If you want to stand out from the crowd at this week's Amelia Island events, check out this one-off Poncho ragtop outfitted by the legendary Nudie Cohn

The arrival of the mid-1960s saw the automotive landscape shift to raw muscle. While this particular 1964 Bonneville--one of 22,016 Bonneville ragtops built that year--carries Pontiac's 421-cubic-inch V8 under the hood, that's not what makes it special. Rather, its uniqueness comes from the way this one-off Bonneville is trimmed out--with decorative pistols and rifles no less. Custom built for country music star Hank Williams Jr., this Bonneville was crafted by renowned tailor-to-the-stars Nudie Cohn, a Ukrainian-born Jewish-American tailor who, in addition to custom suits, created a handful of custom automobiles. When Audrey Williams, Hank's mother, saw some of Nudie's work, she placed an order for a custom Bonneville for her son, a rising country star. At that time in 1964, Hank Jr. was promoting a film biography of his late father, Hank Williams Sr., and the Bonneville itself became a celebrity of sorts, aiding in the film's publicity. Flanked by armed guards, the big Pontiac also accompanied Hank Jr. on tours, even making an appearance The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

A conversation with driver Emily Miller about this month's Rallye Aicha des Gazelles in Morocco

The air is magical in Morocco, the people are beautiful, the colors, textures, tastes, smells, and sounds are exotic.  It's so special that a part of me screams to not share it with the rest of the world.  To preserve it, just like locals in the towns I live in want to preserve their surf spot or favorite powder run.  But I also want to share it with those who I know will respect it, experience it, and leave it as they found it....

So wrote Emily Miller, Rod Hall Racing team member, as she thought back to last year's Rallye Aicha des Gazelles, her inaugural run across the Moroccan desert, while dreaming of this year's adventure. Miller's hesitation to introduce newcomers to the experience of this nine-day dune-fest is overshadowed by her wish to see more U.S. teams participate. The part of her that feels the natural intimacy of the Moroccan desert might be compromised by more competitors is smaller than her desire to see the number of American women involved in the rally grow.

Automotive Traveler's Scott Mead tracked down this gem, now up for grabs on eBay, almost three years ago

Running from 1968 to 1980, Hawaii 5-O was one of the top-rated TV shows in America, a dramatic staple of the prime-time lineup at CBS. Three years ago came the first DVD release of this classic cop drama, the story of a fictitious police organization tasked with solving the 50^th state's most difficult crimes, led by Steve McGarrett. When the DVD was released, we thought it would be a great idea to put together a connect-the-dots tour of Hawaii 5-O filming locations. We asked Hawaii resident Scott Mead to produce the story, touring the islands in a black Mercury Grand Marquis, the spiritual successor of McGarrett's black Mercury Park Lane. While we weren't too surprised when Scott turned in his feature that he had tracked down McGarrett's second and best-known Mercury, we were quite surprised when he tracked down the actual Pantera that played a central role in one of the series' most famous episodes, Death on Tantalus Mountain. That vehicle now resides in Las Vegas and is currently listed on eBay with an opening bid of $62,000.

Announcing a very special new Go Dogs Go! feature as America's traveling terrier turns sweet sixteen

Chaucer turns 16 today--that's 80 in human years, according to one of the new age calculators that takes into account your pet's breed. Many thought he wouldn't make it to this milestone, including me at one point. When he was less than a year, he contracted parvo (despite having had all his puppy shots) and was in the doggy version of ICU for almost a week. Other people's dogs arrived ill and departed well, and still he refused to die. That's when I knew the truth to the phrase "as tenacious as a terrier." Home he finally bounced and had hardly a day of poor health from then until last Autumn, when a neurological disorder began to rob him of his ability to stand up on his own and walk unassisted. Even the slight heart murmur he was diagnosed with several years back has never developed into a condition requiring medication. Despite cataracts, he can still spot a dropped Goldfish cracker across the room, and I strongly suspect that his hearing loss is somewhat selective.

Two great tours sure to challenge, no matter what you drive

The editorial team at Automotive Traveler prides itself on our ability to bring great cars, roads, and destinations together with enthusiast drivers. That was part of our original mantra when we started publishing the magazine version of Automotive Traveler back in 2007. Our original tagline was "Where every drive is an adventure." And while we currently have the magazine version on hiatus, we've never lost sight of that goal: to serve as the Internet's go-to place for information and news in both the automotive and travel categories and as an inspiration for our readers' own road-trip adventures.

Long-time readers may have noticed we've tweaked things a bit around here over the last two weeks, the kind of mid-cycle refresh often talked about when discussing a facelift of one of our favorite cars between major platform revisions. Our mid-cycle refresh involves a new layout for the left-hand side of the page, both to improve navigation and to give our best original features a presentation easily accessed by new visitors to the site.