Now They're Coming After California's Tires

The Looney Left Report

Nanny government is alive and well in Commiefornia.

There isn't too much left for state regulators to target. Now they're coming after your vehicle's tires. The new regulations will eventually ban 70% of tires currently sold in the state.

KRCA News 3 reported:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California regulators on Monday approved new rules that will restrict what tires you can buy when it's time to replace them on your car.

In a unanimous vote, the California Energy Commission voted to adopt new rules that will phase out the sale of replacement tires that don't meet certain energy efficiency standards.

"This ultimately is about protecting consumers," said David Hochschild, the chairman of the California Energy Commission. "I see this as sheltering the public from higher costs in the long run."

Tire manufacturers and the commission's staff are at odds over whether this will add to the cost of living in the state. Both sides acknowledged this will no longer allow the sale of a significant portion of the tires currently sold in California.

At the center of this is a tire's rolling resistance, or how much energy a tire uses as it rolls down the road. Lower resistance means a vehicle uses less gas or electricity. New cars come with generally efficient tires, but consumers typically replace those with higher rolling resistance tires.

To read more, go here. 

"Godzilla vs. Kong" Actress Kaylee Hottle Killed In Car Accident

Sad and shocking news in the world of Godzilla hit this morning.

Actress Kaylee Hottle was killed this morning due to injuries sustained in an automobile accident in Maryland.

According to TMZ:

Kaylee Hottle was riding in a 1995 Honda Accord when the driver veered off a Maryland road and slammed into a roadside ditch early Tuesday ... with excessive speed believed to be a factor ... TMZ has learned.

Authorities in Maryland say Kaylee -- the "Godzilla vs. Kong" actress -- was rushed to a trauma center, where she was later pronounced dead.

She was 18.

She played the deaf Skull Island native girl Jia who communicated with Kong by sign language in "Godzilla vs. Kong" and its follow-up. 

Condolences go out to her family and friends.

To read more, go here.

Russell's Car Museum

After entering New Mexico from Texas on Interstate 40, there is a TA Truckstop in Logan, New Mexico.

It has to be once of the nicest truck stops I've ever seen.

Inside, there is a car museum, Russell's Car Museum. It is a free museum loaded with cars of various vintages (mainly 1950s) long with memorabilia (toys, etc.). 

I took a couple of snapshots inside:

Above, some 1950s-era automobiles. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, this looks like a brother Clamper I know. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

For more on the museum, go here.

Road Trips Every Mustang Owner Should Take

Above, the 1989 Mustang in the front yard. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Yahoo! Life has posted a list of road trips that every Mustang owner should take.

Of the road trips listed, on can say that I took the Route 66 road trip. It is not difficult for me to do as I have often taken my 1989 Mustang on Historic Route 66 between Gallup and Grants, New Mexico. The "Mother Road" is a short two miles from home. 

I have driven other road trips listed, but in my motorhome. 

They begin with:

There's something about sliding behind the wheel of a Mustang that makes every parking lot exit feel like the start of an adventure. Maybe it's that V8 growl promising good times ahead, or maybe it's just that these cars were born to eat up miles. Either way, if you've got a pony car and an itch to travel, America's got some roads that'll scratch it perfectly.

Sure, you could take any car on these trips, but where's the fun in that? A Mustang on the open road is like bacon on a burger: technically optional, but why wouldn't you want it to be even better? Whether you have a classic Foxbody or a new model bursting with horsepower, here are some of the best trips across the United States that are just better with a Mustang.

To read more, go here. 

Who Owns Jeep?

Above, my 1952 Willys Jeep M38A1 in Six Mile Canyon. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

This morning, I was perusing around the Internet on what news, if any, has surfaced concerning Jeep.

I stumbled on an article posted by TopSpeed with the title, "Who Owns Jeep?" Curious, I took a look and found it interesting.

It begins with:

Answering the question of who owns the Jeep brand should be pretty straightforward, and in a way, it is: Stellantis is the current owner. However, who Stellantis is and how Jeep came under the auto group's umbrella is a complex tale with more twists and turns than an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Well, one of his good movies, anyway. Jeep vehicles have always been popular, but for whatever reason, the brand has been sold over and over again, with 10 different companies owning it.

