The One-Off Alfa 164 Wagon

Forever The D Pillar

BMW's Frozen Gray is the coolest factory paintjob ever.

On the subject of the E30...

It's a BMW. It's a wagon. It has a 5-speed. It's all-wheel drive. The most Dan Fehlings car ever.

Caswell Motorsport

6 months ago or so, Bill Caswell took a junkyard-bought BMW E30 (for those who don't know, this is an 80's era 3-series) to Rally Mexico, and came third (jalopnik.com) in his class, against purpose-built rally cars costing $400,000 or more. That was way cool, and definitely would have gotten a shoutout if this blog existed back then, if only as an excuse to post some of these great pictures from the event:

But now, Bill Caswell has bigger fish to fry. Bill Caswell has his sights set on the Baja 1000. This is big for 3 reasosns:

1) The Baja 1000 is HUGE. And this guy has the same shoestring budget. If you were impressed by his showing at Rally Mexico, this should knock your socks off.

2) The fact that the first BMW ever campaigned at the Baja 1000 isn't a full-bore manufacturer act, or even a second-party but still well-funded team: It's some dudes from the internet with a collection of 20-25 year old beaters.

3) Their plans for the Baja car. They look so great. Look.

I officially now want a Baja-prepped E30. As a huge fan of BMW, off-road racing, and cheapness, I could not be more excited for this event.

I see this Alfa Romeo 164L every thursday night.

Beautiful.

By the way, this is my car.

It's a 98 Toyota 4runner with 193,367 miles. It has a 4 cylinder engine producing less power than a new Civic. It's kinda pink too. But I love it, and I will never sell it, even though people ask at least every week. It's the reason I love Toyotas. It's name is Bennet.

The car for people who aren't assholes.

 

Courtesy of The Oatmeal and Gizmodo

This is why people who drive luxury SUVs are asshats.

This shall be the first in a series. I saw this man had parked over the line, so I felt obligated to park legally next to him. Dan Win.

This 1967 Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato needs a good home.

It's only about 20 grand, and it comes with a million spare parts, including multiple different sets of lights, an extra rebuilt 5-speed, a spare 1600cc shortblock, and many extras. Please buy this.

 You'll prefer it to a new Camry, unless you're boring.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300482360256&viewitem=#ht_500wt_1182

To answer your car-related question, Volvo 240

I'm convinced my next car will be one.

The Toyota FT-86 G-Sports being unveiled at the Sydney Auto Show

If this is available with a 6-speed and something around 200 hp, and Toyota doesn't pervert the concept (R.I.P. Celica) then I will SO buy one of these lightly used in a few years.

Muscle cars with Euro plates: strangely cool.

It's a Toyota, it's a wagon, and it's glorious.

Forever the D Pillar: 7 Great Wagons

I catch a lot of crap for this, but I love wagons. They offer all the practicality of an SUV with most of the performance of their sedan counterpart. But these days, the wagon is a dying breed, recognized as “ugly” and “for old people”. This is a shame, because some wagons are truly awesome. Such as-

1)      BMW M5 Touring (E34)

My. God. I love this thing. Like, really, this has to be my favorite car ever. Though a new camry may be a bit faster, I say pffft! Nothing can match this sort of awesome. It has a 340 hp 3.8 liter inline 6 derived from the engine powering the famous M1 supercar. It has a 6-speed dogleg gearbox, one of the first. And it’s a motherfucking wagon. Though the E34 sedan is just as lust-worthy, there’s something special about a homely wagon that was faster, and dynamically superior, to, say, a Corvette of the era. This car must be the peak of the M5 line, which has a lot of peaks.

Like this one.

2)      Subaru Outback

Whenever people ask me “what car should I get?” one of my automatic answers is “Subaru Outback”. It’s one of the best all-around cars you can get: practical, fuel-efficient, dead reliable, killer in the weather, etc. Plus, I can think of very few cars I’d prefer to hoon. It’s a capable alternative to an SUV, unless you need to tow huge shit. And it has most of the dynamics of a regular car on-road, which is good, because it’s available with a turbocharged flat-four and a 6-speed. It exceeds at everything.

