University of Dayton Student "Auto Biography" by Meredith Hirt -- "Cal"

Meredith Hirt
HST 344-1 Heitmann
1/25/12

My Auto-Biography

Inside my car is my favorite place to be.
I love driving. But I’m also very fond of sleeping and showering and eating but my bed, my bathroom and my kitchen are not my favorite places. There’s more to it than just the placement of my hand on the wheel and my foot on the gas.
A lot of it has to do with being in control. I wouldn’t call myself a controlling person; I am a person who likes to be in control. The difference, though seemingly subtle, has to do with the influence I have on other people. I will not try to control you. You make your own decisions. I just have to be in control of myself and the situation that I am in. If you’re involved in that situation, then, yes, you may feel the force of the control I’m exerting. I’m not trying to pull you along; but if you jumped in the river knowing you wanted to go upstream but you’re not strong enough to swim against the current, that’s your problem.
In my car – Caliente, Cal for short – I am completely in control. I turn the wheel.
I am also in control of my environment. NO eating in my car. NO ONE who is not related to me drives my car. (I don’t share well. Any of my friends will attest to this. Maybe it’s because I’m the youngest child. Maybe it’s because I’m naturally a brat. Either way, Caliente is mine and you are not sitting in the driver’s seat.) NO sitting on my hood. You better not slam the damn door if you know what’s good for you. My car, my rules.
And then there’s the independence. The fact that, given enough road and enough gas, I can go anywhere I want to, all on my own. I don’t need a passenger. Sirius radio keeps me company just fine. As long as the asphalt treats me well, I’ll respect it. It’s a mutual agreement that works out much better than most of my human-to-human relationships. Analyze that how you may.
My car is my place. I can sing too loudly. I can pick my nose. I can scroll through the seven colors of ambiance lighting to pick the one that best matches my outfit. And you know what? Cal won’t judge me. You’d think that a relationship with a car would be strictly physical (I wash him, I “feed” him, he lets me sit on his lap), but my attachment runs much deeper than that. Caliente isn’t just some guy who touches me and asks for nothing in return. Contrarily, he isn’t obliquely needy in a way I can’t or won’t satisfy. When he needs something, he is able to tell me through a single illuminated icon. I provide. He shuts up. No argument, no hurt feelings.
When I’m driving, I feel like I’m part of something bigger than myself. I was on the highway recently, at night, with no one ahead of me in sight. As I descended a hill, I looked in my rear view mirror. And behind me, following the guidance of my taillights was a team of cars. It seemed, for a second, not just that I was my own leader, but capable of leading this fleet of others to whatever surely incredible destination awaited us. And I could do it because I was in my favorite place.
My relationship with my car may be abnormal in the eyes of some. I may appear, regardless of my denial of it, to be a complete control freak. However, others’ judgment doesn’t matter to me. Because Cal doesn’t care.

Striking Yellow Nissan GTR

Here's another Striking yellow nissan gtr r35 + wald bodykit. Currently now we have 4 WALD nissan gtr with different colours. Red,Yellow,Titanium and White. Check out this orange GTR with the VARIS front carbon bonnet and Rexxstyling Front Carbon Lips. The CCFL lights really make the car OUTSTANDING

Another Ferrari 458 Italia In ATS

Last week we received another Ferrari 458 Italia here at ATS Automobile. A few complaints from the owner and we need to solve it. Its regarding the rattling sound .

Another 750hp Nissan GTR from ATS

Now Nissan GTR owners are really into turbo upgrade. Also in this month we managed to built another Nissan GTR with the turbo upgrade . Honestly we tried a few reputable hybrid turbo brand that available in the market and notice a few different results. Some of the turbo spool slower and u can notice a bit turbo lag. The GT800 also produce different results .Make sure u guys get the rite turbo and rite ingredients. Injector Dynamics is our 1st choice for the injectors upgrade.

ATS In the Month Of January

Hey guys,

Since the ATS@Penang Trip, we are really really busy serving all needs to ALL the GTR Owners. We do encounter  new  issues for the 2010 JDM. Basically The Speedimit is still there although we already flash Using COBB. Alhamdullulilah after 1 week JOE@COBB Software engineer managed to fix this. Thank you so much to the MR. WWE27 for the BETA testing  really appreciate it. The 2012 Nissan GTR also came recently .All i can say of this car is WOW!. Thank You sir.

