Oops!

Issue: June ’97
Culprit: We blame Matt.
Goof: Putting the most anatomically deformed creatures on God’s Great Earth in DC Sports beanies and running it in the mag.

Cover Uh-Oh, Part I
Issue: Dec. ’96
Culprit: Matt
Goof: Running this messy collage taken from the Bud One Airship as our third cover ever. Note: The Emp claims that upper management made him run the cover. He’s still paying off the blimp rental out of the Super Street beer fund.

Editorial Goof #2687
August’s Quick Tech covered the installation of a PaceSetter exhaust system on our Super Neon. At one point it mentioned the need to modify the rear valance to clear the exhaust tips. That was true for our Super Neon’s body kit, but would not be the case with a stock Neon rear valance. (Faithful readers know this isn’t our first venture into faux pas land. We’re getting so good at screwing up, we’ve decided to make a contest out of it. Stay tuned for the results.—MP)

British Eclipse
Issue: March ’98
Culprit: Matt
Goof: We reversed the film when unveiling concept drawings of the 2000 Eclipse in Street Speak, so it looked like it was right-hand drive. And all along we thought the artist’s name was Arabic.

They Don’t Sell Sushi in Japan Either
Issue: Aug. ’99
Culprit: Jonathan
Goof: He said in “Build Your Honda Engine by Mail” that Honda of Japan never offered the Civic coupe as an option.

During the past 30 years, we have endeavored to bring you, the Super Street reader, a quality publication that you could be proud of. Each and every month we strive to produce a magazine that you can proudly leave on the coffee table next to such other literary icons as Fortune, Vogue, Cat Fancy, and Penthouse.
We have been known, albeit on rare occasions, to make mistakes. And on even rarer occasions those mistakes get past our gauntlet of fact-checkers and copy editors. But come on, how bad could it be?
That’s a question that gets asked around here far too often. So when we were exploring story ideas that would fit into our 30th Anniversary issue, we thought nothing would epitomize Super Street better than a retrospective that highlights our greatest editorial missteps.
We’d like to tell you that we were hard-pressed to find these faux pas. When our army of research assistants reached the 200 mark, we decided to limit the field to our top 30. So sit back, enjoy, and rest easy knowing that we are still working hard to bring you an error-free publication. And we will continue to do so. Two hundred-plus mistakes over 30 years works out to a bit more than six per year. Not bad.

Auto-Whats?
Issue: May ’99
Culprit: Jonathan
Goof: Misspelled Team Autobots as Autobuts in his coverage of Hot Import Nights. His
excuse: “What difference does one letter make?”

Honda Power Belts
Issue: Jan. ’97
Culprit: Brent
Goof: In his article, “Rare Element,” on RJ de Vera’s ’93 Integra GS-R, he listed among the mods: a Honda Power timing belt, whatever the hell that is.

Farrell Peril
Issue: May ’99
Culprit: Rich
Goof: Cap’n Rich said that Peter Farrell raced on 15x5 Fenderline wheels in front and 20x10x15 Mickey Thompson drag slicks in back. Too bad there’s no such thing as Fenderline wheels, and Mickey Thompson doesn’t make slicks in that size.

HKS Stands For Howard’s Killer Smile
Issue: Aug. ’99
Culprit: Jonathan
Goof: In “Dyno-mite,” an install/dyno-test story, the then-FNG Jonathan decided to make up his own definition of JDM: Japanese Direct Market.

Go Fast For Free, Price: $12,000
Issue: April ’99
Culprit: Rich
Goof: He titled his engine buildup story “Go Fast For Free,” then proceeded to list what you can get for $12,000.

Super Goof
Issue: July ’97
Culprit: Brent
Goof: He implied that all Neons need modification to the rear bumper for a PaceSetter exhaust install. In fact, it was only our body-kitted Super Neon that needed modification. By the way, whoever has our Super Neon, give it back.

Folia Tec
Issue: June ’99
Culprit: Rich
Goof: He said that the Folia Tec Roadster based on the Golf GTI platform has a 2.0L engine.

