What We’re Reading, November 2019

It’s been a busy month with SEMA, the L.A. Auto Show, and the debut of the Mustang Mach E, but our gearheads took a few minutes between order fulfillment to read online industry articles.

2021 Chevy Trailblazer debuts at LA Auto Show

By Steven Ewing, Road Show by CNET

We’re having a bit of deja vu. Back in May, Chevrolet showed the 2021 Trailblazer after sister brand Buick debuted its platform-mate, the Encore GX. And now, following the US-spec Encore GX’s announcement on Tuesday, Chevrolet has announced more details about the 2021 Trailblazer, which is on hand at the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show.

The 2021 Trailblazer slots between the Trax and Equinox in Chevy’s crossover lineup, and definitely takes a lot of design influence from the larger Blazer SUV. We don’t know exactly how much it’ll cost just yet, Chevy only saying the Trailblazer will be priced “under $20,000,” according to a statement.

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34 Ways to Soup Up your Current Car with Tech

By Eric Griffith and Alex Colon, PC Magazine

For those of us with older cars, we’re stuck with incredible phones while driving vehicles that won’t talk to them, charge them, or display what we want to see from them. And that’s just the start. Modern high-tech cars should be laden with tech safety features, methods of connecting to the outside world, full diagnostics, and ways to keep passengers entertained.

There is a massive aftermarket of gadgets and add-ons that work with just about any existing vehicle on the road today. Here’s our deep dive into the tech you can add to your old jalopy to make it feel a bit more Tesla-esque.

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Is Chevy’s 1988 Full-Size Pickup Secretly a Sports Truck?

By MÁTÉ PETRÁNY, Road & Track

For 1988, General Motors came out with a radically redesigned full-size pickup line known as the GMT400 platform. The truck GMC dubbed the Sierra was also available at Chevrolet as the Silverado, the Scottsdale, or the top-of-the-line Cheyenne. And at $13,319 with all the bells and whistles, the long-wheelbase Cheyenne was an impressive truck for its time.

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Watch a Souped-Up Mail Truck Do Some Epic Burnouts

By Brian Silvestro, Popular Mechanics

LS swaps are a dime a dozen, so it’s not often one catches our eye like this one has. One man decided it would be a good idea to drop a 6.0-liter V-8 into a decommissioned Grumman LLV USPS mail delivery truck and turn it into a full-on burnout machine. We’re in love.

It took David Stacy, the builder, over two years to find a mail truck for sale suitable for the swap.

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GM and Lordstown Motors Both Say Their Electric Pickups Are Coming Soon

By Colin Beresford, Car and Driver

Just a couple of weeks after Lordstown Motors acquired GM’s Lordstown plant in Ohio, it has announced that it is accepting $1000 deposits as preorders for the 2021 Lordstown Endurance electric pickup truck.

It’s entirely possible that would make it the first electric pickup truck on the market—but not the last, as General Motors, Tesla, and Ford are all preparing their own entries in the new market segment.

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AMC’s First-Ever Mid-Engine Prototype Is Finally Getting the Restoration it Deserves

By Brian Silvestro, Road & Track

Back in the late 1960s, AMC thought it would be a good idea to break into the high performance sector with an exotic mid-engine supercar. Dubbed the AMX/3, it would compete against some of Europe’s finest exotics, packing a massive American V-8 and stunning looks. Except it wouldn’t, because the project was canceled before production ever started.

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