About Zephyr

Zephyr

Never cared for any of these when they were new, but by today's standards they look pretty good.

Zephyr

Further proof that the worst thing that ever happened to race cars of all types was when they started painting ads on them.

Zephyr

The Dymaxion was more of an RV than a car - if you see photos of the interior it looks like a living room on wheels. A much smaller 4 person version might have had a chance in the marketplace. Buckminster Fuller was well known for creating things that were innovative but problematic - the geodesic dome requires a large number of panels and supports, each layer cut to a different, very specific and unusual size, and suffers from the same problem that all domes have - a lot of unusable space at the perimeter and top. He also designed a prefabricated all-metal house that used the space inbetween the inner and outer walls as a giant heating duct, the idea being that it would spread the heat evenly. Unfortunately, the examples that were built ended up with overheated kitchen cabinets and closets and cold rooms. On the plus side, they have held up surprisingly well.

Zephyr

The gravity car concept solves my biggest complaint about today's slot cars - they are just too unrealistically fast and "glued to the track." Decades ago, when slot cars were invented, they traveled at a more-or-less realistic speed, whereas today's slot cars are traveling at a scale 1,000 mph or so. With the car now held on the track by magnets, the driver hardly ever has to take his thumb off the controller switch. This gravity car idea yields much more realistic action (even though the camera speed has to be cut in half to get there).

Zephyr

D Jaguar - the race car with the giant fin behind the driver. Never got one of course, but decades later while working as an auto damage appraiser I did get to appraise some minor body damage on one.

Zephyr

Convertibles nearly died out in the mid 70's because of government regulations mandating roll-over protection and other safety measures. Also, when car manufacturers went to the monocoque body/frame design they found that building a convertible required special reinforcements and strengthened body parts to prevent excessive flexing.

Zephyr

The first car I ever drove was our 53 Hudson Jet. Ours was actually a Super Jet - two sidedraft carburetors on a 4 cylinder, a 3 speed manual and Borg-Warner (?) gas pedal actuated overdrive - as in "took my foot off the gas and man alive, I shoved it on down into overdrive!" At roughly the same time our neighbor had a Volvo 444. I always thought the design inspiration for the rear end was a whale.

Zephyr

Someone bought enough Cadillacs to fill a warehouse but never registered them? There has to be more to the story.

Zephyr · ‎21-06-2021

Have to disagree with the back-in rule regarding parking spaces. I once worked with an ex-New Yorker, who told me that she couldn't get over the fact that in California people back into parking spots. She said that the rule in New York was that if you drove past the space, you didn't want it.

Zephyr · ‎19-06-2021

I don't care what people say about our government, I still think that we have the best politicians that money can buy.

Zephyr · ‎19-06-2021

What increasing population? In order for a group of people to stay at a fixed size (i.e. - not grow) the birthrate has to be 2.2 children per family. In the US the birthrate is 2.3, and in Europe it is 1.8. Even China is now saying that families can have up to 3 children, as they are concerned about a declining population in the future. The only country in the world with a significant growth rate is India. The apparent growth in population is a mirage, caused by two factors: people moving from rural areas to cities, and immigration. American cities have increased tremendously in size over the last 70 years or so, but in the midwest there are vast tracts of forest and prairie that used to be farmland, and many nearly abandoned small towns.

Zephyr · ‎19-06-2021

According to at least one Saturn service manager the EV-1 had a bad habit of catching fire.

Zephyr · ‎18-06-2021

"the gas tank sits directly above the engine". The same reason that the Model T didn't need a fuel pump, and the earliest model Porsches had a manual fuel shutoff on the dash to keep the fuel tank from flooding the carb when the car was parked.

Zephyr · ‎18-06-2021

Car detailers have a saying: "a clean car rides better." Makes absolutely no sense, but I have noticed it myself.

Zephyr · ‎16-06-2021

For some of us the 50's era British bikes will always represent the absolute apex of motorcycle style.

Zephyr · ‎16-06-2021

The biggest difference between the 240Z and the 260Z was that the 260Z had a lot of new electronics, most of which didn't work very well. It was a transition car, brought to market because the next-generation model wasn't quite ready.

Zephyr · ‎04-06-2021

How could you compile a list of great guitar players and leave out Charlie Byrd, possibly the greatest jazz guitarist who ever lived? Byrd and Stan Getz (along with Astrid Gilberto) are pretty much responsible for popularizing Brazilian jazz.

