Cop arrests cop, gets harrased

A Miami Police officer, was late for an off-duty job. While in full uniform, he ran his marked police cruiser up to 120 miles per hour on a city freeway trying to make it to work. Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Watts was one of the cars he blew past.

Uncertain of who was in the speeding car, Watts spent seven minutes with her blues-and-twos running, trying to catch the speeding Lopez. Once she pulled him over, Watts confiscated Lopez's gun and cuffed him. Lopez eventually lost his job.

after the incident, Watts alleges that she started receiving threatening and prank phone calls (some were even to order pizza), along with other forms of harassment including police cars and unmarked vehicles idling outside her house. According to MSN News, a public records request with the Sunshine State's Department of Motor Vehicles revealed that her driver's license information had been accessed by 88 different officers in 25 different agencies over 200 times in just a three-month span.

found on http://www.autoblog.com/2014/02/12/officer-who-issued-120-mph-ticket-suing-police-harassment/  and demonstrates that of the few police who do their jobs with intergrity, they can't get justice from the cops either. I suspect she's been harrased for not giving him a pass for being an idiot in uniform. They expect that from everyone else in uniform. So astoundingly corrupt.

If you read past hte link you'll see she's got a damn good case and is sueing every damn department that has run her info, in violation of a law that gives police secrecy of their residence, furthermore, for no cause to run her info. I'm shocked nothing in the news from her department head, division officer, etc decrying the outrageous behavior of everyone that has searched the database for her info, and demanded their resignation for being unprofessional, etc

Newsflash... Sinkhole inside the Corvette Museum sucks down 8 cars, (no joke, it's not April fools day)

and not every useful as they were using it to look at the walls of the hole is this quad copter footage

above is the security camera footage... now this is a very cool release to all us concerned fans... found on http://blog.powerblocktv.com/sinkhole-swallows-8-cars-at-national-corvette-museum/ 

Above, what it had looked like, below: obvious

images from http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/02/12/breaking-news-eight-cars-damaged-by-sinkhole-at-the-national-corvette-museum/

photo by Jennifer Wilburn

Above image and below video from http://www.autoblog.com/2014/02/12/corvette-museum-evacuates-at-risk-cars-after-sinkhole/#continued

1962 Black Corvette
1984 PPG Pace Car
1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette
 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette
2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette
 2009 White 1.5 Millionth Corvette
1993 ZR-1 Spyder on loan from General Motors
2009 ZR1 “Blue Devil” on loan from General Motors

It's a sad morning for the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. A sinkhole opened under the dome this morning and swallowed eight cars on display. "As it started happening, it triggered an alarm, so the security company called an employee," Museum Executive Director Wendell Strode said. The alarm, which was triggered at 5:38 a.m., also resulted in a call to the fire department. "It's about 20 feet deep. As best as I can see it is about as big as the pedestal area where we had the cars displayed," Strode said.

The dome is part of the original museum for which construction began in 1992 and was complete in 1994. Strode said nothing can be done about the cars until a structural engineer arrives and evaluates the situation. "We also have called some karst people from Western Kentucky University to come out and see what is going on. This is the first incidence of a sinkhole on the property", he said. Currently, plans are for the museum to be open, but the dome room will be closed.

Entrance Live Webcam:
http://www.corvettemuseum.org/webcam/camera4.shtml

For more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/12/corvette-museum-sinkhole/5417171/

The devil wants his Corvettes back, says a commenter on Bang shift... now that is clever!

Rafik was featured on page 7 of the Jan 6 issue of Autoweek! Congrats!

From Autoweek Magazine

central Park horse carriages the target of the New York City mayors efforts

The freshly sworn-in Bill de Blasio says the practice is cruel to the animals and needs to go, announcing his plan to replace the handsome cabs with "antique-style" electric cars, though no specifics were given on just what those cars will be. The development comes as welcome news to animal rights activists who have long campaigned against the horse-drawn carriages.

