The Car thread


Kavinsky

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The second half of the 50th anniversary of lamborghini via EVO tv video with the guy with the countach was posted about an hour agoHennery Metcalf I believe is his name

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhing_Sknq4

complete with an LP400 and all that.Kind of makes sense that he noted the height difference between the early and the latter cars as he said he cant fit into the very early LP 400 now.and I gotta admit now that I think of it maybe it aint that bad that volkswaggen owns lamborghini as it seems like the owner has the right idea in mind there.plus he couldnt look anymore italian at the end if he tried, looks as about Italian as the old man back in his day lol. and people seemed to really enjoy that anniversary and seeing even the new ones there, and I dont know, it makes me feel like maybe I'm wrong and letting the nostalgia get to me of what lamborghini's used to look like to me.But I just cant shake the feeling I know they could do better with interior and exterior styling, like with the right people behind the pen they could be creating new designs just as great as the old ones inside and outside of the carespecially after seeing the Zonda (also MADE in italy with a german AMG engine, and yet it doesnt look the least bit german to me) and the Koenigsegg maybe its more them working out all of the bugs so to speak styling wise and surviving these trying times as well the 2013 Gallardo does seem to seem more lamboish than the first ones that I remember seeingEingefügtes Bild

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5uFuwMLWlc

its just not quite there yet, maybe some daytona like styling with the interior would help it, along with dumping the 4 wheel drive system permanently and a proper manual or a subisquental gearbox inplace of the the paddles. it just needs something in the middle there, it looks wrong to have it empty. like maybe just a gear selector there to go from D to N and R with the paddles to shift the forward gears once its in D.but still my personal feelings aside, it could be worseEingefügtes BildCould be the Franken vette here that looks like someone stitched a Camaro and a skyline together with the frame of a corvette and threw in the Cheshire cat's grinning teeth here. So maybe in a few years the new NX ones with some new interior styling once the bugs are worked out with them will start to look better to me.And its kinda funny I got to admit the countach is starting to seem dated to me now, which is making me appreciate the Testarossa quite a bit more than I initially did.as it seems to be the same idea with just a different school of thought. especially seeing as the wing on the countach slows it down by 15 mph, it has no rear visibility and a very tight cockpit VS the TR. which seems to be the exact opposite in said fields and seems like outside of the front bumper a much more sleek design.plus you dont really see that many straight white cars anymore, I've been seeing alot more white pearl cars as of late. and after finding out its the fault of the DVD transfer that the TR seems washed out, its been starting to seriously grow on me now.also as a funny note that gallardo does have something in common with the TR, it has the Lamborghini logo stitched into the headrest just like it was on the TR.which is what that square in the middle of the headrest was.
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Just thought I'd do something different here, now from what I heard the Corvette C7 is going to be successful. so I figured just for fun I'd show you what about the design bothers me and how it could be fixed.hopefully some GM designer will see this or come across this and fix it, as there is potental but well the C7 in my book falls under the heading of you dont want to marry someone with an ugly face because your going to be stairing at it for a very LONG time. and well its got an ugly face, and ugly behind and while I'm not a C4 fan, I prefer the much sleeker C5 revision atleast that car is alright looking. So lets beginFirst Off the NoseEingefügtes BildBlackout the grillhttp://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8074&stc=1&d=1371060375and change it so that the grill only starts at the edges right here and here like on all other european cars and is a 100 flat and pulled further in like the actual daytonahttp://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8072&stc=1&d=1371060371not layered and in line with the nose as from certain angles that can look off like it is nowand then put two vents on either side painted body color to deliver air to the vents on the side like on the F type, Lotus V6 and even the new Porsche 911 like on the evo page banner

