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Speaking about the Griffin Lounge - the owner is once again putting on a 4th of July cruise-in with medals and dash plaques for all participants. There is no cost to be at the cruise. Plus there will be awards, a DJ and other interesting things happening. Washington Street will be blocked off from Jefferson to Sycamore which will just about double the space from last year. We will also have spectator parking in lots near the event. It is backed by the City of Petersburg with leaders looking forward to this being a great event. I do need some help with parking the cruisers - don't make me park all of them! I need a couple of healthy volunteers to help - 
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Your Whereabouts Are Known at All Times
From The Epoch Times
“Big Brother is watching you” is no longer a fictional admonition. Everywhere you go, your location is recorded by phone technology, license plate readers, Uber and Lyft transactions, and cameras.
Privacy? Forget about it. Your location history is in the hands of many tech companies. Can the police and other government agencies force tech companies to share that information about you? The U.S. Supreme Court took up that question on April 27. The court’s decision could have widespread effects on your privacy.
If your location history puts you within a one-mile radius of a bank robbery with hundreds of other people, you could become a suspect, swept up in the wide net cast to find the perpetrator.
Many people find the growing surveillance creepy, but law enforcement is using this technology—called geofencing—to solve crimes rapidly, including some that would go unsolved.
During oral arguments in Chatrie v. United States on April 27, the justices tackled this tradeoff between privacy and effective crimefighting and how the U.S. Constitution, written more than two centuries ago, can be interpreted to safeguard your rights in the age of Big Brother.
In 2019, a gunman robbed the Call Federal Credit Union in Midlothian, Virginia. Stumped, the police secured a “geofence warrant” instructing Google to produce location history records for every digital device within a 17.5-acre circle around the crime scene for a two-hour timeframe. Then the police asked Google for the identity of three device users, including the man ultimately charged with the crime, Okello Chatrie.
Chatrie claims that his Fourth Amendment right to be protected from “unreasonable” government search was violated when police used geofencing and compelled Google to disclose his location history.
The case is making for strange bedfellows, bringing together the often left-leaning American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the more conservative Institute for Justice and CATO Institute. They argue that when a judge issues a warrant allowing law enforcement to pore over hundreds of thousands of location records implicating hundreds or thousands of people in order to narrow down a list of possible suspects, that is the modern version of the “general warrant,” which British customs officials 250 years ago used to burst into every home in a town to look for smuggled goods; the Fourth Amendment banned these generalized searches.
But during the April 27 session, that argument made little headway, as Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh cited statements on geofencing’s usefulness for law enforcement. Most of the justices will likely uphold the bank robber’s conviction. Law enforcement has to get a warrant to use geofencing, and much of the discussion focused on whether the standards for granting warrants need to be stricter.
The justices anticipated how geofencing could be abused by government.
“What’s to prevent the government from using this to find out the identities of everybody at a particular church, a particular political organization?” Chief Justice John Roberts asked.
The court will announce its ruling in June, and the implication will reach far beyond cellphone technology. Google actually has phased out storing location data and announced that it will no longer comply with geo-warrants. Alito wondered aloud why the court was even hearing the case. But many other tech companies collect location data.
Flock Safety, a license plate reading company, has cameras in more than 5,000 communities and provides reports to 4,800 law enforcement agencies in 49 states.
License plate readers, according to Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon, allow for much faster arrest of car thieves and more successful prosecutions in court.
But the ACLU objects that extensive tracking of every person’s whereabouts via license plate readers amounts to an invasion of privacy. The ACLU is calling for “clear regulations to keep the government from tracking our movements on a massive scale.”
As usual in politics, there’s a fair share of hypocrisy. Several Democratic-led cities in New York, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Texas are terminating their contracts with Flock Safety because it has cooperated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
They apparently think it’s OK to arrest American-born criminals using geo-searches, but not illegals. Ridiculous. The Denver City Council unanimously voted to terminate Flock Safety, but the city’s mayor, Mike Johnston, saw the light, calling it a useful crime-fighting tool.
One takeaway from the April 27 hearing: Wherever you go, assume you are creating a digital and photographic record of your own movements. Privacy is a thing of the past. The issue now is using these technologies to fight crime without empowering government to crush our personal liberties.
Jewels Found On Ebay
Here are a couple of hot finds from Ebay Motors.
eBay item number: 377164275272
$8,900.00 - buy it now
eBay description: 1979 CHEVROLET CORVETTE CUSTOM COUPE BODY. THIS CLEAR AND CLEAN TITLED 79 CORVETTE HAS BEEN CUSTOMIZED WITH A VERY HIGH QUALITY WIDE BODY FIBERGLASS KIT. COMES AS SHOWN WITH LEFT AND RIGHT BARE DOORS AND CUSTOM HOOD, 2 PLEXIGLASS SPLIT WINDOW REAR PANES AND A COMPLETE AND VERY SOLID 82 CORVETTE ROLLING CHASSIS WITH CORE 350 LONG BLOCK AND 82 700R4 AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION. GM VIN TAG. METAL BIRDCAGE AND WINDSHIELD FRAME ARE EXCELLENT. BODY WORK IS COMPLETED. EXCELLENT DOOR AND HOOD GAPS. CURRENTLY IN GRAY PRIMER WITH LIGHT BLACK GUIDE COAT. VERY CLOSE TO PAINT READY. LISTING INCLUDES 4 SPEED PEDAL ASSEMBLY AND FIBERGLASS SQUARE HEADLIGHT BEZELS. DOES NOT INCLUDE ANY OTHER PARTS. MUST BE PAID FOR WITHIN 7 DAYS OF LISTINGS END AND MUST BE TRAILERED HOME FROM VA BEACH VA. GOTTA BE THE CHEAPEST CORVETTE SPLIT WINDOW ON EBAY HA HA!!!! THANKS FOR LOOKING. JESUS LOVES YOU!!!!!
It's very tough to build a custom from a Corvette. They seldom look "right". This one has an added split window in back along with a spoiler. It is missing quite a few parts. Perhaps this was a total that someone thought they could build into a custom. I hate to say it but we are living in the time when you can buy an actual running driving Corvette for $8900. Time to pass on this one.
Next up is another "project".
eBay item number: 277908548874
$7,499.99 or Best Offer
eBay description: 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Fastback with Marti Report
Original Had M Code 351 Cleveland 4 Barrel Automatic Transmission
As seen this car was swapped to a manual transmission at some point has clutch pedals and linkage
Has Original Power Front Disc Brake & Power Steering
Still has original 9 Inch Rear End (missing center section)
Car will need a full restoration HAS RUST
Comes with everything shown in the photos
NYS IS A NON TITLE STATE FOR PRE-1973 VEHICLES
THIS IS BEING SOLD WITH A NOTARIZED BILL OF SALE ONLY
A 500.00 non-refundable deposit is due immediately
Must be paid in full within 3 business days
We can work with you on storing it while you arrange shipping but must be paid in full within 3 business days .
Car rolls and steers for loading and we will assist transport company and make it a smooth process when it’s picked up
Oh yeah, another Ruststang and a 70 no less - a year that most of them rusted very well. This comes with the "Marti Report" which automatically doubles the value of this "car". It's missing so many parts you might as well buy a complete Mach 1 to begin with. And no title - I got news for this seller just because it is a no title state doesn't mean the VA DMV will accept a bill of sale. They usually want an old registration or an old insurance card. Bonus: it has a hole in the roof or sunroof or moonroof but it's a hole in the roof of a car that didn't come from the factory with one. Does it leak - does the sun rise in the East? 7500 for this is just a little high even with the fabled Marti Report.
eBay item number: 327144016159
$5,355.00 or Best Offer
eBay description: The 1948 Ford F1 is a classic standard cab pickup truck with a clean title. This vintage vehicle features a green exterior color, a 2-door design, and is manufactured by Ford. Perfect for collectors or enthusiasts looking for a piece of automotive history, the 1948 Ford F1 offers a timeless charm and nostalgia for the era it represents. V8 engine is seized and will not turn.
Truck has rust visible in the photos.
Delivery or export is available message for price.
as is sale.
all sales final.
please ask questions before you make an offer.
At first glance you may think this truck isn't that bad but it has serious rust. I'm not sure where the seller got "green exterior color" - I see green on the inner door panels but not much green anywhere else, just rust. It has no floor in the cab, no bed floor, engine is stuck but it is a classic pickup vintage vehicle perfect for collectors or enthusiasts looking for a piece of automotive history with timeless charm. It's a rust bucket. The only thing I want on it is that custom green air cleaner. You could buy this piece of yard art so your kids or grandkids can play on it after you get them a tetanus shot because this thing is going to cut them.
Your 2027 Car Will Decide If You Can Drive
From State of Surveillance
Inside the federal surveillance mandate coming to every new vehicle
TL;DR: The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act requires all new cars sold after September 2027 to include technology that monitors whether you're impaired or distracted—and can prevent you from driving. Infrared cameras will track your eyes, breath sensors will measure alcohol, and your car can refuse to start or limit its speed. Privacy advocates warn this biometric data could be shared with insurance companies, law enforcement, or sold to data brokers.
What's coming to your car
Tucked into the 2,702-page Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that President Biden signed in November 2021 was a provision that few Americans noticed. Section 24220 requires NHTSA to issue safety standards mandating "advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology" in all new passenger vehicles.
The law gave NHTSA until November 15, 2024 to finalize rules. Enforcement begins no later than September 2027. That deadline is now 18 months away.
