Fireballs, Accordions, And Art Cars At Oakland's Boiler Bar

I headed over to West Oakland last night, to check out the May Day Party, featuring a slew of and a few of the contestants from the I checked out the snake charming, burlesque performances, accordion music, and cotton-candy booths inside the warehouse, and it was all pretty entertaining… but...

Dec 22, 2024

1982 Datsun Voice Warning Box Used Tiny Phonograph Record, Just Like Moon Base Robots

Certain high-end Datsun models of the Late came with a seriously science-fictiony feature: the car talked to you! That's no big deal nowadays- $1.29 worth of silicon- but back then it took hardware. I'd always assumed that Nissan just liked cool gadgetry so much that they'd gone ahead and used...

Dec 22, 2024

Used Bookstore Gold: 1970 Motor Service's Automotive Encyclopedia

I thought that finding a copy of for a buck at my favorite teetering-walls-o-books used bookstore was a serious score, but may have done even better with this find. It's 768 pages of vintage gearhead goodness, for a five-spot: the 1970 Motor Service's Automotive Encyclopedia. Exploded and cutaway views galore,...

Dec 22, 2024

Brother, Can You Spare A Transmission? Broken Cars At The Goin' For Broken 24 Hours Of LeMons

Why have so many cars blown up, broken down, or crapped out? Nobody can say for sure. Whatever the reason, we've never seen so many dead cars at any LeMons race before. Is it the fast track? The thin air? The mid-80s temperature? Theories abound in the pits, but there's...

Dec 22, 2024

All-Junkyard World's Greatest Whiner Alarm Deters Crybabies

One of the biggest problems that we encounter while is whiners! Wearing those wigs and robes in swampy 95-degree weather wasn't so comfortable, and our outfits… We needed an audiovisual aid to warn a whiner when he or she had So, I knocked together this World's Greatest Whiner Alarm and...

Dec 22, 2024

Datsun Voice Warning Phonograph Mystery Solved: It Talks!

The , with its tiny phonograph record, just radiates awesomeness… but I was having a helluva time getting the thing to work. Problem solved, thanks to one of my henchmen! Certain high-end Datsun models of the Late Malaise Era came with a seriously science-fictiony… My friend had come out to...

Dec 22, 2024

Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!

Let's say you park your car in an area frequented by urban entrepreneurs who gather intoxicant-obtainment resources by harvesting car audio equipment from vehicles… yet you still want some tunes in your ride. It presents quite the dilemma, because even the crappiest cassette deck serves as an irresistible lure, tempting...

Dec 22, 2024

Half Price Junkyard Sale Yields $3.01 Fiat Tachometer For 20R Sprite Hell Project

When I stopped by my local self-service yard to photograph the on Friday, I discovered that I'd walked into Half Price Weekend. Might as well do some shopping! The usual crowds of grimly determined men were plucking engines from minivans, of course, but I wasn't interested in minivans. Now that...

Dec 22, 2024

20R-Powered Sprite Wiring Hell Nearly Complete: It Lives!

Remember that at Junkyard Half Price Day? Well, it and many other scavenged pieces have found their way into my When I stopped by my local self-service yard to photograph the Crusher-bound '49 Ford on Friday, I… Cutting to the chase, , so now I've just got to do some...

Dec 22, 2024

Found Tools Are The Best!

When you spend enough time at the junkyard, you're going to find free tools on a regular basis. Some are in the cars when they get scrapped, while others get lost by fellow junkyard dogs. I've been a junkyard regular for many years now, so my tool collection contains many...

Dec 22, 2024

Big Or Little Junkyard Toolbox?

Seeing all the comments on the reminds me of the eternal junkyard question: Do you bring every tool you own or the bare minimum when hitting the junkyard? When you spend enough time at the junkyard, you're going to find free tools on a regular basis.… I can go either...

Dec 22, 2024

See-Through Aluminum To Herald In New Age Of Invisible Cars!

Scientists at Oxford University have created a substance once only reserved for science fiction — Star Trek IV-like . It takes a serious laser and there's kind of a catch, but just imagine it, ! The process starts with a soft X-Ray laser capable of 10 billion times the previous...

Dec 22, 2024

The 25 Most Redundant Car Technologies

Ever get the feeling automakers are trying to remove you, the driver, from the driving experience? Well you should, because they are. Here's 25 automotive technological "advancements" designed to make you irrelevant and redundant. We're not complete Luddites, give us all iPod integration, airbags and horse-power boosting tech you want....

Dec 22, 2024

Joe Lucas, Prince Of Darkness, Continues To Haunt 20R Sprite Hell Project

Having owned British cars prior to taking on the , you'd think I'd have learned my lesson about : always remove every last trace of the ' evil works! When I started the , my plan was to remove every single component that ever transported electrons for the POD. However,...

Dec 22, 2024

The 25 Most Useful Car Technologies

The other day we talked about , the stuff designed to remove you from the experience. Now, let's look at good technology, the stuff designed to make driving better for you, the driver. Ever get the feeling automakers are trying to remove you, the driver, from the driving experience?… We...

Dec 22, 2024