I would drive this little LUV truck every day! There, I said it. A cool little mini truck, whether it’s a LUV, an S10, a Courier, or whatever is a handy little parts truck that can be great to daily drive. They typically get decent mileage, are comfy enough, and if you set it up right like this one here it has the hot rod vibe that we all dig. This thing isn’t too low for most folks, can still haul whatever stuff you need to on an average day, and makes you look cool when rocking it around town.
What do you think? Does this make you want to find a mini truck to make into your parts chaser and cruiser?
Video Description:
Previously we purchased this rig and got it running. I gave “LUV TAP” to my buddy Slick and we’ve been fixing on it here or there. This week we decided to spruce her up a little and do a little more fixin’ on it.
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When the Alfa Romeo Tonale was launched it was supposed to be the family SUV that put Alfa back in the big league, but it was greeted frostily. Reviewers complained of cheap cabin plastics and a challenging hybrid powertrain, as well as an unsettled ride. We were also concerned about the price, which turned out to be even higher than expected. But the car showed promise with sharp styling and even sharper handling. It just felt as though there was something missing
Now, Alfa Romeo claims to have found that missing piece of the Tonale jigsaw with this: the Plug-In Hybrid Q4, or PHEV Q4 for short. Using a plug-in hybrid system to provide ultra-low emissions and high official economy figures, as well as all-wheel drive and 276bhp, it promises to add performance, efficiency and off-road capability to the Tonale’s repertoire. But can it be the engine that takes the Tonale from unremarkable also-ran to genuine BMW X1 rival?
The Tonale PHEV can run on electric-only power for a little over 40 miles on the official economy test, thanks to the 15.5kWh rechargeable battery.
Our test drive suggested a range of 35 miles or more would be achievable without too much effort, and that means those who can charge regularly and mostly do short journeys will be able to drive the Tonale more or less like an electric car. For pootling around town and even on a short commute, there’s no real need to use the petrol engine at all, but it’s there when you need to travel further afield.
VERDICT: The Tonale PHEV is a far more promising compact SUV than the standard Hybrid model, although it still retains some of the same issues. The technology and cabin quality remain weak points, while the ride comfort still isn’t quite right and the price is expected to be steep.
Auctions are super rad and when you find one like this one here, you never know what kind of fun stuff you might go home with. This auction here was full of great trucks, Jeeps, and more. Plus tons of small stuff that you are only going to find at an auction like this. Chad Ehrlich went out and checked out the action at this auction, bought several things, and is sharing some of the fun in his latest video.
Video Description:
Our Friends with Carr Auction and Real Estate held an estate auction this week in our area. This was an old farmstead with decades of accumulation!!!! There were several old vehicles as well as tractors, parts, and TONS of miscellaneous!!!
This was a massive auction and they got it all done in one day! They really kept things moving and there was a TON of cool stuff!!!! This video just shows a small sample of some of the small items as well as a lot of the vehicle!
Yes, I did buy some! I have 5 trucks that are heading to the yard from here as well as an extra pickup bed, another cab, and some small pieces such as hubcaps and oil cans!!! I did meet Silas from Adventure mad from Scratch there and Tim from Mr. Goodpliers was there also.
This is just a sample of the auction! It was a super cool day and my buddy Mike and I both ended up with some good loads of stuff!!!! I’ll have another video coming soon on the tractors from this auction as well!!
If you like old cars, trucks, and automobilia, be sure to check out all of my other videos! Please subscribe so you can keep up with the new videos as I post them!
Here’s our fourth gallery of photos from the Nitro Revival. If you missed any of our previous galleries, use the link below to check them out too!
(Photos by Wes Allison) When the Nitro Revival started a few years ago at Irwindale I was kind of skeptical. Not because the cars or the people involved weren’t legit, but because I questioned the location. While convenient, Irwindale is a small drag strip with a weird layout that is a great spot for a car show but that isn’t always the best for a real race. It turns out that this venue is perfect for this event. Not only does it offer great show space, but the 1/8th mile track is plenty for putting on the kind of show that this event is all about. And with up close grandstands and plenty of fence to hang out on the fans get a great view of all the nitro cars cackling away.
