Friday, November 06, 2026

I got a kick out of this pair of seats that act like eye magnets to get people to look at the seats in this booth

 

Toyota had a booth theme that seems to indicate they are ready for a LOT of snow... they had 5 of these caterpillar tracked trucks





Suzuki Jimny at SEMA (the JDM version of the Suzuki) with a legit govt registration expiration decal on the windshield

 

back in 1988, Michael Jackson was given a Suzuki RG 500





a documentary - The Immortal Lincoln -, about depression and finding the strength to go on, will be screened at the Carnegie Museum, the Detroit Public Library, and The Henry Ford museum


Directed by C. John Anter and executive produced by automotive journalist and contributing car culture columnist for the Detroit News, Phoebe Wall Howard, The Immortal Lincoln was inspired by a story published by the Detroit Free Press and USA Today Network about Douglas Burns, an Iowa newspaper publisher who struggled with the loss of his family's fourth-generation newspaper business.

Facing grief, financial hardship, and mental health challenges, Burns found an unexpected source of hope in his Lincoln. His story eventually led to connections with the Ford and Lincoln employees who designed and built the vehicle, showing how something as familiar as a car can take on a much deeper meaning.



Nov. 9: Carnegie Museum, 1115 Sixth St., Port Huron, MI, on Monday at 6 p.m. 
Nov. 10: Detroit Public Library, 5201 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI, on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. 
 Nov. 12: The Henry Ford museum, Dearborn MI, on Thursday doors at 6:30p.m. 
 Dec. 4: Iowa Farmers Union summit, Meskwaki Convention Center, on Friday at 6:45 p.m.
 Feb. 2: Grosse Pointe Public Library, MI, on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m

Per Elon Musk, the Tesla Cybertruck will end production sometime next year to make way for the Cybercab. (thank you Steve!)


Seven years ago Elon Musk introduced the Cybertruck at Tesla's design studio in Hawthorne, Calif., with a live demonstration of the car's "armor glass" in which Tesla's lead designer shattered two Cybertruck windows with a steel ball. Tesla advertised a starting price of $39,900 when it introduced the truck in 2019, but the Cybertruck starts at $92,490. 

Production delays pushed the vehicle's launch date to 2023 from a previously promised 2021 launch.

Tesla sold 39k Cybertrucks in the U.S. in 2024 and then just 20k in 2025, and only about 8k for 2026. 

The company launched a rear-wheel-drive Cybertruck in 2025 but pulled it from the lineup months later.

Since electric vehicles are not price compatible with internal combustion vehicles,  and no one seems to be able to undercut the price of internal combustion vehicles, without the govt subsidy, electric cars, and roof mounted solar panels on residential homes too, consumers are not diving in. 

The Cyber truck seemed to have a big initial rush of sales, probably from the many people who feel they need to buy the latest, greatest, most unusual things - to feel superior to their neighbors and co-commuters on the interstate in rush hour traffic... 

then there was no continuity of sales it seems... and I see fewer and fewer Cybertrucks. 

I heard rumors that owners were annoyed that they needed to be cleaned a special way, or hand prints were ugly and embarrassing. I heard a rumor that the tires didn't last long because the weight of the vehicle wore them out fast. 

No DOUBT in my mind the original owners were not going to get the batteries replaced so the vehicles would continue to be used for 10-12 years instead of 5-6. 

I heard rumors that the original claim that the side windows were impervious to baseball bats, made buyers over confident, and then they found the windows smashed pretty easy

the annual rally in the Yoop is known as the Press On Regardless... I just learned this was also the name of a WW2 British bomber


Avro Lancaster B Mark III "Press on Regardless" of No. 550 Squadron
after it had completed 70 operational sorties at RAF North Killinghome, England, 1944