Norris Cadiere and his family were among the thousands who evacuated their New Orleans-area homes ahead of Hurricane Gustav last week. The Cadieres, who waited out the storm in Georgia, decided to stop at the Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis, MS on the way back to their home in Marrero, which is around 10 miles outside New Orleans. Norris was playing the maximum bet on one of the casino's nickel slots when he got lucky, and the slot machine started going berserk. Cadiere thought he had won himself a thousand bucks or so, but he soon learned that, in fact, he had won a $30,000 2008 Mustang convertible (we're assuming it's a GT, given that price). All too often, violent storms like this result in a loss of some kind for those affected by them. In the Cadieres' case, not only did they wind up with a brand new car, but their house escaped the storm unscathed as well. Little did they know that when they took their unplanned (and almost certainly unwanted) road trip last week, Lady Luck would be riding shotgun the whole time.

Ford gave us a hint what changes we would be seeing on the 2010 Mustang by releasing images of its new edgy pony emblem yesterday, but a three-inch badge leaves a lot of room for speculation. We want to see more of the real deal. A member of MustangForums.com might have just the thing with what appears to be a photo of the 2010 Mustang hood. At first we had doubts that such an aggressive design would make it to production, but after taking a look at the spy photos, it looks like at least one of the test mules has a cowl hood lurking beneath all that camouflage. We'll be on the look out for more photos of the 2010 Mustang, and hopefully we'll have the whole car pieced together by the time the LA Auto Show rolls around!

Is it possible to buy a car that's both inexpensive and ultra cool? Can a $22,000 Toyota Prius really get you the same respect from the valet as a $70,000 BMW? That's what "Wired Magazine" wants to know, and they're asking readers to decide which of five relatively cheap cars they would feel coolest driving.

So far, the most expensive of the bunch, the Prius, is in third place with only 18% of the vote. Behind it with 11% is an early-'90s Volvo and a 25-year-old Mercedes 300 SDL. In first place, with a big lead over a used Ford Mustang, is a 1995-1997 Jaguar XJ6.

Really? Those are the only choices we get? For the price of that 2005 V6 Mustang, you could get yourself a real tire-smoking, V8-powered 1966 Mustang. Sure it'll need some paint, probably some fresh Bondo and maybe a transmission overhaul, but that builds character in both owner and car.

Or if you're not into power, don't even think about that wheezy Volvo. Go German instead, and get a classic VW Beetle. You'll pay more than what that boxy sedan cost, but the cool factor of the Bug will more than make up for it.

So what say you, Autoblog fans? What cheap transportation would you choose for its cool-boosting properties? Or is "Wired" right on the money?

Credit goes to our friends at Jalopnik for orchestrating the shot you see above, which took some quick planning and a lot of luck. General Motors recently held a sneak peak media drive for the Chevy Camaro V6 out in San Diego, and unfortunately only the biggest buff books and Edmunds Inside Line were invited (tsk, tsk). Jalopnik decided to crash the party the best way they know how - by showing up driving the Camaro's two biggest competitors, the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger. Classic Jalopnik, and how they managed to find two black ones we'll never know.

This is the first published picture of all three modern muscle cars together, at least that we know of. Jalopnik EIC Ray Wert and his team weathered an extremely miffed GM PR person to get it, and word is we'll have video later of the heated exchange. What GM got miffed about is unknown, since last we checked San Diego had no laws against driving your car and parking it on public streets. Now if you'll excuse us, we have to rummage through our junk folder to find the invitation to this event that we're sure GM sent and we somehow never got.