VB Rubbernecks At A Cairo Car Accident

On a Friday afternoon ride (we take puppy Lotus out for rides,) we decided to take the highway to Maadi Carrefore, and do a loop around.

(Below): A bus stop


(Below): The bus stop farther down - (yeah, pile as much crap as you can on top of the bus!)


(Below): Just approaching a traffic jam


(Below): Closer...


(Below): Okay people, now you need to pay attention and click on photos for larger pics. Check out the blue road sign, with two arrows pointing down? Just behind the huge truck with the blue scene on the back, you can see wheels (blow it up by clicking on the photo). That's right. The vehicle is upside-down!


(Below): Again, same spot in the photo. Car has been up-righted, and facing perpendicular to the road. Remember, these people built the Pyramids, so they can certainly handle lifting a bus.


(Below): Vehicle has been righted - it's on it's wheels, and now parallel to traffic.


(Below): Another view.


(Below): Closer...


(Below): Aaaah! A blue and white bus!

VB found out from a witness, that the blue and white bus got a flat tire, skidded, and flipped over, landing upside-down. Alhamdullilah (Thanks to God) no one was injured.

Funkengroovin Wednesday - Lemons Are Green

"The Volkswagen missed the boat.

The chrome strip on the glove compartment is blemished and must be replaced. Chances are you wouldn't have noticed it; Inspector Kurt Kroner did."

Remember the old VW ad? (from murketing):

"There are 3,389 men of our Wolfsburg factory with only one job; to inspect Volkswagens at each stage of production. (3,00 Volkswagens are produced daily; there are more inspectors than cars.)

Every shock absorber is tested (spot checking won't do), every windshield is scanned. VWs have been rejected for surface scratches barely visible to the eye.

Final inspection is really something! VW inspectors run each car off the line onto the Funktionsprüfstand (car test stand), tote up 189 check points, gun ahead to the automatic brake stand and say "no" to one VW out of fifty.

This preoccupation with detail means the VW lasts longer and requires less maintenance, by and large, than other cars. (It also means a used VW depreciates less than any other car.)

We pluck the lemons; you get the plums."

And, for those of you who have seen the print ad, VB wants to celebrate the New Season of Mad Men, by celebrating "the lemon." ( The ad, that drove the ad men in Mad Men, mad last season.) How could an advertisement like that actually work? It just did, and has been considered a stroke of genius. Mad Men, VB's favorite TV show starts it's new season on July 27th. And, FYI, even Mother Jones Magazine has an article about this amazing show. (WTF? Doesn't Mother Jones have enough to chew on with the upcoming elections?) More articles about Mad Men at The LA Times and The New York Times, calling it "the smartest show on television."

So, today VB celebrates lemons! Obviously, the cars shown are not really lemons.

(Below): Lemons for sale at the local stand. Unlike the US, lemons are sold here before they turn yellow. And, no, your homemade Limoncello will not turn green.


(Below: Bright green bug, on Port Said Road (spelled Bort around here).


(Below): This beetle recently showed up, parked near VB's apartment. A lot of people drive by, stop, back up, and then ask the attending boab (doorman) about it. Apparently, it had been stored in the owner's garage for a long time. He then gave it to his driver to use. According to the boab, since being in storage, it's worth has gone up eight times in value. From what VB can tell this is a "66-"67 Beetle.






Question: Why does this car have black license plates?


(Below): Another lime bug we passed on Road 9.


(Below): And, sometimes lemons are actually yellow! (That is, among other colors too.)


(Below): Too many baskets? Maybe this is the way all those lemons are transported...



NEWS:
Ford at 100:
Mr. Ford’s T: Versatile Mobility
"Nearly as significant as the Model T’s ubiquity was its knack for performing many tasks, going far beyond basic transportation."

A Week of Car Shows, a Century of Transportation

The Racing Is Fast and the Police Aren’t Furious
"Police officers in Lodz, Poland, have tried to deal with illegal street races by helping to organize them."

