Where I work* ...

Sam the Fashionista! My road call jacket, her funky orange hat. I betcha they saw her from the space station. Heh ...

Click to increase the glare.

Mrs. F made the mistake of letting me get a cell phone with a camera this week.

*Part of an ongoing, semi-regular series.

General Who?

LATimes

Roland Sands has spent the last year peeling the skins off dirt bikes, reaching deep inside their body cavities. What he's found are the bikes' unlikely alter-egos.

The Super Single idea is so new that Wikipedia doesn't have an entry -- yet -- but when it does, it might go something like this: "A 450 Super Single is a single-cylinder 450-cc dirt bike that's been converted into an entry-level road racer. The frame, subframe, swing arm, motor and transmission are all stock, but the wheels, tires, suspension and bodywork have all been modified for on-track use and general skulduggery."

General skulduggery? Now ya got me interested...

Actually, it makes perfect sense if you've ever seen a good 500 single show its taillight to a Fastass Sumbichi 4-cylinder on a canyon road. They're light, narrow, and have a low center of gravity.

Mad Sunday

Since we're goin' fast in the twisties today, here's a coupla videos from the Isle of Man TT. 'Mad Sunday' is the official name of a couple of periods of a coupla hours each when the Mountain Circuit is open to the public. They bring in extra ambulances for this.

First, a video of a BMW R1150GS, which is not a roadracer. The interesting thing is the speedo and tach on camera, and also the amplified engine noise behind the fairing as perceived by the mic on the camera. Sounds like a cement mixer fulla walnut shells! About ten minutes.



Next, a much shorter video of a 1000cc Gixxer. You can read the speedo really well on this one. Scares me...

Curves ...

Much as I love racing in all its forms, my favorite is on a road course. I love curves, and not only on da wimmins. Reader Mr. Natural turned me on to this YouTube of a Cobra chasing a motorcycle and it brought back fond memories of a hell ride I took in a Corvette on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut (CT-15).



There was another Mrs. F and I took down Westlake Boulevard in California (CA-23) from the 101 to the Pacific Coast Highway in a rented V8 Dodge Dakota pickup. By the time we reached PCH, I had that truck so twisted every panel rattled. Heh ...

Which, in turn, reminds me of this tune:

Counting Crows - A Long December

Amazing how my deranged little mind works, ain't it?

Surrounded By Swamps And Bored?

Find yourself an old tractor, a canoe, some ski's and a drivetrain, then build yourself a

========== SWAMP BUGGY!! ==========












I about fell out of my chair the first time I stumbled onto these while channel surfing a few years ago.

I couldn't figure out WHAT the hell it was I was seeing!
When they are skimming around the track, the only thing you can see is the cockpit sticking out of a giant spray of water.

This is mud bogging on steroids.
They have all kinds of classes, both sexes and some of these things are damn serious machines.

They are a HOOT to watch!
If you ever find yourself sitting in front of the TV bored on a Saturday or Sunday in the Summertime, try and catch one of these shows.

I snagged these pictures from Mike Johnson, at his website.

If they do this in New York ...

I'm fucked:

MESA, Ariz.- A pair of vans deployed by the state Department of Public Safety last week to electronically nab speeders are just the tip of the iceberg.

The DPS intends to install up to 120 fixed speed-enforcement cameras alongside rural highways and urban freeways in coming years, according to documents obtained by the East Valley Tribune newspaper under a public records request.

...

Where I work* ...

It's been a while since I posted here. Apologies.

Hood Ornament Harry

Mrs. S is a sweet little old lady, though she's about 150 years old and shouldn't drive. She pulls into the lot last week with both side view mirrors blown off her Saturn. Now, this poor little car doesn't have a straight panel on it, bounced it off everything on the narrow streets in town and her garage. Every three months or so, I put a new side view on her car. It was a double this time. Heh ...

So, as I said, she pulls into the lot, swerves a left right off the Avenue in front of me as I'm trying to pull this crew cab Silverado pickemup truck into the shop. Thank god I saw the white roof of the Saturn in front of the push bar before I drove into the driver's door. I blow the horn and she looks around vacantly, not noticing the grille of the big Chevy a foot from her window. I get out, get her attention by tapping on the window, and motion her over next to the dumpster. Fine. She moves without hitting anything and I get the truck into the shop.

Since I got real work to do, Harry goes out to Mrs. S (who's still in her car) with his book to write down the vehicle info and send her on her way. We get the mirrors in a day and she comes in to get them installed. Five minutes later, Harry comes back in and calls for the new mirrors. I look out the window and see Mrs. S backing up to get out of the lot, straight for another customer's car. Harry sees it too and runs out, yelling at her to stop. Happily she sees him and hits the brake. Just in time.

Harry goes to her door and asks if she wants him to turn the car around so it's pointing at the street. Now, her window doesn't go down because the door has been banged up so much, so she opens the door to hear Harry. She says yes, but leaves the car in 'reverse'. Harry yells at her to put it in 'park'. Who the Hell knows what she heard, but she hit the gas. The car lurches backward and the door catches Harry, launching him across the hood of the other customer's car, just as Mrs. S' car backs into it. Ain't seen Harry move that quick in a long time. Heh ...

Thankfully there was no damage, to Harry (the old man was sore for a couple days though) or the other customer's car. We got Mrs. S pointed the right way and turned her loose after assuring her Harry would survive. While we can laugh at it now, there's a buncha old folks who shouldn't be driving. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do and it's up to their families to take action to get them off the road. From personal experience, it's a difficult thing to do, especially in places like Long Island where mass transit isn't exactly old-friendly but Mrs. S, and a lot of sweet little old ladies like her, is gonna kill somebody one day. Hopefully it ain't one of us.

I Pity Mr. T

Mrs. T is a little woman, about 98 pounds, just over 5 feet tall, a transplant from Georgia who married a local boy and moved back here. They don't have any kids but they have a little Yorkshire Terrier named Danny. Now, Mrs. T had this Mitsubishi Montero that she loved. It was the sport model, so it had the bigger V6 and was fun to drive. It wasn't that big so she and Danny (they go everywhere together) could zip in and out of the narrow streets in town. It had a lot of miles on it, so Mr. T was a good guy and bought her a Christmas present. Nice guy, right? Heh ...

Mrs. T and Danny show up the other day in the Christmas present for its first oil change. He goes and buys her a GMC Denali XL, big 6.2 liter V-8, every bell and whistle, fucking thing is the size of a Greyhound bus, barely fits in the shop.

She and Danny come to pick it up and ask her how she likes it.

1 - "The thing is so big, it takes me a half hour to get down the Avenue."

