G. David Felt

Power Wagon Time. What year? I have no clue but figure 70's?

I saw a fairly new C-Class this morning and the lug nuts were rusty. Makes one wonder about the tag "Best or nothing at all!" I wonder if this marketing ever comes to mind when they cut corners on quality.

But, but, but it is not about how many but about the clarity, 1080HD was the rage, now 4K and they just released the new 8K TV's. Ya gotta have the latest, after all the new Avatar movies are in production, first one out this coming December and they all are being filmed in 8K. So they will dumb it down for 4K viewing and 1080 viewing, but 8K is better than 4K which is better than 1080HD. Ya know the Jones / Jones race of stupidity! After all we have to see every hair follicle and they say Porn is the ultimate real life like on those TVs. Course would not know since I am in poor-ville with a lowly 1080 DLP TV, not even a LCD or flat panel.

Some parts of this discussion made me think of this song.

That is me, I never have had to pay in more than a 100 or so and never got a refund more than 100 or so. I like to keep myself to as near a zero as possible. Live within your means, that is my moto. Way I raised my kids too. Totally agree that people did focus on it as a way to buy big ticket items and now it will change for many.

Would the Ford Family allow it? The family is so huge and wide now, I wonder when family members will say give me the money and walk away from the auto business.

I have from day one always said the DOHC High Horsepower low torque engines put into the ultra pricey toys from Italy were garbage and even the move by all auto companies to that form of engine over a traditional pushrod V8 are still garbage. We have discussed how GM has built many excellent engines that had plenty of torque to get you moving and up to speed yet had them destroyed by TROLL Auto magazines as it did not match the Asian or European DOHC engine garbage. Maybe the high pitch sound does not bother you, but to me, it is unrefined, noisy and not impressive to have 600HP / 3XX LB-TQ. compared to a solid 400 hp / 410 lb-ft of torque V8 with a proper tuned exhaust so you have a nice deep mellow but distinct sound.. I agree to disagree with you on the Tone of one auto over another as this is the preference we both like. I am happy for you that you like the Italian auto's, for me, I will stick with my Tuned American V8 on a Borla OEM Exhaust for my TB till I get the full size Truck / SUV EV.

? Can you say CHINA! ? I knew you could. I think some of the auto companies only future will be to merge with a Chinese owned auto company. Even then I still suspect a number of those Chinese auto companies will go under as the global companies cover China.

http://gmauthority.com/blog/2018/03/psa-ceo-has-no-regrets-over-opel-vauxhall-purchase/ Seems in 2018 the CEO of PSA says he has no regrets of the purchase but nothing about the request for refund. Does say that they will be replacing the Ampera-e immediately with a Opel Corsa EV.

This totally makes sense and is a smart move to have a modular single platform that can handle ICE and Hybrid while also supporting full size and mid size trucks / SUVs. Smart Move.

I would take a Tesla or Bolt over Ferrari. My PERSONAL preference. Ferrari is over rated and that engine that you says makes a beautiful sound, NOPE, Corvette has a better deeper sound than the over rated V12 Ferrari engine. High Pitch Cracking that is ear piercing from Ferrari I put into the same bucket of garbage as all of Harley Davidson bikes excluding the awesome LiveWire. Since I play Trumpet and Piano, I guess my ear is just more accustomed to a tuned sound than loud noise.

Being an engineer, I see too often products that could be built to last for ever but cheapened up by companies that take the attitude of we want people to have to buy new to keep us going. I know we have seen law suites in the past and while I have no proof, I would not be surprised if GM had a very sturdy product of spec for the ignition switch but someone said if we change these parts, it still meets the spec of new and now, but will save us XXX,XXX,XXX amount of money and after all things need to wear out so they are forced to by new. We have seen how the auto industry has cut corners to deliver huge bonuses to the executive mgmt. of past from the OEMs. I believe this still goes on today for Planes, Trains and Automobiles plus much more. End result is that ethics is all good and great in a theoretical class, but putting it into the real business world where it costs real money and could cost jobs. Businesses still will shave here and there, we see it all the time from Bridges, to buildings, etc. Trumps threat on Mexico Auto's with a 25% Tariff will have the auto companies looking at ways to shave costs more to off set the tariff if it happens.

