Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com Autoblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[eBay Find of the Day: 1983 Chevy Celebrity Eurosport Dragster]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2008/06/05/ebay-find-of-the-day-1983-chevy-celebrity-eurosport-dragster/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/06/05/ebay-find-of-the-day-1983-chevy-celebrity-eurosport-dragster/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/06/05/ebay-find-of-the-day-1983-chevy-celebrity-eurosport-dragster/#commentsFiled under: , ,



Ah, the Eurosport, Chevrolet's well-executed package for classing up the '80s A-Body front-drivers. Catch a Eurosport in your peripheral vision quickly, and it'd be easy to mistake it for a Volvo 7-series, or even an Audi 5000 (G). What we have here is a time capsule in two ways. First, the Celebrity was GM's redemption from the X-Body's failure to deliver on its potential. The Celebrity is the vehicle where the General got its act together, fully years before the Taurus, too. Secondly, this particular Celebrity was swept up in the Pro Street craze that customizers glommed on to in the days when a guy could pull off a hot pink tank top. It's a period piece, built when the Simpsons were still on Tracey Ullman.

The excesses of the 1980s are perfectly embodied in the decadent Pro Street movement; the same ethos drove the popularity of hair metal. There was an edge to it, an underlying basis in the blues. Pro Street's blues were the grit and rocket fuel fumes of serious drag racing. Many cars we'd kill for today (unrusted late '60s MoPars, anyone?) suffered the fate of being cut up and tubbed, then fitted with teeny tiny front tires on horridly ubiquitous Centerline phone-dial rims. The end result is a car that handles as well as a T. Rex does preacher curls with its wimpy little arms. Handling's not the point, insane craftsmanship and over the top everything are. This car, definitely has that with its pro build worthy of magazine coverage, triple-blown big block, tube frame, massive Mickey Thompsons, and the requesite drag chute and smart aleck license plate. Rather than cry over another increasingly rare car being hacked up by a cokehead fabricator, nobody will care that a Celebrity went under the knife. In fact, they'll stop dead in their tracks and say "cool." Get your bids in now, or just end everyone's suspense and fork over the 50G's for the thing. You'll be a hit at the local choke and puke cruise night. Thanks for the tip, SleighBoy!

Gallery: Pro Street Chevy Celebrity


[Source: eBay]

eBay Find of the Day: 1983 Chevy Celebrity Eurosport Dragster originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The always affable Antonio Alvendia -- photographer extraordinaire and scribe of Drifting: Sideways from Japan to America -- has teamed up with EA Sports to produce a documentary on the transition many racers have made from the street to the track. Birth of Pro Street is a promotion that coincides with EA's launch of the next installment in the Need For Speed franchise -- Pro Street -- and will debut at 1 AM this Saturday night/Sunday morning on Spike. We're assured it'll be worth skipping another trip to the club, or, failing that, the space on your DVR.

EA has hosted an elongated trailer over on its Pro Street page (click the skull) and we've embedded a few teaser clips after the jump.

Continue reading Birth of Pro Street debuting on Spike TV Saturday night

Birth of Pro Street debuting on Spike TV Saturday night originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Click image for gallery

Via Dieselstation (an Autoblog fave) comes this utterly disastrous adventure in styling. The current-gen VW Passt is a handsome car, and as such, it can be made to look really great with subtle changes, as we saw at last year's NY Auto Show, where a Passat wearing subtle factory appearance mods really elevated the presence of the staid sedan. The same goes for the Audi A3. The cars are good looking when they roll out of the factory, and both can be made to look cool without doing anything drastic. You know the saying: Less is more.

Unfortunately, that adage is frequently ignored -- and in this particular case, with extreme prejudice. The blame for the Passat depicted above can be laid at the doorstep of German tuning firm, Pro Street Carstyling Concepts, which apparently has a grille fetish so severe that an intervention from friends and family might be in order. This is also demonstrated, to a slightly lesser degree, in the Passat wagon and A3 3-door shown in the attached gallery. We're fans of Audi's single-frame grille, but this shows what happens when the concept is taken too far. What was once distinctive simply becomes... bad.

[Source: Pro Street Carstyling Concepts via Dieselstation]

Gallery: VW/Audi mods by Pro Street Carstyling Concepts

Open Wide! Bigmouth conversions for Passat, A3 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>giant grilleGiantGrillepassatpro streetProStreetWed, 27 Jun 2007 09:29:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/926197/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2007/06/27/open-wide-bigmouth-conversions-for-passat-a3/926197/article-detail.xml 926197 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2007/06/bigmouth_passat1_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2007/06/bigmouth_passat1.jpg <![CDATA[Is it time for wilder paint on street machines?]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2006/09/11/is-it-time-for-wilder-paint-on-street-machines/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/09/11/is-it-time-for-wilder-paint-on-street-machines/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/09/11/is-it-time-for-wilder-paint-on-street-machines/#commentsFiled under: ,

Hot Rod magazine is bemoaning the lack of interesting paint colors and schemes on today's street machines, and who can blame them? It was just last week that we had the same conversation with some local gearheads. Sure, we love the subtle silver and grey of Joe Rogan's Sick Fish 'Cuda, but it seems as if the majority of custom vehicles have pulled back just a bit too far from the garish paint schemes of the 1980s Pro Street movement, and have left us with a limited palate of monotone boredom.

The question then becomes a matter of where to go from here. The psychedelic schemes in Hot Rod's gallery come mostly from the hippie aesthetic of the 1960s, and so it would seem that any new trend would need to be equally rooted in contemporary times instead of simply borrowing from the past. With that in mind, what makes sense? Joshua Davis has produced prints for BMW that were computer-generated from a variety of character lines and the available colors for the roadster. Perhaps a similar technique could be applied towards coding a program that would design the appropriate paint scheme when given a variety of inputs. Considering how computers are taking over every other aspect of the automobile, it's only appropriate that they assume a larger role in the appearance as well.

[Sources: Hot Rod; Wired]

Is it time for wilder paint on street machines? originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 11 Sep 2006 12:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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