruiser stands apart as the only such vehicle that incorporates a “retro” style interpretation of a previous model that has been a major trend in passenger car design lately. With only marginal sales success, Toyota has attempted to focus the aims of the FJ Cruiser towards the idea that the out-of-this world durability and ruggedness of the original Land Cruiser is compatible, and desired, in a modern vehicle.

Sorry, Infiniti. I know you were trying to be nice and give a few dealers/executives a peek at your new QX, but some asshat in attendance had to go all MI6 on you. So here we have the 2011 QXsomethingorother. Looking like a Range Rover cross-bred with a Land Cruiser, it’s sporting some huge rims, smooth bodywork and fender vents (are we done with these yet?). Even the blackened pillars come straight from the Land Rover LRX concept. Hit the jump for the booty shot.

Ascribing poetic hyperbole and terms of endearment to Audi’s R8 is pure cliche at this point. We know it’s good. The only thing that wasn’t just as spectacular as everything else about the car was the engine, a 4.2 liter V8 packing a diminutive 420hp, chicken feed compared with the likes of Ferrari’s 600 plus horsepower 599.

And then came the 5.2 FSI V10. “Oh, snap!” we thought. 525hp. The R8 is perfect.

Well, not to the likes of ABT Sportsline, who never listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd about being a simple kind of man.

Enter: the ABT RR8 5.2 FSI V10. Tuner alphabet soup at its finest. ABT treats the 5.2 V10 to the predictable buffet of carbon fiber cosmetic upgrades, as well as a 75hp boost in output. This means the new R8 can blast to 62mph in 3.8 seconds and hit a top speed is 322 km/h (that’s 200mph for non-metrics users).

Personally, we’re fans of the red accents on the aerodynamic accouterments. Because, when you’re not satisfied with the stock R8, any attempt at subtlety is pure pretense on your part.

For a hi-res gallery, a full list of parts, and the rhetoric from ABT too biased to be listed on Wikipedia, click the jump.