Bluebird

PDX Electric Avenue

November 7, 2011, 4:39 pm

In Portland, Ore., Being an E.V. Pioneer Brings Unforeseen Challenges

By KEN BELSON

Don Ryan/Associated PressVisitors at the dedication of Electric Avenue on Aug. 16.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Sightings of the Nissan Leaf are a regular occurrence here on streets and freeways. Residents are retrofitting their older cars to run purely on electricity. D.C. fast chargers are being installed. And in August, a block on the campus of Portland State University became Electric Avenue.

Nearly three months on, the academics, city officials and company executives who built and are monitoring the Electric Avenue project, consisting of a one-way street with six chargers and parking exclusively for electric vehicles, have started to tally the many challenges to promoting electric transportation.

At E.V. Roadmap 4: Getting to a Million, a two-day workshop on electric vehicles held here last week, a five-person panel outlined issues large and small.

Charlie Allcock, the director of economic development at Portland General Electric, the utility that helped build Electric Avenue, said that more direct lighting was needed to ensure that users could see the plug ports on their cars when recharging. The designers, he said, did not factor in that people would be plugging in at night and in the rain and fog.

They also did not expect the chargers to be easy targets for graffiti artists or the pigeons that perched along a sky bridge that paralleled the street. After the chargers became dirty, the board realized that it had not assigned a specific person to look after them. A worker in the parking lot across the street has since been deputized with keeping them clean.

“It was so obvious, we missed it,” said George Beard, who helped spearhead the Electric Avenue project and organized last week’s conference, which was attended by government and industry officials from Georgia, Indiana and Colorado, among other states. “No one had operational responsibility for this, so we had to keep an eye on it.”

Mr. Allcock added that while there was a widely acknowledged industry standard for electric chargers, each company interpreted it differently. Each charging unit, for example, had a different interface, so drivers had to learn how to use them all. The chargers also synched with the vehicles in different ways and, when the units were in sleep mode, had different ways of rebooting.

Rani Boyle, a planner in the Planning, Sustainability and Real Estate division at the university, said that the charger manufacturers were asked not to put any advertisements on their machines or issue any member cards to consumers.

“In essence, we were asking them to make the machines dumber than the companies wanted,” she said. “It didn’t fit all the business models out there.”

Katya Dillman, a transportation policy adviser for Portland’s mayor, Sam Adams, said that the city was starting to track parking violations by type to determine whether and how often drivers of gasoline-powered cars parked illegally in spots reserved for electric vehicles.

Mr. Allcock of Portland General Electric raised another issue: how to notify drivers that the chargers were there. The utility is trying to determine where to place signs on Interstate 5 and other major roads to guide drivers to Electric Avenue. The project’s chargers also do not yet register on many GPS systems.

“Once you install them, you have to figure out how to get them up,” he said.

Our 23-year old volvo is back in style

White passes silver as most popular car color

 

Associated Press October 5, 2011 01:00 PM Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

(10-05) 13:00 PDT DETROIT, (AP) --

White has passed silver as the world's most popular car color, according to an annual survey by paint maker PPG Industries.

Silver spent a decade on top before this year. But PPG says 21 percent of vehicles built in the 2011 model year were white. Black and silver tied for second at 20 percent each.

White was the top color in North America. Black was first in Europe and silver was the most popular in Asia.

PPG Industries Inc. is also offering colors for future cars.

Those colors include Pot O' Gold, a light green with a hint of gold; White Nougat, a creamy, sparkly white; and Grape Spritz, a blue fused with purple.

PPG forecasts color trends based on fashion, interior design and other factors.

Collecting cars and buses

October 4, 2011, 6:00 am

In Massachusetts, a Hoarder With Discriminating Tastes

By RICHARD S. CHANG

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times1981 HMV Freeway, nesting in one of Mr. Gould’s two warehouses.

For last weekend’s Auto Ego article, Charles Gould, a lawyer in Newton, Mass., gave me a tour of his collection of more than 100 cars, trucks and motorcycles.

I first learned about Mr. Gould because of his microcars. He has dozens, many of them rare, including a Messerschmitt Tiger that he says is one of about 300 remaining in existence. But when I visited Mr. Gould last month, I noticed that his collection was far more than just a gathering of microcars.

