Sting Ray with Elite Pedigree Could Break L88 Record – E3 Spark Plugs is Watching

Harley Ear’s custom 1968 Corvette Sting Ray is expected to fetch a record sum at Mecum Auctions’ Chicago event. October 10-12 should prove to be an interesting weekend in the world of rare car collectors. Despite many of us feeling the pressure of the current economic climate, cars with elite pedigrees and history are selling at auction at record breaking numbers. Eyes and ears will be watching and listening as Mecum Auctions’ event at the Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, Illinois near Chicago has the potential to break them all with the sale of Harley Earl’s custom custom 1968 Corvette Sting Ray taking center stage. Among many custom features, the one-of-a-kind Sting Ray showcases side exhausts and a second instrument panel, details the former...

February 6, 2015
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E3 Spark Plugs Recommends: Rally Racing is “Easier Said than Done,??? New Documentary Shows

Rally racing is expensive, dirty and, as this still shot from a new documentary shows, rough. Rally racing fans know that it’s a far different game than any other motorsport. Now, a new documentary shows just crazy things can get on the public-private-road tracks that temporarily become rallying tracks. We here at E3 Spark Plugs can’t wait! Rallying is extremely difficult,” say producers on the website for the feature-length film, Easier Said than Done. “It’s expensive, dirty, rough and one of the last pure motorsports in the world.” Aptly titled, Easier Said than Done follows an international cast of characters including drivers, co-drivers and mechanics across eight countries in 18 months to capture the best stories from what is arguably the...

February 6, 2015
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Black Air: The Buick Grand National Documentary

“There’s something inside the car trying to get out. It’s trapped in the wrong body.” That line from a new documentary pretty much sums up the consensus on the black sheep of the Buick family. Described as a “strange and curious misfit,” the Buick Grand National was a boxy, brutish car with a mediocre chassis and an undersized engine that somehow became the quickest production car in America in its final year of production, hitting 60mph in just 4.7 seconds. That’s a straight line acceleration that no other car in the 1980s could match – Not Corvette. Not Lamborghini. Not Ferrari. After road testing of the Grand National, which was built from 1982 through 1987, Car and Driver Technical Editor Csaba Csere recalls thinking, ”...

February 6, 2015
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Rear Light Issue Forces Recall of More than 134,000 BMW 5-Series Cars

BMW dealers will repair faulty rear lights in recalled 5-Series cars. If you drive a BMW 5-Series car, listen up. E3 Spark Plugs just learned that BMW is recalling more than 134,000 of the cars, citing an issue that causes the rear lights to fail. According to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, increased electrical resistance can damage connections to the lights. That could cause loss of tail, brake turn-signal or backup lights, which significantly boosts the risks of a crash. Thus far, BMW says that it has no reports of any accidents or injuries caused by the problem. Affected cars will give drivers visual and audible warnings if the problem occurs, and unaffected rear lights will display to warn drivers behind the cars, BMW said in documents filed with...

February 6, 2015
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Automotive World Loses a Pioneer – Eiji Toyoda Dead at 100

Eiji Toyoda, pictured in 1967, passed away September 17 at age 100. E3 Spark Plugs joins the rest of the automotive world in bidding goodbye to Eiji Toyoda, who passed away yesterday at age 100. Toyoda, a cousin of Toyota’s founder Kiichiro Toyoda, served the company’s longest tenure as president – 25 years from 1967 until his retirement in 1982. He then served another 10 years as chairman of the Toyota Motor Corporation following the unification of the manufacturing and sales divisions. Toyoda is credited with spearheading the development of the Prius, expanding production overseas for the first time, launching the Lexus brand and turning Toyota from a minor industry player into one of the world’s largest automakers. Born in 1913, Toyoda grew up inside his...

February 6, 2015
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Men vs. Women – When it Comes to Road Rage Bird Flipping, the Ladies Lead, Survey Shows

Mom is more likely to cuss with the kids in the backseat, while Dad lets his potty mouth fly in front of the in-laws, according to a new survey. Well, in this story, perhaps “lady” is the wrong word. A study commissioned by Insurance.com reveals some very unladylike behavior behind the wheel. In fact, compared to men, women do far more than their fair share of tailgating, brake checking and cussing in front of the kiddos on the way to soccer practice and dance recitals. And while she’s going off all sailor-like, there’s a surprisingly high chance she shot somebody on the road a proper bird. That said, men are no pillars of polite driving either. Turns out he’s more likely to spew obscenities with the in-laws in the back seat, and twice as likely to flash...

February 6, 2015
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E3 Spark Plugs Recommends: Jalopnik Film Festival, Hosting Public Premiere of “Rush???

The inaugural Jalopnik Film Festival features the public premiere of Ron Howard’s “Rush.” Gearheads are headed to New York City this month for the inaugural Jalopnik Film Festival, presented by Gran Turismo 6 Sept. 18-19. It’s a chance to see Ron Howard’s new Formula One epic Rush before it hits theatres nationwide Sept. 27, and to try your hand at the upcoming Gran Turismo 6, slated for release December 6. The festival revs up Wednesday, September 18 with an opening panel and party held at the swanky Classic Car Club Manhattan. You’ll rub elbows with film execs and celebs, and bigwigs in the automotive and racing industry including top drivers. In fact, you may have to elbow a few of them out of the way for a turn at one of the GT6...

February 6, 2015
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Famed TV Pitchman Revolutionized Automotive Advertising – Industry Mourns his Passing

Famed auto dealer and TV pitchman Cal Worthington passed away Sunday at age 92. “Go see Cal – Go see Cal – Go see Cal!” E3 Spark Plugs joins the automotive and advertising industries in mourning the death of famed TV pitchman Calvin Coolidge “Cal” Worthington, who passed away yesterday at his Orland, California Ranch at age 92. From the 1960s through the 1990s, Worthington was known to millions as the goofy, friendly car dealer who would literally “eat bugs” or “stand upon my head ’til my ears are turning red” to sell you a car. Worthington’s long-running pitch shtick began as a parody of a competitor’s commercials featuring his dog, a German Shepherd named Storm. Worthington recognized the appeal to...

February 6, 2015
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’67 Corvette Sets Auction Record

1967 Corvette makes history as the most expensive ever sold at auction. Everyone knows they do things big in Texas. And this weekend, the third annual Mecum auction in Dallas did things up really big for the seller and the oh-so-lucky buyer of a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Convertible. With the final hammer price of $3.2 million a sleek red racer became the most expensive Corvette ever sold at an auction. Of the auction’s 1,400 cars up for bid, collector Buddy Herrin’s ’67 ‘Vette was the 4-day show’s undisputable star. It was one of just 20 built that year with a 430-hp L88 427 V-8 mated to a four-speed manual. First owned by Jim Elmer, It won the 1967 NHRA A/Sports Nationals at Indianapolis and campaigned throughout the Pacific Northwest running 11.12...

February 6, 2015
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Snake & Mongoose Film Hits Select Theatres

New film “Snake & Mongoose” tells the story of two drag racing rivals and friends who put their sport on the map and gave rise to major pro motorsports sponsorships. It’s a good month for film-loving racing fans. Director Ron Howard’s Rush, a biopic about the merciless 1970s rivalry between Formula One rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda, hits theaters nationwide September 27th. But the story of another historic racing rivalry-turned-enduring friendship already is being told on the big screen in select cities in the new film, Snake & Mongoose. During the 1960s, drivers Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen put drag racing on the pro motorsports map with their dynamic clashes and a little bit of marketing magic....

February 6, 2015
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