And now, go buy some Jeep Stuff!

Tiger Parking Slam

Daystar is now making a lift kit for the Smart Car, which begs a “why, for the love of all things holy, would anyone do that?” But what do we know? We like to lift trucks, not cars. We also have hated Smart Cars for a while, so we are not the most even handed of judges. Maybe there is a huge lifted Smart Car movement out there that we have no knowledge of . And don’t want any of either…

Why would you lift a Smart Car

We here at Truckeo know the truth – or at least are willing to make up a close facsimile of it. We know the real issue is the fact that the battery died on the Aptera at SEMA – and even the mighty power pack could not get it moving. With the embarrassment of the little control battery upfront needing a charge, the company is now in big trouble. Even electric cars can’t just run on pixie dust and press releases, and so it was with the Aptera. The little battery in the front would let the big battery in the back work, so the car was stuck until it could be charged up. I heard at least one Las Vegas teamster declare that he would never buy an Aptera after seeing that. Of course he was 6′7″ and 300 lbs, so he would never fit into it anyway.

Also, we think it is a little ugly without the front tire covers on, don’t you?

Battery charger supplied by Star Billet . While you are here, why not buy something nice for your truck, since you can’t have an Aptera anytime soon?

This was a concept I couldn’t wrap my head around —

A Toyota Hilux in Bangkok with a misspelling of the Enola Gay on it, and a confederate flag with swastikas . Driven not by an asian hating skin head bent on the restoration of  the Reich, but instead by a small, smiling Thai woman who cooked food at a roadside stand.

In other news, I have heard from occasionally reliable sources that there will not be a US Border Patrol version of the Raptor. I guess someone has figured out that while the typical undocumented alien is fast on their feet, they are not so fast as to need a high performance desert racer to chase them down.

Normally I would now spam you will some direct links for Ford Raptor products, but since there aren’t any that I know of I will let you off with a warning.

http://truckeo.com/trucks/2009/08/19/us-border-patrol-considers-using-the-f-150-raptor/

http://truckeo.com/trucks/2009/06/24/would-you-buy-a-ford-f-150-raptor-crew-cab/

http://truckeo.com/trucks/2009/08/26/autoblog-loves-the-ford-raptor/

The trucks are melting.

Yes, even in a ‘dry heat’ the trucks themselves need some ice cream to cool down.  Have a look at the photo below for the shocking evidence.

If you have never tried going fast in a vehcile that was capable of it in the dirt, I would suggest that you try it. It is quite an experience to be flying through some rough terrain with your brain screaming “I am going to die!” in one half, while the other half decides that it is the most fun to be had with clothes on.

Just try it. Maybe Hertz will rent Raptors soon to people who live near Baja.

So in an unsurprising move the deal where Dodge would make the new Nissan Titan is now dead. Hardly surprising since the bankruptcy. What leaves me wondering is what Nissan has up their sleeve for the new Titan. The current model is getting a little long in tooth. What was awesome in 2004 is now humdrum and boring. Since the Tundra came out, we have been waiting for the new and improved Titan, then the rebadged Dodge, now …. what exactly?

In unrelated and totally fabricated news, the new Dodge Ram for 2011 will come with a Ferrari motor since new parent Fiat also owns Ferrari . I wish.