Tab Clearing...

• Chris Arnade walks the Faroe Islands.


• The Throwing Madonna.


• A Rape in Cyberspace.

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Meme Dump...

Celebrities are supposed to be role models, right?

Sean "Diddy" Combs knows the score: A dry carbine is a malfunction-prone carbine...

There are two kinds of people: Those who were horrified by this article, and those who were horrified by this article but wish with every fiber of their being that they could have sent this screen shot to Uncle Pat.

(Note for the humorless: By all accounts this guy is a real dirtbag, one of those sorts of dude who uses clout and success as tools to victimize women for his personal jollies, and they're apparently still writing books to throw at him... but any gun nerd chuckled at the plain text of that headline.)

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Automotif DXLVI...

1983 was a big year for Ford's Mustang for several reasons. 

It received its first big styling refresh since the Fox body Third Generation pony car had debuted in 1979. In addition to revised taillights and other trim and interior details, the snout was revised, with a slimmer grille and better aero, giving a claimed ~2% reduction in drag.

Not content to cede the droptop renaissance to GM and Chrysler, the convertible Mustang returned after a decade-long hiatus. Ford performed the roof-ectomy in-house, rather than farming the work out to ASC. Initially only offered on the Mustang GLX, it was joined mid-year by a ragtop GT. Despite their high price premium over a hardtop 'Stang, convertible sales wildly exceeded the manufacturer's expectations. (GT hatchbacks started at $9,300 while base price for a GT convertible was $13,479, or the equivalent of $42,600 in 2024 dollars.)

Finally, the GT version saw big performance gains. The 302 Windsor V-8 under the hood saw the previous year's 2-barrel carb replaced by a genuine Holley 4-barrel, while the exhaust system was reworked for better flow, including a more efficient catalytic converter. As a bonus, the previous 4-speed overdrive manual, with its awkward, widely-spaced gear ratios, was replaced by a 5-speed Borg Warner T5.

The results were impressive, with an 11.5% horsepower bump over the previous year (157 to 175 SAE net). Car & Driver tested an '83 hardtop GT and recorded a zero to sixty time of 7.0 seconds and a 15.4 quarter at 90 mph. The 5.0L H.O. pushed that new aero snout through the air all the way to 125 miles per hour, too. The Medium Charcoal GT convertible in the picture would have been a few ticks more sluggish due to the added weight of the stiffening added to keep the chassis flex to a tolerable minimum.

It was a pretty clear statement from Ford that the Malaise Era was done in Dearborn.

The one in the photo was captured in July of 2022 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark III and an EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS zoom lens.

Meme Dump...

Automotif DXLV...

The two big automotive buzzwords in '73 were "economy" and "safety". Since 1966 a host of mandatory improvements in automotive safety and security had been mandated in the United States. Mandatory seatbelts (lap belts in '66, supplemented by mandatory shoulder harnesses for front seat passengers in '68), padded dashes, collapsible steering columns, side marker lights, headrests, and other modern features all became the norm during this era. 

There were also rules introduced to reduce burgeoning insurance costs from crash damage and theft. Steering columns that locked when the car was turned off and the elimination of exterior hood releases cut down on theft, while bumpers that could withstand a 5mph impact were mandated. At the same time, clean air standards were imposed, and the disorienting effects of the '73 Oil Embargo made fuel economy a priority.

Into this environment Malcolm Bricklin introduced a new sports car: The SV-1. A nod to the times, the name stood for "Safety Vehicle", but that was an odd choice of moniker. While the massive bumpers... the front one made it look like a flounder getting its mouth washed out with soap ...were claimed to keep the vehicle from experiencing any structural damage at impacts up to 12mph, there weren't any notable improvements in protection for the occupants.

It wan't much in tune with the fuel economy vibe of the times, either. While the project had originally started with the intent to produce a simple, lightweight car powered by an Opel 4-cylinder, the final result was the 1974 SV-1, powered by an American Motors-sourced 360 cubic inch V-8.

