what a differenace a restoration makes on auction results

a 1939 Futurliner just sold at the Worldwide Auctioneers in Auburn Indiana
$247,500. The Jan 2012 issue of Automobile magazine says that a west coast dealer is now asking $400,000 for this bus.
New tires, and the rest needs resotration. The tires alone cost about $15,000.

Today, nine of the original 12 Futurliner vehicles have been located, with two of the nine already beyond repair, serving only as “parts” vehicles. One inventive collector converted one Futurliner into a motorhome. Another, used by a bus company in Massachusetts, now does duty as a display vehicle for the bus company. Once decommissioned by GM, still another found its way into the hands of the Oral Roberts’ crusades in the 1960s, dubbed the Cathedral Cruiser. Still others are in various states of restoration.
These incredible vehicles are 33 feet long with a 248-inch wheelbase, eight feet wide and stand nearly 12 feet tall. One of its most unusual features of a GM Futurliner truck is its dual (side-by-side) front wheels steered of course by a hydraulic power steering. Now restored Futurliner trucks have the ability to be shod correctly in stunning, period-correct real wide whitewall tires thanks to famed collector Mr. Ron Pratte and the folks at Coker Tire.
http://blog.cokertire.com/general-post/gm-futurliner-restoration-ron-pratte/

in 2006 at Barrett Jackson one that was restored sold for $4,320,000

Nurburgring production car lap time set again by Viper ACR

Viper Exchange owner Ben Keating secured veteran GT driver Dominik Farnbacher and the record was brought back to Viper with a 7:12.13

In Aug 2008, the Viper ACR of Tom Colonel set the record at 7:22.1

the Dodge Viper holds the record at Buttonwillow, Gingerman, Laguna Seca, Miller Motorsport Park, Nelson Ledges, Sebring, Texas World Speedway, and Willow Springs

SAAB filed for bankruptcy last week... brought low by GM's bankruptcy and pathetic management, who've blocked its sale to Chinese companies in fear that Chinese would get GM technology and processes. Like that hasn't happened already

Saab CEO Victor Muller said "the last nail in the coffin" was previous owner General Motors Co.'s rejection of a Chinese company's attempts to gain control of the ailing Swedish brand.
Volvo Cars, Sweden's other car maker, is presently ramping up production after China's Geely Holding Group bought it from Ford Motor Co. last year.


Muller, a Dutch entrepreneur, used his luxury sports car maker Spyker Cars to buy Saab from GM in 2010 for $74 million in cash plus $326 million worth of preferred shares. He vowed to gradually increase production while restoring Saab's Swedish identity — which critics said was diluted under GM ownership. But the company ran out of money just a year later.

As production stopped and salary payments were delayed, Muller fended off bankruptcy by selling Saab's real estate and lining up financing deals with investors in Russia and China. He bought time by placing the company in a reconstruction process under bankruptcy protection.

But the deals fell through, blocked by regulators or by GM, which was concerned that its technology would end up in the hands of Chinese competitors.

GM spokesman Jim Cain told The Associated Press Saturday that each new proposal "results either directly or indirectly in the transfer of control and, or ownership of the company in a manner that would be detrimental to GM and its shareholders."http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45720823/ns/today-today_news/t/saab-declares-bankruptcy-gm-blocks-chinese-deal/

this is what happens when a company loses control of it's ownership and the whims of takeover corporations dictate its fate. Stay independant my friends, either be your own master, or work for someone else, but don't let them own you.

Car news, Cuba loosens up on car ownership laws, lets Cubans buy and sell cars now

For the full story: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/13/us-cuba-cars-idUSTRE7BC21820111213/

Liberalizing car sales is one of more than 300 economic reforms the government of President Raul Castro is undertaking as part of an "updating" of its socialist system.
Since it entered into effect at the start of October, around 300 people are lining up daily to register vehicles, or buy and sell others, and the vehicle registration office has processed around 3,300 buy-sell certificates, state media reported.
In the small country of 11 million people, news of sales or potential buyers spread through word of mouth, a few informal car brokers who hang around in parks or a few websites - though occasional "For Sale" signs dot cars lining the boulevards.
"It made the buying and selling between people flexible. It recognizes vehicles as property which wasn't recognized before," said a Cuban lawyer waiting in a park outside the vehicle registration office

No Red Bull air races in 2012

Red Bull says the one year break its race series that happened this year will extend another year through 2012.

A spokesperson for Red Bull Air Race told the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association there will be no races again in 2012 saying, “a revamped concept and a fixed race calendar will be revealed in 2013.”

Found on http://www.wired.com/autopia/

Morgan will be making the 3 wheeler again, and selling them in the US

the Morgan Motor Company is officially the largest British-owned carmaker in Britain, and still fashions cars out of ash wood and hand-beaten metal operating out of the same set of red brick sheds its founders erected in 1918.

