Archive for October, 2008
Friday, October 3rd, 2008
1. 4-Door Sedans - Sedan cars for sale are a good choice for most automobile shoppers. The enclosed trunk offers security, while the rear doors allow easy entry for rear-seat passengers. Most luxury vehicles are four-door sedans because they’re more comfortable than most other body styles. The smallest available in the US are sub-compact sedans like the Hyundai Accent and Chevrolet Metro. Slightly larger are compact models like the Honda Civic and Ford Focus. Mid-size sedans include the new or used Toyota Camry car, Ford Taurus, and Chevrolet Lumina, while the Ford Crown Victoria and Buick LeSabre are considered large sedans. Automotive marketers have created a new “near-luxury” sedan category, meaning any new sedan priced between $30,000 and $40,000, while the traditional luxury sedan costs over $40,000 when new. Near-luxury sedans are usually mid-sized; luxury sedans are usually large, though there are a few exceptions to the size and price limitations.
2. 2-Door Coupes - Coupes are usually driven by single adults or childless couples. Many of them have a hatchback instead of a trunk, to allow large items to be carried for short distances. The rear seats are difficult to access, as the front doors must be used.
3. Station Wagons - An active family will want to look at minivans, sport utility vehicles, or station wagons. In the rest of the world, station wagons remain the first choice for active families. In North America, first minivans and now SUVs have grabbed most of the station wagon’s customer base. They’re twice as big as they need to be, but seat fewer people than a minivan; they get horrible gas mileage, and their truck-like ride and handling are rough. You’ll pay substantially more to insure an SUV than a comparable automobile as a direct result of their poor handling. Many inexperienced drivers find out the hard way that SUVs don’t corner like automobiles. Station wagons offer more stability, better gas mileage, lower insurance rates, and SUV-sized interiors. You won’t lose your all-wheel drive either, as Subaru, Volkswagen, Audi, Volvo, and Mercedes-Benz offer all-wheel drive on all of their wagons.
4. Convertibles - Most convertibles are sports cars, meaning two seats, high-performance engines and superior handling. However, GM, Ford, Mitsubishi, and Chrysler offer a few “normal” convertibles, i.e. regular production coupes with four seats and convertible tops, such as the Chevrolet Cavalier, Pontiac Sunfire, Ford Mustang, Dodge Avenger, Chrysler Conquest and Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder. Luxury convertibles are available from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Saab, and Volvo. Convertibles are great when the weather’s perfect, but their drawbacks are obvious.
5. Sports Cars - Sports cars were originally European two-seat roadsters designed for both daily travel and week-end racing hobbyists. Recently we’ve seen new and used luxury cars for sale advertised as luxury sports sedans. Porsche, selling traditional sports cars in this country since the 1950’s, until recently had as its only competition the Chevrolet Corvette. 1990 marked the return of the affordable sports car in this country, when Mazda offered its MX-5 (Miata) for under $20,000 dollars, and the incredible demand for it prompted other companies to follow suit. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, and Porsche all introduced roadsters for under $40,000 in the latter part of the 1990’s. At the same time, Dodge dealers begged Chrysler to produce a 1993 concept car to give the Corvette a run for the money. The Dodge Viper and Plymouth Prowler remain a success story for Chrysler, with this year’s production already sold out. Sports cars are cool and fun to drive, though impractical for daily transportation. You’ll need a garage to store them in, and a second mortgage to pay for their insurance. But if you’ve got money to burn, go for it!.
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Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
The history of Cessna aviation began in June 1911, when Clyde Cessna, a farmer in Rago, Kansas, built a wood-and-fabric airplane and became the first person to build and fly a powered aircraft in the heartland of America, between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.
In 1924, Cessna partnered with Lloyd C. Stearman and Walter H. Beech to form the Travel Air Manufacturing Co., Inc., and served as its president. In January 1927 he left Travel Air to form his own business, the Cessna Aircraft Company. The first of his new monoplane designs, the “Phantom,” flew on August 13, 1927. Following that, the company created a series of successful four and six-place monoplanes.
With the collapse of Wall Street in the autumn of 1929, Cessna and other manufacturers soon found themselves with dramatically shrinking sales. Undaunted, Cessna, along with his son Eldon, rented facilities in the abandoned Travel Air complex and created the C.V. Cessna Aircraft Co. It built small, custom racing airplanes. Sadly, Cessna was dealt another blow in 1933 when his close friend Roy Liggett died in the crash of the CR-2 racer built by Clyde and Eldon. Cessna’s grief ran deep and he withdrew from aviation.