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT30Qmh4aHY

http://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8073&stc=1&d=1371060372resulting in a much cleaner front end profile atkin to the previous corvette's and also making it as modern looking as the European cars.http://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8075&stc=1&d=1371060379as its got a widemouth fish/chessire cat look for a reason sadly, to feed the air pressure reducing vents on the sideEingefügtes Bildand the side profile looks fine, strangeEingefügtes Bildbut fine, although I would also paint those vents bodycolor or have that as an option like they do with those body panels on the Audi R8 based on the users preferencethe one behind the door hereEingefügtes Bild

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Okay now the Aft, looks like its gonna be a hard job to make that look good from any angle Corvette C6Eingefügtes Bildvs the new one, the C7Eingefügtes BildCould make a subtitle for that alone, WHAT HAPPENED? I feel like Clarkson when he was talking about the Fiat X1/9, oh dear they've done it on this side too.or I could simply say, change it back and leave it at that, as there was nothing wrong with the rear of the C6So how to make this work......paint the carbon fiber to body color, looks like someone had some fun with a hacksaw putting it together the way its rigged up now and with how much of the backend that takes up. Like someone just threw it together. switch to two main tail pipes both square with no chrome like on this rolls at 8:16

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNbCfl-G3n4

As round chrome flashy tail pipes do not suit a car with square tailights well, it looks like there at odds with each other, and the chrome just makes it stick out even more against the bodycolor and black carbon fiber.after all chrome is like putting white accents on a dark car when the light hits it, you have to be really careful about how you use it.vs the camaro given the origin of the tail pipesEingefügtes BildEingefügtes Bild remove the corvette flags and put the license plate further up back to where it should be. it looks stupid being so low to the ground and being placed on the carbon fiber that requires a 60 THOUSAND DOLLAR COAT to gloss coat like that. so vs the bodywork I think a few scratches on the gloss coat anyone can fix vs that it would be a far wiser move to put it further upleave the corvette label on the back, remove the square camaro tail lights, put in the cicular onestheres a rumor going around that every aftermarket company that does corvette stuff is going to be putting out a kit to fix that by the way.and then paint the vent next to it bodycolor, basically put it back to the way it was more or less. it was that way for a reason GM.yeash... it really does look like 5 development teams went at this thing, 4 for the body (roof/hood - the best parts, sides, rear and front) 1 for the interior.gotta wonder what the first facelift is going to look like, hopefully it'll hit in 2015 and fix all this. rather than 4 years latter like it usually does as this thing is UGLY and it'll make people wanna race it so they dont have to look at its ass ugly rear end at the stop light to get away from it, I certainly will!it makes me angry just looking at this thing and thinking of how you could screw up the Corvette like this, and this is basic stuff. They turned a classic looking car that has evolved over the years into a hipster doofus machine.
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i dont know if this is the right thread but i have just purchased my self a new (new to me) car,a 2003 S500 5.0L V8 got it for a birthday present for myself for my 25th.check out some pictures of herEingefügtes BildEingefügtes BildEingefügtes Bildits well specced with Air suspension that feels liek your gliding on a bed of air over any bumps,one of the best V8 engines with over 320BHP im so happy with it..

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I think that goes in one of the other sections honestly, probably in the offtopic sections but I dont mind.Its certainly a nice car and a nice piece, looks like the previous owner took good care of it.I just kinda treat this as a general topic car thread of stuff I come across and express my opinion about it, sort of a half rant/ half fact kinda deal.and how I feel some things should be handled, like it hurts me to see Lamborghini getting passed over by Pagani and Koensiegg as one of the most interesting and unique automobile manufacturers, you know like stuff that inspires the imagination and makes you go wow.you know stuff that makes you feel young and like a kid, not like oh theres another rich bloke driving a tasteless sportscar. Hell seems like porsches been kind of really doing alot in the wow factora 6000 pound SUV that can keep up with a 1000 pound well known and renound lightweight

