My good friend back home sent me some photos of the latest progress on his SR20DE-powered Datsun 510 project. Actually, he is transferring the guts of a running SR20-powered car he already built to a car with a much better body.
posted in Car News Articles | 0 Comments
I’m sure LA scribe Dan Neil’s extraction from the U.S. Top Gear team came as no surprise to anyone who’s ever seen The Player, or any other Hollywood movie about how Hollywood movies are ruined by Hollywood executives (who probably ruined the movie about how Hollywood executives ruin movies). It’s the rare creative venture that can survive the cold dead hand of executives working for a deeply-entrenched, publicly-owned media company. From the moment that an American Top Gear was first mooted, American pistonheads (gearheads?) suspected the worst. They just knew that Top Gear’s anarchic yet elitist spirit couldn’t survive the jump into ad-sponsored network hypespace. Still, some good will come of NBC strong-arm tactics. As TTAC commentator Tom Anderson points out, Neil’s dismissal saves him from the possibility, perhaps probability, OK certainty of an ignominious loss of credibility. Dan’s automotive criticism is too important– as recognized by Lilly Pulitzer, I mean the Pulitzer prize people– to suffer a massive loss of face. This way, his work will remain unsullied; a literary gift to future generations. Meanwhile, Justin and I try to show that goofing around has its place in the autoblogosphere. We kid, you deride.
posted in Car News Articles | 0 Comments
On April 1st, 2008 significant modifications to road safety regulations in the Canadian provinces of Québec and Nova Scotia went into effect. CTV.ca reports that handheld cellular phones are now verboten while at the wheel, though hands free devices are still tolerated. Nova Scotia will begin ticketing the offense immediately, while Québec has allowed for a three-month grace periods in which offenders will only receive stern warnings and moralizing sermons. The first offense in Nova Scotia will cost $165, while costing $80-$110 and three demerit points in Québec. Still not satisfied, road safety advocate Jean-Marie de Koeninck argues that “[h]ands-free is just as dangerous. (But) by forbidding the hand-held it does send a signal that there is a problem with the cellphone, there’s a problem with concentration”. Meanwhile, the same traffic safety bill in Québec also doubled all speeding fines , with new suspension of license provisions for those caught traveling at 40 km/h over the limit in under-60 zones, 50 km/h in 60-90 over zones, and 60 km/h over in 100+ zones. All in the name of safety, presumably.
posted in Car News Articles | 0 Comments
The Hindu Times reports that the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers and TATA Motors have asked the Indian government to slap a 35 percent duty on Chinese goods. The duty’s proponents argue that Beijing’s enforced yuan-to-dollar parity has given Chinese manufacturers up to 30 percent advantage on exports. The proposed duty will supposedly level the playing field. Of course, what’s bad for Indian manufacturers is good for Indian consumers. But protective tariffs have become a worryingly commonplace phenomenon in the Asian auto biz. Once one country gives its industry a small advantage, it tends to create a protective tariff arms race and from China and Korea to Malaysia and Indonesia, everyone is jumping in on the action. If India further legitimizes the practice, there will be few remaining incentives for fair competition in the fastest growing auto markets in the world.
posted in Car News Articles | 0 Comments
While Standard & Poor’s are planning for a seven percent slide in auto sales for the U.S. of A, things north of the border are looking up. The CBC reports that the Canadian automotive market will nip at the heels of last year’s totals (their second best year ever). The forecast comes courtesy of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants head honcho, Dennis DesRosiers. After seeing double-digit jumps throughout the first quarter, Dennis deduced an improved forecast was due. DesRosiers reckons the strong Loonie, decreased taxes (one percent G.S.T drop), and healthier Canuck economy will entice more Canadians to throw down for price-reduced whips this year. Don’t figure on this news making up for the U.S. slide though. The improved forecast accounts for a mere 8k unit improvement (1.645m total).
posted in Car News Articles | 0 Comments
In the growing war of words between bio-fuel producers and savvy environmentalists, pro-ethanol supporters often point to Brazil, claiming that the South American country’s energy independence offers a template for America’s future. Detractors already know that Brazil’s booming ethanol production is based on geography (sugar cane rather than corn), takes a heavy toll on the [ideologically sacrosanct] rain forest and has little to do with the country’s net energy consumption. And here’s a new wrinkle. Energy Business Review says “Brazilian ethanol producers reportedly exported a majority of their fuels to Europe in 2007. Increased exports have saved Brazilian sugarcane producers from going bankrupt as sugarcane prices fell below the cost of production on commodity exchanges.” This is a bitch because both the U.K. and Germany have recently “de-incentivized” bio-fuel consumption. And that means… “Brazilian ethanol exporters are pro-actively lobbying with common interest groups in the US, to help create a global market for ethanol.” Energy independence be damned; what’s the bet America’s corn-fed politicians raise the barriers?Â
posted in Car News Articles | 0 Comments
I mean, you can’t expect an engine producing 1,800bhp to run for hours without needing its guts scooping out and replacing regularly.
