<![CDATA[Comments from chelle29]]> <![CDATA[Comments from chelle29]]> <![CDATA[chelle29 commented on PCH, Dante Alighieri Thinks You Deserve It Edition: Lamborghini Jarama Or Maserati Quattroporte?]]> Had to pick the Lambo.
I have a Lambo P250 from that era, rescued as an ebay "parts car". Sure it's not worth a lot of money, but it was well worth the work saving it, and I made new friends all over the planet tracking down the missing bits.. The vintage Lambo community really is a community lots of people offered input on how it went together or connected me to people with parts...and with all the weber carbs it sounds so nice :)
I'm kinda thinking I want to bid on this one... but too many projects right now.

]]> <![CDATA[chelle29 commented on Ferrari F50 Latest Victim Of Poor Swedish Driving]]> Fortunately both the F50 and the driver were unhurt. The way several of the cars were darting around just before the crash I'd not be surprised if the F50 driver tried to speed up to prevent one of them slamming into the back of the Ferrari. The F50 is very easy to get loose in. Someone who was there passed on that it was a little damp and around zero degrees celcius. He was coming out of a right hand curve and gassed it a bit too much, got loose, and swapped ends. Fortunately the slide was slow enough that he came to a stop in such a short distance. Had he been moving with more forward momentum that pole may have ended up going though the passenger compartment.

IMHO the biggest idiot that day was the BMW "driver" filming himself in the mirror while driving
Chelle

]]> <![CDATA[chelle29 commented on Florida Passes HB 137, Speeders Face Vehicle Confiscation, Prison Time]]> I just read the staff analysis and the amendment and don't see where it includes all vehicles. It says there was one amendment, a "strike-all" amendment that creates a tiered penalty - confiscation occurs only after a third offense.
IANAL, so I could be totally reading this wrong. Found it here: [www.myfloridahouse.gov]
here's the staff analysis posted on the link:
On March 13, 2008, the Committee on Infrastructure favorably reported the bill with a strike-all amendment, and an amendment to the strike-all amendment. The amendment creates a new s. 316.1926, F.S., which provides that violations of s. 316.2085(2) or (3), F.S., regarding motorcycle operation, or violations of the speeding laws in s. 316.183(2), 316.187, and 316.189, F.S., in excess of 50 miles per hour over the limit, are moving violations punishable as provided in Chapter 318.
The amendment subsequently amends 318.14, F.S., to provided "tiered" penalties for violations of the newly created s. 316.1926, F.S. A first violation is subject to a fine of $1,000; a second violation is subject to a fine of $2,500 and a one-year suspension of the offender's driver's license; and a third violation is a third degree felony resulting in forfeiture of the vehicle and license suspension for ten years.
The amendment clarifies that both wheels must be on the ground at all times when operating a motorcycle, but it is not a violation if a wheel loses contact with the ground briefly as a result of the road's surface or other circumstance beyond the control of the operator.
The amendment to the strike-all amendment removes the phrase "horizontally to the ground" in the statute requiring license tags to be permanently affixed to the motorcycle or moped.

]]> <![CDATA[chelle29 commented on Malaise Era Corvette Begins Long Journey To Czech Republic]]> 81 with a 4 speed is rare.. out of 40,606 81 corvettes made only 5757 had a 4 speed.. :)
Sure it was underpowered, but it was the last of the non computer assisted manual transmission in a corvette.. 82 was automatic only, no 83, and 84 started the 4+3 manual (and it lost the curvy body, but it get a suspension that was light years better). another bonus with the 81 over the '80 was it was quite a bit lighter 30lb lighter front bumper and a composite rear leaf spring...
heck, if you know of another one I'll buy it :)

]]> <![CDATA[chelle29 commented on Italian Supercar Forgers Find Fieros Fantastic]]> The reason WSJ picked it up is twofold, one, it's now run by Rupert Murdoch, so they want eye grabbing stories with headlines that sell (like the word Ferrari in the title). And the second is the reporter. She's a junior reporter who mostly does fashion and celeb stories, and is familiar with Italy. She's covered fake Gucci bags before so she THINKS she knows something about cheap knock off's.
Her name is Rosamaria Mancini (rosamaria.mancini@dowjones.com, I'm going to send her a note asking her to learn about the other side of the story.), here's an index of stories she has done: [findarticles.com]
and here's a video story she did recently: [www.brightcove.tv]
This is WSJ quality reporting??? It plays like a college freshman marketing major's submission for a class.

