Autoblog

The old saying goes, you snooze, you lose. Unfortunately the tip for this eBay item came in a little past our deadline and a little past the closing bid, but we still wanted to share this unique vehicle with you. From the same collection that was offering the scary movie cars, we have one of the handcrafted vehicles from Flintstones, Viva Rock Vegas. No need to put the pedal to the gravel with this faux log car. Instead of the typical Flintstone's foot powered vehicle, this baby will move under its own power and is environmentally friendly to boot, with an electric motor under the planks. BTW, the boat wasn't part of the deal.

As the eBay description explains: "This log car was built by the special effects team at Universal Studios for use in the movie, 'Flintstones, Viva Rock Vegas'. It is a custom built chassis with an electric motor and electric disc brakes, much like a golf cart. It was all hand carved out of foam to look like wood. It was covered in resin for durability and hand painted... It cost about $50k to design and build... Just in time for Halloween!"

And don't feel too bad about missing out on your chance to own a piece of movie infamy history, the top bid was far short of the suspected reserve so it might pop up again in the future. And if a foam log isn't your idea of a classy ride, the seller is still offering Wayne's 1976 AMC Pacer, Chris Tucker's Corvette from Rush Hour, and the Grinch's sleigh from the live action feature starring Jim Carrey.

[Source: eBay]

Quick quackout to DuckFat for the tip!

Auto repair shop chain Midas has declared Dave Givens to be the ultimate road warrior, with a daily round trip of 372 miles, earning him the America's Longest Commute award. Every day, Givens drives from his 7.5-acre ranch in Mariposa, CA to his electrical engineering job at Cisco Systems in San Jose, CA (Google Local says that it's "only" 159 miles one way, but maybe Givens takes a few trips around the block at either end because he likes to drive so much). The stated reason for this is the enjoyment he receives from living in a rural area, although we're not sure how much time is left after his seven-hour commute. All that time is spent in a 2005 Honda Accord, which already has nearly 75,000 miles on the clock after nine months of ownership.

The Federal Highway Administration says that the length of the average commute increased by about 5% from 1990 to 2000... we're thinking that Givens himself might be solely responsible for that increase.

[Sources: North Country Times; Google Local]