3)      Toyota Tercel SR-5

The Tercel 4x4 wagon is way cool because it’s pretty much the same as the Outback above, but packed full of Japaneese funkiness. It’s all tiny, and so much fun, and the back looks like an atm.

Neato!

4)      Subaru WRX Wagon

I mean, look at that thing! It’s so cool! Plus, its all turbocharged, and stick-shifted, and with more weight over the back wheels, it even has a better weight balance! And I promise you, a good WRX wagon will be just as fun on the road or in the dirt. Just stay away from that ugly hatchback that replaced this in 2008. God, that thing is ugly.

Herp-derp.

5)      Volvo 245

I love this car just because it’s so simple! It is the Toyota pickup of the wagon world. Not to mention, it was available in this sweet turbo version, which is way awesome, because it’s still an ugly Volvo wagon, just faster. An alternative to this would be a Mercedes W123 Wagon, since it was available in the states with a diesel engine that would literally never die. But now they’re all driven by hippies who fuel them with dirty French fry oil. Gross.

Get a job!

6)      Toyota Camry Wagon

I love this car for the same reasons I love the 245. But this needed special mention because it’s so awkwardly styled. Look at it, all like “herp-derp, lets go to school!”. It’s just so adorable.

It could be worse.

7)      Audi RS2 Avant

I saved the second best, for last. This started out as a humble Audi 80 Avant, which is cool enough to begin with, but then it was stuffed with the inline 5 derived from the Audi Sport Quattro, and then had the chassis tweaked by Porsche (yes, Porsche) by way of new coilovers and brakes. These are ever so coveted today, and this just started Audi’s fascination with obscenely fast wagons, culminating with the new RS6 Avant.

This wagon has more power than a Ferrari 458.

My car is so bitchin', people in Iraq use em.

(good guys)

(that guy from Raiders of the Lost Ark)

I'd rather have these 3 Tercel 4x4 wagons than a Rav4.

The 5 Websites That Got Me To Do This

Yeah, my first few posts are gonna just be rehashes of the goodness I put on my tumblr. I didn't have much of a head start though.

1) 11points.com

The genesis. A one-man operation that posts a few lists per week. Topics range from tv shows, to newspaper headlines, to sports trivia, and everywhere in between. It’s also chock full of Simpsons and Arrested Development references, which is a sure-fire way to my heart.

2) Jalopnik.com

The goal. Jalopnik does car news, articles, and other cool things like that. Even better, they share the same love for the weird cars that I do. Tercel 4x4 wagons, El Caminos, and Citroens are all welcome there. It feels like home.

3) BringaTrailer.com

This one is pretty much used car listings, but not for boring crap like Camrys or a nice Dodge Stratus. And its also not really for looking for a car either; its more a place where they gather all the most interesting listings online. Theres some neat stuff there; if I wasn’t already broke, this site would render me so.

4) Cracked.com

This one is pretty much the same as 11points, just more often and such. There are also videos and whatnots too. It’s all funny. I also learn things! Sweet!

5) Speedhunters.com

This is just straight-up car porn. Not, like, sexual porn, like people having sex with cars, but like, really awesome pictures. It taps all corners of autodom.

Word Puncher

Welcome to my first (debatable; fehlings.tumblr.com) post. As is written all up and down this page, I am Danny Fehlings. I like to write and one day would like to write in exchange for money so I can afford the finer things in life, like Pepsi instead of Diet Rite, or a car I can start with a key, not a screwdriver. My interests run the gamut, but focus on things that go vroom. So I'ma write some stuff here, hopefully put a lot of it in list form, and post cool pictures and stuff as well! Stay tuned; I have ideas.