There Are Many Ways to Fix A Bumper

Duct Tape Bumper

When I am out driving, it is as if strange & interesting cars stalk me.  I pull up to a light, and non-chalantly look to my left.  But what do I see?  Oh, nothing, just some of the finest bumper repair. Don’t get me wrong, I love duct tape as much as anybody, but rarely should it be used for bumper repair.  It just ends up littering the streets and sticking to my Adidas. Totally not fun.

For those of you trying to “quick-fix” a bumper without the help of duct tape, I highly recommend zip ties. Not only does it make your car look all Frankenstein-esque, but it won’t litter the streets when it gets wet, or leave goo all over your car when it eventually falls off.  Zip ties for the win!

zip tied bumper

Yellow car image borrowed from:

http://www.driftworks.com

Need More: 738 Ft Lbs – 621 Hp – V12 Bi-Turbo.

This Mercedes S65 AMG was spotted recently, and these pictures of it made their way to me because of my slight obsession of everything turbo related. According to the Mercedes Benz website, this car goes for $209K brand new. That is a fair amount of cashola to say the least, but this car is not just another leather filled Cavalier with V12 badges.  It’s a bit more exciting than that, and the technical stats may even surprise you.

Let’s get right down to it – under the hood of this sleeping beauty sits a Bi-Turbo V12 with 621 horsepower and 738 ft lbs of torque. Need I say more? Okay fine, I will. “Twin turbo” is obviously not elegant enough gearhead terminology, so MB brought the euro-style “Bi-Turbo” to the table. That’s 100% fair game if your customers are spending this kind of cheese though. Now, when owners aren’t ripping away at the paddle shifters in attempt to get to 60 mph in the advertised 4.2 seconds, they may notice the S65’s amazing stopping capabilities. This 5000 pound rolling supermodel is capable of adjusting  its brakes 30 times per second. While hummingbird wings do flap faster, I’d still consider that fairly quick. Sorry Mercedes, nature always wins.

The interior surrounds you in comforts that make you feel as important as you probably are. When in the driver’s seat, the dashboard prominently displays that you are at the helm of a V12 Bi Turbo AMG, just in case you forget. There is no question who the boss is, it’s you. The speedometer calmly suggests that 220 mph could be had, but who would be able to see you if you were traveling that fast? When you are driving automotive jewelry like this, you need to keep it like a lowrider, low and slow.

Keep up the great work Mercedes, I like where your head’s at, you’re doing one heck of a job out there.

*Bonus points for anybody that can post up the name of the person who owns this car (yes, I do know).

69 AMC Scrambler

I’ve always been a fan of these fast little cars. It seems as though all of the best cars were built in 1969 and 1970. For those of you that are wondering what the heck this car is, it’s a 1969 AMC Scrambler. For those of you who encountered one at a stop light back in the day, you’d better tighten up on that belt because these little cars came with a 390 and would rip off a 14.3 in the quarter mile, which was pretty darn fast in 1969.

American Motors and Hurst got together to introduce the SC/Rambler. The plan was for at least 500 units to be built that would enable the Rambler to qualify for stock classes in drag racing. The car was fitted with a 390 V8 engine, a functional ram air hood, and had 315 HP coupled with 425 LBS of torque!

1,512 units were eventually built and about 1,200 of them sported the red, white and blue color scheme as pictured above.  AMC had a pretty limited advertising budget, but the car did a great job of screaming “I’M HERE!”

Images borrowed from:

http://www.cartype.com

http://www.musclecardrive.com

Wait, Did This Corvette Just Become More Fun?

They say that less is more, and when it comes to Corvette’s, this saying has got to be true.  This seller on eBay is selling a bodyless, 6-speed, 1999 Corvette that still runs, drives, and stops.  My immediate reaction is that this may be the perfect car.  Add a roll cage, move a little weight toward the back, and BAM, you have a sicknasty rocket ship. Body panels are sooooo 2010. Man, I am full of bad ideas.  Who’s with me?

Anybody? …  echo… echo…

Images borrowed from eBay Item # 310310355884

Did You Miss This? 4 Mile Z28 Locked In A Truck Since 1985.

This stuff amazes me every time I see it. People buy a new car, and stuff it away in a time capsule for a few decades without every enjoying it. Then, the future happens, they blow the dust off the car, and tada! it’s 1985 again Michael. Who has the money to do this you ask? I have no idea, but it’s fascinating to me, so I recommend that wealthy people continue to do so.

As for this specific car, it is basically old news, but I apparently missed it. I guess about 2 years ago this car was “found” in a trailer. In the video it appears to be sitting behind a 68-70 Chrysler B-Body (at 1:37-1:55 ish), which is actually what I personally would rather have, but alas, nobody seems to care about that car. Anywaaaay…. The 2 or 3 guys break out the video camera, and record the entire removal of this car from the trailer and onto the ramp truck. From there, it lands on eBay and grabs something like $20K. While this is technically a profit based on the original purchase price of $16K, I’m not convinced that it was a great “investment” per se.  There are a whole bunch of pictures of this car from 2 years ago on AutoBlog, but who needs pictures when you have video amirite?  We are in 2011 after all, and we are totally Y2K compliant. So without further adieu, I give you, the “barn find” 4.3 mile 1985 Camaro Z28 video.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCK7N2SgJjE

Can’t see the video?  Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCK7N2SgJjE

Take a Guess: Why Would I Cut These Rotors Up?

Question # 1: Recently, a friend asked me to slice up some brake rotors because he wanted to use them in a different way.  Anybody care to take a guess at what his intention is? (Bonus if you can tell me what kind of car they fit.)

Question #2: There are people out there that buy old brake rotors for the scrap metal value. It’s usually about $1.50 per rotor.  Does anybody have any other interesting uses for old brake rotors?  I’d love to hear them or see pictures of them!

2011 6T9 GTO Trans Am

Which One: T-Top Trans Am, Convertible Trans Am, or GTO?

2011 6T9 GTO Trans Am

Let’s imagine for a moment that a genie popped out of your coffee this morning and said that he is magically acquiring you one of the three vehicles pictured above in the next 24 hours. You must take them as show, not knowing anything other than what you see in this picture.  All are brand new, drivable cars, with zero miles.

[polldaddy poll=4856816]

The builder of these beauties can be found at transamdepot.com