I'm afraid I can't offer anything as deep or thought provoking as something like Thoughtful Thursdays, but since Eye of the Tiger isn't going to happen any time soon, here's that promised over and over again post of mine.
After many months of... gathering information, Cyby's Car Post is here.
So, to start off this post about those wondrous whirring hunks of metal that ferry you to and from selected destinations, I should give you a wee bit of background info first.
I like cars.
I know, shocking, right?
But it's true. I just like anything mechanical, and cars fall under that category.
The basics of any car is this:
So, to ‘wrench,’ meaning to work on cars, you have to have some knowledge as to what goes on under the hood and a descent supply of tools and funds. Anyone should know a bit about cars, even if you don’t like them, such as how to change a tire, when to shut the engine off if there’s suddenly a bad noise, or where the cup holders are. Most cars are stunning, some are part of history, and all are horribly inefficient, with the older cars and the new supercars being the most. Almost all car engines use a simple four stroke process: injection of fuel as the piston is down, compression of the fuel by the piston as it comes up, ignition of the fuel from the spark plug with the resulting explosion pushing the piston back down, and then removal of the exhaust from that explosion by the piston coming back up. The engine uses a crankshaft to transfer the up and down movement of the pistons into rotational movement, which is transferred to the fly wheel, which is connected to the transmission, which is connected to the driveshaft, which is connected to the differential, which finally connects to the rear wheels. There are some variations in different engines, such as in the rotary engine which has an odd number of pistons arranged in a circle with every other piston firing, or the Wankel engine, which has a single piston shaped like a triangle, but either way, only about thirty percent of their potential is used, with the seventy percent lost due to heat or friction.
To make a car stop, you jam your foot on the left of those two peddles under your right foot, which causes a box in the engine compartment to squirt brake fluid through a series of tubes to the calliper (the brightly coloured semicircle shaped thing seen on the inside of wheels on sports cars) which squeezes on the rotors (the circular thing that glows bright red after intense braking of the car) effectively stopping a car and saving your life once again. That is basically how a car works, and if you want it in much more detail with diagrams and videos, look it up online. And info on the third most important part, steering, too.
I actually wrote that techy stuff for an essay about cars a while back. It's astounding how useful copy and paste is.
Now for something even less deep: I give you the top five coolest cars ever.
Number 5: 1936 Stout Scarab.
Reminiscent of a VW bus, but it's so much cooler. Plus according to Wiki, it was the first van ever, but because they cost so much, very few were produced and purchased. Thankfully, there is a working SS still out there in a museum.
Number 4: Holden Efijy Concept.
I am a big fan of any car that looks good with a purplish paint job. Apparently based off of their Holden FJ.
Number 3: 2010 Morgan Aero SuperSports.
I am also a big fan of cars that have protruding fenders. It looks like a classic, but being a convertible with 300someodd horsepower, there will be many bugs in your teeth.
Number 2: 1975 Pontiac Trans Am.
I know, I am a little biased when it comes to this one, but they just look so sleek.
Chevy and Pontiac battled it out with similar cars over the years (T/A vs. Z28, Chieftan vs Bel Aire, etc.), but Pontiac shut down a while back. That's one of the reasons Pontiacs are so alluring to me. Not many people will say "Pontiac" if asked the question "What's the first car manufacturer that comes to mind?" Chances are, "Chevy" or "Ford" will come blurting out. I, however prefer those good old Iron Indians. They just have a bit more style and finesse to them.
And now, the all time coolest car according to me is...
The 1941 Ford Pickup.
It's just a beautiful vehicle. The way the lines swoop, the fenders that stick out from the body, and the fact it looks awesome and carries stuff at the same time.
And the chrome. Can't forget the chrome.
It's my goal to own one of these sometime in the future, restoring one from the ground up. I've seen a promising candidate on Auto Trader Classics, but I'm not sure she'll still be there when I eventually get a job and save up enough.
And now the honourable mentions: 1937 Timbs Special, 1939 Delahaye 165 Cabriolet, and the 1939 Duesenberg Coupe Simone.
And that is it.
That's the end of my car post.
I hope you all enjoyed it and learned a little something.
Peace and chicken grease and I bid you good car Googling.
~Cyby
P.S. I'm with James in thinking after EOTT, Back in Black should be next...
Sources:
Efijy pic: fluxauto.com
Morgan pic: ultimatecarpage.com
Stout Scarab pic: vwvortex.com
Trans Am pic: aaca.org
Ford pic: streetrodderweb.com
Good list, I like your choices going with the older cars. What year is the Holden Efijy Concept? I'm a Chevy guy but the old Fords were good though.
ReplyDeleteCool, looking forward to "Back in Black".
-James
Thanks, man! Yeah, I personally prefer the older cars to the newer ones.
DeleteThe Efijy made its debut in '05 at the Australian International Motor Show. In '07 it was named the U.S. concept car of the year.
I also like Chevy, but for some reason Ford just barely edges them out, although we have one of both.
Even before getting confirmation from That Dude, I've started work on the riffs, but the solo goes higher than my guitar can, so I'll have to either modify the song or try my dad's electric.
PACG.
~Cyby