The Woodward Pre-Cruise: Friday Night

Friday night in Birmingham. Lots of people, lots of interesting cars.

Sign of the times.


Weird Harley powered thing

Two yellow sleds.

Monster truck











Green Thing






Monkees Car

Biggest truck of the night

Woody!







No joke.

The Woodward Pre-Cruise

On Thursday evening I went over to Birmingham and shot some photos of the pre-cruise cruising. It was very busy. I apologize that the photos aren't all sharp, I am still getting the hang of how to use my camera in relatively low light.

Work-in-progress

Zimmer?

Old school jeep

This guy had lots of lights on his motorycle

Wacky Red Wings themed limo

Blurry but cool

This is the guy who put a jet engine in the back of his F150.

Big truck

Little car

Old style hotrod

Another monster truck

Dune buggy

Barney-mobile

Why Not A Milder Volt?

GM has designed a car which can drive 40miles on only battery power, and indefinitely (as long as the gas lasts) on generator power. And this car will cost something like $40,000, and will probably be a big money loser, according to the Obama automotive task force.

Why is GM shooting for the moon? Why not reduce the battery to something small, enough for maybe 5 or 10 miles pure electric driving? And instead of running the engine only when the batteries are depleted, run the engine more frequently to maintain a high level of charge. Then, use the batteries for accelerating and low speed driving, and use the engine more often during cruising.

Perhaps the generator could even be a high compression ethanol only design, to eke out more efficiency.

They'd get big fuel economy numbers (but not 230 mpg), and a much less expensive car. It would have nice torque, because it would be electrically driven, unlike the Prius.

The 230 MPG Claim

This whole 230 mpg claim for the Volt is getting on my nerves.

First, no one has tested a production level Volt with final calibration and final hardware. GM may discover some late change that needs to be made to fix a driveability issue or whatever, and the number would change.

Second, the EPA has not published the test method for plug-in hybrids. What assumptions did GM use to get the 230mpg number? Are they realistic? What about heat, or A/C, and electrical loads like the radio and headlamps?

For example, the FTP75 city driving cycle is 11 miles long. If the Volt has a 40 mile range running only on batteries, and starts fully charged, it will have infinite fuel economy for the city test. If it is tested with the batteries depleted, it will use its generator engine to move the vehicle, and will have some much higher fuel consumption (30mpg?).

I am not involved in SAE's committee working on plug-in hybrid fuel economy testing methods, but I suggest that the numbers be reported as follows:

• Line 1: All electric range, assuming some standard amount of heater and a/c usage, electrical loads, and wind resistance.
• Line 2: Gasoline only fuel economy (old fashioned FTP tests)
• Line 3: Combination, assuming X% battery driving and Y% battery depleted driving, for example, 50/50

It is dangerous for GM to publish numbers like 230mpg without details, so early in the game. If things change and they can't deliver, they will not be taken seriously by the public.

GM Time Warp On eBay

Go to http://www.ebay.com/gm. I was expecting news about the new GM/eBay partnership for California sales, but all I got was a 4 year old tsunami web site. Complete with opening quote by Rick Wagoner!

The GM sales thing is at http://gm.ebay.com.

The House's "Private Jets"

Only in the U.S. Congress can something so blatantly hypocritical happen.

After dragging the CEOs fo the Detroit 3 through the mud for daring to come to Washington in "private jets", what does Congress do for this budget? They double Obama's request, to $550 million, for... wait for it... small corporate jets, such as the Gulfstream 550.


Nice plane!

Breaking: GM To Announce PHEV SUV

I heard on Paul. W. Smith's radio show this morning that GM is gong to announce later today a plug-in hybrid SUV. Paul W. is covering the Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City.

Why CARS (Cash For Clunkers) Should Be Extended

I posted previously that I didn't think the CARS program would be extended, and the outcome is still currently doubtful.

I think that CARS should be extended.  Many billions of dollars have been set aside for banks and insurance companies (some of which are now paying out huge bonuses to their employees).  Billions more have been set aside for "green energy" investments.  All for the sake of "stimulus".  However, much of the stimulus money won't be spent any time soon.

By redirecting some of the stimulus money to the CARS program, Congress would accomplish more stimulus sooner.  Money would flow quickly to dealerships, with their employees and dependent businesses, and money would flow to the automakers and suppliers.  It would also have the beneficial side effect of reducing gasoline demand by improving the overall fuel economy of the cars on the road. 

CARS List Update!

I updated my original CARS (cash for clunkers) eligible vehicle list with the new data from Edmunds, triggered by NHTSA's re-calculation of some of the fuel economy numbers. Some cars fell off of the list, and some were added on.

You can see the updated list here.

Welcome Back, American Muscle!

My main blog sponsor, American Muscle, has kindly agreed to renew for another year. American Muscle sells all kinds of Mustang parts. I'm not sure if they even sell anything besides Mustang parts. If you want to take a look, just click on the banner up top.

They recently sponsored a hilarious and disgusting contest called "Live in it to win it", where one of several contestants who could last the longest living in a red 2009 Mustang would win it. The winner lasted 11 days.

Why CARS (Cash For Clunkers) Won't Come Back

Mark Tapscott, over at the Examiner (http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-12977-Cars-Examiner~y2009m7d31-How-long-before-CashforClunkers-becomes-a-permanent-federal-entitlement) , predicts that the cash-for-clunkers program (CARS) will be extended indefinitely because it is popular, and gives the Obama administration another way to spend money.

I disagree.  I think that if Congress extends CARS (doubtful), it will be a one-time shot.  The main reason is that there are still fiscal conservatives in Congress--the Blue Dog Democrats and the Republicans will team up to end the program.  The  Greenies won't support an extension because the current program, being a compromise, watered down the original premise of forcing people to trade up only to high-mileage cars.

CARS was fun while it lasted, but I predict it will shortly be as dead as one of the engines in my previous post.

Video: Cash For Clunkers Engine Death

Here is a video from a CARS program engine disablement (sodium silicate solution instead of oil) of a Jeep Grand Cherokee. The engine fights long and hard, but dies in the end.



This Volvo S80 looks like a nice car, I'm amazed it qualified. Maybe it had major issues, like a bad transmission, or something. Still, what a waste. The engine sounds almost like it is sad to go.



This Oldsmobile looks more like a heap. The engine starts out sounding throaty, then dies with a mousy squeek.

Video: Kid Freaks Out (A Little)

A rich kid gets a surprise birthday present--a beat up pickup truck. He gets mad because he'll look like a "poor kid" if he drives it. He gets a baseball bat...



Now, I don't think he's 100% serious, because if you notice, he doesn't damage the glass or the front end. He just beats up on the bed side a little.

Mahindra Planning A CUV For U.S.?

I was looking at Mahindra's North America web site (http://www.mahindrana.com/indian-cars-and-trucks.html) , which advertises its two door and four door diesel pickups (planned for fall of 2009), and its SUV, promised for 2010. 

If you click on "future vehicle", you see an artsy picture of what looks like a minivan, or perhaps a crossover, called the MUC.   I suspect this is a version of the Xylo (see http://www.lnkr.net/archives/prem/technology/mahindra-xylo-more-images/2011 for photos) which is something like short minivan with swinging doors.

Mahindra is talking big, I wonder if they will deliver?