Retro Thing

Stirling Engines: A Way to Save The Auto Industry?

A technology well over a century old may soon revolutionize transportation. Robert Stirling's novel engine was an attempt to make steam technology safe. By repeatedly heating and cooling gas inside a sealed chamber, he was able to avoid the nasty explosions and scaldings that were the bane of steam engine technology.

While quite popular in the 19th Century, Stirlings were no match for the practical electric motors that appeared a few decades later. The technology languished as a laboratory curiosity for decades - the little $379.95 desktop Stirling engine above is a typical modern example.

However, Stirling technology might get a new lease on life thanks to Segway inventor Dean Kamen, who recently announced a prototype Stirling hybrid electric car. His development mule is built on the chassis of a Ford Think, a tiny 2-seat electric car that ceased production in 2000. The little car is driven by a lithium battery and can travel around 60 miles on a charge.

The futuristic Stirling engine is tucked into a compartment on the floor of the hatchback for easy access. It  can recharge the battery when needed and also powers the heater and window defroster directly. It's an approach that makes a lot of sense.

It remains to be seen how efficient Kaman's Stirling engine is in the real world, but it holds significant promise, especially since the Stirling engine has the ability to run on multiple fuels. Essentially, any liquid with sufficient energy density can serve as fuel.

Sadly, Kaman doesn't expect Detroit's Big Three to adopt his technology. "I think what Darwin really was saying was: It's not the fittest, not the smartest, not the strongest; it's the ones that can adapt to change. And big industries that have long histories, particularly successful long histories, and a lot of ingrained infrastructure become the least adaptable to change. And when a disruptive opportunity comes along, they are the last that are capable of dealing with it," he mused recently.

The Desktop Stirling Engine
Dean Kamen: part man, part machine
DEKA Research, Kamen's think-tank

VW Designs That Just Won't Die

A zillion years after its 1950 introduction, the iconic VW hippie van is still rolling off the production line in Brazil. Known there as the Kombi, it features a rear-mounted 1.4L water-cooled "Total Flex" engine which replaced the original air-cooled design in 2006. The modern multi-fuel engine produces 78 hp when running on gasoline and a whopping 80hp when sipping ethanol. Alas, the new black plastic radiator grill makes it look like it's wearing the automotive equivalent of a fake beard.

Not to be outdone, VW South Africa continues to build an updated version of the Golf Mark 1 hatchback, with prices starting at a shockingly reasonable R74,400.00 ($7500). Sold as the Citi, it's built using tooling rescued from a plant in Pennsylvania, USA which ceased production in 1984.

VW Brazil: Kombi Standard 1.4
VW South Africa: Citi Product Pages

Toyota RV-2 Mini RV

The Toyota RV-2 prototype was unveiled at the 1972 Tokyo Motor Show. This bizarre 4-person camperwagon concept car was built around a Corona Mark II chassis and drivetrain. It seems that Toyota was attempting to capitalize on the popularity of the VW camper bus, but with a vehicle small enough to fit in a standard garage and practical enough to serve as everyday transport.

The rear clamshell roof pops open to reveal a tent-sized sleeping area, although I suspect the canvas top and side panels would be like sleeping under a $20 fabric tent equipped with a kick-ass 8-track stereo sound system. Alas, there was little interest from distributors or the public and the quirky design faded into the mists of time.

Of course, the biggest problem with this thing is that there's no way any sane parent would lend one to their teenage offspring for the evening....

Featured in Popular Science, July 1973 [via Modern Mechanix]

80's Car Alarm Fakeout: Could It Still Work Today?

There are two kinds of security; the physical and the psychological. Physical are devices like locks and bolts. Psychological is posting a “Beware of Leopard” sign when there is, in fact, no leopard handy.

I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but the Studio Spec 'Disguise' Car Alarm model # ARM123 is pure psych out. The box mounts on your car (where?) with the totally inadequate included double sided tape. Press three of the keys at the same time to start a little red LED flashing. Press them again to turn it off.  Not very much to it at all, really.

