Free Republic

A Kansas City auto repair shop employee made a snap decision Monday when a woman drove off without paying for repairs. He jumped on the roof of her Cadillac Escalade and held on during a high-speed, three-mile ride that ended outside Kansas City police headquarters. Another auto shop employee followed in another vehicle and told police that he tried to stop the Cadillac by firing shots at its tires. One of the bullets hit the driver’s side door. Police said it was a miracle that no one was injured in the incident that began shortly before 3 p.m. Monday at...

When eccentric doctor and compulsive hoarder Harold Carr died at the age of 89, his relatives faced a daunting task to sort through his possessions. His home was packed with piles of medical machinery, 1,500 beer steins, thousands of receipts and even a World War Two spy drone. But all the effort became worth it when they opened the door of his garage - and struck gold. Inside they found a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante, one of only 17 ever made. The historic automobile with only 26,284 miles on the clock still has 99 per cent of its original...

London, England (AHN) - Britain will out on Thursday the world's fastest car capable of zooming at 1,050 miles per hour. The Bloodhound SSC, designed by Richard Noble, is 42 feet long, 9 feet high and weighs 6.4 tons. Andy Green, a Royal Air Force pilot, will drive the vehicle. Noble and Green hold the world land speed title for their 766 MPH drive of the ThrustSSC, which accelerated to 600 mph upon start in 16 seconds, becoming the first vehicle to breach the sound barrier. A Eurojet EJ200 and a Falcon hybrid rocket power Bloodhound SSC. The Eurojet could...

Top 10 Underappreciated All-American Cars And Trucks Many of the most important vehicles built in the United States since the end of World War II—cars that defined new style, pioneered new technology or just plain kept companies going—are overlooked to this day. The innovations implemented by these cars and trucks seemed at the time so minor that few realized they were, in fact, revolutionary. So, this Fourth of July weekend, we celebrate our favorite unsung American car heroes. By John Pearley Huffman Published on: July 3, 2008 1986 Ford TaurusBy the mid-1980s American buyers were fleeing traditional American family cars...

Sunday, July 13, 2008This could be just a tad over the top, automotively speaking C&D has official photos and stats on the '09 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG "Black Series" -- a tricked out version of the already ludicrously fast SL65 AMG. The new series claims 661 horsepower. Top speed is electronically limited to around 199 mph. Torque output is unchanged at 738 pound-feet, although Mercedes says the engine is detuned from 885, likely to keep the heavy-duty five-speed automatic transmission alive. The Black Series’ transmission, however, adds a fourth transmission setting, M2 manual mode, which shifts a claimed 25 percent quicker...

BERLIN (AFP) - Sports car manufacturer Ferrari intends to cut its vehicles' greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half and is working on developing hybrid vehicles, the company president said Saturday. < > But he insisted that any future hybrid Ferrari would still be "fundamentally a Ferrari." < >

The 'biggest American car show in the world' opened in Västerås in central Sweden on Thursday. More than 10,000 cars are expected for the Big Meet 2008 show. The annual event started 31 years ago and was founded by Kjell Gustafsson who has seen it grow from the humble beginnings of 40-80 cars in a parking lot in Anderstorp. "Just to keep the show going over three days costs 1.5 million kronor ($252,000). 160 officials work with this. That is around the same as the Hultsfred festival," Gustafsson said to Di.se. The Big Meet 2008 show will take place over...

General Motors will den Chevrolet Volt schon 2010 für rund 30.000 Dollar auf den Markt bringen. Was wird ein Steckdosen-Smart kosten? General Motors intends to market the Chevrolet Volt as early as 2010 for around $30,000. How much will a plug-in Smart cost? Wir planen für das Jahr 2010 einen Elektro-Smart und für dasselbe Jahr auch ein Mercedes-Modell. Über den Preis ist noch nicht endgültig entschieden. Das hängt davon ab, ob wir die Autos mit den Batterien verkaufen oder ob die Batterien geleast werden. We are planning an Electro-Smart for the year 2010, and for the same year also a...

Johnathan Goodwin can get 100 mpg out of a Lincoln Continental, cut emissions by 80%, and double the horsepower. Does the car business have the guts to follow him? “Check it out. It's actually a jet engine," says Johnathan Goodwin, with a low whistle. "This thing is gonna be even cooler than I thought." We're hunched on the floor of Goodwin's gleaming workshop in Wichita, Kansas, surrounded by the shards of a wooden packing crate. Inside the wreckage sits his latest toy--a 1985-issue turbine engine originally designed for the military. It can spin at a blistering 60,000 rpm and...

