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10 years ago, or so, I walked into the pit of Gary Densham at Pomona to say hi and was immediately entertained by one of Gary’s wife Joanne’s stories. I didn’t get to hear the end of the story before Gary interrupted because he was so excited to show me their brand new sponsor. He pulled me over to the double doors on the side of the trailer, which were closed, and then looked at me like “are you ready”, before pulling both doors open quickly and gesturing to the racks on the inside of the doors

Novitec’s Latest Tuning Effort After releasing an upgrade package for the Ferrari Daytona SP3, German tuner Novitec has now turned its attention to another Italian marque, Lamborghini, with a new set of upgrades for the Revuelto. The enhancements sharpen the plug-in hybrid supercar’s styling and aerodynamics, increase its horsepower output, and, more importantly, deliver Novitec’s signature exhaust note. The new Novitec Lamborghini Revuelto show car is finished in purple, a nod to the Diablo SE

A Sonic Preview The Ferrari Daytona SP3 is arguably one of the most important creations to emerge from Maranello, distinguished by the most powerful naturally aspirated V12 ever fitted to a Ferrari road car. Its high-revving character—made possible by the absence of turbochargers – delivers a signature Ferrari soundtrack that feels increasingly rare in the modern era. Still, for Novitec, the engine may yet benefit from further enhancement, following the tuner’s recent tease of new upgrades for t

A 2016 McLaren 675LT Spider with a full orange-and-blue Gulf-style livery and barely more than 2,000 miles on the clock is going back under the hammer at Mecum Kissimmee 2026. It is one of 500 675LT Spiders built, finished by McLaren Special Operations and previously sold as part of the Bob Patrella Collection. Now it is returning to the block with a price guide that reflects just how hot rare, low-mile McLarens have become.

Gassers are awesome, and I love everything about them, but most of the ones we see nowadays are just show cars. That’s okay, because we’d totally drive one on the street just for fun, but when you see them doing big boy burnouts, wheelstands, and more, you know they are doing God’s work. God’s Gasser Work that is. So when I saw this feature video on Russell’s wheel standing 1956 Chevrolet gasser they call Strange Magic, I knew I had to share it. This is one cool car that does EPIC burnouts, at a

The GTI Still Makes Sense, If You Can Swallow the Price The Volkswagen Golf GTI remains one of the few practical, front-wheel-drive hot hatches left. If you want something that doesn’t go all-in on all-wheel drive or big horsepower like the Golf R, the GTI still stands out as a straightforward choice. Pricing has been a sticking point for a while. The 2026 GTI starts at about $34,590 for the base S and goes over $42,000 for the Autobahn. That means it costs more than a Civic Si and isn’t far off

Trails Meet A Legal Roadblock Off-roading, despite being harsh and rough, can be fun and exciting, especially when driving vehicles built for it, like a Jeep Wrangler. However, in California’s Mojave Desert, the Los Angeles Times reports that a federal judge has ordered the closure of roughly 2,000 miles of off-road routes in critical habitat in the western Mojave, citing harm caused by off-road vehicles — technically called off-highway vehicles, or OHVs — to wildlife. To be more specific, OHVs

Electronically operated ‘hidden’ door handles have been in the news a lot lately after China passed a law earlier this month banning them over safety concerns. Now, an official report into the fatal crash of a Xiaomi EV in the Chinese city of Chengdu has illustrated why that move’s been made, as the failure of its electronic door releases has been deemed responsible for the driver’s death. Driver Trapped by Failed Doors The incident in question took place on October 13 2025, when a Xiaomi SU7 wa

A Type R That Refuses to Bow Out The Honda Civic Type R is starting to look like it’s running out of road, at least outside the US. Japan has already shown off a Civic Type R Final Edition, and Europe has rolled out its own Ultimate Edition as emissions rules tighten and priorities shift. For a lot of markets, the FL5 is being treated as the last hurrah, making it feel like the Civic Type R is about to bow out. The US, however, is telling a slightly different story. American Honda confirmed that

The International Hot Rod Association’s Offshore Racing Series 2026 season is in Cocoa Beach today, and features big speed from giant offshore boats and more. You can watch all the Day 2 action LIVE right here thanks to the IHRA YouTube channel livestream. So pull up a chair, get yourself something nice to drink, and check out all the racing action that is going on Saturday and Sunday! Video Description: Thunder on Cocoa Beach brings the IHRA Offshore Racing Series to Florida’s iconic Space Co

In the 1980s and 1990s, there were a ton of custom truck mods involving head lights and tail lights. A couple of the more well known were using Nissan Maxima lights in Nissan 720 pickups and Ford Escort headlights in Mazda B-Series. This was well before people started doing Escalade front clips on OBS trucks and frenched Caddy tail lights out back. There are plenty of others, but the Nissans and Mazdas were real popular at the time so there is a lot that folks were doing to them back then. So w

Custom plates are a thing, but sometimes they can get out of hand, depending on who you ask, that is. Everyday words and phrases doubling as car puns and innuendos are, for the most part, harmless and usually pass off as funny or creative. But some folks are just too boring and find trouble handling a decent joke or two. Some of the said people work at Ohio’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles, evidenced by their rejection of 891 requests for vanity license plates just this year. While you may question it

Oil, no oil, clean oil, dirty oil. It seems to me that those are the options when and engine starts and I guess I’m a fan of having oil flowing, clean OR dirty, rather than having no oil flow at all. What about you? Video Description: Does a cold start really force your oil filter into bypass? A lot of people believe freezing temperatures and thick oil automatically open the oil filter bypass valve—but is that actually true? In this video, we test a frozen oil filter at below-freezing temperat

I love a good auction! Honestly, I wish I had attended this one here too, but I was out of town at a race at the time. The good news is that this way I didn’t have to talk myself out of buying things since I’m on a self imposed no car buying program at the moment. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t a lot of folks buying up lots of cool stuff. This auction was from a junkyard with lots of 1930’s to 1980’s cars and trucks and that means lots of projects and parts vehicles, which we totally love.

