reddsun1

Hmm: KFC, Pizza Hut, and lots of thick, sexy sistas. Sounds like all the prerequisites for broadening your horizons, nurturing your mind, expanding your knowledge and all that good stuff. But in regard to similarities? I too have sometimes thought that the outline shape of the nose of the VF-1 bears vague similarities to the F/A-18 and/or the F-111 [but only from in front of the canopy forward] from the side profile, but that's about it. If anything, I'd say the SV-51 from MZero looks "influenced" by the F/A-18, albeit much elongated/enlarged/modified.

ha ha ha. "Do I still get promoted?" *brrrzzzzzzzt*

What, don't tell me her face looks funny in this one too? Note how the door is open and the trunklid is conveniently raised, and how you can't see where her hands are. That's so you can't see the death-grip she's most likely got on whatever little fingercracks she can hold on to--cause one thing's fer sure, she sure ain't puttin all her weight on her left foot! The perils of being a car babe. Funny but if you look at a lot of those car-with-chick pics--I mean really study it, objectively--you'll see a large margin of the models actually look like their surroundings and/or posing ought to make them hella uncomfortable... *edit* someone should have told the wanker in the white tee to get the hell back away from the side of the car--you can see his reflection [cameraman's too] in the rear bumper valence!

You know, funny thing is, I hadn't even noticed...

For some odd reason, the only thing I can think is: I bet she had a helluva time getting out there next to the car in them heels.

The Top Gear segment on the Charger was also quite amusing. Never seen the "Bendover" commercial for the new Charger [the next two vids at the above link]; that one's hilarious.

Nagumo: Pearl Harbor Hmm, well...while tactically the attack on Pearl was considered a rousing success, strategically Nagumo/Japan made a critical error. That being: he didn't send a third attack wave to concentrate on the oil storage or ship repair facilities at Pearl. Although some pilots enthusiastically requested to make another attack on these base installations, Nagumo decided instead to withdraw his forces to safer waters. Had he sent an attack to focus on these vital areas, the US could have conceivably been kept out of the fight in the Pacific for many more months than it already was, deprived of vital fuel to operational ships, and repair facilities to those damaged. Historically regarded as a cautious commander, Nagumo didn't want to linger near Hawaii for too long and risk exposing his fleet to a possible counter attack by US carriers, which were up to that point unaccounted for. Little did he know that one was back in CA for repairs, the second out to sea on patrol, and the third en route to Midway [or was it Wake?] ferrying Marine fighter planes to the air base there--ironically enough, reinforcements in anticipation of a Japanese attack. The absence what were originally the prime targets at P. Harbor directly influenced his decision. Hindsight as they say, is 20/20.

These wheels are also BBS; these are one-piece, and incredibly light, only about 7 or 8 lbs bare. Relatively easy to mount and balance, able to lift/handle a wheel and tire one-handed. Definitely a joy to work with. Quite expensive though, about $2000/set, IIRC. Although, as they were on the car in this pic, they were a bit of a sonovabitch to work with. Ferrari of Wash. put some kind of powdercoating on them or something to get the black finish; they'd eventually start chipping, and the fuggin' weights kept coming off of them, causing them to come out of balance during a stint. Got to be a real PITA.

Those wheels are most likely BBS, from the looks of 'em. Could be Fikse or Joengblood, though. Actually, that car is a production body shell, most likely a "body in white" [basically a rolling shell sold directly to racing teams]. Built by Multimatic, these things are actually quite pricey, easily into the 6-figure price range. Last I checked, these things cost about the same as a GT3 Cup Porsche, just north of $100K. But they were very competitive last season, garnering Ford the mfr's championship in Grand Am last yr--I'm not sure how they're faring this season.

Dodge's new Caliber could be another runaway hit, like the PT. The price point [just over $14K] should promise to make it very popular. But I'll believe it when I see it; right now that's all it is, an empty promise. Expect near-extortion price gouging, much like the PT Cruiser when it came out. My one question though is: we heard nary a peep about this thing, and boom! it's ready to hit the showroom floors. Now the Challenger on the other hand, is anxiously awaited, folks are on pins and needles wanting these beasts--and they won't release it for at least another year, maybe two?! I wonder can lightning strike twice for Daimler/Chrysler with the upcoming Challenger? Concept versions of the 300 were met with rave reviews and enthusiasm; they listened to the favorable public reaction, gave it the green light, and it seems to have been doing very well since. Everyone I know who's commented on it have said to the effect they like the styling and would have one, given the choice. A good case of their NOT heeding public opinion and taking their lumps: Dodge Charger. They seemed to ignore public reaction to the Charger: "too ugly, too many doors." And it seems to be reflected on the sales room floor, too. Chargers are much more sparse in traffic than the 300, comparatively. Good case of the possible outcomes from listening or not listening to your potential customers.

