On This Day: The King of Cool died (1980)

On this day in 1980 - Steve McQueen died from cancer which was most likely linked to asbestos exposure. The old timey racing suits and helmets used to be made with asbestos. Plus it doesn't help that while serving in the Navy he was ordered to scrape asbestos from pipes on a ship. Let us remember The King of Cool on this day.

Baby you can drive my car.

You don't have to be a tuxedo-wearing, dry martini-drinking (shaken, not stirred), MI-6 super spy to drive a classic DB5 Aston Martin. CarsUK.net reports that Sir Paul McCartney's 1964 Aston Martin DB5 recently sold at auction for £307,000 (around $490,000 USD).

This price may seem a little steep, but let's see what is included in that price. A custom leather interior with embroidered musical notes, adjustable rear shocks, chrome wire wheels, and the kicker; a record player so you can spin some 45's while crusing around in arguably the classiest car in automobile history.

This car was custom ordered and purchased new in 1964 just before the big Beatles world tour. It was completely restored recently and I'm certain this car has lived a pampered life and been host to many icons and celebrities.

Spotted on the street

About a week ago I spotted this car on the street. This is the first time I've seen one in real life. On the road. Not in a magazine or online article. This is Scion's latest car called the FR-S. It's called the Toyota FT-86 in it's homeland of Japan, being named after the legendary AE86 (aka 1984-1987 Toyota Corolla hatchback) from which it's inspiration originated. It's the result you get when great things come together. Toyota teamed up with Subaru to create this everyday man's sports coupe.
It's a relatively small car, slightly larger in size than the current Mazda MX-5 (Miata) but a fair amount smaller than Ford Mustang. What it lacks in size it makes up in agility by being very nimble and powered by a Subaru's 4 cylinder boxer engine. It's a 2.0 liter naturally aspirated engine, but it puts out 200 horsepower and 151 lb-ft of torque. That's plenty of oomph to get the 2758 lb. car moving.
Subaru is releasing a nearly identical car called the BRZ, sharing nearly everything in common with the FR-S, save for a few minor detail changes to the bumpers, lights and interior. This marks the first non-all-wheel-drive car that Subaru has sold in the United States since 1994, and I believe the first rear-wheel-drive car they've ever sold here.

                                          For comparison. The FR-S is on top an the BRZ is on the bottom.

Subaru BRZ in a classic Subaru blue color.

I believe we will be seeing a lot more of these on the road in a short amount of time as word catches on that there is a new sports car in town that can be had for under $25,000.

Things that never needed to be.

Infomercials try to tell us that our lives are somehow incomplete without their product. That somehow we are not competent enough to drain a pot of spaghetti into a normal colander. What are you, a barbarian? Of course you need the Magic-Strain even though you've poured countless pots of pasta into a standard colander without a fuss. The best part of infomercials is when they cut to a short clip of some buffoon trying to use normal everyday products and failing miserably and the overreaction to the failure is even better. That standard colander slipped out of the way and all that pasta when into the sink and is now inedible [cut to starving family at the dinner table]. To further sell you on the product, they tell you that it's a $50 value now for only $19.95. Who determines the value? The value of the plastic is roughly 40 cents probably. The sweatshop workers probably cost them 10 cents per product. That $50 is a completely arbitrary number. But wait... if you act now you'll get two of these things you don't need. Just pay shipping and processing.

Let's examine a few examples...

Why is this necessary? The soda can was designed to be a hand-held size to begin with.

Because putting on a shoe is too much of a hassle. On a side note... those joints look pretty weak like it won't hold up to much abuse. Such abuse as being stepped on repeatedly. Also the design limits how flat you can crush the can. I could get it way flatter with just my foot.

This one blows my mind . Who is going to bother digging in the junk drawer for the banana opener every time they want to eat a banana? Chimpanzees are experts in eating bananas... Human to chimp DNA is 98% similar. Somewhere in that 2% we've lost the ability to open a banana.

Because I don't have time to pour this teapot twice. We need tea now! This product works great unless you're pouring for an odd number of people. You'll get a teacup's volume of tea all over that lovely tablecloth.

Now on the other hand there have been some great products to come from infomercials...

The Flowbee is brilliant. You can cut your own hair and there is no clean-up!