Basically rather than do some reporting and some research, maybe discover that there is a huge community of replica owners of all kinds of cars, she basically did a press release in the WSJ for the Italian tax police. To me she is just collecting a paycheck and not informing the public. The tax police are working hard to sell a few enthusiasts building replicas as a "counterfeit ring" because it gets them good press. She SHOULD have gotten both sides of the story.. that's reporting... this is posting a press release for the prosecutor who gave her his side.
Chelle

]]> <![CDATA[chelle29 commented on Exxon May Have Its Punitive Damages For Valdez Spill Cut In Half By Supreme Court]]> from the article:
"The punitive damages would be dispersed to about 33,000 Alaskans, and Exxon is seeking to cut the per-person award from $75,000 to $30,000."

sure some will get money who were in no way affected by the spill, but the majority were people whose livelihood was severely affected by the spill. Many of these people were working on the water fishing, or in the service industry providing for the people who made their living from the pristine waters. When the fisherman aren't able to work they aren't the only ones hurt.. entire communities turned into ghost towns.
Exxon's screw up in hiring a drunk and cutting corners for single hull cost people dearly, and they deserve something, this is not just about hurting the poor oil company.

]]> <![CDATA[chelle29 commented on Exxon May Have Its Punitive Damages For Valdez Spill Cut In Half By Supreme Court]]> So Breyers is "sympathetic" to the Oil giant, as is Roberts, Thomas will just do what Roberts and Scalia want, and Alito , appointed by Oilman/President Bush, owns "thousands" of shares of Exxon Mobil stock(estimated at between $100,000 and $250,000, according to the PBS NewsHour)
Gee, not very hard to guess the outcome of this one.

from the Washington Post:
Exxon Mobil, the giant oil corporation appearing before the Supreme Court yesterday, had earned a profit of nearly $40 billion in 2006, the largest ever reported by a U.S. company -- but that's not what bothered Roberts. What bothered the chief justice was that Exxon was being ordered to pay $2.5 billion -- roughly three weeks' worth of profits -- for destroying a long swath of the Alaska coastline in the largest oil spill in American history.

"So what can a corporation do to protect itself against punitive-damages awards such as this?" Roberts asked in court.

The lawyer arguing for the Alaska fishermen affected by the spill, Jeffrey Fisher, had an idea. "Well," he said, "it can hire fit and competent people."

The rare sound of laughter rippled through the august chamber. The chief justice did not look amused.

]]> <![CDATA[chelle29 commented on Great Moments in Stupidity: Kid Mods Car Into Cruiser, Pulls Over Cop]]> Quick Googling of the incident reveals more to the story, various papers are saying he had "pulled over the off duty officer" and had "red flashing lights installed" however local coverage makes it appear that he had flashing white strobes which the off duty cop ahead of him knew was not a police vehicle, the off duty cop called in real police who pulled him over - and in the car were the red and blue lenses for the strobes. not as funny I know, sorry, I just think about all the people with flashing lights and neon that could also be arrested in this way.. MAYBE the kid wasn't trying to pull anyone over and thought the annoying lights looked cool. Maybe he was not following them into Milan since he did live there.
Chelle

From the local paper:
"A 17-year-old Milan man is accused of trying to impersonate a police officer."
"It was just after midnight Saturday when an off duty police officer and his wife were being tailed on their way home.

"A car pulled up behind us with no headlights on but had flashing lights. He had clear flashing lights, two of them" said Nikki."(the officer's wife)

"He tailed us a good ten to fifteen minutes and followed us into Milan which is weird" said Nikki.

Nikki's husband immediately dialed 911.
Police say the cop following the couple was an impersonator. 17-year-old David Leib.

"He claimed not to try to pull them over. He admitted he had strobes but says he dropped something that activated the lights" said Detective Chris Johnson of the Milan police department.

Once he was pulled over, police found white, blue and red strobes inside and behind the grill of Leibs' car.

]]> <![CDATA[chelle29 commented on Bimmeramino: Real? Fake?]]> Years ago I remember reading about and seeing a few pics in a magazine of a BMW sedan turned into a tow truck. This was pre photoshop and the text with it said something about it being owned by a dealership and being made from a rear crashed car. If anyone knows where pics of that one might be I'd love to see them.. :) I THINK it was the front half of a 3 series with a scaled down wrecker setup on the back..

]]> <![CDATA[chelle29 commented on Ford: Photos Of Your Car Are Copyright Infringement]]> Ebay reacts the same as cafepress in this - If you try to sell a replica of some vintage Ferrari and list it on ebay stating clearly that it's not real, and list it in the category they created specifically for replicas, ebay will cancel your listing if contacted by someone who is allegedly representing Ferrari.
They will do the same if you're selling a stock car (corvette, fiero, etc.) and list its color as "Ferrari red" or say a custom with "Ferrari wheels"
Kinkos once refused to print a window sticker I made for my real ferrari (bearing our ferrari club logo) because it is "Ferrari's property" I offered to show the title to the car which clearly showed I owned it, not Ferrari, and they still refused.

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