Ferris Bueller's Day Off Ferrari scene

I'm taking a couple of days off.  In the meantime, enjoy this.  There will be a post tomorrow morning, and another on Saturday.  Stay tuned.

Zimbabwe to adopt Chinese yuan?

Holy sh&t.

Well, maybe.

Anti-austerity protests/strikes in EU

Two observations:
1. This reminds me of when the IMF tried to shove unpopular austerity programs down the throats of Latin American countries in the 1980s and 1990s.
2. P.I.G.S. (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain).  That is creative, insulting, and a bit true.  Oink, oink.

1970s Chevrolet Small Car Guide Foreign/Domestic

Before I get to the good stuff, I want to preface this post with two points.  First, where did I get this?  I bought this guide from Bergstrom's Antique & Classic in Port Townsend, Washington.  You may remember it as the small coastal town I stayed at recently that had cars as varied as LaForza SUVs and Volvo police cars.

Well, Mr. Bergstrom is a local with a huge passion for all things automobile.  Here is just a random sampling of items you can buy at his store:

• a classic Morgan roadster,
• a Matchbox Citroen SM,
• a Lotus Elite brochure,
• a World War II-era nudie calendar (for your garage),
• 1970s OEM Honda touch up paint,
• this Chevrolet guide.

So what is this guide that I have?  Imports were becoming a looming menace to GM in the mid-1970s.  So corporate had a bunch of lowly employees draw every subcompact, compact, and mid-sized car in the U.S. market, and publish detailed performance specs along with what features (standard and optional) each car came with.  I'm sure every salesman memorized all the information.  Does that Mazda RX-4 come with a tach as standard equipment?  Why, of course.

Without further ado...

1992 L.A. Riot looters and the Korean shop owner reaction

More info here.

And just to keep it car related, that's a sharp first gen Acura Legend.

F1 trucks photos

Scuderia Ferrari Iveco trucks

Sauber Renault truck

Mercedes GP Mercedes trucks

Force India MAN truck

FIA Mercedes truck

HRT box truck (Isuzu? Mercedes Atego).  Aw, this is just sad.  No wonder they let Sakon Yamamoto pay for a seat to race.

Photo credit.

Double decker bus drag race and drifting

John L.'s Ford Falcon XD ute

I was perusing Bolly Blog, an Australian blog about all things Bolwell.  But instead of focusing on the Bolwells, my wandering eyes focused on a white ute in the background.  It turns out to be the author's personal ride, a Ford Falcon XD XF ute.  Having never laid my eyes on a real life ute, whether Holden or Ford, I find them fascinating.

Logos with star patterns/clusters

Flag of Alaska: Big Dipper + Polaris

Subaru: Pleiades / Seven Sisters

Orion Pictures: Orion constellation

Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) selling Suzuki Samurais

Ushuaia airport in Tierra del Fuego

Airport at center left.  Credit.

I can't believe it.  After years of daydreaming and map-staring, I finally pulled the proverbial trigger and bought my plane tickets for my South America trip.  One of the airports I will be visiting is at the End of the World, at the southern tip of South America.

It is officially called Aeropuerto Ushuaia-Malvinas Argentina.  (The name really threw me off when I was booking the tickets; I thought I was going to land in a field of sheep near Stanley.)  Apparently, Argentina wants to perpetuate the legal fiction that it still owns the Falklands.  It's kind of like the government in Taiwan continuing to have legislators representing all the provinces of China even after losing the civil war to the Reds.

Well, what can I say?  It's beautiful.  I'm getting a new camera to document everything.  Prepare to be bored with the ultimate 14 megapixel vacation "slideshow".

Are you migrating to Hooniverse?

Hooniverse: Grassroots, irreverent, esoteric.

Last week, I finally signed up on Hooniverse as a commenter.  And yesterday, I learned that my favorite car buff and inspiration for much of my blog, Murilee Martin of Jalopnik, is retiring.  So the question is, will you be spending more time on Hooniverse as a result?

I got hooked on Jalopnik a few years ago because of all the El Camino variants; Project Car Hell; Down On the Street; and posts about oddball 1960s-70s-80s iron, both foreign and domestic.  Now, aside from the weekends, Jalopnik is just a bit too slick and hip for my taste, though I still read it religiously.

So is Hooniverse the future (or the past)?

Ronin chase scene Citroen XM Audi S8 Mercedes 450SEL 6.9

This is one of my favorite chase scenes.  I hope to drive a Citroen XM some day.

Skip to 1:10 for the chase.

2010 Orinda Car Show photos

Fall is here and rain is coming.  This is the last car show of the year.

Two Aston Martins, old and semi-new.  I had no idea Aston Martin made pre-war cars.  Also, I've never seen a live DB7 Zagato before.

Odd, double bubble rear windshield.

Supercharged Studebaker Avanti.

This is my favorite car at the show.  Alpina BMW 2800CS.  The bumper-less front and rear ends make it look like a boat.

I have to research the meaning behind the Alpina logo.

Saab Monte Carlo 850

This ain't the Bible Belt.

White Jags.

Swiss and American army rigs.

Pinzgauer.

Ferrari 330GT "Chinese eyes"

Those curves!

Obligatory spectator lot shot.

2009 Orinda Car Show pics here.