I don’t know, its seems that the big car companies just love to shoot commercials in and around San Francisco.
As here, maybe.
There’s a Dodge Charger in there, anyway:
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Posts Tagged ‘chrysler’
Mopar Madness on the Streets of San Francisco: What’s the Racing Stripe For?
Thursday, April 26th, 2012Tomorrow’s News Today: Chrysler is Giving 14 Monster Trucks to San Francisco – That Thing Got a Hemi?
Monday, August 1st, 2011As a matter of fact, yes, the 14 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV’s) what Chrysler Group LLC is going to give to the City and County of San Francisco tomorrow all have Hemi engines, monstrous V8, 5.7-litre Hemis, to be precise.
But, these big rigs also have an extra battery and electric motor for hybrid functionality PLUS members of the “City Family” will be able to plug in to the power grid to charge up the battery as well.
It’s going to look a little something like this, garish graphics and all:
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Now, if City workers are really careful, they’ll probably be able to go 15 miles about town solely on electric power, assuming that the battery is all charged up at the beginning of the day.
But what San Francisco probably really wants is an electric truck without a gas engine at all. Oh well. (It’s the same way with Mayor Ed Lee’s official staff car – why have them put the gas engine in at all if you don’t want it and you aren’t going to use it?)
BTW, Chrysler was a-gonna to build plug-in hybrid pick-em-ups like these in mass production for people living in Flyover Country, but then Big C realized that a project like this would lose money. Big Money. The More You Build, The More You Lose, kind of thing. Well, that idea got the kibosh.
But then the Feds said, well, here’s a few tens of millions of dollars we’ve got sitting around, so why don’t you take that money to build just 140 units instead, and then give these trucks away to America’s mayors?
And, since San Francisco is special, so very special, we’re getting 10% of the national supply.
Hurray?
“Who:
Edwin M. Lee, San Francisco Mayor
Abdullah Bazzi, Senior Manager – Chrysler Advanced Hybrid Vehicle Project, Chrysler Group LLC
Joe Roos, Assistant Vehicle Chief Engineer – Chrysler PHEV, Chrysler Group LLC
Steve Sokolsky, Calstart
Where:
Civic Center Plaza
San Francisco
Details:
Following the press conference, Ram 1500 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles will be available for photo opportunities and a ride-and-drive around a city driving course. Media parking available in parking structure just off the Civic Center plaza.”
UPDATE: Well, it turns out that Sacramento is going to get 14 big rigs as well, so maybe we’re not all that special. In mitigation, Los Angeles and Fun Diego and the rest of SoCal, they’re getting nothing! Zero free trucks from Chrysler and Uncle Sucker. Eat it, L.A!
Ever more deets, after the jump.
OMG, the Cute New Fiat 500 is Here! Finally! Direct From Toluca Mexico, Just $16K – Is It Cute Enough For You?
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011It’s new, it’s you.
It’s the updated version of those old-school Fiat 500 cars you see about town.
Hecho en Mexico, it’s your 2012 Fiat 500:
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(Weren’t the boys from Chrysler using a Porsche Cayenne Turbo minivan film car to film these new Fiats in action on the Embarcadero not too many days ago? Yes, that’s my understanding.)
Anyway, here’s The Review.
All the deets:
United States:
The Fiat 500 had its US production debut at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show, and has been slated for a December 2010 production start: the production start date is December 13 as of now.
Fiat started the first North American preorders for the limited Prima Edizione version on July 10, 2010. As part of the annual convention of club Fiat Lancia Unlimited, Fiat North America head, Laura Soave, opened up the order books to these long time enthusiasts.
The North American version built in Toluca, Mexico, has same the trim levels as European 500: Pop, Lounge and Sport. The American version has some exterior differences compared to European version: a more rounded centre grille and a plastic lip that wraps onto the bottom of the spoiler and a reflector on the wheel arch edge, mostly to meet safety regulations. The American Sport version has a 1.4 litre Multiair engine, which is manufactured at Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance in Dundee, Michigan, United States. The cabriolet version 500C comes for sale a bit later in Spring 2011. The 500 Abarth is also confirmed for North American markets.The US 500 version was rated at 38 mpg-US (6.2 L/100 km; 46 mpg-imp) highway by United States
And Lush wrote a song for this car back in the day. All right, shake, baby, shake:
Shake, baby, shake
You know I can fit you in my arms
Brake, baby, brake
Taking me in with all your charms
I’ve never been inside you but you’re so alluring
They call you “little mouse” by name in Rome and Turin
Looking now at your famous shape
They don’t make them like you anymore
Shake, baby, shake
You know I can fit you in my arms
Brake, baby, brake
Taking me in with all your charms
When things are looking good there’s always complications
I can’t be with you so I’m at the railway station
Let’s run away and be so alive
Escape the drudgery of this nine to five
Shake, baby, shake
You know I can fit you in my arms
Brake, baby, brake
Taking me in with all your charms
Shake, baby, shake
You know I worship from afar
Brake, baby, brake
How I wish you were my car
Shake, baby, shake
You know I can fit you in my arms
Brake, baby, brake
Taking me in with all your charms
Shake, baby, shake
Shake, baby, shake
Shake, baby, shake
Shake, baby, shake
I will
Sorry, Mercedes-Benz and BMW Owners: Your Cars are, Once Again, at the Bottom of the Quality Rankings
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011Remember when them German cars were screwed together better?
