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Archive for February, 2011

Top Movie Cars

Unless you confine all your movie watching to fantasy movies and historical movies set in worlds or times when the motor car didn’t exist, you’ve probably seen a few cars race across the silver screen (OK, you can also see a car in the background of the chariot scene in Ben Hur if you look carefully).  Let’s face it: the car chase scene is pretty much an essential part of any good thriller – even a comedy thriller like the Rowan Atkinson James Bond take-off Johnny English where most of the chase scene involves a tow-truck and a hearse.  Some car companies even pay big dollars to have their cars appear in the movie (it’s called product placement and is a form of advertising) – I remember the way that the Mercedes logo stood out silver on black on a 4×4 during a rather exciting part of Jurassic Park II; Cars has another example, with the audience seeing that Sally, the heroine, is a Porsche Carrera, complete with a pun on Portia (name of the Shakespeare heroine who saves the day with her skills as a lawyer). But, advertising aside, what are the most recognisable silver-screen sets of wheels?

In no particular order, some of the most recognisable movie motoring marques are:

1              VW Beetle: This very popular make had several movies where the car was the star: the Herbie movies. The self-powered VW Beetle with a mind of its own starred both the original 1968 The Love Bug and its many sequels in the next couple of decades, and also in the 2008 Herbie: Fully Loaded. This is one of the few movie cars that also was as popular on the roads as it was on the big screen.

2              Aston Martin (various): The Aston Martin is as recognisable a part of the James Bond movies as 007 himself. Interestingly, in the original books, Bond, James Bond doesn’t drive an Aston Martin but a Bentley.  And the first choice of car for 007 in the movie versions was actually an E-type Jaguar, but Jaguar didn’t know about product placement and declined permission.  Oops. The most impressive of the Bond Aston Martins would have to be the DB5 in Goldfinger, Thunderball, Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies and Casino Royale, ejector seat and all.

3              DeLorean DMC-12: Not many people drive one of these cars. Not many people know much about these. But one thing that everyone knows is that the De Lorean was a time machine in the Back to the Future series.

4              Dodge Charger (1969 model): In bright orange and with the flag of the Confederate States emblazoned on the front, this was the General Lee, the wheels of the Dukes of Hazzard. This film began life as the very popular TV series in the 1970s. This car started a craze for bright orange vehicles and denim cut-off shorts.

5              GM Batmobile: Hmmm, I wonder who drove this vehicle…

6              Mini Cooper: in The Italian Job, this is the car that really steals the scenes. This thriller has plenty of hot cars (a Lamborghini Miura, an Aston Martin DB4 and a pair of E-type Jags) but it’s the Minis and their nippy handling that get the protagonists through the traffic jam, around various iconic locations, into the sewers and out into the Alps. 

7              1976 Ford Gran Torino: The wheels of Starsky & Hutch. Another garishly painted 1970s classic car and another popular car-based TV show that became a movie in the turn of the century.

8              Ford De Luxe Convertible. It’s automatic, systematic, hyyyyyydromatic; it’s GREASED LIGHTNING… Well, you probably know where this one appeared unless you have been living under a rock (and I envy those rock-livers – I can’t stand this movie with its irritatingly catchy songs and the suggestion that the way to be popular and get the guy is to turn into a chain-smoking slut). Few schools haven’t done Grease as a musical. Although an assortment of old junkers get trotted out for high school productions, the movie version starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John had the Forde De Luxe Convertible.

9              1977 Pontiac Trans Am: This was The Bandit’s form of transport in Smokey and the Bandit, complete with the “flaming chicken” decals on the front. The movie website http://www.rottentomatoes.com describes the rest of the film as “one of the wildest car chases of all time”.  

10           1968 Ford Mustang GT390 Fastback         This was driven by Steve McQueen in the movie Bullitt. You guessed it – the hard-bitten detective hero drives this in an iconic car chase scene.

