The Chevrolet Volt is General Motors' first foray into extended-range electric cars. It pairs an electric motor system with a small gasoline engine for power generation. When the Volt's battery is charged, it can travel up to 38 miles on electricity alone; when the battery is nearly exhausted, the gasoline-powered generator kicks in to recharge...
The Ram 1500 is Fiat Chrysler's full-size pickup, and currently the only truck it sells. Like the other American trucks, the Ram can be configured in a wide range of bed lengths, body styles, trim levels, and powertrains. Its rivals include the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, and GMC Sierra; the Toyota Tundra and Nissan Titan also compete in this...
The woodie car, essentially a vehicle with rear bodywork constructed of wood framework with infill wood panels, was born in the early 1900s. Initially used for trucks and other hauling vehicles, wood eventually became popular on other types of cars as well, ranging from anything from convertibles to wagons. Detroit built both entry-level and luxury cars equipped with wooden bodywork for half a century, although the number of nameplates sold as woodies diminished significantly until their complete extinction in the 1980s.
Although woodie cars were extremely popular in the 1930s, they weren’t exactly pleasant to drive. Most of them were big and heavy, and maintaining the wood bodywork that made them special back in the day was a nightmare. Exposing them to weather had disastrous results because these cars don’t react nicely when hit by direct sunlight or humidity. The wood swells and/or shrinks before it eventually cracks, leaving its driver with a car that’s unsafe to drive. Not that they were safe to drive when brand-new since those wooden doors were way too thin to protect the car’s occupants in any way.
Still, woodies are an important part of the American automotive history and a culture a lot of enthusiasts still cherish. Maintaining and restoring these vehicles is a lot more difficult when compared to metal-bodied cars, which led to the establishment of several specialty shops for woodies. One of them is Hot Rods & Hobbies, which brought a couple of 1937 Fords to Jay Leno’s Garage. Both vehicles are light restomods, which basically means they appear stock except for the slightly lowered suspension, but feature modern underpinning and beefed-up engines. One of them, for instance, is powered by a Roush, 5.8-liter, V-8 powerplant, which definitely eliminated the laziness of Ford’s 1937 Woodie (these heavy cars had 60- and 85-horsepower V-8s back in the day).
Whether you like woodies or not, this is a video you definitely need to watch. Not so much for the cars, but for the extraordinary insight provided by Hot Rods & Hobbies’ Scott Bonowski on restoring woodie cars. Check it out by clicking the play button above.
Video: Jay Leno Drives a 1937 Ford Woodie originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 1 January 2015 09:00 EST.
2014 has been a great year for the automotive industry. Packed with some of the greatest auto shows yet and numerous car introductions, the last year brought us the best means of transportation the industry has to offer. The year kicked off with the redesigned Ford Mustang and the incredibly fast 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06; two strong nominees for the Car of the Year awards, but that has only been the tip of the iceberg. 2014 also saw the launch of the McLaren 650S, the Lamborghini Huracan, BMW’s high-tech i8 and i3, as well as the M3 and M4 performance duo. Speaking of performance duos, Dodge stunned the world with its very own pair of Hellcats based on the Challenger and Charger that are powered by a beastly, supercharger, 6.2-liter, HEMI V-8.
On the more practical side of things, Hyundai launched a new Genesis, Volkswagen brought a new Golf, and Acura took things up a notch with the brand-new TLX.
2014 was also a prolific year for pickup trucks, bringing us GM’s return to the midsize segment with the Chevy Colorado, Ford’s innovative, aluminum F-150, Ram’s updated Powerwagon and a host of large SUVs. Also, 2014 saw the Transit van cross the pond to replace the legendary E-Series after more than half a century on the market.
2014 was busy indeed, but 2015 is already upon us and there’s a lot to look forward to. The year kicks off with the Detroit Auto Show on January 12th, but the event will introduce only a mere fraction of what we’re about to see throughout the new year. Read on to find out more about this year’s highlights for the automotive industry.
Click past the jump to read more about what 2015 has in store for us.
What the New Year Has in Store for the World of Automobiles originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 1 January 2015 07:00 EST.
BMW’s next-generation 7-Series, the G11, has been spotted in the wild completely undisguised. The new flagship sedan is set to be revealed later this year and should be in showrooms no later than the fall, arriving as a 2016 model. This example is likely to be a pre-production unit, meaning an auto show debut may be coming up soon. BMW has...
2015 is almost upon us, car lovers, and TopSpeed has one last post to close out the year that was 2014! As this little blue green ball we all inhabit completes yet another revolution around that warm spot of fusing hydrogen hanging in the sky, we tend to revert back to the time-honored tradition of summarizing a few of the big events that transpired over the course of the year. It’s a crossroads, a time to bask in the glory of past wins, as well as learn from prior mistakes in a bid to avoid such blunders in the future.
In many ways, 2014 was a time of great change and rebirth, with both exciting successes and catastrophic failures laced throughout. We’ve seen the glorious return of heroes like the Dodge Challenger, plus the emergence of exciting new technology like in the Toyota Mirai. Unfortunately, we’ve also seen a glut of niche vehicles stretched thin between a variety of purposes, like the Mercedes GLE Coupe, as well as fatal corporate mistakes in a record-breaking year for automotive recalls.
Usually, we’re a glass-half-full kind of crowd, so we’re tempted to say, overall, this most recent spin around the sun yielded a net gain for the automotive world. Perhaps, but we suppose that’s still open for debate. Regardless, it’s been a mixed bag, no doubt about that. But don’t fret: we’re here to tie it up into one neat package for you.
Click past the jump to read our list of highs and lows from 2014.
2014 TopSpeed Year in Review originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 31 December 2014 19:00 EST.
Apart from Caterham and a varying number of British kit car manufacturers building the so-called Locosts, there aren’t many people out there who can brag about offering a somewhat modern take of Colin Chapman’s Lotus Seven. Among them is Joop Donkervoort, a Lotus fan who founded the Donkervoort car brand back in 1978, transforming it since then into a bona fide family business.
Donkervoort’s latest offering in terms of ultra-lightweight sports cars is the 2012 D8 GTO, arguably the most impressive model to ever come out of the Dutch factory’s gates. Largely based on the D8 GT, the super sports model is powered by the awesome-sounding inline-five from the Audi TT-RS and RS3 that offers between 340 and 380 horsepower, which only has to move around 1,500 pounds of vehicle. With Donkervoort celebrating the fact that it recently opened a new facility in Germany, right in the heart of the Bilster Berg Drive Resort, the Dutch car maker will manufactur a limited edition of the D8 GTO dubbed the Bilster Berg Edition.
Just 14 examples of the D8 GTO Bilster Berg Edition will be ever made, a number which Donkervoort says it represents the successful year 2014 for the company. The model, which was developed on the Bilster Berg circuit itself and earned the best lap time on the circuit, features a number of updates compared to the regular model. In theory, this should make it the top-of-the-range model in an otherwise petite lineup.
Click past the jump to read more about the Donkervoort D8 GTO Bilster Berg Edition.
Donkervoort D8 GTO Bilster Berg Edition originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 31 December 2014 18:00 EST.
