Archive Category: Car & Vehicle
Mazda Destroyed 4,703 Brand New Cars After Cargo Ship Accident
Automobile makers usually try to find the best way to build a car, but Mazda had the unenviable task of finding the best way to destroy over 4,700 brand new cars:
It all started about two years ago, when a ship carrying 4,703 shiny new Mazdas nearly sank in the Pacific. The freighter, the Cougar Ace, spent weeks bobbing on the high seas, listing at a severe 60-degree angle, before finally being righted.
The mishap created a dilemma: What to do with the cars? They had remained safely strapped down throughout the ordeal — but no one knew for sure what damage, if any, might be caused by dangling cars at such a steep angle for so long. Might corrosive fluids seep into chambers where they don’t belong? Was the Cougar Ace now full of lemons?
The Japanese car maker, controlled by Ford Motor Corp., easily could have found takers for the vehicles. Hundreds of people called about buying cheap Mazdas. Schools wanted them for auto-shop courses. Hollywood asked about using them for stunts.
Mazda turned everyone away. It worried about getting sued someday if, say, an air-bag failed to fire properly due to overexposure to salty sea air.
It also worried that scammers might find a way to spirit the cars abroad to sell as new. That happened to thousands of so-called "Katrina cars" salvaged from New Orleans’ flooding three years ago. Those cars — their electronics gone haywire and sand in the engines — were given a paint job and unloaded in Latin America on unsuspecting buyers, damaging auto makers’ reputations.
Joel Millman of The Wall Street Journal has the story (and video): Link - via Look At This
California: Veggie Oil-Powered “Grease Car” Owners Are Scofflaws
Californians who converted their cars to run on vegetable oil pride themselves for saving gas money, as well as promoting alternative or "greener" fuels. Unfortunately, they are also learning that no good deeds go unpunished, especially by the gub’ment:
Dave Eck, a Half Moon Bay mechanic, had attracted a media spotlight with his fleet of vehicles fueled by used fryer grease from a local chowder house. So when Sacramento called, he figured officials wanted advice on promoting alternative fuels.
Not at all. The government rang to notify Eck that he was a tax cheat. He was scolded for failing to get a "diesel fuel supplier’s license," reporting quarterly how many gallons of grease he burns, and paying a tax on each gallon. [...] The state offered Eck only a potentially large fine — and not just for failing to pay taxes. He can also get in trouble for carting kitchen grease away from eateries without a license from the state Meat and Poultry Inspection Branch.
Or for not having at least $1 million in liability insurance, in case he spills some of the stuff. Or for not getting permission from the state Air Resources Board to burn fat in the first place.
The regulations are so burdensome that even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, trying to set an example for Californians by driving a Hummer that burns cooking oil he buys at Costco, had not complied.
(Photo: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
DWD (Driving With Dog) Soon to be Illegal
Attention dog lovers! if Assemblyman Bill Maze of California succeeds, pretty soon you won’t be able to drive with your pets on your lap anymore:
A California lawmaker wants to ban motorists from holding pets on their laps while driving. Getting caught could net a $35 fine.
Assemblyman Bill Maze said his legislation has nothing to do with pet-loving celebrities who are photographed driving around Los Angeles with their small dogs.
Maze said he introduced the bill after seeing a woman driving with three dogs on her lap.
Naturmobil
Abdolhadi Mirhejazi of Dubai has built a one-horsepower vehicle, but it’s not your average horse and buggy! This fully-enclosed cart has the horse in back, walking on a treadmill. The treadmill not only powers the car, it charges a battery which can take over when the horse is tired.
Mirhejazi also discovered the horse can power two LCD advertising screens mounted on the sides of the Naturmobil
“Bearing in mind the originality and uniqueness of the idea, Naturmobil was designed and built to achieve the maximum level of attention from its audiences,” said his marketing manager, F. Minooeifar.
Mirhejazi plans to exhibit his Naturmobil in Pittsburgh, California in June. Link -via Arbroath
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+SUMooning the Speed Camera
This guy probably thought it was a good idea at the time: mooning the speed camera …
A front seat car passenger was photographed baring his backside at a speed camera in Northumberland. [...] His behaviour has been labelled as "dangerous and offensive" by road safety campaigners.
