Welcome:

Welcome to What Your Dad Drove where I tend to examine cars, repost neat photos, and generally discuss things your dad may or may not have drove.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The Scariest Thing




So much black smoke, so much white smoke. If you have asthma this car chases you in your dreams. Why didn't the bad guys in Captain Planet drive this? That blue weirdo wouldn't stand a chance.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Danny McAskill


Danny McAskills first blow up video is the stuff of internet legend. This new one is just as epic. I suppose this involves a road trip so it is somewhat car related. There!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Digital Kitchen

One of my favorite companies out there is Digital Kitchen no other place seems more like a dream factory than their studios. Their work really speaks for itself.

Here is a taste of what they do:

BMW Unscripted - Sabine from DIGITALKITCHEN on Vimeo.

Sabine is super cool right?

-WYDD



Friday, September 17, 2010

Jörg Brüggemann- Photographer

Wow, the kids who I wish I were friends with over at Photo Donuts killed it again with another great photographer Jörg Brüggemann — who's site is awesome and who's series Getaway Cars is very awesome as well. Brüggemann's photos are very What Your Dad Drove, if your dad happened to smuggle diamonds.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Formula 1 coming to Austin, TX

The fine gentlemen over at Autoblog wrote up a wonderful post about F1 returning to the United States at a brand new facility outside of Austin, TX. The track design looks awesome (if not a bit copy-catish but if there is anything worth copying it is an awesome corner) and Austin has to be one of the best host cities for an international automobile race (Texas BBQ + 200mph state of the art race cars, the gods are envious). And it's a real race track in what is essentially prime NASCAR territory, fuck yeah! I'm getting all teary eyed just thinking about us simple folk dawning our beer helmets and learning how to pronounce names like Barraichello and how "flappy paddle" gear boxes work. Oh my!

Allow me to equate:

This:

Plus this:
equals :-)

Just think about it Ferrari's subliminal cigarette ads will reach a whole new demographic even! I dunno about you guys but the though of cold ones, baby back ribs slathered in Stub's sauce, and 18,000 RPM engines makes me want to light up a refreshing smoke. Ah sweet America, let 900 horsepower engines ring their sweet symphony across your McCafe engorged bosom.

—Construction of the new course is set to begin in the coming months with the first races to be scheduled in 2012.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Turn 8 and 8A, Laguna Seca Raceway


Turn 8 and 8A, Laguna Seca Raceway, "The Corkscrew" (pictured: The author and a couple of 911s from the Porsche Owners Club)

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Mile High Medical Marijuana Hauler

I was writing a letter to some pen pals in Iowa when I stumbled on the whole medical marijuana debate and by stumble I mean I complained about how pot and beer are the only two topics covered at any partly I've been to lately. Scratch that Beer, pot and the merits of Dubstep (a newer form of electronic music or so I've heard). While a bunch of Colorado State students were arguing which music festival was the one worth attending based on the availability of the "Primo weed" I got to thinking: What would your dad drive if he was in the medicinal pot business?

Here are three of my selections:

The Subaru Station Wagon (in green of course):
If you live in or around Boulder, CO you see them everywhere. The pleasant, unassuming, all wheel drive Subaru Legacy wagon. Now if you're trying to grow your green and sell it for some green the weather here in Colorado might not be the best. The Subies all wheel drive, low center of gravity and ample storage makes ideal for hauling any essential Colorado gear from guitar amps and snowboards to "glass" and grow lights.

The Ford Transit Connect:
Ok, lets say you want to add a little more legitimacy to your all natural medicine business and the rusty old subie isn't quite cutting it. This is where the Ford Transit Connect comes in. With 135 sq. ft. of storage and a 1600lb. (thats a lot of cheeba) the Transit connect has plenty of space to meet the demand of even the largest Phish concert. Not to mention those huge white panels are just waiting for your cousin Twitch to stencil on a wicked Grateful Dead tribute.

The Van:
You knew it was coming. Nothing beats the overall versatility of the good old fashioned panel van. Whether Ford, Chevy, or Dodge(picture above) vans have it all, robust construction, room enough to haul anything in (or live in if your dispensary goes bust, or gets busted) not to mention the wonderful mobile privacy where you and your fellow patients can hot box away your ailments in a plush space, drowning in 8-track heaven.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Lancia, oh, Lancia! (you make me miss the past)

The original Lancia Stratos was a beautiful car, and not a slouch either with World Rally Titles in 1974, 1975, and 1976.


With the release of the first spy shots of the new Lancia Stratos mule I figured I would wipe the drool away from my mouth long enough to throw in my saliva covered two cents. Sweet jeebuz is this thing beautiful, the original Stratos was a wedge of speed and awesome and this new one is just a awesome so beautiful it almost makes me upset—

—Maybe because any car with an engine where the trunk should be makes me giddy or maybe I'm just a sucker cute Italian retro-mobiles, because the Italian idea of retro is sexy where as the American idea of retro has been penned by the devil himself Bryan Nesbitt who we can blame for the Chevrolet HHR, and Chrysler PT Cruiser. HHR is for Heritage High Roof. Heritage High Roof? Really GM? Really? What ever happened to sexy names? No one cares about the height of the roof! I want to drive a Chevrolet MMBLH (makes my balls look huge) or a TSMUFMBS (this should make up for my bald spot) not some high roofed retro puke! Bryan Nesbitt I hate your false retro-isms, thanks for the PT cruiser, thanks for the HHR, thanks for nothing. I guess your failed design somewhat caused the Italian takeover of Chrysler, your one redeeming accomplishment(not to mention you helped Saturn commit a plastic-clad suicide as well). "Nesbitting"Chrysler into the FIAT group means a Fait 500 for the US market, a real modern retro car based on a real car that once existed in the past. Not some distilled false past conceived to fool retirees out of their pension checks and into ugly cars.

