Lunchtime News Briefs: A Hybrid you WILL Want, and that Greenpeace WILL Hate!

Ok so today's post is all about Ferraris. Why? Why not? Seriously though, I'm an Italian male, and the three most important things to any Italian male are, in order: 1) Jesus Christ, 2.) Our Mothers, 3.) Ferrari. And to be fair, the order often changes, depending on the day of the week. And this is my blog, so I'm gonna talk about what I like.

In all seriousness however, Ferraris are making news. Look below:

That is allegedly the new Ferrari F70 (take the picture with a grain of salt, there's over a dozen "official" F70 concept renderings). This is going to be the new Enzo. It follows a nearly three decades old trend now, to name the "halo" or baddest of the bad, Ferraris after anniversary's in the company's history. There were of course the F40and F50, and until the very end, the Enzo was referred to as the F60. This new replacement, barring another last minute name change, will be the F70.

While the design is still up in the air a bit, the drivetrain HAS been confirmed. Its a 7.3 litre V12 that will produce 800bhp! It is a further evolution of the beastly 6 litre (originally) V12 that powered the Enzo, the FXX, the FXX Evolutione, the 599 GTB, the 599 GTO, and the 599XX among others. But, are you ready for this? Its a hybrid! Ferrari has attached their KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) hybrid drive, which was originally developed for F1, to the engine.

Short answer on how KERS works, as you break, heat and kinetic energy charges a battery that power an electric motor. On the drivers command, (AKA the push of a button) the electric motor activates, giving the gas engine more power. Basically, its electric nitrous, but it recharges itself! Ferrari have stated the F70's KERS will produce an additional 120bhp, so you have a 920bhp hybrid!!! It also has variable inlet/outley piping lengths and multiple spark combustions to help save gas. Overall its pretty trick and the best part is, Ferrari claim it gets 40% better mpg than a "comparable" gas engine. Double win.

This is huge folks. A halo Italian supercar has to have a V12, all the big ones did, the F50, the Enzo, the 250 GTO, the Miura, the Diablo, and more recently the FXX and Reventon. Not to mention the Zonda. (The F40 and 288 GTO did not posses V12s, but they were special exceptions) Trouble is, V12s are expensive to produce, and they GUZZLE fuel. They basically burn $100 bills out the back. Most governments are cracking down, and want them put out of business. Lambo has ditched their legendary V12, and Ferrari was focusing on V8s for a while, but this changes everything. A hybrid V12? OK go ahead and ban it, try to ban a hybrid, you can't do it. And while I doubt you'll qualify for the hybrid tax break (hell I'll bet a dub its the first hybrid ever hit with a gas-guzzler tax), it will allow the halo car to survive. And thank God for that.

Other facts: less than 500 will be built (who knows when), it will have all the F1 team goodies on it (Traction control, launch control, 7-speed double clutch gearbox, e-diff, KERS) and will probably be AT LEAST $1,000,000. It also will most likely not try to wrestle away the title of "worlds fastest production car" away from the Veryon SS, but damn I want one anyway.

And to kill the bright clouds of happiness I just posted, here's pictures of an abandoned, yes you read that right, Ferrari Enzo:

As you can see, its been sitting in an impound lot for over two years, and was to go to government auction. Where would such a crime against humanity such as this occur? Dubai, of course! Ah yes Dubai, where Supercars are so bloody common people ditch them, and the cops leave them UNCOVERED IN THE DESERT FOR TWO YEARS! Why? Because, yes they really aren't anything special down there. Seems a British playboy ditched the car after fleeing his traffic fines, and never came to get it. Sound strange? It is. Two days before the auction (where the car was expected to pick up over 1.2 mil for the Dubai government) INTERPOL seized it as being stolen. So know its sitting in some other lot somewhere. Hopefully they covered it........

Liberty Tax and a OOGA horn

Hello Tuned followers Hollywood here!

I haven't posted in a while so here we go. Every year at this time the local Tax Company "Liberty Tax" has mascots out in full force to get customers into the office. With the unseasonal weather this year I brought out my 1989 Cadillac Deville never have I had the car out this early. The car has a mounted ooga horn behind the front bumper and a switch on the floor to trigger the horn.

Here is a quick intro to my car and the plan!

Here is Part 2!

As you see he was into it. His friend well wow!

Datsun is Back, and Other Stuff

Nissan has announced the relaunching of its Datsun Brand. The name had been discontinued since 1981 after Nissan felt "established" enough in the US to sell cars as well Nissan. Now Datsun was known for two things: the mildly decent and surprisingly fun 240/260/280Z sports car, building a bunch f other crap that fell apart while you watched. Happily for car enthusiasts, (but sadly for satirists like me) Datsun will not be coming back to the US. Rather Nissan is using its old trick of selling Datsuns in areas, that they aren't established yet, namely Russia, Indonesia, and India. Datsun is hopeful of selling nearly 300,000 cars a year in Indonesia alone. Ambious but doable. By 2020 expect the Datsun nameplate to die again. You heard it here first.