This car on Haight Street does:
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But your MB or BMW? Not so much.
Do these brands stand for luxury? Sure. But do they stand for quality these days? No.
Oh well.
(At least these German brands rank slightly above above rock-bottom Government Motors and Chrysler (nee Daimler Chrysler))
Check the website of that Famous Newspaper for the News of the Day.
1. Honda
2. Subaru
3. Toyota
4. Volvo
5. Ford
6. Hyundai
7. Mazda
8. Nissan
9. Volkswagen
10. Mercedes-Benz
11. BMW
12. General Motors
13. Chrysler
What’s Wrong With This 15-Passenger Van? You’ll Found Out the Next Time You’re On Jury Duty, Maybe
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011Well, actually, we don’t get too many 15-passenger van rollover cases litigated in San Francisco County and/or the Bay Area ’cause we don’t have that many 15-passenger vans. That’s not how we roll.
But church groups in the Midwest, they be driving these things all over and they get into lots of rollover accidents. So much so, that the govmint has issued safety guidelines and there are “15-passenger van lawyers” just to handle these kinds of cases.
Anyway, just look at this thing parked near Golden Gate Park. The maker wanted to add a row of seats in the back but did a half-assed job. Instead of making the wheelbase longer, the manufacturer simply tacked on a Sir Mix-a-Lot butt.
See?
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There’s your problem right there.
I mean, there could be other issues too, but if you wanted to make a rollover machine, this is how you’d do it.
Just saying.
Stay safe…
Colma, CA is a Land of Fog and Cemeteries and Shut-Down Car Dealerships
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009Here’s Colma (nee Lawndale until 1941), CA, the West’s #1 necropolis. Why does it have its own BART station and musical? No one knows.
But what it does have includes car dealerships (both kinds – the dead and the living dead), fog, and, of course, cemeteries. Truly, it is the Land of Wind and Ghosts.
A look down Serramonte Boulevard.
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Not too long ago, Tom Hanks got his giant black Lexus from a dealership on this street, but all the Lexuseses are gone now. Will they return? No one knows.
See you there, on the next dreaded sunny day.
Forget About the Chrysler Bankruptcy, Get Your Imperial Out and Drive, Drive, Drive
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009I’m thinking this is a 1965 (Chrysler) Imperial Crown – check it out as it makes an appearance on the 101 freeway. Now you’d probably prefer to drive a 1960 model or even a Chrysler 300 letter series, but this white whale will do in a pinch.
Crank up the oldies on the AM radio and change the station whenever they start talking about having to bail out Detroit. No matter, this aging rig will certainly get you more friends than Sinatra.
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Sic transit gloria Chrysler
San Francisco’s 59th Annual Juneteenth Celebration a Huge Success
Sunday, June 21st, 2009San Francisco’s 59th Annual Juneteenth Celebration went off without a hitch. See what it looked like here on SFGate.
Juneteenth Parade
June 20, 2009
Location: start @ Hamilton Park on Post Street
Juneteenth Festival Celebration
June 20-21, 2009
Location: Civic Center Plaza
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Confetti everywhere during the parade in front of City Hall:
If that San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi in there?
Yes it is, with his Bianchi Milano cafe racer bicycle
Here’s Chris Jackson of the San Francisco Community College Board
And Public Defender Jeff Adachi
1964 300K Letter Series Chrysler. That thing got a Hemi? Sadly no, how about a Wedge instead?
All Corvettes are Red, except those that aren’t
Barack Obama was there, sort of.
As was the Census Bureau
And the kids from UCSF Division of Clinical Pharmacology were looking for healthy smokers, something like this: Pharmacogenetics of Nicotine Metabolism in African-Americans. Make $300 by joining the study, why don’t you?
And if meat is murder, then Civic Center was the site of a massacre this weekend
See you next year!
The Official Business of the SFPD: Powered by a HEMI
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008In these days hybrid buses, cars and everything else, it’s interesting to see the OFFICIAL BUSINESS of a City and County vehicle, such as this SFPD Dodge Charger R/T in a plain wrapper, being powered by such a non-hybriddy engine like a 5.7 litre V-8 HEMI.
So, this explains the MY NEXT POLICE CAR IS GOING TO HAVE A HEMI bumper stickers seen around town. What’s left a mystery is why these engines are called Hemi’s anyway.
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“Hemi” stands for hemispherical combustion chamber, but the term as used these days is “little more than a copyrighted word that bears little meaning, descriptively, for the engines designated as such.” Or, in other words, “that thing got a Hemi? No, not really.”
On the other hand, your 1975 Toyota Corolla just might have an actual hemi, if not the boss HEMI logo on the side.
Choose wisely
Per the SFPD: “My Next Police Car is Going to Have a Hemi”
Monday, October 27th, 2008This genuine San Francisco Police Department Ford Crown Victoria prowler sports a bumper sticker that states:
“MY NEXT POLICE CAR IS GONNA TO HAVE A HEMI“
This is a reference to the hemispherical combustion chambers of the 5.7 litre engine of the Dodge Charger Police Interceptor. So, did the S.F.P.D. place an order for Daimler-Chrysler squad cars?
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Signs point to “yes.” So soon, the SFPD might start looking like the CHP.
Poor Ford!