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HIGH POWER BEATS HYBRIDS
Beautiful automotive news:
Australians bought a record number of V8-engined cars last month despite growing fears of global warming and uncertainty over petrol prices.
One in four Commodores and Statesman/Caprices sold in November had a 5.7-litre V8 under the bonnet.
As a percentage of total Holden sales, it was the highest number of V8-engined cars sold since the company began keeping reliable records in 1991.
(Via Brett M)
I miss my first car, a HQ kingswood 253 with three on the tree. Loveley bench seat in pre compulsory seat belt days. I bliss, trips to the beach with a blonde lass on the left arm (so she could change the gears for me). It was very economical to, at least relative to my mate’s RX-4. On a fast trip to Sydney from Canberra once, he used 25 percent more fuel than me, for a car lucky to be one third the size.
Mind you, my next car was a tx3 turbo, followed by a mx5 (miata to you ‘seppos’), which while both four cylinders, were not shabby (at least I had the miata moded and a set of extractors put on by the ‘Just MX-5’ chaps In Cronulla. Family cars since then, though :(
As a percentage of total Holden sales, it was the highest number of V8-engined cars sold since the company began keeping reliable records in 1991
I imagine a room full of monkeys pounding on adding machines and management examining the output and saying “hmmm, that looks about right. And Bongo, try to keep feces on the final report to a minimum. Mmkay? ”
Posted by Col. Milquetoast on 2006 12 19 at 10:11 AM • permalinkTheres nothing quite like a V-8, paticularly the all Australian Holden Commodore. (European designed body, chinese wiring, USofA mechanicals - cigarette lighter optional*)
* Not available in Northern Territory, Tasmania or Mt Druitt.Posted by surfmaster on 2006 12 19 at 10:13 AM • permalinkThen there was the time the kingswood and I got stranded with a nurse form Julia Creek on the road between Muttaburra and Hughenden after a storm washed out the road for three days with nothing but a jam sandwich between us. We had phoned the coppers at Hughenden to let them know we were coming though, and it looked like rain. Nothing like listening to radio national and to hear about travelers stuck on the road but no-one can reach them, only to realise they are talking about you. Anyway, I got impatient and tried to run across the low spots at speed, only to flatten my exhaust system in the mud and subsequently blew poor old bessie’s rings (the car, wronwright, no the nurse).
Started getting 2 litres of oil per 100 km after that. So I rebuilt poor bessie from the ground up. Lumpy cam, bored her right out to 308 and a nice new set of pistons and extractors. Never got my money back on that old rust bucket, but fun times.
#11 Rob Read
Anyone else think the glorbal warmenising shrills are falling on increasingly deaf ears?
Seems so - at least amongst the people I work with - all seem to reckon it’s a load of BS and the main worries are the mortgage, what to wear to the Christmas party, kids, the state of our roads, husbands/wives/partners, the cost of car rego, cricket, footy, what’s on telly and so on - normal things that normal people worry about
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2006 12 19 at 11:19 AM • permalinkI had to Google it, but apparently ‘extractors’ are Antipodean for ‘headers’.
The old adage “There is no substitute for cubic inches” still holds true.
Posted by Some0Seppo on 2006 12 19 at 12:00 PM • permalink“Julia Creek,
Muttaburra,
Hughenden “Mine too, Murph. And the Diamantina, Coopers
Creek and Cooktown…sigh.Posted by Crusader-Rabbit on 2006 12 19 at 01:36 PM • permalinkSome: We prefer the more rhyming “no replacement for displacement”.
And by “we”, I mean “all decent people”.
(Though on the other hand, I’d be happy to replace my 76hp 3L straight 5 diesel with something not designed in 1968, having smaller displacement, more power, and better fuel economy… but ceteris paribus, yes.)
Especially one like this.
First to do a 500 mph race at Reno (507 mph / 815 kph). Damn.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2006 12 19 at 04:22 PM • permalinkO/T - Kevin Rudd reminds us in an op-ed in today’s The Australian that—
Australia does face a fork in the road at the next federal election.
Posted by walterplinge on 2006 12 19 at 05:24 PM • permalinkOT
What the hell are you doing here, readers? According to his website, Sam de Brito has the “BEST AUSTRAILIA OR NEW ZEALAND BLOG”
This is despite Sam telling his adoring readers, in a long since deleted post:
I have never claimed to be the “best” and it’s so goddamn subjective, I would never be so arrogant to assume it. I’m having fun here, you should give it a shot sometime.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 12 19 at 06:21 PM • permalinkWe bought a V8 (new black Commodore SV8) for the first time in 2003, after previously only owning 4 cylinder cars.
