Ever find it amazing how some people get through life? Take these two icons of society for example. They’re just two guys looking to make a buck by driving a fully loaded truck with no brakes or clutch onto a trailer. It appears however that they’ve failed to put any loading chocks underneath the trailers wheels, a mistake that unfortunately cost them dearly.
Source: Youtube.com
Yugo Girl!
Today is Malcolm Bricklin’s 72nd birthday, and to celebrate this jubilant occasion, I am presenting my review of a book written about perhaps the most reviled of his infamous business exploits: the Yugo.
I recently had the pleasure of reading Jason Vuic’s “The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History.” And just so you know, I thought it was a total hoot. It’s been ages since I last found myself transfixed by a book, owing in no small part to the clever prose of Mr. Vuic and his obvious enthusiasm for the Yugo and its hilarious cast of supporting characters
The tale is peppered with anecdotes that will make you cackle gleefully in public and get the side-eye from old ladies on the train. It will inspire you to torture your coworkers with a relentless barrage of Yugo jokes. Your resulting revelry in everything Yugo will have phones hanging up on you, doors closed in your face. But, oh yes, it’s worth it.
It was the low price that really sold Chet, but the state-of-the-art pop-up living area and authentically-distressed finish were nearly as impressive.
Source: That Will Buff Out
2010 was a good year. The venerable Lancia Stratos came back from the grave. Jaguar built a car with two jet engines in it. The Mustang shaved its mullet and proved itself as a more-than-capable sports tourer. Chevy’s long-awaited Volt turned out to be pretty good. And Cadillac made the most bitchin’ station wagon ever. But my favorite cars this year didn’t make the glossy magazines. They won’t end up in posters plastered to 15-year-olds’ walls. They won’t be featured in Forza or GT5. They are, however, spectacular in every way imaginable. Here they are, in no particular order.
I was heading into the grocery store the other night when I saw something that made my jaw drop. A lady, apparently deciding that the cart-return was too far away, decided to give her shopping cart a solid heave… right through the sporadically parked cars in the back half of the lot.
The cart, as Wally-World carts often do, immediately hooked a left into oncoming traffic, causing a guy to slam on his brakes to avoid a collision. The lady, either too callous or too oblivious, pulled away with nary a glance at the narrowly avoided impact.
A team of students from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada have crossed the Great North in an electric ’71 VW Beetle. The Beetle was converted to electric by UBC Electric car club. It’s powered by a lithium-ion battery pack and driven by a three-phase A/C motor. The setup is good for a range of 185 miles at 60 miles per hour or 340 miles at 30 mph. It recharges in four hours. Not bad. Not bad at all. The team had a few snags, including a broken half shaft and a busted charger, but they crossed Canada in 14 days. I wonder if they’re selling the Bug. I totally dig it.
Source: Wired Autopia
Chet couldn’t understand why his stucco car siding business never took off.
Source: That Will Buff Out
Why spend hours tearing down interior walls with a ripping bar and a sledgehammer, when you can accomplish the same thing in minutes with an old Toyota 4wd pickup? It’s a whole lot more fun, and you aren’t likely to work up a sweat behind the wheel. If you have a snowplow for the truck, you can even handle the cleanup without any back-breaking labor.
Jimbo was sure his self-taught bodywork skills would earn him fame and fortune someday.
Source: You Drive What?
Times are tough, and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be any major economic recovery in the near future. A lot of people, myself included, have cut way back on spending just to make ends meet. Still, you can only cut back so far: ours is a culture based around the automobile, and you need a reliable set of wheels to get to and from work, the grocery store, your therapist, etc.
I paid $700 for my first car, but that was over 25 years ago. Is it still possible, I wondered, to score a car for under $1,000 if you shopped carefully on Craigslist? Searching the listings for Jacksonville, FL, I can safely say the answer is yes, as long as you’re not particularly concerned with what you’ll be driving. If you want to get from point A to point B for under $1,000, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
