The EU is planning to pull data from cars to check what real-life consumption looks like. If it exceeds what cars were certified at, they will impose ruinous punishment on carmakers.
In the EU, PHEVs are - by force - certified with fantastical mileage figures that everyone knows are not achievable unless you drive only short distances and plug in the cars all the time. This was done by the regulators to distort the market in favor of electrification.
Carmakers, just like customers, are victims and BMW is trying to avoid the worst. But the entire industry is suffering from some degree of the Stockholm syndrome.
Companies that make vehicles should be owned and operated by lone maniacs with Vision and Irascibility. Think Yosemite Sam if he were into cars - or fighter planes, or destroyers, or tanks, etc.
But they should definitely not be multinational corporations, headed by lizards and obsessed with quarterly profits.
Regardless of who owned the carmakers, executives used to defend their brands and customers against aggressive regulation. Of course, that was before the cultural collapse, harboring a guilt complex for "destroying the planet" (while actually improving it), the effeminate obsession with "safety" etc.
Shareholders currently aren't happy with the results of executives kowtowing to idiotic, far-left politicians and regulators. It's time for a reset of attitudes.
They definitely miscalculated, I agree there. But I doubt the lack of spine will backfire, because it is now endemic in those circles.
No one with spine is allowed "in The Club," regardless of how competent they are. "The Club" will not allow a "contrast" of any kind to show. It's how they ensure their survival. Xref: GM leadership.
You may be right. Hopefully every once in a while a guy like Kuniskis comes along. Or like Elon (though he is as much a Keating as a Roark, if you excuse the juvenile reference)
Yeah, reading the post, I was thinking of commenting that any automotive executive speaking with "Die Zeit" would have said the same thing.
If they said anything else, whether they believed it or not, "Die Zeit" (and other publications) would crucify them for being "gasoline-burning Neanderthals." Or worse.
Actually, there was a time when "Maximum Bob" would have spoken his mind. But I suspect there was/is something with Germany (then West Germany) that didn't quite work well for Bob, since he left ... hastily(?). And I never bought the explanation in his book as to why he left. So ... maybe he would speak his mind, but then beat a hasty retreat?
German executives spoke their mind for a long time. The last (and most hated) were Piech and Winterkorn. - Compensation wasn't great until the "merger of equals", which raised it to an international level. No wonder Lutz left for "greener" pastures much earlier.
Speaking of Stockholm...... sometime in the future once the EU has expired and sovereign nations once more rule Europe it will be said "First thing is to kill all the Lawyers and Greta Thornberg". Apologies to Shakey Bill.
Speaking of pulling data, I just read today that Honda makes literal pennies spying on its customers. Turns out all that private data is not that valuable.
Also, if AI and the algorithms are so smart, how come I keep getting shown ads for stuff that I myself am selling?
That might be why Honda doesn’t do the worst stuff, like selling your driving information to Lexis-Nexis or whoever the aggregator is for insurance companies to triple your rates if you exceed a speed limit, without your consent. (Yes, I read their privacy policy end-to-end after the spying hit the media, and we discussed it here. Honda is one of the better manufacturers in this regard, actually.)
I completely forgot that in my lenghty reply. Yeah, that's pretty idiotic and would generate a HUGE backlash! I have a friend in Germany who bought a plug-in hybrid Volvo as his company car a few years ago. He did not plug it in even once, however it was subsidized and cheaper to run than a comparable non-hybrid, and he did not care one bit about that feature.
A series of horrific crashes at MotoGP, WorldSBK, and MotoAmerica bring to the forefront how dangerous the motorsport is.
In MotoGP at Barthelona in Catalonia:
Pedro Acosta takes pole position, Morbidelli 2nd, Alex Marquez 3rd (at a circuit where he has won before), Raul Fernandez 4th, Zarco 5th, Digi 6th, and the factory Aprilias of Martin 9th and Bez 12th.
Aprilia finally looks at least vulnerable and Acosta continues to show why he's the top KTM rider.
At the start of the sprint Jorge climbs 3 places to 6th into turn one and takes 5th place before the end of lap one. Acosta keeps 1st place and Alex Marquez keeps his 3rd place as Zarco takes 2nd. Raul Fernandez likewise holds his position in 4th. Morbidelli had a poor start and tumbled to 7th.
Alex Marquez quickly overtakes Zarco heading into turn one under heavy braking. Jorge passes Raul Fernandez but an aggressive move on Raul's part sends Martin back and opens him up to attack from Digiantonnio. Martin goes on to lose the front and crash out in lap 3 for a DNF.
This happens almost simultaneously with Alex overtaking Acosta for pole position at the start of lap 4. He proceeds to gap Acosta for a short while.
Behind the lead pair Digi and Fernandez fight for third, for a time, until Digi's strong late pace leaves Raul in the dust and he begins a late charge for Acosta. There's not enough time in the sprint for Digi to repeat his heroic overtake of Acosta and further embarrass KTM's start rider.
Alex Marquez wins the sprint four hundredths ahead of Acosta with Digi just four tenths behind the pair.
Bez, meanwhile, claws all the way from 12th to 8th only to be pushed back to 9th in the last lap. A two point gap remains between Bez in first in the championship and Martin in 2nd.
The race commences and Martin makes an incredible start, leaping to 4th, and sets in pursuit of Acosta, Raul, and Alex who are 1, 2, 3. Zarco is looking for a fight and manages to work past Martin for 4th. He then makes contact with Alex which pushes Alex to 5th and Zarco briefly third with Martin 4th.
Zarco again loses out to the main straight drag into turn one braking move, this time from Martin. Zarco and Alex are now tangling for 4th and Zarco is giving him a good fight.
Up at the front Raul Fernandez closes down Acosta and they begin changing positions. This allows Alex Marquez and Martin to close up on the lead group. In lap 8 Alex's superior pace has him on the rear tires of the lead group who are still fighting.
In lap 9 Acosta retakes first position and tries to keep Raul between himself and Alex. Alex takes Raul in the next lap at turn one and gets ready to pass Acosta. Acosta puts up a powerful defense with razor sharp braking ability just keeping Alex at bay.
Jorge Martin has superior rhythm to Raul and closes him down.
When Alex seems sure to get Acosta, the 37's motor loses power going down the back straight. There is a massive closing speed and Alex tags the rear of Acosta's bike - deflating 37's rear tire - and then drifts into the gravel where he loses control of the Ducati. Alex tumbles along the ground, suffering fractures along the way, and his bike tears itself apart. Digi's Ducati strikes the front wheel of Alex's Ducati as it skitters across the tarmac. Other riders are peppered with debris and the race comes to a halt.
