Category: Automotive

1964 Soviet Taxi Prototype

1964 Soviet Taxi Prototype 5

Even a babushka with a baby carriage full of pea soup fits in, without a drop spilled. The car never made it to production, but the concept is interesting, given the state of automotive manufacturing in the USSR at the time.
[Click the images below for full size.]

This unique test car was designed in 1964 based on components of “Moskvich-408”. It successfully passed performance tests in Moscow and was recommended for serial production In Yerevan, but due to different reasons it didn’t go this far…

[Caption with more photos here.]

Chopped & Slammed VW Microbus

VW Microbus

I want one.

Portland Hipsters Can Eat Me.

EAT BUNK

No, that’s not a photo shop. It’s a real pig being fed a Bunk sandwich. With minimal sleuthing we determined that the hipsters’ porker is standing on the pristine pavement in front of BUNK Sandwiches 2017 NE Alberta Street, Portland Oregon.

This is not their only venue, and they have a Bunk Truck for catering. Why didn’t they tell me? After all, I’ve already got a cool hip logo for lease or rent:

Bunk Strutts Logo

BTW, Google Maps Street View captured this Babe Magnet parked across the street from Bunk’s.

Roadster at Bunk's Sandwiches Portland OR

[Top image sent via email. Muchisimas Grassyass, Russ.]

 

1959 Chevy Bel Air vs. 2009 Chevy Malibu

1959 Chevy Bel Air vs. 2009 Chevy Malibu

Yep, cars are safer now, but what a waste of a classic. Click on the image to see the test video that includes cameras inside each vehicle during the collision. [Animated .gif previously posted here.]

[Confidential to Tasha A.: Czech your email. Je ne sais quoi indeed. -Bunk]

The Bug That Wasn’t A Bug But Was.

1942 Renault 4CV Prototype front

1942 Renault 4CV Prototype rear

Take a guess as to what it was – the answer’s below the break. Continue reading “The Bug That Wasn’t A Bug But Was.”

Introducing The 2015 MultiCar BS Coupe

The 3-wheeled MultiCar has been around for decades and is featured on many traffic reports. Manufactured by Pyeongwa Motors of North Korea, The 2015 MultiCar BS Coupe has many improvements over previous models, including tempered glass, a front-wheel disc brake and reverse-engineered Carter carburetors. Handling is somewhat below par, and there is no insurance coverage available to date. If price is a concern and replacement parts are not a concern, then the MultiCar may be just the right choice for you. [Strutts News Services]

Manufactured by Pyeongwa Motors of North Korea, the 3-wheeled MultiCar has been around for decades and is featured in many traffic reports. The 2015 MultiCar BS Coupe has many improvements over previous models, including tempered glass, a front-wheel disc brake and a reverse-engineered Carter carburetor. Handling is somewhat below par, and there is no insurance coverage available to date. If price is a concern and availability of replacement parts is not, the MultiCar may be just the right choice for you.
[Strutts News Services]

 

Thanks to the glory of communism, North Korea has what might be one of the lowest rates of car ownership in the world. Although the government doesn’t release official stats, the best estimate is that there are fewer than 30,000 vehicles on the road—in a country of nearly 24 million people. (Officially, private citizens can’t own cars, but those with government ties manage to.) You are more likely to know somebody with a private jet than a North Korean is to know somebody with a car.
[…]
Although a minute segment of the population owns cars, the rate of growth is significant. In fact, in 2007, cars were deemed prevalent enough that Kim Jong-Il ordered the confiscation of all Japanese-built vehicles.
[Via Pyeonghwa Motors.]

I suppose North Korea could set worldwide standards and opt for energy-efficient eco-vehicles that can be recharged overnight, but you’d have to drive to Pyongyang every night to do it and drive back the next day.

“Socialism/Fascism/Communism works. It’s just that it’s never been properly enforced.” –A random liberal.

LMAO.

The Best VW Repair Manual Ever: “How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot”

VW CUTAWAY
This predates the “For Dummies” books, and although it focuses on VWs, it’s also a primer on how all the systems in a gasoline-powered car work, how to maintain them, how to diagnose trouble and how to fix it.  It’s written as if your Uncle Joe was coaching you, and the diagrams (and comics) are hand-drawn in Robert Crumb style. I learned a lot from it when I was in my 20s, and the book is still in print via Amazon here.

Even if you don’t own an old VW, get a copy and read it just for fun, enjoy the illustrations, and pass it on to your favorite teenage greasemonkey like I did. (It’s the perfect Christmas gift for someone with a VW, an adjustable wrench, a hammer and a couple of screwdrivers.)

Oh, and click on the image to see the big picture.

Clint Eastwood Talks To The Lucas

Clint Eastwood working on his 1958 Jag XK 120 in 1960
Clint Eastwood working on his 1958 Jag XK 120 in 1960 (colorized).

Interesting that every time I worked on my car my hands and forarms showed it and there was no camera around, but then I’m not Clint. The photo would be entirely believable if it were Chuck Norris because his cars piss oil and refill themselves automatically once he steps outside.

[Found here.]

Comfy DIY Mobile Home

Mobile Home 1

Very cool. The link shows solar panels on the roof for electrical, and there appears to be a wood-burning stove sitting on a piece of slate for heat, but the proximity of the unprotected wood surrounding it looks a bit iffy. Cooking range/oven must have a propane tank hidden somewhere, and it looks like they’ve got a decent sound system for roadtrips – two tweeters, two midrange and one bass. Two important things are missing from the photos, but it looks like they’re combined and adjacent to the rear entry. Somewhere there’s a potable water tank.

Due to the weight of the wood framing and all the accoutrements, this vehicle is too heavy and slow to get much gas mileage, but so what. It’s got good food, good tunes,  good looks, and it sure as hell beats this and this. Better than a dorm room.

[Found here. Click for larger images.]

Chopped and Lowered VW Rat Rod Prowler

Chopped Lowered VW RatRod Prowler

The ghost of Ed Big Daddy Roth lives.

[Found here. More Rat Rods here.]