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

MY FAVORITE FERRARI

I’VE DRIVEN a goodly number of Ferraris in my life. Several of the memorable ones were classics by the time I got behind the wheel. The 212 Export Touring Barchetta … Continue reading

September 7, 2013 · 2 Comments

HOLMES AND ANTHRACITE

IT’S ONLY rarely that I offer first-hand knowledge of a Sherlockian locale as described by his friend and colleague, Dr. John H. Watson. True, occasionally travels have taken me to … Continue reading

September 6, 2013 · 1 Comment

VINTAGE PARIS, BERLIN & HOLLYWOOD

WHAT WONDERFUL times they must have been: the vintage years of Paris, Berlin and Hollywood. Following World War I and even into the Great Depression of the 1930s, these three … Continue reading

September 5, 2013 · Leave a comment

IDENTIFYING NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS

A GOAL of the B612 Foundation is to save the world. Named for asteroid B-612 in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1943 book The Little Prince, the B612 Foundation plans to do … Continue reading

September 4, 2013 · Leave a comment

MERCEDES-BENZ W196 EX-FANGIO

A FABULOUS car, the 1954 Ex-Juan Manuel Fangio Mercedes-Benz W196 Grand Prix machine, recently changed hands for a fabulous price—$29.7 million. This Bonhams sale, at Goodwood Festival of Speed on … Continue reading

September 3, 2013 · 6 Comments

ENGLISH MAGIC

BETTY WALKER, wife of motorsports great Rob Walker, rest both their souls, taught wife Dottie and me about ancient Glastonbury, a revered site in southwestern England that’s been inhabited since … Continue reading

September 2, 2013 · Leave a comment

MASSON’S MEXICAN MELEE

FRENCH AVIATOR Didier Masson competed in the Dominguez Air Meet, held January 10 to 20, 1910, near Los Angeles and the first international flying competition in the U.S. What with … Continue reading

September 1, 2013 · 10 Comments

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

August 31, 2013 · Leave a comment

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

August 30, 2013 · 2 Comments

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

August 29, 2013 · Leave a comment