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

Author Archives: simanaitissays

STANGUELLINI—FROM TIMPANI TO MACCHINE SPORTIVE

REGIONE Emilia-Romagna is rightfully known as Motor Valley. This northern Italian region begat Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and the wonderfully passionate famiglia Stanguellini. In Modena, an ancient town of the region, … Continue reading

June 15, 2015 · 1 Comment

HAMLET—A GRAPHIC TALE

I WAS rereading Hamlet the other day. Not in The Annotated Shakespeare, but my Classics Illustrated comic book, a version that introduced a lot of us to “Stories by the World’s … Continue reading

June 14, 2015 · Leave a comment

THE GAME’S AFOOT, KIDS (AND GROWNUPS TOO)

NORTHBOUND DRIVERS on Interstate 5 in Santa Ana, California, encounter an outsized canted cube, the DiscoveryCube Orange County, a wonderfully interactive kids’ museum. The DiscoveryCube is also a destination this … Continue reading

June 13, 2015 · Leave a comment

RACING ON THE BOARDS

JUST AS roads of wood planks had their heyday, so it was with race tracks surfaced in this same material. In fact, the first board track in the U.S. was … Continue reading

June 12, 2015 · 2 Comments

ROAD & TRACK, PLANK AND BOARD, RESPECTIVELY

IN THE infancy of automotive travel—and racing—California was the home of a road—and a track—made of wood. Today, I share tidbits of plank roads; tomorrow, of a board track. The … Continue reading

June 11, 2015 · 2 Comments

ROBERT MERRILL: BARITONE AND MAN OF LETTERS

BARITONE ROBERT Merrill must have been a hoot as well as a Metropolitan Opera stalwart from 1945 to 1976. Well, there was the time in 1951 when the Met’s high-toned … Continue reading

June 10, 2015 · Leave a comment

TARUFFI’S BISILURI

PIERO TARUFFI was a race driver—and also a dott. Ing. This Italian doctorate, equivalent to the English MEng degree, gave Taruffi the ability, and ambition, to design his own competition … Continue reading

June 8, 2015 · 1 Comment

HAPPY 800TH, MAGNA CARTA!

IT WAS JUNE 15, 1215, that King John of England granted concessions to 25 of his barons at Runnymede, about 20 miles west of what’s now central London. From then … Continue reading

June 6, 2015 · Leave a comment

LIFE WITH A MOGGIE TRIKE

THE GOOD folks of HB Automotive just attended to a 12,000-mile servicing of my Honda Crosstour, an oil change of Mobil 1 Synthetic, a new oil filter and a look … Continue reading

June 4, 2015 · 5 Comments

HELLCAT SURVIVES SCORPIONS’ ATTACK OVER SOCAL

MY FAVORITE World War II fighter aircraft is the Grumman F6F Hellcat. Though I certainly respect this carrier-based stalwart’s record number of kills over the Pacific, my favorite tale involves … Continue reading

June 2, 2015 · 4 Comments