2014 Porsche 911 Targa

Via The Verge

I never owned a bike in the 12 years I lived in Manhattan. The 24/7 subway, my feet and the occasional taxi always had me covered.
Now I live in San Francisco. Mass transit is still an option, although it’s not nearly as pervasive as NYC’s. Walking is mostly doable, but again, not as much as NYC. As for taxis, Eddie Izzard is right, there’s about 5 in the whole city. Über is magical and awesome, but I’m not made of money.
So I’m going to get a bicycle very soon. Something reliable and strong with gears for getting up SF hills, but also scratched up and cheap—something I don’t have to worry about getting stolen.
I moved out of NYC before they implemented the Citibike program, which has proven to be a success.
Co.Exist finds they’re safe too:

Nearly seven months after New Yorkers first took their heavy blue frames for a spin, Tom Swanson, a solutions engineer for the mapping firm Esri and an avid cyclist, has crunched the numbers. By his count, Citibike has actually not significantly increased the number of bike collisions at all.
Over at Chicago Magazine, Whet Moser finds there’s a lot of bicycle haters out there too, like this rant from Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass on Chicago’s bike share program:
“This is the problem with the Divvy bikes, with all the bikes,” Kass says in the video. “This is a city made for people who want to go from point A to point B. This is not some Seattle coffee, grunge, pothead experiment. This is Chicago… Shut the whole Divvy bike thing down. Get off Dearborn. I’m tired of you people.”
I’m someone who drives a decent amount in SF but also wants a bicycle, and from my perspective as a driver my problem with (some) cyclists isn’t their form of transportation, it’s how they conduct themselves on the roads. They behave like a pedestrian when it’s convenient and a car when it’s convenient.
When you operate under two sets of rules accidents happen.

via The Loop
(Title attributed to sci-fi author William Gibson)

1955 Lincoln Indianapolis Exclusive Study by Carrozzeria Boano Torino.

via Megadeluxe

One of my new favorite old cars, the International Harvester Scout.
Here’s a soft top version from 1976:

via

The NYTimes reports that “a team of California craftsmen is restoring the first Duesenberg sold to the public to its original 1921 glory and to compete at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance.” Be sure to check out the 2-minute video accompanying the article.

You ever here some use the term, “It’s a Duesie”?

It came from this car.

BGR: Frost & Sullivan: Apple is ‘too late and too limited’ to tackle automotive market:

Well known business consultant and market research firm Frost & Sullivan recently issued a report that claims Apple’s move to take on the automotive infotainment market with Siri and iOS 7 is “too late and too limited.” Apple announced this past June that it will introduce deeper Siri integration with in-car systems when it releases iOS 7 this fall, but Frost & Sullivan thinks Apple’s move into the space will never amount to much.
Too late and too limited?
If you say so.
But I say you’re wrong.

Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee.
Is coming back.
*I love that he drives Dave Letterman in a 750 Volvo wagon. Ha.

Screen Junkies presents mechanics on the mechanics of Fast & Furious

Taken from Vintage Scans

So Achates Power, in San Diego, is working on a diesel engine that uses 1/3 less fuel than conventional engines:

The basic Junkers design has an unusual arrangement of pistons. In a conventional engine, a piston moves inside a cylinder, compressing fuel and air against a cylinder head. A significant amount of energy in fuel ends up heating the cylinder head rather than driving a piston. The Junkers design puts two pistons in the same cylinder and eliminates the cylinder head. Instead, the two pistons compress fuel and air between them and then fly in opposite directions when the fuel is combusted.
I love that the name of the German company that’s the source of Achates design is named “Junkers.”
(This article is from January, but I’m posting it anyway. I’m way behind in links)

The Verge says the real-life Batmobile Tumbler is racing in Gumball rally next week.
Uh, AWESOME?
Not to be confused with the American Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash.
And it reminds me of one of my favorite pieces of writing from Wired, The Pedal-to-the-Metal, Totally Illegal, Cross-Country Sprint for Glory:

“Ultimately, this drive is a math calculation,” Roy says. Maher looks blank. Roy points to a series of cells in the spreadsheet. Maher scans it, then turns the page, searching. “See,” Roy says, “that’s the average we’re looking to hit: 90.”
“I know this average,” Maher says quietly. He flips through more pages. “I’m looking for the extended stretches of big speed, the long stretches where we can really hit it and make time.”

Roy straightens. “Well, those don’t really exist,” he says. “You’ll see. It’s very rare to run over 100 for even a minute or two… “

“Oh yeah?” Maher says smiling. “Well, I’m about to change that.”