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Post by Spider on Mar 15, 2011 18:25:59 GMT -5
'His & Her Mustang's' that look sorta like GTO's in the front.
I think they are ugly! __ 'S'
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Post by Spider on Apr 28, 2011 0:52:49 GMT -5
Not content to let rivals play the electric vehicle game without it, automaker Mitsubishi announced on Friday pricing for its all-electric vehicle named simply “i”. The four-door car, which from first glance looks at home zipping around narrow downtown streets, will start at an MSRP of $27,990, or $20,490 after a $7,500 federal tax credit. A few quick stats about the vehicle: •Speed-sensitive electric power steering •LED rear tail lamps •Driver seat heater •Electric air conditioning with micron filter •Remote keyless entry •On-board recharging system with 120V portable 8 amp charging cable •4 speaker, 100-watt AM/FM/CD audio system with MP3/WMA playback. Upgrades include a DC quick charging port and a “cold zone” package that includes a Li-Ion battery warming system, as well as more pedestrian fare, such as leather, fog lamps and a bigger sound system. The Mitsubishi “i” is available for pre-order now; the company says it will waive a home electrical inspection fee ($100) for the first 2,000 customers.[/b][/size][/color] _______________ __ 'S'
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Post by Spider on May 11, 2011 18:33:29 GMT -5
FastCompany.Com By: Ariel Schwartz May 10, 2011In The Future, Your Car Will Be More Plant Than Machine Ford is using organically derived materials all over their cars. Why? Because oil is too expensive. Car companies haven't come up with a plant-like replacement for vehicle engines, but they are using more bio-based materials in their vehicles--because the automakers of the world are more aware than anyone that the world is running out of oil.
This week, Ford--the auto industry's plant cheerleader--announced that it is researching the use of dandelion root in parts of its cars' interiors. That's just one biological element you might start seeing in Ford's cars.
"In theory, anytime you can grow something as opposed to paying for it to be shipped, the better the economic cost," explains Angela Harris, Ford's lead research engineer, in an email to Fast Company.
The dandelions will be used as a rubber replacement in the car company's cupholders, interior trim, and floor mats. The key to the research is a species of Russian dandelion, Taraxacum kok-saghyz, that contains a milky-white substance which could could be an ideal replacement for synthetic rubber.
"This variety of dandelion is much hardier than the kind typically found in our backyards,” Harris says in a press release. "It’s strange to see weeds being grown in perfectly manicured rows in a greenhouse, but these dandelions could be the next sustainable material in our vehicles."
Ford has already replaced petroleum-based foam with soy foam in many of its vehicles. The feature has helped the company reduce its annual petroleum oil usage by over 3 million pounds.
The company is also experimenting with wheat straw--a byproduct of growing and processing wheat--as a plastic reinforcement in the storage bins of the Ford Flex. The odorless wheat straw plastic has demonstrated better integrity than non-reinforced plastic,and it weighs up to 10% less than talc or glass-reinforced plastic.
So why is Ford so gung ho about plants? "Oil prices are extremely volatile," Harris says. "Suppliers may be able to lock in lower costs of plant-based products as those sources would be more stable in cost--ideally it would be a win-win from a business and an environmental standpoint."
There is no small irony in the fact that Ford is trying to eliminate oil from its production process while selling us cars that run on it.
Then again, Ford doesn't have to pay for our gas. ____________ 'S'[/center]
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Post by Spider on May 18, 2011 11:58:43 GMT -5
~ Cars Having Sex ~__ 'S'
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Post by Spider on May 21, 2011 12:38:49 GMT -5
~ Caddy's Mean Machine ~The dramatic styling of the Coupe seemed to justify the tremendous power on tap from the supercharged 6.2-liter engine more than the sedan.
The center-mounted exhaust pipes and the viciously raked roofline go hand-in-hand with the powerful rumble from the engine and the whine of the supercharger.
And the poor gas mileage neatly complements the impracticality of the rear seats.
It may be costly to drive this car, but what price do you put on motoring fun?____ 'S'
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Post by Spider on May 22, 2011 13:42:59 GMT -5
Fiat's tiny turbocharged two cylinder won four awards in the International Engine of the Year contest, earning Best New Engine, Green Engine, Sub 1-liter Engine, and taking the overall International Engine of the Year for 2011 award.