The technology involves two main approaches being developed through DADSS—the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety program, a 16-year public-private partnership between NHTSA and automakers:
Breath-based systems: Sensors in the steering column passively measure alcohol in your breath as you breathe normally. The system is designed to distinguish between driver and passenger breath.
Touch-based systems: Infrared sensors in the start button or steering wheel measure blood alcohol through your skin.
But the law doesn't stop at alcohol. It also mandates systems to detect "driver impairment"—which means infrared cameras mounted on steering columns or A-pillars tracking your eye movement, pupil dilation, and drowsiness patterns.
If the AI decides you're impaired—whether from alcohol, fatigue, or distraction—your car can:
Prevent ignition entirely
Limit vehicle speed
Alert you and pull over safely
The safety case
MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) has pushed for this mandate for years. Their argument is straightforward: drunk driving kills over 10,000 Americans annually. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates these systems could eliminate those deaths.
That's not nothing. 10,000 lives is a lot of lives.
But the surveillance apparatus being built goes far beyond detecting 0.08% blood alcohol.
The surveillance you're actually getting
The law itself doesn't mandate data sharing. But nothing prevents it either.
Car manufacturers already collect enormous amounts of data. According to a February 2026 CNN investigation, 90% of new cars track your driving every 3 seconds—monitoring speed, braking, phone use, and exact location. Automakers pocket up to $100 per vehicle annually selling this data to companies like LexisNexis, who package it for insurance companies.
Here's what happens next:
Insurance consequences: Only 31% of drivers in telematics programs actually save money. Meanwhile, 24% face higher premiums. Coverage denials stick around for 3-5 years.
Data broker sales: Your biometric data—eye movements, pupil dilation, breath patterns—becomes another product to sell. Anonymization doesn't mean much when the data is tied to your VIN.
Over-the-air updates: These systems are software-defined. Manufacturers can expand monitoring capabilities after you've purchased the vehicle.
Law enforcement access: Without explicit legal protections, subpoenas and warrants can compel manufacturers to hand over your impairment data—including false positives.
The FTC took action in January 2026, prohibiting General Motors and OnStar from selling driving data for five years without explicit consumer consent. But that ruling only covers GM. Every other manufacturer operates under no such restriction.
The false positive problem
Automakers themselves oppose the mandate—not on privacy grounds, but because the technology isn't ready.
Imagine: you're driving your kids to school at 7am. You slept badly. The AI decides your drowsiness pattern matches impairment. Your car limits speed to 25mph on the highway.
Or worse: you're leaving work after a long shift. The breath sensor malfunctions. Your car won't start. You're stranded in a parking lot at 11pm.
False positives aren't theoretical. Every AI-based detection system produces them. And when the consequence is losing control of your own vehicle, the stakes of "95% accuracy" become viscerally clear.
Automakers also cite cost increases of $100-500 per vehicle, passed directly to consumers.
What happens now
NHTSA missed its November 2024 deadline. Traffic safety organizations sent a letter expressing "deep disappointment" at the agency's lack of timeline. But the law remains on the books, and NHTSA is required to act.
New cars with this technology could roll off assembly lines as early as late 2026. By September 2027, it becomes mandatory for all new passenger vehicles sold in the United States.
There is no federal opt-out provision.
What you can do
Buy used.
The mandate only applies to new vehicles. A 2025 or 2026 model won't have mandatory impairment tech.
Read the privacy policy.
Before buying any new car, find out what data it collects, who it shares with, and whether you can opt out of telematics.
Disable telematics where possible.
Consumer Reports has a guide on stopping your car from sharing driving data. It varies wildly by manufacturer.
Support state privacy laws.
Oregon now requires automakers to honor universal opt-out requests for vehicle data. Push your state legislature for similar protections.
Watch the NHTSA rulemaking.
Public comments matter. When NHTSA publishes its proposed rule, submit comments demanding strong privacy protections and opt-out provisions.
The bottom line
The federal government is about to mandate that your car watch your eyes, measure your breath, and make decisions about whether you're fit to drive. The safety benefits are real. So are the privacy risks.
Without explicit federal privacy protections—which don't exist yet—your biometric data becomes another commodity in the $100-per-car surveillance economy that automakers have quietly built.
You have 18 months before this becomes mandatory. Plan accordingly.
ALPRs And Facial Recognition: How Retail Stores Are Fueling Mass Tracking
From American Liberty News
I used to think running to Home Depot for a bag of mulch or some tools was one of the most harmless errands you could do. Not anymore. If you’ve shopped at these big-box stores in Connecticut recently, your license plate is likely being photographed and logged every single time you pull in or out of the parking lot. And honestly, it doesn’t sit right with me.
These automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems quietly snap photos of your vehicle, plate, time, date, and location. Stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s say it’s all about fighting theft. But when private companies team up with technology that law enforcement loves, it starts looking less like store security and more like a widespread surveillance net.
Why This Feels Like Overreach
Retail theft is definitely a problem — no one’s denying that. We’ve seen smash-and-grab incidents and organized rings hitting these stores hard. But does that justify turning everyday parking lots into data collection points?
The real issue is how this data gets used. These cameras, often from companies like Flock Safety, create detailed records of your movements. Even if the stores claim they don’t sell the data, they openly admit they share it with law enforcement when asked. That turns a trip for garden supplies into something police can track without a warrant in many cases.
Kimberly Przeszlowki, a criminal justice professor at Quinnipiac University, nailed it: private companies don’t face the same strict rules as police departments. There’s far less oversight on how long they keep your information, who else can access it, or how it might be combined with other databases. This feels like law enforcement getting around constitutional protections by letting corporations do the dirty work.
The Slow Creep of Everyday Surveillance
Think about it. One store here, another there, and suddenly your regular Saturday errands paint a pretty clear picture of your life — where you shop, when you shop, how often. That data can be incredibly revealing, especially when shared with authorities.
Privacy advocates argue this is classic mission creep. What starts as “stopping theft” can easily expand to tracking people for minor issues, protests, or just living their lives. And because it’s private property, you don’t really have a choice — if you want to shop, you get scanned.
How They Work
ALPRs (Automated License Plate Readers): Cameras snap photos of your car’s license plate, convert the image into text using optical character recognition (or AI-enhanced versions), and log the plate number, time, date, and location. Systems like Flock Safety (commonly used in retail) can also capture contextual images of the vehicle, color, make/model, and even items like ladders or bumper stickers. They don’t officially use facial recognition, but the photos they take could be fed into other tools.
Facial Recognition Tech (FRT): This scans your actual face, maps biometric features (distance between eyes, jawline, etc.), and matches it against huge databases of photos — often mugshots, driver’s licenses, or scraped social media images. It identifies you as a person, not just your vehicle.
Key Difference: ALPR tracks your car (which is often uniquely tied to you via DMV records). FRT tracks you directly, even if you’re on foot or in someone else’s car.
Privacy Invasion Level
ALPRs: Feels like a digital tail on your daily movements. One trip to Lowe’s for paint becomes part of a permanent(ish) record of where your vehicle goes — doctor’s office, places of worship, political events, friends’ houses. Over time, this creates a detailed map of your life without you ever consenting. Law enforcement can often access this data without a warrant, turning private companies into de facto surveillance partners.
Facial Recognition: Even more personal and intrusive. It doesn’t need your car — it can identify you in a crowd, at a protest, or just walking down the street. Errors here hit harder because they’re tied to your identity, not a vehicle you might sell or lend out.
Similarity: Both create “mission creep.” What starts as stopping shoplifting or finding stolen cars easily expands to tracking innocent people’s routines. Retail stores using ALPRs say they only share with police when needed — but once the data exists, that line blurs fast. FRT has the same problem, amplified by racial and gender biases in accuracy.
Accuracy & Reliability
ALPRs boast high read rates (often 95%+ in good conditions), but real-world errors happen — dirty plates, bad lighting, or fast movement lead to misreads. Facial recognition has documented higher error rates, especially for women, people of color, and anyone not well-represented in training data. False positives can lead to wrongful stops or arrests.
Law Enforcement Overreach
This is where both technologies shine a light on bigger issues. ALPRs let police build vehicle movement histories without traditional probable cause — essentially outsourcing mass surveillance to Home Depot’s parking lot cameras. Facial recognition takes it further by enabling real-time identification of individuals, often remotely and without consent.
In Connecticut, new rules try to rein in ALPR data retention and sharing (especially for immigration enforcement), but they don’t eliminate the cameras or stop private companies from collecting the info in the first place. Facial recognition faces similar patchwork regulation — some cities ban it outright for police, while others embrace it.
Critics argue both represent the same dangerous trend: technology letting law enforcement (and corporations) bypass constitutional protections by collecting data “just in case.” ALPR might feel less personal because it’s about your car, but when that data links back to you — or gets combined with FRT — the privacy wall crumbles completely.
Bottom Line for Shoppers
Running errands shouldn’t feel like walking through a digital checkpoint. ALPRs at big-box stores are a softer entry point into surveillance than facial recognition cameras would be, but they’re part of the same ecosystem. One tracks your wheels; the other tracks your face. Together, they paint a full picture.
If this bothers you as much as it does me, the fix starts with awareness — notice the cameras, support stronger data retention limits and warrant requirements, and ask stores directly why they need to log every customer’s plate. Safety doesn’t have to mean trading away everyday anonymity.
The Briefs
Amsterdam has reportedly become the first capital city in the world to ban public ads for meat and fossil fuels — wiping burgers, gas-powered cars, and airline promotions from billboards, tram stops and metro stations.
Since May 1, the Dutch capital and tourist hotspot’s advertising landscape has undergone a dramatic shift. Ads once showcasing chicken nuggets, SUVs, and budget flights have been replaced with promotions for museums and concerts, according to BBC News.
