Slapping on a bumper sticker that reads “My Child Is Better Than Yours” may be one of the tackiest things you can possibly do to your vehicle. But that’s not to say that all stickers are inherently bad. Just take a look at this collection of vintage stickers. They were just sitting around unused, on their original backing paper until some guy rediscovered them while digging through some of his father’s old stuff. It’s a great find, but what would you do with the gems if you were in his shoes? Keep or sell? Use ‘em or preserve ‘em? [Source: Chevelles.com]

Cadillac tried and struck out with the Allante. Big time. Pininfarina styling wasn’t enough. The Northstar V8 wasn’t enough. Front wheel drive wasn’t enough (luxury buyers read Car and Driver, and C&D says FWD sucks). So after a few years of dismal sales, GM dropped the Allante like a tab of acid. If you’re going to buy one now, you have to do it right. That doesn’t mean find a red or blue one in perfect garage-queen condition, owned by a blue-blooded, blue-haired retired accountant from Peoria. It means you need to buy this one. It’s gold. It has chrome wheels. And it’s a “bargain” at $3950. [Source: eBay Motors]

You can debate till the cows refinance their home whether or not BMW’s decision to expand the M brand to the X6 is a good thing, but you cannot deny the comedy of this here video. “Inspired soul,” “most sportive form” and “we enhance the trust in the car” are just the beginning of the unintended hilarity contained in the video. Now, I’m not one of those “the X6 is a brand killer!” types. In fact, I like the X6. I’ve been around enough AMG cars with their mega-muscular engines to know that sometimes quantity is quality. But the truth of the matter is that the “300 hp” 6-cylinder version of the X6 handles better than the 407 hp V8 version because the former is less nose-heavy. I know this because A) BMW let us drive both cars around the Michelin Proving Grounds track and B) the head of the X6 project agreed with me when I pointed it out to him. So, putting even more power (figure on 550 hp) into a fat-snouted understeerer — does that make an M car? Well, maybe. The AWD X6 M is going to be more RWD-biased, similar to how Audi is doing Quattro on their sportier models. This makes the car, “less understeered.” And you’ll still have BMW’s wicked-cool torque vectoring system — Dynamic Performance Control — routing the power left and right. All, apparently, in the interest of less understeer. The video also lets slip the pretty well known fact that an X5 M is also coming. Party time. Jump for video. [Source: YouTube via Autoblog]

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The 2009 Paris-Dakar Argentina-Chile is well under way. Competitors in each of the four classes took on stages one and two over the weekend, and stage three just finished up today. The number 302 BMW has managed to keep the number one spot out of the hands of favorites Mitsubishi and Volkswagen in the car class by taking first in the first and third stages. Sunday’s competition landed the number 301 Volkswagen ahead of Petterhansel and Cottret’s number 300 Mitsu by one minute and 14 seconds. Hop the jump for full standings in each category and a sweet video. [Source: Dakar]

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I tend to really like the motley collection of cars in many gas station parking lots. One near me always has several old Benzes and at least one 1980s Bentley. This weekend while pounding the pavement, I saw a 1968-1965 vintage Fiat 500. How tiny it looked next to a mid 1990s Honda Accord. And yet how charming. Two cylinders provided 19 horsepower. This “L” model was the more luxurious model, with an updated plastic dashboard, and this particular car also had the fold back vinyl roof. Love it.

We so crazy. And that’s why you love us! Er, and that’s why we hope you love us! Yes, our podcast, The Truth vs. Fiends is back for 2009. Back to crazy: in today’s installment Mista Justin and I drift mercilessly from the can’t wait to try it Kia Soul to the hideousness of Cizeta V16s to the magesty of a 1953 Pontiac Deluxe to great lookin’ Studebakers to meh Hyundai concepts to the totally awesome and triple-rad Toyota Century. Oddly, we didn’t mention LeMons once. But, a Studebaker LeMons car… oh hell yeah!

 

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As you may or may not be aware, Los Angeles will be hosting its very first 24 Hours of LeMons this August 15-16 at Buttonwillow. Semi-surprisingly some of my geeky car geek friends are already starting work on their leaky basket cases winning race cars. Only eight and half months to go! Take my buddy Joe here and his recently purchased (as in Sunday) BMW 633CSi. Now, we know a thing (or seven) about this car as our own Mark Arnold has one. There’s also been much griping by us (the people in the wigs and robes that bust your ass) about the ubiquitousness of E30 BMWs. So why do I welcome the inclusion of an E24? Because the difference between a $500 E30 and a $500 E24 can be measured in quarts of oil spewed on the track. Translation: $500 E30s are nearly daily drivers whereas $500 E24s are all wretched, and therefore totally in the spirit of LeMons! Especially a Bavarian crap can performance monster like the 633CSi. And my pal’s here is plenty trashy looking. A sure to overheat and die automatic, too. Though the engine looks surprisingly solid… I’ll have to take a closer look come Buttonwillow. Or, they’ll have to come up with one hell of a theme. To see what Joe and Co are considering, make the jump.

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Everything about the Cizeta-Moroder is over the top, glue-sniffing, nuclear-suitcase crazy. The design is by Macello Gandini, who designed the Lamborghini Countach and Miura, as well as dozens of other famous cars. The story goes that when Lamborghini botched Gandini’s design for the Countach replacement, he offered the design to former Lamborghini engineer Claudio Zampolli and Giorgio Moroder. The engine is a 6.0 liter V16, which makes 540 horsepower (not bad for 1991), is mounted transversely in the middle of the car. Supposedly 0-60 acceleration was about 4 seconds and the top speed was 204 miles per hour. Prices were about what you’d expect, something around $300,000 when they were made twenty years ago, and the unofficial reports is that approximately ten were produced.

We really oughts do more book reviews around here. That said, check out what my lovely, talented, cute, sexy, smart and basically perfect fiancée got me for Hanukkah — Brightwork: Classic American Car Ornamentation by Ken Steacy. Short on words and long on photos of blingy hood ornaments, horn buttons, emblems and script, Mr. Steacy’s book is a must have for the comprehensive. automotive geek (i.e. you). Let me tell you why: a few months ago some friends of mine had trouble with a rental car. Chevy Impala. Flat tire. Rental car company would not send a new car because it was after 10:00 pm and they didn’t purchase insurance. Needless to say, they were upset at having to ride around on a donut so they decided to make themselves feel better by removing the Impala emblems from said car. They used a hotel room key to accomplish the task (even the glue was weak) and naturally, the chrome looking emblems were nothing but plastic. Not so in Brightwork. In fact, after a page or two you realize that essentially any American hood ornament from the 40s or 50s has more character, style and presence than all the current crop of domestic cars put together. It’s mind blowing. And definitely worth picking up.

I’m not 100% sure why, but I’ve always loved Avantis. Well, I’m 100% sure I love them because my old man loved them, but he wasn’t 100% sure why. At least he never told me why. Usually, when he loved a car, he had excellent reasons. Like his Datsun 280Z, “It was an engine with four-wheels. That’s it.” Or his father’s 1953 Buick Roadmaster, “How can you beat a car named Roadmaster?” But with Avantis, he always just sort of cracked a smile and told me how much he liked ‘em, providing no explanation. As you can see from the photo, a good reason why isn’t needed — you can just like away. Irrationally even.