France celebrated New Year’s Eve in its own special way: 1,137 cars went up in flames all across the country. According to Reuters, the number of vehicles torched was only 10 short of the record 1,147 burned last year. France’s Interior Ministry mobilized 45,000 police during the night, 10,000 more than 12 months ago – apparently with little effect.
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The Defense Advanced Research Project Administration is apparently savvy to the fact that mainstream car bloggers regularly Google search the term “Transformers,” in search of vaguely car-related (or, in some cases, not) filler. DARPA’s masterstroke? Using the one-time traffic boost title for a project:
to demonstrate a 1 to 4 person transportation vehicle that can drive and fly, thus enabling the warfighter to avoid water, difficult terrain, and road obstructions as well as IED and ambush threats.
Flying cars, and an opportunity for Transformers references? Who can resist?
A class action lawsuit was filed Monday against Bradenton, Florida and American Traffic Solutions (ATS) seeking to end the use of red light cameras in the city. Attorney Jason D. Weisser challenged the program on behalf of motorist Jamie Rosenberg and all other recipients of $125 photo tickets since automated ticketing machines were installed in March 2008.
[Editors note: TTAC’s new car-buying column “New or Used?” wants to help you find the perfect car. Submit as much information about your car-buying scenario (needs, wants, budget) to mehta@ttac.com and TTAC’s new and used car experts will get you started on your quest for the ideal conveyance.]
Almost Retired writes:
I’m nearing retirement age, and I want a nice large sedan. It should be safe, quiet, reliable and comfortable for freeway traveling, but not too flashy or expensive. $40k maximum budget, but I’d prefer to stay well under that.
Why that car? My cousin was slightly amused at the sight of my 2004 Ford Taurus SES. A rental car seemingly loaded with penny-pinching mediocrity and cut corners. An unusual choice for the holidays. It had made the long journey from Northwest Georgia to Jewish Florida in a day’s time. The leather was cheap, but functional. The buttons were cheap, but functional. The price bought it for was very cheap…
As countries in Europe wind down their cash for clunkers programs, China is increasing the bounty on old cars. China’s Ministry of Commerce said that qualified car owners who trade in outdated or “highly polluted” vehicles will receive a subsidy between US$733 and $2635 this year, up from last year’s maximum $878, reports Shanghai Daily.
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I was just packing up at control central here at Peets in Half Moon Bay, when I see this old Dodge drive by the window and park in front of the super market next door. It’s driver is elderly, but very much not the “granny” mold. And it has a bike rack on the back of it! This is a regular driver, from all the evidence. Read More >
Here’s my quickie farewell California post: an always popular Caddy Coupe DeVille, vintage 1966. Once again, I’m going to be sparse with my words, and let the pictures do most of the talking. And of course, it’s regrettable that the formidable grille is hiding up against the garage door, but here’s a cheater picture of one. Read More >
On Sunday, we hit the road back home to Eugene. I’ve shot more cars than I’ve had time to post, and we’ll come back to some of them soon, like on a coming President’s birthday (hint). I’m going to keep throwing up a few posts from my hangout at Peet’s in Half Moon Bay, until Stephanie is finished doing her thing. So let’s start (or end, depending) with this 1981 Dodge Challenger. And don’t overlook this triple CC: the Toyota van and a Mitsubishi/Dodge pickup in the driveway. Read More >
In this day and age, when it’s increasingly uncommon to to find even a full-size pickup with a regular cab and long bed, I took a double take on coming across this long-bed Chevy LUV. I’ve got some interesting LUV’s and Isuzus in the can from Eugene, but none in this particular configuration. That bed sure looks like its a full 8′ long, but according to wiki and my own memory, its a 7.5′ number. Still, plenty of load space for this little hauler with 75 or 80 hp. These Isuzu built trucks were everything that its Chevy S-10 successor wasn’t: simple, cast iron-rugged little work horses, although rust was a problem in the wrong parts of the world.
I have a growing cache of Eugene El Caminos, and was going to break them out soon enough. But taking a stroll around San Mateo, I ran into three ’67s within a few blocks of each other, so let’s caminar down that long and fertile el camino of Chevy’s popular ute pickup, with this particularly popular year. And what’s that lurking in the garage? Let’s take a closer look: Read More >
We lived in Los Gatos from 1987 to 1993. It was already becoming a high-priced enclave for Silicon Valley high fliers then, and now it’s utterly transformed. The Ford, Chevy and even the Honda dealers are now all shuttered, but the RR, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Bentley dealers are flourishing. Disneyland-esque mansions the size of hotels have replaced little ranchers. Driving back into to town after a wonderful hike in the hills with friends, I saw the ultimate extremes: a brand-new “reproduction” full-sized water-wheel “mill” on a dry, scrubby hillside, “turning” slowly while the pump-fed recirculating “stream” spilled from its “sluice” to “power” it. This thing was the size of a two or three-story house; a “lawn ornament” of grandiose proportions straight out of a theme park. Ok; I don’t have any problems with folks having lots of money; but do they have to spend it in such grotesque ways? But just a block away from our old house I found the perfect antidote to my nouveau riche nausea: a 1977 Datsun 810. Read More >
[Editor’s note: TTAC prides itself on covering the most compelling stories in the automotive world, connecting the biggest trends, and exploring the most momentous decisions. We endlessly pore over the ceaseless stream of automotive news and data, and bring the most significant and momentous stories to these pages for your enlightenment and debate. But sometimes we just plain need a break from all the seriousness. Luckily, former TTACer Justin Berkowitz has the perfect palate-cleanser after a long week of news and analysis. His site, Metacars.com, publishes some of the best auto humor on the web, and we’ve asked him to compile a weekly digest of the funniest car news that never happened over the previous seven days. Unlike AutoWeek, the MetaCars Week In Review will actually be published every week, and unlike Jalopnik it will actually be funny. We hope you enjoy it.]
The United Nations UNECE World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations is likely to adopt many Japanese safety rules for hybrid and electric vehicles as a global standard, says the Nikkei [sub].
Currently, there are no ECE safety standards for hybrid and electric vehicles. Japan has pushed its domestic safety rules to be adopted as international standards. Chances for adoption are good, Japanese companies and rulemakers are the pioneers in the field. Europe, which usually dominates ECE rule making, is lagging behind in the development of hybrid and electric vehicles, and doesn’t have much to lose if the Japanese standards are accepted.
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You never know what will wash ashore on the beaches of Half Moon Bay. Heading for the coffee/wifi cafe to send these dispatches, what do I find in the parking lot, but a pristine 1971 (or ’72) Manta. As you may remember, the best I could in Eugene was this ’74 in a carport that probably hadn’t been driven in some ten years. Read More >
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