Funkengroovin Wednesday: Original vs. Retro - Fiat 500

REVISED: Please go to the updated page.


What's old is new again. It's the retrofication of the car industry, and Vagabondblogger will be doing several posts on the topic.



(Fiat Nuova 500 - Photo from the Fiat500.com site.)


The new slogan is "500 Wants You." (Sound familiar to all the VW lovers out there?) I haven't seen any Fiat Nuova 500's in Cairo yet, but I'm sure they'll be a big hit. We probably won't see any here for about thirty years, due to cost and customs. But, once they arrive, the Egyptian Fiat mechanics will keep them going, and thirty years on (that's sixty years for the mathematically challenged) they'll still be weaving through the streets of Cairo.

(Blue Fiat 500 as seen on the Corniche, Maadi, Cairo, Egypt.)

According to Wikipedia:

To meet the demands of the post-war market which called for economy cars, the Fiat 500 was rear-engined on the pattern of the Volkswagen Beetle. Several car makers followed this now nearly vanished pattern at the time and were quite successful. But only the Fiat 500 was used as the pattern for other car makers in Europe. The firms Neckar of Germany and Steyr-Puch in Austria each made cars that were legally based on the Fiat 500.

(Two-tone, black and white Fiat 500, as seen on Road 9, Maadi, Cairo, Egypt.)

According to Fiat, the 500 will not hit the American market anytime before 2010 (hahaha, if ever!) Fiat pulled out of the U.S. in 1982 and haven't been back, except with the Alfa Romeo.

Here's the official website for the Fiat 500.

It will be hooked up with blue tooth capacity for up to five different phones; it can read your SMS messages to you (for those of you idiots who message while you drive); and it's totally hands-free, enabling drivers to obtain their phone numbers by voice command, as well as answer the phone, with steering wheel buttons (great, I can't even get the ones in my Mini straight.) You can also hook up an iPod or MP3 Player. Vagabondblogger admits, it's one cool little car. There are supposedly hundreds of varietal options for paint, interior selection, etc. that should make your shopping experience like a kid in a candy store - providing, of course, you live in a country that's selling it.


(Maroon Fiat 500, for sale at the Nasr City Car Market.)




Frankfurt Motor Show: A Hands-Free Fiat 500 Test Drive

The modern Fiat 500 starts at the equivalent of $14,500 — though Fiat says many European customers are loading the retro-styled city car with costly options.

Bambino already causes stir

The Fiat 500 is expected to sell like hot cakes once it is released next year in March.

If you want to slide behind the wheel of a new Fiat 500 get to your local dealer quickly. Fiat dealers are taking orders for the car ahead of its launch in Australia next March. The Italian Motor Company in Melbourne, says up to six people a day are inquiring about the car.

Fiat 500 Appears At London Design Festival

Frankfurt Motor Show: Small Cars and a Big Mini

Volkswagen introduced the Up! concept car, a sign that it’s officially returning to its small car roots. VW was light on the specifics of this 135.8-inch hatchback, but the company did admit that the four-passenger Up! is rear-wheel drive. Should the Up! reach production (and this seems very likely) it would be the first rear-wheel drive small Volkswagen since the original Beetle.

Small car fever isn’t limited to the Germans. Fiat has an elaborate display dedicated to its successful new 500 model, and Toyota unveiled its edgy iQ concept car. Even beleaguered Ford is displaying a stylish new small hatchback called the Verve. A size or two larger than cars like the Fortwo and Up!, the handsome Verve shows that Ford is serious about revamping its small cars – at least in Europe.

VW NEWS:

VW Bug Restoration (Video news report available on the site)

It was Joan Shannon's very first car, a 1974 VW Bug. Joan tells Troubleshooter Diane Wilson, "That's the car I had since I was young. That was the car my husband rode in when he was 18 years old." Joan's bug has been at Vintage Werks in Burlington since last year.

Joan tells Troubleshooter Diane Wilson she just wants her beloved 1974 VW bug restored like she was promised and paid for, "I wish he would get it finished. I wish we could work out a reasonable sum." Vintage Werks did eventually let Joan get her car out of the shop, but Gavazzi didn't do anymore work on her car. Joan had to pay another $1,000 to get the car. In all, she says she paid $9,000 for a restoration job that's far from complete.

All the young dudes (Check out the pictures on the website)

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa - The name rolls off the tongue like latex off a brush. Two Dudes Painting Co.

The partners have not actually shouldered ladders for a long time. Their signature orange Volkswagens are lined up in a "Microbus graveyard" in the warehouse, McCaskey said. "We can't part with them.

The dudes learned to paint exteriors as they went. When the weather got cold, they worked inside. When they needed to lug more equipment, they sprang for a dottering 1964 Microbus.

The bus happened to be the color of a naval orange. It proved to be a brilliant, if unwitting, marketing stroke.

More than half a dozen VWs later, Barber says, "People know us."

The partners have since switched to more practical transportation, though they still wring mileage from the minibuses by depicting them in murals and logos.

(People continue to send hot tips on the vehicles but a revival is unlikely. Volkswagen stopped manufacturing the Microbus in 1979, Barber laments. "What can you do?")

TOP TEN | WORST COMEBACKS

Pop culture has seen the rise and fall of many and, more often than not, when icons, toys or obsessions go the way of the Furby, America mourns the loss and moves on. But then, sometimes they return.

3. VW Beetle: The VW Beetle was a symbol of the age. It was hip, it was colorful, it could float. Long hair, smoking weed and Woodstock just wouldn't have looked or felt the same without it. The "New Beetle" that emerged in 1998, however, is basically just a funny-looking sedan. It is insulting that the folks over at Volkswagen thought they could erase the fact that no one can obtain an amazingly vintage, properly functioning Beetle without paying millions or taking a trip to Mexico.

Soft-top Polo loads up on style (You have to check out the photos.  Vagabondblogger truly likes the looks, but then they've never sold the Polo in the States either, sigh.)

