A few months ago I thought it would be cool to convert my turn signals and brake lights to LEDs. I had seen them on my friend Greg’s truck and I liked the crisp on/off quality. I thought it updated the look of the truck and, of course, LEDs use much less power and last practically forever. In this post I’ll tell you everything you need to know to make the switch to LEDs, and I’ll also tell you why I opted not to do it, for now. Read the rest of this entry »
I drive about 20,000 miles per year and my 1995 Mitsubishi Montero gets about 18 mpg. At current gas prices, which hover just over $4 per gallon in my neck of the woods, that’s a fuel bill of about $4500 per year.
I recently saw that Smart Cars are available for lease for $99 a month. This got me thinking. If I leased a Smart Car, which gets about 36 mpg, and drove it most of the time, say 18,000 year, at current gas prices the fuel bill would come to $2025 per year. Add in $1200 for the lease, and $450 for the remaining 2000 miles of fuel for the Montero and the total is $3675. I’d come out almost a $1000 ahead for the year, use less gas, and save wear and tear on the truck to boot.
If we weren’t buying a sailboat, I’d seriously consider it.
Let’s lighten things up with today’s video. I’m pretty sure the new VW Beetle Convertible is useless out on the trail but the commercial is funny.
There’s something very cool going on. All over the world small shops are taking advantage of the fruits of industrial production (like an abundance of vehicles and interchangeable parts), injecting them with fresh ideas, and rebuilding them through small-scale production. ICON in Southern California does it by turning old Land Cruisers into highly capable, high-spec wonders. Another So-Cal company, Singer, does it by reimagining the air-cooled 911.
Singer strips the car down to its frame, then cherry picks the best oem and specialty components from the model’s long history, to create the ultimate 911. They even go so far as to reshape the curves and forms of the car itself. They do what we all do when we modify our trucks: that is, build a vision of the perfect vehicle.
It’s industrial design taken back to the level of craft. That is, the design takes place, not in a remote studio, but in the same place where the thing is built. Design and manufacture are fused together. The results are extraordinary.
It’s still amazing to me that we went off-roading on the moon. Here’s some stabilized footage from the Apollo 16 mission.
