Build Your Own Race Car with Local Motors

By Amanda DePerro Published December 13, 2019

If you’ve ever dreamed of an off- road vehicle that you can valet – wait no more. Arizona-based Local Motors has created just that. In its seventh year of operation its newest model of their Rally Fighter (created in 2009) is batmobile meets Mercedes. Rally Fighter has the look of a sports car that’s lifted on heavy-duty wheels with a $100,000 price tag. Obviously, not everyone’s price range, but if you can drop the cash on this luxury item there’s a unique catch. You build it …in Arizona. It’s a four week process and Local Motors flies you to to the desert and pairs you with an expert to help you build your car in their facility outside of Phoenix. The Rally Fighter is believed to be the first car that is hyper-locally manufactured.

Specs of this luxury toy include 6.2 Liter, V8 Engine, and 430 Horsepower at 5,900 rpm with an automatic transmission. Designs for each model are submitted through crowdsourcing, a technique that asks a global community – in this case online – to submit input into look and build of each vehicle. They only produce about 2,000 models of each vehicle. The current model was creative design of Sangho Kim of Pasadena who won the online design competition in 2009.

Former Former Digital Trends Contributor, The Manual

Amanda DePerro is a Midwest-based freelance writer and journalist who loves video games, gardening, and true crime. She is a…

Culture

Don’t ruin your cigars: here’s how to properly season a new humidor

Seasoning secrets every cigar lover could use

faceless man presenting a cigar humidor with cigars inside with gloved hands

If you're a newcomer to the world of cigars or just bought a brand-new humidor, you'll need to season it. And no, I'm not saying to add salt and pepper to it. If you've never heard of it, you might ask, "What is seasoning for a humidor?"

Don't think you need to flavor the box or anything — seasoning is really about getting the wood inside your humidor so as not to rob your cigars of precious moisture. Easy to understand, and getting it done is relatively straightforward as well. The trick is figuring out the "why," and we'll get into that in a bit. But let's first discuss seasoning a humidor.

Culture

The NBA’s ultimate celebration tool: The victory cigar

A look at the players and coaches who smoke to celebrate

Jordan smoking a cigar image on a bag

Sports are synonymous with celebration. After winning the biggest trophy of their lives, athletes want to indulge in the payoff that comes with seeing their dreams realized. Teams go into the locker room, where a waterfall of champagne hits them in the eyes, and swimming goggles seem to be a requirement, lest you walk around on the best night of your life half blind. While drinking is often the activity of choice after winning a championship, the NBA has an alternative symbol of greatness that other sports don't use nearly enough: the victory cigar.

Basketball is a team game, but it's also an individual canvas for solo superstardom. After winning an NBA championship, the coaches and players who sit atop the throne have long smoked a cigar in the locker room, during the parade, or even on the bench before the clock has hit zero. There's nothing quite like a good stogie to signify the ultimate win over the rest of the league, but how did the victory cigar get so ingrained in NBA championship celebrations? We want to take a walk down memory lane and look at some of the historical moments and people who made the cigar what it is within the NBA today.
Red Auerbach's victory cigar on the bench
Red Auerbach: The Story Behind the Victory Cigar + His Disdain of NBA Officials - Red on Roundball

Culture

The best medical shows of all time to binge now

From ER to The Pitt, these are the best medical shows ever made

Noah Wyle in the Pitt

Throughout TV's long history, the medical drama has occupied a somewhat unique place in the landscape. Medical shows are often some of the most reliable on TV precisely because there's so much drama built in to working in a hospital.

Personally, I've found the medical drama to be deeply comforting for years, even if I have no desire to be a doctor myself. Understanding the stress of people in the healthcare profession is fascinating in and of itself.