Local politicians say the sweeping move is part of an aggressive climate agenda, with goals to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and cut meat consumption in half, the outlet reported.
The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Minnesota over the state’s climate lawsuit against major energy companies. The complaint, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, accuses state officials of trying to impose their own climate policies on domestic energy producers in a way the DOJ says burdens national energy development and intrudes on federal authority.
The underlying lawsuit was filed in 2020 by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison against Exxon Mobil, the American Petroleum Institute, Koch Industries, and Koch subsidiary Flint Hills Resources. Minnesota brought the case under state consumer-protection laws, alleging that the companies engaged in fraud and deceptive business practices by misleading the public about “climate change and the role of fossil-fuel products in climate change.”
That lawsuit remains pending after years of procedural fights over whether it belongs in state or federal court. Minnesota succeeded in keeping the case in state court in 2024, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a lower-court ruling allowing the lawsuit to proceed there.
The Studebaker Avanti R2 was the first American brand production car to have standard front disc brakes (1963).
Waymo recalls nearly 4,000 robotaxis over dangerous behavior on flooded roads; an unoccupied vehicle was swept away in a San Antonio flood last month.
The man accused of stealing hard drives that contained unreleased Beyoncé music in July 2025 pleaded guilty on Tuesday to avoid a jury trial.
Kelvin Evans, 40, entered a guilty plea to single counts of criminal trespass and entering a vehicle with the intent to commit theft in Fulton County Superior Court, according Fox 5 Atlanta. He was handed a sentence of five years that includes two years in prison and the rest on probation, and was also ordered to stay away from the victims and the location of the theft.
Honda reported its first annual loss since becoming a publicly listed company in 1957. The $2.7B drop comes months after the Japanese carmaker scaled back its electric vehicle plans in the US. In 2021, Honda pledged to ensure its entire fleet would be electric or hydrogen-powered by 2040. It aimed to do so in part through in-house development and in part through partnerships with General Motors and Sony. However, the company cited tariffs and the end of electric vehicle tax credits as reasons for a reduced consumer appetite in the US for EVs over the past year. Now, Honda says it will refocus on hybrid vehicles, financial services, and motorcycles.
What began as a stop to help a stranded driver with a flat tire turned into a life-saving rescue for three Florida teenagers now being hailed as heroes in their community.
Officials in Cooper City said Cooper City High School students Logan Royer, 16, Cody Magrone, 16, and Brody Murray, 17, likely saved a 65-year-old man’s life after recognizing he was suffering a medical emergency and calling 911.
The teens had stopped at a McDonald’s on South Flamingo Road last month before heading out to go fishing when they noticed a man pulled over on the roadside struggling to change a tire, according to releases from the City of Cooper City and the Broward Sheriff's Office.
Authorities said Fernandez-Delgado was having trouble breathing and experiencing chest pain. Medical personnel later determined he had suffered a heart attack, and first responders said the teenagers’ quick actions likely saved his life.
Last year the U.S. Department of State gave $244,252 to Stand for Peace in Islamabad to produce a television cartoon series that teaches kids in Pakistan how to fight climate change.
NextEra Energy announced plans yesterday to acquire Dominion Energy in a $66.8B all-stock deal, pending regulatory approval. The combined company would form the US’ largest regulated electric utility company and the world’s largest by market value.
NextEra provides electricity to roughly 12 million people in Florida. Dominion serves 3.6 million homes and businesses across Virginia and the Carolinas, including “Data Center Alley,” the world’s largest concentration of data centers. As AI companies rely on higher computing power, electricity demand is expected to grow. (Explore how data centers drive up neighbors’ electricity costs here.)
US power prices are up 40% over the past five years. One analyst found the NextEra-Dominion deal would further drive up costs by creating a larger company that is more difficult to regulate. The companies are offering $2.3B in credits to Dominion customers over two years, amounting to a roughly $562 payout per customer.
Ford President and CEO Jim Farley is the brother of American actor and comedian Chris Farley who passed away in 1997. That's Chris above in the movie Tommy Boy.
Norfolk police are seeking the “maximum penalty” for those who participated in the street takeover in West Ghent on Sunday night that involved cars doing doughnuts, fireworks and use of a flamethrower.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday afternoon, Police Chief Mark Talbot called the behavior by those at the scene “reprehensible” and said the next step is to “track down everybody involved.”
“It wasn’t just kids having fun, it was people engaging in life-threatening behavior,” Talbot said. “I have no idea what kind of ethical misfire occurs inside somebody’s head that causes them to bring a flamethrower to a neighborhood but it’s certainly the kind of person that I’m sure the public will help us identify.”
No injuries were reported and no arrests have been made. Talbot said he’s working with Fire Marshal Damon Langley and Commonwealth Attorney Ramin Fatehi to determine the “maximum” charges they can bring against those involved.
Langley said his office will seek to prosecute participants for violations of city ordinances against open burning and the use of illegal fireworks.
Residents of a Toronto neighborhood banded together after a Google Maps glitch had drivers heading the wrong way down a one-way road for several days. UPI reported on May 6 that as early as April 29, Google Maps had mistakenly listed the southbound-only Winona Drive as a northbound street. "[The drivers] come up here with such gusto," resident J.P. Timmerman said. "The crossing guard seems ready to keel over." Residents put up a sign: "GPS is wrong." They appealed to local police and even to Google. The city even had to install a temporary "do not enter" sign before Google Maps corrected the error. "I will be following up with Google Maps to understand what went wrong and what improvements can be made to prevent this situation in the future," City Councilor Josh Matlow said in a social media post. "These sorts of Google glitches cause real and immediate safety impacts on our streets. Google Maps needs to be far more responsive to residents' complaints, and far more transparent about the processes in place."
How does a car from a 1980s action-adventure TV series end up with a speeding ticket in Chicago in 2026? That's what officials at the Volo Museum -- home to a replica of KITT, the car from "Knight Rider," starring David Hasselhoff -- would like to know. On May 13, the Associated Press reported that the museum recently received a $50 speeding ticket for a car matching KITT's description going 36 mph in a 25 mph zone in Brooklyn on April 22. The black Trans Am even had the California license plate KNIGHT, the same as KITT on the show, and the museum's replica, which is unregistered. "The fact that we're legally tied to a movie prop is interesting," said Jim Wojdyla, the museum's marketing director. "We're known for having our Hollywood cars from TV and movies, but I have no idea how we got registered from a ticket in New York to the plates in California to the Volo Museum in Illinois. We're still trying to figure it out." Amateur replicas of KITT are not uncommon -- a Facebook group for people who own one has about 19,000 members -- and five original KITTs remain, out of the 20 built for the show. Volo Museum officials are challenging the ticket but haven't lost their sense of humor over the situation. "Does anyone have Hasselhoff's number?" they posted on social media. "He owes us $50!!!!"
Motorists in France are driving more carefully after a warning from police: Watch out for inebriated wildlife. UPI reported on May 13 that a social media post from the police in the Saone-et-Loire region of north-central France showed deer running around erratically after consuming fermented fruit. "Not all road users are sober," the post said. "If Bambi overindulges on the forest aperitif, it might not be the time to drive like you own the road." Drivers were urged to keep an eye out for "sudden crossing, inconsistent trajectory, immobilization on the road [and] disorderly escape" from local wildlife.
Antone Gilonna, 25, of New York, was arrested for driving while intoxicated when he drove to a local police station to pick up a friend who had been arrested for ... wait for it ... driving while intoxicated. Fox 8 Cleveland reported on May 20 that when Gilonna arrived at the police station, he drove into a restricted area. An officer came to check on him and quickly issued a field sobriety test before placing him under arrest. Gilonna's license was revoked, and he is expected to appear in court at a later date.
Vernus Mayhew, 45, of Dixton, Maine, was arrested after calling 911 four times to request a beer delivery, WGME reported on May 7. "I was drunk, and I was trying to be funny," Mayhew said. The Penobscot County Sheriff's Office was not amused. "This was a serious matter that negatively impacted public safety resources including the regional communications center and deputies," Sheriff Troy Morton said. Mayhew is also charged with assault, but says that part didn't happen. Video recorded by Mayhew's daughter shows a physical altercation with police, but a few seconds are out of frame, with differing accounts of what transpired. Police say Mayhew attempted to put one of them in a headlock; Mayhew denies it. He was released from the Penobscot County Jail after paying a $750 bail.
An Atlanta neighborhood is dealing with an unusual kind of pest: empty Waymo vehicles -- autonomous, driverless cars owned by Alphabet Inc. -- circling cul-de-sacs, ABC News reported on May 15 (pic above). "I think yesterday morning, we had 50 cars that came through between 6 and 7," one resident said. "It's almost every little cul-de-sac in our area, so I think it's a problem," said another. The glut of robotaxis worries residents. "We're families, we have small animals and pets, got kids getting on the bus in the morning and it just doesn't feel safe to have that traffic," one resident said. One neighbor even tried putting up their own sign to deter the vehicles, but it caused a traffic jam of Waymos turning around to get out. Residents have attempted to reach out to local and state officials, as well as to Waymo itself. In a statement, Waymo said that it is "committed to being good neighbors" and "we take community feedback seriously and have already worked with our fleet partner to address this routing behavior."
Pedestrian buttons may or may not do anything (you may already know this from experience):
In New York City, an official told CNN that only around 100 of the 1,000 crosswalk buttons in that city actually do anything. The Boston Globe has reported that the buttons in and around downtown areas of that city aren’t functional. And in the UK, the BBC has reported that the buttons in downtown London are completely superfluous during the day when pedestrian traffic is high—the lights trigger on the same timed routine, regardless of any button presses. The buttons do, however, work in the evening, when pedestrian traffic slows down.