Freakonomics: FREAK Shots: How Many Bumper Stickers Make a Bad Driver?
"Driving a car can be depersonalizing. That’s why drivers use bumper stickers, bobble-heads, fish brake lights, racing stripes, etc. to show others on the road their personalities, explains Tom Vanderbilt in his book, Traffic. A recent study by Colorado State University psychologist William Szlemko found a link between road rage and the number — but [...]"

Film and Geotag Your Next Car Accident

East Texan's Electric Car Creation
"Al Kelley has had a burning desire to build an electric car for nearly 30 years, and now with his "bug truck" as he calls it, that dream is a reality. A skilled auto-electrician, Kelley built the battery-powered bug with his bare hands." (Video available at the link.)

The Tygan 356 Speedster
"Yet in spite of its prosaic underpinnings the Tygan is effectively a new car selling for new money. Part of its value is in the stripping of the old Beetle. Behind the Dorset factory is a Beetle graveyard, where these old workhorses are stripped of mechanical components like carrion from old bones before the remains are sent to the scrapyard. It's rather a sad place, especially when you consider that each one of the 600 or so Chesil/Tygans built over the years means one less Beetle on our roads. Only the spine of the Beetle is retained, shortened by 11 inches and fitted with new but similarly shortened floorpans. Tygan prefers to fit the safer, better-riding rear suspension from later Beetles, but will still use original trailing arms if masochistic purists demand it." (Full article and photos at the link.)

He's got the recycling Bug: Man brings VWs back from dead
"To celebrate the 50-year milestone, its silver anniversary, Kulungian brought the car out of barn storage and did some needed work on it to make it again serviceable, this time registering it as an antique auto." (Full story and photo at the link.)

Another reason to watch Dancing With The Stars:
Christina Applegate, Alec Baldwin Grateful for Emmy Nods
"Want to see ... the glamorous life of an Emmy nominee: When we're done talking, I'm getting in my 1978 Volkswagen beetle convertible and driving to the garage so they can install a windshield [part]. Nothing like show business!" – Dancing With the Stars' host Tom Bergeron, who earned a nod in the brand new category for reality-competition show host."

(UK)
Classic search to celebrate 60th anniversary of VW Transporter
"As part of celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the Volkswagen Transporter, Paul Burke and his colleagues at Volkswagen Group Ireland have initiated a search to find Ireland’s classic Transporter van, pick-up, combi or passenger bus.

The company is seeking out the best example of a classic VW Transporter currently in existence here.

Owners in possession of such a vehicle are invited to post photos of their van along with stories relating to its history, journeys, maintenance or restoration projects to the 'Create your own Memories' section at the web site www.volkswagenvans.ie."

(UK)
Car Clinic
"Q I’ve always wanted to buy a funky camper van so I can give up my job and head off around Europe. I’m hankering after an old Volkswagen, probably of 1960s or 1970s vintage. Are VW vans as reliable as their reputation suggests or would I be better off with a less sexy Ford Transit conversion? HA from south London" (Go to the link for the answer.)

(UK)
Right Guard Plots 'VW Van' Live Gigs
"Three winners of a monthly competition on the Right Guard- sponsored Yahoo! 24-hour music festival guide website will be invited to watch a gig in the camper van and sample the deodorant.

The work also involves the creation of a mobile WAP site, while a documentary about the restoration of the 1965 VW van being used for the gigs is being seeded online." (Many photos of the van can be seen here, at flickr.)

Lastly, VB used to take her Vanagon down to the Windsor Locks drive-thru Starbucks, for a latte. Vagabondblogger Doggie would ride in the back seat, and bark at the attendant. It was her thrill for the day. She passed away a year ago, and Lotus the new pup has only had a couple of trips to the drive-thru. Now it seems, the Windsor Locks Starbucks (the one near Bradley International Airport) will be closing. It's a shame, since the staff there was much friendlier than the people operating the Enfield store (not drive-thru.) Plus, the Barnes and Noble, just a few hundred feet away in Enfield, sells Starbucks coffee! (Let's talk about the thought process on that one, shall we.) So much for that. And, regarding friendliness, Dunkin' Donuts would toss a donut hole to doggie for a treat! So there Starbucks! Go ahead a close your damn drive-thru. Oh, and BTW, VB's sure, when she's shopping at Evergreen Walk, (the only other Starbucks she patronized), that she'll find a replacement for that one too, since you seem to think the folks, in Connecticut, on the east side of the Connecticut River are not worth your time. Dunkin' Donuts has drive thrus all over, their cheaper, and their coffee is just as good!