I don’t think we will be able to buy anything less than a V8 next time. The wife loves driving the “black beast”. Sexual connotations in overdrive!
Irony is, I think she may have voted Green last time.Posted by eagle bomber on 2006 12 19 at 06:22 PM • permalink#6 - Surfmaster, careful you do not join the Plastic Turkey brigade. The VE has a wholly local designed body, and even the previous models (post-VN) had little in common with the Opels that broke on test in Australia.
#18 Paco - the 6 litre Gen IV currently used by Holden has 270Kw, which is 362 BHP (installed). Yumm.I’ve had several Holdens and Fords over the years ... just one V8, a HZ 253 ... and a few Jap and Frog cars ... I feel qualified to post ... the Holdens and Fords are up there with the world’s best in terms of performance per dollar ... especially the V8s ... and size per dollar ... they are biggish cars ... but quality measured in any way is on par with the unloved Trabant ... keeping reliable records says it all ...
There’s a reality TV program here somewhere I reckon.
Gaia Busters.
This week on GaiaBusters, Timbo charters a jet to China to view the spectacular burning coal mines, before dropping in on an environmental conference and leaving all electrical appliances in his hotel room while he is in the buffet.
Mad doc will show you how to maximise emissions on even the smallest runaround, before demonstrating how to simulate the plight of polar bears, using little more than a kitten, a regular ice block, and bucket full of warm water.
Don’t miss the entertainment this week on - GaiaBusters!
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 12 19 at 07:01 PM • permalinkdo prius’s come in v8 or just run on it?
Posted by eeniemeenie on 2006 12 19 at 07:09 PM • permalink# 35 - No plastic turkeys for me, all of my cars have been from the General, yes they are locally designed but they tend to borrow heavily from the Europeans - and then improve the hell on it. My current slurpy is a 2005 Calais with 5.7 litres of the General’s finest chewing its way through greenie holy water.
Posted by surfmaster on 2006 12 19 at 07:15 PM • permalinkO/T - Breaking news from Andrew Landeryou -
A ground breaking OC world exclusive: An unnamed source deep in the highest reaches of the Federal Government has revealed that the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, is about to announce his retirement.
This will precipitate the full reshuffle of the Howard Ministry.
We understand that Ruddock will take up an overseas posting after the Federal Election, along similar lines to former Minister John Herron.
Posted by walterplinge on 2006 12 19 at 07:17 PM • permalink# 42
please please let the posting be to some human rightsish kind of body-the UN refugees commissin or something along those lines so we can watch little leftard heads explode with indignation.
great name wp- from pratchett i assume?
Posted by eeniemeenie on 2006 12 19 at 07:25 PM • permalink#42
Nice try, Walter, but I find it highly unlikely that a so-called “blog” has scooped hard-working professional journalists who follow politics for a living.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 12 19 at 07:28 PM • permalinkDream on, cubic inch wannabes.
I’m in Canberra and staying with my brother. He owns a 1970 Cadillac El Dorado with an 8.2L (500 cubic inch) V8.
When turned on it emits a deeper rumbling than Barry White at 200db causing Gaia to tremble in fear.
Posted by Jack Lacton on 2006 12 19 at 08:01 PM • permalinksince the company began keeping reliable records in 1991.
Strangely, that’s about the same time Glowball Wrestlemania acolytes started keeping temperature records, too.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 12 19 at 08:28 PM • permalink45: Yo, Jack! Old Paco used to own one of those! I think it was “fire-mist green” and had white leather seats and the hood was so long that the grill crossed the county line five minutes before the driver. And that engine! A picture of it could have served as a stock photo of “Industry”. What a beauty she was!
#7 Entropy: Before I joined the Army I used to do a bit of part time contract roo shooting in that area, and had a similar experience on that road, in a mate’s V8 Chrysler ute. Considering that we were doing some ridiculous speeds on that road, it’s a wonder we only ended up sliding into the bush five or six times. But that thing was built like a tank, and used fuel like one.
My father bought a 253 Kingswood brand new in the 70s, I can still remember him constantly tinkering with it when he was home from the mines. He still has it, and until a couple of years ago it was the family car. My little brother (QLD copper) and I chipped in and brought him a V8 Commodore for his birthday, so the Kingswood is just a hobby for him now.48: G’day Paco. My brother wants to know why the heck you would sell the motoring equivalent of the Terminator and what replaced it.
