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Infographic: Breaking down the costs of trucking

Zach Bowman — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 12:03:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Etc., Work, Earnings/Financials

If you've ever had visions of telling your boss exactly where he can put his TPS reports and heading off to reenact your favorite scenes from classic trucking movies like Smokey and the Bandit, Convoy or Over the Top, we have bad news for you: Trucking is prohibitively expensive.

The crew at TheTruckersReport.com worked up an infographic filled with examples of just how pricey it can be to operate an eighteen wheeler. According to the information, only eight percent of all trucks on the road are privately operated. The rest are run by larger trucking companies.

No surprise there. A new cab can cost upwards of $100,000, while a trailer will set you back $50,000. Companies typically pay around $30,000 a year on their truck loans, which actually makes it the third largest expense in operating a big rig. Number one? Diesel fuel. A single truck can suck down 20,500 gallons of fuel in a year, which can add up to over $70,000 depending on location. Driver pay falls second, with operators earning around $0.36 per mile. Maintenance, meanwhile, can cost around $15,000 annually.

Hit the jump to check out the full graphic for yourself. Now if you'll excuse us, we have some reports to file...

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Infographic: Breaking down the costs of trucking originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Apr 2012 12:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nissan GT-R "Alternity Convoy" Transformer toy pics

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:58:00 EST

Filed under: Coupe, Supercars, Nissan, Toys/Games

We were pretty excited when we saw the first shots of a transforming Nissan GT-R toy in 1:24 scale, but after seeing the final product, it looks as if the supercar makes a pretty poor Transformer. If only it morphed into Godzilla, maybe that would be an improvement. Take a look for yourself at the pictures in our gallery in both regular and transformed versions. While in its hidden alt-car-mode, the 'bot has quite a few ill-placed seams, and when in native robot form the GT-R looks like it has insect wings. Still, it's pretty cool to see a Transformer made from the R35, and we wish we could see it do its transforming in the upcoming movie, but not in this form. Convoy is what they call Optimus Prime in Japan, and to our eyes, Prime can only be a Big Rig. Thanks for the tip, 94 Taurus owner!

Gallery: Tomy GT-R Transformer

[Source: Transformers News]

Nissan GT-R "Alternity Convoy" Transformer toy pics originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Colin McRae tribute convoy reaches 30-miles long

Justin Gardiner — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:29:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Etc., Subaru, Celebrities

Click above for high-res gallery of Colin McRae's tribute

Oh, those Brits. When they're not ~~faking~~ making corn circles they're writing a rally legend's name using 1,086 Subaru Imprezas as pixels. This, of course, was the finale to the weekend long celebration of Colin McRae's life, which saw over 1,100 Scoobys converge on Prodrive's test track in Warwickshire. Precisely how many cars took part in the ensuing 30-mile convoy is unknown, but if you don't have anything better to do right now, you can have a go at counting them in the video after the jump (and look out for the near miss at 6:42). Even the local constabulary showed up in a WRX pursuit car.

The half-mile-long sign you see above broke the Guiness World Record for, err, writing signs with cars by a cool 800, but more importantly Colin's fans raised over $80,000 for the McRae family's chosen charities.

Gallery: Colin McRae's tribute convoy

Continue reading Colin McRae tribute convoy reaches 30-miles long

Colin McRae tribute convoy reaches 30-miles long originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Japan: Transformers dig MP3s

Alex Nunez — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 12:58:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Japan, Toys/Games

Yep, Transformers mania is going to be around for a while, and unsurprisingly, some of the nuttiest new stuff is coming out in Japan, in the form of Takara/Tomy's new "Transformers Music Label" line of toys/accessories. The rig above is Convoy (a.k.a. Optimus Prime), and while he converts to his familiar robot form, his trailer does double duty as a portable iPod dock and speaker system. He will go on sale July 27.

Before the new Convoy arrives, a new Soundwave will hit the shelves on July 19. Soundwave, many of you will remember, was a cassette player when we were kids. He's now an MP3 player with an SD card slot. Joining Soundwave are Frenzy and Rumble, who were the cassettes in the old-school days. Now that Soundwave has ditched the analog media, Frenzy and Rumble are the headphones (sold separately, natch) that go nicely with him, and yes, you can still wear listen to your tunes through them even when they're in robot mode. You'll just look weird.

Convoy's price is set at ¥15,570 ($127) , Soundwave goes for ¥10,500 ($85), and Frenzy and Rumble will set buyers back ¥3,150 ($25). Thanks to the web, if you want any of them, you should be able to find a place willing to ship them to you.

[Source: Carview]

Gallery: Transformers Music Label Accessories

Japan: Transformers dig MP3s originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 17 Jul 2007 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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