If youre planning to be anywhere this weekend, make it the capital of cool on the South Saskatchewan River.Saskatoons classic rock outdoor concert series and car-show extravaganza returns for its 37th edition this Friday through Sunday. Tickets for Rock the River 2019 have long since sold out, as they do every year. But owners of pre-1999 vehicles in show-ready condition still have time to join the more than 40,000 locals and tourists wholl take over 14 downtown blocks, where up to 1,000 classic cars, trucks and motorcycles will park for the car-show portion of the Rock 102 Show and Shine Western Canadas largest auto-themed street party.It started from very humble beginnings and has just blossomed into this massive event, says Brent Loucks, morning man at Rock 102s sister station CKOM since 1984.Not only because of everyones love for these cars, but because of the timing: were wrapping up another summer, so this a great social event tying in music and cars that everyone in the community can relate to. Were all getting together to celebrate here in one of the greatest cities in Canada. Whereas the AW, Burger Baron and Dog and Suds were once the prime car-spotting locations on Saskatoon’s Cruise Night, now, it’s the Dairy Queen. Or wherever you can park a lawn chair. Sarah Staples Loucks was at the first edition of the Show and Shine, in 1982, when owners of a dozen classic cars decided to get together by the AW on 8th Street East, Saskatoons major east-west thoroughfare. It started relatively innocently as a radio station promotion, Loucks continues.Wed play old music, there was a hula-hoop contest, people were dressing in 50s and 60s outfits, listening to retro music, and it was just a fun thing to do in the evening; then, more car clubs joined in and the classic car side kept growing every year. 1965 Corvette Stingray of Leonard Mazzei, of Eston, SK, at the city’s 2018 Show and Shine Sarah Staples This Saturday evening, vintage cars will again head to 8th Street East to loop around the long, wide boulevard, over and over. Some owners park and make it a tailgate party, opening their hoods to spectators of all ages who line the impromptu parade route.Parking lots are full all up and down the street, people are sitting on bus benches, lawn chairs, bleachers that are set up, says Neil Schneider, marketing manager at Wyant Group Raceway, which has organized its own events over the weekend for the past decade.8th Street was the original home of Saskatoons stock-car paved motordrome, the 8th Street Racing Oval, before it moved north of the city in 2006 and was renamed Wyant Group Raceway. Its one of only two tracks in Western Canada to host Pintys NASCAR Canada racing and is Canadas only volunteer-run racetrack, managed and staffed entirely by members of the Saskatoon Stock Car Racing Association Ltd. (SSCRA).This weekend there will be local Pro Trucks, Bandaleros (kids 8-16) and Mini Stocks (compact cars) competing, along with Baby Grands and Mini Cups series hosted from Alberta. And over at the Saskatchewan International Raceway, the citys drag strip will host Jet Cars racing.Every year, from the public and from the club, the response is getting bigger and bigger, says Schneider. Theres non-race fans, race-fans, families, just anyone curious to see these cars. (Tourist tip: for four Sundays every year, the track opens to anyone who’s keen to get behind the wheel of a stock car; the next Dakota Dunes Race Experience, monitored by qualified pro drivers, is Sept 8.)The radio station also organizes a Poker Run: participants drive classic cars to five different spots around Saskatoon, drawing a single card at each location, then meet up to determine who has the prize-winning poker hand.Theres a definite vintage feel to the entire weekend. It reminds me of the movie American Graffiti. You get really nostalgic seeing the old muscle cars, hearing the squeal of tires, explains Schneider. Its a feeling of parents being able to be kids again.Rock the Rivers concert series spotlights many classic Canadian bands, too. Loverboy, Platinum Blonde, The Headpins and Chilliwack will take to the main stage this weekend, by The Delta Bessborough hotel. Motorcycles are welcome at Saskatoon’s biggest car show. Sarah Staples Last year, I ran into Kim Mitchell sauntering out of an elevator at The Bessborough. His trademark blond mane had gone the way of those MTV-era pink pants, but bald or no, Mitchell still had it that recognizably Canadian, indescribably Rush-era something special. The iconic rocker disappeared from the iconic Canadian National Railway hotel before I could say, Hell yeah, go for that soda, Kim.While youre at it, Rock on, Saskatoon. You see families where grandparents used to cruise 8th Street 30 years ago, and now its their children or grandchildren bringing that same car that theyve inherited, or building their own, Loucks says. It goes to show how many people in this world love cars and
