Blake Noble

I just wanted an interesting lead in that sort of fit in with the topic because I could see a parallel here: those relic Fenders started out with someone who wanted a brand new guitar bashed up to look like an old one. Someone here wanted a brand new car bashed up to look like an old one. Guess it didn't work out the way I wanted, but that's how you have fun with writing, you experiment. It does boil down to this, though: anything "pre-worn" doesn't make a whole lot of sense. People who buy that sort of stuff: a.) don't have the balls to do it by just wearing it out over a few years, b.) don't have the money to buy the real article, c.) don't have the time to find the real article, or d.) a combination of a and b, a and c, or a, b, and c. On another note, ever actually bought a pair of heavily distressed jeans before? Well I did in a fit of stupidity once. They didn't last anytime at all before they finally just started falling apart and I almost lost my wallet because it kept falling out of huge holes in the bottom of my back pockets. Never again. It's the same with the finish on those pseudo-vintage guitars; they look cool when you first buy them, then the rest of the finish starts coming off a few months later after seriously playing it. I can understand that happening after years of hard work using the instrument to make a living (since that's how vintage guitars actually acquire that heavily worn out look; a vintage guitar kept in a closet and rarely played will still have 90 to 99 percent of its original finish remaining) but a few months? Yeah, you're not a poseur with a guitar like that at all. This Camaro won't be any different. I guarantee those rear quarter panels will start rusting through very soon. That's just sad.

Camaro Crucifixion, Take Two: T/A Depot's GT9 Goat by black-knight, C&G Editor/Reporter 11th, May, 2011 The Camaro-based insanity just refuses to stop as another evil force continues to make the Chevrolet Camaro a martyr to suffer for the sins of automotive customization. If being bombarded by all of the fifth-generation Camaro transformed into various second generation Firebirds last year (and trying to digest yesterday's 2010 Camaro Rat Rod) just wasn't enough to satisfy your warped and twisted automotive mind, this year those cheeky bastards over at Trans Am Depot have decided that the Camaro should get into it's '69 Goat costume and ride as a follow up act. In this latest attempt to indirectly revive the (sadly) defunct Pontiac nameplate, any fifth-generation Camaro you can buy is first refitted with new front and rear fascias that do more than just give huge nods to the 1969 GTOs and GTO Judges, they blantantly rip them off. It seems, though, the wheel arches are reshaped as well (who wants to bet the final product won't have this detail?) so that this reborn Goat can distance itself from it's pony car roots. T/A Depot also will fit the car with new "GT9" badges that, from a distance, look as if they read GTO (ignore the render's badges) but won't when you get up close, as to avoid any future court dates. Last but not least, the Depot will probably offer some sort of performance upgrades to go with the new look as well. And who was responsible for this "design"? Why, it's none other than Kevin Morgan who designed Trans Am Depot's Phoenix T/A conversion kit. No surprises here.

Now I'm wondering how long it will be before GM starts offering Rat Rod paint options? There are people out there who love artificial antiques (like the Fender Road Worn guitars I mentioned before) and I'm sure a car with a paint job like this would be no exception.

Oooh, this would make for a good Top Gear challenge. Send Hamster, Slow, and Jezza back to the States and give Jezza the Volt, Hamster the Leaf, and Slow the Prius (or an Insight) and see which car would make it from DC to LA first. They're all three sort of boring cars, but the challenge would be entertaining. Someone get the BBC on the phone. I really would like to see this.

