November 30: Really Toyota?

Anyone familiar with racing knows these initials and knows that they stand for Toyota Racing Development. These are the guys that get involved in Toyota's NASCAR effort, off roading, Le Mans and anywhere else where Toyota puts rubber to the road in anger. After a few years of racing successes, the TRD name has real street cred among enthusiasts.

TRD is pretty exciting stuff, so imagine my surprise, when I see that they are doing up a Camry for 2019 to further enhance this car line's well known sporting reputation......

Of course, the Camry has no sporting reputation, except in NASCAR, where a generic body has Camry decals added over a tube chassis. But hey, give Toyota marks for trying to move this model into an area where those wanting a bit more spirited driving can consider the Camry, along with the Accord or Mazda6. And to be fair, the sport model of the '18 Camry was far far better than any past model had ever been. So TRD was the next logical step.

But that's not the really big announcement from Toyota and TRD. Wait for it............recognize this corner carving machine from the Toyota stables?

I can see the head scratching going on, as you wonder how you've missed identifying this wunderkar from across the Pacific. Do these pictures help a bit........

Of course, it's that famous seniors' dream ride, the Avalon. Known for its size, its comfort, its reliability (it's a Toyota after all) and its ability to handle any corner at walking speed. And now TRD has added it to their roster of hotted up models.

Come on guys, get serious. 

Is there one even person on this planet who has ever requested a performance Avalon? And just how popular is the Avalon even among its target market? In Canada, up to the end of October of this year, each of the 285 Toyota dealers in Canada sold a grand total of 1.89 Avalons. Not each month, but in total. They couldn't even sell a total of two! Maybe this massaging by TRD can push those sales per dealer to 2.2 or even 2.5. Wow, it boggles the mind.

So folks, if you were wondering what it would be like to put wheels on your sofa and tune it up a touch, your ride is ready. Please don't knock over any seniors in your rush to be first in line.

Until next time.......

November 27: Reach for the sky!

Appropriate that after being in Florida for a few days with its sun, sand and lots of old cars, that this blog should be about one of those vintage classics.

Reach for the sky! A weary old phrase, that was uttered in more than a few old western movies from times gone by, but it might also have referred to those appendages rising from the rear fenders of all the cars from the late 1950's. Another history lesson, Barry? Not quite, but an introduction to the Car Modeling Cat's (CMC) and my latest scale build, this 1959 Cadillac Eldorado coupe........

The absolute maximum fin, that literally reached for the sky. Cadillac was obviously proud of what they had wrought and featured it prominently in their ads........

 Big, bold and brassy, the ultimate expression of a short lived '50's styling trend, since within a mere twenty four months, those fins were shaved off of most cars. Cadillac held onto theirs for a few more years, but that's another story for another time.

This over the top design appealed to the CMC and me, since we love those 1950 and 1960 designs, as you have probably noticed from earlier blogs showing our handy work. Ah, nothing gets the creative juices flowing like big fins and lots of chrome.

You can see her below pondering her next move, as our build progresses.

What a cat!

Longtime readers will know that we try to duplicate exactly the full size car, but in 1/24th scale. Not always easy when our dreamboat is loaded with chrome and those wild appendages, but this comparison shows that we come very, very close......

Hard to believe that this top of the line Caddy actually showed restraint in the designers' ladling on of chrome.

Is it real or Memorex?

Do we long for the good old days? Ha! Not a chance. Those big boats would have been hard to park, hard to control and used gas like we had our own personal oil well. What I do miss is product identity. Back then not one car resembled another. These days, of course, design cues get copied from car to car, manufacturer to manufacturer with no apologies. Such is life.

On the edge of your seat wondering about our next build? Doubtful, but we are moving forward with a leap into the early '70's. Stay tuned.

Until next time......

November 16: Yet another one!

Way back when, Aston Martin had a station wagon (yeah, I know, it's a shooting brake), but it was still a wagon. Who'd have believed it, if you had told Aston back those many years ago, that they'd one day have a truck? Well, maybe they would have thought it possible, since David Brown, Aston Martin's founder originally made farm tractors. So, seventy years or so later, they now have a truck in the form of an suv. No big stretch.

I'm jumping the gun by about a year. They currently don't have an an suv, but look what they've been "secretly" testing........