The Clapper is outstanding. Sometimes you don't want to get out of bed to turn off the lights. The only flaw in this design is if the commercial for The Clapper comes on you lights are going to be turning on and off a lot.

Whipped into shape.

Devo front man and renowned composer Mark Mothersbaugh has two art pieces currently on display in the LA Art Show: Modern and Contemporary exhibit being held at the LA Convention Center in the form of double-ended cars.

Scion xDs to be precise. Two xDs were cut in half and were welded together, two front halves together and two rear halves together.

This isn't the first time this type of things has been done. Double-ended cars have been built for many years.

But it is pretty uncommon to have to rear-half cars put together. 

It's exciting to see one of my favorite musicians getting into car culture.

Swet'n To The Oldies

I spotted this gem on the way to work this morning. I'm assuming by SWET BMR he means "sweet Bimmer". First I'd like to note that this mid-90's 3 series BMW isn't particularly sweet... It appears to be competely stock besides the euro style tail lights and chrome exhaust tips. There is probably 400 other E36 Bimmers in the area that look just like this.
Secondly... "SWET BMR" hardly resembles "sweet Bimmer". It looks like like "sweat Bummer".

A Different Kind of Different (or Moustache Envy)

In my younger days I had an urge to try to be different. I’ve gone through various changes in style to try to achieve this. This would include the period of time that I would wear black almost exclusively and dyed my hair black. I’m fairly certain that I had my extended family convinced that I worshipped Satan.
Somehow along the way I’ve done a complete 180 of that style and I now wear cardigans almost every day. Though, admittedly I still wear a lot of dark colors. As dashing as cardigans are I still felt a deficiency in my urge to be different. This is what lead me to the next level. The moustache…
To be honest I didn’t know a lot about growing a moustache other than the obvious discontinued shaving of the upper lip. What I’ve learned is that style is everything when it comes to moustaches. Depending on the style you may resemble a motorcycle cop, a French wine expert, a firefighter or even a kid toucher. I’ve also discovered that the handlebar style moustache, aside from it’s ability to bring a dapperness to an otherwise casual style, is the most powerful variety.
Almost immediately after applying the moustache wax and curling up the ends I’ve noticed a change in how people treat me. I receive compliments almost everyday and in some cases preferential treatment.
The first of the examples I will give takes place at the local Albertson’s grocery store with my wife and a couple friends in tow sometime around midnight. Like everyone else in a grocery store at this time of night we were on a beer run. Or in this case a Jose Cuervo 100 calorie margarita jug run. While being rung up at the checkout line, a seemingly buzzed middle-aged woman in line behind me says; “Great moustache! You look dastardly. But in a good way.” Not knowing how to react in this situation I just smiled and said thanks and grabbed my two jugs of booze and split.
Another time Jess and I were at Target checking out at the register and the young man completing our transaction says; “Awesome moustache. I wish I could grow one.” His face turned to a frown and he rubbed his upper lip with an obvious amount of disappointment. This was hard to see. It was like having a woman tell you she cannot give birth to a child. A beautiful baby made of coarse hair.
On another occasion I was grocery shopping at Trader Joe's and encountered a large shopping cart traffic jam in the frozen food section. I needed to get to the frozen rice but I was blocked by a couple of lallygagging shoppers. I saw a Trader Joe's employee ahead who was restocking the rice I needed and I asked him if he could pass me a box of rice over the obstacle of carts. He grabbed a box and squeezed through the shoppers and handed right to me and said; "Anything for a handlebar moustache." This caught me by surprise. I didn't expect him to go out of his way to maneuver through a mess of carts. I thought he'd just pass it over to me. Instead I had a hand delivered package presented to me as if it were gold, frankincense or myrrh.
I fear that my moustache is growing in power as it grows in length. I mustn't let it get to my head. As Spider-Man's uncle had said; "With great power comes great responsibility."

Best. Urinals. Ever.

I came across these great urinals the other day while at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. They are not only appropriately spaced apart, but they are also separated by a wall. No rubbing elbows here.

