Seems like an odd place to bed down for the night.
This is part 3 of a 4-part misadventure Mental embarked on in a $400 minivan sans AC. After being awake for 41 hours the Lumina MPV had let them down and was being attended to by a team of misguided and certainly intoxicated mechanics…
As promised, the van was running the next AM, but still required some new parts. The nearest parts store a few minutes down the road, next to the aforementioned Alabama Museum. Dekalb Auto Parts, it is a true independent family owned auto parts store. Sticking out of the side of the building is the back half of a Datsun station wagon. They were well stocked, knowledgeable and found the parade of festive colored crapcans rather interesting. If you are ever in Ft Payne Alabama, give them your business.
Again, off the hapless travelers beset on that days adventures. Again, we were late to depart. It began with scenic tour through Desoto State Park and quickly became another roadside repair.
But it wasn't us! Ha!
The Saab released its fuel tank after a jarring pothole, because both rusted retaining bands finally snapped. What could have been an epic disaster along the freeway was a minor annoyance at 20 MPH. Between the three vehicles, we reconstructed both bands with ratchet straps layered on both sides with a liberal and well applied volume of duck tape.
Repaired and underway, we arrived in Cedar Bluff Alabama and discovered the Lighthouse Motel and Restaurant on the shore of Lake Weiss. For lunch I had the best fried chicken outside of my mama's kitchen. It was amazing and our early arrival on a weekday gave us the whole place to ourselves.
The joy of these events is some may choose to partake in the drive; others just proceed from hotel to hotel, recovering from the previous night's events and preparing for the coming evening. While various levels of competitiveness manifests itself among others. This day was a photo hunt; navigators were given snippets of pictures and needed to match the section with the whole picture of an actual roadside shot along the route.
As Ms. Mental and I accomplished this task along with our team, the van displayed new issue. White smoke began to emit from the pipe, in small amounts at first and then in "Spy Hunter" volumes by the time we rejoined the freeway.
20 miles from our hotel, the Lumina MPV died again. I kicked it into neutral and somehow managed to coast into a parking lot just off I-20 in Anniston. A few phones calls dispatched other participants to the Shoney's parking lot, including Eric the mad genius.
The small collection of oddly decorated cars attracted the attention of two locals. The participants happily relayed the story of the rally, what we are doing and the fact that this van is dead. They immediately inquire as to the fate of the MPV. When I mentioned it is junkyard bound they ask what I want for it.
"A six pack of beer." I reply.
That was the last straw. My wife elbowed me sharply in the ribs. As the fiscally responsible one, she has grown tired of useless automotive expenditures. After suffering across 6 states without AC, sitting on the side of the road and being sleep deprived, she will not allow me to toss more money down the drain. My laissez-faire attitude has to stop and now it's time for business.
"A case of beer" she corrects.
They quickly return with 24 Dos XXs and we hand them a signed title.
At the hotel, the beer is consumed by the revelers in the parking lot as we shamelessly search for a ride to New Orleans. We have no idea how we will get back to Oklahoma either. We adopt a Scarlett O Hara attitude and take a long pull from the Dos XXs; "We'll think about that tomorrow."
After all, tomorrow is another day…
Don't worry. They get to New Orleans…
from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com
Fast and Furious star Paul Walker lost his life last night While riding passenger in a Porsche Carrera GT driven by fellow gentleman racer Roger Rodas. The car struck a tree and burned; both Mr. Walker and Mr. Rodas failed to survive.
The autoblogosphere's been busy mining the accident for clicks and as a result there's already some detailed coverage. From AutoWeek's Steven Cole Smith, there are two pieces. One covers the driving career of Roger Rodas, Mr. Walker's partner in "Always Evolving", a West Coast tuner whose "ae" logo appears in several of the Fast and Furious films. His other piece covers the Carrera GT itself, which had six owners and changed hands at prices ranging from $450,000 to $339,000.
Other articles have covered a variety of the salient points that come up any time the Carrera GT is discussed:
Walter Rohrl crashed the Carrera GT twice during testing, noting that he had serious concerns about the car's on-the-limit behavior
"Internet Entrepreneur" Corey Rudl crashed a Carrera GT during an FCA trackday at Fontana Speedway, resulting in a lawsuit which was settled for $4.5m.
EVO magazine recently claimed that changing the tires on the Carrera GT absolutely "transformed the behavior" of the Carrera GT, changing it from terrifying to brilliant, or something like that.
