I have been on vacation for 61.5 hours now, and so far went through Hot Springs Arkansas, and now I am in Nashville. One of the things I really wanted to see in Nashville was the Lane Motor Museum, home of all kinds of interesting vehicles. I was not disappointed. So here are some cars, and some light snark.
This is the 1982 Cub Commuter. It has a surprisingly roomy and comfortable interior for you and your action figures. Why would you have action figures in there? Because a woman would not be in there with you. Even if you were not a virgin, you would revert to one upon receiving the keys for a 1982 Cub Commuter.
This handsome devil is a SAAB Sonett. This was the affordable European sports car I lusted after as a teenager. I did sit in one at some point in the late 1980s. It did not have adequate clearance for my gigantic Brussels-sprout head, which made me sad. As such, I did not buy it. If I were more of a Richard Hammond sized-person, I would have bought it.
This magnificent thing is the Gyro -X. It was incredibly ambitious, and it does work. It is basically an enclosed motorcycle (two wheels one front and one back), the wheels you see at the back are a kickstand for when it is not running. To remain upright while in use, it has a massive gyroscope in the front that works similar to an SST Evel Knievel bike. Want to turn your Gyro X and go around a corner? It pushes the gyroscope left or right. The car would bank and turn accordingly. This was restored by the Lane over a period of years, and they have an informational video about how it works. It’s a glorious machine. It even had two fuel tanks at the back to remain balanced, instead of one big one that could slosh.
Here is a picture of that massive gyroscope at the front of the Gyro X. Once that spins up to an unholy RPM, you are off! And hope nobody knocks into it while you are driving. That’s a lot of energy right in front of your frank and beans.
This is the last car for now. This Citroen doesn’t have a glandular condition, it has a gasification system that turns coal into combustible gas to run the car. It took a while to build up enough gas, but it was better than walking. I will do a longer piece on this one, because it is super cool (to me, at least). It was one of those WWII (or World War Eleven if you are a congress person with a vagina whose name rhymes with “crowbar”) innovations that went from backyard idea to full production model.
That’s it for now! I took enough photos to do two pieces on the Lane Motor Museum itself, and a longer piece on the Citroen above. I do influence anyone in the Nashville area to have a visit. It is well worth your time.
Don’t forget to stop at Monell’s.
Get well soon, SugarFree!
Neat.
I’ve seen other articles on the Lane. It looks like a fun place.
BTW – ZWAK’s article on Belfast in the AM links is worth the read. I finally got to it.
Saab’s are cool, I don’t care who you are.
At the Saab club meet in Carlisle (which I am working on an article about), I was talking to an owner of a Sonett and asked him how long he has owned it.
“That’s kind of a sad story, I’ve owned it for 23 years, but it’s only been driveable the last 5 years.”
I told him that’s not sad, sad would be if it still wasn’t on the road.
Saabs are cool. I still resent GM and Obama for killing them.
You could almost say its a saab story.
If the story was set to a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set rhyming scheme, you could call it a saab sonnet.
whose name rhymes with “crowbar”
Alternatively, “have the IQ of a crowbar”.
That’s an insult to Crowbars. They are very clever tools.
I am wondering how a gyroscope would affect doing Dukes of Hazzard stunts.
Good question. Seeing how it is a giant SST racer from the 1970s, I would think it would be excellent at ramp jumping.
That Gyro-X is wild.
I do influence anyone in the Nashville area to have a visit. It is well worth your time.
Seconded.
They have a Steyr car and a Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) car.
Those were not out when I visited. They are about to open another wing, which is exciting. Then more of the full collection can be on display.
Oh?
I might have to make another trip.
The Steyr car was on the main display floor when I was there. The BSA car was in the garage on the side.
it has a gasification system that turns coal into combustible gas to run the car
I’d rather have the one with the front end sawed off, which is pulled by horses.
Silly Brooks, you can’t run horses on coal.
This is as good a place as any to plug this guy again.
Great historical stuff; cars, airplanes, motors, racing and combinations thereof.