When the race restarts there's a turn one incident where Zarco goes in to hot and causes a crash. This involves Zarco becoming tangled with Bagnaia's bike as it tumbles through the gravel trap and flings Zarco about like a ragdoll. This is a blow to Zarco with ligament tears and fractures; but a miracle he didn't have a femur snapped or worse.
In the second restart Martin begins from 2nd, Raul 3rd, Mir 4th, and Bagnaia 5th with Acosta from pole once again.
Martin's great chance is then ruined by hothead Fernandez who wipes out a championship contender with Aprilia on Aprilia friendly fire.
Mir is running second with Digi hot behind. Mir runs well but eventually falls to Digi in lap 8/11. Digi then proceeds to catch and pass 37 the next lap in and put Pedro's first win wish to death this weekend. Mir manages to overtake 37 as well, and even Fermin Aldeguer passes him to add insult to injury by pushing Acosta off the podium. Acosta would then be struck by Ogura and crash out of the race for a no point finish.
Bez keeps it upright during the race and manages to open his championship lead to a yawning chasm of 15 points.
Mir worked incredibly hard for this podium. Which is why it's such a shame that tire pressure bullshit took it away from him the way Maverick Vinales was robbed of his podium. What a terrible rule.
Both BMW riders in WorldSBK are injured and out this weekend with Petrucci having a high speed off in the Czech Republic and breaking his tailbone, as well as other injuries.
WorldSBK is being dominated by Bulega, now that Toprak has moved to MotoGP, and has a 90 point lead.
WorldSSP and WorldSBK both showcase much more contact and hard nosed racing than MotoA.
In MotoAmerica a rider has his head run over in SBK but wasn't paralyzed from the neck down which was good to see.
MotoGP will next run in Mugello, Italia on the 29th.
Not a tale lengthy enough for a guest post. I'll regale you here...
I got an '11 IS F (I wanted the limited slip) after reading about them while looking for info on my old LS400. I immediately started autocrossing it, and it was really good in SCCA F Street. Never gave me any trouble - I just aligned it, good tires, exhaust (a most excellent sounding car), and ran it.
Buddy had an M3, something small went wrong seemingly every month. Window regulator, small leak, etc. It was over $1000 almost every time. He finally got rid of it, very frustrating ownership experience.
I eventually sold the IS F to fund a Z06 for my wife. It was a great car.
Nissan is coming out with a handsome green Z next year. I don’t think they are giving the Nismo the same color. Would you recommend nice color over slightly faster car with ungainly red stripe on the bottom? Also does the nismo ride harshly in this generation like it did in the last?
(bon vivant eddy here) that green (and the available tan interior) looks amazing.
also, nissan shared on the press trip that the performance model (the middle trim) is getting the brakes of the 24-26 nismos, which are an improvement over stock.
if you're not tracking it, i'd say z perf in the color you like is plenty, maybe with stickier tires (jack can speak better to the rubber, but i thought the factory choice at launch wasn't grippy enough).
yeah, realistically I'll never track it. No time and no real inclination to drop a huge investment just to drive slowly around a track one or two times. Having a dark green sports car with a tan interior to semi daily drive would be an amazing investment, tho.
Anything the nismo has over the performance can be easily accomplished in the aftermarket. Tune, wheels, seats, and stiffer mounts are easily sourced, making the Nismo not look odd would not be as easy to accomplish.
Having seen some of the glazing of the new Nismo Z I wandered to [s]nissan.com[/s] nissanusa.com* and took a gander. The Nismo is, as expected, fugly. And why, as you noted elsewhere, would anyone want a track car that heavy? But then I admired the ‘regular’ Z Performance and reminded myself it’s a good looking car and allegedly slutty cheap. I don’t need another 2-seater, but if I did…
*you’d think they would have resolved the thing with the Nissan computer guy by now but naaah
The Nissan computer guy missed his chance to make a deal with Nissan and get an Infiniti dealership out of the mess. (Notice I didn’t say Nissan dealership…).
My local VW dealer, for some reason, had a new Nismo Z on their lot last year, I hopped out to take a look, and yeah it's a bit over the top in a bad way. Then I saw the auto, and I figured it was just optioned that way, surely a manual could be specc'd on the boy racer version? Then I saw the sticker, it had 3K miles on it, and they wanted $77K.
I should have snapped a picture of the window sticker, may have been some “year one” option tomfoolery. Still would love to know how it got to a tiny VW dealership. Sat for a few weeks then it was gone.
I think the Z is about 3600 lbs which isn't so bad considering how heavy things have gotten. It's seems like they just haven't nailed the sweet spot for me. I want a coupe that's closer to 3000 lbs but instead of getting a putzy engine like a BRZ, give me about 300 HP. Is that too much to ask for?? It seems like you either get wimpy engines or jump to fat.
I guess we are forced to either go older or pay the big bucks for a cayman or emira. Just when I thought I was done with C5s...
two different supercharger options if you prefer one over the other
anyway this is just the blower itself and an ots tune. throw an exhaust and a better tune (or smaller pulley or cams or whatever) and youre making more. biggest thing here is not just that youve made +80hp but that youve totally eliminated the torque dip. there are also several options if you wanted different transmission or final drive ratios if you wanted something else for the track too
I was clumsy trying to make my point. I don’t find 3600lbs that objectionable for a street GT car, but it’s too heavy for a track car. Therefore, silly to buy the ugly Nismo in my opinion since you probably aren’t reaping the incremental benefits of it on the street; therefore the Performance makes more sense as a street car and overall purchase, IMO.
The big thing about the Z is are the appealing prices! Plus, I kinda like the looks. The front is a little funky but I think the side profile and the rear look good.
The price is right, the looks are acceptable, the performance is there, and it’s one of the last cars available with a small screen tastefully integrated into the dash and not plopped haphazardly on top of the dash in the driver’s field of vision.
Yeah, the C5 or the C6 kind of fit a lot of things I would want. Lightweight, V8, manual...
I suppose I would go for the Z just cuz it's new. Both in terms of age but also it's something new to me. I guess I've spent enough time in the vettes that it's probably fun to try something new.
I went back and re-read Jack’s review of his wife’s Z and at the time I asked why a Z and not a C7. Basically boiled down to a Z is a better daily car (more comfortable, quieter, less nose scrapes, etc). I think if you wanted a toy car you could definitely make an argument for a C5-C7, but for a daily driver a Z is probably a better choice.
C7 Corvettes will soon run into the same problem. No spare parts especially since it was even more electrically controlled, more modules, more sensors. Both cars will turn into bricks.
Go look at the Corvette Forum. Look under the C6 Z06 sub-forum. There is a thread on parts no longer available. I give those cars maximum 5 years life left.
I was there for all of it, being an Extremely Online person as early as 1989, and I think he pushed too hard. Nowadays it wouldn't even be an issue; the law is pretty clear on the fact that you can't domain-squat trademarks.
