Autoblog

Our obsession of all things automotive extends far beyond the latest and greatest that comprises the majority of what you read. That's one of the reasons we've brought back the Reader Ride, so we can showcase what the majority of us roll on a daily basis. Today's ride is exactly the kind of thing we're into; a rather staid means of transport that is well loved by its owner. Flickr member thefultonhow through up three shots of his '92 Infiniti G20, along with a detailed description of life with his 'G,' and after reading his story, we couldn't help but feature it.

Purchased new by his mother back in 1992, the G20 survived the rigors of daily driving at the hands his mom, and also provided of means of learning for both his brother and Mr. Fultonhow. After 169,000 miles of dutiful service, the stock mill decided to liberate a rod while his brother was behind the wheel, and after a series of attempts at selling the G20, he decided to perform a heart transplant in his grandfather's garage. The only catch: he'd never done anything like it before.

Armed with a factory shop manual, endless patience and nearly a month of his life, he replaced the spent motor with a JDM SR20DE, mated to the stock five-speed manual. After a series of fits and starts, the SR finally came to life and after 4,000 miles everything seems to be going strong.

He's kept the upgrades to a minimum in an effort to stay within the bounds of the H-stock autocross class, with plans to install an aftermarket stereo, some new wheels and some R-compound tires mounted on the stock rollers for competition.

We're love this kind of stuff, so make the jump to see a few more pics and learn how to submit your own ride to our Flickr pool.

We're a mere five days away from relaunching our Reader Ride feature, and by the looks of it so far, we're off to a cracking start. We've amassed over 30 new members in our Flickr pool, with many accompanying their pics with a detailed explanation of where the car is from, its history and what mods have been performed -- others, not so much. There are several rides floating around the pool that are begging to be chosen (we're talking to the owners of the Audi S2, 911 Targa, and VW Corrado, specifically), but will remain unloved until we get at least one descriptive sentence.

As for the the RR format, we've decided to highlight three vehicles per week, posting one on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with a vote at the end of the month that allows you to pick your favorite from the group. We think it will work, and we've got faith that the submissions will continue to flow in.

That said, if you haven't done so already, follow the directions after the jump to throw your own ride into our Flickr pool. All we need are three photos and a brief description of the car, and you're whip is almost guaranteed its 15-minutes of fame -- or infamy.

Merkurs are some of our favorite cars. Flickr pool member sncollins has a nice '88 XR4Ti he's been wheeling around for the last 20,000 miles or so. Powered by the tough-as-nails 2.3 liter turbocharged four that also saw service under the hood of SVO Mustangs and other Fox-platform cars, even a stock XR4Ti is a hoot. Of course, with the owner being an engineering student and car guy, this XR4Ti didn't stay stock for long. The nice thing about the Merkurs is their chassis was far more modern than anything else Ford was offering at the time. The aforementioned Fox-based cars were live-axle deals that would get all crossed up trying to claw out of a bumpy corner. The XR4Ti would spank BMW E30s hard, and with a Garrett T3 bolted to the side of the engine, a quick trip underhood with an open-end wrench would turn up the wick that much more. Sncollins's car is currently huffing out 23 psi from a modified turbo (the stock T3 would be in serious surge territory at 23 psi). The pressurized charge courses through a SAAB intercooler and tweaked intake manifold. The Civics are wary of this car now, due to the past smartings it's dished out. The rorty custom 3" exhaust doesn't help you fly under the radar, either.

More info, pics and a short mod list can be found after the jump, as well as instructions on how to submit your own ride for our RR of the Day.

Our 2007 kickoff week for the Reader Ride of the Day was one of the best in recent memory and we can't tell you how good it was to bring back our favorite daily feature.

Although there was a fair amount of four-wheeled pron to battle it out, in the end, Mike Hutch's 1990 Nissan Skyline GT-R beat out the BMW M Coupe by scoring an additional 340 votes to win the week. Although it seems a fair amount of you were smitten by the BMW Bavaria's classic lines, it only managed to come in third, followed by the SRT-4 and the '97 Legacy 2.5 GT.

We couldn't be happier with this past week's offerings, but we must move on and move on we shall. So let the beaters begin.



Submit your ride, whatever it is, by following the directions after the jump.

