Hi,

Welcome to the Supercharged Inc story. Supercharged Inc has been hashed together over the last couple of years, by me in my spare time. Although it’s not really “spare” time. It was mostly time which was meant for sleeping, but instead it’s been time for working on the website: Supercharged Inc; working on the print designs: Supercharged Inc Screen Prints; and of course throwing some prints down on a limited run of T shirts to pull together our “first T shirt line”: Supercharged Inc T shirts

Its only in the recent weeks that we’ve finally had those first T shirts arrive here, in boxes, ready to ship out! That was exciting enough, but now the tough part begins: Getting it out there. We’d been keeping a loose thread of news running on the home page of the Supercharged Inc website, but it seemed a good idea to get one of these blog things going. And thats where we are now.

So, next steps will be getting our heads round how to dress this blog up!? Getting our heads round how to integrate this blog into our website, or vice versa. And finally seeing if we can get some feedback from anyone out there… Seriously, if you’ve found this then you’re pretty rare, quite possibly unique in fact. Thanks for reading this far, please check back, have a virtual browse through the T shirt and Print collection over on Supercharged Inc or add your name to our mailing list so we can let you know when new designs come up and keep you up to date with any sneaky offers we might sling at you

If you like what we do, or what we aim to be, keep an eye on us. 2010 is our Point Break year – Things are gonna happen*….

Supercharged Inc
*Things might happen. Things also might not happen

OLD NEWS – FROM BEFORE THE BLOG STARTED

Dec 2009 – HAPPY CHRISTMAS Gasoline fans. Yep, December is here again and the count down to the 25th is on! Don’t forget to place your Supercharged Inc order before the 14th if you want it in time for Christmas. Free postage till the 10th as well. Our T shirts come in a cool box all ready and perfect to be given as a gift, so take a look at the options and head on over to our Webstore.
Have a great Chrsitmas and keep an eye out for us in the New Year!

Best wishes from Supercharged.

Supercharged Inc Baja T in box

Nov 2009 – Recently everything has gone into overdrive and there have been more late nights than I care to remember. The result of this, apart from extreme tiredness, is the delivery of our first batch of very limited edition T shirts. We’ve been pushing the message of gasoline and wide open throttle from various sofas via this website for a while but now (finally), YOU can push this message further via the medium that is T shirts. Just over a week ago we were at the print studio where the first proto’s and then subsequent print run for the initial 4 Supercharged T shirts happened. Some other bits of the Supercharged jigsaw will also come together over the next few days. You can browse the designs on our T shirt page or go directly to our store located at www.superchargedinc.bigcartel.com where you can buy them NOW! The pics above and below show 2 of the designs folded and presented with the Supercharged box that they come supplied in.

BOXED SUPERBIRD

Nov 2009 – We’ve primed the jets, switched on the ignition and finally fired up the print run for those first T shirts we’ve been waiting for so long. Up at the print studio watching the screen printing process and choosing the final print techniques and colours was cool. Seeing the first pass of the squeegie and the black ink pass through the screen and create that first T shirt gave a great feeling. Be sure to check out the pictures of the print run on our flickr site here.

MASTER FILM AND SPEC

FIRST PRINT MASTER

Sept 2009 – Headed out to Sacramento for Bugorama #64. Hired a Mustang and drove from San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge and on to watch some of the fastest VW racing I’ve seen, and some sweet show cars into the bargain with it. Not to mention picking up some bits and pieces from the swap meet. Add to that meeting an icon (“Muffler Mike”, thanks for letting me sit in the hot seat!), plus just generally soaking up the atmosphere on a hot sunny Sacramento Sunday, and you have the mixture for an amazing event. So, Bugorama #64, check out the pictures in the VISITORS PARKING LOT.

Sac64_Flyer

April 2009 – And another artwork…

Supercharged Inc Rat Patrol T

April 2009 – Well after messing about with some vector based illustration of the Rat Patrol Beetle, it seemed only right to have a look at what it might look like as a Tee Print. Here’s the link…decide for yourself. This Volksrod just looks good on anything.

Supercharged Inc T shirt Rat Patrol

You hafta go take a look at the Volksrods website and check out this awesome Rod for yourselves, here… www.volksrods.com

April 2009 – I’m itching to see our first T shirts. Desperate to hang the first print. But still we’re not quite there. What I can say is we have a bag full of neck labels now and I just finished the last of the first 4 Tee prints. Click on this to go and see it and the other 3. Still have to decide on colours. If you have any preferences, do us a favour and tell us!

Supercharged Inc Master T shirt

This design will also be available as a print. Click on this icon to go and see it and the other works in progress…

Supercharged Inc Master Print

Mar 2009 – Spent an afternoon playing with the Rat Patrol design. Now with a striking red sky and the correct Rat Fink sheriffs badge side graphic. Take a look, just click on the image here…

Supercharged Inc Rat Patrol Desert print

Jan 2009 – Happy New Year!! (Craig). Well another year begins, and this year we look forward to seeing some of the ideas behind Supercharged come to life. Slowly slowly (oh so slowly) things continue to go on behind the scenes, but just to keep it fresh, check out the new Rat Patrol print art work. An awesome custom beetle, I just had to play with an illustration.