Lucky for us, Wes Allison headed over to shoot photos and man did he get some great stuff. I am talking epic photos that are the kind you’d want to blow up and hang on the wall in your living room. Just look at the sunset in some of these! And those nitro flames, come on.
This event has turned into something truly special and I’m sad I couldn’t be there to check it out in person this year, but once again this show just how hardcore Southern California car culture is and we love it.
Remember that all the photos below will get larger if you click on them and then you can scroll through the entire gallery. We’ve got more coming too!
Social media is among the deadliest time assassins. Its next greatest rival would be those ‘it will only take a second’ jobs we embark on, knowing damn certain they will take much longer than a second.
Typically, I pride myself on sidestepping most social media arguments. When I see something I don’t like I keep scrolling, or better still, I put my phone down and move on to whatever I should actually be doing. However, I do have my trigger topics, and about a month ago a friend of mine said something I simply couldn’t let stand: ‘Wagons are the worst form of any vehicle’.
I tried to write him off as just another crazy Floridan, but shockingly several people from across the globe co-signed this blasphemy with digital upward-pointing thumbs and animated hearts. Worse still, they added their own sacrilegious comments about wagons too.
Having sworn off daily drivers with trunks nearly a decade ago, this entire line of thinking sat ill with me. Are wagons the worst? Impossible.
In terms of practicality, I can’t see how wagons are not the ideal union of function and form. A wagon allows you to have your cake, eat it, and carry the table on which you dined. And all this without demanding you ride necessarily high above the ground in a truck, or one of the many SUV blobs currently roaming the roads.
OK, perhaps I am being a little harsh towards SUVs, considering we just featured a rather tidy one. But the beauty of Speedhunters being a collective of authors is that we can present opinions both for and against nearly any automotive topic.
So, to answer the question Rick posed in his recent article, my opinion on modern performance SUV offerings is that as long as wagons exist they will remain redundant.
More Is More
We North Americans are entirely too good at accumulating large items. Hobbies require sticks, bats and pads. Jobs demand tools, suitcases, displays and changes of clothes. Kids? Well, kids need all of the above and more. If you’re looking for a vehicle that can run the line of fun and is purposeful, a wagon is hard to beat. Just ask Paddy; he opted for a wagon over a hatch simply because he needed more space. If all goes to plan, I will one day follow his lead.
The rest of the Speedhunters? I can only assume that they’ll all eventually see the trunk-less light too.
Cool wagons are far from a new concept. Volvo 850s are legendary – especially in DTM trim – and General Motors boasts noteworthy examples in both their current and back catalogues, including the formidable Cadillac CTS-V. BMW has some heavies in their new model quiver too, while the E30 Touring and 540is are noteworthy classics.
Currently, perhaps the best-looking wagons on the road are those produced by Audi. That includes the feature of the day, an Audi C8 RS6 Avant.
From the factory, this wagon features a twin-turbo 4.0L V8 that puts down just shy of 600 horsepower and 600ft-lb of torque. The RS6 Avant is definitely no slouch, and it looks mighty fine thanks to a sporty roofline and an unobnoxious ride height.
CSF: Cool Stationwagons Forever
Ravi Dolwani is no stranger to making the cool, cooler, both literally and figuratively. As the owner of CSF Radiators, every car he owns ends up with at least a few CSF products installed alongside the latest and greatest from other tuning houses.
This project is more of the same, but Ravi approached it with some level of restraint as his family very recently grew in size with the addition of his firstborn son. So with that consideration, Ravi has managed to modify this car reasonable enough to remain useful for family errands, yet captivating enough not to seem out of place at the SEMA Show, where it was displayed earlier in the month.
Ravi started with a stellar colour. Goodwood Green Pearl brings out the aggressive lines of the RS6’s design in an elegant manner. Outside of a deck lip spoiler, all of the C8’s visual modifications are present from the belt line down. The carbon fibre front bumper apron, side skill extensions and rear diffuser are all care of Urban Automotive.
