Damox's Car Blog

Or "how the local Ford dealership rips off my parents every two years!"

Here's a really informative article describing all the dirty sales tricks car dealerships and other businesses use to get you to open your wallet. A lot of people don't understand that many people are trying to trick them into a sale. They just trust that everyone who talks to them during the sales process is trustworthy and really cares about their best interests. I think everyone should read this article, it will probably save lots of people lots of money over their lifetime, and it will force salesmen to come up with new ways to make a sale, such as making better products and selling them at lower prices (ahem, Ford I'm talking to you right now, cough).
TOP TEN RETAIL RIPOFFS EXPOSED!!

A blue Ford Escort, once owned by Pope John Paul II, was sold at auction for $690,000 to a Texas collector who plans on building a museum. The car lacks hubcaps, air conditioning, and a radio, but it does have a 1.1 liter engine, which puts out about as much horsepower as my riding lawnmower. The buyer is a lawyer who made a fortune in the Texas tobacco settlement, while the seller could barely afford clothes and food. He had hoped bidding would reach $3 million, but it never even came close to cracking the $1 million mark.
John Paul II's Ford Sells for $690,000 - Yahoo! News

Here's a fantastic commercial for the Pontiac GTO "The Judge", featuring Paul Revere & The Raiders. The band plays a background song customized for the car, while the GTO races across what appears to be the Bonneville Salt Flats. Freakishly weird, but thoroughly entertaining.
Bedazzled!: "The Judge" TV Commercial

One of the more interesting concept cars to be displayed at the Tokyo Auto Show this year was the Mercedes-Benz F 600 Hygenius. I know what you're thinking, it's a little pretentious to include "genius" in the name of a car that hasn't even been produced yet. Indeed, the Hygenius, which uses a zero-emission fuel cell engine that will not reach market until at least 2012, will probably go through many changes before we ever get our hands on anything like it. They'll probably figure out a way to make it bigger and more Mercedes-like.

This is just not a great-looking car. It looks like one of those econo-boxes that are really popular in Europe but don't sell at all in the United States. With all those ugly reflective windows they could probably just throw on a couple solar panels, not that this car needs much more to increase fuel economy. The concept gets about 85 mpg, which will likely lead to a very good future in store for the United States and other countries where a major cost of living is gasoline consumption. These cars are very bad news to the countries that make 99.9% of their GDP from oil, and the other .1% from selling people who don't agree with the ayatollah.

What I'm getting at here is something all government leaders need to be concerned with: these cars are great for the environment and our economy, but they could lead to war with countries who want us to buy more oil. Does that make these bad cars? Not at all, but we do need to figure out a way to lower oil consumption and protect ourselves (not our wallets) at the same time.
SUPERCARS.NET - 2005 Mercedes-Benz F 600 Hygenius Concept

Here's an interesting little piece about the Honda FCX, a hydrogen fuel cell car that could have drastic implications on the future of our energy needs. The newest FCX concept can go 390 miles on a full tank, and it can be refueled using a system people will be able to integrate into their home. The Honda Energy Station, or HES, will use natural gas to supply electricity and heat to homes, along with supplying hydrogen to vehicles.
Green Car Congress: Hondas More Powerful Fuel Cell Concept with Home Hydrogen Refueling

Here are some pictures and instructions for making your own classic Batmobile. This is the 1966 version, which was by far the coolest car Batman ever drove, and yes, I did see Batman Begins.
Index of /batmobile1966

Anyone who buys a BMW M5 probably wishes it could go a little faster. Sure, the powerful engine could push it to 200 mph or more, but the speed limiter makes sure they never get above 150 mph. Hartge has come out with their own modified and customized M5, with no speed limiter. There are some upgrades to make sure the car is stable at uber high speeds, but to the untrained eye this is just another BMW that's been a little riced out. Of course, that untrained eye will receive a lesson in speed identification when it goes toe to toe with the Hartge M5 on the Autobahn, or any other place where it's possible to approach 200 mph without getting tossed in the slammer for the next 3 years.
2006 Hartge M5 Pictures and Specifications

A driverless Volkswagen designed by a team from Stanford University won the Grand Challenge, a 132-mile race across the Mojave Desert. Each team had to build a driverless car that could control itself across the entire course. These are not remote controlled cars, if they get stuck their computer's processing power is the only thing that can get them out. Last year's Grand Challenge was a comedy of errors, with vehicles going the wrong way, off the course, and even flipping over and burning. Stanley the Volkwagen from Stanford was the first vehicle ever to complete the challenge. Other vehicles completed the course in slower times this year, including a Humvee from Carnegie Mellon, a customized Hummer, and a Ford Escape Hybrid from Louisiana. The type of vehicle used did not seem to matter, as long as it was capable of off-road terrain. It was the computers and other high-tech gadgetry that the vehicles were equipped with that made the difference in this contest. The Grand Challenge is sponsored by the Pentagon, and the $2 million prize was funded by taxpayers.
ESPN.com - MORESPORTS - Stan's the Man, sort of: Robot wins $2M prize

I was just browsing through the lastest edition of the Guiness Book of World Records the other day, and I noticed that the land speed record for a blind driver was 144 mph, which seemed a little low to me. How hard would it be, I thought, to put a blind driver in one of those newer exotic sports cars that can go 200+ mph in the middle of the Bonneville salt flats or some other barren area with a good driving surface? Well, it looks like somebody was already thinking about this. A man will attempt to break the current record using a BMW M5, which is capable of over 200 mph with the electronic restrictions removed. With the speed limiter, the BMW will not exceed 155 mph, which isn't enough for a man looking (no pun intended) to smash this record.
gizmag Article: Date set for World Blind Land Speed Record attempt at 200mph

I wrote about this more in my business blog (see right side column), but I thought I should mention in here that GM sold its stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, which makes Subaru, and Toyota purchased nearly half of that stake. It's just one more sign that US automakers are slowly losing this game and are desperate for cash, while the Asian automakers have more money than they know how to spend.
AP Wire | 10/05/2005 | Toyota buys Fuji Heavy stake from GM

The big SUV, once a staple of the average American family, seems to be going the way of the station wagon. Ford Explorer, Ford Expedition, and Toyota Sequoia sales have all dropped in the past year. Even the Hummer H2, the true symbol of an affluent poseur, has seen sales drop, while the newer and smaller H3 has been selling out faster than George W. Bush after an election. It seems that $3.00/gallon gasoline prices in the United States have had an effect on buying habits, disproving that assertion made by the French newspapers that all Americans were fat, rich slobs who took no interest in discussions about wasting money. Just kidding, I love the French (vanilla ice cream, in the back of my freezer, mmmmmmmmm).
MSN Money - Extra: Is the big SUV dying?