Police may take action against the man for public order offences and not wearing a seat belt.
Max Knight’s Walking Bike
Can you walk your bike and ride it at the same time? You can with Max Knight’s "Walking Bike." Instead of tires, Max uses 8 pairs of sneakers, complete with black ankle socks!
Baby Car Logo
Dentsu ad agency in Brazil created a series of clever advertisement for Minichamps, a diecast miniature car collectible: "baby" version of the logos!
Link - thanks Haendel Dantas!
Previously on Neatorama: Evolution of Car Logos
IDOT Failed to See the Humor in Stop (in the Name of Love) Signs
Last year, Mayor Dave Heilmann of Oak Lawn, Illinois, added humorous signs to the city’s stop signs in attempt to get drivers to obey.
The Illinois Department of Transportation, however, wasn’t amused: they ordered the mayor to take the signs down:
"I thought that was a very harsh response to an effort to promote safety," Heilmann said. "I truly believe the signs were making an impact. They were around schools and heavily trafficked areas. The community loved them, and we heard from all over the country about how thinking outside the box was a good way to reinforce the message that people need to stop."
Heilmann launched his public safety campaign to cut down on speeding through stop signs in September. He added slogans such as "and smell the roses" and "means that you aren’t moving" to 50 stop signs.
Link - via Fogonazos, thanks aberron!
King of the Hypermilers: 59 MPG in an Old Honda Accord
With gas prices climbing towards $4/gallon (I was in San Francisco last week, where gas prices had already passed that level a while ago), it’s no surprise that people are trying to maximize their car’s MPG.
But Wayne Gerdes takes it to the very extreme: he’s the king of the hypermilers, and can get 59 MPG in a plain old Accord.
But you may not want to try it … here’s why:
I’m thinking that hypermiling consists of driving like a 90-year-old in a mobile sweat lodge, but I’m about to find out I’m wrong. Really, really wrong.
"Buckle up tight, because this is the death turn," says Wayne. Death turn? We’re moving at 50 mph. Wayne turns off the engine. He’s bearing down on the exit, and as he turns the wheel sharply to the right, the tires squeal—which is what happens when you take a 25 mph turn going 50. Cathy, Terry’s wife, who is sitting next to me in the backseat, grabs my leg. I grab the door handle. As we come out of the 270-degree turn, Cathy says, "I hope you have upholstery cleaner."
Here’s an interesting article by Dennis Gaffney for Mother Jones: Link - Thanks MoonCake!
Rally Trouble - Ayayay!
This particular spot seems to be really great for the spectators and really bad for the rally car drivers! After watching this, I just had to say “ayayay” at everything that went wrong today!
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - Thanks Christophe!
Tightrope Driving
If you think your commute is horrendous, check out what Liu Suozhu of Henan Province, China, had to drive on:
A Chinese man performed a breathtaking stunt by driving a car across two steel cables suspended 150ft above a river.
Liu Suozhu, 48, of Henan province, completed the 750ft journey over Miluo River in Pingjiang city, Hunan province. Liu, who is nicknamed the Car King in China, drove the motor from a platform in front of tens of thousands of cheering spectators.
Ford Ka Ad
(YouTube link)
I think the point is that you can get a lot of people in the vehicle. The Ford Ka is manufactured in Spain and Brazil. -via Digg
Get Ready: Oil May Hit $10 a Gallon in Just a Couple of Years!
Think that gas prices are high? According to Dan Dorfman of The New York Sun, we may be seeing much higher gas prices in just three years. How high? Try $10 a gallon.
The forecasts calling for a jump to between $7 and $10 a gallon are based on the view that the price of crude is on its way to $200 in two to three years. [...]
Early last year, with a barrel of oil trading in the low $50s and gasoline nationally selling in a range of $2.30 to $2.50 a gallon, Mr. Gaines — in an impressive display of crystal ball gazing — accurately predicted oil was $100-bound and that gasoline would follow suit by reaching $4 a gallon.