There was an Amphicar, a Chrysler Imperial and a Jaguar E-Type. There was an Argosy motor home that he and his family took to Lime Rock Park in Connecticut each year for the Historic Festival over Labor Day weekend.

To say Mr. Gould’s collection is diverse would be an understatement akin to calling a Goggomobil a small car.

A Goggomobil is a microcar, a fraction the size of a Volkswagen Beetle.

 

I also realized that Mr. Gould didn’t so much collect cars as rescue them.

“I love to take something that had been stuck in a barn for 30 years and breathe life back into it,” he said. “It’s just a wonderful feeling to save something.”

He has a “long story” (his words) for practically every one of his acquisitions. There was the Messerschmitt Tiger that Mr. Gould had waited 12 years to acquire. “I drive it a lot,” he said. “It’s a great car. It’s very fast and it’s very fun.”

There was the Goggomobil Buckle Dart, a rare car built in Australia, that he shipped to the United States in a container with six other cars and several motorcycles. There was the Auto Union coupe that he bought and sold and then tracked down and repurchased.

But my favorite story was one whose ending was still undetermined.

On the drive back to his house, Mr. Gould pointed out a fire truck parked just off the road. The truck was sitting under a tree, and its red paint was faded.

“It’s been there for 12 years,” he said.

The truck used to appear in local parades, he continued, but it had not budged in years. He has seen the paint on the truck fade from bright red to a decidedly more neutral shade.

“And it’s a convertible truck,” he noted. “That means all the rain gets inside.” Which leads to easy rust.

Many of Mr. Gould’s stories begin in a similar way. Most of them end with him towing a derelict home. He said that he’d like to cut down on buying cars — he is already short on warehouse space — but admitted that he couldn’t bear to see them rust into oblivion. He once purchased a 1948 Flxible Clipper bus because it was languishing in a field.

“And I need a bus like I need a hole in my head,” he said.

Click here for a slide show of Mr. Gould’s collection.

Cuba Car Culture

September 29, 2011, 11:41 am Wheelies: The Cuba (Slightly More) Libre Edition

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

José Goitia/Associated PressVintage American cars in Old Havana.

In which we bring you motoring news from around the Web:

• On Wednesday, the Cuban government enacted a law, initially announced in April, that would free citizens to buy and sell cars of any make, model or year of manufacture on Cuban soil. Previously, car sales were restricted to vehicles produced in or before 1959, the year in which revolutionaries toppled the government of Fulgencio Batista. The import of newer vehicles remains restricted and subject to approval by the government. The new law takes effect on Saturday. (Associated Press)

But couldn't mountain lions jump on the Jeep?

Go Off Road, Sleep Up Top

Dan Neil/The Wall Street Journal

The Jeep Xplore Wrangler has a tent penthouse.

A few years ago I drove from Bolivia to Tierra del Fuego in a stock Land Rover, a trip that involved a fair amount of futzing around with a backpacking tent and sleeping on the inhospitable ground. At a ferry crossing near the Carrera Austral I met two retired British army officers who were circumnavigating South America in a Land Rover Defender 110. This thing was the hot set-up: a camp stove integrated into the tailgate, a small foldout sink, a galley that pulled out on sliders and, best of all, a roof-mounted tent. After a long night of feasting and partying near Colhaique, Chile, these two simply unfolded the tent, climbed up the ladder and fell asleep, leaving me to unravel the mysteries of shock poles in the dark.

Make the mountains yours in an Xplore Adventure Series Jeep Wrangler, specially kitted out with features including a roof-mounted tent. According to Dan Neil on Lunch Break, hungry big cats won't stand a chance.

Keep your surreys with the fringe on top. I wanted an off-roader with a tent penthouse.

And now, as possibly the only soul in the 87,000-acre Henry W. Coe State Park (about 25 miles southeast of San Jose, Calif.), I'm glad I have one. Because, well, I'm not really alone. There are mountain lions out here. And I am unusually tasty, if I do say so myself.