Coachbuilder Karmann revealed a topless Volkswagen Polo at the Frankfurt show.

For sun-loving VW fans, the most exciting Volkswagen at the Frankfurt Motor Show was nowhere to be seen on the firm’s own stand.

This sharp Polo Cabrio is the work of coachbuilder Karmann, which was famous for its classic 1955 Karmann Ghia. The four-seater drop-top has been developed to showcase the firm’s latest folding-roof technology.

Along with its Polo GTI-inspired styling, the canvas top also has two sliding glass sections front and rear to let fresh air into the cabin. They are operated independently from the roof, while the rear window also allows easier access to the boot than regular supermini cabrios can normally offer. Equally impressive are the folding back seats, which extend the luggage area without the need for any intrusive body-strengthening structures.

As reported earlier:

Take 2 in a classic VW Camper Van

The classic VW Type 2 camper van, now made in Brazil, can be bought new in the UK. Mark Dixon put some flowers in his hair and took off.

The Who play gig for Volkswagen's magic bus




Talking Heads - (Nothing but) Flowers (1988)

Memo To NBC

Ever since Vagabondblogger was one of the top ten finalists for the Project Runway Fan Blog last season, she kept receiving surveys from NBC about what she watches on TV. Since she's no longer in the States, she doesn't really watch TV like most American viewers. She downloads shows (sometimes whole seasons - not available in Cairo,) from iTunes, and watches them on TV via her Apple TV.

Since NBC sends Vagabondblogger e-mails regularly asking her opinion about their inconsistent programming, here's a question they don't want to ask:

"Vagabondblogger, how do you feel about our decision to try to squeeze you dry when you download our shows?"

Gordon Ramsay couldn't have said it better when he found out the nature of the restaurant atmosphere in his newest show, Kitchen Nightmares. Vagabondblogger feels the same way regarding NBC 's behavior in it's contract dispute with ("bringing it to the people") Apple.

"Fuck me!"

NBC and Apple got into a snit recently, when it was time for NBC to renew their contract with Apple. Some reports stated that NBC wanted to charge $4.99 per episode (an episode currently costs $1.99), which is outrageous, when you consider buying a full season, vs. buying the DVD set. Think about it. That's $49.00 for ten shows - no way NBC. NBC, Apple play game of brinkmanship

NBC never said that it would pull out of iTunes, but only that it was dissatisfied with the financial terms Apple offered. Then Apple raised the stakes by announcing it would not offer NBC's shows for the upcoming TV season and alleged that NBC Universal was asking for a price hike that would have required Apple to raise retail prices from $1.99 to $4.99.

When it comes to public relations battles, Apple is a devastating counter-puncher. The revelation about NBC Universal's demands is almost certain to rally consumers around Apple. To them, it appears that Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal's CEO, wants to stick his hands deeper into their pockets and Steve Jobs is protecting them.

Another article stated that Apple wanted to lower the price for all shows to .99, (yes folks, that's that's 99 cents per episode). Apple's reasoning being that making each episode cheaper would allow viewers to download more shows, thus exposing them to more options, and more sales for NBC.

NBC didn't buy it, and decided not to renew the contract, which would go into effect in January. In turn, Apple decided not to offer any new shows from NBC. Since Vagabondblogger is addicted to a few shows on BRAVO, and we know BRAVO is affiliated with NBC, will this affect the shows offered on BRAVO, as well? Vagabondblogger believes NBC will try to stick it to us any which way they can.

As a counter punch (and a pretty measly one at that): NBC to Offer Downloads of Its Shows

The service, which is set to start in November after a test period in October, comes less than three weeks after NBC Universal said it was pulling its programs out of the highly successful iTunes service of Apple Inc. That partnership fell apart because of a dispute over Apple’s iTunes pricing policies and what NBC executives said were concerns about lack of piracy protection.

But the files, which would be downloaded overnight to home computers, would contain commercials that viewers would not be able to skip through. And the file would not be transferable to a disk or to another computer.

The files would degrade after the seven-day period and be unwatchable. “Kind of like ‘Mission: Impossible,’ only I don’t think there would be any explosion and smoke,” Mr. Gaspin said.

The programs will initially be downloadable only to PCs with the Windows operating system, but NBC said it planned to make the service available to Mac computers and iPods later.

In a second phase of the NBC rollout, customers would pay a fee for downloads of episodes that they would then own, and the files would be transferable to other devices. NBC hopes to offer this service by mid-2008, depending on how quickly the company can put in place the secure software necessary to allow payment by credit card.

Mr. Crotty said NBC had come across to consumers as “highly greedy” in its dispute with Apple. Apple reported that NBC was insisting it raise the price of some downloads on NBC shows to $4.99 from the $1.99 iTunes charges for all programs.

For anyone overseas, who has tried to download free TV shows offered on ABC, or other channels, it's a no go. They're only offered to people located in the U.S.A. Here's what the NBC message says: "We're sorry, but the clip you selected isn't available from your location."

A sampling of the current iTunes charges for shows Vagabondblogger has downloaded compared to the prices for the full DVD set (no, Vagabondblogger has not downloaded all episodes of all these shows. She has downloaded, in some instances, only the episodes she missed. This is just an example):

NBC:
30 Rock Season of 21 episodes cost $34.99 - Retail $49.98, available at Amazon for $32.49

The Black Donnellys Season of 13 episodes cost $23.99 - Retail $49.98, available at Amazon for $34.99

FOX:
House, Season 3, 24 episodes, $42.99 - Retail List price $52.98, available at Amazon for $37.99

VH1:
Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School 12 episodes $16.99 - (not available on DVD)
I Love New York Season 1, $22.99 for 12 episodes - Retail list Price of $38.99, at Amazon for $29.19
Surreal Life: Fame Games, $14.99 for 10 episodes - (not available on DVD)

BRAVO:
Project Runway, Season 3: 15 episodes for $22.99 - (Not available on DVD yet)

Here comes FOX, with an offer of their own: Fox to Offer Season Premieres on iTunes

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The season premieres of seven Fox Broadcasting shows will be offered on Apple Inc.'s iTunes store for free in the latest example of TV networks using the Web to create interest in their shows.