His latest prediction of $200 oil is open to question, since it would undoubtedly create considerable global economic distress. Further, just about every energy expert I talk to cautions me to expect a sizable pullback in oil prices, maybe to between $50 and $70 a barrel, especially if there’s a global economic slowdown.
While Mr. Gaines thinks there could be a temporary decline in the oil price, he’s convinced an overall uptrend is unstoppable. In fact, he thinks his $200 forecast could be conservative, and that perhaps $250 could be reached. His reasoning: a combination of shrinking supply and increasing demand, especially from China, India, and America.
Link - via Boing Boing
Uno Motorcycle
A motorcycle with one wheel? No, it just looks that way. The Uno has two wheels, side by side. It runs on electricity and is controlled by body language. The only controls are an on-off switch. To go forward, you lean forward. Lean further to go faster. The Uno was invented by 18-year-old Ben J. Poss Gulak. Motorcycle Mojo has the story of how the Canadian engineering prodigy built the prototype Uno. Link
Trivia: Japanese “Pushers” Squeeze People Into Overcrowded Trains
In Japan’s, oshiyas or "pushers" are employed to squeeze people onto the overcrowded subway and train cars.
They also perform the job of a "puller-off," pulling off passengers who try to get on the train too late or when the train is too full.
Why, there’s a YouTube video clip of the oshiyas in action - Thanks Christophe!
That’s One Way to Tow a Car
(Live Leak link)
Maybe the tow truck driver wanted to be paid up front and wasn’t. Spotted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. -via Arbroath
Railroad Tank Implosion
Im not sure if this is filmed in real time but if it is, the pressure must’ve been intense. This video is apparently part of an instructional video for employees learning how to clean and vent cars.
Link: LiveLeak
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this +digg +del.icio.us +reddit +SUBike Storage Tower in Tokyo, Japan
Parking your bike in Tokyo, Japan is so high tech! Check out this automated bicycle parking tower (capacity 9,400 bicycles) : Hit play or go to Link [YouTube, in Japanese but you'll get the idea] - via treehugger, thanks yoshi hashimoto!
Previously on Neatorama: Volkswagen’s New Car Storage Facility
When an F-111 Collided with a Pelican …
What happened when an F-111 fighter jet collided with a large pelican? It’s amazing that the pilot recovered the plane and landed safely:
AN F-111 was left "shredded" and incapacitated and was forced to make a spectacular emergency landing after hitting a pelican.
The jet was flying at 900m on a test bombing raid at Evans Head, northern NSW, when a pelican struck the fibreglass nose and was sucked into an engine.
The two RAAF crew are being hailed as heroes by their colleagues for their skilful recovery and landing on April 11. The damage, included a hole in one wing. Aviation experts said flying the plane would have been extremely difficult because the aircraft would have been unstable.
Story by James O’Loan and Alex Dickinson: Article | Gallery - via OhGizmo!
Covini C6W: Six Wheeled Sportscar
Waitaminute - something ain’t right here! Actually, that’s the Covini C6W, a six-wheeled sportscar that supposedly have more traction for cornering and braking.
You can see more at Dark Roasted Blend’s World’s Strangest Vehicles.
Rocket Bike
Found at Joey deVilla’s The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century, photo by Miss Fipi Lele.
Would someone tell me the background story of this rocketastic motorcycle mod, pretty please?
Baaaaad Dog!
Bad idea: dog in your car
Really bad idea: leaving dog alone in your car
Neatorama-worthy: leaving dog with gastrointestinal problem alone in your car
See what this cutey-pie did to this guy’s Infiniti G35 sportscar that required 8 hours of cleaning.
Link [warning: grossness is off the chart on this one. You've been warned] - Thanks rizwan!
Surviving a Super Storm at Sea
Photo: Karsten Petersen
On October 1977, the good ship "Stolt Surf," a chemical tanker, left Singapore on a routine voyage across the Pacific Ocean.
The ship was advised by a weather routing agency to keep far to the north, to avoid a storm further south. The captain said that going north at this time of the year was contrary to his sailor experience, but the weather agency had all sorts of satellites and computers and whatnot. And so the Stolt Surf went north against his instinct and years of experience.
