It’s an age old question, but one I never grow tired of considering: Just what is the ugliest car ever built. I’m not talking about a one-off, homebuilt special that some crackpot put together in his backyard. I’m interested in the ones that were (supposedly) the work of an OEM or independent design team, and then approved by an (allegedly) intellegent bunch of product people and execs.Â
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Ford Motor Co. today announced plans to produce its own diesel engine for Ford Super Duty pickups.
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Photo credit: Steve Wilson
Brian McClelland holding the first place trophy.
By Don Cook
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Kennedale Speedway Park (Kennedale)
Aug. 28 (Friday)
Brian McClelland, a former ASCS Sooner Region champion, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, won the American Sprint Car Series Lone Star Region 25-lap feature at Kennedale Speedway Park Friday night. Starting on the front row, Brian and Skip Wilson battled back and forth for the lead until Travis Rilat took over the lead about halfway through the race. Rilat was looking like a winner until he had to drop out due to mechanical problems with only a few laps to go. Brian regained the lead and never looked back. This was the first win for veteran car owner Ronnie Davis since Brian joined him a few weeks ago. The top five finishers were Skip Wilson, Kolt Walker, Eric Baldaccini and ASCS Lone Star points leader Kevin Ramey. The ASCS Lone Star Region moved across the fence to Cowtown Speedway on Saturday.
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How to Screw-Up Mac and Cheese; DadGoneMad.com
As the mother of two young boys and the wife of an excellent cook, I think it’s important that kids learn how to cook. I’ve known too many adults who are at a loss in the kitchen. Of course, I’m not perfect. My husband recently banned me from roasting chicken after I’d undercooked it again. We all make mistakes when cooking and I think that’s why I find this post by Danny Evans of DadGoneMad to be so funny. Danny writes about one of his first attempts as a teen to make dinner for his family. After reading this post you’ll think twice before digging into a bowl of macaroni and cheese.
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VW has dreams of moving 150,000 Porsches per year by 2012. Meanwhile, Stuttgart’s finest is struggling with a nightmare market. Porsche spokesman Tony Fouladapour told TTAC that the automaker’s franchised dealers are now holding more than a 100 days’ worth of 911s, Caymans and Boxsters. (That’s up from the 92-day supply reported by Automotive News for August 1.) Not to mention the 100 to 150 box-fresh units already heading stateside. Responding to the glut, Porsche’s pulled 2010 inventories from all their dealers’ websites; some 273 Porkers have disappeared into the ether. Or is that from the ether? Either way, Porsche’s hit delete on all but a few ’10 special editions (e.g., the GT3 and Cayenne S Transsyberia). When will the 2010s return to cyberspace (or any other marketing venue)? “When the inventory situation improves.” To that end, the brand’s launched “The Porsche Moment”: 1.9 percent financing. [Thanks to The Comedian for the heads-up.]
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According to CBS News, an ex-lawyer for Toyota of North America has filed a racketeering suit against his former employer. ToMoCo’s former managing counsel Dimitrios P. Biller accused the automaker of illegally withholding evidence in hundreds of rollover death and injury cases, in a “ruthless conspiracy” to suppress evidence of its vehicles “structural shortcomings.” Further, “Biller’s 75-page complaint [download pdf here] says that when he came to Toyota after nearly 15 years in private practice, he was ’surprised and alarmed’ to discover that the company was not producing e-mails and other electronically stored information to plaintiffs as he said was required. According to the lawsuit, Biller repeatedly complained to supervisors that the company was illegally withholding evidence. The lawsuit further states that the resulting conflicts ultimately caused Biller to suffer a mental breakdown and led to his forced resignation in September 2007. He left with a $3.7 million severance agreement, court records show.” [thanks to Dennis for the link]
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On April 1st, 2008 significant modifications to road safety regulations in the Canadian provinces of QuĂ©bec 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 QuĂ©bec 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 QuĂ©bec. 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 QuĂ©bec 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.
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UK retail gloom lifting?
