Rims

[xoxoxoBruce]

I heard that, plus they were offering to pay up to $10 grand to help dealers and some big bodyshops tool up and train for aluminum. Then last night I came across a blurb on some site that says they backed down, but for the life of me I can't remember where. Nor can I verify it's true.

Aluminum is great, light weight, won't rust, blah, blah, blah.
BUT that means when the truck eventually ends up in the junkyard from an accident or old age, the aluminum parts are too valuable as scrap to let them languish in the yard till somebody needs one.

So you'll have to be on the spot, and generally when I need a part from the yard, they scrapped the load of them the day before, so on the spot is out. That leaves new parts from Ford and that's big bucks to keep an old truck running.

They haven't said a lot about rust prevention but touting a 700 lb weight reduction, better mileage, green green green. Yeah well you could save 700 lbs or more by not building pickups the size of the fucking Titanic.

There is a legitimate purpose for the big F-350, F-450, F-550, F-650, Super Duty, Dually, Diesels, with GVWR of up to 37,000 lbs. But it sure ain't for taking the kids to school or towing you 1500 lb boat.

Even the F-250, which are like fleas on a dog, four door, long wheelbase is 172 inches. That's over 14 feet between axles. Plus the damn things easily go more than $50,000 all duded up. For $50 grand you could buy a nice new car that would do the car stuff and a pickup the size that was common in the 70's and 80's which will do all the truck stuff you need.

So switching to aluminum to save 700 lbs, is a joke. It's driving the ownership cost up, and It's make more money while trying to squeak the Titanic by the CAFE standards. It's not entirely Ford's fault as they are responding to market demands. Bullshit, demands they created with hard sell.

[Gravdigr]

Wal-Mart's new concept truck.



Wait -- Wal-Mart makes trucks?!

Steering wheel says Peterbilt. Just sayin'.

[Gravdigr]

If anyone has £15,000 lying around in the way, I have a birthday coming up in June...

Currently for sale on eBay, by the guy's wife -- 2010 Triumph Rocket III Roadster - Supercharged - Intercooled - 299 rear-wheel horsepower - 250 ft/lbs torque

The auction description is an entertaining read:

The selfish git has spent several kitchens turning this into an overpowered drag sofa.

[Gravdigr]

Deuce-and-a-half...pfft.

If ya gonna play, get the big 'un.

Some eye candy on the door, some shark teeth, some super singles, and you're good to go.

[BigV]

hard to believe

[lumberjim]

His case met stiff resistance from the court

[Gravdigr]

The frontman for the heavy metal group Metallica, one James Hetfield, is a car guy. His complete custom, The Black Pearl, has just been named Custom Car of the Year by the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association!

I expected Hetfield to be a Chevelle, Mustang, Camaro kinda guy...Check this ride out:



That is a work of art.

"What kind of car is it?", you may ask. Well, it's a Black Pearl. You see, the body is all aluminum, and every piece of it started life as a flat sheet. The bodywork is all hand-formed, the entire body was designed by Hetfield, his car pal Rick Dore, and body fabricators Marcel and Luc De Lay.

The frame is a '48 Jag. Motorvation is from a Ford V-8 making 375hp.

More pics and info here.

[glatt]

building a car almost from scratch like that is pretty cool.

[xoxoxoBruce]

It's gorgeous, but impractical. To be any more from scratch they would have to invent steel.

[Gravdigr]

Some before and afters of the sinkhole Vettes.

Like you've never seen a Corvette before...

1984 PPG Pace Car


1993 Fortieth Anniversary Edition

[Gravdigr]

There is a huge collection (250 pics) of hi-res photos from the entire sequence of events, from the beginning to the latest images, surrounding the cave in over at SmugMug.

[glatt]

Really freaky, the whole thing. Did they ever figure out the cause of the sinkhole?

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by glatt

Did they ever figure out the cause of the sinkhole?

Just some facts:

1. There is a large drainage pond adjacent to the museum.

2. The basin the pond is in is about 30 feet deep.

C. The sinkhole caved in about a week and a half after some sustained low single digit temperatures (0-5 degrees).

I don't know where the drain lines for the pond run.

Here is a GooglEarth snip:

The asterisk marks what I think is the approximate location of the sinkhole inside the dome. It's either where I marked it, or, on the opposite side of the red spire.



And StreetView:

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

Just some facts:

1. There is a large drainage pond adjacent to the museum.

2. The basin the pond is in is about 30 feet deep.

C. The sinkhole caved in about a week and a half after some sustained low single digit temperatures (0-5 degrees).

I don't know where the drain lines for the pond run.

Around here those retention ponds are require for all major construction projects. They're designed to hold the rain/snow running off all the impermeable surfaces in the project. That's all the roof area, parking lots, and pavement. Once that water is collected it's supposed to be released at a slow enough rate that it won't overwhelm local creeks/brooks flooding people downstream. Some evaporates, some sinks into the soil (although not much because the retention ponds are usually lined), some may be connected to storm water systems(never sewer), but usually they're drain to naturally occurring water courses.

[infinite monkey]

Well, some dude on youtube contends it's all been faked, so that when real sinkholes happen we're all like used to it and we aren't surprised or all that mad.