From what I remember he had the domain already for his own business. His business had the name when Nissan was still Datsun. Also if I remember Nissan low balled him on the domain the first time around and dude got mad about it. I think Nissan spent more money (as did he) on lawyers and litigation when they could have just offered the guy a sum that wasn't disrespectful.
I also don't think when this started there were domain squatting laws.
But what do I know, a local restaurant with the name Panda in it for 25 years got sued by Panda express chain that came into the city just 2 minutes ago.
"From what I remember he had the domain already for his own business. His business had the name when Nissan was still Datsun. Also if I remember Nissan low balled him on the domain the first time around and dude got mad about it. I think Nissan spent more money (as did he) on lawyers and litigation when they could have just offered the guy a sum that wasn't disrespectful."
This right here, if it is accurate, places me firmly in the late Nissan computer guy's camp. Sure, he was probably an abrasive twerp about it(show me a computer programmer whose personality does not fit that description to some degree), but it's the principle of the thing. He got there first. You want his domain name, pay him or pound sand.
shortly before this got published one of the suggested videos in my YouTube feed was TopGear's latest Venom F5 Revolution Evo. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but how does one achieve a revolution evolution?
this elicits conflicting responses. On the one hand, thank you for the link; I had no idea of its existence. On the other hand, this is not the kind of music I want to listen to. Ultimately the end result is positive in that I learned something new today!
In the dim recesses of my memory, I recalled "Lancelot Link and the Evolution Revolution" from some Saturday morning show when I was a kid. I did a web-search, and it was "Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp", and there were about 5 YouTubes to choose from.
There were a lot of irreplaceable brain cells wasted on this factoid.
I don't know, but I know John Hennessey is a little midget coward who called my boss because his microdick started shrinking while I interviewed him in Texas and I hurt his feelings about being an online shit-starter. I'd be delighted to return to Texas and he can take the first swing for free.
My brother worked 7 years in a Chevy service department. He said they got many Corvettes, Tahoes, and Silverados that were totally bricked by Hennessey mods.
agreed that the Rumble Bee is a great addition to the lineup. It reminds me of the sentiment shared elsewhere as to why GM does not have a Raptor or TRX competitor. Even in street trim they could have something with the supercharged V8s.
that's the puzzling aspect. The Escalade-V exists. It seems that Cadillac exists in a special works part of GM, for better or worse. In the previous era they created the V station wagon. The Escalade proves the tech and certification is viable for all regs. A naive ACFer can dream.
Which why the Chinese HR guy in my office was SMITTEN by the 64 Imperial, especially the back seats. He didn't really care to sit up front, just immediately went to the back after I told him to sit in it.
Our Chicom overlords like their Arc'terex made in British Columbia. They'll pay a crazy premium for the stuff. For technical use, I like the Chicom Arc'terex better, as they still use a DWR that beads water.
BC Deadbird, that's five years old, is the best, however.
German Americans (3/4 of my grandparents) left to get away from the "vee know vat is best" nonsense of the Fatherland.
There's no mystery at all why German Americans succeeded here -- they have all the best attributes of German Germans, without the condescension and paternalistic authoritarianism that marks Germany proper.
Smart people who were unconstrained and helped to build this country.
I always enjoyed the heavy German influence in Chicago and used to go to the old school German bars where you could get a Weiss beer served right when all of the American beer sucked. This was back in blue collar Chicago which no longer exists.
(By the way, I find German relationships with authority to be very submissive. If someone tells you what the rules are, you are to obey. No questions asked. It’s why even in anarchist Berlin you still see people waiting at red lights to cross the street even if there isn’t a soul in sight. Or, in a more extreme example, it’s very easy to see how the “I was just following orders” mindset was manipulated.)
This trend of outlining grills with LED strips can't help but make me think of the old rave scene days when girls would wear makeup that glowed under UV lighting. At least back then it was highlighting something relatively attractive to look at. Someone should tell mercedes and bmw that led light strips look 'cheap AF', as the kids say.
Can we get away from the 'buttoned-up, pale, angular, weirdly-perverted, concrete-colored bahaus-by-kraftwerk' Germans and back to the 'fun, mountain climbing, busty, only-slightly-perverted, beer-swilling' Germans please? They made better cars.
Jack you are totally off on the AMG GT4's grill. If you think back to the original 6.3, the W109 chassis 300SEL 6.3 from the late 60's, you will see that the GT4's grill is really just an evolution of that large upright grill from that car, and I am just making all this shit up. Damn that is fucking ugly.
Speaking of BMW monitoring PHEV usage, I got a push notification that the battery in my 230i was no longer performing to the standards bmw expects and recommended I bring it to the dealer for evaluation. I kid you not, it wasn't 20 minutes after this notification that I received call from the local dealer service department asking if I was stranded somewhere. I was both impressed and perturbed at them not only getting that information but also acting on it so quickly at the dealer level.
Since I had him on the phone I asked what they'd get me for on a new battery install, he was very hesitant to say but finally admitted to a mid-$600 figure fee, variable depending on which of the 3 batteries offered for said vehicle mine has.
If it actually needs a new battery and a few days on the maintainer doesn't fix it I've already downloaded the app to code the new battery to the car so it doesn't...well I'm not sure why I need to do that, but apparently I do. I'll probably also look into disabling the data sharing, if I can.
Not surprised. A co-worker did an eight month boomerang to SFO, I guess hoping to start a career, or something. It didn't work out, but that's another story.
However, while he was there, he got a job working for one of the sub-contractors, and the stuff he was working on had EVERYTHING to do with what cars monitor and report. When he got back, he was telling me that BMW wanted a feature so that every time you plug-in charge one of their cars, the car would do a satellite AND 3G/4G/5G/whatevs AND (something else I don't remember) simultaneously to the mothership, informing BMW of ... well, everything. Time of day, location of charging, atmospheric conditions, battery state, duration of the charge, exact charger being used ... blah, blah, blah.
He was there just as COVID hit (to provide some timeline).
With the demise of the S550 Mustang GT, there are no more new cars I want to buy - NA-engined, manual transmission coupes. It's jarring to see a foundation pillar of society's motivations for upward mobility vanish.
Which creates a new financial market: New-car loans for rotisserie-resto cars. A decent resto on a third-gen Trans Am or a GNX clone's in the $40,000-$50,000 range.
Duramax Specialties in Georgia is already offering loans for frame-off Suburban 2500 Duramax swaps. Part of me wants to give them $60k and an Escalade EXT (Cadillac Avalanche) and have them spit me out a LBZ/ZF6 rig.
