quirky

Toddler buys car on eBay

August 5, 2013 by Alastair Sloane

US toddler Sorella Stoute may not be able to say the word 'car' yet but that didn’t stop her from buying one on eBay. Sorella, 14 months old, bought the 1962 Austin Healey Sprite for US$225 using her father’s smartphone through the website’s app. Her shopping spree wasn’t kept secret for long, however, after Paul Stoute received an email requesting payment for the … [Read more...] about Toddler buys car on eBay

Learner driver rolls car in seconds

August 4, 2013 by Alastair Sloane

Clipping a curb or missing a gear change within seconds of taking your first driving test is every learner’s nightmare ... but to roll a car with the instructor screaming “Brake! Brake!” in your ear? That’s what happened to a South Korean woman who spectacularly failed her test within 10 seconds of starting it. The dashboard-mounted video footage was posted on YouTube and … [Read more...] about Learner driver rolls car in seconds

Do you have a favourite bumper sticker? If so add it to this list.

July 26, 2013 by Alastair Sloane

• Don’t steal – the government hates competition • If you object to logging, try using plastic toilet paper • Caution – blonde thinking • If blondes have more fun, how do they know? • My day is not complete until I’ve terrified a complete stranger • My carbon footprint is bigger than yours • Sometimes I wrestle with my demons – sometime we just … [Read more...] about Do you have a favourite bumper sticker? If so add it to this list.

If you are in a position to shell out upwards of NZ$600,000 for the 60^thanniversary Porsche 911 S/T or optional Porsche 911 S/T Heritage, you’ll no doubt want the signature titanium watch that goes with it. That’s how Porsche figures it anyway. Or, if you want the watch you’ll need to get the car. Both the car and the watch are limited to 1963 units, the year the original 911 model broke cover. The watch – Chronograph 1 911 S/T and Chronograph 1 911 S/T Heritage – and the car carry matching edition numbers. The watch is priced at $US13,500, or around $NZ22,200. The car, says Porsche NZ, starts at $NZ608,000. A “strictly limited number” will go into production for NZ early next year.

Eight European Union countries are pushing to weaken new EU emissions limits for cars, saying they are overly ambitious and unrealistic for carmakers to hit. The eight countries – France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – said in a joint paper that parts of the proposed Euro 7 regulation, including curbs on exhaust pipe emissions, should be scrapped entirely. They said the limits would force carmakers to invest in improving exhaust emissions performance, money which would be better spent on developing zero-emission vehicles. Taken together, the countries would have enough votes to block the proposal.

A go-anywhere EV concept for the US military uses an onboard 12kW diesel generator to top up the batteries on the move. The all-wheel-drive has 800-volt technology and a 200kWh battery pack to power three electric motors, two in the rear and one up front. Claimed output is 745kW/15,590Nm, or 1000hp and 11,500 ft-lb of torque. The four-seater was developed by the defence division of General Motors and is based on the platform of the Hummer SUV. It rides on Fox performance shock absorbers and 37-inch tyres and comes with “exceptional” approach and departure angles for off-road mobility. Maximum range using the generator to keep things ticking over is said to be around 500km.

The outside temperature in Midland, Texas, was 40.5C when staff at the local office of the US National Weather Service set out to show the cabin of a closed car can literally get baking hot in summer. They mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and laid them on the car’s dashboard – the surface of which showed a temperature of 87.7C. A little over four hours later the cookies were ready to eat. “Even though ours weren’t golden brown, we can confirm that they are done and delicious,” the staff wrote on Facebook.