Brits pay $76k for the GT500?

For Ford fans in the UK, the new 2007 Shelby GT500, a 500-horsepower supercharged Mustang, comes at a price. £40,000, nearly $76,000 in the US, to be exact. In a video on YouTube, Fifth Gear personality, Jason Plato, slides the GT500 around the track while evaluating if a £20,000 increase to import the muscle car over to the UK is really worth it.

Plato doesn't let those 500 wheel-spinning ponies under the hood distract him from telling it like it is. He describes the interior as "crap," and he's absolutely right. American automakers have always seemed to cut corners on the fit and finish of cheap interior materials. The fact that the GT500 still uses that lame retro-style font on gauge digits doesn't help either. Plato is also critcal of the handling, and he has every reason to be. For this kind of a money and with this much power, handling needs to be nothing short of spectacular, usable for more than just weekend trips to the dragstrip.

Roadtripping in a McLaren F1

So, what do you do with your $1.2 million McLaren F1 supercar? Keep it clean in the garage? Take it to the track? How about a 1000-mile roadtrip riddled with real world obstacles such as potholes, adverse weather, and construction zones? That's exactly what Miles Collier and his wife did through Montana, after just spending $300,000 to bring the car back to its brand new luster. A roadtrip in an F1 is not for the faint of heart.

Collier, an avid car collector, tells a particular experience with what he calls the "mother of all construction zones" during his trip. The McLaren already has a five-inch ground clearance which can make any driveway, railroad track crossing, or any other minor change in pavement level a nerve-racking affair. Navigating two lanes of gravel, Collier followed a road grader and roller to make it through the construction, a pace that was so slow it couldn't even be done in first gear at idle. It takes a very special automotive enthusiast not to lose their mind when a small rock, throw up by a piece of road construction machinery chips a $70,000 paint job or $30,000 windshield. No matter what the price, cars were meant to be driven and Collier doesn't let the possibility of this being the world's most expensive roadtrip scare him, even if he's driving one of the world's most expensive cars.

The Altima Coupe

A couple days ago, some fuzzy pictures of what is being called the Altima Coupe surfaced on the internet. It looks like an Infiniti G35 with a 2007 Maxima-styled grill, but the significance of the two doors, instead of four, is enormous. If this coupe platforms shares the same rear-wheel drive configuration as the G35, the Altima coupe will essentially be the rebirth of the 240SX.

There is certainly a segment for the Altima coupe to fall into, competing against entries such as a the Honda Accord coupe and Toyota Solara. Perhaps an Altima convertible isn't too far off as well. The Altima coupe will still appeal to buyers who are considering cars in the segment, but making the car rear-wheel drive would set it apart from all others. Enthusiasts will embrace an entry-level rear-wheel drive Altima, especially one that wears the SE-R badging.

A V6-powered "Corvette"?

Rumors that General Motors will produce a V6-powered Kappa platform (Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky/Opel GT) car that could possibly wear the "Corvette" badge sometime in 2008 have just gotten a little more believable. A post on Jalopnik.com claims that the inside info from a well-known Corvette dealer may be true, but it won't be called the "Sting Ray," once rumored by Motor Trend magazine.

Who cares what it's called, a V6 Corvette is a step back in time for Chevrolet, not a way to lower the price and attract additional buyers. When the Corvette first came out in 1953, it originally had an inline-six cylinder engine, but once a V8 found its way into the Corvette engine bay, Chevrolet never looked back. The Corvette is an American icon and without its eight cylinders, it would be like an American flag with only 40 stars. Besides, the Kappa platform will be fine with the turbocharged four-cylinders that are due out next year.

Buy a VW, get a guitar

As if their brilliant commercials didn't already catch your automotive attention, Volkswagen is giving buyers a custom First Act guitar with every Jetta, GTI, Rabbit or Beetle purchase. So, instead of plugging in an iPod to you VW's stereo system, you can plug up your new guitar and rock out.