2 - "I can't park it anywhere on the street because somebody's already hit the mirror."

3 - "It's a bitch to turn corners with and it takes forever to find a parking space big enough."

4 - "But Danny likes it."

No shit. Fucking thing's a playground for the little dog. "So why'd ya get it?" I ask her.

"I didn't," she says. "This is my husband's idea of practical. I'm gonna kill him, bless his heart."

Sucks to be Mr. T. Heh ...

*Part of an ongoing, semi-regular series.

Hey Gord?

Fuck that 'Vette,
I want one of THESE!!

The End Of An Era

General Motors now has a reason to pull it's head out of the sand and start getting serious about a few things.
Quality products for one,putting hybrid and electric vehicles on a fast track for two.

It's a safe bet that the days of the Hummer are limited, it was a niche market anyway.

GM is going to have to get real serious about costs too, something they whine about constantly.

GM, Toyota in Dead Heat in 2007 Sales

WAPO,
By TOM KRISHER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 23, 2008; 10:04 AM

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp.'s 76 years of global sales supremacy is ending, as totals for 2007 released on Wednesday showed the automaker in a virtual tie with Toyota Motor Corp.

GM said it sold 9,369,524 vehicles worldwide last year, up 3 percent from 2006. Earlier this month, Toyota reported global sales of 9.37 million vehicles, but the Japanese automaker did not release a number down to the last vehicle, leaving the sales race too close to call.

Detroit-based GM has held the title of world's largest automaker since the 1930s, but Toyota's strong U.S. growth and GM's U.S. sales decline helped Toyota move closer to the top spot in recent years.
snip

Better Living Through Chemistry

Better Plastic From Detroit?

By William Diem

DETROIT — One nice thing about being a journalist on the show floor during press days is that you run into people who have answers to your nagging questions.

Ever wonder why Toyota interiors are better than those from Ford or Chevrolet?

snip

Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have had less money than their competitors to spend on car projects because they had to spend so much for pensions and health care, Mr. Cole said. And because interiors are the last part of a car to get commitments for investment, that is where corners are cut when the money runs out.

According to Mr. Cole, thanks to new contracts signed last fall with the union workers, G.M. will save $5,000 per car by 2010 and be on a level playing field with Toyota. And the first place consumers may notice a difference is better quality in future interiors.

And here I always thought we had the best plastic shit.
Who knew?

New Vette, New Price, New Top End

Better start looking under the couch cushions now, Gord.
Estimated to cost a Hunnert Grand.
602 HP, 200MPH flat out.
It's a quick little Devil, but whatever you do, DON"T SCRATCH IT!!!

General Motors says that the clear coat paint additive used on top of the carbon-fiber parts costs $60,000 a gallon, which breaks down to $900 a car. As for the rest of the car, Mr. Danahy said, “We tried not to go too crazy with the appearance.”

Jeez Mareze!

The original article is from the Automobile section of the NY Times.

I couldn't afford to pay anymore attention.

NOOOOOOOOOooooooo!!!

The V-8 is dead

According to this article

The Vette and the Caddy CTS-v are the last holdouts, both using derivatives of Chevrolet's venerable 1955 Small block.

Now everyone is focusing on Direct Fuel Injection and Turbo'd 4 bangers and V-6's.

Long Live The V-8

This Is Exciting, I Just Punked Myself!

No batteries, gas, oil, or coolant.
A regenerating super efficient electric motor, with an automatic behind it.
You can use this thing to make electricity for your house, barn, you name it.
This is fantastic.


H/T to my buddy Dale, my Dad's oldest friend.


Cross posted at Ornery Bastard

Update
I've had Bullshit called so take it at face value until I can look into it.
I put it up right after getting it.


Update two
OHHHKAY, I see where I screwed up now. A nice gentleman pointed out the way I said regenerating violates the second law of thermodynamics.
Gotta love Google, I didn't have a clue.

Second Law of Thermodynamics - Increased Entropy
The Second Law of Thermodynamics is commonly known as the Law of Increased Entropy. While quantity remains the same (First Law), the quality of matter/energy deteriorates gradually over time. How so? Usable energy is inevitably used for productivity, growth and repair. In the process, usable energy is converted into unusable energy. Thus, usable energy is irretrievably lost in the form of unusable energy.

Thus the word regenerative would imply something along the lines of a perpetual motion machine, my bad.
I did find a reference to Mr. Reed and his remarkable engine here;
Conspiracy Central.
It concludes that attempts to locate Mr. Reed were unsuccessful.

Update 3.

Turns out he never did have a self sustaining motor and the video is bogus.
Nice.
Thats what I get for getting excited and putting it up without thinking critically.

My sincere apologies.

Go here for what happened and where it stands as of right now.

H/T One Fly for pointing me to the error of my ways.
Thanks bud.

Ford, Jaguar, and Royal Enfield

From AFP via Raw Story:

The US automaker Ford on Thursday named Tata Motors of India as the preferred buyer of Ford's luxury Jaguar and Land Rover models.

Why not? Indian concerns have some history of taking over English companies.

For instance, Royal Enfield motorcycles. This make started making bikes in England in 1901 and ceased production in 1970. A good history here.

These sleds started being manufactured under licence in India in 1955 and are still being manufactured there today. As a matter of fact, they are still building basically the 1955 model! The bikes have been upgraded over time, of course, but they are the last old-style "Limey" sleds still available as brand new.

Since Mrs. G got a new bike earlier in the year, we figured it was only fair that I get one too. Since she's planning to retire later this year, the theory is we better get new shit while we're still under the delusion that we have money. We've been working this theory like a red-headed stepchild. She also got a new icebox and range, and I got a new dishwasher. These three items match for the first time in our lives! We figure a) they're the last we'll need, and b) at our age, they probably won't wear out. There are other acquisition plans in the works as well, but I digress.

I made a deal with my friend Larry to buy his Indian Enfield. An '04 model (I think, but they're kinda all the same so it doesn't really matter) with 150 miles on it and a shitpot fulla spares and accessories. We've been talking about this for almost a year, and now that the bike has been offered, and the offer accepted (the sword fighting over the price took all of ten seconds), naturally he wants it out of his garage right now!. Yeah, like that's gonna happen. The bike's in L.A. and I'm 500 miles and 80 feet up a snow-covered driveway away. Soon, Larry, soon...

Check out Royal Enfield's U.S. site for a good look at some of these old-fashioned bikes.

Really, the whole point of this post was to tell the following story, which I swear is absolutely true:

The other day I had occasion to call a customer service number, for what doesn't matter. The gent had an Indian accent so I asked him where he was. India. I had to ask, I've heard the same accent on the phone to Texas, and in any case I always ask where folks at 800 numbers are located just out of curiosity.

