Well friends, by the time you read this, an era will have ended. A delicious era I might add. That's right, starting today– Black Thursday– taco trucks in unincorporated parts of Los Angeles will be required to move every hour, effectively putting them out of business. Since this insanity was first proposed SaveOurTacoTrucks.org has been leading the crusade to save the roach coaches with a battle cry of, "Carne Asada is Not a Crime" and lots of informal protests where folks show up and… eat tacos. Sadly, it was to no avail. Last night marked the final protest. I'd already written to my useless supervisor Gloria Molina and expressed my outrage at the banning of the trucks. I even tried arguing that forcing the trucks to move every hour was environmentally irresponsible. But all I got back was a form letter thanking me for my "quality of life" concerns. Failure in hand (so to speak), I figured the least I could do is head down to East LA and eat (more) tacos. The quiet, peaceful gathering was attended by about 100 taco and taco truck lovers (half of whom I suspect of being food bloggers). The worst part? The five carne asada tacos I ate were frigging scrumptious– I'm still salivating some two hours later. And now they're gone, all gone. As far as protests go, I haven't had this much fun since I marched with Mario Savio against Proposition 187 back in 1994. Hasta la vista trocas.

Last week we learned that GM has acknowledged Saturn has an image problem. Now, since TTAC started blogging, we've been stating that Saturn has an image problem, among other issues. But this is the first time the Detroit General has fessed up to it. How are they going to address this problem? Through advertising, stupid. Which got us thinking (I know, I know). Obviously Saturn's current Rethink campaign is not working, but are there others? And that thought led me to none other than Subaru. Have you seen the commercials for the Forrester? They're going after the CamCord demo. Look, we're big advocates of "know thy brand." Subarus appeal to Lesbians, hoons and people living in Oregon, Vermont or Colorado. And that's basically it. That said, can anyone explain this? At least in Canada they're getting closer. Can you think of other brands more out of touch?

I've always liked Lamborghinis better than Ferraris. I have no rational basis for feeling this way. Oddly enough, that makes me the perfect Lambo client; except for the "I have no money" part. But let's say you have a bit of extra cash/credit/cocaine lying around the McMansion, but you're still a couple of tens of thousands of dead presidents short of the $201k needed to purchase the (now) entry level Gallardo LP560-4. You could by a Porsche. But that's a bit like spicing-up your mac & cheese with a can of tuna. Fear not! Lamborghini has a solution for you: a certified pre-owned (CPO) purchase program! Imagine, all the joy inherent to a dealership experience plus the calming charms of buying a used Italian supercar. How could you lose? After all, Ferrari and Maserati have had similar programs in place for years. Of course, paying a monthly nut for a used bull will still cost an arm and a leg and a lucky lotto ticket. How much? If you have to ask, you have to ask. Only we can't tell you and neither can Lamborghini. But when they can, we will. Any guesses?

The Altamont 24 Hours of LeMons race finished yesterday. If I shut my eyes, I can still see $500 beaters running around a track– and nothing else. I can't even think of thinking of anything else. Now, I've always been– at best– a casual fan of racing. When I was a kid, I'd watch the Indy 500 with my dad, intermittently. As I got older, I discovered different forms of racing. Rallying piqued my interest, as did European-style GT racing; as the cars running around the track bore a passing resemblance to what you see on the street. F1 cars just didn't do it for me. For a time, I became fascinated by historical racing. The 60's racing cars– Jaguar E-type, Ferrari 250 GTO, Shelby Daytona Coupe, etc.– really got my blood pumping. Then I discovered LeMons. Say what you will about the Burning Man aspect of $500-or-less art cars banging around a track. But this, to me, is pure racing. There's no money in it; the winner gets $1000 in nickels. Other teams are constantly asking to borrow a cutting torch or mooching a control arm. Due to the low cost of entry, almost any group of friends can run a car and live out the dream. And finally, while you might see some LeMons cars on the street, most are in the junkyard. So, you? 

What a race. Ninety cars started the event. I have no idea how many cars finished the race, but it was a lot fewer than that. Due to inexperience and a poor game plan, we were in 47th position on Saturday when sadly and quite horribly, another driver — Cort Summerfield — died of a heart attack behind the wheel. The CHP determined there was no mechanical failure and that Cort was dead before he hit the wall. I know I speak for all the teams when I report that what followed was a very long, emotional and mostly sleepless night. We all wanted to race, but it was hard to see the point during the wee hours of Saturday night. After a touching memorial given by LeMons organizer Jay Lamm, we fired up our engines at 9:30 am Sunday morning after Cort's teammates assured us that's what he would have wanted. I was first up, 47 places down on brand new, cold tires. Gulp. After some not-too-shabby driving (if I do say so myself), I moved us from 47th to 35th. Then I lost the power steering belt and had to pit. The crew fixed the belt and Jack Baruth hopped in. For the next two hours and 42 minutes no one passed the V8olvo. And Jack passed everybody. He even managed to pop off the fourth fastest lap time of the day, bringing us to a respectable 20th place. My teammates John (Evil Genius of Evil Genius Racing), Wayne and Jesse managed to pick up the baton and hammer down just as hard. We finished in 15th place, climbing 29 positions on the day. You can expect both a full report from me, as well as Team Black Metal V8olvo finishing a bit higher in December at Thunderhill. Oh yes, we're doing it again.