Meet the Xplore Adventure Series 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, a turnkey stump-jumper put together by Venchurs Inc., which is described in the press kit as a "Michigan-based parts distribution and fulfillment company." Apparently Venchurs is branching out from the exciting world of logistics, and who could blame it? For a price Venchurs will put more gung-ho in your new Jeep Wrangler, Grand Cherokee or Toyota FJ Cruiser. Ordered and delivered through new-car dealerships, Xplore vehicles come in three levels of intrepidity, called "stages." The vehicle I'm currently roosting above is a Stage 3, with a long list of rock-crawling equipment, including: bumpers and rock rails from ARB, the Australian specialty company; a Warn Winch; a Mopar 2.5-inch lift kit with Bilstein shocks; and 35-inch BF Goodrich KM2 off-road tires wrapped around some killer black-anodized Method wheels.

Photos: 'Camping Bliss'

View Slideshow

Dan Neil/The Wall Street Journal

Dan Neil tries the Jeep Xplore Wrangler, an off-roader with a tent penthouse.

 

And an ARB-brand tent. A wonderful, comfortable, high-above-mountain-lion-level tent.

This is not, I should say, a vehicle for hardest-core off-road enthusiasts, an independent, DIY crowd for whom much of the joy and camaraderie of backcountry driving is the months and years of ordering parts out of aftermarket catalogs, bolting them on and obsessing about the minutiae of air-locking differentials. It's also not unusual for enthusiasts to stuff a hunk of motor—something in the 5.7-liter Hemi V8 range, may I suggest?—under the latching hood for even more wall-climbing torque. The grittiest trail hoppers will actually put welders on their vehicles for in-field repairs and rack-mounted Jerry cans of fuel and water for those extended trips, postapocalypse.

I seriously doubt our Xplore Wrangler's set of fancy motorized power steps, which fold out when you open the door, would survive a trip up the Rubicon Trail.

Xplore Adventure Series 2011 Jeep Wrangler

Enlarge Image

Close

Dan Neil/The Wall Street Journal

• Powertrain: 3.8-liter overhead valve V6; four-speed automatic transmission; two-speed transfer case; part-time four-wheel drive.
• Horsepower/torque: 202 hp at 5,200 rpm/237 pound-feet at 4,000 rpm
• Length/weight: 173.4 inches/4,300 pounds (est.)
• Wheelbase: 116.0 inches
• EPA fuel economy: 15/19 mpg, city/highway
• Cargo capacity: 46.4 cubic feet (behind second-row seats)

With its embroidered floor mats and suede seats, the Xplore Wrangler (about $60,000) is aimed more at the well-heeled dilettante in a hurry, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. The world is full of interesting things to do and too little time to do them. After all, no one insists you build your own sailboat to be a real sailor. And the fact is, you could spend months kitting out a Wrangler and not do as good a job as Venchurs has done. You wouldn't get the utterly cool matte-green paint job, either.

The Xplore Wrangler certainly feels authentic on the highway, with quadraphonic tire roar blasting from the BFGs' deep treads and a serious lack of top speed, thanks to the vehicle's aerodynamics. Indeed, the roof-mounted tent has approximately the same effect on highway speed as dragging a grand piano. For 2012 Jeep has replaced its hoary 3.8-liter overhead valve V6 with a 3.6-liter, 285-horsepower V6 (up 83 hp) as well as a five-speed automatic transmission, replacing the outdated four-speed auto box. The extra ponies and gear ratio will be welcome.

But once I wheel the truck onto Coe State Park's seemingly endless dirt roads, the Xplore Wrangler finds its footing. As off-roaders know, even a bone-stock Jeep Wrangler will go up, through and over just about anything you're likely to encounter and leave prissy Euro trucks like the Porsche Cayenne for dead on the trail. This thing has some 4x4 chops, for sure.

The roof-mounted tent takes some getting used to. Getting the heavy vinyl covering off the tent is itself a bit of a chore. The aluminum ladder, by which one levers the tent from the folded position, tends to bind up (this thing is brand new). If I didn't have a Leatherman tool with me to pry the ladder's latches apart I would never get tent stowed again. I would also note that the thick foam rubber mattress tends to get wedged between the tent's floor panels so that, while folding it back up, I have to shove the mattress in up to my elbow. I have visions of cutting my trapped arm off with the aforementioned Leatherman, "127 Hours" style. Here, kitty, kitty.