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/01/02/nyc-mayor-de-blasio-ban-central-park-horse-carriages/

TIME has a "Dealer of the Year" award, the winner and finalists for 2013

image from https://www.timedealeroftheyear.com/

Jeff Teague of Teague Ford Lincoln in El Dorado, Ark. has been selected as the 2014 TIME Dealer of the Year. Here's why: http://allydealerheroes.com/winners/detail/337

Teague was selected from an elite group of 56 U.S. dealers who were recognized at the 97th annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention and Exposition in New Orleans, La.

"This award recognizes the best of the nation's dealers, not only for their business successes, but for their extraordinary commitment in giving back to their local communities," said Tim Russi.

The three regional finalists for the 2014 TIME Dealer of the Year award are Greg Kaminsky of Toyota of El Cajon in El Cajon, Calif. (I'm pretty impressed with my local (15 minutes away) nominee, he earned the BBB award for workplace ethics (only dealership in San Diego to do so) and has his dealership hosts blood drives)

 David Luther of Luther Westside Volkswagen in St. Louis Park, Minn.(The Luther family has generously supported many organizations, including Mn Adult & Teen Challenge (addiction recovery), N.C. Little Memorial Hospice, Gilda's Club, Metro Hope Ministries (recovery center), Angel Foundation (aiding cancer patients), Make-A-Wish, Salvation Army, American Cancer Society, American Red Cross, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and World Vision.)

 and Marisa Shockley of Shockley Honda in Frederick, Md. ( by hosting numerous events at her dealership, making financial contributions and serving in leadership roles for a host of charities and philanthropic groups. Examples of successful on-site events at the dealership include: Bras for a Cause which raised $16,000 for breast cancer research; on-site pet adoptions; free rabies and micro-chip clinics; free ASL classes; Toys for Tots drop-off; child safety seat inspection days; winter coat drive; and a holiday bazaar to showcase the works of local craftspeople.)

GMC's bank busted for racism, what was GMAC now has a new name, and was found guilty of ripping off minorities

In an investigation of lending practices in the year after April 2011, the government agencies determined that Ally Financial and Ally Bank charged roughly 235,000 Asian/Pacific Islander, Black and Hispanic borrowers higher interest rates than their credit profiles warranted and higher rates than whites were charged in equivalent situations. The result was that those borrowers paid $200 to $300 more in total interest for the loan.

Ally Financial has agreed to pay a $98-million fine to settle an investigation into unfair lending practices overseen by the Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/12/27/ally-pay-98m-settle-ethnicity-based-discriminatory-lending/

The C.F.P.B. found that Ally “had not made sufficient efforts to ensure that it was complying with fair lending laws in its pricing of indirect auto loans,” Richard Cordray, the director of the C.F.P.B.


Those payments came in the form of “dealer markups,” or the percent that car dealerships can charge to arrange loans through banks like Ally.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/12/20/ally-in-98-million-settlement-on-bias-in-auto-loans/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1

Ally Financial Inc. was founded in 1919 as the General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC), a provider of financing to automotive customers.  http://www.ally.com/about/company-structure/history/

GMAC sold a majority stake to Cerebrus in 2006, the investment group that bought Chrysler, and in 2009 they changed the name to Ally Bank, then in 2010 Ally Financial

The European Court of Justice ruled that car insurance could not be based on gender. Now men pay less, women pay more

Young women drivers buying car insurance and any man considering retirement will get a worse deal from the end of next year, following a ruling prohibiting the use of gender in insurance underwriting.

Insurers have until now charged young men significantly more to reflect the fact they are more likely to have serious accidents: a male driver under 21 is twice as likely to have an accident than a woman under 21. But the insurance industry will now have to rip up its current pricing model, and young men under the age of 25 are now likely to see premiums decrease by an average of 10%, and in some cases 25%

At the same time, car insurance premiums for women under the age of 25 are expected to rise by an average of 25% by the end of 2012, but by up to 60% for the youngest drivers, which could translate into an extra £500-£1,000 a year for some.