Put your tongue firmly in cheek when saying "secretly", since the camo is body tight (all the lines are visible) and Aston has put a few indiscreet identifiers on this to let everyone know what they are seeing. Check out that sign on the top of the front and back windows....... Aston Martin DBX. And in case the spy photogs have taken to the air to get their shots, there is the rather obvious DBX writ large on the roof........

No question that this is Aston's effort at joining the growing number of suv's on, or soon to be coming on, to the market and often from the most unlikely of places. Ferrari anyone?

And now without the camo, although the bottom A-M might be rockin' super big, non standard rims........

Rest assured those 22's (?) will no doubt show up on more than a couple of this newest of suv's.

Price? Who cares, since if you are sniffing around this suv with the intent of having it in your driveway, you know it will be costly and no doubt in your price range. If I was guessing, I'd say it will be somewhere in the $250k CDN range depending on how generous you've been to yourself when checking off those lengthy and costly options. Hey, you can't take it with you, but with this A-M suv, you could probably hide it somewhere many others couldn't get to.

Why lust after this gorgeous DB11, when you can buy a golf club carrying suv for the same coin?

I know I'm missing the point, 'cause I know that any DBX buyer will probably have an DB11 parked in their garage as well. Oh to be filthy rich.

Better hurry! Late 2019 can't come soon enough and your local Aston Martin dealer is already taking orders.

Until next time.....
(down south for a few days, so back here on the 27th)

November 13: POTUS's new ride

Beautiful ride. Worth being the president of the United States (POTUS), so that you could be chauffeured around in this vintage, custom made Lincoln Cosmopolitan. Harry Truman must have loved this car. Of course, the US being what it is today, your ride would be shortened, because you took a shot to the noggin, from some irate citizen with access to one too many guns. Ah, the good old days.

Over time the Secret Service realized that their prime asset had to be protected and made as safe as possible. Each subsequent limo became more resistant to everything and became stranger looking with each passing model......

But one key thing remained thru all of these transitions, and that was that these cars still resembled the cars from which they originated.

Tougher and tougher, eventually able to withstand an assault by a small army. And adding technology along the way, until we got to the present day and what became known as The Beast, made for President Obama. His presidential limo was different. Unique in that it wasn't derived from a current Cadillac or Lincoln. Sure, it was supposed to be a Caddy and in reality it had some design cues from that car, but it was actually sheet metal pulled over a truck chassis. Elegant? Like a four hundred pound ballerina is elegant. Take away that grille and it would be anyone's guess of what this thing was.

As always, proof is in the pictures.......

What a bruiser!

But that was then and this is now. The Beast was getting long in the tooth (an appropriate metaphor?), so it was time for something new. And to make sure nothing was given away until its official unveiling, the new Beast was clothed in full camo attire while testing..........

Think this fooled anyone? Even under this disguise one could see that POTUS's new ride would be more elegant of line and actually look like a real car. Although it still hasn't been officially unveiled, Trump's new ride is now fully in service and to our pleasant surprise, it is not at all beastly looking and has all of Cadillac's new design cues......

Thinking back to Truman's ride, that car was absolutely naked by comparison with what is needed in today's helter skelter world. The list of what this car has on it would take up two blogs, but I can tell you that it has everything except a lie detector. This was considered, but with President Trump, the powers that be thought it would wear out very quickly.

Is any of this worth being president for? Probably not, but now Trump and his new best friend, Vladimir, can boast of both having brand new, made for them limos. Now that might be worth the aggravation.

Until next time.......

November 9: Never enough

Kia and Hyundai recently announced that they had made a mistake and that their product lines were too car-centric. Imagine a car manufacturer making that announcement, after all aren't they actually car manufacturers. Well folks, you know the answer to that one and it is "No!".

This sad state of affairs has been brought on by our love of the goddess SUV, a fact that has been well documented here and elsewhere. So back to those two South Korean sisters (brothers?), Kia and Hyundai. What now?

Well, on the top end Kia will soon bring out the BIG Telluride........

This will be Kia's take on the luxury suv market and will no doubt rack up a few sales from those customers who want a big suv with tons of features at a not-quite-high-end price. Good for Kia, but they want volume, which means something in the lower price ranges. By the way, I pride myself on knowing what cars are on the market, but with Kia, and sometimes Hyundai, even I get confused with their proliferation of models.