Supercharged Inc Rat Patrol Print

Dec 2008 – Happy Christmas. Not in time for Christmas, but in time for the New Year are the first 3 Supercharged T shirts. They are off to the screen printers and should be ready to ship late Jan.

Supercharged Inc Superbird T shirt

Supercharged Inc Baja T shirt

Supercharged Inc Master T shirt

Dec 2008 – Some changes are now in place for the site design. Quite a few late nights learning how to make the worlds most messy website code and bodging in some javascript, has resulted in a few improvements.

Nov 2008 – SuperchargedInc Flickr page. More pictures hosted on our Flickr site. Flickr Here

Oct 2008 – More shots added to the Visitors Parking Lot from the USA and Hong Kong. Came back from the USA with a selection of Autometer guages but no WEBER 48 IDA’s. Plans for an engine build to make use of the guages are forming. Feb 2008 – Supercharged gets on line

Sept 2008 – SUPERCHARGED goes on holiday to the STATES. Hoping to bring back some Twin 48’s for the soon to be started SUPERCHARGED RACE CAR…. if it ever happens it will be a miracle.

August 2008 – VW ACTION images. START HERE…

July 2008 – Visitors parking lot gets off the ground!

Your old school if you actually know what a Rat Rod is. Most of my friends will describe me as “different”. I like cold weather especially in the country, pretty good about rain and snow too. I also dislike most vehicles with 4 wheels unless it’s a Rat Rod or an old classic car. Rough on the outside, smooth and cool on the inside just like me There is something about a slab of rust mixed in with shiny bits that I like. Ten Ferrari’s could roll by and I wouldn’t strain my neck to check em’ out. One of these babies rumble within earshot and I’m right there.

I’m attracted to the passion and commitment it took to restore something like this to pristine condition. The ones that are slightly unfinished are the best. Just enough grit amongst the chrome as a reminder of where it came from. The project either broke up a marriage or got the owner hitched.

He saw some photos on Flickr that I snapped at the auto show earlier this year and wrote me for some large sized prints of these three images.

By the way, they are courtesy of the Sigma 24-70 that everyone seems to think isn’t all that good. Personally I never had a problem with it outside of needing to calibrate it for one of my bodies. It was pretty good wide open at 70mm but way better from 24-50mm. It recently found a good home with an IT guy from Canon. As some of you know, I’ve started my move into prime lenses for 2010. I’m making my move into shooting lifestyle, fashion and hopefully some commercial work in the new year.

Processing was a bit different, and a pleasant discovery. I ran a PS CS4 action that I developed for use with portraiture work. It creates layers for WB, Gradients, Levels, Curves and Sharpening. I got so used to running it on images of people this past month that I instinctively ran it on these without thinking. IMO it works and the prints look great at 8X10 and good enough to stretch some more. The only mod I made was an additional B&W gradient set to Soft Light blend mode @ 68% to drive in a bit more contrast.

The term “Muscle Car” typically refers to a specific type of car.  It has two doors and offers a back seat, requires a high power engine (normally being large bored and naturally aspirated) and is considered affordable.

But that hardly defines them doesn’t it?  Muscle cars can actually trace their heritage to the Ford Thunderbird.  A car that today is as far from muscle as one can get.  But the Thunderbird had a specific target audience.  The young male.  It was intended as an affordable, yet chic, vehicle for the up and coming bachelor.  A car that yelled “No Family!” with it’s two doors but allowed one to go to the drive-in with it’s backseat.  The car required a powerful engine but needed to be curt with the extra luxuries in order to keep the price within range.

And then came GM’s well known, much beloved Pontiac GTO.  Pontiac was a brand that was being targeted solely towards the Thunderbird market.  Like a SCUD missile it’s goal was to target the youthful male and create a market solely for him.  It honored the Grand Touring Omolgamation rules of Trans-Am racing with the GTO and paid homage to several European companies while it was at it.  The GTO would define what a muscle car should look like.  It needed to exude power, durability, and aggression.  It needed to say “I’m going to beat you” at the track.  And it needed to insure that it would jump up and down on it’s competitor until the competitor admitted that it did indeed win, should it ever lose.

But neither of these cars truly lit auto lovers aflutter like the Ford Mustang.  The Mustang could have been said to have been built for many reasons.  But there are really only two reasons.  The first is that the Thunderbird platform had grown in size and become more of a married man platform.  In part due to poor sales at it’s release, and in part because it’s target audience was simply getting married.  The market was being lost to GM and Ford had to respond.  The original was a mid-engine car with only two seats but intelligence won out and we got a car that was more along the lines of what the first production Thunderbirds were.  With one key difference.  The Mustang encapsulated the GTO aggression.

