Funny stuff in Chinese car brochures

“In fact, even the Liebao CS6 runs over besides you, tightly grasp your eyeballs will be the pure metropolitan feeling reflected by its appearance.”

I know what you’re thinking—I’ve converted the blog over to poetry as an April Fools’ Day joke. But you’d be wrong. In fact, that beautiful quote was taken word-for-word from a recent Chinese car brochure.

There are usually a few Chinese auto manufacturers that set up hasty displays at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit each year. And to catch the attention of the demanding journalists in attendance, they hand out brochures that look to have been converted from Chinese to English in some sort of computerized translator.

Here, speeder, speeder. A look at police vehicles, past and present

Police cars have the distinction of being among the most important vehicles on the road, as well as some of the least respected.

Behind the scenes, the men and women behind the wheels of these rolling billboards of law and order are putting their lives on the line everyday to keep the world safe from killers, thieves, and other miscreants. We’d live in a pretty rough world without their service.

More visible, at least to the public, is the police car during traffic enforcement duty. The last thing we need are drivers thinking they can recklessly bomb thorough residential neighborhoods with no regards for the safety of others, and to that end, this is also an important function of the police car. Of course, that noble service can get muddled a bit when you see one of these cars hiding at the bottom of a hill on a lightly traveled roadway, nabbing people that venture five-miles-per-hour over the posted speed limit.

Unusual classic car auction sparks impromptu office field trip to Merriam

A couple of co-workers and I were sitting in our little Overland Park cubicles Friday morning, minding our own business, when we heard of some carbon monoxide contamination over in Merriam. And sure enough, we followed the colorless, odorless cloud to the normally vacant Merriam Plaza, where First West Auction Company was holding an antique, collectible, and classic car sale in the stillborn Circuit City building.

It was actually a pretty fun little field trip. There were a couple dozen interesting cars on display. Some of them were really awful, but there were a few that were surprisingly incredible.

Vintage car toy ads. What to buy for the kids in your life. Or maybe your kids at heart

Why do you like old cars?  Maybe it's because you were influenced by someone; parents or grandparents.  Maybe it was a natural instinct--your heart told you you cars were good, and you believed it. 

But for some folks, automotive passion came from playing with toy cars as a kid.  And why not?  It's pretty hard to resist the lure of a cool little diecast, painted in an irredescent color, ready to follow your every command.  There are no traffic laws on your bedroom carpet.  It's just pedal to the metal, as fast as your little arm will take it.

I know I used to love playing cars.  I had various sizes, so I could play with a different set of cars depending on how the mood struck me.  Big cars were 1/25th-scale, so I could usually fit in a model or the rare large diecast in those chases.  Medium cars were somewhere around 1/43rd-scale.  There weren't as many of those, but they were still cool as something different.  And of course, the 1/64th-scale Hot Wheels/Matchbox-sized cars were the favorites.  That's mainly because they were the easiest to come by, and you could have lots more cars in a much smaller space.

Mecum Indy event offers rare chance to see 1953 Fiesta, Eldorado, Skylark, and Corvette all in one place

I’ve mentioned before that I think 1953 was the ultimate year in General Motors history. Never mind that it was twenty years before I was even born. The products, legacy, and accomplishments from that year speak for themselves.

But you can’t really get the full impact of just what GM was able to produce just by reading things. You really need to experience the crown jewels of the 1953 GM lineup firsthand. The Mecum Spring Classic Auction in Indianapolis is providing a rare, rare opportunity to do just that. Crossing the block will be the ultimate quartet of GM’s most ambitious and sought-after cars; a 1953 Chevrolet Corvette, a 1953 Cadillac Eldorado, a 1953 Buick Skylark, and a 1953 Oldsmobile Fiesta.

Feed your need for scale speed at RS Diecast and Collectibles in car-crazy downtown Belton

RS Diecast Racing and Collectibles is one of the last of its kind in KC

Just a few years ago, NASCAR and collector car diecast stores seemed to be everywhere. Independence Center, the Great Mall, even Crown Center all had their own dedicated shops, and there were probably a half-dozen independents around town as well.

Today, these stores are few-and-far between. But if you're looking for a good one, look no further than RS Diecast Racing and Collectibles in Historic Downtown Belton, Mo. Owner Richard Smith will be happy to show you his extensive selection of common, and not so common model cars from the world of NASCAR, short tracks, muscle cars, and classics.

Promote 2011 Kansas City-area car shows, cruises, and races to a large group or readers for free. It's as simple as sending an e-mail

Well, we’re getting very close to car show and racing season here in Kansas City. It has been so nice out a couple of times now that it seems like we should already be having some cruises!

I try to post upcoming car shows, car cruises, swap meets, and car races on a weekly basis either here on the Hover Motor Company blog or on my Examiner page throughout the summer. But I need your help!

If you know of a car event anywhere near the Kansas City metro area, you need to let me know about it so I can include it on the calendar. I know about a lot of them, and I pick up flyers when I’m out and about, but I certainly don’t know about all of them unless someone tells me.

Did you hear that 2011 marks Chevrolet's 100th anniversary? No? Well, let's take care of that right now.

2011 marks the 100th anniversary of Chevrolet. I’m not sure how many people know that. I mean, I’m a Chevrolet nut, I try to stay relatively informed, and I really haven’t seen or heard very much about this.

The biggest public acknowledgement of this centennial seems to have been at a press conference at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this year. I was there. It wasn’t that big. There was a pretty nice video that played before the press conference (that few people in attendance even paid attention to), and they offered free beer to journalists. Otherwise, they introduced a couple variations of the new Aveo replacement Sonic. Happy frickin’ birthday.