There are very few details about the crash — and given that the car burned to the ground and the witnesses appear to have been late to the scene, there may not be any more. It could have been a mistake on the part of the driver or a mechanical failure — or it's possible, that while driving around an office park, Mr. Rodas managed to reach those terrifying limits of which we're all read so much. Regardless of that, the fact are this: Paul Walker was a racer, he was a car guy, he was one of us, he'll be missed. RIP.
from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com
We continue on our Trans-Siberian railway adventure: the last stop was Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, we are now moving 855km East to Irkutsk, which is 80km off Lake Baikal. And here again a fascinating car landscape awaits… From roughly 30% of the traffic in Omsk and Tomsk to half in Krasnoyarsk, we are now faced with a proper invasion of used Japanese imports! Jump in for the full report!
I have estimated that around two-third of all vehicles in circulation in Irkutsk are coming straight from Japan, complete with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car! This has been one of the most unbelievable evolutions I have witnessed along my trip: starting in St Petersburg and Moscow where absolutely all vehicles are 'correct' and left-hand drive, the car park has progressively shifted its steering wheel to the right to reach a very clear majority here in Irkutsk. If in Krasnoyarsk the Toyota Ist was the most popular, here like in Omsk the Toyota Probox is the clear winner, and I have also seen a few with the 'Succeed' nameplate.
Toyota Probox
Before going through the rest of the most successful Japanese imports, it is important to notice the other main characteristic of the Irkutsk car landscape: the predominance of station wagons. Much more so than in any other city I have visited so far, it seems to be a format that particularly fits the needs of car buyers in this region of Russia. In this context, you would assume the Lada Largus is a resounding success here, but weirdly, not so. This trend seems to have confined itself to Japanese imports, to the exception of a few Kia Cee'd and Peugeot 308 SW.
Zhiguli
So it won't come as a surprise then that the Nissan Wingroad and Honda Airwave are by far the most popular Nippon imports in Irkutsk along with the Toyota Probox and Honda Stream. Those very particular Japanese MPVs have also struck a chord here: I'm speaking of the Toyota Alphard, Voxy, Noah, Nissan Serena and other Honda Stepwgn. Other successes include the Toyota Allion, Ractis, Ipsum, Gaia, Regius and Verossa – I saw 2 in the space of one minute here, the same number I had seen since my arrival in Russia, Mitsubishi Mirage Dingo, Dion and Honda Mobilio. The Toyota Will range has now become commonplace: I spotted all 3 models (Cypha, VS and Vi).
Lada Granta
Lada Classic and Honda Airwave
If this description kind of sounds like I am in a Japanese city, that's because it's almost how it feels being in Irkutsk. There are still hordes of Zhiguli and Lada Classic around, but even the police has gone West, driving in Ford Focus or Fiat Linea. The Lada Samara and Kalina are rare, as are the Granta and Priora that are clean enough to still be considered new. I would still bet on a Top 10 ranking for the Granta here, but just.
Cadillac SRX
Infiniti FX
Toyota Tundra
On the other hand, I have observed a level of new luxury cars and large SUVs potentially unrivalled since Moscow, in line with Irkutsk's wealth as the biggest city near the touristic Lake Baikal. The new generation Range Rover is back in force, the Infiniti FX is not limited to the 'resident' one anymore: I saw dozens of them in the city, along with Infiniti QX56, Nissan Patrol, Cadillac SRX, BMW 3 and 1 Series, Ford Explorer and F-Series, Dodge Ram and Toyota Tundra…
Hyundai Solaris
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the Hyundai Solaris should be the best-seller in Irkutsk, once again extremely consistent across absolutely all the cities I've passed, much more so than the Lada Granta for example which is an astounding achievement and a big surprise as far as I am concerned.
Toyota RAV4
The main difference in the best-sellers list in Irkutsk compared to the rest of the country is the even keener taste for small Asian SUVs: the new generation Toyota RAV4 is literally everywhere already and could be fighting with the Hyundai Solaris for the top spot overall (yep, that much), while the Nissan Qashqai, Kia Sportage, Nissan Juke, Toyota Prado, Hyundai ix35, Honda CR-V, Mitsubishi Outlander and Suzuki Grand Vitara (in this order) are clearly over-represented here. On the other hand, I didn't see many Renault Duster.
Mazda CX-5
Vladimir from the #1 Russian magazine Za Rulem told me back in Moscow that Mazda and SsangYong had opened assembly plants in Vladivostok, 4,000 km East of Irkutsk, in order to try and woo East-Russian consumers back to left-hand drive cars. I could spot that influence a little in Irkutsk: the Mazda CX-5 is much more frequent than usual, as are the SsangYong Actyon and Actyon Sports. But it's not a flood yet, so Irkutskers are clearly not that convinced at this stage.
