1979 Chevrolet El Camino With 350 V8 on 2040-cars

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New auto loans could soon extend out to 84 months

Cars and trucks are more expensive than ever before. In order to boost sales and help consumers afford new vehicles, automakers are offering longer and longer terms for auto loans. This past week, Bloomberg reported that FCA's Ram Trucks division is currently offering the longest loans. Some stretch to 73 months. Jeep, Fiat and Chevy aren't far behind. More noteworthy is that we'll likely soon see lenders moving from 73-month to 84-month loans. That's seven years worth of interest. More than two-thirds of US auto sales come from light trucks like the Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado and Ram 1500. The average transaction price of a new vehicle is well over $30,000. It's not difficult to spec out a heavily-optioned truck up to $60,000. Vehicles depreciate from the moment they roll off a dealer lot, and these six or seven-year loans could hurt consumers and lenders both in the long run. The U.S. Senate voted last week to kill rules that would prevent discriminatory auto lending. These Obama-era guidelines were meant to curtail lenders who offered higher loans based on race, religion, sex or national origin. Related Video: News Source: Bloomberg Chevrolet Fiat RAM Car Buying car loan car values

Ringbrothers drops more hints about its wild SEMA creations

Ringbrothers isn't finished teasing its SEMA creations. First we got a sliver of rear quarter on a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro that revealed a bundle of carbon fiber and SEMA-obligatory deep-dish wheels. The Wisconsin tuner's now announced its litter of cars headed to the show and a few specs, along with two shadowy drawings. The Camaro, christened with the name Valkyrja and a two-tone paint job, gets stretched in two directions with severe fender flares to widen the body and an extended wheelbase. We're not sure what's happening with the Camaro's snout in the drawing, but under that bulging hood we'll find a 416-cubic-inch LS V8 from Wegner Motorsports. Wegner built the 416-cu-in supercharged LS3 V8 that powered Ringbrothers' 1,000-hp G-Code Camaro in 2016.  The second member of the gang is a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 dubbed Unkl. The exterior begs for attention with a deep blue sea paint job, deep front chin spoiler, bulging hood, yellow brake calipers, and what looks like a racing number inside a roundel on the doors. Unkl gets its motivation from a 520-cu-in Boss V8 built by Kaase Racing Engines, rumored to throw about 800 hp.    Finally, Ringbrothers is bringing its Cadillac Madam V for another Las Vegas go-round after giving the custom coupe some updates. The Madam V is a 1948 Cadillac Series 62 fastback coupe body placed atop an ATS-V chassis, first shown in 2016. The firm didn't elaborate on the changes, so all we can expect for now are the coupe's postwar good looks mixed with new-millennium engineering, and a 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 with 464 hp under that exceptionally long hood.    For any in attendance at the show, the Valkyrja Camaro debuts at the BASF booth on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019 at 9:30 a.m., the Unkl Mustang gets revealed a couple hours later at the Flowmaster/Holley booth, and the Madam V Cadillac will be on display throughout the show at the Ringbrothers booth.

Autoblog Podcast #393

Episode #393 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, and Michael Harley talk about Monterey Car Week, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Dodge Charger Hellcat, and the latest round of mid-engine Corvette rumors. Dan also had the chance to speak with Jeffrey Rothfeder, author of Driving Honda, a new book that takes a look inside the automaker. We start with what's in the garage and finish up with some of your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Check out the new rundown below with times for topics, and you can follow along down below with our Q&A. Thanks for listening! Autoblog Podcast #393: Topics: Monterey Car Week Jeffrey Rothfeder (Driving Honda) interview Woodward Dream Cruise + Dodge Charger Hellcat Mid-Engine Corvette rumors just won't die In The Autoblog Garage: 2014 Jaguar F-Type V6 S Convertible 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD 4X4 CNG 2014 Nissan NV200 SV Hosts: Dan Roth, Steven Ewing, Michael Harley Runtime: 02:10:41 Rundown: Intro and Garage - 00:00 Monterey Car Week - 37:08 Jeffrey Rothfeder - 52:17 Woodward 2014 - 01:28:11 Mid-Engine Corvette - 01:44:30 Q&A - 01:56:53 Get the podcast: [UStream] Listen live on Mondays at 10 PM Eastern at UStream [iTunes] Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes [RSS] Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Feedback: Email: Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes Podcasts Rumormill Chevrolet Dodge Jaguar Nissan Pebble Beach mid-engine corvette dodge charger hellcat