By the authority vested in me, I hereby confer upon Ezra Klein an honorary Bubble Test score of 0
https://x.com/charlesmurray/status/2064665934040596858?s=20
Bonus Robby Soave.
OT- I’ve discovered a new level of Concur hell. Our TA has a customized instance of Concur that we now use. It’s even worse. But still have regular Concur for expensing.
I got used to and even liked the old version of Concur before one of the recent facelifts. It worked reasonably well and I could book travel easy enough. The last update took a big shit on UX. And the TA skinned version… Along with an even crappier UX, the rates displayed aren’t accurate. I’m going to blow my travel budget and shrug.
I do like that I can search for travel that’s out of policy. Sometimes I build trips in international first and suites at luxury hotels for fantasy business trips. So far I’ve hit cancel before booking.
So you don’t concur with Concur?
For better or worse I don’t travel much anymore.
Concur hell – at least you do not have to convert accurately to the penny euro to lei. Also I don”t know about other companies but when a colleague went to Taiwan he discovered Taiwan currency was not covered by the tool.
The furthest I might be asked to legitimately travel would be Utica.
Even then there’s no real reason I’d have to.
We’re not allowed to attend conferences or other events. Well, we could take vacation time and pay our own way, but you’re talking business funded travel.
Why would you want to go to Utica?
Taiwan currency was not covered by the tool.
Probably to appease Xi.
Why would you want to go to Utica? – to pick up chicks?
The state’s backup datacenter is there. The primary is in Albany, so they put the secondary someplace at least a little ways away in case of natural disaster clensing the earth.
It’s not surprising that Concur’s “upgrade” is worse. It’s now owned by SAP, German for shit software.
For better. Traveling is exhausting – for work OR pleasure.
You mean “Scheisse Anwendung Produktion”?
My son, PhD and all, is a climate believer – however, he is a passionate advocate FOR nuclear power generation. He and his wife are expecting baby #2 by the end of this month.
They both live in a bubble. That sentiment is common on the Left.
This magnificent thing
Is it somewhere behind that purple atrocity?
Looks red to me.
That’s not a bubble, it’s a bathysphere. Hermetically sealed and impenetrable.
I am eating at Guy Fieri’s Flavortown. I love it.
If OMWC knew he might hiss like a vampire.
Nashville is home to Maneet Chauhan’s restaurant.
*drooling*
i always knew you was low class
Speaking of bubbleheads
In interviews earlier this week, environmental groups that supported Steyer’s campaign said their hopes were fading that the general election would feature the most climate-focused candidate to ever run for the office.
“It would have been lovely to have a sustained and intelligent debate on how climate is affecting all these other pocketbook issues in our state,” said RL Miller, president of Climate Hawks Vote Political Action. “But, at this point, I’m trying to cycle through the stages of grieving, and accept what is not going to be.”
Oh, no. Where will we get our doom mongering?
In the more immediate term, environmental groups say Steyer’s defeat represents a lost opportunity to reach millions of voters with messages about how climate change is contributing to the affordability crisis by raising housing and health care costs.
They argue that while statewide polling from organizations like the Public Policy Institute of California shows climate and environment as a low priority for voters compared to the economy, Steyer would have had an opportunity to connect the dots for those who respond more positively to climate policy when it’s clearly linked to affordability issues.
“It is incredibly important when you have somebody spending millions of dollars messaging on the issue of climate and clean energy and affordability,” said Matt Abularach-Macias, California Environmental Voters’ political and organizing director, on Monday. “That is really powerful in shaping public opinion in the minds of California voters.”
Those climate policies are all about promoting affordability for the working man.
Or… maybe it’s just possible the public are starting to realize what a complete line of bullshit that is.
USA Toady headline:
“Casual Drinker? You still have a 1 in 25 risk of dying, study says.”
Your odds of dying are a whole lot better than that.
Where has this latest neo-prohibitionist bullshit been coming from? Is it just another aspect of Zoomers and Alphas being scared of their own shadows?