Touge California a Vintage Japanese Car Only Rally

This weekend is the Touge California a vintage Japanese car only rally. Mazda is collaborating with a Japanese Nostalgic Car to be the title sponsor of Touge California a vintage Japanese car only rally. The rally will take place on April 2, 2016, participants will travel up the California coast to Mazda’s Irvine based R&D facility.

They are expecting have to have 28 rare and original Japanese vehicles from the 1960’s through to the early 1980’s, and 11 of the vehicles are Mazda’s, participating is a 1975 Rotary engine pickup (REPU), a 1978 GLC compact hatchback and of course what would a rally be without a 1985 RX-7 GSL from Mazda’s own heritage collection? “Our heritage cars aren't just museum pieces; they're meant to be driven,” said Robert Davis, MNAO's Senior VP, U.S. Operations.

The California Touge rally was founded by Ben Hsu, editor in chief of Japanese Nostalgic Car and rally master Patrick Strong in 2015, after seeing many famous rallies for European cars and not seeing anything just for Japanese cars. 

The reason why the route was chosen to go from San Diego to Irvine is that according to Ben Hsu “70 percent of Japan's terrain is mountainous, our goal with Touge California is to give owners of Japanese cars the experience of driving on roads similar to those on which their cars were born.” 

The idea for the Touge rally came from the infamous and daring underground Touge races in Japan. The word Touge means “mountain pass.”

2018 Lincoln Navigator Concept

Check out Lincoln’s latest version of its larger than large SUV, the 2018 Navigator Concept. Lincoln wanted to give us an idea of what the next generation of the Navigator could look like. It’s hard to miss the massive gull-wing doors and the deployable concertina steps that allow passengers to enter and exit the SUV easily. The exterior body features sleek uncluttered lines and a beautiful Storm Blue paint color. However the gull wing doors most likely will not make it to production.

The elegant theme continues into the interior of the Navigator with teak trim pieces and even a wardrobe management system that holds everything from a jacket, shoes, wrist watch, sunglasses, etc. The Navigator offers six seats with 30 way adjustments for your maximum comfort. There are screens for passengers to connect everyone’s different smart phones and tablets, one tablet can play a movie for all the passengers to view, each screen will have its own CarPlay and check this, for all of you gamers, passengers have the ability to play video games with each other on their own screens. There is even an intercom system to make chatting with people in the rear of the vehicle easier and there’s more, how about a video chat  so that not only can you chat without yelling to front of the SUV you can actually see the person while your chatting.

Some of the latest safety features include, pre-collision assist with pedestrian detection which uses radar and a camera to watch for potential hazards that could cause a collision, when the system detects a possible impact the driver is warned and if the driver does not respond the system and apply the brakes the system will engage the brakes. The automatic braking is wired to radar, camera sensors and a 300 degree camera.  In addition the vehicle has a lane keeping system that when a driver starts to veer out of their lane the steering wheel will vibrate and induce a light steering inputs to position the vehicle back towards the center of the lane. For those of you who find parking something as big as a full size SUV a challenge, the 2018 Navigator features a park assist system that makes use of the 300 degree camera giving the driver a birds eye view all around the Navigator. Another feature of the latest navigator is an adjustable ride and handling system that allows the driver to select one of the numerous drive modes that can alter the steering and suspension.

Some version of this Navigator Concept Vehicle should be in production in a about a year. Oh, one more thing, the 2018 will have a 3.5 liter 400 hp EcoBoost engine.

1970 Ferrari 512 S Modulo Concept Car

The 1970 Ferrari 512 S Modulo Concept car was designed to allow people to break away from the design constraints of time and was not designed as a racing car prototype. You have to admire the design of the two overlapping body shells, one of which was a glass canopy that moved forward to allow the occupants to enter and exit the car easier. The two moving shells were separated by a rectilinear indentation in the center of the car.

In inner workings of the car were straight out of the Ferrari 512 S, with a mid-rear V-12 60 degree 550 hp and a five speed transmission that was rear wheel drive. The overall height of the Modulo was only about 36 inches. Interesting bit of information about the original Modulo was that It could only travel in a straight line due to the front wheels being incorporated into the bodywork.

