Kenworth is an American and Australian manufacturer of medium and heavy-duty Class 8 trucks with its corporate office and engineering headquarters in Kirkland, Washington, United States, a suburb of Seattle, Washington. It is a subsidiary of Paccar, and is also a former manufacturer of transit buses and school buses.
Kenworth began its history in Portland, Oregon. In 1912, the company was founded by brothers George T. and Louis Gerlinger, Jr. as a car and truck dealership known as Gerlinger Motor Car Works. In 1914, they decided to build their own truck with a more powerful inline six-cylinder engine. This was the first ever put into a commercial truck. The Gersix, as it was known, unveiled in 1915, was framed in structural steel, which along with its power, made the truck ideal for the rugged Northwest, where it was used for logging. In 1916 the Gerlinger Motor Car Company moved to Tacoma, Washington. Seattle businessman Edgar K. Worthington was managing his mother's commercial building, where Gerlinger became a tenant, and became intrigued by the Gerlinger company. Worthington's tenant was doing quite well, or so it seemed, and the Gersix became a popular fixture in the Northwest. In 1917 Worthington and his business partner Captain Frederick Kent bought the Gerlinger business, renaming it the Gersix Motor Co.
In 1919 Kent retired from the business, and his son Harry Kent became Worthington's new partner. In 1922, Gersix made 53 trucks at its factory on Fairview Avenue at Valley Street. Under the new name, the company moved to 506 Mercer Street and later to 1263 Mercer Street. Trucks and motor coaches were assembled in individual bays rather than on a conventional assembly line. In 1923 Kent and Worthington reincorporated the business as the Kenworth Motor Truck Company. The name was a combination of the two names "Ken" and "Worth", the same as the surname "Kenworth". In 1926 they started making buses, and in 1933 Kenworth was the first American company to offer diesel engines as standard in their trucks. In 1945 Kenworth was bought by The Pacific Car and Foundry Company.
In the 1989 James Bond movie Licence to Kill, James Bond drives a Kenworth W900 Semi-truck as he duels drug dealer Franz Sanchez. In Licence to Kill, the producers had 6 Kenworth Trucks rigged for stunt work, but they only used one for the stunt which 007 raised the front of truck to protect himself from a fire.
The Red Bull RB8 is a Formula One racing car designed by Red Bull Racing which competed in the 2012 Formula One season. The car was driven by reigning World Drivers' Champion Sebastian Vettel, and Mark Webber, with former Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Sébastien Buemi filling the role of test driver. The car was launched online on 6 February, and made its debut at the first pre-season test at Jerez.
Before the start of the season, it was reported that the team were in no hurry to copy the reactive ride-height system developed by Lotus into the design of the RB8. Team principal Christian Horner stated that "things have to work as a package rather than as individual components". The system was later banned by the FIA. Like most 2012-specification cars, the RB8 features a 'stepped-nose' to conform with new regulations to improve safety in the event of a collision with another car. The RB8 features a slot cut into the step of the nose section, although Adrian Newey claimed this has no use other than to aid cooling for the driver.
Sebastian Vettel, who (since joining Scuderia Toro Rosso) makes it a habit to give his racing cars names, named his RB8 'Abbey'. Its name is based neither on his favourite band's album Abbey Road, nor on the famous Silverstone corner. According to him, "it's just a cool name".
At the 2012 British Grand Prix, the livery featured 25,000 fan-submitted images for Wings For Life Foundation.
The Volkswagen Type 2, known officially (depending on body type) as the Transporter, Kombi or Microbus, or, informally, as the Bus (US) or Camper (UK), is a cabover panel van introduced in 1950 by the German automaker Volkswagen as its second car model. Following – and initially deriving from Volkswagen's first model, the Type 1 (Beetle) – it was given the factory designation Type 2.
As one of the forerunners of the modern cargo and passenger vans, the Type 2 gave rise to forward control competitors in the United States in the 1960s, including the Ford Econoline, the Dodge A100, and the Chevrolet Corvair 95 Corvan, the latter adopting the Type 2's rear-engine configuration. European competition included the 1960s FF layout Renault Estafette and the FR layout Ford Transit.
