Meme Dump...

Automotif DXXVI...

The car that eventually became known as just the Supra started out as a zhuzhed-up Celica with a snout stretched to accommodate an inline six. In Japan it was the Celica XX, but export models were sold as the Celica Supra.

For the 1982 model year a whole new generation of Celica Supra debuted, the A60. In the North American market these came in two flavors, the P-type and L-type, for Performance and Luxury. The fender flares, rear spoiler above the hatchback, and wide wheels indicate that this Dark Blue Metallic 1983 Celica Supra is a P-type.

For 1983, power would be provided by Toyota's 5M-GE 2.8 liter inline six. A DOHC motor with two valves per cylinder, for 1983 it was rated at 150 SAE net horsepower and 159 lb-ft of torque in U.S. trim.

While not threatening the Corvette on American streets, this generation of Supra was able to give the late Malaise Era Mustangs and Camaros a run for their money, at least in their lower-spec versions. Car and Driver got 0-60 times in the mid 8-second range and clocked a top speed of 115mph, which is pretty comparable to what my 1984 Pontiac Trans Am would do. Unsurprising since that Trans Am had the sluggish carbureted 150hp LG4 305 V-8 and weighed something like 300 pounds more than the Toyota.

The A60 was one of a number of Japanese performance cars in the early Eighties that announced that the era of cars from Japan being viewed as cut-rate econoboxes was well and truly over. Heck, my orthodontist at the time drove a black A60 Celica Supra.

These photos were taken in July of 2024 with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and a Panasonic 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens.

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Interception

USAF fighters, usually F-22s out of Elmendorf these days, intercept Russian Tu-95 Bears all the time, but the presence of PLAAF bombers in this story caught my eye:

North American Aerospace Defense Command says it “detected, tracked, and intercepted” four bombers — two Russian and two Chinese — flying near Alaska on Wednesday.

The Russian Tupolev Tu-95 Bears and Chinese H-6 strategic bombers were operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone but “did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,” NORAD announced in a press release after the incident.

The Xi'an H-6 is China's strategic bomber, originating as a license-built Tupolev Tu-16 in the late '50s.

UPDATE: Here's a story from the Beeb on the incident.

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Automotif DXXV...

This '72 Triumph GT6 is an example of the last of the breed. On its third iteration at that point, the Spitfire-based hardtop coupe had Triumph's 1,996cc inline six in place of the original's four cylinder motor. (This is what necessitated the rather prominent power bulge in the center of the hood.)

Triumph developed the GT6 for the street following the success of the aero fastback tops that were applied to Spitfires racing at LeMans in 1965, where they came in 13th overall and first in class.

With a claimed output around a hundred horsepower, the UK domestic models would do 0-60 in about ten seconds on their way to a 112mph top speed. Alas, the 1972 U.S.-market cars had lower compression and a single Stromberg carb in place of the dual SUs, so horsepower was only about 70 SAE net and performance was proportionately stunted.

The photos of this Saffron Yellow 1972 model were taken with an Olympus E-M1X and Panasonic 12-60mm f/2.8-4 lens.

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Car Blog

So, I've put up a blog for just car stuff. Going forward I can cross-post the Automotif pieces there, plus I have an enormous back-catalog of them on this blog that I can port over there and populate it fairly quickly. Hopefully I can diversify my freelance writing career and get some automotive and photography writing in just to see my byline in a few other places before the entire written word industry drowns in a sludge of AI-generated gobbledegook.

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Blog Stuff

I'm debating whether to peel the car content out of here entirely or just cross-post it at a new blog as well as here.

The Automotif posts are fun for me and, well, there are over five hundred of them at this point...

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Automotif DXXIV...

I've shot this '86-'88 S4 Mazda RX-7 Turbo II before, but it's an attractive enough subject that I can't help snapping it it it's parked out on the curb.

Interestingly, those appear to be S5 taillights from an '89-'92 S5 RX-7. I suppose I can't say much, since my '94 SN95 Mustang GT has taillights from a '96-'98 Mustang.

These photos were shot with the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV & EF 24-105mm f/4L IS lens.

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Tab Clearing...

• Being a social media clout goblin is a fraught choice for a career path.


• Home vet tips for the prepper cat owner.


• 94 year-old man finds and restores his dad's car.

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AttackBot

A robotic scout dog that cops can use to knock the various "Internet of Things" devices in your house offline in preparation for a SWAT raid sounds like something out of a Terminator sequel, but here we are.

“NEO can enter a potentially dangerous environment to provide video and audio feedback to the officers before entry and allow them to communicate with those in that environment,” Huffman said, according to the transcript. “NEO carries an onboard computer and antenna array that will allow officers the ability to create a ‘denial-of-service’ (DDoS) event to disable ‘Internet of Things’ devices that could potentially cause harm while entry is made.”

DDoS attacks are a type of cyber attack where a website, server, or network is overloaded with traffic until it is knocked offline. Huffman did not provide any specifics about how a DDoS attack like this would work. But he said DHS wanted to develop this capability after a 2021 incident in which a man suspected of child sexual abuse crimes in Florida used his doorbell camera to see that he was being raided by the FBI and began shooting at them, killing two FBI agents and injuring three others.

At FLETC they even have a training house set up with various web-enabled devices like crib monitors and "nanny cams" so the Feds can practice working in that environment for entries, which makes sense, I guess. Wonder if they have a practice claymore roomba?

The DDoS scoutbot dog is based on this model:

The next 2,000 round test.

The latest offering from Staccato, the Staccato C... (with a brief digression to note that there was a previous, now discontinued, model with the same designation) ...is kind of a big deal for the company. 

In some ways it's a longer-barreled version of the existing Staccato CS and shares magazines with it, and the magazines are the big deal part. Earlier double-stack Staccatos were using magazines whose geometry was inherited from the days when 2011-pattern pistols were expected to run with rounds like 10mm Auto and .45ACP. Because they had to accommodate wider, straight-walled cartridges, that made functioning with the smaller-diameter, tapered 9x19mm trickier.

The new magazine bodies are designed entirely around functioning with 9mm, and are said to make a big difference.

Well, we've got a test pistol and 2,500 rounds of ammo to run through it here, and we're fixing to find out. Look for updates at this blog and a feature length wrap-up in an upcoming issue of Shooting Illustrated.

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Unicorn Sighting

Here's a thing you don't see every day: A genuine, honest-to-Rollie Vincent Black Shadow just tooling down your street.

These things were legends. The mystique surrounding them means that, depending on the particular year model or variation, prices can easily exceed a hundred grand for a nice one... and that one sure looks nice.

That dude has got to have a regular Garage-Mahal of glorious scooters.

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Argh.

Oh, gawd, NBC has some pasture pool tourney in Scotland on this morning, which probably means that half of my usual Sunday morning yelling at senators entertainment is going to be preempted.

Hopefully ABC isn't covering croquet championships or anything. At least I'll have Stephanopolopolopolous.

"If it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press... unless we're preempting it for golf, or motor racing, or the Brightinghamshire Stoats are playing the Twarfton-by-Blight Tea Cozies in the English Premier League."

55 years ago today...

This was The Onion's finest hour.

Meme Dump...

Oh, puh-leeze...

"Vance’s memo and intensive scrutiny of President Biden’s ambassador nominees reflects his view that cultural elitism has infected America’s diplomatic corps and needs to be rooted out through extraordinary vetting efforts, said U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door meetings."

Listening to a multimillionaire Yale lawyer venture capitalist rant about “elites” is surreal. It’s like water denouncing wetness.

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