Posted by Jack Lacton on 2006 12 19 at 08:41 PM • permalinkThere was a bike?
Yeah, it’s that object that the breasts are hovered over. You’ll have to concentrate and focus a couple inches (screen wise) below the double D’s.
If you follow the line of the sword, you’ll see the bike starts right about where the point ends.
Took me a few minutes to figure it out too.
I have had a Black 5.7 litre SV8 Commodore for the last 12 months and I love it. The wife also loves driving the V8 as well, so it looks like I’m buying her the V8 Vovlo XC90 this Summer - because she needs the power and the seven seats for her, the Razorette and Number 2 (due in May!!).
I was thinking of gretting a custom number plate with GAIAH8TR on it, but will probably go for 105MMAPDS. Waiting to see what is under the tree on Monday before doing anything.
#50: Well, now, it belonged to my pa, Old Paco, not to me. He was in the habit of trading his cars every couple of years. I believe he traded it in on another Caddy, but he eventually switched to Lincoln Continentals.
When he was a revenooer back in the 1950’s and 1960’s, chasing moonshiners through the mountains in North Carolina, his federal agency got to keep most of the cars they impounded, and since bootleggers drove the most souped-up cars, he had some pretty flashy government cars. I remember, in particular, an early ‘60’s Dodge (I’m thinking it was a 1960
Matador hardtop ). Supercharged with high performance everything. Nice!The US gummint just revised its procedures for calculating car mileage. Amazingly, the claimed mileage for hybrids dropped between 20 - 30%...
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 12 19 at 09:32 PM • permalink#58: Ha! Well done, Old Paco. What a great time with cars he had.
Posted by Jack Lacton on 2006 12 19 at 09:36 PM • permalinkHow about 27L and 1.5 mi/gal: Centurion. (A Leopard is much easier to handle.)
But then someone had to try: Rather Large CarCheers
Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2006 12 19 at 10:00 PM • permalink#30
Actually, we know Pontiac’s attempt to revive the GTO is merely a Holden Monero. That’s why they aren’t selling real well.
My favorite Pontiac engines of recent years are V6s, buth the 4 valve twincam 3.2 and the supercharged 3.8 L67. My dream car is a 78 Chevette with either of these installed.
On a slightly related note, while I love a big Aussie car, the parastic car companies are lobbying to have the tariffs that were due to be phased out in 2010 extended, on the grounds that (in summary) “we build these cars that not as many people want anymore and they are buying more of these little cars that we don’t make. So you had better keep making sure these little cars cost more so we can get away with charging more for these big cars so even less people will want them”
Hmmm.
Considering how much the automotive industry here in the US is regulated. I’m not sure if I’m impressed more by the purchases of V-8 engines or the fact that the Holden company didn’t keep reliable records prior to 1991.
Posted by memomachine on 2006 12 19 at 11:25 PM • permalinkHmmmm.
So I rebuilt poor bessie from the ground up. Lumpy cam, bored her right out to 308 and a nice new set of pistons and extractors.
The car? Or the nurse?
Posted by memomachine on 2006 12 19 at 11:27 PM • permalinkHmmmm.
The old adage “There is no substitute for cubic inches” still holds true.
In car engines *and* marriage.
Posted by memomachine on 2006 12 19 at 11:33 PM • permalinkThe new M3 is going to have a V8 - yummy. I should be able to afford one by the time they land here in 08 as well. Though I still maintain that a Beemer straight 6 is still the sweetest mill you can get. The biturbo 335 is a rocketship.
Posted by attilathepun on 2006 12 20 at 12:51 AM • permalinkLaw schools are hammering environmentalism very hard. Climate change and human rights….now a significant part of the core curricum everywhere.
Isn’t the ‘snail in the bottle’ good enough any more?
Unless you’re planning to work for ambulance chasers such as Slater & Gordon ‘human rights’ is waste of effort. In my experience, based on a sample of two in a social setting, Slater & Gordon’s lawyers are holier-than-thou dipshits. Very keen on social justice however. They preach it but don’t practice it.
Posted by walterplinge on 2006 12 20 at 02:29 AM • permalink#64 #75
Talking about Oz only, but can’t imagine anywhere else would be much better. Certainly not Europe. Law teaching is in a real state. Wish I could link you to some of the loopy-de-loop course materials floating around.
Many academics at prof. and assoc-prof. level are refugees from the culture wars of the 60s and 70s…..couldn’t persuade the masses to become bohemian intellectuals (funny that) so went into the business of agitating to change the law to suit their agenda, which is mainly about the inalienable rights of everything and everyone, and the inherently corrupt nature of everything to do with the state (despite the fact they are PAID by the state!!!)
