Saturday, May 10, 2014
Meyers Manx has a new version, the Kickout S.S.
Car and Driver just did a full article about it... http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/meyers-manx-kick-out-ss-dune-buggy-tested-review and they wrote a very astute observation describing what sets the Manx apart: what separates the Meyers Manx from every other kit car: If you put a plastic body that looks like a Porsche 917 or MG TD atop a VW floorpan, the car doesn’t become a 917 or a TD. But no matter how ratty the donor Beetle may be, or how half-cocked the execution of the body installation is, when that Manx body goes on, the car is no longer a VW. It has become a Meyers Manx, a dune buggy.
Christine Reed attended a Manx Meet recently and took the following photos:
Found on https://www.facebook.com/7Christine?fref=nf
Hot Rod Magazine just did a good interview with Ed Pink, who has built more than 5000 racing engines
http://www.hotrod.com/feature_stories/1406_take_5_ed_pink/
in 2005 the did this http://www.hotrod.com/techfaq/hrdp_0509_ed_pink_racing_engines/
No other drag racer ever approached such lofty levels of success in so many other arenas; not even archrival Keith Black, who started out in boats and headed Chrysler's Trans-Am effort. In the quarter-mile world of the '60s and '70s, their rivalry was as intense as any in the sport. Lions Drag Strip and Irwindale Raceway fueled the fire by promoting Black-versus-Pink feature events. Both men made regular appearances in newspapers and magazines, including Pete Millar's satire-drenched Drag Cartoons comic book. Moreover, this was one rivalry that was real rather than contrived for the purpose of selling Hot Wheels models or military enlistments. There's never been anything like it, before or since.
Pink insisted to former Drag News editor Dave Wallace, "You had the Mongoose and the Snake, and you had the Greek and the Swamp Rat, but you needed something else. Maybe, if Keith's name wasn't Black and mine wasn't Pink, who knows? Keith did a fine job, and in later years, we became good friends. We used to run ads that said, 'No matter what color your elephant is, they're all Pink on the inside!' You don't see that today. In our day, it was more fun than it is now."
in 2005 the did this http://www.hotrod.com/techfaq/hrdp_0509_ed_pink_racing_engines/
No other drag racer ever approached such lofty levels of success in so many other arenas; not even archrival Keith Black, who started out in boats and headed Chrysler's Trans-Am effort. In the quarter-mile world of the '60s and '70s, their rivalry was as intense as any in the sport. Lions Drag Strip and Irwindale Raceway fueled the fire by promoting Black-versus-Pink feature events. Both men made regular appearances in newspapers and magazines, including Pete Millar's satire-drenched Drag Cartoons comic book. Moreover, this was one rivalry that was real rather than contrived for the purpose of selling Hot Wheels models or military enlistments. There's never been anything like it, before or since.
Pink insisted to former Drag News editor Dave Wallace, "You had the Mongoose and the Snake, and you had the Greek and the Swamp Rat, but you needed something else. Maybe, if Keith's name wasn't Black and mine wasn't Pink, who knows? Keith did a fine job, and in later years, we became good friends. We used to run ads that said, 'No matter what color your elephant is, they're all Pink on the inside!' You don't see that today. In our day, it was more fun than it is now."
for an unkown reason, Hot Rod Magazine just ran a feature article on Kenny Wayne Sheppard's '64 330
Its odd because this cool car was presented in 2010 at or before SEMA. That means we've known about it for about 4 years. Odd to see a feature article about it in the June 2014 issue of Hot Rod
Stop sign of 95 years ago.... and running the stop sign wan't even thought of when a cop was operating the sign
Found on http://www.shorpy.com/node/17376?size=_original#caption
Car makers in America and China, compared
The number of American car makers shrank from a peak of 272 in 1909, to only 9 in 1941.
China currently has 170 car makers, the smallest produces 30k annually, the biggest make 4.5 million cars.
Info from http://automobileandamericanlife.blogspot.com/2013/07/an-interview-in-china-economic-news.html
China currently has 170 car makers, the smallest produces 30k annually, the biggest make 4.5 million cars.
Info from http://automobileandamericanlife.blogspot.com/2013/07/an-interview-in-china-economic-news.html
Car theft stats
Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz vehicles were the most sought-after luxury brand among U.S. car thieves from 2009 through 2012
The New York City region had the greatest number of thefts, an insurance-industry group said.