Origin: Western Canada’s biggest automotive street party is in Saskatoon this weekend
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The 2021 Kia Optima will look pretty slick, if this K5 is any indication
Kia showed off its Korean-market-only 2021 K5, at the same time giving North Americans our best look yet at the car that will be known as the Optima once it arrives on Western shores. The K5 midsize sedan goes on sale in South Korea very soon, and while Kia hasn’t officially given us a reveal date for the 2021 Optima, it’s expected to look a lot like (if not identical to) this admittedly pretty gorgeous four-door.The 2021 K5 sedan employs the latest iteration of Kia’s corporate design language, which it characterizes as “sporty, modern and bold.”The K5/Optima also boasts a fastback silhouette, giving it a more powerful and athletic look, accentuated by a long, flowing bodyside crease and chrome highlights running above the windows. The new ‘Tiger Nose Evolution’ face brings a more three-dimensional design to the front end, and now encompasses the headlights – which feature a ‘heartbeat’ daytime running light pattern – and matrix-style grille. On the back end, there’s also a new light setup that spans the width of the car. Performance specs haven’t been released, but the sedan is known to be longer, lower and wider than the last gen. The 2021 Optima has been stretched by 50 mm in length, 25 mm in width and dropped by 20 mm. It comes fitted with 16-inch alloy wheels standard, but upgrades to 17-, 18- or 19-inch rims are available. The only look at the inside we’ve had comes from renderings, but Kia is set to release the K5 in South Korea in December, so that, too, shall be revealed soon.
Origin: The 2021 Kia Optima will look pretty slick, if this K5 is any indication
Watch: This guy rebuilt a Dodge Challenger Hellcat that’d burnt to the ground
What do you do when youre hankering for a Hellcat but only have half the cash? Wed actually recommend against the labour-intensive route taken by YouTube channel D.I.Y GANG, which bought up a 2016 Dodge Challenger Hellcat that had been written off after being in a fire and restored it back to better-than-new condition.This isnt the first time the YouTube channel has done a massive re-build like this; their other videos chronicle them putting back together a McLaren 570S, a Jeep Cherokee Trackhawk and an Infiniti G37. The Hellcat, however, is their most ambitious restoration yet.The channels latest video, done time-lapse-style, shows the incredible work involved re-assembling a new car after removing all the ruined parts of the crispy Challenger which was pretty much every part except the floor pan.During the rebuild process, a few upgrades were installed, including an upgraded engine turning out Challenger Demon-esque horsepower numbers; a performance clutch; a custom paint job; and custom wheels.The entire build apparently took about nine months to complete. Even though most of the free labour came from the hands of the YouTubers own family, the build still cost US$39,492.16. Once you factor in all the parts costs and the time it took to do, theres no doubt this build cost more than just buying a brand-new Hellcat.Even though the car was totally rebuilt and painted, we still question the structural properties of the burnt steel. The Hellcat was subjected to the high, high heat of the fire for an extended period of time, which means the mechanical properties of the metals have changed. A loss of strength and stiffness could have very well occurred.At the end of the day, thats why wed not recommend considering this A-for-effort method of Hellcat ownership yourself: when youre building a burnt car, its going to cost more money than a new one, and it will never be as
Origin: Watch: This guy rebuilt a Dodge Challenger Hellcat that’d burnt to the ground
Gaze into the Aquamarine blue of this Emory Outlaw Porsche Speedster