However, Nissan now officially has three brands, with Datsun taking the "cheap, good gas mileage entry-level spot" below Nissan proper and Infiniti. Nissan has not ruled out bring Datsuns over to the US if other cheap Japanese brands like Scion and Suzuki continue to sell well actually start to sell. So there's that to look forward to/laugh at.

Both the Viper and Corvette will be launching new models soon and I don't like either of 'em. The Corvette will be powered by a quad-cam, four valve 5.5 litre V8 (which now is going to be both NA and turbo'd apparently). Nice to see the mainstream car media reporting what this blog has known for over a year! The engine doesn't bother me, the split window and horrid front end do. We've posted pictures of the car on here before, and the design hasn't changed so take a look. We have until next year to hope for change, but it seems unlikely.

The new Viper just pisses me off. It will feature traction control, launch control, stability control, and Cruise control. So its another poseur mobile for old guys who can't get it up. Plus rumors of an automatic and entry level V8 persist! Worst yet, the price of real Vipers will now sky-rocket!

That's it for today, I'm depressed now. More later this week.

Rock Crawling Over Hell Itself AKA One Does Not Just Drive Into Mordor.... Unless You're Us.

No, that's not a picture out of the 2013 FJ Cruiser brochure (although it really should be). And no, I didn't take it. But I was there riding along as me, The Future Ex-Mrs.-Wallio, and two of our mates drove through the closest thing to hell itself on God's green Earth.

OK back story time. The Fontenovas have been my friends for a while. I started working with Amanda years ago in Scranton when I was a young pup trying to break into both the racing world, and the wonderful world of historians. Amazingly enough we work together again in the Valley, now that I'm dabbling with both of my careers (she knew me before I was the Unquestioned, Undisputed Holder of the Title of World's Fastest Historian). And Geoff, her husband, has been there every step of the way. Geoff and I hit it off right away. We of course share many interests (Cowboy Bebop and Nerdy chicks being just two), and are both quite Italian (different regions but still). However, I think we get along so well because Geoff (to me at least) is an older, more refined and sophisticated (and if ego's no object) more bad ass version of myself. I grow a scraggly mess of an attempt at a beard, Geoff rocks a perfectly trimmed and curled handlebar 'stach. I drink really any kind of beer, Geoff is a knowledgeable beer snob micro-brew enthusiast. You get the idea. One thing Geoff is that am not is an amazing photographer. He took the picture on top of the page, and a few others below (you'll see the difference, trust me because whereas I only take pictures to clue my bleary-eyed hungover self in as to where I was the night before, he's actually good at it and enjoys it). He's shot some of the awesome high speed shots featured on this blog before. Check out his blog: http://gacphotography.blogspot.com/ The fact that the Future Ex-Mrs.-Wallio likes them is icing on the cake. We're discussing more trips like these, and if that happens Geoff may very well become the fourth man here on Tuned, which means he'll have to pick a nickname.......(maybe just G, like the quiet bad ass from House of the Dead? The video games, not the movie, and shame on you for asking......)

Anyway, back on topic, long-drawn out and uncharacteristically soft back story over. While we mostly (OK entirely, so far) focus on racing and speed here on Tuned (well except Hollywood of course) there are many other awesome things you can do in a car. Road Trips and Rock Crawling are two of them. Road Trips are self-explanatory, and if their not, leave America right the hell now, as you make me weep. Rock Crawling, on the ther hand, is another matter. Basically you find the steepest, roughest terrain and go over it. Its called crawling for a reason, as speed isn't an issue. 0-60 times, skid pad numbers and horsepower are not important. Approach and break over is where its at. I don't have much experience crawling myself, as I'm a tarmac guy, but I know the basics. Geoff wanted to go down to Centralia (more on why later) and crawl around and asked me to be his spotter. Basically a spotter is like a rallye co-driver, telling the driver about shit that will ruin his day, and giving him advice on how to avoid it. While I had only limited experience spotting for an ex-gf and her CJ7, I never shut up (spotters have to give a constant stream of info to the driver), so I knew I was up to the challenge.

Our adventure started as all great road trips do: at a diner. Over egg sandwiches, ham hash, toast and the mandatory 6 gallons of coffee, we discussed our plan (we didn't have one, why would we?) and set off. After about an hour, we became lost, but none of us cared as we stumbled upon a windmill farm.

With no signs posted forbidding entry we wandered over mesmerized. While I'm certainly no windmill fan, these amazed even me. You never realize how big they truly are (that what's she said!) and how loud they are. Years at the race track have destroyed my hearing, but even I found the loud hum a little surreal. This video (poorly) captures it. Geoff has a better one on his blog.