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRvUH1sJvEQ

from the 1960's
A Porsche 911 GT3 with FOUR wheel steering

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVdme4ISq8Y

that makes the corvette look like a joke when they try to compare to the new 911 and say there better than it, which they had been doing at Briefing about the new car looking to make sales on it awhile back.I saw the actual photos of them comparing the C7 to the new 911 on the corvette forums.That's like Putting Joe Pesci and Al Pachino, young Pachino as Scarface in a yelling contest with Elizabeth Warren, the Cherokee indian senator from up here who is a complete moron. who also completely lied about having that herratage to get that job at Harvard, so they could collect a tax break from the goverment because they have hired an indian. its just so one sided its ridiculous. and I have good reason to hate her, stupid old granny, going after the rich when she should be going after her own corrupt piers and people she knows and are friends with who are causing all the problems to begin with up here. sorry I cant resist any opportunity to hate on that stupid bitch like I'm the original Khan or something, she badly deserves it and any scorn she gets. anyways I regress hence why I only started looking into corvettes about 6 years ago after I learned of the Daytona and its basecar, and seeing as its sort of a smart mans muscle car it started to intrigue me. Muscle cars have always had a facination with me, there pure, baddass and fun. while with porsche I've always had an admiration and appreciation of it as they never go 5 or 6th 10ths into it like GM always does and plays it safe.Porsche is always an innovator, like with the 918 hybrid supercar
even in watcheshttp://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=porsche+design+watch&_rdc=1 radios and everything else, they take risks and yet do it smartly, like the 918 that is a hybrid so it will save on taxed to the hilt by the EU and the Russian gas that is double the cost of what it is in the US, and well dont you think rich people want to save and make money too or have it left over for something else?how do you think they got rich in the first place lol, part of the reason why this hatred of anyone rich is so dumb its ridiculous over here, its basically envy hate and that will lead to nothing good, and warren is one of those people.just putting the wrong people at the controls, rather than throwing the real crooks in jail and telling her to take a hike, cant believe people actually believe her crap up here, it boggles the mind and infuriates the soul to see people like that get something not a million years they should ever have control over. anyways not to mention the boone it will be to hybrid technology in the long term.GM however is usually behind the curve on everything, they made there cars to only last about 80 K miles in 2004 for god sakes, and they usually fall apart at 30K. and I have that quoted in a business daily around here by the way. that was a direct quote FROM them. Not by someone trying to badmouth them, they flat out admitted it. not exactly confidence inspiring, especially after the C7 debacle here. all it seems to be is a restyled to be uglier C6 that has stolen its styling from the europeans without understanding why they do what they do.like with the Grill of the F type, so glad to see that concept car from 2001 get its due, I had the model of it back then and I remember seeing it tested on the TV in germany back then on a family visit, beautiful car.and the aft view where I swear they've only gone to square tail lights to save money.

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  • 1 month later...

Maybe not the correct thread for this, but a few weeks ago I got myself a used Mercedes SLK320 in red. So glad to be driving a true sport car again.

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Maybe not the correct thread for this' date=' but a few weeks ago I got myself a used Mercedes SLK320 in red. So glad to be driving a true sport car again.[/quote']Cool car! It's a great time to get a convertible!
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Cool car! It's a great time to get a convertible!