The shows will be available for one week.

Who's smarter here - NBC or FOX?

Vagabondblogger took up the offer from FOX, and downloaded Kitchen Nightmares staring Gordon Ramsay the all time mean ass chef, who says after tasting a tasteless dish, and hearing a fight in the kitchen, "fuck me." Who doesn't enjoy watching Gordon rough up a few insecure people? Or a few snots? Or just anyone who gets in his way? Vagabondblogger would like to see Gordon and Anthony Bourdain go at it for an all time major "Who's the cockiest chef smack-down!" Who knows, maybe it would end up being a love fest?


From the New York Times, To Perk Up a Restaurant, Add Luster Where Lacking:

The thrill of watching Mr. Ramsay is in witnessing someone so at peace with his own arrogance. Adapted from a series he starred in for British television, “Kitchen Nightmares” has Mr. Ramsay trying to turn around nondescript restaurants in about a week by imparting his high standards and dictatorial imperatives.

The subtext of “Kitchen Nightmares” is that ordinary middle-class business owners need brash and brilliant moguls to save them from a sad reliance on their own mediocrity. It is an ugly message that Mr. Ramsay makes undeniably hypnotic.

Lastly NBC, we get The Today Show here in Cairo (Egypt,) "live" on the Orbit News Channel. Here's some more of Vagabondblogger's opinion (cover your ears): How did the power of personality take over the main focus of presenting the news?
1) Ann (I like to pose in my new clothes) Curry: she's one of the most pathetic, smarmy, sorry excuses for a news woman Vagabondblogger has ever seen. When interviewing people, the interviewer asks the questions, while the interviewee answers them. Why don't you give Ann her own show called, "An Interview With Myself, " then you can get rid of all the informative guests who can't get a word in edgewise, and Ann can do all the posing she wants, to boot!
2) Dr. Nancy (I'm so smug) Schneiderman aka let me lecture America about how to live their lives, and yes, I sneer at behavior I disapprove of too: Nancy just looks down her nose at anything that's fun. She's a stick in the mud who has no idea what "living" is. Vagabondblogger wants to screech like her old Chevy, on a cold morning with a bad water pump when that woman is doling out her patronizing advice.
3) Last, but not least, iVillage sucks! Are you kidding? You made a show with a bunch of losers sitting around a funky amusement park, amusing themselves with what - the funky peadophiliac characters? The presenters are all so full of themselves too (who the fuck are they?) Paaleeese, do the real "village" a favor and can this one.

Oh, BTW, thanks for getting rid of Katie Couric and screwing up Vagabondblogger's life even more. - Now Vagabondblogger can't stand watching CBS News either, which was her favorite. You could have done Vagabondblogger a favor and kept Katie, so Vagabondblogger could just avoid one show (The Today Show) instead of two (The Today Show and CBS Nightly News.)

Here's an article from the New York Times on how TV shows are becoming so popular they have turned into defining samples of a person's tastes, much like music used to be.
You Are What You Watch

Television used to be dismissed by elitists as the idiot box, a sea of mediocrity that drowns thought and intelligent debate. Now people who ignore its pools and eddies of excellence do so at their own peril.

Apparently, that makes Vagabondblogger a Top Chef in Kitchen Nightmares with a bunch of Mad Men.

On another note, thanks to the operators of Orbit (the Saudis?) for taking Fashion TV off for Ramadan. Every time Vagabondblogger sees this channel, she just wants to scratch her own eyes out!

What is the purpose of fashion TV, anyway?

Weekend News Roundup

Well this week's Roundup is mostly Egypt. Stories cover urfi marriages (also discussed in the book, Muhajababes), F.G.M.(again); to crackdowns on the press, the Muslim Brotherhood, and a human rights organization. Muslims in America covers new State Department bloggers, blogging for America. Censorship covers the Egyptian stories as noted earlier, plus book removals from U.S. prisons, which was included in last week's Roundup, and my favorite new topic - spying on Americans - the new F.I.S.A. Law recently passed by our spineless congress. I am not going to go over the "Don't taser me, bro!" episode, even though I think it was a form of censorship, and another example of the police over reacting. If I have to see the video again, I'm going to start screeching!


EGYPT:

YOUNG EGYPTIAN COUPLES IN A HURRY TIE TEMPORARY KNOT

Concern grows over use of a secret, unrecognized 'urfi' marriage that many couples feel allows them to be alone and to engage in sexual activity.

In Egypt, a Rising Push Against Genital Cutting

KAFR AL MANSHI ABOU HAMAR, Egypt — The men in this poor farming community were seething. A 13-year-old girl was brought to a doctor’s office to have her clitoris removed, a surgery considered necessary here to preserve chastity and honor.

The girl died, but that was not the source of the outrage. After her death, the government shut down the clinic, and that got everyone stirred up.

“They will not stop us,” shouted Saad Yehia, a tea shop owner along the main street. “We support circumcision!” he shouted over and over.

“Even if the state doesn’t like it, we will circumcise the girls,” shouted Fahmy Ezzeddin Shaweesh, an elder in the village.

Slideshow

Interview With a Young Egyptian

My parents at home don’t know that I work in F.G.M., and if they find out, they’ll kill me. ...

MUSLIMS IN AMERICA:
For State Dept., Blog Team Joins Muslim Debate

Two Arab-Americans have been hired to post on blogs and Internet forums in an effort to improve America’s image.

Some analysts question whether the blog team will survive beyond the tenure of Karen P. Hughes, the confidante of President Bush who runs public diplomacy. The department expects to add seven more team members within the next month — four more in Arabic, two in Farsi and one in Urdu, the official language of Pakistan.

