When I started doing this, there were a few intrepid auto bloggers, pounding away in obscurity.
Then AOL bought Autoblog, and made it into a press release firehose. Jalopnik tries hard to keep up, but does it with more flair, OfficeSpace style. Eric of AngryEngineer was seduced by the dark side ("Jedi mind tricks don't work on me, only money") and joined Autoblog, wrote some kickass how-to articles, then disappeared.
Joe over at MyFordDreams, apparently worn down by his beloved Ford's inability to gain traction, slowed down to a trickle and then stopped. Now Carpundit has thrown in the keyboard, with the mysterious sign off "I am done with this blog. Blogging is over for me; three years was enough. Bye.". Automuse, perhaps the only female autoblogger, is very slow, but might still be going.
On the bright side, we now have Mark Tapscott, who took over the Carnival of Cars duties, and who actually gets on TV every now and then. Keep it up, Mark! And Pete De Lorenzo of AutoExtremist still throws it down weekly, pulling no punches.
Blogging is actually a lot of work, if you want to say something you think is your own, and don't want to sound stupid--although I can't claim to avoid that consistently. It's easy to repackage a news story from the Detroit News or a press release from Isuzu, harder to come up with a coherent commentary on what it means.
Do you have an opinion? Why don't you try your hand? We need more real bloggers, guys who sit in their basements in furry slippers at 2:00am trying to shout some common sense at the people in the private jets.
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Monday, August 20, 2007
Cheap Insurance: Gerber Seat Belt Cutter
After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, my wife asked me if we could get some seat belt cutters "just in case". She wanted some extra confidence, in case she was ever trapped in her car, or needed to help someone else out.
I did a Google search, and found a very nice tool made by Gerber, which also makes the excellent Multi Plier multi-tool (second only to the high end Leatherman tools). Amazon sells it (here) for a very reasonable $5 plus shipping.
The knife has a simple and easy to use design, with a cutting hook on one end, made from two opposed straight blades, a body made of tough black plastic, and a nylon lanyard at the other end. To use it, you hook the cutting end over a seatbelt and pull, drawing the two blades through the fabric.
Once you get one of these, another important consideration is where to keep it. If it is in your trunk, or the back of your glovebox, it won't do you much good. A better way to keep it is to use duct tape or velcro tape to affix the cutter to the underside of the driver's seat, or a similar out of the way surface, where you can grab it quickly and easily.
Will you ever need a seat belt cutter? Probably and hopefully not. But for $5, it is a cheap bit of extra insurance.
P.S. I also keep a center punch, to easily break safety glass with. $10 at any hardware store.
I did a Google search, and found a very nice tool made by Gerber, which also makes the excellent Multi Plier multi-tool (second only to the high end Leatherman tools). Amazon sells it (here) for a very reasonable $5 plus shipping.
The knife has a simple and easy to use design, with a cutting hook on one end, made from two opposed straight blades, a body made of tough black plastic, and a nylon lanyard at the other end. To use it, you hook the cutting end over a seatbelt and pull, drawing the two blades through the fabric.
Once you get one of these, another important consideration is where to keep it. If it is in your trunk, or the back of your glovebox, it won't do you much good. A better way to keep it is to use duct tape or velcro tape to affix the cutter to the underside of the driver's seat, or a similar out of the way surface, where you can grab it quickly and easily.
Will you ever need a seat belt cutter? Probably and hopefully not. But for $5, it is a cheap bit of extra insurance.
P.S. I also keep a center punch, to easily break safety glass with. $10 at any hardware store.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
A Few Dream Cruise Photos
I went to the Woodward Dream Cruise late, when it was starting to rain, and didn't really see much that was all that new or exciting. There were lots and lots of 60's and 70's muscle cars, which get old after a few minutes. Here are a few photos I grabbed.
A carefully restored 1965 Volvo. With Arabic script on the rear window.
A not yet carefully restored Volvo.
This dog was posing in front of his owner's hot-rod.
The street preachers took up shop outside the Hall Of
The Mountain King, near some Avantis.
DSC03120.jpg)
Near the Ford area, some Edsels (still ugly after all these years).
In the upper right is an experimental hydrogen fuel cell powered Edge.
DSC03121.jpg)
This horned monster truck was cruising through the
Birmingham shopping district. Too much, dude, too much.
DSC03122.jpg)
A segway nerd scoots past a non-plussed Oakland County sheriff.
The Dream Cruise experience was under-whelming. Too many muscle cars, not enough really old cars. I did see a restored deuce-and-a-half WWII vintage truck cruising around, which was neat. There was also a cube van plastered with huge photos of dismembered fetuses, to protest abortion, which was not. I am pro-life, but man, don't rub it in my face like that. There were a lot of for sale signs on cars--if you were in the market for an expensive toy, you could have done very well at the Dream Cruise this year.
A carefully restored 1965 Volvo. With Arabic script on the rear window.
A not yet carefully restored Volvo. 
This dog was posing in front of his owner's hot-rod. 
