Autoblog

Autoblog's Most Popular Stories of 2012

Steven J. Ewing — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 11:57:00 EST

Filed under: Etc.

The internet is a beautiful and utterly mind-boggling thing. As long as we've been doing this, we still are absolutely baffled at the fact that seemingly "meh" stories can become total traffic monsters while other posts that strike us as big news will fade away almost immediately. There's almost no logic to most of it. At least, no more logic than the yearly tradition of an automotive website using an image of the incredibly charming Betty White in a compendium of the year's most popular stories.

But we digress. Now that 2012 has ended, it's time to tally up the page views and find out what ten posts were the most often clicked on Autoblog in the past year. (See? We even waited until the full year was up so the tally was nice and official.) Everything from new car reviews to dash cam videos to auto show debuts made this year's list, so have a look below to see - in order - the ten most-viewed posts of 2012.

Continue reading Autoblog's Most Popular Stories of 2012

Autoblog's Most Popular Stories of 2012 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Jan 2013 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chevy cooks up custom Camaro, Corvette for "Smoke," Fieri

Chris Tutor — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 18:42:00 EST

Filed under: SEMA Show, Performance, Chevrolet, Celebrities, Design/Style

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart is known as "Smoke" to many, and the custom Camaro ZL1 he helped create for SEMA reflects his sometimes mysterious personality. Chevy design manager Dave Ross worked with Stewart to come up with not only the flat red and silver tribal theme, but the custom gray-metallic paint and the red-haloed headlights, as well.

The interior gets seats embroidered with Tony Stewart signatures, suede door panels, French-stitched black leather armrests and piano black trim plates and gauge bezel. The large wheels are custom-designed with a piano black finish and just a touch of red on the spokes.

Underhood lies the 6.2L supercharged LSA engine with enough power to turn the rear tires to billowing clouds of small rubber particles. The engine is factory fresh but handily uses its 580 horses to make a 0-60 run in four seconds with a top-out speed of 184 miles per hour.

For the host of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Chevy cooked up a delectable Corvette 427 Convertible Collector Edition. An avid Camaro fan, spiky-haired Guy Fieri already owns 1968 and 2011 Camaro SS convertibles in matching yellow and black. His new Corvette, however, twists that color scheme for a black with yellow stripes getup accented by the blacked-out 19-inch wheels in front and 20s in back with matching yellow calipers. Stunning would be the correct adjective, and GM should definitely put the package on its menu.

Continue reading Chevy cooks up custom Camaro, Corvette for "Smoke," Fieri

Chevy cooks up custom Camaro, Corvette for "Smoke," Fieri originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 01 Nov 2012 18:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Guy Fieri to drive Corvette ZR1 pace car in Indy 500

Jonathon Ramsey — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:29:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Marketing/Advertising, Chevrolet, Celebrities

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives persona Guy Fieri is making more news with garages these days than kitchens. The Food Network host, who recently had his Lamborghini Gallardo stolen and then recovered in a teen's storage container, has been selected to drive the 2013 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 pace car at the Indy 500 this year.

Guy's an admitted car fan, and he should feel at home in the ZR1; he owns seven Chevrolet models that span the decades from 1968 to 2011, and a Cadillac Escalade ESV. He'll be pacing the field in the 638-horsepower special edition Arctic White coupe on Sunday, May 27 at noon EST.

Guy Fieri to drive Corvette ZR1 pace car in Indy 500 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 16 May 2012 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Guy Fieri's stolen Lamborghini found in teen's storage container

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:30:00 EST

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Government/Legal, Lamborghini, Celebrities

Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. A Lamborghini stolen from celebrity chef Guy Fieri has been found a year after it first went missing. In case you need refreshing, the Lambo was pilfered by a thief who literally rappelled off the roof of a building in order to get access to the Italian Stallion.

It seems the perpetrator had a thing for stealthy operations - the vehicle turned up during an investigation that began after a motorcyclist wearing all black fired a gun into a parked car. The gunman was a 17-year-old boy, and Fieri's car was located in a storage container in Point Richmond, California, along with the boy's motorcycle and apparent evidence linking him to the shooting.

Fieri, for his part, is happy to have his Lamborghini back:

"I would like to thank the Marin County Sheriff's Office and the Mill Valley Police Department for their hard work and effort in the recovery of my car. I'm glad we can put this behind us, and feel better knowing that justice is being served."

If absence truly does make the heart grow fonder, we'd be happy to have our Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder back in one piece, too, especially considering it's been over a year since its disappearance.

Guy Fieri's stolen Lamborghini found in teen's storage container originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Guy Fieri's Lamborghini stolen from dealer by rappelling thief?

Noah Joseph — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 09:55:00 EST

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Etc., Lamborghini, First Drives, Celebrities

What seems more plausible: that a thief dropped down from a dealership's roof, Mission Impossible-style, to boost a Lamborghini? Or that the car in question belonged to a chef? In an alternate reality where the world actually makes sense, the answer would ostensibly be "neither," but we're talking about California here.

The yellow 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo in question didn't belong to any random short-order cook, but to celebrity chef Guy Fieri (above), host of such TV shows as Minute to Win It and the long-running Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Fieri's car was back at the exotic car dealership on San Francisco's Van Ness Avenue overnight when a thief climbed onto the roof of the building, rigged up his gear, rappelled down into the showroom, busted the lock on the garage door and made off (presumably at a rather rapid pace) in Fieri's Gallardo.

Local police figure it wouldn't be easy for the thief to offload the exotic supercar, but from our read of the story, we'd bet that such a prepared thief already had a buyer lined up. And while it may be difficult to sell a stolen rare car locally, if he or she could get it to the docks, it could already be in another country by now. Top tip, Tony!

[Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Image: Jay West/Getty]

Guy Fieri's Lamborghini stolen from dealer by rappelling thief? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Mar 2011 09:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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