Tailgate up or down? The television show Mythbusters is sometimes interesting, sometimes silly but I caught one yesterday addressing this "what everyone knows" advice. The often repeated premise is that an open pickup truck bed is bad for gas mileage because it catches the air and creates drag, so the easy, zero cost method for increasing mileage by reducing drag is to … [Read more...]
Aging Tires and Old Parts – Mandatory Replacement?
Did you know the Japanese will soon not be able to sell any electronic device if purchased before 2001? The government is eliminating the second hand market by law to force people to buy new products, an obvious and huge catering to Japanese electronic companies. It sounds totally ridiculous but there's more. (Be sure to read the update at the end of this post) The … [Read more...]
Plug In Hybrid Kits
Plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) have been popping up since garage tinkerers got hold of the Toyota Prius and started experimenting. Instead of relying on the gasoline engine and regenerative braking to do all of the recharging, they asked, quite logically I think, why not plug in to the power grid to recharge when the car is parked? Toyota and other manufacturers … [Read more...]
Making Cars Last Forever
Are there any cars that deserve to be restored, repaired and kept on the road forever? Not one specific car you or I may have, I mean a particular model that has some traits, characteristics or history that should have parts available for as long as possible. The original manufacturer would probably not want to do it, they have to sell new cars to their customers, constant … [Read more...]
Ford’s Totally Recyclable Car Project
Recently, news broke about a secret project at Ford Motor Company called the "Piquette Project" where a team was assembled for the purpose of finding a lot of environmentally friendly answers and ideas applicable to automotive manufacturing. One of those ideas was the totally recyclable car. It would be easily disassembled and anything not reusable would be biodegradable. … [Read more...]