Saab Soft Launches 9-5 Via iTunes AppStore

In iPhone and iPad application news, Saab released a new app for the launch of the 9-5. I believe this is Saab's first application on either platform and unfortunately it's not much of an effort.

The application merely mimics the content from their website where feature pages, a 360, an image gallery, and intro video are provided as content in the app. There is nothing more than the reuse of existing content repackaged for an application. It's very similar to what Mercedes did for the C63 AMG two-years ago.

I personally would've like to have seen some handraiser implementation within the application so the company could engage further with the app's users provided of course they are not disappointed after downloading something they basically could have seen on their iPhone or iPad's web browser.

Oh well, hopefully we'll see some more interesting things as Saab gets ready to spend big for their "Change Perspective" 9-5 launch.

Automotive Facebook Fans by Brand: June 2010

Well after a fairly mild, ho-hum couple months life is heating up on the automotive brand fan pages with several companies upping their marketing on the site and a lot of double digital month-over-month growth from several brands in June.

The big battle of fans was last month’s BMW vs. Audi battle royal. It seems both brands answered the challenge by working hard to get new fans. BMW had a staggering 36% increase in fans which is an insane growth percentage from a brand with already the highest numbers of major automotive fans on the social media site. They added 244,181 fans in one month!

Audi did very well too with a 16% growth rate and 103,255 fans added in June. That’s almost the total amount of Toyota Facebook fans; 107,389 fans to be exact.


I’m still trying to figure out what BMW and Audi did to drive so many “Likes” in one month. My guess is outreach to owners through Become a Fan messaging and some social media marketing on Facebook, but I can’t confirm either.

Toyota did a lot of marketing on Facebook this month, but they didn’t do it to drive people to the Toyota fan page; instead, they took users to their Toyota Safety landing page where they are working on their safety perception issue after many recalls.

Lexus had its own Facebook goals where they drove consumers to their Facebook fan page by enticing them with the new halo vehicle advertisement for the new LFA super car. The message must be getting through as my own father in-law, not a car guy at all, started asking me about the LFA one day on a Home Depot run; though, he saw the ad on television.

Honda reignited their love machine this month by running Facebook ads for their Everybody Knows Somebody Who Loves a Honda Facebook application and they even did a Father’s Day ad that tied in that Day’s message with Honda’s own campaign message (sorry I had a screenshot of the ad but must not have saved it.)


Mini and Infinti both had big jumps in fans with 32% and 43% gains respectively. Infiniti ran a campaign promoting their Cirque du Soleil contest that brought users to a Facebook tab promoting the contest. Meanwhile, Mini had its fun challenging Porsche to a race.

The Mini vs. Porsche effort definitely spawned some major engagement with its fans that mostly loved the idea of challenging the all mighty Porsche 911.

It certainly was a crazy June on Facebook. I’m curious what July will bring.


UPDATE: Thanks to one of my new Twitter followers @ChrisBrashear it seems Audi ran a photo upload contest in June which I'm sure was supported with some ad dollars on the site too.

Toyota Goes Digital to Market Safety Perception Gap

Toyota is in a real tailspin lately after countless recalls and the latest JD Power Quality Rating that gave the automaker a terrifying drop from 6th to 21st place out of 33 brands. Some industry pundits feel Toyota has enjoyed a leisurely advantage from their customers’ perception of strong quality over the years while in reality it has been deteriorating. A recent episode of Autoline After Hours had host John McElroy commenting on how all of the news is finally showing some of the chinks in Toyota’s quality armor that many consumers have known this for years. (As a side note: If you like this blog, you'll love Autoline After Hours it is by far the best Auto Industry podcast. I highly recommend it for weekly viewing.)

Whatever the case with Toyota’s real or perceived quality and safety issues are they have launched a major digital media campaign to respond to the safety issue.

The initial response was Toyota’s Recall landing page, but now they are moving to a strategic response around “Toyota Safety”. The online ads are directing people to the new safety site that communicates some of Toyota’s efforts around building safe cars. They feature their IIHS Top Safety Pick ratings, their SMART Teams who conduct rapid on-site analysis of issues, and their TV spots (online video) feature safety engineers and families that trust the brand. “At Toyota, we’re currently investing one million dollars an hour to enhance the safety and technology of our vehicles.”

Toyota has even branded their five safety features under the “Star Safety System” which is now standard on all their vehicles. What is the system? It’s traction control, stability control, anti-lock brakes, electronic brake distribution, and brake assist.