Zephyr · ‎27-05-2021

The financial issues that would deter me the most from buying any electric vehicle is that 1) before I could use it I would have to have a licenced electrician install the charger in my garage, and like most people my circuit breaker panel is completely full right now, so expensive rewiring would be required, 2) doing so would probably require having the electrician also install larger wires from the street to the house to handle the additional load, and 3) to actually get the car into the garage to charge it would require renting a storage space to store all of the items that are currently taking up space in the garage and making it impossible to fit a car in.

Zephyr · ‎26-05-2021

In the mid-80's I had a couple of company cars that were Ford Fairmonts (one was a Mercury Zephyr) . In keeping with company policy the company had ordered them with V-8s, not realizing that the 6 cylinder was plenty fast enough. Terrible workmanship, couldn't handle worth a darn, but in a straight line probably the fastest car I ever drove.

Zephyr · ‎17-05-2021

The Joplin vehicle was painted in a day or two (or maybe just an afternoon?) for free by a roadie, using something like poster paint that he happened to have on hand. It was just a lark, probably not meant to last. When it was restored recently it cost several thousand dollars to try to duplicate the paint job, but it still lacks the heavy texture and dull surface that the original had.

Zephyr · ‎17-05-2021

If only Airstream still built the Excella motorhome! It and the GMC were the best motorhomes ever built.

Zephyr · ‎11-05-2021

What I remember most about touring the collection is walking into a gigantic building with cars seemingly stretching to the horizon, spending hours looking at them, and at the end having a guide say "now, in the SECOND building we have..." .

Zephyr · ‎06-05-2021

62 Ford Thunderbird. Sprung a leak in a small diameter and very short (2" or so) hose that ran directly between the water pump and the engine block. Probably some kind of bypass? Easy job. Had to cut it off to remove it, and discovered that there was only about 3/8" clearance between the nipple on the water pump and the nipple on the engine. To get enough clearance to get the hose on required removing the water pump, which required removing the radiator and fan. There may have been some other pieces involved; it was a long time ago. Engineering at its finest.

Zephyr · ‎06-05-2021

Trivia: the first generation of Pontiacs with rubber bumpers had a lot of problems getting the bumper to fit properly. Consequently there were an enormous and variable number of spacers between the bumper and body; every bumper was more or less a custom fit. Their parts catalog at the time listed at least 5 or 6 different style spacers, each a different shape and thickness.

Zephyr · ‎06-05-2021

If you watch the PBS Australian made series "A Place To Call Home," which is set in the 1950's, you will see lots of Utes running around their farms. A bonus is that the police cars are all English Ford Zephyrs, the second car that I ever owned. The funniest thing about the series though is that when you walk past all the 50's cars and people in 50's clothes and go inside the 50's style police station, hanging on the wall is a photo of - Queen Elizabeth. The woman is immortal.

Zephyr · ‎27-04-2021

Why does a hair stylist need a briefcase ?

Zephyr · ‎27-04-2021

For those not familiar with the Renault 4CV, that big chrome thing that looks like the gas cap is actually for the radiator water. The gas filler tube is inside the engine compartment, at the right side and covered by the red cap.

Zephyr · ‎26-04-2021

I want it! I'd settle for just getting the boat half - it's way better looking than any boat that size made today.

Zephyr · ‎20-04-2021

Around 1967 or early 68 AMC parked an AMX in a faculty parking lot right in the middle of the San Francisco State College campus with a sign on it that basically said "if we build this car would you buy it?" No salesman or literature, no way to answer the question, but I guess they must have either gotten positive feedback or were just trying to generate interest in the car.

Zephyr · ‎20-04-2021

A Jaguar owner once told me "This is not a car for someone who has to be some place at a certain time. Every morning when I turn the key I feel a little thrill as I think 'what will happen today?' "

Zephyr · ‎19-04-2021

Irat built everything except the body. But what's for sale here is just a body, built by someone other than Irat, installed on a Simca. So there's really nothing Irat about the car?

Zephyr · ‎16-04-2021

Photo # 21: I see the car still has its original carburetor adjusting tool.

Zephyr · ‎14-04-2021

I read an article once about testing in the early days of airplanes. To determine the maximum airspeed a plane could handle the test pilot would put the plane into a steep dive and keep a close eye on the airspeed indicator. When the wings came off he would make a mental note of the airspeed and parachute out.

