Over 100 years of Chicago Auto Show pictures!

This is the mother lode, ladies and germs.  Pictures from every single Chicago Auto Show.  The following is just a small sampling from the 1985 show.  It was someone's job to sift through boxes of old photographs, scan them, and caption them. 

Newt's attack ad: Romney speaks French!

There is no greater insult in American politics than to accuse your opponent of being cultured and multilingual.

Honda Civic animated ad

Via Japanese Nostalgic Cars.

Mitt Romney's Mexican cousins

Corruption in China, a case study

Chinese sanitation worker pay stub.  Monthly net income: 1,061.08 RMB = $168.14.  Source.

Chinese government and Communist Party officials are a bit extravagant with their car purchases.  For example,

• a $560,000 chocolate-colored Bentley registered in Beijing to the CCP,
• the People's Liberation Army has a $330,000 black Maserati, and
• about 20,000 Audi A6s are owned by government officials.

So the well-meaning central government wants to curb excessive spending by limiting the cost of the cars and their engine sizes.  So what happens as a result?  There is a run on "2.0 liter" badges to downgrade the luxury cars.  And what's worse?  The corrupt officials demand inflated receipts on these badge purchases to pad their expense accounts.  Un-f'ing-believable.

Source.

Mossad blows up Iranian Peugeot

No doubt.

Chinese skaters in Mongolia

If the CCP is trying to slow down the Westernization of its citizens, it's failing.  This is pretty hilarious.

"Where do we Land?" (Full Length) Converse China trip to Mongolia from Patrik Wallner on Vimeo.

Replacing a VW Phaeton transmission, the saga

A 2004 V8 Phaeton owner on VWVortex had to have his transmission replaced and posted these photos.

The guy bought the car in April 2010 with 80,000 miles on it.  By 94,000 miles, the car started acting funny while shifting from 1st to 2nd.  For a brief moment, the engine would rev up a couple hundred RPM, as if the transmission was in neutral, before engaging into 2nd.  The tech diagnosed it as a "flare shift" and concluded that it was only going to get worse.

Fortunately, the guy bought a service contract/extended warranty.  The warranty company offered two choices: the company would pay for a used 70,000 mile transmission or the owner would have to pay an extra $2,000 for a rebuilt transmission (that's the cost differential between a used unit and a rebuilt unit).  He opted for the rebuilt transmission.  His research revealed that a rebuilt transmission cost around $4,500. 

 

Here is the mechanic disconnecting all the fluid lines.

Disassembly instructions.

The engine and transmission will be lowered onto this table.  Note that it is in two pieces, for when the engine and transmission are separated from each other.

They forgot to unhook an oxygen sensor wire.

 

Old transmission.

New transmission.

Do we need these extra parts?

These pictures were taken in June 2011.  Within a couple of months, the new transmission was experiencing the same problem, only between 2nd and 3rd gear.  The shop updated some software, and it ended up shifting even worse.  The owner then waited two weeks for a valve body from Germany.  After installing the valve body, the flare shift was still there.

The saga continues.

Jon Huntsman rides to victory (motocross ad)

Now that's a presidential candidate!

Gingrich Super PAC's Romney attack ad video (trailer)

That millions of dollars are being spent by the surrogates of the various presidential candidates is astounding.  Gingrich's Super PAC is spending up to $5 million to air this half-hour "documentary", attacking Romney's record in the private sector.  The $5 million is from Sheldon Adelson, the 16th richest person in the world.  He owns the Venetian Casino in Vegas and Macao.