New Phrase
Qashqai Car Games
Qashqai is a crossover vehicle from Nissan, found in Europe. But you don't care about that. The other reason it's a hot buzzword is because it's a freestyle extreme car sport, said to be underground since 2001, and it resembles Tony Hawk-style skateboarding, if Tony were using a vehicle instead of a skateboard (complete with half-pipe). YouTube junkies are believers; the noninsane call it a memorable viral ad campaign-from Nissan.
General Carbuncle
In October, James R. Ford from London, England, completed a three-year project: to take an '81 Ford Capri MKIII (manufactured in Britain) and turn it into General Lee-with tons of toy cars plastered on it. Mission accomplished, as you can see here.
It took a few thousand cars for the multimedia artist to get his message across (whatever it was), with some cars bought new and some donated. All in all, it took 450 cars to cover a single door, 1,000 for the hood, and 900 for the roof. James said T-birds and Double Decker buses were the most common cars provided, while a VW van with a pop-up Kermit the Frog was the oddest.
Car Craft's Stupid Question for an Automaker, Vol. 2
Toyota's pretty much in world domination. Musclecars are hot. So?Toyota says it's studying the market-and we can't help but figure that looks a lot like Jimmy and the beetle he's got captive in the Folgers tin in his bedroom. While Toyota's performance Supra went 6 feet under about 10 years ago, the automaker is pondering another performance vehicle. Say, a Challenpra? A Sumaro? "The market determines what types of vehicles Toyota will produce," a Toyota talking head told Car Craft. "For the past several years, the market has demanded SUVs, crossovers, trucks, family sedans, and vans. With the dramatic rise in fuel prices, small, fuel-efficient cars continue to gain popularity."
Yeah, those hybrid things and the related performance technology are kind of job one for Toy. "It is entirely possible that hybrid technology can be used to produce a high-performance sports car in the future." Oh, our sides. Yeah, but what about that Supvette? Maybe a Suprstang? "I would not look for anything in a Toyota musclecar any time soon. But, if the U.S. market expresses a strong demand for musclecars, then it will not be a matter of if-it would be a matter of when."
Dear Detroit: Own it
Your gas!
According to the UK newspaper The Independent, the United Nations has filed a report that states the world's 1.5 billion cattle, not cars, are the actual cause for the greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming, FEMA trailers, that yellow stuff inside of taxi cabs, getting Tabasco in a paper cut, Al Gore, Princess Diana's car accident, Bratz, cold coffee, and some environmental hazards that may be lurking at a microscopic level on your pillow. This likely contradicts some other reports that blame the whole deal on something else, so you might as well just hop in the Mustang and go get a steak. Tell 'em Car Craft sent you. -Douglas R. Glad
All-Gen Camaro
Finally, someone has combined all the good parts from the families of Camaros into one complete package, and it's good enough to win the '06 SEMA GM Design Award. The idea is simple: Take a first-gen Camaro host car and a fourth-gen Camaro donor and splice them together for a gen-one with a gen-four interior and suspension and a Gen III engine. It's a real car with a real title and VIN and we are told it's real fast. To get the car in one of three degrees of completion, contact Goodmark Industries at 770/339-8557 or online at goodmarkindustries.com. -Douglas R. Glad
0 to 200 to 0 Winner
Longtime readers will remember Jeff Schwartz's Ultima 10-second street alien we featured in the Feb. '04 issue. Jeff likes to push his machines hard and recently entered the now twin-turbocharged LS2-powered booster rocket in the Baer Brakes/V Box USA 0-200mph-0 Speed Stop Challenge held on a lonely two-lane road in Nevada. Taking on a host of killer ultra-exotic machines, Jeff bested them all with a top speed of 190.2 mph in the standing mile and then massaged the brakes (you don't do any abrupt at 190 mph) to get the car back to zero in an astonishing 39.8 seconds. Jeff bested such impressive cars as the Gottlieb Big Red big-block Chevy-powered '69 Camaro, a twin-turbo Viper, a supercharged Ford GT, and a Z06 Corvette. Jeff is now home recuperating in an attempt to reposition his eyes back in their sockets. -Jeff Smith