Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Emissions, law and oil - way OT

[Matt Boyd (ferrari308driver]

My wife and I now have a Tesla Model S (it is her car...). I didn't buy it to be green, although Virginia's power source overall is 40% nuclear, so in some respects it is cleaner -- and reportedly the electric motor more efficiently uses the ultimate power source, regardless of if it is "clean" or not.

 

I'm hijacking the thread a bit just to post a little commentary on using an electric car. We love it. To get into the car it replaced (2004 Toyota Sienna) makes the minivan seem like a vintage old truck. The Tesla heats up instantly in the cold weather, has full torque at 0 RPM, you don't turn a key -- just sit down with your keyfob in your pocket and it's ready to go with no rev'ing, no warmup cycle, no sound. I have zero interest at this point in utilitarian internal combustion engine cars.

 

That said, one of my favorite things to do is to get into the 1939 Rolls-Royce of mine, push the bijur chassis lubrication pedal, turn the master switch to on, turn the ignition to "Both" (it has two ignition systems, one for intake plugs, one for exhaust plugs), turn the "strangler" (choke) before starting, listen to the dual SU fuel pumps click up to pressure, then finally hit the start button, immedately move the strangler back to "Run," push the throttle lever on the steering wheel up just a little bit if it is cold outside to warm the car up, etc. On another day, listening to the ANSA exhaust on the 308 with the top off is a highlight of any day....:-).

 

I've no allegiances or grudges, and it seems more fun that way to me....:-)

 

-matt

On Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 11:00 AM, Doug & Terri <dnt [at] dock.net> wrote:

BUWHAHAHAhahahahahah Good one Rick –

 

Yeah – absence of petrochemicals – In 1973 or 74 I recall ordering IBM typewriters for my expanding office and was told they were on back order.  Why?  With the raw oil shortage, they couldn’t make the plastic keys!!

 

Electric cars – great idea - - - IF the ELECTRICITY to power them up comes from lightning or hydro.  Otherwise we are just pushing the generation polluters (read anything that ain’t ‘natural’) up stream.

 

As for bicycles – golly, all one has to do is look at a busy Chinese metropolis with hordes of biker-cyclists and see a pall of smog enveloping their nation like a 1930’s Basil Rathbone movie showing England’s late night fog.  Oh, and since we are ‘downwind’ of China - - - five days later the US west coast gets it.  No charge, Yankee Boy.

 

Ayieeeeee

 

DOUG

 

From: Rick Lindsay [mailto:richardolindsay [at] gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, February 21, 2014 5:43 AM
To: DOUG
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: [Ferrari] Emissions, law and oil - way OT

 

Doug wrote,

 

> Trouble is ? EPA.  In Kalifornia it damndably neigh impossible to

> legally modify one of the newer beasts...

 

I believe its illegal most everywhere in the U.S. for mortals to even touch anything emissions related. Where that line is drawn is unclear, at least to me. Certainly home maintenance is taboo. I mean, replacing a dirty air cleaner can affect emissions! Hell, starting your car on a cold morning affects emissions! Is turning that key illegal? What IS one allowed to do on their own car?

 

> ...and still live in what Kalifornia calls

> the emission smog check program.

 

The real trouble is that radical greenies just want to eliminate all petrol-burning cars, and the industry that powers them. How they'll get to their rallies or what they'll wear is uncertain. Oh yea, on bicycles, bare-footed and in robes of home-made hemp cloth.

 

This all goes back to hatred of oil companies. Nasty polluters, every one of them. Who needs them?! We don't need gasoline or natural gas or lubricants or plastics or petrochemicals. Besides, we should all be walking or riding bicycles on uh, uh...natural rubber tires made without petrochemicals, lubricated with whale tallow, and with frames painted with organic paints, supplied from sustainably developed rain forest plants, and delivered in steam powered ships. We don't need oil companies! 

 

And...how dare oil companies make a profit!!! Anyone with one cent more than me is SATAN anyway! We hate them. Hate! Hate! Hate!

 

Actually, I have nothing against electric cars. They're pretty cool, actually. But even they, and the industry behind them, don't justify removal of oil based transportation. Even the mighty Clyde would have trouble flying an electric Airbus A380!

 

Whew! Relaxing now. Resting on my Temper-pedic (made from petrochemicals), typing on my Android device (made partially from petrochemicals, and other toxic materials, and delivered from China using oil), and enjoying retirement (on a pension from a long career in oil and gas exploration).

 

Well, that was fun. I think I'll now just go out and adjust the fuel injection in my old Volvo. Shhh.

 

-rick

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