Cars

Most car guys know what a limited slip differential is. They probably also recognize Positrac – or Positraction – by other marketing names used by the Big Three manufacturers, such as Sure-grip, Traction Lock, Safe-T-Lok, and so on. Well, I’m a car guy from way back; I got my drivers license in 1972. (Please hold those age jokes.) As is typically the case with older more intelligent car guys, I have a special appreciation for domestic cars built in the 67, 68, 69 and 1970 model years: those built and roaming the streets while I was counting the days until I could get my own drivers permit.

So, what did I learn during those formative years, when I had more brain cells and my synapse connections were still being hardwired?

Over the weekend, Toyota unveiled the official production model of the FT-86 Concept as the GT 86 (Euro Spec) and the ‘86’ for the Japanese market. And now Subaru is officially presenting their production version of the FT-86 known as the Subaru BRZ at the Tokyo Motor Show. The FT-86 was jointly developed by the two automakers to bring an affordable rear-wheel driver sports coupe to the market.

I was hoping that there would be some differences between the Subaru version and the one offered by Toyota but as you can see in the pictures below, the changes are minimal. Like the Toyota GT 86, the BRZ will use the 2.0 liter flat-four engine with Toyota’s D-4S direct injection and port injection technology. The engine is rated at 200 horsepower and 151 lb-ft of peak torque.

Maybe you are the type of guy that dresses sharply, wears shiny expensive jewellery, and is into red carpet entrances. In order to live up to your personality, you need your muscle car ride to be an eye catcher; something apart from the ordinary. Of course, dealerships made money on new car options, so both consumers and dealers were happy with the long lists of factory options available to personalize dream fully optioned muscle cars. There were choices of eye searing colors, racing mirrors, chrome treatments, spoilers, decal treatments, scoops and louvers; the list goes on and on…

It’s hard now to believe that just a generation ago we had no mobile communication devices to get the nights activities organized while on the streets tooling around town. Instead, we would make the rounds of common gathering places like drive-ins, restaurants, or pubs to see who was hanging out where. There was nothing better than when someone drove up in a visually stunning ride: it was like an instant slap to the senses. Here’s a look at some restored examples of seventies muscle cars that came “blinged” out from the factory. Let’s go!

Tiny cars are hot at the moment and have been in demand for quite a few years now thanks to the oil companies squeezing every possible penny out of our wallets. Although small cars have gained popularity in North America recently, it’s old news in Europe.

Volkswagen’s smallest car, Up, is now hitting showroom floors in Britain after preliminary prices were announced back in October 2011.  The prices for the VW Up start from $12,560 USD to $17,560 USD depending on the model.

The fan made Jaguar XKX Concept is the creation of Skyrill in collaboration with Marin Myftiu and has taken inspiration from the iconic Jaguar E-Type. Although this concept vehicle has no affiliation with the official company, this car is a true Jaguar at heart in many ways.

The aim of this concept vehicle is to revive the iconic design lines of the brand while integrating modern aerodynamics and new technologies such as an electric powerplant aimed at pushing both performance and power efficiency to a new level. The concept vehicle features microscopic layers of piezoelectric cells which help produce electricity caused by air friction (the air that actually flows over the surface of the car). The electricity that is produced is sent to the battery helping improve the efficiency of the vehicle.

The Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG is a special enough car as is but the German automaker went ahead and made yet another variation of the powerful sedan called the C63 AMG Performance Studio Edition.  This limited edition car will only be available in the Japanese market starting in November 2012.

The special edition C63 AMG will be powered by the same 6.2 liter V8 engine found in the regular C63 but output has been increased from 451 horsepower to 480 HP.  Exterior upgrades include a flat-black paint job, special 19” multi-spoke black rims with red outer lips, red brake calipers, a carbon fiber trunk lid spoiler, and unique exhaust tips.

The name, Aspid GT-21 Invictus, may sound like some crazy nuclear medicine for a disease that no one has ever heard of but in reality it’s the name of a car from a company I’ve never heard of.  Aspid is a car company out of Spain and the GT-21 Invictus is their latest creation (although these are just computer created images, no physical cars have been produced yet).

The GT-21 Invictus sports car reminds me of another car but I can’t remember the name of the car.  The GT-21 Invictus has a very aggressive design and I like it a lot, not sure how the final production model will look but in these computer generated images, it looks awesome.