I wonder if someone could convince GM to license production of the body-in-white and various interior bits of, say, the GMT-800 variants of the trucks? They’d probably make bank! Use whatever bulletproof LS/Duramax/whatevers for motivation, hooked to a 6L80 (unless that transmission is a POS—I don’t remember which ones are to be avoided).
I was thinking low volume, kind of like the place that will build you a 1967 Mustang fastback using a Dynacorn body with modern underpinnings and a crate motor.
$130,000 for one of those versus a new example for a ‘Slade at $105k! Tough call!
To give you the answer to your question, no... they won't. They don't care about the end customer because they have not cared for some time.
When I was working in the toy industry for a detailed radio control car company, I noticed early on the trend of taking our ABS bodies and putting them on detailed rock crawlers and rigs that symbolized real life trucks. I spoke with higher ups about just buying a container work of production (Pre-Covid) because of the interest and how each body sold for 2-3xs what our normal radio control trucks sold for.
I was quickly told "no" and "do not ever bring that up again".
So, yeah... they simply won't care because it isn't in their wheelhouse even though the money spends the same.
Jack’s review of Gord Magill’s book enlightened me to that concept. GM would make hand-over-fist money selling a new Silverado ready to accept a Gen III LS and “Four-L-Slippy” trans.
The smart move is to be the buyer of someone else's restomod. The first guy always loses a ton of money.
I knew someone who bought a $150k restomod 61 Chevy bubble top for only $50k. The owner spared no expense and had a stack of documentation. The same guy did the same thing buying a restomod 69 Camaro on the cheap.
I sadly think that the car as an appliance has taken over, and the era we lived through with cool cars at various price points with a myriad of different versions filling every automobile niche is over.
All you can do is restomod a car you like, or a buy a car there will parts for in the future.
Just imagine the reverse scenario and it makes sense.
Imagine as a guy who loves cars getting into a car you own that annoys you. Let’s say you like the way your car looks, but the steering is atrocious and it can’t be fixed. Not only would you hate it, the car wouldn’t look so good to you anymore. The car would be a constant source of mental friction in your life.
When you have a car that works for you like your Boxster, of course you keep it and spend money on it, even if it’s a $40k engine. This Boxster is *your thing*, so the money you earn is to spend on *your thing* after the necessities of life have been taken care of. One of the best uses of money is to reduce friction in your life.
We always thought that there would always be a better car to buy when we were ready to move on from our current car. Those days are gone and they’re never coming back.
VERY tempting, no question. HOWEVER, where are the resto parts coming from? China? No thanks. Already have my burns, and not even a t-shirt to show for it.
The other problem (you can tell I have *not* thought about this one bit) is long-term parts supply. Maybe you can get parts today, even if they are chinesium, but will the parts be around five years from now? Not that chinesium will last that long, of course -- it's just an example.
Nope, the only way to do this right, is if the parts are made here in the US. It's not about the milling machines, and whose electricity they consume, it's about accountability. I know, even if the parts are made in the US, one can get burned. My point is, it would at least *reduce the chance* of getting burned.
Here's some context on the disgusting BMW idea:
The EU is planning to pull data from cars to check what real-life consumption looks like. If it exceeds what cars were certified at, they will impose ruinous punishment on carmakers.
In the EU, PHEVs are - by force - certified with fantastical mileage figures that everyone knows are not achievable unless you drive only short distances and plug in the cars all the time. This was done by the regulators to distort the market in favor of electrification.
Carmakers, just like customers, are victims and BMW is trying to avoid the worst. But the entire industry is suffering from some degree of the Stockholm syndrome.
Companies that make vehicles should be owned and operated by lone maniacs with Vision and Irascibility. Think Yosemite Sam if he were into cars - or fighter planes, or destroyers, or tanks, etc.
But they should definitely not be multinational corporations, headed by lizards and obsessed with quarterly profits.
Regardless of who owned the carmakers, executives used to defend their brands and customers against aggressive regulation. Of course, that was before the cultural collapse, harboring a guilt complex for "destroying the planet" (while actually improving it), the effeminate obsession with "safety" etc.
Shareholders currently aren't happy with the results of executives kowtowing to idiotic, far-left politicians and regulators. It's time for a reset of attitudes.
You dont become an executive at one of these major companies without believing the bullshit
No. I think they miscalculated and the cynicism and lack of spine is backfiring.
They definitely miscalculated, I agree there. But I doubt the lack of spine will backfire, because it is now endemic in those circles.
No one with spine is allowed "in The Club," regardless of how competent they are. "The Club" will not allow a "contrast" of any kind to show. It's how they ensure their survival. Xref: GM leadership.
You may be right. Hopefully every once in a while a guy like Kuniskis comes along. Or like Elon (though he is as much a Keating as a Roark, if you excuse the juvenile reference)
Shit..look at Honda!
I think about "the effeminate obsession with 'safety' " every time I have to crane my neck to look around the fat A-pillar on my 2017 Mustang.
I'm a subscriber to the theory that men invented civilization because women got tired of being cold and hungry.
I think of it every time I see some of the beautiful cars from the 1960s.
Yeah, reading the post, I was thinking of commenting that any automotive executive speaking with "Die Zeit" would have said the same thing.
If they said anything else, whether they believed it or not, "Die Zeit" (and other publications) would crucify them for being "gasoline-burning Neanderthals." Or worse.
Actually, there was a time when "Maximum Bob" would have spoken his mind. But I suspect there was/is something with Germany (then West Germany) that didn't quite work well for Bob, since he left ... hastily(?). And I never bought the explanation in his book as to why he left. So ... maybe he would speak his mind, but then beat a hasty retreat?
German executives spoke their mind for a long time. The last (and most hated) were Piech and Winterkorn. - Compensation wasn't great until the "merger of equals", which raised it to an international level. No wonder Lutz left for "greener" pastures much earlier.
The Yosemite Sam reference made me laugh. and I know exactly what you mean by it.
This gets you tesla which is fine but Teslas are still boring.
And even they apparently have subscription services beyond the purchase price…
Or into frickin huge spaceships: https://x.com/SpaceX
Speaking of Stockholm...... sometime in the future once the EU has expired and sovereign nations once more rule Europe it will be said "First thing is to kill all the Lawyers and Greta Thornberg". Apologies to Shakey Bill.
Its trending to all be a mix of Shiastan and Hindustan.
Speaking of pulling data, I just read today that Honda makes literal pennies spying on its customers. Turns out all that private data is not that valuable.
Also, if AI and the algorithms are so smart, how come I keep getting shown ads for stuff that I myself am selling?
That might be why Honda doesn’t do the worst stuff, like selling your driving information to Lexis-Nexis or whoever the aggregator is for insurance companies to triple your rates if you exceed a speed limit, without your consent. (Yes, I read their privacy policy end-to-end after the spying hit the media, and we discussed it here. Honda is one of the better manufacturers in this regard, actually.)