The latest ad buy was one recently used by Chevrolet on Yahoo! Mail that uses a background look to the mail login page (see image at left.) They are also buying several key placements on Facebook to get the message out.

I really like Toyota’s Safety landing page. It provides four clear messages with some well-executed online video explaining the company’s commitment and seriousness about responding to their safety perception issue. After months of news stories reporting unattended accelerating vehicles --some true and some alleged hoaxes -- the company needs to show they make safe vehicles.

The question now is will we see a Toyota Quality landing page after their plunging JD Power Quality rating? If one types in http://www.toyota.com/quality the page is redirected to http://www.toyota.com/productleadership/#/Precision. This page does not look like it is ready for prime time as a destination for online media, but that could easily change if Toyota uses the same formula they have for the Safety and Recall landing pages.

1988 Mazda MX-6 GT - Anonymous GT Car

This is beyond sleeper. This is anonymous. This is damn near invisible. This is cool.

The MX-6 was, for all intents and purposes, a 2 door Mazda 626. It was also, for all intents and purposes, a Ford Probe. The MX-6 shared a floorpan and drivetrain with the Probe and was built in the same assembly plant in Flint Rock, MI.

The MX-6 GT looks just like the rest of the MX-6 line. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to tell it from the MX-6 LX. The big difference between the two, the very big difference between the two, is the engine. Where the rest of the MX-6 line came with a 2.2 engine that put out 120 HP, the GT had the same engine with a turbocharger bolted to it and it put out 145 HP. The car could reach 60 MPH in around 7 seconds. The GT also came with a three-way electronically adjustable suspension, with sport, normal and comfort settings.

Like so many older Japanese cars, many MX-6 GTs fell into the hands of kids who lowered them, "customized" them and generally beat the hell out of them until their only real value was the price they'd bring in as scrap. This car is, according to the seller, a completely stock (right down to an AM / FM / cassette deck), well taken care of MX-6 GT. The car has just 97,000 miles on it and everything still works. The downside is that it's an automatic. It's not a bad automatic and if you ignore the overdrive button it's not too intrusive on the overall driving experience. (I have a friend whose wife had one many years ago. I got to drive it a few times. It really wasn't too bad. Still, a manual transmission would be more fun.) That's the trade off, I guess. You get a well taken care of, hard to find in this condition, car, but you have to put up with the automatic. If I were in the market for an MX-6 GT, that's a trade off I'd make.

Located in Goshen, IN, click here to see the Craigslist ad.

You can find a really well written owner review of the MX-6 GT here.

1965 NSU Spider - An Ivy League Graduate?

This car may have some pretty interesting history... The seller can't verify the claim, but he was told that this was one of the first NSU Spiders sent to this country. Princeton University brought it over to study the then new rotary engine.

And it's that engine that makes this car so special. The NSU Spider was the first production car to use a rotary engine. It can't exactly be called a success. These early rotary engines were less - a lot less - than reliable and the Spider was not a big seller. (However, in a weird way could be considered a success in that the failure of the engine put NSU in the position to be purchased by VW - which then merged it with Auto Union to form Audi - and it caught the attention of Mazda, who licensed the engine, perfected it and put it in the very, very good RX7.)

The seller has spent a lot of time and money restoring this car. He writes, "It was a rust free car to begin with, with the famous Wankel engine out of the car but been meticulously overhauled (in a crate) by the guru of wankel engines in the US (I have spoken to him on several occasions and I think he would be happy to confirm that he went over the engine which has all the necessary updates in terms of reliability but has been kept true to originality). The car (paint & interior) needed restoration when I bought the car. This was professionally done and included: paint, new top & new interior ( both true replicas of the originals) , reconnecting the engine and making the car roadworthy."

After years of being ignored, NSU Spiders (and NSUs in general) have recently been getting a lot of attention (Jay Leno owns a Spider). It will be interesting to see what this car, in very good condition, goes for.

Located in Tenefly, NJ, click here to see the eBay listing.

You can find the NSU Spider "episode' of Jay Leno's Garage (including a cool video) here.

A big thanks to JaCG reader, Michael, for sending me the link to this car!