The team concentrates on about a dozen mainstream Web sites such as chat rooms set up by the BBC and Al Jazeera or charismatic Muslim figures like Amr Khaled, as well as Arab news sites like Elaph.com. They choose them based on high traffic and a focus on United States policy, and they always identify themselves as being from the State Department.

CENSORSHIP:
EGYPT EXTENDS CRACKDOWN TO PRESS

The arrest of Ibrahim Eissa and three other opposition journalists is the latest signal of tightening government control, reflecting anxiety over presidential succession.

Egyptian and foreign human rights activists say the crackdown on the press is unprecedented in recent Egyptian history. While state harassment comes with the territory for independent journalists, never before have four editors been tried and convicted at the same time.

Mr. Said, the political scientist, argues that the current crackdown reflects the cycle of Egyptian politics since independence.

"Towards the end of regimes they engage in harassment of opposition leaders, close newspapers and so forth," he says. "It's like in September 1981 when [Anwar] Sadat arrested many politicians of many political persuasions." Shortly after that, Sadat – then president – was assassinated. "That's why many people are calling what's happening now the winds of September," says Said. "These are the last years of Mubarak's life, and whenever the government feels it has to ensure a favorable successor, it does this."

GOVERNMENT BANS MUSLIM Brotherhood's ANNUAL RAMADAN EVENT

CAIRO: The government has banned the Muslim Brotherhood's largest annual social gathering for the first time in 20 years, part of a concerted crackdown against the country's opposition, the group's leadership said Sunday.

Every year, the Brotherhood invites a diverse group of some 1,500 people to one of Cairo's five-star hotels for a gala dinner during Ramadan.

The government has also targeted organizations unrelated to the transfer of power. Earlier Tuesday, authorities closed the Association for Human Rights Legal Aid, which had been involved in the first lawsuit against a state security officer for torture.

Egyptian officials said the group had received funding without the necessary permission, but fellow human rights groups said the closure was related to the torture case, which ended with the officer's acquittal on Sept. 5. Associated Press.

AS STATE CLOSES PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP, ACTIVISTS FEAR FURTHER CRACKDOWN

Noha Atef, the editor of the advocacy website www.tortureinegypt.net, agrees. According to her, the shut down of such a prominent legal aid organization is meant to have a chilling effect on human rights advocacy in Egypt.

“This association is very active and has defended many torture victims, so it is only logical that the government would come after them,” she says.

“The state wants to send a message to other civil society groups — they say ‘this was one of the biggest groups and we can just dissolve it whenever we want.’” she adds “That this can happen to a big organization with a lot of its own lawyers — how do you think normal people who don’t have a team of lawyers with them will feel about standing up against torture?”

Bush Calls for Expansion of Spy Law

Critics Right and Left Protest Book Removals

The federal Bureau of Prisons is under pressure from members of Congress and religious groups to reverse its decision to purge the shelves of prison chapel libraries of all religious books and materials that are not on the bureau’s lists of approved resources.

The Republican Study Committee, a caucus of some of the most conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives, sent a letter on Wednesday to the bureau’s director, Harley G. Lappin, saying, “We must ensure that in America the federal government is not the undue arbiter of what may or may not be read by our citizens.”

Not In My Backyard!

Just about a month ago, I posted a blog on what to do with leftover dog food. The answer was, "feed it to the cats." Well we've had a few developments at The Cathouse, since then:


Remember the new mom? Just having given birth, she decided to chow down on my porch, often carrying a mouthful of food to her kitties. Well, I spied them when they were little balls of fur, running around the yard of the duplex next door. The French guy, on the side nearest to my apartment building said his wife was away and instructed him "not to feed the cats." They had a cat that passed away earlier, and his wife told him she wanted one of the kittens. Okay, am I the only one wondering how you could possibly think you can take in a kitten, when you've decided to starve it, and the mom? Is this the real version of French Women Don't Get Fat. The Secret of Eating For Pleasure? Maybe they forgot about eating for survival.

(Mom and kittens.)



Late last month / early this month I called and e-mailed the three rescue operations here in Cairo about The Strange Cat, who we sometimes refer to as "The Golden Boy" and his girlfriend about sheltering them. The shelters were all full. I then called my vet and asked if he could pick them up to neuter them. Yes, I had a dog and still have a dog crate, but our crate is the largest known to man. There's no way I could transport the cats in that thing. He told me two days in a row he'd be by to get them and never showed up. I was pretty depressed for a few days, then I decided that there are just some things totally out of my control.

This past week the kittens have been coming over to eat, pretty much on their own. Momma is neglecting the children! Not only that, but today, she was up a tree, and every male in the hood was caterwauling in my backyard. The bitch is in heat, again!

Mr. Bad Ass Cat here, who's old and diseased was sitting under the tree, while the old grey skulker was on the platform, and mom had her ass propped centrally located in the crotch of the tree. From what I've read on the Internet, the big cat gets laid, so Mr. Bad Ass is wasting his time. Okay, she can go do her thing with the winner of the "I'm cock of the walk club" in somebody else's yard! Not in my backyard - take that shit somewhere else sweetheart.











The Strange Cat's girlfirend is now pregnant too - we think, which pisses me off since we could have avoided this, if she had been neutered when I made my calls.
She's also a nuisance. She loves scratching my cheap Target sisel carpets and knows every entrance and exit to and from our apartment. I don't know what she wants, but when I pet her she turns and nips at me. Did I not ever say before, I'm a dog person. My dogs loved being petted. I don't really care for erratic, feral behavior. It's freaky!



This is a neutered cat. I don't know which gender, but it was watching the events at the tree in total wonderment. It's a loner and comes to eat now. I like it and have been told, it's definitely a Mau. He/she looks just like The Golden Boy, same eyes, same markings, same size, just different coloring.

I just learned they clip the right ear here in Cairo to mark neutered cats. It's a bit different than the ear clipping they perform in the States.