Zephyr · ‎14-04-2021

Got to love that 40 column thermal printer on the seat in photo # 4. Trying to find a source for the paper roll they used was a fun chore.

Zephyr · ‎10-04-2021

Of all the cars I have owned my all time favorite may be the 62 Ford Ranchero that I had in high school. The whole concept of combining a sedan front with a pick-up bed was genius. The older Rancheros (57 or so) are even nicer. But in order to make a modern version of the Ranchero or El Camino, Ford and GM would first have to have a sedan to base it on.

Zephyr · ‎07-04-2021

The hybrids that everyone has forgotten: back when the arab oil boycott hit America there was a brief flirtation with dual fuel gasoline/propane engines. If memory serves it was a pretty simple system that just required a special carburetor and a propane tank. With a switch on the dash you could switch back and forth between running on gasoline or propane. The idea lost its appeal when the cost of propane rose to equal that of gas.

Zephyr · ‎06-04-2021

The history of the Boxster seems to parallel that of the Mazda Miata, Plymouth PT Cruiser and Toyota Scion. Designed as a low-price (relatively) entry level model to attract younger buyers in hopes that they would develop brand loyalty, it failed to attract the target audience but instead became wildly popular with aging baby boomers (like me). This had two results: it turned off young buyers (who began referring to the PT Cruiser as "grandma's car") even more, and it caused the price of said autos to suddenly rise way beyond "entry level."

Zephyr · ‎02-04-2021

The car was obviously aimmed at the rich since it appears that it couldn't be driven in anything other than perfect weather.

Zephyr · ‎02-04-2021

Headline: "Major car manufacturers agree: electric cars simply won't work, recommitting to internal combusion. In a related story, Tesla to offer kit to convert their cars to steam power."

Zephyr · ‎31-03-2021

Why is there a microphone sticking out of the left side of the dash on the OOS? And the "guaranteed to fade and just generally look shabby in a few years" pile upholstery really took me back, let alone the CB radio on the other car.

Zephyr · ‎22-03-2021

I have a vague recollection thet there was a Buick or Olds made in the 70's or 80's in which the rear glass had a sharp crease right in the center. It was a special model that was otherwise identical to the "ordinary" model.

Zephyr · ‎16-03-2021

Wait - Jaguar's service manager was named Lofty England?

Zephyr · ‎16-03-2021

In photos 4 and 5 you can just barely make out that the car is dark green, and man is that an ugly color! Probably didn't help the value any.

Zephyr · ‎15-03-2021

Probably aviation gasoline?

Zephyr · ‎15-03-2021

When I was 54 our company CPA pointed out to me that because our health insurance was "age banded" by age 64 I would be paying 2/3s of my after tax income for health care. I started looking for a new job not long after.

Zephyr · ‎13-03-2021

The EV allows us to return to the golden age of motoring. Since the platform itself is completely separate and independent from the body, GM, ford, etc. could sell the power unit and frame and let the consumer have the body custom built by the shop of their choice.

Zephyr · ‎13-03-2021

My father had an 8 foot long cabinet with close to 100 drawers in it, along with other storage places. When we were cleaning it out after he past away I was surprised to find that there were several instances of him having two or three of the same rarely used tool stored in different locations. It finally dawned on me that he would buy a tool, store it in a drawer and then either forget that he had it or not be able to find it, and then go out and buy another. Not sure what the lesson is - maybe keep a list of your tools?

Zephyr · ‎11-03-2021

One thing I know for sure; when Mercedes took over Freightliner the build quality of Freightliner trucks improved tremendously.

Zephyr · ‎06-03-2021

My favorite scene: after seeing about 15 breath-taking, heart-stopping minutes of Jean-Louis test driving the film switches to a scene of the two stars driving in the rain, returning from the school where their children live. Jean-Louis asks "am I a bad driver?" and Anouk, who has no idea what he does for a living, says "no, just average." The film also has one of the greatest pieces of dialogue ever put on film. As she is leaving on a train Jean-Louis asks Anouk "Why did you tell me that your husband is dead?" and she replies "he is - but not yet for me." One of the greatest films ever made - be sure to see the French version with subtitles, not the poorly translated English version.

Zephyr · ‎06-03-2021

If a Boomer is someone born after 1945, what is a pre-boomer? Anyone born prior to 1945 would be a minimum of 76 years old.