CARNIVAL OF CARS: A Drive Around the Auto Blog Block for Saturday, July 28, 2007
Ford announced a second quarter profit while yours truly was slow-roasting on the beach, so maybe Dearborn should pay me to take more vacations! In any case, let's hit the road and see what else has been happenin' around the auto blog block, shall we?
From
The Auto Prophet's "Much Money/Few Brains" department comes
this video of an unintended demo of the power of cross-torsional stresses when subjected to directional motions. And while you are at it, don't miss the video of Michelin's radical
new Tweel, which
The Auto Prophet also happens to have posted for your viewing pleasure.
Speaking of neat videos,
The Driving Enthusiast has posted
Nissan's attempt to generate more word-of-mouth about the upcoming release of the Skyline here in the states. I know the Skyline is an awesome vehicle, but why does it get soooo much hype? Is it really
that awesome?
New details are available over at
The Car Connection on Toyota's plans to test a
next-generation plug-in Prius here and in Japan.
Having spent a lot of time behind the wheel of an 88 Mustang competing in the old Firestone Firehawk Series (without any hope of victory, I might add, thanks to the Fox generation's rear drum brakes and a high center of gravity compared to the Camaro and Firebird), Dan Shapiro's
memories of his graduation gift to himself struck home with me. If you've ever experienced monster understeer followed just past the apex by massive oversteeer, you will know exactly what Dan's is talking about on the
JD Power blog.
Summer is normally a great selling season for automakers but 2007 is proving to be something
of a mixed bag, according to Michelle Krebs at Edmunds'
Auto Observer.
OK, admit it, if you are a car guy or gal, you've probably dreamed at least once about building your own vehicle, becoming a sort of backyard Colin Chapman, right? Well, Dorri Williams at
If It's Got An Engine ... and a buddy are doing it and documenting
the fun and futility. Keep an eye on this as Dorri thinks a Lotus 7 is just dandy so long as it has a Chevy small-block under its bonnet.
I just discovered
Bob Hoover's Blog. He's in the midst of discussing the ins and outs of the
Ring and Valve Job. I'm old enough to remember assisting Dad as he performed this operation a couple of times on one of the family vehicles. Read this post and you will begin to appreciate the fact smokers have become so rare on today's roads.
You just can't avoid economic reality. Peter DeLorenzo at
The Auto Extremist takes a look at Chrysler's new strategy for
eliminating "under-performing" dealers. Key Fact: Chrysler, GM and Ford have about two and a half times as many dealers as they need. That's another legacy from the days when the Big Three were the only game in town if you wanted to sell new cars and trucks.
Finally, my buddy Robert Farago at
The Truth About Cars used an, uh, unusual anatomical analogy to describe the Subaru Tribeca's oddball grille and was rewarded with a cancellation notice from the newsroom stiffs at The San Francisco Chronicle. But Robert
gets the last laugh as Subaru has given the Tribeca a new nose.
See ya!
- Permalink | Comments (2)
- Posted by: Mark Tapscott July 28, 2007, 4:46 AM
- Categories:
Enjoyed the info, thank you!
Ironically, the BMW flipover revealed just how little cushioning super lo-pro tires offer. Before flipping, that car was almost grinding its rims.
As BMW's parked on sides of LA freeway prove, when moving forward at speed, any pothole or decent bump would have wrecked the wheel.
As for the "bloated" USA dealer inventory, what criteria are the manufacturers going to use to thin them out? Customer satisfaction? Number of units sold? Stay tuned.....
Tweel has been around in concept for quite a while, what's taking them so long to apply it to cars? 10 to 15 more years? Seems like it's already been about 5.
Skyline GT-Rs were forbidden fruit, so like the Porsche 959, it will always have a cult following. Not much of a video, in fact in the first half it seems kinda slow. Finally it picks up towards the end of that video.
As for Farago, they're still under a ban from both Subaru and BMW for their distasteful words, so I wouldn't say they're laughing much at all. The review sounds like sour apples to me.