Cars and Car Design

The Top 10 Car Models in Desperate Need of a Redesign

Car years are like dog years. They age much faster than we do. The average life cycle of a car is getting shorter and shorter as automakers compete to have the latest and greatest redesign on the block. In between redesigns, many automakers try to trick you into thinking that a car is "all-new" when ... More >>

The Six Most Iconic Station Wagons of All Time

The 2010s will forever be known as the decade of the crossover. But what is a crossover, exactly? It's a car that's trying its hardest to look like an SUV. Crossovers are the poseurs of the automotive world. My friend's car got totaled last week, and she called to ask me for used car advice. "What' ... More >>

Welcome to Texas: Trucks Top the List of Stolen Vehicles in the Lone Star State

It's appropriate that while the rodeo is happening over at Reliant Park that thieves are gearing up for another year of stealing your pickup trucks. The Texas Department of Public Safety released it's list of the ten most stolen vehicles in the state and, not surprisingly, trucks are right at the to ... More >>

Upcoming Events: Bake Like Bouchon at Central Market

Aspiring pastry chefs and home bakers -- don't all freak out at once. Christina Tosi, award-winning pastry chef at Momofuku Milk Bar, and Sebastien Rouxel, author executive pastry chef for Bouchon and the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, are both headed to Houston to teach one-off cooking classes at ... More >>

Top 10 Coolest Cars under $25,000

Believe it or not, the average transaction price for new cars is more than $30,000 these days. That's a lot of money. But just because you're on a budget doesn't mean you have to settle for something boring. What you drive says a lot about you, and your average economy car doesn't say much at all. ... More >>

Texas Joins In $29 Million Settlement With Toyota Over Sudden Acceleration, AG Announces

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced today that Texans will be part of a $29 settlement with Toyota over its actions after claims that various models had sudden, unexplained accelerations that endangered drivers. Texas and 27 other states "investigated whether Toyota adequately and promptly ... More >>

Top 10 Sexiest Cars of the Houston Auto Show (with Photos)

Concept cars are what auto shows are all about. With their nuclear hybrid propulsion systems, bamboo radio control knobs, and intergalactic navigation displays, concept cars give us a chance to look into the unlikely future of the automobile. Weren't we supposed to have flying cars by now? This yea ... More >>

The 12C Spider:McLaren's Arachnid Invades City Centre

British engineering was on display at the Houston Motor Club in City Centre last night when McLaren was on hand to unveil its new supercar to the Texas market: the 12C Spider. The Spider sports a unique single piece "MonoCell" body made of carbon fiber with aluminum trimming in the front and aroun ... More >>

''Eighth Annual Open Call Exhibition: GOD''

30th Annual Houston Auto Show

How Not to Drive a One-Week-Old Lamborghini

You are the absolute cock of the walk, coming out of an upscale bar at 2 a.m. early Monday. You stroll over to your new $400,000 Lamborghini and, because that's what Lamborghinis are made for, you make sure everyone appreciates your taste and testosterone.

Alex Ford: Maserati DWI That Injured Cop Gets Six Years

Alex Ford: 80 MPH in a 30 MPH zone​Despite her fervent plea to avoid prison time, Houstonian Alex Ford -- who drunkenly drove a Maserati into a College Station cop, severely injuring the officer -- was given a six-year sentence and a $10,000 fine yesterday. She was also ordered to pay more th ... More >>

Alex Ford, Convicted of Drunkenly Driving a Maserati into a Cop, Asks for No Jail Time

Officer Terry Sheets faced loss of a leg ​Last year we told you about Alex Taylor Ford, now 23, the Houstonian who drove a Maserati into a College Station police car, hitting an officer who suffered severe leg injuries as a result. She blew a 0.164 after the incident; a jury convicted her of ... More >>

Back in Business

Life returns to the Richmond Strip.

