Monday, December 23, 2024

damn shame someone doesn't see these interesting concepts and make them real and bring them to SEMA , Goodwood, or the Autorama

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10227771069362408&set=a.1617402035143

One single, mysterious person using the nickname Halfelven, has bought $5 million dollars of various Ford vehicles over the past few years

a total of 62 Ford vehicles,  37 Broncos, along with 15 F-150 Lightnings, and others such as a Ford RS, a Ford Super Duty, and a Maverick.

On top of that, each winning bid also ends in the two digit model year of the vehicle, humorously enough.

The buyer – who goes by the user name Halfelven on both sites – has also purchased some vehicles from other brands, but Blue Oval models are clearly their focus.

Scout has been issued a cease-and-desist letter from the California New Car Dealers Association ordering the company to stop taking deposits on its EVs, citing a law that makes it illegal for automakers to compete directly with their "existing" dealership franchises.


The key word there is “existing.” 

This is why Tesla is allowed to sell vehicles directly to consumers in California; it had no established franchises with which its direct sales model could have possibly competed.

 But while Scout Motors may pitch itself as an independent startup, CNCDA is pointing to the conspicuously large figure lurking behind the curtain: Volkswagen.

Scout was (of course) aware of the law, and even lobbied for language that would carve out room for it to establish its own dealership franchises (separate from other VW Group brands).

By bypassing that entirely in favor of direct sales, CNCDA argues, Scout is engaging in misconduct.

historic car news, two of the biggest Japanese car companies are merging. Honda and Nissan are getting the paperwork figured out, and they figure by 2026 they'll have finished

 The merger will make them the third largest automaker in the world, behind only Toyota and Volkswagen.

It's a little early, because a lot of readers won't be checking the blog til the end of the week, or this weekend, so, Merry Christmas!



 





Sunday, December 22, 2024

this must have upset the boss!

 

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2024-12-22T03:09:00-08:00&max-results=15

twenty years ago, or so, I used to see a lot more car parts art. I don't see much anymore, but this is impressive

 

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2024/12/12ft-sculpture-created-entirely-from.html

1956 OSCA in Japan





cool photo

 

https://www.vintagemotorsport-digital.com/vintagemotorsport/mar_apr_2018/MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=1676353#articleId1676353

I wonder, in car racing, how many races were won by pushing a car over the finish line?

 

Wild Willie, 67 Winternats

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/carspotting-wild-willie-pushes-for-a-win/

59 US GP at Sebring, Jack Brabham ran out of fuel with two laps to go and was passed by Bruce McLaren. He managed to stay in fourth place and won the WC title by pushing his car across the finish line. He collapsed from the effort.

https://www.sportsimitateslife.com/2013/11/lost-track-circuits-of-yore-xvii.html





Ralph DePalma at Indianapolis in 1912. His Mercedes' engine broke in the closing laps of the 500, while he was in the lead. DePalma and his mechanic, Australian Rupert Jeffkin, leapt from the car and pushed it around to the finish line. Joe Dawson, who had been running a distant second, scored an unexpected victory. Some accounts claim that DePalma was within a mile an a half of the finish when Dawson won, but the official results credited him with 198 laps out of 200.



At the 1964 NHRA Regional Championship meet at Riverside, California Danny Ongais broke an axle at the starting line in the semi-final round of Top Gas Eliminator. His competitor fouled so Ongais pushed his car the full quarter mile to win. His elapsed time was 1-minute 35-seconds with a trap speed of 3.5 mph




Innes Ireland at Monaco 1960. His Lotus conked out " ... as he went up the hill to the Casino, and he proceeded to start a long push back to the pits" - D.S.J. This was on lap 56. By the time Moss crossed the line in first position "a completely exhausted" Ireland had pushed his car across the finishing line, to be classified 7th.



Italian GP 1954: Stirling Moss pushed his car to the line to take tenth place!



Jack Brabham pushed his car to the line at Monaco, in 1957, "only" from the railway station, to finish 6st.

https://www.avontyres.com/fr-fr/partenariats/remarquable-premier-gp-de-monaco-pour-une-l%C3%A9gende-de-la-f1/



Roy Salvadori heaving the Cooper-Maser over the line at Monaco in 1959.