Starting out as a humble general-purpose military vehicle during WWII, the Jeep really hasn't changed that much from a design perspective. A 2024 Jeep Wrangler is not radically different from a 1945 Willys-Overland CJ, and that's because the utilitarian design is both exceptionally cool and timeless. The Jeep brand branched out into other segments with SUVs, crossovers, and trucks, but the CJ/Wrangler is the star that has carried the automaker for over 80 years.

In its journey from soldier to 4x4 superstar, the Jeep has shared the road with the AMC Pacer, Dodge Viper, Mercedes-Benz SL500, Fiat 500, and Maserati MC20. Since the history of Jeep ownership is a bit like a thriller, this story has some darkness as well. Every company that has acquired the Jeep brand eventually faced financial difficulties, leading some to speculate about the "Jeep Curse." The reality is, Jeep keeps changing hands because it is a dynamite brand that is often copied, but never equaled.

To read the full article, go here. 

Billy the Kid Museum Part Three

This morning, I walked over to the Billy the Kid Museum (only a block away) to see what they had inside.

While Billy the Kid was the focus of the museum, they had other things to see along with antique furnitures, appliances, cars, guns, buggies, carts and many other things. They had a replica of Billy's grave. At least the headstones were a lot more readable than the real ones.

The museum was surprisingly big

Since I took many pictures, I will divide them up in multiple posts.

Cash Game Win

It looks like I am a winner of $3,000 from this promo game from a Kia dealer.

 

I will give them a call tomorrow. Hopefully, it isn't a scam.

Ford Celebrates The Mustang's 60th Anniversary

Above, the 1989 Mustang LX in the garage with my other "toys". Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Ford Mustang is celebrating its 60th anniversary. 

The Mustang is one of those rare cars that one can still immediately identify it. Cars nowadays all look like each other as if they came from the same cookie cutter. I can look at a vintage photo of 1950s cars and can tell which is a Ford, a Buick, an Oldsmobile, a Chevrolet and so on. Those were the days when cars had style.

I still drive my late dad's 1989 Mustang LX on a Fox chassis. It was his last car and I really don't see the need to spend $24k and up for a new car. It is a 4-cylinder with a manual 5-speed transmission. It loves the open highway.

KABC-AM's "Motorman" Leon Kaplan has advocated that if one has an older car that runs and looks good, why spend money on cars that cost hundreds of dollars just to diagnose a problem with all their computers and other gizmos. 

I have been approached twice in the last month by people asking me if I want to sell the Mustang,

Fox Business has an article on the 60th anniversary of the Mustang. They go through the evolution of body styles of Mustangs over the years.

They begin it with:

Ford Motor Co. celebrated the Mustang's 60th anniversary on Wednesday with the pony car now in its seventh generation, having become an icon of the American auto industry.

The Ford Mustang debuted April 17, 1964, at the New York World's Fair and has carved out a unique legacy in the decades since its launch, even as its features have changed over time.

"Mustang has stylistically and performance-wise been a vehicle that appealed to the masses — anybody who wants a cool-looking car that goes fast, Mustang is there for you," Ford Heritage Brand Manager Ted Ryan told FOX Business.

They refer to the Fox body (or platform) Mustangs (1979-1993) as the third generation. 

To read the article, go here.

1951 Ford Coupe

Above, the 1951 Ford Coupe model we had, but not quite as gussied up.

Some cars one's parents owned while one is a kid stand out more than others for varying reasons.

One such car was a 1951 Ford Coupe that my parents had around 1962-1965.

It was like the model (same color) above, only it wasn't customized like this one.

One weekend around 1962, we were going to 29 Palms, California to visit my grandmother. We were either on U.S. 101 or had already transitioned to what is now Interstate 10 in East Los Angeles (we had left the downtown L.A. area) when the car's engine blew a rod. This happened near California State University, Los Angeles.

Above, looking west on U.S. 101 towards downtown in
1950. Our car blew a rod about 2-4 miles east of this point.

What seemed like eternity, we were on the side of the freeway waiting to be towed off. Finally, we were towed to a friend of my dad's home in South-Central Los Angeles. We were there until my grandfather picked us up.

