G. David Felt

Dark Crystal

Speed Week 2020 from September is very cool.

Very cool future of Road Rallye E racing.

Interesting read on the auto industry and chip shortage and how Kia/Hyundai avoided what is hitting everyone else. Analysis: Hyundai bought chips when rivals didn't; its assembly lines are still rolling | Reuters

Green eggs and Ham

Gotta Love a Firebird. Need one say anything more? Cobra anyone! Cool Project, a 1964 GMC Suburban with a modern day Duramax Diesel power train. BangShift.com 1964 GMC Suburban

Enjoying Jazz as I get some work done on my current project. Never heard this before, but as a former trumpet and piano player of Jazz, have to say I am really enjoying this. Awesome background music.

True, but you do have to have local profits to offer jobs building modern products. Best is to have American made products from raw material to finished products.

Thank you for the info, that is great that there is a group promoting farming to our youth. A noble job I think. I have a hard time believing that Corvette is Factory. Cool at how fast it is, but sounds like a much faster, newer engine in it. Wicked fun runs!

Very True, but the fact that the Chief of the Cherokee Nation is asking for them to stop using it and he represents the tribe, I have to think that Stellantis will be respectful and change the names. Thought it was a good auto discussion as I get the tribe will use the name as they see fit on their own tribe, gambling, etc. but I think American businesses are going to have to rethink how they name things. I do like the park idea.

I agree, while I helped on the 2nd year the Envision was out my sister get one that is fully loaded and she loves in her favorite color, Garnet red, this less powerful version and the two options of blah black or blah white and black interiors just SUCKS! There are better options like you stated and especially Hybrid that perform way better than this. SAD, she is ready to trade it in as a in home care nurse for open wounds, she drives allot and at 3yrs she is hitting 75K miles of no problems and loves her auto, but is ready for a new one. Sadly no Hybrid of the Envision which she would buy in a heartbeat. Her backup brand Mazda also, no Hybrid and while she likes the Mazda 5, she actually feels it is less luxury than her Envision. Gave her a list of Hybrids and she is trying to decide as she is not a fan of any of them. I also told her of the EVs coming and she is thinking on if she wants to wait for one of them since power is cheap here. Her average 2,084 miles a month equals 69.5 gallons of gas used per month for work at $2.91 average price per gallon today equals $202.15 a month in gas cost versus a 77kWH battery pack giving 259 miles at .06 cents per kW = $4.62 per battery pack recharge and it will take 8 full batteries to cover the miles so a total of $36.96 per month in electricity. Current gas would be $2,425.80 a year. Current electricity would be $443.52 a year. She still will have the tire wear and tear, but no oil changes and other ICE maintenance. So for her, waiting till one of the new EVs comes out might be the best for her cost wise especially since she is able to write off the miles and auto cost since she uses it for work. Personally, I would go with an American company that keeps the profits here, supports jobs globally but pays corporate taxes into supporting America. IMHO.

@A Horse With No Name Sorry my friend, but for those of us that have never lived in the midwest, what is FFA? ? Maybe this is a farm thing so those of us that never grew up on a large farm would not know this. FFA = ????

@A Horse With No Name Just read this and it is good as I am sure we all could use a good rub on getting the scratches out of our paint jobs. Rain is supposed to go away this afternoon, going to clean the SS on Saturday and then probably Monday the Escalade. Best car scratch removers in 2021 - Roadshow (cnet.com)

Jeep has a big choice ahead. Honor the Indian tribes and stop using their names on auto's or ignor them drawing rath from the tribes and people around the country and world. In reading this story, I like the suggestion given to Jeep. Rename the auto line after national parks. So with the parks theme, you would have it like this: Jeep Yellowstone Jeep Yosemite Jeep Denali Jeep Badlands Jeep Biscayne Jeep Glacier Jeep Olympic Jeep Redwood Jeep Zion Thoughts on how Jeep should reboot their names, especially the Cherokee lineup? What Should The Jeep Cherokee’s New Name Be? (jalopnik.com) List of national parks of the United States - Wikipedia

Muntz Anyone? Stellantis layoffs have begun as of Feb 20th 2021 150 people were indefinitely laid off at the Belvidere Illinois plant. Stellantis Laying off 150 Jeep Employees in Illinois - The Truth About Cars

One has to have a subscription to read the latest IHS Markit study, but it shows that EVs were 1.8% of new-vehicle registrations in 2020 with a rise to 2.8% in December 2020. The study says it should hit 3.5% in 2021 and double plus that by 2025 as new models come on the market for sale hitting as high as 10% of sales. The report stated that the West Coast is at 4.8% of new-vehicle registrations compared to Midwest at .8%, Southeast at .9% and the Northeast at 1.6% in region comparisons. By city San Francisco leads the nation with an 11% ev registration. EVs will be 10% of the US market by 2025—but San Francisco is already past that (greencarreports.com)

Street Play

Sand Play

Sensual

Seems the Ioniq 5 was caught out winter testing in black. 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 spied on the road after reveal | Autoblog

@oldshurst442 Thinking on Lordstown Motors in-wheel hub motors, I wonder if they have a non-disclosure signed with Protean Electric as there is many similarities with their in-wheel hub motors. Homepage - Protean : Protean (proteanelectric.com) I noticed in their news they have concept work going on with Lexus and Nissan. The CEO in a short video seems to think a luxury car or commercial auto will be the first large scale commercial use of their in-wheel hub motors. I can see Lordstown Motors being that commercial auto. ProteanInsights Episode 6: Where will we see in-wheel motors in volume first? - Protean : Protean (proteanelectric.com) For the cars, I think we now know due to these news announcements by Protean Electric. In-Wheel Motor Case Study: Punchy performance from in-wheel propulsion - Nissan BladeGlider - Protean : Protean (proteanelectric.com) 3 person concept auto Lexus LF-30 Concept - Which I also doubt will see production due to people wanting normal looking autos, not something out of a sci-fi movie. In-Wheel Motor Case Study: Visionary EV concept powered by in-wheel motors, previews the future for Lexus - Protean : Protean (proteanelectric.com)

Agree, while some say that in-wheel hub motors affect the suspension, I think proper engineering can address that and it would seem based on Lordstown Motors own videos that they have addressed that. I think these will be very spacious trucks and reliable due to the much simpler design of the skateboard. Very cool explanation by the VP of engineering about Lordstown powertrain system.

So amazing how some sea life consumes food. Talk about getting flushed! Gluttony

Maybe, Maybe not, but they do make a solid argument. Press release on the race truck, 600HP, seems to have plenty of power. Lordstown Motors To Race Endurance Electric Pickup Truck Skateboard in I like the setup They gave a business update on January 28th 2021 as they have stamped their 57 beta builds for mule testing in the real world. They are also a publicly traded company now so flush with $675 million in cash from the stock sale and another $250 million from investment firm. At least they will get to production and delivery for their 40,000 pre-orders they say they have with state, county and city governments across the country. Lordstown Motors Releases Business Updates; Prepares Ohio Factory to B Lordstown Motors becomes publicly traded, before delivering its electric trucks (greencarreports.com) Seems gm is hedging their bet by investing in Lordstown motors as they invested $75 million in August 2020 according to the story below, but I do not find any news release on this on the gm corp site. Lordstown Motors shares pop in volatile Nasdaq trading debut (cnbc.com)