To finish off the illusion, the package also includes a pair of hexagonal octagonal silver stickers. They don't say “alarm” or “stop” or anything; they're just silver. The manufacturer bears the impressive name Alliance Research Corporation, so I guess at AR labs determined that some silver stickers and a flashing red LED are enough to - according to the package - “scare off potential burglars”. 

While this product has the complexity of a Radio Shack children's kit, it might actually work as a deterrent. Perhaps a car thief upon seeing the blinking light might skip over your car instead of taking a chance that you have an actual alarm that's less cheesy than the toy keypad? Hopefully no thieves that read Retro Thing know where I live and know that I drive a blue '91 Corolla now equipped with a blinking red light & a keypad. Whoops.

1968: AMC's Amazing Amitron Electric Car

Keith Chapman writes, "Electric cars are a subject of increasing interest lately. But, of course, they aren't all that new - work was going on long ago to try to get a modern electric car into consumers' hands.

Way back in 1968, the long-defunct American Motors company showed an interesting prototype called the Amitron. Besides being, in my ever-humble opinion, one of the cooler-looking electric prototypes I have seen, it also had some interesting claims and features.

A dual-battery arrangement, with nickel-cadmium and lithium-nickel-fluoride batteries, made possible a claimed range of 150 miles (241 km) per charge, with a top speed of 50 mph (80 kph). This with a total battery weight of only 200 pounds (91 kg) which is pretty light for an electric car. Regenerative braking was also part of the deal. The small battery pack just in front of the car in the second picture is the whole thing, and was claimed to have the capacity of the entire wall of lead-acid batteries visible in back (behind the 60's chick in miniskirt and go-go boots).

The car, small as it was, could seat three across - and if you didn't need all three seats, you could deflate 'em to provide some luggage space! The car was apparently well-received when shown to the public, but nothing further ever resulted; the price of the rather exotic batteries probably being one of the major reasons. Still - sorta makes you wonder what this thing called 'progress' is, doesn't it?"

1950s Cars For The 21st Century

You have the chance of a lifetime to experience a fleet of classic GM concept cars at the Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance on Saturday August 16, 2008. Nearly all were featured in one of eight GM Motorama shows between 1949 and 1961, which showcased a stunning array of mouth-watering automobiles to feed America's post-war appetite for mobility.

The 1953 GM Motorama marked the first time that show cars were presented to the public, including the futuristic fiberglass Chevrolet Corvette. Amazingly, GM ordered the destruction of many of these pre-production vehicles after their exhibition. A company executive was required to witness them getting cut and crushed, although I suspect they were none to excited at the thought of demolishing these gems.

Several were eventually discovered in a Detroit junkyard by auto enthusiast Joe Bortz, who restored them to their former glory. The Bortz collection will be exhibited alongside nearly a dozen dream cars preserved by GM.

All that's needed to bring some of them up to date is a touch of carbon fiber trim, an iPod dock and an eco-friendly engine that runs on hominy grits.

Ten Things You Should Know About the Model T

As part of our celebration of the Ford Centennial Model T Party in Richmond, Indiana, here are ten things you might not know about this classic:

1.  Although Henry Ford is famously quoted as saying "You can have any color you want, as long as it is black," the 1908 Model T touring car was painted red and the roadster was pearl grey.

2.  Black became the only paint color in 1914, following the introduction of Ford's moving production line. Not only did a single color simplify the manufacturing process, black paint was also the fastest drying. Ford historian Robert Kreipke explains that this made quite a difference, "With numerous coats applied, the bodies could be finished in one-tenth the time." Color returned in 1926 with the addition of maroon and green on certain models.

3.  Only 308 Model T's were produced in 1908. The Model T's top production year was 1923 with 2,011,125 cars manufactured worldwide. That year, the Ford Motor Company made a profit of roughly $37 on each car sold.

