Car sun shades are important, although most of them are unattractive, but if you really need one, this Dracula one features an illustration of the vampire shielding himself from the sun, it’s made from reflective material so it serves the purpose. Instead of the plain old extra shinny car shade, this one doubles as a comic illustration. Available at Jackspade for $25.00

Uncrate

The Self-Proclaimed SuperMom doesn’t think only about her two kids, her husband, her dog, and her life.  In Musings of the Self Proclaimed Super-Mom, she aks confesses a super-secret automotive love affair. “When this house is sold and all debts are paid off,” she admits, “I will be trading in my ‘96 White Ford Taurus beater car for a better, cooler, oh so me, car.  Allow me to introduce my dream car: the Saab convertible 9-3.  OOOOH, I drool over this car daily, as I drive by it on my way to work.  Not a new one, but one that is ‘new to me’.  Oooh, Saab convertible, I want you so bad.”   

Auto-Journals is a relatively new, very attractive and fresh-thinking group blog out of the UK that sounds a lot like ThisNext.  Its goal: “to reveal the truth of car ownership, from those who know best - the owners.” And so far, the resulting entries and pics from a wide variety of bloggers (mostly from the UK so far) has been insightful and amusing. Recent entires include comments on…

…Alfa Romeos: James explains why an otherwise sane man would buy an Alfa. New. With his own money…

…The Audi Ag Allroad: The Brunette’s All Terrain Armoured Transport: Can it possibly replace a Prodrive Impreza in the Yu household’s affections?

…BMWs: Return of Godzilla: David buys another 2 door 4 seat metallic purple monster. How often will this one blow up?

Here’s where the passionate fan’s POV can be far more valuable than all the professional reviews and promotional material in the world. And if that isn’t pure ThisNext thinking, we don’t know what is.

David Leggett may be an auto industry “insider”, but his blog, buried inside the just-auto.com news-and-comment website, doesn’t sound like that at all. He talks in plain English, covers everything from the latest industry information to video clips of Paris Hilton backing into a Civic to some pithy comments on Ford and global warming and the real info on the all-electric Tesla that’s the buzz of Europe at the moment. Nice to find a warm, well-informed voice in the industry that you can actually trust.

You want to see cool pictures of cools cars? Have we got a site for you: Auto Junkies. (The name kind of says it all, doesn’t it?) Eric and Scott love high-performance cars, just like this incredible new Porsche 911 GT3. In fact, in recent months they say very little and just post these great pics they’ve taken or found…and you know all about these guys just from the choices they make (a very ThisNext kind of concept). Enjoy!

So are the major car companies doing anything about biofuel, electric, or hybrid vehicles?  The answer seems to be “yes, finally” … though whether it’s enough (or ever will be) is still an open question.  Still, you can follow the expanding field and get the good news at Green Car Congress, a group blog edited by Mike Millikin, that provides “timely, high-quality editorial about the full spectrum of energy options, technologies, products, issues and policies related to sustainable mobility.”  Lilke the recent news that Ford has taken the lead as the first manufacturer in the world to produce a dedicated 6.8 liter V-10 hydrogen engine. What…big auto doing something RIGHT?  How odd…

Edmunds (and edmunds.com) is a leading name in automotive news, and has been for generations…and now Edmunds is getting into the blogosphere with a whole set of insightful blogs from the auto experts.  The current set includes Straightline from the editors if Inside Line, Edmunds.com’s news site  “commentary, observation and callouts in a virtually real-time environment. If General Motors sneezes, we can have a blog post about it up before the first hanky gets wet.”  Karl Brauer, editor of Edmunds.com, has his own blog, Karl on Cars, where one of the industry’s liveliest personalities cuts loose.  “He may not have much of a gift for Tuvan throat singing,” they say, “but, man, that cat can blog.”

 On a more practical base, Edmunds.com has also launched Car Buying Strategies by Senior Consumer Advice Editor Phil Reed and The Driving Woman, loaded with insight from the female perspective.  “ore proof that women should rule the world (he said, pretending that they don’t).”

Don’t you wish there was this really cool car repair place down the street, with a bunch of smart mechanics and car lovers who always seemed ready to share the latest about new cars, technical innovations, classics that can’t be beat — all that stuff?  Try visiting The Garage, a beautifully designed auto-love blog where, they say, “you’ll find stories, reviews, news, pictures and other stuff about cars and other things we might find in any garage,” … including this strange little story about The Zoop Car, a strange little electric vehicle produced by…well, fashion designers in France.

HippyShopper, as ThisNext’s glorious leader Alyson pointed out, is NOT a site for women who need more and bigger parachute pants.  It is actually a very active group-blog for green product recommendations — a product of Shiny Media, one of the UK’s largest blog publishers.  And what you’ll find here is most stuff you won’t find on the vast majority of other green-prod sites (which, face it, can tend to get a little repetivie and self-referential).  Recent listings include this remarkably portable shower that’s actually powered and heated by your car battery from , ecobtq a new fashion boutique dedicated to “recycled fabrics, vintage materials, organic fibers; azo free dyes, fair trade and manufacture in sweat shop free factories.”, and a wide range of ‘green’ menstrual products for women.  Editor Gabrielle Taylor and her army of blogfolk do seem to keep busy, and we all benefit…