As day-to-day "use and abuse" cars, I'll come down on the side that says 'yotas are very good cars. My current daily driver is a '93 Camry XLE. It's a one-family car, owned and hand-me-downed since new. My family and I put 210,000 mi. on it before the motor finally spun a bearing. And another 35,000 or so after the engine swap, before the trans finally started acting up. Unbeknownst to us, the trans cooler had gotten clogged up shorty after the engine swap, so the t'axle was getting hot and basically cooking itself from the inside out. Despite this, she still soldiered on as my commuter, doing about 100 mi/day for many weeks before the trans finally started showing signs of distress. I got a chance to see the innards of the t'axle just before the rebuild and saw the scoring on some of the planetary gears, etc. By all rights, it never should have run as long as it did. My favorite saying is: when 'yotas are taken care of, they run good--but when they break, they break good too.

To their credit, the Tuskeegee Airmen have a feather in their cap that places them among the creme de la creme. IIRC, they're the only WWII unit to have never lost a single escorted bomber to enemy fighters--no other unit can claim that. I guess flak doesn't count; that'd be a condition beyond anyone's control? They were certainly the "good shepherds."

All I can think is: mind that blind spot....

Heh, P-40s kick a$$. Can anybody remember what model Capt. "Wild" Bill Kelsoe was flying in 1941?

Yes, I've only seen the occaisional P-47 or Me109 at Hell-Mart, and once a "Sky Captain" P-40. Odd thing I noted on the 21st Cent w'site: for the regular Curtiss, it says "For political reasons, the P-40s come with a blank, round blue field on the wings. Insignia stickers are enclosed in the box and are meant to be applied to these fields by purchasers." I wonder what they could mean? Political reasons? over 50 yrs after the fact?

To their credit, the "PJ" Mustang does look a lot like one of the Multimatic[?] Fords running in the Grand Am series. It actually was the first to run the "retro-Boss" livery, back in '05. I'm curious to see just which racing series Chevy and Dodge will "officially" take their respective new cars into when they're introduced in the next couple of years? It's almost certain they will, since m'sports will be a natural tie-in with their performance images. With the demise of the Trans-Am [had become nothing but a "silhouette" series anyway], and the impending return of the pony car wars, you can bet there are a bunch of brand-image managers and performance division directors poring over these very matters even now. *edit* The dash/layout of the new 'Stang looks pretty good--a #$%! sight better than the Camaro concept, that's fer sure. I just hope that concept car's layout doesn't make it to production, cause it's just poorly laid out. Vital gauges--for a car that's supposed to be "performance oriented," like oil pressure, and eng. temp--put down in a "black hole" in the center cosole under the dash?! Just poor ergonomics. Way to go, Chevy--let the crack-smoking monkeys leave the board room and venture into the design studios too, did we?

"Italian design house and coachbuilder Zagato has released a preview photo of its newest creation, the one-of-a-kind Ferrari 575GTZ. While the development of the custom Ferrari was announced at the Geneva Motor Show this spring, Zagato decided to unveil the car at the famous Villa d'Este concours d'elegance in Italy later this month, where the car's iconic predecessor, the Ferrari 250 GTZ, debuted 50 years ago. The new Ferrari GTZ was commissioned by Japanese car collector Yoshiyuki Hayashi (pictured), who specifically requested that Zagato make a unique 575 in the style of the famous 250 GTZ berlinetta. The aluminum-bodied car incorporates a host of styling cues from Zagato's classic custom sports cars of the '50s, including the two-tone color scheme of the 250GTZ. Zagato promises a full set of photos of the new car closer to its debut date of April 22. In the meantime, we'll have to be content with this picture of the GTZ and its happy owner."

