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Video: The Tata Nano from India

Check out this Associated Press video of the world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano from India.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 2:02 PM to India | Permalink | Comments 0

Back Seat Driver: "Goldfinger" is a showcase for 1960s cars

Hey, guess what I watched this weekend? That old chestnut James Bond movie “Goldfinger” which I first saw in 1965 (when I was 15) and which is a great movie if you are interested in cars from that era.

Of course, everyone is familiar with the silver Aston Martin DB5, armed to the teeth and the most famous of Bond cars. Equally famous is the yellow and black 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III Sedance de Ville which Goldfinger has fabricated in gold and then driven to Switzerland to have melted down.

But how about the white 1965 Ford Mustang convertible which gets in a driving duel with Bond in his DB5 on alpine roads with hairpin turns? It was Mustang’s debut on the silver screen. Or the white 1964 Ford Thunderbird which CIA agent Felix Leiter and his partner drive around?

Watching the Bond movies now, as I have occasionally with my 14-year old stepson Pat, they seem more quaint than cutting edge, more comic book than real.

But to an adolescent then (and now), it was mesmerizing.

The success of the Bond movies, especially the first three – “Dr. No,” “From Russia With Love,” and “Goldfinger” were partly due to the inimitable Sean Connery who, as a Scot from the wrong side of the railroad tracks is the only Bond who seems to have been able to give and take a beating, and partly due to the exotic locales – Jamaica, Istanbul (where Bond has figs and yoghurt for breakfast, foods no one had heard of back in the 1960s), Venice, Miami Beach, Switzerland and Kentucky.

Other gorgeous vehicles in Goldfinger include a red 1964 Ford Country Squire station wagon and a 1964 Lincoln Continental convertible sedan.

Then there is the Lincoln Continental sedan that Oddjob uses to drive a mobster to “the airport.” Instead he shoots him and delivers the body and car to a scrap yard which proceeds to crush the car into a cube. The cube is then deposited onto the flatbed of a green 1964 Ford Ranchero – which in real life would have been crushed by the load!

And in the background all through the movie, all sorts of cars and trucks so remote from today they might as well be horse-drawn carriages.

- Peter C. T. Elsworth

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 11:21 AM to commentary | Permalink | Comments 0

Tasca makes it to second round of NHRA Winternationals

POMONA, Calif., – It may not have been a race win for Bob Tasca III and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Shelby Mustang team on Sunday, but qualifying for the race and advancing to the second round of the NHRA Winternationals was a victory for the entire team, according to a news statement from Tasca.

“It’s a huge win for us,” said Tasca of his first NHRA Nitro Funny Car weekend. “To qualify at the Winternationals and to win in the first round and go out there and make a strong pass in the second round is just awesome.”

Tasca faced Ashley Force in the second round of competition and put together a 4.955 second, 310.63 mph run, but reached the finish line just .082 of a second behind Force.

“Our second run was just a little bit too conservative for what we thought the race track would hold, but it was awesome to race against such a great competitor like Ashley Force.”

Tasca was the No. 14 qualifier for the race, which put him alongside fellow rookie, Melanie Troxel, in the first round. The 2008 Rookie-of-the-Year contender earned his spot in the second round after posting a 5.235 second, 225.97 mph winning run against Troxel.

“That was exciting,” said Tasca after his first round win. “To qualify for Pomona and to win the first round is just amazing. We spun the tires up at the top end and I didn’t see her, so I pedaled it and it we made it through. This is just so incredible for our team and for Motorcraft and Quick Lane.”

Tasca’s rise into the nitro ranks after running in the Top Alcohol Funny Car class has been a quick one, having earned his license just over a week ago.

“To come here after only starting this program in November and to struggle the way that we did in Phoenix, is just such a credit to my team. There were a lot of question marks on our team and I’m sure a lot of people probably didn’t give us too much of a chance.

"I’m just real proud of the whole program and my two crew chiefs Mike [Kloeber] and Chris [Cunningham] and all the guys that work 15 hours a day to get this thing to go up and down that track. It’s quite an accomplishment for our team.”

“It takes the top 10 drivers to run for the championship, and that’s our goal’ said Tasca. “With these guys behind me, anything is possible.”

Tasca returns to the site where he earned his nitro license as the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series heads to Firebird International Raceway Feb. 22-24 for round two of the 2008 season.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:38 AM to Racing | Permalink | Comments 0