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Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Rep. Gene Green (D-TX) introduced the "Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act of 2015" in June, legislation that SEMA has pursued since 2011. It received strong bi-partisan support and was inserted into the highway bill.



The vehicles are required to meet current model year emissions standards, although companies are permitted to install engines from other EPA-certified vehicles to help achieve that requirement. The vehicles are exempt from federal vehicle safety standards that apply to motor vehicles (roof crush, side impact, bumper standard, etc.). The exemption recognizes that it is impractical to apply current model year standards to vehicles designed decades ago (ex: 1930’s roadster) or crash a vehicle when only a few are being produced.



"This law gives enthusiasts the opportunity to buy turn-key replica cars while preserving their option to build one from a kit," said SEMA Chairman of the Board Doug Evans. "It recognizes the unique circumstances associated with limited production replica vehicles, such as the ’32 Roadster and ’65 Cobra, which are primarily used in exhibitions, parades and occasional transportation.

But wait, that’s not all. There’s a section before the weigh station where the left hand lane signs start about three miles before the left hand lane ends completely, so they direct the traffic to the left and then say, “Just kidding!” and the lane ends.



http://www.overdriveonline.com/impossible-dreams-of-obeying-the-law/

http://www.overdriveonline.com/results-the-top-10-trucking-songs-of-all-time/



1) 6 days on the road

2) East bound and down

Teddy Bear

Convoy

Roll On 18 wheeler

Prisoner of the highway

Drivin my life away

Movin on

Phantom 309

10) Give me 40 acres

Found on https://www.facebook.com/VinVanCo/



Looks a lot damn cooler than a Ranchero.

Indicted on one count each of embezzlement after allegedly using Fuelman cards to purchase fuel for their personal vehicles, and truck drivers and then collecting cash from the drivers.



http://cdllife.com/2015/top-trucking-news/dot-employees-arrested-for-fuel-card-embezzlement/

Every now and then we see a restoration shop or specialist’s business listed in the Hemmings classifieds, but this automotive sculpture business for sale on Hemmings.com is an enterprise like no other, constructing one-off hand-built scale wireframes of popular cars. It seems like there’s a lot of opportunity here, too – given that they’re one-offs, they could easily be personalized and tailored to match customers’ full-scale cars. From the seller’s description:

Home operated 3/8″ tubular steel 1:4 scale auto art sculpture manufacturing and business. Current work featured in International auto publication. Reasonable welding and metal fabrication experience required. Retired artist/owner will train. Company can be operated anywhere in the USA.

Superformance’s Corvette Grand Sport, photo courtesy Superformance.

Though it seemed like it was going nowhere fast since it first came to light over the summer, the federal legislation designed to ease restrictions on builders of replica cars leapfrogged into law this past weekend, opening the door to a wider variety of vehicles to hit the road.

“We’re excited about it,” said James Espey, vice president of the DeLorean Motor Company. “It’s going to do for the U.S. car hobby what the Europeans have enjoyed for decades. It’ll definitely change the way we do business.”

Introduced in Congress in June of this year, the Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act of 2015 proposed to exempt builders of replica vehicles from the same safety testing and other obligations that much larger carmakers are subject to. To get around those obligations, those smaller builders resorted to workarounds such as offering their vehicles in kit form or minus the engine and then requiring the customer to finish the car.

Those workarounds are no longer necessary now that the language of the stalled Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act has been incorporated into the $305 billion highway funding bill (H.R. 22, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015), which became law Friday evening. As SEMA Action Network summarized the new law, replica carbuilders (defined as those that build less than 5,000 cars globally per year) can sell as many as 325 turnkey cars using EPA or CARB-certified current model year engines starting in 2017. The law instructs the NHTSA and EPA to come up with guidelines between now and then.

SEMA President Chris Kersting hailed the new law as a boon to the car hobby. “With this new law, Congress has demonstrated that it understands the importance of enabling U.S. companies to produce classic-themed vehicles that are virtually impossible to build under the current one-size-fits-all regulatory framework,” he said in a press release. “This program will create auto sector jobs and meet consumer demand for cars that help preserve our American heritage.”

Factory Five 1933 Ford. Photo courtesy SEMA.

Other backers of the law note that it should also lead to more classic vehicle designs hitting the road.

“I think we will see a lot of interesting vehicles come out of this – there’s a whole lot of companies that have been really involved in this – 50 to 75, I’d say,” said Steve Contarino, who plans to revive the Checker as low-volume livery and light utility vehicles. “In fact, I feel it might make this class of vehicles safer – you won’t have as many people who don’t know what they’re doing putting in an engine if they can just buy a completed vehicle.”

While Contarino doesn’t plan to enter production for a few more years, Espey said that DeLorean is positioned well to take advantage of the new law as soon as possible.

“We literally have enough parts to build 500 cars,” Espey said. “Up until now, we’ve started with an old car, stripped it down and built it back up again, but this will allow us to build brand-new 2017 DeLoreans, assembled from the ground up, the way we wanted to do it from the beginning.”