Why is this? Timing. Modern traffic lights are designed to allow the flow of traffic to be consistent. The general idea is that cars driving at the speed limit should more-or-less hit green lights as they go. Regularly timed pedestrian crossings make this math a lot simpler in places with a lot of pedestrian traffic, so most cities opt for them in downtown areas.
Memorial Day weekend from Friday through Monday, Virginia state troopers cited more than 2,500 drivers for speeding and more than 1,100 for reckless driving.
Chinese electric vehicle company BYD says it plans to enter the Canadian market at the end of this year, along with opening more than 20 dealerships, including locations in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued four states for allegedly refusing to provide confidential license plates for federal agencies that enforce immigration laws.
The DOJ alleges in a May 28 press release that state officials in Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington implemented policies that effectively denied the license plates to any federal agency that may enforce immigration law.
The department says that the confidential license plates help prevent criminals from identifying federal agents and targeting them for harassment and attacks.
Ram Goes Full Send with New Rumble Bee Muscle Trucks
From: Hagerty
I s anyone in the truck space having more fun than Ram right now? It’s hard to argue another contender, frankly. Less than a year ago, with newly reappointed CEO Tim Kuniskis at the helm, Ram brought back the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 for its half-ton pickup. Then, just a few months later, the brand followed it up by reviving the Ram TRX, a ludicrous off-road performance truck with a whopping 777 hp. How do you follow up moves like those? By getting even wilder, apparently.
Meet the Ram 1500 Rumble Bee family, a rowdy trifecta of street-focused, properly unhinged pickups with unapologetic street attitude and some ludicrous performance figures to back up the curb appeal.
If the phrase, “hell yeah, brother” were a motor vehicle, this is what it would look like.
“Somehow, the idea of muscle trucks was labeled unnecessary, but since that describes so many products that captivated enthusiasts’ hearts, minds, and wallets, Ram is going all-in—pushing for the last tenth with a full range of Rumble Bee muscle trucks,” said Kuniskis, who now leads all of Stellantis’ American brands as well as the SRT Performance division at Stellantis.
The Rumble Bee family isn’t just a warmed-over sticker package or a wheel-and-tire combo tacked onto an existing pickup. While your cab and bed choices are limited (more on that in a bit), your powertrain choices are very much wide open. Ram plans to offer the Rumble Bee lineup with three powertrains: a 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, a 6.4-liter Hemi V-8, or a 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V-8.
Before we dive into powertrain specifics, let’s talk about the traits that unite all members of the Rumble Bee species. First up, the chassis: All Rumble Bees will be quad-cab, short-bed pickup trucks. That’s an entirely new cab/bed configuration for Ram, one that required snipping 13 inches out of the existing truck frame—no small task. Previously, a quad-cab model would come with the longer 6-foot 4-inch bed to make the combo fit on the same frame as the crew cab, 5-foot 7-inch bed. With the shorter bed, the visual presence is dramatically transformed. Combine that shortened, 219.5-inch overall length with an 88-inch-wide stance and massive 10- or 12-inch-wide wheels, and every Rumble Bee looks menacing as hell, even at a standstill.
Part of that look comes from the bodywork: Every Rumble Bee, no matter the engine beneath the hood, gets flared front and rear fenders (borrowed from the Ram TRX), which add seven inches of width over the base Ram 1500. Even facing one head-on, you’d be able to tell this apart from a normal half-ton; the visual difference is that distinct.
From the side, maybe even more so. Ram engineers designed a unique front steering knuckle to adjust the mounting points of the upper and lower control arms, resulting in a ride height that’s several inches lower than the normie truck. (The top-end Rumble Bee SRT, which uses an air suspension system, will sit more than six inches lower than a standard half-ton Ram. Yowzers.) Bilstein electronic adaptive suspension is standard across the range.
We’ll walk from mild to wild on the available powertrains. At the bottom of the rowdy rung, you have the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, producing 395 hp and 410 lb-ft of torque. It’s still plenty quick, with a claimed zero-to-60 mph time of 6.1 seconds. It pairs with the same eight-speed automatic you’d find in other Ram pickups—a sweetheart of a gearbox that offers both automatic and manual shifting capabilities. Ram says the 5.7-equipped Rumble Bee can dispatch the quarter mile in 14.6 seconds at 93 mph.
Every Rumble Bee uses a full-time active four-wheel-drive system that can split torque front-to-rear depending on the driving conditions. But, because this is a proper muscle truck, every Rumble Bee also includes a button that disconnects the front axle, giving you access to full-blown rear-wheel-drive shenanigans. A conventional rear differential will come standard on the naturally aspirated trucks, but an optional limited-slip unit will be available later in the production cycle. (Imagine the legions of one-tire burnouts in the meantime!)
If you want to step things up a notch, there’s the Rumble Bee 392, which puts the 6.4-liter Apache Hemi V-8 in a light-duty Ram platform for the first time. (Think of the Challenger 392 back in the day; Ram is treating the Rumble Bee platform similarly to the Challenger platform of old.)
So-equipped, the Rumble Bee 392 will grant you 470 hp and 455 lb-ft of torque, a significant step up from the 5.7-liter option. Though the two engines are based on the same iron block, the 392 features an upgraded forged steel crankshaft with cast aluminum pistons and a 10.9:1 compression ratio. The same 8HP75 eight-speed transmission resides behind this engine. Active four-wheel drive is standard here as well, along with the front-axle disconnect system. Performance figures are remarkable: 5.2 seconds to 60 mph, and 13.2 seconds in the quarter mile at 101 mph.
Stepping up to the six-four offers you access to the Rumble Bee 392 Track Pack option, too. Pick this one, and you’ll get an upgraded front fascia with enhanced cooling capabilities, an “E-Spool” button on the drivetrain controls that will electronically lock the rear differential for maximum hoonery, and upgraded aerodynamic elements such as a larger rear spoiler on the tailgate that helps keep this thing planted at eye-watering speeds.
Those looking for the Mack-Daddy muscle truck will want to head straight to the Rumble Bee SRT. This one features the supercharged, 6.2-liter Hemi V-8 that we all love so dearly. It’s essentially the same motor that you’d find in the sand-slinging TRX, replete with gobs of supercharger whine and all the associated antisocial traits. The Rumble Bee SRT is rated for 777 hp and 680 lb-ft of torque.
Rumble Bee SRT owners will enjoy an uprated version of the eight-speed transmission to handle the added grunt. The 2.4-liter blower atop the engine can shove up to 13 psi of boost through this mill. An upgraded front fascia offers enhanced engine cooling capabilities, a large front splitter, and massive brake ducts to keep 16-inch Brembo brake rotors from turning to goo when they need to bring a 6258-lb truck to a swift stop.
At the presentation, Kuniskis was careful to mention Ram’s previous muscle truck efforts, including the vaunted Ram SRT10, affectionately known as the “Viper Truck.” That truck set a record for top speed back in the day of 154.587 mph. “We have already smoked the 154 mph record [with the Rumble Bee SRT], and we are pushing like hell to get to 170,” said Kuniskis.
That pursuit required many engineering tweaks, such as redesigned (and smaller) side-view mirrors, as well as, in the case of the Rumble Bee SRT, a 3.55:1 final drive that allowed for longer legs to chase a higher top speed. (The 5.7- and 6.4-liter Rumble Bees have a 3.92:1 axle ratio.)
Despite all of this focus on raw street performance, all the Rumble Bees still hold their own when it comes to actual truck stuff. Even the least capable version, the 392 Track Pack, is still rated to tow 7300 lbs. Payload ratings clear the 1000-lb mark regardless of what engine you pick.
And before you jump into the comments to lament that these trucks aren’t offered in regular cab configurations, Kuniskis had an answer there as well: Per Ram’s sales data, fewer than three percent of all pickups sold new these days are regular cabs. There just isn’t a market for a single-row muscle pickup anymore. Having four doors gives you, as Kuniskis calls it, the “spousal alibi” of defending such a purchase as “still practical.” Sure, that rear seat might be a bit cramped, but we doubt your passengers will have the intestinal fortitude to complain when you launch it from a stoplight.
The revival of the muscle truck is a cause for celebration, not just because of the potential competition here, but because the products that it’s spawning are just plain old fun. “Is this a question nobody was asking? Maybe,” said Kuniskis at the unveiling event. But we think he’s onto something; Ford has dipped its toes into the space with the F-150 Lobo, though that’s quite modest compared to what we’re discussing here.
Consider this an open invitation to other truck makers: Let’s take the fight to the streets. Reborn Syclone, anybody? Hopefully, the party’s just getting started.
See them at ramtrucks.com/ram-1500-rumble-bee.html
Repair Mistakes & Blunders
From Rock Auto
I bought about 95% of the parts for my “new to me” 1979 Ford F350 Camper Special from RockAuto.
With a background in electrical engineering, I figured refreshing the instrument panel would be easy. The gauges worked, but none of the lights did, so I replaced the old bulbs with blue and white LEDs and cleaned the circuit board contacts. After reinstalling, only one LED worked. I checked wiring, voltage, and even cleaned and adjusted all nine bulb sockets—still no luck.
After more troubleshooting, I realized the issue: These are LEDs (Note the 'D' stands for DIODE - DUH!) Power only flows one way, and the LED must be inserted correctly to work! I flipped the non-working bulbs in their sockets, and everything lit up perfectly. A simple fix—once I stopped overthinking it!
