Infiniti Essence Concept Vehicle...

First built and shown in 2009 to celebrate Infiniti's 20th anniversary the Essence concept is still turning heads. Its a shame most have pegged this gas/electric hybrid concept as having zero chance of ever seeing production as it is beautiful and encompases everything that Infiniti should be. Power, beauty, modern style, Japanese-chic.

Screw the hybrid crap...drop the GT-R driveline in it and lets go...

Orient Watches...

I have worn a watch on my left wrist every day of my life since the second grade when I wore a Snoopy Aviator watch on which the second hand was a cloud that would go round and round and round. Maybe its an old school thing as my father taught me at a young age that a man should always be able to tell what time it is on his own without having to ask anyone, and should be able to provide the answer to anyone in need...

Nowadays nearly everyone has a cell phone and uses those as a substitute...a poor substitute...

Do you really need to annoy everyone by dragging out your pretentious cell phone yet again? Do we need to see whatever moronic background it is that currently graces the nearly laptop sized screen on your IPhone V9.5?? No.

A watch is, after a wedding ring, the most telling piece of jewelery (and some would say should be the only other piece of jewelery) a man owns. Far beyond a cell phone a watch can convey your sense of style, social status, weekend hobbies--or just be a really good way to attract female attention. Look at it this way...every goober and his nose picking junior high friend has a smart phone...very few men have a good looking, classy, quality timepiece...

I'm married (very happily I might add) and for me I just wanted a watch that would replace my older Swiss Army Cavalry watch which had worn out its leather and fabric band over the past decade and seen better days due to numerous run ins with rocks, dirt and auto parts. I also wanted something to more accurately reflect my current and likely near future employment position...My old watch just didn't fit where I am in life and needed something new.

The Orient Watch Diver model fit the bill. Simple, classic yet solid and not likely to go unnoticed, it is perfect for me. It carries a heft to let you know its a serious timepiece and not a cheap throwaway, yet it doesn't break the bank and looks far more expensive than it actually is. I'll be wearing this stainless steel beauty for years to come.

Baja Winning Nissan Pathfinder Rides Again!

Driven by Carlton, Spencer and Kelly Beal in the 2003 Baja 1000 this Nissan Pathfinder took home the Class 3 win with a time of more than 28 hours. Somehow after than beating the truck is still able to race some seven years later. This was from the Texana 180 two weekends ago in the Midland Texas area.

From the reports I have the Beals (which one I do not know) had their daughter or granddaughter driving the vehicle. I believe her name (at least from the entry list) is Claire Pedregon. There were 24 entries in this race and only 16 finished. Claire and the Pathy finished 2nd in class (out of four) and 12th overall. Oh, and did I mention she's only 14 years old!!

So tell me what your excuse is for not getting out there?

Photos courtesy of HMI Race Photo...

Fiberwerx Bedsides Going On...

Finally...

I had hoped to paint these myself but given the amount of flooding we've had my "paint booth" has been in about 6 inches of water on and off for the past eight weeks. Turns out I'm glad I turned to a professional shop to do the work as there were a number of stress cracks in the gellcoat and some damage to the fiberglass from shipping that the guys I'm using are handling far better than I ever would. Sometimes being behind on schedule and needing the pros to do it right and do it quick works out for the best.

Because I was behind on my ongoing schedule I turned to Dube's Custom Street Machines in Hudson, NH to do the work. To be honest I kind of just stumbled into them having head an ad for them on the radio and living nearby to Hudson. Though usually working on classic American Iron and motorcycles they can work on nearly anything and do a top notch job and have won awards for their work both in Boston and nationally. The shop is always open to the customers who are encouraged to stop by and check out how their project is coming along.

I am choosing to have the bed taken off the truck and the stock bedsides completely removed with the spot welds drilled out and then have the fiberglass bedsides installed rather than going the quick and dirty method of just sawzalling the bedsides and laying the new ones on the remainder. The bedsides will also be either aluminum or stainless steel riveted to the structure for easy replacement should it be needed at a later time. The turnaround time on the whole thing? Approximately four days including paint. Should have the bed back on and have pictures to show early next week.