First Pre-Worn Guitars, Now Pre-Worn Cars ... ? by black-knight, C&G Editor/Reporter 10th, May, 2011 When it comes to the world of guitars, a trend has developed over the last few years concerning "road worn" or "relic'd" instruments, where, for example, a brand new Fender Strat is made to look like it's been chained to the back of Billy Bob's old Dodge work truck and ravaged down a back country road. For Fender, just to name one manufacturer, it has been one of their primary ways to cash in on what draws some buyers to the vintage market: the frikin' mojo, man. Usually these pre-beaten guitars will cost you a considerable premium over their shiny and brand new counterparts. Seems a little backwards, huh? It's controversial to some guitarists to say the least and there has been a growing backlash against these guitars, with critics saying they would prefer to do it the natural and "old fashioned way" (read: play it until the strings fall off). These critics will also ask you if you would spend a premium on a car that already had bad paint, rust, and broken parts to which most, if not all, people will answer to with a resounding "hell-friggin-no." Well ... except for whoever owns this particular Camaro, which would be a particular Bill Rombauts of Long Island, New York. What you're seeing here was a brand new Camaro SS not that long ago. In fact, it can't be really be more than a few months old. However, it's been pre-worn with misaligned fender badges, a hand-busted grille, a cheeky little Sharpie tattoo on it's once firm buttocks, and the roughest paint job this side of Billy Bob's old Dodge work truck. Going into detail, in order to make this "paint job" a reality, the two dudes who did this, Dave Sherer and Anthony Musilli (no, not Mussolini although I'm sure someone out there is probably calling him that), also of Long Island, not only had to sand the factory paint off before shooting more paint on before having to sand it once again, they also had to literally rub salt into those open, bare-metal wounds in order to make it rust not just a little, but a whole hell of a lot. Not to mention the dudes, for the coup de grâce, kicked the living snot out of it just to give that little extra bit of patina the car, well, never really had to begin with or needed in the first place. Sherer and Musilli say that they chose this road-worn route for the Camaro simply because, quote, "No one else has the balls to do it. Everyone else is making them clean." I think that's for a very good reason guys. Don't get me wrong, I understand the appeal of Rat Rods; a weathered classic car or truck that looks like it's barely road worthy with gobs and gobs of power is, in essence, the ultimate sleeper and wild card. You never know what it could be capable of. It could blow your doors off or it could do nothing more than blow smog up your nose. That vintage patina not only looks cool but it is an effective cloaking device. This, though ... this is artificial. And like most things artificial, it leaves a bad aftertaste in your mouth. The paint job may be one thing on the planet you certainly can't take seriously, but this car does have some performance under the hood to make up for it's visual appearance (thank God). The engine displaces four-hundred and eighty-five massive cubic inches from it's bored and stroked GM Performance block. The heads, cams, and exhaust are unique to this specific engine. To top it all off, there's a Bell supercharger a'huffin and a'puffin. The total package puts down somewhere around not five-hundred horsepower and most certainly not six-hundred horsepower. Seven-hundred horses? So what? It's been done. No, this pseudo ragged out pony car has one-thousand furious, bucking broncos to deal with. Yikes. That old man just smoked my ass, indeed. So it has some real huevos to back itself up with. But then -- oh dear -- there's the price tag for all of this insanity. You'd think the derestroration wouldn't cost anything, right? After all, it was done with some sanding blocks, a grinding wheel, some old Wolverine work boots, spray paint, and a can of Morton's Slug-be-Gone in some New Yorker's shed. Well, think again. The total price tag comes to an astounding $150,000 big honkin' Benjamins. Yeee-ouch. I guess ol' Bill is shaping up to be something of a $h!-kicker; he likes rough looking cars with plenty of power and probably would hunt snakes to keep himself in a new pair of weekend boots. However, unlike most if not all $h!-kickers, he's got some pretty durn deep pockets. Although I'll admit there is something about this car that appeals to my own inner $h!-kicker as much as I really loathe how it's aging process was done, I know I'll stick to the shiny one, thanks, as if I had a doubt in my mind of that to begin with anyway. Some things really are just better left to do the old fashioned way.

You have managed to make me cough up a piece of my childhood that I hoped I had forgotten. Thanks.

The Charger is a flop? Rriiigggghhhhhtttttt. Now, granted, ChryCo did have some flops during the Daimler era. The Jeep Compass would be the other poster child for this (the other horse has been beaten so bad, I won't bother mentioning it). But the Charger has done well, the Avenger has faired better than the, well, you know, the Wrangler has always sold well as with the Grand Cherokee ... Do I have to go on? I think the Smart Fortwo is a flop. Perhaps not in sales, but in final execution. It only seats two, has a three-cylinder engine, and yet it can barely muster a better combined mpg rating than a Cruze Eco. Yeah, it's a glorified golf cart without any merit or benefit.