But Martin Lewis, creator of MoneySavingExpert.com, believes banning the use of gender for car insurance is sensible: "With car insurance I think there is some logic to this ban – gender price differences are based on behaviour. Why should one man pay more because others behaved badly? Would we allow the same to happen based on racial differences?

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/mar/01/ecj-gender-ruling-insurance-costs

Learned about it from http://www.drivelikeawoman.com/index.php/news/entry/new_ruling_says_equality_for_women_in_car_insurance/ 

Honda Fit and Chevy Spark... friends don't let friends drive accordians

found in seperate posts on http://www.autoblog.com/

Self made sales commercial to sell his old Maxima results in Nissan buying the car from him!

Luke Akers wanted to sell his 1996 Nissan Maxima GLE - yes, the one seen above that needs a ratchet strap to keep the front end from bursting with joy - the Florida filmmaker turned on his cameras and yelled "Quiet on set!" The result is a one-minute videographic homage to mankind's monuments, narrated with all the intensity of a BBC documentary to sell a 17-year-old sports sedan that comes "fully loaded with an engine, wheels, tires and an automatic transmission."

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/12/19/nissan-buys-used-maxima-from-luke-ayers-crazy-ad/

he also did a print campaign:

The time has come for me to sell my beloved 1996 Maxima, a faithful car that now has to go. Of course, I can’t send it off without a proper goodbye. So in my spare time I decided to make this little ditty. Because marketing.

Shot within two weekends on a Canon 60D and Nikkor and Sigma lenses.

Budget: $100.00

Currently accruing 1,000 views/day on Youtube.

Music: -Richter: Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons – Summer 3 -Vivaldi, The Four Seasons – Summer 3

Archival Footage: -First Pan-Tilt of the Eiffel Tower circa. 1900 -The Golden Gate Bridge

From the original Craigslist Ad:

Luxurious 1996 Maxima GLE land-ship-yacht There is luxury in a Bentley, speed in a Ferrari, comfort in Bugatti.

For everything else, there’s this 1996 Nissan Maxima; aged 17 years.

Appropriately named, never before in history has a car had the words “time-tested” engraved into its lone spirit. Being offered up for sale I present to you a car that will make magic happen. It not only brings more admiring stares than any other car I have driven it also has seatbelts! Amazing!

This pavement-yacht has a ride as smooth as a Pegasus’ backside. Its such a massive and impressive land-yacht it requires the use of steering fluid that has been designed to leak out from underneath the car when it has been exhausted from the majestic work that it has done, released into the wild when the great Maxima when it has decided its time has come. This Maxima no longer needs to let the odometer tell it how far it has gone – it has chosen a path of greatness and valor and refuses to let silly numbers determine its life!

Only moments after sitting it its comfort of properly weathered leather you will hear the squeals of glee that the powerful V6 motors makes as it groans to life. You are at the command of a great ship, a warrior land-ship-yacht with scars to prove that it has indeed been to war and back! This steed of sorts will carry you from here and only by its grace will it allow you to get to where you are going at the mercy of its majesty!

Few have ridden its glorious wheels, and few more may see its greatness.

The orange Unifying Grasp and Lift safetY (aslo known as U.G.L.Y.) restrains the front hood to the maxima degree!

Email Me!

Best Offer!

*No warranty is expressed or implied the vehicle will be sold AS-IS.
*No it is not “magic”

above text and prints from http://ikonikfilms.com/portfolio/luxury-defined-the-1996-maxima-gle-sport-sedan/

It's time to rethink the definition of foreign car maker

Honda exports more cars from the US than it imports to the US. Huh.

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/01/29/honda-first-japanese-carmaker-net-exporter-from-us/

the first car designed by Ferdinand Porsche was unearthed from hiding and bought up by Porsche

unrestored, and above - without the seats. No doubt far less time resistant than the frame and chassis. Below, a mock up of the original seats from the patent design paper

above: the electric motor

beautiful gauges.. very scientific looking

Thanks to Steve, and photos just some of the gallery at http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/first-porsche-uncovered-112-years-hiding-160424431.html

stolen Mustangs recovered

a fisherman reported that he had struck a submerged object with his boat. When the tide went out a 2006 Ford Mustang, valued at $80,000, was spotted in the water. A search and rescue team was called and a tow truck used to retrieve the Mustang.

http://www.thegentlemanracer.com/2011/10/stolen-mustang-found-in-lake.html

Stolen mustang stats

For over 25 years, the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) has published Hot Wheels, an annual report of America's 10 most stolen vehicles.