I completely forgot that in my lenghty reply. Yeah, that's pretty idiotic and would generate a HUGE backlash! I have a friend in Germany who bought a plug-in hybrid Volvo as his company car a few years ago. He did not plug it in even once, however it was subsidized and cheaper to run than a comparable non-hybrid, and he did not care one bit about that feature.
You vill yooze zah vehicle zah vay ve say!
A series of horrific crashes at MotoGP, WorldSBK, and MotoAmerica bring to the forefront how dangerous the motorsport is.
In MotoGP at Barthelona in Catalonia:
Pedro Acosta takes pole position, Morbidelli 2nd, Alex Marquez 3rd (at a circuit where he has won before), Raul Fernandez 4th, Zarco 5th, Digi 6th, and the factory Aprilias of Martin 9th and Bez 12th.
Aprilia finally looks at least vulnerable and Acosta continues to show why he's the top KTM rider.
At the start of the sprint Jorge climbs 3 places to 6th into turn one and takes 5th place before the end of lap one. Acosta keeps 1st place and Alex Marquez keeps his 3rd place as Zarco takes 2nd. Raul Fernandez likewise holds his position in 4th. Morbidelli had a poor start and tumbled to 7th.
Alex Marquez quickly overtakes Zarco heading into turn one under heavy braking. Jorge passes Raul Fernandez but an aggressive move on Raul's part sends Martin back and opens him up to attack from Digiantonnio. Martin goes on to lose the front and crash out in lap 3 for a DNF.
This happens almost simultaneously with Alex overtaking Acosta for pole position at the start of lap 4. He proceeds to gap Acosta for a short while.
Behind the lead pair Digi and Fernandez fight for third, for a time, until Digi's strong late pace leaves Raul in the dust and he begins a late charge for Acosta. There's not enough time in the sprint for Digi to repeat his heroic overtake of Acosta and further embarrass KTM's start rider.
Alex Marquez wins the sprint four hundredths ahead of Acosta with Digi just four tenths behind the pair.
Bez, meanwhile, claws all the way from 12th to 8th only to be pushed back to 9th in the last lap. A two point gap remains between Bez in first in the championship and Martin in 2nd.
The race commences and Martin makes an incredible start, leaping to 4th, and sets in pursuit of Acosta, Raul, and Alex who are 1, 2, 3. Zarco is looking for a fight and manages to work past Martin for 4th. He then makes contact with Alex which pushes Alex to 5th and Zarco briefly third with Martin 4th.
Zarco again loses out to the main straight drag into turn one braking move, this time from Martin. Zarco and Alex are now tangling for 4th and Zarco is giving him a good fight.
Up at the front Raul Fernandez closes down Acosta and they begin changing positions. This allows Alex Marquez and Martin to close up on the lead group. In lap 8 Alex's superior pace has him on the rear tires of the lead group who are still fighting.
In lap 9 Acosta retakes first position and tries to keep Raul between himself and Alex. Alex takes Raul in the next lap at turn one and gets ready to pass Acosta. Acosta puts up a powerful defense with razor sharp braking ability just keeping Alex at bay.
Jorge Martin has superior rhythm to Raul and closes him down.
When Alex seems sure to get Acosta, the 37's motor loses power going down the back straight. There is a massive closing speed and Alex tags the rear of Acosta's bike - deflating 37's rear tire - and then drifts into the gravel where he loses control of the Ducati. Alex tumbles along the ground, suffering fractures along the way, and his bike tears itself apart. Digi's Ducati strikes the front wheel of Alex's Ducati as it skitters across the tarmac. Other riders are peppered with debris and the race comes to a halt.
When the race restarts there's a turn one incident where Zarco goes in to hot and causes a crash. This involves Zarco becoming tangled with Bagnaia's bike as it tumbles through the gravel trap and flings Zarco about like a ragdoll. This is a blow to Zarco with ligament tears and fractures; but a miracle he didn't have a femur snapped or worse.
In the second restart Martin begins from 2nd, Raul 3rd, Mir 4th, and Bagnaia 5th with Acosta from pole once again.
Martin's great chance is then ruined by hothead Fernandez who wipes out a championship contender with Aprilia on Aprilia friendly fire.
Mir is running second with Digi hot behind. Mir runs well but eventually falls to Digi in lap 8/11. Digi then proceeds to catch and pass 37 the next lap in and put Pedro's first win wish to death this weekend. Mir manages to overtake 37 as well, and even Fermin Aldeguer passes him to add insult to injury by pushing Acosta off the podium. Acosta would then be struck by Ogura and crash out of the race for a no point finish.
Bez keeps it upright during the race and manages to open his championship lead to a yawning chasm of 15 points.
Mir worked incredibly hard for this podium. Which is why it's such a shame that tire pressure bullshit took it away from him the way Maverick Vinales was robbed of his podium. What a terrible rule.
Both BMW riders in WorldSBK are injured and out this weekend with Petrucci having a high speed off in the Czech Republic and breaking his tailbone, as well as other injuries.
WorldSBK is being dominated by Bulega, now that Toprak has moved to MotoGP, and has a 90 point lead.
WorldSSP and WorldSBK both showcase much more contact and hard nosed racing than MotoA.
In MotoAmerica a rider has his head run over in SBK but wasn't paralyzed from the neck down which was good to see.
MotoGP will next run in Mugello, Italia on the 29th.
Nothing says joie de vivre like sending your E92 M3 to the shop for the umpteenth time
Yeah but in the long run it's still more reliable than a Siebener!
BMW sells 7 series so it doesn’t have to own them
As a former E92 M3 owner, that statement TERRIFIES me.
I had a Lexus IS F at the same time a friend had a V8 M3. I changed oil, tires, and brakes, and thoroughly enjoyed it. His car broke him.
Guest pooooooost !
Not a tale lengthy enough for a guest post. I'll regale you here...
I got an '11 IS F (I wanted the limited slip) after reading about them while looking for info on my old LS400. I immediately started autocrossing it, and it was really good in SCCA F Street. Never gave me any trouble - I just aligned it, good tires, exhaust (a most excellent sounding car), and ran it.
Buddy had an M3, something small went wrong seemingly every month. Window regulator, small leak, etc. It was over $1000 almost every time. He finally got rid of it, very frustrating ownership experience.
I eventually sold the IS F to fund a Z06 for my wife. It was a great car.
Nissan is coming out with a handsome green Z next year. I don’t think they are giving the Nismo the same color. Would you recommend nice color over slightly faster car with ungainly red stripe on the bottom? Also does the nismo ride harshly in this generation like it did in the last?
