Just A Car Guy
Cool things with wheels since 2006
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Sung Kang has just confirmed he’s making a live-action drift movie called Drifter with a handful of other well-known car-world personalities.
40th Assault Helicopter Company (AHC) “Greyhounds*214th AVN BN, 12th AVN Group, 1st Aviation Brigade
The motto of the 240th AHC was “Go Greyhound and leave the flying to us,” a play on the bus company’s famous motto.
In response to the letter, Greyhound delivered running dog logo decals to the 240th AHC which they displayed prominently on their helicopters, vehicles, and company signs.
In September of 2021, Greyhound was able to create a special charter bus for surviving members as they took to the skies once again in a refurbished Greyhound Huey Helicopter at the Yankee Air Museum in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
https://sogsite.com/240th-assault-helicopter
if you want a ride on a Huey, and can get to Michigan...
Public rides, which cost $125, will also occur from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 13. Visit the museum’s website for more information. https://miflightmuseum.org/huey-helicopter/
ever hear of those rare stories, of someone who didn't go to work for years and got paid? Well, this one is still ongoing, after 5 years, because a Honolulu prosecutor’s office investigator is still on paid leave while his mileage reimbursements are investigated for possible fraud
few hundred Hawaiʻi employees on extended periods of paid leave during misconduct investigations. Employees in agencies ranging from the Hawaiʻi Department of Education to the Department of Health have taken protracted absences from work pending investigations.
Union employees are protected from at-will firings, so investigations must validate misconduct allegations before disciplinary action is taken. However, government officials say there is a lack of qualified staff to investigate claims of wrongdoing, and some cases pose difficulties due to complexity or witness availability.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/07/honolulu-worker-paid-not-to-work-for-nearly-five-years/
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
a 63 Studebaker Zip Van. On facebook marketplace... here's a rare opportunity to restore a van (little more than a good paint job) to a well remembered iconic professional postal delivery van! It's a Zip Code van! (Thank you Blind Dog Fabrications!)
Called the zip van because ZIP Codes were just being introduced by the postal service at time.
They have 2 sets of gas pedals, so they could be driven while standing and while sitting.
8 Faroe islands are connected by 23 tunnels, 4 underwater, and includes the world's only undersea roundabout, nicknamed the jellyfish... are an inspiration to those in the Shetland Islands who realize the ferries aren't sustainable (thank you Stephen! )
the prime minister of the tiny Faroe Islands, which are 200 miles further out into the Atlantic, points out what a success tunnels have been for them.
At its deepest point the Faroe tunnel is 614ft below the waves and has halved the driving time between the capital and the second biggest town.
"I think we have learned in the Faroe Islands that investment in infrastructure is a good investment," Johannesen told the BBC.
The Shetland island council runs ferry services to nine islands, carrying around 750,000 passengers each year on 12 vessels at a cost of £23m per year.
The average age of the fleet is 31.5 years, costs have risen sharply in the past decade, and some routes are struggling to meet demand for vehicle places.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg7jw27w1do
SEMA Fest has a hell of a concert line up this year,
Queens of the Stone Age, Hits include: “No One Knows,” “Go With the Flow,” “Little Sister,” “The Way You Used to Do”
The Black Crowes, Hits include: “She Talks to Angels,” “Hard to Handle,” “Remedy,” “Twice As Hard”
and Neon Trees, Hits include: “Everybody Talks,” “Animal,” “Sleeping With a Friend,” “1983”
At 300 years old, Tanfield in Gateshead is the world’s oldest railway. To celebrate, volunteers are working against the clock to restore engines and create their biggest event yet. Thank you Stephen!
Looks like it requires a subscription to the BBC streaming service, because the BBC iPlayer only works in the UK, unless you have a VPN and/or know how to tech your way around it. I don't.
Jim emailed me with this, it's got to be shared!
Thanks Jim!
Monday, July 14, 2025
lawbooks around the world are full of all manner of peabrained rules and regulations when it comes to anything and everything automobiles.
* Only numerically labeling a speedometer to 85, but having the graticules to 140, because a law was passed that forbid the numbers to be larger than 85.
Seriously? Just because the numbers are there, or not, doesn't influence a driver to go faster, but the NHTSA in 1979 was certain, we were under the spell of the numbers... not just reacting to the idiotic national 55 mph speed limit
* In North Carolina, repeat DUI offenders, who have their licenses taken away permanently, would simply buy a moped to get around with.
And keep on driving drunk.
In North Carolina, a two-or-three wheeled vehicle “with a step-through architecture” (meaning, not full doors, and not fully enclosed), that also has bicycle-style pedals and could at least sort of be propelled by them, with an engine that is 50cc or smaller in displacement, and is speed-limited to a maximum of 30mph on the straightaway with “no external shifting device” (i.e., no shift lever/pedal/etc, so GY6-style-CVT-only) is classified as a moped, and mopeds are not considered “motor vehicles” for the purposes of state law, so, .... they were legally available to use on anything up to and including a highway with no on-ramps or off-ramps (public roadways/etc and highways that are not “access-controlled highways”) with no license, no title, no registration, and no insurance.
* Smog inspections are not all about the tailpipe emissions, they are checking the computer. So, if you've recently had to change your car battery, like I once did, and then went to get a smog inspection, you are failed because the computer memory isn't full enough.
* the President can no longer drive a car, even after leaving elected office!
* Radar detectors, even if obsolete, will always be illegal in Virginia, where the govt was upset about speeders, and more upset that they could evade police speed traps. Now? They simply use WAZE or some other app to find where the cops are sitting using laser speed detectors
* trucks/suvs are rumored to be excluded from passenger car window tint regulations. That law was made in the 80s, before the majority of vehicles sold and driven, turned out to be trucks and SUVs
* Probably the stupidest, to me, is the requirement that car doors have interior locks... when Vipers didn't have roofs or windows when it was first introduced
Car and Driver pointed out that it was required by federal law to have door locks despite not having outside door handles, roll up windows, or even anything that could reasonably be called a roof.