Next step? The vinyl application for the bedsides befitting the theme behind this build...

Let me know what you think and by all means, join up as a follower of the site (it may just get me a discount on future work).

Lexus CT 200h and Mazda RX-8 Racer...

Perhaps one of the best and most interesting vehicles present at the NYC Auto Show and one of the least interesting...

The Lexus--yeah...another crossover, luxury, hybrid...whoopee!! Look!! It's in white even!! It goes on sale in early 2011 and yet, looks already dated. Supposedly it is built upon its own, unique platform and not a Camry or other Toyota derivative. Reports are that it will have a price of under $30K. I might believe the former as despite how vanilla the sheetmetal here is, it does not look too much like any other vehicle in the Toyota/Lexus lineup. The second point I highly doubt. A sub $30K Lexus?? Not likely.

The Mazda--I'll simply let you look at it. It's a badass looking race car. Everything a modern racecar should be and everything NAPCAR isn't...

T. Rex and the Crater of Doom: Book Review

Easily one of the most enjoyable, semi-serious scientific books I've read...

Though for a long time I have known about the major theories behind why the dinosaurs became extinct, even knowing the location of the impact crater detailed within this book and most of the major details surrounding it more than a decade ago, this book provided the details I had not previously been privy to.

Written by the lead scientist behind the development of the now well accepted impact extinction theory, Walter Alvarez, this book is a first hand account of the near 30 year effort to bring his ideas to a conclusion. In fact it was only in the past months that a panel of scientists from across numerous spectrum declared the debate virtually over. Though some scientists cling to climate change, volcanoes and other means of destruction for the dinosaurs, Alvarez's impact theory remains dominant and holds the preponderance of evidence.

Herein is the world spanning search for evidence, going into how rocks are dated, the fact that there have been numerous world-wide extinction events with the death of the dinosaurs being only one of the more recent ones, and numerous other tidbits of background. The best part of all of this is that Alvarez tells his tale in a very matter of fact, simple method. Not only is the book a quick read but its an easy read. I didn't find myself having to read, and reread, and reread again each page in order to understand the methods, theories and processes behind each step forward. Perhaps this is due to the fact that so much of Alvarez's work is hands on, digging in the dirt, making inferences from visible physical evidence, but whatever the reason the end work is excellent.

If you want a basic understanding of the end of the dinosaurs and the events that allowed for the rise of mammals in general and YOU in particular, this book should be on your shelf.

Mazda 2Evil and Ford Fiesta Customs From NYC Auto Show...

These were two nice, clean custom vehicles at the NYC Auto show. Both within the "hot hatch" segment seem to show that the era of the "boy racer" is gone. Five years ago these two wuld have been done up with giant wings, neon colors and faux hood scoops. Thankfully those trends are gone. Honestly I liked the Mazda 2Evil concept slightly better (and would like it more if it weren't for the green wheels).

The Mazda wheels are 17" wrapped in Yokohama Advan tires, the suspension lowered by H&R and exhaust by Magna Performance.

Nissans Take Seven of Top Ten Finishes...

at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge which is the first round of the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup.

Unfortunately not many pics of the Nissans that finished so well in this event but I have linked to the results. Seven of the top 10 finishers were driving Nissans including five out of the top seven. Team Dessoude out of France who regularly races in the Dakar ran a couple vehicles, including the 2nd place finisher overall and 1st place in the T2 class Laurent Rosso in his Dessoude Pathfinder. Laurent's father Joseph Rosso finished 4th overall and 3rd in the T2 class. The picture below is of vehicle #211, the Nissan Patrol driven by Abdul Bari-Bin Sugat who finished 3rd overall and 2nd in class T2.

Leonid Novitskiy took the overall for the event in his X-Raid BMW. Novitskiy and his vehicle are top of the line, Dakar winning quality, so finishing in the runner up position to that is nothing to get down on yourself about. Hats off to Mr. Dessoude who is keeping the Nissan name alive in international offroad competition.