It just goes on and on and on and on..... Hertz' rent a racer not enough to get you excited? The California Special doesn't tickle your fancy? Shelby's turbo-6 and hot V8's don't seem different enough? Well [yet another] tuner will get in on the "heritage" act, this time Saleen, in conjunction with Parnelli Jones, will vie for your muscle car aspiratinos with the limited ed. Mustang inspired by Jones' own Trans-Am steed of 1970. Looks like production will be limited to 500 units, and cost $50,000 ea. [are they fu--ing kidding?] Underhood motivation will come courtesy a higher than std revving 302c.i. making 370hp/370lb-ft. Other touches include a replica '70 replica rear wing, 302 valve covers, suspension and brake upgrades, and interior touches to match the "grabber orange" paint. The #15 roundels will be removable and reusable static cling--thank bloody Christ; that'd look incredibly tacky if left on while driving on the street. 'Bout as bad as a street-stock Monte Carlo painted black with a big a$$ no. 3 on the doors. Considering the Boss was an entirely different body-style of Mustang, it kinda looks out of place. There should have been some notable '65-'66 teams they could have taken inspiration from? Nice T-A minilite-inspired wheels though.

LOL, a tad bit o/t but cool vid of an R/C Spitfire, w/some neat sfx dubbing to make it sound more realistic. http://frettavefur.net/video/yt/spitfire_sfx.wmv and a B25: http://frettavefur.net/video/yt/b25.wmv and an Me109: http://frettavefur.net/video/yt/me109.wmv heh, R/C planes are neat...

I dunno--there's only one bad thing about Milia 639. There's that whole black widow vibe she's got going; you know, the whole "I-shall-kill-you-unless-you-can-best-me-in-combat" thing with her. And unless you've got blue hair and your name is Jenius, what chance have you got?

The most surprising one for me was a vid with b'ground music courtesy of--get this--a collabo w/Busta Rhymes and Ozzie Osbourne. So unusual and different, it caught me off guard, but I was like "hey, that's so different it actually works." Certainly not the first time hip hop has tapped into "hard rock" for musical inspiration--credit for the original merging of the two genres would have to go to RUN DMC/Aerosmith's "Walk This Way"? Didn't Ice T do some of the same with a metal band providing b'ground licks for one of his albums? I'm surprised no enterprising hip hop artists have attempted to tap rock icons AC/DC for a collabo effort. Actually, the vocals to "Back in Black" even almost sound a little like rap, or "rock-rap" or something [is that Angus Young lead singing? or was he the original lead that died?]

Considering the convenience of the scale, GI Joe figs ought to be rockin vehicles like these into combat. Yeah, I know: they aren't "new" or "high tech" enough to seem cool to today's kids or something. But it's a helluva lot better than that Sigma 6 crap they've been pushin the past couple of years. When chains like Wal-Mart carry these toy lines, they sell for somewhat reasonable prices, like $39 or so. But selection/stock is pretty much dodgy at best. *edit* couldn't attach pic of the Huey gunship [dammit], but toys like these are damned cool.

Ooh yeah, she's a hottie too--but there's something that's just not quite right. Those *ahem* combat uniforms are definitely alluring. But the whole "complete synthetic body" thing is a bit creepy. You gotta wonder: would she feel all cold and plasticy? And Claudia's definitely ranked close to the top of the list. Much love fo mah sistas. Intelligent, spunky, and tall. I've always had a thing for tall women. Naomi Campbell would make a good live-action Claudia. *drool*

Oh yeah, can't forget: Toecutter (Mad Max): runs down innocent women and babies w/out a second glance; all around raging anti-authority arsehole and psychopath "Jesse, Jesse, Jesse! You've not got a sense of humor!" Devil (Legend): Tim Curry brought across a pretty charismatic and devious bad guy, in spite of his outwardly grotesque and seemingly brutish looks in this flick. Was he supposed to be "The Devil" or just "A Devil" in this movie?

Ford execs and mag writers always want to credit the '67 Mustang as the biggest "inspiration" behind the design direction of the new model--but I've always thought it was definitely closer to this model 65-66 fastbacks. One thing I wish they hadn't made so extreme is the rising beltline, creating that "wedge" shape to the body, like a soap box racer, or a doorstop. Oh well, just par for the course with modern automotive designs, I guess. I didn't know guys would swap the engines out of them though. I'd heard the stories about people renting them for a w'end, putting cages in them and taking them to the track for racing, then cutting the cage back out so they could return it to Hertz on Monday. Now there's and idea for a magazine story. Maybe I'll e-mail Grassroots M'sports, Popular Hotrodding or somebody like that; ask if somebody'll take the "challenge," see if they can conceivably rent a new 'Stang GT-H, put a cage in it, take it to a race [something like SCCA T-1 or a NASA event], then get the cage back out and the car back by Monday?