Espey said DeLorean is currently in talks with two OEM engine builders, at least one of which can supply an EPA-certified 360hp 3.7L V-6. “That’s the best of both worlds,” Espey said. “You get a modern powerplant that’s serviceable anywhere in the country without having to meet the onerous demands of testing the engine yourself.”

A “happy byproduct” of the law, Espey noted, is that carmakers such as DeLorean will most likely have to tool up to create currently unavailable parts for their replicas, something that should benefit owners and restorers of the cars the replicas are patterned after.

“We have a lot of dead inventory, and the only way to monetize that is to build a car,” he said. “That’s found money, and that’s more money that we can put into developing reproduction parts.”

The law, however, does not make room for low-volume builders of entirely new designs, something Espey believes will change provided the replica builders find success within this new framework.

“You might even see a brand-new DeLorean by 2020,” he said.

via Raymond Arsenault on Life and Business http://raymondarsenault.blogspot.com/2015/12/low-volume-replica-car-builders-get.html

The SAC Fire Boid, testing at Indianapolis in April of 1955. Photos courtesy Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Ironically, the first turbine-powered Indy Car wasn’t built to run in the Indianapolis 500, though it did test at the track and was used for exhibition laps during the 1955 race weekend. Instead, the SAC Fire Boid was a rolling billboard for the high-tech careers available in the Strategic Air Command, as well as a testament to the SAC’s “Hobby Shop” program established by Curtis LeMay.

Next month, the Fire Boid will appear at the third-annual Arizona Concours d’Elegance, which pays tribute to the 100^th running of the classic Memorial Day race with a display of significant Indy Cars and a panel discussion featuring past winners.

The Fire Boid didn’t begin its on-track life with a gas turbine engine. Instead, the 1950 Kurtis-Kraft KK3000 chassis was equipped with a 270-cu.in. Offenhauser four-cylinder, the dominant racing engine of the day. In 1952, the car was driven to a second-place finish at the Indianapolis 500 by Jim Rathman, but later retired. Eventually, it found its way into Firestone’s stable, where it was used for tire testing purposes.

Jim Rathman, driving the Kurtis Kraft KK3000 that would later become the Fire Boid.

Looking for a way to retain experienced air crews in the postwar years, General Curtis LeMay looked to improve life on base. One way to do so was to establish “Hobby Shops,” where Strategic Air Command airmen could pursue passions like auto mechanics in their off-hours. It was the Hobby Shop at Omaha, Nebraska’s, Offutt Air Force Base that first asked the question, “What would a turbine-powered Indy Car be capable of?”

Firestone loaned the Offutt crew a retired Kurtis Kraft chassis, while Boeing loaned the base a gas turbine engine, presumably one no longer fit for active duty in aircraft. Offutt personnel married the two, creating a car that was billed as the Fire Boid, likely a spin-off of the “Firebird” name used by GM on its turbine-powered concept car of 1953. With an output estimated at 195 horsepower, the transmission-less turbine car was said to have a top speed of 140 MPH, roughly the same speed run by pole sitter Jerry Hoyt.

Henry Banks (L), with the Fire Boid at Indy.

The Fire Boid was tested at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in April of 1955, and driven for exhibition laps during Memorial Day weekend by Henry Banks, a retired racer with six Indy 500 starts and three Formula One starts on his resume. The car’s purpose wasn’t to highlight the possibilities of turbine-powered race cars (though it’s quite possible the Fire Boid planted the idea in Andy Granatelli’s mind), but instead to promote the jet-age training one could receive in the Strategic Air Command.

Though the Fire Boid was built from loaned components, it was never parted out after its 1955 Indy appearance and instead became part of the IMS Museum’s permanent collection. To help the Arizona Concours d’Elegance recognize the 100^th running of the Indianapolis 500 in May 2016, the IMS Museum will also provide three additional cars from its collection, including a 1914 Duesenberg once raced by Eddie Rickenbacker; a front-drive Miller; and a 1964 Lotus-Ford, the car that predicted the end of the front-engine roadster era.

Eddie Rickenbacker with his 1914 Duesenberg racing car.

Indy drivers, including 1983 winner Tom Sneva and two-time winner Arie Luyendyk (1990 and 1997), will also be on hand for a panel discussion about their experiences on Saturday, January 23. The session will be moderated by Lyn St. James, a seven-time starter who, in 1992, became the first female driver to capture Rookie of the Year honors at the Brickyard.

The 2016 Arizona Concours d’Elegance will take place January 24, 2016, at the Arizona Biltmore resort in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information, visit ArizonaConcours.com.

via Raymond Arsenault on Life and Business http://raymondarsenault.blogspot.com/2015/12/fire-boid-first-turbine-powered-indy.html

Touring, the Great Automobile Card Game. Image by the author.