The gearheads at Emory Motorsports have created another stunner in the Porsche Outlaw scene.For all you Porsche nerds out there, youll know the companys Speedsters were made between 1954 and 1958, replaced by the Convertible D in 1959. This custom car represents a fictional 1959-1/2 Transitional model.The car started out as a rusted hulk, with a roof so badly damaged that Rod Emory and his team decided to ditch it entirely. The client for the vehicle was fully on board with a Speedster look, so Emory Motorsports obliged, hand-forming the aluminum tonneau cover and headrest fairing. In the trunk is a classic Porsche flat-four, but now displacing 2.4-litres and making 205 horsepower thanks to Weber 48 IDA carburetors and MSD twin-plug ignition. The engine drives the rear wheels only thanks to a lightweight four-speed gearbox. The suspension has also been heavily revised with a 901-style independent rear setup, as well as adjustable Koni dampers and upgraded sway bars. Brake rotors and calipers borrow heavily from the 911, and the 15-by-5-inch wheels with Dunlop SP 5000 tires stick it to the ground.To finish it all off, the car is painted in a period-correct Aquamarine Metallic paint, with a beautiful contrasting red
Origin: Gaze into the Aquamarine blue of this Emory Outlaw Porsche Speedster
This lower-priced Porsche Taycan is the real Tesla-killer
The Porsche Taycan 4SPorsche Take a good look at the Taycan on these pages. Sexy as the Turbo and Turbo S we showed you last month, isnt it?And, like the Turbo and Turbo S, this new 4S has twin permanent-magnet electric motors on both axles (hence, all-wheel-drive), a fully-touchscreened interior and, as you can plainly see, the sportiest silhouette in the entire electric sedan segment.It is, again like the Turbo and Turbo S that wowed us at their Niagara Falls world unveiling, the electric vehicle writ Porsche.Buy you know what it doesnt have? The one thing it doesnt share with its two siblings, the feature that, in its absence is going to wow potential EVers all the way to Porsche dealerships?The outrageous price tag.While they did indeed wow the world, the Turbo and Turbo S versions of the Taycan also shocked for their price tag. At $173,900 for the base Turbo and a seriously wallet-challenging $213,900 for the Turbo S, the original Taycans put it to Teslas Model S in every way but affordability.Not the new 4S. At $119,400 for the base version, it is not just a bargain by Taycan standards, its almost exactly the same price as a plain old Panamera 4S. Wow! Double wow! The Porsche Taycan 4S Porsche Now, there are some sacrifices. The base cars battery, for instance, is a smaller, single-layer 79.2-kilowatt-hour affair (the Turbos two-deck 93.4-kWh affair, now dubbed Performance Plus, is available as an option).Horsepower is down some, the base car offering 522 horsepower while that Performance Plus option bumps things to 562 hp. But the 4S still has twin electric motors, still drives all four wheels and still scoots to 100 kilometres an hour in 4.0 seconds (slower, of course than the Taycan Turbos 3.2 seconds, but faster than every non-Turbo Panamera in Porsches lineup).Range, according to the European WTLP standard, is 407 kilometres for the base model; 463 km for the Performance Plus. The base cars maximum charging ability is also slightly reduced, with peak charging power at 225 kilowatts; the Performance Plus can take a faster-charging 270 kW. The Porsche Taycan 4S Porsche Technologically, the 4S uses the same 600-amp (rear) and 300-amp (front) inverters as the Turbo Taycan. And, in fact, the innovative two-speed transmission in the rear (for maximum acceleration from a stop) and single speed-gearbox in front is used as on the more expensive models. Ditto for the adaptive air suspension, which is also standard on the 4S. The base 4S even boasts six-piston front brake calipers.In other words, while it is obviously aimed at a different clientele, and we do not have information on the exact interior spec and standard equipment, the 4S has not in any way been neutered. We expect it to be just as sporty, albeit a little less rapid, than the Turbo and Turbo S Taycans.Porsche Canada is taking orders now and expects to start delivering the Taycan 4S in the summer of
Origin: This lower-priced Porsche Taycan is the real Tesla-killer
This lawn mower wears a Honda racing throwback livery
A Twitter user by the name of McMike has earned a pat on the back and a handful of free stickers from Honda for painting his lawnmower in the same colours as one of the automakers old F1 racing cars.In a Twitter thread spanning back to January 2019, @_McMike_ chronicles the build of his 2019 Honda lawn mower dubbed Mowrichiro after company founder Soichiro Honda complete with doctored pictures and videos showing the mower tracing its lineage back to the RA273 race car.Multiple updates are included, showing the painting and building of the mower, as well as the self-made memes: Mr. Honda on a shirt with the mower, a photo of the lawnmower inserted into a picture of the real race car in 1966, that sort of thing.Inspired by Honda’s 1966-67 Formula One team, I’m very proud to launch the Mowichiro Honda HHRA273 the challenger for the 2019 Formula