The other reason that the Mustang was the way it was, is because of the Trans-AM races.  Trans-Am insisted that no car over a 350ci displacement could be driven in their races.  So the Mustang was built with the intent of housing an engine that fell within those rules.  And thus was born the Pony car.  Now if the Muscle car had strict rules about it, then the Pony car would be worse.  Not by much, but still.  The Pony car is any Muscle car that is naturally aspirated and having an engine of less than 350ci.  But this distinction wasn’t to really last very long.

While men flocked to the Mustang they desired bigger, stronger engines and the progenitor of the Pony car became a muscle car.  A powerhouse that dominated european touring car championships for years to come and that got first place in the Trans-AM series for three years.

Because as it happened GM released the Chevy Camaro three years later with one intent, to take down the monster Ford.  The Chevy Camaro was designed not only to encompass the design rules governing the muscle car but to have it’s initial engine as close to 350ci as possible.  The result was a cult hit that took down the Mustang in the Trans-AM and began a war between the two companies about who had the better car.  With each company increasing the size of their engines, year after year after year.

Of course nothing occurs in a vacuum and many companies produced competitors to the pair that we’ve so far covered.  There was the AMC Javelin, Mercury Cougar, Oldsmobile 442, Plymouth Barracuda and Road Runner.  But quite possibly the most popular of the forgotten models was the Dodge Challenger and it’s bigger sibling the Charger.  The Challenger was first built in 1970, with Chrysler coming in late to the game as usual.  It was undoubtedly the most conservative of the three great pony car designs but in it’s own way also exuded the most durability and desire to crush it’s enemies.  This could very well have been by it’s larger frame that was much closer to it’s muscle car brother and was intended so that it could compete with more luxury aligned makers like Mercury and Oldsmobile.  Unfortunately while the Challenger spawned the Barracuda, which even got a song named after it, it remained low quality on the inside missing many aspects that it’s targeted enemies had.  However it’s slightly smaller frame and sportier design made it a crueler beast than the Charger on the track and thus made it more iconic.

Or at least it would have been if not for a pair of brothers named Bo and Luke Duke.  The “General Lee” Charger is quite possibly the most iconic vehicle in television history.  Sharing the podium with the likes of James Bond’s Aston Martin and the original Pontiac Trans-Am “KITT”.  The Charger came on the market two years before the Challenger and typically carried a larger engine, more trunk space, and hidden headlights.

Unfortunately things do not always last and while Trans-AM eventually gave in and allowed engines above 350ci.  Times changed, OPEC decided that it deserved more money and less influence from outside political influences and everyone but Chrysler cut back on their designs.  Smaller engines and less durable, less aggressive, less monstrous cars arose.  Personally I consider the time after with the Pontiac Firebird and the Foxbody Mustang to be the true reign of the Pony car.  Where light, sporty, American cars truly reigned.  Of course, as I said before, nothing occurs in a vaccum.  And Chrysler was as late to respond to the oil crisis as it was to respond to the muscle car movement.  Resulting in it’s bankruptcy and the rise of the K car.

While there were multiple muscle car movements across the planet the American one was assuredly the most iconic.  It rose as quickly as it fell, and it created the most visually and aurally attractive cars.  Thus the addition of the Shelby GT500 Mustang, the Dodge Charger, and the Dodge Challenger to Need For Speed : Shift is truly a no brainer.

Chevelle merupakan model mobil keluaran Chevrolet, sebuah perusahaan manufaktur asal USA. Chevelle tergolong sebagai muscle car yang laris di jaman-nya.

Shop4Everyone menyediakan die cast toy car 69 Chevelle yang yang telah di-cartoon-kan dengan spesifikasi:

kode barang	1579N
merk	Hot Wheels
tahun keluaran	2009
warna cat/dasar/kaca/interior	Translucent Blue/Chrome/Clear/Gold
corak	Pola Tribal warna putih dan dengan outline emas dan outline logo hotwheels warna hitam
tipe roda	Gold OH5
country	Malaysia
gambar
harga	Rp 25.000,00 Harga naik mulai 1 Januari 2010
stock	1 unit

Dodge Coronet Super Bee adalah muscle car yang diproduksi  antara tahun 1968 – 1971 oleh perusahaan manufaktur otomotif Dodge di USA. Super Bee yang dibuat pada tahun 1969 memiliki beberapa pilihan engine, diantaranya The base 383 hp (high performance), 440 Six Pack, and the 426 Hemi. Untuk engine tipe Hemi hanya diproduksi sekitar 166 unit saja. Engine Hemi ini memiliki tenaga paling besar bila dibandingkan The base maupun Six Pack.

Shop4Everyone menyediakan 69 Dodge Coronet Superbee dalam bentuk model die cast dengan spesifikasi:

kode barang	0268N
merk	Hot Wheels
tahun keluaran	2008
warna cat/dasar/kaca/interior	Enamel Red/Black/Black/Black
corak	strip hitam di bagian belakang dengan logo Super Bee dan tulisan Dodge
tipe roda	5SP
country	Malaysia
gambar
harga	Rp 30.000,00 –> Rp 25.000,00 Harga special hanya sampai 31 Desember 2009
stock	1 unit

————————————————- shop4everyone ————————————————–

kode barang	1238N
merk	Hot Wheels
tahun keluaran	2008
warna cat/dasar/kaca/interior	Pearl White/Chrome/Clear/Black
corak	strip hitam di bagian belakang dengan logo Super Bee dan tulisan Dodge
tipe roda	5SP
country	Malaysia
gambar
harga	Rp 30.000,00 –> Rp 25.000,00 Harga special hanya sampai 31 Desember 2009
stock	1 unit

The article Today’s muscle cars ripe for collectors lists the top 7 cars that collectors have their eyes on.  What do you think of the list?

