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wws944

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Everything posted by wws944

  1. When my kids were little, I used to tell them about the olden days when The World was black and white. (Just look at those old photographs, movies, and TV shows!). Then they invented color! 😎 Perhaps my favorite historical period is from about the end of the Civil War to about WW1. The changes people of that era experienced was incredible. @charlier: You can still play around with PLATO at cyber1.org. I used to use it in college back in the 1970s, and have been a part of the 'controlfreaks' group that developed the CDC emulator which underlies cyber1.
  2. Two main Reatta forums on FB are fairly active. But if I want real tech info, I come here. Usually a search through back posts has all I need. Yes, just about everything has already been discussed numerous times.
  3. LOL! Well, he was a lawyer. So I would guess he was able to provide a good enough answer to stay out of the slammer. Edit: I just typed its registration number into google and it still shows up at a couple of sites. Though one says it was 'deregistered in 2017'. Dad sold it in the late 1980s. My mom and brother have been contacted a couple times about another airplane my dad used to own. It is a SNJ-5 (Navy version of the T-6). Fortunately it is still flying. Last we knew, somewhere in Louisiana. There are a number of photos of it around the web, taken by vintage warbird fans.
  4. Steve - Perhaps of interest, I was just reviewing some of the back issues of "Electric Vehicles" magazine. According to one article in late 1917, which catalogs all electrics manufactured between 1911 and 1917, Studebaker made electrics through 1912. Between archive.org and google books, there are issues of "Electric Vehicles" from May-Dec 1913, and from July 1914 to Dec 1917. Missing are 1911, 1912, and the first few months of 1913. Does the AACA library have these? There was an announcement in mid-1917 that after 1917, the EVAA would be merged into the "Electric Vehicles Section" of the National Electric Light Association. I suspect the magazine was discontinued after the Dec 1917 issue.
  5. There is one at the Museum of Transportation in St Louis. Leno visited some years ago, and signed it's engine compartment.
  6. Another periodical of that era which may be of interest was called Electric Vehicles. It was published by a trade organization called the Electric Vehicle Association of America. Some back issues are available online via google books and archive.org. But the ones I've seen are from the 19-teens. So a bit later than your 1904 and after Studebacker was firmly in the gas camp.
  7. Not a car, but an airplane. My dad had a beautiful Cessna 310P with many upgrades. Sold it to a airplane dealer after he bought a 310R. Couple years later he got a call from the FAA wondering why it was found burned at an airport in South America... FAA records showed it still in dads name. (FWIW, one my brothers still owns and regularly flies the 310R.)
  8. Elon owns the underwater Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me.
  9. Ike is of particular interest to me. For one thing, he was a participant in the 1919 Trans-Continental Military Convoy. They drove a bunch of cars, trucks, and motorcycles from Washington. DC to San Francisco - mostly along the Lincoln Highway. After weeks of effort in mud, sand, accidents, (re)building bridges, and all manner of mechanical problems, they finally completed their journey. (I was part of one of the groups retracing the journey a century later in 2019.) Years later, Ike was impressed with the German Autobahn system. Upon becoming President, he initiated the Interstate Highway system. Along the Lincoln Highway, today's US 30 in Boone, Iowa, is Mamies childhood home. In the garage behind the house sits Ike's black Chrysler sedan and Mamies Valiant.
  10. With Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing, a utility company can offer low overnight prices - when the load on the grid is much less than in the evening. My TOU rates are cheapest between midnight and 3 PM. Almost all modern EVs have built-in timers for charging. So I simply set ours to start charging at midnight. Wake up the next morning to a "full tank". I've had TOU rates since we bought our house back in the early 1990s. The previous owner had an electric kiln in the garage and had the special TOU meter installed so he could get lower rates for his pottery work. At the time, the peak rates were from noon to 6 PM - corresponding to air conditioning use around the grid. But these days with so much solar generation - on both sides of the meter - the rates have changed quite a bit. My peak rate is now 4 PM to 9 PM, with a mid-peak rate from 3-4 PM and 9 PM to midnight.
