Introducing the new VW Beetle Convertible. Love it? Or would you sooner drive a a classic Bug? The 2013 Beetle Convertible will make its American debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show late next month. But the company just gave us all a sneak peek with photos released today. The new Beetle Convertible is the third generation of the VW ragtop, following the type 15 from 1949 and the 2003 model. This go-round, designers opted for a sportier silhouette with a flatter roofline and a more upright windshield. The ragtop roof stows fully in just 10 seconds and lays completely flat, making for clear rear visibility. And the car has an automatic rollover support system with two computer-actuated bars behind the rear seat that pop up in just four milliseconds in the event of a collision. Under the...

Phil “No-Hands Man” Comar set out to ride 525 miles on his Harley Davidson motorcycle – never touching the handlebar, and all for a good cause. “Look, Mom – No hands!” Remember saying that to your momentarily nerve-wracked mother while zooming down the driveway on your 10-speed or dirt bike with your hands in the air? We here at E3 Spark Plugs sure do. And we’ve got the skinned-knee scars to prove it. But Phil Comar just one-upped our boneheaded bicycle moves in a big way. Adrian, Michigan resident Phil Comar set out this past Saturday to ride his Harley Davidson motorcycle 525 miles from the south side of the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan, to Covington, Kentucky – without ever touching the handlebars. The goal was to not only set a new...

MSgt. Scott Frink, USAF and his beautiful family are the proud winners of E3 Spark Plugs’ Team Losi Racing Nitro 4WD Truck Giveaway! Drum roll please… And the WINNER of our Team Losi Racing Nitro 4WD Truck Giveaway is MSgt. Scott Frink, USAF, and his family! “I’m in a state of shock,” wrote MSgt Frank when we broke the news of his win. “This is GREAT! You just made my weekend, my month and possibly my year!” The Frinks have two children, including an 11-year-old son who is quite the RC enthusiast. Family, frequent moves and the stresses of military life mean limitations on potentially dangerous activities and pricey toys, as MSgt Frink noted in his official entry: “My wife made me promise when we first got married that I could not get...

Spherical drive system motorcycle prototype created by three San Jose State University engineering students with mad creative skills. What say you, E3 Spark Plugs fans – Would you drive one? You’ve heard the saying, “no need to reinvent the wheel.” But that’s just what a group of engineering students at San Jose University in California are doing. And we here at E3 Spark Plugs are wondering if this might be the next big thing in automotive design – theoretically, anyway. Inspired by the self-balancing technology used in developing the Segway personal transport and a Tokyo-built balancing robot (and perhaps that Audi RSQ concept from I, Robot), three mechanical engineering students set out to apply the same principles to a motorcycle device. Max...

The 2012 Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run, a coast-to-coast ride featuring only pre-1930 motorcycles. Photo by J. Geary Morton. For 16 consecutive days, 101 die-hard bikers took to America’s highways for a scenic coast-to-coast vintage motorcycle ride. Riders completing the 2012 Cannonball Motorcycle Endurance Run rolled 3,900 miles from the home of the newly opened Motorcyclpedia museum in Newburgh, New York to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco – all on motorcycles made before 1930. Along the way, riders cruised through a dozen national parks and forests, the Great Lakes of Michigan, the Mississippi River, the Black Hills of South Dakota, Mount Rushmore, the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park, the Rocky Mountains, the High Desert in...

Perhaps he meant well, but this prankster just made things worse for your car’s paint job, E3 Spark Plugs says. Back in 2008 a (presumably) fictional character in a Carrie Underwood song got back at her philandering ex: “I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive.” Unfortunately, angry exes aren’t the only danger to your prized ride. E3 Spark Plugs lists eight everyday culprits and tips for making sure they don’t ruin your paint job. Tree sap: You wouldn’t sling a bottle of Elmer’s white all over your car, would you? Well, letting it get hit with tree sap is about the same thing. After all, ancient peoples used the gooey stuff as an adhesive. If your car gets dripped upon, don’t simply try to wipe it off...

365 Subaru drivers lined up for a parade honoring fallen RallyCar driver Matthew Noble Marker and attempting to break a Guinness Book world record. Family, friends and fans of Matthew Noble Marker lined up for a chance at a new world record honoring the late rally driver, killed in an on-track crash last year in Washington. Organizers say a grand total of 365 Subaru vehicles drove in a two-mile parade in Elk Rapids, Michigan in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest parade of Subarus. Marker was known as one of the most daring drivers in town, tearing through the northern Michigan backwoods every chance he got. Once be became of age, he decided to turn his passion into his living and began racing competitively, founding what would become the SubaRoots Racing...

102-year-old Margaret Dunning and her 1930 Packard 740 Roadster. Driving since eight years old, Dunning still changes the oil and spark plugs herself. Most classic car collectors are significantly younger than the wheeled beauties in their garages. So, we here at E3 Spark Plugs give serious props to Plymouth, Michigan’s Margaret Dunning – a feisty but friendly centenarian who loves tooling around town in her mint condition 1930 Packard 740 Roadster. At 102 years old, Dunning has been driving longer than most of us have been alive. She first got behind the wheel at age eight and landed her driver’s license at 12, which means she’s been legally on the road for 90 years. “I love the old cars,” she says. “I love the smell of gasoline. It runs in...

It’s the mother of all Hot Wheels tracks – and it’s helping a brave little boy fight a scary disease. There’s been a lot of hype about Hot Wheels’ new world record breaks lately. At the XGames Los Angeles in July, champion drivers Tanner Foust and Greg Tracy set new world records by successfully completing a 60-foot-tall Hot Wheels Double Loop Dare. And just recently, Hollywood stunt driver Brent Fletcher landed the longest corkscrew jump ever – 92 feet. And all of it was accomplished atop giant replicas of those familiar bright orange bendy tracks that consumed hours upon hours upon hours of our childhoods back in the day.   All the excitement got us here at E3 Spark Plugs waxing nostalgic about our days playing with our favorite die-cast...

Hollywood stunt driver Brent Fletcher and Hot Wheels recently set a new world record for the longest corkscrew jump. Just a few months ago, E3 Spark Plugs brought you the story of XGames champs Tanner Foust and Greg Tracy setting new world records by successfully completing a 60-foot-tall Hot Wheels Double Loop Dare at the XGames Los Angeles. Now, those famous bright orange tracks have inspired a new world record – this time for the longest corkscrew jump ever recorded. Veteran stunt driver Brent Fletcher, whose work you’ve seen in The Town, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Fast Five, set the new record. He successfully landed the 92-foot jump in a specially designed, 2,600-pound off-road buggy, launching from an angled ramp hit at precisely 54 miles per hour and...