And then, camping bliss. I pull the Jeep onto a high, grass-amber hill just as sunset begins to purple the park's ridgelines. The tent deploys more cooperatively the second time, and within a minute or so I have set up camp. With my feet hanging out of the tent and reconstituted beef stew in my cup, I watch the stars come out. The coyotes yelp and the mountain lions, if they're out there, stalk off, disappointed.

A bit of thanks

Mongol Rally: End of the road is the start of something good

By Leon Logothetis Special to the Los Angeles Times

September 5, 2011, 2:00 p.m.

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

--Theodore Roosevelt

 

In those moments when things happen—really bad things—we have a choice: Do we feel sorry for ourselves? Or do we grab the opportunity to reflect and grow?

I wish I could say I was immediately in that latter category, but I spent some time in the former.

Earlier this summer, I set a daring goal: I would embark on a 10,000-mile road trip from London (England)" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/intl/england/london-%28england%29-PLGEO100100602011280.topic">Britain to Mongolia" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/intl/mongolia-PLGEO00000146.topic">Mongolia, across desert and hostile territory in a tiny car on a quest for adventure.

Steven Priovolos, my friend and cameraman, and I would face danger and drama in our Mongol Rally quest, along with more than 400 other teams, to reach our goal, but we never dreamed ours would end in near-disaster.

On Day 8,  we were to drive  625 miles from Budapest, Hungary, to the capital of Moldova, Chisinau (Moldova)" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/intl/moldova/chisinau-%28moldova%29-PLGEO100100602011421.topic">Chisinau, on the next leg of the rally.  After 12 hours on the road, we found ourselves in the leafy Romanian town of Campulung Moldovenesc.

I was fully invested in finishing the rally. Completing an improbable goal. Feeling proud of an achievement.

As dusk approached, a black Volvo 4X4 veered toward us from a side street. The driver was going the wrong way down the one-way street and blew onto the main road--and into us.

Our little Nissan Micra didn’t stand a chance.

The Romanian driver shattered my dreams. Or did he?

I emerged from this crash intact  (a small fracture of my collarbone notwithstanding).

I emerged from this crash with my future still very much in my own hands.

I emerged from this crash.

My goal of reaching Mongolia was thwarted, but I am now asking myself what lessons I’ve learned from this whole escapade--lessons that can shape a life. Here's what I know now:

--I am not immortal. I know this sounds obvious, but until one is within inches of death, it’s tough to realize because denial is so comforting.

--Sometimes trying is enough. I wanted to march into Ulan Bator, head held high, after having conquered a third of the Earth’s surface. Instead I found myself in a Romanian hospital bed 8,000 miles shy of my goal.  I finally realized that the simple act of attempting this crazy journey was sufficient and that my ego needed to be stripped of its megalomania.

--I am grateful I got to play at all. And I’m delighted I found my way back home in one piece.

Life will always bring up nasty little surprises. When we find our way out of our comfort zones, these surprises can be greater and more ferocious. It shouldn't stop us from living fully or exploring. It shouldn't stop us from the joys of traveling the world.

What it should do is remind us that with all great adventures in life comes risk. The magic lies in finding the balance between that risk and living fully.

Releasing the bees

The Morgan 3-Wheeler

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

MALVERN LINK, England

“NOT everything good has to be an iPod or iPad,” said Charles Morgan, the dashing chairman of the Morgan Motor Company. “Brand new ideas are wonderful when they happen, but sometimes there’s good in older ones, too.”

With that, he slipped into one of his company’s diminutive new 3-Wheelers — an attractive re-imagining of the successful 3-wheel cars that put the family business on the road a century ago — and sped off.

To be sure, Morgan has for some time earned its keep in finding the good in older ideas. Still occupying the same site on Pickersleigh Road in this Worcestershire village where Mr. Morgan’s grandfather, H. F. S. Morgan, and great-grandfather, the Rev. H. G. Morgan, built a factory in 1918, the company has long been known for its resistance to modern methods of mass production.

Morgan builds sports cars the old-fashioned way, with hand-formed aluminum panels, wooden body frames assembled on site and, on 4-wheel models, sliding pillar front suspensions whose conception (and brutal ride quality) can be traced to the dawn of the last century, if not earlier.

