April 29, 2008

Electric Lotusland

No, not the Tesla Roadster (though I did see one in the wild, with manufacturers license plates, a couple of days ago). This is the ThoRR, an all-electric Lotus Super Seven replica. The motor is said to have 272 bhp, which means the 755 kg car will probably move out quite fast. 120 miles on a charge, depending on driving style of course.

WANT!

Posted by Berry at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)

February 22, 2008

Improvised Tractors

... would make a good band name. But as Kevin Kelly notes in his Street Use blog,

In the '60s Poland it was almost impossible to acquire a tractor in Poland.

That's true; I lived in Warsaw from 1963 to 1965, and it was common to see farmers bringing produce to market in downtown Warsaw, using horse-drawn wagons.

There's something to be said for horses as transport: they're fairly robust, easy to guide (heck, some can guide themselves on the homeward leg of a journey) and they can make more of themselves. On the other hand, they're slow by modern standards, have built-in obsolescence, they eat a lot, and disposing of their waste in a large urban area could be a major problem.

Posted by Berry at 01:10 PM | Comments (0)

January 09, 2008

Marathon Morning

There are a number of Checker Marathons running around town. These were cars built to be Taxis, originally designed in the 50s, and manufactured more or less unchanged until 1982. They were rugged, reliable and roomy, which is why so many are still on the road.

I ordinarily wouldn't mention it, but this morning on the way to work I saw not one but TWO in the space of one block, more or less where I spotted the Google Streetview car a few days ago.

Nifty!

Posted by Berry at 09:09 AM | Comments (0)

August 02, 2005

Carburettor Correctness

So, the Bulwer-Lytton Contest results are in, and the winner is

As he stared at her ample bosom, he daydreamed of the dual Stromberg carburetors in his vintage Triumph Spitfire, highly functional yet pleasingly formed, perched prominently on top of the intake manifold, aching for experienced hands, the small knurled caps of the oil dampeners begging to be inspected and adjusted as described in chapter seven of the shop manual.

It's sad, the decline in literary standards, isn't it? As all true Triumph afficionados know, early Spitfires came with dual S.U. carburettors, whilst later ones (Mk III and onwards) came with SINGLE Strombergs. Furrfu.

Posted by Berry at 05:21 PM | Comments (0)