RideLust

Thumbs Up: May be the perfect American muscle sedan.

Thumbs Down: Thirsty when driven hard (as you’d expect).

Buy This Car If: Your idea of a weekend get away involves multiple time zones.

There are very few perfect things in life. Take enough pictures, and maybe you’ll eventually snag the perfect shot (hey, it worked for Ansel Adams). Try hard enough and you may concoct the perfect breakfast sandwich, to unseat McDonald’s Egg McMuffin (although we doubt that very much). Drive a particular track long enough in the same car, and you may eventually find the perfect line. Read More…

Awful. That is exactly the term that should be used when describing every muscle car that came out of the 1960′s and 1970′s. Sure you had a few exceptions when it came to handling like the WS6 equipped Pontiac Trans Am’s, but for the most part, those big canoes were horrible when it came to going around corners. In today’s automotive society we can now update our old rides with new suspension, wheels and tires in the hopes of making them better. Back in the day though, well… this is about as good as it got. The following video was conducted by Bud Lindemann of “Car & Track” on the 1971 Ford Torino Cobra. Sure it had big power, but it also had big weight and little skinny tires that made it look like an elephant on stilts. I’ve got to say though that it is actually quite enjoyable to see one getting flogged around a racetrack in the same shape it left the factory. Click through for the video and prepare to be appalled by how bad things used to be.

Source: Youtube.com
Read More…

Insurance rates were up, horsepower was down and under the hoods of most cars were miles and miles of performance choking smog equipment. The fire breathing muscle cars of just a few years earlier were now gone and in their place were the weez-O-matic government mandated machines of the 1970′s. This was a dark time for auto manufacturers in the United States, and an even tougher time for enthusiasts. Back then car companies were forced to rely on image more than anything else and thus we were treated to vehicles that only looked as though they were quick. Colorful sticker kits, trick interiors and funky wheels were the go-to answers for manufacturers. It was a tough deal, but as consumers there was simply nothing with any serious performance in the showrooms. Cars like the Screaming Chicken Trans-Am’s, Mustang King Cobra and Hurst Oldsmobile’s were all that were available. In fact it wasn’t until the late 1980′s that horsepower finally decided to make a comeback. Below are just a few examples of how stickers equaled speed in the 1970′s.

Read More…

In the world of collector cars the Dodge Challengers from 1970-1971 are some of the most desirable cars on the market today. They’re well styled, relatively quick and actually quite reliable when tuned properly. They also have this aura about them that sets them apart from average muscle cars thanks to films like “Vanishing Point” and “Death Proof”. In today’s world of instant information we can find things like car reviews on any year/make/model by simply doing a quick search on the internet. Back in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s though there was really only one place to go, that being, Bud Lindemann’s “Car & Track”. Even though the tests were crude and the results not entirely accurate, this show was the public’s one true link when it came to seeing how these cars performed in road going settings.
Read More…

Concerned you’re not doing enough to promote global warming? Do you have carbon credits aplenty, or do you simply like turning meaty rear tires into lingering clouds of mosquito-repelling smoke? If you answered yes to any of those questions, consider buying yourself a Roush Stage 3 Mustang, which displays it’s prowess at leaving expensive black spots on the pavement in the video below. Read More…

Have you ever had the opportunity to purchase one of your dream cars, but for whatever reason, you passed on it? This happened to me about 7 years ago and I’ve been kicking myself ever since. Now while most people think of dream cars in terms of something exotic, I tend to go a little more blue collar… you know, like Dodge. You see Dodge, while not the greatest cars on the road, have always been innovators in terms of style and design. For years they’ve flipped the bird to conventional thinking while giving us some of the most outrageous and ridiculous cars the road has ever seen. Take for instance, the 1969 Dodge Daytona, a car that was 21-feet long with a 2-foot nosecone up front and a 4-foot wing in the rear. It was outrageous, but necessary as Dodge needed street going versions in order run their winged wonders in Nascar. Fast forward now to 1992 and the debut of the Dodge Viper, a car that paid homage to the Shelby Cobra’s of yesteryear. It had a 400 hp V10, had no door handles or windows, and was the equivalent of driving a modified ox-cart with a Saturn Five rocket strapped to its ass. Other cars like the hot-rodded, yet under powered Plymouth Prowler and retro PT Cruiser are other examples of Dodge’s willingness to think outside the box.
Read More…

Can you believe that in 2014 the Ford Mustang is going to be 50 years old? The Mustang was the original pony car. It was the car that set the automotive world on its ear and captivated the essence of being a free spirit back in the mid-1960s. The Mustang is to Ford what vanilla is to chocolate and to celebrate that Ford is going to once again redesign the Mustang. This time however, as opposed to being an American only beauty, Ford intends to give their old horse right hand drive and send it across the pond. According to AutoExpress.co.uk, the 2014 Mustang will be known as a “world car” and will be offered with the same V6′s and V8′s around the world. Initially the UK, Australia and Japan will be the first to receive right hand versions of the car. It’s also said that the car will finally have an independent rear suspension, something that hasn’t been seen on a Mustang since the 1999 Cobra.
Read More…

He beat Hulk Hogan in front of 45,000 people at the Georgia Dome in the WWE, he’s played for the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL and he’s one of the nicest (and biggest) full blown car enthusiasts on the planet. He’s Bill Goldberg and he’s just set his sights on building one of the baddest second generation pro-touring Trans Am’s to ever roll on tarmac. You see last year after hosting the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational, Bill got seriously bitten by the pro-touring bug. Already a die-hard muscle car nut, the idea of melding old car styling with new car tech was something that really appealed to him. Plus, since he’d already seen a host of these bad boys in action, it just seemed right that he would jump on the bandwagon to create what he calls, project “ERNREE”.
Read More…

Muscle cars, both past and present, have a mystique about them. Whether you’re talking about the big block fire breathers of the 1960′s or their now modern re-imagined siblings, the American muscle car will always have a place in the automotive world. The original cars were politically incorrect, gas guzzlers and for the most part outrageous in their styling. As for the new ones… well, not so much. In fact if you look at the current crop of today’s muscle cars you’d notice that their not only fast, great performers and comfortable, but in some cases, more economical than you might think. Motor Trend Magazine recently brought together a flock of the old and new for a little side by side comparison. As the owner of a few classics, as well as a modern muscle car, I can tell you from experience that while the old cars are simply wonderful, they simply can’t hold a candle to the refinement that 45 years of technology brings.
Read More…

Hot chicks and smoking tires are like crack to a gear-head. We’ll take them a la carte or together and it makes absolutely no difference what order they come in. Ksubi is a fashion label down in Australia (which helps explain the Ford Falcons) and it seems that they’ve figured out the exact combination to get people excited about their clothing. The following video was made to introduce the return of the brands colored denim range of jeans. It features some Australian muscle cars from the mid-1980′s, 3 hot models (who really need to eat more) and a wonderful operatic soundtrack. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t dig it. Click through for the video and get ready to enjoy tire smoke, scantily clad models and some music that you’d never ordinarily listen to.
Read More…