When car casting for this weekly slideshow that you and I share, I start by looking for vehicles available near me. The New York area is replete with interesting vehicles, but they often seem to share one problem: Rust.
So this week, we travel to the land that rust forgot: The South. The land without snow, without road salt, and with far fewer bubbling quarter panels on its interesting cars. With a 500-mile search radius around Austin, TX, what are this week’s Dopest Cars?
The NC is the least-loved Miata. It’s the biggest, the heaviest, it has the most lug nuts — all qualities antithetical to the very core of the Miata ethos. But the NC deserves more respect, for one simple reason: It’s bigger.
I know, I know, I just said that was a bad thing. Enthusiasts are always quick to dismiss size as a limit on handling, but the NC is still small relative to cars at large. What it gains by growing over the NB, though, is passenger room — a critical consideration once you’re thinking about roll bars, helmets, and broomstick tests. Ask me how I know.
No, this is not the 3000GT VR-4, the trim level commonly known as “the one worth buying.” This SL trim will not be fast, nor can it be made fast with any level of ease. It does, however, share the best feature of that vaunted VR-4: It’s gorgeous.
The 3000GT has always had great proportions, always been a fantastic looking car, and that doesn’t change based on the engine sitting under that long hood. How quickly do you really need to get around, when you’re doing it in such style?
We’ve started the week out with a bit of a JDM kick, and there’s good reason behind that: Little Japanese sports cars kick ass and rule hard. That’s not to say that Japanese cars are the only good cars, but Japan just has so many hits. All this to say I considered making this week’s slideshow JDM only, but realized the difference from a normal week would be so imperceptible that the bit would go unnoticed.
Anyway, the CRX Si. I don’t really need to talk you into this, do I? A lightweight two-door hatchback with a stick shift and no rust? I don’t need to sell you on it, you’re reading Jalopnik — you’re already sold.
I’ll be honest, I have no earthly idea which Gixxer this is. The 1000 looks wrong, but I can’t tell the difference between a 600 and a 750 by sight alone — especially when the whole bike’s been done up in monochrome purple. I do know, however, that the model doesn’t really matter. The paint does.
This is no ordinary Gixxer, it’s transcended that title. Purple and green aren’t an uncommon combination, but something about this specific implementation of the two brings only a single reference to mind: Evangelion. If the idea of riding Eva-01 to work doesn’t appeal to you, just remember this: You mustn’t run away.
This may not be the perfect Corvette, but it’s damn close. The C6 Z06 is the ideal starting point, and this owner appears to have taken this Vette far past there. Cams, nitrous, E85 — even the transmission has been entirely replaced with a new unit. It’s built up.
The only problem with this Corvette, really, is its color. C6 Corvettes are supposed to be yellow, it’s just the way it’s meant to go. Ideally they’ll also say “COMPUWARE” down the side, but I get that we don’t always get everything we want in life. I can dream, though.
Remember reading 1984 as a kid? Sure, we all had that initial reaction of “wow, the Bowling For Soup sequel is so much better,” but there was more to the story than that. When I read that novel back in the day, I was always stuck on the concept of doublethink — thinking two conflicting ideas at the same time, without dissonance. I didn’t think it was possible.
Now, I do it all the time. This F250 is a perfect example. On the one hand, I realize that trucks of this size pose a massive risk to pedestrians and other motorists in exchange for little functional increase in capability. On the other, big square truck good yes please give now. You see the struggle here.
This STi was listed just yesterday, and that’s a good thing. See, my dad has long had a single-minded focus around this exact car: The silver Blobeye STi, ideally with an IAG crate motor. This is that exact car. Had it come up for sale earlier in the year, he probably would’ve flown out to Texas to pick it up sight unseen.
That would’ve likely been a bad idea. Instead, since this car wasn’t for sale, he went out and got himself a GR Corolla — a car that can actually hold my parents’ enormous dog for long trips. The STi just wouldn’t have been comfortable with a Bernese onboard.