Yes, I prefer the retractable hard top as with the rag soft type tops only a sharp knife is needed for a POS to get inside. Mine retractable has some rattles so I guess I'll try the felt strips and/or lube suggested on another forum. I'm 61 now, but I'll never be without a decent sport car again.:cool:
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indeed although with the soft tops thing I remember leno doing a video shoot with this guy who had some sort of security system built into the fabric of a soft top. so that if someone cuts into it, it actually sets off the alarm as there cutting through something built into the top that creates a circuit with the system.it was some sort of weird Kevlar dea,l and apparently you could take your car to them and they'd make a new top for it right then and there at the factory, and there was also there was something about it where you could actually get an insurance break from having it installed in the first place in CA.Not unlike that buzzer they had rigged up to the early C3 corvettes, where if the hood was open without the key in the ignition it would set off the car alarm. which judging by one of Jurrasics stories he mentioned on the daytona thread might have actually been abit more useful than anyone thought it would of been back then.and yeah I remember with Jeremy Clarkson, back in the middle 1990's, that when he got a targa topped sports car, a one piece kinda deal where he complained about it rattling to the factory, they themselves actually said to put some vaseline on it and the rubber connecting bits. which embarrassed him to no end considering it was a brand new ferrari F355 GTS.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just gotta have a little fun here and share something I just rigged up about the new Porsche GT3, wonder if I should sent it to porsche and see if they print it lol http://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8291&stc=1&d=1377937885http://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8292&stc=1&d=1377937887here's looking at you ugly!http://www.flickr.com/photos/garyhebding/8522543408/http://www.flickr.com/photos/theacphotography/9571097145/Hmph you know its bad when you ask your British friend to look at a video of the new C7 and he shuts it off after 5 seconds of looking at it, saying its one of the ugliest cars he's ever seen (they notably said they were aiming for a more european look with it and aiming it at 20 year olds) and then the american friend I got says great scott, its got the smiley face syndrome from the MX5!Eingefügtes Bildhell I think the only reason its getting so many good reviews is because they keep passing around the ones with the Optional Z51 Package on it, which includes this miracle bit from the C5 on it

and to emphase how key the shocks are, look at how it made this little thing perform
I just wish they'd stop pimping that damn vette and redesign it already, I keep on seeing news stories about it everywhere and it just shocking to think that there actually going to go through with itand of all the concept cars they've made over the years, they go with that.
they seriously need to do an emergency restyling of the front and the rear of that thing... before they get there ass handed to them and people remember the thing as the Corvette does the Pontiac Aztec I mean I know the C6 was behind the times but damn, way to overdo the plastic surgery like a former hollywood starlet in a desperate last ditch attempt to gain attention again. and yet again, just like the JJ abrams enterprise
and the Testarossa
a fan rendition or modification of the original looks better than the factory onehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/pamomedia/9472947745/why the hell couldnt they do THAT instead? instead of sticking the front end of a 58 on it and melting it onto the sleak body of the new car?http://www.flickr.com/photos/cv_dusty/7353463676/Anyways in good news Ferrari is modifying the 458 for the special hyper version, and look what they modified at the 1:27 mark http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dw8eKVocxM Didn't I say that was the ONE letdown of the 458's styling in the first place with that damn grill? lolEingefügtes BildNOW Mr Clarkson, it LOOKS like a 308, as the 308 actually had a grill on it in the same position.Eingefügtes Bild

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Just thought I'd post this video that showed up today on the drive channel, the F40 vs the F50, and this is one NOT to miss

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MDTcXGsjuo

and this video of a 1966 mustang with Coil over shocks..... in its TRUNK of all places

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=42GTMDhLG2Y

Also I never thought a Marussia style front end, and yes unbelievably russia is making a supercar nowhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marussia_Motors Eingefügtes Bildwould be the way to fix the corvette C7, but apparently it works http://www.miamiviceonline.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8312&stc=1&d=1378357377http://www.flickr.com/photos/pamomedia/9472947745/and I have to admit I'm starting to understand some of the changes to the rear end nowEingefügtes BildEingefügtes Bildas everyone seems to be using old style circular taillightsEingefügtes Bild so I've kind of warmed up to that idea but it really does seem like all the changes they made to the rear end seem to be only to distinguish it from a Nissan Skyline R35 Eingefügtes Bildin which it heavily shares it styling it looks like, right down to the split on the bottom that was raised on the C7, the sidevents infront of the doors, the tail pipes being moved further in and the switch over to square tail lights to differentiate them Personally though I think the above way is the only way you could save that front end though as that really is a deal breakerEingefügtes Bildand then square the tail pipes, black them out and put the split on the bottom to the level it like it was on the skyline and that would fix the car along with ditching the firebird logo but I guess that's going to be have to be left up to callaway corvette this generation around. or do this for that matterEingefügtes Bildthey all look better than what GM has given us for this new C7 vette and I guess that's the thing that bothers me most about that machine, they could have something worthy of the stingray name on there hands it just needs a face and an asslift, hell it seems like it would be Child's play to fix it if you gave to anyone who knew what they were doing, hell I wonder if the new front and rear ends were purely caused by management meddling or mixing two concept cars without talking to the creators first about how to mesh them properly. also the last thing I would change is making the windshield bodycolor, atleast the sidepillars as there seems to be a disconnect there.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Oh Man, the C7 is on the short list when I pay off some bills. I like the TR, but always feel weird leaving it in a parking lot. I 'need' a daily driver sports car.

