The annual Pate Swap Meet in Texas has a storied 30 some-odd year history of facilitating gratuitous bartering of rusty cars and parts. Yours truly made his first pilgrimage this past weekend and was slack-jawed at the spectacle. The proper response? Take lots of pictures. Please pardon the fixation on ‘32 roadsters; there has been heightened interest around the office lately in the quintessential hot rod.

If ’90s chic is your thing, this may be the perfect ‘32 three-window deuce for you. If the white paint with teal, pink, and purple accents don’t grab your attention, the vintage Progressive aluminum rims will! Frankly this appears to be a really nice car, loaded with power accessories and a kickin’ stereo so you can jam out to Ace of Base. Better yet, its daily-driven, or so the seller claims. So if you’re still getting over Boyd’s Cadzilla, then you love this paragon of post-Cold War elegance.

If that sounds like a good marketing opportunity to you (sure sounds like it to us), consider these guys. Showing their comprehension of guerilla marketing and alternative advertising outlets, this enterprising team is using craiglist to solicit sponsors. Actual odds are not mathematically exact, in fact, its a complete toss-up, considering one never knows which times will land one into the final 16 on Pinks All Out. But a nice idea, nonetheless.

Um, just watch.

Unlike more mainstream media types who are coddled by manufacturers and allowed to check out new cars in advance of their release to the public, we at DB find ourselve much like you in that we must wait to test new cars until they show up in our local dealer showrooms. Such is the case with the hotly anticipated Pontiac G8, especially the V8 iteration. As they recently have arrived in showrooms near you (and us), it was time for a DB first drive. Armed with our best serious-buyer visages we swooped on the local dealer, who happened to have two black GTs. The friendly Reptile that greeted us was remarkably arrogant about the whole thing as he directed us to one of the cars. I looked it over, then went for the door to inspect the interior. The door was locked. Our Reptile didn’t offer to get the keys. We scanned the window sticker. $32,950, as advertised. It was appended with another sticker which cheerfully pointed out that the price had been also appended–with a $3000 “Market Adjustment.” “Yeah, its because these are so rare right now–we’ll probably have that for awhile. We had that on the Solstice for almost two years,” explained the Reptile proudly. Upon hearing how long we’ve been waiting to drive one, so that we could make our final determination whether to purchase it over the new M3 sedan, Reptile said this would not be possible. “Yeah we’re really not doing test drives on these right now, unless you’re buying one.” He seemed unconvinced that we were at this stage of the buying process.

As we left, the Reptile handed me his card, asking us to come back and give him as chance to earn our business. We’ll be happy to not oblige, and find someone else more eager to sell a new G8 GT.

I’d be remiss to not acknowledge Steve’s comment on our previous post in which the NY Times’ Lawrence Ulrich was taken to task by yours truly for his tree-hugging tendencies and very pop-oriented writing style. Steve correctly pointed out that Ulrich’s credentials are considerable (see here), and as such it is our obligation to issue a partial retraction. We remain opposed to the spirit of Ulrich’s piece in question, but in this case we uncharacteristically failed to complete our usually thorough research process to ensure that what you read here is 100% based upon facts. We resolve to let no more slipshod work make it to these pages. Thanks for calling us out Steve, and thanks for watching.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/automobiles/autoshow/NY-Camino.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

 Ulrich is apparently a tree-hugging hater of cool American cars. Even worse, he’s not man enough to provide a comments section below his poorly written article that shows a complete lack knowledge of anything but pop culture, or for that matter an email address where we could send comments. I’d me more angry perhaps, but as the Times’ reaches so few people these days I think it isn’t worth the time.

Props to my dad for pointing this one out. You know, I loved this commercial when it was on TV last year, but I never saw the full 2 and a half minute version, as you will see here. Its everything that is right about America–Rock/Country music, a bevy of cool Chevys, CB radios, and near-Needham-esque automotive stunts. Actually, come to think of it, well, its an American Revolution.

Well, if Castro and the boys did the usual treatment to the venerable ‘69 Camaro, you might end up with this wild ride. It could be yours for only 19 large ones! Where else but on swishahouse.craigslist.org?!?!?!

 http://houston.craigslist.org/car/321999621.html

Click to see Video

We know this guy in Kentucky that can embarass the rich chumps in new Z06s at the drags. That’s because he has a titanic ‘71 Caprice coupe that runs mid-11s in the quarter on pure small block. Watch him launch this massive and beautiful chunk of Detroit iron with big-block-like facility and bow to his amazingness.