Like the Beetle, the van has received numerous nicknames worldwide, including the "microbus", "minibus",[11] and, because of its popularity during the counterculture movement of the 1960s, "Hippie van".
Brazil contained the last factory in the world that produced the T2. Production in Brazil ceased on December 31, 2013, due to the introduction of more stringent safety regulations in the country. This marks the end of an era with the rear-engine Volkswagens manufactured (after the 2002 termination of its T3 successor in South Africa), which originated in 1935 with their Type 1 prototypes.
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The Volkswagen Type 2, known officially (depending on body type) as the Transporter, Kombi or Microbus, or, informally, as the Bus (US) or Camper (UK), is a cabover panel van introduced in 1950 by the German automaker Volkswagen as its second car model. Following – and initially deriving from Volkswagen's first model, the Type 1 (Beetle) – it was given the factory designation Type 2.
As one of the forerunners of the modern cargo and passenger vans, the Type 2 gave rise to forward control competitors in the United States in the 1960s, including the Ford Econoline, the Dodge A100, and the Chevrolet Corvair 95 Corvan, the latter adopting the Type 2's rear-engine configuration. European competition included the 1960s FF layout Renault Estafette and the FR layout Ford Transit.
Like the Beetle, the van has received numerous nicknames worldwide, including the "microbus", "minibus",[11] and, because of its popularity during the counterculture movement of the 1960s, "Hippie van".
Brazil contained the last factory in the world that produced the T2. Production in Brazil ceased on December 31, 2013, due to the introduction of more stringent safety regulations in the country. This marks the end of an era with the rear-engine Volkswagens manufactured (after the 2002 termination of its T3 successor in South Africa), which originated in 1935 with their Type 1 prototypes.
Learn more about the Grateful Dead music group here:
alwaysback
Photos of the lamleygroup, best site of the diecast, enjoy!
The short-lived Plymouth Road Runner Superbird was a highly modified version of the Plymouth Road Runner with well-known graphics and horn. It was the factory's follow up stock car racing design for the 1970 season to the Dodge Charger Daytona of 1969, and incorporated many engineering changes and modifications (both minor and major) garnered from the Daytona's season in competition on the track.
The car's primary rival was the Ford Torino Talladega, which in itself was a direct response to the Mopar aero car. It has also been speculated one motivating factor in the production of the car was to lure Richard Petty back to Plymouth. Both of the Mopar aero cars famously featured a protruding, aerodynamic nosecone, a high-mounted rear wing and, in the case of the Superbird, a horn which mimicked the Road Runner cartoon character.
Superbirds equipped with the top of the line 426 cu in (7.0 L) Hemi engine with a pair of four barrel Carter AFB carburettors (2x4bbl) producing 425 hp (317 kW) could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 5.5 seconds.
Developed specifically for NASCAR racing, the Superbird, a modified Road Runner, was Plymouth's follow-on design to the Charger Daytona fielded by sister company Dodge in the previous season. The Charger 500 version that began the 1969 season was the first American car to be designed aerodynamically using a wind tunnel and computer analysis, and later was modified into the Daytona version with nose and tail. The Superbird's smoothed-out body and nosecone were further refined from that of the Daytona, and the street version's retractable headlights (made of fiberglass) added nineteen inches to the Road Runner's original length. The rear wing was mounted on tall vertical struts that put it into less disturbed air thus increasing the efficiency of the downdraft that it placed upon the car's rear axle. For nearly 30 years the mathematic formula used to determine the exact height of the enormous wing was thought to be a highly guarded Chrysler secret. However, in the 1990s a retired Chrysler project engineer admitted publicly that the height was determined in much simpler fashion: it was designed to provide clearance for the trunklid to open freely. It should be noted that by a co-incidence the height of the wing was at the optimum level for maximum downforce. The rear-facing fender scoops were to hide cut outs. These cutouts were to allow wheel clearance due to the larger, wider wheels and lowered height of the vehicle for NASCAR. On Daytonas, the scoops were actually for ventilating trapped air from the wheel wells in order to reduce under fender air pressure and lift. For standard road going Superbirds the covers or "air extractors" were a cosmetic enhancement, for looks only. Ground clearance was 7.2 inches (18 centimetres).