Other notable movie cars include the 1958 Plymouth Fury (evil car in Christine), the Lamborghini Countach (The Cannonball Run), the Lotus Esprit (goes underwater in The Spy Who Loved Me), the Paragon Panther (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), the Chevrolet Camaro (Bumblebee in Transformers), the Model T Ford (in The Absent-Minded Professor but not in the disastrous re-make Flubber) and the Plymouth Valiant (takes on a big rig in Duel).   Plus all the cars in Cars. http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/vivus-potrebitelskie-zaymy-online.html

Green Cars Steal the Show in Washington

The Washington Auto Show ran from January 28 to February 6, and showcased (as usual) a range of exciting new cars, both the wild, wacky and innovative concept cars, and the more down-to-earth production cars that were unveiled for the first time.  And down to earth is the word, as many of the feature cars were “green”.  Green seemed to be the focus of the show, especially after President Barack Obama announced a vision in his State of the Union Address to the House of Representatives for making the USA the first country to have over a million electric cars on the road by 2015 (he may mean hybrid cars rather than pure electric cars, but those count!).

The real show-stopper in this respect was the “world’s fastest electric car”. This was the Venturi Buckeye Bullet, built at the Ohio State University. This car isn’t exactly scheduled for imminent release on the roads as a production vehicle, but it is capable of getting up to 307.7 miles per hour (on those salt flats in Utah where all the land speed records tend to get set) thanks to a 600 kilowatt electric engine.

However, not all the green cars were concept cars striving to prove that electric vehicles are capable of matching the oomph of petrol vehicles. One new production car that was launched at the Washington Auto Show 2011 was the hybrid Dodge Ram ute put out by Chrysler. This hybrid ute combines a 5.7 litre V8 engine with a potent electrical motor with a 20 mile range. A test fleet of 140 vehicles is due to hit the roads in the USA thanks to a government grant. However, the car that scooped the Green Car Vision Award was the Ford Focus Electric, which is an all-electric car rather than a hybrid. This vehicle is due for general release in the USA in late 2011, and with any luck, we’ll get it over here in Australia.

The “” was the section of the show that showcased the environmentally friendly cars and technology, and exhibitors in this section included BMW, Chrysler, Honda (with the CR-Z hybrid and a range of other hybrids), Fiat, Mazda (with the RX-8 Hydrogen RE), Nissan and a host of other well-known names and some lesser-known ones who are part of developing new technologies in the area of sustainable fuels and petrol-saving technologies.

According to The Atlantic news service, the coolest green cars (electrics, hybrids and otherwise) on display at the Washington Auto Show 2011 were:

  • Honda FCX Fuel Cell
  • Honda Civic Natural Gas Vehicle (hey –we’ve had LPG powered vehicles for ages!)
  • Honda CR-Z Sport Hybrid
  • Dodge Ram 1500 Crew Plug-in Hybrid (the one mentioned above)
  • Fiat 500 Sport (petrol-powered but very, very small and frugal)
  • Li-Ion Inizio (don’t hold your breath to see this one in Australia, but it looks very hot)
  • Li-Ion Wave
  • Lexus CT 200h (due in Australia March 2011)
  • Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid
  • Toyota RAV4 Electric Vehicle
  • Toyota Camry Hybrid
  • Volkswagen Jetta Clean Diesel
  • Volkswagen Supercharged Hybrid Touareg
  • Lincoln MKZ Hybrid
  • Cadillac Escalade Hybrid
  • Chevy Silverado Hybrid
  • Chevy Volt (named Car of the Year by Motor Trend magazine)
  • Nissan Leaf
  • BMW Efficient Dynamics X5
  • BMW Active Hybrid X6

Of course, all this was in the USA. It still remains to be seen which of the showcased green cars will make it over here – certainly, some of them will and some already have – but it’s quite encouraging to see that electric and hybrid cars are not just the domain of a few tree-huggers but are respectable vehicles worthy of consideration by everybody.

http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/zaym-na-kartu_migcredit.html

Women Passengers

Riccardo Patrese was a top Formula One race car driver. He was working on a corporate test day for Honda at the Jerez racing circuit in Spain when he invited his wife to accompany him for a lap.

He put a camera on the dash board and recorded her reaction.

It’s very funny, and the film clip has raced around the world with over 3 million hits in just a few months.

Click this link to see it. http://credit-n.ru/offers-credit-card/ren-drive-365-credit-card.html

Silent Band

There seems to be a whole heap of interesting car ads being released at the moment. The latest is from Capetown featuring a silent band. As you’ll see, the car that is being advertised is not even shown – now there’s confidence for you! http://credit-n.ru/zaymi-online-blog-single.html