Yeah, that’s Short Stig Richard Hammond leaning on a Bugatti Veyron. Will you find that image on TopGear.com? Who knows, but in less than 24 hours, there will be a new TopGear.com, though we have no idea if you’ll find this image there, either. However, according to them, you will be able to find blogs from all three hosts, plus lots of videos and even more content. Apparently they were supposed to launch the new site last week and due to drunken techs technical difficulty they had to delay it.  Anyhow, when you stumble out of bed in the morning, pop on over and have a look at their new site. Maybe Jezza will be making fun of Belgians! [Source: TopGear.com]

Hello, and welcome to the 8th edition of The Truth vs. Fiends! Today, Mr. Justin and I get into all things Mopar. Before we get to the meat and/or potatoes of today’s recording, i want to share my favorite automotive joke with you. Those of you that are way into muscle cars no doubt have memorized recall the wild colors Dodge and Plymouth decided to paint there cars when the first round of the pony car wars were going on. Sublime, Top Banana, Go Mango, Vitamin C and of course, Plum Crazy. Those of you who remember McConaughey’s David Wooderson from Dazed and Confused are most apt to get this, but a synonym for Plum Crazy is Statutory Grape. Tee hee. Anyhow, if you press play you will hear us talk about the Canada-only Dodge Challeneger SXT, the (lowly) Chrysler Sebring Harptop Convertible, the manny-tranny version of the Challenger SRT8 as well as a very, very special Lincoln. All of the proceeding is discussed with our usual wit, charm and disdain for hyperbole. Enjoy!

 

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Ford’s been cleaning up on road race circuits here and abroad. The company just claimed the over-all win thanks to Joe Foster and Scott Maxwell’s efforts at the Koni Challenge here in the States. The team managed a fifth-overall position in the last race of the Championship at Alton, VA, which was good enough to maintain their lead in the overall point standings. While Foster and Maxwell were fighting for points over here, Eric de Donicker nailed his second championship win in the GT4 European Cup. Both teams campaigned race-prepped Mustangs, with Donicker piloting an FR500GT4 and Foster and Maxwell behind the wheel of a FR500C. Kudos to FoMoCo and both teams for an impressive effort. Live-axels for alL! [FordRacing]

Just to make y’all even more jealous, the Autofiends Los Angeles office will be taking possession of a Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 this Thursday. Hopefully in lime green. Now, I’ve known about this car for weeks and every once in a while I stop thinking about it. But, that’s rare. And if you think about it, the Gallardo, Murcielago and Diablo can all trace their distinctive shapes to Marcello Gandini’s masterpiece, the Countach. Above is what a Countach looked like in 1974, before wings, Testarossa-style strakes and splitters messed up the purity of Gandini’s vision. Truthfully, I do like the NACA ducts that showed up on the production LP400, but it’s really hard to argue with the Orange stunner above. Really, really hard. Just for the record, that’s an LP500 Prototype.

What’s wrong? Never seen a mid-60’s Mustang wagon before? Don’t feel too bad, neither have most ponycar buffs. Contrary to the legend that Ford actually produced a slim handful (try two) of these things, the shooting-brake ‘Stang was actually constructed by coach builder Intermeccanica for an advertising company back in ’66. The folks who commissioned the bizarrely-functional Mustang presented it to Ford in hopes of production, but as is obvious from the lack of wagon ponies on the streets, the idea wasn’t well accepted. We’ve got to think the extra sheet metal and glass out back had to do wonders for the notoriously light ass-end in the Mustang. Too bad Ford didn’t bite. Also, you should probably check out what else Intermeccanica liked to get up to. [Hemmings]

Looks like Detroit is mulling a U.S. debut for the cute-as-a-button Ka. With a build that makes the Fiesta look mammoth by comparison, the Ka isn’t exactly the kind of flavor U.S. buyers tend to clamor for, but with ever-increasing prices and the Great Depression 2.0 just around the corner (maybe), FoMoCo thinking’s the pint-sized hatch might be the cure for the common fill-up. CEO Alan Mulally recently mentioned that there’s a growing willingness to bring the car stateside. The Ka shares a good bit of DNA with the Fiat 500 (hooray!), including the 1.4-liter gasoline engine under the hood. There’s even some speculation that a turbo variant may be down the pipeline. That’s right, Ka Arbath — sounds like a decent death metal band. With great fuel economy, a low entry price and buckets of driving fun, we say we want it. Now. [Autoblog]

Subaru recently unveiled this concept at the Motorsport Japan 2008 event in Tokyo. While the car looks just like a plain old WRX to the untrained eye, STI has had its way with the hottie hatch, reworking the car’s drivetrain, springs, shocks and even adding a few aero touches here and there. Not convinced what you see before you shares any blood with the do-all-to-end-all ‘Rex? The fine folks at MotorAuthority says the proof is all over this ride. Check out those 12-inch rims. They’re awfully close to the rollers we’ve seen buzzing around Nurburgring recently. It’s possible the Takumi Concept is our first glimpse at the light-weight Spec C. The production version will probably see all kinds of tricks to inspire Pep-Boys tuners out there, including a rally-bred roof-scoop and gold alloy wheels. Just remember kiddies, what looks good on the WRX won’t on your Accord. Trust us. [MotorAuthority]

The guys at Carscoop have been kind enough to share video of Lamborghini’s Urus Estoque supersaloon with those of us unable to hop the pond this month. It’s just so damn hard to find a decent jet mechanic these days… The short flick shows the car inside and out, including brief snippets of the car’s instrument cluster and and controls. With a good look under your belts, the question remains: is this thing too pedestrian to hoist the Raging Bull flag, or is it wild enough to be a Lamborghini? Jump for the video and judge for thyself. [Carscoop]

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Alfa Romeo has officially returned to the land of cheeseburgers and Freedom Fries with the 8C Competizione. Despite the fact that the cars still won’t hit our shores until 2009 or 2010, each and every one of the bellissimo Italian coupes has already been sold. We know that Alfa Romeo will eventually peddle a number of models here in the states, from the super-sexy 8C GTA to the little hatchback MiTo, meaning that there will be yet another player vying for American auto-buyer dollars soon. Only this time, we can’t wait. [Autoblog]

This is the car many people (though mostly numbers matching MOPAR fanatics) have been waiting for. Let’s face facts, the Dodge Challenger SRT8 with it’s throaty 425 hp 6.1-liter HEMI V8 is all well and good, but it’s not that good. The power sucking, slow to react 5-speed autobox does the 4,140 pounds SRT8 no favors. In other words, it’s slower than it should be. Now, any Fiend worth his salt knows that a less powerful (but still pretty potent) Challenger R/T exists (375 hp) when equipped with a Tremec six-speed pistol grip manual. And for months we’ve heard rumors that one day, maybe, at some point, perhaps in 2009, the SRT8 would get the same tranny. Well, here it is. And Allpar.com of all places has the first crack at it. Not surprisingly, they really dug it (though they hated the back seat). If you’ve got 45 minutes on your hands, you might want to pop over and read the world’s longest entire review. Or just wait a little while until we get to drive one. [Source: Allpar.com]