The Golden Boy has been a juvie lately, staying out late until like 9:00 AM (he's usually back around 6:00 Am, but then again, they did change the time here.) Some days he does not show up for over 24 hours. Today he ran around caterwauling up all the wrong trees. He can smell it - he just hasn't figured out where it's coming from yet.

Makes for one very tired boy.

All's okay, though. Vagabondblogger Doggie passed away in mid - July (about two weeks after The Golden Boy moved in.) The week after she died The Boss Man started looking for a new pup. We contacted someone in Ohio about getting another field Springer, which is what Vagabondblogger Doggie was. We were told, the bitch would be coming into heat, "any day now." That was in late July. As of the beginning of September, she had still not come into heat (big problem - that means we couldn't pick the pup up until sometime in January.) That's when we contacted the breeder who provided us with Awesome Daughter's pup (seen below.) Last week the breeder, and her breeding buddy had two litters, (bench Springers.) This is our Doggie in Galveston, Texas spring 2006. Here's Awesome Daughter's bench Springer, below.


Even though we've decided to set aside one porch for the cats, Vagabondblogger suspects that many cats will just take a hike to the next feeding station (or garbage bin) after the arrival of the new pup. That's okay, because I love Springers - they are the best dogs and yea, Vagabondblogger likes to snuggle up with them too. Springers are practically human.

BTW, the search involving Madeleine McCann's DNA was conducted with English Springer Spaniels. Here's an article with pics.

Oh, and don't let me forget, an English Springer Spaniel won the Best of Show at Westminster Kennel Club this year. No we will not be "showing" our dog, but we will train it to sniff. Take it from Vagabondblogger, English Springer Spaniels have quite a nose.

I can't wait for my pup.

BTW, for those of you who turn their noses up at buying dogs from breeders, TFS!

More on the new pup later.

Did I forget to say, "I am so excited!"

Funkengroovin Wednesday - Confusion Reigns Supreme

We found this bus at the Nasr City Car Market. The owners weren't around to provide information, so Vagabondblogger has tried to figure out, on her own, what exactly this is.

I posted photos on flickr, and the VW groups where I have a membership (that would be just about all of them.) Photos were posted on: VW Bugs & Buses Pool, the Aircooled Pool, VW Buses Pool, Volkswagen Beetles/ALL VW's Pool, European Vans Pool, the VW Bus Lover Pool. Two of the photos were viewed 15 and 17 times (not so much really, compared to other VW photos I've posted in the past.) No one commented.



The rear lights indicate it's made sometime after 1972.


It has 4 windows on the passenger side, and five on the driver's. One windshield and then one rear window. The doors are separated by a brace and open in the same direction, as opposed to double doors that open out to one large entrance, which some refer to as "barn doors." The vents are on the lower body. I've looked up S. African, Brazilian and Nigerian buses to no avail.

Vagabondblogger is wondering if this bus has modified side doors. That would make sense, except for the odd number of windows on each side of the bus.

If anyone knows what bus this is, please share it with the rest of us. Vagabondblogger is truly stumped.

A video of:
My Project is VW Bus T1, just recorded this past week. I'll be checking back up on him to track his progress. Good luck to the guy.

A blog with a few nice Bus photos. Check out his archives for more.
MARK SWINK

Cool idea for a party:
RedsDirt Blog made a VW Bus and a cake for a 60's theme birthday party.


Totally cool new VW 1 litre car - photos and blogpost here.

From Motor Trend Magazine:
Day One: My Frankfurt top three

1) Best Concept: Volkswagen Up! In complete contrast to many of the overwrought concepts in the Messe halls, all contorted surfaces, bug-eye headlights, and glittering "jewelry", the tiny, rear-engined VW city car is as smooth and white, and as simple and appealing, as an iPod. This is the car as product design; a modern take on a VW aesthetic that in the past has delivered iconic, timeless cars such as the original Beetle and the Mark I Golf.

Van show is best yet, and not one freaking photo!

MORE than 8,000 VW camper vans and their owners gathered in Malvern at the weekend for the largest show of its type in the world.

The Three Counties Showground was the venue for Vanfest, an annual event for enthusiasts of the iconic vehicle.

Europe Budget Tour

And so we did; and, after a false start or two, it proved remarkably easy. We bought the van sight unseen over the internet from a 300 lb, dope-smoking, ex-patriot American hippy in Utrecht, who operated out of a 300 year old townhouse filled with bad artwork, dogs and cats, and the strong smell of marijuana and cat pee. After her chief mechanic, a jolly and affable Turk, tried to spike my coffee with vodka at 9:00am on the morning of our arrival, I turned to Red and whispered, “Holey Moley! Hope we didn’t buy a pig in a poke! Hope we don’t get burned on this damn van!”

But the hippy and her staff proved as honest as the day is long, and the ‘86 VW ran sweet and true for the eight weeks we owned it.

VW 'Nazi' Subpoena Points Up YouTube Privacy Risks

Volkswagen has filed a subpoena seeking the identity of a YouTube user who posted a Nazi-themed parody of a recent VW Golf commercial. Volkswagen's move underscores the privacy risks to a blossoming community of users on sites like YouTube and Yahoo Video, and social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Men at work: Land down under!!!!

Weekend News Roundup Video - This Week In God

This Week In God -Back To School

Weekend News Roundup

MUSLIMS IN AMERICA:

Samaha (Blog) - ISNA: Invasion of The ISNA Deaniacs

Around me I could hear whispers of “Howard Dean” and I watched the youth all around me, all wide eyed, explaining Howard Dean to their parents, aunts and uncles.

It was quite interesting watching these fidgety late teens and twenty-something year olds turning their heads, looking towards the door anxiously awaiting Howard Dean. This was it - this right here, this vibrant young enthusiasm was what differentiated my generation from theirs. Not because they are Deaniacs, mind you, but because within these wide eyes you can see hope. You can see the innocence and yes the good naivety that none of us should ever have lost. You can see in their eyes the hidden solutions that they all carry to all of the problems of the world. You can see the simplicity of it all but somehow, somehow you just can’t see far enough to be able to touch it or grasp it, to feel it again.