Audi aficionados in the US will have surely noticed the headlights and taillights, both oh-so-desirable Euro-spec items.
Audi’s dynamic suspension sees an altitude adjustment thanks to a lowering module from CETE. Ravi admits that it feels a bit “boaty” at times due to its size, but the power under the hood and all-wheel drive help make up for the somewhat sedate driving feel in comparison to his BMW M5. To bridge the gap between this car and his M5, he’s also added ABT front and rear sway bars.
Just a few years ago, 22-inch wheels would have never been mentioned in a practical context, but in this instance the deuce-deuces look appropriately sized for the generous 196.7-inch-long wagon.
The bronze wheels are Titan 7 TC-5 models in 22×10-inch all around. They’re +10 offset square, but Ravi has added 3mm spacers in the front and 5mm spacers in the rear to bring them out just a hair. Michelin provides the 285/30R22 Pilot Sport 4S tires.
In classic VAG owner OEM+ fashion, modifications in the cockpit are rather subtle. Anything that could be wrapped in leather is, and what couldn’t be is swathed in Alcantara.
The attention to detail exists right down to the RS Design package seat belts that match the stitching in the seats, dash, door panels and the flat-bottom steering wheel. The latter is another Euro-spec item that Ravi has added, as is the Alcantara headliner and cup holder cover.
The details don’t stop there, though.
While the piano black center console is a factory fitment, the matching front and rear ceiling grab handles are not; these are Audi OEM items from the S8. And as much as I’ve been poking fun at SUVs, the Lamborghini Urus has come through with the assist here via billet shift paddles.
One of Ravi’s favourite upgrades is the radar/laser jammer system, which is neatly integrated both with sensors in the front and rear bumpers and the main control unit/display inside the cabin next to the rear-view mirror.
Performers Gotta Perform
Ravi dipped into his own parts booklet under the hood, fitting the Audi with a CSF High Performance Twin Intercooler kit. Eventuri offered up a carbon fiber engine cover and intake system for the car, and Akrapovič provided the stainless steel down and link-pipes along with the titanium exhaust system.
With a VF Engineering tune in play the RS6 performs better than it looks, and it looks pretty damn good.
I don’t mean just for a wagon either. This car is stunning and – again in my opinion – a far more appealing option than any performance SUV.
I know the line between wagon and SUV can be blurred with the right modifications, but I maintain wagons are better. This is my hill and I’ve chosen to die on it; won’t you join me?
Here’s our eighth gallery of photos from the SEMA Show, and more are on the way!
It’s that time of year folks, trade show season. For those of us in the automotive and motorsports industries, at any rate, we hit Las Vegas every November for the SEMA Show and then Indy for the PRI Show in December. With the pandemic postponing SEMA in 2020, everyone wondered what the 2021 show was going to be like and it turned out better than many expected. With that in mind, everyone is hoping for great things from the 2022 SEMA Show and we’re on hand to try and grab as many pics of cool cars and trucks as we possibly can to share with you.
Along with the cars and trucks we’re also going to be looking at parts and pieces and fun stuff we think you guys will love to check out. There is a lot going on at the show this year, with different companies moving into new spaces and with more focused crowds and aftermarket companies.
It’s a bit of a weird year for the SEMA Show, with regard to the cars and trucks on display. To me, it seems like there are fewer cars in booths and there are certainly fewer cars outside than in the pre-pandemic years. What is here is cool, but there are way fewer muscle cars and street machines in attendance than is typical. Is parts availability the cause? The price of gas and diesel? We know that the price of shipping cars has gone up dramatically in the last three years, so maybe that is part of it too.
Regardless, we’re shooting what is here to share it with all of you, so enjoy the next gallery below. Remember to click on any image to make it larger and to scroll through them all.