posted in Car News Articles | 0 Comments
What would a ‘nine-minute limousine’ be? One produced every nine minutes? 0-100 in nine minutes? Or is it a stretch-limo that will take a bubbly posse of screaming Essex girls from Basildon to the West End in a vodka and coke induced blur that seems like just nine minutes (to the passengers that is, but more like nine hours for the driver)?
No, it was an amusing advertising tagline used by Lada in Germany in the mid-90s.
Lada took space in German newspapers back then with a big campaign that proclaimed Lada the ‘Nine-Minute Limousine’. (For those that don’t remember the old deutschemark, there were about three to the pound.)
‘The German Economics Institute has calculated that the average German worker only has to work nine minutes a day to earn 3.15 DM. For that, you can almost get a Lada Samara.’
Love the slow-burn humour encapsulated in that. One to perhaps trot out next time you hear someone take a cheap pop at a wheezing old Lada Samara or Riva (maybe such vehicles are ‘classics‘ in Western European markets by now…).
posted in Car News Articles | 0 Comments
Via
Thanhnien News
A national brand will build on Vietnam’s reputation for high quality goods and services
Productivity and efficiency should be uppermost in the minds of every Vietnamese citizen and business, says Do Thang Hai, an Industry and Commerce Ministry official of a new initiative to develop a national brand name.
How will the National Brand Name Program develop a national brand name by 2050 as it aims to do? Is this goal too ambitious?
Do Thang Hai: The program’s goal is to convey an image of a country which is developing according to its values.
Unlike in the past, we must create a national image built on the values of renovation, creativity, quality and leadership capacity so Vietnam further develops its reputation for diverse and high-quality goods and services.
The goal is also to create a uniquely Vietnamese identity and to enhance the attractiveness of the Vietnamese country and people.
posted in Car News Articles | 0 Comments
I love slick sports coupes and sedans, and high-horsepower, high-testosterone muscle cars get my blood churning, so my fixation with seemingly mediocre 1970s American cars must seem a little strange. Sports coupes, sports sedans, and muscle cars all tend to combine style, power, and athleticism; in the popular eye, 1970s American cars bring only gauche style and flabby, anemic performance to the table.
Certainly, it was a dark time in the automotive world, with tightening emissions restrictions, an awful fuel shortage, plunging power levels, and an odd predilection towards baroque styling elements. But when people give me a hard time about my 1970s car infatuation, I point to cars like the 1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass as examples of why I find them so compelling.
It’s easy to focus on the tacky cars of the 1970s, (I’m not immune) but what gets lost is the fact that there were a lot of strong, cleanly styled typical American cars during this period that looked good, ran reliably, and made a lot of people happy.
I find the ‘73 Cutlass particularly good-looking, with its scalloped fenders and delicate detailing. It’s a distinctive look without crossing the line to busy. The Cutlass was also a sweetheart of a car mechanically–not a hot rod, but a comfortable, stylish cruiser with an plush ride and a torquey 350 V-8.
In a way, the Cutlass is a proud representative of a sweet spot in American car history. In the same way that Kleenex knows how to make facial tissue, Detroit just knew how to build large, V-8-powered, rear-wheel-drive cruisers. That knowledge was hard-coded into the DNA of every major American car company. The major disasters came when the Big Three had to step outside of that comfort zone to try something new.
The ‘73 Cutlass was more reliable, better-executed, and more satisfying to drive than the jumbled messes that came immediately after it when Detroit fumbled with small engines and front-wheel-drive. The Cutlass was a particularly good example of how good a typical American rear-wheel-drive car was before GM lost the playbook.
With its understated looks, its well-tested engineering, and throwback driving dynamics, the Cutlass would certainly be welcome in my garage–if only I could find one.
This particular example is owned by Frank Alfter, is in gorgeous like-new condition and is currently in storage.
–Chris H.
posted in Car News Articles | 0 Comments