A big mistake:
During the storm, it soon became clear, that this one was NOT one of the usual storms with "only" 10 meter waves! No,- on the "Stolt Surf" we experienced to our astonishment, that when the big waves came crashing towards us, we had to look UP in order to see the top of the waves! And that was from the bridge deck, which is already 22 meters above sea level! 22 meters!!! And still you had to look UP!!! Crazy!
Link - Thanks Christophe!
Pedalofit Turns Wheelchairs into Tricycles
That’s the Pedalofit, a clamp-on cycle for wheelchair users so they can a) exercise and b) look cool zooming around the neighborhood with their new ride.
Link - via Boing Boing Gadgets
For those who want a little more speed, there’s the Elektra and Elektra Lite motorized version.
Firefox Bus
Well, it’s not as big as the Firefox star, but this is still pretty cool: the Firefox bus, as taken by LiveJournal user Kalyan Varma around Mysore, India. Link
American Airlines Travel Woes
American Airlines has so far canceled nearly 3,000 flights this week due to wiring inspections, stranding a quarter of a million passengers.
When it comes to flying, safety is paramount, but it seems that the wiring problem isn’t critical. So naturally, some people are asking why the mass grounding:
But were wiring concerns serious enough to warrant such massive cancellations? Should the airlines have inconvenienced so many people at once? Was the flying public’s safety actually at risk? [...]
American is reinspecting its planes after securing the wire bundles a quarter of an inch too far apart. Delta found it had an issue with the protective sleeving it was supposed to have wrapped around a certain part of the wire bundles. [...]
John Eakin, aviation safety consultant and president of Air Data Research in Helotes, Texas, spent this week looking over the reports issued in the years before 2006 that prompted the FAA to issue the requirement in the first place.
The reports were not serious enough a problem to prompt this week’s mass cancellations, Eakin said.
"What I see is just routine stuff," said Eakin, who has worked as a pilot and mechanic for 40 years. "I don’t have any sense that there was any imminent danger of the airplane falling out of the sky, if you will. That’s not to say that it couldn’t. Obviously, someone along the way has determined that this has the potential to cause serious damage."
"I would think that if it was likely to cause a problem, they wouldn’t have taken six or seven or eight years to do the paperwork," Eakin said.
If you’re one of the passengers inconvenienced, I feel your pain. I used to travel by air a great deal (internationally and domestically), and I’ve never had much problem - until I traveled with American Airlines (why? I’ll tell you in the comment).
Link (Photo: FlyGuy92586 [Flickr])
Riding my Guitar
German inventor Dieter ‘Didi’ Senft unveiled his latest creation Tuesday in Storkow, Germany. It’s a 39-foot guitar, driven by a bicycle chain underneath! Link -via Arbroath, who has a video of the contraption.
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this +digg +del.icio.us +reddit +SUOh the Irony: New Hampshire’s “Live Free or Die” License Plates Made By Prisoners
Photo: marcn [Flickr]
Prisoners in the New Hampshire state prison in Concord, New Hampshire, stamp license plates with the state’s motto: "Live Free or Die."
Sailing a Junk Raft to Protest Ocean Pollution
Marcus Eriksen and colleagues from the Algalita Marine Research Foundation are concerned debris polluting our oceans. So they are building a raft, aptly named "Junk" out of plastic bottles with a cabin made from an old Cessna fuselage:
The raft, named "Junk," seems destined to live up to its name, with its 30- by 20-foot hull consisting of 20,000 plastic bottles - kept together with fishing net.
The fuselage will be overhauled, made waterproof, and used to provide shelter for a two-man crew - Eriksen and photographer Joel Paschal - and navigational equipment for a planned six-week odyssey to Hawaii, in an effort to raise awareness of the trash that lands in the ocean by careless, consumer-oriented societies, according to Algalita.
They will sail to Hawaii on May 25: Link | Junkraft Blog - Thanks Sustainable Dave!
Jitish Kallat’s Skeleton Car
That’s the life-sized skeleton car Collindonthus by Indian artist Jitish Kallat, on display at Artkrush. See more of his skeleton art at The Saatchi Gallery - via who killed bambi?
