Automotive News

Filed under: Japan, Toys

Click image for photo gallery

Ok, they’re not all crossovers — one of them’s a Prius, the Corolla Fielder’s a wagon, and the Honda Stream’s an MPV — but Takara Tomy’s new CAUL R/C lineup is still CUV-heavy. The nicely-detailed palm-sized R/C cars cost just ¥600 in Japan (a little over $5 at current exchange rates), and while that low price makes them very appealing as kids’ toys, the company expects to sell a lot of them to male R/C aficionados between the ages of 20 and 30. The budget-friendly price point also encourages collecting, which is, of course, good for Takara Tomy, which plans to release a total of 28 different models. Incidentally, CAUL seems to be an acronym for Car Action Units Line. Yeah, we don’t quite get it either.

The initial 7 cars offered are:

• Honda Crossroad
• Honda Stream
• Toyota Corolla Fielder
• Toyota Harrier
• Nissan Murano
• Nissan Dualis
• Toyota Prius

[Source: Takara Tomy via Carview]

 

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Filed under: Etc.

Taking the iconic Eames Shell Chair and improving it for the modern world, Garageworks Industries did up the classic design in carbon fiber. Not strictly auto related maybe, but we can totally see this in our garage, as we idle away the hours talking about or working on our rides. Especially if those rides happen to have a healthy dose of cf themselves, like the Lambos in the pics.

Just like the original Eames chair showed off its fiberglass construction for all the world to see, these GI chairs are bare cf, and they are gorgeous. The most unfortunate part is that the GI website isn’t really set up and their blog doesn’t talk about price or availability. But click over and you’ll see a few pics of both the rocker and the regular shell chair (above), as well as a classic student chair too (right) - all beautiful.

Thanks, Jay.

[Source: Garageworks Industries via daddytypes.com]

 

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Filed under: Government/Legal, Green, Plants/Manufacturing, Ford

Ford’s recent Q2 good news shows that it’s making progress in cleaning up its own messes. Still, there are plenty of messes that need to be addressed — a literal one being the land under its Twin Cities production plant in Highland Park, Minnesota. The factory, in use since 1925, will be closed next year. Before Ford can sell the land to developers, the company needs to clean up eight decades of toxic contamination and get the land environmentally certified by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) so that its value can be assessed.

There are more than 70 “hot spots” on the 138-acre plot where pollutants including oil, solvents, paint, batteries, gasoline, diesel, lead, ethylbenzene, toluene, and xylenes have contaminated the ground. The startling variety is partly due to the fact that many of the chemicals were dumped on and in the ground before modern environmental regulations prevented such behavior — like when an unpaved testing track was sprayed with waste oil to prevent dust, standard practice in 1942. Yet those are just the contaminants that Ford knows about. The company is awaiting results of more soil and groundwater samples recently taken.

[Source: Star Tribune via The Truth About Cars]

Continue reading Another expensive mess for Ford: Cleaning up its Twin Cities site

 

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Filed under: Green, Tech

Etruk, a UK company, is selling a do it yourself biodiesel machine that will turn your fry grease into fuel for just pennies a gallon! For just £895 ($1,821) you can buy its smallest distiller that turns out 40-liter batches. Etruk’s site says it’s perfect for keeping a single car fueled. Or you can step up to the largest machine, which costs £2,095 ($4,265) and churns out 150 liters of fuel at a time. Just the right amount says the site for someone who wants to start their own biodiesel fueling station.

While it’s legal for Brits to make their own highly-flammable fuel right in their own back yards, it’s not clear how U.S. authorities would react. We can easily see your neighbors freaking out at the site of this thing next to your kids’ swing set. So before you go ordering one of these, check your state and local laws. That is, unless you’re just dying to know what Guantanomo is like in the fall.

[Source: Gizmodo]

 

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Filed under: Recalls/TSBs, Ford

This one almost slipped past us as we readied for the weekend, but Ford announced a big recall today, involving 3.6 million vehicles with a faulty cruise control switch that could potentially cause a fire. This is essentially a follow-up to the January recall involving 6 mil light trucks for basically the same concern. This newest recall affects about a dozen different Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models from model years 1992-2007. Ford is apparently undertaking this latest recall in response to complaints that the speed control deactivation switch is always on.

According to Ford spokesman, Dan Jarvis, “Customers remain concerned about the long-term durability of the speed control system and about the safety of their vehicles.” Jarvis admitted that the company had received “a few reports of fires” in Crown Vics already, but no deaths, injuries or accidents from this problem.

The full list of vehicles being recalled is a long one: 1998-2002 Ford Ranger, 1992-1997 Lincoln Town Car, 1992-1997 Ford Crown Victoria, 1992-1997 Mercury Grand Marquis, 1993-1998 Lincoln Mark VIII, 1993-1995 Taurus SHO, 1999-2001 Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer, 2001-2002 Ford Explorer Sport, 2001-2002 Ford Explorer Sport Trac, 1992-1993 E150-350 vans, 1997-2002 E150-350 vans, 1993 Ford F-Series pickups, 1993 Ford Bronco, 1994 Mercury Capri, 2003-2004 Ford F-150 Lightning, and 1995-2002 Ford F53 motor homes.

