Electric cars make less pollution, but the plants that generate the electricity make plenty of it. Fortunately for California most of those plants are located in other states. Alternative sources of electrical power sound like a great idea, but about the time that everyone plugs in their car to recharge it the sun goes down, eliminating solar power. Wind power is unreliable; at least in Northern California, except for a few select areas there is very little wind from May to October.  ... View more

Czech engineering and workmanship is excellent and underrated.  ... View more

That 4th over 3rd gearshift pattern was very common on trucks of that era. If I remember correctly it was a Fuller Roadranger transmission and they did it like that because they wanted to add a fourth gear without making the transmission housing any bigger, and that was the only way they could fit it in. In over-the-road trucks it was usually combined with either a 2 speed rear axle or a 3 speed auxiliary transmission, aka "brownie box." That odd looking number below reverse is compound low if I remember right; it was good for maybe 5 mph, maybe less.  ... View more

Two things made decent auto stereos possible: air conditioning and soundproofing. Prior to that, no matter how great your system was, because of wind and road noise you couldn't hear much at any speed above 50 mph. And anyone over 40 remembers ripping out whatever system was in the car and replacing it with a Blaupunkt or Nakamichi stereo and larger aftermarket speakers, something that isn't possible anymore because of the way that today's stock stereo systems are integrated with the GPS and so on. Anybody else remember when Cadillac offered the option of an AM/FM/CB radio? Or when Blaupunkt radios were AM/FM/SW (shortwave, which was popular in Europe at the time)? Or the fun of tuning in stations a thousand miles away on your AM radio late at night?  ... View more

That Toyota Classic would look so much better with wire wheels. Tatra - air cooled rear mounted V-8? Would love to see a photo of that. Can't imagine how a V-8 could be air cooled. ... View more

Took a long ride in an Amphicar once. It strained to exceed 45mph and was unbelievably noisy. Going into the water involved a lot more than just driving in; there were plugs that had to be installed and other items I can't remember. And then you had to reverse the procedure to get back on the road.  ... View more

Wally Byam's original concept for his Airstream trailers had no toilet, no shower, and no place to wash your hands except the kitchen sink. The gray water literally ran out of a pipe directly underneath the trailer, and onto the ground. The bathroom facilities consisted of a shovel for going out into the forest, or taking your car for a quick trip to the nearest gas station. In those days campgrounds were virtually unheard of; the idea was to simply find a quiet spot in the forest and park your trailer there. It wasn't until a lot of people started camping that a better solution had to be found. One of the reasons that I would prefer a boat to an RV is that when the boat's blackwater tank gets full you call the marina's pump-out guy and he cruises over to your boat and takes care of it all while you stay inside. Of course the downside is that a boat that has the same amount of interior room as a 28 foot trailer is going to cost you around one million.  ... View more

The newer the car is the easier it is to remove the dashboard. I think the R & I time (remove and reinstall) on most modern dashes is 4.5 hours. Newer construction has a lot of standardization of wiring looms and easy disconnects; on older cars the wiring was practically handmade. ... View more

Reminds me of an insurance company client I had long ago that insisted that I write a repair estimate on every car, even ones that were obvious total losses. On a car in similar condition to this one I simply wrote "remove wheel covers, install on new car."  ... View more

The last time I saw these particular models of Alfa, Rolls, and Datsun on the street has to have been at least 30 years ago. Price might be good, availability not so much.  ... View more

Had two Jeep Libertys for company cars. The choice of interior colors was limited to gray or "khaki," which turned out to be a slightly different shade of gray. And even with the khaki, much of the interior was in the gray color anyway - which is to say, some of the parts were only made in gray. P.S. - whatever happened to naugahyde?      ... View more

Looked up Phase One cameras. Base model $51,990. Seriously. There must be a lot of money in commercial photography. ... View more

All these years later, the car still screams "gangster!" The biggest surprise when you see one in real life is how small it is. I seem to recall that the front axle had inboard brakes that are a real pain to work on.  ... View more

Nice looking car, but it seems to me that electric cars are currently selling at the wrong end of the price spectrum. Electric cars should be the base, entry level models ($25,000 range), aimmed at people who just want transportation to work and shopping, and gas engined cars should be the premium, performance models. ... View more

Hideous looking. And the main reason not to buy it, in one word: Fiat. ... View more

I believe Dean's last words were "Don't worry, he'll see us." ... View more

If you Google  Hubert Fabri you will find that he has interests in something like 200 companies, the main one being Socfin, a company that was established long after slavery was abolished. The main complaints that people have about the company is that they are using strong arm  tactics to force small farmers off their land, and they use an extraordinary amount of SLAP lawsuits to silence any criticism of the company, even from valid news sources. I think there may be more to this auction than meets the eye, given some of the legal actions the company is facing. Fabri may have recognized that the cars are a seizable asset, but if he sells them he can hide all the cash in offshore accounts.  ... View more