Yeah, I need to visit you with a hammer. ;-) Say that again when you've blinded someone who ends up swerving into your lane. Wait... then why would you go running with only fogs and parking lights in the first place? I find the difference fogs on (without fog) or off to be so minimal, its not worth wearing the filaments out. In fog, I see some improvement due to the angle... but then again, I see pretty darn well in the complete dark if I don't have someone blinding me... so I've never seen fog lights to be much worth the hassle. I'm sure some fog/driving lights are quite effective... but many times at a cost of blinding oncoming drivers. I'm with SAmadei all the way here. I can't stand people who drive around with their fog lamps on at night. In my opinion, it isn't any different from being that asshole driver who constantly runs his high beams. It's even worse when I have someone running all of their headlights and fog lamps behind me, shining in my rear view mirrors. I always get a guaranteed headache. Admittedly, I hate drivers who do this so much, at one time I used to make it at point to turn my high beams on at them if they were the only oncoming car. I wear contact lenses, my vision is just about in the negative four range, and yet I don't need to run around constantly blinding other drivers. There's no excuse for it. They're called FOG lamps for a reason. Use them in FOGGY conditions if you really have to. If it isn't FOGGY then leave them off. Honestly, I've always found them to be near useless in dense fog and if you can't what see you're doing in very light fog then you have a problem with your eyesight.

The Challenger is Bright Silver Metallic and actually will almost wash out to white in bright, direct sunlight.

Hmmmm ... so let me get this straight (and by that I mean sum it up in my own words and walk myself through this). Country X has outlawed loaning money that accrues interest and has a long term frame of payment. The only loans that are legal are short term (terms would be, at the longest, 12 to 24 months) and cannot accrue interest and would be considered as simple investments in an individual's pursuits. Sound correct so far? Well, people living in that country would not be financing, let's say, the complete purchase price of a car including things such as sales tax. So, for the purposes of this example we'll assume the person purchasing the car had to finance $25,500 including all fees and tax. If any money had to be financed on a major purchase like that, it would only be a fraction of that price, probably no larger than 1/4 of it, with most of that money coming out of the purchaser's back pocket. Because you could no longer go out and buy that vehicle just by taking out an 84 month loan on it, I could also see it being harder and taking much longer for anyone in Country X getting an early start on life by assuming ownership of major purchases like that simply by paying on it by month for however long the purchaser saw fit and the bank would allow. I hope I'm being coherent ... I'm pretty tired.

If you live in a state that a.) has been awash in rainstorms for days on end and b.) borders the Mississippi or Ohio Rivers, there is a great certainty that you've probably heard about the Army Corps of Engineers blowing a hole in the Bird's Point Levee in Missouri to relieve residents of Cairo, Illinois of any serious flood threat while, simultaneously, destroying 130,000 acres of prime farmland in Missouri. A tragic story that's slightly twisted in what sacrifice it makes, but nonetheless interesting considering what geological region this story has unfolded within. I'm of course talking about the New Madrid fault line here, which encompasses the states of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, and, the home state of yours truly, Kentucky. Of course, the New Madrid fault line last went off in very late 1811 and early 1812 with a series of earthquakes that ravaged the Eastern US to hell and back, with all three reported quakes measuring as high as an estimated 8.6 magnitude. Aftershocks continued to be felt until the year 1817. Since then, the most significant quakes came in the years 1843 (6.0M) and 1895 (6.6M). The most recent quake rang in at 5.4 magnitude and occurred in the year 1968. Of course earthquakes and floods typically do not correlate with one another ... unless a flood is the result of an earthquake, so let me get to the point. During this time of intense rainfall, there has interestingly been a large outbreak of sand volcanoes (or sand boils, as some people like to call them) in the town of -- you guessed it -- Cairo, Illinois, some of them quite large. Sinkholes have also appeared. The soil in this area has almost reached the dangerous point of liquification, if it hasn't already. Of course, sand volcanoes are just one precursor to serious seismic activity. On the other hand, it could be possible that these sand boils were also caused by a massive build up of water pressure in the soil from the recent flooding, but something ... something just doesn't add up when you try to explain their appearance in that fashion. I can't put my finger on exactly why. It also becomes a little bit puzzling considering the fact I've been seeing some data from last month (and getting to that data involved sifting through and waltzing around some sites that were hardly credible in the least, to be polite) showing the New Madrid falling silent during a period of increased seismic activity. I don't know what's going on here, I'm not a seismologist, but some folks would like for you to believe that this fault line is seriously overdue to show itself again. And, to my dismay, I think those nutjobs may be on to something ...