In 1955, Chevrolet released the first version of its Nomad, a ‘sport wagon’ featuring a 265ci V8 up front. In 1962, Volvo introduced the Amazon, a station wagon designed for practicality and comfort, packing a whopping 75hp from its 2.0L four-cylinder engine. Both the Nomad and Amazon shared some similarities, but of course they were also quite far removed from one another.
The Nomad was part of a line of ‘Dream Cars’ produced by Chevrolet in the late-’50s, which as you’ll soon see fits nicely with this story.
My knowledge of American cars from the ’50s is extremely limited, especially when it comes to the lesser-seen models today, like the Nomad. Living in Sweden, I’m definitely no stranger to Volvo Amazon wagons though.
Despite that, I definitely did a double-take when I first saw this Amazon in Mantorp Park’s paddock during the Gatebil Season Finale. It looked wild, and different.
The two turbo bumps, one on each side of the hood (not pictured in this post), sparked my curiosity, so I quickly hunted down the Amazon’s owner, Simo Kiviniemi, who was happy to share its story with me.
The Volvo wagon build came about when Simo’s previous track toy, a 1953 Ford gasser, wasn’t fulfilling his need for speed any more. He stumbled across the 1969 Amazon by chance, and perhaps just in time too. With so much rust in the body, its days were numbered. Despite that, Simo did what any crazy Swedish car builder would do – not only save it, but go crazy with the rebuild.
Simo’s vision for the Volvo involved some major work. First things first though, he stomped out the Amazon’s rust-eaten floor and set about designing a custom tube-frame chassis that incorporates an SFI-certified drag cage.
The Amazon’s rear end has been substantially modified. In fact, I guess you can say it has been ‘Americanized’ as this is where the Chevy Nomad connection comes in.
Simo’s dream was always to own a Nomad, but for financial reasons that plan never came to fruition. The next best thing? Modify an Amazon to look like a Nomad.
The b-pillar has been moved rearward, tilted and extended; the roof has been shortened three inches to tilt the hatch; and the c-pillar has been completely removed to get those longer rear windows. Once all the remedial and custom body work was completed, the wagon was resprayed in California White, an original and classic Volvo Amazon color.
The wheel arches were also modified to house the monster American Racing Torque Thrust wheels measuring 18×9.5-inch in the front and 18×10.5-inch out back, shod with Hankook rubber. Behind the front wheels are Jaguar S-type R brake callipers paired with 365mm brake discs, while there’s a Volvo 240 disc setup at the rear.
The custom tube work I mentioned earlier can be seen throughout the interior when you open up the doors, which came from a 2-door Amazon coupe.
But the very first thing that grabs your attention is the custom-made and sticker-bombed transmission tunnel, which shrouds a BMW 530 6-speed transmission paired with a Tilton triple-plate clutch.
Despite the interior being specced for racing, original Volvo items can still be found amongst the aftermarket parts, including the radio and speedo that goes up to 180km/h. I can imagine the needle trying to exit right out the side of the dash cluster when the car is pushed to the limit. Luckily there’s a digital tablet reading straight from the MaxxECU engine management system to provide reliable data.
Finishing off the interior is a Grant racing steering wheel, a custom-made pedal set, Mlimits ML Pro-X bucket seats paired with RCI 5-point racing harnesses, and a checker-plate steel passenger footrest.
In usual race car fashion, the fuel cell is located in the rear where the 4-link drag suspension setup with BC Racing coilovers and the Ford 9-inch diff is visible.
Back in 2016, the Volvo was powered by a blown small block V8 from Simo’s previously-owned Ford gasser. That motor eventually failed, but instead of trying to fix something that was unfixable, Simo dropped an all-new setup in the Amazon.
Intimidating, isn’t it? What you’re looking at is a Chevy 5.3L LM7 running gapped rings for better boost, LS7 lifters and 2,200cc injectors, pushing 800hp to the rear wheels. What drew me in, in the Gatebil paddock, were the twin Holset Super HX40 turbos that go bananas at 4,300rpm on 1.3bar (19psi) of boost.
A unique solution for the large intercooler pipes was required for this setup, and custom engine brackets and mounts were also fabricated to handle the physical size and weight of the engine.
