Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:45:00 EDT
Toyota, Predictably, Agrees The Runaway Prius Was A Hoax [Beige Bites Back]
At a press conference today, Toyota agreed with
NHTSA's earlier assessment, offering up eight reasons why Jim Sikes account of his "runaway Prius" is
completely full of crap.
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:30:00 EDT
NYC Cabbies Scammed Riders In Totally Unsurprising Crimes [Car Crime]
When New York City compared cab GPS data against fares, they discovered some cabbies had been charging
double the going rate, bilking passengers out of $8.3M. The City's now concocting a refund scheme for riders who paid in plastic. [
IndependentMail]
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EDT
America, You Brought The Toyota Hoax On Yourself [Beige Bites Back]
No matter how the
Great Toyota Recall and
Jim Sikes saga
end, two things are certain: One, American drivers are sheep, and two, yes, this will happen again.
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:15:00 EDT
Best Barn Find Ever: Two Brand-New BMW E30 M3s And A Fast Ford [Barn Finds]
The
RS Owners Club story begins with an amazing find: an
E30 M3 with just 37 miles, yet concludes with something even more amazing: a second E30 M3 with 57 miles and, wait for it, a
Ford RS200.
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EDT
Beige Bites Buff Book: Motor Trend Picks Camry As Top Mid-Size Sedan [Beige Bites Back]
MotorTrend not only picked a Camry as top mid-size sedan, they picked
a beige Camry.
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:30:00 EDT
How To Turn Your Toyota Into a Fauxrarri For Just $2000 [Found On EBay]
Have a Toyota MR2 but really wish you had a Ferrari? The wrong way to make your dreams reality is to eBay for this $2,000 kit that'll help you re-badge your 'yota as an Italian supercar.
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:30:00 EDT
Nicholas Cage In Trouble Over Unpaid Rolls Royces [Celebrity Cars]
In 2007, actor Nicolas Cage leased a 1964
Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III worth a cool $550K and a not-as-cool 2002 Corniche. When he lost his shirt in the stock market, he returned 'em. Now he's got a $240K bill.
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EDT
Nissan GT-R Owner Charged With Insurance Fraud After Crash Vid Hits YouTube [Car Crime]
Remember when a
Nissan GT-R crashed trying to keep up with a Mitsubishi Evo? Turns out the driver in that video tried to scam his insurance company for repairs and now him and his sister have been arrested.
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:30:00 EDT
What's History's Greatest Automotive Hoax? [Question Of The Day]
Automotive history is rife with those who have taken advantage of society's collective gullibility. If
Jim Sikes is in fact a four-wheeled balloon boy, he's pretty high on the list. What's history's greatest automotive hoax?
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EDT
Anyone Else See A Pattern Here? [Beige Bites Back]
Some have noticed
a pattern between Toyota sudden acceleration cases and the age of drivers. We did too, so we updated their numbers and turned them into a pretty chart. We like pretty charts.
Updated! More »
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:30:00 EDT
2011 Kia Optima: The G8 Wants Its Side Vents Back [New York Auto Show]
The 2011
Kia Optima will adopt the old American mantra of longer-lower-wider at its
New York Auto Show debut. Also present? Some respectable, if derivative, styling; Pay no attention to the nicked Pontiac G8 fender vents.
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EDT
How To Greenwash A Ferrari [Concept Cars]
Here's how the
Ferrari 599 HY-KERS incorporates a 100 HP electric motor and lithium ion batteries into a plain Jane Ferrari 599 without sacrificing performance.
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EDT
My God, It's Full Of... Cars [Car Porn]
Photo of a sea of Volvos in formation awaiting transport in Malmö, Sweden: topherous/Flickr via Wired: Autopia More »
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EDT
Ranchestivo Carts Clowns, Costs $3,800! [Nice Price Or Crack Pipe]
Some people drive inordinately large vehicles in order to compensate for shortcomings below the waist. Today,
Nice Price or Crack Pipe has a customized Ford that will let everybody know that your name could easily be
Hugh Johnson.
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Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:00:00 EDT
NHTSA Can't Explain Runaway Prius Either [Toyota Recall]
Confirming the
congressional memo we shared yesterday questioning the story of
runaway Prius driver Jim Sikes, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) officials say "we have not been able to find anything to explain the incident that Mr. Sikes reported."
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Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:30:00 EDT
Project Car Hell, Big Sporty Germans Edition: 560SEC or Audi V8? [Project Car Hell]
Welcome to
Project Car Hell, where you
choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! You want a great big Teutonic luxury car, but you
also want pizzazz? And you want it
cheap? More »
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Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EDT
NASA’s Western Endurance Racing Championship [Racing]
You've raced in a few
24 Hours of LeMons and
ChumpCar events which means you've already got a roll-cage installed in Mom's Oldsmobile. Where do you go from there?