Here's a full, alphabetical, list of state by state closures, throughout the US: All 600 Stores



Mad Men - Theme Song - "A Beautiful Mine" by RJD2

VB heads back to the US Tuesday night, for a two month stay. She will still continue postings from there. She has also been informed that the electricity at her house will be out most of Thursday too.

Vagabondblogger Eats Junk Food!

VB considers any chain food restaurant junk food. That's because, for the most part, the food choices are either deep fried, smothered in some thick, creamy cholesterol loaded sauce, or full of trans fats. Not only that, but in the US they suggest not reusing deep frying oil after a certain period. VB generally only eats junk food, while traveling. Unfortunately there's not a lot of choices in Maadi, restaurant-wise. How many Italian? Max's, Vittorios, The Cellar Door (previously known as The Swiss Chalet), and The Mermaid, Restaurant 55 has Italian, as well. Then there's all the Asian restaurants, which are too numerous to remember.

So, for a change, dining along the Nile has become a new past-time. It's either The Fish Market (a review), or TGI Friday's, where VB can get a sizzling dish of chicken fajitas. Not only do they offer a bit of a change, but splendid views. Both restaurants also offer beer and wine, as well.

(Below): Main Entrance to TGI Friday's.


(Below): Some feluccas, and a jet ski.

Funkengroovin Wednesday - On The Corniche

Traffic along the Corniche here in Maadi is always congested, but even more so the darker it gets outside. Hosting several restaurants all in a row, the area has a big draw. Places to eat include TGIF Fridays; an Asian restaurant called Fusion; a cafe (VB thinks probably for sheesha - she hasn't been there); and then The Fish Market, which is not as upscale as the one at The Intercon in Abu Dhabi, but very similar. All these restaurants have a wonderful view of the Nile, and as the evening goes on, regardless of weather, a refreshing breeze starts to blow. Below: Scenes from the Corniche.

(Below 4 Photos): A VW Bus mired in traffic.















(Below): Just had to get this - a flatbed truck loaded with fresh eggs, presumably being delivered to one of the restaurants.


(Below 3 Photos): And, going in the opposite direction, clearly a fan of Tweety Bird and No Smoking, another VW Bus. Looks like it might be for sale, too. Interesting windows.










(Below): The traffic cops, doing what they normally try to avoid doing - work (directing traffic.)



NEWS:

Gone West: Balloonist And Restaurant Magnate Rocky Aoki
"To most of the world, Hiroaki "Rocky" Aoki will be known best as the founder of the Benihana chain of Japanese steakhouses... described as "equal parts restaurant, magic show and performance art" by restaurant architect David Rockwell. But Aoki also left his mark on the aviation world, before passing away last week at the age of 69...
In addition to those exploits, Aoki also raced in the original "Cannonball Run" cross-country race, driving a Volkswagen Beetle stretch limo."

Monster tractor stunt causes extensive damage
"The tractor came to rest on top of an early 70s Volkswagen, but not before it tore a path west, causing damage to a pair of vans. The tractor was then guided south over the top of an Oldsmobile and a Ford. It plowed over five cars before it came to rest on the Beetle." (Photo at the link.)

Camper van man week 1: Southend to Skegness

Camper van man week 2: Skegness to John O'Groats

VW Transporter completes UK-India-UK
"Demonstrating Volkswagen’s reputation for durability, quality and appetite for adventurous travels, a Volkswagen Transporter has successfully completed a 27,000 mile trip to the southern tip of India and back." (Read more at the link, or go here for round the world 2007.)