Art in Washington
You Can Leave the 2027 Audi Q9’s High Beams On and No One Will Flash You
From Motor Trend
A long-overdue update to U.S. lighting regulations finally allows the adaptive matrix headlights Europe has had for years.
Thanks to our archaic automotive lighting rules, American drivers have been denied much of the nifty lighting technology that Europeans enjoy. But a 2022 rule change has opened the door to matrix LED headlights, and starting with the 2027 Q9 SUV, Audis will benefit from this more sophisticated (and arguably, safer) technology. We got a chance to sample the German automaker’s newfangled illumination, and it can’t get here soon enough.
LEDs Half the Width of a Human Hair
Audi’s “Digital Matrix LED” headlights are more like projectors. Each headlight contains a module using just over 25,000 individually-controllable micro LEDs—and by micro, we’re talking half the width of a human hair. These little projectors can do all sorts of fancy things, like projecting welcome animations with the Audi logo when you turn on the car. But what’s really nifty is how they can allow you to drive with your high beams on (sort of) and not blind oncoming drivers.
Here’s how it works. When you set the high beams to “auto,” the headlight system works in conjunction with the cameras to detect other cars. If a car is coming towards you—or if you’re coming up on another car—the micro LEDs carve out a dimmed area around that vehicle to avoid blinding them. It tracks the other car’s movement, keeping that dim box around them while illuminating the rest of the road.
While in Germany to get our first look at the new Q9, Audi had us sample the system in the home-market Q3. (Matrix LEDs are old news in Europe.) On a dark two-lane road, we could clearly see the box around oncoming cars as well as vehicles ahead of us. It was a strange feeling, speeding towards other vehicles with the blue high-beam indicator glowing brightly on the instrument panel, but none of the oncoming cars flashed their brights at us. (One driver flashed us when our high beams were off; we’re guessing he was just cranky.)
So, Legally, What’s Changed?
The reason we couldn’t have this functionality in the U.S. historically was because FMVSS 108, the federal regulations for vehicle lighting originally issued in 1967, was built around separate, fixed low-beam and high-beam headlight patterns, with the expectation that headlights would operate in one mode or the other. It did not allow for a headlight that could selectively dim a portion of the beam, effectively acting as a low beam and a high beam at the same time. The 2022 update establishes a new category called Adaptive Driving Beam (ADB), allowing headlights that can dynamically reshape their light pattern to reduce glare for other drivers while providing brighter illumination elsewhere.
Our nighttime drive gave us a chance to sample other fancy stuff that Audi’s matrix LEDs can do. On the highway, the German-spec Q3 provides a “light carpet” just ahead of the car, which extends to the lane next to you when you hit the turn signal. The carpet, like the high beams, adjusts its length to avoid blinding cars ahead of you. On two-lane roads, it will form two guide beams just inside the lane markers, with one changing to an arrow in case you start to drift.
These enhanced features aren’t coming to the U.S.—not now, anyway—and honestly, we’re glad, because they shine more light immediately in front of the car, we found ourselves focusing on that area when we should have been looking farther down the road. That said, European drivers seem to have adjusted.
More Cool Stuff These Headlights Could Do
Matrix lighting isn’t exclusive to Audi, and other manufacturers are doing more with it. Mercedes-Benz’s Digital Light headlights, as installed in our long-term E450 wagon, can project navigation directions on the ground and warn of hazards such as a construction zone ahead or a vehicle in your blind spot. The Q3s we sampled dimmed illumination around reflective road signs and highlighted pedestrians and bicyclists in the road, features we would like to see in the States.
The good news is that most of this extra functionality is software controlled. Should NHTSA update its rules—and we hope it will—a simple software update could add more features to vehicles like the Q9 that already have the digital matrix LED headlights installed. (Write your members of Congress!)
Now if we can just get the feds to modernize the turn-signal area and visibility requirements so we can get the slimmer, safer amber LED indicators already common in Europe…
Lost A 1974 Camaro Z28 In Maine? Someone Found It 55 Feet Underwater
From Car Scoops
You never really know what’s hiding at the bottom of your local lake, and most of the time it’s the kind of stuff you’d rather not think about. But we’re willing to bet most of it isn’t this interesting. An underwater explorer recently came across a 1974 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 sitting in the depths of Sebago Lake in Maine, and local authorities are still trying to figure out how the muscle car ended up there.
Jason Smith stumbled on the find while exploring the lake with his underwater drone, originally hoping to track down an old snowmobile he’d spotted on a previous trip about a week earlier. He says the Camaro Z28 was resting in roughly 55 feet (17 meters) of water, right in the middle of the channel between Frye Island and the mainland.
In the underwater footage shared to Facebook by Smith, the car looks to have been preserved surprisingly well considering it’s likely been sitting in its watery grave for decades. It was swiftly pulled from the lake, although it was damaged in the process. Nevertheless, a partial VIN was found, and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s department was able to determine the full VIN thanks to the local Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
Investigators are still trying to identify the original owner, who would presumably know how a Z28 ended up under 55 feet of water. Until then, the explanations are working backward from the wreck.
The first theory had the Camaro slipping off the Frye Island ferry. That one came apart quickly. The ferry operators say a car going over the side would have been logged, recovered, and remembered, and none of those things happened. The second theory is insurance fraud, the car driven somewhere quiet and pushed in for a payout. Possible, but harder to prove decades later.
The likeliest answer is also the most New England one. The Camaro was probably driven onto the lake when it was frozen, the ice gave out, and the car went down with it.
Do Car Ads Make You Drive Like an Idiot? Or Does that Come Naturally?
From: Autoweek
Carmakers want car buyers to think their cars are fast. So their advertisements emphasize speed and performance. Does that make people go out and drive like morons?
Study says, “Maybe.”
A new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that from 2018 to 2022, advertisements emphasizing vehicle performance increased “even as deaths linked to speeding and aggressive driving continued to mount.”
There’s no mention of a correlation with an increasing number of drivers on the road, or any increase in mileage by said drivers. It only looked at car ads and death. Specifically, it said 43 percent of vehicle ads aired during 2018, 2020, and 2022 highlighted speed, maneuverability, traction, stopping, or power, IIHS said, not mentioning that maneuverability, traction, stopping, and power could be seen as safety features, too.
“The focus on performance grew over time, and speed was emphasized more than twice as often as safety,” the researchers found.
“Showing a stunt driver zooming around a tight turn in the rain might seem harmless, but these ads reinforce our cultural obsession with speed,” IIHS President David Harkey said. “The fine print may caution that it’s a professional driver on a closed course, but the message they convey is that you can drive this way too.”
Of course you can, and it’s fun! But that’s not a helpful takeaway for US drivers, the Institute claims. In 2024, 11,288 lives were lost in speed-related crashes, IIHS said, representing 29 percent of all road deaths in the country.
Keep in mind that while IIHS is an independent, nonprofit, scientific, and educational organization, it is funded by auto insurance companies. And while its core mission is to reduce deaths, injuries, and property damage from motor vehicle crashes through rigorous vehicle testing and scientific research, it is also trying to lower the payouts insurance companies have to make.
So it’s not completely altruistic (who is?). It went on:
“From 1950s hot-rod songs to action-film franchises like The Fast and the Furious, speed has long been a celebrated part of US car culture,” IIHS said. “Vehicle advertisements—unlike movies or music—are designed specifically to persuade. Many of them present high-performance driving as something consumers can purchase and experience.”
Well, duh. Why do we buy Porsches and Ferraris? To meet girls/boys? Well, yes, but also to enjoy driving cars like those. Sometimes that includes speed, hopefully done in a safe environment by someone who understands physics, or at least knows the difference between oversteer and understeer.
IIHS goes on to complain that the government doesn’t set standards for what appears in car ads.
“In other countries, regulators control vehicle ads,” the group says. “The United Kingdom, for example, has standards that prohibit ads that encourage a culture of dangerous driving, explicitly restricting messages about power, acceleration, or handling unless the context clearly relates to safety (such as swerving to avoid a crash).”
The group goes on to cite several examples.
In the years covered by the study, the advertising standards of ViacomCBS, which later became Paramount, prohibited “risky behavior portrayed positively,” but they did not include a definition of risky behavior.
ABC’s standards were more specific, stating that “safe and lawful driving practices should be depicted at all times,” but there was no mention of sticking to reasonable speeds in their examples of safe driving.
Similarly, NBCUniversal (which puts out The Fast & Furious, btw) required that advertisers “portray compliance with standard safety precautions,” calling out the use of seat belts but ignoring speed.
As a result of this alleged ambiguity, IIHS claims, “a large number of ads show drivers speeding, driving aggressively or testing the limits of the vehicle being advertised.”
“Advertising like this has helped normalize speeding, masking how dangerous it is,” said IIHS Research Scientist Amber Woods, lead author of the study. “Just think about how different attitudes are toward speeding versus impaired driving.”
Worse yet, during the period of the study from 2018 to 2022, “the share of ads highlighting safety fell from 11% to 3%.”
The study doesn’t give any credit to drivers for, maybe, not driving like idiots, or even exercising some self-control. Instead, it tries to connect excitement in an ad with deadly crashes.
“This study highlights the cultural dimension of our road safety crisis,” Harkey said. “Automakers and broadcasters need to start treating unsafe speed the same way they would drunk driving or failure to use a seat belt.”
Or maybe send everyone to Skip Barber, DirtFish, or the BMW Performance Driving School.
The End May Be Nigh for Automakers’ Monopoly on Car Repair Data
From The Epoch Times
Think you own that new car you just bought? Not all of it.