1. 2010 Shelby GT500

2. 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP

3. 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8

4. 2010 Chevy Corvette ZR1

5. 2008 Dodge Magnum (discontinued, but some can still be found around)

6. 2009 Cadillac CTS-V

7. 2010 Chevy Camaro SS

Sobre Mustangs e Sonhos

Olá leitores, tudo maisoumenos bem?

Hoje eu vou escrever sobre o Crème de la crème dos meus desejos, o mais bonito, brilhante e potente dos meus sonhos: o Mustang.

Algumas pessoas sonham com Ferraris, barcos, sobrados,filhos, casamentos, eu sonho com um Mustang.

E acho que a minha vida ficou mais colorida e alegre depois que me apaixonei (yes, i folling in love). A nossa história de amor é meio bizarra. Eu odeio novelas, mas segundo o regime totalitarista que impera lá em casa (e do qual minha mãe é a ditadora), eu sou obrigada a participar de sessões diarias de tortura, traduzindo: sou obrigada a assistir três novelas.Leitor, eu odeio novela. Acho que o única serventia da novela é emburrecer a massa.Novela não adiciona nada de bom, e a unica coisa que fica são os bordões (hare baba, num é brinquedo não, e afins). Mããããs, no longínquo ano de 2008, em mais uma sessão de tortura,eis que um vilãozinho de fala mansa e chicletinho nojento ( um tal de Dodi, numa tal de “a favorita”), aparece em cena. Qual o carro do malandro??Mustang. Foi paixão á primeira vista. Logo que terminou o capítulo, fui á mãe dos burro (a internet), e pesquisei, pesquisei até encontrá-lo.Desde então minha vida tem sido mais colorida e feliz.

Mãããs como vocês não estão interessados no meu testemunho, vamos ao que interessa: Mustang!

O Mustang, assim como o Dodge Viper, o Camarro, e uns tantos outros é um muscle car (carro musculoso).

Por que esse nome? Por que ele é grande,tem linhas arredondadas, um capô saltado pra guardar todo aquele motor incrível e uma frente agressiva.

Bom, como como eu tenho certeza que vocês não estão interessados num texto longo, vou tentar resumir o maximo possivel a história dessa maravilha do mundo moderno.

O mustang começou a ser produzido em Dearborn , Michigan no começo de 1964 e apresentado ao público em 17 de abril de 1964 durante a New York World’s Fair (feira do futuro, um lugar onde mostravam-se como seria o mundo dai 20 ou 30 anos, coisa de gringo).

Mas Vivien, Mustang não é uma raça de cavalo? Isso isso isso, mas o nome deriva de outra coisa… De um caça usado na segunda guerra mundial!! O Mustang P-51.

Mustang Carro, e Mustang Avião

O mustang é um carro lindo por que? Por que não tem a aparência clássica de um super esportivo, tem um design invoacado, agressivo, e as linhas arredondadas são harmoniosas.

Mas o que importa, pra mim e pra você, com certeza não esta a vista, e sim encoberto pelo capô: o motor.

O motor do Mustang é indescritivel. Eu tive a chance a algumas semanas atrás, de parar ao lado de uma lindeza dessas no farol, um fastback 72 laranja com faxias brancas.

Foi um desses que fez meu coração quase sair pela boca dias atrás ^^

Como você com certeza sabe, o nosso opala comodoro foi (descaradamente copiado) inspirado no Fastback.

Como o título já sugere, eu vou falar de uma edição do Mustang em especial, a que junto com a Fastback faz meu coração bater mais forte: O shelby GT 500. Ahh você não sabe o por que do Shelby do nome? Calma, eu te explico… Carrol Shelby tem 85 anos e é ex criador de galinhas. Tá eokiko? Eokiko que ele é o responspavel pelo mustang como nós conhecemos hoje. Ele trabalhou no aperfeiçoamento e nas melhorias de quase todos os muscle cars. No inicio ele era piloto de corridas, depois de uma cirurgia no coração, ele começou a trabalhar na parte de desenvolvimento dos carros. Sabe as listras do Mustang?Um dia o Carrol tinha uma corrida e não teve tempo de trocar seu uniforme da granja, então ele correu, ganhou e como ele disse que as litras deram sorte, colocou-as no carro também.