Lawn season. #McMower #FormulaLawn #Mowichiro #F1 #RA273 pic.twitter.com/wbRaVWRczS McMike (@_McMike_) February 8, 2019The real Honda RA273 was powered by a 400-horsepower 48-valve 3.0-litre V-12. By contrast, Mowrichiro is probably making somewhere around 4.4 horsepower.The 3.0-litre V12 engine used in the RA273 was adapted from the RA272s 1.5-litre V-12, engineered by Shoichiro Irimajiri, who would go on to become the CEO of Sega and spearhead the Dreamcast video game console project. (Obviously, he was a man of great ideas.)The RA273 wasnt a very successful racing car, earning only a fourth-place victory in the Formula 1 World Championship in 1967 in the hands of John Surtees. However, it did pave the way for the RA300, which won the 1967 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, again in the hands of John Surtees, with the same 3.0-litre V-12 engine.Earning the support of the factory, McMike received a reply from Honda Racing itself, asking for his address so it could send him some sweet die-cut racing stickers for his devotion to the
Origin: This lawn mower wears a Honda racing throwback livery
Swedish EV firm NEVS to sell final new Saab 9-3 this month
The last new Saab 9-3 ever to be made will be auctioned off later this month to raise funds for research into zero-emissions travel. The almost-unused saloon was built in 2013. It will now be sold by National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), the EV manufacturer that acquired Saab’s assets upon the firm’s collapse in 2012. Proceeds will be donated to NEVS’ Sustainable Mobility Scholarship at Sweden’s University West. NEVS said: “The fund will be awarded to individuals making significant efforts to pave the way for future mobility solutions, ranging from electric car technologies and sharing economies to initiatives for self-driving cars.” The model up for auction is a 217bhp 2.0-litre petrol Aero Turbo saloon in silver, which, according to the company, was intended for crash test purposes and set aside from customer models. The car has been parked ever since, with around 40 recorded miles on the clock, making it the final new 9-3 to leave the Tröllhattan factory. Saab ceased production of the 9-3 in 2011 and planned to unveil an all-new model at the following year’s Paris motor show. It was to be a dramatically styled two-door coupé with a 200bhp 1.6-litre turbo engine supplied by BMW. The Swedish manufacturer’s collapse in 2012 put a stop to development of the new 9-3. Production of the final-shape model resumed under NEVS in 2013, with contribution from around 400 external suppliers, but ended just a year later, with only 420 units having left the factory. NEVS recently began production of the 9-3 EV, a 186-mile-range electric saloon based on the conventionally fuelled
Origin: Swedish EV firm NEVS to sell final new Saab 9-3 this month
Swedish EV firm NEVS to sell final Saab 9-3 this month
The last new Saab 9-3 ever to be made will be auctioned off later this month to raise funds for research into zero-emissions travel. The almost unused saloon was built in 2013. It will now be sold by National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), the EV manufacturer that acquired Saab’s assets upon the latter’s collapse in 2012. Proceeds will be donated to the firm’s Sustainable Mobility Scholarship at Sweden’s University West. NEVS said: “The fund will be awarded to individuals making significant efforts to pave the way for future mobility solutions – ranging from electric car technologies and sharing economies to initiatives for self-driving cars.” The model up for auction is a 217bhp 2.0-litre petrol-powered Aero Turbo saloon in silver, which, according to the company, was intended for crash test purposes and set aside from customer models. The car has been parked ever since, with around 40 recorded miles on the clock, making it the last new 9-3 to leave the factory. Saab ceased production of the 9-3 in 2011, with plans to unveil an all-new model at the following year’s Paris motor show. It was to be a dramatically styled two-door coupe, with a 200bhp 1.6-litre turbocharged engine supplied by BMW. The company’s collapse in 2012 put a stop to development of the new 9-3, and production of the final-shape model continued under NEVS in 2013, with contribution from around 400 external suppliers. Production finally ended in 2014, with just 420 units having left the ex-Saab factory in Trollhättan, in the south of Sweden. In 2018, NEVS began production of the 9-3 EV, a 186-mile electric saloon based on the conventionally fuelled
Origin: Swedish EV firm NEVS to sell final Saab 9-3 this month
Is this a Ford Bronco pickup — and with a removable roof?