During this period, Cessna’s nephew, Dwane Wallace, had been working for Walter Beech doing engineering analyses on biplanes. Wallace, whose love of flying had been kindled as a teenager, soloed in a well-worn Travel Air in March 1932 and later earned his private pilot license. Although he continued to work diligently for Beech, Dwane had a dream: he was contemplating plans to reopen the Cessna Aircraft Company. His gamble was that the public would buy an upgraded version of Cessna’s 1928 Model AW cabin monoplane.
In January 1934, Dwane Wallace with his brother Dwight, a talented attorney, wrested control of their uncle’s derelict company from the board of directors. With Dwane at the helm, the Cessna Aircraft Company was reborn and the process of building it into a global success was begun.
In 1948, Cessna introduced the 170, a four-place tailwheel airplane powered by a 145-horsepower Continental engine. The airplane for sale, an obvious upgrade from the company’s previous 140 model, was a popular improvement. In November 1955 the tricycle derivative of the 170 first flew. Over 1400 were built in its inaugural year. This new airplane, later to be known as the Cessna Skyhawk, would become the most widely produced light aircraft in history. Cessna’s advertising has boasted that new or used Cessna aircraft have trained more pilots than those of any other company.
In 1985 Cessna was bought by General Dynamics Corporation and in 1986 production of piston-engine aircraft was discontinued. Over 35,000 172s had been manufactured up until that point. The corporation’s CEO, Russ Meyer, said that production would resume if a more favorable product liability environment were to develop. In 1992, Textron Inc. bought Cessna and, after passage of the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994, resumed production of the piston-engine 172, 182, and 206 designs.
On 27 November 2007 Textron announced that Cessna had purchased bankrupt Columbia Aircraft for USD$26.4M and would produce its Columbia 350 and 400 as the Cessna 350 aircraft and Cessna 400 at the Columbia factory in Bend, Oregon. There had been speculation that the acquisition of the Columbia line would spell the end of the Cessna NGP project, but on September 26, 2007, Cessna Vice President for Sales, Roger Whyte, confirmed that development of the NGP project would continue, unaffected by the purchase of Columbia.
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Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
Searching for a quality luxury car will inevitably bring anyone to the rather apt adjective, ‘exotic’. Exotic food or exotic beauty may be more clearly defined, but what really makes for an exotic sports car?
Sleek and Elegant Design :
Part of what makes an exotic sports car is the vehicles streamlined, sleek, and smooth designs, all of which serve functional purposes to the overall performance of the car albeit being so highly aesthetically pleasing.
Indeed, even exotic sports car makers know emphasis that car enthusiasts and racers put on design per se. After all, owning an exotic sports car in contrast to owning a car is, in itself, a status symbol. This status is endowed not only by the make of the car but also the style and visual appeal. In fact, companies like Ferrari even employ design houses to come up with their car designs. Design powerhouse Pininfarina, for example, designed the 2002 Ferrari ENZO.
Breakneck Speeds :
While design is one of the considerations of many car enthusiasts, the primary characteristic that by-far differentiates a sports car from the rest is its acceleration and maintainable road speed. When it comes to sports cars, it’s all a matter of speed, speed, and more speed. A pretty car won’t cut it if it cannot deliver the exhilarating ride that is expected of every sports car.
Exotic cars are continually challenging the rate at which a car can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph. Designs are beginning to be shaped from the engineering needs of the car, in order to suitably deliver a new record speed. As of the moment, the 1994 Dauer 962 LeMans continues to reign with 2.6 seconds. However, with the likes of the 2002 Ferrari ENZO being designed based on the specifications of making a fast car, expect faster sports cars in the near future.
One-in-a-Million :
Indeed, exotic sports cars aren’t the type that mass produced and you can’t but then ‘off-the-lot’. Part of its exotic appeal is the fact that you can only have a certain number of models made available for sale. The rarer and more difficult to acquire, the greater a car’s exotic value.
It’s in the Name :
Most cars don’t need visualization to be called exotic, they just are. These would include your cult sports car classics your Porsche car, your Ferrari car, your Lamborghini car.
While an ‘exotic sports car’ may be subjectively defined over a huge stratum, it’s safe to believe that these qualities are more or less held in commonality by any definition. At any rate, one look at a car may be enough to give you a clue.
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