I spent a couple years researching RVs and trailers before I retired and decided against them, because: 1: basically, you're camping in an aluminum tent, with all the disadvantages that camping brings. Or as one wise woman put it "if I'm going on vacation why would I take the cooking and cleaning with me?" 2: on every RV or trailer forum that I followed, no matter what the original question was, if the thread went on long enough it turned into a discussion about "black water," aka poo-poo peepee tank. After reading enough discussions about the right way to put a large wooden stick down the toilet to stir up the solid contents and similar topics I decided staying in a hotel sounded pretty good. 3: unless you use the RV or trailer at least 2 or 3 months a year it's a lot cheaper in the long run to drive your nice comfortable sedan to a nice comfortable hotel and stay there. Or better yet, take a package tour once or twice a year on Amtrak. 4: if you don't have a large enough lot to park the vehicle on, and most of us don't, you're going to have to pay to store it somewhere. 5: if the roof leaks you probably won't notice it until enough water has run between the interior and exterior walls to completely rot out all the wood framing behind the wall, a very expensive repair that isn't covered by insurance. Lastly, it all depends on what your vacation goal is. Some people just want to sit in a quiet setting and commune with nature, while others (like me) want to see the sights the area is known for and then move on. Incidentally, I have noticed that people with trailers will typically go to a state park and stay there for 2 or 3 weeks, sometimes longer, whereas RV people usually only stay a few days.  ... View more

Great story! ... View more

Hard to believe, but back in the 60's cars like this were considered worthless junk. In the San Francisco Bay area there are creeks here and there that were lined with cars from the 40's and 50's and then buried, to prevent erosion. You can now see bits and pieces of the cars sticking out from the bank. ... View more

"Said Red Molly to James, that's a fine motorbike, a girl would look special on any such like; said James to Red Molly, my hats off to you, it's a Vincent Black Lightning, a 1952..." ... View more

The most important difference between drum brakes and disk brakes is that as metal heats up it expands; with drum brakes this results in the drum expanding and increasing the distance between the drum and the brake shoe, decreasing the braking effect, but with disk brakes the more the rotor expands the smaller the gap between the rotor and the brake pads, improving the braking enough to offset the decrease in efficiency caused by the brake pads heating up. ... View more

I'm sure that at the right auction you could get these kind of prices, but if you were to try to sell one in the normal private party "car parked on a vacant lot" sort of sale the Suburban, Datsun and Cadillac would all be selling for more like $2,500. ... View more

Working as a claims adjuster back in the 80's, I can't tell you how many GPZ's I totalled out that had 15 miles or less on the odometer. It was basically the motorcycle equivalent of a formula 1 car, way too difficult for an inexperienced rider to control.  ... View more

I was a senior in high school when the 1964 1/2 Mustang came out. It was an amazing looking car and a radical departure in design, and I loved it. After they changed the design in 1967 the Mustang became just another car, and has remained so ever since. They should have killed the brand off back in the 70's, after it had run it's course, and certainly before insulting us with the Mustang II.  ... View more

My daughter had a used VW Rabbit back in 1990. Worse car I ever saw. One problem after another, from broken sunroof cable to porous engine block casting to burnt exhaust valve. When I sold the car I looked at how much I had spent on repairing it and realized that the cost of operating the car had been something like $2 per mile.  ... View more

Q: Here is your new Aston Martin Mr. Bond.  Bond: Where? All I see is a chicken coop with wheels.  Q: It's the latest model Commander Bond. Four wheel drive, superior gun platform and all that. Bond: How am I suppose to pick up any girls driving this monstrosity ? Q: But the upholstery is handmade! Bond: just give me my old Lotus.  Q: It's in pieces 007.  Bond: Then put the pieces together! Unless the mission is to infiltrate a gang of soccer moms I refuse to be seen in this POC.  Q: But it has a Mercedes engine and transmission! Bond: I rest my case. ... View more

I agree, but the reality is that the Cayenne pretty much saved Porsche from bankruptcy. ... View more

Footnote: ironically, when the Shell oil refinery was built in Martinez California at the turn of the last century much of the machinery had to be brought in by mule and horse teams because the trucks of the day couldn't make it up the steep hills.   ... View more

People who think this is a good idea have no clue how hard it is to get a pilots license. The main use I can see for the vehicle is not as a car that flies but rather as a plane that can be driven to the destination when the weather is bad. ... View more