A&Q about 350Z
Q:
"The necessary technology is already here. We have radar technology that can be tied to cruise control and brakes, which automatically adjusts your speed based on following distance and pre-programmed settings. It's still a little bit raw, but it does work great. The technology can allow cars and trucks to follow each other in very closely spaced caravans."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/05/02/ford_cartech_fortune/index.html
No thanks. God willing I should still be alive in 20 years when they say it could be implemented. What if I still have the 260z. Do I get to weave in and out of these BotCars and thumb my nose at the sedated drivers?
:D
Anyone heard the song Red Barchetta by RUSH?
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My uncle has a country place, that no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm, before the motor law
And on sundays I elude the ’eyes’ and hop the turbine freight
To far outside the wire, where my white-haired uncle waits.
Jump to the ground
As the turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind,
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me, an old machine ---
For fifty-odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest drepm
I strip away the old debris, that hides a shining car
A brilliant red barchetta, from a better, vanished time
I fire up the willing engine, responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel, I commit my weekly crime...
Wind in my hair ---
Shifting and drifting ---
Mechanical music ---
Adrenalin surge ---
Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware
Suddenly, ahead of me, across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air-car shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires, to run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley as another joins the chase
Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud
With fear and hope, I’ve got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded
At the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle
At the fireside...
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'74 260Z
'88 300ZX GLL
A:
As long as i can still drive my Z the way i want, i don't care what they do. I have rush on my ipod and have listened to red barchetta but i dont think i ever listened to the words that intently...pretty cool/ominous lyrics
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03 CS Touring
VIN #189
A:
"assuming the system doesn't break down for any reason."
Which is the tendency of all computers! I truely believe, total reliance on computers will destroy us someday.
78 280z Black Pearl 132K miles? could be 232k miles? who knows...
"Datsun: We Are Driven"
A:
Back in the day, Red Barchetta billowing out the 6x9's on my T/A meant death to my tires...... LOL!
Ken
'82ZX n/a 2+2
'02 Sportster XL1200C
A:
New Interstate Traffic Control Center employee:
"I just spilled my drink down that vent thingie and some smoke came out, what should I do?"
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'74 260Z
'88 300ZX GLL
A:
god how lazy can we get, thats some wussie a$$ chit!
73' 240z: F54 4.2L, OS Giken LY DOHC Crossflow head, 17:3comp.ratio, N33, Tripple SU's, T10 Hybrid Draw-Through TT @ 47pds, Roots&Centrifugal Type supercharger, 3-2-1 headers, Centerforce 4 clutch, 6oz flywheel, R300 differential, Super-Hicas
A:
Personally, I would love to have cruise control that kept your car a set distance from the car in front of you. It's annoying when the car in front keeps fluctuating their speed by a MPH or two, causing you to constantly adjust the cruise control.
"The Law of Logical Argument: Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about. "
Early 74 260Z
90 5.0 Mustang LX vert (7up edition)
86 Isuzu Trooper
85 Kawasaki 900 Ninja
A:
eh I think there are a lot more problems to figure out than just getting the car from point A to B.
How will the car handle engine problems, or if a tire blows out, or there are snowy/icy conditions. What if a accident happens right in front of you, will the car be able to react accordingly? etc etc etc etc. soooo many variables to be worked out.
88 300ZX Turbo Shiro Special (SS): K&N filter, HKS Exhaust.
God created Turbo lag so V8's could stand a chance.
A:
Can't stand Rush! Good guitar work but his voice I can do without.
Dave
12/70 240Z, L-28, flat-tops, N-42 head, N-33 intake, MSA 10-2002 cam, ZX ignition, early 5-speed, R-180,4:11 gears, 903 Blue paint.
A:
it will only encourage more stupidity among American drivers.most people already cant drive and read roadsigns at the same time.
they widen and straighten narrow twisty roads and more people get killed.
they add ABS and LSD and more people get killed
they give you GPS and more people get killed
they put up new traffic lights and more people get killed.
theyve done just about everything they can,and all it leads to is people getting killed.
If all were equal, none would be strong.
Ballistic,Ruler of Interstates
Stage XX+ 1993 Z32 NA
"SoulTaker"
A:
Some of you might not be old enough but the 1964 World's Fair in NY had a mock-up of a superhighway were cars were locked in place by hooks (think carwash) and once set the driver's seat was able to turn 180 degrees to engage in conversations with his passengers, sleep, read, watch TV, etc.
You programmed the car so it moved from lane to lane as needed to enter and exit and cars were keep a safe distance apart by the hook-up itself.
The ad for the assisted brakes (using radar) for either MB or BMW gives me the creeps as does the radar de-acceleration one for Lexus....
