The Beauty of All Wheel Drive

Think back to the turn of this millennium and remember how good things were.  Y2K failed to do anything to the infrastructure, the economy was booming, and the Fast and the Furious franchise wasn't a franchise.  People were living their lives a quarter mile at a time, had jobs, were buying all sorts of extravagance, and 401Ks seemed secure.  Everyone was happy.  That is, everyone except the car enthusiast.

Harlem Shakes

from: http://www.sntrl.com/nyc-life/nyc-nights-vraceworks-meet/

Take a step back, and you'll realize that Hip Hop has had quite a long love affair with cars. Pathfinders sitting on Lorenzos, boomin' 1000 jigga-watt sound systems in Flo-Benzies, hydraulic lowrider '64 Impalas, lifted Chevy Caprices, Escalades on Dubs, what have you.

Hell, CarEnvy did a whole Fiesta-VS.-Countryman review in G-speak. I dare anyone to try to write a review in the tongue of any other sort of subculture. Punk Rockers from Liverpool? Please, it just isn't the same.

But let's face it. To us, an Olds Cutlass on spinners is a subject of ridicule. We hate Dubs. Tweeters and Subwoofers are tossed in the name of adding lightness. Hip Hop and whatever the mainstream media enjoys putting on display doesn't represent us. Real car enthusiasts never TiVo "Pimp My Ride." We're not even disappointed because we expect it all to have little-to-no contribution anyway.

But we're wrong. I am wrong. From Vimeo, I came upon some footage posted by Henry Rojas' of a VRaceWorks' Harlem Meet (yes, that Harlem), chock full of clean JDM tuners from a Civic Si-R fitted with a Garret turbo, rare and tidy Integra Type-R's, S2k's, to even a silver MK IV Toyota Supra and a Nissan GTR. Not a single whistle tip. More than that, the whole event just looks so well organized. The cars are well prepped for photoshoots, the attendees and photographers are all genuinely supportive and respectful to the cars and its owners. I've never been more pleased about being wrong!



TGIF, everybody!

Fueling Fires

Just as the seasons occur in a cyclical order, so do fluctuations of fuel prices.  This is no coincidence.  Fuel is a consumable like any other.  Its price variations are strongly influenced by supply and the demands of the consumer and we happen to drive more during the holidays and the warm months.  In addition, after considering inflation rates, gas prices have not changed very much.  Still, there's no shortage of people who complain like clockwork when the prices start taking a hike.  While most give the generic complaint about high prices.  There's a particular subset of whiner that really annoys.

inflationdata.com