Because Bryan Nesbit exists, God gave us the Italians and the Italians have blessed us as follows:

This is a cup of coffee:


























Delicious! Invigorating! Non-fatting!

This is not:















Sugar! Cholesterol! Heart attack! Whipped Cream! Wait, shit. I love whipped cream. But sill that fluffy delicious shit KILLS.


This is an Italian mother:
Loving, caring, fierce! And she probably makes a mean pot of pasta.

This is an American politician pretending to be a mom:

Poor Trig :-(

////||||\\\\

What does this all have to do with automobiles? Well, there was a day when American cars where sexy and we beat the pants off of those espresso drinking ninnys while we smoked unfiltered cigarettes and drank black coffee, not to mention this was during the same decade we landed on the moon, passed the Civil Rights bill and still had lead in our paint and out gas—
Oh sweet Italy, will you one day show us the error of our big-gulping, SUVing ways? When you do come please bring your new Stratos with you.

Thanks to Jalopnik and GP Forums

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Mopar Week Day Five, Six-Pack!


Carburators are cool. Three carburetors must be really cool then right? Of course. In the hay day of the muscle car era nothing beat the awesome power of the 440 Six-pack, Named for it's massive 440 cubic inches of displacement and awesome 3x2 barrel carb set-up. Bolted between the clean lines of a Challenger R/T these engines are true show pieces for the period.


Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Mopar Week Day Four, Bring a Trailer.

I love classic race cars therefore I love classic race car haulers. The guys over at Bring a Trailer put the spotlight on this Mopar a few months back. Owning this 1970 Dodge D300 would be a dream, let alone the Lola sitting on the back.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Mopar Week Day Three, Plymouth.

This is one of my favorite retro-mod builds Steve Strope's '72 Plymouth GTX-R.


In my earlier youth I owned a 72 Plymouth Satellite with plans to create a GTX-R like car. Unfortunately a 15 year olds plans are rarely solidified. Sad. I miss wrenching on the old beast.

Hot Rod Magazine article here.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Mopar Week Day Two, Beep Beep I'm a Jeep.

Welcome to day two of all things Mopar. Yesterday I kicked things off with a somewhat depressing look at the now dead Dodge Viper. Today I wish to dive into Chrysler's Jeep devision.

The plucky little Jeep started out service in World War II after American Bantam won the government design contest for a new general purpose 4-wheel drive vehicle. Because Bantam did not have a suitable engine and was unable to meet the huge supply orders Ford and Willy's-Overland where awarded the production contracts. GI's returning after the war needed cheap, reliable vehicles and many, already familiar with jeeps kept using them at home. Some of the most interesting civilianized Jeeps are found in the Philippines. Known as "Jeepneys," these brightly colored and heavily modified leftover military Jeeps have been repurposed for public transportation.
Following the war Willy's continued to sell CJs or Civilian Jeeps until Kaiser Motors bought the brand in 1953, American Motors purchased the money losing Jeep brand from Kaiser in 1970. Finally after French automaker renault failed to save AMC from failure Chrysler became owner of the mark in 1987.

4th of July or Mopar Week Day One

This past friday Dodge halted the production of its iconic Viper. The Viper is just another model lost in the Chrysler/Fiat merger that will be sorely missed. And what is a better day than the Fourth of July to honor a bankrupt American car company that is now part of an Italian small car conspiracy. After 20 years of production and a few model changes the viper still maintained a beautiful V10 roar and Nordschleife killing lap times. In memory of the Viper and every other Dodge/Chrystler/Jeep/Plymouth this week is officially Mopar week here at What Your Dad Drove.
I really wish the final Viper wasn't so damn ugly.
Rather than ghastly copper on gold, I was always fond of the "Ketchup and Mustard" color scheme found on some earlier RT/10 and GTS models. I had one in this color only it was a a 1:64 scale hot wheels car, I found it much better than a Jeep Wrangler (another Mopar icon) for running away from a T-Rex a la Jurassic Park. When my Dad decided to paint his bad-ass Datsun 240Z he painted it Viper blue, when we went to the dealer that my dad worked at to got get the car we took a peak at some of the new Vipers for sale, I don't think a bigger impression has ever been made on a 3 year old.

Granted your dad probably didn't drive a Dodge Viper. But he would have.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Station Wagons

Jamie Kitman over at Automobile Mag just brought a long wagon-shaped tear to my eye. His great article covers the sad demise of the station wagon, the utter stupidity if European car manufactures, and the sad rise of the *shudder* crossover *shudder.*



"...the Volvo announcement that it will stop selling wagons here so inexplicable. Because all I ever see in the Boston-Washington, D.C., corridor are Volvo wagons. They're ubiquitous, iconic, beloved. The news that the company is planning to bail on them in favor of gas-slurping XC models makes about as much sense as an announcement that Johnnie Walker is getting out of the Scotch business and is betting the farm on diet cola, because research shows that people drink more of the stuff.

Hey, Volvo and BMW, please wake up. Your wagons are cool. If only they turned blue to prove it."

Your dad drove a station wagon. Not a crossover suck-ass mobile.

Thanks, Jalopnik.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

November 1942.


P-38s being unloaded at Nouméa, New Calidonia and transported through town to Oua Tom
Destined for the 339th FS on Guadalcanal.


Friday, June 25, 2010

U-Lock


Forget scooters, this is going to be the new hotness on campus this fall.



Sunday, June 20, 2010

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Goodbye Mercury


1968 Mercury Cougar
Originally uploaded by blue65pv544
Yet another one of the Detroit three has dropped a brand. This time FoMoCo has axed Mercury after 71 years.

-This is what your dad drove.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010