Unheard-of in car factories today, visitors seem free to wander the laid-back premises of “the Morgan’s,” where rows of brick and mortar sheds with blue wooden barn doors have welcomed as many as a half-dozen generations of families who have come to work here.

There is much new afoot under Charles Morgan, a former documentary filmmaker and only the company’s third chairman — he took the reins shortly before the death of his father, Peter, in 2003. Yet today’s most recognizable model, the 4/4, has a lineage and name dating to 1936.

Of note here, one of the “4s” in the 4/4 model designation referred to that car’s four wheels, the other signifying its number of cylinders. That was big news at the time for a company that had grown up building tiny 3-wheel roadsters with exposed engines, typically 2-cylinder designs shared with contemporary motorcycles, situated proudly at the extreme front of their chassis.

The two front wheels handled steering duties and the single one at the rear transmitted power to the ground. The formula had its advantages: these Morgans were licensed as motorcycles under British law, incurring lower taxes than automobiles.

In the 21st century, that motorcycle designation still advances the cause of automotive eclecticism, subjecting the new Morgan 3-Wheeler to the less stringent emissions and safety standards of 2-wheel vehicles.

Licensing the driver of a 3-wheel vehicle is not as straightforward, varying greatly from state to state. In California, for instance, all that’s needed to pilot a 3-Wheeler is a car license. Most everywhere else a motorcycle license is required, and to further complicate matters, some states require that the driving test be taken on a 2-wheeler in order to get a license to drive a 3-wheel vehicle.

Morgan says the 3-Wheeler, designed by Matthew Humphries and one of the star attractions of the Geneva auto show in February, will be available for sale in America by Christmas. At current exchange rates, the price is about $43,000.

Morgan dealers in the United States are now taking deposits, typically about $5,000, on these built-to-order playthings, increasing the chances that the company will meet its target of selling 200 3-Wheelers annually for some years to come. The first 3-Wheelers are just being delivered to customers in Europe, and more than a year’s worth of orders have already been taken.

Unlike 3-wheelers built with a single wheel in front — a design that exhibits a worrisome inclination to roll over when pushed hard in corners — Morgan’s “two up front” formula made the original version a stable machine and a tenacious competitor in racing. No surprise, then, that road-holding and performance are two qualities the re-imagined 3-Wheeler — Morgan’s first since 1946 — brings forward in spades.

While the front end’s pair of skinny 19-inch wire wheels, shod with Avon bias-ply tires, visually recall 3-wheelers of the past, a single low-profile car-type radial tire mounted on a modern alloy rim sits hidden beneath a removable rear panel.

Multimedia

Slide Show

Three-Wheeled Wonder

 

 

Related

• Sorting Through the Mystique of the Morgan (September 4, 2011)

A 2-cylinder motorcycle engine — with a whopping 1,990cc displacement — churns out 120 horsepower. Fed through a slick-shifting 5-speed transmission (it also has reverse) borrowed from the Mazda Miata, power is transmitted to a rubber belt that drives the rear wheel. With a weight of about 1,100 pounds and a cuteness that is at least the equal of any iPod or similar device, it is hard not to be intrigued by the 3-Wheeler’s possibilities.

Adding new dimension to the meaning of “snug,” the boat-tail cockpit is a tasteful exercise in spartan retro design, handsomely trimmed in leather (available in custom colors, as is the rest of the car) with an aeronautical feel to its dials and controls. Though the three-spoke steering wheel can be quickly removed to aid entry by larger and less pliable citizens, I did not need to remove it.

Still, there was no mistaking the 3-Wheeler for an ordinary car.

Press the starter button (it’s protected by a safety catch) and the fuel-injected V-twin roars to life. The aviation ambiance is intensified by a barely muffled drone from the side-mounted exhaust pipes, sounding a bit like the World War II Spitfire fighters in old films warming up for their combat missions.

The car rocks, its cycle fenders shake and voices must be raised. Then it dawns on you: what the bellowing power plant really recalls is every Harley-Davidson that ever disturbed the peace as it passed by.

