My Black Brick

I saw a Subaru Baja with a cap on the back yesterday and thought THAT was crazy. But this thing is sheer genius.

Via: There, I Fixed It

I’ve been doing road trips to camps all summer. This week is gymnastics in Paramus, so I’ve been piling 5 girls into the brick for the 25 mile trip. The 3rd seat is nice in that it doesn’t require a booster seat; the belt is low enough that it fits 5 and 6 year olds. When I tell the kids they’re going to have to ride in the trunk they laugh and laugh.

Claire is thrilled to sit in the front passenger seat, but the Jonas Brothers are never loud enough. Sigh. Is it too much to wish to have my daughters grow up to be Mastodon fans?

This war-weary brick was preparing for an epic confrontation at the Sussex, NJ state fairgrounds a couple weeks ago. I wasn’t able to catch the evenings event but spoke with the owner, Joe, and found out this was his third demolition derby with a Volvo 240. He totaled his first 244 but this 245 lived to smash another day after an oil fire put him out in the middle of competition last year. He tells me he makes the entry fee by selling plastic interior parts to bricksters in Europe.

I tried to contact the driver last week to find out how he did but haven’t heard back. Joe, if you’re out there, send us a report!

Via poepoephoto

Another great photo from David White.

I put the rack over the back, which put most of the weight over the rear of the car. It wallowed a little on bumps, but nothing too bad. The sport springs and anti-sways stabilize the ride so the car doesn’t feel overloaded. And the Yokohamas were pretty quiet.

Went camping at Covered Bridge campsite in the Catskills this weekend and somehow my buddy David managed to shoot a pic of us tooling around the curvy roads along the river without wrecking his SUV.

I was luck enough to have a neighbor of my parents donate the roof bin they used to use on their 940. The Sears “Ex-Cargo” was the same model my parents used to have on top of our 1979 Olds Delta 88 when we made trips to the beaches of North Carolina. It’s nice and tall and practically doubles the cargo area, enabling me to actually see out the back window with all our equipment.

Last year these 2 gents drove their ‘89 wooden 240 wagon across Europe, clad in nothing but towels.They covered over 4000 miles in 2 months They visited 12 countries, starting in the UK and traveling to Prague, then Stockholm, then back home to Sevenoaks, England. They were on a mission to help fund brain tumor research and they report collecting $5000 for the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust.

A sauna company helped sponsor the ride so they decorated the entire brick in wood paneling and dubbed it “The Sauna”. They kept the heat on the entire trip even though they made the trip in July and August.

Unfortunately at one point the wooden brick caught fire:

We first noticed something was awry when a faint whiff was detected in the cabin. A whiff in the cabin is not in itself unusual – undesirable yes, but not unusual. The whiff however was quickly identified as burning friction material on the brakes. We stopped (after a fashion and more by luck than judgement) and allowed the old girl to cool before ploddering hesitantly on towards Bormio in Northern Italy through a serious of treacherous Alpine passes.
…
We then sauntered off down the pass after a meal, admiring the truly stunning alpine scenery, scraping motorcyclists off the woodwork and listening to Jimi Hendrix at full volume… feeling, all in all, very smug.

That was when the brakes caught fire, suddenly, dramatically.

Using the handbrake to take pressure off the main brakes is only a good idea if you’re handbrake isn’t awful. Ours is.
So, we’re a fire extinguisher down, no sweat. We cooled off for half an hour, enough time for the whole population of Stelvio to mistake Chris for an Italian and then headed off on the rolling roads of Austria, past lakes, twee villages, and interested Austrians who huddled round the Sauna for a picture. Fantastisch.

They documented the trip on their blog, thesaunablog.blogspot.com. You can see more info from before the trip on their nutty website.

Don’t know much about “Your Mother” except for this 1992 photo of the band on a green, 1976 Volvo.

Bonus: For more amazing band photos, visit Your Band Sucks.

I had a friend back in 1980 who had a jukebox in his rec room that played 45s. One of the discs we played over and over again was “Cars” by Gary Numan. It was the year of cheesy Christopher Cross and Olivia Newton John tunes and Numan’s music sounded so high-tech, heavy and out-there that we loved it. Now he’s shilling for Sears and their DieHard battery with this odd rendition of “Cars” using autos set up like the keys of a synthesizer.

Wired magazine’s Autotopia blog claims there’s a “wagon renaissance” and lists the 12 wagons they love. The Volvo 240 Turbo makes the cut, along with a slew of other European hatches.