Build a Pixellated VW Beetle

The VW Beetle's iconic silhouette presented a serious design challenge for LEGO. However, the Beetle is the classic car most requested by LEGO fans, so designer Steen Sig Andersen took three weeks to craft his interpretation of its rounded profile from angular LEGO blocks.

Andersen explains, "When you scale things down, it’s more difficult to achieve that rounded look when you’re working with squares and cubes. So a few square edges are inevitable." The square edges initially caused concern at VW's head office in Wolfsberg, although the Germans eventually grew to love LEGO's daring reinterpretation of the iconic 1960 'Charlotte' model.

The 16" (41cm) long two-tone blue model offers a stunning level of detail, including opening doors, hood and trunk, a spare tire in the front and reproduction air-cooled engine in the back. The 1,626 piece kit is recommended for patient adults and retails for $119.99. Follow the jump for more pix.

LEGO Volkswagen Beetle [via my son's latest LEGO catalog]

Ford Model T: A New Museum For An Old Friend

Time has a way of clouding history, and many of us have never experienced the Ford Model T firsthand or fully grasped its place in automotive history. To help us remember, the Model T Museum in Centerville, Indiana opened its doors in September 2007 – just in time to celebrate its 100th anniversary this year. The Model T was the Ford Motor Company's only product in 1908. While some questioned the wisdom of building an automotive company around a single machine, history proved Henry Ford right. Over fifteen million Model Ts were produced over the next couple of decades, cementing it as the vehicle that brought mobility to the masses.

Jay Klehfoth is the gregarious CEO of the Model T Ford Club of America. He and his wife Barbara are the driving forces behind the new museum and the massive Centennial 'Model T-Party' this week at the nearby Wayne County Fairgrounds in Richmond. He jokes that “Model Ts are like Fritos; you can't just eat one.” He knew he wanted one as a seven-year-old, and got his wish at the tender age of 13. The car was an olive green 1927 coupe that he admits “needed a little help.” It became a faithful companion, accompanying him to school in the early 1960s while his schoolmates dreamed of more modern wheels. Jay still owns that first car today, along with two of others. “I'll always own it,” he pronounces solemnly. Not to be left out of the fun, his wife Barbara owns a Model T as well.

Ford Model T Celebrates 100 Years, And We're There!

The first Model T rolled out of Ford's Piquette Plant in Dearborn, Michigan almost a full century ago. To celebrate the Tin Lizzie's 100th anniversary, the Model T Ford Club of America is holding a massive Centennial 'Model T-Party' this week in Richmond, Indiana. Close to 1,000 Model T's will be on hand for the festivities. Bohus and I will be there too, so expect frequent updates.

The Model T stood apart as the first affordable mass-produced car with interchangeable parts. However, what truly revolutionized the industry was Ford's moving assembly line, introduced in 1913. The Model T was equipped with a 20-horsepower, four-cylinder engine with a top speed of around 40-45 miles per hour, weighed 1,200 pounds, and achieved 13 to 21 miles per gallon.

The iconic car remained in production for 19 years, selling over 15 million units. Mass production allowed Ford to reduce the 1908 asking price of $825 to a mere $260 by 1925. In fact, by 1921 the Model T accounted for almost 57% of worldwide automobile production. In some ways, the Model T was the iPod of the early 20th century; it wasn't the first commercially produced automobile, but it became the dominant player in a young and fast-paced industry.

Read more about the Model T Ford Centennial T-Party

Vintage Freeway Photos

One day in 1989, Andrew Bush came up with the brilliant notion of attaching a camera to the passenger-side door of his car to snap photos of his fellow travelers enjoying the Los Angeles freeway system. He kept doing it until 1997, stopping either because his faithful chariot gave up the ghost or because the ominous flash pissed off the wrong guy piloting a rusty old El Camino.