The type of car it is honestly is a moot point. People beat the snot out of Impalas, Tauruses, and Fusions too. These bread 'n butter sedans sometimes get treated even worse than their niche market counterparts. I've seen a few 2008 Malibus that have wound up in just about as bad of shape as say a '98 Trans Am before (litter piled up in the backseat, body panels misaligned because of neglect, more rash on the rims than a one year old's ass, etc., etc.). This goes back to what I said earlier: A LOT of people treat cars like disposable commodities, no matter how much they paid for them. My point here exactly. Dsuupr's Celebrity is something you don't run into everyday. He managed to get very lucky with that car. I'll just leave it at this: My Challenger is new. I bought it a couple grand cheaper than I would a used one with a lot more mileage. I'm the first owner and I know how to maintain it and get my money's worth out of it well after it's paid off. I don't have to inherit a previous owner's headaches and if I do run into a problem, there is a full factory, bumper-to-bumper warranty on my car for the next 3/36 to solve the problem and another one that runs 5/100 to correct any powertrain issues. Reg's last post tells the rest of the story.

You expected realism from Roland Emmerich, DF?

One step at a time, that's all I'm going to say. My debt is not above my means at the moment. What I've seen and what I'm continuing to see through KBB and Auto Trader suggests otherwise. Who knows? Hopefully I won't have to turn this rock over completely but I will add that I wouldn't feel as confident like I do about this unless I had some sort of substantial evidence. A regular oil change does go a long way in keeping an engine healthy and I did put emphasis on that in my post, but I did not imply that it's the "end all, be all" solution to preventing mechanical issues. What I'm saying is that most drivers do not treat their cars with much of any respect and act as if they are disposable commodities. I do not want to own something blatantly treated that way ever again and chances of buying a basket case used car keep getting higher and higher considering that we're becoming more and more of a idiocratic society.

How's about "Apollo" if Skyhawk doesn't suit your fancy?

My Challenger is only $297 a month. I make only 1k a month and can easily pay that and, with some certainty, there will be a better job in the near future that will allow me to pay double that a month and pay the loan off in half the time. I didn't so much focus on the term, just the figure I'd have to shell out monthly. Keeping that figure as low as possible would ensure a better chance of keeping my car should I have to take a job where I could be making less money. I'll admit, it may have not been my ideal course of action, but I'm confident in what I did regardless. Since I also bought it new way cheaper than I would a used one, should I have to part with it in a worse case scenario, I can get enough out of selling it to pay the loan off. Honestly, the price gap between, let's say, a used 2010 Camaro with 10 to 15k miles and a brand new 2011 model optioned the same way one is so small, the monetary gain is so miniscule it really isn't worth it, especially considering how most people treat their cars. I'll elaborate on that last bit and this sort of opened my eyes just a little bit more. Recently, I was astounded to find just how poorly people do on oil changes when I was doing research as to what schedule I should adhere to on my Challenger (the standard 3k/3 months schedule or the 6k/6 month schedule suggested by the owner's manual). Some people weren't bothering to change their oil on whatever car they were driving until 15k miles and changing the filter somewhere in between that mileage point. I'm sorry, but that does not spell out "well maintained" to me. Sure, with a used car, you may be letting someone else take the depreciation hit for you, but you may also be inheriting a horribly neglected car. No matter how low the mileage may be or how clean the seats are, it doesn't mean some idiot didn't have the chance to own it and I know first hand how deceitful a Carfax can be. I'd also be a little cautious of any grandma special too. Short, sporadic drives where the engine doesn't have enough time to adequately warm up isn't easy on a car and I'd say you would run into long, drawn out maintenance schedules there too. tldr; find leftover inventory marked down cheap, forget buying a used car.

Why is there so much butthurt over what taillights are in this car? This thread and the other one over in the Chevy Cars section is full of non-stop bitching about why this doesn't have LEDs vs. regular bulbs. It could have CFLs and lampshades hanging from its ass for all I care. That said, my hat's off to Chevy. I really think this latest incarnation of the Malibu is going to stack up well. Yeah, the ECO model isn't a full hybrid model, but I think it's very possible light-footed drivers will see a surprising mpg return with this car.

Very true, but Toxic Orange takes some of the edge off that Hemi Orange had. I don't know. Perhaps I'd like the Hemi Orange Challengers better if every one I've seen didn't have those tacky faux-carbon fiber stripes. But anyway, that's just me.