I mentioned that I had just bought an Indian Enfield and this is how he replied:

"Oh yes! I am having one of those in 1999-2000. Very pleasant to drive! Also very heavy when it is laying on my leg..."

Ya can't make this shit up, folks.

More on the new bike when I get it. I'm excited.

Till Next Year

While I am sweeping up and locking up all the chemicals, I'd like to say Happy New Year to the guy's and all of the fine folks that have made me feel welcome since Fixer invited me to make my messes around here.

Remember what I always say, Don't buy cheap tools, thats how ya get yer knuckles busted,and if ya can't be good, stay sanitary.

Be safe.

Brand F Icon Alert

You Brand F guys, and you know who you are, will like this.

"By May 1991 I was driving the pace car at the Indianapolis 500. Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, just back from Iraq, was grand marshal and I drove him around the track once at 150 mph. Later, he found out I'd had a heart transplant. He said, 'I had a couple of close calls in Desert Storm but nothing like that ride.' "

Mazda Furai

It looks like a sci-fi,steroid enhanced tadpole to me but you gotta know it's fast. A 450 HP, 3 rotor Mazda rotary engine decked out in Le Mans finery.
Take a close look at the nose and sides and tell me they didn't spend a ton of time in a wind tunnel with this thing.
This is a proto type, and they are famous at the American Le Mans series for using state of the art engineering and aerodynamics to try and edge out the competition for bragging rights.
Here is a quote from the article;

"Furai takes Mazda's unique Nagare (Japanese for "flow") design language a step further as it is translated into a concept car based on an American Le Mans Series (ALMS) racing car. The car utilizes the Courage C65 chassis the company campaigned in the ALMS series only two seasons ago, and the 450-hp three-rotor rotary engine that distinguishes it from anything else on the track."








"Flow" certainly comes to mind when looking at the aero styling on the front of the thing.

Original article here, where I also got the pictures.

Timesaver

When me'n Mrs. G pulled into our motel last Satiddy evening, this pickup was there. I asked the owner if he had any problems, thinking I might help.

His reply was, "Naw, I just drive around like that. Saves time."

I should have known. Usually you see these like that by the side of the road. If they make it to a parking lot, they're OK.

You may believe that or not, as you wish.

That truck never moved from that spot until Wednesday A.M. although he did close the hood. Note also the sterling parking job, one of my pet peeves in The Land Of Never Enough Parking Spaces. That thing must have appeared a lot wider from the driver's seat than it actually is.

Knowing that there may be just the teensiest bit of good-natured brand rivalry around this joint, you may ask if I would have posted that pic were it some other make. Well you may ask...

Merry Christmas From The Crew.

Fixer is enjoying the holidays with his lovely wife in Germany, visiting relatives and having a blast from what I can tell.
Gordon has been being a naughty boy but I don't think he gives a shit about Santa Claus and his damn list.
If he wants something, he'll order it, thankyouverymuch.
That leaves me, the low man on the totem pole, to stop by and wish you all Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas.
I will be spending a couple of months at my parents while they go galavanting all over the country side in their motorhome.
That will give me access to the toobz after work and God help ya.

And if you thought I was kidding about Gordo, I have proof;

This is what he is sending out for Christmas cards this year.

Heh, heh, I almost sent him exactly the same damn thing.
Santa?
2 lumps of coal, to go.

An idle mind...

Sometimes I just ain't got enough to do...

This is a trailer from The Thing with Two Heads, which marked my movie daybyoo. I'm in the scene where the Ford knocks over the fire hydrant, though not in this clip. The 'fire hydrant' was a prop of course, and was yanked out of the way by a coupla grips while another one turned on a carefully hidden hose. If you ever take leave of your senses enough to actually watch this turkey, I'm the guy in the blue Goodyear jacket with yellow stripes, next to Ekins' Honda 600 who gets showered by the hydrant.

Also notice the two guys who are so amazed at the two-headed thing in the motocross race that they unload off their bikes into a mudhole. They did this by the simple expedient of tyin' off their front forks to a pole. One of the guys got up and walked away, but the other, Paul Nuckles, got the handlebars right in his chest when he went by. It knocked the wind out of him a split second before he went face down into a foot of muddy water. He just laid there. No one moved to help him until the director hollered "Cut!". Real pros, these movie guys. I was there that day, and I loaded him onto a sidecar rig and hauled him to a water truck, laid him under the nozzles and turned it on.

Ah, the glamor of showbiz...

At the time, this flick set a record for the number of cars wrecked. In one scene you can see Bud Ekins upside down in a cop car in one of his very few speaking roles.

Rent this (if you can find it!), light up a fattie, and be dazzled.

Finally, A Good Use For A Chevy Small Block

You should see the one made out of a 3406 Cat motor,it's suitable for large gatherings.

Hey Fixer, while yer in Germany...

...if yer wonderin' what to get me for Christmas, one o' these'll do. And translate the song too, please. It sounds kinda familiar, but nicked sprekken zee doytch...

And Now, Something Completely Different

Hold on tight Gord, this is a little intense.

Jesus Built My Hot Rod

H/T Phoenix Woman from a thread at TBogg's new joint.

The Great Von Dutch Auction of 2007

Every hotrod and bike enthusiast knows who Von Dutch was. Well, those of us of a certain age, anyway. I met the guy several times. A real character, a friend of Bud Ekins and Steve McQueen.

BTW, I just got my dead tree Cycle World the other day. It has a nice article on Bud in the wake of his passing. I can't find it on line yet, but here's the subhead:

"We all wanted to be Steve McQueen. McQueen wanted to be Bud Ekins."

Now that's a tribute! I'll try to find it later.

Cycle World has an article on the big Von Dutch Auction. Go read. Be sure to hit the Auction Gallery. Have fun.

Cars ...

Since 'Nucks has been posting pics of some great cars (yes, even the Bullitt car; it is a Mustang after all, heh ...), I figured I'd post one of mine. This is the Indian's '23 Ford T. The motor is one of mine, 302 CID, and the Indian and Mrs. Indian did all the rest.

Click to embiggen.

They've taken trophies at a buncha the local shows and it's a really fun ride.

Later, man ...

He was the guy who inspired me to do stupid shit with motor vehicles. I owe him a lot for the fun I've had over the years. We'll hoist one when I get there, Evel.

