After discussing Kreayshawn‘s love for the Buick Reatta in the recent ’88 Buick Reatta Junkyard Find post, it seemed only fitting that I would find a car at the very same Denver self-serve yard that appears to be an homage to Kreayshawn’s greatest hit. (Read More…)

This time on Ur-turn, reader Erikstrawn weighs in on an issue that kept TTAC busy for years: Will GM go bankrupt?  After all those years, Forbes woke up to the issue and wrote a long article on same.

While we are at it: Parts of the Forbes article was written with generous help from TTAC. What bedeviled the magazine to quote an article on Volkswagen’s Winterkorn checking a Hyundai at a motor show is anybody’s guess. While Forbes acknowledged TTAC as a source, the magazine did so without adding a link, which is considered both common and professional courtesy in the business. Also, the rather generous “quote” from a TTAC article was more generous than the formatting at Forbes made believe. Letters to Forbes were not returned. Both common and professional courtesy must run short at the magazine.

With that said, now it’s Ur-turn:

There’s a big argument online this last week over whether or not GM is really going bankrupt again, and it seems to have been started by a politically motivated piece on Forbes.com. I’ve been keeping an eye on GM’s situation, and I don’t think GM’s going bankrupt any time soon, but I think they eventually will if they don’t change what they’re doing. (Read More…)

Fisker concluded its investigation into the fire that consumed one of their Karmas in Woodside, CA. According to a Fisker statement, neither the Lithium-ion battery pack, nor “new technology components, engine component packaging or unique exhaust routing of the Fisker Karma” were responsible for the conflagration. Rather, it was a lowly cooling fan, that, well, overheated. In the guessing game for the fire’s cause, TTAC’s independent accident investigator Ronnie Schreiber came closest when he suspected a low voltage unit.

A recall of approximately 2,400 Fisker Karma has been initiated. (Read More…)

One would think that with all the head scratching, added expense and needless difficulty involved, anyone who persisted in their own repair and maintenance efforts (professional or otherwise) on such flawed contraptions —which I will continue to document in this series on my experiences with automobiles British— must be running as low on vital fluids as the vehicles themselves typically were!

But we’re not talking about the repeating of the same procedure and expecting a different result, in this case. The experienced British Car  mechanic understood that the oil leaks would persist, the electrics would continue to be perform intermittently and the driveability would literally change with the weather. To expect otherwise WOULD have been a sign of insanity! (Read More…)

Its massive price tag and limited availability keeps the Bugatti Veyron out of the reach of most. But what if you really wanted to own one yet didn’t want to break the bank? Enter the Bugatti Veyron replica, which costs $40,000 (inclusive of the donor car). This particular vehicle belongs to a rich businessman in New Delhi, India. He uses it as a support car for his Lamborghini Gallardo. The roof can be folded too, which makes it the Grand Sport. (Read More…)

This picture of a pink Mini was sent from Shanghai by longterm TTAC correspondent Daveinchina.

When I saw the picture, my eyes fixated my palm, palm accelerated in the direction of my forehead and smacked it so loud that Frau Schmitto-san came running from the other room, inquiring (to the best of her Japanese abilities :) “Are you alright?” (Read More…)

The topic of young people not getting drivers’ licenses has become a topic of concern for the auto industry, particularly in, ahem, mature markets like Japan and the US. If young people never embrace the automobile as consumers, they’re not likely to become enthusiasts or collectors. Many collectors, of cars and other things, are often trying to rekindle a spirit they felt as a youth. People will gravitate to collect either a car of their youth or a car they aspired to in their youth. Zlati Meyer writes for the Detroit Free Press, often about car events. In this video produced in connection with tomorrow’s Woodward Dream Cruise, Fifty Shades of Dream Cruise, Zlati takes a lighthearted look at the greying of car culture. What do you think, will car collecting die out, or, twenty years from now will the people born in the first decade of the 21st century start Camry, Accord and Elantra clubs? If there is a Woodward Dream Cruise in the year 2030, when today’s 18 year olds will be entering their thirties, what cars will be driven, and how old will the drivers be?

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There is a well traveled myth in the animal kingdom when it comes to dogs.

Seven years = One human year. In reality, dogs will often reach their version of adulthood within the first year to two years of their life.

The same is true with certain sports cars.

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After I visited the Brain-Melting Colorado Junkyard last month, I couldn’t stop thinking about the car project I’ve been wanting to build more than any other (including even a Zaporozhets with a Tatra V8 swap, and that’s saying something) in recent years: a 1940-1954 American sedan with well-aged patina, 21st-century Detroit V8, manual transmission, and modern suspension and brakes. So, last weekend I returned to the largest assortment of cars from that era that I’ve ever seen, to get some ideas. While wandering around, looking at Kaiser Virginians and Buick Specials, I glanced up and saw the scene in the above photograph. (Read More…)

Here it is, the Fiat 500 Turbo that’s long been rumored. The Turbo uses a detuned version of the Abarth motor, good for 135 horsepower and 150 lb-ft. The sole transmission is a 5-speed manual, and there’s a tweaked chassis to go along with it. The Turbo also gets the same front end as the Abarth, but the more mild visual treatments of the standard car – all for $19, 500 (plus $700 destination).

A few days ago, I heard Nirvana’s “Come as you are” on a classic rock station. It’s hard to think of a grune song as qualifying for “classic” status, but we are creeping up on nearly 20 years of Nirvana. On the car front, there’s already been a re-issue of the Mustang 5.0, and now the Mopar folks are taking a similar path.

(Read More…)

“President Obama is proud of his bailout of General Motors. That’s good, because, if he wins a second term, he is probably going to have to bail GM out again.” Sounds like our august founder, Robert Farago, sounding off about American Leyland the New GM. Nope, it’s Forbes this time, and they come to bury the General, not to praise him.

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The Canadian Auto Workers union is expected to target Chrysler in the event of a strike, but will reportedly wait until Labor Day before taking action.

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You’ve got to give Sergio Marchionne credit for at least one thing: he’s a masterful negotiator. The Italian-Canadian FIAT exec bluffed General Motors into paying $2 billion for the right to NOT buy the Italian company. He went on to acquire a controlling stake in Chrysler for no cash. Instead, FIAT agreed to provide the […]

[Ed: Part one of Steve Lang’s updated used car buying guide is here, part two is here.]

You can rigorously apply the tests described by previous installments of this series without encountering a single setback. However when it comes to buying a used car, it pays to assume one simple salient fact: you don’t know the complete truth.

At least not yet.

(Read More…)