Fords upcoming new Bronco might morph into a pickup truck with a removable roof, putting it nose-to-nose with the Jeep Gladiator, at least according to some newly-unearthed patent drawings.According to Ford Authority, the patents show a truck that appears to be the Ford Ranger yes, the same midsize that will donate its platform to the Bronco sport-utility.The patent shows a removable hardtop, with a windshield header, rear body structure and roof cap that clamps on.The patent application says the roof caps mounting system would allow it to be installed or removed by one person, a tougher job that takes two on a Jeep. The patents include a version with a sliding rear window.Previously-discovered Ford patents show a vehicle, believed to be the Bronco, with removable doors. Theyd undoubtedly be included alongside a take-off top, allowing a Bronco pickup to shed doors and roof as the Gladiator can. Putting a removable roof on the Bronco sport-ute would also put it in the same category as the completely-openable Wrangler. Given that the Wrangler begat the Gladiator, were pretty sure Ford wont turn down an opportunity for its Bronco to similarly shift into a truck as well.As youd expect, Ford isnt saying a word about the patent drawings. Were not even sure when the Bronco will formally break ground, although it may happen at the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show in late November the same venue where, at the 2018 edition, the Gladiator made its first appearance, bumping up over a set of stairs on its way to the
Origin: Is this a Ford Bronco pickup — and with a removable roof?
Aston Martin teases us again, this time with the DBX’s soundtrack
My God, you know this whole tease-you-new-hot-rod has reached new levels of silliness when you put out a press missive detailing a Youtube video consisting of nothing more than the revving of an engine. I love the sound of pistons compressing more than most, but surely there are better uses for Amazon server space than 30 seconds of frenetic internal combustion.That said, I have to admit that, despite the long, drawn-out nature of Aston Martins news-making foreplay, I am intrigued by the companys new DBX. For the companys first SUV, the good folks from Gaydon are making some outlandish claims for the so-far-disguised as in camouflaged photos sport brute. For instance, in no particular order, they are saying that DBX can corner as hard as its seriously-fast Vantage, brake harder than the companys DBS Superleggera and that its engine the Mercedes-sourced, Aston-tuned twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8, pumps out 550 PS (about 542 SAE horsepower), more than any of its V8-powered coupes and roadsters. If true and, my Lord, they did release a Youtube sound video as proof the DBX may be just the Urus-chasing SUV Aston needs to keep up with rapidly-growing Lamborghini sales.Officially, though this is still the reveal of the DBXs exhaust system, which, in official parlance, has been tuned to reflect a deep bass with increasing mid-tones, creating true auditory exhilaration. I will leave it your fine ears as to whether Aston has indeed created the broader, more solid acoustic note they were
Origin: Aston Martin teases us again, this time with the DBX’s soundtrack
All about car 