Strongly resembling Harley’s classic V-twin, the 3-Wheeler’s X-Wedge engine is a proprietary unit designed and built by S & S Cycle, a Viola, Wis., company with a long standing as a supplier to Harley tuners and the aftermarket. Certified for sale in all 50 states, the new Morgan may upset the neighbors but it ought not confound local mechanics.

Get comfortable — more of a psychological procedure than a practical one, as there’s nothing to adjust beyond a single rearview mirror — and let out the clutch. Stand on the gas. It sounds and feels as if you’ve just released a large hive of bees.

As the V-twin buzz becomes a scream and you rocket forward — 60 miles per hour comes in 4.5 seconds — you are transported to another era. Wind whistles around you as the scenery blurs; pebbles, insects and road debris are transformed into serious hazards. With only a tiny pair of windscreens for protection, goggles, earplugs and soft helmets are a reasonable precaution.

Even so equipped, noise is profound in a way that no Ferrari road car could ever be, and will undoubtedly prove wearing on longer drives, even for the hardiest motorists. Headphone jacks are provided so the driver and passenger can plug in and carry on a conversation or listen to an MP3 player. There is no radio.

On the other hand, the ride is surprisingly good, especially for a Morgan. Unlike the 4/4 and Plus 8 models of the past, the modern 3-Wheeler has an independent front suspension that soaks up bumps, potholes and pavement irregularities. The steering is nimble and, aided by the 3-Wheeler’s almost absurdly compact dimensions, the driver soon feels as if dodging any obstacle is possible.

While the Morgan still uses wooden supports behind some of its aluminum body panels, the main structure is a substantial tubular steel cage that provides a measure of protection for two — and there can only be two — occupants. Otherwise, besides a pair of three-point seat belts and a couple of rollover hoops, modern safety equipment is nonexistent. No air bags, antilock brakes or traction controls.

In terms of safety, it is exactly as advertised: somewhere between a car and a motorcycle. And it won’t tip over, not easily at least.

Wheels and tires that vary in size and construction from front to back turn out to work well together, with no discernible deficit in corners owing to the lack of a fourth wheel. Fat and sticky though the rear tire may be, it soon becomes apparent that spinning it is possible in any of the lower gears. Easy enough to compensate for, it nonetheless heightens the driving sensation.

It may be missing a wheel, but this throwback Morgan is one fast machine.

A top speed of 125 miles per hour, according to Morgan, may not be in the same league as most cars that accelerate as quickly. But frankly, for something with only the most rudimentary of windscreens and no top, it’s not as though you’d really want to go any faster.

As everyday transport, only lunatics need apply. But the Morgan 3-Wheeler looks great, it goes great and it is undeniably special. A good idea or not, this curious step back in time is an old one that’s as amusing to a driving enthusiast as anything Apple ever dreamed up.

Sleek speedster

August 19, 2011, 4:58 pm

Ford Unveils the Original ‘Edsel’ at Pebble Beach

By JERRY GARRETT

Edsel Ford’s restored Model 40 Special Speedster, based on a 1934 Ford roaster.

MONTEREY, Calif. — A memento from Ford Motor Company history, Edsel Ford’s personal Model 40 Special Speedster, was unveiled Thursday at the Lodge at Pebble Beach after undergoing a three-year process to refurbish it to its original state.

Edsel Ford II, a grandson of his namesake, introduced the completed car here. Work on the vehicle was conducted by RM Auto Restoration.

“My grandfather was an early believer that everyday objects, including automobiles, could be seen as works of art,” Mr. Ford said. “While he wasn’t a designer in the traditional sense, his eye for styling and influence was apparent as he initiated and built the design department at Ford Motor Company.”

Based on a 1934 Ford roadster, the car was fashioned by E.T. Gregorie, the company’s head stylist at the time, according to specifications first laid out by Edsel Ford, the son of Henry Ford, in 1932. He asked Gregorie to design and supervise the construction of a personal sports car similar to ones he’d seen “on the continent.”

Following Edsel Ford’s death in 1943, the car was sold and changed hands several times until it sold for a paltry $603 in 1958. In 2008, the car, considerably altered from its original condition, was sold by RM Auctions for $1.76 million. The new owner died in 2010, and the car was bequeathed to the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich. Restoration was approved after that, with the intention of putting the car back in the condition as it appeared in 1940.