Who’s Neal Vitale?
Issue: Feb. ’98
Culprit: Bryn
Goof: In the news section, she incorrectly identified then Petersen President and Chief Operating Officer Neal Vitale as the Chief Financial Officer. No big deal, he’s only our boss.

Totally Anonymous or Penny Spender?
Issue: July ’99
Culprit: All of us for not reading our own magazine
Goof: We ran Shane Whitherspoon’s car in Readers’ Rides—for the second time. We ran his Integra one year earlier.

Wrong Turn
Issue: Jan. ’99
Culprit: Matt
Goof: He left the Audio Systems stop out of last year’s West-to-East Super Street Tour coverage (That was John Cobb’s fault.—MP).

Cover Uh-Oh, Part II
Issue: Dec. ’97
Culprit: Matt
Goof: The intentional blur on the cover. Matt claims that it was supposed to hypnotize readers into picking up the rag (Again, a decision made by upper management.—MP).

Tech Q&A Goof #1
Issue: Aug. ’97
Culprit: Brent
Goof: He applied his brilliant scientific mind to come up with an incorrect formula for determining overall wheel and tire diameter. Now that Brent’s gone, we are fully allowed to speak behind his back (I still subscribe.—BR) (Shut up.—BM).

Turbo Lag
Issue: Feb. ’98
Culprit: Entire Staff
Goof: In our SEMA section, we said that GReddy introduced a new turbo kit for normally aspirated Eclipses. The company got so many calls that it was tempted to start forwarding the customers’ calls to us so we could tell them that GReddy didn’t make such a turbo kit.

Tech Q&A Goof #2
Issue: July ’98
Culprit: Brent
Goof: He said that the throwout bearing should be thoroughly greased and that you can continue to drive your car even when the clutch tweets. Center Force Performance Clutches says that the throwout bearing should not be thoroughly greased and that continuing to drive a car that tweets could result in very costly damages.

FWD 240SX
Issue: Feb. ’97
Culprit: Karl
Goof: In our new car buyer’s guide he wrote that the 240SX was RWD in the description but front-engine/front-drive in the spec box.

Engine Problems
Issue: April ’99
Culprit: Rich
Goof: He said that Vinny Ten runs a stock 2JZGTE engine and that Andrew Yang runs a 1.6L DOHC VTEC.

So That’s What DOHC Means
Issue: Oct. ’97
Culprit: Karl
Goof: He said that the SPS Twin Cam Saturn had an SOHC engine.

Sunnyside Down
Issue: Oct. ’98
Culprit: Tracy
Goof: In the article on Turismo’s 11-second Civic coupe, Tracy cut off the end of the story. He blames Brazil’s poor defense (Tracy must have a thing against the word turismo.—BM).

The Yoo-nited States of America
Issue: Sep. ’97
Culprit: Bryn
Goof: She told readers to check out the new BMW USA web site: www.bmwysa.com.

They Can’t Read English, Can They?
Issue: Aug. ’99
Culprit: Brent
Goof: In our story on Japanese Readers’ Rides (“Right Hand Rides”) he called male reader, Naoki Takahashi a “she.”

Clutch Problem
Issue: Nov. ’96
Culprit: Karl
Goof: In a clutch install, Karl said that it was OK to reuse the old throwout bearing instead of using a new one. Clutch Masters does not recommend reusing a throwout bearing.

Technical Difficulties
Issue: April ’99
Culprit: Brent
Goof: He wrongly documented the accuracy of the G-Tech Pro. He initially said that our sister publication, Car Craft, had tested a G-Tech Pro and reported an average error of one-tenth of a second and 1 mph. The actual numbers were one-half of a tenth of a second and 2.5 mph. Then in the correction, he made another goof when he cited his old goof. He said the G-Tech Pro was 1-second off in his initial goof. Make sense? Thought so.

Kia News
Issue: Nov. ’97
Culprit: Matt
Goof: He used this photo to describe Kia’s new Web site. This is the same photo we used to correct Super Goof two pages earlier in the same issue.

Final Tally
Matt: 6 goofs
Brent: 6 goofs
Rich: 6 goofs
Bryn: 2 goofs
Jonathan: 3 goofs
Tracy: 2 goofs
Karl: 3 goofs
Entire Staff: 2 goofs