A Brief Biography of Harvey Firestone

Harvey Firestone









The "Millionaires Club" out fishing
























Race Driver Ab Jenkins and Harvey Firestone on a Firestone equipped tractor










Firestone, Harvey Samuel (1868-1938), established the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company (now Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc.) in Akron, Ohio, in 1900. Emerging as of the leading manufacturers of car and truck tires after 1906, Firestone's firm played a key role in putting America on wheels. As a supporter of the "Good Roads Movement" and the transcontinental Lincoln Highway, Firestone was known as an independent competitive businessman, who cut prices whenever possible and who shunned industry agreements. Serving as president of his company from 1903 to 1926, and chairman of the board of directors until his death on Feb. 7, 1938, he is remembered not only for his executive abilities, but also as a philanthropist whose gift made possible the Firestone Library at Princeton University.
After starting out as a bookkeeper and patent medicine salesman, in 1895 young Firestone became employed at his uncle's Columbus Buggy Company. Later he was employed as a manager at the Consolidated Rubber Tire Company, a leading manufacturer of carriage tires. Buggy tires were made of solid rubber, but after starting his own company and faced with the opportunity of supplying automobile tires to Henry Ford beginning 1906, he quickly gained expertise in the design and manufacture of pneumatic tires. Firestone's keen interest in technical progress resulted in several improvements, especially in the area of truck tires. The demonstration of the superiority of Firestone pneumatic tires over solid rubber tires during the 1919 transcontinental military truck convoy convincingly showed that trucks could transport goods cheaply and with flexibility over long distances. Later, in 1931, Firestone became the first to market a practical air-filled tire for farm machinery.
In 1926, Firestone, troubled by trade restrictions on the importation of rubber from British colonies, purchased a plantation in Liberia to produce rubber. In 1926, he signed an agreement with the Liberian government to lease 1 million acres (400,000 hectares) of land for the development of rubber plantations. He also made large loans to Liberia and built for it a new and improved harbor. Firestone also led in investigating the rubber resources of the Philippines and South America, and he encouraged American investment in rubber-growing countries. That interest led Firestone to also promote a search for alternative sources for natural rubber in the United States, primarily in Florida.
Firestone's relationship with Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company extended beyond one focused on business matters. Along with Thomas Edison and Ford, Firestone was a member of the so-called "Millionaires" Club, a group that frequently went on highly publicized camping trips between 1918 and 1924. Later, Firestone's Ohio boyhood home would be moved to Ford's Greenfield Village museum, and Henry Ford's grandson would marry Harvey Firestone's granddaughter. Thus, an agreement to supply tires for the Ford Model T at the beginning of the automobile age ultimately blossomed into the forging of long-standing family ties.
John A. Heitmann
University of Dayton

A UD Student "Auto-Biography" -- Ryan Burg and his 1982 Kawasaki 440ltd

An American Love and a Motorcycle, an ‘Auto’ Biography by Ryan Burg.