Around this room sat future congresspeople, representatives, activists, philanthopists, and maybe even a future president. In this room sat our fidgety hope for a better tommorow and maybe a not so impossible world peace.

I should make note that ISNA itself insists that it is non-partisan and had invited republicans to this event but had no takers on the republican invitees - so the panel before us consisted of democrats. ~Way to go republicans~

He asked of us for the sake of America to get into politics “For the sake of America I need you to run for yourselves.”

That my friends was “The Take Back America Rally”

Charitable Tradition in Transition

Key edicts of Ramadan, which began yesterday at sunset, are to fast and promote good conduct. The devil is said to be shackled, making it easier than during the rest of the year to perform good deeds and give charity.

Mukit Hossain, 47, a telecommunications worker and Muslim activist in Northern Virginia, said holiday charity is deliberately done more publicly because Muslims are eager to build bridges after Sept. 11.

Community Times magazine, Lady Liberty, a Fellaha?

OnFaith from the Washington Post presents:
The Muslims of Jesus Camp

ISLAM:
Islam's Up-to-Date Televangelist

Secular critics say Khaled, the son of a doctor, is fostering a religious revival rather than modern reform. Wael Abbas, a leading Egyptian blogger, said Khaled is the "first step to Islamization. He's charismatic and the girls like him. But Egypt is becoming more conservative as a result of him. More girls have started to wear veils."

The question now is whether Khaled represents a fad or an enduring trend. Khaled is most popular among the middle and upper classes. Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper described him as a "Pied Piper" leading Arab youth "to an unknown destination -- much to the discontent of the town elders.

From Finding Radical Islam to Losing an Ideology

LONDON, Sept. 11 — For four years, Maajid Nawaz, a British Pakistani university student, was imprisoned in Egypt, enduring months of solitary confinement and the screams of those being tortured.

Mr. Nawaz left Britain on his fateful trip to Egypt on Sept. 10, 2001, for a year abroad to study Arabic. In April 2002, he was charged and sentenced by the Egyptians for spreading the beliefs of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamic group that is legal in Britain but banned in Egypt and other countries because it calls for the overthrow of governments in the Muslim world.

Calls in Britain for the banning of Hizb ut-Tahrir usually stress that the group is a gateway for some Muslims to turn to terrorism. As Mr. Nawaz puts it, “Hizb ut-Tahrir spearheaded the radicalization of the 1990s and cultivated an atmosphere of anger.”

Mr. Nawaz is the product of a third-generation British Pakistani family. His father recently retired as an oil engineer, and his mother works in a bank; they live in Essex, a middle-class area south of London.

When he was growing up, Islam seemed like an irrelevant, “backward village religion,” he said. That attitude changed when he was 16.

On a rare visit to a mosque, he met a Bangladeshi student, a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, who he said preyed on his confusion about his British Pakistani identity.

Miscellaneous:
Reprieve for the Pint and the Ounce

BRUSSELS, Sept. 11 — Britons and the Irish can still down a pint of beer, walk a mile, covet an ounce of gold and eat a pound of bananas after the European Union ruled today that the countries could retain measurements dating back to the Middle Ages.

Under a previous European Union plan, Britain and Ireland would have been forced to adopt the metric system and phase out imperial measurements by 2009. But after a vociferous antimetric campaign by British skeptics and London’s tabloid press, European Union officials decided that an ounce of common sense (or 28.3 grams) suggested that granting a reprieve was better than braving a public backlash.

They also feared that forcing Britain to abolish the imperial system would have damaged European Union trade with the United States, one of three countries, including Liberia and Myanmar, that have not officially adopted the metric system.

A British grocer, Steve Thoburn of Sunderland, became known as the “metric martyr” when he was convicted in 2001 of measuring fruits and vegetables in pounds and ounces instead of kilograms. A court gave him a six-month conditional discharge. He died of a heart attack in 2004 just days after learning that his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against a conviction for using nonmetric scales in his market stall had been rejected.

Under the European Union decision, they can retain miles on road signs, and pubs may continue to serve pints of beer. Other goods must be sold in metric quantities, but retailers can display imperial equivalents.

CENSORSHIP:
'Breast-Feeding Is Obscene'

'This is a death announcement for freedom of press in Egypt'

"This is a death announcement for the freedom of press in Egypt," Eisa said.

Qandil said the "severe" verdict would not weaken him.

Hafez Abu Seada, secretary-general of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, said: "This is something very unique to Egypt," he said.

"I have never seen, at least in the last five years, any country that jails four editors in one day.

For China's Censors, Electronic Offenders Are the New Frontier

Prisons Purging Books on Faith From Libraries

But prison chaplains, and groups that minister to prisoners, say that an administration that put stock in religion-based approaches to social problems has effectively blocked prisoners’ access to religious and spiritual materials — all in the name of preventing terrorism.

“It’s swatting a fly with a sledgehammer,” said Mark Earley, president of Prison Fellowship, a Christian group. “There’s no need to get rid of literally hundreds of thousands of books that are fine simply because you have a problem with an isolated book or piece of literature that presents extremism.”

The lists are broad, but reveal eccentricities and omissions. There are nine titles by C. S. Lewis, for example, and none from the theologians Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Barth and Cardinal Avery Dulles, and the influential pastor Robert H. Schuller.

Funkengroovin Wednesday - Afterview

I was going to post a "Funkengroovin Preview", but TeData decided at exactly 4:30 PM on Sunday it was changing over it's system, you know "improvings it," and my Internet went dead, as well as my Vonage phone. They sent a young MB looking guy, in jeans over, who fucked with my MAC for over an hour. He tried that last month, but I wouldn't let him near my machine. No one around here seems to understand Mac's. They promised to send someone else over in the morning - "inshallah mumpkin boukra" (tomorrow, God willing). The Boss Man went through the words "fuck," "fucked up," and "fucking" every other breath (the ugly American.) Fortunately MB looking man laughed at it all. They said they had installed a better system from the U.K. Oh, let me ask a rhetorical question here, "Is Bill Gates from the UK? Is Steve Jobs from the UK? Did the UK invent the Internet? Are all the Indian ITT wizards from the UK?" Needless to say, that did not impress me.