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I had a Tesla pass me on the highway last week. What a nice looking car.I wasn't sure at the time what is was as I only THOUGHT I saw the word "Tesla" on the trunklid, so I sped up to take a second look and the guy thought I was playing with him and he left me in the dust,I looked down at the speedometer and was doing 165kmh and I thought I better back off. It was only for a short jaunt of about 2-3km in length, but that car was FAST!!!No tailpipes??? - totally electric car!Sexy lines too!

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Oh Man' date=' the C7 is on the short list when I pay off some bills. I like the TR, but always feel weird leaving it in a parking lot. I 'need' a daily driver sports car.[/quote']Well as long as you avoid places where the kids (14 to 21 year olds) like to frequent ( like the mall after school, A CVS parking lot and Macdonalds) along with Minivans, Vans and SUV's.and make a point to park four spots away or inbetween two cars with low roof's in a busy parking lot (as SUV's can still nick you if they open the door too fast, even with enough space to open the door just fine because of the damn roofline) the car should be fine, as long as you dont linger if you park between two cars that are already there.however that is a trade off of the wideback design.I just would never opt for a Corvette C7 in my life, as I think its one of the ugliest designs to come out of GM in the past 15 years (and you dont want to know what pontiac it reminds me of) and even with the front and back straightened out like here
I cant ever learn to love that thing, its not my style, and it doesnt seem like it has a designed direction, like the front and back are off of a completely different car.maybe when the Z06's hits it'll change my tune, but in my book the snake themed Viper with that new head like a snake roofline trumps the C7 in all respects.
plus I've always been a cobra fan, and the viper is a tribute to that beautiful automobile, just need to give it the damn defender fangs already,
its begging for it!granted its not a beaute like the cobra, its a brute, like the Countach just made in modern times.which ironically makes it the opposite of the first gen viper which when paired with a Countach looked like a paring made in heaven.although nothing beats the Cobra and the Daytona together however.
Additonal: Maybe some of the points of this video could help
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I had a Tesla pass me on the highway last week. What a nice looking car.I wasn't sure at the time what is was as I only THOUGHT I saw the word "Tesla" on the trunklid' date=' so I sped up to take a second look and the guy thought I was playing with him and he left me in the dust,I looked down at the speedometer and was doing 165kmh and I thought I better back off. It was only for a short jaunt of about 2-3km in length, but that car was FAST!!!No tailpipes??? - totally electric car!Sexy lines too![/quote']Yeah I've seen them down here too, turns out we have a dealer here in MA in framingham of all places, but the one that gets me is the coupe we have driving around, the testla Shttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._in_Norway.jpgand photos do not do this thing justice of how good this thing looks in black in the daytime.
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Yes I agree!The coupe is very sexy and small but this Saloon car was a 4 door and black and ohhhhhhhhhhhh so sleek! I am not a big fan of four doors being a old school piston head, but the car was amazing!We have a dealer her in Ontario and its in a "SHOPPING MALL" of all places???

