From the fine folks over at Carscoop comes word of another disturbing wave of auto related cuteness from Japan (that should be a whole category unto itself, huh).

What we have here is something inexplicably odd. Japan’s knack for taking anything and making it as small, non-threatening and cartoonishly cute is well known. They also have a knack for applying it to vehicles in astonishing ways, like Dekotora trucks and whatnot. What makes this latest installment so odd that the chosen form of expression is, of all things, mid-1970s vans and Suburbans.

What?!

Yes, I know, space is limited in Japan, but I doubt this is a byproduct of a new found love for rides preferred by Dirk Diggler and Reed Rothchild.

On the plus side, there’s a reassuring lack of shag and 8-tracks in the interior, but on the downside, the exteriors are too close ascetic avenues that were best left unexplored, let alone revived.

There’s more photographic evidence of these, er, cute/revolting things after the jump.

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Sad news today. The 4,703 Mazda new cars and crossovers which were trapped in the Cougar Ace over two years ago have finally begun to be crushed and shredded.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Mazda has decided to shred all the vehicles rather then take the chance of some of them reaching customer hands. The surprising part is that people were calling Mazda and their insurer to see if they could take some of the vehicles off the company’s hands. Hollywood requested several cars to use for stunt vehicles while technical schools wanted to use them for educational purposes. Unfortunately, callers received a “No, sorry” and now get to watch as all of these brand-new vehicles are permanently erased.

I am very saddened by this. I do understand the point that it would be a liability that Mazda would face if these cars are sold to people and something happened to someone. But instead of taking such a huge loss in paying Mazda, why not set up a special subsidiary and sell parts off the vehicles? People could buy these parts, at a cheaper price, while being fully aware that they are off of undamaged Cougar Ace vehicles, and sign a waiver stating that they know what they are buying and cannot take any legal recourse towards Mazda.

In addition, I don’t see a problem with letting tech schools take these vehicles for teaching future mechanics. They will never be driven on public roads, and will only be stripped and rebuilt during their lives.

I just don’t like seeing things, especially anything automotive-related, going to waste. But maybe it is for the better.

WSJ Article Click for a video as well as their article.

Sweet Jesus. That’s the HP figures for the upcoming Corvette ZR1: 638.

That’s a lot, for a street car.

That’s more than enough to move a car that weighs what a half-track does with great alacrity.

Bolting a supercharger onto a big block (6.2 counts as a big block, yeh?) means you can crank out that kind of power fairly reliably - the old ‘100 HP per liter’ rule of thumb.

And the torque figures are equally staggering at 604 pound/feet of torque.

Also staggering is the expected mark up (like there wasn’t going to be one?). According to Wired, the thing is supposed to “… sticker [at] $65,000. Some estimates will have the limited-run car going for as much as $150,000.”

Last time I checked, since I always seem to have extra hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting around, is that these things were going to go for around $105K, and there was already ugly rumors of what speculators and “investors” oozing out from under their rocks. So a new figure of 150 ups the ante.

Meaning that … OK, what, someone out there must have the demographic data … How many rich-kid 17 year olds are their that might end up with one of these things?

We need to find out where they live and AVOID DRIVING ANYWHERE NEAR THEM.

The U.S. Postal Service (yes, the people you love to hate, but need on a daily basis) has been doing some interesting and fairly unconventional things for a governmental agency.

Awhile back, the released a series of stamps featuring comic book super heroes, and now the USPS is releasing a series of stamps all about Tailfins.

How cool is that?

They’re making five stamps featuring five different, and pretty damn interesting cars. Four of the five are 1957s. You got your ‘57 Chrysler 300C, a ‘57 Lincoln Premiere (pretty esoteric), ‘57 Pontiac Safari (not to be confused with the Nomad) a ‘57 Studebaker Golden Hawk (another fine esoteric choice) and of course, a ‘59 Cadillac Eldorado.

C’mon, if you’re talking fins, how can you not include a 59 Cadillac Eldorado?

If all you’re used to is modern cars, if you can check out a 59 Cadillac up close, do so. The rear quarter panel (that part that has the fin on it) is about the size of a Miata. Hell, thing probably weighs more than a Miata.

Those were the days when adding 500 pounds of chrome to a car was a necessary and sound engineering decision. That was also the time when people used phrases like “road hugging weight” with a serious tone.

And oh yeah, you bet they’re first class.

There’s the rest of the stamps after the jump.
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Is this a joke … Nope, guess not.

Huh … this is a good idea, right?

At first it strikes me as a good idea. I’m kind of jaundiced and think that most drivers in this country are frickin’ morons, barely able to bang two rocks together of questionable driving skill and even worse situational awareness.

So, a system that projects a laser light show ten feet high of animated peds walking in front of the frighteningly average American motorists fry-stuffed face sounds like a fairly pragmatic stance to take. How could you possibly miss this? Imagine trying to explain to Officer Friendly how you blew through that cross walk and nearly took out the little old lady with the walker.

Perhaps this is what’s needed. Have you ever seen road and freeway signs from the 50s? They’re minuscule by today’s standards, and the graphics (arrows and such) are just as poor if they’re present at all. I always used to wonder why they made them bigger and more obvious, but then I got a lisence and after I nearly got sideswiped for the 57th time by some baboon that missed the pool table-sized sign that said “Right Lane MUST Exit” I stopped wondering.

Then I think about that time, and not very long ago, around last January, that some dingus pulled up next to me in the right turn only lane, after passing not one, not two but FOUR pool table-sized signs that said “Right Lane MUST TURN RIGHT”, rolled down their window and said, “Hi! I’m in the wrong lane. When the light changes to green, can I get in front of you?”

When I told him “No”, I thought his head was going to explode. By the time I got to the far side of the intersection, I could still hear him questioning my sense of fairness.

So who knows, maybe something like this way-groovy Virtual Wall crosswalk light actually IS a good idea, but 90% of the drivers out there are just too moronic to notice.