The structure was of a laminate of color-impregnated acrylic resin over fiberglass for the body panels, all bolted to a steel rolling chassis, similar to the later Pontiac Fiero. Like the Fiero, it was not particularly svelte for its size, worsened by the lump of a V-8 and AMC-rebranded Torqueflite 727 automatic transmission or four-speed Borg-Warner T10.

For 1975, the engine and transmission were replaced with a Ford 351 Windsor V-8 and FMX 3-speed automatic transmission, with no manual option. (Bricklin defended this by saying that manual gearboxes didn't promote safety, which was also the claimed reason for the lack of a cigarette lighter or ashtrays.)

The 351 smog motor, with its 2-barrel carb and 8.0:1 compression ratio, wheezed out only 175 SAE net horsepower, so it had its work cut out for it hauling 3,560 pounds of plastic and steel. Car & Driver eked out an 8.6 second zero-to-sixty run with their test car and managed a 16.6 second quarter mile at 84 mph through the traps. Maximum recorded top speed was 118 mph. Observed fuel economy was 12-15 miles per gallon, which made one glad for the 21 gallon tank, no doubt.

Adding insult to injury, MSRP for 1975 had ballooned to $9,780 ($57,225 in 2024 money), almost fifteen hundred bucks more than a comparably-equipped Corvette.

"Ah," you say, "But the Corvette doesn't have those nifty gullwing doors!"

No, no it does not. The Bricklin's doors were power operated, each with their own hydraulic ram originally designed to operate a convertible top. Raising them in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot no doubt would draw a crowd of gawkers.

Both door rams were driven by a single pump and, while both doors could be raised and lowered at the same time, there was no interlock to keep you and your passenger from trying to raise one door while lowering the other. If you did that, you'd brick the pump, and be trapped in the car until you pulled the pivot pin out of the ram where it connects to the door and then try and do an overhead press with the 90-pound door while slithering out of the car and not dropping the door on yourself while doing so. You'd also have to do that CrossFit exercise if the car lost battery power while you were in it.

The interior exhibited the not quite ready for prime time vibe that plagues extremely low production volume cars, especially from startups. Combine all the downchecks with slews of problems at the factory in Saint John, New Brunswick, and it's not a surprise that Bricklin production ceased with the 1976 model year.

This one was photographed in Enfield, New Hampshire in June of 2022 using a Canon EOS 5Ds and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS.

(Cross-Posted at Cars Gone By.)

Miscellaneous Linkery...

• "I'm not saying they were right or anything, but their tanks sure were cool..."


• Don't poke the author. It's rude.


• Resilient Wheat


• 1969 Camaro RS/Z28

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Whupped.

Spent a week in Akron doing work with 4" schedule 40 PVC pipe in an office building at night after the employees had gone home, and then drove the four and a half hours home yesterday and I am just absolutely whupped. I'll probably be hearing sawzalls cutting pipe and drills coring concrete in my head for days.

It was good to get home to Bobbi and the cats and my own bed, though.

Today's gonna be a rest & recuperation day while I catch up on some promised writing.

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Automotif DXLIV...

Triumph's Spitfire was launched in the early Sixties as a competitor for the Austin-Healey Sprite. Like the Sprite, it was a teeny little thing. Unlike the Sprite, it was a little more plush, with features that made it more suitable as a daily driver.

It was what the British call a "drophead coupe", rather than a true roadster, meaning it had a permanently-attached folding convertible top. Rather than detachable side curtains, it had actual roll-up windows. And it had an actual trunk (or "boot"), which the first generation of Sprites had lacked.

Originally equipped with the 1,147cc four from the Triumph Herald, the motor in the Spitfire swole up until the the final variant's 1,493cc.

The U.S. version of the 91 cubic inch motor had a 7.5:1 compression ratio and sipped gas through a single Zenith Stromberg carb. Horsepower was rated at 53 SAE net, and that meant that performance was...modest. Road & Track clocked a zero-to-sixty run of 15.4 seconds and a 94 mph top speed.

If I'm not mistaken, the grotesque 5 mph front bumper and slim rear bumper tag this Leyland White Triumph Spitfire 1500 as a 1973 model. It was photographed in September of 2016 with a Nikon Coolpix P7000.