Old School Teacher

First thing, Look at these pictures then scroll down to the last post and compare.
This is what I'm talking about, do it right.
One name ,Carroll Shelby.Old school super hero does it right with the new GT500KR.
540 HP, and a wicked look for the new Mustang.
Notice what I was bitching about in my last post,then looky here at what style really is.
The wheel/tire combo fits the wheel wells, the spoiler and the chrome SHELBY spelled out make the ass a lot more finished looking.The ride height looks more correct.
The hood scoop makes the already tough looking nose appear to mean business.
Still no cover for the quarter window, although it is a blind spot when driving.
No change to the mirrors, but hey, the first rule of racing is that whats behind you isn't important.The front air dam is lower with functional brake venting for the upgraded 14 inch brakes.
Set for Spring 2008, they are only making 1,000.
This bad boy will run circles around the new Bullit.
Of course, like the saying goes, speed costs money, how fast do you want to go?
Not that I could afford to buy two tanks of gas in the thing right now, I still have an eye for nice rides and this one qualifies.
Shelby ain't going to be around too much longer, he has put his name on some priceless automobiles in his time,nice to see he still knows how to train a pony.

Lots more pictures and a promo video of the debut here.

Steve McQueen Just Rolled In His Grave.

The green 1968 Mustang Fastback became a legend.
Inspired by the movie with Steve McQueen that came out that year, flying through the air and sliding with abandon through the streets of San Francisco for 9 and a half minutes, in the now classic, Bullitt.
Ford Motor Company, sometimes referred to as FOMOCO by us die hards, has decided, in its infinite wisdom, to try and reclaim some of the past glory by coming out with a 2008 Mustang badged as, Bullitt.







Give, me, a break.
The styling on this car blows goats.
The rear wheel arches vs the tire size looks like hell,the ass end looks like it is unfinished.The retro wheels are going to be a hot item but really don't do much for the whole look. The ride height looks to be too high and the rear quarter glass needs a vented cover badly. And what the hell is up with those mirrors?
Damn,it looks to me like a thrown together gimmick car.
Too bad Ford is going to get schooled by the aftermarket crowd who are going to do this thing up like it should have been done from the gitgo.
Note to the boys and girls at the Blue Oval, do it right or don't fuckin' bother.

The rest of the pictures I didn't grab are at Road and Track dot com.

Happy Thanksgiving

Now, go back for seconds and take a nap.
We'll be back after the holiday.

Cool toys ...

More cool shit via the Indian:

Note: Big file. It might take a few minutes to load.

Semper Fi-Yi-Yi!

So there I was, following Nucks directions from the post just below and clicking around Ernie's House of Whoop Ass when I ran across this:

Click it for the Corps!

Many more. Click around his right sidebar. Does an old Jarhead's, er, heart, yeah, that's it, good...

Click around both of his sidebars! I can honestly say I've never seen a "Swallow...or it's going in your eye" tee-shirt before!

Heck of a site! Good goin', Nucks!

Powered By Ford

For Fixer;

Video of a Mustang pulling a wheelie 3/4s down the strip before flipping on it's side the last 1/4 and then flipping back upright. TA DA!
Follow the link, H/T to Ernie's House of Whoop Ass for the original link.

Where I work* ...

Between Harry, Indian, and me there's about 125 years of automotive experience. We've all built hotrods and custom cars either in our free time or as a vocation.

When we're slow around the shop we like to make shit. Usually modified tools to help us do a job better. One of us will get an idea and the three of us will put our heads together and come up with something. A little welding, a little fabrication, a couple whacks with a hammer, and we got us a great new tool.

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but Indian and Mrs. I are avid campers (probably that Cherokee blood). When they're not going to NASCAR races, they're in the mountains. So, the other day, Indian comes up with this great camping accessory for his grill. Now, as I said, with all the experience and wisdom running around, you'd think we'd come up with something revolutionary.

Nah.

Presenting the Weenie Cooker:





We think it's the greatest thing since the internal combustion engine. Sam, on the other hand, has a different opinion. Heh ...



To quote her: "So my mom is right, boys never grow up."

You betcha, dahlink.

*Part of an ongoing, semi-regular series.

Click pics to engorge embiggen.

It's a V-8!

Indian sent me this YouTube of a 1/4 scale monster truck with a V-8 gas engine:



I did a little digging around and found another detailing the engine kit. Nice 'dyno' the guy made by the way:



Way cool!

The Green Room

Go check out Jay Leno's eco-friendly garage. Video and photo gallery.

"My thing with the green situation is: Even if you don't believe in global warming, don't you want to screw the oil company or gas company or utility company?"

Oh hell yeah!

His parts cleaners are eco-friendly -- one uses microbes to eat away grease and grime, the other employs ultrasonic cleaning bubbles. Instead of a gas-operated plasma cutter to saw parts out of sheet metal, a water jet does the job using sand. And refillable canisters of brake and carburetor cleaners take the place of throwaway aerosol cans.

Walking over to the power meter to confirm what he'd just read on the computer, he tapped the screen.

"Right now, I'm using all the power I want, and I'm generating more power than I'm using. Why would anybody get mad at you for that? To me, you want to be a good citizen. It's important to try and be a good citizen. And you can."

It's just expensive.

That's the rub, but it's still the dawn of time for solar. The more folks who use it, the cheaper it'll get.

Until the oil & power companies figure out a way to switch the Sun off if you don't pay.

I Got Your Hybrid Grocery Getter...

PETERBILT TO UNVEIL ADVANCED HYBRID TECHNOLOGIES

DENTON, Texas (November 6, 2006) – Peterbilt will display a production-representative, hybrid-electric medium duty truck – outfitted with a fully integrated bucket lift body – at the Hybrid Truck Users Forum National Meeting in San Diego this month, Peterbilt Motors Company recently announced.

The Class 7 Model 335 is ideal for municipal and utility applications and features advanced technologies that provide improved fuel economy while reducing noise and emissions. The hybrid Model 335 will be in limited production in 2007.

They are already on the road.
The latest models should be out by now for 2008.
Here is some detail of how it works;

According to Peterbilt Chief Engineer Landon Sproull, the truck uses a parallel hybrid system that was developed with Eaton Corporation. A parallel hybrid system has an electric motor that assists the mechanical diesel engine with supplemental torque for improved fuel economy. The system stores energy during stopping through a process called regenerative braking, and then reuses it for acceleration. The system also stores energy during idling and uses it to power the vehicle’s PTO.

Basically the same ideas used in the smaller puddle jumper class of cars being touted, just on a much bigger scale.

The reduced maintenance requirements, Sproull says, result from less wear on the engine, as its workload is supplemented by the electric engine, and the brakes, since the charging of the batteries retards the motion of the vehicle.

The truck and body communicate through a new J1939 digital controller. This interface senses hydraulic demand from the body and automatically engages the hybrid system. Under a full charge, the PTO can operate for approximately 25 minutes at which time the vehicle will automatically start the diesel engine and recharge the hybrid’s batteries. “It takes about three minutes to fully recharge,” Sproull says. “So, during eight hours of operation, the diesel engine will run for less than an hour.”