As many Americans are learning, Automakers own their data, and they’re trying to dictate who can fix the vehicle when something breaks or even when it just needs regular maintenance. It’s a way to force car and truck owners into expensive dealerships for service.
Fortunately, though, a legal fix might be coming.
New vehicles today rely so much on electronics and software that many repairs, even relatively simple ones, require using a proprietary computer interface or software just to diagnose an issue. Some cars and trucks even need this rigmarole to determine the optimal schedule for routine maintenance.
The results have been devastating for independent repair shops that handle most of the post-warranty automotive work across America. Almost two-thirds of these small businesses have trouble making what were previously simple repairs because of inaccessible data or software.
Over the last five years, nearly 30 percent of these small businesses have reported a decline in the number of vehicles they’re able to service due to this issue. Two out of every five shops have more difficulty getting parts from dealers, while one out of every four has no access to the electronic tools needed to service customers’ vehicles.
Consequently, more than half of small automotive repair businesses say they’re forced to send a customer about once a week to a dealership. The customer loses by having to pay more for the same work, and the small business loses a sale.
Today, data is a tool all its own, and this move by automakers is just a high-tech version of an old game. For years, manufacturers have played tricks like inventing and patenting fasteners—which no one else could buy. If customers and repair shops couldn’t open a product, whether a washing machine or a smartphone, then the customer’s only option was to pay whatever the manufacturer charged.
While property rights, including intellectual property, are cornerstones of America’s dynamic and innovative economy, they shouldn’t be conflated with an artificially uneven playing field. Protecting proprietary engine management software is not the same as adding the equivalent of a password to a car’s diagnostic computer.
Some automakers have erected digital walls around the data in their customers’ vehicles, treating that information like a trade secret, even though it really belongs to the person who bought the car or truck.
There has been a bipartisan push in Congress this year to address the problem via the Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair (REPAIR) Act. The legislation would essentially distinguish between protecting innovators’ intellectual property rights and automakers’ misuse of IP law to force customers into dealership repair facilities while crushing competition.
Some industry groups argue the REPAIR Act is unnecessary because relevant vehicle data is already available through existing agreements and portals. But then why are so many independent shops having to send cars to dealers each week because they can’t access vehicle data to even make a diagnosis?
This isn’t about preserving the quality of work being done either. Independent shops can be held liable for faulty repairs just like dealers. Many states even mandate minimum warranties on common repairs, regardless of who does the work.
Arguments over the right to repair aren’t about safety but about establishing monopoly pricing power and, in the case of the automotive industry, forcing out small businesses from a highly competitive market where, historically, independent shops complete 80 percent of out-of-warranty repairs because dealerships are about 36 percent more expensive for customers.
And the problem is getting worse as vehicles become less mechanical and increasingly electronic. By 2035, 155 million vehicle owners will likely be impacted by limited choices for auto repair, increasing their average annual repair bill by about $200. That’s well over $30 billion in aggregate higher bills for vehicle owners. Rural communities, with fewer options, are hit especially hard.
While dealerships will receive a windfall, independent shops will continue losing revenue and jobs, not to mention the 4 million manufacturing jobs at risk in the aftermarket car parts industry. By 2035, the 350,000 independent businesses in that industry—the largest segment of American manufacturing—are expected to see their combined share of automotive parts sales slip from 55 percent to just 35 percent.
Competition gives American families more choices, better service, and lower prices, but it requires a level playing field. In this case, that means reasonable access to repair information so that owners can decide for themselves where to have their vehicles serviced. This is about increasing competition, not concentration of power among special interests.
Carmakers Draw on Pickups, Tariff Refunds, and Service Revenue Amid EV Losses
From The Epoch Times
GM and Ford included expected tariff refunds in their first-quarter earnings results.
Recent earnings reports from General Motors (GM) and Ford portray a challenging time for Detroit. Both companies are relying more on potential tariff refunds and service-based revenue—not sales—to support profitability, while electric vehicle (EV) losses continue to deplete cash flow.
Management commentary from both firms highlights the pressures facing the sector.
Sales Volume Decline
GM held its April 28 conference call after it released its first-quarter results.
The company opened its presentation by citing a possible $500 million tariff refund following a Supreme Court ruling that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when imposing tariffs on U.S. trade partners. The federal government launched an online portal called Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries on April 20, allowing importers to submit claims for tariff refunds.
Overall, GM’s earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) reached $4.3 billion, supported by approximately $750 million in year-over-year improvements driven by lower EV losses, foreign exchange benefits, reduced warranty expenses, emissions-related regulatory savings, and the tariff adjustment. EV-related charges, meanwhile, totaled $1.1 billion for the quarter.
“We are continuing to execute our plan to return to 8 percent to 10 percent EBIT-adjusted margins in North America for the full year,” Chair and CEO Mary T. Barra said during the earnings call.
EBIT-adjusted margin is a measure of operating profit that excludes one-time or non-core items to better reflect underlying business performance.
Barra said the company achieved a 10.1 percent EBIT-adjusted margin in the first quarter, including a 1.5 percentage point benefit from an accounting adjustment tied to the Supreme Court tariff decision. Excluding the tariff-related benefit, the core margin would be 8.6 percent.
Despite these gains, total revenue declined at an annualized rate of roughly $400 million, reflecting lower EV wholesale volumes and flat internal combustion engine wholesale volumes.
One bright spot in GM’s report was growth in digital services. OnStar revenue exceeded $750 million for the quarter, marking an increase of more than 20 percent from a year earlier. The company also strengthened its position in the crossover market, with sales rising from a little more than 40 percent to more than 46 percent following the 2023 update, gaining 2 percentage points of share in select models.
Ford reported similar dynamics. The company posted $43.3 billion in revenue, reflecting more than 6 percent growth despite a nearly 4 percent decline in volume, largely due to the exit of low-margin products.
Ford reported $3.5 billion in adjusted earnings before interest and taxes and recorded a one-time $1.3 billion tariff benefit, allocating $700 million to Ford Blue and $500 million to Ford Pro.
Recurring revenue streams also contributed to results. Paid software subscriptions under Ford Pro reached 879,000, up by 30 percent year over year. The company’s traditional gasoline-powered and commercial vehicle segments also delivered strong performance.
“Our strong first-quarter results and raised full-year guidance reflect the momentum of the Ford+ plan,” Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. “We are well prepared to deliver for our customers and shareholders as we enter one of the most intensive product, software and physical services rollouts in our history.”
Cash Flow Pressure
“The [Supreme Court’s] tariff ruling handed GM and Ford a total of $1.8 billion in windfall, cushioning their 2026 outlooks,” Patrizia Porrini, professor of management at Long Island University, said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
“The EV push is on hold just in time—Ford’s EV sales dropped 70 percent while GM is paying $1.1 [billion] just to exit electric supplier contracts. To clear stagnant lots of cars, Ford is launching cheaper entry-level trims for the Explorer and Bronco.”
Despite these supports, both companies continue to face cash flow pressure. GM’s automotive operating cash flow fell to $533 million from $2.4 billion a year earlier, while Ford reported a $1.9 billion free cash outflow.
Returns on invested capital also remain weak. Ford’s returns on invested capital stand at negative 2.54 percent, below its weighted average cost of capital of 3.53 percent, indicating value destruction. GM’s returns on invested capital, while positive at 1.04 percent, still trail its weighted average cost of capital of 4.42 percent.
These capital allocation challenges are not new. Both companies have recorded low and volatile net profit margins for more than a decade, generally staying in the low single digits.
Industry conditions have further tightened over the past year. The expiration of EV subsidies, the introduction of tariffs, and regulatory changes have reshaped both supply and demand.
Consumers have increasingly shifted away from EVs toward hybrids and traditional internal combustion vehicles, while also favoring domestically produced models.
At the same time, elevated inflation, high long-term interest rates, and signs of a weakening labor market have dampened demand for large discretionary purchases such as automobiles.
U.S. auto sales trended lower following a temporary surge in March 2025 ahead of tariff announcements. Preliminary data from MarkLines showed that vehicle sales declined at an annualized rate of 12.3 percent in March 2026, indicating weakening consumer demand.
Adapting to Market Correction
Meanwhile, hybrid vehicles continue to gain traction. The Energy Information Administration estimates that about 22 percent of light-duty vehicles sold in 2025 were hybrid, battery electric, or plug-in hybrid models, up from 20 percent in 2024.
“Consumers tend to prefer hybrids over EVs for greater affordability, as hybrids can reach cost parity with their internal combustion counterparts much more quickly across vehicle classes than EVs do, when you factor in purchase price, financing options, insurance, fuel, maintenance, repairs, and other factors that affect car ownership,” Steve Christensen, executive director of the Responsible Battery Coalition, told The Epoch Times.
Chris Neiger, a contributing auto analyst at The Motley Fool, said he believes that GM and its peers are in a tough spot.
“They sank billions into EV factories and supply chains, only to watch consumer demand crater as tax credits vanished,“ he told The Epoch Times. ”Rising gas prices from the Iran conflict are squeezing affordability further.
“The company is expected to reintroduce hybrids soon, but the lag could cost them, as competitors who never ditched hybrids swoop in to meet customer demand.”
Porrini said she believes that Detroit is using truck profits and a surprise tariff windfall to bridge what she calls an “EV demand drought.”
“Carmakers aren’t just building cars; they’re buying time to fix their electric math while monetizing the loyal drivers they already have,” she said.
Christensen said he sees automakers building what consumers want to buy at prices they can afford.
“What we’re seeing now is the auto industry adapting to a market correction following the cutback in federal EV subsidies, which were needed to lower manufacturing costs and incentivize consumers to buy EVs,” he said.
