This A Very Good Question

Have Sports Cars Become Relegated To "Side Chick" Status In The Automotive Industry?

In a conversation with a friend the other night he was proclaiming his love for trucks, and while I appreciate them I don't see the need to own or lust for one. In fact, I think that this love affair with SUVs and trucks will come to a screeching halt once oil prices spike again — and they will, in my humble opinion.

It was after I made this point he hit me with one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Essentially they said that trucks are the kings of the road, sedans and coupes are OVER, and only cars like the BMW M2 and Porsche 911 are exceptions because they are effectively "side chicks."

(AutoBlog.com)

Did You Know - Mazda Miata Edition

So The Word 'Miata' Actually Means Something

Leave it to MotorWeek host and OG American video-car-reviewer John Davis to set me straight: “...the name Miata means reward,” he says in the opening standup of the shakedown video that’s now about 27 years old.

Well, OK, this is John Davis we’re talking about, so he said it more like “Mi-hata.”

Pronunciation aside, every forum and other site I’ve looked at concurs with his definition and Miata.net seems to offer the most complete backstory:

Rod Bymaster, Mazda’s head of product planning and marketing for the Miata project back in the early days, claims his “biggest contribution to the project was to have found the word Miata in Webster’s Dictionary, which is defined as “reward in Old High German.”

I did drop Mazda a line to confirm it, and even though it’s Friday afternoon and the company’s communications staff is probably all out Miataing themselves by now, spokesman Jacob Brown hit me back and said “yup,” indeed, this is legit.
(Jalopnik.com)

An Intriguing Read

The Most Important Question of Your Life

A more interesting question, a question that perhaps you’ve never considered before, is what pain do you want in your life? What are you willing to struggle for? Because that seems to be a greater determinant of how our lives turn out.

Everybody wants to have an amazing job and financial independence — but not everyone wants to suffer through 60-hour work weeks, long commutes, obnoxious paperwork, to navigate arbitrary corporate hierarchies and the blasé confines of an infinite cubicle hell. People want to be rich without the risk, without the sacrifice, without the delayed gratification necessary to accumulate wealth.

Everybody wants to have great sex and an awesome relationship — but not everyone is willing to go through the tough conversations, the awkward silences, the hurt feelings and the emotional psychodrama to get there. And so they settle. They settle and wonder “What if?” for years and years until the question morphs from “What if?” into “Was that it?” And when the lawyers go home and the alimony check is in the mail they say, “What was that for?” if not for their lowered standards and expectations 20 years prior, then what for?

Because happiness requires struggle. The positive is the side effect of handling the negative. You can only avoid negative experiences for so long before they come roaring back to life.

(MarkManson.net)

This Is A Great Summary

Water Cooler Talking Point: “OPEC is the commodities market equivalent of FIFA. Its members are mostly Bond villain types and eventually, the whole corrupt house of cards will come tumbling down.”

(BroBible.com)

The Accuracy Of This Picture Is Stunning

(Bits&Pieces.us)

This Car Is A Cultural Icon To Many, Like Me

The Acura Integra: A Legend In Its Own Mind

The Integra.

Everything about the Integra was great. It had panache, its performance was just right and it was affordable. With a luxury cachet to it, it wasn't just a run-of-the-mill Honda Civic. It was something..special. Seeing one on the road today, I just had a great longing for an excellent Acura car like that again.

While the RDX and MDX are doing great business for the Japanese automaker, I just don't foresee people lusting for one of those 20 years from now; however, if you were to ask around today in the right age demographic, people STILL talk about their love for their Integras[.]

(AutoSpies.com)

Did You know - Rolls Royce Edition

Rolls-Royce's Hood Ornament Is Actually A Tribute To A Secret Affair

Rolls-Royce is one of the few automakers left today that still uses a hood ornament to adorn the front of its cars. It’s called the Spirit of Ecstasy—a elegantly winged woman that who looks as though she’s experiencing a constant headwind. She was, allegedly, based on an actual woman named Eleanor Velasco Thornton.

This, according to Carfection, is how the story goes.

In the early 1900s, John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, the second Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, commissioned a hood ornament for his Rolls-Royce from an English sculptor named Charles Robinson Sykes. Sykes modeled the ornament after Thornton, an actress and Montagu’s mistress.

Because of their secret relationship, the first mascot that Sykes designed had a finger to her lips and was named “The Whisperer.” 

(Jalopnik.com)