Gift Guide: Mysteries, myths, horns and an exhausted iPod dock

Published November 26, 2012

Peter Bleakney

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Here’s a unique gift I’d love to give someone — preferably my wife ’cause then I’d get to use it.

iXoost is a Modena, Italy-based outfit that makes artfully crafted iPod and iPhone docks from used exhaust headers. And we’re not talkin’ Fiat Punto manifolds here. Go to their website (ixoost.it) and, depending on availability, you can have your audio playing from the twisting tubes of a 1990 March F1 Judd V8, a 2004 Cosworth F1 V10 or a Maserati MC12 V12. The more cylinders, the more money, and prices start at about 5,000 euros ($6,500 Canadian).

Gifts under $100

Hub Caps: Isn’t winter crappy enough without having to look at yucky black steel rims? I bought some snazzy Michelin-brand covers for my GTI’s 16-inch winter wheels at Canadian Tire for about $80 and my mood has improved tremendously.

Dukes of Hazard Dixie Horn: With this five-note air horn, your neighbours will think it’s the General Lee coming down the street. Comes with compressor and all mounting hardware for $75 from shrunkenheads.com.

Gifts under $50

A new book by well-known U.S. auto writers Preston Lerner and Matt Stone, History’s Greatest Mysteries, Myths and Rumors Revealed, makes for a fun read and a good tome for the loo. If you’re wondering about the curse-carrying parts from James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder, what was the first car to break the sound barrier, or who really won the first Indianapolis 500, this is the book to get. About $30 at most book stores.

For about $25 at Canadian Tire, a five-piece Turtle Wax gift pack will have your significant other dreaming of spring. It contains wash, wax, interior treatment, wheel cleaner and tire polish. Throw in a pack of Simoniz wash mitts for $20 and it’s ho, ho, ho.

wheels@thestar.ca