NICB reviewed Mustang theft data from 1964-2011 and identified 611,093 theft records. Overall, from 1981 through 2011, a total of 411,155 Mustangs were reported stolen. The most thefts occurred in 1981 (20,708) and the fewest in 2011 (4,347).

Although data for all years is available, confidence in pre-1981 records is low due to the inconsistency in reporting protocols and vehicle identification number (VIN) systems in use prior to 1981.

The single year with the most U.S. sales was 1966 with 549,436.
2009 logged the fewest Mustang sales reaching only 66,623 units.

 http://www.thegentlemanracer.com/2012/02/look-at-thefts-of-american-automotive.html

In 1982, a Mustang owned by a young Marine stationed at Cherry Point, North Carolina, was stolen. This was no ordinary Mustang; it was a 1965 Shelby GT-350.

The Marine soon deployed and never saw that car again-until 2007 when an NICB agent contacted him with news that his Mustang was located in Maryland. In the intervening years since it was stolen, the Mustang's true identity-its VIN-had been painstakingly altered and matched with a fraudulent title. It was then sold to an unsuspecting buyer who eventually put a new $12,000 Shelby engine in it.

The duped owner was contacted in 2007 by the Maryland State Police and an NICB special agent asking to inspect his Shelby. As you can imagine, he was absolutely dazed when they informed him that his prized possession was, in fact, stolen property.

 That young Marine from 1982-now a professional airline pilot-was overjoyed when he was notified that his dream car had been recovered and was in excellent condition. And, in a classy gesture of goodwill-he was not legally required to do so-the pilot gave the former owner a check for $12,000 for the engine.

A whole lot of Mopars were sold off as some collector or focused junk yard clears out the inventory

Too late, short notice all around. The word went out on the 17th, the sale was the 18th. You'd think people would want to spread the word with free publicity on every available media outlet first

photos from http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140117/carnews01/140119827 via https://www.facebook.com/groups/dcsboc/ but the Facebook for the place is https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peanuts-Classic-CARS-Trucks-and-Salveg-New-and-OLD/217581381721698

simple high tech, with no moving parts, sorta

Feb 2014 Fast Company magazine

30% lighter, 3 to 4 times stonger, made of Cocnut shells, agave, and pineapple.. a new material for bumpers invented by Sao Paulo State University

Found in Fast Company magazine, Feb 2014 issue

London is trying to improve parking... with sensors that input to a system drivers can access to locate empty parking spots, thereby spending less time looking for one

This week, the City of Westminster, Boroughs in Manchester and Birmingham also, London’s local councils, will start embedding the first 0f 3,000 sensors into the streets. They will be in the ground by the end of March, making London the world’s first major city to adopt the long-heralded “smart parking” revolution.

motorists spend an average of 15 minutes searching for a space in Westminster—which with Parliament, the main shopping district, and dozens of tourist sites, has a legitimate claim to be the heart of London.

 If drivers know where the empty spaces are via a smartphone app, they won’t have to cruise the streets looking for one. Each sensor in the ground detects when a car is parked on the street above it.

The list of benefits is long: Apart from reducing traffic, fuel consumption, and emissions from cars, it boosts the local economy as people spend more time in shops, restaurants and offices rather than on the street.

info from http://qz.com/166182/how-london-plans-to-eliminate-the-search-for-a-parking-spot/#/h/40232,3/

thinking outside the box, Amsterdam pays gets alcoholics to clean streets and collect litter in trade for beer

I see a whole new way to clean up urban and freeway trash right here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25548061

Dear Santa, Forget my previous list... I GOTTA have one of these!