NASA's Western Endurance Racing Championship series.
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Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:20:00 EDT
This Memo Proves The Runaway Prius Was A Hoax [Exclusive]
We first raised doubts about the
financial motivations and
character of Jim Sikes, the
runaway Prius driver, last week. Now there's evidence, in a draft memorandum obtained by
Jalopnik from sources familiar with the investigation, that Sikes perpetrated a hoax.
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Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EDT
Forget About Imports and Put On Your Dacron Bell-Bottoms: 1978 Olds Cutlass Salon! [Classic Ad Watch]
More headroom than the Volvo 242! A longer wheelbase than the VW Dasher! Crypto-fastback styling!
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Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EDT
Inspired or Insane? Taking On a 1967 Mitsubishi 360 Van Restoration [Restoration]
I had never heard of this tiny pre-Minica kei van prior to reading about it on the
Japanese Nostalgic Car forums, but now I
must have one! More »
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Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EDT
Everyone Says They're Impossible To Find: Junked Datsun 810 Wagon [Down On The Junkyard]
Fans of Malaise Era Japanese iron often tell me they'd love to do an 810 wagon project, but claim they can't be found these days. Here's one that made it past the auction process and into The Crusher's waiting room.
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Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EDT
1948 Plymouth Deluxe Six [Down On The Street]
Welcome to
Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. You say Alameda is running out of good cars for this series? That will never happen!
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Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:02:00 EST
The Anti-Toyota Commercial Ford Wishes It Had The Balls To Run [Beige Bites Back]
The U.S. automakers have been licking their chops to take a hard swipe at Toyota over
unintended acceleration. None had the balls to actually do it. SNL, however, does — with this anti-Toyota commercial Ford
wishes they could really run.
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Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:45:00 EST
2011 BMW 5 Series Touring: Baby Got Back That We'll Never Get [New Cars]
The new BMW 5 Series is built on the same platform as the 7 Series, which explains the variety of ever-larger backsides. The latest? The
BMW 5 Series Touring. Attractive, right? Don't worry, we're probably not getting it here.
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Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST
What About Emission Control Laws? [Question Of The Day]
Once that bleeding-heart liberal Richard Nixon
signed the Clean Air Act in 1970, the writing was on the wall for 11:1 compression hydrocarbon-spewing chrome chariots. Malaise Era, coming up! Still, it's now possible to breathe the air in Los Angeles.
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Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST
Citroën DS Develops Huge Panel Gaps Due To Excessive Phrog Slammin' [Music]
You'll need to suspend your disbelief while watching this 2000 music video by Da Slammin Phrogz, because nodding-dog dolls wouldn't get enough bounce action to function while perched in a
suspension hydropneumatique-equipped Citroën. Ditto for the gill-style door panel gaps.
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Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST
The Top 147 Lemons of the Sears Pointless 24 Hours of LeMons [24 Hours Of Lemons]
Race Numero Quatro of the 2010 LeMons season left a trail of connecting rods, oil, and bumpers all over Infineon Raceway's once-pristine surface, and we saw our
first-ever LeMons Citroën. Want to see the
other 146 entries?
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Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST
Mrs. Adams Abducts Ford Salesman In '74 Country Squire [Classic Ad Watch]
Salesman of big gas-sucking dreadnaughts were really feeling the pain in 1974, what with
the Arab oil embargo and
runaway inflation. That's why it was easy for "Mrs. Adams" to lure the unsuspecting Ford salesman to his doom.
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Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST
Largest Assortment of Patinas Ever Found On One Lincoln! [Down On The Junkyard]
I wish I'd had shots of this glorious '70 Mark III when I made the
Junkyard Desktop Wallpaper Gallery, because it's a beauty from any angle!
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Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST
1970 Chevrolet El Camino [Down On The Street]
Welcome to
Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. I've been neglecting this very clean El Camino in my neighborhood for long enough!
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Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:45:00 EST
EXCLUSIVE: Ex-Business Partner Claims Runaway Prius Driver A "Scammer" [Exclusive]
Since reporting the
questionable past of
runaway Toyota Prius driver James Sikes there's been a deluge of tips coming in about his character, including the following from a former business partner who alleges Sikes stole from their company.
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Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:30:00 EST
Scottish Police Roll Gangster-Style In Seized Q7 TDI [Police Cars]
When police in Strathclyde, Scotland seized a gang-owned
Audi Q7 TDI they realized it was too cool to auction off (and return the money to citizens coffers) so they've applied police livery and roll like bad-boy yardies. Mad respect. [
BBC]
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