More Mercedes C-Class cars, a total of 485, were stolen during the period than any other luxury model, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
The New York City area, including Long Island and northern New Jersey, reported 806 thefts in the period out of a nationwide total of 4,384, the NICB said, citing data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Los Angeles region was No. 2, followed by Miami.
The second-most-stolen luxury car was Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s BMW 3 Series, followed by Nissan Motor Co.’s Infiniti G Series, the NICB said.
California had the highest number of luxury thefts of any state at 1,063, followed by Florida with 674. The Los Angeles area had 491 thefts.
The number of luxury-car thefts has decreased in Los Angeles by almost 50 percent since 2005 as security technology improved, Smith said. “You used to be able to steal a car with a screwdriver,” Smith said. “Now with chips, computers and alarm systems, it’s much more difficult to steal a car.”
The recovery rate of all luxury cars reported stolen in the period was about 84 percent, the study found.
The vehicle with the highest recovery rate was General Motors Co.’s Cadillac CTS at about 91 percent.
The Mercedes S-Class model had the worst recovery rate at about 59 percent, the NICB said.
Found on http://automobileandamericanlife.blogspot.com/2013/07/mercedes-top-luxury-car-stolen-by.html
The New York City region had the greatest number of thefts, an insurance-industry group said.
More Mercedes C-Class cars, a total of 485, were stolen during the period than any other luxury model, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
The New York City area, including Long Island and northern New Jersey, reported 806 thefts in the period out of a nationwide total of 4,384, the NICB said, citing data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Los Angeles region was No. 2, followed by Miami.
The second-most-stolen luxury car was Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s BMW 3 Series, followed by Nissan Motor Co.’s Infiniti G Series, the NICB said.
California had the highest number of luxury thefts of any state at 1,063, followed by Florida with 674. The Los Angeles area had 491 thefts.
The number of luxury-car thefts has decreased in Los Angeles by almost 50 percent since 2005 as security technology improved, Smith said. “You used to be able to steal a car with a screwdriver,” Smith said. “Now with chips, computers and alarm systems, it’s much more difficult to steal a car.”
The recovery rate of all luxury cars reported stolen in the period was about 84 percent, the study found.
The vehicle with the highest recovery rate was General Motors Co.’s Cadillac CTS at about 91 percent.
The Mercedes S-Class model had the worst recovery rate at about 59 percent, the NICB said.
Found on http://automobileandamericanlife.blogspot.com/2013/07/mercedes-top-luxury-car-stolen-by.html
Security of expensive cars, apparently not so good... the Magamos Crypto algorithm is 20+ years old technology
That algorithm allows the car to verify the identity of the ignition key.
Flavio Garcia and the Dutch researchers Baris Ege and Roel Verdult from the Raboud University discovered the unique algorithm could lead to the theft of not just the luxury cars including Porsches and Bentleys but also of lower-end people-carriers and other makes, including Audis which use its Megamos Crypto algorithm and had planned to publish their paper at the Usenix Security Symposium in Washington DC in August, but Volkswagen won a temporary injunction banning this.
Volkswagen complained to the judge that the publication could "allow someone, especially a sophisticated criminal gang with the right tools, to break the security and steal a car".
"The chip dates back to the mid-nineties and has since become outdated, but is nevertheless still widely used in the automotive industry," they said in a statement issued by their university. "The paper reveals inherent weaknesses, on the basis of mathematical calculations, and is based on an analysis of publicly available information. The publication in no way describes how to easily steal a car, as additional and different information is needed for this to be possible," they said.
"The University of Birmingham is disappointed with the judgment which did not uphold the defence of academic freedom and public interest, but respects the decision. It has decided to defer publication of the academic paper in any form while additional technical and legal advice is obtained given the continuing litigation," a spokeswoman said.
"The interesting thing is whether this discovery renders the cars no longer fit for purpose / satisfactory quality under the Sale of Goods Act, enabling owners to return for a full refund."
Found on http://automobileandamericanlife.blogspot.com/2013/08/stealing-cars-porsches-bentleys-and.html via the Manchester Guardian
Friday, May 09, 2014
the varieties of the real Shelby Cobra badge
From the black, silver and white Shelby Cobras in the below photo