Just think Segway of self powered skateboards. No pushing, pumping, or pedaling. Lean forward, it's moving forward. Lean back, and regenerative braking kicks in, slows you and if you stay leaned back, you will go back in the other direction

Onewheel :: The Self-balancing electric skateboard from Onewheel HQ on Vimeo.

http://hight3ch.com/the-one-wheel-skateboard/  says
This personal transporter should be part of our “TOP 5 Personal Transporters” list. Start-up company Future Motion is pushing for a new kind of skateboard on Kickstarter. Onewheel has the most advanced motion sensing, hub motor and battery technology available–you just won’t see it. What you’ll experience is a board that feels magical whether for fun, waiting for the surf to come up, or getting around town.

Their homepage is at http://rideonewheel.com/

They have a Kickstarter campaign to secure funding to build at least 100 units. Pledges get interesting at the US$1,299 mark, for which Future Motion is offering the first 20 Onewheels
 The Kickstarter page is over at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/4422853/onewheel-the-self-balancing-electric-skateboard  and consider that the Kickstarter cost of buying one is about 30% off the retail, maybe more, because like the Ford GT 40, these aren't going to sit in stores at MSRP, they are going to get run up for profit if current social trends have anything to do with it, bought and flipped for profit like so many gotta have it things. If they only would trade for a kidney or first born!

Gizmag covers it at http://www.gizmag.com/onewheel-electric-skateboard-ces/30345/

Yes, it's cool stuff like this that makes me wish I cold get to CES 

2 year experiment concludes, thieves steal where they aren't being watched... even by a poster of eyes.

In a two year experiment on the university campus, the academics managed to reduce thefts from the racks with the eye pictures, combined with a short anti-theft message, by 62%. And there was also a noticeable difference in places without the signs, where bike theft went up by 63%, suggesting that the crime had been displaced to other locations, rather than eliminated.

For the first year the team monitored the level of bike theft at all racks across campus for a control figure. Then they placed the signs in three locations, leaving the rest of the racks without signs. They then monitored the whole lot again for a year to see what the impact on the level of crime would be.

Full story at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/item/watching-eyes-reduce-bike-theft
image from, and story learned from http://www.rad-spannerei.de/blog/2013/10/17/poster-mit-aufmerksamen-augen-reduziert-fahrraddiebstahl-um-die-haelfte/

A study on the behavior of drivers overtaking bicyclists... wow. Nothing about the cyclist matters, drivers suck

In a recently published study by the British Universities "University of Bath" and "Brunel University" the issue of how being overtaking by motorists is affected by different remarkable clothes of bicyclists.

Measured with an ultrasonic sensor, the distance between car and cyclist with a total of 5690 overtaking cars, was modulated only with the clothing of biking subjects.

The tests were carried out with seven types of garments. In addition to the clothing types "commuter", "everyday cyclists" and "High Visible cyclists" there was the "road racers" with a fitted dress and three types of garments with different designed safety vests. The type "Novice Cyclist" carried the message "Pass Slowly" On the back. The type "police" was decorated with a police-like logo and the indication that the drive is taken up by video. The third safety vest carrier was the type of "friendly cyclists" with the request "Please Slow Down!" On the back. Except for the everyday cyclist who was wearing a hat or a baseball cap, all biking subjects had a helmet on his head.

The tests took place in daylight and good visibility, the cyclists were traveling at a speed 16-28 km / h and drove at a distance between 50 and 80 centimeters from the roadside, with no complicating conditions such as cars parked on the road or intersections.

In one to two percent of overtaking the cyclists were overhauled at a distance of 50 centimeters. This overtaking distributed uniformly to all types of garments. Contrary to expectations, "Beginners" and "Experienced road cyclists" were treated equally bad. Only the reference to the video recording and the police-like clothing motivated drivers to comply with a slightly larger average distance when overtaking.

The team led by Dr. Ian Garrard and Dr. Ian Walker concluded that cyclists can hardly do anything against dangerous overtaking. http://opus.bath.ac.uk/37890/1/Walker_2013.pdf

Found on http://www.rad-spannerei.de/blog/