Monday I found the new TeData number in the back of a magazine, after having called wrong numbers all morning long. One of the numbers, which I had gotten from a book belonged to a woman I phoned up twice. The second time, she said, "Don't hang up! I want to help you." I explained my problem (that I was trying to call TeData,) and she gave me the number for information. I decided to wait until the maid arrived, for help with any Arabic I might need, but then I found the TeData number on the back page of a CSA Magazine the Boss Man brought home, coincidentally the night before.

I called. I waited. I was transferred. I waited again. I was transferred again, and constantly told, "I am now transferring you to a techhnikal assistant." I was transferred again, to a "technician". Apparently not technically inclined enough though, as his reply to me was, "We do not soupporrrt Muckintoush." Meanwhile, it took me about an hour to figure out what the young MB dude did to my computer, and to undo it all.

Fortunately we have a friend who came over with his IBM, and he was able to figure out that our router went dead after the TeData "improvements." He got us use of a (temporary) working router, and sometime Monday evening we were back in business. He's even going to take the old router back for us, to exchange for a new one. The man is amazing! Needless to say we will need to bring a superior gift for him, when one of us returns from the States, later this fall. I think the Boss Man was talking about an Apple product - not sure, but I know he'll love it! We will convert these skeptics, one by one, slowly, killing them softly with lovable Apple products (uh, no iPhone, though).

Monday evening, which is when I usually post my "Funkengroovin Preview" we were back in business, but I was about 24 hours behind on my blog.

Both the young lady on the other end of my wrong number, and our friend were awesome in helping us out. The people here in Egypt are totally giving. I don't think I've ever lived in a country where people are so friendly, considerate, willing to make fun of themselves, plus who scream and get all emotional just like Greeks! So for all my Egyptian and Muslim friends: Ramadan Kareem. BTW, I gave the boab money to go buy a Ramadan light. I told him to buy one he liked, since he sits out there, and has to look at it all day and night. He said, in his thirteen years working here, no one has ever given him that discretion, nor paid for a light.

What did Jerry Lewis say, LaLaLa, Nice laddeeee!" - Nooooo. I am not nice! I was just so embarrassed because everyone else had Ramadan lights and we didn't. I can't believe the other folks in this apartment building don't give a hoot, and they're all Muslim! I think the boab is very happy though.

My mom always said, "What goes around comes around."

Now, that I've gotten my computer problems off my chest, here's the "Preview" a bit late - which makes it an "Afterview", I guess.

Anybody remember Ted Bundy?
Bundy, Ridgway 'murderabilia' among Internet sales

WASHINGTON - Round and chrome, it looks a lot like your average hubcap from a vintage VW Bug. But this one is special. And it's for sale.

It's off the tan 1968 Volkswagen Beetle that Ted Bundy drove as he roamed the West in the mid-1970s murdering young women. From Washington state to Colorado to Utah, Bundy is considered among the most diabolical serial killers in U.S. history.

The starting bid for the hubcap from Bundy's Beetle is $3,500.

Here's a preview of a new car from Volkswagen. Personally, I don't like the way it looks - fugly. Interior and exterior photos are included in the article.
The Volkswagen up!

Frankfurt Preview: Volkswagen Caddy Maxi Life

A Successor to the Hippie Van

It has become the favored vehicle for a new generation of van fans, argued Paul Saffo, the futurist and Stanford University teacher, in his blog at saffo.com. The Sprinter, he wrote, became the spiritual successor to the Volkswagen Microbus of the 1960s and the Ford Econoline and other vans of later eras, noting that private individuals “began purchasing Sprinters, turning them into mobile homes, windsurfing carriers, pedigree dog show transporters and, of course, surfer vans.

Rise of the replica cars

Volkswagen T2 van The classic "Kombi" camper van was never luxurious but romantics still prefer it to modern tourers. VW Brazil is still manufacturing a version and you can buy a brand-new T2 Rio camper – but with the reliability and build quality of a modern Volkswagen.

The motor is water- rather than air-cooled (it's from a 1.4-litre Golf). Otherwise, this is as faithful a Sixties camping experience as you can get. From £21,688, danburymotorcaravans.com.

The Who to rock International Bus Meeting - Nice photos here.

That’s exactly what the song ‘Going Mobile’ is about: “Well I'm gonna find a home on wheels, see how it feels, / Goin' mobile/ Keep me moving/ I can pull up by the curb, /I can make it on the road, /Goin' mobile
I can stop in any street/ And talk with people that we meet”.

The Who vocalist Roger Daltrey is a Volkswagen Bus enthusiast too and says he is looking forward to the event. “All of us in the band are Volkswagen fans. I’ll give my vocal chords an oiling and then give it all I’ve got, until everyone is singing along … ´f-f-fade away´,“ Daltrey promises.

International VW Bus Meeting - Go to the Gallery for some great Type 2 photos.

How to renovate a VW bus in just 73 complicated steps

Ailments and Antidotes

SHUDDERING Acuras and grease oozing from the dashboards of Mazda CX-9s are among the latest technical service bulletins compiled by alldatapro.com.

Technical service bulletins, or T.S.B.’s, offer insights into some recurring problems. The bulletins are not recalls; they are notices provided by manufacturers to the service departments and mechanics of their dealerships. Except where noted, manufacturers did not mention in the reports whether the repairs would be covered outside of the warranty.

VOLKSWAGEN Owners of some 2004-8 Volkswagen Touareg S.U.V.’s may find their door handles stuck open. In TSB 5707-06 issued May 3, Volkswagen officials noted that while the handle may become stuck, the latch remained operative. Adding a metal retaining clip inside the door trim should snap things back into place.