After the Pebble Beach weekend, during which it will be on display courtesy of Lincoln, the speedster will be returned to the Ford House.

For all parents of young drivers (and older too!)

August 8, 2011, 7:56 pm

 App Smart Extra: An App Aimed to Curb Distracted Driving

By BOB TEDESCHI

My recent App Smart column briefly mentioned a new Android and BlackBerry app, PhoneGuard, which disables a phone’s texting functions whenever it detects the user moving more than 10 miles per hour.

As in, driving.

I tested out the app this week and if I had kids who were prone to texting while driving, I would immediately load it onto their phone.

It works simply enough. An administrator (namely, a parent), loads the app onto the phone, and sets a password. The app, which is always on, pings GPS satellites every few seconds, and if it determines that the phone is in a moving vehicle, it renders the phone almost useless.

If you try to open the text messaging app—or any other app, for that matter—while driving, a “No Texting Vehicle” message covers the screen. (You can answer the phone, but you can’t dial out.)

If your kids are riding in the car with a friend and they want to text or use other apps, they must contact the administrator, who can temporarily disable the app remotely.

Too many people are wedded to the idea of texting while driving, so some will naturally look for a workaround. More resourceful teens will delete the app, and reinstall it when they get home, so parents believe they’ve been complying with the app’s restrictions. As far as I can tell, only close parental vigilance—over the child’s Android Market activity, specifically—will prevent this sort of thing from happening.

Some users have complained about the app’s tendency to drain the phone’s battery, since PhoneGuard constantly pings GPS satellites to establish the user’s speed. I ran into similar issues. After seven hours of use with only PhoneGuard running, the battery on my Droid2 dropped from 100 percent to zero.

A car charger would alleviate the problem, and administrators can also help by disabling the app remotely during hours when they know their child is at school, or home.

The fact that PhoneGuard is free is a huge breakthrough for the category. Since the dangers of driving-while-texting became more public, app developers have sought to capitalize on the issue, by selling apps similar to PhoneGuard, and then charging a monthly service to use the app.

Through a partnership with the Remember Alex Brown Foundation (created by parents of a driving-while-texting victim), PhoneGuard has found a way to offer this potentially lifesaving technology for free.

Lebowitz on wheels

New Yorker With Flair Extols Another: Her Checker Cab

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Fran Lebowitz, the suit-jacketed, chain-smoking writer and actor, extols her 1979 Checker Marathon as a car with flair.

The heyday of the New York City taxicab, experts say, was when the Checker roamed the earth. An outsize creature, American-made and Hollywood-approved, the Checker was a taxi as big as the city it served: garish, romantic, entertainingly oversized.

So when the Taxi and Limousine Commission recently revealed its taxicab of the future, the agency promised a car that could recapture some of that old Checker bliss. On a promotional Web site, the city noted that the “writer Fran Lebowitz, who once owned a Checker, has declared it a quintessential New York artifact.”

There were a few problems with this approach. The first was that the new taxi, a squat, suburban-style minivan made by Nissan, possesses few of the Checker’s memorable qualities. The second is that, in fact, Fran Lebowitz still owns a Checker.

Ms. Lebowitz, something of a quintessential New Yorker herself, was driving it the other day in the West Village, dressed in her trademark tailored suit-jacket and jeans and chain-smoking a pack of Marlboro Lights.

Driving, she said, makes her nervous. “I just assume that every other car on the road, the person is crazy, and drunk, and has a gun,” she said, easing into traffic on the Bowery. The Checker prompted a few appreciative honks. “It’s not impossible that if you’re in the car with me for 15 minutes, someone is going to offer to buy it,” she said to a reporter, who had tagged along. “A man offered to trade me a new Mercedes for it in my last garage.”

Ms. Lebowitz bought her Checker, a pale gray 1979 Marathon, for $9,000 in 1978 with the better part of a book advance. “This was the first thing I bought, which shows how impractical I am,” she said, tossing a cigarette onto West Houston Street. “Everyone tried to dissuade me from buying it.”

She wanted a Bentley or a Rolls-Royce, which she could not afford. This was the most desirable alternative: “They also made a limousine, which was $1,000 more, and which I had to be talked out of buying, because there’s no car too big, too flashy, for Fran.”