Jim Hall in his Chapparal had done this around 65 to finish the Sebring 12 hours

Graham Hill's engine expired and he pushed the car over the line, Siracusa GP 1961

Giancarlo Martini pushing his car to 4th place in the 1978 Aurora Championship round at Zandvoort

In 1954 a broken oil-pipe in his D-type again saw Moss stopped just short of the finish, and this time he definitely did push the car across, and finished 18th

In 1954 with the 250F Moss twice, according to Robert's book, pushed across to finish: in the French GP and Reims and then in the Italian GP at Monza. On this last occasion Moss had led Fangio in the W196 Streamliner until the 250F broke. He pushed the car from out on the circuit back to the line, waited for Fangio to finish then pushed across. Fangio declared Moss 'the moral winner' and Pirrelli paid Moss the winner's bonus.

During the Sports Car Club of America meeting at the Bergstrom AFB in Austin Texas on the 27th of March, 1954, Bill Betts pushed his 750cc Giaur across the line of the 100 mile race for Class F production cars and under 1100cc modified cars, after the car stopped 100 yards short of the finish. Despite having a broken ankle caused by a crash in practice, Betts finished sixth after his exertions. For his effort and perserverance, he was awarded the Sportsmanship award at the Victory Dinner.

Dan Gurney in the '66 Sebring 12 hours. An engine failure while leading, with just a few hundred yards to the finish, and an official told him to try pushing it home. He was DQ'd, though if he'd left the car where it was, he and Jerry Grant would've been classified second.

I read a good article on SEMA replacing the traditional auto show as the hub of the automotive universe.

 The article didn't mention the other mega events in the automotive universe, Essen, Goodwood, etc. 

But it did mention that SEMA is the home of the Bluetooth driveshaft, knowing what that means, it's a good indication that the article was worth reading, so I did. 

Maybe you will too, or not. I just recommend stuff.

https://www.motor1.com/features/744765/sema-show-becoming-center-of-automotive-universe/

the Porsche Design Tower was the first automaker-branded residence in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, it's sinking at an 'unexpected' rate — and it's one of the first buildings anywhere in the world with a "Dezevator" a car elevator.




The Tower boasts 132 residential units, all with summer kitchens, fireplace and in-unit garages for owners to house their prized vehicles. This is made possible by a unique system: the Dezervator. The Dezervator is a one of a kind elevator that transports you and your car to your unit.




The patented Dezervator is the brain child of, and aptly named after, the tower's developer, Gil Dezer.


Researchers looked at satellite imagery that can measure subsidence (or, sinking land) down to fractions of an inch. In this case, researchers discovered subsidence ranging from 0.8 to just over 3 inches in places like Sunny Isles Beach and Surfside. Two buildings in Miami Beach—the Faena Hotel and the L’atelier condo—and one in Bal Harbour were also affected.

For now, experts say the sinking isn’t necessarily cause for alarm. No structural issues have been reported to any of the buildings thus far, and many newer buildings—like the Porsche Design Tower, which is just 10 years old—naturally sink into the soil years after completion due to their weight.

Lionel Messi and a long list of celebs are residents at the Porsche Design Tower, including Mexican billionaire Carlos Peralta Quintero, Colorado Rockies player Carlos “CarGo” Gonzalez, Bishop Edir Macedo, Rapper Anuel AA, among others.

This comes less than four years after a 12-story residential tower collapsed in Surfside, Florida, just a few miles down the street, when water from the deck constantly seeped into the garage area under the pool, helping corrode reinforcing steel in the support columns.

The partial collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida, on June 24, 2021, is one of the deadliest structural disasters in American history. Ninety-eight people were killed and many others injured.

the Union Pacific did not want information about the water tower being taken down getting out into the public until after it was torn down, their leadership deemed it too much of a liability to remain standing (thank you George!)



the 50-foot-tall Union Pacific water tower that had been there since the 1940s. 

The tank itself was 30 feet tall and 40 feet wide, and could hold about 300,000 gallons of water. Tanks of this size were commonplace along Union Pacific rail lines during the heyday of steam locomotives

The water tower stood along the Harriman railroad line 8 miles south of Interstate 80.

that tower was one of maybe two of its kind left in the nation.” 

 Now it’s gone.

the 1991 Ford F-150 PPG IndyCar Pace Truck







images like this get the instant "oh shit!" reaction! A cargo train derailed in northwest Regina

 





Touring, a Parker Brothers card game from 1925, that every couple decades got new artwork on the cards and box











https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touring_(card_game)

The 6,981st B 17 was the last B17 that was built at Boeing Seattle, each of the colored items on the plane, are construction paper cut into the shape of a bomb, showing every target that B 17s had bombed in WW2

 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=527365027117631&set=a.126528027201335