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge Results...

Lexus Convertible and Mercedes from the NYC Auto Show

Mercedes had a strong showing at the NYC Auto Show on the back of gullwing SLS AMG (my pick for the most beautiful vehicle at the show) and the real race version of the aforementioned SLS AMG. Though the giant wing on the rear may be the biggest wing I have ever seen, the vehicle is destined to race in the GT3 series Europe in 2011 and therefore is attached for go and not for show.

The other Mercedes that caught my eye was a matte black convertible (E series?) parked up on a stand and not available for hands on examination like the other models. Like I had mentioned in previous posts, the "matte" look seemed to something many manufacturers were trying out and I still don't think I like it...

Lexus had a very staid display showing a couple its Toyota derived hybrids trying to tell the audience that Lexus means "hybrid performance" and failing miserably. The most interesting Lexus present was the IS250C that had seen the full aftermarket treatment and, if not for the silly vents on the hood, would be a sharp looking little drop top.

I Knew the Isuzu Vehicross Would Make a Good Desert/Rally Vehicle...

And here's a good looking one from the Australasian Safari. A small, well built, relatively powerful little SUV, I always loved the Isuzu Vehicross and wish it had lasted longer in the U.S. Someday, if I have unlimited funds, I'll track one down and put it in my stable. It is just a unique, cool vehicle that should have been more popular...

If This is the Best Hope for Saving Chrysler...

consider those tax dollars flushed...

The Fiat 500 Nuova is the first announced vehicle to come over to the U.S. as part of Fiat's ownership/control of Chrysler. Supposedly filling a niche that Chrysler does not possess a model for, the 500 is a small urban runabout, popular in Europe.

Sorry...that garbage isn't going to work here...

First off, the design of the vehicle will be five years old at the time of its introduction here. Five years is about the maximum length of time any modern model lasts before a complete redesign and yet Fiat wants to dump this aging model into what is the most competitive auto market in the world.

Next you have the looks of the vehicle itself. Right away you notice its only available in a two door. Sorry, we Americans only want two doors in our sports coupes and convertibles. The 500 is neither. Oh, and don't forget the downright horridly cheap and childish golf like look. This model just SCREAMS "Hi, I'm like my beers light and my loafers lighter...", any self respecting American male found driving one of these should be shot on sight out of respect for the male gene pool.

Bottom line: The Fiat 500 (and by proxy) Chrysler will be disasters of historic proportions. I just hope that the Polish factory workers building these "cars" destined for American shores, have solid, union backed, socialist society driven contracts...And just ask yourself...Do you remember the last far Eastern European built car to come to these shores?? I do...

Hot Wheels 2010 Nissan 370Z

Ahh, Hot Wheels...Every adult males favorite way of obtaining their fantasy cars without dropping vast amounts of cash.

Seriously, what other toy can you get for .99 cents that is anywhere near as cool as Hot Wheels. Always updated on a yearly basis to represent some of the best new models and nicely designed given the price and mass marketing of these little beauties.

For 2010 Hot Wheels produced the Nissan 370Z as one of its new models. It is #37 of 44 of their standard releases. The one I came across and picked up is in a bright yellow but I would bet there is a white and a black version out there as well.

Couples Retreat: A Movie Review...

If you aren't married with kids, don't bother considering this film for an evening of entertainment. What chuckles I did get out of the movie were wholly related to the humor surrounding the day to day travails of making marriage and parenthood work. Without the base of gallows humor that comes from being married and having kid(s) it is unlikely you would enjoy much, if any of this film.

That being said, even though I, as a married father, was a member of this film's target audience, I was only marginally entertained. Nothing here was overly bad in the movie. It was a bit slow but it was well photographed and both looked nice and sounded clean (so many films these days contain dialogue overwhelmed by extra sound effects and music). Its just it feels like the humor was whipped up by Vince Vaughn and John Favreau over a REALLY boring dinner.

