I am not one to hang about whilst driving. Oh, I know how to cruise. And I know when cruising's the better part of valor. But there are times when I don't spare the horses. And sometimes, when I'm going Hell for leather, I get my clock cleaned. I remember driving a 911 on the autobahn at something like 170mph, hearing a far away fog horn sort of noise, looking into my rear view mirror and seeing a Mercedes S-Class about five inches off my rear bumper. On another occasion, I was piloting a Volkswagen Phaeton W12 on that very same stretch of de-restricted highway, looked back and saw a BMW M5 closing on my tailpipes like a heat-seeking missile. Less heroically, I was driving over the Braga Bridge the other day when a guy in a beat-up Buick Regal blew the doors off my Boxster S. He was ducking and diving and bobbing and weaving, cutting through the traffic like they were nothing more than pixalated patsies. Forget the Merc and the Bimmer; that's point and shoot material. The Regal driver was the one who earned my admiration. To drive a crap car like that at that speed requires tremendous skill, total commitment and boundless stupidity. How did he manage to live long enough to figure out he could do it? Anyway, most don't. Which may be all that tomorrow's Chinese drivers have in their favor.
10 Comments on “Daily Podcast: Darwin Rides Shotgun...”
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RF, you’re a Fall River man? You just brought back so many fond memories of that twisted web of highways around the battleship…
The knob on the wheel was called the “necker’s knob” because it freed up your right arm to go around the babe snuggled up next to you on the bench seat and still gave you the leverage to steer the car (which usually didn’t have power steering) with the other arm.
If it were an ‘86/’87 possibly not as crappy as you think it was, could have been the turbo/intercooled 6 – it was not just available in the Grand National but also the T-types and limiteds, so a very ordinary looking ‘86/’87 Regal can stomp nearly anything on the road today. Especially with replacement shocks they handle much better than you would think.
SavageATL :
Ah-ha!
Do you think it was this Regal? ;-)
SavageATL: The suspension stuff for those G-body Regals are pretty awesome, however RF posted a Regal similar to what he saw on the road, and that’s a 1989+ W-body: they are far from impressive, more of a death wish.
Then again, I’ve open tracked my Foxbody Cougar with enough authority to make Boxster and Corvette owners stand up and take notice…so you can polish any turd and make some waves.
You keep quoting 9 billion dollars as the profit last year for the oil industry. Clocking the population of the U.S. at 300 million or thereabouts, that comes out to 30 bucks a head in profit even factoring in things like the fuel used to deliver your not-directly-petrol-related goods to you. There’s no way its that little.
I KNOW THAT GUY, MANNY EARNHARDT!
Living in the area, being of Portuguese ancestery, commuting to Providence, RI and back everyday and knowing the large number of residence with similar ancestry, I like to refer to the drive from New Bedford, MA to Providence, RI as the Portuguese 500. If your not going 80 in bumper to bumper traffic you’re likely to get run over by a 20 something woman driving a Hyundai Accent with the small donut spare on the left front probably having slowed down from 90 mph to dial her cell phone.
The knob-thing is also known as a Suicide Knob.
These were much more useful back in the day with older vehicles when you had to turn a very-large steering wheel several rotations just to make a 90 degree turn (re: Dodge Valiant).
Dwight Schrute would be all for the Engish beet plan.
The TTAC algae biofuel project should have a big intake out in the gulf of mexico, and use a clean-ish nuclear reactor to drive impellers to suck up the water and algae. Seperate the algae to use for biofuel, and desalinate the water to solve the southeastern states’ drought emergencies.
I’ll expect my cut of the profits a month after it’s up and running. Thanks.