We admit it's a little unfair to feature a car as RR of the Day that's owned and was built by a tuning shop, but frankly we were so impressed with this 1995 Volvo 855 T5R built by RKAutotechnik in California that we just had to show you. The car you see here is one of only 180 yellow sedans imported into the U.S. that 1994, but believe us, that's not what makes it special. For us, the fact that this Swedish super sedan generates over 400 wheel horsepower is a much more significant stat than its color. The inline five-cylinder motor features mods too numerous to mention, but at the heart of it all is a Garrett GT3071R turbo pressurized to 18 psi and running on pump gas. Living in the strict state of Cali, the folks at RKAutotechnik even made sure the motor would pass emmissions, which means leaving the catalytic converter in place. In fact, the one princiiple guiding the build was that the car remain a daily driver, although from the videos included after the jump it's clear that you'll hear this daily driver coming from a mile away. In addition to the monster motor, upgrades were also made to Brembo brakes, a fully adjustable suspension, 18-inch Volvo Pegasus wheels, and some more impressive audio pieces from Kenwood and JL Audio.

You can check out the Volvo's full list of mods here, photo galleries here, and be sure to follow the jump to find videos of the car being driven, on the dyno and out having fun doing burnouts.

The Corvair was GM's Porsche 911, but better, at least in some ways.. Debuting in 1960, the Corvair seemed totally out of left field from GM. It featured an air-cooled, horizontally-opposed powerplant mounted in the rear and a notorious swing-axle suspension (it was no more dangerous than its contemporaries). It was almost an entire line of vehicles, sorta like a subset of GM proper. There were trucks, vans, station wagons, sedans and coupes. Flickr member corsa180 sent in a really pretty 1965 Corvair Corsa turbo convertible. That's right, a turbo from 1965. Who says the American companies weren't/aren't innovative? He's had the car since just after high school and while it looks great in pictures, corsa180 says it's awaiting restoration. He's already been through the engine, and plans to tackle body restoration soon.

More after the jump...

Last week's RR of the Day polling ended last night and in a close race, the 1983 Mazda RX-7 owned by Autoblog reader and Flickr member TactiBlue beat out David Moffitt's BMW 325is. A scant 64 votes separated the two after a total of 2,429 votes were cast, with as little as three votes separating the contender's rides at one point on Saturday. Both vehicles got considerable amounts of love in the 'comments' section, but in the end, people just seemed to like the Wankel-powered RX a little more.

Congratulations Mr. Blue and for those of you who haven't already, be sure to submit your own ride to our Flickr pool by following the directions after the jump.

The MkII Toyota Supra never received the affection garnered by its younger siblings, but it set the standard for future coupes and is still beloved in certain circles.

Power came from either a 2- or 2.8-liter inline six that produced anywhere between 145 and 161 HP and was channeled through a five-speed gearbox. Weighing in at just over 3,000 pounds, it was a quick ride for its time and proved to be a thoroughly enjoyable whip for both this writer and Flickr member longbowmkii.

There seem to be fewer and fewer of these on the road in decent shape, so we thought this particular example deserved a spot in this week's RR of the Day, 80s edition. We're even more enthused that Mr. Longbow has gotten his MkII out to a local autocross to see if it can still hang in the gymkhana world.

We're still on the prowl for more rides of the 80s, so tease your hair out, throw on that zipper laden leather jacket and submit your photos to our Flickr account by following the directions after the jump.

Last week's autocross-themed RR of the Week was another close race (I'll take that pun, thank you); with a scant five votes separating first and second place.

It came down to two front-engine, four-pot, drop tops: the Mazda Miata, a cone-slayer if there ever was one, and the Honda S2000, with revs so high it's a wonder they fitted six speeds. As voting took place over the weekend, the S2000 maintained a substantial lead, but as Sunday drew to a close the Miata eked out the lead and in the end, took the checkered flag.



This week's theme is cars of the 80's, so if you you've got a ride from the decade of excess, directions on how to submit it to our Flickr group are posted after the jump.

The votes have been tallied for this week's RR of the Day poll, and we're this close to calling for a recount. The winner with some 600 votes under its belt (28%) is the mildly-modded 2001 Audi S4 of Julia Howard. The S4 had some pretty stiff and very interesting competition, which makes this relatively ordinary ride such a surprise victor. The very sharp 1967 Chevy Impala SS made a run at the title gathering 488 votes (22%), while the Euro-only 1984 BMW 745i Turbo also put up a fight earning 482 votes (22%). My personal fave from last week, the Holden GTO conversion, captured a respectable 367 votes (17%), and the Volkswagen Rabbit tugged on some nostalgic heart strings to the tune of 243 votes (11%). The voting was much closer than normal last week and returned the second highest number of total votes yet for a RR of the Week Poll with 2,180 ballots cast.


Total Votes: 2,180

NEXT WEEK'S THEME: Cars of the '80s!
Break out the leg warmers and your old Atari 2600, because we're going back to the '80s for our next RR of the Day theme. All next week we want to feature glorious cars from the decade that brought us the rise of Kevin Bacon as an actor and synthesized music as an art form. If you have a vehicle that originates from the 1980s, submit it to our Autoblog Flickr Pool to be considered for a RR of the Day feature. Man, it's gonna be a rad week.