A PTO, for those who don't know, is a Power Take Off.
It is a device usually mounted on the side or bottom of the transmission that, when engaged, powers different add on mechanisms,typically a hydraulic pump.

For more info.


I expect almost all big rigs will be going to this soon, the cost of fuel will demand it.Already, long haul tuckers are adding supplemental fuel tanks to take advantage of price differences between states that can be as much as a fifty to seventy cents a gallon for diesel.
2007 required innovative engine management strategies and new technology to use the highly de-sulphered fuel mandated.These new engines suck, to be honest. The 2006 models had been back ordered to no end from people trying to extend the life of their investment and avoid the hefty price increase that went with the new technology.

More on Mr. Goodwin

Fixer hilights Mr. Goodwins high performance aspects below.
Here is more of Mr. Goodwins story, including the reference to Chinese food;

Two years ago, Goodwin got a rare chance to show off his tricks to some of the car industry's most prominent engineers. He tells me the story: He was driving a converted H2 to the SEMA show, the nation's biggest annual specialty automotive confab, and stopped en route at a Denver hotel. When he woke up in the morning, there were 20 people standing around his Hummer. Did I run over somebody? he wondered. As it turned out, they were engineers for GM, the Hummer's manufacturer. They noticed that Goodwin's H2 looked modified. "Does it have a diesel engine in it?"

"Yeah," he said.

"No way," they replied.

He opened the hood, "and they're just all in and out and around the valves and checking it out," he says. They asked to hear it run, sending a stab of fear through Goodwin. He'd filled it up with grease from a Chinese restaurant the day before and was worried that the cold morning might have solidified the fuel. But it started up on the first try and ran so quietly that at first they didn't believe it was really on. "When you start a diesel engine up on vegetable oil," Goodwin says, "you turn the key, and you hear nothing. Because of the lubricating power of the oil, it's just so smooth. Whisper quiet. And they're like, 'Is it running? Yeah, you can hear the fan going.'"

One engineer turned and said, "GM said this wouldn't work."

"Well," Goodwin replied, "here it is."

And the best part;

His latest project?

Goodwin leads me over to a red 2005 H3 Hummer that's up on jacks, its mechanicals removed. He aims to use the turbine to turn the Hummer into a tricked-out electric hybrid. Like most hybrids, it'll have two engines, including an electric motor. But in this case, the second will be the [jet] turbine, Goodwin's secret ingredient. Whenever the truck's juice runs low, the turbine will roar into action for a few seconds, powering a generator with such gusto that it'll recharge a set of "supercapacitor" batteries in seconds. This means the H3's electric motor will be able to perform awesome feats of acceleration and power over and over again, like a Prius on steroids. What's more, the turbine will burn biodiesel, a renewable fuel with much lower emissions than normal diesel; a hydrogen-injection system will then cut those low emissions in half. And when it's time to fill the tank, he'll be able to just pull up to the back of a diner and dump in its excess french-fry grease--as he does with his many other Hummers. Oh, yeah, he adds, the horsepower will double--from 300 to 600.

"Conservatively," Goodwin muses, scratching his chin, "it'll get 60 miles to the gallon. With 2,000 foot-pounds of torque. You'll be able to smoke the tires. And it's going to be superefficient."

He laughs. "Think about it: a 5,000-pound vehicle that gets 60 miles to the gallon and does zero to 60 in five seconds!"

And here's the punchline:

Goodwin's work proves that a counterattack is possible, and maybe easier than many of us imagined. If the dream is a big, badass ride that's also clean, well, he's there already. As he points out, his conversions consist almost entirely of taking stock GM parts and snapping them together in clever new ways. "They could do all this stuff if they wanted to," he tells me, slapping on a visor and hunching over an arc welder. "The technology has been there forever. They make 90% of the components I use."

Article stolen and reprinted from Daily Kos.

Bonus, there is a video now at the bottom of the article of the Impala
smoking the Lambo.


The original article is worth every bit of time and consideration spent reading it..

Biodiesel?

I'm a babe in the woods when it comes to biodiesel but this looks promising:

...

Goodwin's feats of engineering have become gradually more visible over the past year. Last summer, Imperium Renewables contacted MTV's show Pimp My Ride about creating an Earth Day special in which Goodwin would convert a muscle car to run on biodiesel. The show chose a '65 Chevy Impala, and when the conversion was done, he'd doubled its mileage to 25 mpg and increased its pull from 250 to 800 horsepower. As a stunt, MTV drag-raced the Impala against a Lamborghini on California's Pomona Raceway. "The Impala blew the Lamborghini away," says Kevin Kluemper, the lead calibration engineer for GM's Allison transmission unit, who'd flown down to help with the conversion. [my em]

...

If there's one thing we got in NY it's Chinese restaurants. It's about time Chinese food came in handy for something.

Love Ride

LATimes

Think Love Ride, and images of Jay Leno and Harley-Davidson race to mind. But a nitro-fueled cacklefest? Flat-track racing? Stunt-rider pyramids?

The Love Ride is looking a little different in 2007. Now in its 24th year, Southern California's annual cruiser mecca is getting a face lift, with a change of venue and a new three-day adjunct called California Bike Week. Instead of the usual 35-mile pilgrimage to Castaic Lake, the 15,000 bikers expected to turn out for the world's largest one-day motorcycle fundraiser this Sunday will head east to the Pomona Fairplex.

That's the venue for two racing events that will take place earlier in the weekend - the All Harley Drag Racing Assn.'s Nitro Drag Races on Friday and Saturday and the Pacific Coast National Flat Track Series Debut Saturday night. It's also the site of weekend-long freestyle stunt shows, demo rides, a 150-vendor trade show and musical performances, including Gregg Allman, who headlines Sunday afternoon.

"We thought: If we can do the racing in Pomona and have the Love Ride at the same venue, it would really focus a lot of motorcycling activity into one venue and turn it all into a much bigger pie," said Oliver Shokouh, Love Ride founder and owner of Harley-Davidson/Buell of Glendale. "The Love Ride is not a Harley lifestyle event but a motorcycle event open to all motorcyclists of all brands. It's about anybody on two wheels."

I mostly put this in as a plug for Oliver. He gave me my first job in the Harley-Davidson field in 1978. At the time, he was living at his brand-new fresh-bought dealership, on the roof I think, and hadn't even brought his family to California yet. He's of Persian descent, from the Middle East. Detroit. He's a helluva good guy.