EPA Announces Massive Deregulatory Action to Make Vehicles More Affordable
From The Epoch Times
The decision comes as auto companies have lost billions of dollars investing in manufacturing EVs, the agency said.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a deregulatory action to delay compliance deadlines for Biden-era emission standards, in a bid to make vehicles more affordable for Americans while ensuring greater consumer choice, the agency said in a May 14 statement.
In March 2024, the Biden-administered EPA issued new rules regarding tailpipe emissions applicable to light-duty and medium-duty vehicles for model years 2027 and beyond. The regulations sought to “significantly reduce” greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and hydrocarbons from new light trucks, passenger cars, and larger pickups and vans.
The changes were projected to help tackle what the Biden-era EPA called “climate crisis” and reduce air pollution after the agency set limits on gas emissions. For instance, in passenger cars, the greenhouse gas emission limit was set at 139 grams of carbon dioxide per mile, which should reduce to 73 grams by 2032.
These regulations were expected to bring down carbon dioxide emissions by 7.2 billion tons through 2055, with the EPA saying there would be almost $100 billion in annual net benefits to American citizens, including $62 billion in lower fuel costs and maintenance costs, and $13 billion in public health benefits due to better air quality.
At the time, the EPA said that the emission standards were expected to “accelerate the transition to clean vehicle technologies.”
Between model years 2030–2032, around 30–56 percent of new light-duty vehicles and roughly 20–32 percent of new medium-duty vehicles were projected to be battery-electric vehicles, the document said.
In its May 14 statement, EPA said it was proposing to delay the compliance deadlines for these standards by two more years, until the beginning of model year (MY) 2029, since U.S. citizens have “overwhelmingly rejected” electric vehicles. Moreover, auto manufacturers have lost billions of dollars investing in the production of these vehicles, the agency stated.
The emission standards were “based on faulty assumptions by the Biden Administration that EVs would make up a significant percentage of MY 2027 and beyond fleets, causing the administration to set unrealistic emission standards for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles,” the EPA said.
If the proposal is finalized, it would allow auto companies to continue complying with current standards that “deliver substantial emissions reductions of up to 80 percent, for MY 2027 and MY 2028 vehicles,” according to the agency.
This would allow manufacturers to phase in the new emission standards starting with MY 2029 vehicles, “that better fit consumer demand for fewer EVs.”
The EPA said its proposal is estimated to save $1.7 billion, providing American families with hundreds of dollars in savings per vehicle.
“Freedom is the foundation of this nation, and this includes the freedom to choose the car you drive. The American people have been very clear; they do not want EVs forced upon them,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said.
“This proposal aims to return EPA regulations to reality, restoring consumer choice, protecting good-paying American jobs, and strengthening the nation’s global competitiveness” while the agency works to reconsider the emission standards, he said.
Ending EV Investments
In a May 15 statement, consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen criticized the EPA decision, saying that the agency’s proposal will allow automakers to sell polluting cars.
“The decision will not just cost lives; it will cost working-class people more money in medical bills, more missed days of work, and more years chained to volatile gas prices,” said Deanna Noel, deputy director with the organization’s Climate Program.
“Working families are already stretched thin. Everything from groceries to home insurance to gas is getting more expensive, with no end in sight. Delaying commonsense emissions standards will only make communities sicker and send costs higher.”
In its recent statement, the EPA said that major auto manufacturers were already cutting down their electric vehicle fleets and related developments.
For instance, in January, General Motors announced a $6 billion write-down on its electric line. The company also canceled contracts with EV battery suppliers. Stellantis said it would cut its entire plug-in EV lineup for this year.
In December, Ford announced the cancellation of its flagship electric truck, the F-150 Lightning, after losing around $13 billion on its electric vehicle line since 2023.
The corporate decisions were taken after President Donald Trump ended a $7,500 tax credit for the purchase of electric vehicles in September, which had affected sales of these vehicles.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, which immediately followed the end of the tax credit, EVs made up only 5.8 percent of new cars sold in the United States, down from 10.5 percent in the third quarter, according to data from vehicle valuation company Kelley Blue Book.
AI license plate cameras tore this town apart and led to a state of emergency
From The Washington Post via archive.today
In Troy, New York, residents and city officials are at odds over police use of Flock cameras, which some call a safety tool and others see as surveillance.
The civic uproar began quietly, when a mom walking her newborn spotted a strange black contraption at the end of her block: a camera topped with a solar panel.
Dierdre Shea researched the camera and learned that it was an artificial-intelligence-assisted license plate reader — the type that have caused privacy concerns across the country in recent months, leading to laws limiting their use in more than a dozen states.
She emailed her neighbors, sparking fierce debate in this town of 52,000 overlooking the Hudson River. Citizens called for the devices to be taken off the streets, and the Republican mayor, who supports the cameras, clashed with the Democratic city council, which tried to halt funding for them.
Last month, Mayor Carmella Mantello, flanked by officers in blue, accused the city council of “defunding” the police and declared a state of emergency to keep the cameras running, a designation usually reserved for floods and blizzards.
“I will not put our city in jeopardy and take these cameras away,” she said.
The cameras at the heart of the debate are run by Flock Safety, a technology company that has built a network of automatic license plate readers in more than 6,000 communities across the country in recent years.
Flock’s system uses AI-enabled cameras to snap photos of every vehicle that passes, creating a digital “fingerprint” that includes data as personal as bumper stickers or gun racks.
Flock cameras are beloved by police because officers can use the company’s national database to track vehicle movements to recover drugs and stolen automobiles, and to solve even more serious crimes. A company spokesman said in a statement that the devices support “communities across the country in addressing crime and locating missing people.”
“At Flock, we believe safety and privacy should go hand in hand, which is why our technology is built around transparency, accountability, and local control,” Chris Castaldo, Flock Safety’s chief information security officer, said in a statement. “Our platform includes safeguards like audit trails to help ensure accountability at every step.”
Yet the company’s rapid expansion has given rise to citizen concerns about intrusive surveillance, worries that have intensified amid reports that federal immigration enforcement officials used the system to target immigrants.
A national mapping project for the license plate readers, DeFlock, estimates that there are more than 90,000 in use in the United States and that over 60 communities have canceled or rejected contracts with Flock and other companies. “Get the Flock Out” is the mantra.
The cameras are not just unpopular in blue states: In tiny Bandera, Texas, the city council voted to terminate its contract with Flock after the public raised concerns and someone vandalized one of the cameras, a move one local news outlet dubbed “extrajudicial Wild West ‘cowboy justice.’”
Here in Troy, City Council President Sue Steele said police installed 26 cameras without council approval or citizen input, a move that has people on edge. The council is reviewing why no one other than the police department signed off on the initial contract; anything over $35,000 typically requires council approval.
The council has sued the mayor over the emergency declaration and is now considering a law that would limit the cameras’ use.
“I think it was done secretly, and when you aren’t transparent that angers people,” Steele said. “It touches on the nerve of ’1984,’ and ‘Big Brother is watching you.’”
‘Network of surveillance’
Shea, who lives in Troy, was initially perplexed when she first noticed the camera at an intersection about a block from her canal-side home.
She’d heard about Flock cameras but had never seen one, and it quickly became clear that was the device she’d encountered on her walk. She and her partner joked about splattering the camera with a paint-filled water balloon or taking it down with a slingshot.
Flock Safety is one of the largest companies in the rapidly expanding field of AI-powered license plate readers, marketing the systems to police, private companies and homeowner associations as 24-hour surveillance tools.
Proponents say the cameras are a cheap and effective tool to aid police, and they dismiss arguments by the American Civil Liberties Union and others that the surveillance violates Fourth Amendment rights. Flock noted in its statement that courts have ruled that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in public roadways.
But the cameras also enable law enforcement to monitor public spaces with little accountability and track driver whereabouts that could reveal personal movements, such as attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting or visiting an immigration lawyer, said Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, a law professor at George Washington University and the author of the book “Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self-Surveillance.”
“This inescapable network of surveillance gives police a new power that they didn’t have,” Ferguson said.
Some communities have discontinued or rejected contracts with Flock Safety over concerns about data security and privacy, and fears that the technology could be used to target immigrants.
Last year, Flock canceled pilot programs with Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s investigative arm to combat fentanyl and human trafficking.
However, privacy experts said federal immigration officers are still able to access Flock’s database through local law enforcement partners. In a study last fall, the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights showed that several agencies in that state shared Flock data with the U.S. Border Patrol last year. The Ohio community of Shaker Heights this month limited searches on its Flock camera systems after activists uncovered documents showing that law enforcement had conducted more than 200 immigration searches.
And there have been other high-profile incidents of misuse, such as the Kansas police chief who was forced to resign after he used Flock camera data to stalk his ex-girlfriend.
Shea, 39, an industrial designer, moved to Troy from the San Francisco Bay Area during the pandemic, part of wave of transplants who have driven the city’s transformation from a fading industrial town to a vibrant hub for tech companies and other businesses. She said she is “not a super political activist type person,” but in February she sent an email to neighbors and friends with the subject line “Flock Cameras in Troy — Please Share.”
“There are multiple ways that our personhood is being taken from us by tech companies,” she said. “I know you can’t do something about it a lot of times, but this is a time we can do something about it.”
A group of activists coalesced to write letters, testify and show up outside City Hall to chant “It’s surveillance, not safety!” Much of their ire has been directed at Mantello, a Troy native whose father was a police detective and who has been an enthusiastic — if blustery — booster of her hometown during her first term.
