Crapsters

Starting off the week with some exhaust on two of the worst new car model names:
Volkswagen Beetle E-Bugster
Hyundai Veloster
Are the marketing people doing this to appeal to the hipsters? Do they think adding ster to the end of everything is the silver bullet to success?
News alert – it’s fucking lame.

Categories:

Vehicle

Tags:

Road Inc.

Wow, how quickly did this go on my Christmas list?

The first digital object dedicated to the automobile, Road Inc. comes with 50 iconic models to unveil. Having dominated racetracks, revolutionized industry, reinvented luxury or simply gained huge popular recognition, they are the landmarks of Road Inc.!

Categories:

Vehicle

Tags:

Dodge Coronet

I’ve been in San Francisco the last week and one of the great things about this town is all the classic car porn on the streets. We don’t have a fraction of these classics in New York.
Below is a Dodge Coronet I found and started shooting with my iPhone. The owner saw me from his house, came out to the street, and told me to go inside the car if I wanted.
I wanted.
There’s some great details on the car, like the push button shifter to the left of the steering wheel. The owner also told me about the hidden feature which let you start the car by pushing a button rather than turning the ignition. The idea was this made it easier for women. Oh, times change.
Coronet_01.jpg
Coronet_02.jpg
Coronet_03.jpg
Coronet_04.jpg
Coronet_05.jpg

Categories:

Vehicle

Tags:

Steve’s Plates

I always wondered how Steve Jobs remained above the law with his license plateless Mercedes.
iTWire has the story:

Steve (or someone close to him) spotted a loophole in the California vehicle laws. Anyone with a brand new car had a maximum of six months to affix the issued number plate to the vehicle.

So Jobs made an arrangement with the leasing company; he would always change cars during the sixth month of the lease, exchanging one silver Mercedes SL55 AMG for another identical one. At no time would he ever be in a car as old as six months; and thus there was no legal requirement to have the number plates fitted.

I could never do this. When I get car, I get it for the long haul. I want it to become an extension of me. But I guess if you don’t have a passion for cars, this is no big deal.
via The Loop

Categories:

Vehicle

Tags:

Gone In 60 Seconds

Carscoop on how technology is making our cars more vulnerable to attack:

The modern automobile is a microcosm for our networked society. Everything from the brakes to the dual-zone climate control and from the windscreen wipers to the CD player is connected through a Controller-Area-Network (CAN) bus.

Like the nerves in our bodies, this network passes information from one component to another. It allows the anti-lock brakes and electronic stability control to work in unison, disconnects the cruise control when you step on the accelerator and allows the headlights to switch themselves on in low light conditions.

Like all networks, however, the ones in our cars are vulnerable to attack from hackers. Last year, researchers with the Center for Automotive Embedded Systems Security (CAESS) at the University of California San Diego and the University of Washington demonstrated how a car could be hacked through its ODB-II port.

Totally important and valid point.
The counterpoint to this is that cars have always been vulnerable to attack. Screwdrivers in tumblers, hotwiring, slim jims. Those are yesterday’s tools.
Today’s have gotten more sophisticated is all.

Categories:

Vehicle

Tags:

Two-Face

1967 Oldsmobile Toronado by Precision Restorations, so lovely . . . both sides:
1967 Oldsmobile Toronado
1967 Oldsmobile Toronado
1967 Oldsmobile Toronado
via Carscoop

Categories:

Vehicle

Tags:

It Can Run On Vegetable Oil

Chrysler_Turbine_concept_1963.jpg
Chrysler Turbine Car

The fourth-generation Chrysler turbine engine ran at up to 44,500 revolutions per minute, according to the owner’s manual, and could use diesel fuel, unleaded gasoline, kerosene, JP-4 jet fuel, and even vegetable oil. The engine would run on virtually anything and the President of Mexico tested this theory by running one of the first cars–successfully–on tequila.

We like to think of electric cars and hybrid cars and cars that run on alternative fuel as new concepts but there’s been people working on these technologies for a long time.
via Good Old Valves

Categories:

Vehicle

Tags: