If
you are reading this, then you are interested in cars in one way or
another.The same goes for the man
Daniel O’Grady, the Australian living in Japan.Daniel always had an interest in classic cars when he lived in Australia,
but after he moved to Japan, his love for cars translated into classic Japanese
cars.This led to his YouTube Channel: WasabiCars.
There
is nothing like a great American road trip.Ever since Ford made the automobile mainstream with the Model T, people have been driving to and from wherever his or her heart pleases.Sometimes these excursions are for fun, and
some have a purpose.They all have one
thing in common though: lots of fuel is used.Now what if your runs off of Tweets, FaceBook posts, and Instagram
follows?This is MindDrive’s Project Ghia.
MindDrive is based in Kansas City.It is an “auto-shop-type” based program designed
to help the at-risk youth of the urban environment learn a trade, and to more
or less keep them out of trouble.Their
stated mission is “to inspire students to learn,
expand their vision of the future, and to have a positive impact on urban
workforce development.”
What MindDrive is doing is very beneficial for the youth
of today’s society, but they are not learning how to do oil changes in a 1993
Ford Escort.Project
Ghia involves taking an old 1967 beat up Volkswagen KharmannGhia, and not only restoring it, but converting it to an
electric car that is powered by social media.
Basically,
the plan is for the students to drive the car from Kansas City to Washington,
DC to promote the program MindDrive.The
car is only given wattage to move if people “like” them on Facebook, comment on
FaceBook, Tweet them, tag them, follow them, and so on.
To
have a bunch of at-risk teens build a car after school is one thing, but to
have them convert an old chunk of steel into an electric car that runs off of “social
fuel” is another.Help fuel them on their
journey by following them, Tweeting them, and so on!Their information is below!
I remember when I first heard that the new Dodges would be getting eight speed automatic transmissions, I took a step back.Finally!Someone is moving past the archaic five speed autos (or four speed with overdrive depending on how you look at it).It has just been a recent move for the some cars in the Big Three to be getting a six speed.Now Chrysler has an eight speed?
Ford and GM is a little behind in transmission fuel efficiency.Ford’s EcoBoost engine is amazing, but those gears are everything.Ford and GM have announced that they will be working on a nine speed and ten speed transmission, together.
"Engineering teams from GM and Ford have already started initial design work on these new transmissions," said Jim Lanzon, GM vice president of global transmission engineering in a statement. "We expect these new transmissions to raise the standard of technology, performance and quality for our customers while helping drivefuel economy improvementsinto both companies' future product portfolios."
Ford and GM have done this before in the past though.The Ford 6F and the GM 6T70 transmissions have been used in many cross brand vehicles including the Ford Fusion and Chevy Cruze.All in all, it does not seem like a terrible idea.I am a diehard Ford fan, but if everyone can win at fuel economy, perhaps it is not that bad.After all, Ford still has the EcoBoost on its side!
Apparently the nine speed transmission will be used on front wheel drive cars, and the ten speed will be used on real wheel drive cars.This is all fine and dandy, but there is one thing that I am unsure about…Will the same transmission be used in next generation Mustangs and Camaros?These cars are the center of most Ford vs. Chevy debates.Will it be the smartest idea to put the same transmission in both pony cars?I hope not, but only time will tell.
So I leave it to you: is this the best of both worlds, or sacrilege?
Well this is something different.We have a bus.What’s so special about a bus?This bus is a unique creation by retired Estella
Pyfrom.So a retired woman purchased
a bus; what’s the big deal?Well, how
are you reading this: your phone, your computer, or a tablet, right?This is something many people, especially
children, do not have access to.A simple
desktop computer is something that a lot of us take for granted.
Estella Pyfrom realized this and with her retirement money
spent an initial $450,000 on “Miss
Estella’s Brilliant Bus”.The bus
was fitted with 17 computers loaded with educational software.The bus tours around the Palm Beach area in
Florida, allowing children without access to a computer get their hands on one.
Two things that I need to get out of the way: one is that
these are games that I have played.I
won’t judge games that I have not played for better or worse, as that’s not
fair.Second, these games are DRIVING
games, and not games that are specifically RACING games.So for all of you Gran Turismo fans wondering
why your games are not listed, please see the two reasons above.The following games are in no particular
order:
Come on, it’s in the name!I remember playing this game as a little kid.You are the wheelman, the mysterious
undercover cop trying to chase down the evil Jericho.That first level in the parking garage was a
pain in the you-know-what!I just hated
hearing “hey man, watch the paint”, and “OK, Man! OK! OK! OK!”These were good times.Aside from that, this game was something that
I had never played before at the time.It
was the first real open world driving game for me.Sure it had limitations, and the cars could
be destroyed by just pushing another car, but it was fun!
Driver 2 was fun to get out of cars, and Driv3r was fun, yet
too much like Grand Theft auto, but when I first saw that AMAZING live action trailer
for Driver San Francisco based off of that first level of the first game, I was
hooked. This leads me to…
It’s simple: girls like diamonds, and guys like chrome.Any guy who loves his car, bike or truck,
will usually try to get a tasteful amount of chrome accents on it when the
budget allows.What one would commonly
see is wheels, exhaust, interior trim, engine dress-up pieces, and the
like.But what about having a chrome
car?Well unless you own an oil empire
in Saudi Arabia, you may have to settle for chrome wrap.
Some of you may be asking, “What is a wrap?”For those who are new to this, I’ll explain.It’s pretty much what it sounds.A large sheet (or precut pieces of vinyl) is
placed over a car.It’s as simple as
that.Doing this will give the car a completely
new look such as changing the car’s color, adding graphics, or both.Take a look at this black
Mustang being turned blue!