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It doesnt look bad in silver either, as they had one at the macdonalds of all places last week although unfortunately I saw this recently on youtube when I was logging out, as when you do that it takes you to the main page automatically where I saw thishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0kjI08n4fgbut as I grow older I learn to expect these problems with new tech and to be a hell of alot more forgiving of it than I used to be. and I already think I know what the cause was reading up on another electric car herehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisker_Karmaprobably some sort of water short in the wiring from probably the same thing, but hey new technology, new problems, and the more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to plug up the drain, so just give it time to be fixed as nothing is perfect.hell a very similar incident of some fan overheating a warhead nearly destroyed the CVN 65 Enterprise in 1969, so its not like this kinda stuff never happens.hence my wait 5 years rule with alot of thing, problem is by that time then they do a new redesign and add some new stuff to the mix, so 4 1/2.Also Chris Harris on Cars is doing a Video on the Testarossa, the Second version of it, the 512TR and it looks like it's heavily Vice inspired, and this comes out this Wednesday on the drive channel on youtube, the preview is at 2:43 hereand the drive channel is located here by the way, and honestly I think its one of the better car channels on youtube as there is something for everyone on ithttp://www.youtube.com/user/drive/videosalso incase you missed it, Ferrari F40 VS F50

and the New Alfa Romeo 4C, minus the concept tail lights alot of people complained about, although the price aint exactly Miata Money.
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Always respected Alpha and Ferrari for what they have done in history of racing and car production. I find that I will never own one in my lifetime realistically (one can always dream) but I think a Tesla ia a bit more viable in the next five years for me?I have been looking for a Daytona for the last five years and let me tell you...there is a lot of junk out there that is waaaaaaaaaaay overpriced! Maybe someday when the right Daytona comes my way I'll buy it???

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Another possible cheap supercar would be the Lamborghini Gallardo once the thing gets replaced in a year or two by a new design, as Lamborghini has made about 13 thousand of them, from 2003 all the way up till now.and with performance jumping like its been doing for the past 10 years, even with all of the new restrictions those cars are fast becoming outdated compaired to the modern ones in the need for speed game of hypercars.which means the cost should be coming down, hell on Pawn Stars they had a 2004 V12 Lamborghini that cost something like 250 K now going for a 140.So just imagine what the Gallardo's, the latter ones will be like in a few years as they only made 5K total of those V12's in comparison.but with the TR the other day I counted atleast one or two serious areas, hills and dips that I drive where the front splinter would atleast have some considerable damage just from trying to use the thing from the look of it.but the weird part is looking up the numbers the TR has a ground clearance of 5.4 inches, which seems to work around here as long as you avoid the serious holes in the ground, funny thing was I thought it had less from the look of it, like 3.4 or somethingalthough according to the specs the Porsche Carrera GT has about 3.4 which does drag on the ground at service stations, and the lift kit only adds an inch too so even then it kinda sucks.so while the TR may be a widebody it seems like it could be very worse, although apparently with the early gallardo's they have the same ground clearance as the Carrera, and it's only in the past 3 years they have increased to 5 inches.With the D though, I dont know, the big problem with the Corvette is that alot of people worked on them by hand and more than a few probably didnt know what they were doing. or ride them hard and put them away wet, like what happened with Sonny Burnett's car, where the only thing that was seriously cared about was the Body and even then.hell about the only one I can think of that might be an easy fix would be the one on ferrarichat that is probably not for sale, and the other option could be to talk to Jurrasic and ask him to ask Carl to find you a good one.but looking on Rowley Corvette's website I did find this just now, but its about 5 months out of date:http://www.rowleycorvette.com/cgi-lo...ars&1177866063