Well friends, tomorrow is the big race (my birthday as it turns out). Yesterday, Speed:Sport:Life's own Jack Baruth and I assisted our lead mechanic Dave (aka Hellhammer) put the final touches on the V8olvo. And I'm proud to report, she's beautiful. So beautiful in fact that we simply had to take it down to an every-other-Thursday type car show to let the vintage domestic aficionados know what some seriously grim and frostbitten Gothenburg steel looks like. Surprisingly, they loved it. Actually, it's not so surprising. I mean, what's not to love about a 1984 Volvo 244 stuffed with a Ford 302 and a five-speed? Plus a radiator from a 560SEL. Springs and sway bar from Thunderbird. Oh, and fans. Lots and lots of fans. We figured we might as well show our LeMons racer off to the public before it gets t-boned by a Corrado and appears less, um, shapely. Sigh. Wish us luck, we're going to need it. Or not (evil laughter goes here). Check back here Saturday and Sunday for updates on the LeMony action!

After reading Wilkinson's GT-R review, I sent him an email expressing how much I enjoyed his take on Godzilla. And how I'm humbled by his wordsmithery. More importantly, I agree with his impression of the baddest ever Nissan. Are we driving cars or driving computers? Several of TTAC's Best and Brightest (however) highlight the fact that the ex-Car and Driver editor didn't grow up playing video games. He can't possibly "get" the car. (Which is a polite way of calling him old.) One commenter asked to hear Stephan's 28-year-old daughter's take on the car, assuming her age would make her take more relevant. While I'm older than his daughter, I'm in the demo that came of age with a joystick in hand [Ee: so to speak] First of all, what kind of a car is only enjoyed by a single age range? A bad one. Look– a friend of mine in his late 50s says that selling his '65 GTO was the dumbest thing he's ever done, I get it. I get it, big time. Just like he gets my WRX– although he thinks it looks stupid. But you know something? It does look stupid. It's a station wagon with a spoiler– it's supposed to look stupid. Oh right, the question. Do certain cars only work for certain age groups? 

File this one under "News that will not shock Justin Berkowitz." For the fourth straight year in a row, the propeller people from Bavaria have taken home Engine of the Year honors as decided by… motoring journalists. Who decides on which motor journalists get to vote? Who knows? Anyhow, this is the second year in a row that the 335i's dark bread und white sausage has taken home the award. And why the hell not? BMW has simply eliminated turbo lag, a trick they couldn't even manage in their own twin-turbo V8. And the power is awesome. I once asked a BMW engineer about the possibility that they underrated 3.0-liter twin-turbo's power to save the face of the then out-going E46 M3. He was aghast. Nein! That would be unethical, immoral and many other non-nice things. Who would do such a thing? I explained the history of American muscle cars, the notorious underrating of horsepower and my German friend looked nauseous. Either he's a hell of an actor, or completely in the dark. I saw a 335i dyno 275 horsepower at the wheel. Figure a 15 – 20 percent driveline loss and you're talking at least 330 horses, maybe more. But hey, who's complaining? 

My buddy Mayor sent me this paleolithic (in internet terms) clip of Jay Leno hooning it up in a Tesla Roadster. Production model #1, owned by RSA-born Elon Musk of PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla Motors, in fact. And it looks like a lot of fun (the car). Sure, Leno glad hands the Tesla suit a bit (like when the guy says it "only" takes 3.5 hours to charge), but the car itself  looks pretty damn drool-worthy. 100% torque at any time, at any speed– what's not to love? Now, of course I'm skipping over the part about Tesla Roadsters not– you know– actually existing. And if they did, costing $100k. But let's ignore all that. As "car guys" (and gals), should the opportunity arrive for you to drive electric, would you? I'm a fence sitter.