1961 Alfa Romeo 2000 Spider by Touring - (Not As Bad As It Looks, Even Without Beer Goggles...)

So, a man walks into a bar. An Alfa Romeo sits down next to him... OK, that's a really poor attempt at humor. There's a typo in the title of this car's listing. It's written as "1961 ALFA ROMEO 2000 TOURING SPIDER BAR FIND" (I know, I know, I have no right making fun of anyone else's typos given all the ones you'll find - usually on a daily basis - in this blog. Sorry. It was just too amusing and I couldn't resist.)

It doesn't matter where this car was found, it's a very cool car, but one that needs an awful lot of work.

Introduced in 1958, the 2000 Spider was designed and built by Carrozzeria Touring. It shared its 1975cc engine with the Berlina, but used a pair of Solex sidedraft carbs to get 115 HP out of it. (The Berlina engine used a single Solex downdraft and made 105 HP.) Still, it wasn't especially quick, with 60 MPH taking 14.2 seconds to achieve. Consider this a touring car, not a sports car.

No matter what type of car it is, it's the body that made it stand out. It's just a beautiful car.

This one is not so beautiful and with good reason. It's spent the last 20+ years in a barn. Old barns are, apparently, great places to find old cars, but they are definitely lousy places to store them. (Have you ever seen a weather-proof, humidity / temperature controlled old barn?)

This car is rusty. I've seen worse, for sure, but this is not a "quick grind, skim coat of filler and paint it" type of car. This will need some welding. Probably a lot of welding. But, if you're handy with a welder and proficient at creating patch panels, this car could be a great project. The really good news is that this car appears to be complete. All of the very hard to find - in many cases, impossible to find - parts are still with the car. A rust free car (if you could find one), with lights, trim, chrome, etc., missing, might cost you more to restore than this one will.

Touring only built around 3500 of these cars. Not many are left. Even so, they are not extremely valuable. A car like this is a labor of love. If you have the time and talent, it's a great restorattion project and when finished would be a hit at any Italian car show.

Located in Orlando, FL, click here to see the eBay listing.

Me? I'm going to head down to the bar and see what sits next to me. I just hope that the bartender shuts me off before a Fiero starts looking like a Ferrari and I mysteriously find it my driveway tomorrow morning...

1970 AMC AMX - No Jokes, No Apologies Necessary

I've written in the past about my love of the AMC Javelin / AMX line. In most most of those posts I've felt the need to include some sort of self-deprecating joke or half-assed apology for that. This time there are no jokes or apologies needed. This is an absolutely stunning car. This is a serious machine. This is a car that anyone who loves cars should appreciate.

The AMX was not built to compete with the Mustang, Camaro and Firebird, it was built to compete with the Corvette. It's a 2 seater and was 1" shorter than the Corvette. Its wheelbase is 97" (vs 109" for the Javelin on which it is based). It was the first steel-bodied, two seat American performance car since the 1957 Thunderbird. In its day, there were arguments about whether the AMX was a true sports car, GT Car, or muscle car. I agree with what Road Test magazine wrote after testing the car, "For the doubters we can testify once again that the AMX feels like a sports car, drives like a sports car, handles like a sports car and therefore in our book (and that of the Sports Car Club of America) it is a sports car."

With a 0-60 time of 6.5 seconds and the ability to do the quarter mile in 14.1 seconds, the AMX was competitive with the Corvette on the straight parts of a track, but didn't handle quite as well in the curves. (By the time this car was built however, AMC had tweaked the suspension and this car could most likely stick pretty close to the Corvette in all but the most serious S turns.)

What is so impressive in my mind about the AMX (and Javelin) is its design. It's clean, almost European looking. It has a long hood, short deck, flush door handles and minimal chrome. (Yeah, AMC couldn't resist the fake side exhaust vents, but compared to the other crap US car manufacturers were tacking on to their cars in the late 1960s and 1970s, they're a minor sin. Actually, they look good and they'd be really cool if they were real.)

This car is unrestored. It's a 4 owner, well documented car, that, except for a recent engine and transmission rebuild and some Edelbrock intake and exhaust headers, is completely original, including the paint.

The seller has done some serious research and states that out of the 4116 AMXs built in 1970, this is just 1 of 98 to have a black leather interior, 1 of 628 to include factory "Machine" wheels and most importantly, one of 1,632 4 speed cars to have the "Go Package". The "Go-Pack" included power disc brakes, E70X14 white letter tires, a posi-rear, handling package, 7 blade "flex fan", heavy duty cooling system, fan shroud, 140mph speedometer, 8000 RPM tach, space saver spare and ram air induction. All useful stuff. The seller also notes that this car is featured in the "Guide to Muscle Cars" and was also photographed for the "Muscle Car Trading Cards" from the early-1990's. (I had no idea there were muscle car trading cards!)

