DOING THE CHAPMAN STRUT, AND OTHER MOVES
THE FIRST automotive front suspensions were beam axles with steering spindles at each end, only one step past a kid wagon’s pivoted assembly. Sturdy, simple and inexpensive, it communicated bumps … Continue reading
CHIUNE SUGIHARA—HERO OF LITHUANIA
STREETS IN Tel aviv, Israel, and in Kaunus and Vilnius, Lithuania, carry Chiune Sugihara’s name. Memorials in Jerusalem, Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo and Chestnut Hill, Massachuetts, celebrate his life. There’s … Continue reading
MY SAN FRANCISCO—AND WILLIAM GIBSON’S
WHEN SAN FRANCISCO comes to mind, I think of its cable cars, Morgan sports cars and Bill Fink’s Isis Imports Ltd., North Beach’s Caffe Sport—and, in utter contrast, the low-life/high-tech … Continue reading
IN A MUSEUM… NOT A LONG TIME AGO… NOT FAR, FAR AWAY
THE SEVENTH episode of Star Wars is more than a year away. (It opens in the U.S. on December 18, 2015.) However, there’s already a 1:31 teaser of The Force … Continue reading
ENHANCING THE PRIUS ON THE TRACK
TOYOTA’S TS040 World Endurance Championship race cars, like other cars in the LMP1-H category, are hybrids. So, of course, is the ubiquitous Toyota Prius. What’s more, the company reports that … Continue reading
HELLO, KITTY—FROM FERAL TO FRIENDLY
THREE RECENT events got me thinking about the world’s most popular pet, Felis silvestris catus, the domestic cat. First of all, Los Angeles hosted the first Hello Kitty Convention. Then … Continue reading
AMILCAR—A ROLLING SPIRIT OF THE ROARING TWENTIES
RACING, IT is said, improves the breed. And, maybe inadvertently, government improves the breed as well. Or at least racing and government combined to the benefit of the French Amilcar. … Continue reading
McCLINTOCK No. 1 AND COAL OIL JOHNNY
IN THESE days of fracking and horizontal drilling, seemingly seeking the last drop of petroleum, it’s comforting that the world’s longest-running oil well, McClintock No. 1, remains productive after 153 … Continue reading
DUCHESS OF ALBA, R.I.P.
IT ISN’T everyone whose ancestor’s nude portrait may hang in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. But for the late 18th Duchess of Alba, this was probably a whimsical sidelight … Continue reading
LOS ANGELES AUTO SHOW 2014
AUTO SHOWS are good fun, whether they’re overflowing with live-action glitz or merely new-car curious tire-kickers. Here are some tidbits from our local show of international status, the Los Angeles … Continue reading
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