As Colin Chapman got older and his and Hazel's family got larger, so did Lotus cars. All of the early Lotus cars were either single seat racers or two seat sports cars. Then there was the Elan +2, with a rudimentary back seat, later the four seat Elite and Eclat, and finally the sedan concepts proposed at the time of his death. I suppose Colin could have squired the family around in a Lotus Cortina but he appreciated the finer life so for a long time the family car was a 450 Mercedes. ... View more

Apparently, the first Monkeemobile built for the show originally had a functioning supercharger, which was disabled when the car proved to be dangerously fast. ... View more

I'm not a tax attorney or an IRS agent, but it seems to me that being paid to write about your Radical makes it a deductible business expense, along with the $37,500 engine-out refresh, required every 40 running hours. Back when Al Franken was still sort of funny (I always preferred Davis to Franken), he did a bit on SNL about making stuff tax deductible. Of course, taking tax advice from a comedian is funnier than SNL has been in years. "since I’m a comedian, almost anything I spend can be justified as a business expense. For example, this sports jacket. [ holds out sleeve ] See, I’m wearing it on TV, so it’s a business expense. [ pulls leg over desk ] You see.. these pants here. Now deductible, because they’re on TV. [ extends wrist ] Okay, this watch. It’s an expensive watch, it’s now deductible. Okay.. [ picks up tape deck and puts in on desk ] This portable tape deck. It’s got everything.. now deductible. Now, this Christmas, I went to Hawaii.. [ holds up picture ] ..and here’s a picture of me in Hawaii, taken by some friends I met there. And, I don’t know if you can see this – can we pull in a little closer there? [ camera zooms in on picture ] Now, obviously, I couldn’t have taken this picture unless I’d actually gone to Hawaii, and stayed in a hotel there. And I think that you, the audience, you like this picture, am I right? [ audence applauds wildly ] Okay, now the Hawaii trip is deductible." ... View more

At Hitsville USA, Motown producers typically used a 6" x 9" oval dashboard speaker to do their final mixes. I haven't noticed a decrease in sound quality in CDs but now and then I'll switch to the local classic rock station while driving and I find it to be unlistenable, overcompressed mush. As I said in the article, most people haven't heard true audiophile quality audio gear. My home stereo system is what I'd consider entry level high end, it'd probably cost me maybe $2,000 - $3,000 to replace everything at today's prices. A while back I was in NYC so I stopped in at Alex Roy's audio salon. The system I listened to there had McIntosh electronics, Focal speakers, and cost at least as much as what a decently equipped Camry would cost new. Using lossless streaming I chose a couple of my favorite recordings, things I'd heard hundreds of times, yet the high end system revealed things I'd never heard before. ... View more

The Marvin Tamaroff collection of mascots and hood ornaments on display at the Classic Car Club of America museum, in the Gilmore complex near Kalamazoo, includes what I believe is a complete collection of Lalique mascots. Tamaroff owned two complete Lalique sets. https://www.hagerty.com/media/people/marvin-tamaroff-1925-2021-innovative-car-dealer-and-mascot-collector-extraordinaire/ ... View more

Considering that the original Nomad was a Corvette station wagon show car for the 1954 Motorama, there's at least a hint of truth to this April Fools piece. ... View more

I'll note that while Lotus was selling the Elite and Eclat four seaters, Colin and Hazel Chapman's personal family car was a Mercedes Benz 450S, not exactly a lightweight car. ... View more

My late father had vanity plates that weren't really vanity plates. He was a veterinarian (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) and his clinic was on Detroit's Woodward Ave. Back then all regular Michigan plates had a three leter prefix followed by three numerals. The prefixes were assigned to particular Secretary of State offices, which issues plates in Michigan. When the red, white, and blue bicentennial plates came out for 1976, my dad found out which office was assigned the series that started DVM, as it happened just down Woodward in Highland Park, and he got the folks working at that branch to let him get DVM-000 and DVM-001 for the family cars. I still have DVM-001. ... View more