Se existir no mundo carro mais bonito que esse, me apresente por que eu ainda não vi

Mas então, os dados do Mustang Shelby GT 500 são os seguintes: Motor de ferro fundido V8 , que conta com um megalimentador do tipo parafuso pra dar conta da sede do beberrão, com trocador de calor intermediario e com trocador de ar e água que força o ar dos pistões dentro do cilindro cada um com quatro válvulas. Possui uma espetacular transmissão manual de seis marchas com espaço de marchas uniforme, com isso consegue aguentar sua força, pois ela é uma transmissão testada e comprovada em corridas, sendo assim, ela trabalha até com folga com este motor, já que nas ruas estragadas do Brasil, você não vai poder ir até o limite de potência dessa belezinha, que alcança inacreditáveis 356 km/h. Como forma de homenagem aos Mustangs mais antigos, ele tem aberturas (respiradouros) no capô, que retiram o calor do compartimento do motor e o aerofólio traseiro é uma referência aos primeiros Shelby. O carro possui duas saidas no escapamento, o que permite que o motor trabalhe melhor e faz com que esse V8 anuncie sua chegada ainda mais longe rsrs.

Danica Patrick tambem tem bom gosto para carros!Olha o shelby ai

Nosso carro conta com uma suspensão MacPherson independente, com braços de controle inferiores em L invertido, sustenta a extremidade dianteira, enquanto um eixo sólido de três articulações escora a traseira, auxiliado por uma barra Panhard, para impedir o movimento lateral. As barras estabilizadoras dianteira e traseira ajudam a minimizar a rolagem da carroceria. Os freios Brembo (na minha opinião só os brembo conseguem parar essa fera) melhoram a dirigibilidade, com discos de 356 mm e quatro pistões na dianteira e discos de 300 mm e pistão único na traseira, conectados ao sistema ABS do carro. As rodas de alumínio de 18 polegadas (457 mm) alojam pneus P255/45ZR e P285/40ZR de alto desempenho, e um sistema de direção hidráulica de cremalheira e pinhão fecha o pacote. Bom desculpem me por mais um texto gigante, mas o Mustang é disparado o meu carro favorito! Ele e os Lamborghini são o que há de melhor pra mim nesse mundão de carros e carroças! Até a próxima e desculpem-me o atraso.

P.S:Para compensar meu atraso, dois vídeos do Mustang!

As some of my local readers know, I recently got myself a muscle car. A 1971 Ford Fairlane to be exact. I’m fixing it up a little. Its in good condition, but needs a little bit of love and attention. I’m not the most technically clued up guy when it comes to cars, so a lot of what I have to do I have to outsource to others to do for me ie. car repair centers etc.

I know a few people in the muscle car and hotrod scene and from their mistakes and wins I know of places to take my car and places to definitely not take my car!

Autowork.co.za is a place that I have had a lot of success with, and I know of them from others in the hotrod scene who take their cars to them. So, for a good car service for any brand of car, old or new, I recommend you try them!

Please click on an image for more information.

How To Build Max Performance Hemi Engines
How To Build Max Performance Mopar Big Blocks
How to Rebuild Big-Block Ford Engines
Muscle Car Interior Restoration Guide
V-8 Horsepower Performance Handbook
Weekend Projects for your Modern Corvette C4, C5, C6

The Camaro isn't a car it is a movie star

I was never a fan of American cars, things like the Dodge Viper, the Corvette, the Camaro and the Mustang, all are very nice to watch but always not very nice to drive with stiff suspension and terrible steering which will mean you are in for a rough ride, it wouldn’t be a problem occasionally as you are not going extremely fast. The only great American car in my opinion is the Corvette Z06  and they are not sold in Singapore…reason? I don’t know, I mean people can afford a Zonda and Gallardos in Singapore so why not a Corvette? I feel that the traditional muscle car like those you see in movies not a car at all, it is instead a character of a movie, remember Transformers when the Camaro appeared as Bumblebee? Now it is not a good car by any means but it is one of General Motor’s top selling cars, because it turns into a giant robot in a 2007 movie (which I enjoyed by the way) and then there is that Fast and Furious series which I detest because of their portrayal of cars, but they push the sales for the specific cars they produce which got me thinking, if General Motors are so caught up on designing a car for Micheal Bay to portray on screen do they have the time to actually make a good car? I mean not by looking good on the telly or in the movies because American muscle car look good but just don’t perform well. I would say that if GM can continue what they are doing as long as they earn money I don’t think they will really capture the hearts of true car fans, they just aim at people who look at a nicely covered box with an engine and 4 wheels and say yes…it is car. I would rather not have a Camaro if I had a choice, I would even go as far as to say I would rather have a an M5 compared to that…in fact the M5 is really the better car.

On a positive note the apparently the Public Transport shares have dipped from 63% in 2004 to 59% now, which means that quite abit of people have taken interest in cars, given that if I can influence more people they might just drop to below 40%…which will make me way happy. However our Transport Minister, a cock, would love to see the tides turn against the car which leaves me in fear because all the taxes on cars will probably increase just because this guy doesn’t like how things are going. Also the minister say that by 2020 our public transport will be equal to London’s and New York…but with that wouldn’t it mean we will have extra jams caused by buses because, to be honest the bus doesn’t go very fast and I would like to see what will happen if you have a bus lane on almost every road because it is going to be so hateful I think the government would explode. Oh yeah…I have a small quote from our dictator…I mean minister

He also added: “As we expanded Electronic Road Pricing to more roads last year, the traffic conditions of these roads have improved correspondingly.”