This is just an amazing car in amazing condition. It will be interesting to see what it sells for.

Located in Saint Charles, IL, click here to see the eBay listing.

For more info on the AMX, chek out AMX-perience.com

Weekend Quickies - Sunday, June 27, 2010

1967 Trident Clipper - Wow. This is a remarkable car.

Long story short... The Trident was originally going to be sold as a TVR. TVR was going through one of its many financial crises at the time and after commissioning a total of 4 cars (see them here) it went into receivership. One of TVR's British dealers bought the Trident project and built the car.

The Trident's body is fiberglass. It sits on an Austin Healey 3000 frame. The engine is a Ford 289 V8 with a top loader transmission (a la the Shelby / A/C Cobra) The seller writes "This car's straight line performance can only be described as brutal, with a top end of approx 160 mph." Supposedly, it's able to get to 60 MPH in just over 5 seconds.

According to the seller, this is the first Trident Clipper coupe built. The original prototype show car. It has just 1869 miles on it. It is, for the most part, completely original.

This is a fascinating car.

Located in Thornville, OH, click here to see the eBay listing.

In total, somewhere between 30 and 40 Trident Clippers were built. Check out the Trident Owners Club website and this AROnline.com article for more info.

2002 Renault Clio Sport V6 - A little social studies lesson: "Puerto Rico is an "unincorporated territory" of the United States which according to the U.S. Supreme Court's Insular Cases is "a territory appurtenant and belonging to the United States, but not a part of the United States." Puerto Rico is subject to the Congress’ plenary powers under the territorial clause of Article IV, sec. 3, of the U.S. Constitution. U.S. federal law applies to Puerto Rico, even though Puerto Rico is not a state of the American Union and has no voting representative in the U.S. Congress. Because of the establishment of the Federal Relations Act of 1950, all federal laws that are "not locally inapplicable" are automatically the law of the land in Puerto Rico."

Essentially, that means that all US EPA and DOT regulations apply to Puerto Rico. If you can't buy it on the mainland, you can't buy it in Puerto Rico, either. Then how the hell did this amazing car wind up there?

The Clio V6 Sport was the spiritual successor to the R5 Turbo. It's a mid-engined, 227 HP car that is loosely based on an economy hatchback. Like the R5 Turbo, a lot of work had to be done to turn a FWD hatchback into a mid-engined rocket and while it looks a lot like a Clio, it doesn't share a lot of parts with the original car.

60 MPH comes in just 6.2 seconds. It has a top speed of 138 MPH. (Those are the figures for the 2002 Clio V6 Sport. The seller lists this car as a 2002, but includes performance figures for the 2003 Phase 2 Clio V6 Sport.)

The bottom line here is that there is no way this car should be in the US. It's really cool that it is, and I'd love to drive it, but you'd have to be financially sound enough to risk losing $40,000.00 and the car if you bought it and got caught with it. I don't have that kind of money to lose. I'll wait another 17 years for it to become legal.

As the seller notes, Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson once commented "In my perfect ten car garage I would definitely have one of these – no question". Me too, but not this car, not now. Still, it's a great car to look at.

Located in San Juan, PR, click here to see the eBay listing.

1976 Audi 100LS - If you drive an Audi A6, you have the 100LS to thank for that. Not that you would have been very thankful had you bought one in the early 1970s. These cars were plagued by just about every problem imaginable; bad electrics, poor brakes, overheating engines, poor fuel delivery, rust, you name it, it went wrong. But it was this car that led to the very good 5000 (as the 100 was called in the US), which eventually led to the pretty spectacular A6 Audi builds today.

The 100LS looked a bit like a Mercedes-Benz for good reason. It was designed by engineer Ludwig Kraus, who came to Volkswagen from Mercedes when VW bought Auto Union. (It's been said the Kraus had to design this car in secret because at the time VW wasn't sure they wanted to develop the Audi line.)

This car looks to be a pretty easy restoration project. It has a salvage title, but the seller gives no further explanation. He says it needs a windshield and has some minor rust. (Looking at the pictures, I can't see any obvious rust, which means it's either very minor - good - or it's underneath the car - bad.) It also looks like the back seat could use some repair. (It should also be noted that by the time this 100LS was built, Audi had improved the line and it wasn't as big of a reliability nightmare that the earlier ones were.)

