My Black Brick

Fascinating video shot from a proto-dash cam in 1905 on Market Street, San Francisco. The chaotic mix of pedestrians, horses, trolleys and cars is pretty cool.

I imagine that Drivers Ed in North Korea includes a section on interpreting the odd signals of the counter-clockwise turning traffic cops at some intersections in Pyongyamg. See the Flickr set.

BONUS: Nothing explains the moves of this dork in Rhode Island. At least Officer Johnson’s moves somewhat resemble traffic direction for a pedestrian intersection at University of Pennsylvania.

After the last snow storm my black brick was speckled with so much salt it had turned white. I’m hoping this snow bank will protect from all the splatter on this high-traffic road. A fresh coat of wax makes the snow just slip off.

Some new sites I’ve added to the sidebar. Tons of crap cars and jerry rigs.

That Will Buff Out

You Drive What?

There, I Fixed It

Image from thatwillbuffout.com

Great comment from the Jalopnik QOTD, “What Modern Car Will You Have to Explain to Your Kids?” I had no idea the Passat W8 engine existed. Could the same idea be applied to 2 red-blocks?

Assuming I find a woman desperate/masochistic/imbalanced/whatever enough to settle down and raise a family with (I think I have better chances of growing a third arm at this point.), the resultant offspring would probably be most puzzled by the Volkswagen Passat W8 Wagon.

The conversation would probably go something like this:

Kid: Daddy, what’s that car in the picture?

Me: Well sport/princess, that’s a Volkswagen Passat W8 Wagon.

Kid: What’s the W8 mean?

Me: It was basically two overlapping V4s driving a common crankshaft.

Kid: Why?

Me: So they could cram eight cylinders under the hood longitudinally and still have room for the all-wheel-drive system.

Kid: But if it was all-wheel-drive and the back was shaped like a box, why not just buy a crossover or something?

Me: Well, some people – including your old man – preferred proper station wagons because they usually handled better and got better fuel economy. Even better when they were available with manual transmissions like this.

Kid: You mean flappy paddles?

Me: No, you had to move the gear lever up or down and left and right while lifting off the gas and pressing down on the clutch pedal to change gear.

Kid: Wow, driving one of those must have been a lot of work. Good thing the government outlawed cars that can’t drive themselves.

Me: Go to your room.

Kid: But-

Me: DON’T “BUT” ME, YOUNG MAN/LADY, GO TO YOUR ROOM!

*Kid runs off crying*

Wife: How can you be that way to our son/daughter?

Me: I have no son/daughter…

*Chugs glass of wine*

So…wanna get freaky later?

Hot off the heels of the ridiculous Dodge Charger Super Bowl ad, which depicts heterosexual relationships as a torturous, emasculating hell that can only be relieved by the loud burning of massive quantities of gasoline, comes this parody, depicting the oppressed women who have to deal with their poor Moparians:

“I will listen to Rush and tell you, yes, if there were a gold metal for air-drumming, you would win it.” Nice.

Via The Sexist

The aftermarket, one-size-fits-all floormats I got from the local Pep Boys last year didn’t quite work as planned. After a few weeks the driver side developed a fold that occasionally grabbed and held the gas pedal until I kicked it out of the way. I trimmed and re-shaped the rubber and everything has been fine since.

Not so for Toyota. What supposedly started as a problem with insecure floor mats on 3.6 million American cars has metastasized into a global recall of 6.5 million vehicles and has halted production of almost their entire line of cars.

While there’s some humor in the  “Toyotathon… of Death” title and segment on the Daily Show, the 2,100 reported accidents and 16 deaths isn’t funny.

I’m Audi 5000 !

I used to go to hot rod shows with my dad back in the late 70’s/ early 80’s and they were usually jam packed with custom conversion vans. Tons of candy apple paint, air-brushed illustrations of vikings and evil polar bears and lots of furry dashboards. Most of them had beds in the back, including one with a waterbed and a huge fish tank.

The Selvedge yard has compiled a slew of pictures of the craze in all it’s metal-flake glory.

After waiting an excruciating 18 hours for my FCP Groton order, it finally arrived via UPS. Did I really just order these front wheel bearings yesterday afternoon?

Wait a sec… is the name on the box really the name of the company? FAG? WTF? Do they offer t-shirts with their logo?

Dan Johnston has a funny post about the 240 being a good first car for new drivers. He posts the transcript of a conversation between NPR’s laugh-factory Click and Clack speaking to a teen who hates driving her 240 wagon:

TOM: Wait. I’ve got it. Emily, next time you’re in the car with your dad, look toward the back and say, “Those back seats fold down, right, Dad?” And when your dad says: “Sure they do. Why?” You say, “Well, with the seats folded down, I bet there’s plenty of room for two people to lie down back there!” He’ll have you in a 1992 Volvo sedan by Monday, Emily!