He spent his last dime getting that dealership. Don't worry about him. He has plenty of dimes now. The Love Ride is his way of giving back and has raised more than $20,000,000 for Muscular Dystrophy and children's charities over the last 24 years.

Go to Harley-Davidson/Buell of Glendale or Love Ride. You'll be glad you did.

Crossposted at the world's other best blog.

Slippery Sam

Click to increase displacement

I just changed to a fresh month on my Classic Triumph wall calendar (So sue me. It's damn hard to find a picture of the '07 one!) and was regaled by one of 33 (or 28, or ?) road-going replicas of arguably the most famous Triumph roadracer of all time. The photo above is of a replica of a replica, but it looks good. It has a later BSA-style T160 'sloper' engine than the original '70 T150 with vertical cylinders. Either engine is a 750cc 3-cylinder OHV. More pix and hear it clank 'n roar here.

Motorcycle UK Web Directory and Search Engine

The most celebrated Triumph racer of all time, the only machine ever to win five TT races in the Isle of Man in five consecutive years.

Slippery Sam was one of three similar models built for the 1970 Production TT, one of which, ridden by Malcolm Uphill, won the race at 97.71 mph. Tom Dickie was Sam's rider and, unused to Sam's ways, fumbled the Le Mans start and was last away. He rode to finish fourth.

The fastest lap was Alex George in 1975 at 102.82mph

The Slippery Sam nickname was coined during the 1970 Bol d'Or 24 Hour Race in France when a malfunctioning oil pump plastered the bike- and riders Tait and Jolly with oil.

Better the rider than the rear tire, I always say!

During my search, I found the Allen Motorsports Collection. The original Slippery Sam is long gone to the best of my knowledge, but you can see a replica of it in road race trim. Check it out. Noodle around a little. Lotsa neat bikes.

The Nissan 'Hokey-Pokey'?

From the LATimes on the Tokyo Motor Show:

Consider the Nissan PIVO2 on display here. It's an electric three-seat "city commute" vehicle (as opposed to a "Hollywood Freeway commute" vehicle) that is essentially a glass-and-metal bubble atop four small wheels.

Among the features: When you need to back up, rather than shifting into reverse, looking over your shoulder and inching into oncoming traffic, you wait while the cabin rotates 180 degrees and then drive straight ahead.

Hate to parallel park? Pull up next to that choice-but-tight space, rotate the cabin and all four wheels 90 degrees and proceed just as if you were pulling into your garage.

The PIVO2 also has a charming dashboard-mounted "robotic agent" that, according to Nissan's promotional brochure, "infers the driver's condition. It not only gives necessary information for the operation, but also speaks to you to cheer you up or to soothe you accordingly."

Shit, I've got the 'cheer you up and soothe you' feature in my '92 Dakota. It's called an 'Auto Suck' (video). It don't wanta talk afterwards, neither...

But seriously folks, I've always wanted an Isetta. Maybe this Nissan would do.

Update:

Under no circumstances should you attempt to use the Auto Suck in an old English sports car with a positive ground electrical system! Oh, it'll work, but in a strange manner that may be quite disconcerting at speed.

You may, of course, use the Lucas equivalent, the 'Nobber Bobber'.

Please don't ask how I discovered that. Let's just say our R & D department is on the job and let it go at that.

Driving PT. 2

After reading Maru's most excellent rant, I got to thinking about people and their cars.
I'm getting old, like a lot of us, and I kind of feel sorry for these younger people.
The crap they call cars now, and the unadulterated joy of driving that we used to be able to enjoy.
Who can't feel sorry for a 25 year old kid out tooling around in his little four cylinder, front wheel drive plastic wannabe?
Back in the day, we had V-8, rear wheel drive cars that actually had working suspensions and were comfortable and fun to drive.
Take a 1970 or so Ford LTD.
Nice car. It had plenty of power, a hell of a nice ride and you could play with it.
Go find a gravel road and start dirt tracking the son of a bitch till hell wouldn't have it.
Find an empty parking lot and spin donuts until the wheels fell off.
When you got done playing, you could pack your friends up and take off across country, cruising at 80, all day, and feel like you were sitting on your couch.
Same thing with GM or Chrysler cars.
Sure, you could go down and order the latest factory hot rod, but just the everyday vehicle was a potential fun to drive car.
Now we have the little soap bubbles on wheels, all front wheel drive, road noise out the ass.
Hit a fucking pot hole in one of those at 40 and it sounds and feels like the fucker just dropped the transmission out in the road and you just ran over it.
You can spit on one and put a dent in it.
I will never forget the time a friend of mine got pissed off at his 69 Chevy wagon, he was working on it and he just lost it. He literally picked up a two by four and started wailing on the front fender.
I sat back and laughed at him. Not only did it just bounce off, it never even scratched the paint.
That's a car.

Driving ...

Maru is a kindred spirit:

...

Right. Barrrrrrffff. No. First of all, I don't "turn my car on." I "fucking start the damn thing." Then I "spend the next half hour crawling behind dump trucks, garbage trucks, school buses, asswipes driving 15 mph below the speed limit" and/or "hitting every goddamn traffic light between here and there." Secondly, the only thing I ever want to do with my -- mmmm, hard! -- stick shift is rip it from whatever its bolted onto and use it to repeatedly pummel the head of the jerkoff ahead or behind me that's driving like a fucking moron. Thirdly, go fuck yourselves, you pretentious asstools.

Heh ...

Bad boy ...

Another shithead who gives car people a bad name ... busted.

Albany -- Acting New York State Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Barbara Billet Thursday announced the arrest of a Long Island car dealer on charges of tax fraud stemming from an investigation initiated by Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota.

Salvatore Cioffi, 66, of 404 Landing Avenue, Smithtown, New York is the owner of Automart of LI Inc. located in Patchogue, a corporation engaged in the wholesale and retail sale of used automobiles. Cioffi was investigated for alleged underreporting of taxable sales and failure to remit sales tax collections.

...

If he's willing to screw the state out of taxes (not that I'm defending NY's use of those taxes), I can imagine what he did to his customers.

Say what?

You want me to do what by when? On Friday?



Mrs. Indian should never have let him get a cell phone with a camera. At least he didn't catch me in the bathroom. Heh ...

Dear NYSDOT* ...

I'm just wondering, as I sit here at Exit 49 of the Long Island Expressway, entertaining all around me with Richard Strauss' Macbeth Op. 23 (very well done by the Munich Orchestra, I might add) at full volume, moving slow enough that my speedometer doesn't even register, why the digi-board I can read through my moonroof says "Traffic Moving Well To Exit 64"? A sense of humor maybe?

Just askin' ... twits.

*New York State Department Of Transportation.

Where I work* ...

