we move to online diary
10 car stories source :-autolanka
1. The Most One-Sided/Short-Sighted Car Deal of All Time
In 1962, Dick Rowe an executive with Decca Records rejected a young music group called the Beatles opining that “groups with guitars are on the way out.” In a blunder of similar magnitude two years later, in 1964, fishing equipment magnate John Shakespeare sold his collection of thirty Bugattis and a horde of rare parts to the infamous Fritz Schlumpf for less than $250,000.
To add insult to injury, the collection included a Royale similar to one that sold just eighteen years later for $8.7 million. Reason for Shakespeare's sale, according to the December, 1964 issue of Sports Car Graphic: “To devote more time to his newest hobbies, skiing and skindiving.”
In 1962, Dick Rowe an executive with Decca Records rejected a young music group called the Beatles opining that “groups with guitars are on the way out.” In a blunder of similar magnitude two years later, in 1964, fishing equipment magnate John Shakespeare sold his collection of thirty Bugattis and a horde of rare parts to the infamous Fritz Schlumpf for less than $250,000.
To add insult to injury, the collection included a Royale similar to one that sold just eighteen years later for $8.7 million. Reason for Shakespeare's sale, according to the December, 1964 issue of Sports Car Graphic: “To devote more time to his newest hobbies, skiing and skindiving.”
If Shakespeare had held on to the Bugattis a few more years, he could have bought his own mountain and a tropical island. (Photos copyright Sports Car Graphic, 1964)
2. Hell Hath No Fury Like a Man Scorned by Enzo Ferrari
Ferruccio Lamborghini was a successful manufacturer of farm equipment and the owner of a Ferrari 250GT with chronic clutch problems. When he sought an audience with the imperious Enzo Ferrari, Ferrari told him to go back to driving tractors as he certainly didn’t have the requisite skill to drive a Ferrari.
As it turned out, Lamborghini solved the problem by installing one of his tractor clutches in the Ferrari. But he vowed to get back at Ferrari by producing his own high dollar GT car. He succeeded with the 350GT and 400GT, cars generally regarded as the equal of contemporary Ferraris.
A few years later, Henry Ford II also sought revenge against Ferrari who backed out of a deal to sell Ferrari to Ford. The GT40 was born to spank Ferrari in international sports car racing.
3. The Most Audacious Fraud, M’lord
By the late 1980s, English nobleman Lord Brockett had fallen on hard times. He had to rent out his manor home Brockett Hall for weddings and Bar Mitzvahs just to pay his bills. When this source of funds wasn’t enough, Brockett cut up and buried several rare and over-insured Ferraris. He reported them stolen and pocketed a hefty insurance settlement.
After his insurance fraud went undetected, Brockett got cocky. He sold a very convincing fake 250 SWB to an American software billionaire and promptly got caught for both this fraud and the earlier insurance scam. “Jailhouse Brockett” served a long prison sentence and earned himself a permanent place in the pantheon of villains in the old car world. He is now a reality television star. (Photo by David Westing/Getty Images)
4. The Disappearing Death Car
After appearing in just three films, promising star James Dean was killed near Salinas, California while driving to a race in his new Porsche 550 Spyder on September 30th, 1955.
Although the accident wasn’t Dean’s fault, that didn’t stop the Driver’s Ed establishment ghouls from exhibiting the death car along with road carnage scare flicks like “Blood on the Highway” and “Signal 30”. On one such tour, the remains of Dean’s 550 Spyder simply disappeared. Not so much as the chassis tag has ever turned up.
5. Bill Cosby’s Deadly Supersnake
Incensed that comedian Bill Cosby had an affinity for European sports cars, Carroll Shelby vowed to build him a twin-supercharged custom Cobra that would go over 200 mph - faster than any car Steve McQueen owned.
The car Shelby built for Cosby, with a reputed 900 bhp was downright scary. In his comedy routine, “200 MPH” Cosby described it this way: “The car was idling, I was in neutral, I hadn’t put my foot and the gas pedal, and already, the car was killing people.”
Ironically, after scaring the hell out of Cosby, it passed into the hands of Tony Maxey, who promptly lost control of the car and launched it into the Pacific Ocean, killing himself.
2. Hell Hath No Fury Like a Man Scorned by Enzo Ferrari
Ferruccio Lamborghini was a successful manufacturer of farm equipment and the owner of a Ferrari 250GT with chronic clutch problems. When he sought an audience with the imperious Enzo Ferrari, Ferrari told him to go back to driving tractors as he certainly didn’t have the requisite skill to drive a Ferrari.
As it turned out, Lamborghini solved the problem by installing one of his tractor clutches in the Ferrari. But he vowed to get back at Ferrari by producing his own high dollar GT car. He succeeded with the 350GT and 400GT, cars generally regarded as the equal of contemporary Ferraris.
A few years later, Henry Ford II also sought revenge against Ferrari who backed out of a deal to sell Ferrari to Ford. The GT40 was born to spank Ferrari in international sports car racing.