After we stood gaped mouthed for awhile staring and taking pictures, we loaded up and headed for Centralia, But not before I took a quick picture of the ladies. Here you can see the Future Ex-Mrs.-Wallio looking stoned, and Amanda looking at her IPhone likes its a Star Trek scanner. Or maybe she had an epic game of Angry Birds going, I dunno.

We soon reached the Ghost Town of Centralia. Quick back story number 2: A raging mine fire has been burning under the town for nearly a century (and if you believe the EPA will burn for two centuries more!). Only 13 people still live there, and as they move out their houses are bulldozed immediately. Smoke, heatwaves and noxious fumes still come up from various places in the ground, and the earth is burned and jagged in places. The stench of sulfur hangs in the air, and random sinkholes opening up are not that uncommon. Besides the half a dozen houses, only 3 cemeteries still remain. Pretty crazy eh? Just like out of Dante's Inferno.

As that video shows, we easily went over the hill designed to keep cars off Old Route 61. Geoff's FJ is a Trail Teams Edition meaning its loaded with TRD goodies, like skidplates, locking diffs, a badass gauge cluster, and lower gears. While I don't like Japanese cars, Tojo always could make trucks, and this 4 litre beast was no exception. We entered Old 61, which to me looks like the Nurburgring, if it was left fallow for a few years. My dream would be to get a moderately fast car on there, as its a decent stretch of road, and could be made fun, especially in something AWD like a Lancer, but alas, far too many people have discovered this oddity so there was plenty of foot traffic. We were the only car though, which got us some surprised looks and envious stares (although to be fair plenty of quads and dirt bikes were out).

While my crappy photo doesn't do it justice, the crack in the last picture had some smoke coming out of it. As you can see, everything is rather scorched. The trend continued as we plowed on into Centralia itself.

This is my version of the "FJ advert" shot from above and it sucks, but it gives you an idea of how barren and desolate Centralia is.  This area here had fumes so thick it was hard to breathe. And a smoking hole (wow can't believe I just said that) as seen here:

(Obviously, Geoff took that one). This video should give you an idea about what we went through, or more accurately, over:

After visiting the cemeteries, having a picnic in Hell, and chatting up some other visitors (damn place really was like Grand Central Station) we left, but not before stopping to view what the mines had down to the local creek. See for yourself.

I like flavored water, but that's a bit much. We returned to the Fontenova compounded for an adult beverage and a book swap (The Godfather for Ron Jeremy's autobiography, one of the most epic trades of our time) where I was my usual self, commandeering the TV to watch the Gatornationals. We then did some bench racing until the Future Ex-Mrs.-Wallio got bored and it was time to retire. Geoff seems to want to work out the FJ again, and I'll keep spotting as long as he'll have me, so hopefully another trip will be a go soon. One thing is for sure, it will get good coverage on the interwebs. Until then what better way to hold you over than with this blooper/outtake? Cause if you don't have at least one or two, you ain't tryin hard enough!

The Delta Wing is Here.........Ugh

That is an in-test shot of the Delta Wing (I refuse to call it the Nisan Delta Wing, you'll see why in a second). Now first off, this car sucks, lets just be frank about this. I wouldn't even waste my time, but the mainstream media is all over it. So I put my awesome post bout Team T & D rock crawling over hell on the back burner to give you a brief post on the DW (awesome rockcrawling post will be up by Monday).

The Delta Wing started off two years ago as an idea for an Indycar design. It was rejected. Team DW says it was rejected by narrow minded old men afraid of change. Fact is Delta Wing Inc. would not allow any changes to the design by the teams, ie, no one could make custom parts. Not a good way to make friends in racing. The ACO, who sanctions the 24 Hours of Le Mans, is allowing it to run as an experimental entry this year. As "Entry Zero" it cannot be classified, so no matter how well it does, it cannot win. However, it is being allowed to run to prove its theory.

The DW, in addition to looking like a penis, is an old Aston-Martin Lola AMR-1 chassis, with that long nose and huge rear end. The front tyres are only four inches wide. You read that right, theres only eight inches of rubber total touching the tarmac up front. Most of the cars the DW will race against have more than double that per tyre! It turns by a voodoo rear differential that splits the braking and torque among the rear wheels. I'd explain to you how it works, but I don't understand it, nobody does, not the drivers, the ACO, or even Ben Bowlby, the cars designer. (OK He might get it, but he ain't telling anyone).