The Ferrari 512 S Modulo was the winner of many design awards, unfortunately the car was dismantled for parts. There was a replica of the Ferrari 512 S Modulo built.

The 1956 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket Concept Car

The 1956 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket Concept was a look into the future for Oldsmobile fittingly named the Golden Rocket, the car resembled a rocket, painted a gold/bronze pearl exterior color with upholstery done in blue and gold leather. The Golden Rocket was a two passenger car with  a 234 V-8 that was tuned to produce 275 hp, impressive at the time considering the car weighed about 2,500 lbs. The Rocket had a fiberglass body with nerf-like bumpers and rear bumpers looked like rockers.

One of the more unique features of the Rocket was a system that when either of the doors were opened the roof panel raised up, while the seats move up about 3 inches and swiveled outward to allow easy entrance and exit for the occupants. The cockpit looked like something from a fighter jet, with a windshield design that swept back, the Rocket was one of the first known in cockpit tilt steering wheels with  buttons on the steering wheel that allowed the steering column to tilt down giving the driver easier access. The speedometer was mounted in the center of the two spokes of the steering wheel.

The Golden Rocket was debut at the 1956 General Motors Motorama and was featured at many other shows, but was never produced for the public. 

The 1955 Ford La Tosca Concept Car

The Ford La Tosca Concept car was a remote controlled car designed by Alex Tremulis who at the age of 19 began his automotive design career in 1933 at Auburn.  During WWWII he worked on advance aircraft aerodynamics at Wright Field, he designed the Tucker 48 and in 1952 he was hired by Ford Motor Company as the head of the advanced design studio.

The La Tosca car concept car was a 3/8 scale model and was an experiment to show design students in the Advance Studio just how difficult it was to design a car. The car was radio controlled, with a system that was built by adapting 6 volt car batteries, Lincoln convertible top motors, a power seat unit and power window relays. In addition the car featured power turning and braking. Reportedly the radio system also operated the brake lights, turn signals and the headlights. Due to the canted fenders ( a radical design at the time) and the radio controlled chassis the project took four times as long to complete as was planned.

Apparently the little La Tosca R/C car had a radius of more than a mile and the design crew had a lot of fun terrorizing Oakwood Blvd and Village Road with the R/C car. The security guards would salute the little dream car as it passed by, however the upper executives were not too happy when the little car got in the way of one of Fords executives full size sedan and that was the end of the radio control experiments (according to Ford lore).

The La Tosca later became the inspiration for the 1958 Lincoln.

The 1966 Electrovan Experimental Alternative Fuel Concept Vehicle

Today alternative powered cars are a big part of the automotive industry, but did you know that in 1966 General Motors developed an Electrovan Experimental? GM’s Electrovan was the world’s first known application of fuel cell technology in a vehicle. The Electrovan was an important step in moving towards the use of alternative power in vehicles.

The Electrovan was a converted GMC Handivan that showed electric propulsion with fuel cell was possible and was credited as being the first hydrogen fuel cell ever produced. General Motors was the first company to use a fuel cell to power a vehicle (fuel cells have been around since early 1800’s).

The fuel cell power-plant was able to supply a continuous output of approximately 32 kw with a peak of 160 kw, it had 32 thin electrode fuel cell modules that were connected in series. The Electrovan was able to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 30 seconds with a range of about 150 miles. GM had concerns about the safety of the Electrovan so the vehicle was only driven on company property.

GM chose to mount the motor and control system between and under the two front seats and the 32 fuel cell modules were located under the floor, there were about 550 feet of plastic piping. Mounted behind the middle bench seat were cryogenic hydrogen and oxygen tanks and an electrolyte reservoir that weighed 550lbs making the total weight of the van 7,100lbs.   

The Electrovan project was scrapped just after GM showed it off to journalist in 1966. The Electrovan was just too costly to produce just the Platinum alone used in the fuel cell cost as much as the purchase price of an entire fleet of vans. 

