Brionna Lynch is out to prove something. She doesn’t want to be known as the best female stunt driver or best African American stunt driver. She wants to be known as one of the best stunt drivers. Full stop. And she is well on her way.

Jake Langer has owned more than 70 Toyota Celicas in his lifetime. Passionate? Yes. Devoted? Yes. Obsessed? Perhaps. The year was 1989 when Langer bought a 1976 Celica from his dad for $600 and he hasn’t looked back. He wrenched on it when it needed work, customized it, and kept it in his possession for 28 years. That’s passion.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Los Angeles—the “City of Angels”—was the epicenter of the romantic and alluring picture of California known around the world. It was the home of Hollywood, The Beach Boys, Hot Rods, and bikini-clad girls. And it was there, in June of 1959, from a small mom-and-pop L.A. storefront at 4077 West Pico Boulevard, that Honda began selling their very first products in the United States, under the name of American Honda Motor Co. Inc.

The joy that her 1990 Lexus LS 400 brings her is palpable. That’s because she has built something unique: a true automotive mashup, a luxury sedan meets an off-road machine in a way that wasn’t intended. That’s what makes the car so special. Her determination to make the Lexus her own manifested itself in something that feels familiar yet is entirely new, like a new song that you know you’ve never heard before, but it feels like life wouldn’t be the same without it.

When content is king, you can build an empire with six GoPros and a Canon 5D. Hoonigan started in 2010 as no more than a t-shirt logo designed in a New York City apartment. Eleven years later, the brand exists as a motorsport powerhouse occupying half a city block in Los Angeles.

In my day, the standard advice from family, friends, and educators was simple. Get an apprenticeship and learn your craft. Or go to college and get a career. But a minority of people struggle with such limited options, knowing that neither feels right, sensing there have to be other ways. Often perceived as lazy, rebellious, or plain cantankerous, such iconoclasts are forced to rely on their determination and clarity of thought to find their path.

The Volvo Amazon is one of those cult classics that’s not a top-of-mind car but elicits a genuine reaction when spotted in the wild. They are cool, capable, and a willing build partner. Lower the stance, swap on some trick wheels, and the Amazon transforms from basic utilitarian transportation to fun-loving custom cruiser.

They were never the fastest cars on the road or the most popular posters on the wall, but for nearly three decades, Lancia ruled the world of rally. Founded in 1906 in Turin, Italy, Lancia built a reputation as a company that looked at car building differently.

Walk down the street in the late 1970s and early 1980s and you’d hear synthesizer-driven songs like “Rio” from Duran Duran or “Take on Me” from A-Ha blasting out of car radios. These were hard times for acoustic instrument makers; many struggled to market products that came from a more folksy, less hip era. Then, in 1985, an unlikely champion named Prince reminded the world why acoustic instruments mattered.

They say you should never meet your heroes—that it’s better not to test the reality of your heroes against your hopes and expectations. But for a lifelong Lexus and Toyota fan like me, it was hard to turn down the opportunity to meet the most heroic modern Lexus, the LFA.

Car collecting can sometimes seem like big-game hunting – the acquisition of trophies to put on the wall and admire – or in this case, in a temperature-controlled garage beyond the gaze of those who admire them the most. Unless your name is Tom Ellison that is.

The Consulier is one of those ahead-of-its-time stories. Built between 1985 and 1993, the GTP had the specs, the street cred of a supercar: it’s a mid-engine design featuring a composite monocoque chassis with an integrated carbon-Kevlar body that’s powered by a turbo-boosted engine.