Tired of your VW? Maybe you'd like a Tonke instead.
A giant step for vankind
"Part monster truck, part Little House on the Prairie, Tonke Campers are the creation of Dutch documentary film-maker Maarten Van Soest. Hand-built in the village of Wagenberg in the south of the Netherlands, they combine a traditional wooden caravan with a modern truck. 'Compared with normal campers there's something like beauty involved,' Maarten told us, when we arrived to pick up our Tonke."

Is reading in a moving car bad for your health?




Nine Inch Nails - Ham 'N Eggs (Live at rehearsals)

Funkengroovin Wednesday - Another Car Chase

(Below): As you can see one of the windshield wipers is broken, but who needs those here in Cairo, Huh? (That's not the only thing broken on this Beetle.)



(Below): Okay, okay, okay, so we're not chasing them. Sometimes we let them pass us up!



(Below): Now this is starting to look like one hell of a mess!



(Below): Did VB not say potentially unroadworthy?



(Below): And on the other side of the road....



(Below): VB never gets it right - eye - hand movement not quite as fast as camera -car!


NEWS:
Regardless of where you are in the world, what troubles you and your countrymen have, there is a kinship which rises above politics - the love of car. Two of the following articles showcase this kooky devotion, along with the video trailer.

VB's been thinkin' about what to do this summer, when she returns to the States, in two weeks. We could do a variety of things (since our Maine camping trip has been canceled). VB is just wondering if we want to go nuclear on this one - that's all. Sounds a bit freaky? Maybe, but we could visit Dick Cheney's underground hideaway, in Pennsylvania.
Book Review: A Nuclear Family Vacation

"In A Nuclear Family Vacation, a husband-and-wife duo of Washington, DC-based defense reporters takes a journey deep into the nation's nuclear weapons complex. But wait—this turns out to be a surprisingly fun road trip, even though it's led by a pair of Beltway policy wonks. Nathan Hodge and Sharon Weinberger join the small but growing number of nuclear tourists who, like the families that swarm Gettysburg and Antietam each summer, visit Cold War nuclear sites and get nostalgic about mutually assured destruction."

Iraq:
Hot rods are these Iraqis' driving passion
Photo Gallery

"A tricked-out muscle car on the streets of Baghdad can turn heads, tempt carjackers or anger fundamentalists. What's a gear head to do? Floor it.

The fall of Saddam Hussein has enabled them to create their dream rides like never before. Hussein's notorious son Uday and his cronies personally controlled all car imports into Iraq. Uday was also a car freak known for on-the-spot confiscations of any vehicle that caught his fancy.

The end of the Hussein era opened Iraq's borders to an unrestrained flow of new and used cars, along with exotic parts and Western car magazines. The MTV show "Pimp My Ride" is now a popular feature on Arabic satellite television; Bilal Hussein, the Mustang driver who dreams of flaming mufflers, is a big fan.

But the dictator's ouster also unleashed a new era of Baghdad lawlessness that makes owning a head-turning ride a dangerous hobby. In addition to the threat from roving gangs of opportunistic carjackers, there are armed fundamentalists, both Sunni and Shiite, who might view an overly showy car as sinfully extravagant.

"We have the Mahdi Army on one side, Al Qaeda on the other side, thieves everywhere, and we're caught in the middle," said Hussein, who also sticks to safer streets."

The West Bank:
WEST BANK CAR ENTHUSIASTS START THEIR ENGINES

"One of the last cities remaining under the Israeli blockade hosts a rare showing of race cars – some of which predate the second intifada.

And with little disposable income after eight years of war and economic closures, most of the race cars were refurbished old compact sedans. The 49 contestants navigated the course one by one."

U.S.A.
Electrified VW Is 'Liberating' For Boulder Man, (Full story and news video at the link.)
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) ―

"A Colorado man says he has ended his addiction to foreign oil by converting an old Volkswagon Beetle to run on electricity."

Since this week's news seems to be mostly from the Middle East region, VB is foregoing the usual music video for another look at how much the love of cars transcends politics, religion, race, ethnicity, and all that. A big thanks to yb39 who posted a comment, with the link to the video trailer. Question: When will we actually get to see this movie? It's not even listed on imdb yet.