And it's because of reasons like this I didn't buy a new GM car. Chrysler's a mess but at least they've stayed the course with the LX/LC cars and probably will continue to do so.

You know, my last car before the Challenger seemed to be the start of all this ... I wouldn't call that a good thing.

Better than the outgoing model, but then again, what isn't?

Thanks guys. Regarding some comments made on the powertain, I like the 3.5. It's turning out to be a nice engine with silky power delivery. Not only that, but it doesn't sound that bad for a V6. I no longer hate the 5-speed as much as I first did. There's no denying it's slightly pigheaded and a bit lazy on shifting, but when you're just cruising through town, it's nothing horrible. There's also the AutoStick function if you do get a little annoyed with it (although there's still a bit of a delay when it comes to the tranny shifting). It also continues to get better on gas throughout the break-in period. Camino: I really think an R/T with a six-speed needs to be in your possession. The Challenger is certainly a car worth owning and one you do not see running around everywhere. It's a bold statement in a world polluted with Toyota Camries, Ford Fusions and the ilk. As much as I really hate to admit it, this will probably be the last Challenger we'll see for a while. I can't think of any other direction the styling can go in (I hope there's a fourth-generation Challenger, but I don't think any styling changes could be for the better) and not only that, but this car is proud to be, well, a little old school in it's overall approach, it doesn't just start with the styling. You can disable the ABS, TC, and ESC systems with a flick of the key, and while it will certainly outhandle the original Challenger, setting behind the wheel it's very reminiscent of cars of the Challenger's era. In fact, there's a peculiar undertone to the car that reminds me fondly of setting behind the wheel of the Cutlass but in an updated wrapper. What can I say? It's a new car built for people who, overall, hate new cars. And silver does look nice on this car (as does black, white, blue, red, and the various heritage colors). Very clean. One color I don't like on the Challenger, though, is that orange color the first batch had. It's just so ... tacky and loud. The Challenger really looks best in any color but that one. The new incarnation, Toxic Orange Pearl, is an improvement but still down way low on the list of colors I'd chose if I were to buy another one (which is possible after I have this one paid off). Satty: Gunmetal gray (I think Dodge called their version of the color Tungsten for the Challenger) might do the trick if I do put stripes on it. There's a guy in state that makes pistol grip shifters for these cars ... hmmmm ... wonder if that might would be too over the top?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3Uc3yglJeo&feature=related Bands like this (look at the cover, of course I have to listen to them) give me hope for today's rock. Ignore the useless labels like "stoner rock" or "desert rock", this stuff does what bands like Blue Cheer, Mountain, and even Sabbath did best and what today's mainstream rock bands somehow fail to understand: f@#king jam.

I was never much for the New Beetle, but I like this one. It not only smacks of the original car, but a little bit of the Porsche 356 as well.

Trust me, I'm not one to ghetto out a car's appearance. I do want to make the hood scoops functional (simple as buying the ducts from an SRT-8 and replacing the dummy SE/RT filler pieces with them; the hood already has the routes for them since all Challengers have the same hood), install the chrome R/T fuel door on it, and maybe get an SRT-8 spoiler (painted to match the car of course). There might be a rim upgrade in the future, maybe I'll go SRT-8 there, as Dodgefan mentioned, or maybe I'll go with American Racing ... I'll know when I finally do decide to do something. But, overall, there's nothing crazy going on here. I'm pretty satisfied with the car's stock appearance. (Satty, I thought about a set of stripes, but I'm not sure on that yet ... if I did have a set put on, I know don't want the matte black ones that wind up on a lot of Challengers from the factory.) Aside from that small handful of mods I'm kicking around, I do want to install a good dual exhaust (wonder if there's something MOPAR for this) and a cold air intake. Those two mods should be good for a few extra horses and a little bit of torque not to mention a better noise. My car will do 0 to 60 in a range of 6.8 to 7.1 seconds and those mods, along with functional scoops, should shave those times down just a little and probably help me stay in the 6 second range consistently, which is 3.6L V6 Camaro territory. Von, I thought about that for a brief second, but the 2010 Challenger is the last Challenger to wear the Ram's head badge. I like the fact my car has that distinction, so I'll probably leave it alone. Thanks again everyone.