My Black Brick

My daughter checking out the book adaptation of the movie “Rango”.

I was conflicted when I first saw this concept car from the 60′s. I love wagons, but why would they ruin the sweet slope of the Ford Galaxie fastback? On further examination, however, I was delighted to see that it’s actually a Fastback/Wagon Transformer, converting from a speedster to a grocery getter at the flick of a switch, complete with a third seat. Bad ass!

Barris Kustoms, maker of the original Batmobile, Munster coach and Green Hornet’s Black Beauty created this multi-personality beast for Ford as a concept car. I’m gonna guess that if this went into production it would have leaked like a cheap diaper.

Model Car Science has more Magic Cruiser photos from a 1966 auto show, as well as the creation of a custom scale model.

BONUS: Kargoyle!

Is this a kit that’s available?

Nice drawings of cars by Flaf, German architect Florian Afflerbach.

See more in his flickr set.

In this 1982 ad from Ford, astronaut Wally Shirra presents us with a “vehicle dedicated to the use of space”. We then see the shuttle Columbia landing, followed by a shot of the 1982 Ford Granada.

“Look Out World! Here comes Ford!”

I can’t tell if the metaphor is for NASA ships or nasty sex:

Built to carry a full crew in comfort
while moving big payloads
propelled by the thrust
of Ford’s new v6 engine option
designed to be used
over and over again.

So Ford biggest selling point is that the car will start? More than once? SOLD!

Long live NASA Space Shuttle.

Does this red reflection on the floor make me look Photoshopped?

Ferrari debuted their FF model this week in Geneva. Top Speed has tons of pics, as well as video of this 4-seat, 4WD, 651 bhp beast. Finally, I can buy a car that seats my family and stows our luggage for trips to South Hampton without embarrassing my wife and kids. Now I guess I just need to get a job.

At 85 HP I’m guessing it’d be pretty easy to outrun a single 144 platform police car. With 36 of them chasing you it’d be more like getting pulled down by a team of fruit flies. Good luck, unless you’re Elwood Blues.

What do they call donuts in Sweden? Because that gent on the left looks like he’s had his fair share. And is that Donald Rumsfeld in shotgun in the car on the right?

Image via Kuriosapaviljongen

Jalopnik points us to this nutty, 1978 245 for sale on eBay. With a 410hp Chevy V8, it’ll get you to the local 7-11 pretty damn quick.

Tom Vanderbilt has a couple interesting articles on Slate about parking:

You’re Parking Wrong, on whether to back into a shopping lot parking slot or not.

The Ethics of Winter Dibs Parking, about reserving parking on snowy streets.