The Beetle - Trailer eng

Funkengroovin Wednesday - Frankfurt Airport and Beyond

How many times has VB passed through Frankfurt Airport watching all the hard working VWs, while sipping her hot latte? Too many. So this time, VB decided to do something about it. But first, she needs to point out the car below, on display at the Duty Free. The Boss Man wants this Mercedes (Mechatronik), and he wouldn't mind the blond sitting next to him, as well.

BTW, every time VB passes through the Frankfurt Airport, they seem to change everything around. It's gotten to be absolutely confusing anywhere outside the Gate B area.

(Below):
The workhorse of the VW fleet at the Frankfurt Airport, appears to be the T5 aka Eurovan. From Wikipedia: "The fifth generation of the VW Transporter hit the market in Europe late in 2003. It is a direct successor to the T4 in its looks and utility value, unlike the Microbus concept car that VW had been showing around several years prior to the T5's introduction. The Microbus concept was almost produced, but Volkswagen scuttled plans for building it due to cost problems.
The T5 Transporter is not available in the North America in any form. Instead, Volkswagen offers the Volkswagen Routan, a passenger minivan based on Chrysler LLC's Dodge Caravan."











(Below) A VW T5 truck.


The following photos were taken on the way home from The Cairo Airport.
(Below): A VW Bus passing a ginormous truck.


(Below): More of the "Riding On Top" phenomenon.


(Below): Passing a Beetle.


NEWS:
Photos of new VW ads from Brazil: "VOLKSWAGEN TRUCKS. FOR EVERY KIND OF LOAD."
(These are probably going over much better than the new Walmart milk cartons.)

A commentary from the New York Times: Be the Prius
"Motorists can drive smarter in response to high fuel prices." And also, from the same author, Don't Drive Less. Drive Smarter:
"Studies have shown significant increases in fuel economy are achievable simply by changes in driving style (a few things got cut from this piece, by the way, including an obvious one: Cruise control aids MPG — but not cruise control at 70 mph)."

Any NASCAR fans out there? Then Ask A NASCAR Driver, should be for you - again, from the New York Times, Freakonomics Blog. Go ahead, ask Kyle Busch anything you want.

Drive-ins: An American Classic Reborn
"...About 400 drive-ins presently operate in the United States, a surprisingly large number in this age of personalized, on-the-go media, but many people don't even know they exist. Today, the industry is just a glimmer of what it was once. Back in the 1950s, at the height of the drive-in era, there were 4,000 theaters showing first-run films — it was a marriage of two great American passions: automobiles and movies..."There's nothing quite like [the drive-in]," says April Wright, a filmmaker who has traveled the U.S. for her upcoming documentary, Going Attractions: The Rise and Fall of the Drive-In as an American Icon."

Prince Charles' Aston Martin Hybrid Runs On Wine
(Hiccup!)

Auto biography:'76 VW Beetle convertible is Newport couple's pride and joy
(That's Newport, Rhode Island, BTW.)

"NEWPORT It was a case of falling in love in paradise.

When Jo-Ann and Kevin Burns visited Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii, in 1978, she fell in love with the ubiquitous Volkswagen Beetle convertibles that were being used for basic transportation."

Automotive profile: Volkswagen's Heinz Nordhoff
"While working at Opel, he was noticed by Major Ivan Hirst and Colonel Radclyffe of the British Occupational Force that was running Volkswagen after the Second World War.

The pair needed someone to organize the reconstruction of the VW factories that had been ruined during the war.

Appointed VW's managing director on the first day of 1948, Nordhoff flourished because he realized the potential of one little car."

Hot Wheels of fortune
"After 40 years and 4 billion sales, Hot Wheels colectors know it's the little things that count.

Imagine paying $100,000 for a 1969 VW Kombi. And a hot pink one at that. Plus the bloody thing doesn't even start. So you won't be hearing that familiar dak-dak sound echoing through the suburbs. For all that money, the only extras are the two surfboards hanging out the rear."