Simo used the Gatebil Season Finale as a shakedown for the car, because although its primary use will be drag racing, the Volvo is seeing some drift action too. Next year, Simo will focus on improving the handling, but the end goal is to run a 9-second quarter mile.
Seeing this thing on track amongst all of the expected Gatebil builds was amazing. But the best thing is, it’s only going to get better.
Rebeldryver Scott is back with Project Mud Bomber, who’s 428 has been getting machined and prepped for a full rebuild. Because parts were scarce and the machine shop a bit slow, this one has taken a little while but now it is ready to go together. Scott has gotten it all done and ready for assembly and this is the first video in the build series, so watch, learn, and stay tuned for more.
Video Description:
Project Mud Bomber, Our NASCAR themed 1964 Galaxie 500 2 door sedan is on its way to be running again. We have to assemble the new engine for it. It’s a 428 big block. We are starting with the bare block freshly machine and back from the machine shop. Ford FE big blocks have some things to look out for when installing your own freeze plugs. We will be documenting the entire build, right up to running it on a run stand and getting the ole Galaxie back on the road. Next up, will be installing the crankshaft.
The window on the modern muscle-car era continues to close as model-year 2023 will be the final one for the Dodge Challenger and Charger. Parent-company Stellantis recently announced that these vehicles will receive seven special-edition trims to be built over the next 14 months.
Among the swan-song models available for both the two-door Challenger and four-door Charger will be the “Shakedown,” “Super Bee,” and “Swinger.” Reports suggest 1,000 of each will be built and split between the Scat Pack and Scat Pack Widebody variants. An additional 300 Challenger “Black Ghost” and Charger King Daytona “Go Mango” versions will be available based on the Hellcat Redeye Widebody. Speaking of the Hellcat, every 2023 model will offer the Jailbreak spec, which pushes its supercharged 6.2-liter V8 engine up to 807 horsepower. All 2023 Challengers and Chargers will include a “Last Call” commemorative plaque, with R/T grades adding badges that refer to its 345 cubic-inch engine. Classic paint colors including “B5 Blue,” “Destroyer Gray,” “Plum Crazy,” and “Sublime” will make one last appearance.
To help ensure that anyone who wants one of these swan-song models can get one, Dodge has already released its entire 2023 allocation to dealers. Prospective customers can search the “2023 Dodge Horsepower Locator” to see exactly what models are available to order at every location. The system is designed to prevent unscrupulous dealers from taking deposits for vehicles they will not ultimately receive. Note that you can’t place your order or put down any money online – you must contact the dealer directly. Further, Dodge has no control over which stores will be selling these cars with an additional markup over MSRP. We can all but guarantee that the most desirable specs will carry a hefty premium over sticker.
Here’s our sixth gallery of Drag Week photos from Byron Dragway.
When Jim Hrody said he had some photos from Byron Dragway during Drag Week, I was excited. And then he sent them to us and I totally forgot about them! Yep, my bad all the way, but Jim reminded me that they were in the folder waiting and so here they are! The Drag and Drive event that started it all is still one badass event and thanks to Jim we’ve got some cool photos to share.
The great thing is that there are a ton of photos from both the pit areas and the race track. While the on track action is always great, one thing that makes a Drag and Drive event something special is the fact that each competitor has to haul all their own stuff and that means pit areas full of parts, pieces, luggage, and more. It’s fun to see and to watch the thrashing.
(Words and Photos by Jim Hrody) The Playground of Power, as Byron Dragway is otherwise known, was the mid-week venue for Hot Rod Drag Week 2022. Following up after being a 2021 stopping point for Drag Week, Byron is a place where the staff is helpful and the crowd is usually a friendly bunch.
The scenic roads leading into and out of the facility pass through numerous small towns offering plenty of fuel stops & photo ops and are seemingly made for Drag Week or Power Tour type events. We all know the concept of Drag Week, so here are a “few” pictures representing a cross-section of the vehicles, including some you’d never expect to see at a drag strip.