The 1982 Kawasaki 440ltd, was my project and although similar to the 1987 Porsche 924s project I share with my father, only the motorcycle was a love affair. These vehicles have helped build my relationships with many people, my parents, myself, and an unnamed woman. As cheesy as that sounds, you don’t know yourself that well until you spend some hours saddled over a machine with nothing but the sound of wind and the subtle, but ever constant, don’t die mentality. Similarly, sharing that love for fear with a woman is something I think every man should experience, that is having her on your back and that occasional chill that rattles your spine as she grips harder with her own don’t die mentality, while you lean into a turn and accelerate out of it. Needless to say, some of the best moments I have had were on that bike
As an exuberant freshman at the University of Dayton, I often found my free time browsing the motorcycle classifieds on craigslist. I did the research and quoted the insurance; I knew my financial situation and I knew it was tight. “Eight hundred dollars, not a penny more” I said to myself. This purchase was premeditated, having already taken the 2-3 hour ordeal to acquire my class M permit, I was ready. Then finally I found a bike that was listed for a grand that I really liked. This was after riding bikes of all different shapes and sizes from all corners of Dayton. I rode the bike, told the guy I liked it and offered him “Eight hundred dollars, not a penny more”. He said no. I packed up my old truck (1991 GMC sierra rust bucket) got in, put the crank window down, and said “Let me rephrase that. Do you have the title and is there a notary around here?” “Yesir” he replied. “Forty twenty dollar bills” I said while holding the cash in my hand. He liked that, so I kept my promise, and didn’t spend a penny more.
That was until insurance, tires, etc. but those expenses were cost of ownership, and came in over a few months so they were manageable. Here is the best part: I had that bike in the bed of my truck with the truck cap over top of it, and it sat in bed of my truck until I took it back to Pittsburgh to my parents. My Mom was far from happy with my newest surprise, but I didn’t care. I was young and I had my own motorcycle. My name was on the title, mine. My Dad had that I’m going to act like I’m mad look but as soon as he helped me get it out of my truck he was on it and up the road he went, possibly forgetting how loud a motorcycle is at full throttle as I heard him downshift once he was around the corner, out of sight. He also had a motorcycle while he was a young man, and he couldn’t hide his smirk as he pulled back in the driveway. I drove the bike to work daily and took it and the unnamed woman for many rides that will never be forgotten, and right now I know more about the smirk he was wearing. The rides around my hometown on hot summer days in nothing more than shorts, a tee shirt, and that woman are something I like to consider the American dream: A first love, you can decide if it is the woman or the bike.
The thing about young men is they turn into old men, but many still have that American dream going on strong. I have met many riders including complete strangers while taking cover underneath an overpass during a torrential downpour on the freeway. It is often that you find the attitude of any biker is just that, it’s not if you will crash it is when. I know people who have crashed their motorcycles, but I have been lucky enough to say I have not, yet. There have been close calls in my life, some that changed me at my core by scaring me within inches of my life. I pulled out and saw the gap I had knowing my bike it was plenty fast to get me into traffic, but the light sand gravel on the road left me sliding into the second lane almost dumping me and my bike under a car only managing to save myself and drive away. I remember that day more clearly than almost any other day in my life. Second only to a ride home from work more recently where I came upon a man sitting on the side of the road holding his brain in with a stack of paper towels, that image clarified the officer a block before saying: “You’re not ready to see it” as I passed slowly around the corner into the mess of motorcycle parts scattered on the road. I don’t know if he lived or died.
The bike I bought looked a whole lot different than it does pictured above, but I had access to a full body shop and a mentor who enjoyed sharing the trade. So I tore the tins off the bike and beat them back into shape, sanded, primed, painted, and clear coated all the black you see. It also used to have a small windshield and drag bars that did nothing for protection and looked outdated. I put almost 5,000 miles on that bike and it would barely make it to triple digit speeds, but it loved windy roads, and I like to think it loved me as much as I loved it. I sold it for $850 to an international visitor who wanted to ride it to California three years later, because if I wasn’t ready to take the 30 year old bike to CA, I was willing to let it go without me. This motorcycle story is over, but that “American dream” mentioned earlier isn’t just owning a motorcycle or finding someone, it’s both.

Autonomous Vehicles and the Future of American Car Culture

Today in the NewYork Times there was an interesting article entitled "Collision in the Making Between Self-Driving Cars and How the World Works." (1/24/2012, p. B6). Google has developed a small fleet of self-driving vehicles, and the article deals with the kind of changes that would be necessary if these cars became adopted on a large scale. A conference took place recently at Santa Clara Law School on this topic related to technology and society.

Google's Sabastian Thrun has claimed that the autonomous car project has resulted in 200,000 miles of safe transport, and the promise is one where some 33,000+ lives per year will be saved. Google is pushing for states to approve the use of these systems as early as 2013 or 2014, with the completion of limited roads for their use within 20 years.

So will this mark the beginning of the end of the joy of driving? Will driving no longer result in self-realization, autonomy, and freedom, as movements are increasingly "programmed." Chcuk Berry sang songs of the exhileration of driving and driving for driving sake, like in "No Particular Place to Go." Will our journeys be charted in Garmin-like fashion, with little reason to turn off the main highways on to the blue and black by-ways?

