The guys over at Canyon Rods put their touch on the full restoration of this hot rod. Just about everything’s on this ride has been replaced, and it looks and runs amazing!
The Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG
is already a fierce little roadster, what with its 5.5-liter naturally
aspirated V8 cranking out 355 horsepower and 376 pound-feet of torque.
But for those who want something a bit more bonkers, the folks at
Väth have just the solution, by way of the V58 - an SLK55-based
beastie that produces - get ready - 565 hp and 568 lb-ft, gains of 210
and 192, respectively. Holy moly.
How does such a thing come to life? Väth starts by upping the
Merc's engine displacement to 5.8 liters and adding things like a new
compressor, new pistons, high-grade steel catalysts, a sport air filter
and much more. In addition to these mechanical tweaks, the engine's
electronics have been re-calibrated, and the end result is an SLK that
will max out at 193 mph. To manage all of that added power, a new set
of high-performance brakes have been added up front. Vath also offers a
locking differential and a new fuel cooler as optional upgrades.
Bored
of the deluge of perfect photographs pouring out of motor shows?
We’ve taken some old and strange film cameras to Geneva to show
you another side of cars. Well, of supercars anyway.
Given that
the Geneva Motor Show has been the birthplace of many icons of
rock-and-roll fascination—both the Miura and the Countach were
introduced here—it’s surprising how humorless, sanitized,
corporate and depressingly adult the event is. Patterned shirts and
rumpled hair did not make easy our entry past the gates, and that was
before we produced our documents.
“These are a joke,” a stern lady by the name of Michelle
greeted us with a smirk after inspecting our letters of editorial
confirmation. No glossy magazines? No big-money advertisements on
expensive paper? Then, upon my insistence, she visited jalopnik.com, and the joke was on her. “But you look so young” was all she could come up with as we waved her goodbye...
Honestly, we're still trying to figure out exactly how the HMK 561 Carbon Fiber Electric Bike
works. We like that it looks amazing and has four wheels (look
closely), but those pedals seem to be placed awfully high if we were to
actually ride around on one of these things. We wanted to ask where the
chain and pedals are, but we found out that the propulsion system isn't
a normal one and they're apparently not needed. Here's how designer Ralf Kittmann describes it:
The one-piece carbon frame was especially developed for
braiding machines which allow for a fast, efficient and cost-effective
production. Suspension and bearing are integrated in the frame during
the braiding process.
We're not sure, either. We do get that this concept
vehicle's entire frame can store energy and that two electric motors
are built into the two swingarms. Those motors "transmit the power
counter- rotarily directly to the rims. During speed reduction the
energy is regained." What's even more amazing is that the HMK 561
doesn't exist just in computer renderings. A prototype exists, and we
demand video.
Suspension tuner John Hotchkis, principle of Hotchkis Sport Suspension and apparently at peace with the fact that we broke his precious E-Max,
invited yours truly out to the Streets of Willow to pound some more
hard fought miles into the amazing yellow 1971 Dodge Challenger.
Actually, a whole bunch of people were on hand to do the pounding, and
not just on the E-Max. Hotchkis was putting on a before-and-after
clinic to showcase (and show off) a couple of its suspension packages.
Not only was the mighty, heavily tweaked E-Max on hand, but the
Hotchkis gang brought along a fairly stock 1970 Challenger, a rented Chevrolet Camaro SS and a Camaro SS that had been given the full Hotchkis suspension treatment.
The Plan: Put each car in the more-than-capable hands of John's
brother, Mark Hotchkis, a former Indy Lights driver who also happens to
campaign a Porsche 962 in vintage races. Each car would be put through
a series of tests (slalom, skid pad and a lap of the track itself)
revealing numerically just how much better the new Hotchkis suspension
pieces worked...
While
GM is still waiting with the official debut of the Camaro Convertible,
spy shots reveal more and more about the car. A very lucky guy caught
the car testing and at a stop light he also get the confirmation that
the car will go on sale next April.
The Convertible version will be offered in the same three trims as the coupe version:
LS, LT and SS. The LS and LT models will be offered with an advanced,
3.6 liter direct-injected V-6 engine with variable valve timing and a
choice of six-speed manual or automatic transmissions while the SS
model will come with a 6.2L V8 – including fuel-saving Active
Fuel Management on automatic-equipped combination – and a
six-speed manual transmission...
The last LA Auto Show just revealed the first brand-new Lotus in over a decade. But where did this fast, light and low legend come from? The Lotus was originally built in England as a high-performance race-car. Check out where a group of SoCal daredevils put this beautiful beast to the test.
Ferruccio
Lamborghini didn't start out as a builder of supercars. His first
success came in the form of tractors and agricultural equipment. Here's
a look at the long and illustrious history of automaker-built tractors.
With
Spring bustin' out all over, farmers everywhere will pull their John
Deere's and Internationals from the barn for planting season. We figure
it's time to take a look at the long and illustrious history of
automaker-built tractors.
Tractors and cars at the turn of the 20th century couldn't be
further apart in design. Where cars were just coming into their own and
the path of electric drive, steam power or internal combustion was
still being sorted out, tractors had been steam driven since the late
1800's. More or less steam locomotives on wheels, they were huge,
expensive, hot, dangerous machines requiring several men to fuel and
operate and they weren't particularly powerful. When the early
automakers began settling on internal combustion engines as the future,
they also set their sights on the farm industry...
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was caught in the
crosshairs of Toyota's troubles Thursday as some congress members
questioned their response to problem with stuck gas pedals in Toyota
vehicles. NBC's Tom Costello reports. (Nightly News)
When we first met Nissan's vice president-design for North America Bruce Campbell, we were amused by his name. Hey, we've seen Evil Dead II
at least fifty times. But after a few minutes of conversation with
Nissan's highest-ranking U.S. designer, we were deeply impressed by his
humor, ideas about design ("The Corvette looks fast standing still, the 370Z
looks fast at speed") and his soft-spoken grace. Sadly, Mr. Campbell is
disembarking from the Nissan ship after more than thirty years at sea, reports Wards Auto.
Campbell's career reads like a Nissan greatest design hits list, having
worked on the (still fab looking) "Hardbody" trucks, the
third-generation Maxima, the Xterra and more recently, the new latest Maxima, the Rogue and the 370Z. Going back to our conversation, Bruce explained to us that the 350Z
was designed only as a coupe, and that the 350Z Roadster looked odd
because it was an afterthought. From the start, the 370Z was designed
to be both a coupe and a convertible. We think he did well. We also
think that his successor and current European design chief Alfonso Albaisa has some pretty big shoes to fill.
James Sikes, the San Diego runaway Toyota Prius
driver, filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and now has over $700,000 in debt.
According to one anonymous tipster, we're also told he hasn't been
making payments on his Prius. UPDATE!
We
received an email earlier today from an anonymous tipster who claims
James (Jim) Sikes, the driver of the runaway Toyota Prius, was in
financial trouble and even behind by five months on his payments for
the Prius. If that's true, it's potential motivation for wanting to
find an out — any out — on paying for the vehicle.
We did some public records searches (thanks to the help of Gawker's
John Cook) and found Sikes and his wife Patty found themselves, like
many in the California real estate business, on the bursting side of
the real estate bubble last year. The two declared bankruptcy in June
of 2008 and have a combined liability of over $700,000 dollars in debt...
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