As it is winter, there have not been very many interesting cars out, as most devoted car watchers will know. Because of this, I have been forced to do other things to fill my life with cars.
      I have found a number of very good books about cars, including Cars A Celebration by Quentin Wilson. My mother thinks the title is quite funny-she laughs when ever she sees it. I also like Corvette from the Inside, by Dave McLellan. My mother always says that I'm probably the only person who ever checks out books like that. Dave McLellan was the Corvette's chief engineer from 1975 to 1992. He was a very remarkable figure in the Corvette's history, along with Zora Arkus-Duntov, Bill Mitchell and Harley Earl. He even helped create the ZR1!
      I have been using an easy programming language to make a car video game. The language is called Scratch. I call it pre-programmed programming because instead of typing commands you drag little blocks across the screen and stack them together like Lego bricks to make the program. The game is fairly simple to play-you use the arrow keys to drive (up is forwards, back is brakes, and you use the left and right arrows to switch lanes) and there are other cars that drive around that you have to avoid. The track is straight, so you don't have to steer. It is taking a long time to make, however, because I am giving it a simulation manual transmission and making RPM and speed gauges. I will try to put it on the blog when it is finished.
      Recently, I have been reading about old cars (surprise, surprise) and I have found a number of cars produced in the '40s, 50s, and 60s that get better gas mileage than most modern cars (excluding hybrids). I am talking about real cars too, not the BMW Isetta (which had a motorcycle engine and couldn't drive on half of the roads in the USA because it was too slow), but cars that could go about 70 miles per hour. Most of them got about 40 miles per gallon. This leads me to wonder what modern car designers are doing? Aside from designing cars that get about 20 miles per gallon, I mean. I would think that if they could make cars that could go faster than the speed limit on the highway 60 years ago, and got such good mileage, why can't they make cars like that now? It seems like even with all the safety and emissions regulations, they could still make cars at least that good now? (Like I said, I'm not counting hybrids because they are too expensive.) And those cars had just about no aerodynamic aids, so that was a serious disadvantage for them.
      Also, I have discovered a new band (it's not really new, but I didn't know about it until very recently) called The Rip Chords. The only reason I'm mentioning this now is because just about all of their songs are about cars. I especially like their song Sting Ray. It makes references to the lyrics of Little Deuce Coupe by The Beach Boys. Also, the song Maybellene by Chuck Berry, one of my favorite guitarists, talks about cars in the lyrics (also, it is a very good song).

O2 9/8/12 at a car show in Hubbardston, MA I saw a really nice car from a movie. It was the Delorean from Back To The Future! The sign next to it said that it was the car that was really in one of the movies. It had a ground clearance of about 1 inch and all of the things on the back from the movie. It seemed to be getting the most attention of all the cars in the car show.

On 7/13/12 in Boston, MA and on 8/29/12 in Sturbridge, MA, I saw a car that I didn't think was even in production yet. It was a Chevy Volt. Chevy Volts are gasoline-electric hybrids and they are Chevy's answer to the Toyota Prius.

On 9/1/12 in Athol, MA, I saw a light blue and cream colored ragtop Ford roadster driving down the road with the top down. It had a closed hood but I know it had a V8 engine because there were four exhaust pipes and one collector pipe running down each side. I think that it looked really neat.

On 7/22/12 in Barre, MA, I saw one of the weirdest cars ever. Really, It wasn't really a car but I am not sure what else it would be. It was basically a cross between a dune buggy, an ATV, and a golf cart. It was painted flat tan and was driving down the road. It had no roof. I think it was going about thirty miles per hour. The fenders were very indistinct. Oh, and one more thing. It had an ATV in the the little hollow space behind where the driver was sitting.

On 7/22/12 in Athol, MA, I saw a silver car parked in someone's law. But it wasn't just any silver car - it was a silver AC Cobra 427 with light grey racing stripes. It was missing it's bumpers and a few other parts, which leads me to believe that someone was restoring it. That also makes me think that it was an original Cobra, because I don't think that a replica would have been around long enough for it to need restoring. A few miles down the road from there, still in  Athol, I saw a Ford Model T roadster. It was black and had no rear fenders. It had grey trim and lots of chrome. I think that Model Ts make very good hot rods, especially in roadster form. Then I saw that it was leading a whole herd of cars. There was a 1967 Chevy Camaro hardtop. I like the 1967 hardtops but not the ragtops. I also think that the mid 70s Camaros are very ugly and I think the new ones are too but the 1967 hardtops are nice, I think.

On 7/21/12 across the road from the Hannaford in North Brookfield, MA at the bottom or a little hill next to a brick building I saw a green Ford Model T truck from the 1920s. The green Ford Model T truck from the 1920s that I saw at the 2012 Old Sturbridge Village car show. Or at least I think that it was the same one. I think it was the same one because the body looks exactly the same and the owner of it at the car show said that he lived in North Brookfield. And I think that the truck lived at that brick building because when I drove by there two days later the truck was still there. I am going to look for it there when I drive by other times.