Images: WWII and the Automoible in America

Title: Good citizenship and plain common sense. This man is performing a duty every car owner owes to himself and to our fighting men. In having his car adjusted to prevent excessive tire wear--and in observing the simple rules that make tires last longer--he is making a valuable contribution to our war effort. The man who wastes rubber is a poor citizen and blind even to his own personal interests
Related Names: Freeman, Albert , photographer Hollem, Howard R. , photographer Liberman, Howard , photographer Roberts, Martha McMillan , photographer United States. Office of War Information.
Date Created/Published: 1942 July-Sept.
Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives
Part of: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

Car pooling at Lockheed Vega. New tire-saver is aiding employees seeking rides in "ride cafeteria," recently put to work in the factory area at Lockheed Vega Corporation. Employees with room in their respective cars put filled-out "transportation offered" cards in slots marked by district and shift. Ride seekers read cards to find driver near their residence who can take passengers. Ride seekers also fill out cards in different colors so prospective drivers can locate riders
Creator(s): Bransby, David, photographer

Collections:
Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives

Tire recapping. A service attendant points out a worn tire that may be recapped under a new plan which removes restrictions on reclaimed camelback rubber for passenger tires. The plan to recap passenger car tires with reclaimed rubber camelback, approved by rubber director William M. Jeffers, was put into effect in February 1943 to reduce the demand for replacement tires and still keep civilian cars in service
Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives
Part of: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

Vintage American Cars in Havanna, Cuba -- Can you Identify Them?

Hi folks -- these photos are taken from the Carol M. Highsmith collection athe Library of Congress and were taken in 2010. There are numerous photo books of American cars in Cuba; at least three of these are in the University of Dayton library. So let's play a game -- can you identify the cars in these photos -- Make and year?

Club Auto Racing in China -- Holy Cow! SCC at the Shanghai International Circuit

Thanks to colleague Chris Agnew who pointed this event and group to to me. Photos are from fall SIC Club Challenge, sponsored by the Sports Car Club of Beijing. The Club has 500 rich members, either corporate heads or 2nd generation rich. This is where the real speed is in China.
Founder of SCC, Zhang Kuan, was quoted as saying "Those who do street-racing are never he real rich people. What they drive are not the4 best sports cars either. The real deals are all babied in the private villas. The real racers are hidden underground."

ATS@PENANG 14/01/2012- 15/01/2012

On the 14th January 2012, ATS Automobile Organized a trip for their beloved customers to the northern, we managed to gather 18 Nissan GTR R35 and 2 BMW 6series for our escort. We gathered at the SUNGAI BULOH rest area n hit the highway around 10am.We stoped at the TAPAH rest area and we make the SHELL station packed with the GTRS. Further we continue our journey straight to Penang and made a pit stop to meet MR.Ong ( MR Nice and cool Guy ) and some other GTR members at the JURU Tol .We had lunch at AUTO CITY Kari Kepala ikan. Honestly they had the best kari kepala ikan. After lunch,MR Ong brought us to a car wash that already well prepared to wash  ALL  of our cars :) Around 5 pm only we arrived HARD ROCK Penang. After few hours driving now is the only opportunity for us to rest before we need to meet up  for dinner . 8pm all of us start to gather at the lobby and we drive to our dinner destination " GURNEY PARAGON MALL" We are all welcome by the mangement/photographer and had a super VIP parking infront of the mall. THANKS to the management and MR.Ong. TGI Fridays is our menu for Dinner and also we had a surprise B'day to Mr.Faizal,Mr Fauza and Mr Khairul's wife :)

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION BOUT THE EVENT

http://www.rollinagenda.blogspot.com/

http://www.rollinagenda.blogspot.com/

The Automobile and Contemporary Art -- the Work of Dustin Schuler

Death of an Era -- 1980


Dance -- 2008

Dance -- 2008

Berwyn, IL car Spindle -- 1989

1963 VW Pelt -- 1983

This second intense reaction to a shortage of oil and gasoline unleashed another wave of discontent related to the automobile and its place in American life. One amusing response was the work of California artist Dustin Shuler (1948-2010). On the night of October 23, 1980 at California State University Domingues Hills, a 1959 Cadillac was illuminated, elevated on four oil drums, and then pierced by a 20 foot “nail” that was dropped 100 feet from a boom crane.26 The Cadillac was then pulled on to its side and left on display in an exhibit entitled “Death of an Era.” Schuler saw this act as akin to a hunt for a wild animal, and later he took apart the Cadillac in a way that left it “skinned,” like an animal pelt. So encouraged by this first work, Schuler subsequently skinned and created pelts of a VW beetle, a Fiat Spider and a Porsche 356C! Schuler summarized his activities this way:
"All the cars I have skinned and, for that matter, all the cars on the road can be considered an endangered species. While I am not arguing for the preservation of this species, I notice the ‘evolution’ that is going on right before my eyes [new cars coming off the docks and old cars being scrapped] and I want to collect a few good specimens before they are gone."