The engine will be a Nissan 1.6 litre four cylinder turbo. Except it won't be. Its actually a Chevy engined rebaged as a Nissan. Nissan stepped in just last week and is only a sponsor, that's it (hence why I refuse to call it the Nissan Delta Wing). The team is actually run by Dan Gurney's All-American Racers team (another reason to hate Nissan, its seems unholy for those two to team up). The lump will produce a weak 300bhp. Mind you the DW will weigh half of what its competitors do, but still, most road cars have more than 300bhp these days. And the engine is very low tech, hell it isn't even a stressed member!

Now the ACO and the AAR Team expect it to run in the 3:32 lap bracket at Le Mans, faster than the LMP2 cars, but slower than the big boys. Could be interesting to see. Doubt it makes it a full 24 hours though.....

Below you will find three pics of the DW: First in Indycar trim, then in its initial sports car guise, and finally in Nissan form. Also, a video of Marino Francitti (Mrs. Ashley Judd's little brother) giving the car its initial shake down at Sebring this week. The motor sounds shitty and theres understeer aplenty, and honestly the lap doesn't appear that fast, but I'll cut them some slack, it was the first test, and nothing ever goes right at the first test. Le Mans is the goal, and June will be here before we know it.....

Green Is So NOT The New Black, Shocking (HaHa) Facts About the Volt and Hybrids in General

The Volt is Dead, Long Live The........? Monday GM killed the Volt. Well sort of. They suspended manufacture of it, shutting down the plant and laying off 1,300 workers. GM wanted to sell 10,000+ Volts a year, and only managed to off-load roughly 7,600 over the course of 2011 (compare that to GM's sales of Cruzes: 265,000 and Aveos: 500,000, both rounded down). Worse still in February 2012 GM only shipped 600 to dealers, less than half of which have sold. Now GM has said they will begin building the Volt again once its surplus cars are sold. Considering nearly 7,000 Volts are sitting in Michigan, those UAW guys are gonna be waiting a long time to get called back.....

So why did the Volt fail, especially when GM during 2011, had one of its best years, not in recent history, but ever? Well a few things:

First: It cost $41,000, more than double a Prius (which by the way is pronounced "PRY-us" ) and 10K more than a Nissan Leaf, which are its two main rivals, while getting less mpg than the Prius. To be fair, it did beat the Leaf in that department.

Second: It cost $41,000.

Third: It had a crappy interior, a way too complex instrument cluster and it looked like a Mailbu melted and was frozen.

Fourth: IT COST $41,000!

Fifth: They caught fire, and on at least two occasions, reignited days after they were put out.

Sixth: Did I mention how much they cost? No? Oh well it was $41,000!

Seventh: The auto bailout was for the most part a fairly unpopular program, even with myself, Mr. Americana when it comes to cars. And rightly or wrongly the Volt came to symbolize the bailout. Partly because GM was forced to build it in order to get the bailout AND were forced to price it to make a profit, hence the massive sticker. The government then got caught covering up the fires, so the Volt has quite a stigma to it.

Seventh: Being named Car and Driver's Car of the Year certainly didn't help, its pretty much a curse anymore.

Oh well I thought, Americans simply cannot build a good eco car. Especially GM. It's the EV1 all over again right? Not so fast. What if I were to tell you hybrids in general don't sell, at least not here anyway. "Wallio, you're dreaming, there's Priuses everywhere!" I thought so too, but then I did some digging. It turns out that in all of automotive history (since 1844) only 2.2 million hybrids have sold in the US. Now to be fair hybrids only have been around in America since 2001. So in 11 years 2.2 million hybrids (all makes combined) sold in the US. Think that's impressive? In 2011 GM alone sold 2.2 million cars in nine months! While America is number 2 in the world in hybrid sales behind Japan, we're also number 1 in the world by a large margin in V8 sales. And hybrids make up only about 2% of all cars in America! So I guess green really isn't the new black huh? (More proof that Cheri Sundra is indeed the new black)

So why don't hybrids in general sell? Well some do. The Prius of course dominates with one out of every two hybrids sold . And the Leaf sold over 11,000 units in 2011 but for the most part hybrids have several problems:

1.) Looks. Most hybrids are ugly as sin, due to packaging those massive batteries and still having to be able to cut through the wind to save gas. Look at a Nssan Leaf without gagging, go ahead, I dare ya.

2.) Poor build quality. Let's face it: most hybrids are just crappy cars. And I'm not talking about from  performance standpoint. Interiors, wheels, and even nuts and bolts all suffer, in order to keep the car reasonably priced. Because of how expensive the batteries are, even the Japanese, the undisputed kings of car interiors, fill their hybrids with cheap grey plastic. Also the complicated electrics can only take so many recharges and rarely last even a decade. And that sucks. Oh and remember the stuck throttle recall? Affected the Priuses, and so did the ABS-Failure recall, and the steering recall........