Letters will also be sent to 177,000 owners of similar vehicles in Canada, Mexico and Europe.

In case you’re counting, and we know some of you are, this is sixth recall for speed control system concerns by Ford since 1999. Altogether there have been 10.4 million vehicles involved.

Thanks for tips, everybody.

[Source: Forbes]

 

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Filed under: Time Warp, Etc.

Click above image for huge high-res gallery of our visit to the Lyon collection.

A little while back, a very special invitation was dropped in our laps. As part of a celebration for one of our friends, the doors to the Lyon private collection were being swung wide open. The name might not be familiar to all of you, but here in Southern California, General William Lyon is a name that commands respect. General Lyon, as his title might imply, had a very distinguished military career that spanned more than 30 years from the onset of WWII through the Vietnam era. Fifty years ago, he also started building homes (originally for returning military personnel) in SoCal with his father and brother. William Lyon Homes, Inc. has gone on to be one of the largest builders in the area with nearly 100,000 homes built.

But all of that pales in comparison to the reason why we know him here at AB. The General owns one of the finest private collections of award-winning classics in the country. Some 60 of those vehicles are on display to the lucky few who get to visit his private estate and tour the small museum he had built to show them off. Perhaps calling this a “Warehouse” is a stretch, but it is a surprising find, and we consider ourselves very fortunate to have been allowed inside.

Follow the jump for more details about the collection, and don’t forget to check out the huge gallery, as well.

Continue reading Warehouse Wonders: Lyon’s pride and joys

 

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Filed under: Videos

If the title of this story has thrown you off a little, here’s the lowdown:

A couple of guys in a modified Datsun S30Z/240Z running a 7MGTE lifted out of a Toyota Supra come across a black Ferrari F430 and decide to give it chase while filming the whole thing on camera. It’s hard to say if the driver in the Ferrari was really pushing it but it was amazing to see the old Datto keep up. This is also the part where we say that racing like this on public roads is inconceivably stupid.

[Source: YouTube via GrandJDM]

Continue reading VIDEO: Toyota-powered Z chases F430

 

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Filed under: Etc., Euro, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo

The New York Times is reporting that Ford is expecting to wrap up its sales of Jaguar and Land Rover by September 30, and of Volvo by the start of winter. Fresh off its shedding of the majority of Aston Martin, Ford has made the decision to rid itself of a majority of shares in the other premium brands under its corporate halo. The legal and financial people have already started working on the bidder information packets, according to Times sources.

While the Jag/Rover sale has been public for a little while, it wasn’t until just last week that Ford publicly acknowledged it was looking for bids for Volvo, which they’ve controlled since 1999. Jaguar was purchased in 1990 and Land Rover a decade later in 2000. Among the bidders for Jag/Rover are recent Chrysler Group buyer, Cerberus Capital Management, as well as TPG and Tata Motors. Although BMW has been mentioned as a possible suitor for Volvo, it’s still too early in the process to get a list of names together.

[Source: NY Times via just-auto, sub. req.]

 

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Filed under: Car Buying, Crossovers/CUVs, Ford

click above image to build and price your own 2009 Ford Flex

An astute Autoblog reader tipped us off to a new link on Ford’s main product website. The link takes you to a page where you can build your own 2009 Ford Flex. It appears Ford wants to know what you’d like on your Flex, so they’re allowing the public to build their own and will analyze what’s hot and what’s not before the final production version appears.

Pricing information is included when building your Flex, and while preliminary and far from official dogma, it gives us a general idea of where Ford’s head is at concerning the cost of its Flex. According to the site, the base SE model that comes standard with Ford’s corporate 3.5L V6 and six-speed transmission, foglamps and 18-inch painted aluminum wheels will start at $28,700 for front-wheel drive and $30,620 for all-wheel drive.

Follow the jump for pricing info on other Flex trim levels, including the SEL and Limited for both FWD and AWD.

Thanks for the tip, Tagg!

Continue reading 2009 Ford Flex preliminary pricing starts at $28,700

 

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Filed under: Spy Photos, Sports/GTs, Hyundai

Here’s another spy photo of Hyundai’s upcoming rear-wheel-drive coupe, but this time of its lightly disguised rear end. Sort of looks like an Infiniti G35 rear, with similarly styled taillights and overall proportions. Apparently the spy photog captured this “Hyundai Mustang” as some are calling it, right at the perfect moment when the test engineer stopped to retrieve something from the trunk.

As we recently reported, this new coupe was finally acknowledged to be rear-wheel drive by Hyundai, even though most of us knew that a long time ago. It will likely be a Tiburon replacement based on the new RWD platform the company is developing for its Genesis luxury sedan. It should show up half a year to a year after the sedan, and might even come as a convertible. The engine is expected to be a V6, but there are still rumors of the new corporate V8 being offered as well, despite the naysayers.

Thanks for the tip, Kevin!

[Source: WorldCarFans]

 

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