The awards are chosen by UKIP Media & Events Automotive Magazines from the UK. Photos__ 'S'[/center]
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Post by Spider on May 31, 2011 11:13:59 GMT -5
If summer blockbuster movies are to be believed, police cars aren’t much more than family sedans with a beefier engine and an overhead siren.
They’re usually depicted as easily outmaneuvered by wily criminals or anything resembling a Batmobile. But the reality is that law enforcement vehicles are getting increasingly sophisticated and high-tech.
Case in point is the Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV), the LAPD’s next-generation, which comes equipped with a 6.0 liter V8 engine that provides 355 hp and 384 foot-pounds of torque, enabling the vehicle to go from zero to 60 mph in less than 6 seconds.
OK, so Batmobile neutralizer it is not, but it does come with a plethora of technologically advanced improvements that help to automate much of the on-duty officer’s tasks. These Include:
•A forward-looking infrared night vision camera that can pick up on the a suspect’s footprints in the dark.
•A license plate scanner, dubbed Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR), that can detect if a vehicle belongs to suspected criminal and alerts the attending police officer. •A GPS system that lets those at the police headquarters know the location of all vehicles so that they know which unit to dispatch an accident nearby or in case reinforcements need to be sent.
• USB Ports for thumb drives, WiFi and a wireless-mesh network.
• An integrated central computer system that can be operated using a dashboard touchscreen display. Everything from the light bar to criminal background checks can be accessed and operated via the main interface.
• Seats that are custom-molded to fit a holstered gun and radio to prevent the items from pushing up against the officer’s lower back and make for a more comfortable patrol experience.
• A backseat partition that protects the officer as well as eliminate driving blind spots.
• An extra battery in case a marathon car chase ensues. The Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle PPV is scheduled to roll out in 2012, but some of these features have already being used in existing police cars.
So even in the meantime, criminals aren’t going to catch much of a break. _______________ 'S'[/center]
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Post by Spider on Jun 4, 2011 23:09:54 GMT -5
SmartPlanet.Com April 22, 2011 [/size] Are Hybrids Worth The Extra-Cost?Painful prices at the pump are forcing many drivers to rethink their current means of transportation.
One option?
- Hybrids - but they often cost a few thousand dollars more than traditional fuel cars.
As gas prices climb though, consumers can earn back that hybrid penalty over a shorter period of time.
SmartPlanet correspondent Sumi Das explains how you can figure out whether or not a hybrid car is worth it.See Video________________ 'S'[/center]
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Post by Spider on Jun 6, 2011 22:10:40 GMT -5
SmartPlanet.Com By: Ami Cholia June 6, 2011Sales of Hybrids, Plug-Ins Hit A 16-Month Low Even though gas prices have risen considerably over the past year, sales of hybrids and electric vehicles plummeted last month– hitting a 16-month low. While the biggest factor affecting sales was a reduction in supply caused by the earthquake in Japan, increased competition from lower-priced, fuel-efficient gas-powered small cars also added to the drop, reported Edmunds’ AutoObserver.com. “While Japanese automakers may well gain back their lost share on other vehicles, hybrids will face an even steeper climb back to previous levels, given the greater and growing competition from fuel-efficient, non-hybrid vehicles”, the release states. There are already eight internal-combustion engine cars that provide 40 MPG, while more than 35 models earn a combined city/highway rating of 30 miles per gallon. So despite the increase cost of gas, drivers are opting for fuel-efficient gas powered options, that tend to be cheaper than hybrids. With the current economic situation, that trend is only likely to rise. In fact, a pricing analysis by Edmunds.com found that the effective cost of a new Prius was $2,500 more in May than just three months ago, making the car less attractive to consumers.
Sales of hybrids and electric vehicles fell 35.8 percent from a year earlier, with sales of Toyota and Lexus hybrids dropping 45.1 percent for the month. Honda, the second-largest producer of hybrids, saw its sales in the segment fall 29 percent in May. The Toyota Prius, which usually accounts for 50 percent of hybrid sales only sold 6,924 Priuses in May (51 percent down from the same time last year).
“For those selling hybrids, it is incredibly bad luck that the Japanese earthquake and associated production disruptions occurred as gas prices were reaching their highest levels in three years”, said Edmunds.com Chief Economist Lacey Plache.