Steele said that until Shea and the others drew attention to it, the city council was not aware of Troy’s more than two dozen Flock cameras, which had been up for years, first installed as a pilot in 2021 and later expanded.
Troy’s deputy police chief, Steven Barker, said the department signed up for the program after a spate of drive-by shootings and followed the normal procurement procedure for the contract, now $156,000 for two years.
“The cameras are used in almost every investigation our detective bureau pursues,” Barker said, noting that they provided information to solve major crimes, including two homicides. The data is deleted after 30 days, and the police “paused” the town’s participation in the national database in March after outcry.
Shikole Struber, a council member who works in cybersecurity, said she has questions about Flock’s methods of securing data. She said the company hasn’t provided any compliance reports or documentation to the council showing how it is protecting data, after repeated requests, and the police have released only partial audits of the material.
“I am absolutely concerned with the security of Flock still,” she said.
More than 150 people showed up to a city council meeting on March 19 to protest the cameras, crowding into the tiny chamber and spilling down the hall. The mood was raucous. Steele repeatedly pounded her gavel at protesters, who shouted “You’re lying!” at one point when Mantello tried to speak.
The council directed city staff to pause payments to Flock, prompting Mantello to declare the state of emergency to pay the company the $78,000 owed to keep the cameras on.
She accused the council of overstepping its legislative authority. “We are not going to jeopardize public safety here in the city,” she said in an interview.
‘A dramatic escalation’
This month, the council released a proposal for a new law that would limit use of the cameras, requiring most data to be deleted after two days. The mayor has already called it “dangerous, misguided and a gift to criminals.”
It could take weeks to approve. Meanwhile, the city remains under a state of emergency. On Tuesday, the council sued the mayor, demanding that she vacate her “illegal” action.
“The city of Troy is now under a perpetual state of emergency over Flock, which is ridiculous,” Steele said.
At one recent council meeting, Shea and other activists also urged the mayor to rescind the emergency declaration, suggesting that Mantello is making Troy seem like a dangerous place. One carried a mock Flock camera and a sign that said “I’m Surveillance Not Safety.” Another read a list of past emergency declarations Mantello had made during her time as mayor, including for the demolition of a decrepit hotdog restaurant.
Mantello, who has defended the declarations, stood in the back with her aides, smiling, seemingly unbothered by the criticism.
“It just feels like such a dramatic escalation of events,” Shea said from the lectern when it was her turn to speak. “I don’t think the mayor and the police department really understand how these cameras work — and they have not provided any concrete data as to why they are deserving of emergency funding.”
After she was finished, she darted up to the mayor and whispered, “I really mean it, I think we should meet.”
“Sure, sure, sure,” the mayor said, still smiling.
Despite the activists’ pleas, however, the mayor’s position has not changed. The state of emergency will remain in force, she said. And, she added, the cameras are never coming down.
A few things to know before stealing my 914
From Hagerty
Dear Thief,
Welcome to my Porsche 914. I imagine that at this point (having found the door unlocked) your intention is to steal my car. Don’t be encouraged by this; the tumblers sheared off in 1978. I would have locked it up if I could, so don’t think you’re too clever or that I’m too lazy. However, now that you’re in the car, there are a few things you’re going to need to know. First, the battery is disconnected, so slide-hammering my ignition switch is not your first step. I leave the battery disconnected, not to foil hoodlums such as yourself, but because there is a mysterious current drain from the 40-year-old German wiring harness that I can’t locate and/or fix. So, connect the battery first. Good luck finding the engine cover release. Or the engine, for that matter.
Now, you can skip your slide hammer. The ignition switch’s tumblers are so worn that any flat-bladed screwdriver or pair of scissors will do. Don’t tell anyone.
Once you’ve figured that out and try to start the car, you’ll run into some trouble. The car is most likely in reverse gear, given that the parking brake cable froze up sometime during the Carter administration. Since there is not a clutch safety switch on the starting circuit, make sure to press the clutch down before you try to crank the engine. (I don’t want you running into my other car in the driveway.) This is doubly necessary because my starter is too weak to crank the clutch-transmission input shaft assembly with any success.
With the clutch pedal depressed, the engine should turn over fast enough to get things going. But first, you’ll need to press the gas pedal to the floor exactly four times. Not three. Not five. Four. The dual Webers don’t have chokes and you’ll be squirting fuel down the barrels with the accelerator pumps for the necessary priming regime. If you don’t do it right, the car won’t start before the battery gives up the ghost. Consider yourself forewarned.
If you’ve followed along so far, the engine should fire right up. Don’t be fooled—it will die in eight seconds when the priming fuel runs out. Repeat the gas pedal priming procedure, but only pump two times. Deviate from this routine at your own peril.
Now you have the engine running. Make sure the green oil light in the dash goes out. If it does not, you only have about 100 yards to drive before the engine locks up, so be attentive. If all goes well with the oil pressure, you may now attend to the gear shift lever. Some explanation follows.
This is a Porsche 914. It has a mid-engine layout. The transmission is in the far back of the car, and the shift linkage’s main component is a football-field-long steel rod formed loosely in the shape of your lower intestine. Manipulating the gear shift lever will deliver vague suggestions to this rod, which, in turn, will tickle small parts deep within the dark bowels of the transaxle case. It is akin to hitting a bag of gears with a stick, hopefully finding one that works.
If you are successful in finding first gear (there is a shift pattern printed on the knob; they say German engineers don’t have a sense of humor), congratulations. You may launch the vehicle into motion.
Do not become emboldened by your progress, as you will quickly need to shift to another gear. Ouija boards are more communicative than the shift knob you will be trusting to aid your efforts. Depress the clutch as you would in any car, and pull the knob from its secure location out of first gear. Now you will become adrift in the zone known to early Porsche owners as “Neverland” and your quest will be to find second gear. Prepare yourself for a ten-second-or-so adventure. Do not go straight forward with the shift knob, as you will only find Reverse waiting there to mock you with a shriek of high-speed gear teeth machining themselves into round cylinders. Should you hear this noise, retreat immediately to the only easy spot to find in this transmission: neutral. This is a safe place, no real damage can occur here, but alas, no forward motion will happen either. From this harbor of peace, you can re-attempt to find second, but you may just want to go for any “port in a storm”, given that the traffic behind you is now cheering you on in your quest with vigorous horn-honks of support and encouragement. Most 914 owners at this point pull over to the side of the road and feign answering a cell phone call to a) avoid further humiliation; b) allow traffic to pass; and c) gather the courage for another first gear start. You may choose to do likewise.
If you press onward without taking a break, you may re-enter first. This is how the car mocks you for your lack of skill, but sometimes it is the only path forward. Once you are ready to again try for second, I can offer some advice. One trick that works is to declutch the transmission, pull the lever from the first-gear position, enter into the aforementioned neutral zone, and then rapidly wig-wag the shift knob side-to-side along a lateral axis. If you move the knob quickly enough, the transmission will be out-smarted and cannot anticipate your next move. It is at this time that you should re-attempt to enter second, and most likely you will do so. Surprise is your best weapon against this transmission.
The move to third should be straightforward, as it’s the only easily-accessible gear in the set. You should now be out of my neighborhood and on the main four-lane road. Third gear will be good for 45 mph, so I would advise you just staying there. Trying to get to fourth gear will only frustrate you and your nearby drivers (see: first-to-second shift).
You don’t need to check for gasoline in the car. It will be full, even though the fuel gauge reads zero. The odometer reads “0”, not because it was reset when I filled the tank, but because it is just broken. Ignore it. If it is night, and it most likely will be, you will need to turn on the lights. I’ll leave it to you to find the switch since I’ve helped a lot so far. Suffice to say that once you get them active, you will find that the seven inch sealed beams from 1971 will only illuminate sufficient roadway for travel below 45 mph. Since you are still in third , this shouldn’t be a problem. Oh, and the lights only work on high beam, so ignore the flashing lights and vulgar gestures from opposing traffic.
By now you’ve certainly noticed the smell. That is the aroma of Mobil 1 oil being boiled off of long sections of horizontal exhaust pipes, which were cleverly encased by the factory with a second shroud of oil-holding chambers. They filled with oil during my last drive and you are now operating a small thermal refinery that is making light short-chained vaporous hydrocarbons from what was once $8-a-quart oil. They are being conveniently routed to the cabin through carefully formed channels in the heating system, plus the rust holes in the floor provided by Mother Nature herself over the past few decades.
You’ll feel less dizzy if you open a window. But mind that driver’s window does not work, so you’ll have to lean over and roll down the passenger window half-way. I say half-way in a manner that will become apparent once you try to get the window to go all the way down, which it will refuse to do. Instead, simply open the driver’s door slightly and drive along, as I do. Once the oil vapors are exhumed from the cabin, you should start to feel a little better. There is a rag behind the driver’s seat that you can use to wipe the oil film off of the inside of the windshield.
Knowing which road you’re probably on by now, you will be hitting stop lights. Try as hard as you can to not bring the 914 to a stop. The brake system is ideal for this situation, being known more as “scrubbers” than “brakes”. Since you can’t effectively stop the car, use this to your advantage and don’t try. Remember: You certainly don’t want to have to go back into first.
If you have made it within sight of to the highway entrance, don’t get any ideas. The front right wheel is severely bent and the vibration at velocities above 50 mph will crack the windshield and cause the doors to open by themselves. So stay on the surface streets, stoplights notwithstanding.
It may be at this point that you consider abandoning the car to avoid further calamity. There is an Exxon station right before the freeway entrance. The last guy who stole my 914 used this very spot and it was rather convenient for all concerned parties. I suggest you ditch the car there and scope out a nice, reliable Camry to heist.
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