Weighing 1000 pounds, powered by a fuel-injected American motorcycle engine mated to a Mazda Miata gearbox, making it capable of a 4.5-second dash to 60 mph and a top speed of more than 115 mph, and since it's a 3 wheeler... it's exempt from federal automotive emissions and safety standards. Like its forebears, it's classified as a motorcycle, which means that Morgan's eleven U.S. dealers are taking deposits on this 30-plus-mpg, $45,000 piece of built-to-order mechanical lunacy now.

photos and info from  http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/driven/1112_morgan_3_wheeler_driven/index.html

Magazine journalists selling out

The Truth About Cars Edward Niedermeyer says "the pimpatorial game is becoming more subtle and cites the participation of Jean Jennings and her Automobile Magazine staff in one of Ford's sock puppet TV commercials.
(read more about that here: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/158739/  which is fair about telling both the pro and con of this new ad campaign and how it relates to media and car companies that try for their praise) Tried to find that video... no luck, becuase there are dozens of  "Doug the Sock Puppet, Ford" videos on you tube, and Automobile.com doesn't have any.

He also criticizes Motor Trend boss Angus MacKenzie's "Subaru-funded
 adventure of personal discovery" that was featured in both his publication and Subaru's Drive Magazine. He says, about the new trend away from straight out testimonials, "to paraphrase Homer Simpson, I like my beer cold, my meat red, and my sell-outs shameless." How about entertaining or interesting?

Found on http://mim.io/4c71d1?fe=1&pact=5730840065  Autowriters.com monthly newsletter

Toyota/Scion... What the fuck? A college grad gets a 1000 dollar discount, an active duty military servicemember only gets 500 dollars off

That pisses me off.

Why should some kid who's done nothing useful for his country, comrades, squadron, ship, aircrew, brigade, platoon, or company

get a bigger courtesy discount from a car company?

Did some college group head over to Japan to help during the tsunami, free Kuwait from Hussein's hostile takeover, helped Haiti after their earthquake, etc etc? No.

Toyota/Scion is now on my shitlist

Why am I pissed off? I like military people, always have. Most of my uncles, cousins, grandfathers were in the military... and I was in the Navy crewing on 2 submarines and doing a tour as an MP. I worked on the USS Midway, aircraft carrier museum, and met thousands of Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf war vets... liked them all.

College grads on the other hand? Not much I've seen from them to respect. The high school to college types haven't saved lives, risked their own lives for their fellow soldiers/sailors/Marines, and they haven't accomplished a damn thing I think is useful by getting through 2 years of college classes. I did 2 years of mechanics and electronic classroom training before going to sea, and those classes didn't have general electives to waste time and get credits toward a diploma.

Idea of the day... parking lots with parking reserved for combat wounded

Some parking lots have pregnant mother parking... it's not enforced by police, but it's marked with pink signs. I'm fully opposed to this nonsense. Preganancy isn't a disability, it's not even debilitating.

Most parking lots have reserved parking spots close to a business's front door for anyone with a DMV recognized disability, normally related to walking problems.

But I just heard the concept of getting the state or nation to set aside parking for military wounded in combat... I think that is a damn good idea. About time too.

How much of a raise should a CEO get in a year? Which would seem reasonable? 10% or 510% ?

in 2010

TRW CEO John Plant got 510% raise over his 2009 salary of 6.7 million
Ford CEO Alan Mulally 524% raise... yet his company has 14 billion in debt
Johnson Controls' Stephen Roell 424% raise

So... did those 3 companies make 4 to 500% better business decisions? Better profit? Better products?

Doubt it.

I read about this in the article by Jamie Kitman in Automobile Magazine, his source, and the full story is at http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110613/OEM02/306139854&sectioncat=product&template=printart

Plant's base salary was $1.9 million, but he made $28 million from stock option gains. Bonuses, stock awards and other means of compensation accounted for the rest of Plant's pay.
The $9.45 million bonus package Mulally received in 2010 was almost three times as much as his total compensation from 2009. The Ford CEO also earned $9.3 million in stock award gains and $1.4 million in base salary.

The median salary of CEOs who held their job for at least two years rose from $3 million in 2009 to $5.7 million in 2010, an increase of more than 90 percent from 2009, Equilar research analyst Aaron Boyd said.

Lessons learned from yesterdays total blackout of San Diego county... from Orange County to Rosarita Baja California (Mexico) the power plants were tripped offline

Whoever designed and approved the electric system should be shot for gross stupidity, as it took just one person, one moment,.... and about 6 million people were out of electricity http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/10/us/10power.html .