That guy has his own head so far up his ass he cannot see the jams on the minor roads, he is saying that there are more ERPs and the people are more unhappy that they cannot drive, so lets see, people are unhappy and the government is earning money from them…sounds like a dictatorship to me…I would go as far as to say they are a 3rd world dictator…those imbeciles.

Two strategies have been identified to increase the number of people taking public transportation: 1) investing in rail network and; 2) reducing vehicle growth rate,  Singapore’s Transport Minister Raymond Lim said in his opening speech for the second World Roads conference.

Another quote here and I understand that you need to invest in the rail network…because people need to take the train to get to places but what the bloody hell is with the 2nd part? Reduce vehicle growth rate? That is like saying in a school you want to reduce printing paper because too many students are doing their homework. I am going to stick my own head out of the window and into open fire and say that this transport minister should just get lost and let motorist roam free, I think if someone wants to drive a car, who are these wombles to prevent us from doing what we love by restricting it? So…here’s my message to Mr. Raymond Lim:

Go Fuck yourself and stop with your public transport plea, don’t you think there is enough already? You don’t see people complaining about there being to many buses or bus drivers complaining there are too many cars…in fact besides your little Nazi group, I don’t see anyone complaining about there being too many cars…so Mr. Lim if you are reading and you probably aren’t; leave us alone you womble.

Car of the day

Volkswagen Scirocco
Engine: 2.0L 4-cylinder 16-valve turbocharged FSI
0-62mph: 7.1 sec
Price (SG): $100,000 – $126,000
Price (UK): £17,700 – £22,385 [just to show how inflated our prices are]
Top Speed: 145mph
*NEW* Cool meter: 90%
*NEW* Practicality: 70%

It is like a pretty girl that is smart as well...she just is perfect

With the Scirocco, in Singapore costing less than $130,000 it is for me an alternative to the Ford Mondeo if I have that wee bit of extra cash because I think it is a stunning looking car, better styled than the Mondeo and it is very comfortable with wonderful seats and a non-bumpy ride. Also there is something about this car that pulls people in…maybe it is because when you turn up in school or at work in a Scirocco and people look at it you can ask “What do you think of my turbo?”…the word turbo just is cool…it just is. Quality of the car is good, inside you will find parts from old VWs and it isn’t really a problem isn’t it? Because at least you know this and that works. The Scirocco has very accurate steering as well which means it can almost be a competition to the Golf GTI, in its own way. This car is in the mid range of my practicality list because it only has 4 seats unlike the usual 5 and the boot is big but the hatchback isn’t, so it is a good car to take your girlfriend out in.

Wreck of the day

Toyota Prius
Engine: 4-cylinders in-line DOHC VVT-i / Electric motor
0-62mph: 10.2 sec
Price (SG): $96,000
Price (UK): £17,232 – £22,037
Top Speed: unknown (?)
Cool meter: -100%
Practicality: 80%

easily the most hated car in the world by motor enthusiast

I was doing some reaserch on this car and it apparently there are people offering this car for hire, apprently their slogan is “People so mental and blind you can’t see what you are doing”. This car is the pinicle of uncool, even the beetle is cooler than this…and that is saying something because the beetle is waaaaaay down the cool list. This is a Hollywood car because according to Jay Leno, it is a car that celebrities drive as a fashion statment saying “I drive an ugly car and it is OK because I am saving the planet.” I mean sure it doesn’t cost much to run but did you know that the process of building this car is more damaging to the earth than say, a Hummer H3 or a Land Rover discovery? Bet that is news to you. Good things about this car is there is at least a petrol engine inside so you can go around at night with your headlamps on and there is a big boot for a 5 door hatch which makes it real practical. It will cost less to maintain this car as well but lets face it, these little things doesn’t make up for the uncoolness of this car…if you are seen getting out of one, you are an idiot.

Camaro.Como não admirá-lo?Pelo menos uma das suas 5 gerações você já viu e falou “que carro”.

Como tem MUITA informação, vou resumir, e muito, para não se tornar algo cansativo de ler.

O Chevrolet Camaro teve sua primeira geração lançada em Setembro de 1966, com o modelo 1967, para brigar com o Ford Mustang.

1ª geração – 1967 até 1969

Tração traseira, 2 portas, conversível ou coupé e o motor com as opções de 4.1L, 4.9L, 5.0L, 5.4L, 5.7L ou 6.5L.

1967 Chevrolet Camaro

2ª geração – 1970 até 1981

Com seu novo design o carro ficou mais pesado, mas isso não impediu que em 1971 a versão SS350 fosse escolhida como um dos 10 melhores carros do ano.

1970 Chevrolet Camaro

3ª geração – 1982 até 1992
Com um moderno sistema de injeção Turbo, oferecia câmbio manual e automático.

