Cruise Night - Foxboro

Here are a few pictures from a Cruise Night that took place in Foxboro, MA yesterday.  Nothing much to say but I tried to stay away from the ubiquitous Corvettes and most Mustangs.  Enjoy!

The Beauty of All Wheel Drive

Think back to the turn of this millennium and remember how good things were.  Y2K failed to do anything to the infrastructure, the economy was booming, and the Fast and the Furious franchise wasn't a franchise.  People were living their lives a quarter mile at a time, had jobs, were buying all sorts of extravagance, and 401Ks seemed secure.  Everyone was happy.  That is, everyone except the car enthusiast.

NYIAS 2012 Coverage - Day 2

Killa!

We start with a favorite of mine!

I'm noticing hexagonal Grille treatments on every other car. (It's on the FR-S too)

We are going to see this Mondeo/Fusion dethrone the Camrys, Accords, and Sonatas.

A waste of a cool prop on such a dull car

Spindle grilles are still hexagonal in my book.

Good news! Lexus unveiled the first hybrid ES! Anyway...

Infiniti's luxury electric-vehicle doesn't have a name

It does have six sides and six corners on its grille though.

Mr. Shiro Nakamura, senior vice president and chief creative officer of Nissan-Infiniti. #badass

Bucking the trend, Acura concept rocks a pentagon grille.
*Remember when Lotus announced development of an in-house powerplant for its Esprit?
The Acura NSX Should keep them honest.

2014 Mazda 6 is one fine looking mid-size

Svelte looks and SkyActiv. Will it catch the category sleeping?

More than four decades old, the 1971 Porsche 917 LH Martini
  is probably the most incredible car at the show!

Uh oh. What if the only Lincoln that was interesting at the show is already 70 years old?

Taking the fight to BMW, everything seems to be going right for Cadillac and GM

The Nurburgring-tuned chassis is supposed to create the best handling Cadillac sedan ever.
Unfortunately, it also gave the ATS the most cramped Cadillac interior ever.

This KIA GT concept has got them Lamborghini Aventador-J carbon fiber blades!

Close-up

So many flavors!

I love me some T-Rex

And now we jump a couple hundreds of thousands of dollars

Proper. We the 1%, baby.

Mulsanne looks terrific in person

A San Francisco Treat (ding ding)

"I never thought 35 mph could be so much fun!"  Those were the words that spilled out of my mouth as I drove with the midday sun above me, a wall of rock to my right, and a perilous drop to the Pacific Ocean on my left.  Like a great white shark prowling a nudist beach, this was sheer excitement mixed with a bit of terror and topped off with acts of self-gratification preservation.  This was California's highway 1.

The Archives

"Good things come in small packages"

 Standing at a less than menacing five feet, seven inches in height has resulted in listening to the aforementioned phrase on numerous occasions.  It was a pretty annoying thing to hear as a high school kid who wanted to play football instead of the trumpet.  However as time progressed and adulthood set in, there was a realization that being well below six feet tall has advantages like fitting comfortably into low roofed sports cars as well as better power to weight ratios on motorcycles.

With an ability uncommon for their small stature, there are some in the automotive world that embrace this kind of mighty midget sentiment.  Those that quickly spring to mind are the original Mini Cooper, racer Perry McCarthy, and the Brawn GP team of 2009.  FPH's roadtrip through central New York discovered another one of these anomalies that is more breathtaking than its diminutive size would lead you to believe.  This amazing place is the International Motor Racing Research Center located in Watkins Glen.

Now and Then

The other day Danny Choy posted about the Ferrari California from both past and present.  It got me thinking about what cars have endured over time or have spiritual successors in the market place now.  This inevitably led to a lot of Googling and drooling.  Sit back and enjoy!

Automotive Coelacanths

Human beings have been on this planet for a very small part of its existence.  As a result, there are still millions if not billions of species that have come and gone without man having ever seen it living.  Once in awhile, nature throws a curveball and creatures who have no right to still exist are found in the oddest places.  Like a the lobe-finned coelacanth fish that was found in a fisherman's net in 1938, there are still automotive technologies out there that are being served up way past their due date.

Rotary Engines

Rotary, or Wankel, engines have been around for less than a hundred years but have garnered the attention of almost every major manufacturer.  Used in many types of cars, motorcycles, boats, and even airplanes, the incredibly smooth power unit built a reputation for its compact size, simplicity of design, few moving parts, and high power to size ratio.  Unfortunately, the Wankel never won any popularity contests in the US, a country that prides itself on copious amounts of torque and happens to be the biggest consumer of the car until recent years.  However, Mazda, a company that never made anything that resembles a muscle car, stuck with the Rotary first in its Cosmos then RX series of sports cars.  It also won the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

Like anything that doesn't have a large gene pool to choose from, the Wankel is a shadow of its former self.  With CAFE laws constantly increasing the efficiency of motors, there's no place for this relic which uses oil as a seal.  Hopefully, Mazda can evolve the design and show everyone the second Loch Ness monster.

Four-Wheel Steering


Back in the 90s, money was flowing, turbos were spooling, and the Japanese R&D machine was churning out cars with four-wheel steering.  Nissan had its 300ZX twin turbo.  Mitsubishi countered with its 3000GT VR4.  And Honda said,"Sure, why not" with its Prelude.  In theory, these systems were glorious inventions.  Low speed maneuverability and high speed handling were both enhanced with the penalty of a little added weight for the system.  However, these steering systems were not consistently used by all manufacturers.  Additionally, some systems only aided in low speed maneuvers while others catered to high speed driving.  These inconsistencies would leave drivers wondering how they ended up rolling down a mountainside instead of sticking to the apex as if it were a tar pit.  Some manufacturers like BMW and Nissan still offer this technology as an option but it will most likely end up on the endangered species list.

Continuously Variable Transmissions


Invented by Leonardo da Vinci in the 1400s, patented by Mercedes Benz in the 1800s, driven by the apathetic in the 2000s.  At inception, the continuously variable transmission seemed to be the perfect transmission for the foreseeable, miserly, fuel starved future.  Its variable gear ratios allow a motor to work at its optimum rpm for max torque and therefore max mpg.  It's just too bad that an engine operating in one part of the rpm range sounds AWFUL!  Oh yeah, it wasn't mainstream until the 90s and everyone is accustomed to the feeling of normal cogs.  Yet, Nissan has kept with this technology and it would seem that CAFE laws and the need for ever increasing fuel efficiency are helping this rare transmission survive.  It may end up being the cockroach of the automotive world.  It's not the sexiest thing but may outlive us all.

Rear Engines

Nothing really needs to be said about this.  Porsche has been the most stubborn car company and kept the motor aft of the rear axle since primordial times.  That being said, the 911 has been around for over 50 years and has won races that whole time.  Yes, it's bizarre and doesn't make sense but the same can be said about the platypus and it's still around.

Live Rear Axles

When thinking of live rear axles, two really sweet rides come to mind.  No, one of them is not a Conestoga wagon.  In no particular order, they are the Roman chariot and the Ford Mustang.  While the chariot helped the all conquering military defeat barbarian hordes all over Europe, the live rear axled Mustang is proving a worthy adversary for the best European muscle including the M3.  Tuned to perfection over the course of a few millennium, the solid axle can duel at the dragstrip as well as the road course barring any alligator-like ripples in the pavement.