This guy spent $3000 and did it himself to soup up his Prius and get 100 miles per the gallon. (There’s a more expensive conversion with neat little lithium ion batteries available for considerably more bucks.) I think the gentleman in the video is probably the cool older guy on the block who can fix anything with bailing wire and duct tape, but still — food for thought.

Okay, this is a bit of nonsense so nonsensical I have to just give you the press release as I read it:

World’s Only Stretch Smart Car Unveiled by Carbonyte UK

Carbonyte UK, creator of the world’s first Ferrari ‘limousine’ has unveiled its latest canny conversion – the world’s only stretched Smart Car, the Carbonyte Smaaart.

The Carbonyte team, led by MD and ex-McLaren man Chris Wright, took a Mercedes Benz Smart Fortwo and stretched its chassis by 2700mm, to create a 17 feet vehicle (5100 mm). Despite growing to over twice its normal length (2695mm), the Smaaart’s new lightweight alloy chassis allows the vehicle to be powered by its original 600cc engine and still comfortably reach motorway speeds of 80mph. In all, the build process took just 300 man hours over four weeks from the initial chassis cut to the final paintwork.

The prototype Smaaart has been designed as a promotional vehicle, featuring a 20:1 scale fibre-glass replica soft drinks can, complete with ring-pull, which serves as van-like storage space for promotional items. The Smaaart can be liveried to any client’s design choice and hired on a daily basis – or bespoke vehicles can be manufactured for individual clients to lease or purchase outright at a projected cost of around £25,000, with almost any theme in the centre.

Carbonyte is also looking to take the Smaaart into the funeral industry by using the latest electric technology to produce an individual yet environmentally-friendly hearse.

“We think the Smaaart will make a great promotional vehicle – combining head-turning looks with the practicality of a van. We’ve already had incredible reactions on the road – the vehicle’s almost stopped traffic, in fact the same reaction we had with the stretched Ferrari,” said Chris Wright.

For more information on the Carbonyte Smaaart, visit www.carbonyte.co.uk

Promotional gimmick I can buy, but a Smaaart stretch hearse. I really don’t want to go to my great reward in a soda can on wheels. But maybe that’s just me . . .

If you’ve never taken a gander at Lenso Wheels, there’s a pretty good selection on display at discountedwheelwarehouse.com. ‘Tis the season to be searching for gifts and for an automotive enthusiast, sweet looking wheels are a nice, if not inexpensive option. My word of advice, however, would be to find an automotive retail place that does gift certificates, or make up one yourself. I wouldn’t dare try to chose wheels for someone else’s ride.

Be aware with an option like this, you’re looking at $1,200 and up, but if someone in your family is re-building or customizing a car, this could be the perfect family collection gift. Everyone chip in some cash and your loved one thinks about you all every time they polish all that lovely chrome.

CarsAndTuning.org isn’t just an endless series of “how-to” articles. In fact, there’s very little of that. Instead, it features newsworthy announcements that help hobbyists stay in the know about what’s out there. Need to know about the latest high performance mods for a BMW? They have that. Curious about the Chevy Camaros unveiled at the SEMA show? They have a piece about that, too. But lest you thing it’s all fluff and no substance, be assured: they have pieces highlighting mods to such vehicles as the Scion Dalek, with the requisite lists of adjustments.
a
The information at CarsAndTuning.org is offered in short bursts, guaranteed never to be boring, and contains enough of an image-to-text ratio that readers feel neither spammed by too many pictures, nor overwhelmed by apparently-endless blocks of text.

As well, the editors of CarsAndTuning.org take their role as a public information source seriously, including among their articles posts on important hot-button issues like green tuning, and how small changes in driving speed can mean big differences in safety.

If you have an appreciation for automotive technology, if you love knowing what mods can be made to increase the performance of any car, whether it’s the one in your driveway, or the luxury car you only dream about, CarsAndTuning.org is the site for you.