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Category / Hot Wheels

She Raced the Boys and Took Their Trophies

She began driving secretly at the age of 14 in her father’s ‘borrowed’ Citroën 2CV and her earliest races took place on the gravel roads of the French riviera, trying to carve off the journey time between work and home in a Renault 4. Michèle Mouton became the first woman in rally driving to win a…

So in Dubai, the Number of Abandoned Luxury Cars Lying Around is Kind of a Problem

Some cities have a litter problem, some suffer from high crime rates and others might have a lack of affordable housing. And then you have Dubai, which for the last several years has been facing the unusual problem of high end sports cars being abandoned and left to gather thick layers of dust at airport…

Freedom Riding on a Harley: The 1950s All-Black Biker Gang

“While Rosa Parks took her historic bus ride, and as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton and the Black Panthers stood bravely for equal rights, the East Bay Dragons MC risked life and limb during days when a black man riding a Harley chopper was a revolutionary act.” The East Bay…

Road Trip to Afghanistan: Snapshots From the Lost Hippie Trail

Before the trail grew cold, you could once catch a bus from London to Delhi with just $45, and for a little extra, you could take the scenic route into the Indian subcontinent via Turkey, Lebanon, Kashmir, Iran and Afghanistan, stopping at hotels, restaurants and cafés along the way that catered almost exclusively to cannabis-smoking Westerners. They…

The Original “Pink Ladies” Car, Complete with Lipstick Holder and Pink Umbrella

Well call me Penelope Pitstop! Okay don’t, but I bet you would if I picked you up in the sassiest car that ever was, the 1956 Dodge LaFemme. Between 1955 and 1956, Dodge produced the first car specifically marketed to women, which came in pink exterior, naturally, complete with a pink umbrella, a pink handbag and lipstick holder, among…

Oh Lord, Won’t you Buy me a Caravan Yacht

Is that a motor home with a helicopter pad on its top deck? Why yes, yes it is. It also comes with a portable swimming pool, because both are clearly the most vital features of a camping trip. Behold the sixty-five-foot-long 1952 Executive Flagship… Designed by William MacDonald of the Chicago-based Mid States Corporation, the…

The 1950s All-Girl Hot Rod Gang

When we think of women in the 1950s, we tend to picture some kind of Stepford housewife or a glamorous Marilyn Monroe type. Rarely does a character like bad girl Betty Rizzo come to mind and you’d be hard pressed to find a female Hollywood equivalent of James Dean’s “Rebel without a Cause”. Today, I think I found the real…

Pigeons of War and their Double Decker Buses

To me, one of the greatest miracles/ mysteries of nature is the homing pigeon. No matter how many times someone tries to explain it to me, I still can’t quite grasp why or how those birds manage to find their way home from such long distances. To further fuel my intrigue, today I came across…

From the Batmobile to the Bath-mobile, He Built them All

Behold, the Bath buggy, built in 1970 for the World’s Fair in Osaka Japan, complete with a Ford Mustang engine, made by the same guy who pretty much created every cool ride that appeared on television screens during the 1960s and 70s. The Batmobile, the Flinstones car, David Hasslehoff’s car the Green Hornet car, The Munster’s car, the Monkee’s mobile–…

The Photographer Re-inventing American Retro

Every once in a while, a photographer comes along and just blows you away. Today, Ryan Schude is that guy. The fascinating scenes, the colours, the cars, the people, the places– there’s just so much to soak in, but I’m going to let the pictures do all the talking. All I can say is that his…

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