Let me tell you what Melba Toast is packin’ right here, all right. We got 4:11 Positrac outback, 750 double pumper, Edelbrock intake, bored over 30, 11 to 1 pop-up pistons, turbo-jet 390 horsepower. We’re talkin’ some fuckin’ muscle.
While McConaughey’s ‘71 Corvette doesn’t quite have the same specs, we can guarantee Wooderson would love him one of these babies — even if he couldn’t fit extra high school girls in the back. The man who keeps getting older just dropped his Corvette onto the eBay auction block for a damn good cause, Oprah’s Angel Network’s Hurricanes Katrina and Rita recovery efforts. So if you’ve got the dough drop it for a good cause and get a beautiful blue Stingray for your hard-earned bank. And if you don’t have the dough…and let’s be clear — it’d be a lot cooler if you did…that’s ok, just keep livin’, man. Bidding starts tonight and runs for the next ten days.
Over the weekend TVR announced that they’re rehiring 63 laid-off workers due to a surge in sales. The Russian-owned British sports-car maker had been in trouble as of late due to chilled-syrup slow sales. Having recently confirmed that they will stay in the Blackpool area after months of speculation that the operation would move away, they’re also planning to debut new cars at the British Motor Show.
First they spring Celine Dion on us, and now this bit of disturbing news out of Quebec. While here in the United States we have a 67% stolen-vehicle recovery rate, in Canada, it’s a staggering 2%. And Canadian gangs of thieves are targeting American-registered vehicles, re-vinning them, and in many cases, selling the cars right back into the USA or shipping them overseas. It’s an especially big problem in Montreal due to the tourist industry, and in some cases, the cars are actually ordered by overseas customers. Jean-Claude, un jeune Range Rover, merci?
“I say MG, what do you think? When I say Geely, Chery, Shanghai, what do you think?” asks Duke Hale, head of North American operations for MG. Truthfully, Duke. We think, “Crappy Lucas electrics.” Then we think of zippy little runabout droptops. But the reworked TF that Nanjing’s going to sell here is actually a hardtop, which isn’t something that the brand had a lot of success with here in the US. Their planned Oklahoma facility would churn out 12,000 to 16,000 TFs a year, with 60 percent of those headed for the American market. Can Nanjing pull it off? Will Americans buy a British-designed, Oklahoma-built car owned by a Chinese company? Study the price point very hard, fellas.
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BusinessWeek and Edmunds have tallied up the recalls for the 2006 model year in the U.S. market, and it’s actually pretty interesting. While the Chevy Silverado SS, Dodge Durango, Hyundai Sonata and Ranger Rover Sport top the list with four recalls each, both the Accord and Civic faced three recalls, and Toyota’s notoriously good Tacoma required three callbacks as well. No huge surprise here: Land Rover made the list twice with its two vehicles based on the Discovery/LR3 platform. In fact, all in all, Ford had four SUVs garnering the dubious distinction of appearing.
Listen here you filthy pirate — we don’t care how much money your little movie made this weekend, we don’t think it’s cool to put man’s best friend in man’s second best friend while you’re inside making cutesy with man’s third best friend — especially in Carribean-level temperatures. Nor do we care you went out to your car a few times to check up on the pup. That might get you in ok with the ASPCA — but it still ain’t good in our book. Next time, do everyone a favor — and get drive-thru. That is all.
Considering all the site tech wackiness today, we’re giving all the prospective one-liner-rocking daddies in the house another day to get in their caption contest entries before a public judging tomorrow. Remember, no Britney Spears refs, though we’d imagine y’all could drop some wicked science on Floyd the Barber. Send ‘em to tips@jalopnik.com.
This is almost Jalopnik Reviews: Mercury Mountaineer Part 2: Attack of the Clones. Okay, this time it’s a GMC Yukon Denali, clone to the Chevrolet Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade. Lest you think this is a Tahoe with a badge slapped on it instead of the “professional grade” product you’ve come to expect from GMC, know that all of the sheet metal in front of the windshield is unique to the Yukon. The upgrade from everyday Yukon to the chrometastic Denali (even the headlights are shinier) comes with a 380-horsepower 6.2-liter V8 that is unavailable in the Tahoe. This is the same engine found on the Escalade, although the ‘Slade has an output of 403 hp to keep it on top of the corporate pecking order. How’s that for brand strategy?
The UK’s king of high-fashion plasticware, Sebastian Conran, is putting his chichi stamp on Nissan’s Micra C + C cabrio. Nissan’s showing off a show car based on its European Micra droptop, the C+C+Conran, at the British motor show later this week. The concept joins Nissan’s body of Conran-penned projects. The special Micra will be in a crimson-tinged duotone, Blushing Black, with dark-grey accenting. No word on whether it’ll come with a special drainboard / can opener / potholder caddy. More pics after the jump.
Ron Gettelfinger, UAW President and potential next spokesperson for “Just For Men Gel”, responded to questions from reporters today during a break in a hearing on Chinese trade practices at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The most important question asked was whether the UAW Prez saw a strike as a possibility. Ron’s response:
“We have not ruled out any of our options…I think the attrition package got them where they [Delphi] need to be, and they act like nothing has changed.”
Also, Gettelfinger did say yes to the question of whether there would be more meetings before August 11th, the date of postponement of more hearings on Delphi’s bankruptcy restructuring. He gave no indication as to whether he’d be bringing danishes or bagels. Our bet? Bagels.
Farago’s back and so’s the Jalopnik Precast. Today, on a Very Special ‘Cast, he and Spinelli examine Cadillac’s new, post-Led Zeppelin advertising efforts, Porsche new Targa (or whatever you call a car with a hole in its roof) and what happens when a millionaire meets his $3 million custom Ferrari for the first time. Heartwarming stuff.
There are so many great combinations of “Dodger” and “Tom LaSorda” — we almost don’t know where to start. Ok, well — we’ll just play it straight down the plate then. Chrysler President and CEO Tom LaSorda sat down on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” with Maria Bartiromo to answer some questions on the late-night dinner between Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn and GM CEO Rick Wagoner. Nothing really special, with LaSorda staying on his talking points — but damn it if he doesn’t look like he’s dropped a few pounds. Those shakes must really be helping.
Jalopnik loves cars. Secret cars, concept cars, flying cars, vintage cars, tricked-out cars, red cars, black cars, blonde cars – sometimes, cars just because of the curve of a hood.
