Not this driver's first day

 

Long term parking

 

1938 Iowa State Fair

 

Odd marriage

 

Falcon perched in a tree

 

The art of relocating in one trip

 

Double decker

 

Big sound

 

BMW Isetta Spiaggia Custom Roadster

 

Jam in the desert

 

Frank Brogan's 1944 Doodlebug

 

Frank Brogan's wife asked him to design a car for women. He came up with the Doodlebug. It achieved 45mph and 70 mpg. He hand made 30 cars and sold them for $400 each only to realize that each car cost him $500 to produce. When he investigated the idea of mass production the tooling costs ($150,000) exceeded his means. Additional information is available here, but you will need to scroll down to #6.

Citroen DS Chapron Coupe Le Dandy

Special delivery

The Italian police used a Lamborghini Huracan to deliver a donor kidney to a hospital in Padua. They made the 490 kilometer (304 mile) trip from Rome in 2 hours. The normal driving time is 6 hours. The average speed during this trip was 233km/h (144mph)

Art nouveau store front

 

Fiat Turbina

Development began in 1948 with track testing commencing in 1954. The gas turbine produced 300 hp at 22,000 rpms. Top speed estimated to be 160 mph (257 kph) The project was shelved because of overheating and excessive fuel consumption. Read more here.

Runaway diesel

I am not that familiar with diesel engines. I owned an Oldsmobile diesel in the 1980's. My experience with it was similar to everyone else who owned a GM passenger car powered with a diesel at that time- that being it was not a good experience. They had problematic injector pumps and acceleration was pretty much nonexistent. Diesel power in passenger vehicles has come a long way in the last twenty years.

The video captures what is referred to as a "runaway". Diesels don't depend on an ignition system to provide a spark to ignite the fuel that is injected into the cylinders. Diesels use a very high compression to cause the fuel to ignite. Turning off the key in a diesel stops the introduction of fuel and the engine just stops due to being fuel starved. 

The problem (especially in turbo charged engines) is that in some rare instances engine oil makes its way into the combustion chamber as it is sucked past the seals in the turbocharger or even past the piston rings. Diesels will run on diesel fuel, kerosene, vegetable oil, or engine oil. Once the engine is running on the oil from the crankcase turning off the key only stops fuel from the tank being introduced in the process. The result is a runaway. Unless you can get to it quickly and starve the engine for air the result is what is shown in the video and the engine self destructs.

Going camping

 

Perhaps it is a Citroen

Jesse at justacarguy posted this unidentified vehicle recently. I believe it is most likely a Citroen because of the steering wheel. That one spoke design was a trademark look of the D series Citroens in the 60's and 70's. The pump jockey in a French beret reinforces the idea of it being a very early Citreon.

Obviously, they didn't deem it necessary to extinguish smoking materials.

Good Samaritans

 

Throw back Thursday from 10/31/2013 It is still good advice

Art Deco bicycles

 

Riding the range

 

Blatant insurance fraud

 

Home built

 

Outlaw sprint car

 

Police department budget restrictions

 

Throwback Thursday from 10/3/2013 Paris Starbucks

I am an espresso drinker and enjoy the fact that it is the most abundant coffee drink in Europe. There are times though, that a change of pace calls for a latte or mocha. I am not a huge fan of Starbucks, but they are consistent in their product line- when you place your order you pretty much know what you are going to get.

The routine is fairly consistent as well; place your order, they ask your name and they write it on the cup. Once your drink is ready they call your name. Simple, or so it would seem. The initial exchange was something along these lines:

Cashier: "Your name"?

Me: "Vector"

Cashier: (blank stare)

Me: "Vector, V...E...C...T...O...R"

Cashier: "V...E..." (back to blank stare)

Me: "V...E...C...T...O...R"

It seems as though slowing down the spelling did the trick as she wrote on the cup and thanked me.

When my drink was ready the barista looked at the cup and called out, "Vincetior". I knew it  had to be my drink.  I acknowledged her call and accepted my drink. When I saw the name on the cup I realized that spelling it out had not conveyed the message. I sent myself a mental text: **KEEP IT SMPL**

Fast forward several days to a different Starbucks. The young man working the register started the familiar routine:

Man: "Your name"?

Me: "Z" (remember, I wanted to keep it simple...)

Man: "Z"?!?

Me: "Yes, Z"

Man: "Z, like Zorro"?

Me: "Yes, Z, like Zorro"

Man: "OK, Zorro, merci"

When my drink was ready the barista looked at the cup and without hesitation call out "Zorro"!

So the world knows about Zorro, and there is most likely not going to be more than one Zorro at a time in any given Starbucks. In an effort to save time and reduce confusion, to ahead- tell them you are Zorro.

Two different schools of thought on van extensions

 

Highway race

 

1967 Citroen DS21 Cabriolet

 

Happy 2023