Grand Blog Auto
See the Winner of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2023
The annual Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este is a prestigious competition for classic and vintage cars, held every May in Italy. The 2023 event was won by an American-owned car! The Best of the Best award went to the 1935 Duesenberg SJ Speedster shown above. The 22-foot-long custom-made Duesenberg was outfitted for the Maharaja of Indore in India. Decades later, it came into the possession of car collector General William Lyon, whose family still has his fleet of rare cars. This car has now become a finalist in the Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award, a competition between the winners of eight concours events. The Duesenberg is the first American winner since the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este was reorganized in 2002. Get a better look at this magnificent vehicle at New Atlas, and check out their gallery of 74 pictures from the event. -via Nag on the Lake
Who Said Electric Cars Can't Go Dangerously Fast?
When electric cars first became available, they were described as useful for running errands around town, but not for road trips. Later models proved that wrong, but many car enthusiasts doubted that electrics would ever be used for hauling (and now they are) or racing. Then a small auto company in Croatia, Rimac Automobili, introduced the electricRimac Nevera hypercar.Automann-TV takes the 1913 horsepower Rimac Nevera out on the Autobahn to check out its acceleration potential, specifically how fast it can go from 100 kpm to 200 kpm (62 mph to 124 mph). Can its four electric motors and 120 kilowatt battery keep up? You betcha, and it only takes three seconds to go from 100 to 200. Somehow, I get the feeling that this supercar is not so much about saving the environment (and how could it at those speeds), but more about proving that electric cars can and do perform as well as gas guzzlers on the racetrack. This may sway some who feel internal combustion engines should be kept around for specialty uses. Anything is possible! -via Born in Space
Ford Relents; Restores AM Radio
After the news got out that Ford was planning to remove AM radio from their vehicles, they got an earful from both consumers and politicians. Congress introduced the AM For Every Vehicle Act requiring car manufacturers to include AM as standard equipment, citing its use in emergency communications. While the FCC and the radio industry is all for the act, the auto industry believes it is shortsighted.Ford had dropped AM from their 2023 Mustang Mach-e and F-150 Lightning electric pickups, and had planned to drop AM from all 2024 models. But now they have reversed that decision.
Testing America's Largest Pickup Truck on City Streets
The US has a thing for big trucks. America moves its cargo around in big trucks, while the rest of the world depends more on trains. Piloting a large vehicle makes a man feel bigger, stronger, and more masculine. America also has a thing about hard work, so a big work truck is a status symbol, even if you just use it to tool around town. And they've been getting bigger every year. Driving around in a big truck makes you feel invincible, like you're in a military tank, but it also shows everyone that you can afford a ridiculous amount of money for a truck that never gets dirty. This brings us to the extreme video here. The biggest consumer pickup truck you can buy in America is the International CXT. CXT somehow stands for Commercial Extreme Truck. Nolan Sykes and Justin Freeman of Donut Media show us the various International XT trucks, and then take the CXT out for a spin in Atlanta. Let's see how well it works for them. There's a one-minute skippable ad at :36 that many commenters said was the best part of the video.
AM Radio is Disappearing from New Cars
Will you miss listening to AM radio in your car? If you are purchasing a new electric vehicle, it's probably already gone. Ford, VW, BMW, Mazda, Volvo, Tesla, Polestar, and Rivian have already removed AM radio from their new electric vehicles, because the electric motors can interfere with the radio signal. Ford is planning to eliminate AM from all their new vehicles. Auto manufacturers say that most AM programming can be accessed through the internet, but will current users do that? Even today, 82 million people listen to AM radio at least once a month, usually in their car. For most folks, AM radio conjures up thoughts of sports broadcasts and political talk. But what makes AM radio really unique is that so many stations still offer local programming: news, local government talk, weather, agricultural reports, community events, and emergency alerts. The US has 4,185 AM radio stations, including more than 700 broadcasting in languages other than English, which is important for those whose first language is not English. These small stations that focus on local content depend on advertising, and if AM isn't available in cars, they are in danger of extinction. Read about those stations and what the lack on AM in cars will mean to them.The discussion at Metafilter is a trip through the past, as commenters reminisce about listening to faraway baseball games, Wolfman Jack broadcasting from Mexico, and talk radio on lonely late-night drives. (Image credit: Riberto Frederico)
Would You Ride a Beer-Powered Motorcycle?
Since 1964, Ky “Rocketman” Michaelson has produced the strangest, wildest, and most outrageously powered vehicles on Earth, including drag racing machines, funny cars, custom choppers, and jet-powered go-karts.Although he doesn’t drink alcohol, Michaelson has an appreciation for the value of beer. You should never drink and ride a motorcycle, but it’s perfectly reasonable to use beer as a fuel. The Rocketman’s latest motorcycle contains a 14-gallon beer keg. There’s a heating coil inside. When the coil boils the beer, the beer vapor squirts out the back, propelling the motorcycle forward. It’s like a modern version of Heron’s steam engine.-via Dave Barry
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