(bon vivant eddy here) that green (and the available tan interior) looks amazing.
also, nissan shared on the press trip that the performance model (the middle trim) is getting the brakes of the 24-26 nismos, which are an improvement over stock.
if you're not tracking it, i'd say z perf in the color you like is plenty, maybe with stickier tires (jack can speak better to the rubber, but i thought the factory choice at launch wasn't grippy enough).
yeah, realistically I'll never track it. No time and no real inclination to drop a huge investment just to drive slowly around a track one or two times. Having a dark green sports car with a tan interior to semi daily drive would be an amazing investment, tho.
Yes, exactly. A proper sports car color combo.
Yeah it would be nice to have the extra thermal capacity. Maybe I'll get MINE in green!
I would have to get that red bottom stripe wrapped in black if I bought a Nismo.
Anything the nismo has over the performance can be easily accomplished in the aftermarket. Tune, wheels, seats, and stiffer mounts are easily sourced, making the Nismo not look odd would not be as easy to accomplish.
I ACTUALLY like the look of the new Maruno( I like weird) but it's saddled with their troubled VC turbo. Hope they don't put that in a Z.
Having seen some of the glazing of the new Nismo Z I wandered to [s]nissan.com[/s] nissanusa.com* and took a gander. The Nismo is, as expected, fugly. And why, as you noted elsewhere, would anyone want a track car that heavy? But then I admired the ‘regular’ Z Performance and reminded myself it’s a good looking car and allegedly slutty cheap. I don’t need another 2-seater, but if I did…
*you’d think they would have resolved the thing with the Nissan computer guy by now but naaah
(How do you do strike through? Whatever.)
The Nissan computer guy missed his chance to make a deal with Nissan and get an Infiniti dealership out of the mess. (Notice I didn’t say Nissan dealership…).
Didn't that dude die?
Yes, in 2020, from Covid.
Ah, the most ironic death. His RNA got cybersquatted.
(c)oof
One consoling thought: Douglas Adams would have loved writing about his ironic death.
My local VW dealer, for some reason, had a new Nismo Z on their lot last year, I hopped out to take a look, and yeah it's a bit over the top in a bad way. Then I saw the auto, and I figured it was just optioned that way, surely a manual could be specc'd on the boy racer version? Then I saw the sticker, it had 3K miles on it, and they wanted $77K.
That's way above MSRP. You could get automatic Nismos last year for $55k, brand new.
I should have snapped a picture of the window sticker, may have been some “year one” option tomfoolery. Still would love to know how it got to a tiny VW dealership. Sat for a few weeks then it was gone.
I think the Z is about 3600 lbs which isn't so bad considering how heavy things have gotten. It's seems like they just haven't nailed the sweet spot for me. I want a coupe that's closer to 3000 lbs but instead of getting a putzy engine like a BRZ, give me about 300 HP. Is that too much to ask for?? It seems like you either get wimpy engines or jump to fat.
I guess we are forced to either go older or pay the big bucks for a cayman or emira. Just when I thought I was done with C5s...
or get a brz and a supercharger
Don't those have a nasty habit of catching on fire under heavy use, even without powertrain modification?
well yeah but if youre getting a blower you might as well fix any other problems with it
then you have a decent engine thats reasonably powerful and reliable
I'm told by those who should know that those cars handle beautifully; what kinda power do you think you could get out of a supercharged BRZ?
https://www.edelbrock.com/e-force-supercharger-for-2012-19-subaru-brz-scion-fr-s-toyota-86-2-0l-1556.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqvpfzlvmclAZiTzUYzRZW7ACPIljjMYLLCR0PGK665YWK9GKWm
https://jacksonracing.com/product/fr-sbrz-c38-supercharger-system/
two different supercharger options if you prefer one over the other
anyway this is just the blower itself and an ots tune. throw an exhaust and a better tune (or smaller pulley or cams or whatever) and youre making more. biggest thing here is not just that youve made +80hp but that youve totally eliminated the torque dip. there are also several options if you wanted different transmission or final drive ratios if you wanted something else for the track too
but you could have a Miata instead...
if you want an affordable sports car sure
but when you want a more practical coupe there are other options
Or a base C5 Corvette. HP:weight sorted.
I was clumsy trying to make my point. I don’t find 3600lbs that objectionable for a street GT car, but it’s too heavy for a track car. Therefore, silly to buy the ugly Nismo in my opinion since you probably aren’t reaping the incremental benefits of it on the street; therefore the Performance makes more sense as a street car and overall purchase, IMO.
The big thing about the Z is are the appealing prices! Plus, I kinda like the looks. The front is a little funky but I think the side profile and the rear look good.
The price is right, the looks are acceptable, the performance is there, and it’s one of the last cars available with a small screen tastefully integrated into the dash and not plopped haphazardly on top of the dash in the driver’s field of vision.
100%
Correct analysis.
If I was going to seriously look at the Z, I would have to compare it to the C6. That would be a hard choice.
Yeah, the C5 or the C6 kind of fit a lot of things I would want. Lightweight, V8, manual...
I suppose I would go for the Z just cuz it's new. Both in terms of age but also it's something new to me. I guess I've spent enough time in the vettes that it's probably fun to try something new.
My feelings, too.
I went back and re-read Jack’s review of his wife’s Z and at the time I asked why a Z and not a C7. Basically boiled down to a Z is a better daily car (more comfortable, quieter, less nose scrapes, etc). I think if you wanted a toy car you could definitely make an argument for a C5-C7, but for a daily driver a Z is probably a better choice.
C6 Corvettes are off the table-no spare parts
C7 Corvettes will soon run into the same problem. No spare parts especially since it was even more electrically controlled, more modules, more sensors. Both cars will turn into bricks.
Go look at the Corvette Forum. Look under the C6 Z06 sub-forum. There is a thread on parts no longer available. I give those cars maximum 5 years life left.
It's just under 3500 with a manual.
I won't buy a Nissan for how they did that guy.
I was there for all of it, being an Extremely Online person as early as 1989, and I think he pushed too hard. Nowadays it wouldn't even be an issue; the law is pretty clear on the fact that you can't domain-squat trademarks.
From what I remember he had the domain already for his own business. His business had the name when Nissan was still Datsun. Also if I remember Nissan low balled him on the domain the first time around and dude got mad about it. I think Nissan spent more money (as did he) on lawyers and litigation when they could have just offered the guy a sum that wasn't disrespectful.
I also don't think when this started there were domain squatting laws.
But what do I know, a local restaurant with the name Panda in it for 25 years got sued by Panda express chain that came into the city just 2 minutes ago.
"From what I remember he had the domain already for his own business. His business had the name when Nissan was still Datsun. Also if I remember Nissan low balled him on the domain the first time around and dude got mad about it. I think Nissan spent more money (as did he) on lawyers and litigation when they could have just offered the guy a sum that wasn't disrespectful."
