Note to self: when passing in a race, try to avoid the telephone poles.
Incomplete Pass by 242
Leave a reply
Category Archives: Brick-a-Brack
More Jumping Bricks
Looks like the jump didn’t kill this 244; the tree did.
Flip for a Vette
Guy needs to either buy wheelie bars, or something other than a Chevette.
Orange Bumper Brick
I wonder what this guy was like driving INTO this spot.
Traffic now in Paperback
I read Tom Vanderbilt’s book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do
From the NY Times book review:
Vanderbilt, who writes regularly about design and technology, cites a finding that 12.7 percent of the traffic slowdown after a crash has nothing to do with wreckage blocking lanes; it’s caused by gawkers. Rubberneckers attend to the spectacle so avidly that they themselves thenget into accidents, slamming into the car in front of them when it brakes to get a better look or dig out a cellphone to take a picture. (This happens often enough for traffic types to have coined a word for it: “digi-necking.â€)
It’s now available in paperback
Save the Clunkers T-Shirts
Some of the commenters on a Jalopnik “Cash for Clunkers” thread (C4C) were hoping for “Save the Clunkers” T-Shirts, so I put together a couple of quick images. They would be a 2-color silk screen, one black, one white. If anyone wants to produce these, contact me at boucher002 at yahoo dot com.
UPDATE: I posted a cleaned-up design of the van illustration to sixdollarshirts.com . Vote now!
That’s No Clunker? That’s My Tank!
The Truth About Cars ran a sky-is-falling-on-old-bricks post but I think the fear of losing RWD Volvos is misguided. They don’t qualify for the CAT program, as they get average gas mileage.
This video documents the death of an Olds Aurora, which qualified because of the V8 engine. Oil is drained, then a solution of water and silica sand is poured in. The car is turned on and run until the engine seizes. Not for the squeemish.
UPDATE: Prolonged death of a FWD Volvo.
Cash for Clunkers is the new Digital TV Transition
The concept for the government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program was dumb to begin with. Now that it’s actually been implemented it’s turned into a fiasco of confusion, misinformation and waste.
The biggest disaster is the fact that it ran out of money only FOUR DAYS into the four month long program. Original budgeted for $1 billion dollar through November, it now may get another $2 billion dollars to fund the $4500 checks cut to dealers who accept car buyers junk.
I’m surprised it ran out of money considering the misinformation that’s been pumped out by some dealers about the program. Take the funny promotion pictured above by a dealer in Springfield,VA. Since the Fed requires that eligible cars get less than 18mpg average city/highway there’s no way that Toyota Corolla would qualify. I saw a TV commercial last night that showed an econobox POS that the voiceover stated could be turned to gold. Unless the dealer is planning on absorbing the discount when the DOT rejects the rebate application, buyers are being given a bait-and-switch. In addition the EPA adjusted its figures right before the program started, so the mileage listed on the original sticker may not match what the DOT sees as eligible.
Once a car has been accepted, government rules require it be given a lethal injection of sodium silicate to disable and destroy the engine, then be scrapped. See that beautiful black beemer to the left? Scrap metal.
Pimp My Mom’s Ride
I made this “Ride Pimper” toy for MTV.com back in 2004 for the premiere of “Pimp My Ride”. You can choose from 3 types of cars, then modify with paint and parts. It was popular at the time, but hasn’t aged well if you believe recent comments.
Related: Although this cheeky ad purports to show the damages inflicted to a “Mom” vehicle, the only difference this dad sees with his car is that he wouldn’t be caught dead with a 6-pack of Zima in the trunk.
US Studies Cellphone Risk, Then Hides Results
Two days after their article on the dangers of cell phone use while driving, the NY Times has an article outlining how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had studied the effects of phone use by drivers, only to bury the findings for fear of angering Congress.
The former head of the highway safety agency said he was urged to withhold the research to avoid antagonizing members of Congress who had warned the agency to stick to its mission of gathering safety data but not to lobby states.
Critics say that rationale and the failure of the Transportation Department, which oversees the highway agency, to more vigorously pursue distracted driving has cost lives and allowed to blossom a culture of behind-the-wheel multitasking.