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Just picked up seasons 13 thu 18 of Top Gear on DVD!Oh boy! a great extension of my automotive education and of course with Jeremy's humour!I love this show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I have to admit I havent been really keeping up with top gear as of late, nor Fast and Loud, I dont know I think I need to figure out how to work that DVR thing that records the shows one of these days.as the commericals are just intollerable over here, I feel like I'm watching some ADHD's kids dreams or something and then others are just offensive and stupid, like replacing a car with a giant baby for some car insurance commercial.like ha ha, very funny, now get the F off my screen and get back to my program you pricks.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm starting to understand why manufactures have been moving away from manuals, as back in the 1980's one of the ways the corvette got around the MPG rating system to avoid the gas gussler tax was to use a slower clunkier automatic transmission called a 3 + 2 borg warner with a slow kickdown once you got above a certain amount of revsand that is just what they're doing now with these 6, 7 and 8 speed transmissions vs back in the past where an auto had 3 speeds, american manuals had 4 and euro cars had 5 to get the MPG and EPA ratings they need to survive in this day an age of nonsenseproblem is though that with a 6 speed manual that on some of the cars the gears are so close together that is nearly impossible and dangerously difficult to find the right gear at speed if the spacing isnt set up properly.so the paddle shifter has come along as an alternative to it, which just goes up and down, so you dont need to find the damn gear, which would require you to look down and find it in some of these cases.and it turns out its nothing that new really, its been around since 1998 it seems.

although here you still need the clutch to actuate it without damaging itand to help counter the problem of finding neutral and switching to reverse quickly some of these cars have been adding buttons for an easy change to Neutral and then reverse for city parkingso this isnt really a matter of the transmissions being faster, its a matter of survival, practicality and use friendliness for both the customer and the manufacturerand its funny to think that while it used to be just 3 speeds for a 400 auto, nowadays they have 6 it seemsalso it seems that in some cases with the muscle cars they were not lying about the horsepower rating, such as with the Shelby GT350 of 1965 and 1966 with 305 hp 289 hi po and a 327 L79 motor out of a GM muscle car putting out about roughly 340 hp.its just that as it got closer to 1970 the HP seems to have dropped as they went for bigger motors in favor of probably the same amount of HP roughly for less money and less performance parts to turn a buck.and that mixed in with the transmission info above probably explains why when the 1990's came around suddenly we got our horsepower back with on average better gas mileage. now tuned to run on the 89 to 93/95 octane range, so I guess it was more the transmissions than anything else next to fuel injection being perfected that got us there.although there seems to have been another jump with fuel injection with this new direct injection system they've been talking about, but I dont know too much about that..
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I know what you mean about the gears kavinsky. I would prefer a six speed transmission in my car if I could, but automatics tend to lead the way in most domestic cars here in Canada. You can find a standard for sure but they are not as common lately.Many years ago I was at a car show and talking to my buddy who stored cars in his barn for others. He lived just a few miles from the car show and asked if I wanted tot take a ride with him to grab another Mustang. Not on to say no to a ride in a Mustang, we set off and grabbed up a 1970KR350 Shelby with a 428 four speed and a strange lever in the floor next to the shifter. It was a split transaxle which changed the gear ratio to the rear end, so in actuality it was an 8 speed! Cruising back to the show he showed me how it worked and we wound up the 'Stang a couple of times on the back roads. WOW!!! that big block had a lot of power and the other gear brought the rpms down on highway unbelievably! So the story goes this was a factory option on that car and it is the only one I have ever seen in my life! I tried looking up some info on this but can't find any.So...if you ever see a muscle car Ford with two shifters on the floor, it's a rare option and makes quite a difference on the highway when you drop the gears. Unbelievable top end too!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just found this video here that explains the Lamborghini/Ferrari Feud in far greater detail about what happened than what has been heard of before, and the reason why Lamborghini went off on Ferrari like he did and the cause of it is not what you think if was..

