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Showing results for tags 'Automobiles'.
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Does it worry anyone that these have seatbelts? "Google Self-Driving Car Project" on google.com Am I the only person who's going to be scared as hell at first? I get the front-back-right-left stuff, but what about potholes, wet streets when the temperature drops to 31 degrees, falling tree limbs, etc.? Call me skeptical and old-fashioned, but the first time I ever sit in one of these things, I'm not going to just open my book of crossword puzzles and start ignoring everything; I'm going to be clutching the armrests in terror. At least the "driving while texting" issue will be solved, in theory.
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"How Germany Became the Country of Cars" by Sarah Staples on bbc.com It makes me wonder: Did Japan steal our automotive engineering, or did we steal Germany's? -
I have to put "American" in quotes, since the body of this gorgeous car was done in Italy (by Scaglietti of Maranello, who did coachwork for Ferrari race cars). Only three of these beauties were ever made - the backstory of the third car (pictured below) is detailed here on conceptcarz.com: "This is one of three 1959 Corvette chassis sent to Carrozzeria Scaglietti in Maranello, Italy, to get lightweight alloy bodies. The new design by Sergio Scaglietti was the project of three Texas-based racers - Gary Laughlin, Jim Hall and Carroll Shelby - who where trying to beat Ferrari at their own game; they wanted to create an inexpensive lightweight sports racing car with Chevrolet power. Their intention was to race these cars against the likes of the Ferrari 250 GTOs and the 250 SWB Berlinettas. Scaglietti's biggest customer, Enzo Ferrari, was not pleased. Consequently, the car took more than two years to complete and the project failed. This is perhaps the Cobra that should have been, but the Texas trio eventually turned their attention to other cars including Carroll Shelby's hugely successful AC Cobra project. The concept was to use an inexpensive, reliable American drive train mated with an exotic Italian body. Shelby acquired three corvette rolling chassis. One with a four-speed transmission the others with the powerglide, all had the standard 283 cubic-inch engine. With the help of American Perter Coltran, of Modena, Italy a connection was established with coachbuilder Sergio Scaglietti. His design incorporated many features found on the Ferraris being built at the same facility at the time. Progress on the three cars went very slowly, taking 18 months to complete car number 1. Cars #2 and #3 were completed in the USA. This is the 3rd and last Scaglietti Corvette."
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Call me old-fashioned, but the notion of these things still scares the hell out of me - especially being next to a truck on the Interstate (cross-country truck drivers are going to be a dying breed, I suppose). One thing I've thought of that I haven't heard mentioned elsewhere: I envision a future - perhaps not during my lifetime - where self-driving cars on demand pull up to your residence, and take you away (but how will they know where to park?!). This, of course, has been mentioned before. The novel thing that I've thought of is that, accompanying this disturbing inevitability, will be a *huge* increase in demand for run-flat tires. Companies owning self-driving cars on-demand will not want to send someone out to change a flat tire each time there's a blowout; instead, they'll merely summon the cars back to a central location, and change the tires there - ergo, run-flat tires.
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This car, now sixty years old, is really interesting: May 19, 2014 - "Ghia-Built 1956 Plymouth Plainsman Concept Returns to the Auction Block" by Kurt Ernst on blog.hemmings.com I doubt this is the original music, although I could imagine Barry White stepping out of one of these things: (You've got to love the trail of exhaust at the end.)
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Oslo, Norway Making City Center Car-Free within Four Years
DonRocks posted a topic in Current Events
Oct 19, 2015 - "Oslo Aims To Make City Center Car-Free within Four Years" on reuters.com -
There is an incidence of a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO selling for $38,115,000, making it the most expensive automobile ever sold at auction: Aug 16, 2014 - "Ferrari 250 GTO Smashes World Auction Record Fetching U.S. $38.1 Million" by Mike Hanlon on gizmag.com Aug 15, 2014 - "1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Hits Record $38 Million Sale at Bonhams' Monterey Auction" by Chris Bruce on autoblog.com I wonder what it is about this particular car that brings such high auction value - obviously, all it takes is two bidders, but there must be something special about it (other than being titanically awesome, of course). Do not be surprised to see this record broken in the very near future.
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It sounds trivial, but how many of you have pulled up to a gas pump in a rental car, guessing which side the gas tank is on, only to guess wrong, and have to furiously three-point it into another pump? This is the kind of thing that, if you know, you know, and if you don't, you only need to be told once in order to remember it forever. See the little gas-pump icon? The arrow next to it tells you (in the above picture) that the gas tank is on the left (the driver's side). If it were on the right, the arrow would be on the other side: That's it! That's all there is to it! I hope this helps a few people - I, myself, didn't know this until relatively recently, so I figure others might not either.
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This is egregious - it not only defrauds the buyers of the cars (who were trying to be "environmentally conscious"), but has also harmed the entire electric auto industry. It's amazing that companies think they can get away with this in the long-term. "VW Cheated on U.S. Pollution Tests for 'Clean Diesels'" by Jerry Hirsch on latimes.com