Comment of the Day: Hand Doctor Michael Brown and Tax Cuts

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Michael Brown and Wife Divide Up the Luxury

A Maserati, a Lamborghini...​Further talk of an alleged hit man in ex-hand doc Michael Brown's divorce case was averted today when lawyers for Brown and his wife signed "agreed temporary orders" divvying up the couple's bounty. And boy, is it a bounty -- especially for a dude who filed bankrup ... More >>

Why No Latino Rappers At The Box's Los Magnificos Car Show?

The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place -lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good- so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Have something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email introducingliston@gmail. ... More >>

10th Annual Village Art Car Show

The Houston Art Car Klub trots out its latest creations

Note To Fans: Don't Give Paul Wall The Finger

Updated at 4:43 p.m. to include Wall's apology. When last Paul Wall came to TMZ's attention, it was for some iPhone video he shot of a rather... disgruntled Whataburger customer after his SXSW showcase with Chamillionaire in March. Rocks Off just watched the video again, and it's still hilarious. ... More >>

$7 at Yia Yia's Roadster Grill

​Where: Yia Yia's Roadster Grill, 5210 Bissonnet, 713-432-1800 What $7 gets you: A fat, sloppy Avocado 'n' Swiss burger ($5.50) with fries or onion rings ($1.25, if paired with a sandwich), or a Philly steak sandwich ($6.95). Tucked in the confusing tangle that is the Bellaire/Bermuda triang ... More >>

American Graffiti Car Show

Drive yourself back to 1973

A $2 Million Car, A Pelican And A Lagoon

A Bugatti Veyron, sans pelican​Here is a sentence with so many strange and wonderful parts in it that it's best just to let it speak for itself:A Lufkin man drove his $2 million Bugatti sportscar into a Galveston-area lagoon after being distracted by a pelican.First, who spends $2 million on a car ... More >>

Ford Honcho Tells Houstonians The Domestic-Car Market Ain't Dead Yet

Mark Fields, the flashy young head of Ford's Americas division, ran through the many woes of the auto industry before a group of mostly white-haired local car dealers who gathered for a luncheon yesterday at the Galleria Westin Hotel. There were the massive stock dips and job losses, the government ... More >>

Driving Your Dream Car Ain't A Green Thing

This year, all the gift ideas Hair Balls keeps hearing about are green, green, green: The Chron recently suggested a bamboo hard drive, crocheted purses made from aluminum can tops and used books as environmentally friendly options.Which is one reason Hair Balls' eyebrows were raised by a recent ema ... More >>

The New Slums -- Coming Soon to Houston?

Vanishing Point

This 1971 film believes Easy Rider would be better in a Dodge

Maserati

Truth in Advertising

La Dolce Vita

Greek Heros

The Hot Rod Grandma is cooking up some fabulous Greek food and stunning sandwiches over in Bellaire

Letters

Best Local Girl Gone Bad

Clara Harris

A Lil' Car Show

See tricked-out cars and hip-hop stars courtesy of Sucka Free

Best Greasy Spoon

Pig Stand No. 7

Best Place to Take Out-of-Towners

Art Car Museum

Road Warrior

Roadster Grill

Best Car Wash

Minit Man Car Wash

Plugged In

Like little Energizer bunnies, electric-car proponents keep going and going and going

Best Used Car Lot

Lawrence Marshall Antique Cars

Best Speed Trap

Memorial Drive/Woodway, from Loop 610 through Memorial Park to Crestwood

Revolution in Chrome

In the '70s, Jim Harithas's radical chic collided with the CAM. Twenty-five years later, he's back, gunning his engines at the Art Car Museum.

All's Dell

So long to slackers and laid-back lifestyles. Now that cash-rich techies have taken over, can Austin survive the great digital divide?

Road Show

Drive By Dancing

Playbill

Coming This Week

Tit for Tat

A big anonymous boob bars a large fake breast from the medical center food drive

Art Car Macho

Mike Scranton's creations are the evilest looking things in the parade. And he'll wrassle anyone who says otherwise.

Dish

Joel Carmona's Last Ride

A confused custom car show, and a dispute over money, mar the memory of a beloved community activist

Pasta Tense

A tale of twin take-outs that were (almost) family

Letters