There's something bittersweet about the American love affair with cars. It's an ephemeral relationship, destined to falter after only a few years when your former love is cast aside in favor of a rust-free high octane sexpot with air conditioning, power windows and a full complement of dent-free hubcaps. I'd hazard a guess that only a handful of the 66 vehicles featured in this collection have managed to steer clear of the great crusher in the sky, and that's probably for the best.

Vector Portraits: Andrew Bush Photography [via Treehugger] 

Is the Fiat 500 Coming to North America?

[This is an update to a post that first ran in early 2007.]

Autonet recently reported that Fiat is looking for a manufacturing partner to bring their diminutive and successful reissue of the Fiat 500 to North America. "I'd like to bring it out as fast as I can. We are examining ways and means to manufacture the cars in the United States," Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne remarked last Friday. "I don't want to bring it over made. I want to manufacture in [North America]."

Given the relative weakness of the US dollar against the Euro it makes a great deal of sense to build a new plant here to avoid higher European labor costs and the expense of intercontinental shipping. So far, the cleverly redesigned 500 has sold more than 250,000 units, proving that its success is more than simple nostalgia.

Fiat introduced the new Fiat 500 (the "Cinquecento") on July 4th, 2007, exactly 50 years since they debuted the original Nuova Fiat 500 in 1957. The old 500 had more than its share of quirks: It was powered by a minuscule rear-mounted 479 cc 2-cylinder engine that whipped up an equally minuscule 13 BHP. It featured a pair of reverse-opening "Suicide Doors" and offered a canvas top that rolled back the full length of the roof. A total of six models were produced until 1975, and at only about 3 meters in length the 500 was perhaps the prototypical City Car.

The new 500's resemblance to the original is only skin-deep. For one thing, it's based on the second-generation Fiat Panda platform and comes equipped with a range of 4-cylinder engines (how often does one get to tout that as a feature?) including a 75hp 1.3L turbo diesel and a pair of gasoline motors that offer either 69hp or 100hp of fun. You can select either a 5 or 6 speed manual gearbox... there is no automatic option [update: there is an optional Dualogic semi automatic clutchless transmission]. Like the original, the modern version is tiny: only about 3.5 meters long.

Fiat is by no means the first European company to introduce an updated version of a popular classic: VW did it with the New Beetle, BMW is enjoying success with their slot-car inspired Mini sports car, and nearly everything introduced by Porsche these days seems to hearken back to their original designs.

I suspect Fiat will do well with the new 500, partly because of its reasonable price (starting around €10,000 - approximately $13,500) and partly because its quirky and clever modern design evokes the original 500's cult status and appeal. I want two: one for each foot.

"500 Wants You" Introductory Video [seems to take a while to load]
Fiat 500 History at Gizmo Highway Auto Guide
Vintage 500s for sale in the UK

Street Legal Bumper Cars

Retro Thing reader Jack Szwergold recently sent us a link to photos of what appeared to be street legal bumper cars. After a bit of sleuthing, we tracked them down to San Diego. It turns out that they are indeed built around vintage bumper car bodies, although with a custom frame, leather interior and motorcycle engine. There are at least eight of these little beasties on the road, all owned by the same family.

Lusse Auto Scooters in St. George, Utah reports that they've sold several vintage Auto Scooter bumper cars "to this really cool guy in San Diego. He had the knack to retrofit these with 750cc Kawasaki motors and make them street legal."

The tiny vehicles began to attract serious attention in mid 2006. After numerous queries from readers, the San Diego Weekly Reader revealed, "The whole thing started a few decades ago, when the Long Beach Pike amusement park closed. A car collector bought one of the park's bumper cars, planning to renovate it into a conversation piece for his family room. That idea went the way of most expensive, elaborate, guy-type brainstorms. The car just sat in his collection, collecting dust. But along comes our particular North County tinkerer. The bumper car reminded him of his growing-up days on the ride at the Pike. He spent many happy hours bashing into friends and strangers there, maybe in that exact car! Of course, there's no use fighting nostalgia. He takes the bumper car off the collector's hands, intending to turn it into a conversation piece for his family room.