3. The Most Audacious Fraud, M’lord
By the late 1980s, English nobleman Lord Brockett had fallen on hard times. He had to rent out his manor home Brockett Hall for weddings and Bar Mitzvahs just to pay his bills. When this source of funds wasn’t enough, Brockett cut up and buried several rare and over-insured Ferraris. He reported them stolen and pocketed a hefty insurance settlement.
After his insurance fraud went undetected, Brockett got cocky. He sold a very convincing fake 250 SWB to an American software billionaire and promptly got caught for both this fraud and the earlier insurance scam. “Jailhouse Brockett” served a long prison sentence and earned himself a permanent place in the pantheon of villains in the old car world. He is now a reality television star. (Photo by David Westing/Getty Images)
4. The Disappearing Death Car
After appearing in just three films, promising star James Dean was killed near Salinas, California while driving to a race in his new Porsche 550 Spyder on September 30th, 1955.
Although the accident wasn’t Dean’s fault, that didn’t stop the Driver’s Ed establishment ghouls from exhibiting the death car along with road carnage scare flicks like “Blood on the Highway” and “Signal 30”. On one such tour, the remains of Dean’s 550 Spyder simply disappeared. Not so much as the chassis tag has ever turned up.
5. Bill Cosby’s Deadly Supersnake
Incensed that comedian Bill Cosby had an affinity for European sports cars, Carroll Shelby vowed to build him a twin-supercharged custom Cobra that would go over 200 mph - faster than any car Steve McQueen owned.
The car Shelby built for Cosby, with a reputed 900 bhp was downright scary. In his comedy routine, “200 MPH” Cosby described it this way: “The car was idling, I was in neutral, I hadn’t put my foot and the gas pedal, and already, the car was killing people.”
Ironically, after scaring the hell out of Cosby, it passed into the hands of Tony Maxey, who promptly lost control of the car and launched it into the Pacific Ocean, killing himself.
No Horn Please – the art of honking in India!
In America, as you konw, honking of a horn on another driver is rare and used only when someone needs to be reminded of his/her mistakes. In India however, the use of Horn is a part of driving etiquettes.
I also noticed that drivers in India like to use their driving space (most of the time, there are no marked lanes) totally for themselves. For example, a motorcycle rider prefers to drive in the middle of the road, taking the whole space, until or unless a horn from behind reminds him to move to the side. Instead of driving on the far left edge of the road, the divers prefer to use the middle of the lane until a loud blast of horn.
Larger vehicles in particular, like trucks, prefer to be honked as someone passes by. You can always see big letter on the back of such vehicles reading , “Horn Please” and “Use Dipper at Night”.
If you go back to India after a few years of stay abroad, the first thing that gets your attention is the noise from constant honking of the horn on the road. Now-a-days, they have introduced musical horns with so many different tunes, if that makes you feel any better. But, the annoyance of horn noise is something that bugs anyone who visits India after a while, or for the first time.
At first, one might think that honking of the horn is an indication of impatient driving or being overly aggressive on the road. After all, most of the vehicles have the rear-view mirrors and they should be able to tell that someone is approaching them from behind to pass by, instead of being reminded with a loud horn. But after a few days of stay I realized that most of the drivers use horn for alerting the other drivers as they take-over or pass by in the narrow lanes.
On top of the driving habits, the sheer volume of traffic makes it impossible to use lane space properly. In many cases, you have to fight for your space; otherwise you will never get anywhere. The bigger the machine – car or truck, higher chances you have of claiming your right on the limited road space. The road is no less than a battlefield. You need to come out with all your might and courage.
The narrow lanes also add to the whole reason behind honking. Drivers often wander outside their lanes, as vehicles are crossing and passing-by from all over the places. If you have not driven in India for a while, and especially if you come from a country where driving is on the other side of the road, it takes a while to get used to the new madness.
If any countries be thankful for the invention of horn, India should be on the top of that list. The amount of traffic, the narrow lanes and the habitual nature of the drivers make it necessary to use horn all the time.
What are the laws says on HORN PRESSING
As per the law, people honking unnecessarily at intersections, silence zones, hospitals and schools are liable for prosecution, but the rules are not implemented in toto due to the fact that there is limited manpower and more pressing traffic problems to address, concedes traffic police officials.
"The rules against honking are not properly observed and implemented as we have many other more serious traffic violations to deal with and large manpower constraint, but we believe this issue can be addressed better by educating the people rather than by acting tough," said Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, S N Shrivastav.
"However, the traffic police personnel manning the streets will make sure that violators are prosecuted on this day," he said.
He also advocated that the fine for violating the honking law should be increased from the current Rs 100.
The day will see the capital replete with as many as three lakh stickers with anti-honking slogans, around 1000 banners posted on CNG and HP stations and 2 lakh leaflets been distributed among people on the road.
Besides, volunteers of the Foundation will also hold roadshows to make people aware of the need to do away with the menace.