It took 9 hours to get power back. http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/data-drive/article_dc4aabe6-db5b-11e0-97ba-001cc4c03286.html

No gas stations were able to operate. No grocery stores, no businesses. Of course, that is their fault for not having a backup generator to keep the pumps, fridges, and cash registers operating. Stupidity is contagious among busniesses it seems. Costly too, because if any had power backup, they would have been the only source of gas or food around.

No ATMs, no fast food restaurants, no air conditioning, no trolleys (public transportation in San Diego) and all the elevators are designed by nimrods who don't mind that on loss of electricity, the elevators trap all people riding.

Roadside assistance was called by a Marine, and they told him that they weren't going to show up, cause they are not going to waste gas. True story, he called the local radio station to spread the word.

Stop light intersections, they aren't as high a priority to get power to as the carpool lane monitoring equipment.

Traffic cops, never at the right intersections, but any intersection they are directing traffic at, moves faster than all the rest of the powerless intersections that all lanes have to stop at, car by car.

The wastewater treatment plants don't work without electricity, neither does the water dept. About 2 million gallons of sewage spilled into the ocean.

Most dispatched fleets switched to laptops and Nextels... neither worked with no power to the repeaters, cell phone towers, etc etc. This includes tow trucks, ambulances, taxis etc etc

The airport (San Diego International) doesn't have generator backup, and all that post 9-11 security is useless without electricity, so no planes were loading and leaving, no-one got scanned, no luggage was searched, the whole airport shut down. The port authority - the airport manager is also an idiot... across the street from the airport is Solar Turbines.. and guess what they make? Big ass tubine generators from 1 to 22 MegaWatts each http://mysolar.cat.com/cda/files/100588/7/dssolar.pdf ... and they have some in use, ready to deliver, and others ready to test. Bet you the Mayor or Govenor could make a couple calls and get a bit of cooperation to happen and have those megaWatts doing some good in this blackout

My advice to lessen the problems of being without power...

leave your fridge closed... it can keep things cold for hours without power
It's a good idea to have an extra gasoline... about enough to fill your car twice. ( You'll need a small tank, a 50 gallon barrel ought to do)
Flashlights and batteries are way better than candles.
a small inverter and an extension cord with a surge protector - really good at making 120 ac from car batteries to keep your cell phone charged, or house lights that plug into the walls lit. It gets really, really dark after the sun goes down... but even better would be a small RV generator, and Honda makes a really quite line of generators (again, some gas is good to have stored safely in your garage or storage unit... or siphon some from your car to keep your generator going)

Editting my recommended blog list because some sites have folded

Twoseatsorless.com

Winding Road blog

Snap On Tech online magazine

And the writing of "The Mechanic" on Edmunds Inside Line ended March 2010

are gone. Winding road has a car review thing going on... who gives a damn? Every other car website has car reviews... just who needs every car made to be reviewed by every website, tv show, newspaper, and magazine? Did something happen when I was busy, and suddenly the car companies pay reviewers?

I'm not happy to see the great blog the Winding Road used to do, and the Twoseatsorless.com disappear, they were sites I really enjoyed going through

Gamma towing in San Diego prosecuted successfully for illegal towing, illegal impounds, and failing to release to lawful owner (and more)

Check out the full story here: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Tow-Company-Guilty-of-Illegal-Towing-127321278.html

But the quick summary is that the owner plead GUILTY to 52 counts. I don't like tow truck companies, or cops. Gee, imagine that I'm not fond of people that just make your car go away.

The City Attorney was making hay out of this of course, but when does a city attorney ever get good press anyway?

6th consecutive win for Nobuhiro Tajima on Pikes Peak

Two days before his 61st birthday, Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima was once again crowned King of the Mountain. His winning the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for the sixth consecutive year on June 26 was no surprise, but his time was. He completed the 12.42-mile course in 9:51.278, becoming the first person to conquer Pikes Peak in less than 10 minutes.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/07/how-the-monster-beat-the-mountain/

La Mesa car cruise, under new management, lowriders and all older than 1972 welcome

Jonathan, manager of the Regal Bar in downtown La Mesa is now the spokesman and came to the car council meeting to clarify that the last guy to sound off at the car council meeting (San Diego Car Club Council) was out of line, and his comments that lowriders aren't welcome was not the party line for La Mesa. So, I'm no longer calling for the boycott of the La Mesa cruise. Good news

The US Interior Secretary and Director of the BLM toured the Imperial Sand Dunes at Glamis

story here: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sand-dunes-20110221,0,4494274.story but in a nutshell they came to relate that motorized recreation fits into the Obama administration's "America's Great Outdoors " conservation initiative rolled out last week that is heavy on land preservation.

great photo by Allen Schaben, shows the secretary in a ranger's sand rail that got stuck when they went to go over a steep dune... nice new rail huh?