Those are all cool trucks, saw today an M715 actual jeep still on the road. Was pretty cool.

This is back to the bean counters of a software glitch that happens what is believed to be so rarely that they factor the lawsuits and settlements versus the cost of extended R&D to make sure it was fixed. We have seen this on many auto's, AKA Ford Pinto, GM Ignition switch, Toyota Prius floor mates accelerator stuck issue, etc. I would not be surprised that this was found in the software as a bug, yet considered so minor that they flagged it as a patch or update down the road once they got selling and then never really came back to it. Many bugs are left this way till something major happens. In this case two planes crash and all lives lost and now Boeing is looking at issuing a software update. ?

This tells me that FCA products sold in Europe are far more destructive to the environment than here in the US with the Hellcat. So Fiat, Alfa, Maserati, Ferrari all must pollute way worse than they state. Makes one rethink why would you want such a polluting noisy Ferrari?

Revolution most commonly starts in the heart of what is to be disrupted. In this case, oil country is where one of the most revolutionary new motor designs is coming from. The minds at the University of Texas in Dallas, Dr. Babak Fahimi and the Renewable Enery and Vehicular Technology Laboratory brings us this new startup "Linear Labs Inc. A Smart Electric Motor Company" who just completed their funding round to allow them to market and produce their flagship motor, the Hunstable Electric Turbine motor. Currently today's electric vehicle has a high revving horsepower motor with low torque, as an example you can find many electric motors that produce 50 horsepower at 10,000 rpm with 26 lb-ft of torque. The Hunstable Electric Turbine motor produces that same 50 horsepower at 1,300 rpm with 200 lb-ft of torque thus eliminating the need for a gear box as well as other components which in turn reduces cost and complexity. The Hunstable motor while eliminating geared reduction thus being useful for direct drive applications retains the capability to perform at extremely high speeds and maintains maximum efficiency throughout the loading curve. Let's get into the technical chops of the Hunstable Electric Turbine (HET) motor. Permanent magnet circumferential flux 4 rotor motor 3D magnetic structure produces four active torque producing areas all with the same polarity 30% reduced use of copper in the coil Maximum torque production from all magnetic field interactions Reduced motor size due to patented unique design requires no unproductive open spaces Large Lorentz Force that peaks with a large reluctance force. Best way to explain this is to quote their website: " by extending the length of the magnetic tunnel region, the torque that is present throughout the coils travels without regard to the coils at pole face length. Unlike existing conventional machines where torque is only present at an optimum point as it approaches a magnetic pole, the HET has no single optimum point but rather all positions exhibit maximum torque. The torque and force will exist while the coil in in the tunnel, regardless of tunnel length. Traditional electric motors have always had a current pulse from the three phase supply requiring a timed rotation that allows for optimum torque production at a single instant in time where only a single phase is active. Electronics have been used to manipulate and soften the pulsations to some degree to gain performance as seen by the current leading EV manufacturers. The HET motor is able to use a different approach due to the large force presented. One could talk about coils, poles and phases but the end result is that the the technology used by the HET Motor allows for all phases produced to create a continuous pulse of power. These power pulses overlap rather than being sequential thus eliminating torque pulsations ending with maximum torque production. The HET Motor has an advantage that no other electric motor can equal and that is that via software control, the phases can be controlled into particular patterns allowing for true variable pole count ending in adjustable speed / torque development. To quote Linear Labs: "This allows a speed change increase with no changes in frequency, current or voltage level, which makes an electronic transmission possible." Current electric motors use what is called Field Weakening. This is where one has peak torque at 0 RPM but trades torque for speed as it goes faster. Excitation speed increases as torque drops by weakening the magnetic fields. Induction motors increase speed by reducing this excitation current, permanent magnet motors inject an opposing current to control this which is known as a D axis current injection. The constant horsepower region is what this area of speed increase is called. Torque being traded for speed, but total horsepower does not change. Efficiency drops off in the uses as stated above and this is what the HET motor addresses with its revolutionary design. To quote Linear Labs: " By slightly rotating a single side rotor, an axial magnetic component is introduced. This weakens , as far as the coils are concerned, the total magnetic field experienced by the coils. The degree of field weakening controls the trade-off between torque and speed. For the first time in electric machine history, as the HET Motor enters the Constant Horsepower Region, core losses drop and overall efficiencies actually climb." At this time you would not be blamed for saying "SO WHAT" what does this get me? The benefits of this revolutionary new motor or as Linear Labs likes to call it their electric turbine is the following list: Magnetic Configuration producing 100% more torque than any other design. Efficiency, reduced copper losses resulting in reduced on-board energy storage. Power, testing has shown that the HET motor with standard cooling produces continuous and peak power at 1.9 kW and 2.7 kW at a base speed of 3000 RPM superseding any other commercially available electric propulsion unit. Cost and Compactness, resulting in less cost of on-board electronics, converters, controllers, etc. Thermal Management, superior design due to less copper and what is known as end windings that contribute nothing to torque or output giving you superior efficiency. Variable speed applications, perfect for low speed constant use but also for high speed applications. Acoustic Noise, HET motors being smaller than current commercial counterparts along with limited torque pulsation provides a quiet drive system removing most noise heard by the human ear. Some of the markets that are ripe for Linear Labs motors are of course the auto industry, HVAC industry, industry manufacturing, pretty much any market where constant and variable electric motors are being used. This results in potential energy conservation on a large scale. Linear Labs see's the potential benefits from scooters, to drones, motorcycles, cars and trucks. The uses of their HET Motor will revolutionize the world while contributing to energy conservation. View full article