3.) Cost. While not all hybrids start at $41k, most are overpriced. Especially when you can get a Korean eco-box for 10k that'll do just about the same stuff. This dooms hybrids that are eco-versions of normal cars, like the Fusion. Why pay 5-10k more? For what? 5mpg? Sure there's a tax break, and you will save a bit of gas, but it'll take a long time to recoup that extra dough.

4.) They're not really green. Most hybrids are all talk. Toyota claims well over 60mpg for the Prius. Good luck breaking 50, even if you drive like Hollywood. Also, a British study (which was ignored by the media) showed that with how brutal the batteries and electrics are to produce, a Prius will do more harm to the environment than a V8 Land Rover. And the most mpg you can get out of a car is 76, from the VW Polo Blue Motion, a "dirty" diesel. Which leads us to..........

5.) The rise of the diesels. Americans are finally waking up to what the rest of the world has always known. Diesels rock. Slowly but surely diesel cars are selling in the US, lead by the VW TDI revolution. Long story short, they get better gas mileage than a hybrid, and they don't suck!

6.) We're Americans. We don't drive eco-cars. We invented hot-roddingPrius. And yea you may get a few chicks, but they'll be the crazy PETA bitches. No one wants them.

So long story short, despite what the media and Toyota are telling us, hybrids don't sell. Why? Because people aren't stupid. The cars are overpriced, crappy, slow, ugly, and not very green or well put together. Now while the 90-mile and its dead Leaf is still selling (proving there really is one born every minute) if you want a car that screams "I'm cheap!" Buy a Kia. If you want a fun car that's good on gas, get a Cruze, or Imprezza, or Maxima, or Fusion. And if you want to be smart, get a diesel. Just don't buy a hybrid. Please. And judging by the numbers for the last 12 years, you're not. No one is.

And give GM credit, they tried. Uncle Sam forced their hand and it ended up pear shaped. So it goes.

Oh and if anyone questions my numbers from the first part, you can find them on Wikipedia, Consumer Reports, and HybridCars.com

Speed is Beauty, Beauty Is Speed

Hello all, Wallio back with a lesson on aesthetics. People buy cars for alot of reasons. Looks are one of them.  But what makes a car look good? Clean, smooth lines, nice paint, curves in all the right place. A lot like a woman actually (just kidding ladies). However, if a car is fast it is automatically beautiful.

This especially true of race cars. If they go fast, they look good. If they look good, they usually go fast. If something looks wrong, it probably is. This years F1 cars with their bump noses and this years Indycars with their "bumpers" look hideous. Or do they? If they fly all will be forgotten. Of course, even by comparison they aren't that bad. Check them out compared to past designs......

First in case you live under a rock here's this year's Ferrari, the F2012:

And this year's Lotus Indycar, The DW12:

I think we can all agree something about them just doesn't look right. However, check out these design trends....

Tea-Tray Front Wings 1970s

March made customer chassis in F1 for decades and caused a stir with their mid-70s monstrosity. People laughed it off as a "Tea-tray" and shook their heads. Until it started winning. Then several teams adopted their own. While the tea-tray revolution was over before the 1970s were, it sparked a trend of ugly cars that soon won't be forgotten.

The Eifelland

The car above you is a tea-tray March underneath believe it or not. Trouble was they had on staff a Swiss designer of pens who thought this one piece body was the way to go. It wasn't. By mid-season the car reverted to a normal March and ditched all that heavy bodywork. Except for that periscope, I mean rearview mirror. That stayed all year, and never caught on. Gee I wonder why.....

X-Wings (mid-90s)

Tyrell (white car above) was a poor team on its last legs. They needed a cheap way to go fast. They had lots of scrap pieces of carbon fiber laying around, and crafted these wings to create mid-chassis downforce. People were horrified, but they worked,  so much so. that by the end of the year, every team was using their own version.  TV stations begged F1 to ban them, but they couldn't find a reason, until they started catching on airlines in pitlane. Safety was cited, and the X-wings (named after the Star Wars fighter) were banned. But not before Arrows tried this at Monaco....

The car wasn't allowed to race like that sadly (driver vision was cited as the reason) but it was the next logical extension of the concept. Reminds me of the car Rebel and I saw at Giants Despair last year....

I snapped a picture of this in the pits and yeah......what can we say?

So There you go. By comparsion the F1 and Indycars this years rules have given us are supermodels. The Indycar especially, has lost some of its ugliness by being several seconds a lap faster than its predecessor already in testing. But if you ever think a car is ugly, compare it to the Delta wing. If its prettier (and it will be) its ok. If its not, well god have mercy on our souls. See below, if you don't have a weak stomach. Wallio out.

Yup, gonna go vomit now......

Quote of the Week

"You drive a fucking Toyota Corolla! That the fuck does your opinion matter?" - Rebel, to our friend Keith

Interestingly, our conversation had nothing to do with cars until that point.......