Here’s one example from a 2006 Constitutional Law Study Guide:‘Joseph & Castan refer to McHugh J’s comment that political communication includes ‘false, unreasoned and emotional’ communications as well as true, detached and reasoned communications. We can all, no doubt, think of examples of ‘false, unreasoned and emotional’ political communications; the story of the (non-existent) Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction, which justified the invasion of Iraq in 2003, is one such example. The Australian people may have come to expect that most political communications will be ‘false, unreasoned and emotional.’ Interestingly enough, McHugh J’s juxtaposition of adjectives implies that emotional messages are inferior or ‘false’ while more rational, apparently neutral forms of communication are ‘true’. This is misleading.’
The last sentence is a feminist dig at the detached and impartial tone of the law, which is also under attack as being patriarchal. Much better to get in touch with our emotions, don’t you know. Get those wigheads on the Court of Appeal to form a healing circle. Realign those shakras before sentence is read out.
More excerpts. (You’re going to have to hit me over the head to stop me now)This from the same 2006 Constitutional Law textbook, which I happen to have to hand…
‘To illustrate this process I have used three extracts from stories which are quite distinct from the sacred texts of constitutional law, and are unrecognisable as part of the sacred texts of constitutional law. They are part of the unofficial discourse of constitutional law. As you read each one, try to guess the identity of the storyteller.
Extract 1. ‘We sat in a circle around the small crackling vigil-fire…the 10am news came and went with no mention of the subject uppermost in our minds…During the interminable wait some of us knitted and crocheted….apprehension was a lump in my throat, my belly. Then suddenly, the crackly voice of the newsreader: The dam cannot be built! The dam cannot be built!’
Finally an exam question from 2005. Keep reading, it’s worth it:
‘In 2003 The Commonwealth authorises the construction of a low-level radioactive waste facility in the South Australian desert. The facility is designed to process radioactive waste from the Lucas Heights nuclear facility in Sydney. It is owned and operated by a large multinational corporation called Safenukes. Safenukes transports the waste from Sydney to the waste facility in South Australia in trucks.
‘In 2005 the facility is upgraded to a larger medium level radioactive waste facility, and begins to process, as well, nuclear waste from Britain and France. The waste is carried by ship to South Australia and then by Safenukes’ trucks to the waste facility.
‘Greenpeace approaches the truck drivers, who are employees of Safenukes, and provides them with information on the hazards of radioactive waste. As a result, the truck drivers refuse to transport radioactive waste. The Federal Government, anxious to retain the goodwill of Britain and France, requests your advice as to whether it can enact legislation which penalises the striking truck drivers.’
This is constitutional law. Core subject. Indoctrination, pure and simple.
Loooooong way from the snail in the bottle, I’m afraid.
Dave S #25
Any man who isn’t moved near to tears by the sound of a Merlin V-12 is a full castrato.
There is one better sound. The unearthly howl of a Centaurus VI with the throttle firewalled as the Tempest screams down the runway at 400mph after a powerdive from 8000 feet. He was at maybe 80 feet when he did it.
The reverbs off the concrete damned near shook the fillings out of my teeth. Man what a sound!
MarkL
CanberraOh, Dave S
Just check THIS . Just GO.
I mean, Holy snapping duckshit batman!
Just so as we’re on the same page here.
This is the immortal Rolls Royce Eagle 22, where the RR boys showed Napier how to do a 24 cylinder H sleeve valve right.This is a WORKING 1/5th scale engine, so 1m = 20cm or 1cm = 2mm, and it would be running to mechanical tolerances I’d guess in about the thou (~0.0245mm) range for working parts.
This is the Rolls Royce Eagle 22 - with 2 crankshafts, 2 magnetos, 4 or 5 oil pumps, 24 cylinders, 24 pistons, 24 sleeves with 24 sets of worm and ball crank gear, 28 spark plugs, 144 piston rings and teh Lord knows what else, with an electrically operated six shot .22 cal revolver (Coffman Starter).
This goes way beyond scary.
I’d use the usual off-hand crack about ‘some people having too much time on their hands,’ but this is just too extreme for that. It verges on the mechanically divine.
For anyone who doesn’t ‘get it.’ I can only say I’m deeply sorry for you. This is a symphony in machined alloy steels.
MarkL
Canberra
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Seppos!* Are we to be outdone by our Ozzie brethren? Time to seriously consider the Dodge Ram with the V-10 option.
* If that’s the word I want.