Ace-Garageguy

That's really deep sarcasm, right?

I'm in love.

How about this? ...or this... A more-wing-than-car concept? Some Alfas, maybe?

Well, the first use of "aero" on the street was copy-copy the hot-rod guys who removed as much frontal-area as possible by chopping tops, and who slicked up bodies and noses for dry-lakes high speed runs. That's where aero REALLY matters. The power required to overcome the aerodynamic drag is given by: The power needed to push an object through a fluid increases as the cube of the velocity. A car cruising on a highway at 50 mph may require only 10 horsepower to overcome air drag, but that same car at 100 mph requires 80 hp. With a doubling of speed the drag (force) quadruples per the formula. Exerting four times the force over a fixed distance produces four times as much work. At twice the speed the work (resulting in displacement over a fixed distance) is done twice as fast. Since power is the rate of doing work, four times the work done in half the time requires EIGHT TIMES THE POWER. Just like the "aero" stuff on most tuner cars is useless copy-cat my-car-looks-like-a-racecar stupidity, extreme top-chopping on the street was/is idiotic copycat stuff and spoiled practicality and outward visibility.

Before aerodynamics, really? The P-51 first flew in 1940, had a laminar-flow wing, and the belly scoop/radiator-ducting actually made additional thrust from waste engine heat. It doesn't get much more "aerodynamic" than that. And on the street, most wings have very limited effectiveness at legal (or sane) speeds in the typical environment populated by 35MPH mommies, chronic texters and slow-reacting old fossils. The air-dam under the front bumper on many production cars helps reduce drag by deflecting air away from the draggy bottom of the car. Most aftermarket street wings, NOT wind-tunnel or CFD designed, make more drag than useful downforce. The "whale-tail" wing on the 930 actually DID have a purpose. The rear of the car makes a little lift at very high speed, which the wing counters, but more importantly, the raised lip at the rear edge creates a high-pressure area ahead of it, forcing additional air through the intercooler.

Oh yes. I want, I want...

One of these in the Publix parking lot in Buckhead just now. Nice grocery getter.

Excellent question, and I'm just not knowledgeable enough about it to give a good answer. Yet. I'm glad you posted this though, as it's got me doing smme research into some of the more promising "revolutionary" designs from the past 2 decades, to try to get a feel of where we really are. A low-revving engine isn't necessarily a bad thing if it makes a lot of power for it's fuel consumption. A low-revving engine can function very well as a fixed-rpm power unit for a constantly-recharging hybrid, for example. But in general, I'm opposed to excessive complication. It's hard to beat a Wankel for simplicity and low number of moving parts. And clean-sheet-of-paper engine designs take time. Ol' Felix got his Wankel engine patent in 1929, but there wasn't a running prototype until '57. Then it took Mazda's involvement in R&D, dumping tons of $$ into the thing, to solve the worst of the problems (apex and side seals) by the late '60s. GM gave up on the technology. From Wikipee: Mazda is still continuing development of the next generation of Wankel engines, the 16X. The company is researching engine laser ignition, eliminating spark plugs, and direct fuel injection to which the Wankel engine is suited. This leads towards a greater rotor eccentricity, equaling a longer stroke in a reciprocating engine, for better elasticity and low rpm torque. These innovations promise to improve fuel consumption and emissions.[47][48][49] To improve fuel efficiency further Mazda is looking at using the Wankel as a range extender in series-hybrid cars and announced a prototype, the Mazda2 EV, for press evaluation in November 2013. This configuration improves fuel efficiency and emissions. As a further advantage, running a Wankel engine at a constant speed also gives greater engine life. Keeping to a near constant, or narrow band, of revolutions eliminates, or vastly reduces, many of the disadvantages of the Wankel engine.[15]

All I know at this point is that she hadn't run in something like 25 years, and had been just sitting. Josh got her as part of a trade for a '41 Buick and had the T running again on the second day. I believe the last owner had had the car since the 1960s. There's some significant rust inside the trunk, but otherwise the car is remarkably solid and un-molested. The ignition boxes, radiator and linings in the transmission are being replaced, along with the ignition "timer", a 1925 version of today's cam-position sensor. It has 4 separate coils, kinda like a current car too. Look at the fan in the center engine shot and you'll see it's running.