You and your significant other have an amazing weekend getaway planned, you’re all packed and ready to go. You go out to your car and notice that both back tires are completely flat. Now your going to have to take the tires to get the holes repaired and you think to yourself, how do I safety lift my car and put it on jack stands?

No worries 2CarPros has a video that will teach you the correct way to lift your car and put it on jack stands just go to:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLFn_bMkZc0&feature=autoshare

In addition you can ask one our expert automotive repair technicians questions for Free by going to:

www.2carpros.com/questions/new\

Recall for Hyundai America

Hyundai America is recalling some of their Genesis model year 2012 that were manufacture August 1, 2011 to April 30 2012 for a defect in the windshield wiper motor cover seal which can cause corrosion on wiper motor’s circuit board that could lead to intermittent and even total loss of wiper function that in inclement weather could impede the drivers visibility increasing the risk of an accident.  

Also affected with the same defect is the 2011 to 2013 Hyundai Equus vehicles with the manufacture dates of July 10, 2011 to June 12, 2012. 

Owner’s will be notified by Hyundai and the wiper cover seal will be replaced by the dealership's at no cost to the vehicle owners.

Who said it never rains in Southern California?

Seriously the one time you try to wait out the supposedly "rainy" season in Southern California (you know the area that is in the middle of a historically bad drought) it starts raining, not just raining, but poring with can you believe it thunder and lightening and your windshield wiper blades are warn down to the metal (most likely due to sun exposure). What now?

2carpros.com is here to help you with all of your automotive repair issues and questions. With an extensive library of articles and videos 2carpros can help you figure out what went wrong and how to correctly make the repairs or give you useful knowledge of the problem so that you can communicate to your mechanic effectively.

For information on events depicted in this scenario go to:

www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-replace-windshield-wiper-blades

Another feature of 2carpros is that you have the ability to ask our experienced expert automotive repair technicians questions about your vehicle for free, that's right this service is Free. 

To have your questions answered for free go to:

www.2carpros.com/questions/new

The 1947 Studebaker Sportster

In 1947 Vincent E Gardner of South Bend, Indiana purchased a new 1947 Studebaker Champion three passenger coupe right off the assembly line. He then took the new car home and tore it down to make a sportster out it. 

The firewall and cockpit were moved back 18 inches, the headlight frames were rotated 180 degrees setting the parking lights below, he used the bumpers from a 1949 Studebaker Commander, the car was equipped with an automatic compressed air lift system to raise the deck and hood, Vince also added a new grille, hood, deck and tail lights, for added rigidity the frame was reinforced and by reworking the sedan front doors he was able to use them on the sportster. A unique feature of the car at night was the exhaust pipes looked like they were glowing red hot, he created this effect by routing the exhaust through the tail lights. Also the steering gear was set back and rotated to correct and angle, the brake and clutch pedals were extend, he lowered the radiator and moved it forward and mounted the fan on the crankshaft to correspond with the radiators new location. The engine was a 7.7 to 1 aluminum high compression head, hard faced valves with a special coil and two carburetors and dual exhaust.

In the interior there were glove boxes in both doors, fresh air was brought in through two holes and each side of the grille and distributed throughout the car from the heater which was mounted on a vertical wall above the toe board. Controls for things like the headlights, headlights and others were on the steering column. The entire interior was trimmed in a natural tan cowhide.

Vince won the first ever Press-on-Regardless Rally with Studebaker in 1949. The Rally was a 24 hour time-speed-distance event that was organized by the Detroit region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), listed as the navigator was Louise Gardner. The 1947 Sportster was known as the "Gardner Special". In 1950 the Most Magnificent Custom Roadster award was awarded to the Gardner Special at the National Roadster Show in Oakland.

The Gardner Special went through a few versions of itself before finally being restored back to the original version in 2011-2012 by Fran Roxas of Vintage Motorsports in Bridgeview, Illinois for John N. Allen of Naples, Florida. All of the Metalwork on the car was done by Jason Arrigo of Arrigo Specialty Metalwork's. In March 2012 the restored version of the Gardner Special was shown at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance in Florida.