The asking price for this car is its big drawing card. It's just $900.00. For maybe another $1000.00 (assuming you can find a good used windshield and the rust isn't too bad) you could turn this car into a presentable driver and a car you could bring to local shows.

Located in Louisville, KY, click here to see the Craigslist ad.

Weekend Quickies - Saturday June 26, 2010 (Jon Does My Work For Me)

As I've written in the past, writing this blog is easy. (In part, because I - obviously - don't proofread it.) Sometimes finding interesting cars is tough, though. My friend, Jon, sent me an e-mail last week with the links to these 3 cars. All were interesting enough to write about. Thanks, Jon!

1959 Hillman Minx Convertible - My grandmother worked for Rootes Motors in Manhattan. I remember seeing brochures around her house for Rootes cars. One of the biggest reasons my first British roadster was a Sunbeam was because of having seen all those brochures as a kid. I've always had an interest in Hillmans for the same reason.

Hillman was another Rootes brand. Designed with help from Raymond Loewy, the Minx had a distinct US flavor to its design. It was a car that never found its proper niche in the US, however. The Minx was bigger and better equipped than an economy import, but not as big or as well equipped as a luxury import. In the US, in the 1950s and 1960s, we only bought cheap imports (i.e. Volkswagen Beetle), luxury imports (i.e. Jaguar) or sporty imports (i.e. MG, Triumph, Alfa Romeo). The Minx didn't fit into any of those categories and was not a huge seller.

This is a fairly rare 1959 Minx convertible. It needs some work. The seller says it needs "minor brake and engine repair and cosmetic restoration". That's pretty vague. However, if the engine (most likely a Rootes 1500cc engine) isn't seized solid and the "cosmetic restoration" doesn't include tons of rust repair (common on the Minx), this might be a nice restoration project and a cool show car for next year.

Located in Cleveland, OH, click here to see the Craigslist ad. (The ad has very little text and just 2 pictures).

"What's a Hillman? The Hillman Minx Pages" is a fun, informative, US website dedicated to these cars. It's worth checking out.

1964 Studebaker Wagonaire - Today, when car companies run into financial trouble, they turn to the federal government for help. Back in the day, they created innovative and interesting cars in an attempt to bring people into their showrooms. Without a lot of development money available, these cars usually had interesting bodywork wrapped around ancient mechanicals. This just such a car.

The Wagonaire was produced for just a few years, 1963 through 1966. What made it unique was the sliding rear roof. Need the cargo carrying ability of a pick up truck? Simply slide the roof back and you have it.

I think this was a brilliant idea. Back in the 1960s very few people had that same thought and the Wagonaire was a sales failure. In 2003, GM copied the idea and introduced a retractable roof SUV, the GMC Envoy XUV. I thought that was a brilliant idea, too. Once again, very few people shared that thought and by 2005 the retractable roof Envoy XUV was gone. (Now we know why I don't design and market cars for a living.)

This 1964 Wagonaire appears to be in rough, but restorable condition. The seller is including a 1964 Studebaker Commander in the deal. 1964 was the last year this car used a Studebaker engine. In 1965 Studebaker started buying engines from GM. I guess you could call this car one of the last pure Studebakers.

Located in Painesville, OH, click here to see the Craigslist ad.

1960 Pontiac Catalina - Wow. This is the second big old Pontiac I've written about in one week. That's definitely a record.

Jon pretty much summed up the appeal of this car in one sentence in his e-mail; "Less than 50K - and cheap."

I took my 10 year old son to a local car show last Sunday. (It's awesome having a 10 year old. He's just old enough now to really be curious about cars. His favorite cars are Jaguars, Audis, new Chargers and, of course, BMWs. As I've written in the past, I have problems getting people to attend car shows with me because I never want to leave. Even Jack was figuring that out last weekend. "Dad, this is the third time we've seen all these cars. Can we go now?" A promise of a round of mini-golf later in the day bought me another 45 minutes at the show.) The show featured mainly older American cars and I started to notice something... It used to be that all you'd see is coupes, convertibles and muscle cars at these types of shows. Now, however, there are a lot of restored late 1950s and early 1960s American sedans showing up. Some were, of course, customized with flames, sparkly paint and chrome in the few places that didn't originally come with chrome. They looked ridiculous. Others were nicely restored back to their original shape, and they seemed to be getting the most looks. It was kind of cool to see that. (I don't know if they won any of the trophies, I couldn't stay that long... "OK, Dad, this is the 5th time you've looked at that same Mustang. It's mini-golf time!")