This right here, if it is accurate, places me firmly in the late Nissan computer guy's camp. Sure, he was probably an abrasive twerp about it(show me a computer programmer whose personality does not fit that description to some degree), but it's the principle of the thing. He got there first. You want his domain name, pay him or pound sand.
Datsun changed to Nissan in the early '80s in the US. I doubt he had the Nissan web address back then.
Jason wrote that his business had the name, not that he had the domain.
The AMG GT Black Series is something special. So are the GT4 RS and Spyder RS. The most promoted german cars are usually not the best.
shortly before this got published one of the suggested videos in my YouTube feed was TopGear's latest Venom F5 Revolution Evo. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but how does one achieve a revolution evolution?
You are living in one as we speak. Think of the current government of New York City and what that says about the future of this country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsTMVPApsbE
For your dinner and dancing enjoyment: Lancelot Link and the Evolution Revolution. You're welcome.
Awesome! That set must have been complete mayhem. I’m hoping the director was really drunk or stoned.
Check out the stunt double for the Shaggy Dog in this one. https://m.youtube.com/shorts/LW4BgNZuN_4?ra=m
this elicits conflicting responses. On the one hand, thank you for the link; I had no idea of its existence. On the other hand, this is not the kind of music I want to listen to. Ultimately the end result is positive in that I learned something new today!
In the dim recesses of my memory, I recalled "Lancelot Link and the Evolution Revolution" from some Saturday morning show when I was a kid. I did a web-search, and it was "Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp", and there were about 5 YouTubes to choose from.
There were a lot of irreplaceable brain cells wasted on this factoid.
That ain't half bad! Autoplay followed it with this certified banger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNZwCNSSWlI
I freaking loved Lancelot Link as a kid, I had the lunchbox and everything.
I don't know, but I know John Hennessey is a little midget coward who called my boss because his microdick started shrinking while I interviewed him in Texas and I hurt his feelings about being an online shit-starter. I'd be delighted to return to Texas and he can take the first swing for free.
My brother worked 7 years in a Chevy service department. He said they got many Corvettes, Tahoes, and Silverados that were totally bricked by Hennessey mods.
There is nothing in this world I would believe more.
Word up. I'd tag along to fuck up anyone who tried to stop you.
agreed that the Rumble Bee is a great addition to the lineup. It reminds me of the sentiment shared elsewhere as to why GM does not have a Raptor or TRX competitor. Even in street trim they could have something with the supercharged V8s.
' It reminds me of the sentiment shared elsewhere as to why GM does not have a Raptor or TRX competitor.'
Oh, that's easy.
They hate their customers.
The Escalade-V should have Chevrolet and GMC equivalents. Cowardly and criminal that it does not.
The damn engines would eject con-rods into the Earth’s crust on the first pull after break-in!
Only to come out the other side as cheap chinesium parts.
I was tryin’-a think of how to work that in if possible! I guess it’d be shooting the junk back where it came from!
that's the puzzling aspect. The Escalade-V exists. It seems that Cadillac exists in a special works part of GM, for better or worse. In the previous era they created the V station wagon. The Escalade proves the tech and certification is viable for all regs. A naive ACFer can dream.
They hate their customers more than you know.
Just ask anyone trying to buy a 2006-13 Z06 oil pump or a 2010-13 ZR1 magnetic shocks or a 2014-15 Z28 looking for brake rotors.
No parts.
Are you serious?
I've never been a pickup truck guy but those Rumble Bees are hugely desirable.
Imagine now that you ARE a pickup guy. Think how tingly this would make you feel.
Shermans gotta be sitting in a corner somewhere saying "They can't do this to me. The hillbillys are gonna lift them"
Does anyone start with a lowered truck before lifting it?
The new AMG will look wonderful complemented with an arcteryx jacket and pair of Lorno Pianas on a Chinese student at a midwest college campus.
The Chinese I know want gasoline engines. In China, EVs are for the plebs.
i heard that if they dont status signal at all times they wilt
Which why the Chinese HR guy in my office was SMITTEN by the 64 Imperial, especially the back seats. He didn't really care to sit up front, just immediately went to the back after I told him to sit in it.
Our Chicom overlords like their Arc'terex made in British Columbia. They'll pay a crazy premium for the stuff. For technical use, I like the Chicom Arc'terex better, as they still use a DWR that beads water.
BC Deadbird, that's five years old, is the best, however.
Midwest? You mean UC-anywhere and NYU.
It's just as bad in Big 10 country.
nuked from orbit 🤣
When a German-German starts off a conversation with “This is a behavioral problem…..”, run for your life!
Behavior modification: a German "feature" since 1939.
Destroyers of Europe to this day!
Eastern Germany should de-unify from the marxists in Western Germany.
German Americans (3/4 of my grandparents) left to get away from the "vee know vat is best" nonsense of the Fatherland.
There's no mystery at all why German Americans succeeded here -- they have all the best attributes of German Germans, without the condescension and paternalistic authoritarianism that marks Germany proper.
Smart people who were unconstrained and helped to build this country.
I always enjoyed the heavy German influence in Chicago and used to go to the old school German bars where you could get a Weiss beer served right when all of the American beer sucked. This was back in blue collar Chicago which no longer exists.
Have you ever been to bavarian lodge in Lisle?
Unfortunately no. Passed it a bunch of times on Ogden Avenue.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-187094495
No need to read the whole thing. Relevant part:
(By the way, I find German relationships with authority to be very submissive. If someone tells you what the rules are, you are to obey. No questions asked. It’s why even in anarchist Berlin you still see people waiting at red lights to cross the street even if there isn’t a soul in sight. Or, in a more extreme example, it’s very easy to see how the “I was just following orders” mindset was manipulated.)
This trend of outlining grills with LED strips can't help but make me think of the old rave scene days when girls would wear makeup that glowed under UV lighting. At least back then it was highlighting something relatively attractive to look at. Someone should tell mercedes and bmw that led light strips look 'cheap AF', as the kids say.
Can we get away from the 'buttoned-up, pale, angular, weirdly-perverted, concrete-colored bahaus-by-kraftwerk' Germans and back to the 'fun, mountain climbing, busty, only-slightly-perverted, beer-swilling' Germans please? They made better cars.
The cars were best when those 2 varieties of Germans co-existed
Jack you are totally off on the AMG GT4's grill. If you think back to the original 6.3, the W109 chassis 300SEL 6.3 from the late 60's, you will see that the GT4's grill is really just an evolution of that large upright grill from that car, and I am just making all this shit up. Damn that is fucking ugly.