Where It All Vegan

Today my co-workers decided to take me out for a belated birthday lunch. We usually go to some whatever place where everyone can find food easily. This time they decided to let me go to Native Foods, a completely vegan restaurant. Everyone was a little afraid of the menu and were probably immediately regretting their decision.
Everyone finally made lunch selections and we sat down at a large table. While waiting for our food they were all looking around the restaurant like it was an alien world. Food finally arrived and I dug in. I looked up from my plate shortly after starting and noticed everyone had their cell phones out and taking pictures of their food. One of them said that they had to post it on Facebook because no one would believe that she ate there.
Once they got starting eating they realized that the food is actually good and they enjoyed it. Many sweet potato fries met their inevitable demise. After lunch one of the girls bought me a chocolate cupcake and they all sang happy birthday to me in the middle of the restaurant. It was worth it for the cupcake. It's sitting on my desk right now waiting to be consumed as an afternoon snack.

The moral of the story is; don't judge a book by it's... bla bla bla. I don't care - I got a cupcake out of the deal either way.

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2

So my work is hosting another early screening for the final Harry Potter film. I'm a nerd and I'm excited. I love not having to stand in line for 20 hours to see it at midnight. I get to see it at 6:30 pm before the midnight release.

Musdaaang!

This minivan's owner must either think people would easily mistake his vehicle for a Ford Mustang by putting the grill emblem on there or else he just really likes ponies.

If he put a Mustang V8 under the hood, I'd be all for this minivan.



Bad news body kit

I spotted this poor poor Honda Accord while recycling some used motor oil at Kragen. Looks like someone is in the process of molding a custom widebody kit for this new Accord, but they were using styrofoam instead of molding foam. This is also typically done to a car while it is in a garage and not driven until it's done. This is just sad to see on a brand new Accord.

Dolla, dolla bill, ya'll...

Jess and I spotted this gem in the parking lot of a Costco the other day. Very classy. Nothing says baller like using your Gold Star membership at Costco to pick up a 48 pack of toilet paper and a 50 gallon drum of pickles.



Packing...

Jess and I will be moving into our new home this weekend. We are really excited and I've been in super-packing mode. Last night I decided to tackle the kitchen since that was the most daunting task left. Luckily our cat wasn't in the way at all.

Low mileage...

So I just hit 20,000 miles in my Fit today. I've had this car for 3-1/4 years. That's less than 513 miles per month. Wow, that's really low!

Schwag

This package was waiting for me at the office of our apartment community...  I was excited.

One of my favorite automotive performance parts companies sent me a t-shirt and some stickers. There is a Facebook game called Car Town that I've been playing for a little while. In the game I made a custom paint job resembling one of the race cars they sponsor. They dug it. They sent me stuff. I'm stoked.

Wallgreen's Fashion

I'm not a stylish fellow by any stretch of the term. I know it. But I do at least know that Wallgreens is not the place to go for fashionable duds. This was confirmed over the weekend when we made a stop to pick up some beauty products. There, in neon-burn-your-retina-pink, hanging from the ceiling, dangling like kite stuck in a tree... it was what only could be described as the result of when a steamroller meets an In Living Color Fly Girl. Complete with boxy-robot-wedgie.



I could only imagine this was hung there by the employees as some kind of scarecrow. Perhaps to keep customers out.

Parking Lot Wars

Parking in our apartment community is extremely hard to come by if you arrive any later than 6:00 pm. It will probably be the thing I miss the least when we move in May. Besides the fact that it's hard to find parking, it's also full of cars parked by drivers who must be blind. Or at least they must be being attacked by bees at the time their of arrival. No one can park straight. Maybe they're color blind and they can't see the green lines on the black pavement.

Here is an example:

The driver of this car must have been really thin to get out of their car. I can't imagine them being able to open their door without it touching my car. Luckily it didn't leave any dings in my car, but regardless this is a big no-no. In Sir Cardigan's America this would be punishable by having the doors of your car removed.

Finished Product

I never got around to posting a picture of the finished table I had been working on with my brother.

It's not perfect, but it looks a lot better than it did. Next up is the chairs!

Spotted On The Street

An old Datsun B210. Not a particularly great car... I just took note of it because my mom used to drive one of these cars long, long ago. A little history lesson here. Datsun's parent company, Nissan, decided to brand all cars being shipped to America as Datsun instead of Nissan for fear that American's would not buy a Nissan brand car due to Nissan's involvement with the Japanese military during WWII.