Camping holidays: Heaven in a VW
"Painted egg-yolk yellow, and with the famous, cheery VW sign on the front, the van certainly looked the part; I was just worried that I might be the one letting the side down. It belonged to Andrew Stefanczyk, and is one of several that he rents out from his base in Hertfordshire. He acquired his first van last year, when his teenage son bought a wreck via eBay, and Stefanczyk saw the potential in doing up old vans to hire them out to fair-weather hippie chicks and sometimes-surfer dudes."

(A bit of satire here.)
New Book Uncovers Startling Evidence that Adolf Hitler was a Practicing Hippy
"When he was not ordering stormtroopers into Germany's neighbouring countries, Adolf Hitler would relax with a large bong and strum on his ukelele.

The dictator would often break from the serious nature of waging his campaign to "paint flowers on his VW Camper van" before driving it around the Bavarian countryside with his entourage of free-spirited fellow "magic mushroom munching hippies".


Warning: Explicit Language
George Carlin Airport Security

Smoking, Drinking, Tackiness, And A Short Lesson In Spelling

Smoking or...
How To Ruin A Cuban Cigar Box

Plaster a creepy photo of some dude on oxygen along with a warning about the evils of smoking (just wait until Fidel gets a load of this!) and you too can ruin a completely nice cigar box, plus scare the willies out of anyone who sees it. BTW, these alarming photos are not included in the warnings on cartons or packs of cigarettes - yet. What gives? VB's guess was that most people in Egypt smoke cigarettes (Cleopatras), and the government must have given up on trying to scare them (short of beating or shooting them), so why not just waste money on scaring rich folks who smoke Cubans instead. What a waste (time, money, resources....) Well, not exactly - see the article below for more.

A lot of people who buy Cubans, are probably going to be more annoyed by the fact that their wonderful cigar boxes, they use to store small, intimate objects (like we do), have been debased by a macabre photo.

Stark warnings: Egypt's fledgling anti-smoking campaign comes on strong

"Starting Aug. 1, cigarette labels in Egypt will be required to carry images of the effects of smoking: a dying man in an oxygen mask, a coughing child and a limp cigarette symbolizing impotence.

The photo of the limp cigarette comes with the warning that "long-term smoking has an effect on marital relations" — somewhat coyer than a version the European Union has recommended for its member countries, which states directly that smoking causes impotence and shows a discontented young married couple sitting apart in bed."

(VB could say more on this, but she thinks most people will scoff at this example too - the decline of the family can be directly related to cigarette smoking? Gee, and as an American, VB thought it was all due to gay marriage. Silly girl.)

"A month ago, the country's new tobacco control department was launched, though it consists of only two people in a closet-sized office with no telephones and an annual budget of just $12,500."

"Some Egyptians are convinced only light cigarettes lead to impotence. Earlier this year, the state-owned manufacturer, Eastern Tobacco Company, voluntarily put pictures of diseased lungs on some packs — but smokers just figured those packs were the ones that were harmful and switched to others, which some shopowners promptly started selling at a higher price.

"I've been smoking since I was 8 years old — I used to pick up cigarette butts from the gutter and smoke them," laughed Hussein Hassan Mahmoud, a wizened 60-year-old butcher with one eye clouded from cataracts, sitting outside his Cairo shop enjoying a cigarette.

Mahmoud goes through three or four packs of the local Cleopatra cigarettes a day, at about 50 cents a pack, and he scoffed when shown the new warnings. "People will just tear the labels off."

"I Drink Your Milkshake! I Drink It Up!"
(And VB's not too happy about it either.)
Below two photos:
Ain't nothin' like payin' to drink bottled contaminated water, when you can get super chlorinated water for free, right out of the tap! (And VB thought the taste of super fluoridated Ohio River water was bad!)

A couple of months ago, we instructed Awesome Daughter, who is back in the States, to throw out all bottles with the #7 in the recycling triangle. Some municipalities are now trying to outlaw the use of this #7 plastic. VB waited, thinking maybe Egypt would follow through, but no.... We are still receiving Nestle bottled water in #7 jugs. Mind you, the smaller bottles are not #7, just the ones everyone buys to outfit their water coolers.

