Rollin' on D(ementia)

Thirty-two hundred dollars.  That's how much it would cost to buy a set of supremely sexy forged BBS wheels from Tire Rack.  The keyword here is "forged."  Can you justify $3200 worth of wheels?  No?  Well, neither can I and that's a problem when I have two bent wheels.  Ya, thank you very much craptacular snow belt roads and your equally dismal pothole laced streets!  What's the solution to getting my car rolling again?  Follow the jump.

2nd Flappy Paddle Heads GT5 Mega Invitational

A bit Overdue, but better late than never!

The Motomethod Story

Everything is here. Everything I have, you have.

Most of the 'garage shorts' that we find and share are usually centered around a man of great talent. Whether it may be a jack of all trades or a savant of a very specialized field of work, his methods and his work ethic defines the business.

In the case of Paul and Ian of Motomethod (visit their website!) in Vancouver, Canada, the credit not only lies in their expertise, but in their tenacity to open up a shop in the first place when they barely had any funds. More importantly, rather than withhold tricks of the trade, Paul and Ian generously shares their knowledge and their floorspace with customers that walk through their doors. Maybe it's a Canadian thing.

Big ups to the Zenga Brothers for making the short film. Check out more of their stuff from their Vimeo channel.

Ebay Finds

Here's a quick and dirty post about three phenomenal cars for sale on Ebay right now.

Ferrari F40:  You know it, you love it, buy it for $600g

Jaguar C-type reproduction:  Curves this good don't need to be real.

Jaguar by Kougar Engineering:  She's expensive, old, and ugly... but still a Kougar.

The Other Other Daytona Race

Today, Daytona International Speedway played host to the climax of Daytona bike week with the running of the Daytona 200.  While the rules of the 200 have changed over time, the current 200 mile format saw 45 600cc 4-cylinder (or equivalent) motorcycles from Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Ducati, Buell, and Triumph battle both in the infield and on the high banks.  As the bikes sat pinging themselves cool, four riders knew they had given everything.  One had taken the checkers while the other three had lost out by a mere 0.048 seconds.  Here's how it all went down.

Scion of Manhattan: Rooftop Party

For city drivers, this is a peeve that gets the best of us. Here you are, minding your own business, gingerly pulling a yellow Cinquecento out from a snug parking space that had taken you hours to find in the first place when [SPOILER ALERT!] the world's largest leg of ham falls from the sky.

Through the decades, many European automakers have tried to solve city transportation, introducing clever solutions such as the original Volkswagen Beetle, Fiat 500, and Mini Cooper to navigate Europe's narrow city streets. While these names still exist today, the present-day offerings are only bloated caricatures of the past tools of urban mobility.

However, just because the successors have strayed from its original M.O. to become fashionable accessories, it doesn't mean that city cars are no longer necessary. Case in point, there are more than 8 million people now living in New York City. If anything, owning a micro-car makes more sense now than ever before.

The question is... which one?

In The Red

Take a good, long look at the picture above.  It's an advertisement from the current issue of Road & Track.  Notice anything automotive related?  Hit the jump to read my conspiracy theories.

Random Photo: Dodge Charger

Found this Sublime Green Dodge Charger in Gloucester, MA today.

Force Fed Friday

Alliteration is a great device to use when telling anecdotes to a group of friends.  It can turn an awful storyteller into an amazing one... or at least make the words more interesting to hear.  I don't think a story about a partially petrified paleolithic pancreas is that interesting but it's fun to say!  Sorry to all the archaeologists out there!

Where was I?  OH!  Alliteration!  Yes, it's fun.  In fact, this being the weekend, make a drinking game out of it.  At a wedding reception, we, the wedding party, all had to take a drink every time a word started with the letter "L."  We were soon talking about litigious lesbians loving lipsticked lawyers.

You should convince your friends to give it a shot.  You can use words that start with "F" but try to use innuendo more than cussing and swears.  I'll start you off with Force Fed Friday.

Incidentally, that sounds like a great title to use for a bunch of videos about turbo and supercharged cars too!  Enjoy these somewhat artsy, kind of informational, partially awe-inspiring videos.

Fragile females fracture forearms from falling. Drink! (responsibly and don't drive)

Happy Friday!  Feel free to add your own alliteration or video in the comments!


Streetgasm Top Secret Twins - RPM Online from Seifer Chimera on Vimeo.



MRC WIDEBODY S4 - THE SEQUEL 204.4MPH from MRC Tuning on Vimeo.

The Recapturing of the Aura

For many self-proclaimed car fanatics, little can irritate us more than the rare moment where our "so called" encyclopedic knowledge of everything automobiles gets trumped by somebody else. Anybody else. At least that was how it was for me.

Now, one of the many things I get out of working on FPH is the constant reminder that I, in fact, know very little about anything at all. The internet is this amazing, never ending source of obscure stories and factoids from all over the world. God bless it!

On the far opposite end of the spectrum and from the far opposite end of the world (the Outback, to be exact), Gavin King is certainly the king of his domain. With a severe case of tunnel vision for classic British sports cars, the garage of his business, Concours Sportscar Restoration, holds some of the most incredible metal sculptures the world has ever seen. Of course, if you paid attention to the name of his company, you would understand that those beautiful machines didn't look that way when they came into his shop.

Check out his process below:



Also, remember to visit Toby Morris' page on Vimeo and check out more of his work.

Commercial Success

For anyone that hasn't been living under a rock for the past few years, it's common knowledge that the housing market has been going through a rough patch with the economy being in the gutter.  Considering this is an automotive blog, the previous statement would seem to be coming out of left field.  If you think long and hard, there is a correlation here.  A house is the most financially important purchase most people buy.  Now consider the volume of people that aren't in the position to buy a house and a car becomes their biggest purchase which ties up most of their income.  So it's no surprise that the car industry has been going through its own turbulent time.  But hold on just a minute!  While 2012 may mark the end of the world, the recent sales figures are saying 2012 is a renaissance for the auto industry.