Choose YOUR Ten.

Hey fellow Motorheads, Wallio back from the dead. Last month, during the Super Bowl, Visa ran a contest where you could win tickets to the Super Bowl for you and ten of your friends. The ads told you to "Choose YOUR Ten, then tell us why".

Well I thought this could be an awesome car post. If money was no object, what would your Ideal 10-car garage be? No limits, any ten cars you want. My list is below, and while they are all pretty rare, not all are wicked expensive, and many have been talked about on this blog before. So below, in no particular order, are my ten....

1970 Plymouth Superbird



I love street legal race cars, and this was one of the first. The Superbird was built to run in NASCAR (although some did see NHRA drag strip action) and its radical aero mods helped it to be the first car ever over 200mph during a race. NASCAR passed a rule saying one example had to be built for every dealership in America, thinking that Plymouth wouldn't build the nearly 1,800 required. They did, and while they didn't sell (some sat on lots for years afterwards), they won everything that there was to win, and then were banned after one year. The car was just a Road Runner with some stuck on bits that came only with a 440 or a HEMI  and are worth close to $200,000 each today.

1997 Viper GTS-R

Another road going race car, the Viper GTS-R was built to allow the car to compete at Le Mans. It featured a stripped out interior, stiffer suspension, big rear spoiler, and more power from its V10. The race version of this car won its class driven by the Oreca team, and its engine holds the modern era Le Mans record for displacement at 8.4 Liters. Only 100 examples of this 200mph Mopar were built.

2006 SSC Ulitmate Aero TT

OK, so I never shut up about this car. OK, so it looks like a kit car and has all the furnishings of a turkish prison. And yes only about 30 were built, most going to the Middle East. But its got 1,200bhp, a top speed of nearly 260mph and no drivers aids. It can beat a Veyron in a drag race, and its powered by a small block Chevy. God Bless America.

1969 Chevy Camaro Z2-DZ302

For what its worth, that is a picture of a REAL DZ302. Looks like a normal Camaro right? Tht's the idea. The Z28 was the Camaro Chevy raced in Trams-Am. It was a road racing series with a 5 liter displacement limit. The Z28 featured a 302 engine and heavy duty suspension parts. The DZ302 package was the version raced, once again sold to the public in order to be legal (notice a trend?). The DZ was the motor, a higher reving, twin-carbed beast that featured a cross-ram intake (this alone is worth nearly 10k if you can find one) and factory headers. For insurance purposes, it was rated at 290bhp, but dyno tests have proved a bone stock DZ produced 410bhp! The DZ wasn't just a motor, it was a total package featuring 4-wheel disc brakes, bigger sway bars, and a close ratio gearbox. No surprise it won the Trans-Am title twice.

2010 Caterham RS500 Superlight

The RS500 is a kit car, but a factory kit car. It features a 2 liter Cosworth engine, a six-speed gearbox, two seats, four wheels, and thats about it. Options include windshield, radio, and paint (no I'm not kidding, look it up). However, it is faster around a track that pretty much anything, a Veyron and SSC included, and costs less than 70k. Not bad really.

1969 AMC SC/Rambler

I've always adored these cars, awesome name, red/white/blue paint job, the fact that it is another "street-legal race car" and the greatest hood scoop ever fitted to a car, ever! AMC poked fun at itself with this car, advertising it as a Rambler that runs 14.3s! Not bad for '69, but not good either. Truth be told, a decent driver and a set of slicks could have one of these running high 13s on the strip all day. All with the practicality of a family car. Too bad they only built 1,100 of em.

1982 Deloren DMC-12

We profiled the Delorean on here already, so I'll just say this: 30 years later, it still looks ahead of its time. And if you ever run across one of the 6,800ish left in the world, there WILL be a crowd around it. There always is.

1975 Cosworth Vega

Another car we already featured. Fun Reminder that when Americans build hot hatches amd Euroeans build muscle cars, hilarity ensues. The Cossie Vega also taught GM that making a version of your economy car the most expensive car in your line-up isn't too smart. Only 1,800 were built.

1966 Ford GT40

The story behind this car has filled many books, but I'm tired and have no idea how much Verizon is gonna charge me for my interwebs. Long story short, Ford wanted to buy Ferrari, Ferrari bails last minute, Ford decide to embarrass them by winning Le Mans. They buy a sports car design, but being American struggle with it. Then Ford wakes up, says "We're American, put a big-block in it!" stuff a 7-liter in the back and win Le Mans three times in a row by basically punching the laws of physics in the face. Then ADD kicks in and they quit. The End. Seriously.

Thats it for today Tuned fans. More tomorrow. What's your ten? Comment and let me know!