It seems to me that some lowriders and slammed customs might be also affected by that legislation. Plenty of customs with hydraulics can put the bumpers above or below that 14-22 inch limit. Also, it appears that aftermarket air or hydraulic suspensions in general might be banned: " No part of the original suspension system of a motor vehicle shall be disconnected to defeat the safe operation of its suspension system. " Perhaps readers who are lawyers can weigh in. Here are the relevant parts of SB777: "No person shall drive on a public highway any motor vehicle registered as a passenger motor vehicle if it has been modified by alteration of its altitude from the ground to the extent that its bumpers, measured to any point on the lower edge of the main horizontal bumper bar, exclusive of any bumper guards, are not within the range of fourteen inches to twenty-two inches above the ground. No vehicle shall be modified to cause the vehicle body or chassis to come in contact with the ground, expose the fuel tank to damage from collision, or cause the wheels to come in contact with the body under normal operation. No part of the original suspension system of a motor vehicle shall be disconnected to defeat the safe operation of its suspension system. However, nothing contained in this section shall prevent the installation of heavy duty equipment, including shock absorbers and overload springs. Nothing contained in this section shall prohibit the driving on a public highway of a motor vehicle with normal wear to the suspension system if such normal wear does not adversely affect the control of the vehicle." ... View more

Porsche used the same Nikasil process for years without problems. While cylinder wear was an issue, most of the Vega engine's problems were ultimately due to poor heat management, not plated cylinder walls. ... View more

The Mustang I concept was engineered by Roy Lunn, who later headed Ford's GT40 project that won Le Mans four years in a row. He later went on to be in charge of engineering at AMC, where he was responsible for the original Jeep Cherokee, the AMC Eagle (arguably the first CUV), and the Renault sports racer. ... View more

I have nothing against EVs. Maximum torque at stall is kind of cool, but I'm surprised that nobody in the auto industry seems to remember the not-very-long-ago push, particularly in Europe, to replace gasoline ICEs with diesel, because of better fuel economy, only to reverse gears when diesel particulate emissions became an issue. They also seem to be forgetting how Texas and California have recently experienced problems with their electrical grids. ... View more

Oddball car collector extraordinaire Myron Vernis has a Davis. When I asked him what it was like to drive, he said, "Terrifying!". You can make a reverse trike (like the Morgan, Polaris, or Vanderwall) that is stable if you have enough weight on the front end to keep it from lifting a wheel when cornering, but a trike with one wheel up front is almost inherently unstable. ... View more

I apologize, it's a stupid mistake. I'll ask the editors to make corrections. ... View more

Now do Minilites (for the import crowd) and the Crager S/S. I was at a car show in Detroit and there was a mid '60s Pontiac Tempest sitting next to a GTO (which was based on the Tempest) from the same era. One of them had Torque Thrust wheels, the other had Cragers. I've always liked the Torque Thrusts but it was hard to say which looked better. ... View more

Ooh, "disinformation". You've been trained well. Pavlov's dog was a more independant thinker. I'm sure you think you're smarter than folks who don't use words like inchoate and that the world would be a better place if people just listened to you and did what you say. Sure, commisar. Just saying, if the bridge is that important to the Michigan economy, why did Gov. Whitmer have the MSP block the U.S. side of the bridge for nearly a day? She must seen some kind of political advantage in the move otherwise she wouldn't have done it. Automatons like you seem to approve. ... View more

It's either Pontiac General or St. Joseph's. ... View more

I don't necessarily like the cars that win Best of Show at Pebble Beach or Amelia Island but they are newsworthy, just like a Ridler Award winner. ... View more

If the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge by Freedom Convoy protesters was so harmful to auto manufacturing, why did Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Canadian officials keep the access ramps to bridge closed for almost a day after protesters dispersed? ... View more

“He’s just as good as anyone else nowadays, I guess.” My UPS account was hacked last month by some scammers sending out forged checks. UPS knew about it because, according to the tracking information, almost all of them had been intercepted and were being held by UPS' fraud department or by a government agency. I haven't used my UPS account in a while and I only found out there was a problem because the scammers got some addresses wrong and UPS "returned" them to me. Before I was able to cancel it, my debit card was dinged to the tune of about $450. UPS knew that I was the victim of fraud, but they never contacted me. Instead I had to jump through hoops to get them to refund my money. That's because 100% of UPS customer support is done via offshore call centers, and those people only have enough authority to read a script. None of the call center employees cares about UPS keeping me as a customer, and apparently neither does UPS as a company. ... View more

