Matt Brown
Jalopnik
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Past articles by Matt:
Put Sliding Van Doors On All The Vehicles
Truly novel automotive ideas are rare. If you come up with a great idea, there is a good chance that it has not only been thought of, but there is probably an engineer out there who is sick of going to failure mode meetings about it. If your idea is about a new door design, then that engineer is me. → Read More
Ferrari, The Last Auto Manufacturing Holdout In Italy, Halts Production
Italy is on lockdown as COVID-19 spreads, and as of yesterday, all automotive manufacturing had stopped in the country except Ferrari. According to a statement by the company, that has changed and Ferrari will suspend production until March 27. → Read More
Big Wheels Are Quantitatively Worse
Car design sketches have a lot of similarities that stretch back decades: dramatic lines, mail slot windows, and wheels so impossibly big there is literally no room for a tire. A lot of times you’ll see wheels that intersect with the ground, so the wheels are so large they occupy the same space as the road. Yo dawg, my rims are so big they violate the laws of physics. → Read More
The Pontiac Aztek Is Beautiful On The Inside
The Pontiac Aztek is a frequently criticized vehicle, often incorrectly called the ugliest car ever made, as though Chrylser didn’t make any cars in the late 1970s. Its styling is, um, brave, to be sure, but is it a good vehicle? Does anything come out of the crazy mixture of a Montana minivan, a Grand Prix, and an unmitigated affront to imprudent design? → Read More
The Best Looking And Possibly Most Expensive Toyota Ever Is Going To Auction Soon
Toyota makes some good looking vehicles but it’s hard to imagine them ever releasing something as beautifully designed as the 2000GT. It was their first sports car, long before the Supra or the Lexus-branded LFA. Sadly, the company only made 351 of them with 62 left-hand-drive versions making it into the United States. → Read More
Cars That Could Have Been: The Jeep Treo
The year 2003 seems like it was just yesterday, but it’s almost old enough to vote. Back then, Jeep was selling all internal combustion vehicles, but it had plans to build alternative fuel vehicles in the following years. It was a different time. → Read More
Let's Explore The Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter
There are car company names that are acronyms like Fiat and Alfa, and plenty of model names that are initialisms, like the NSX or the BRZ, but not many model names that are acronyms. Subaru made one starting in 1978 called the BRAT, which stands for Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter. → Read More
Watch The Delicate Tranquility Of A 2,872 Horsepower Dodge Viper Dyno Pull
While many car manufacturers were finding clever ways to squeeze hundreds of horsepower out of three and four-liter engines, Dodge did what Dodge does best and just made a pushrod engine with ten huge pistons, each made by melting down an entire Dodge Neon. → Read More
Motorcycles Have Way Too Much Power
In 1948, The Vincent Black Shadow was the fastest naturally aspirated motorcycle in the world. At Bonneville that year, rider Rollie Free achieved a record-breaking speed of 148.6 mph before stripping down to his swimsuit and riding superman style on the bike breaking the record again by going just over 150 mph and setting up one of the greatest pictures in the history of motorcycling. → Read More
An Audi E-Tron Towed A GM EV1 From Tulsa To Austin, Range Was Affected
There isn’t a lot of data out there about how towing affects EV range, largely because there is such a diversity in trailer aerodynamics and mass. Thanks to the Oklahoma Chapter of the Electric Auto Association, we have some idea of how towing a 4000-pound car trailer affects the range of an Audi E-Tron. → Read More
What Do You Really Know About The Reliant Robin
The Reliant Robin. It has three wheels, a passionate following, and sometimes rolls over when you drive it aggressively, especially after modifying it to do so. → Read More
Maserati Details Electrification Plan, Hedges With Gasoline Options
Maserati has had electrification plans for a while, but we’re now getting some specific details about what to expect from the brand in the coming years. It was previously stated that “electrification will be a hallmark of the brand,” by 2023. There are several electric vehicles planned, but Maserati seems to be hedging their bet by offering gasoline versions of their electrified vehicles. → Read More
Leave Environmental Consciousness To The Plebs With 31.6 Liters Of AMG
Get your comically oversized checkbooks ready because AMG is here with 3,277 horsepower split between seven engines and two vehicles. That’s 56 cylinders, displacing just under 2000 total cubic inches. → Read More
Here's What Makes The Pikes Peak Hill Climb So Dangerous
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is a remarkable place to test athletes and vehicles, in part because it is so brutal and unpredictable. Unfortunately, the same things that make it exciting also make it incredibly dangerous. → Read More
Fender Mirrors Look Cool, Are Useless
There are some pretty great automotive designs from the past that have fallen out of use for one reason or another. Some of them, like fins and rocket-shaped tail lights, should make a comeback. But most of them are gone for good reason, like mirrors mounted forward on the fenders. → Read More
There Should Be More Self-Titled Cars
The Beatles’ The Beatles. Metallica’s Metallica. Led Zeppelin’s Led Zeppelin. All great albums. All self-titled. It does cause some confusion, which is why all these albums have more commonly used nicknames. The Beatles is The White Album, Metallica is The Black Album. Led Zeppelin is sometimes called Led Zeppelin 1 because it was followed by 2 and 3, but they made it even more confusing by… → Read More
Ford Patent Hints At Completely Removable Bronco Roof
Removable roofs are a mixed bag. Sure, they’re great for when it’s warm and you want to cruise around in the sun, getting your daily dose of Vitamin D. But they’re also notorious for not sealing well, and often difficult to remove without a couple of other people. → Read More
Lego Launches International Space Station
The International Space Station is the most expensive vehicle in existence, even more expensive than a Ferrari 250 GTO, or a Datsun. At $150 billion dollars, it’s slightly out of my price range, and the fact that it is in space probably means we’re not going to get a Doug Score on it anytime soon. → Read More
Simulated Woodgrain Is Bad Except On This Town & Country
Chrysler, the automaker, sold its first minivan in 1984 as a Dodge Caravan. Chrysler, the brand, sold its first minivan six years later as the Town & Country. Prior to this minivan, the Town & Country name was mostly used on wagons, all the way back to the first one in 1941. There were only a few made in the first couple of years before production was stopped so that the company could help… → Read More
Volkswagen Is Just Getting Started With The ID R And Electric Racing
The Volkswagen ID R has set records at Pikes Peak, Goodwood, the Nurburgring, and Tianmen mountain, and the company isn’t planning on slowing down. The company will be bringing the ID R back to Goodwood to try and beat its own record. But before that, it will be heading to the Sonoma Speed Festival to try and break the California track’s record. The current record was set by a Mercedes Formula 1… → Read More