History – Page 3 – AutoLobotomy

Winged Car Wednesday – Toyota Pikes Peak Monster

Suzuki isn’t the only Japanese manufacturer to achieve success on the fabled Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Toyota has quite the storied history as well. Starting in 1994, Rod Millen rocketed up the hill in a Toyota Celica, crushing the overall record by almost 40 seconds. The al-wheel drive Celica was powered by a four-cylinderContinue reading “Winged Car Wednesday – Toyota Pikes Peak Monster”

Graded: Plymouth Performance Cars

Welcome to Graded. Here we discuss legendary marques, models, or trim packages and affix a letter grade to a selection of vehicles falling under that topic. The grades mean nothing and are completely arbitrary. I fully encourage you to tell me what I got wrong and how you would grade them instead. Have some funContinue reading “Graded: Plymouth Performance Cars”

Winged Car Wednesday – Peugeot 405 T16 Pikes Peak

It is week four of our Pike’s Peak special edition Winged Car Wednesdays. Today we are honoring the 1988 Peugeot 405 that attacked the mountain in dominating fashion in both 1988 and 1989. Based on the Paris-Dakar rally racer, with roughly 600 hp pumping out of the 1.9-liter engine, the 405 T16 was a monsterContinue reading “Winged Car Wednesday – Peugeot 405 T16 Pikes Peak”

Winged Car Wednesday – LoveFab 1991 Acura NSX

Continuing on with our theme of Pikes Peak monsters for the third straight week, this time we are taking a look at a privateer effort. The 1991 Acura NSX prepared by LoveFab literally has wings set upon wings in some places. Powered by a 3.0-liter V6 turbocharged engine boosted to within an inch of itsContinue reading “Winged Car Wednesday – LoveFab 1991 Acura NSX”

Graded: Toyota Celica

Winged Car Wednesday – Suzuki Pikes Peak Monsters Part 2

Last week we covered the earlier Suzuki monsters that attacked Pikes Peak. This week we are covering the Suzuki’s that dominated the event. Although the late 1990s Escudo rose to fame through the Gran Turismo series and is by far the best known Suzuki Pikes Peak vehicle, it never won a race. Its predecessor wonContinue reading “Winged Car Wednesday – Suzuki Pikes Peak Monsters Part 2”

Graded: ’70s and ’80s Lamborghini’s

Winged Car Wednesday – Suzuki Pikes Peak Monsters Part 1

For the next several weeks on Winged Car Wednesday we are going to focus on some of the Monsters that have attacked the Pikes Peak Hill Climb over the years. To start, we begin with the Suzuki Cultus Pikes Peak of 1992. After a few years of development, 1992 and 1993 had strong finishes atContinue reading “Winged Car Wednesday – Suzuki Pikes Peak Monsters Part 1”

Graded – Mercury Cougar

Winged Car Wednesday – Chaparral 2H

Not all race car designs are a success; some are utter failures. Take the Chaparral 2H. After achieving great success with cars like the 2E, 2F and 2G, it was decided an entirely new car would be created with the 2H. The goal was to make a low slung, narrow car that had minimal dragContinue reading “Winged Car Wednesday – Chaparral 2H”