Mercedes-Benz-Blog TRIVIA: The Mercedes-Benz L 319 - a comeback for light-duty trucks

“ Since production of the L 1100 had ended in 1941, the light-duty segment at Mercedes-Benz had been thoroughly neglected. It now seemed the right time to tackle once again the enormous market that had developed during the post-war years. The first true van was the L 319, which went into series production in 1956. At its launch the previous year at the Frankfurt Motor Show it had been received with scepticism by the experts, but with enthusiasm by customers. ”

Read more about this topic >> HERE


Copyright © 2011, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Mercedes-Benz-Blog TRIVIA: The history of representative vehicles from Daimler AG

Mercedes-Benz high luxury cars are widely and unanimously recognized as the top premium vehicles ever assembled. The German constructor based at Stuttgart started crafting superb limousines and landaulets as far back as the early days of the 20th century. Since the beginning, these magnificent machines were designed to serve as official cars for diplomats, royal personalities and state presidents and leaders. Through time, Mercedes-Benz further enriched and garnished the representative models in its lineup with new, state-of-the-art technology and equipments and thus managed to raise above all the other car manufacturers. Simply, if you talk about the 'Super Mercedes' variants of the 1930s, the 'Mercedes Adenauer' of the 1950s, the 'Grand Mercedes' Type 600 of the 1960s or the Maybach of the modern days, you will definitely recognize the true values of an original Mercedes-Benz uber-premium car: sheer motoring passion, careful attention to each and every detail, complete wellness and refined comfort.

Find more exquisite about this topic >> HERE


Copyright © 2011, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Mercedes-Benz-Blog TRIVIA - A racing great: Juan Manuel Fangio

Juan Manuel Fangio, the racing legend of the 1950s, would have turned 100 on 24th June 2011. His undisputable driving abilities stood as the perfect basis for a series of unprecented performances for the Silver Arrows in the F1 season of the early 50s. The Argentinian built a special and strong relationship with his racing car, a 300 SLR of the W 196 R series, and fought hard to bring two important world championship titles for Mercedes-Benz in 1954 and 1955. Apart from the motorsport affiliation, Fangio was also recognized as a fine automobile afficionado, as he has already been running a Mercedes-Benz local dealer in Argentina since 1951. After retiring from Formula 1, Juan Manuel Fangio became brand ambassador and president of Mercedes-Benz Argentina S.A. until July 17th, 1974, when he sadly passed away in Buenos Aires, at the age of 64.

Read further interesting facts about the tremendous life of Juan Manuel Fangio:

>> Mercedes-Benz-Blog TRIVIA - A racing great: Juan Manuel Fangio


Copyright © 2011, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

"Gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme that which I desire" Metallica -------------Top fuel dragsters.

TOP FUEL DRAGSTER STATS
One dragster's 500-inch Hemi makes more horsepower then the first 8 rows at Daytona.

Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1 1/2 gallons of nitro per second, (that's about 10 gallons per run!), the same rate of fuel consumption as a fully loaded 747, but with 4 times the energy volume.

The supercharger takes more power to drive then a stock hemi makes.

Even with nearly 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into nearly-solid form before ignition.

Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock.

Dual magnetos apply 44 amps to each spark plug.

This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

At stoichiometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture (for nitro), the flame front of nitro methane measures 7050 degrees F.

Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.

Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass.

After 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting off it's fuel flow.

If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in those cylinders and then explodes with a force that can blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or blow the block in half.

Dragsters twist the crank (torsionally) so far (20 degrees in the big end of the track) that sometimes cam lobes are ground offset from front to rear to re-phase the valve timing somewhere closer to synchronization with the pistons.

To exceed 300mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an average of over 4G's. But in reaching 200 mph well before 1/2 track, launch acceleration is closer to 8G's.

If all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs $1000.00 per second.

Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have read this sentence.

Top Fuel Engines ONLY turn 540 revolutions from start light to finish line.

The redline is actually quite high at 9500 rpm.

To give you an idea of this acceleration, the current TF dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter mile. This means that you could be coming across the starting line in your average Lingenfelter powered "twin-turbo" Corvette at 200 mph (on a FLYING START) and the dragster would BEAT you to the finish line FROM A DEAD STOP in a quarter mile distance!