Kool kit. I had no idea it existed. Very nice job on it. Yup, and one of the best of the classic space-babes, Anne Francis...

I wonder if Ug the Neanderthal and his kin wrote songs about the first wheels, and how much easier they made rolling rocks. Maybe not.

Well, like, that should, like, make it, like, faster man, 'cause, like, it's always running downhill.

Or soda bottles...http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=40824 http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=78910

Cracking at panel joints, corners and attachment points is common on just about every fiberglass car, boat or airplane, but the designers are learning how to locate the joints so they don't show, or eliminate them entirely. The most pervasive and frustrating of fiberglass deterioration is the failure of the surface gel-coat, and this type of surface failure was common ALL OVER the old Corvette and Lotus bodies (and all the other cars and 'glass airplanes of similar vintage). It requires extremely skilled and labor-intensive correction, and on aircraft it can lead to structural failures as the cracks propagate down into the laminate itself. The newer materials and build techniques deliver products that are much more tolerant of stresses encountered in use, and more resistant to UV exposure.

I agree entirely. The car was built by another "good" shop that specializes in FoMoCo products, primarily Cobras and Cobra kit-cars, Shelby Mustangs and glass Deuces. It has a front rectangular tube subframe, Mustang II IFS, and a 5.0 engine with EFI. It's also been plagued by overheating and a horrible feeling monkey-motion clutch linkage since it was built. We fixed all that.

Saw these out and about a couple weeks back, and they all ended up at the shop. Also saw a teal MG-TD heading north on I-75 earlier today.

These sanding pads work well for the finer grits. You can order them online from a number of places, and the better hobby shops will also have them. As far as the coarser grits, your local auto-parts store will have them in sheets. Get "waterproof" paper. Just glue a piece to a Popsicle stick (rubber or contact cement). These sanding materials will come in very handy for fine-finishing of your paint, and the coarser grit paper is used on bodywork. If you put a couple of drops of dishwashing detergent in your sanding water, your paper and your pads will last much longer too. Rinse the pads thoroughly after use and store them somewhere they'll stay clean. Change the water and rinse out the cup after you finish using each grit. This will keep particles of grit that may have come loose from getting onto your next, finer-grit sanding operation, which can cause scratches.

Yeah, and most of the guys doing the polyester layups aren't wearing gloves, and none of them are wearing respirators either. I don't know if you've ever worked with liquid polyester resin, but the smell is overpowering (think bondo X 20). Plus it's loaded with bad stuff. I think this is a film of a prototype, pre-production body being made though, as the early production cars used a rubber "vacuum-bag" technique to remove trapped air bubbles from the layups, and this isn't seen in this footage. We'll assume the production workers were better protected. One big reason GM opted to use fiberglass on the Corvette was to save the massive expenditure on steel press-dies for a very limited-production run. Without respirators though, the layup-guys would certainly feel like hell after doing one set of parts. Ask me how I know.

Another car built by the shop where I work. This was Josh Mills' daily driver until he sold it on to a new home, and seeing this car is the reason I decided to work there.

And of course, they didn't accelerate either. Huge axle hop in most cases, and weight transferred to the nose to destroy traction. Real smart "performance" modification...yeah.

Nah. My ex ran off with it...

This one listens... The Voice Activated R2-D2. Description Instructions Reviews Lifetime Guarantee This motorized replica of the headstrong little "droid" from the iconic Star Wars films responds to voice commands, navigates rooms and hallways, and makes any home feel like it has been transported to a galaxy far, far away. R2 obeys more than 40 voice commands ("Turn around!," "Move forward two units!") and he plays games like tag, using an infrared sensor to search for people in a room. His sensor helps him follow behind you, or it can be set to detect motion, turning R2 into a room sentry that sounds an alarm when a secured area is invaded. R2's lights, swiveling dome top, and distinctive happy and sad sounds faithfully mimic the real thing, right down to his occasional "bad mood." (A simple command of, "R2, behave yourself!" snaps him out of it.) R2 can also replay sounds and dialog from Star Warsmovies, answer yes-or-no questions, and dance while playing the famed cantina music. Requires four AA batteries and four D batteries. Minor assembly required. Ages 8 and up. 15" H x 7 1/2" W x 10 1/2" L. (6 lbs.)

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