This 41,000 mile Catalina is being offered at $2500.00 (The seller says the price is firm). According to the seller it runs and drives and just needs paint. It's tough to tell from the pictures, but it looks like it might also need some rust repair along the rockers and door bottoms.

If you're into big, old American cars, this could be a great car to restore back to it's original condition. Bring it to your local Cruise Night and watch all the attention it gets.

Located in Cleveland, OH, click here to see the Craigslist ad.

Thanks again to Jon for sending me the links to these cars.

/reno

1992 BMW M5 Touring (I Wish I Was Canadian...)

This car is right up near the top of my list of dream cars, probably in the Top 5.

I wrote about an M5 sedan back in March. You can find the post here. Everything I wrote about that car holds true for this one. The big difference being, of course, this is a station wagon (or Touring, as BMW calls their station wagons). That's what makes it so desirable to me. I really like station wagons.

This is a station wagon that can get to 60 MPH in 6.4 seconds. This is a station wagon that has an electronically limited top speed of 155 MPH. This is a station wagon that can out-handle many sports cars. This is a station wagon I'd love to own. The problem is, I realistically can't.

BMW never offered the M5 Touring in North America. I'm sure there were marketing studies done and at some point BMW determined that there wasn't a big enough market for the car in North America, but it wouldn't have taken much to offer the car here. The drive train and body had already been certified. They could have offered it as a "special build" or something like that. Oh well. You can go crazy trying to figure out corporate decisions, it's usually best not to think about them.

This is a 1992 M5 Touring. It has 123,000 miles on it. It has all the usual Touring features such as the dual sunroofs, cargo nets, etc. It also has a "hidden OEM hitch", which is something I've never seen before. (You can insert the "Of course you haven't, it's hidden" joke here.)

The car has been very well maintained with all the usual older E34 / M5 issues having been addressed.

The color, I guess, is a matter of personal taste. Me? I kind of like it. It gives the car a unique look.

This car is very legally titled in Canada. Canada allows cars over 15 years old to be legally imported. Unfortunately, here in the US, we have to wait until a car is 25 years old. It will be another 7 years before this car will be officially allowed across the border. There are ways to get around that, I'm sure, but I don't know them and I'm in no position to risk $19,000.00 on a car that could get confiscated by the feds. For now, at least, an M5 Touring will remain one of my dream cars.

I was having some drinks the other night with a friend. He's a musician and had just gotten back from a 4 month tour, which included a few shows in Canada. He was telling me how much he liked Canada, saying at one point, "It's worth moving there just for the beer". I told him I thought it was a little weird to move to another country just for beer.

I wonder if anyone would think it was weird if I moved to Canada just for this car?

Located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, click here to see the ad on MyE28.com

A big thanks to my friend, John, for sending me the link to this car.

Pontiac Grand Ville - Don't "Donk" It Up, It's A Survivor

I'm a middle age, suburban white guy. I'm not up to speed on all of today's slang. (I still use the word "cool" to describe everything I like. If I like something a lot I'll often stretch it to "coooool".)

Lately, while looking for cars to write about, I've come across ads that say something like "1985 (car brand) - A Perfect Car to Donk!" Huh? "Donk" a car? I don't think so. "Donking" a car doesn't sound good or natural. I may be a middle age, suburban white guy, but I'm not yet at a point where I need to think about "donking" inanimate objects, including my car. (Even though I love it dearly and it's still really good looking.)

Oh, wait... That's not what "donk" means? Whew.

According to urbandictionary.com, "donk" means:

"Any POS late 80's or early 90's American heap (preferably an Impala) that has large enough wheels installed until it resembles (and rides and handles like) a Conestoga wagon. This is done so it sits up high enough so as to be at the same eye level as the Playas with real juice ridin in their Escalades. Adding in a bad candy paint job and Wal-Mart sub box completes the transformation.
With no money left over for necessary suspension and brake upgrades, the lifespan is limited to a few drug runs or the first Police chase, whichever occurs first."

Now that I know what it really means, I still don't think it's a good idea. The seller of this one is telling people to "donk it out". We need to save this car from a "donking"...