  11. It is sort of a Second Coming. Historically, back in the 1800s, EVs preceded gas cars. But as we all know, due to early battery limitations gas cars quickly took over. Today, we can thank the GM EV1 (and Sunraycer and Impact) which demonstrated the use of modern DC->AC inverters to efficiently drive the motors. The founders of Tesla (Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning) came from the handheld device industry. So they knew all about Li-ion batteries. Much much better than lead-acid, and much better than NiMH that the EV1 also played with. They married the electronics and battery tech, got Lotus involved to help design a car, and the Tesla Roadster was born. Easier said than done. But look at where Tesla is today! I attended a talk a few years ago that Marc Tarpenning gave on the founding of Tesla. He and Martin were just astonished that GM gave up on the EV1 and buried it so completely. It appealed to a high end demographic that GM had never, in modern times, been able to appeal to. But it did give them the opening to found Tesla. For those who are interested, here is a link to the talk:
  12. Tesla also buys cells from LG, Samsung, and CATL. But the new prototype 4680 cell line is in the Fremont plant run by a Tesla. I suspect we'll see high volume production of 4680s at the new Austin factory for the Cybertruck.
  13. Yes, Tesla has started using Li iron phosphate batteries in the short range cars made in China. (CATL is supplying them.) For the long range packs, they've been reducing cobalt content for years. Increasing the percentage of nickel is part of the move. Thing is that eventually as cars get old, the metals will be recovered and recycled. It is more complicated than recycling a lead acid battery. But given the value of the metals, it will happen.
  14. Yup. My old Suburban has the factory aux tranny cooler option. It is plumbed BEFORE the in-radiator cooler for this reason.
  15. Rauch & Lang is their third antique electric. Their Owen Magnetic is a 1917 Model M-25 Touring car: https://www.fountainheadmuseum.com/auto-collection.html It is an amazing collection. If any of you are ever in Fairbanks, it is well worth the visit.
  16. Not a human in sight. No doubt another piece of his 'alien dreadnaught' plan. 😄 I think he said the the first car to get the new 4680 cells will be the Plaid Model S.
  17. The auto museum in Fairbanks, Alaska has one. (Been there, seen it.). They also have three antique electrics on display. Columbia, Argo, and I've forgotten the third. Almost all the cars in the collection are claimed to be drivable. So it wouldn't surprise me if the OM was also in drivable condition.
  18. Ugh. The only Pinto I've ever driven was a rental in 1979. In of all places, Las Vegas. Did a innocent low speed U-turn at a light on Las Vegas Blvd. Rear wheels broke loose and the car immediately went into oversteer. Terrible. Never went near another one.
  19. Yeah - I had to get rid of an old CRT TV a couple years ago. Finally found a e-waste place that would take it - about 20 miles away. Still have one CRT TV to go. Probably should have taken it at the same time.
  20. Outside of pony cars, GM, Ford, and FCA have pretty much given up on the traditional car market. It is all trucks, SUVs, and "crossovers". Meanwhile, Toyota and Honda are selling huge numbers of sedans. Teslas Model 3 is doing very well here in California. Approaching Camry and Accord levels of sales. Especially here in Silicon Valley - where it is not unusual to stop at a light and be surrounded by three/four/five Teslas...
  21. I remember LMAO when my car buff uncle told me what he and his friends used to call the Edsel "horse collar" grill... 😄
  22. I've had a mobile tech to my house twice in 2.5 years. First time was for a sticky driver door handle. Not a big enough deal to file a service request (via the Tesla app on my phone). But one day I saw a tech servicing a Model X a couple blocks away. He came by afterwards, said it was a common problem with the lubricant they used in early door handles. He squirted some WD-40 in there and was on his way. No problems since. Second time was when I paid for an upgrade to the FSD (Full Self Drive) computer. When the parts came in, a tech came by and did the upgrade. Took him about 1.5 hours. Besides that, all I've had done is tire rotation at a local tire shop. And refilling windshield washer fluid - which I am still quite capable of doing myself. 😄
  23. Dealer problem is they don't want to sell EVs, steer their customers away from even considering EVs, and get far less service revenue from EV owners. Go to almost any Chevy dealer outside California and you'll see row after row of Silverados, SUVs, and Camaros. If they have any Bolt EVs in stock, they'll likely be found in the back of the lot where no one ever goes. We could also talk about the Cadillac dealers who are relinquishing their dealerships rather than tooling up to support GMs future plans. On the service side, a Tesla mobile tech can do almost any mechanical repair in your driveway.
  24. Interesting point. They were GM show vehicles that were driven around to different venues, and most survivors are apparently now in private hands. So I guess they qualify...
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