“While Japanese automakers may well gain back their lost share on other vehicles, hybrids will face an even steeper climb back to previous levels, given the greater and growing competition from fuel-efficient, non-hybrid vehicles”.___________________ __ 'S'
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Post by Spider on Jun 8, 2011 15:28:00 GMT -5
CNET.Com June 8, 2011~ The Godfather of Porsches ~STUTTGART-ZUFFENHAUSEN, Germany
For two years now, Porsche fans have had a new shrine to their favorite cars to visit. This is the Porsche Museum, a stunning modern architectural masterpiece that happens to house dozens of the company's most famous and important vehicles. It is also home to many of the vehicles that Ferdinand Porsche created or designed before he started his own company. Among them is this one, the 'godfather' of Porsches, the so-called Body Type 64. Made in 1939 with an all-aluminum body, Professor Porsche, as the founder of the company is known, drove this car himself, and later, after World War II, he added his family's name to the car, the first vehicle to have that honor.[/b][/size][/color]
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Post by Spider on Jun 30, 2011 19:28:45 GMT -5
How does it feel not being young and fit like a 30 year old person?
The Third Age Suit developed by Ford provides a tangible answer to this question.
Within 30 minutes a young engineer grows approximately 30 years older.
The Third Age Suit consists of many different elements. [/b][/size][/color] _________________ 'S'[/center]
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Post by Spider on Jul 1, 2011 11:22:16 GMT -5
June 29, 2011 What do you get when you crowdsource the Army's tactical vehicle of the future? Apparently, a dune buggy in a Humvee's clothing. www.popsci.com/cars/gallery/2011-06/first-crowdsourced-military-vehicle?image=5The First Crowdsourced Military Vehicle Obama Admires the FLYPmode President Obama admires the XC2V design at an event at Carnegie Mellon University last week. Local Motors' Jay Rogers said business has been buoyed by the president's endorsement of the design and the crowdsourcing process that created it. Local Motors WebsitePics (6)
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Post by Spider on Jul 2, 2011 3:20:38 GMT -5
Studebaker Starliner Ad - March 1953As far as car designs go, the 1953 Studebaker Starliner coupe was practically a work of art. At a height of less than five feet, the sleek Starliner bore a greater resemblance to European automobiles than American ones, which favored a geometric design unlike the Starliner's sloping silhouette. Studebaker was so enamored with this model that they marketed it with the tagline, "a far-advanced new flight into the future." Unfortunately, the Starliner stumbled into a few problems once it went into production. Its engine didn't quite fit into the frame, but corrections to the design only made the Starliner more prone to developing rattles. [/b][/size][/color] ______________ ___ 'S' [/font] [/center]
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Post by Spider on Jul 14, 2011 2:04:27 GMT -5
[/color][/url] The internal combustion engine gets a bad rap these days. [/center] With electric vehicle technology finally coming to market in meaningful ways, oil prices spiking, global warming looming, and “green” sentiments pervading American culture, motors driven by exploding carbon chains have become something of a pariah.
But the truth is that we’re stuck with the internal combustion engine, and the petroleum-derived fuels that power it, for the next couple of decades, at least.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t still trim fuel consumption and reduce emissions across the board.
Designers large and small are building wholly new engines and components that slash fuel requirements, waste less heat energy, and squeeze the most out of every BTU, every engine stroke, and every iota of chemical energy that physics will allow.
Indeed, the internal combustion engine is far from dead.
The gasoline engine is experiencing something of a technological renaissance in automotive design shops and university labs across the world. The green thinkers among us need not fear this resurgence of hydrocarbon-burning engines; these innovations aren’t just drastically driving down the amount of carbon-based fuel our automobiles might someday burn in a given trip--they are crucial bridge technologies that will help get us to that all-electric, carbon free future as cleanly and efficiently as possible. Most of these are still in the concept stage, awaiting funding or for their prototypes to demonstrate that they are up to the job.
None of them is a silver bullet, but each serves as an example of how internal combustion technology could extract far more from the increasingly costly hydrocarbon chains that they burn, drastically improving efficiency and trimming waste without sacrificing too much of the performance that we’ve come to demand from our automobiles.
In the last century, gasoline engines became ubiquitous. In this century, they will become smart. [/b][/size][/color] ____________________ 'S'[/center]
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Post by Spider on Jul 18, 2011 12:20:39 GMT -5
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Post by Spider on May 13, 2013 13:20:46 GMT -5
Chevvie: Born to Fly and Die ..._______
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Post by Spider on Nov 29, 2014 15:56:19 GMT -5
~ The Ulster Transport Museum ~
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Post by Spider on Feb 28, 2015 19:52:58 GMT -5
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