Categories: Miscellaneous

The average price for unleaded gas has been over three dollars a gallon since late 2010, and, despite recent drops, chances are good that gasoline will remain pricey for the foreseeable future. Because of this, millions of motorists across the country are showing keen interest in vehicles that promise better mileage for each drop of fuel, and automakers have been busy offering models to meet this demand.

Leading the way are gas/electric hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius and Chevy Volt, which can drive 50+ miles on a single gallon of gas. Backed by aggressive marketing campaigns and government tax credits, it seems clear that hybrids are the way to go for anyone who wants to save money at the pump.

Back in 1899, a Scottish immigrant named David Buick decided to try his hand at building horseless carriages. At the turn of the last century, automobile manufacturing was the new boom industry. Much like the dot com boom a century later, there was a fledgling car company on every corner. And nearly all of them would eventually run out of money, and go belly-up. Just a few years after Mr. Buick started his automotive venture, it too went bankrupt, and the company was taken over by a man named Billy Durant.

Mr. Durant was a very wealthy man, having turned his small wagon/carriage business, the Flint Road Cart Company, into the world's largest horse-drawn wagon manufacturer. His wagons were sold all over the world, and he decided to replicate his success In the automobile business. The Buick Motor Company was his first automotive acquisition, and it would eventually become the cornerstone of his new car-making conglomerate called General Motors.

Nope, not Henry Ford. He invented the assembly line.

If you’re into classic cars, you might be tempted to say that it was the Duryea brothers, but that’s wrong too. The first working car to be designed and constructed in America was built by a man named John Lambert, all the way back in 1891.

Need proof that the economy is getting back on track? How about the first eBay Top Five list in history to boast a value in excess of two million dollars? That’s right, folks, this is the first time in (my) recorded history that a.) any car’s been reported sold on eBay for nearly $1M; and, b.) the five highest claimed automotive auction sales prices (within two consecutive months) have exceeded $2M.

Oddly enough, however—especially in the Lamborghini’s case—the top four here are in the most boring color schemes their respective manufacturers have to offer (not that #5’s hue is all that exciting, either). Then again, this may reflect buyers’ desires to remain a little less conspicuous in their consumption, at least until the average American can afford their own guilty automotive pleasures.

Unleash the (late-model, near-new) hounds!

For centuries, Santa has instilled joy and wonder into the hearts of the world's youth by way of a reindeer-driven sleigh. A few luxury-car and supercar manufacturers have decided that Santa needs an upgrade. The world's population is growing, after all, so a little extra speed will help Santa cover his entire list with check marks.

We've seen Santa-mobiles before, but it seems like there's some growing competition this year. Within a few days, Lamborghini, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz each released visions about what Santa should be driving in the future.

For the past week or so, living in and around New Jersey has not been the most fun. Trees are down everywhere, and in some places, the only thing holding them up are the power lines they landed on. Coming home after work to a cold house, with only candles and flashlights to get around has given some of us a very clear snapshot of what life was like in the 1800's. Some of us have just gotten power back (today), and some are still stuck in the dark, and we are the lucky ones. Those stuck on the Jersey Shore and coastal parts of New York have had their home towns declared 'uninhabitable' until further notice.

TV hosts wielding black lights have long turned our stomachs in regard to the glaring lack of cleanliness in hotel rooms. Ford shows us that germs and disease are lurking much closer to home. In a recent study with the University of Michigan, Ford found that the vehicle is essentially a four-wheeled orgy of microorganisms.

Ford studied 10 individual areas of the car, including steering wheels, radio buttons, door handles, window switches and gear shift knobs, collecting samples from employee and company vehicles. It found evidence of bacteria growth in most locations, with the highest concentrations around the cup holder and on the steering wheel.

Like cricket (the game) and Marmite (whatever the hell that is) there are just things they do in the UK that I can’t get a handle on. I always thought it was a production assistant goofing around with the more apt license plates you see on Top Gear’s test cars but no: people actually have to pay for those. A LOT. Like the four grand for “V12 NUT” Bonhams got recently.

And before you think this is an isolated incident—and/or skip to the fun "Top Five" lists I’ve painstakingly copied from another site—I provide you with a roster of offerings to be, um… offered at Barons’ “Annual British Heritage Auction & Other Classics” sale somewhere on the island today (September 17) (with plates offered in quotes and auction estimate averages in greenbacks):

[And I hate math more than you can imagine so appreciate what I did here, dang it!]

They are, as follows: “DB09 AML” [$8,315]; “9 BEN” [$34,880]; “Y12 FER” [$1,704]; “D8 GTS” [$3,448]; “W18 OND” [$2,434]; “EA51 CAR” [$1,866]; “V8 REG” [$3,488]. What, you don’t see the perfectly good reason why “9 BEN” should cost more than a new Camaro? Oh, silly American. Because, as the description reads [EXACTLY], “Pre 63 Bentley? Any The ultimate Bentley registration” of course!

It would seem as though too much of the Red Headed Stranger has rubbed off his former tour bus as—in the face of a $60k-$80k auction estimate—the 1986-model-year coach “Me & Paul” pulled down just $29,250 at Auctions America’s Sept.1 Auburn, Indiana sale.

[Hopefully this buyer will want to hang onto their purchase as the seller of this bus paid $48,550 less than a year ago at a Toronto auction, giving themselves a quick $19,300 haircut.]

Anyhoo, this thing is everything you’d expect a hard-worn band-bus to be, excluding most of the hard-worn. Still, if it wasn’t for the Willie Nelson history—and perhaps the terrible murals it’s coated in—this could easily be the crap-hauler for any C-level wannabe band.

Then again, maybe now it is…

Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee is a new web series where Jerry Seinfeld... well, you’re probably already ahead of me. Yes, Jerry drives around in car and gets coffee with a comedian. But these aren’t just your average cars – or comedians! Larry David, Ricky Gervais, Brian Regan, Colin Quinn, Alec Baldwin and Michael Richards to name a few.

Now, I have to admit, that when I first heard about Jerry's new web series idea, I wasn’t that intrigued. I don’t know if it was the show's name or the overly-simplified premise, but after catching up on the first two episodes, I realized that, really, the show’s simplicity is what makes it so fun to watch.

Think about it. This is Jerry Seinfeld making a show about (almost) nothing – that’s right in his wheel house! Even Larry David, co-creator of “Seinfeld” – “the show about nothing,” congratulates Jerry on the very first episode: “You have finally done a show about nothing.”

The search is on. Reuters reports that a Kia executive dropped a Soul bomb during last Friday’s earnings conference. The Soul, Kia’s second-best selling model in the first half of 2012, will receive a model update sometime next year – most likely as a 2014 or 2015 entry.

And although a Kia spokesperson refused to comment on the possibility of a new Soul to Automobile, our chances are still good for a Soul update. Ever since the Soul came onto the US auto scene in 2009, sales have steadily increased each year. But the vehicle’s modernistic, box-shaped design aesthetic has nevertheless remained stagnant.

The timing is ripe for a Soul reboot.