Automotive

Cars, trucks, car stuff, truck stuff. No trains or planes.

The Shop Truck #4 — You hear that ticking? We think that’s a bad lifter

August 13, 2013

You hear that? Use your noggin to filter out the pulleys and the fan noise and you'll hear a rhythmic ticking. It's a dreaded sound that is often associated with faulty hydraulic lifters. In the video ...

Restoration Gallery: 1984 Hurst/Olds

Blast Magazine Newsroom

August 9, 2013

Like any classic car, it’s never really complete. The car was given to me when my brother passed away in 2009. Before I got the car though, my mother was driving it and ended up crashing it. It’s been a little ...

Hey Acura, would it kill you to make a coupe again?

Blast Magazine Newsroom

August 8, 2013

Acura is the luxury vehicle division of Honda, and they make a quality vehicle for the money. Their current lineup includes sedans, SUVs, and a station wagon. There is a noticeable gap in that lineup that nee...

The Shop Truck #3 — Status Report

John M. Guilfoil

August 8, 2013

Kevin had The Shop Truck for almost 90 days, and in that time he replaced a lot of parts and did way more work than he could ever have anticipated on a truck that is, as we both noted, shockingly clean. He run...

Are Electric Cars Actually Good for the Environment?

Blast Magazine Newsroom

July 30, 2013

Picture yourself driving down the highway in 2003. What would you see? A big chunk of the vehicles on the road during that time were Escalades, Hummer H2s, Chevy Suburbans, and so on. The SUV craze was huge ...

Save Gas. Save Money.

Pam Oakes

July 24, 2013

Gas prices are on the rise, again! So, it’s time to get the junk out of your trunk and save gas, save money! The purpose for your trunk or hatchback is to transport objects: groceries, sporting equipment like ...

So you want to fix cars? Here are the top 20 tools you need to start

John M. Guilfoil

July 24, 2013

For automotive enthusiasts who understand cars as much as they love them, doing the repairs yourself can be fun and rewarding. Seems easy enough, right? You love cars. You know cars. You can fix and maintain yo...

Ladies: start your enginies — Simple Car Care Steps

Pam Oakes

July 23, 2013

Ladies: are the men in your life making car care sound difficult to comprehend? Do they use terms that sound like they came straight out of a sci-fi movie? Don’t fret. Help is here to make you a savvy car cons...

Ford’s New Traffic Sensing Brake Light is a Step Forward in Safety

Blast Magazine Newsroom

June 28, 2013

Ford is currently working on something new that may improve safety for future vehicles. Auto companies are always trying to advance safety features in their vehicles, and it seems like there is always a new l...

Watch: 22-year-old drives BMW M3 over a cliff in Arizona

John M. Guilfoil

June 24, 2013

Holy crap. A 22-year-old named Josh was extremely lucky not just to be alive but -- somehow -- to walk away uninjured after he sped through unguarded curves near Tortilla Flat, Ari. and took his 2005 BMW M3 ...

Road trip? 5 tips to get there and back without a hitch

John M. Guilfoil

June 18, 2013

Summer and driving go together like peanut butter and fluff. As the warm weather gives way to the hot weather, we inevitably take to the road, and sometimes that means going on a long distance road trip. In 20...

The Shop Truck #2 — Buying It

John M. Guilfoil

June 15, 2013

Let me tell you something you already know: Buying a car sucks. Shopping sucks. Dealing with salespeople really sucks. (The fake "supervisor" that the guy talks to, I mean, seriously?) Knowing that you're getti...

6 Common Car Noises Explained

John M. Guilfoil

June 14, 2013

(BPT) - "What is that rattling? Is it serious?" We all can get a little paranoid about a new sound our car is making. Those sounds can certainly be annoying, but what people don't realize is sometimes those sou...

Toyota recalls 2010 Prius and Lexus HS 250h due to brake problems

Blast Magazine Newsroom

June 5, 2013

Thankfully, the Prius wasn't built for speed. The famed Toyota hybrid and the Lexus HS 250h are the latest in the Toyota line to be recalled, this time due to faulty brakes. Toyota Motor Corporation has been r...

The Shop Truck #1 — Air Conditioning Repair

John M. Guilfoil

June 5, 2013

Welcome to the first installment of "The Shop Truck." In this ongoing series that signals the launch of Blast Cars, we are repairing and restoring a 1987 Dodge W150 Power Ram pickup truck that we found on Craig...

Money Saver — Four car parts you should always replace yourself

John M. Guilfoil

June 3, 2013

(BPT) -- Vehicles are a big investment for families - usually the second highest valued item in a household after the home itself. While the purchase price for cars, trucks and SUVs keeps going up, the cost of ...

Five fast ways to prepare your car for summer

John M. Guilfoil

June 3, 2013

It's always a good idea to check your belts and hoses after a long winter(BPT) -- With summer-just around the corner, it's time to get-your car-in tip-top shape to withstand hot days and long road trips. Summe...

Stuff for Your Car: The CORSA Difference

John M. Guilfoil

December 12, 2012

Will our editor be convinced?

Gas prices rise for 10th straight day

Benjamin Nadeau

March 19, 2012

Gas prices are growing, and there is on sign of stopping.

5 things I’ll do to my 2012 Dodge Charger (and 3 I won’t…)

John M. Guilfoil

March 8, 2012

Let's not get carried away here

Blast Magazine was launched in 2007 with a simple thought — do journalism for the video game generation. We’ve really seen a lot since the 1980s. Nintendo Mega Man games, dial-up Internet, Dos, and the Palm Pilot were all in their infancy as we grew up. We shared files on 1.44MB (that’s MEGABYTE) floppy discs, and they were more than sufficient. As we grew up, the Internet blew up. Today you can stream a movie live in HD. Not only did HD not exist when we were growing up, but downloading a single, low-quality MP3 of our favorite song could take over an hour!

Technology developed quickly as we came of age, and we can claim to have mastered everything from iPads to Netflixes. But there is one thing that our generation did not have to grow up with — car maintenance.

A lot of us are interested in cars and trucks and motorcycles — this site wouldn’t be necessary if we weren’t. But how many Gen-Y’ers have ever had to change their oil? Change the brakes? Fix a cracked serpentine belt? Fixing cars was always something optional for us. We had to want to jack up a car and change a tire.

So now that we’re adults and we’re starting to recover from the crushing debt of our student loans, (We’re very bitter about this) we are finding our interests diversifying. If we were into cars already, we are getting more into cars. If we could never afford it, we are slowly raising our expectations. Say what you will, we are a curious generation.

Blast Cars is not exactly a beginners’ guide to the galaxy, but we’re not going to assume you know everything. We’re learning with you, and the experts we’ll bring into the process will walk both of us through everything we ever wanted to know about everything automotive.

In addition to restoring our Shop Truck, we are following some other Gen-Y restoration projects, including a racing bike. We’ll also bring you some relevant news, reviews, and rumors. We’ll even take a look at some of the most famous cars in movies, music, TV, true crime, and other popular culture. Let us know what you want to see!