Before the beloved Z car, there was the Datsun Fairlady. This was a roadster-style car built in Japan by Nissan (then Datsun) to directly compete with like cars from Europe. Such influences for this little roadster were the Triumph Spitfire and the MG Midget.

I owned an 1967 Fairlady 1600 several years ago and loved it. The Fairlady is the only convertible I have ever owned. The car was so easy to work on and a real blast to drive. The only complaint would be tuning the side-draft carbs. Up until owning that car I hadn't tuned a carburetor since 1997! Here it was 5 years later and I found myself flashing back to memories of helping teach auto shop class at Cal High.

The Fairlady moniker has lived on all these years with the Nissan Z line. First introduced in 1970 with the 240Z, many fell in love with the new style roadster from the land of the rising sun. Personally I was a bigger fan of the 4th generation 300ZX from the nineties.

fast forward to current day and we see the latest in a long line of Fairladies known as the 370Z. Never has this car had so much power, personality and panache. I recently took a few minutes to take a closer look at this car . It's no wonder the car mags are putting it up against the likes of Porsche and Lexus.

Watch my video below and see why this car hit my "top 10" of '09 new cars list. Bang-for-buck just might be an understatement for this ride.

Enjoy, Lance

Greetings,

As promised, I'm stepping it up a notch here! I pulled a video out of our vault that didn't make it to the webcast list last November. It's the Mini E, one of several new releases at the 2008 LA Auto Show last year.

I love this car for several reasons, the primary being this; It doesn't look funky. Unlike the Prius (lookout, here comes more hate mail from Prius owners!) or Insight, this car looks like any other car on the road. I feel it's proof that efficiency need not coexist with ugly. I know, "my car looks like that to minimize wind drag". The thing is many of us buy cars based on appeal, not just practicality. Nope, now you can get something that helps minimize your carbon footprint and looks cool.

Enjoy the video, and open your eyes to the future of cars and electricity.

Happy Motoring,

Lance

My videographer (Matt Gray) and I took an afternoon to visit Ladin Hyundai in the Westlake Auto Mall. I have been watching the energy grow around this car for over a year now. As many know, the all new Hyundai Genesis swooped up the North American Car of the Year award. Below is my take on this beautiful flagship from Hyundai.

-Lance