FAW V5 and Daewoo Matiz
Another category of cars that seems to be more popular here than in other places are the minis: I saw many Kia Venga, Picanto and Chevrolet Spark. Finally, Chinese company FAW is clearly doing a big push in Irkustk with one FAW V5 exhibited near the central bus station (along with an UZ-Daewoo Matiz) and one I picked in the streets, but so far Chinese models are still very limited in the streets of Irkutsk, with the odd Lifan Solano, Chery Indis, Great Wall Hover and BYD F3 spotted.
ZiL 5301 "Bychek" (thanks Bad_Q, Ian and LCV News)
Irkutsk September 2013 best-sellers – rough estimate:
Pos
Model
1
Hyundai Solaris
2
Toyota RAV4
3
Nissan Qashqai
4
Kia Sportage
5
Kia Rio
6
Ford Focus
7
VW Polo
8
Nissan Juke
9
Mazda CX-5
10
Lada Granta
Nissan Wingroad and Ford Focus
Honda CR-V
Irkutsk traffic
Ford Explorer
VW Polo
Kia Rio
Honda Pilot
BMW X6
Hyundai Santa Fe
Mitsubishi Outlander and Toyota Highlander
Nissan Juke
Nissan Serena
Toyota Corolla Fielder
Honda Spike
Toyota Probox
Honda Stepwgn
Chery X1 (aka Indis)
Lifan Solano and VW Polo
Irkutsk traffic
This was Irkutsk! Hope you enjoyed and that your ears are not frozen yet, because our next stop is the shores of Lake Baikal whose water temperature rarely goes above 10 degrees Celsius / 50 degrees Farhenheit…
Matt Gasnier, based in Sydney, Australia, runs a blog named Best Selling Cars Blog, dedicated to counting cars all over the world.
from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com
"Is the Jeep Compass the smallest in Jeep's lineup?"
Brandon
Not if you're deciding that based on overall length or width. The Wrangler two-door is shortest in length and the Patriot is the narrowest. The Compass is smaller than other Jeeps only in height and base curb weight. The Wrangler has the smallest interior volume at 88 cubic feet, compared with the Compass' 101 cubic feet and the Patriot's 104 cubic feet. Here's how the Compass' exterior dimensions compare to the similar Patriot's — they're built on the same platform — and the two-door Wrangler's:
You can use the Cars.com Compare feature to see how the Compass measures up in other ways to the rest of the Jeep lineup. We set up a comparison for you, here.
When I write about cars, my words are inspired by the works of Leonard Setright. While I haven't actually read a word of what he's written I know his writing and have educated myself about it and its significance.
Just how silly did that sound? About as silly as an artist saying that he's inspired by a work that he hasn't actually seen. What's this doing on a car site? The work of art is arguably the greatest piece of automotive fine art in the world.
A mixed use building is in the final stages of construction in downtown Detroit near Broadway, Gratiot and Library Street (where the National Automotive History Collection resides nearby at the Skillman branch of the Detroit Public Library). The 10 story building is named "The Z", from the fact that it zig zags across the property and, I'm guessing, from the fact that a branch of "The Y", the YMCA, is nearby. It's mostly going to be a parking structure but there will be retail stores on the ground floor. Bedrock Real Estate Services, which is developing the project, worked with the Library Street Collective art gallery to make it more than just a sterile concrete place to put your car when doing business in downtown Detroit. Matt Eaton, curator of the Library Street Collective, commissioned 27 artists from around the world to visit Detroit and paint murals of what they experienced here on the walls of the parking structure. The building isn't open to the public yet but they let the Detroit News in for a sneak peek.
Detroit Industry (north wall), Diego Rivera
One reason why they decided to have 27 fine art murals painted in a Detroit parking structure is that Detroit is home to one of the most notable murals in the world, a collection of 27 panels collectively known as Detroit Industry. The murals, depicting Ford's massive Rouge Complex and the assembly of the Ford V8, were painted on the walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts by Mexican artist Diego Rivera, commissioned by Edsel Ford, the only son of Henry Ford and a great patron of the arts. Most people don't know the works' title, around Detroit they're simply called the Diego Rivera murals at the DIA, part of the region's cultural heritage.