Why would anyone associate that phrase with anyone but Buckley? I'm reminded of the time that Bill Mitchell, head of GM styling, defended the bustle back Cadillac Seville by openly acknowledging its debt to the postwar Hooper bodied Rolls-Royces: “If you’re going to steal, you rob a bank, not a grocery store.” ... View more

A lot of people, including some of the Ridler finalists, thought the winner would be that Ford, which had a Boss Nine engine in it. With the exception of the winner, all of the finalists had fairly clean lines. My sentimental favorite was the '51 Olds because it was self-built and kind of an old school hot rod with a 350 small block Chevy, not a LS. The couple that owned it were thrilled to be finalists. I had the opportunity to talk to the head judge about it and he simply said, "It's a nice car." Much as I was charmed by the Olds and its owners, I would have probably picked the winner from amongst the Studebaker pickup, the '36 Pontiac, the Devin Z, or the two Mopars. ... View more

"Detroit’s Cobo Hall". Former Detroit mayor Albert Cobo was canceled, his bronze bust and name removed from the building. That allowed the city to sell naming rights to a bank so for about a year it was known as the "TCF Center", but TCF merged with another bank so it's now known as "Huntington Place". I happen to know the guy who controls those banks and the last time I ran into him I told him, "Gary, it doesn't matter what you call that building. People will keep calling it Cobo Hall." You proved my point. Detroit's old baseball stadium was called Tiger Stadium, starting in 1961, but before that it was Briggs Stadium, because the Detroit Tigers organization had been owned by Walter Briggs, who also owned the Briggs body company that supplied automakers. Before it was Briggs Stadium it was known as Navin Field, for Frank Navin, who owned the team before Briggs. I don't think I ever heard my mother call the stadium anything other than Navin Field. ... View more

The Olds was kind of a throwback choice by the judges. No LS with a Tremec or custom tube frame. It still had the original frame that was modified to take a Mustang II front end and Chevy Blazer rear end, and had a 350 SBC with a GM400 automatic. ... View more

It seems to me that the builders of Ridler winning cars prefer the increased business winning the Ridler will generate over the trophy. Should Pebble Beach or other high level concours have separate classes for owner-restored cars? ... View more

The '51 Oldsmobile that was a Great 8 finalist was self-built over 15 years in between customer jobs in his single-bay body shop. ... View more

Styling is just one of the criteria used for judging. The turbos and front suspension use some clever engineering. I will say that the rest of the Great 8 finalists were cleaner designs. ... View more

While the SSR never sold anywhere near the projected numbers, as a halo car it seems to have been a success. ASC was the primary vendor on the project, they even set up a facility in Lansing to supply the Craft Center that did final assembly on the SSR. Anyhow, ASC commissioned a market study that showed that a significant number of people that stopped into dealers to see the SSR ended up buying a Silverado, quite possibly GM's most profitable vehicle. GM likely made more money on those pickups than they would have if the SSR had sold out. Remember, the purpose of a halo car is not to sell a bunch of those specific models, but rather to get people in the showrooms and publicize the brand in general. ... View more

$484,950? That much money can buy a nice house in suburban Columbus. I watch a lot of "overland" truck and car campers on YouTube. I wonder if anyone's ever tried living in their Rolls-Royce. ... View more

Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari? Another "pale male"? What about inclusion? In current year shouldn't Enzo be portrayed by an indigenous woman of color? ... View more

Was Casey old enough in 2002 to be racing? He would have been 19 or 20. For what it's worth, he's always been gracious to me and he knows that Jack and I are friends, whatever differences he and Jack may have. I last saw him at the inaugural American Speed Festival last fall and we chatted. As far as I can tell he's not doing anything illegal and if he can make a go at what he's doing with his educational non-profit for turning kids on to cars and racing, props to him. In 2022 I'm not going to condemn someone for self-promotion, God knows there are enough people out there that will tear you down. He recently got sponsorship for some kind of Indy feeder series. I don't think he has a snowball's chance in Hell of getting to the 500 at his age but if he did it'd be a cool story. ... View more

