If there’s anything that disappoints me about modern RVs, it’s that they rarely look like something that you’ll just want to stare at for hours. And sure, there’s nothing wrong with that. RVs are more or less meant to be hotel rooms that you can take just about anywhere. But that makes it so much better when a motorhome or trailer nails both functionality and aesthetics. It seems to me that bus conversions seem to hit it out of the park most in this regard....

This week, David published the finale of his epic Australia adventure. He achieved what some readers thought was impossible. Hell, even I thought that there was no way he was going to convert a pile of rusty parts into something that could pass inspection. But David–along with the wonderful friends that he made along the way–pulled off something that you might see only on a scripted television show. In doing so, the team saved a piece of automotive history from going to the scrapper....

But first, we need to see which weird engine layout you’re leaving Delaware with: I’ll be damned. From the vocal support for the Suzuki in the comments, I expected this one to be closer. But that’s about as big a blowout as we’ve ever had. The middle of the country is a big flat enigma to a lot of coastal natives; they just can’t grasp why anyone would choose to live there....

A common question that I get is if my name is actually Mercedes Streeter, or if I’m writing under a nom de plume. My legal first name really is Mercedes and my last name used to be Streeter. I changed my last name sometime over the past two years to honor my grandfather. But, “Streeter” is sort of perfect for this job, so I kept it for writing. When I started writing about cars for work, something funny happened....

You remember these early Accords, don’t you? You should! They were a big deal. They were introduced in 1976 as a bigger, more family-oriented brother to the little Civic, with a similar transverse-engine/FWD layout and the same Honda Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion (CVCC) carbureted engine technology that let Hondas meet emissions requirements without a catalytic converter. They came in two-door hatchback versions and four-door sedan versions, and the styling was clean and pretty understated, with a bit of tasteful chrome jewelry and very conventional, but attractive, proportions....

Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday. Dodge Will Now Sell You Carbon Fiber 1970 Charger Bodies Among the new products Dodge has announced over the past few days, expansions to its Direct Connection speed parts program may be the most fascinating....

If you think about it, the first actual Volkswagen is the Type 2 Transporter, the famous VW bus. I know that sounds weird, with the din of over 20 million Type 1 Beetles revving in protest, but think about it: the Beetle was developed before there really was a Volkswagen company, and started life with some pretty miserable, abusive parents, Nazi Germany and the Strength-through-Joy (KdF) organization. It wasn’t until well after the war that Volkswagen AG the company was actually formed, and that company’s first child was the Type 2, conceived and developed as a purely postwar VW-the-company product....

The console between the front seats is removable This may be one of the more useful of the Easter Eggs: The center console between the front seats, which has storage compartments and drink holders, is very easily removable! It latches into place, and can be lifted out, where you can then use it like a cooler (I’m not sure exactly how insulated it is, but I think it could definitely hold ice, at least for a while) or set it outside like a little table if you’re camping or just hanging out....

It would be kind of like those Freightliner truck-based SUVs; remember those stupid things? Like that, but going for something smaller and more humble, less opulent and, while still huge, it can fit into a smallish footprint, kind of like a full-grown dog trying to cram itself into a puppy bed. Also, look how incredible the dash area is in these GMC Astros, like the 1972 one I drew over up top there:...

It’s all air-cooled VW mechanicals under there, and, even better, it’s the Alcool version, which means it’s designed to run on Brazil’s amazing sugar-cane alcohol alternative fuel. Sugar cane is totally renewable, so this sipper of the sweet stuff is green aigh eff, too. It’s got the same basic angular, low-poly look, but with extra corrugations and ribs for everyone’s pleasure, and it’s also made with an exotic material: plasteel!...

Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday. Full Self Baja If you were around in 2005 and even vaguely interested in new European cars, you’ve probably heard of Stanley. This Stanford-converted Volkswagen Touraeg-based autonomous vehicle featured a five-LIDAR array on its roof, six 1....

So that means Rowdy won? He was in the Ford, right? I know it wasn’t the Dread Pirate Roberts, he shows up later in the movie. (I had to make sure I got in a Days Of Thunder reference, after missing the opportunity yesterday.) Now. It has become a rallying cry among enthusiasts: “Save the manuals!” And believe me, I’m right there with you all; I’m wearing a T-shirt that says “Two Pedals Are For Bicycles” as I write this....

I remember the first time I visited Munro & Associates; I was a 20 year-old intern in Chrysler Group, LLC’s (as it was then called) Advanced Concepts Engineering team, and my job was to study saddle-style gas tanks and different packaging setups for Power Transfer Units (Chrysler was considering an all-wheel drive variant of the RU platform that underpins the Pacifica). I recall attending classes that Munro was teaching FCA engineers, and I remember being reprimanded — a year after my internship, when I came on full time in a different group — when the Ford Explorer PTU that I’d checked out as an intern never made its way back to Munro....

I’m currently in the process of building an overlanding vehicle using a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee (see below). Key to my build is knowing how much my vehicle weighs. Ideally, I’d just drive my vehicle onto a scale, but the Jeep isn’t mobile, and I’d like to continue planning and getting parts ready for my suspension lift. So how can I estimate my vehicle’s weight? Well, I could just google “1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee curb weight,” but then I’d find numbers all over the place, since the Jeep came with a bunch of different options....

Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday. Ejecto Fuel Tank-o, Cuz! In a normal modern car, fuel is supposed to be pumped from the tank through the fuel lines into the injectors, then atomized, compressed, ignited, and burned....

The cultural critic Rob Harvilla made a good point recently on the “Sunny Day Real Estate” episode of his podcast “60 Songs That Explain The ’90s” that you shouldn’t feel shame for the music you liked in high school and, specifically, that there’s nothing wrong with coming to a band late. If you listened to Lou Bega instead of Pavement when you were 13 then that’s just what it is and hopefully your tastes have expanded as you’ve aged....

First, I want to thank all of you for the votes, replies, encouragement, and yes, even criticism. We’re still working out the kinks with this series of articles, but I’m having a blast, and I hope you all are as well. Readers have asked for more basic data on the actual cars, so I’m going to make a slight format change. At the top of each listing, before I get into the nitty-gritty, I’ll include some important information: year make and model, engine/drivetrain type, location, and whether it runs and/or drives....

First, I suppose we need our list. I’ve been reading over as many of these dumbass worst car posts as I’ve been able to stomach, and I think the ten most common recurring characters are the following cars: Yugo, Edsel, Pontiac Aztek, Ford Pinto, Chevrolet Corvair, AMC Gremlin, Reliant Robin, Chevrolet Vega, Austin Allegro, and the Trabant. In my loud, messy opinion, I don’t think any of these cars deserve the amount of scorn they tend to get, but for now, we’re just going to pick one....

One of the first things students of VW kit cars will notice about the Ventura here is that it’s not like most VW-based kit cars, which almost always used the Type I engine: The one found in the Beetle with a tall, tombstone-shaped shroud for the cooling fan. This one uses the Type 3 engine, also known as the “pancake” or “suitcase” engine because it was specifically designed to be as compact as possible, as it lived under the floor of the rear luggage areas on VW Type 3 Fast-, Square-, and Notchbacks....

The year was 1999 and Mitsubishi had mostly survived Japan’s lost decade, though not without some major scars. In many ways, Mitsubishi was doomed, it just wasn’t clear to everyone yet. At 263,464 vehicles sold, it wasn’t Mitsubishi’s biggest year, but it saw Mitsubishi’s biggest year of growth since the early ’80s at a remarkable 36.7% year-over-year (you can see all their historical sales here). What made the cars so popular?...