Authentic LOL.
more like ca va vivant, but i appreciate the kind words.
i don't know if it'd be a T2 car or where it would fit, but a z would be a hell of a race car. i'd totally rent that from you guys :)
SCCA hates turbos, so we would aim for T3 and settle for T2.
Speaking of BMW monitoring PHEV usage, I got a push notification that the battery in my 230i was no longer performing to the standards bmw expects and recommended I bring it to the dealer for evaluation. I kid you not, it wasn't 20 minutes after this notification that I received call from the local dealer service department asking if I was stranded somewhere. I was both impressed and perturbed at them not only getting that information but also acting on it so quickly at the dealer level.
Since I had him on the phone I asked what they'd get me for on a new battery install, he was very hesitant to say but finally admitted to a mid-$600 figure fee, variable depending on which of the 3 batteries offered for said vehicle mine has.
If it actually needs a new battery and a few days on the maintainer doesn't fix it I've already downloaded the app to code the new battery to the car so it doesn't...well I'm not sure why I need to do that, but apparently I do. I'll probably also look into disabling the data sharing, if I can.
Not surprised. A co-worker did an eight month boomerang to SFO, I guess hoping to start a career, or something. It didn't work out, but that's another story.
However, while he was there, he got a job working for one of the sub-contractors, and the stuff he was working on had EVERYTHING to do with what cars monitor and report. When he got back, he was telling me that BMW wanted a feature so that every time you plug-in charge one of their cars, the car would do a satellite AND 3G/4G/5G/whatevs AND (something else I don't remember) simultaneously to the mothership, informing BMW of ... well, everything. Time of day, location of charging, atmospheric conditions, battery state, duration of the charge, exact charger being used ... blah, blah, blah.
He was there just as COVID hit (to provide some timeline).
East Germany has the best surveillance state in history*
*The NSA laughs as they read this
With the demise of the S550 Mustang GT, there are no more new cars I want to buy - NA-engined, manual transmission coupes. It's jarring to see a foundation pillar of society's motivations for upward mobility vanish.
Which creates a new financial market: New-car loans for rotisserie-resto cars. A decent resto on a third-gen Trans Am or a GNX clone's in the $40,000-$50,000 range.
Duramax Specialties in Georgia is already offering loans for frame-off Suburban 2500 Duramax swaps. Part of me wants to give them $60k and an Escalade EXT (Cadillac Avalanche) and have them spit me out a LBZ/ZF6 rig.
That's an IDEA.
I wonder if someone could convince GM to license production of the body-in-white and various interior bits of, say, the GMT-800 variants of the trucks? They’d probably make bank! Use whatever bulletproof LS/Duramax/whatevers for motivation, hooked to a 6L80 (unless that transmission is a POS—I don’t remember which ones are to be avoided).
If they did that they'd lose two-thirds of their Silvy volume the first year.
I was thinking low volume, kind of like the place that will build you a 1967 Mustang fastback using a Dynacorn body with modern underpinnings and a crate motor.
$130,000 for one of those versus a new example for a ‘Slade at $105k! Tough call!
To give you the answer to your question, no... they won't. They don't care about the end customer because they have not cared for some time.
When I was working in the toy industry for a detailed radio control car company, I noticed early on the trend of taking our ABS bodies and putting them on detailed rock crawlers and rigs that symbolized real life trucks. I spoke with higher ups about just buying a container work of production (Pre-Covid) because of the interest and how each body sold for 2-3xs what our normal radio control trucks sold for.
I was quickly told "no" and "do not ever bring that up again".
So, yeah... they simply won't care because it isn't in their wheelhouse even though the money spends the same.
Like a glider semi.
Jack’s review of Gord Magill’s book enlightened me to that concept. GM would make hand-over-fist money selling a new Silverado ready to accept a Gen III LS and “Four-L-Slippy” trans.
Extremely tasteful. Please do it and report back, would chip in to GoFundMe for this
No bank would touch a loan for a restomod.
The smart move is to be the buyer of someone else's restomod. The first guy always loses a ton of money.
I knew someone who bought a $150k restomod 61 Chevy bubble top for only $50k. The owner spared no expense and had a stack of documentation. The same guy did the same thing buying a restomod 69 Camaro on the cheap.
Yeah, just dreaming.
Still, the modern dearth of proper cars demands a forceful response.
I share your view.
I sadly think that the car as an appliance has taken over, and the era we lived through with cool cars at various price points with a myriad of different versions filling every automobile niche is over.
All you can do is restomod a car you like, or a buy a car there will parts for in the future.
I posted this before, but here’s a light restomod of a 77 Monte Carlo that updates its daily driving characteristics but won’t break the bank. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/what-would-an-ideal-restomod-build-look-like/
Ataraxis,
Yes! This is my dilemma. I own a 986 Boxster that I absolutely love. I cannot think of any vehicle that could replace it.
I’m at the point where I think I will actually spend $40,000 on a built engine to drop into that car.
Financially it makes ZERO sense and is really stupid.
But dang it, it’s the only option that appeals to me.
I either do this, or find a nice convertible ZO6 C6.
But then, I can’t park at Rennsport Reunion. :)
Decisions, decisions.
I don’t think that’s stupid.
Just imagine the reverse scenario and it makes sense.
Imagine as a guy who loves cars getting into a car you own that annoys you. Let’s say you like the way your car looks, but the steering is atrocious and it can’t be fixed. Not only would you hate it, the car wouldn’t look so good to you anymore. The car would be a constant source of mental friction in your life.
When you have a car that works for you like your Boxster, of course you keep it and spend money on it, even if it’s a $40k engine. This Boxster is *your thing*, so the money you earn is to spend on *your thing* after the necessities of life have been taken care of. One of the best uses of money is to reduce friction in your life.
We always thought that there would always be a better car to buy when we were ready to move on from our current car. Those days are gone and they’re never coming back.
I agree with all of that.... which is how I ended up with GT4 level money in a replica Speedster.
I can't help loving what I love.
Caveat: it only works if you have at least one more vehicle, and a bottomless source of cash.
VERY tempting, no question. HOWEVER, where are the resto parts coming from? China? No thanks. Already have my burns, and not even a t-shirt to show for it.
The other problem (you can tell I have *not* thought about this one bit) is long-term parts supply. Maybe you can get parts today, even if they are chinesium, but will the parts be around five years from now? Not that chinesium will last that long, of course -- it's just an example.
Nope, the only way to do this right, is if the parts are made here in the US. It's not about the milling machines, and whose electricity they consume, it's about accountability. I know, even if the parts are made in the US, one can get burned. My point is, it would at least *reduce the chance* of getting burned.
"....three wheel pastry cart," will live forever in my memory.
Jack, "kid' and "speed" in the same sentence evoke images of a sort I don't care for. Hopefully you are speaking of your younger racing days.