Right, just need to get the kids back into preschool.

Come on, Greed is Good, Gecko says so........

It makes sense, not everyone wants to be jacked to the sky.

Chevy sent me an email about their new Lift kits. New GM Lift kits for 4WD and 2WD trucks. https://accessories.chevrolet.com/search/2019/Chevrolet/Silverado 1500#/98004/Suspension Upgrade Systems?sortId=top

MOST PEOPLE? I know I am not poor but am not rich and most of my coworkers barely saw a blip in their paycheck as did I, the few extra dollars every 2 weeks did nothing for changing the way I save / spend. I honestly do not know where the media or idiot leadership in DC got saying that paychecks would get bigger. Considering the years of no pay raises due to the depression we were in from 2007 to 2012, Costs have gone up and so there is no extra money for splurging. I doubt with the increased craziness of costs that anyone noticed that they had extra income to spend in their paychecks.

Lets look at the 25% tariff hit: According to GM Authority quoting Detroit free press: http://gmauthority.com/blog/2019/04/trump-proposes-25-tariff-on-all-cars-made-in-mexico/ GM built 801,163 vehicles at its three Mexican assembly plants between January and November of 2018, 693,782 of which were exported to the United States or Canada. GM cars built in Mexico include the Chevrolet Blazer, Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback, Chevrolet Equinox Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Chevrolet Trax, GMC Sierra 1500 and GMC Terrain. Read more: http://gmauthority.com/blog/2019/04/trump-proposes-25-tariff-on-all-cars-made-in-mexico/#ixzz5kSCkMfpy And according to the latest financial figures the average price of these auto's was $35,000 per Detroit Free Press Story. So this 25% Tariff on these auto's equals $8,750 on average which seems to be focused on allot of lower tier auto's which again hits the poor to low income that want a nice auto. End result is these idiotic threats of Tariffs are counter productive to the good of Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans. There are allot of Cans that are being hurt by incompetent leadership.

Smoking sure has destroyed her looks. Bummer as I liked her in the Terminator series. This is what they mean by having Junk in your Trunk! Baby got back!

Very cool to see they are upgrading the engines and interior, now to get them to get onto a competitive luxury level on the trim.