PERFORMANCE EXAMPLES
0 to 100 MPH in .8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the run)
0-200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run)
6 g-forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land)
6 negative g-forces upon deployment of twin ‘chutes at 300 MPH

An NHRA Top Fuel Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth . . . quicker than a jet fighter plane . . . quicker than the space shuttle.

http://www.pafoa.org/forum/lounge-108/720-acceleration.html

Trivia and definitions

A couple of meanings to things I just had taken for granted

Spider Veloce - sports fast
( Jeep ) CJ - Civilian Jeep
( Lamborghini ) Muira - The last name of a well known bull breeder; Don Edward Muira
Countach - Italian slang expressing praise or astonishment, vocalized by an assembly mechanic who was part of the team hurrying to complete the first for a exhibition of the new model

Lamborghini's are mostly named for bulls or bullfighting because the founder, Ferruccio, was a Taurus. Exceptions are the 350 and 400 GT lines, and the Countach.

The British Motor Company in 1968 was absorbed into British Leyland (BL), which had been nationalized in 1965 and renamed Leyland Cars. In 1977 it was again renamed BL Cars.
In 1986 BL Cars was renamed the Rover Group.

Car stuff that disappeared, or phrases that we never hear anymore

Fender skirts
curb feelers
steering knobs
Continental kits
emergency brakes
foot feedrunning board
dimmer switch
choke
column shift
push button
Brake shoes
Automat
vent window
pour spout
hubcaps
rumble seats
Ammoco White
rear seat speaker
inner tube
http://www.aztexcorp.com/expressionengine/index.php?/weblog/comments/401/

How the autombile was patented, and royalties were collected from anyone who made them

Inspired by the mammoth internal combustion engine invented by George Brayton displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, George Selden began working on a smaller lighter version, succeeding by 1878, some eight years before the public introduction of the Benz Patent Motorwagen in Europe.

He filed for a patent on May 8, 1879. His application included not only the engine but its use in a 4 wheeled car. He then filed a series of amendments to his application which stretched out the legal process resulting in a delay of 16 years before the patent US patent 549160 was granted on November 5, 1895.

Shortly thereafter the fledgling American auto industry began its first efforts and George Selden, despite never having gone into production with a working model of an automobile, had a credible claim to have patented an automobile in 1895.

In 1899 he sold his patent rights to William C. Whitney, Whitney and Selden then worked together to collect royalties from other budding automobile manufacturers. He was initially successful, negotiating a 0.75% royalty on all cars sold by the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers, the ALAM. He began his own car company in Rochester under the name, Selden Motor Vehicle Company.

However, Henry Ford, owner of the Ford Motor Company, founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1903, and four other car makers resolved to contest the patent infringement suit filed by Selden. The legal fight lasted eight years, generating a case record of 14,000 pages.

The case was heavily publicized in the newspapers of the day, and ended in a victory for Selden. In his decision, the judge wrote that the patent covered any automobile propelled by an engine powered by gasoline vapor. Posting a bond of $350,000, Ford appealed, and on January 10, 1911 won his case based on an argument that the engine used in automobiles was not based on George Brayton's engine, the Brayton engine which Selden had improved, but on the Otto engine.

This stunning defeat, with only 1 year left to run on the patent, destroyed Selden's income stream. He focused production of his car company on trucks, renaming his company the Selden Truck Sales Corporation. It survived in that form until 1930 when it was purchased by the Bethlehem Truck Company. Selden suffered a stroke in late 1921 and died at 75 on January 17, 1922. He was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester. It is estimated he received several hundred thousand dollars in royalties.

Terrific article on auto museums, what the best are, where, and why

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCQ/is_4_17/ai_81789988

I didn't know Studebaker started with Conestoga wagons, and was in business for 114 years. Wow!

Primedia has a new owner, they are the company behind almost all car magazines you've heard of

Hot Rod, Car Craft, Motor Trend, Automobile, and about 67 others for 1.2 Billion$. They also purchased a lot of the asociated stuff, like 90 websites for those magazines.

http://jalopnik.com/cars/sold%21/primedia-sells-enthusiast-side-of-self-for-12-billion-260545.php

Just how many special edition Mustangs are there?

And why?

I'm including everything I know of that comes after the word Mustang. Or before. Or instead of, but means that it's a special Mustang

GT
GT500
Cobra
Bullit
R
Parnelli Jones
Rousch
Blackjack
Saleen
Steeda
SDS (San Diego Special)
Foose Stallion
GT350
GT CS (California Special)
Street Scene
Susan G Kolmen pink stripe package
Cannonball World

and if I spent a couple of minutes on the web, I'm sure I could double this list.