Here's where we separate the ordinary thinkers from the visionaries. The collector was just a collector; but the tinkerer was a true car nut and decided the bumper car had to be reworked into a self-powered fun ride for the grandkids. Fifty thousand dollars later, he had his car and the kids had the coolest grandpa on the block. It was so much fun he made seven more from cars originally used at amusement parks in Petaluma, Coney Island, Atlanta, Detroit, Germany, and Austria. They're powered by Yamaha and Kawasaki engines; the original Harleys shook the cars too badly and had to be replaced."

MR38's Street Legal Bumper Cars on flickr

RetroSound - Elegant Modern Stereos For Vintage Cars

The $299 RetroSound Model One neatly solves the problem of adding modern digital sound to your classic vehicle. It includes an Infinimount system that allows you to space the control knobs as required to fit virtually any console. The distinguished-looking front panel is removable and features a mini USB jack and analog aux input for connecting an mp3 player or streaming music directly from a portable thumb drive.

The Model One also includes an integrated AM/FM tuner with 30 presets, 4 x 60W amplification and RCA pre-amp outputs if you'd like to pump out Dark Side of the Moon at slightly more earth shattering levels. There's even a trunk mountable 10 CD changer for old timers who haven't yet joined the iPod revolution.

RetroSound offers dozens of different faceplates to ease installation into most vintage vehicles from the 1940s to the present, including such classics as the 1967-1968 Camaro/Firebird, 1970-1978 Datsun 280Z and even the 1976-1987 Chevy Chevette (oh, the humanity!)

Retrosound Model One AM/FM Radio system

Metro Mania: Fuel Economy Trumps Common Sense

Weird things have been happening across North America as fuel prices hit all-time highs. Suddenly, small cars are cool. Basic vehicles that wouldn't have received a second glance five years ago are now attracting interest like never before.

A case in point: The little 3-cylinder Geo Metro, also sold as the Suzuki Swift. This popular econobox was produced from 1989-2001. In addition to a low sticker price, it squeezed as much as 49 mpg from its 1.0L power plant. In fact, one variant -- the lighweight XFi -- featured a detuned engine capable of sucking well over 50 miles from a single gallon of regular unleaded on the highway.

It hasn't taken long for modern opportunists to realize that the Geo Metro is an ugly duckling capable of providing almost the same fuel efficiency as a sleek new $25,000 hybrid. Prices have spiked as these elderly vehicles trade hands on the basis of their remarkable (by American standards) fuel efficiency.

These subcompacts - which sold for less than $10,000 new - are now fetching as much as $7,000 on eBay. Most have lived tough lives, driven by teenagers and low income drivers. That means they might not have received top-notch maintenance and are nearing two decades on the road. Unless you're an experienced back yard mechanic, you'll find yourself forking out a small fortune to keep an old Geo roadworthy and fuel efficient. You should also keep in mind that modern vehicles are designed to be more crashworthy, and the Geo didn't excel in crash tests when new, earning a less than stellar rating from the NHTSA in the early 1990s.

As with most other crazes, the sudden interest in elderly subcompacts should be taken with a grain of salt. There are numerous  modern vehicles such as the Toyota Echo/Yaris, Hyundai Accent and Chevy Aveo that get almost the same mileage. However, used examples of these miserly vehicles tend to sell at a premium these days, so your best bet might be to hang on to your rapidly depreciating SUV and drive it sparingly.

I suspect GM is paying careful attention to the sudden interest in the Metro XFi. Perhaps the recent flurry of attention will be enough to encourage them to introduce a lightweight variant of their Korean-made Aveo/Wave with a high efficiency small displacement engine in the near future. Maybe even a diesel.

1989 Geo Metro Gets 75 mpg
Gas prices drive Geos from clunkers to chic [CNN]