Tailgate? More Like,Tailgone
Guess which part of your old truck is now a hotter commodity than the airbags in late models? Oh, guess we sorta gave it away already. Detroit News is reporting that the Los Angeles Police Department has already had more than three dozen reported tailgate thefts this year, and they are an easy grab because they don't have locks-or serial numbers, which make them hard to ID as a stolen part.
 Jay Leno's EcoJet Here's...  Jay Leno's EcoJet
Here's what happens when the mind wanders over to jets and Formula 1. It's GM's EcoJet two-seat supercar with a Honeywell LT-101 turbine engine that feasts on biodiesel. The mid-engine car makes 650 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque. A modified... |  ...Corvette Z06 aluminum frame...  ...Corvette Z06 aluminum frame and a carbon fiber/Kevlar shell form the structure. It's 184 inches long, 79.4 inches wide, 46.5 inches tall, and was built by General Motors Advanced Design Studio with inspiration from Jay Leno. Sorry, kids, it's only a concept vehicle. |  VW and M-B Diesel Pricing...  VW and M-B Diesel Pricing
The new-for-'07 Volkswagen Touareg with the 310hp, 553 lb-ft, V-10 TDI engine will start at $67,750 (we know, seriously-start at?). Meanwhile, the Mercedes-Benz diesels-the common-rail ML320, R320, and BlueTec E320-will be priced at $44,455, $44,775, and $52,325, respectively. |
Yahoo! Goes Diesel
You know Yahoo! for its mail. You probably even know it for its maps (especially when you've gone 22 miles out of your way-and are lost). But now you can also know it for going the alternative fuel route. Yahoo! Autos has kicked off the Green Center (www.autos.yahoo.com /green_center), which will dig deep into the world of biodiesel as well as E85, hybrids, compressed natural gas, and all the rest. In addition to info and environmental-friendliness ratings, there will be listings of state and federal incentive programs, discussion groups, and news.
To show just how serious they are about this venture, Yahoo! Autos and Orange County Rod-N-Custom are partnering up to go after a land-speed record in a custom grease-fueled truck. The El Mirage-bound ride has a 3,500hp twin-turbo Detroit Diesel 6V92 six-cylinder engine. We'll give you the scoop in the next issue about the truck and how it did.
Grease And Homer
The 16th Annual Environmental Media Awards have been given out-but not to The Simpsons. All right, technically it got a nomination for best television episodic comedy, but it lost to...well, it didn't win, so who cares? The competition recognizes television shows or movies with an environmental message; the nomination was for an episode called "The Bonfire of the Manatees," but it got us thinking back to how groundbreaking Homer and Bart were when it came to their grease business back in season 10's "Lard of the Dance." They were trend-spotters, recognizing the in-demand commodity grease would one day be, with Homer even wanting Bart to quit school to focus on the grease biz full-time. So we pay tribute with this look back:
*Homer:Okay, boy. This is where all the hard work, sacrifice, and painful scaldings pay off.
*Rendering plant employee: Four pounds of grease...that comes to...63 cents.
*Homer: Woo hoo!
*Bart: Dad, all that bacon cost you 27 dollars.
*Homer: Yeah, but your mom paid for that!
*Bart: But doesn't she get her money from you?
*Homer: And I get my money from grease! What's the problem?
The EPA Has Decided Whereyou Should Work
The Environmental Protection Agency puts together a list each year of the Best Workplaces for Commuters (yeah, news to us, too), and the top 20 are ranked on commuter benefits, carpool programs, telecommuting, and anything else that can help with the $63.1 billion excess each year in the United States for time and fuel, the EPA claims. Who made the cut? Nike, for one (we'd sort of expect a shoe company to have a lot of employees hoofing it) as well as Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Google, Oracle, and Yahoo!. Texas Instruments, Safeco Insurance, and Reliant Energy also nabbed spots.