This is a Pontiac Grand Ville (aka Grandville). In its day it was Pontiac's top of the line car. It was more "luxurious" than a Bonneville and arguably more sporty than the similar Oldsmobile 98 and Buick Electra.

Pontiac built this car from 1971 through 1975. It sold in decent numbers for a few years, but it was really a car without an identity. The Bonneville had always been Pontiac's top car and and there was very little to distinguish the Grand Ville from the Bonneville. The OPEC oil embargo of 1973 killed the sales of big cars with big engines and the Grand Ville was discontinued in 1975. The Bonneville went back to being the top of the line Pontiac.

OK, about this car... There is nothing really exciting here. It's brown. It has a vinyl roof.

The drivetrain is the best you'll find in a 1970s GM luxury sedan. It has a 455ci V8 in it (which was standard on the Grand Ville) and a Turbo-Hydramatic(THM) 400 transmission. The THM400 transmission is an incredibly durable transmission and maybe the best ever built by GM. It was also used by Ferrari, Jaguar, Rolls Royce and Jeep, to name a few. They are damn near indestructible.

The seller states that this car has a "duel" exhaust, which I guess means that if you're shot at, the car will shoot back. He claims the body is in good shape with just 3 small rust spots and the interior is in good shape, too.

The seller doesn't say what year this one is, but based on the big bumpers it's a 1973 or newer car.

The reality check - This is not a really good looking car (although the earlier pre-5 MPH bumpers cars look pretty good in a big US car way). It's got a big, thirsty engine, but it's not extremely fast. It handles like a big 1970s American car, which means that its handling is awful. Still, all that said, it's a piece of history that has survived for this long without accruing any real damage or modifications. This one deserves a better fate than being "donked" over.

Located in Brockton, MA, click here to see the Craigslist ad.

1981 BMW 316 - In US & on eBay...

This is an interesting car to find in the US. The E21 316 was never officially imported into the US.

We got the 320i here. Originally it came with a 2.0 liter 4. In 1980 BMW switched to a 1.8 liter 4, but still called the car a 320i here in the US.

In Europe you could get a number of different E21s, including the 320 and 323 6 cylinder cars and the 318, 316 and 315 4 cylinder cars. Some BMW enthusiasts, looking for the extra HP of the 6, imported the 323 through the gray market. Rarely was the 316 imported, which is what makes this car interesting.

The engine in the 316 is basically the same as the 1.8 found in the later US 320i. The 316, in stock form with a Solex carb, put out 90 HP at 5500 RPM. The fuel injected version in the US 320i made 101 HP at 5800 RPM. (The last two numbers in the BMW model name usually stand for the displacement of the engine. - i.e a 325i has a 2.5 liter 6 in it. - In the case of the 320i and 316 it didn't. The displacement of the engine in either version is 1766cc, making it neither a 1.6 nor a 2.0)

What makes the European versions of these cars so desirable (besides the 6 in the 323) is the body. Where we got quad sealed beam headlights, the Europeans got very nice looking dual headlights. The European versions also have smaller bumpers and no sidemarker lights. All-in-all it is a much cleaner looking car.

This car was brought to the US by a US serviceman. It has a salvage title. The seller writes "As far as the Carfax, after being imported to the U.S by a military personal, it was ran through a salvage dealer in California and that's all I know of why it has a salvage title on it, there is no damage to the car nor has it ever been damaged."

I have no idea if this is possible, but I'm wondering if having it retitled as a salvage vehicle somehow got it around the EPA and DOT certification that would usually be needed to get a car like this into the country. That's just a thought I'm throwing out there. I have no idea if it's true... Being over 25 years old, that no longer matters for this car, anyway.

The seller states that he's selling it because he can't get it to pass the California emissions test. That, of course, is a big problem if you live in California, but might not be a problem in many other states. Here in Massachusetts, for instance, any car built prior to 1995 is exempt from emissions testing. As long as the car isn't blowing absurd amounts of smoke, you'll get your inspection sticker (assuming it passes the safety tests).

The car now has a pair of sidedraft Webers on it in place of the Solex carb. That might give this car enough of a horsepower boost to put it on par with the US spec 320i. It may even have a little more, if the cam was changed with the carb.

The body and interior look great on this car. The seller says it's been restored, but is not certain of what was done. The paint looks great and the Hella driving lights are a nice touch. The car has had a strut brace fitted. The interior, while austere by today's standards, looks to be in great shape. I've always liked the shape of the dash and the instrument cluster in the E21.