How many times have I heard the Boss Man say, "That car is a piece of shit?" (aka P.O.S.)

Well, from TIME Magazine, here's an official list of The 50 Worst Cars Of Al Time, with emphasis on The Edsel.


Maybe some the new Chinese made cars will make the list eventually. Germans See Imitation in Chinese Cars,

FRANKFURT, Sept. 11 — It’s hardly surprising that a car that bills itself as the “ultimate driving machine” would inspire imitation. But to BMW, the CEO, a Chinese sport utility vehicle, is less respectful homage than brazen knockoff.

“We did not like it,” BMW chief executive, Norbert Reithofer, said curtly in an interview here.

Neither did DaimlerChrysler, which is taking legal action against Shuanghuan to prevent it from selling the Noble, a subcompact that bears an uncanny resemblance to Daimler’s Smart minicar. The Noble did not appear at the show, though the importer, China Automobile Deutschland, insisted that it decided on its own not to distribute the car in Germany.

“Naturally, our cars are inspired by European carmakers,” said Karl Schlössl, a German who is the chief executive of China Automobile. “But we reject the charge that they are copies.”

At a circuslike news conference, Mr. Schlössl refused to speak the name BMW, instead referring to it as “that company.” He spoke of having a southern German accent that would make him at home in the hallways of the Munich-based BMW, and he introduced a tall blond woman as his companion.

Mr. Maxton said Chinese carmakers sometimes copied the exterior of a car from one model, and the interior from another. In the case of the CEO, for instance, it is not clear that the BMW X5 was the sole inspiration for its design. Auto critics have said that while the rear end of the vehicle is a dead ringer for the X5, the front end looks more like a Toyota Land Cruiser.

BMW emphasized that under the hood, the CEO is no X5. Small wonder: the X5 starts at 59,000 euros ($86,830) in Europe; the twin-turbo diesel model on display here goes for 92,000 euros ($126,040). Mr. Schlössl said the CEO would sell for a base price of 25,900 euros ($35,483).

For now, the Chinese are struggling with more basic issues, like designing a safe car. Two carmakers, Brilliance and Landwind, suffered when their cars performed abysmally in crash tests conducted by the German automobile club ADAC.

Landwind has stopped selling while it retools its cars to improve their safety, according to Peter Bijvelds, a Dutch car dealer who holds the distribution license for the brand.

Brilliance, which collaborates with BMW in assembling cars in China, insisted it had improved its safety standards, though it still received only a middling score in a subsequent crash test. It presented its new compact, the BS2, as a low-cost alternative to the Volkswagen Golf.

Little Britain - Carol Beer

Funkengroovin Wednesday - The Car Souk

Bring your umbrellas, hats, and icy cold drinks (you can buy them there too,) cause we're goin' to the local car souk!





Friday, the Boss Man and I went to two car souks in the Cairo area.


(Left) - the crowd. (Below) - Hats and water for sale, and a drink stand (background - Friday Prayers.)

















(Left) - a common scene. This is at the "Taxi Market". In order to drive a taxi in Cairo, you need a license and current law states you buy the license, when you buy the taxi. (In other words, the license comes with the car.)

(Left) - A small lot of cars for sale. Yes, three bugs and a VW Van in this small area.

In order to sell your car, you need to pay an entry fee of 10 Egyptian Pounds, about $1.70. If the spaces are full, you get into a line. When a car is sold, a slot opens, and you wait your turn to get a real parking space.

They pack 'em in like sardines in a tin.

It's a pretty big souk, as you can see. With two tall guys, and Vagabondblogger, we were able to ferret out a few interesting cars, which I will post on later. One, a VW Bus, has got us all stumped - can't find it nowhere, but I'll keep looking for information, or post it with the hopes that someone who reads this will know WTF it is!

Last Thursday night, everyone here (in Egypt) was supposed to turn their clocks back one hour. Yes, I know, for those of us from The U.S. this is a bit early. I understand this is for Ramadan only, so that the sun sets an hour earlier, and the daily fasts end sooner, as well. Of course, daylight comes earlier also, meaning fasting starts an hour sooner in the morning - hey, I don't make the rules here! I just try to live with them. Then (from what I hear) we will have to face another time change at the end of Ramadan.

Apparently, Egyptians try to live "normal" lives during Ramadan, as opposed to the folks from the U.A.E. who: shut down shops early, open shops late, and operate them until 2 AM in the morning, switch days with nights, forbid even the chewing of fingernails (understand that if you can't chew your fingernails, you can't do much of anything else, either - at least in public. Or you will face a hefty fine.) Needless to say, the Egyptians truly try to persue the virtues of Ramadan, while the folks in the U.A.E. try to find a way to get around it all. Even though westerners / non-Muslims can eat, drink, smoke, etc. in public, here during Ramadan, it's considered - you know - rude!  Kudos to the Egyptians - again!  

Back to the freaking time change here. Well, on Friday, when they have all of these various "markets," such as "Friday Market," Nasr City "Car Market," and all that, we were waiting around for our friend, Ali, to come pick us up. We started stewing, and blaming each other for the the fuck up (actually I made the appointment, so I got the blame - let's pretend things are equal here, though), when about twenty past eleven we figured out we were running one hour earlier than everyone else! (No, the Boss Man does not get credit for that either.) So, the video today is "Waiting On A Friend" (one of Boss Man's faves) in recognition of our waiting for our friend last Friday. Needless to say, Ali thought it was hysterical. He also wants to buy the Borgward - yeah, he's into cars too - he drives by the Borgward every morning to admire it. Who else would take us to a car market? He's from Aswan, and is an encyclopedia of information about cars. He was a totally excellent host for the day.

BTW, the "Funkengroovin Preview" will be posted tomorrow.  (I know - that means it's not a "Preview." - Let's not get technical, okay?)


Waiting On A Friend