Hergestellt in Mexiko: 1998 Volkswagen Jetta 2.0 Wolfsburg Ed

I was watching some sort of big box streaming service on the tele the other day (how much longer can we go without live sports or a new season of the Grand Tour...?!?!?) and I stumbled upon a little gem starring the short guy from Top Gear -- a show called Richard Hammond's Big. Many of the episodes are about the little funny man exploring big dams and super turbines, but in one episode he visits the world's largest car factory in the town of Wolfsburg, Germany.  The Volkswagen plant punches out millions of peoples cars each year, but this next car was built in Mexico...wait...I thought the Wolfsburg Edition Jettas were made in Germany? Nope...vin starts with a 3..this is a NAFTA baby, but that doesn't mean you won't get mobbed at the next Cars & Covers(face) event because it has a manual gearbox and low miles for the age. Find this 1998 Volkswagen Jetta 2.0 Wolfsburg Ed offered for $5900 in Burbank, CA via craigslist.

Hecho en Mexico: 1984 Volkswagen Beetle

To say that Volkswagen built a bunch of Beetles is an understatement on the order of a statement like:  Nothing ruins a good lasagne like a layer of shower drain hair between the noodles and mozzarella. Volkswagen built over 21 million of these things in the 65 years of production -- this one comes from the 1980s when they weren't sold here anymore. Find this 1984 Volkswagen Beetle offered for $3,250 located in East Side El Paso, TX via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!

El Chupacabra: 2005 Dodge Ram SRT-10

It is a miracle that the SRT-10 Ram concept ever made it past the bean counters at Chrysler's corporate HQ, and it was even a bigger surprise that 9,527 of these Mexican built monsters found buyers when new. Find this 2005 Dodge Ram SRT-10 here on eBay bidding for $16,600 reserve-not-met with a few hours to go.

1962 Ford Taunus 17M

Surprisingly, the German built Taunus P3 was a relatively common car in Mexico in the '60s. Like delicious tacos al pastor, the Mexican car market is and was a microcosm of a merging of cultures. Renaults, Peugeots, and Taunii shared the roads with huge American Iron. In fact, the Taunus did somewhat resembly a sectioned T-Bird, appealing to slightly American tastes. Find this sleek Westfalian transplant 1962 Ford Taunus 17M for sale in Puebla, Mexico for $95,000 pesos, or $5,100 in US currency. This post is part of DT's 2016 Birthday Celebration of 100 cars; enjoy the ride!

¡Vantastico!: 1989 Nissan Ichi Van

By Matt -- We’ve all got those one or two friends who are game for a road trip with zero notice. Do they have current passports that haven’t been revoked? Generally scrupulous and unwilling to make side-smuggling deals for quick cash? Ok, good. Now is the time to guilt them into the 2,100 mile road trip to end your of a lifetime. Pack up your duffel bags full of metric tools and find the cheapest one-way tickets possible to Ciudad de México. A camping van awaits your belongings for the next week or so as you hopefully arrive back stateside safely with this 1989 Nissan Ichi Van, via Mercado Libre in Mexico City for $39,950 Mexican Pesos, or right around $2,200 US dollars via today’s exchange rate.

DT Does WRC: Rally Mexico Trip Report

Early in March 2016 I had the opportunity to travel down to Léon, Guanajuato - a 440 year old Mexican city full of 1.6 million people - for the only North American round of the World Rally Championship. WRC Rally México, as it's officially known, is the first gravel round and the 3rd rally in the WRC season and has been for the past 13 years. I was there for my day job as engineering support for a spec powertrain component to all WRC teams, but wouldn't miss out on reporting the experience via DT - sit back, crack open a Negra Modelo, and enjoy - arriba!

Thursday Twister: Born in Mexico

Welcome back to another edition of DT's weekly quiz show, the Thursday Twister where we make little hats out of post-it notes and see if the float on a vat of used transmission fluid (spoiler alert -- they do!).  According to a recent Forbes article, Mexico will soon be the car capital of the Americas, but I don't believe everything written by a bunch of half-wits on the interwebs, and neither should you.  However, various OEMs have been building cars for American consumption south of the border for a number of years and today's topic is -- cars built in Mexico and sold in the US of A.

Suicidal Tendencies: Mexican Jet Pack

The concept of the jet pack was originally developed in the 1920's by a crazy Russian inventor named Aleksandr Fyodorovich Andreyev.  Rumors exist of Nazi's using functioning jet packs around WWII, but those are likely just rumors and the real first jet pack was created in 1958 by some American engineers.  Science fiction quickly adopted jet packs as transportation of the future and James Bond even flew one in the opening scene of Thunderball (1965), but the vision of cities congested with jet pack traffic has yet to become a reality.  That doesn't mean you can't pickup a new jet pack for about the price of a well optioned Toyota Camry.  Find this Mexican Jet Pack for sale in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico with a starting bid of $25,000 USD via ebay.