<i>. I am absolutely committed to every part of being a great musician … except for the part where I’m actually a great musician.</i> I'm not a very good musician but I've been a serious fan of a variety of musical genres since I bought a 45 of the McCoys' Hang On Sloopy (with a young Rick Derringer on guitar). I have over 500 LPs, about 700 CDs, and about 400 hours of live shows on cassettes and CDs, including some shows that I recorded myself. As a writer I've been fortunate to be able to meet and interview a number of world class musicians, names that people would recognize. I've also invented and developed an electric harmonica called the Harmonicaster and in connection with that I've interacted with many, perhaps most, of the greatest harmonica players currently working as well as other world class musicians. At the Summer NAMM show I was literally standing next to Tommy Emmanuel as he put a Martin through its paces. Many people consider Tommy to be the best acoustic guitar player in the world. Just in the last few months I've seen, in fairly intimate venues, Jorma Kaukonen and David Bromberg, two disciples of the legendary finger picker, Rev. Gary Davis. It's fair to say that I'm an informed music fan who can tell good from bad. I have a friend who has excelled professionally in both technical and creative fields, simultaneously, no little feat. He's also a music lover with pretty good taste, a fine stereo system and a well thought out guitar collection. I was at his comfortable suburban house once, in a room filled with musical instruments that wouldn't look out of place at Daryl's House, and he was noodling on his carbon fiber acoustic. I said to him, "You know, you're a good enough guitar player to be a professional musician." He replied, "That's probably true, but to do that I'd have to give up doing the things that make all of this possible," gesturing to the room, its contents, and the house surrounding us. ... View more

What about the aero effect of the tall wing struts? Was the Daytona more stable on turns? ... View more

While it'd be nice to have a fifth gear in an Elan the advantage that the Elan has over other British cars of the period is that it has a fairly decent fully synchromesh four speed Ford transmission, with a gear shift lever that goes directly into the transmission with no external linkage so the shifting is pretty nice. ... View more

Considering the importance of IC chips to the auto industry I wonder if the Whitmer administration even bothered to put together a package offer to Intel to locate the plant in Michigan. ... View more

Any modern tenant would want the office section to be gutted and completely rebuilt, much as Ford is doing at the Michigan Central train station. There are reasons why GM moved out of the old General Motors Building and into the RenCen, and why Chrysler moved out of Highland Park and built a new campus in Auburn Hills. As for the factory section, that was built almost a century ago. It's a multistory factory with internal courtyards. Modern factories typically are large, single floor facilities with huge amounts of uninterrupted space. Old buildings are beautiful but most are not suitable, as is, for the needs of modern businesses. ... View more

Sorry for the spelling error. We're left to our own devices as there is no spell-checker active in the backend we use here. ... View more

AMC's main assembly plant was in Kenosha. The proving grounds were about 25 miles away, near Burlington. The proving ground facility is now owned by MGA an automotive testing firm. ... View more

" When I got my driver’s license, doing 62 mph on an Ohio freeway would get you a guaranteed ticket. Today the cops yawn at 82 and often don’t start ticketing until 90." That rule doesn't apply in Ohio if your car is wearing plates from Michigan. I typically set the cruise control at 4mph over the posted limit when driving in Ohio. Not that long ago I was doing 64 in a 60 mph construction zone south of Toledo. I was passed by a Michigan plated Dodge Charger doing no more than 66, really just fast enough to pass me. He got pulled over. ... View more

My father was from Brooklyn so we traveled to NYC from Detroit fairly frequently. How frequently? My mom would joke that Dad would come home from work at his veterinary clinic and say, "Pauline, pack up the kids, we're going to New York." An early memory is Dad putting a sheet a plywood on the back seat, extending over the foot well, so there'd be room for all three 'big' kids to lay down and sleep (our baby sister was up front with Mom). When Interstate 80 was completed, it was a great occasion in our family. Formerly we'd usually go through Ontario and take the NY Thruway down from Niagara Falls as that was faster than the patchwork roads through Ohio, PA, and NJ. I don't think it ever took my folks less than 12 hours via Canada. Once I-80 was completed, with a 70 mph speed limit, Dad would put the speedometer at 80 mph and keep it there all the way to NYC. One trip took him just 10 hours. I've noticed since the pandemic that average speeds on Michigan freeways have gone up significantly. 90th percentile speed used to be about 80, now it's closer to 85. ... View more

<I>"What was the first minivan to go on sale in the United States?"</i> An argument can be made that the first minivan sold in the U.S. would be the Volkswagen Type II, aka MicroBus. It even had a sliding passenger door. ... View more

