Simanaitis Says

On cars, old, new and future; science & technology; vintage airplanes, computer flight simulation of them; Sherlockiana; our English language; travel; and other stuff

Monthly Archives: January, 2015

BAD NEWS FOR BIOFUELS

RECENT ANALYSES by the World Resources Institute question the contribution of biofuels to the sustainability of food and climate. The paper “Avoiding Bioenergy Competition for Food Crops and Land,” http://goo.gl/A8mt2m, … Continue reading

January 31, 2015 · Leave a comment

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS SUMS THEM UP

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS (www.autonews.com) has been around since 1925. Originally Automotive Daily News based in New York City, it moved to Detroit in 1933 and by 1938 took the name we … Continue reading

January 29, 2015 · 1 Comment

HOLD ON TIGHT!

IT WAS four years before the earliest pilots of heavier-than-air craft invited anyone else aboard—more properly, atop—their flying contraptions. Once passengers tried it, a good number took up flying on their … Continue reading

January 28, 2015 · 1 Comment

ADVERTISING IN AN EARLIER AGE

BEING A child of the 1940s, I am attracted to its arts, its music, its radio, its culture and ambience, even its hype. With this in mind, I’m happy to … Continue reading

January 27, 2015 · Leave a comment

THE VOIELLO MARILLE—BY GIUGIARO

ENTHUSIASTIC FOLLOWERS of Italian design may recall the 1983 Voiello Marille by Giugaro. Indeed, Giorgetto Giugiaro is one of the most highly regarded designers in the world, named Car Designer … Continue reading

January 26, 2015 · 1 Comment

CASTLES—ROB’S, LUDVIG’S, SCOTTY’S AND WILLIAM RANDOLPH’S

NOT COUNTING my visits to castles actually occupied by royals (I’ve been to Windsor), I’ve visited four castles, each memorable in a different way. One of its owners I’ve known … Continue reading

January 25, 2015 · 1 Comment

RING, RING. PLEASE ANSWER THAT

FOR SOME unstated reason, wife Dottie and I have been known to answer phone calls from each other in manners other than a straightforward “hello.” I believe part of this … Continue reading

January 24, 2015 · 3 Comments

KLEMANTASKI’S FINE EYE

LOUIS KLEMANTASKI produced fine photography of the greatest eras of motorsport. The period 1935 – 1939 had Tazio Nuvolari contesting (and finally joining) the Third-Reich-sponsored mights of Auto Union and … Continue reading

January 23, 2015 · 3 Comments

FLYING AROUND THE WORLD—IN 1920?

A WONDERFUL poster came my way through Facebook car/aviation colleague Tom Heitzman. The Lake Aero Corporation of Bridgeport, Connecticut, proposed an ambitious plan to fly around the world—in 1920. Lake … Continue reading

January 22, 2015 · 1 Comment

FOLLOWING A SCENT

SHERLOCK HOLMES used his highly perceptive senses as essential tools in his deductions. His chronicler Dr. John H. Watson often praised Holmes’s uncanny ability of identifying a culprit’s features or … Continue reading

January 21, 2015 · 1 Comment