From The Green Guide - "#7 Polycarbonate contains the hormone disruptor bisphenol-A, which can leach out as bottles age, are heated or exposed to acidic solutions. Unfortunately, #7 is used in most baby bottles and five-gallon water jugs and in many reusable sports bottles."

1. How to recognize the real thing. "Bisphenol-A is found in clear, hard, shatterproof plastics. Often, the letters PC (for polycarbonate) and/or the number 7 will be stamped in the little recycling triangle on or near the bottom of the container. But not every plastic stamped with a 7 contains BPAs; your biggest clue is to look for hard, see-through, unbreakable things."

(Hmm, you mean like that big plasic piece of shit VB has in her kitchen, and posted below?)

"Disposable soft-drink and water bottles, and liquid medicine containers (like cough syrup bottles), are not polycarbonate and do not contain BPA. So, while everyone is rightly having a fit about disposable bottles for environmental reasons, it's only the rigid, refillable kind that you need to worry about for health reasons. Make it easy, and remember the numbers: Only drink from those with numbers 4 and 2 in their triangles, or if need be, 5 and 1. In our opinion, don't buy any with 3, 6 or 7 (not just for BPA reasons)."

(Oh, don't forget straws people. We consumers, [and the oil companies] can have our milkshake, and drink it too. ----

Why the Oil Industry Benefits from Bottled Water Sales

(Yum - and, oh so tasty!)





Just Plain Tacky
To my neighbors, and townsfolk in Connecticut:
How tacky can you possibly be naming a street, Wisteria Lane? Are you daydreaming, wishfully thinking, or what? Have you been watching too much TV, and entranced by Nicollette Sheridan's decolletage? What were you thinking!
Do you all need a good hard smack upside the head?
(YEP!)



A Short Lesson In Spelling
Finally, for those of you still learning how to spell, fuck is spelled F-U-C-K! (VB may be a bad speller, but she knows this one for sure.)
Even though, VB thinks we all got the message, what is LFC? (VB hopes it's not the florist down the road.)

Funkengroovin Wednesday - Cadillac

Today: A late 1950's Cadillac. It looks like a Cadillac Sixty Special model, but VB's no expert. We found it while we were in a different part of Maadi checking out two other old cars a few blocks away. VB decided to post on this car when she received a Sundance Catalog featuring a Cadillac convertible for sale. Check it out - The link is after the photos.

From Wiki: "In 1957 the bumpers gained black rubber tips which only heightened the relationship between the styling element and a stylized, exaggerated bumper design. For 1958 the element was toned down and was completely absent on the 1959 models."









From Sundance Catalog: Buy The Caddy (Loads of pics at the link.)
"1962 Cadillac Convertible
All hail the king of the road. Cadillac—the name evokes quality, luxury and iconic status of the great American variety. Built when the Rat Pack ruled Vegas and the Kennedys were still holding court in Camelot, our wonderfully vintage 1962 Cadillac Convertible is beautiful to behold—from the roaring V8 engine (which goes from zero to 60 in under 10 seconds) to the gorgeous interior and gleaming tailfins. Equipped with all the bells and whistles of its era, this baby is destined to turn heads and elicit excited ooh's and ahh's wherever the road may take you. Delivery charge is extra.. $28,995.00"


NEWS AND ARTICLES:
(Not so much about VWs, in the news, this week.)

From Esquire Magazine, a great article: Why Men Love Cars
"Scott Raab takes his eight-year-old son to the auto show. Might as well have been a peep show."

"You can slice it like a lab-slide sample, how American men love cars and why. Freedom, frontier, Manifest Destiny, the Kerouacian Zen of eternal Go, the yearning for a scrotum as meaty -- and a driveshaft as puissant -- as a four-barreled 440. I have no use for all that bullshit -- all of it revealing far more about the speaker than the subject.

I know this: I'm no cocksman or car expert, but I've had more cars than women -- and I've forgotten more of the women than the cars."