Someone recently asked me why I drove a car with a manual transmission and I told them that every shift, which involves synchronizing both feet and one hand, is an opportunity to do something well. The same is true about hitting your line on a curve. ... View more

Of course a Phaeton driver would sport a Speedmaster rather than the overvalued Daytona. ... View more

Older Juki machines were made in Japan but now they have manufacturing facilities in China and Vietnam. The Japanese have been making outstanding sewing machines for a while. A family friend who was a principal at Reed Sportswear, a 71 year old leather apparel maker, gave me the industrial Rex by Nakajima she was using as a utility sewing machine at home. When Melco introduced their first computer driven embroidery machine, the Superstar line, they used American electronics (Z80 based, I believe) but sourced the machine heads from Tajima. The motor is made by Toshiba, I believe. I'm all for a global economy but there's no good reason why electronics (which is mostly automated and doesn't use that much human labor) have to be made in China or Taiwan (at least the Han living in Taiwan have learned a thing or two about quality control). For defense reasons, there are industries that must be domestic. ... View more

<i>"How long will it be until Nintendo decides to pacify him by placing a little Chinese flag on a Vietnamese Switch? "</i> Perhaps we'll first see "Designed in Vietnam". Do any businesses think consumers see "Designed in..." as meaning anything other than "Made in China"? This watch microbrand brags about Singapore based design and quality control, never mentioning the word "China": <i>" Most of our products are proudly designed in Singapore and we work with the best manufacturing partners to bring the high calibre products to add something unique to your look. These small touches show you like putting effort into the little things, which can say a lot about you! All of our watch models will be released one at a time with small production runs so they receive the attention they deserve. Our high quality watches are individually inspected and tested in Singapore."</i> Another watch microbrand, Sangamon, sounds like it's an Asian brand but in fact it's named after a river in Illinois and the business is based in Springfield (no Bart Simpson model yet) in that midwest state. They mention Abe Lincoln, the Mississippi River, the long-defunct Illinois Watch Company, and farmers, but nothing about where the watches are actually made. <i>"Tyler McKay is a sixth-generation farmer from Central Illinois who was taught true Midwestern values as a kid by raising livestock and working around heavy machinery. His passion for business and entrepreneurship led him to the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where he was inspired to launch Sangamon Watches while completing his MBA. Brian Su followed his heart to America in the 1980s and has three decades of international business experience, frequently traveling across the world. He has a deep appreciation for American history and President Lincoln’s influence has kept him in Springfield for over 25 years. Brian’s passion for history and craftsmanship along with his diverse skill set has transformed our business model to be inspired by the American spirit. We are proud to have a global team with a small-town headquarters, focusing on quality over quantity. In October of 2021, we opened a showroom in historic downtown Springfield, IL to better serve our customers and reach tourists along historic Route 66. Every wristwatch is designed in America at our Springfield office around a special theme, which truly makes Sangamon products unique. "</i> ... View more

One advantage of the Dave Bean Twin Cam water pump is that it includes a modified front engine cover, so should you want to restore the engine back to original specs, you still have your original engine cover with it's too-clever-by-half integrated water pump that requires an engine tear down to change. ... View more

I wonder how long it takes for him to put together his dressy-but-oh-so-casual look every morning. When he mentions his Pulitzer Prize, does Walter Duranty cross his mind? ... View more

The '77 Impala and Caprice weren't just more efficient and in general better cars than what they replaced, they were some of the best handling American cars made at the time. Sure, they weren't Lotus Elans but they handled a lot crispier than the land whales that preceeded them. ... View more

For better appearance of the finished parts, in your slicer software set the top infill pattern to "concentric". Also, the Artillery and Creality branded 3D printers, like most Chinese 3D printers, are clones or variants of Jo Prusa's open source printer, which is manufactured in the Czech Republic. The Prusa is more expensive but for the extra money you get quality components that won't burn down your house and actual customer support. I own two Prusa printers and in general I tell people, if you want to learn about the hobby of 3D printing, buy a Chinese printer and upgrade it over time, but if you want to quickly start making parts or do anything close to production work, get a Prusa. Also, if you're going to be making durable parts, you probably want to print with ABS, which means you'll need a printer with an extruder that can go to 255 deg C and a heated bed, as well as an enclosure (which you can make from an Ikea end table, btw) to keep things warm. ... View more

The finest judge of talent in the business. ... View more