My dad's plan was go replace the engine with a rebuilt one from work. At the time, he worked for Engine Rebuilding Corporation on McKinley Avenue and 55th Street in Los Angeles. He was able to get an engine from them relatively cheap (employee discounts do come in handy). Once he got the engine, he and friends installed it into the Ford. 

My dad worked at Engine Rebuilding until 1976 when he sustained a back injury. He was on temporary disability for awhile. Once healed, he went to work at Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo, only a mile from home. He worked there until he retired. Engine Rebuilding Corp. went out-of-business in 1977, I found. That's likely why he didn't go back. 

We had the car until around 1965 when he gave it to my uncle. My uncle later totaled the car not too long afterwards. 

Congress May Make Automakers Keep AM Radio

Ever since Rush Limbaugh passed away on February 17, 2021, I have not listened to anything on AM radio. Despite that, if I were to buy a new car, I would not want a radio in it that doesn't include the AM band.

AM radio is a vital source for news, weather reports and emergencies. 

But some automakers are dropping the AM band on new EV and some fossil fuel vehicles. This is prompting a, surprisingly, bipartisan response in congress.

From NOLA.com:

WASHINGTON – Reception was scratchy until the AM knob was tuned precisely, but for truckers all over the country in the 1970s and 1980s, WWL’s Charlie Douglas kept them company throughout the night from New Orleans.

The soundtrack for workers on oil rigs off Louisiana’s shore came out of KLEB in Golden Meadow.

Terrestrial radio communication based on "amplitude modulation" was the first national media and came into wide use at the same time as the light bulb. As technology improved, AM evolved to become the primary player of rock and roll, country music and the blues in the 1950s and 1960s.

The latest evolution towards internet streaming and satellite technology poses a fatal risk to AM, and broadcasters are looking for a congressional solution.

Some makers of electric vehicles have stopped including AM radio. A bunch of other manufacturers plan to remove in-dash AM access, even in fossil fuel cars.

WWL and other radio stations around the nation are asking listeners to “take two minutes” to inform Congress of their support for AM radio. Broadcasters this month are on Capitol Hill lobbying for the “AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2023,” or S.1169, which would require installation of AM broadcast radio in cars without cost to the consumer.

Even in a fractured Congress, the bill by Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, has found common ground among usual ideological foes from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

To read more, go here. 

Japan To Ban Sales of New Gasoline Cars By Mid-2030s

Above, commuters near Harajuku Station in Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It appears that environmentalist wackos have taken over the Japanese government.

They announced that they want to ban sales of new gasoline automobiles by the mid-2030s. 

Japan Today reported:

TOKYO - Japan wants to ban sales of new gasoline cars in around 15 years' time as part of efforts to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, reports said Thursday.

The new policy could be announced as soon as next week, building on an existing push to promote electric and hybrid vehicles, the Mainichi Shimbun said without citing sources.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in October set a 2050 deadline for Japan to become carbon-neutral, prompting big companies to draft plans on how to curb their CO2 emissions.

The move has been welcomed by activists and the U.N., but Japan is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels and the government has not yet laid out details of how it will achieve this.

Sounds lovely, but alternative fueled cars are very expensive and where will they get the power for people to recharge their vehicles? Since Japan has limited space in their cities, where would people refuel their vehicles? Does anyone have the patience to sit and wait 3 to 12 hours for their car to be recharged? Where would they dump old lithium or hydrogen batteries?

The devil is in the details, of course.

They must've been listening to the wackos in California before coming up with this.

To read more, go here.

California Gov. Newsom Executive Order Bans Gas, Diesel Cars By 2035

Here's a great example of why Democrats should not be elected.

From Fox News:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Monday that aims to ban the sale of new internal combustion engine cars in the state by 2035.

The order directs the California Air Resources Board to develop a phase-out plan that would require 100 percent zero-emissions personal use and dryage vehicles by 2035 and as many medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicle applications deemed feasible by 2045.

“Pull away from the gas pumps,” Newsom said. “Let us no longer be victims of geopolitical dictators that manipulate global supply chains and global markets.”

California is both the largest new car market in the U.S., with 1.8 million vehicle sales in 2019, and also accounts for the most electric car purchases of any state.

Newsom makes Jerry Brown look like a right-wing reactionary. 2035 is only 15 years away, folks! 

I am sure glad that I moved out of Commiefornia!

To read more, go here.