Author Archives: Jay B.

Art Cars

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I’d wager that there are more Volvo 240 “Art Cars” than any other, with the obvious exception of VW Beetles. But BMW boasts the highest caliber of artists painting on factory fresh vehicles.

Grand Central Terminal recently had a display of the Absolut-Vodka-like series of painted Beemers from the 70’s until now, including the 320i pictured above, painted by my hero, the late Roy Lichtenstein.

You can see all the cars, and check out the huge painting created by Robin Rhode driving a Z4 through paint and over a 100×200 foot canvas.

Via Streetlevel

Interactive Brake Job

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I created an interactive how-to for changing the brake pads and rotors on a Volvo 240. Below is the step-by-step instructions. Consult a manual for more detail. I can’t be held responsible if you screw up and plow into your local 7-11 while stopping by for a 44oz Super Big Gulp of Cherry Coke.

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Long Live Pontiac

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GM announce the phaseout of Pontiac this week to stave off bankruptcy. I’ve had the pleasure and the discomfort to experience some old Pontiacs over the years.

My family cruised the suburbs of the ’70s in a golden ’68 LeMans. I remember the sun-absorbing black vinyl top and seats getting stiffling hot on our trips to the outer banks of North Carolina. One night in 1976, during the oil crisis, some asshole siphoned the leaded fuel from the tank and left us stranded the next morning. After 12 years of troubled maintenance it rested and rusted in front of our suburban home and my dad didn’t bother getting it fixed. I tried to convince him I could work on it myself, but at 12 years old I didn’t know a manifold from a mango. Amazing how that golden iron ride could rust to the point of evaporation in only 18 short years.

The angelic ’64 Bonneville pictured above belonged to my late friend Billy Greene, who fixed and tuned it for more than half of his short life. Throughout high school and beyond he babied its 6 barrel carburetor, snow-white paint and acres of chrome. The cavernous interior and trunk managed to fit 11 teenagers trying to save money driving into a local park. The exhaust rumbled a gorgeous bass tone at stop lights and the suspension floated smoothly when racing around the capital beltway at 120mph.

RIP Pontiac.

GPM vs MPG

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Good Magazine has an interesting article about how we’d think differently about fuel consumption if we referenced gallons-per-mile instead of miles-per-gallon. How much gas do you use to go a mile? 10 miles? 100 miles? It’s fractional on the level of a tank of gas, but when you scale the numbers up it becomes easier to comprehend. Professor Richard Larrick bases fuel consumption against 10,000 miles.

The key thing about 10,000 miles is that is the distance that many people drive in a year. In fact, they often drive more. It really gives you a sense of, Okay, a year’s worth of driving is going to use 400 gallons, or 700 gallons.

The math makes the change of reference interesting:

This helps us understand that pulling cars out of the teens [in terms
of miles per gallon] is so much more valuable than pushing an efficient
car even higher. That only becomes clear when you start thinking about
gallons per mile. That tiny increase from 10 mpg  to 11 mpg saves
essentially the same one gallon of gas every 100 miles as does
increasing 33 mpg to 50 mpg.

Paper Bricks

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I created these little paper models using templates from a site out of Sweden. I’ve searched for diecast metal 240s but Corgi and other European manufacturers stopped producing them a long time ago, and I don’t know if Matchbox ever did. These paper models are the next best thing, although they don’t roll, they’re 1:87 scale, and they blow away in a gust of wind.

Hokenstrom.com is self-described as

The official homepage for one of the oldest riding clubs with disabled riders in Sweden. And the only one with an own homepage!

There’s a huge range of models, from 100s, 200s, 300s, 700s and 850s, with variations of each by year, and different colors within each download. There are also alternative vehicles, like hearses, police cars and the odd El Camino-esque yellow 850 pictured above. If you’ve got tiny fingers they can be a fun little craft. My thick digits produced dented quarter panels, gaped seams and cars with only 3 tires touching the ground.

Directing Wrecking

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“I Love Traffic” is a sweet little time waster that lets you play god by controlling traffic lights at an increasingly complex set of of intersections. It’s like a combination of Frogger and Tetris, with streets in multi-lane and multi-directional patterns, cars and trucks of differing sizes driving at different speeds, and a rapidly accumulating stack of traffic that will jam if you’re not quick enough. The best feature, though, is that no matter how many accidents you cause (like the one I did pictured above) you can always try again with the same roads; you’re not dumped at the simple starter levels.

From Armor Games via How We Drive.

The Last Available Parking Spot

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last_spotI got yet another parking ticket in Hoboken. I parked in front of the house and thought I’d hear the street cleaner drive by in time to move. Unfortunately, the ticket writer pumped out the violation quicker than I could leap down 2 flights of stairs and run across the street. It didn’t even matter if I moved the car. For $45 they can drive the Zamboni around my Brick.

Pic from the latest Simpsons, where Lisa is overwhelmed by the disasters our future has in store for us. I’ve always felt that we could never run out of parking; someone is always leaving a spot, right?

Installing New Brakes

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pic_brakerotors

The Brick now has new brakes. I ordered rotors and pads from FCP Groton and was pleasantly surprised to find the vented ATE discs I purchased for the front were upgraded to ATE Premium slotted. I’m still breaking the pads in, but from the brief ride back home I can tell I’ve got a safer car. I’ll be posting video of the install soon.

My buddy has a set of 17″ rims for his Saab that we fitted on the Brick after doing the brakes. They look awesome, but they rub in the rear. The offset is wrong and I’d need to get wheel spacers. I was excited about the rims but now that I see that spacers will set me back $300 I’ll have to reconsider.