GETTING THE COLOR RIGHT
AS REPORTED in Science magazine, 3 May 2013, researchers have solved a historical quandary with plenty of time to get things right by early 2015, the 150th anniversary of a … Continue reading
FERRARI 212 EXPORT BARCHETTA
THE 1951 Ferrari 212 Export Touring Barchetta wasn’t the first Ferrari that I ever drove nor the most recent one. But it was certainly one of the most memorable. The … Continue reading
AN (OLD) WAY WITH WORDS
“Hear me, mother! Pull that black worm off the bark and give it to this old man. And no spitting in the ashes!” Amazingly enough, this is an ur-speech. Spoken … Continue reading
CHARLIE CHAN AND CHANG APANA
JUST AS Sherlock Holmes owes much to Scottish doctor Joseph Bell, famed Chinese-American investigator Charlie Chan owes a lot to Honolulu police detective Chang Apana. I’ve enjoyed accounts of them … Continue reading
STOUT BUSHMASTER 2000
WILLIAM BUSHNELL Stout designed the Ford Trimotor in the mid-1920s, but I doubt he imagined that—three decades later—he’d update his design and call it the Stout Bushmaster 2000. The story … Continue reading
MERCEDES-BENZ GLK250 BLUETEC
DIESELS AND Daimler-Benz go way back. In fact, the world’s first passenger car powered by Rudolf Diesel’s compression-ignition engine was the 1936 Mercedes-Benz 260D. The newly introduced GLK250 BlueTEC 4Matic … Continue reading
LAGO DI GARDA
THE LARGEST of Italian lakes, Lago di Garda is about 1 1/2 hours east of Milan, just past Brescia (of Mille Miglia fame). The lake has an irregular hatchet shape, … Continue reading
POETRY FROM INNES
INNES IRELAND was an extremely talented racecar driver—giving Team Lotus its first F1 victory in 1961—a wonderful raconteur and writer, and a dear friend. Stories galore come to mind. I … Continue reading
LAGO DI COMO
THERE IS timeless beauty surrounding the lakes of northern Italy. As identified in my 1927 Cook’s Traveller’s Handbook Northern & Central Italy, they are from west to east Orta, Maggiore, … Continue reading
E30 NONSENSE
WHEN WILL this ethanol fuel nonsense cease? We already have 10-percent ethanol “extending” our gasoline; that is, the gasoline is really E10. And then there’s E85 (85-percent ethanol/15-percent gasoline). It … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 