1982 Chevrolet Camaro

4ª geração, essa nos interessa pois é dela que vem a mini, durou de 1993 até 2002, matendo algumas características da 1ª geração como tração traseira e opção de motor V6 ou V8(275hp).
Porém em 2002 a venda de Camaros foi interrompida devido as baixas vendas.

2002 Chevrolet Camaro

5ª Geração, depois de um longo tempo, a geração mais conhecida (graças ao filme Transformers) veio a tona.E é a mais conhecida mesmo, se eu perguntar para minha irmã qual o carro que apareçe no Transformers ela sabe que é o Camaro.
Em 2009 a Chevrolet anunciou seu novo Camaro, com motores 3.6L V6 e 304hp, ou a versão SS com 6.2L V8 e 426hp.

2009 Chevrolet Camaro

Não tenho minis de todas a gerações, somente da 2ª, 4ª e 5ª, mas vou me concentrar, nesse post, em falar sobre a 4ª geração.

2002 Chevrolet Camaro

A HW ainda não produz esse Camaro, porém a Jada sim e é com Jada que vamos no post de hoje.

2002 Chevrolet Camaro

Na série BigTime Muscle podemos encontrar o 2002 Chevrolet Camaro em duas cores, laranja e vermelho, cada um com seus próprios decalques e suas próprias rodas.

2002 Chevrolet Camaro

O 2002 Camaro veio na Wave 12 de 2007, não diria que hoje em dia é fácil de achar ele em lojas, mas na Internet tem de monte.

E antes de terminar mais um post gostaria de agradeçer a todos que estão visitando o carros e minis.Quanto as atualizações, tentarei sempre fazê-las 3 vezes por semana (segunda, quarta e sexta).

Sugestões de posts sempre são bem vindas e para semana que vem, atenderei ao pedido do Mario Silveira postando sobre Fuscas!

*

AMC Pro Stock press for Wally Booth & his Gremlin X

*

That’s right, it’s a Gremlin– without a doubt one, of the ugliest, least respected, aerodynamically-challenged cars ever produced on American soil.  Wisconsin-based AMC had never been known for beautiful design or muscle, and so their entry into the muscle car market in the 1970s was seen as a classic tale of– a day late & a  dollar short.  When AMC signed Wally Booth to head the AMC Pro Stock effort, despite that there were virtually no aftermarket components for AMG engines, he and engine-building partner Dick Arons transformed the brand’s staid grocery-getter reputation from the ground up into that of a genuine performance powerhouse– all from scratch.  Needless to say, everyone on the racing scene quickly took notice, as the red-headed stepchild to America’s “Big Three” automakers worked tirelessly with the little they had, and started to kick some serious tail.

*

Wally Booth's Gremlin X

*

From AN AMERICAN LONGSHOT – THE AMC FACTORY PRO STOCK EFFORT–

“The AMC engine was no different than any other in that it had its share of problems,” Dick Maskin (cyllinder head guru) said. “It obviously wasn’t designed to be a race engine but it won a few races in its day. It won some NASCAR and on the Trans-Am circuit. The engine was pretty good and they had some special blocks for those programs that we got our hands on. The cylinder heads were the largest problems. We just started making our own with AMC’s blessings with their suppliers and tooling. We basically didn’t have a motorsports center, we had a guy that we’d call and it wasn’t any sweat for them to issue a part number.”

*

Wally Booth, ca. 1970s. That hair is outta sight, man. Great style all around -- love the paisley printed shirt.

*

Wally Booth began with a Tom Smith-built Gremlin X while Maskin and while Maskin and original partner Jim Gilbert started with one, they were the first to convert to a Hornet. The aerodynamic difference between the two body styles was as clear as night and day. Neither were sleek air-cutters, but the Hornet did have an advantage and that came to light in an April 1973 test session when identical engines were ran in each car.

“The Gremlin was about three and a half miles per hour and a tenth of a second slower than the Hornet,” said Booth. “After that, I ordered a new Hornet from Smith that we debuted at the Spring Nationals in June, and we started to run better.”

*

Wally Booth's Gremlin X launching

*

The AMC team had worked tirelessly to bring the combination up to speed and their first victory came at the 1974 Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

“There had been some personnel changes at AMC,” said Booth. “Swaim and the other people backing the program had been shifted to other parts of the company, and it was all but official that they were going to put their resources elsewhere. The Gatornationals win absolutely saved the program, and Swaim’s replacement, Bob Wheat, was instrumental in capitalizing on the win. He had been hired to promote racing, and after the Gatornationals, he finally had something to promote.

“It certainly would have been tragic if it had ended then since we had gone from nothing to the winner’s circle in just slightly over two years.”

Cylinder head technology, now Maskin’s money-maker, was discovered to be the key to making the AMC cars run quickly. Booth drove his Hornet to the top qualifying spot at the 1975 U.S. Nationals.

Wally Booth and his Gremlin X

*

The following year, Maskin reached four winner’s circles (Springnationals, U.S. Nationals, Fallnationals, World Finals) and finished runner-up once en route to a third place finish in the championship point standings.