Sample of the daily conversation in the shop:

Me: Sam, come over here.

Sam: What?

Me: You got little fingers, right?

Sam: Yeah. She grins, holding up an index finger.

Me: Perfect.

Sam: For what?

Me: I got this flapping snot in my left nose hole and I can't get up there deep enough to snag it. Could you get it for me?

Sam: You're disgusting!

Me: Be that as it may, could ya do it for your pal?

Sam: I'm not putting my fingers in any of your holes.

And so it goes ...

*Part of an ongoing, semi-regular series.

The One That Got Away

A while back we were reminiscing about THE old truck or car that we wish we had never parted with.
This is the year and model of old Ford truck that I had once.
When I bought it, it was on the side of the road with an eleven foot cab over camper on it.
Both were trashed. The guy wanted $125 for the truck and $200 for the camper. The camper had a hole in the side of it looked like an RPG went through it.
I said no thanks but I'll take the truck.
The engine was a 223 CID straight six that also had a big hole in the side of it.
I got my brothers, cousins and a couple of friends and it took six guy's that all weighed over two hundred each just to pick the camper up enough to drag the truck out from under it, no jacks of course.
I was happy and we towed it home with very little brakes and no lights.
Upon further inspection I found it had; 16 leaf springs on each side in the rear, bent axle tubes from the weight of the camper,the roof caved in from the camper,completely worn out kingpins and a whole chop list of other to do jobs.
I got a wrecking yard engine and over the course of five years ended up putting a 351 Windsor and a C6 transmission in it, along with several hundred man hours, a new roof ( a story in itself) and lots of money.
When I was just about ready to paint it, it looked just like the bottom photo,lowered straight and fairly quick due to the 4 speed rear end gears I left under it.




Notice the bed and the cab are all one piece, they only built these for 3 years.
Anyway, right before I was going to paint it, I was tooling around in the rain at night on this twisty river road, this is shortly after the engine swap.
I turned onto a bridge and romped on it.
The carb linkage jammed and stuck wide open. I went screaming across the bridge with both feet on the brakes, holding onto the wheel for more leverage with the back tires spinning the whole way.
Before I could reach down to turn it off I was across the bridge and hit a telephone pole head on at 50+ MPH.
It ripped the engine and trans out of the mounts and through the radiator, ripped the battery posts out of the battery and crushed the nose, It hit on the frame horn dead on.
All I got was a badly cut finger from the custom steering wheel.
It took several months but I rebuilt that son of a bitch.Made sure the carb linkage worked right too.I kept it for a couple more years but it kept costing so much money I didn't have, I finally sold it to a kid I worked with for $500. I think I actually got two and never saw him or the truck again.
I had way too much money and time in it, but was raising the girlfriends kids and had to say goodbye.
Due to length this is only a very small part of the story with that truck, there is LOTS more.

I sure do miss that fuckin' thing.

I'm obsolete ...

I've rubbed off on Mrs. F over the past 20 years. Yesterday I come home from work and give her a kiss and she says "Hal called".

Hal is our car salesman. We mentioned, back when we got my Escape that we wanted to be a little more fuel-conscious and we'd probably be interested in getting rid of the V-8 Explorer for another Escape for Mrs. F.

"He said he's getting an Escape in this week," she tells me. "And it's got everything I want (that means loaded) in it."

"Do you want me to look at it with you?" I ask.

"No," she says. "We just have to stop by the dealership Saturday to sign the papers. I'm getting it."

For the first time in 20 years, I didn't have any input into her car purchase. I love it that she did it all on her own and yet it's something she doesn't need me for anymore. Maybe she should try her hand at installing fiberglass insulation. Heh ...

So here it is. Black on black, leather, JBL Audiophile 6-CD MP3 SIRIUS satellite radio, 17" wheels, moonroof, heated seats and mirrors, and all the little frou frou options as well. The Queen is used to her comforts.



And here's where it pays to be a loyal customer. There are 5 more payments left on the Explorer's lease and Ford and the dealership got together to eat them. This will be our 7th vehicle from them and buying a car has become a painless, stress-free, 15 minute process for us.

Newins Bay Shore Ford
219 W Main St.
Bay Shore, NY 11706

Dear Fellow New Yorkers ...

New Jerseyans, Pennsylvanians, and whatever the fuck they call you Connecticut people; all of you who share my daily commute with me.

I'd like to alert you to this little thing we have here on the Isle of Long called rain. You might have seen it; little water droplets that fall from the sky and collect on our roadways? Yes, that. I believe you've experienced it once or twice.

Now, just because we haven't had any in about a month or so doesn't mean the physical properties of water have changed. Swerving wildly and applying brakes suddenly on wet roads causes your car to slide out of control, even with whatever fancy 'roll control' or 'traction control' your car maker built into the motherfucker. Driving like Enzo Ferrari on rain-slicked roads in your Toyota with bald tires and bad brakes ends somewhat inevitably.

Also, be advised this rain stuff won't hurt you if you drive more than 20 mph on an interstate fucking highway. What the fuck is with you people? If you're scared of going a bit too fast in the rain, use the excellent service road (frontage road for you 'other' folks) system for the Long Island Expressway, not the left fucking lane of the highway.

Another point. Rain collects in lower-lying areas of our roadways. At this time of year here in New York (we call it autumn, by the way), the leaves that fall from the trees (those crunchy brown things) clog the drains and these low lying areas fill up quickly. You know this, you live in the neighborhood by the shop, the same places that flooded in the last rain (last month) flooded yesterday.

You see me laughing at my other customers who drive through the lake at the bottom of the Avenue at full speed and destroy their engines or other parts of their cars. You see 'em in my lot waiting for the insurance adjuster to get there and total them. Why the fuck do you have to do the same thing? That 2 month old, 7-series BMW sure was a nice car until you filled it up with water to the dashboard, until the engine sucked in enough water to hydro-lock and make me pick up the internal parts with a broom and snow (that's a whole other post) shovel after they slide off the flatbed with your car.

What the fuck? We get 43 inches of rain a year. Can't you get used to driving in it?

Me at work ...

Pic courtesy of the Cheezburger.

Army To Unveil New G,W,Bush Assault vehicles

The G.W.






And the Bush.

I Don't Believe It,

Another Birthday !

Happy Birthday Mr. Fixer!

(Yesterday)

Wally Parks 1913-2007

LATimes

Wally Parks, the hot-rodder and entrepreneur who curbed drag racing on city streets by steering drivers onto legal racing strips and founded the National Hot Rod Assn., has died. He was 94.

"Today is a sad day in the world of NHRA and the sport of drag racing," NHRA President Tom Compton said in a statement. "Words simply can't describe the immeasurable impact Wally has had on the sport he created and the millions of people's lives he touched along the way."