The street preachers took up shop outside the Hall OfThe Mountain King, near some Avantis.
DSC03120.jpg)
Near the Ford area, some Edsels (still ugly after all these years). In the upper right is an experimental hydrogen fuel cell powered Edge.
DSC03121.jpg)
This horned monster truck was cruising through theBirmingham shopping district. Too much, dude, too much.
DSC03122.jpg)
A segway nerd scoots past a non-plussed Oakland County sheriff. The Dream Cruise experience was under-whelming. Too many muscle cars, not enough really old cars. I did see a restored deuce-and-a-half WWII vintage truck cruising around, which was neat. There was also a cube van plastered with huge photos of dismembered fetuses, to protest abortion, which was not. I am pro-life, but man, don't rub it in my face like that. There were a lot of for sale signs on cars--if you were in the market for an expensive toy, you could have done very well at the Dream Cruise this year.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Video Idiots, Vol 7: How Not To Remove A Pole
No, his bumper does not come off. It's about as bad, though.
How Not To Remove A Basketball Hoop - Watch more free videos
How Not To Remove A Basketball Hoop - Watch more free videos
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Syd's Eastside Awarded Interstate-McBee Distributorship
Syd's Eastside has been awarded dealer and distributor rights to carry, sell and promote the Interstate-McBee line of quality aftermarket parts for industrial heavy equipment and machinery engines.
Syd's Eastside has spent the past week or so updating its aftermarket heavy equipment and machinery engine parts website at Diesel Rebuild Parts to reflect the addition of this new parts line and manufacturer.
Interstate-McBee represents a significant expansion into our offerings of aftermarket parts for industrial engines both in the addition of more parts offered for CAT products, as well as in the additional brands supported by Interstate-McBee parts. The scope of heavy equipment engine and/or fuel injection parts is broad and includes such names as:
Furthermore, Interstate-McBee quality aftermarket products covers more rebuild parts than available through our IPD parts offers, including fuel injector parts, fuel pump rebuild kits and diesel cylinder heads for CAT, Cummins, Detroit Diesel and Navistar. This means that even our current line of performance engineered CAT aftermarket parts from IPD is further enhanced by Interstate-McBee since we can now offer more parts availability, more parts supported and more complete options for our customers.
Therefore, it is with great pride and excitement that we announce the availability of the complete line of Interstate-McBee quality replacement parts for industrial application engines.
Interstate-McBee started business 60 years ago rebuilding fuel injection systems and soon became an OEM fuel injector manufacturer for Detroit Diesel and others by innovating and introducing new technology into the industry.
Interstate-McBee continued to grow and now manufactures a wide array of replacement parts for many brands of industrial engines which it can stand behind by maintaining high quality control in its manufacturing process.
We hope that you will enjoy this new addition into our aftermarket components catalog. This expansion of the Diesel Rebuild Parts website represents the continued and active development of our aftermarket automotive parts and product line. Look for more developments and announcements to come in our aftermarket parts offerings in the future.
-Syd's Eastside Auto Parts
Please Note the Following Marks & Intellectual Properties:
Syd's Eastside has spent the past week or so updating its aftermarket heavy equipment and machinery engine parts website at Diesel Rebuild Parts to reflect the addition of this new parts line and manufacturer.
Interstate-McBee represents a significant expansion into our offerings of aftermarket parts for industrial engines both in the addition of more parts offered for CAT products, as well as in the additional brands supported by Interstate-McBee parts. The scope of heavy equipment engine and/or fuel injection parts is broad and includes such names as:
- Caterpillar
- Cummins
- Detroit Diesel
- Navistar
- Komatsu
- American Bosch
- Robert Bosch
- Delphi (Lucas, CAV, & Simms)
- Stanadyne
- John Deere
- Ford
Furthermore, Interstate-McBee quality aftermarket products covers more rebuild parts than available through our IPD parts offers, including fuel injector parts, fuel pump rebuild kits and diesel cylinder heads for CAT, Cummins, Detroit Diesel and Navistar. This means that even our current line of performance engineered CAT aftermarket parts from IPD is further enhanced by Interstate-McBee since we can now offer more parts availability, more parts supported and more complete options for our customers.
Therefore, it is with great pride and excitement that we announce the availability of the complete line of Interstate-McBee quality replacement parts for industrial application engines.
Interstate-McBee started business 60 years ago rebuilding fuel injection systems and soon became an OEM fuel injector manufacturer for Detroit Diesel and others by innovating and introducing new technology into the industry.
Interstate-McBee continued to grow and now manufactures a wide array of replacement parts for many brands of industrial engines which it can stand behind by maintaining high quality control in its manufacturing process.
We hope that you will enjoy this new addition into our aftermarket components catalog. This expansion of the Diesel Rebuild Parts website represents the continued and active development of our aftermarket automotive parts and product line. Look for more developments and announcements to come in our aftermarket parts offerings in the future.
-Syd's Eastside Auto Parts
Please Note the Following Marks & Intellectual Properties:
- Cummins is a registered trademark of Cummins Engine Company.