What's in a Name? Car Edition

Greetings all, Wallio here. First and foremost, Hollywood lives! Can you believe it? And typical Hollywood posts. Remember, when buying a car Hollywood style, it must look good, look good, lookd good, be comfortable, sound good, and did we mention look good? Anyway, glad to have him back.

This post is one I've been working on for quite sometime, its a follow-up to a much older post What's in a Name? and Other Crap. However, this one is about car names and strangeness that occurs from that.

First off, a car thats an options package of another car can have a really long name, or create some interesting mix-ups. For example, name the car below?

"Oh that's easy Wallio, that's a '65 Chevelle."  BUZZ! WRONG! That is a '65 Malibu. All Chevelles were Malibus, but not all Malibus were Chevelles. Yea, I know, its a bit confusing. But not as bad as Pontiac in the early days of the GTO.

Pontiac had the Tempest, and an options package called the Le Mans package, and then from '64 on, the GTO package. However, the GTO pack could only be added to Tempests equipped with the Le Mans pack. So in reality a '64 Goat was officially a 1964 Pontiac Tempest Le Mans GTO. And you could buy a Tempest, a Tempest Lemans, or a Tempest Le Mans GTO. How confusing is that? Obviously very, as the public shyed away from the cars offical names and called them simply "Le Mans's" or "GTOs". This is an instance of a car taking on an incorrect  (official) name, although at least in this case it was at least part of the model name.

In the case of the Delorean DMC-12, since it was the only car Delorean ever built is simply referred to as a Delorean rather than a DMC-12.  It also didn't help that the 12 stood for $12,000, which was supposed to be its price. It didn't come anywhere ear that though.

Pictured above, however, is a car that got its brand renamed after the model. That is a Pagani Zonda C12. The first Zonda. Now Pagani was founded as a company in 1992 and until 2011, has built only one car, the Zonda. While the Zonda didn't actually go on sale until 1999, the fact that a car company went 19 years with a single model made the make and model one in the same. Several sources, including reputable magizines and TV shows often incorrectly refer to the company as Zonda. What really creates confusion is how many different official Zonda models there were/are. Because of the fact that there are so many different Zondas, many people believed that Zonda was again the brand, and the individual types were the models. For the record, here is a list of all the Zondas ever built, with their official names:

Zonda C12
Zonda S
Zonda S 7.3
Zonda S Monza
Zonda Roadster
Zonda F
Zonda F Roadster
Zonda F Clubman
Zonda F Clubman Roadster
Zonda F Roadster Final Edition
Zonda Cinque
Zonda Cinque Roadster
Zonda Tricolore
Zonda Uno
Zonda GJ
Zonda RAK
Zonda HH
Zonda PS
Zonda 750
Zonda Absolute
Zonda GR
Zonda R
Zonda R1

Yea, how insane is that? Its easy to see why the Zonda could be considered a brand in of itself, but all those names officially need Pagani in front of them. But what's in a name right? Not much, as several car companies don't bother to give their cars "proper" names, but rather a letter or number designation. Mazada, Mercedes-Benz, and Saab all spring to mind, as does BMW, who recently messed themselves up with naming "rights".

BMW is another company that uses numbers to distinguish their various lines. 3, 5, 6, 7, and until recently 8 were all used for respective "series" the bigger the number, the bigger and more expensive the car. Various letter and numbers then follwed to tell of engine size and drive train for example 325i or 635xi which would be a 6 series powered by a turbo 3.5 litre engine with all wheel drive. High preformance Bimmers were built by BMW's "M" division who made it easy by just putting M in front of the number, so M3, M5, M6, the stillborn M8. Trouble hit when BMW decided to make a hatchback.

This is the BMW M1, a late '70s mid-engined supercar built by BMW. It was built before any other "M-Car" and was a one-off. There was no 1 series to go with it. Well, a few years ago BMW built a 1 series, and of course wanted to release a "hot" version. Problem is, it would have to be called the M1, and the orginial M1 is a cult classic. BMW fanboys everywhere where beyond pissed, and said this could not occur. So it was released as the 1M Coupe. Lame, but there is a precedent. The M verison of the Z series of roadsters has always been the "M Roadster" and the hot SUV is the X6M. Yeah, I know.


So thats a (not so) brief history lesson on car names. Lame ending, but after a week of working on this, I want it over. Wallio, out.

The New Chevrolet Impala is a Sleeper....In a Great Way

The Chevrolet Impala has been on the market in this body style for the past six years. The car has been loved by rental car agencies and people looking for an effective family car capable of good gas mileage and plenty of room. The car features small exterior changes such as the mesh grille and the painted molding on the trunk. Both of these features are reminiscent of the late SS Impala killed 2 model years ago.