Oh no my car stopped running!

Imagine yourself driving out on the open highway enjoying the drive when all of sudden out of nowhere your car stalled out, that's right it just stopped running. Now what do you do? Where can you go for answer as to why your car did what just it did?

Did you know that 2carpros.com has an extensive library of articles and videos that can help you to figure out what went wrong and how to correctly make the repair or give you some useful knowledge of the problem so you can communicate to your mechanic effectively. 
For information on events depicted in this scenario go to:
www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-stalls

2carpros.com offers free automotive repair advise from our panel of expert automotive repair technicians. To have your questions answered for free go to:
www.2carpros.com/questions/new

1934 Alfa Romeo Pescara Prototype 

The 1934 Alfa Romeo Pescara Prototype was built to be raced at LeMans, unfortunately the Pescara never raced at LeMans, the Pescara was successful at competing in hill climbs. The Pescara had many a head of its time unique features, an inline 6 cylinder 125 hp engine, integrated tubular frame that circulated oil to a dry sump, adjustable front and rear torsion bar suspension to all four wheels to within a gram. 
  
The current owner of the Pescara found the car in the late 1980's in Florida and after 20 years the restoration was complete. It has be said that the Pescara may have been the first two-seat open car with an envelope body.

Now what do I do?

2carpros has an extensive library of articles and videos that can help you to figure out what went wrong and how to correctly make the repair or give you some useful knowledge of the problem so you can communicate to your mechanic effectively. 
Go to www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-overheating-or-running-hot

You can also ask one of our expert automotive repair specialist questions for free at www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-overheating-or-running-hot        

1934-1936 Mercedes-Benz 130H (W23)

Daimler-Benz's first attempt to enter the economy car market was with the Mercedes-Benz 130H (W23), conceived by Mercedes-Benz's chief engineer Hans Nibel in 1931 it was the companies first rear engine civilian car. The car was available in two body styles, the Cabriolet and Saloon, and was powered by a rear mounted water cooled four cylinder boxer 130 H (Heckmotor, Rear Engine) with a transmission that had 3 forward speeds and a semi automatic overdrive that did not need the use of a clutch. Located between the rear the coil springs was the cooling fan.

Unfortunately by having the heavy engine mounted in the rear of the car it caused problems with weight distribution making the car extremely hard to handle. The car was put into production in 1934, though the 130H exceeded all of its competition in the market the production of the Mercedes-Benz 130H ended in 1936 due to poor sales and safety concerns. 

The 1948 Tasco Prototype 

The 1948 Tasco Prototype was designed by a man who was considered to be one of the greatest automotive designers of the 20th century Gordon Buehrig. The Tasco resembled an aircraft with its streamline body and sloped back windshield, all four wheels enclosed in aluminum similar to those of an airplane's landing wheels and a front grill that featured marks resembling air takes for early jets. 

The Tasco was a two person car with an interior featuring controls and gauges that looked like they belonged more in airplane than a car. One the most profound features of the Tasco was that it was the very first car to have a T-top roof. Gordon Buehrig patented his design and later sued Chevrolet for using the T-top design in the Corvette without Buehrig's consent (he won the lawsuit and was awarded a very large sum of money).

The name Tasco was an abbreviation for 'The American Sportscar Company" the mostly Aluminum Tasco was created in hopes of securing a contract with the Beech Aircraft Company for production. The Tasco prototype was presented to Beech Aircraft Companies managers along with a proposal for production to the public, unfortunately they turned down the proposal. 

Eventually the Tasco was donated to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana and is still on display to this day.

Ever had this happen?

You go out to the garage to go to work in your trusted car and you find something leaking out from under your car and you think to yourself now what am I going to do?

2carpros.com is a free automotive repair question and answer site where you can find a vast library of step by step easy to do car repair videos and articles on how to correctly repair your car yourself or find out what is wrong with your car. In addition you can have your car repair questions answered by our staff of expert technicians for FREE! Go to www.2carpros.com to go directly to the ask an expert page go to www.2carpros.com/questions/new