25th August 2009 15:56
Interesting to hear the other day about the testing times in the UK retail sector when Pendragon’s latest results came out. Golding’s analysis suggests that the grand design has been traded in for simple survival, with the axe taken to the cost base. The share price trend for Pendragon - below chart - shows that sentiment has perked up a bit lately.
At least the gloom has been lifted a little by the UK car scrappage scheme and higher margins on used cars. Will more money be found for the scrappage scheme (in danger of running out of funds by November) from UK Gov’s coffers? I’d be surprised if not. We can’t afford it but it’s probably a case of ‘what the hell’.
GOLDING’S TAKE: The bigger car retailers are, the harder they fall
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In July of last year, the fine folks at Xweb, an online X1/9 community, stumbled across that post. They quickly registered the criticisms I made of their beloved Italian wedge and expressed a range of emotions ranging between bemusement and righteous indignation. I was startled by the response and headed over to Xweb to try to clear things up. My explanatory post was fairly well-received by most Xwebians, with one exception–Bernice, who described herself as “the lioness that ends up biting you on what you wrote about the X1/9.” Bernice, quite simply, brought the pain.
Well, as it turns out, Bernice and some other X1/9 fanatics entered a X1/9 in this year’s 24 Hours of LeMons–a hilarious and surprisingly intense 24-hour endurance race contested by beaters worth $500 or less. In short, just like the similarly named Concours d’LeMons, a Car Lust-type of event. If you’re still doubtful of the weirdness quotient present here, consider that this race was won by a 1984 Volvo 244.
Bernice and her fellow X1/9 fans entered under the name Italian Stallions Racing, and they dubbed their X1/9 The Flyin’ Spaghetti Monster. In an attempt to bury the hatchet with this fine protectoress of origami Italian sports cars, I present to you a recap of the 24 Hours of LeMons, as told by Bernice. For more comprehensive coverage of the 24 Hours of LeMons, check out Jalopnik or any of the sources here at the official site.
Last weekend we ran our Bertone/Fiat X1/9Â at the 24 Hours of LeMons at Buttonwillow Raceway. We finished trouble-free and running
well. Two hours in we were in third overall and contending for the lead, but as the race went on the more powerful cars (like the V-8-powered Volvo) got us.
The end of the race was exciting; on the last lap the leading Acura Integra was fighting off the Volvo and rolled the car. The driver is OK, but the car fared less well–video at the end of the post.
We finished 16th overall, first in class L3, tied with the class L2 leader. We were 15th overall, one of four cars tied at 244 laps completed.We got a trophy for our class win and one from Grassroots Motorspots, “Most From The Least.”
It was hot during the day, about 100 degrees. This caused many cars to die from overheating, blown head gaskets,
flying con rods, exploding hoses, leaking water pumps, electrical problems,
and fried brakes. One BMW’s brakes ran so hot, the pad backing fused itself on to
the rotor and piston. Many teams were working hard to put their cars
back together all event long.
All of our drivers (Chris, Pel and Mike) had cool shirts which helped a lot during
their 1.5-2 hour driving stints. Our X kept its cool well enough, under
a constant load of 6,000 to 8,200 RPM hour after hour.
Here are our class win and “Most from the Least” trophies.
Our Team, left to right–Mike, Pel,
Bernice, Chris, and Jen. The car is the #69, Flyin’ Spaghetti Monster, a 1980 Bertone/Fiat X1/9.
Here’s Chris in the car.
Here’s Chris, Pel, and me–Pel is in the car.
Chris: Here’s the final finishing order–the team names and car list are entertaining, so it’s worth clicking to expand the picture.
The first two photos here came from Flickr user karamia29. The rest are from Bernice.
Bernice: Here’s the video–the first video is of the flip on the last lap. The second is some in-car video from team “Formula BMW 325e.” Their driver, Rahul, tried to get past our X with Pel driving. The BMW has 2.5 liters of engine versus the Fiat’s 1.5 liters.Both cars and drivers are very well matched.. Rahul finally got by after Pel got caught in a dust cloud caused by another car going off course.
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