and its as straight from the horses mouth as possible no less, from the famous and widely loved Valentino Balboni, who was just a school boy that hung around lamborghini after seeing a miura parked there until they gave him a job
and that is no joke in of itselfand the funny part about this is that I was just watching a video on a lamborghini Urraco restored by the wheeler dealers and the part when they got to the brake lines was abit more telling that I thought, so that bit above kinda falls into place reallyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv-KNI6iG54as turns out that even if one end of the pipe is metric, while the other isnt, they used whatever they had on hand to make the cars, explaining the incident above perfectly and probably why QC atleast on some of the lamborghini's until the late 1970's sometimes were kinda spotty, given the oil crisis and bankruptcy although sometimes they lasted too:
70 thousand miles on a 1986 countach without it being opened up or seriously worked on, I guess the Mimran ownership that started in 1979 really helped the QC far more than anyone else though...
and kinda makes me wonder if QC goes on and off based on if its an equal numbered owner, not unlike the rule about certain movies in certain franchises. As I remember leno saying that on one of the first Chrysler made Diablo's he had a windshield crack on it when he was in one with Mario Andretti as a pace car for some event in the early 1990'salso additionally as a personal note has anyone else noticed it seems like Lamborghini doesnt make there cars in any more solid colors like they used to? as you never seem to see a solid color like get out of my way red like Ferrari uses anymore it seems outside of maybe straight black.while I remember the Diablo's in Bright Red, Yellow, White and Black with the black SV mark on it complete with a black spoiler on it.and I dont know why but it seems like to me that sometimes these lamborghini's in bright colors like yellow metallic and red just seem like that, maybe because of the sheen of the metalic paint job that they seem to look like they're made of plastic rather than metal like the old ones.like something about the body doesnt inspire confidence in its integrity, on the other hand maybe that could be the way the paint is applied, maybe its too thin as the Koenigseggs still seem like proper cars.
but when I see a lamborghini something looks wrong about the way it looks, even if I like the design
like maybe they overdid the amount of metallic they put in the paint.while I think of it also, I had a bit of an epiphany, as I've gone from liking the 1980's flared countach to not caring for it on part of its blocky front end, and appropriately the 25th aniversary one is growing on me nowhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ghini_0018.JPGand I just wanted to write that down for the countach purists to see how and why that car was made that way,although personally the only thing I'd really take from it is the bumper, and the now arched vents and put that on an earlier car along with painting the mirrors on it body color and black out the vents and that would be the ideal countach in my mind.and on the topic of the countach, it turns out that that big wing that is so famous on this car wasnt created by them, I think it was either made by walter wolf, with his custom lamborghini with the flares, which is where that came from for the LP400's and he made them,then Hall Needham, who just looking up now has passed on last month, may he rest in peace,saw the car and had them put on the black lambo for the film and that caused them, la,borghini to get so many orders for them they just put them on the cars as standard, or it was the car had them as a custom bit and the film got famous and then lambo made themone or the other, I'm not sure which one is right, but wolf was responsible for the flaring of the latter countach'sand finally with the C7 Corvette, ironically when you put a Ferrari F12 next to it, it really shows you how to me, the car should have been styled
along with the FF vs it
as the bodywork on the C7 doesnt look organic like it does on those cars, it looks tacked on and forced, which is why while I dont care for the FF that much, I don't hate it and it doesn't give me an impulse of revulsion while looking at itas the bodywork makes sense, just like on the new Viper too for that matter
as while its not as elegant and smooth as the first gen I can still see why they did it and how it adds to the looksthe C7 however looks like the styling was an afterthough while the rest of the work went into the car and fixing the cheaper looking interior on it
and it shows, like maybe that's where those trademark accountants that make sure a GM cars interior is never that nice looking without forking down a 70 grand plus got in and fiddled with the design,and for god sakes leather is not standard, yet a seat cooling system is from the sound of it? aye? its a sports car and who the hell needs cooled seatsheated seats maybe in the North here, and they are BLOODY usefull but cooled? it seems abit useless with a T topped car really.and the worst part about a car design is if you dont make everything work properly, its easy to pick it apart and see where everything came from.and its to the point with the C7 that I've started thinking of it as the Chevy Aztek 7, a Pontiac Aztek that cheated on a corvette with a Nissan Skyline and they had a baby.or maybe the new camaro and an aztek if they had a baby, but I do kinda like the new camaro, outside of it having no interior visibility whatsoever sadly, atleast as late as maybe a year or two ago, as dont know if they fixed that on the new ZL1 though.and for fun my music showcase this time around:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiDXpwdWl5Y
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