Are there any stock Hayabusas left in the world? It seems like every Busa I see for sale on Craigslist or Marketplace is two decades old — minimum — and absolutely modded to hell by a person with extremely unique tastes. Extended swingarm, chrome frame, beige-brown paint? What is happening here?
Yet, I can’t bring myself to dislike these hacked-apart Busas. They’re so uninhibited, made so uniquely for the dreams of a single owner. All of us should aspire to be so uncompromising in our tastes, so willing to make a vehicle ours. Hell with the resale value, own the vehicle you want.
If you’re upset that I used the term “JDM” to refer to American-market cars manufactured in Japan, consider this your olive branch. The Cresta is true, legitimate JDM — right hand drive and all. It also feels very JDM in its modification style, with its bash bar up front and two-color two-piece wheels.
The color also comes from Japan, though not from Toyota — the seller claims it’s Millennium Jade, known for its appearance on the Nissan Skyline GT-R. It plays nicely with the bronze or gold accents, and all comes together in a car that likely looks nicer than it drives. It has a welded diff, folks, it’s not going to be a comfortable daily. I want it anyway.
I’d like to make a proposal, if I may. I hear no objection, as this is a slideshow and your comments do not reach me in real time as I write it, so I’ll barrel forward unimpeded. Pickups are largely a lifestyle vehicle now — real work seems to be increasingly done by vans — but they’ve kept the same utilitarian wheel options as they’ve always had. This is a travesty, and one we can fix.
Give pickups tri-spokes from the factory. It won’t make them any smaller, or any less likely to pancake a passing pedestrian without so much as disturbing the Yeti of Black Rifle Coffee in the cup holder, but it’ll at least make these hulking vehicles a little more visually interesting. They take up all that space on the road, may as well do something fun with it.
As a former marketer, I’m a sucker for ad copy that almost makes sense. Let’s look at this ad, as an example. The details about the car boil down to five points:
Clean title
Simple enough, and good info to have
Manual 6 speed
A desirable option, which drives the price up
Basic bolt ones
I won’t knock the typo, but I will knock the lack of specificity. What are you calling basic? Basic how, basic like a clown? Does it amuse you?
Exhaust
I mean, I would hope so. Those gases have gotta go somewhere.
Carbon fiber
This is my favorite. Genuinely, what does that mean. What is carbon fiber on this car? Was it always carbon fiber? Is making it carbon even an improvement? No notes.
HIS PILLS, HIS HANDS, HIS JEANS.
Honestly, I respect the commitment to a single shade. No accent colors here, no complements. Blue everywhere everything always forever.
This is almost certainly the worst image I’ve ever included in Dopest. Normally, this would be a disqualifier. But I’m prone to flights of fancy, and this SRT4 claims to make 800 horsepower from a fully built motor. I can’t not include that.
No other info is given about the car, no mod list or quarter mile times. There’s no dyno sheet to verify the power, not even a shot of the interior that could be used to scope out boost gauges or Fast and Furious-style nitrous buttons. Your curiosity is piqued, though, isn’t it?
I’ve always thought these Kawasakis had such a gorgeous shape. The angular front fairing, the way the tank is almost vintage but still has clearly modern cuts to it — something about it just works so well for me. Now that I know these bikes came in this incredible shade of blue, though, I may need one.
This thing is under four grand. I could make that work, right? Buy it and ride it home? I’m not sure what the legality is on that, how the transit tags would work from Texas, but I’m sure I could figure it out. It’s just so pretty.
In an unexpected twist, these boxy Volvos may be the new Dopest mainstay. The lofty position once held by the venerable Honda Civic may have gone to this, a slow old European car that needs work before it’ll even drive home. I can’t say I would’ve predicted it, but I also don’t have any problem with it.
I just have such a soft spot for these things. Great proportions, tons of glass, fantastic wheels, and it’s all wrapped up in a badge that’s always been one step off of mainstream. How can I omit those from the slideshow every week?