From the good folks at CarScoop (who are really living up to their name this time) comes word that rumored-for-awhile-now Ferrari GT will be debuted online, and right soon at that.

This link, “FerrariGTCountDown”, has just popped up live, and soon (they say) it will show what the new Ferrari GT will both look like and be named (both of which have been kept under heavy lock and key).

Of course, they won’t just put it out there all at once, oh no, they have to, being Italians, do it with a little more flair and showmanship. They will begin to reveal the new model little by little before its public debut at the Paris Auto Show this coming October.

First up will be the GT’s engine, followed by the first photographs of the sportscar itself and finally its name will also be revealed.

I don’t normally do these types of posts, but I really thought some of you could use this.

Amazon.com is holding some really good deals on automotive products right now. I’ll list a few of the best ones below, then a link to go look at all of them. There are almost 7,300 automotive products right now that are over 70% off!

HID Conversion Kits for only $120 (full kits, multiple colors)
Just click the link to go there, then figure out which one fits your car.

Tons of Cheap Key Chains - Most are $1.25, some are $5. Here are a few:

• Nissan 350Z Custom Key Chain and Nissan 350Z Tear Drop Key Chain
• Dodge Tear Drop Key Chain
• Infiniti G35 Square Key Chain
• Dodge Custom Key Chain
• Ford Tear Drop Key Chain

Tons of Exterior Parts

License Plate Frame with Video Camera - $200

$5 Carbon Fiber Pens - Only a few are $5, but they’re all under $20.

In normal Amazon style, most of these items ship free with an order total of $25 or more. It’s really easy to pad your order past the $25, these guys have everything.

Here’s the full list of all 7,300 products on this insane sale.

The first thing that struck me on reading this at Neatorama was, ‘Isn’t this against the law already?’

Surprisingly, and frighteningly, no.

It would seem that it’s completely OK for you to go on a drive with a dog (assumedly of any size) sitting on your lap. If a cop were to see you, they couldn’t bust you for that, but they could bust you for, say, not wearing a seatbelt, because that is viewed as being unsafe.

Yes, I understand that not wearing a seatbelt is indeed unsafe, but it’s unsafe for you, the driver.

Driving around with a dog on your lap is unsafe for you, and, when the thing (potentially) slides off your lap, down into the footwell, getting jammed ‘neath the break pedal making it impossible for you to hit the breaks without crushing Fifi’s miniaturized spine, is unsafe for both you AND that bus full of blind school kids your about to run into an unabated speed.

And it’s not like this is too far out of the realm of possibility.

More then once, a lot more than once, I’ve had to take avoiding action for some lack-wit who was paying more attention to the dog in their lap than the fact that they had just blown by a stop sign and were about to T-bone me with their pearl white Escalade (”I feel so safe when I’m driving in it!”).

I shudder to think what will happen when these modern day Solomons will be forced to choose between paying attention to the needs of their Pomeranian, getting upset at something they just heard on talk radio, or running over a pedestrian.

The fact that there’s not more carnage on the road sort of impresses me.

Looks like Saleen was serious about the supercar business. First came the awesome S7 and S7 TT, which is still one of the fastest cars in the world. To many though, the S7 was too big and too…umm…fishy, with all those gills all over the car.

Now it seems Saleen’s next supercar venture will be the Raptor - a smaller, much more modern-looking exotic. While it does mirror the looks of a few other fast cars on the road, all but the rear of the car is very attractive. Not that it’s ugly, it’s just…very 80’s looking: Continue Reading…

Well, well, well … the plot thickens.

For those who have not been following, there’s been an ongoing, ahem, king-of-the-hill war being waged at the Nurburgring over the past few.

The two primary players have been the latest uber-Vette ZR1 and the Nissan GT-R.

Although the Nissan GT-R holds the current record, the full factory Vette has yet to make an appearance runs Chevy’s argument that this ain’t over.

Added to this is a couple of other interesting observations: Guys that hang out at the ring say the Nissan GT-R looks & sounds like it’s putting out more than the stated HP, and there have been rumors of rumors that said GT-R might not be the same one you can buy from Nissan (i.e. it’s been lightened).

Now entering into this fray comes the British car site Pistonheads (via CarScoop) with more rumor, innuendo and juicy, unsubstantiated gossip and the like.

Pistonheads says that the GT-R is not a current production car as Nissan says, but a European spec version featuring a number of tweaks.

My take?

I agree with CarScoop, in short. Who cares if it’s a Euro version or an NA version … things still plenty quick.

I had a 2005 Ford Escape in the shop last week, it was a 3.0L Duratec V6 with two-wheel drive. Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen - there was a big hole in the rear for where the rear diff would be, as opposed to most 2WD trucks where the situation is the reverse. So, it needed an alternator. No biggie, I thought. But alas, with all Ford’s so-called improvements, there comes a price. The alternator is mounted on the lower rear of the front of the motor, in its own little cubby hole, hidden away. The placement was so poorly thought out that Ford had to install a two-piece Ram Air contraption to the alternator for cooling. Naturally, this design flaw makes them fail miserably, and removal requires removing the Right driveshaft, and snaking in various special extensions to gain access to pretty much anything in this forbidden zone. Continue Reading…