Free website will allow buyers to check a vehicle's hidden repair history
"The National Insurance Crime Bureau is creating a free public database of vehicles declared a total loss, "or totaled," by insurers, allowing individuals to enter vehicle identification numbers, or VINs, to see if a set of wheels they want to buy has a hidden history.

In the best case, these cars are carefully repaired and their histories are fully disclosed to future buyers. In the worst case, an unlicensed auto body shop performs a few Mickey Mouse frame adjustments, installs a phony inoperable air bag, sprays on a nice coat of paint and then washes the title in the interstate used car auction market."


As the Roads Turn Gray, Ways to Make Driving Safer
"Experts are studying how cars and drivers will need to adapt as the number of older drivers grows.

IT’S called the gray tsunami, the great wave of aging baby boomers nearing retirement, making older adults the fastest growing segment of the population. And by 2030, the roads will be full of them."

Bumper Stickers = Road Rage
"And the wording of bumper tickers was irrelevant. Someone who plasters his car with religious stickers such as “1 Cross + 3 Nails = 4 Given” is just as likely to go crazy if you pass him as the guy with “I Support the Right to Arm Bears.” To be safe, consider any and all bumper stickers as synonymous with, “This is my space, and if you get too close an obscene gesture will be the least of your problems.”

A photo essay of, Auto Test Tracks Revealed From Above, at WIRED:
"During the early days of the automobile, new cars were tested out on the open, public roads of the United States. As the technology grew more sophisticated and proprietary, car companies, beginning with GM in 1924, began to build vehicular test tracks that allowed them to privately assess the workability of new cars and features."

Car owners need the Web to escape information black-out
"RepairPal now has information on 80 different repair procedures for 42,000 zip codes and over 400 models of cars since 1980. It amounts to more than 10 billion individual data items.

Sturtz plans a feature where mechanics can bid for a job, which will give consumers a better sense of how much to expect to spend, and the ability to schedule an appointment online. The site will grow into a community evaluating auto shops, shining more light on untrustworthy mechanics. But Sturtz said user-generated content is not useful for pricing.

Another useful feature of the site is a place where consumers can keep track of all their repairs, regular maintenance, and get e-mail reminders for oil changes and the like.

RepairPal is free for consumers."

Reality star to go for a spin
"Alonzo Bodden is a car guy, and a funny guy. That makes the former jet-engine mechanic and "Last Comic Standing" champion the ideal host for the program "101 Cars You Must Drive," which debuts at 9:30 Monday night on Speed Channel.

The cars the program spotlights all have some iconic aspect, he said. "Some were obvious. Anybody would want to drive them, like the Ferrari Dino and Acura NSX," he said. "But the VW Bug is the best-selling car of all time, and the Chevrolet Corvair was so different from other 1960s American cars." (More information can be found at speedtv: 101 Cars You Must Drive.)

Many stories on the web this week about a Sure Girl deodorant ad featuring dancing in an old VW Bus. Check it out. ASA upholds complaints over Sure Deodorant ad
"Complaints about a television ad placed by Unilever UK for Sure deodorant have been upheld because it 'condoned and encouraged reckless behaviour'.

The TV ad, which was created by the McConnells Advertising agency for Sure Girl deodorant, showed three teenage girls dancing in the back of a moving vehicle without wearing seatbelts.

The company also said that because the van used to make the ad was a vintage VW model it was not fitted with seatbelts, and that the company had not been aware that vehicles of this age were required to be fitted with rear safety belts.

"Likewise, the company also stressed that the van was stationery at the time the shot featuring the girls dancing inside it was taken, a defining factor as to why the ad was approved for broadcast by the company." (video available at The Guardian.)


From The Spoof, A 1956 VW Beetle has been Discovered on Mars.

The Volkswagen Beetle - A success story
"The Volkswagen Beetle - A success storySince its inception in 1938, the Beetle has been the longest production run of any single car design ever, with over 21 million being produced since its creation."


The Brian Setzer Orchestra - Brand New Cadillac



(VB returns to Cairo tomorrow.)