Plymouth Roadrunner Superbird decal.
The Volkswagen Beetle, officially the Volkswagen Type 1, or informally the Volkswagen Bug, is a two-door, four passenger, rear-engined economy car manufactured and marketed by German automaker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003.[7]
The need for this kind of car, and its functional objectives, were formulated by Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany, wishing for a cheap, simple car to be mass-produced for the new road network of his country. He contracted Porsche in 1934 to design and build it to his exacting standards.[8] Ferdinand Porsche and his team took until 1938 to finalise the design.[8] This is one of the first rear-engined cars. With over 21 million manufactured (21,529,464)[9] in an air-cooled, rear-engined, rear-wheel drive configuration, the Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single design platform, worldwide.
Although designed in the 1930s, the Beetle was only produced in significant numbers from 1945 on (mass production had been put on hold during the Second World War) when the model was internally designated the Volkswagen Type 1, and marketed simply as the "Volkswagen". Later models were designated VW 1200, 1300, 1500, 1302 or 1303, the former three indicating engine displacement and the latter two being derived from the type number and not indicative of engine capacity. The model became widely known in its home country as the Käfer (German for "beetle") and was later marketed as such in Germany,[3] and as the Volkswagen Beetle in other countries.
The Beetle Cabriolet began production in 1949 by Karmann in Osnabrück. It was in 1948 that Wilhelm Karmann first bought a VW Beetle sedan and converted it into a four-seated convertible. After successfully presenting it at VW in Wolfsburg, production started in 1949. After a number of stylistic and technical alterations made to the Karmann cabriolet,[45] (corresponding to the many changes VW made to the Beetle throughout its history), the last of 331,847 cabriolets came off the conveyor belt on 10 January 1980.
993 is the company's internal name for the version of the Porsche 911 model manufactured and sold between late 1993 and early 1998 (model years 1995-1998 in the United States), replacing the 964. Its discontinuation marked the end of air-cooled Porsches, with the 993 being not just the last air-cooled 911, but also the last of the hand built 911s.[2] The 993 generation of the 911 is often referred to as the best and most desirable of the 911 series, not only because of its beauty, but also because its performance is very good, even by modern standards, and the 993 was "the last complete 'modern classic'"; "the 993 was and forever will be that last fresh breath of air that Porsche gave the world; elegance and muscle all in one package."[3]
The 993 was much improved over, and quite different from, its predecessor. Porsche said that every part of its engine was new,[4] and only 20% of its parts were carried over from the previous generation.[5] Porsche's engineers devised a new light-alloy subframe with coil and wishbone suspension (an all new multi-link system), putting behind the previous lift-off oversteer[4] and making significant progress with the engine and handling, creating a more civilized car with better than ever quality yet one in which the driving experienced remained uncompromised.[5] The 993 was also the first 911 to receive a six speed gearbox.[6]
Like previous and future generations of the Porsche 911, there were several variants of the car manufactured, varying in body style, engines, drivetrains and included equipment. Whereas the Porsche 964 produced 247 horsepower,[7] the model year 1995 993 produced 272, and this was increased again in the model year 1996-1998 911s with the addition of the Varioram system, which added additional power, particularly in the mid-ranges, and also resulted in a more throaty noise at higher revs; as a consequence, the 1996-1998 Varioram 993s put out 285 horsepower.[8] This resulted in a 15% increase in horsepower over its 964 predecessor.
The 993 was replaced by the Porsche 996. This represented a dramatic change for Porsche. As many enthusiasts agree, "the 993 is one of the sweetest spots in the 911's half-century of existence," and while "more modern versions might be more dynamically capable, they're bloated behemoths in comparison to the lean 993."[9]
The external design of the Porsche 993, penned by Englishman Toni Hatter, retained the basic bodyshell architecture of the 964 and other earlier 911 models, but with revised external panels, with much more flared wheelarches and a smoother front and rear bumper design, an enlarged retractable rear wing, teardrop mirrors, but keeping the doors and roof panels.