- Detroit Diesel is a registered trademark of Detroit Diesel Corporation.
- CAT and Caterpillar are registered trademarks of Caterpillar, Inc.
- International & Navistar are registered trademarks of International Truck and Engine Corporation.
- Komatsu is a registered trademark of Komatsu, Ltd.
- SIMMS/CAV are Delphi properties.
- Bosch is a registered trademark of Robert Bosch Corporation.
- AMBAC is American Bosch & United Technologies.
- Stanadyne is a registered trademark of the Stanadyne Company.
- Ford is a registered trademark of Ford Motor Company.
- John Deere is a registered trademark of John Deere, Inc.
- Syd's Eastside, Syd's Eastside Auto Parts and Diesel Rebuild Parts are trademarks or other intellectual properties of Syd's Eastside Auto Salvage, Inc.
DieselRebuildParts.com Replaces AftermarketCat.com
AftermarketCat.com is No Longer a Syd's Eastside Property
Caterpillar, Inc. has won the rights to the domain name AftermarketCat.com in arbitration. Although we tried to rectify our situation when Caterpillar, Inc. took issue with our using the domain name AftermarketCat.com to sell aftermarket CAT parts by moving the website to another domain, DieselRebuildParts.com, and placing a generic web page there in the old website's place which directed visitors to both of our websites, the assigned arbitrator felt that our first mistake of offering CAT replacement marks was enough to show "bad faith" in the use of the CAT trademark.
While we would have rectified this situation easily and even more quickly if CAT simply would have called us to explain their situation, we do hope that by notifying visitors to the AftermarketCat.com site that operations have moved to DieselRebuildParts.com, that we may well have allowed potential customers the ability to stay with us as a new solution for CAT aftermarket parts. To this end, we remain committed to the aftermarket parts market for the heavy equipment industry, and we have in fact just been awarded the dealership and distributorship rights for Interstate-McBee parts. An official announcement that we are now carrying and distributing the Interstate-McBee line of industrial equipment engine and fuel injection replacement parts will soon follow. The addition of the Interstate-McBee line of aftermarket parts is a perfect compliment to our current line of IPD aftermarket parts for Caterpillar engines.
While we would have been happy to keep AftermarketCat.com and use it as an aftermarket catalog for our automotive parts line, we will find another brand to build and present an automotive aftermarket parts sales brand, and Diesel Rebuild Parts seems to be doing well and generating lots of interest considering that we have not yet had the opportunity to promote well while we awaited the decision of the arbitration procedure.
Soon, the original registrar for AftermarketCat.com, Domain Hostmaster, will transfer this name to Caterpillar, Inc., for them to do what they see fit.
Caterpillar and CAT are registered trademarks of Caterpillar, Inc.
IPD is a trademark of IPD, LLC.
Interstate-McBee is an intellectual property mark of Interstate-McBee, LLC.
Syd's Eastside is an intellectual property mark of Syd's Eastside Auto Salvage, Inc.
Caterpillar, Inc. has won the rights to the domain name AftermarketCat.com in arbitration. Although we tried to rectify our situation when Caterpillar, Inc. took issue with our using the domain name AftermarketCat.com to sell aftermarket CAT parts by moving the website to another domain, DieselRebuildParts.com, and placing a generic web page there in the old website's place which directed visitors to both of our websites, the assigned arbitrator felt that our first mistake of offering CAT replacement marks was enough to show "bad faith" in the use of the CAT trademark.
While we would have rectified this situation easily and even more quickly if CAT simply would have called us to explain their situation, we do hope that by notifying visitors to the AftermarketCat.com site that operations have moved to DieselRebuildParts.com, that we may well have allowed potential customers the ability to stay with us as a new solution for CAT aftermarket parts. To this end, we remain committed to the aftermarket parts market for the heavy equipment industry, and we have in fact just been awarded the dealership and distributorship rights for Interstate-McBee parts. An official announcement that we are now carrying and distributing the Interstate-McBee line of industrial equipment engine and fuel injection replacement parts will soon follow. The addition of the Interstate-McBee line of aftermarket parts is a perfect compliment to our current line of IPD aftermarket parts for Caterpillar engines.
While we would have been happy to keep AftermarketCat.com and use it as an aftermarket catalog for our automotive parts line, we will find another brand to build and present an automotive aftermarket parts sales brand, and Diesel Rebuild Parts seems to be doing well and generating lots of interest considering that we have not yet had the opportunity to promote well while we awaited the decision of the arbitration procedure.
Soon, the original registrar for AftermarketCat.com, Domain Hostmaster, will transfer this name to Caterpillar, Inc., for them to do what they see fit.
Caterpillar and CAT are registered trademarks of Caterpillar, Inc.
IPD is a trademark of IPD, LLC.
Interstate-McBee is an intellectual property mark of Interstate-McBee, LLC.
Syd's Eastside is an intellectual property mark of Syd's Eastside Auto Salvage, Inc.
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