RoAb #116 - The Bristol Crimper

Coming up on RoundAbout . . . we go Back to the Future with Bud Light’s latest Super Bowl commercial. Special guest Bob Hall, the Evil Twin (REGISTERED TRADEMARK) shares his top-10 favorite French cars of all time, and we debut a brand spanking new segment where our panelists become product developers. What kinds of vehicles will they create?

Brought to you by Amazon.com and Advance Auto Parts

Play RoundAbout Episode 116

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Featuring: Bob Hall, Eric Trytko, Craig Cole and Ben Sanders

Video after the jump!

RoundAbout records LIVE on Fridays at 6:30PM ET/3:30PM PT. Visit RoundAboutShow.com and click Watch Live to watch our webcast and look in on all the antics.

Show Notes

NEWS

BMW Z8 freshened courtesy of Senner Tuning
There was quite a buzz when BMW first showed off the Z8 concept car, and even more two years later when they brought it to production.  Back when I worked at UUNET/WorldCom (this is in the pre Dot Bomb world) my old boss used some of his stock options to buy one.  He put down a deposit at the autoshow so he could be 1st in line.

When it arrived at the dealership, they didn’t want to let him take delivery of the car, because (1) They wanted it in the showroom to drive traffic
(2) Sergei Federov had was willing to pay $50,000 over sticker to have it.

None of that happened my boss took delivery and to the best of my knowledge he drove it maybe 5 times and then parked it.

Fast forward 12 years and now a German tuning has gotten around to playing with this rare beast.  Senner Tuning has gone through and done the usual bits you’d expect.  ECU re-flash, low restriction cats and exhaust.  The suspension, wheels and tires have also been updated to modern equipment.  If you are one of the 5,703 who own one, and you are interesting it will only set you back $25,000.

This Electric Car Was Invented In 1932 And Looked Like A Giant Hamster Wheel
Every once in a while somebody comes up with a really, REALLY good idea that will completely change things. And then they actually build it. The people behind 1932’s Dynasphere (or Dynosphere according to Barney Rubble) had one of ‘these’ ideas. While the issues the one-wheeled conveyance  present are considerable, full marks for giving it a go.

Of course when someone has one of ‘these’ ideas, others may also be thinking along similar lines. Japanese Manga artist Osamu Tezuka (the creator of Astro Boy) followed that one up with Super 3, which was dubbed into English as ‘The Amazing Three’. The storyline was about a trio of humanoid aliens sent to destroy - or save - Earth, depending on how they found rocal conditions. When on Our Fair Sphere, they were disguised as a bunny, a duck and a horse, and they got around in a sort of 1965 take on the Dynasphere.

Finally, an enterprising guy Stateside took the idea of the Dynasphere and scaled it down - in part - as a sort of ride-in-the-wheel unicycle (he called a monocycle). With a V8 engine.

Video No. 1

Video No. 2

Video No. 3

UK insurer says "reckless fog light drivers" cause 300,000 accidents a year
Automotive lighting technology has come so far in the last century.  Lanterns have been replaced by incandescent bulbs, which in turn morphed into halogen, xenon and many other advanced technologies.  Now, even LEDs brighten the road in front of us. Along the way someone figured out a couple low-mounted lamps could really help visibility in bad weather -- the fog light was born.  Now, whenever I’m behind the wheel and the car’s the main battery of bulbs is on, the fogs are blazing away as well.  It’s common sense -- more light = more better.  But some insurance blokes in the UK think otherwise.  They claim driving with fog lights on in good weather “dazzles” other motorists on the carriageway!  BOVINE FECES!  They claim "as many as 300,000" accidents and 2 million near misses occurred in the last year because of this!  How exactly do you tally a near miss?  I say, what a fat trolley-load of codswallop! 

Jalopnik's Ten Most Quintessentially French Cars

Bob's List
10 -- Renault Frigate
9 -- Renault Dauphine
8 -- Renault R8
7 -- Citroen Ami 6
6 -- Alpine A110
5 -- Panhard 24CT
4 -- Talbot T150C (Talbot-Lago)
3 -- Citroen 2CV
2 -- Renault Avantime
1 -- Citroen DS

Bud Light Super Bowl Ad Goes Back To The Future
Back to the Future: BEST MOVIE EVER!  I’ll never turn down a news article dealing with the holy trinity.  This “time” Bud Light is going for a little flux-capacitor action with its latest Super Bowl commercial, which apparently leaked onto the cybertubes.  Imagine that.  It features a group of guys in an auto-repair garage and, of course, a hopped-up DeLorean.  Long story short, one of them disappears with the machine, forever altering the time-warp continuum.  GREAT SCOTT!  But as Doc Brown would say, it’s dangerous to know too much about the future, which is ironic because the fine folks at NBC/Universal thought it was a great idea to pull the 30-second spot from YouTube.  Wah-waaaaaah.  I can hear it now -- “Where we’re going we don’t need enthusiastic fans watching videos about our products.”  BUTTHEADS!.

GRINDING GEARS
Chinese Copycats

We’ll be right back with more of Bob Hall and Eric Trytko PLUS a brand-new segment where we become product developers.  Sit tight . . .

AMAZON PICKS OF THE WEEK
BBK Short-Throw Shifter
5.11 Tac Lite Shorts  (Andy Inahtko approved)

Thanks again to our friends at Amazon for their support of RoundAbout!

HIGHWAY HEARSAY
Next up, we hit the road! HIGHWAY HEARSAY is all about what we’ve seen out on the road, from weird sightings to the stupid things people do.  And this week we have a viewer sighting from Luke.

A CAR BY ANY OTHER NAME
What’s in a name? That which we call a Ford Transit Connect, by any other name would still smell like dog food... Yes that’s right, it’s time for RoundAbout’s newest game where we name the cars and you do the rest. We call it “A Car By Any Other Name.”

In each round of the game, Ben will announce a fictional make and model. Each panelist will then take his turn describing, based only on the name, what kind of vehicle would fit said moniker.

For instance, if Ben were to say “Langostini Clarifino” I might describe it as an Italian compact aimed at financially-secure millennials and intended to evoke the carefree joy of an afternoon at the beach. For extra points I might mention that it was conceived while Langostini’s head of product development was luncheon at the Red Lobster.

In each round, the winner will be determined by the fickle hoards in the chat room. After each round, Ben will drop a link in said chat room where the viewers can vote. So, chatters, be sure to be signed in and ready to tell us who had the most convincing story.

Round 1 - Gentleman Coachwerks Cigaronnet
Poll 1 Results

Round 2 - Hento Falcourte
Poll 2 Results

Round 3 - Mailatell Pawnee
Poll 3 Results

Round 4 - Warton Motors Hartal 5vi
Poll 4 Results

Round 5 - Pontiac Aztek CoupeSport
Poll 5 Results

Round 6 - Ricard Wagoneere
Poll 6 Results

RoundAbout Episode 116