Just the other day my girl asked me if I remembered Los Angeles in the '70s and '80s. Specifically, smog. I know:  some people reading this will start hollering at their monitors, "LA's still smoggy!" Yes, it is– but then The Golden State's notoriously useless politicians– who are all too happy to let Angelenos waste over 3 billion hours a year parked at the 101/405 interchange while they ban taco trucks— mandated the world's toughest auto emissions standards. And they work. Pittsburgh now boasts America's filthiest air. Anyhow, The Motor Authority reports that our shorter-than-he-looks Governor Schwarzenegger will be meeting with muckity mucks from The Big 2.8 and Toyota to explain how CA's CO2 standards will save their bacon by forcing them to build higher mileage cars. A position not only supported by all three presidential candidates, but one that makes sense in a state where gas costs $4.00 a gallon. But don't worry, nothing will actually happen that effects anyone in any real way. That [non-PR battle] will happen if, as and when a court strikes down CA's fed-trumping CO2 regs. 

The boys hauled the V8olvo (an '84 Volvo 244 with a Ford V8 of some vintage stuffed under the hood) up to Thunderhill for some pre-race diagnostics. The good news: we have good handling, sufficient power and adequate brakes. If you think I'm holding my cards close to my vest, I am. The bad news? A cooling problem and the oil pump seized. But that was before the crew pulled off three heroic 14-hour days in a row. Now we have the radiator from a 560SEL chilling down all 302 cubic inches. In fact, the V8olvo is in such dominating shape that it received a paint job. Yes sir, that's a Swedish Rebel Flag. With the 13 stars of the CSA. Representing what, we have no idea, but Judah Benjamin would be proud.

BBC America's version of Top Gear is a mixed blessing. I'm not happy how they edit the episodes– like removing the Cock-O-Meter sequence entirely from the M3, AMG C63, RS4 comparo (if Americans hear the word "cock" we'll drop dead). So I've spent six months of my life watching every single second of Top Gear on YouTube. Only now BBC shows 'em in high def. My point? Last night I watched the episode featuring Jezza making love to the Ascari A10. In case you haven't heard, the manic, shed-built Ascari can hit 60 mph in 2.8 seconds (that's faster than a Veyron), weighs less than 3000 pounds and de-perched the Koeniggsegg CCX from atop of the fastest Top Gear lap time board. And I couldn't have cared less. Am I getting old? Are there just too damn many of them these days? Or is Mike Bumbeck right: supercars are for people who can't drive?

My plan: drive the metallic blue BMW 128i Convertible down to San Diego. I could've clichéd down the coast, stopping off in Yorba Linda to do donuts in the parking lot of the Nixon Library. That's what a sensible person would do. But the true masochist always chooses the route less traveled. So, straight from the heart of Hollywood, I loaded up the Bimmer's minuscule trunk, saddled my semi-potent Deutsche-steed and set off through the seriously Lynchian Inland Empire. Unseasonably hot, 97-degree late-April weather be damned.

File this under "News That Effects Me Personally." As in, "Those city hall pricks are taking tacos out of my mouth." Where I live in North Eastern LA, there are– or rather were— six taco trucks with a one mile stretch along the same road. As The New York Time rightly reports, each one offers uniquely delicious fare. Except for that one up on 51st — their tacos suck. But the other five, man… So here's the dirt straight from the hungry horse's mouth. Restaurants are complaining (and have been complaining) that the "roach coaches" are stealing customers because their food is so cheap. My new mortal enemy, county supervisor Gloria Molina, is pushing through the ordinance that will require taco trucks to move every hour. Effectively putting them out of business. Why? Henchman Gerry Hertzberg claims the trucks represent a "big quality of life issue." Whatever that means. Taco truck owner Jose Naranjo puts it best, "We are poor people feeding other poor people." Yeah, and me! The ordinance goes into effect today. This is a total tragedy as one truck in particular serves-up the best carne asada tacos in all of Los Angeles. And trust me, I've looked. Anyhow, I wrote Molina a letter and signed the save our taco trucks petition. Though I fear you can't fight city hall. Tasteless jerks. 

Gas tax holiday, shocking pain at the pumps, trucker strikes protests, all time record oil prices. You flip through a newspaper, and despite a presidential election, immigrant rights marches, people getting sent home from American Idol and oh yeah, a war on two fronts, there is little talk of anything but our (possibly) imploding economy and the fact that it costs Mrs. Johnson $120 to fill up the soccer team's Sequoia. One conclusion to be drawn: the media likes scaring people. Remember last week's the oddball reports on a possible American food shortage ('Sam's Club would only let customers purchase four 50-pound bags of gourmet rice at a time')? The other conclusion is that American's don't have a lot of money, $4 a gallon stings and they're driving less. I'm not. In fact, due to my passive aggressive approach to personal finances, I'm driving more. But, I did notice today that traffic on the 5 near downtown Los Angeles was particularly light. Maybe others are driving less? Are you?