Autoblog

The British have been known to "take the piss" out of their German counterparts for several decades now, and that goes well back before World War II. Time to score one for the sceptered isle again: somebody in a right-hand-drive vehicle in Germany has been foiling German speed cameras with a Muppet. German cameras are aimed to get clear pictures of the driver in a left-hand-drive car, but not a shot of the passenger -- who is, in this case, the driver. All they can get is this googly-eyed fellow. Jim Henson must be pleased. Thanks for the tip, Abe!

[Source: BoingBoing via AutoFiends]

A very short clip that says so much, there's really only one thing to add: be very, very careful out there. You never know who you're driving next to... Follow the jump to see the vid.

[Source: Break via Geekologie]

From time to time we've all been tempted to purchase that fake diploma from the endlessly circulating email, right? The last time I checked, though, they weren't offering fake certificates from the Art Center College of Design, or the Academy of Art University. If you still held onto the dream of someday shaping cars, even after all your sketch pads had been confiscated, the normal path was that you'd go to an institution where you could learn industrial design through a rigorous academic program. That's the reason why those of us who continue to doodle four wheeled conveyances are reduced to sketching while on boring phone calls; to truly design real cars takes years of practice, hard work, and skill. Alternatively, you could drop a measly 20 bucks and start computerating up some fun looking vehicles with Topics Entertainment's Sports Car Designer software.

In the end, it's still no replacement for learning to render a form on paper with perspective, shading and foreshortening; all those things that take years to develop skill with. From what we can see, you're limited to a profile view, but the options for body shape creation are wide ranging enough that you can whip up some interesting forms. We're not seeing a tremendous amount of variety or originality in the screenshots at the support website sportscardesigner.com, but for $20 at Best Buy what do you want, Cinema 4D? When you're done with your masterpiece of the moment, you can export it as a .jpg, or you can spit CAD data out so that another program might be able to stitch the entire car together for you in 3-D space. It's a fun way to divert some hours, and hey, it'll keep that eternally fidgeting car-crazy pre-teen quiet for the vast span of 15 minutes, at least.

Thanks for the tip, Larry!

Drama in the kitchen is typically the result of some male/female dynamic, but Porsche Design has teamed up with Poggenpohl for a solution that might actually cost less in the long run when you get done factoring in the cost of chiropractor visits to fix your back after nights on the couch. Of course Porsche Design has done everything from hard drives to multihammers, not to mention shoes, watches, and everything in between, so a kitchen isn't such a big stretch. What better place to store that NeoPresso machine than in the P'7340 kitchen?

The modular design makes extensive use of aluminum, a Porsche Design trademark. The lines are clean and intended to appeal to masculine tastes. Porsche and Poggenpohl are citing a rising interest among men to fiddle around in the kitchen as an impetus for the high tech look, and that's also probably why there's an audio-video system built into the kitchen. There are lots of slick touches to keep the clean lines, such as overengineered latch and handle setups to open the doors and drawers electrically, though you can get conventional handles, too. Think of it as a kitchen with available Tiptronic.

[Source: Gizmag]

The naming is appropriate for a low-frequency addicted BAMF - Sub Mofo. If you're looking to jiggle the teacups in Aunt Millie's breakfast nook over in the next county, this is the vehicle for you! It appears to be some sort of promotional vehicle for mobile audio manufacturer Power Acoustik. In fact, Mofo is a particular model line of extremely beefy subwoofers from the California-based electronics manufacturer. The Mofo-10s appear to be part of what this truck's equipped with. From the specs, these woofers require serious current, so we hope that's a generator truck underneath all the line arrays, crossovers and electro-shock graphics. With a motor structure that weighs 270 ounces, a couple of these babies in the trunk of an RWD car, with the supporting cast of amps, active crossovers, stiffening capacitors, and a battery for good measure, you'd have plenty of snow traction. Subtle it's not, but it is an impressive way to go deaf. What?

[Source: techeblog]

click above image to view more angles of this cut-in-half Eagle Premier

We admitted our affection for the underappreciated Eagle Premier a while back, but seeing one irreparably sawed in half still makes us grin. This car was given its unorthodox chop job by California's Premiere Studio Rentals as preparation for a starring role in a TV commercial. The spot, called "In Half", promotes Dunkin Donuts new frozen confection disguised as an "energy drink," as if that softens the massive caloric blow to your system. You'd need a large living room to house this conversation piece, and TV props are never as pretty in person as they are on screen, so we'd expect a level of undesireable rattiness to this piece, especially after shooting. It would be a cool attention-getter for a body shop or something, though an even better demonstration of their skills would be stitching the sedan back together so the julienne slice was invisible. Somehow, we don't see reassembly happening. Get your bids in, though - currently, it's at $50 with 6 days left.