Mr Gasket.... wow, huge corporation

They own, Hays Clutches, Hurst Shifters, Accel Ignition, Erson Cams, Jacobs Electronic Ignition, Mallory Ignition, and Lakewood Safety and Suspension

http://www.mrgasket.com/race_proven_brands.html

A bit of tool talk

First and quite important, lets get the "Made in China" out of the way.

Don't buy any, ever. Junk that will fail when you need it most... like when you use it.

What CHINA stands for... Can't Handle INdustrial Applications
I just started working with hand tools at work (vs the electronics job I just left) and when discussing tools, Dave told me that bit of wisdom... truer words never spoken.


Tool Boxes:
Light use are good for a home owners general rare use
Mechanic are decent metal, and have slide drawers
Trax are decent metal, and have roller bearings
Magnum are the best

Made in China
for the past 10 years Vise Grip and Cresent
for the past 6 months Craftsman

Made in Taiwan Gearwrench, who is made for K-D tools, who is owned by Danaher
http://www.danaher.com/business/ the Danaher company also owns Allen (allen wrenches), Armstrong, Fluke (multimeters), Jacobs Vehicle Systems (Jake Brake), Matco, and about 50 others I've never heard of, or don't believe are part of the auto industry


For the highest quality wrenches and sockets at the right price (Snap -On considered overpriced compared to the competitions quality)
best: SK / Proto / Wright
next best: K-D / Eastco / Craftsman

Now if it comes to buying at a swapmeet, or garage sale, and the tools you find are some other brands remember, for the best quality, buy AMERICAN, then made in Taiwan, and never Made In China

Always go to the experts for expert advice. You'll never spend as much time as they have learning all they have gained from experience. Ask Craig at Pat's Tools in El Cajon.

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/05/when-you-need-tool-expert-with-huge.html#links

answers

The doors are from a early 70's, they have no wing windows

the rims are from a Coronet or Charger, they were never offered on Darts

the front clip (fenders, grill, hood) is from a 1970 Dart,

the hood scoop isn't even Mopar, neither is the black hood stripe

the center console is from a 72 Barracuda or Challenger

the dash, looks like its from a Barracuda

the butt stripe is just the lower half, the top is missing

the GT letters are from a Pontiac Grand Am from the 1990's, the word Sport, well that is a mystery

the trunk panel is from a 1968 Dart

and I may be wrong, but the antenna on the rear fender I think is not normal to 1969 Darts

Worlds biggest piston engine

Were you looking for the world's largest car engine? http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/10/if-you-have-wondered-what-largest.html

The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine is the most powerful and most efficient prime-mover in the world today.

http://knuttz.net/hosted_pages/Most-Powerfull-Engine-20070401

The Aioi Works of Japan's Diesel United, Ltd built the first engines and is where some of these pictures were taken.It is available in 6 through 14 cylinder versions, all are inline engines.

These engines were designed primarily for very large container ships. Ship owners like a single engine/single propeller design and the new generation of larger container ships needed a bigger engine to propel them.

The cylinder bore is just under 38" and the stroke is just over 98". Each cylinder displaces 111,143 cubic inches (1820 liters) and produces 7780 horsepower. Total displacement comes out to 1,556,002 cubic inches (25,480 liters) for the fourteen cylinder version.

Some facts on the 14 cylinder version:

Total engine weight: 2300 tons (The crankshaft alone weighs 300 tons.)

Length:89 feetHeight:44 feet

Maximum power:108,920 hp at 102 rpm

Maximum torque:5,608,312 lb/ft at 102rpm

Fuel consumption at maximum power is 0.278 lbs per hp per hour (Brake Specific Fuel Consumption).

Fuel consumption at maximum economy is 0.260 lbs/hp/hour.

At maximum economy the engine exceeds 50% thermal efficiency. That is, more than 50% of the energy in the fuel in converted to motion.

For comparison, most automotive and small aircraft engines have BSFC figures in the 0.40-0.60 lbs/hp/hr range and 25-30% thermal efficiency range.Even at its most efficient power setting, the big 14 consumes 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour.

Want to see just how big the crank must be? http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/02/huge-crankshaft.html

Stats on teen driving

Road Ready Teens Teen Driving Fact Sheet

Auburn Hills, Mich., May 3, 2007 -
Teen Driving Statistics

Motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens.

More than 450,000 teen passengers and drivers were injured and more than 5,500 died as a result of vehicle crashes in 2005.

One third of all 16-year-old licensed drivers were involved in a motor vehicle crash in 2005.

Teen drivers, ages 16 and 17, driving with even one teen passenger are 50 percent more likely to be involved in a crash than when driving alone. With two teen passengers in the vehicle, the risk more than doubles. With three or more teen passengers, it’s nearly four times more likely that teens will be involved in a crash than if they were driving alone.