This is just a neat little car. The opening bid is $3800.00. It's a car that I would most certainly want to look at before bidding on (just to see how well the restoration was done and to make sure it's not failing emissions testing because of bad rings or something like that), but if everything looks OK, it would be a really cool car to own here in the US.

Located in Bakersfield, CA, click here to see the eBay listing.

1959 Devin / VW

I'm not a huge fan of kit cars, but The Devin kits are an exception. (Along with a few others.)

Bill Devin, in my mind, was the master of the kit car. His cars looked great and were available for a number of different chassis.

This one sits on a VW chassis. Most original body VW kits were meant to look futuristic. Most wound up looking just plain weird. Devin's VW kits looked like all his other kits, meaning that they looked like great sports cars. Yes, parts of the design were derivative of other sports cars of the time, but this is one of those cars that if you saw it on the street today, you would think "I don't know what this is, but it sure is beautiful".

The seller says that this car was a "running street licensed sports car and has competition history running time trials, autocross and hill climbs going back to the ‘60’s in Central California". He doesn't mention when it was taken off the road, but it has undergone restoration.

This car has a very neat, period correct Judson supercharger. Judson supercharger kits were a popular with VW and MGA owners back in the 1950s and early 1960s. I've also seen them on old Triumphs. Judson sold these to increase performance, not to make the car a rocket. There was virtually no drivability lost when adding a Judson blower. One of the more interesting features of the Judson blower was the Marvel Mystery Oiler, an external bottle that was to be filled with Marvel Mystery oil. This kept the supercharger lubricated. The oil was burnt off in the combustion chamber. (You can find a whole website dedicated to the Judson supercharged VWs here.)

This car also has been updated to front disc brakes and has an 8 gallon fuel cell.

The body on the car has been customized. The most notable piece is the air scoop on the engine cover which is needed for the supercharger. The new American Eagle wheels look really good on this car. The car also has a custom wood steering wheel and seats that appear to be from a newer car.

The seller says he has "numerous boxes with original documents, invoices, and original technical documents and manuals". He also has the original California black plates, which mean little outside of CA, but cool to have if you're registering it in California.

The seller says the car is "75% restored" and that appears to be about right. The stuff that's left to do; wiring, fuel lines, and some interior work, are all things that could be done in a home garage over the course of a few full weekends.

The opening bid for this car is $8000.00. I am by no means an expert on kit car values, but $8K does not seem like a lot for a car that is this complete, this nice looking and this unique.

Located in Martinez, CA, click here to see the eBay listing.

You can find a website dedicated to Bill Devin and his cars here.

2000 Mercedes-Benz Gelaendewagen Cabriolet

This is a really cool, unique vehicle...

The Gelaendewagen (pronounced ga-lin-di-va-gon), or "G-wagen", was introduced by Mercedes-Benz in 1979, but was not officially sent to the US until 2002. Sort of.

A company called Europa International began importing them back in the early 1980s. They sold quite well. So well in fact, that after the federal government tightened the rules on gray market cars, Europa went about certifying the G-wagen to federal emissions and safety standards including doing the expensive crash testing. Steyr-Daimler-Puch, the Austrian company that builds the Mercedes G-Class, started building US spec vehicles specifically for Europa. Europa International no longer had to deal with modifying the vehicles itself and became its sole sales agent in the US. At one point it was estimated that 10% of all the G-wagens built were sold by Europa.

I know that there are some people who will call this vehicle a RAV4 / Land Rover Freelander / Suzuki Sidekick for the uber-rich. That would be a lot like saying a Ferrari is an MR2 for the rich. The G-wagen has a V8 and permanent 4 wheel drive with hi-low range. It has 3 locking differentials. The top is triple insulated and power operated. It has power / heated leather seats. It has everything you'd expect from a Mercedes-Benz vehicle. This is literally the Mercedes-Benz of 2 door, soft top, SUVs.

Many G-wagens that came to the US were built to the customer's specs. This one has a walnut dash and console. It also has custom AMG wheels and other options that were probably added by the dealer or later by the owner.

The sellers of this G-wagen gives few details about it other than saying it has no dents or scratches and 36,355 miles. They leave an address and phone number, however.

I'd love to own this vehicle. Unfortunately, I don't have an extra $70,000.00 laying around. If I did, this would be in my driveway tomorrow. What a cool vehicle.

Located in Tenafly, NJ, click here to see the eBay listing.