Detroit Industry (south wall), Diego Rivera
This is the 80th anniversary of the Rivera murals at the DIA. The DIA has been in the news lately. You might have heard that the art institute's collection might be sold to pay off creditors because of the city of Detroit's municipal bankruptcy. It might be hard to sell the murals since they're actually part of the building, located on Woodward Avenue, across the street from the main library and in the heart of Detroit's cultural center. I've been seeing the murals since I was a child, they're genuinely part of the region's cultural heritage, the stuff of school field trips as well as serious scholarly study. My mother says that she remembers visiting the museum as a child and watching Rivera paint them. My mom's 89 now and since she also 'remembers' that Tom Harmon played for *Michigan State when my father was going to veterinary school there, I double checked and it is possible. Rivera worked on the 27 panels, from small to immense, from 1932 to 1933, when Mom was 8 years old.
One of the new murals in The Z is called Unexpected Punchline,a massive work painted by identical twins Raoul and Davide Perre in just four and a half days. The Perres are, according to the Detroit News, international graffiti artists and muralists well known in art circles under the nom d'art of How&Nosm. According to the brothers, they have painted more than 500 murals in 60 countries over the last 25 years. Some were commissioned, others were "unauthorized". I wonder how Bedrock will feel when some "unauthorized" Detroit "artists" decide to tag add their own works of art to the parking structure.
When asked about their mural's significance, Davide Perre said, "We felt that it was important to point out that Detroit, now Americas' first bankrupt major city, and its people seem to be left on their own. And we are talking about the largest racial demographic, the African-American group, making up 83 percent that is mainly affected by our country's bad economy."
Unexpected Punchline unabashedly borrows from Rivera's DIA murals. College of Creative Studies dean of undergraduate studies, Vince Carducci, describes the painting: "The title riffs off the famous Joe Louis fist, which is visible at the right edge of the mural. But the actual hand itself looks like it could have been taken from the upper reaches of Diego Rivera's famous "Detroit Industry" murals at the DIA. In fact, the entire piece comes off as a cyberpunk remix of Rivera's masterpiece."
Regarding Rivera's DIA murals, Davide Perre said, "We feel somewhat a connection to it. Diego's themes are very similar to ours, and like him we like to provoke the viewer but not straight in your face, but with some tact… It is the issues of everyday life, our surroundings, politics and other more serious problems that influence our creative decisions."
"Like Diego, we usually tell a story of struggle for survival in an ethnically and financially divided society in connection with the injustices of the government. We are sure Diego had some restriction when he painted "Detroit's Industry" or else it would have had a more obvious political approach. But our main goal, and we believe Diego's too, was to express the extraordinary spirit of Detroit and strength of its people."
Perre must be very familiar with Rivera's work, after all, he kept called him "Diego".
"We have not seen it in person, though we know it and educated ourselves about it," Davide Perre said. "Unfortunately, we had a very tight schedule, and finishing our mural had priority. We literally walked from the hotel to our mural, back and forth, and that was it. But we have been in Detroit before and have gotten to know most parts of Detroit very well."
Wait, what? They know it and have educated themselves about Detroit Industry, they feel inspired by it, have a connection to it but their schedule was just so tight when painting their own mural they just didn't have the time to get over to the DIA and actually, you know, see their supposed inspiration with their own two eyes. It wasn't their first visit here. They want us to know that they've visited our fair region before and that they've gotten to know not just some of the city but rather "most parts of Detroit", and not just in a cursory manner, but "very well". The Perres are visual artists who have been here more than once but haven't bothered to see the region's most famous artwork, one they say inspires them, now that they have a commission to be inspired thereby.
When the Perres were painting the work they were in town for four and a half days. I'm sure that it was hectic but the DIA is just two miles up Woodward from the location of the Perres' Unexpected Punchline. You can walk the distance, take some time enjoying and studying Rivera's murals and then walk back downtown in far less than half a day. They could even have stopped in to the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit since it would have been right on the way there or back. MOCAD is currently having a show, The Past Is Present, with works commissioned, coincidentally "to begin where Rivera left off". I suppose, though, that if you are internationally famous vandals graffiti artists and muralists, your time is in great demand. I'm sure they had someplace very important to be for that additional half day.
The Z facility opens up early next year. I was thinking of going down there and checking out the murals, particularly the Perres' Unexpected Punchline, but now that I've seen photos and learned about it, I suppose there's no need for me to see the real thing.
*Tom Harmon won the 1940 Heisman Trophy playing for the University of Michigan, which my father did actually also attend, earning an associates degree in civil engineering while in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during WWII, but he was in Ann Arbor years after Harmon had graduated.
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can get a parallax view at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don't worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS
from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com
"Is the 
Not if you're deciding that based on overall length or width. The 