Whoever is in charge of VW's marketing, keep up the good work! When I first saw the commercial featuring Slash with a amp-style stack of black GTIs, I thought they were just showing that the stereo could be used as a mobile amplifier; I had no idea they were actually passing out guitars with cars. But that's just how effective their advertising is. I didn't need a big "FREE GUITAR" dangled in my face, in typical American style, to make me take notice. Nothing needs to be said, just show the car and a Web link. Even without the First Act guitar promotion, VW had already caught the attention of the youth market with their commercials. So, when young car buyers start driving off the lot with their new musical VWs, let's hope they're not trying to play the guitar at the same time.

No Hummer H2s for two weeks

Not only are the massive H2s clogging up traffic at the pump with their pathetic fuel efficiency, but now they're cluttering up the dealerships too. Due to a Hummer sales slump, GM will shut down the Mishawaka, Ind. plant that produces the Hummer H2 for two weeks, starting Oct. 16. Perhaps it's a sign that the General Motors apocalypse is nigh. There are also rumors of up to 175 plant employees being laid off, but AM General denies and the union can't confirm.

Perhaps impulsive consumers have finally figured out that these 6,400-pound beasts get somewhere between 10 and 13 miles per gallon, disappointing fuel economy statistics that the H2s aren't required by the EPA to post on their high-dollar window stickers, like other, more practical, vehicles with a gross weight under 8,500 pounds. Shutting down the plant may be the most environmentally-friendly thing that the H2 has done since conception.

Z32 progress update

It kills me that I'm only able to work on my Z32 on the weekends. And by weekends, I mean Saturdays. And by Saturdays, I mean Saturday mornings, before rushing off to watch the Gators on gamedays. Despite the lack of time, I've still made some progress on the Z, except I've concentrated more of my time on eliminating emission-related systems, instead of actually fixing the damage.

It's amazing how I can still find beauty in the car, even when the front end is torn apart. The old lower core support is ready to come out. The power steering lines are no longer in the way. I just need the special drill bit that's made to drill out the factory spot welds. The tear in the driver-side of the core support scares me the most. I know I'm going to have issues lining up with the frame rail holes. I even have my new core support, a $200 part from Nissan. This one is for a twin turbo, which makes fitting my new Koyo aluminum radiator a whole lot easier. On the upper side of the engine bay, where I've been spending most of my time, the EGR valve is no longer connected to the block. It may require some cutting, but I'm going to try to remove the whole system without pulling the motor or dropping the transmission. My spare set of valve covers have been tapped, ready for the PCV line reroute, but I'm trying to figure out what to do with the inner oil baffles. After swapping out a fuel injector, a job much easier with the upper intake off, the not-so-freshly powdercoated plenum will be installed. I think the car could be done in about three days of solid work, but due my schedule it'll still be a while. After totally missing my October deadline, I'm not even going to bother setting another goal for myself.

On another note, I just finished installing an eight-gauge amp wiring kit in the 200SX. All my stereo equipment from the Z has found it's way into the new daily driver. I had already swapped over my JVC CD player a few weeks ago, but now it will be connected to my Kenwood amp, powering a 10-inch MTX subwoofer. I have a feeling a I'll need to fix my rattling spoiler very soon.

Christine on eBay

Christine, the possessed 1958 Plymouth Fury from the 1983 film, has been liberated of its museum captivity and is for sale on eBay, just in time for Halloween. The bid is currently up to over $75,000 and the reserve still hasn't been met. This is an expensive movie car, but the seller assures bidders that this was one of the vehicles actually used in the movie, number 14 to be exact.

According the Internet Movie Database, there were either 13 or 16 cars used in the making of the movie, depending on different sources. Well, it looks like 16 is a more believable number after Fury number 14 has surfaced. IMDb also mentioned that only 5,300 1958 Furys were built by Plymouth, which makes this movie car even more rare.