The appeal was purely visual, she said. “It has a kind of, like, ‘car’ look, like a child’s cartoon of a car,” she said, taking a gingerly turn onto Bleecker Street. “I knew Roy Lichtenstein — you know, the painter? — and he loved these cars, because he thought it was like such a cartoon-looking car. Once I pulled up somewhere where he was, and he said, ‘You expect a family of ducks to come out of the back of this car.’ It has a very graphic silhouette.”

“The new one has nothing to do with why people like Checkers,” she added. “The reason people like Checkers is not only because they are very roomy, etc., but because Checkers have flair. O.K.? Flair has nothing to do with technology. It’s a visual thing.”

A reporter asked about the Checker’s roomy backseat. Ms. Lebowitz, at a red light, turned around. “Look at that!” she said, throwing up her hand. “It’s a studio apartment! I’m not kidding. I could sell it probably for $200,000. You could park it wherever you want.”

The car has long served as a whimsical complement to Ms. Lebowitz’s acid wit, an asset she has parlayed into a three-decade career that has included television appearances (a recurring role as a judge on “Law & Order”), speaking engagements and books, including her first, “Metropolitan Life,” published in 1978.

Before then, as a young émigré in the West Village from New Jersey, Ms. Lebowitz occasionally drove a cab, usually a Dodge of some sort, for spending money. “I was happy every night not to be robbed, murdered,” she said. “Very frequently, people would try to tip me in joints. I mean, very frequently. They would put a joint in my hand, I would give it back. I would say: ‘Let me explain something to you! I cannot walk into a delicatessen and order a roast beef sandwich and give them this.’ ”

The new Nissan taxi has been hailed by the city for its various interior gadgets, like electrical chargers and reading lights. “There’s a microwave oven in the back or whatever?” Ms. Lebowitz asked, unimpressed. “I’m certain I wouldn’t know how to use it, or care.”

One feature is a floor light that will help nighttime passengers find a lost purse. “What kind of moron would put their bag on the floor of a cab? Anyone who does that deserves to lose it,” Ms. Lebowitz said. “What New Yorker would let their bag out of their clutches? I have all the habits of someone who lived here in the ’70s, you know? Which is that, if I have a pencil, I have a death grip on it.”

A reporter wondered if the taxi commission had conferred with her in the design process.

“Nobody ever calls me in for input,” Ms. Lebowitz said. “This is why I’m always complaining.”

She rarely takes cabs today, preferring the subway or a long walk. “I’m sure it isn’t true, but it does seem like every cabdriver is insane,” she said. “They drive too fast. I’m always, like, bargaining with them to slow down. And sometimes they refuse, as if, for instance — oh, I don’t know — they were the customer. ‘No no, I can’t go slow, I can’t go slow.’ So I feel frequently imperiled.”

Her Marathon, which Ms. Lebowitz has painstakingly restored over the years, can occasionally be a burden: along with paying usurious parking garage fees, she has replaced the gas tank and exterior chrome. “I’m the most original part of the car,” she said.

It does not, however, contain jump seats, one of the most beloved features of the old Checker cabs. They came as an option at $100 each. “I didn’t get them, because I never wanted anyone to be able to say, ‘Fran could take 9!’ ” she said.

There are fewer than 1,000 Checkers still driven in the country, said John Weinhoeft, secretary of the Checker Car Club of America, a club to which Ms. Lebowitz does not belong. Mr. Weinhoeft estimated that about 25 of them are still being driven in New York City.

Ms. Lebowitz rarely drives hers, mostly using it for weekend trips out of town. She is fearful that it will be scratched or vandalized. But the Checker, even without the signature black-and-yellow trim, is a crowd-pleaser. Ms. Lebowitz has gotten more recognition lately because of “Public Speaking,” a Martin Scorsese documentary about her that was recently released on DVD. Driving in the Village, her Checker seemed to prompt a friendly, amused response at every street corner.

“You see, as you drive around with me, how many people love the car,” she said, nodding at a smiling passer-by. “You see that it’s every kind of person. It’s a very universally beloved design. Everybody loves the car. If they made the new cab look better, people would like it. Why don’t they just copy it? They copy everything else. Why don’t they make the Checker?”