If you've ever been to a drag strip, Mr. Parks is the one who legitimized drag racing as a sport instead of an unlawful activity. A true pioneer of motor sports.

OH MY GOD!!!

IT'S GORDONS BIRTHDAY!!!


Happy Birthday Gord

Multi Functional Dinnerware

Finally, for the do it yourselfer who also has a culinary interest!

Some folks just have too much time on their hands....

My friend Manuel ...

Owner's Manual to be exact. You don't know how many times I look for an owner's manual in a customer's car and don't find one.



When I ask them where it is, I get a blank stare. Far be it they read the fucking thing when they buy a car. Maybe if they did, they wouldn't bother me for stupid shit all the time, like what the 'check engine' light means or the host of other multi-colored shit that goes on in the instrument panel.

You'd also know where your spare tire is and how to operate the jack. You'd also know how to open your hood, program your sound system, GPS, OnStar, compass, and a whole buncha other assorted shit you need to know about your car. Or you can pay me to hold your hand and walk you through it.

I could use the owner's manual in the car so I can decipher your fuse box (usually they're numbered and then I have to go and hunt for a cheat sheet to figure out which fuse controls what), figure out the grade and type of motor oil, transmission fluid, antifreeze, and a whole host of other fluids your manufacturer recommends. It's also easier for me to find the procedure to reset your 'oil change light' without having to search through my huge Service Bay Manual.

It also helps the tow truck driver if you're broke on the side of the road. Some cars have to be towed a specific way or it will do damage to the drivetrain, electronics, whatever.

Want to tow a trailer? Your manual tells you that too. It tells you how to load your car safely (think that doesn't matter? Put a few hundred pounds in the trunk and try and control the car at any type of speed). It also tells you about the tires (size, speed rating, and tread wear rating) and how much, or little, they can be inflated for safe operation.

Your owner's manual is the most important tool a driver can have in the car with them. Read it (sit in the fucking car when you do and familiarize yourself with what they're talking about) and then leave it in the car. No, the two minutes your salesman spent going over shit with you doesn't count. If you don't have one, go to the dealer and order one. It's a small price to pay for a boatload of useful information.

Confessions Of A Tool Whore

OK, I admit it.
I am a tool junkie.
I buy tools that I don't even need, somehow rationalizing it to myself.
I have so many fucking tools, I have three roll aways to hold all of them and still have shit laying around.
Thousands and thousands of dollars worth.
The Snap On guy loves me.
I get mailers from Harbor Freight and my fucking eyes glaze over.
I can't even go into a Sears store anymore.
People wonder why I have always driven piece of shit cars, priced a screwdriver from Snap On lately?
Thats why.
The price of good tools has skyrocketed in the past ten years.
The stupid bastards where I work wonder why I get so wound up when they want to borrow something.
Fuck that, go buy your own shit, asshole.

An old, old mechanic joke;
Why do you never use your screw driver for a prybar?
Because the next time you want to use it as a chisel, it's bent.

Thank you, try the veal.

Iron Butt? I Think Mine Would Be More Like Jelly.

Lurch, over at Main and Central is reporting on the most grueling motorsport event in the world, the semi annual Iron Butt race.
11,000 miles in 11 days racing around the perimeter of the United States looking for 5 checkpoints that you have to find in a two hour window, on motorcycles.

No consideration is given for bad weather (during the running of the Iron Butt, riders can expect to ride through rain, sleet, snow, severe thunderstorms, hurricanes and the occasional tornado). Temperature extremes routinely run 125 degrees or more in the desert Southwest in fact, in living up to the name, "World's Toughest Motorcycle Competition", event organizers intentionally route the rally through such places as Death Valley or the Mojave Desert during the hottest part of the day, to extreme cold at the top of mountains like Pike's Peak in Colorado where competitors may have to struggle up a muddy road to reach the peak's 14,110 foot summit.


Go read the rest here

My ass is sore remembering the 100 mile round trip every day between San Jose and Frisco I used to do on a Honda 450, so, no thanks.

PS,
I can't believe Gord didn't post this, I know he saw it before I did!

Ultracapacitors May Have Batteries Beat

AP

Millions of inventions pass quietly through the U.S. patent office each year. Patent No. 7,033,406 did, too, until energy insiders spotted six words in the filing that sounded like a death knell for the internal combustion engine.

An Austin-based startup called EEStor promised "technologies for replacement of electrochemical batteries," meaning a motorist could plug in a car for five minutes and drive 500 miles roundtrip between Dallas and Houston without gasoline.

The technology also could help invigorate the renewable-energy sector by providing efficient, lightning-fast storage for solar power, or, on a small scale, a flash-charge for cell phones and laptops.

Skeptics, though, fear the claims stretch the bounds of existing technology to the point of alchemy.

So? I took alchemy in school. Blacksmithing too. They both still come in handy.

The result is an ultracapacitor, a battery-like device that stores and releases energy quickly.

Batteries rely on chemical reactions to store energy but can take hours to charge and release energy. The simplest capacitors found in computers and radios hold less energy but can charge or discharge instantly. Ultracapacitors take the best of both, stacking capacitors to increase capacity while maintaining the speed of simple capacitors.

Until EEStor produces a final product, Perry said he joins energy professionals and enthusiasts alike in waiting to see if the company can own up to its six-word promise and banish the battery to recycling bins around the world.

"I am skeptical but I'd be very happy to be proved wrong," Perry said.

The problem with capacitors is size. Capacitors are rated in terms of capacitance in units of farads. Most capacitors are very small and measured in microfarads. When I was learning how to fix radios for Uncle Sam's Misguided Children, my instructors told me that a one-farad capacitor would be about the size of a football field. That's maybe a little dated, along with the vacuum tubes they taught me about, although those are still being used for design and prototype work because they are highly adjustable. But I digress...

There are capacitors in every piece of electronic gear. Period. I think their earliest use in automotive technology was as the condenser in contact-breaker-point ignition systems, where they were used to prevent counterflow voltage from causing arcing at the points and subsequent rapid point wear. CB ignition has gone the way of the buggy whip.

In motorcycles, electrolytic capacitors are sometimes used as battery eliminators, providing a load for the charging system, in effect fooling the charging system into thinking the system has a battery. I explained this to my buddy Sluggo one time in his garage, and his reply was, "Damn, how ya gonna fool it now? You said it right in front of it!", pointing at his motorcycle.

There's no reason you couldn't do this on cars as well, if your car has a kickstarter.

In this age of electronic miracle progress, nothing seems impossible. I hope they can do it.

Crossposted at the world's other Best Blog.