That season was the one that almost didn’t happen for the AMC team as Booth said that NHRA tech director Jack Hart had notified him that their cylinder heads would be illegal for 1976. Since much of his funding had fallen through, he raced Pomona with a Vega that he’d leased from Andy Mannarino. He lost in the first round at that event. That early loss would come back to haunt him, as well as an early departure in Gainesville. Booth lost the championship that year to Larry Lombardo by six rounds.

The program reached its highest point in 1976 when Booth met Dave Kanners (driver for Maskin) in the final round during the NHRA Finals at Ontario, Ca. Booth won.

“Between myself, Wally and Dick, we made a lot of progress in the five years we had to work on the program,” Maskin said. “Wally won a lot of races and was fast. At the end of the deal, we were fast, too. We made it to the finals a few times but never won a national. We did win some points races though. The glory day was the final round when Wally beat us in the finals. We were low et and top speed of every round.”

*

AMC Pro Stock Hornet X. AMC Pro Stock wa also well-known for their bold red, white & blue graphics.

*

“The energy crisis came along and we lost most of our backing. I had another sponsor, who was going to give me a great deal of money as well. I lost a couple of hundred thousand dollars of sponsorship in two phone calls. We continued on self-funded because we already had everything there.”

Booth and Maskin ran a few more seasons and finally closed up shop in 1979. Maskin went on to create Dart cylinder heads and Booth returned to his engine building business.

“I was racing some on my own money that year,” Booth said. “I was running over 160 mph in test at Orange County (Int’l Raceway) two weeks before the Winternationals which was real good at the time. We broke my good motors during those tests though, and I showed up at Pomona with garbage under the hood. At that point I felt like I was done, but I ran the rest of the races anyway to meet my obligations with the sponsors. After the year was over, that was it. I retired from racing.”

*

A 1973 factory stock AMC Gremlin

*

Back in the day (this ad from '72) you could get an AMC Gremlin with a denim interior by Levi's.

*

Caterpillar Chronicle: The History of the World’s Greatest Earthmovers
"If its big and its yellow, its in here!" one reader of this book remarked on Amazon. And another: "To anyone interested in the big iron, this book will not disappoint." That’s the kind of satisfaction Eric Orlemann delivers in this spectacular pictorial history of Caterpillar from its beginnings in 1870 to its still mighty presence in the heavy machinery of our day….

Motion Performance: Tales of a Muscle Car Builder
It was a driver’s dream: Along with the full factory warranty, your car came with a guarantee of 11.5-second quarter-mile times. It was also Joel Rosen’s dream, and in 1964, he set out to make it a reality. First he built fast cars. Then, taking a page from Ford’s "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" strategy, he built a reputation by beating all comers on drag strips and in street races. By 1967, Rosen’s Motion Performance was the place to go if you wanted a true muscle car—and, if you ordered a Baldwin-Motion Chevrolet, a muscle car with a full factory warranty….

Uma junção perfeita entre Carroll Shelby e Ford fizeram um dos mais brutos e belos carros  do mundo: Ford Shelby GT500.

Um verdadeiro MUSCLE CAR!

O GT500 possui 500 cavalos de potência, um motor V8 superalimentado de 5,4 litros e 32 válvulas, tudo ligado a um câmbio manual de 6 marchas.

A Ford lançou de 2007 um monstro que também teve presença em várias miniaturas.

A Hot Wheels lançou em 2008 a primeira mini do modelo 2007 do GT500.

Com 5 variações de cores: branco, azul, preto, vermelho(lançadas em 2008) e roxo(lançado em 2009 e vendido somente nos EUA, parte da série Mystery Car).

Uma miniatura que deixou muitos colecionadores com uma coleção mais bonita, mesmo pecando em detalhes e, vamos combinar, nada que uma rodinha de borracha e uma tinta nas lanternas traseiras não resolva!hehehehe

I attended the Hot Wheels Collectors event a few weeks back and grabbed these for my Canadian bud.

Sunday was Ginos wine tour . I will have the photos on http://hotrodhigh.zenfolio.com soon so keep checking. And yes there will pics of DONNA’s red Camaro

Car and Driver American Road Warriors
Classic Muscle Cars
Experience the power of these rare and too cool cars through this one of a kind collection of photos, essays, a free poster, and more, from the editors of Car and Driver.
From America’s most popular automotive magazine, the editors at Car and Driver present a one of a kind look at classic American muscle cars. Designed for speed and power, these cars are known for a high-performance matched only by their beauty….

Motoring Around Kent, The First Fifty Years
The very first issue of the – still current – magazine, The Autocar was on 2 November 1895. It gave three pages of coverage to The Horseless Carriage Exhibition organised by Sir David Salomons, the Mayor of Tunbridge Wells. Driving a horseless carriage on the highway was still illegal without a man walking in front, so even the assembling of a tangible proportion of the cars existing in the south east of England must have been very difficult….

Continuing with the transportation theme hear are some pictures from a recent car show at Tasca Ford in Cranston, RI