Check out the commercial in which this half off Eagle Premier stars after the jump.

Thanks for the tip, Mike!

[Souce: eBay]

Great, another retail establishment that can't spell. Here's a tip: "Z" does not equal "S." Using Z to pluralize words will also not make you hip or cool. Rather, it will point out that it's an obvious stab at being cool, without actually attaining coolness. Alphabet abuse aside, the concept of RideMakerz is cool. From the soft, cuddly folks at Build-A-Bear Workshop (and Chip Foose, natch) comes a less fluffy, more greasy idea. Those of us who spent hours inhaling Testor's model glue fumes finally have a mall refuge for our car-freak offspring. Kids can pick the type of vehicle they want to build, trick it out with accessories (pardon us, accessoriez), add decals, and even customize the license plate and add remote control capabilities, depending on Mom and Dad's available credit. The first store opens in Myrtle Beach this week, and the Mall Of America is going to get one soon, too. If they make you kiss the engine, turn around three times and recite some incantation, just watch out for the fan blades.

[Source: RideMakerz via Jalopnik]

At roughly $130, they're not the most expensive footwear out there, but they're certainly no ordinary sneaker, either. Likewise, the Porsche 911 isn't the most expensive car out there, but it's darn good at what it does, and you do pay a premium for that.

Adidas and Porsche Design have gotten together to create sporting shoes with a nod to racing success. While they still bear a resemblance to the classic Gazelle, the soles, materials and color schemes are in another realm. Available in Standard (lace-up) or Automatic (slip-on), the color schemes are based on racing livery, and the footwear carries the Porsche Design logo, as well. There are lesser models to the line, as well as a women's version. The racing model is the standout, though, with sliver metallic or striking white and green stripes. The "Classic" model is the one we'd pick. You'll spend a ton of time maintaining the racing model, just like a race car. The Classic's classy earth tones will still look great after breaking in, and will require far less maintenance. They'd also feel just right on the pedals of that vintage 912 we lust for. Hmm, it seems that Adidas has created the shoe equivalent of the entire Porsche range; always exclusive, with a choice of performance levels, all above the norm.

[Source: Adidas via Winding Road]

We all learn the theory of what happens inside an internal combustion engine; a mixture of fuel and air is ignited by a short electric spark. Some people describe the ensuing event as an explosion, but the ideal is a controlled burn, but it's still so fast that it could be confused for an uncontrolled explosion. An engine is a practical application of thermodynamics, when it comes right down to it. The piston moves by the pressure exerted by the burning fuel mixture, and as the piston moves down the bore, pressure reduces, and work is extracted from the fuel.

Of course, there's a lot more to it, but that's the basics. We're sure you had a little animated diagram dancing around in your head the first time you really tried to understand the common Otto cycle. My mental flash player still fires up when I'm trying to figure out different cycles like the Atkinson. Wouldn't it be great to actually see inside the cylinder during combustion events? No, we didn't videotape our lawnmower with a Colortune plug -- this technique is far fancier.

Video and technique info after the jump

[Source: Hemmings]

Whoa, they built a highway through a cranberry bog? Uh, no. Lowell Massachusetts is in the north central part of the state, miles removed from the bogs of the Cape. The orange hue that coated route 495's northbound lane did make for a colorful nighttime drive, however messy it ended up being. A tractor trailer carrying dye intended for mulch deposited some of its cargo on the highway after the load shifted.

The dye, colored with iron oxide, is generally considered harmless, and a local car wash ended up doing a booming business cleaning the orange schmutz from afflicted cars. The only danger from the spill seemed to be some obscuring of lane markings over the heaviest stretch of the roughly three miles the spill eventually occupied. Not that lane markings mean much to drivers here in Massachusetts, anyway, so that's a non-hazard. Nobody has been cited in the incident, which seems to have been mainly harmless. Some cars got messy, 495 now has a splash of color, and nobody got hurt. There is an insurance hotline to call for drivers affected, though we wonder how many car washes they're willing to pay for. Any residual dye will be gone after Thursday's forecast snow, we're sure.


[Source: Lowell Sun via Carscoop]