Not Your Usual Kind of Recall Jeep is no stranger to recalls this year in the US, but this one seems the most odd. Chrysler (China) Automotive Sales Co., Ltd. has filed a recall covering a small batch of imported Jeep Cherokees sold in China between 2012 and 2015, citing non-compliance with updated lighting regulations. The recall affects 3,565 vehicles built between October 29, 2012, and January 29, 2015, all imported to China before the GAC Fiat Chrysler production partnership. It’s an unusua

Sometimes old racing rivalries die on the vine, but sometimes they just get stronger and more entertaining. A little age and wisdom sometimes calms the hot nerves but results in even better on-track action. During the 2025 Goodwood Revival there were some serious rivals who all showed up to race. But did those old rivalries come back to life on track? Watch to find out. Video Description: At the 2025 Goodwood Revival, we had an all-star lineup from across the pond. A rivalry that started in In

In honor of the Christmas holiday, Derek has been putting out a few extra Vice Grip Garage videos the past week and we dig them. Some of them are a bit of Behind the Scenes coverage, some combine a little of both. We know we dig them and in this one you’ll see the Roadworthy Rescues Dodge tow truck that Derek started but never really finished. Well it need some love, like many of the rides around his place, and now is the time! Video Description: This one ton 1979 Dodge Tow Truck is from seaso

The Takata airbag saga is one of the largest automotive recalls ever, affecting multiple mainstream brands and millions of vehicles. Since an initial Honda recall in 2008, a staggering 67 million Takata airbags have been recalled. Of those, 6.6 million airbag inflators have been replaced in Stellantis vehicles alone, but the automaker has said this week that around 225,000 affected vehicles remain unrepaired. As a result, Stellantis has warned owners of affected models not to drive their cars un

Niche Experts Maserati, as a brand, conjures up emotions of passion, style, performance, and flair. Typical for any Italian automaker, but Maserati is that little bit more special; it blends the performance heritage, style, and luxury into what is now essentially a niche brand. That niche in particular is style with luxury, and a new special edition model highlights those core strengths: the new Maserati Grecale Cristallo. This new special edition model was debuted by the brand in their hometow

March 30 looks like a quiet late-winter date on the calendar. But the weather record tells a different story. From interstate-closing blizzards on the Northern Plains to tornadoes touching down in downtown Alabama, this date has produced some of the most dangerous driving conditions in recent U.S. history. The 2009 Northern Plains Blizzard: I-29 and I-90 Go Dark The most severe March 30 highway event in modern record is the 2009 Northern Plains blizzard, which the NWS Aberdeen office documented

If you are a regular BANGshifter then you know that we are really big fans of the Dakar Rally around here, because I’ve been watching it since the late 1990’s when television coverage was amazing. And while Schlesser buggies and factory teams of cars, SUVs, and even UTVs are pretty awesome, I think there is a special appreciation for big trucks like the one in the video below. These trucks make more than 1,000 horsepower thanks to their FPT engine combos and their shear size and suspension trave

A Single-Owner Collection Heading to Paris Car collections are as varied as the stories behind them. Some focus on a single era, others chase motorsport legends, while a select few quietly assemble the most significant badges a brand has ever worn. With so much history tucked away in garages around the world, it’s hard to pinpoint which ones really are special. A Mercedes-Benz collection in Europe, however, stands out for its exotic selection of cars – and it’s about to cross the auction block n

A new analysis has revealed the top-selling cars, trucks, and SUVs in the used market over the course of 2025. With the average transaction price of new cars hitting $50,000 in recent months, many consumers are forced to buy used to get the vehicle they want.  The top three spots on the best-selling used models list feature no surprises, with the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, and Ram 1500 dominating. After that, though, we can see some deviation from the best-selling list of new cars. Ch

BMW has just become the latest manufacturer to reveal its 2025 earnings and sales figures, and unlike plenty of other European companies like Volkswagen and Mercedes, it has a pretty upbeat outlook on things. Despite the usual talk of tariff headwinds and intense market competition in China, the group, consisting of BMW and its motorbike division, Mini and Rolls-Royce, recorded a 7.7% profit margin – exactly the same as it did in 2024. Overall, it made a net profit of over €7 billion (around $8

Super 'Stang The Ford Mustang's iconic status is undoubtedly one of the things most people generally agree on. Generation after generation has garnered fans and a following, and tuning companies have also used it as a platform to showcase their skills. One of the first to enhance the Mustang is a company equally as storied as the car itself – Shelby American. Shelby and Ford go way back, dating back to the '60s when they started collaborating, winning Le Mans with the GT40. In the years that fol