The 2013 Cochrane Winter Rally

We're all aware of what rally is. We've seen it on television and many of us have played the videogames. But much like a concert, nothing really compares to actually being there. So with a full tank of ($4.95 a gallon!) gas we headed up into the mountains to the 2013 Cochrane Winter Rally to see it firsthand. 

How Awesome is Your Car? A Useless and Fun Questionnaire

Someone will always have a faster car than you. That's just a fact of life. Unless you're Larry Larson with a 6 second Nova, there will always be someone out there who could outrun you at the lights. This is why we at The Life Mechanical reccomend you focus on trying to have the coolest car rather than the fastest. And to help, we made a useless list of questions.

Magic Numbers: The ZL1 L88 427 C3 Corvette

The ultimate American muscle car wasn't a muscle car at all. The ZL1 Corvette took supercars of the world by storm using heavy handed brute force with a few cutting edge tricks. A few Corvettes have been faster since the 1969 ZL1 but none have been as lethal and raw. Read more here on Petrolicious. Just as a refresher in case you missed the last update, my writing is now being published on Petrolicious. Same great taste, new location!

Can You Hear Me Now? Petrolicious Publishes Car Phone Article

Few things define the "yuppie" era as well as a German car with a blocky car phone. The folks at Petrolicious shared my fascination with these and have published an article I wrote. The Life Mechanical will still be the home of weird junkyard finds and vintage car reviews but expect more and more of my articles to be found on Petrolicious in the coming months. I'll just begin linking them here on TLM.

Would You Drive 900 Miles for Four Tires?

My roadtrip buddies kept me company on the long drive home

I did. Sort of. This all started out when I tried to replace the worn and dry rotted tires on my Swift with new ones of the same type. I then found out that the tires I wanted were no longer produced and there were actually very few options available for my oddball wider than stock rims. So for quite a few reasons, I decided to buy the tires online and have them shipped to Eureka, Montana where I would pick them up.

Calgary Driven Auto Show 2013: Exotica in Captivity

Under the cover lurks a 745 horsepower creamsicle

The real world is too plebeian for cars like these. I mean, where else but the Mall of the Emirates is a 1000+ horsepower supercar not going to make its surroundings look like a dump? One way to negate this problem is to surround it with other equally drool-worthy hypercars. Welcome to Driven 2013.

Rebirth of the Fun: Driving the NA Miata

Is any other car so simultaneously loved and loathed at the same time? The Mazda Miata manages to be both the butt of all jokes as well as the answer to all questions. But openness is key to experiencing the Miata; as in you need an open mind and an open roof.

Retronaut Takes us to the 1958 Cuban Grand Prix

Modern day event organizers would faint if they saw the "lax" attitude towards driver and spectator safety in 1958. The fact that it took place in Cuba just before Fidel Castro's revolution makes these photos that much more awesome.

Found in the Wild: The Unknown Car

Many gearheads pride themselves in being able to positively ID any old car at a glance. For some it's a distinctive piece of chrome, the curve of a fender or even the sound of its exhaust. However, this process gets harder the more the car deteriorates. Today's specimen has been reduced to little more than a skeletal chassis. But is anyone out there good enough to ID it?

Found in the Yard: End of an Era

The rise and fall of Cadillac and Elvis are surprisingly similar. Both really became popular in America in the mid '50's and went on to be famous lust objects of desire by the mid '60's. But unfortunately, they also shared an ignominious demise. By the mid '70's, both were bloated caricatures of their former selves and come 1977, both of them would be dead. 

A Racing Car Unlike any Other: The Schulich Delta

The University of Calgary's Schulich Delta race car is a strange sight to behold on a racetrack. Built to achieve speed with maximum efficiency, the solar-powered car looks like a computer mouse on bicycle wheels as it whirs around the racetrack. But the car's unconventional layout is a product of the unconventional race series it was designed to compete in.

Before 240 There was 311

How can the Miata be the Japanese MGB if the Datsun roadster was doing the same thing 45 years ago? Years before the heralded 240Z, Datsun (American Nissan pre-1983) was busy developing a very different kind of sports car.