Jun. 13 - Japanese company Genepax presents its eco-friendly car that runs on nothing but water. The car has an energy generator that extracts hydrogen from water that is poured into the car's tank. The generator then releases electrons that produce electric power to run the car. Genepax, the company that invented the technology, aims to collaborate with Japanese manufacturers to mass produce it.

Honda FCX Clarity and Home Hydrogen Fueling Stations By Bill Siuru Honda’s decision to transition its FCX Clarity into limited production and lease some 50 of these hydrogen fuel cell cars to customers in Southern California is a groundbreaking move. Why Southern California? A small number of very expensive hydrogen fueling stations already exist here and more are in the planning stages. In tandem with this, Honda has also shown a longer term solution for refueling hydrogen vehicles in the form of its fourth generation Home Energy Station. Working with its technology partner Plug Power, Honda debuted the first Home...

They say beauty is only skin deep. Tell that to GINA. Instead of a metal or plastic body, BMW's latest concept, the GINA Light Visionary Model, drapes a flexible fabric material over a moveable wire mesh frame, creating a nearly seamless surface that can alter its form at the whim of the driver.

To Southern Cal Freepers: Wanna See Some Electric Cars? (Vanity)

Bentley Motors plans to unveil its $200,000 Continental Flying Spur Speed sedan in Boston today - apparently the first time any automaker has chosen the Hub for a worldwide product launch. Bentley has previously rolled out vehicles in Paris, Geneva and other posh locales. But the legendary British automaker chose Boston this time because Bentley plans to move its North American headquarters here from Detroit this fall. “We really wanted to use our new location as a showcase for the brand,” company spokesman David Reuter said. Bentley expects some 150 auto journalists from around the world to hit the Hub...

With all the changes in the automotive world, there's never a shortage of crazy ideas floating around. Fortunately for car enthusiasts, many of those wacky ideas actually see the light of day -- and we've got the 10 best for you right here. snip Siler says the hybrid and "green" car revolution is here to stay, but that the supercar market is a niche one and there'll always be someone willing to shell out big bucks for an exotic ride. With that in mind, here are 10 of the most outrageous, extravagant, or just plain cool autos to look for...

Nissan Motor Co., playing catch-up in fuel-efficient motoring, said Monday that it and NEC Corp. will invest 115 million dollars to mass produce new batteries for electric, hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles. The push into advanced lithium-ion batteries comes as Japanese automakers invest in an array of new environmentally friendly car technologies amid soaring prices at the pump. Nissan has been slower than rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. to embrace petrol-electric hybrids, but it aims to become the industry leader in electric vehicles. "Our vision for a more sustainable future is clear," said Nissan's executive vice president Carlos...

During the 1950s, much of the world was quivering with anticipation over the exciting prospects of nuclear power. Atomic energy promised to churn out clean, safe electricity that would be "too cheap to meter." It seemed that there was no energy problem too large or too small for the mighty atom to tackle during the glorious and modern Atomic Age. It was during this honeymoon with nuclear energy– in 1957– that the Ford Motor Company unveiled the most ambitious project in their history: a concept vehicle which had a sleek futuristic look, emitted no harmful vapors, and offered incredible...

LOS ANGELES — It's safe to say Jeremy Snyder gets a charge out of the two-seat Tesla Roadster whenever he pulls one off the lot — and not because it's equipped with an all-electric engine. As he pulled one of the sleek new automobiles down a side street Thursday and put the pedal to the metal, its lithium-ion battery-powered engine didn't give off sparks. It just emitted a powerful hum, something like a much quieter version of a jet taking off. "Accelerate pretty good?" asked Snyder, head of client services for Tesla, who knew the answer. "I call it a...

The skinny is that Tesla is having a difficult time developing a transmission strong enough to "survive the process of shifting gears while the motor remains at full torque", according to our own Sam Abuelsamid who has been following the Roadster's development from Day 1 and has actually rode shotgun in it. Two suppliers are currently working simultaneously to find a solution. Meanwhile, the company has gone ahead and built the first production model at the Lotus factory in Hethel, England. The first car belongs to Elon Musk, Chairman of the company and one of its initial investors. His car...

With Barely a Sound, Electric Dragsters Aim for Gas-Powered Records PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Straddling a 619-pound motorcycle, Scotty Pollacheck tucks in his knees and lowers his head as he waits for the green light. When he revs the engine, there's no roar. The bike moves so fast that within seconds all that's visible is a faint red taillight melting in the distance. Pollacheck crosses the quarter-mile marker doing 156 mph; he's traveled 1,320 feet in 8.22 seconds, faster than any of the gas-powered cars, trucks or motorcycles that have raced in the drag sprints on this weekend at Portland...