On the inside nothing much has changed. The same interior that was used the last few years. Oddly enough the impala comes standard with the 5 passenger floor mounted shifter. If one wants to upgrade to a 6 passenger sedan with column mounted shifter it is an extra $200.00. Quite backward in my opinion being that it is probably cheaper to mount the shifter on the column then build a center console. Now for the best part the new 3.6 liter DOHC, VVT, direct injected engine V6. This engine makes 300 horsepower and 262 lbs of torque. The past V6's were a 3.5 V6 which made 211hp and the 3.9 which made 230 hp (which I believe is in the current Impala police interceptor cars). This new power plant also makes 1 less hp and 71 fewer pounds of torque then the dead V8 SS Impala. This engine is in GM vehicles across the lineup such as in the Traverse, CTS, Malibu and Camaro. The car also features a new transmission from a dated 4 speed to a new 6 speed.

Is this GM making cars cheaper only having to use one V6....probably. What a sleeper though....I think I'll take mine in a base model with the rental car wheels and shift on the column and surprise a few tuner guys from light to light.

Keeping it a Ford

One of my favorite cars are street rods. I love the 30's, 40's and 50's cars. These cars are just the definition of cool, they have character that the newer tuner cars lack.

One my favorites is the 32 Ford. The car pictured below is a 32 5 window coupe, i came across it at a local car show. The car caught my eye the second i came up to it I saw all the bolts on the engine, I saw the distributor in the front the car had Ford Flathead V8!

I told the owner of the car you did a great job building the car, i like the fact you didn't put a Chevy V8 in it. He was quick to respond "it is not that hard to put a Ford in it." and he appreciated the comment. Don't get me wrong the 32 in American Graffiti had a Chevrolet engine in it and that is by far one of my favorite movie cars. I just have more respect if it is built with a engine of the same manufacture.

On another note i like the little touches of this street rod. Such as keeping the fenders on it, the moon hubcaps with painted wheel, white wall tires and chrome beauty rings. The owner left the bumpers on it, this car is done up in a tasteful way. If he ever needed to sell the car or sell it to move on to the next project he should have no worries getting offers.

Watches and Cars???

This post is one I have been thinking of for a little while. I have always loved cars, but my new found love is watches. Some people buy a Timex and it does the job, it tells them the time but i feel it doesn't have the personality I look for in a timepiece. What do watches possibly have to do with cars besides tell you your running late for a date or an appointment?

Rolex Daytona
Rolex has sponsored the 24 Hours of Daytona. This watch Rolex calls "the drivers watch" it features a tachymeter and a chronograph. The tachymeter which is engraved into the bezel, this is for measuring speed over a pre-determined distance. The chronograph is the three subdials in the center of the timepiece this measures time, such as if one is to measure lap times.

Breitling for Bentley

If you prefer a bigger timepiece this is the watch for you. Breitling has sponsored Bentley in racing. If you look in a new Bentley Continental GT the analog clock in the center of the dash will say Breitling. If you look at the case back of one of these watches it will have the Bentley race car or a wheel of a car.

Jaeger-LeCoultre

This watch company has partnered with my favorite dream car Aston Martin. Together they have made many time pieces together but this one is by far the one that is most interesting. This watch pays tribute to the super car the DBS, the car that was featured in James Bond Casino Royale.

The best part of the watch isn't the sporty style or the fact is says "DBS" on the face. This watch OPERATES THE CAR! In the watch is a remote transponder that will allow the owner of the car to unlock, lock, turn the lights on and start the car. Think Mustang if you love your car you got to have the mustang hat or T-shirt, if you have a DBS you NEED the watch.

Sadly these watches are all Swiss made and appeal to a very high end audience. The Daytona and the Breitling will run you from $5000 to as much as $15,000. The Jaeger will cost as much as $20,000-$30,000. These are amazing watches sadly myself and others who appreciate these but no way can afford them.

Let me show you some out of my collection that can be picked up for under $100.00. My favorite brand is Invicta timepieces. They offer great quality, style and most of all they are affordable.

Invicta Air Legend

This watch is a tad smaller in case size then the Breitling. It has the same Knurled bezel, very similar bracelet, face, and hour markers. This has a Ronda quartz (battery powered) chronograph movement. It is a great piece when one wants a bigger watch but not a clock on the wrist.


Invicta Speedway

This watch steals highly from the Rolex Daytona. Having the similar engraved bezel, three subdials, bracelet and case. This watch is very interchangeable dress it up in a suit or dress it down with blue jeans.

The blue on the left is stunning, on the right I have a rose gold. Rose gold is the mixing of copper and gold to achieve the copper/pinkish look on the plating on the timepiece. Both watches feature a precise Seiko Japanese chronograph movement.

Unlike the counterfeit watches these have warranties. There is no shame wearing one of these opposed to a fake Rolex. When someone confuses it for a Rolex you can say "no it is not a Rolex it is an Invicta"

Hollywood