Following suite, Hyundai will also bring out a big gun, the Palisade, soon to be unveiled at the upcoming Los Angeles Auto Show.......

What's next? Any hints? Well, just maybe this concept (shown in China) will help to pack the Kia line with those products which will actually sell........

Snappy name? Well, give them time. If Telluride works for the top end, maybe this one can be called something a little more down market, like the Whistler, or if it has to stay stateside, maybe the Stowe? Whatever. If the real suv looks like the concept, which it no doubt will, expect it to fit below the Sorento and be either slightly below or above the Sportage. Too close in size? Give your head a shake, like that would make any difference. Case in point, the lower priced Chevy Traverse is actually half a centimetre longer than the more upmarket Tahoe. Go figure.

What about Hyundai? Would this work.........

Typical of this brand, the Creta (check out the front plate) is one great looking suv. It is not a concept, as the Creta has been sold the past couple of years in other parts of the world, so it would be an easy suv to slot into Hyundai's North American line up below the Tucson. Something to compete with those alphabet challenged suv's from Toyota and Honda, the C-HR and HR-V.

Now about that name. What exactly is a Creta? In European countries like Italy or Romania, it means chalk. Great. Translated to our side of the Atlantic it means crayon. Even better. Since Hyundai likes southwestern US names for their sport utes, it could be the Taos or Reno or even better, the Mesquite. Hope they call me for ideas.

Hints of the future, or just time wasted guessing about something that might never happen? Definitely the former, as these two brands will be adding at least one and probably more, suv, crossover or whatever you'd like to call them in the next couple of years. Better be sooner than later, since time is a wasting and both Kia's and Hyundai's North American sales took a hit in the buoyant 2017 auto market. And these two models look like they'd be excellent choices.

So will your blogger be right? Bets taken at the next window.

Until next time.......

November 6: Nostalgia all over again

Nostalgia brings back old memories.

This NASCAR stocker from back in 1969 was packing the biggest gun that Ford had to shove under that long, believe it or not, aero front end. That motor was the 429, no Hemi, but plenty powerful in its own right. But rules were rules and NASCAR said Ford had to sell so many of these bruisers in their street cars, in order to make it legal to run on the stock car circuit. A rule that is more or less in play today, as well.

The solution for Ford.........

Those in the know will recognize, that this logo is on the flanks of the '69 and '70 Mustang Boss 429, the only car into which Ford dropped their hallowed motor. Only a few were made, just enough to satisfy NASCAR's requirement. Why it ended up in a Mustang, instead of a Torino, which was actually being raced, is probably hidden in some muscle car history book (a weekend project?).

But this rare Mustang is now the stuff of auction legend, with the top examples at one time going for over half a million USD. Just the car to be in every po' boy's dreams. But suppose that poor boy hit it rich on the powerball lotto. Maybe buy a nicely restored Boss 429. Problem? It would still be an old car and an expensive one at that, so maybe this wouldn't be such a great idea.

Enter Classic Recreations........

This Oklahoma company is taking old Mustangs, stripping them bare and making them something they weren't back in the day. Pick any old 'Stang from '64 to '70 and these folks will transform it into the Mustang of your dreams, assuming your dreams were of Shelbys and the Boss 429. They recreate the original, but with modern touches and underpinnings. A totally up to date old car with more power, better handling, more features and it's completely reliable. Pretty good deal.

Now about that powerball win. You'll need it, since Classic Recreations won't lift a finger, until they see the high side of $200,000 USD (before options) for one of these gems. Seems reasonable, based on what the collector car auctions are hammering down on those fifty year old Fords.

Nostalgia with a completely modern flare. A little different interior than a 1969 Boss, but hey, you have to have something to show for those multiple dollars you've just spent.......

Have a good chuckle at those folks bidding up those beautiful Boss 429's at the Mecum, RM Sotheby's or Barrett-Jackson auctions. They might be a little afraid to wring out their new acquisition. Hey, it's fifty years old! Not you, though. Your Boss 429 look-a-like is all modern and all reliable.

So take it out to some nice quiet lane and be your inner John Force like your life depended on it..........

Until next time.......