Fifty percent of fatalities that occur with a teen at the wheel happen after dark, even though most teen driving occurs during daylight hours. More than 75 percent of those nighttime crashes by 16- and 17-year-old drivers occur between 9 p.m. and midnight.

http://cgmedia.daimlerchrysler.com/newsrelease.do?id=6870

A little bit about Aston Martins

Named for a famous (at the time) hill climb race (think Pike's Peak) the Aston Hill Climb.
Keep in mind that this was around 1913. Vehicles were still so fundamental and unproven that sales were largely due to winning endurance races, races set up by the rich, for other rich people to participate in and have fun with, and the cars were just a tool to gain bragging rights among the elite circles.. .. in America it was Vanderbilts and so on... as only the fabulously wealthy could afford such toys.

So named partly for the hill climbing race, and partly for one of the two founding fathers Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The two had partnered up to sell and service cars by Singer, GMK, and Calthorpe. Their first Aston Martin was made in 1915, but never got into production due to WW1. Incidentally stopping the car making before it got off the ground, and ironically, then all the manufacturing machinery was sold to Sopwith Aviation Company (who are well known for Snoopy's famous Sopwith Camel), and a fine airplane it was.

After the close of WW1, the company went back in business, setting speed and endurance records, but with very limited production, and rich enough buyers in post WW1 England, it went bankrupt in 1924, and 1925.

Bamford left in 1920, Martin in 1926.

In 1947 David Brown bought the company, and there-after the models were named DB this and DB that. Yeah, I didn't know that either. Huh. Trivia, cool stuff. In 1972 it was again in financial woes, and sold of to financiers who intended to profit... yeah, right.

It was sold time and again, 1972, 1975, 1980, 1983, 1984, and in 1987 a coincidental meeting between a financier owner and a friend of his at Ford England, brought up the brilliant idea of Ford buying 75% of the eternally struggling company, and so it passed to Ford's majority ownership , which became total when the last 25% was acquired from Victor Gauntlett, the chairman at the 1987 to 1993 era.

Now at 100% ownership, Ford ramped up investment, manufacturing, and production. Keep in mind that Ford owned Jaguar as well, and the experience of all the techs, engineers, and management came into fruition to make both Aston Martin and Jaguar and Ford do very well in the competitive world of high tech, high speed, high value, high profitability luxury cars.

Ford found that losing all the automobile business to rivals GM and Toyota was putting it in the red, and sold a majority share of Aston Martin in March 2007, to a financial consortium of 2 Kuwaiti investment companies and a Aston Martin collector, and the chairman of Prodrive... a racing orientated company that in heavily involved in the World Rally Championship, other rally races, and touring car races.

So why all my sudden interest? A very awesome new magazine called Octane had a marvelous feature on Aston Martins. http://www.octane-magazine.com/features.php

Other info from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aston_Martin

Answer to the previous posting "What is it?" 1972 Aston Martin DBS

Volvo trivia... huh!

1971 Volvo P1800 ES

In an interesting historical note, this car competes in British car events - the reason being that though Volvo is a Swedish company, these cars were built in Scotland.

1977 factory stock Dodge Aspen was faster than the Corvette, the Trans Am, the Camaro

The Aspen/Volare twins were light enough that with certain engines, they were rather potent--tests from car magazines of the day revealed that the 1977 360-engined Aspen, with a two barrel carb, was about on a par from zero to sixty miles per hour as the 1977 Camaro Z28 and Corvette L82, both with four barrel 350s.

All three of these cars were faster than the 1977 Trans Am 400-4.

The Aspen was a bit slower by the clock but faster through the traps in the quarter mile than all of the other three from GM.

The 318 offered more sedate, everyday performance. It was obviously less powerful, but it performed about the same as its competing models with similar-sized engines of the day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Aspen

Not once, but twice. Chrysler warranties Ford parts

Once when Chrysler acquired the parent company of the Sunbeam Tiger ( covered elsewhere in this blog ), and I just learned from http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2007/03/29/here-is-a-ford-flathead-you-dont-see-every-day/ that Ford owned and sold a car factory in France named Poissy, to Simca, who was acquired by Chrysler, who was then warrantying the Ford powerplants in the Simca's they now made. Huh.

What do the Gremlin, the Amphicar, and the Barracuda have in common?

All were introduced to the world on April 1st.... go figure.

From a really great car blog., http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2007/03/31/dont-they-know-what-day-it-is/