A:
Had a brother in-law who did the electrical wiring in Neil Peart's house when he lived in Beamsville. Check lyric notes on Caress of Steel. Seen him a couple of times in a red Ferrari when I was in my teens working in the area....but ya it's comming to that soon as per watchfull eye always looking over your shoulder.
This whole world smells bad, I'd buy another if I had
back what I paid for another mother@#$%@# in a motorcade
A:
I wonder what would happen if someone shot an EMP at cars traveling in these "caravans" at high speed? I would rather intrust my life to my own driving skills rather than technology. Blue screen of death at 60+ mph, I would walk first.
"Red Barchetta" is one of my fast driving songs, I thought it had some conitations of such, but I hadn't really listened that closely to the song. However, it doesn't supprise me with the subject matter that Rush writes songs about: "0110110," "Subdivisions" plus others.
Big Brother is Watching You.
Edited for Typos.
Post Edited (May 4, 10:50am)
A:
Now my dad thought the world as we knew at was ending when antilock brakes came out, lol. I think they're just fine for the average joe and the ones on my 4runner work really well. But that is still basically a mechanical device. But I just don't understand this star wars thinking applied to motor cars of basically 1909 design. Four wheels and a friggin seat!
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'74 260Z
'88 300ZX GLL
A:
>Had a brother in-law who did the electrical wiring in Neil Peart's house
> when he lived in Beamsville. Check lyric notes on Caress of Steel. Seen
> him a couple of times in a red Ferrari when I was in my teens working in
> the area....
I lived near their ranch-recording studio in North York, drove by it every day. I never saw any sports cars going into it...
A:
Yeah I read a thing similar to this. The plan was to creat hover cars that are capable of doing 300+ mph with smart computers running them. This way traffic wouldn't be an issue anymore. Cars could move about on highways at 300+mph and kept certain distances between each car. They estimated that with computers controlling the car lanes could be much narrower and cars could ride closer to eachother. Of course the car would have to hover on something. The devices would basicly be the roads but to make things look better they would be placed under grass. So basicly no more road and no more control over cars. They were saying it should be something feesable by 2030. Kind of bothered me since driving for most of us is a hobby, stress reducer, etc. Technology is good but sometimes I think it's too much.
1977 280z: Intake, exhaust, high flow cat, header, euro damper, cam, MSD, adj. FPR, 3.7 lsd, F+R sway+strut bars, 2580lbs
1984 300zx: intake, exhuast, high flow cat, headers, JWT ECU, F+R sway bars, F strut bar
06 WRX TR
A:
This would be around 83 - 84 when I saw him. My brother in law did his house a couple years prior to that.
This whole world smells bad, I'd buy another if I had
back what I paid for another mother@#$%@# in a motorcade
A:
I LOVED Rush when the first came out (still do, but don't own any of their music at the moment). In fact, about the time Tom Sawyer hit the scene was when I saw my first Orange Crush orange 240Z. The dude who owned it was the older friend of an older friend of mine (I was about 12, he was about 15, owner of the 240 was about 16) and when he screeched to a stop, my dog ran over and jumped his front paws on the driver's side door/window ledge to say "hello". The guy just had the car painted and wanted to KILL me. At the time, I didn't know what the big deal was. Now I know.
I was lucky he chilled and that Z memory stuck with me until I went sports car searching 10 years ago when I bought my first Z.
Memories. . .
Alex
'77 280Z
'69 2000 roadster (fathers, but I'm the pseudotechnician)
A:
Oh blah. Worrying about this happening in the near future is like worrying about running out of gas.
Currently parting out 1990 300zx TT.
A:
Don't think it'll happen...not all vehicles have cruise for one. There are also dangers associated with cruise, for instance, on a slick wet or icy road using cruise can actually cause hydroplaning/loss-of-control.
76', 4 Speed, CAI, 6 into 2 Headers
Of all the things I've lost in life I miss my mind the most.
A:
Well they haven't forced me to put ABS brakes or a third tail light in my 260 yet. Will I have to install some $4000 guidance system in my then ancient 350z?
J/K but you see the point.
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'74 260Z
'88 300ZX GLL
A:
"Also, suppliers are developing side-vision-based lane-departure warning systems that read the edge of the road and the white lines."
So...........what about when it snows.............or mud gets slung along the side of the road...............
A:
I did a little research on the song "Red Barchetta" and found that it was based on a short story called "A Nice Morning Drive" by Richars s Foster; it can be found here:
http://www.2112.net/xanadu/articles/a_nice_morning_drive.htm.
The barchetta that was sung about in the song was a Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta, from what I found.
A:
Thanks for the link. I'd read that it was based on that short story but I've yet to read it. So if it was a '49 or so model, the lyrics are set around the year 2000. Just for fun:
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'74 260Z
'88 300ZX GLL