VENEZIA
ROBERT BENCHLEY had a good line: “Streets filled with water. Advise.” As a car enthusiast, I cannot fathom why this Italian city with flooded streets should hold my attraction. Yet … Continue reading
CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANS
THE CONCEPT of a continuously variable transmission, CVT, for short, has been around for years. There have been several variations on the theme and a good number of applications. In … Continue reading
EURO/BENZ HASSLE
THE EUROPEAN Union in Brussels, the Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest court, and Germany’s Daimler-Benz are arguing about keeping cool. At the core of this are the EU’s stringent CO2 regulations … Continue reading
TOUR DE FRANCE AUTO
BRUCE MALE, car collector extraordinaire, vintage race driver and fellow Arizona Copperstate participant (www.wp.me/p2ETap-VS), offered me the codriver role in his Maserati A6G Zagato for the Tour de France Auto, … Continue reading
NEW ARTISANS
LUDDITES FEARED technology would destroy their livelihoods 200 years ago. Today, some researchers claim that we may be losing the “race against the machine” yet again. However, others foresee a … Continue reading
VOUGHT XF5U
THE XF5U “Flying Flapjack” was one of the might-have-beens of aviation history. Its designer, Charles H. Zimmerman, was a talented aerodynamicist and member of NACA, the National Advisory Committee for … Continue reading
CREATIVE HEARING
AN EAR is a terrible thing to waste. In our family, we use the term “creative hearing” to describe our aural misunderstandings. Maybe your family experiences this communicational chaos too. … Continue reading
MINUTES OF KNOWLEDGE
WE’RE USED to sound bites, minutely clear and succinct, satisfying despite their brevity. Curiously, there have also been literary counterparts. And, wouldn’t you know, I have a modest collection of … Continue reading
CARS OF THE RAJ
OVERLOOKING FOR the moment the plight of a lesser populace, being a maharajah must have been grand—especially if one were a car enthusiast. Over the years, I’ve collected lore on … Continue reading
MEIJI-MURA
IT WAS during the Meiji era, 1868-1912, that Japan more than opened to western influence. The country, isolated by choice for the previous 300 years, enthusiastically assimilated western ways in … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 