There's just no situations or dialogue here to really laugh at. Its just flat...From beginning to end there isn't a memorable conversation or event. Cliche parts like the attractive male yoga instructor who gets punched out by Favreau's character, thus curing all the ills between he and his wife are part of the standard shtick here.

This is a film that in about a year will be in frequent rotation on TBS or TNT or the like as there is virtually nothing here offensive or in need of editing in order to make it onto regular cable in order simply to fill weekday timeslots with bland, forgettable content.

This Close to Being the #2 Selling Small Pickup in the U.S.

That's where the Frontier stands for the month of March. Helped by good incentives from Nissan, bad news from Toyota and (hopefully) a growing realization that the Frontier is every bit as good or better than the Tacoma the Frontier was the 3rd best selling mini-pickup in America by only few hundred units.

For the month of March the Toyota Tacoma took the #1 spot as usual selling 9,441 vehicles.

The real story was at the #2 slot where the aging Ranger just barely surpassed the Frontier in sales, moving 4,445 trucks while the #3 Frontier sold 4,091. Just an 8% difference seperates the two. With Nissan having the much fresher product it is only those who hold onto the "I'll only buy American" ideal who keep the Ranger from falling to 3rd or worse. If Nissan only put the tiniest bit of marketing effort behind the Frontier I believe it could easily surpass the Ranger and give Tacoma owners a serious cross-shopping option...

The rest of the mini-truck sales?? In 4th was the Chevy Colorado with 2,045 sales with the Dodge Dakota in 5th with 1,109 units moved and the Colorado's platform mate the GMC Canyon in 6th with 615 sold and the last few B-Series Mazdas in 7th with 6 finding owners.

As you can see its a long way down to the Colorado and a long way up to the Tacoma. It remains up to Nissan's marketing arm to put some umph behind the capable and award winning Frontier to get it the consumer recognition it deserves...

Lexus LF-A, Nice...But Not THAT Nice...

Matte is the new black...

Numerous manufacturers were showing off matte paint jobs at the NY Auto Show. Loved by boy racers and numerous members of the Inland Empire outside of LA a matte paint is great for a cheap paint job that looks OK for say a vehicle that is going to get beat on off-road or in some real racing but for everyday street use it just comes off cheap.

For nearly $400K, the LAST thing the LF-A should look is cheap. But that's what it does. Combine the matte paint job with a rear wing that looks like it was bought at your local Vato Zone and attached by your drunk brother-in-law, wire mesh in more places than your local dog kennal and a triangle arranged tri-exhaust, the LF-A is a nightmare.

Badly derivative in SHAPE of Nissan's GT-R it then looks as if the designers just took a mish-mash of leftover parts and threw them at the car...and nothing stuck. Lexus has never been the marque you turn to for luxury performance and despite the LF-As price tag, carbon fiber body and V10, anyone who wants high end performance vehicle that doesn't look like a B-movie prop will be looking elsewhere...

Nissan Leaf From NY Auto Show...

Listen...I'm all for Nissan trying different things. GT-R? Love it. Xterra? Love it. Juke? Love it.

Leaf??? Not so much...

I understand the way of the world currently is to go "green" and be "eco friendly" and electric vehicles are supposedly the way to do that (never mind the fact that the coal burning power plants that provide that electricity pollute more than the gasoline driven engines these "clean" cars replace...). But as a dinky urban runabout with room for only toddlers in the rear, this vehicle succeeds marvelously as what is intended to be...too bad no one wants it.

Give Americans a big, good looking, solid performance, capable vehicle like the Ford Fusion hybrid and they'll by it. Charge $25K after a $7500 government funded (read taxpayer) refund for tiny car that won't haul your Sunday grocery purchase and the only ones buying it will be Hollywood do-gooders to park next to their Escalade...

I just don't like the idea of compromising EVERTYHING one wants in a vehicle in order to meet the fad of the day. And the Leaf is an example of all things people are told to want, and nothing they actually do.