Finally, a compressed air car is built

French enterprise MDI backed by Cater SA, a Swiss business have taken the concept to the roads, naminf a four wheel vehicle Airpod —to reflect on its engine powered by nothing but compressed air.

The fact that Geneva airport and a few French-speaking Swiss towns have already shown keen interest in Airpod augurs well for the project; not to mention that EU countries have already approved of the project.

It holds that initial production will kick off on Swiss grounds (in Reconvilier) where the first unit should roll out by March 2011

News from http://www.thecartimes.com/

Did you know there was a race to the South Pole in a Biodiesel powered vehicel?

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=929487&page=3

California lawmakers can't pass or balance a budget, but get 5 million dollars worth of new cars annually for their personal use

Don't sweat it... it's the only state that wastes money on rich politicians automotive needs. Well, unless you count free gas and insurance... I bet your lawmakers and politicians don't pay for gas or insurance. I bet they get chauffered limos as a way around your state purchasing cars for them. You likely know they get a lifelong pension better than double your annual income, free medical care you can't afford, and you'd scream to be told the free overseas flights on "fact finding missions" and subsequent luxury hotel accomodations and vacation in overseas countries.

Wankers as the Brits would call them (in polite company)

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2010/12/03/free-luxury-cars-for-lawmakers-amid-calif-budget-mess/ has the following to report about it: (I'm summarizing to avoid copyright BS)

California is the only state to provide rank-and-file lawmakers a luxury perk as the state has a 6 billion dollar deficit.
The state buys cars for lawmakers unlimited use under a decades-old program.
It spent more than $5 million for the latest suite of vehicles, including a $55,000 Cadillac and a $52,000 Lexus.


I listened to this today on KNX am 1070 Los Angeles

Think all of this is nuts? Heard of Speaker of the House Pelosi?
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=231461
"Since 2007, we U.S. taxpayers have paid $2,100,745 for now-outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make 85 flights aboard a 42-seat Air Force C-32 – which is the size of a Boeing 757"

Segs 4 Vets, Mobilizing America's Heroes

The below seat can be seen at http://www.segseat.com/ and purchased for about 500 bucks

Just check the seating custom changes... this is what enables anyone with leg problems to utilize a Segway and have upright mobility. Both of the seats will flip up or down to get out of the way when getting on or off the Segway.

Seventeen severely wounded warriors received a custom modified Segway, the personal mobility device, at a ceremony on the forward deck of the historic USS Midway.

Segs4Vets recipients use the Segway instead of a wheelchair and say the Segway allows them to stand tall in their prosthetic legs, improves their mobility and lets them appear less disabled in public.

The recipients included nine soldiers, two Marines, two national guardsmen, two airmen and two sailors. They come from Guam , Washington, D.C. and a dozen states, including California. Many are still undergoing treatment and rehabilitation at the Naval Medical Center San Diego.
Segs4Vets, a project of Disability Rights Advocates for Technology, a non-profit organization rated as one of America’s best charities, (one of 2,000 out of 1,000,000 charities in America) returned to San Diego for the third time to make the presentation.

The recipients sustained serious injuries which limit their mobility during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Segway dramatically improves personal mobility for military service members who lost limbs to amputation or suffer from spinal cord injuries, neurological injuries and soft tissue damage.

``Those who become disabled while serving our nation deserve the best tools available to live productive and fulfilling lives,’’ said Jerry Kerr, president and founder of DRAFT. ``The Segway has proven its value to more than 400 wounded warriors and we are delighted to provide this device to these brave military service members to help them fulfill their dreams.’’

Several former recipients who attended the ceremony included John Hyland, a former Army soldier and trained opera singer who will sang the National Anthem at the ceremony, and Kortney Clemons who is training for the Paralympic Games at the Olympic Training Center in San Diego. Two of the earliest recipients used their Segways to complete undergraduate studies at Georgetown University and are now attending law school.

More than 33,000 men and women in uniform have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan since the beginning of hostilities. The Segway is not covered by military medical insurance.

Segs4Vets, created in late 2005, is run entirely by volunteers as part of Disability Rights Advocates for Technology (DRAFT), a 501c3 created to represent people with disabilities who refuse to be defined by their disability and whose passionate enthusiasm for participation in life’s activities is supported by Universal Design and new and emerging technologies. The organization is a member of Military, Veterans & Patriotic Service Organizations of America and has been certified as one of the best charities in America by the Independent Charities Seal of Excellence, an honor accorded fewer than 2,000 of the more than one million public charities in the United States.

DRAFT is the only organization to ever receive a blanket waiver from the U.S. military allowing a gift in excess to $1,000 to severely injured active duty military force members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.