Car News

The automotive industry is a living, breathing entity. It is ever changing and forming around what the customer wants and future technology that will making driving safer. Saab seems to be in constant trouble and Volkswagen is trying to take over the world, one automotive manufacturer at a time. But even Volkswagen won’t touch Saab; the only company crazy enough to buy Saab was a peculiar car manufacturer from the Netherlands. In this section will be a short recap on what is going on in the automotive world each week. With the recession, the last couple years have been turmoil and a lot has changed. GM has shed itself of Pontiac, Saturn, Oldsmobile, and Hummer. Ford has sold off Land Rover and Jaguar to an Indian car company, how surprising is that? To top it off, they sold Volvo to a Chinese company.  But that is years in the past, and lots has happened. It would take up too much time to explain all that has happened in between. Instead, let us talk about more recent events.

Ford has finally ended production of the Crown Victoria. The final Ford Crown Victoria rolled off the assembly line in Ontario, Canada. Some might find it funny that the last of such an American vehicle was built in Canada and bought by a customer in Saudi Arabia. Don’t have enough room in your garage for a Lamborghini Aventador? Well, you can buy a 1/8^th scale model. It is made out of diamonds and gold and platinum and is going up for auction with a starting bid of, sit down, $4.7 million. For that price it should clean the house and mow the yard without complaining. Once again Americans have a hot wagon to drool ever, but never experience. Audi is testing their RS4 Avant around the Nürburgring in Germany. And Land Rover has decided to change the way they have been naming their SUVs. They will go to naming their vehicles instead of using abbreviations and numbers. 

Car Apparel

No, this has nothing to do with dressing your car up in clothes, though a bra for your car could be a good idea, depending on how far you drive and the areas in which you commute. But no, I am referring to clothes and accessories to wear. Want to show your allegiance to a certain car brand? Or you might just think it looks cool. Whatever your reason to wear car apparel, this section will go over different types of apparel and will include ways to obtain these different types of apparel.

One in particular that I have really gotten interested in is the seatbelt belt. Manufacturers of these products claim that the belt part is actually from the car. To me, that adds to the cool factor knowing that this was actually part of a car once, not just some cheap manufactured belt to look like it was once a seatbelt. But, that is if I believe and trust the manufacturers of the product. It is somewhat disappointing that some car companies’ seatbelts are not available for purchase. For example, I was sad to see that companies such as Abarth, Renault, Ferrari, Lotus, along with other European brands. But there are some other brands that have a strong following, such as Jeep, Honda, Hummer, and others. These are pretty cool accessories, they click shut and to release the belt, you need to push the central button. They are usually a big hit with friends. 

Modifications on a Budget

Have you ever wanted to modify your vehicle? Not completely pleased with an aspect of the car or just wanting to improve the dynamics of the car or truck? Have you wondered what you could do with the money you have? I am a huge car guy and I like modifying, making the car my own and different than others on the road. But being an average college student, I don’t have an unlimited source of cash to draw from to do whatever modifications that I want, I have to limit myself to what I want most out of the car.

Different modifications for the car can be divided into 4 categories; performance, handling, audio, and visual. Depending what you want most out of the car, will determine what you will spend most of your time and money into. If your main priority is to humble the guy in the Vette next to you, or maybe you just want to blow out the old man’s ear drums. While others want to make their car stand out in some way, whether in a good or bad way. It is all a matter of personal choice.

I have been obsessed with cars my whole life and religiously studied them for the last decade. To my friends I am known as the “car guy” and they come to me with their car questions. I try to read car blogs and car magazines every day, and if I don’t, I catch up on Sunday with any car news. I have a close friend that is a car mechanic and I am a member of the SAE club, which standards for Standards of Automotive Engineering. Another great way to learn more is from each other, I encourage any information or questions from any reader. Throughout this blog I will talk about modifications on my vehicle and go through the process for a few of them. I will also have two other sections, car news and car apparel. The purposes of these will be discussed later. Enjoy.