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Scrapple, Your Guide To The “meh”-Worthy News! This Week: E-Scooters Are Dangerous? No…


Scrapple, Your Guide To The “meh”-Worthy News! This Week: E-Scooters Are Dangerous? No…

Welcome to 2020! Another year of mayhem lies before us, but before we get to the fun of cars, fuel, racing, and wrenching, we have to get through the sloppy mess that is early January weather. BangShift Mid-West currently resembles a bowl of soggy cereal at the moment and we aren’t exactly in a rush to get outside to work, so instead we’ve perused some of the latest and maybe greatest news bites that are out there in the world. This is Scrapple…enjoy!

1. Not saying they’re related, but…

This shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody but over the last four years, injuries from electric ride-on scooters have tripled. Broken bones, brain damage, cuts, bruises, road rash, and the indignation of having to remove a Mercedes logo out of your left buttcheek have been climbing courtesy of the rental scooters that have popped up over the last couple of years. “Improved rider safety measures and regulations” are suggested by the researchers who canvassed the meat wagon logs for their idiot

2. The ultimate Duesenberg ownership change!

That isn’t just a an early Duesenberg, that’s the first Duesenberg motor car of any kind ever sold into private hands. For over a century, it’s remained a one-owner vehicle, but that’s come to pass as the car has been donated by the Castle family to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana. The one thing that does kind of make us a bit sad? The car was acquired in perpetuity, which means that the Dusey won’t be in private hands again.

3. Another financial lifeline for Aston Martin?

Chinese automaker Geely has been holding talks with Aston Martin management as a possible move to take a stake in the brand. Aston hasn’t been doing well lately, with rumors abounding that the RapidE electric car might have been axed due to financial trouble. Geely already has a stake in Lotus, London EV Company (taxicabs), Volvo, and has a 10% stake in Daimler.

4. New parts for old Supras. Hey, other OEMs…take note.

Toyota has started making replacement parts for the A70 (1986-93) and A80 (1993-2002) Toyota Supra. They are starting out small, with driveshafts, door handles, fuel sending units, weatherstripping and badges, among other items. It’s nice to see a manufacturer continue to support their older legacy models. Would be nice if more of them picked up on the practice.

5. Connected tires. That’s it. I quit.

Are your tires telling you enough? Is hearing the complaining from your TPMS sensors just not enough information for you? Would you like your tire to tell you just about everything a tire can, including deformation and tire strain? Well, you can thank Bridgestone, who answered these questions via new tire technologies displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. They’ve also shown an airless tire that combines the tread and wheel into one structure.


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3 thoughts on “Scrapple, Your Guide To The “meh”-Worthy News! This Week: E-Scooters Are Dangerous? No…

  1. john

    My uncle told me that he and his high school buddies pooled their $ and bought a derelict Duesenburg roadster, fixed it up, drove it until it broke. They towed it to the Hopple St. Viaduct ( vi not a chicken- Marx bros.)in Cincinnati and then coasted it into a junk yard on the opposite side. They sold it for a few bucks; this was in the early ’30s. He just laughed… 🙂

  2. Matt Cramer

    Those tire strain / deformation sensors sound like they’d be an awesome suspension tuning and driver training tool, actually. They’d probably be better for road race and autocross, but might work on a drag car too.

    As for E-scooters, if I ran an outfit that rented those, instead of making them look like a Razr, I’d get them made to look like Honda CT70s, or something else that visually communicates “Being stupid while riding this can kill you.” On second thought, a vehicle sharing program that uses gas powered clones of the CT70 sounds like an even better idea. Make the engine under 50 cc and 2 hp, and you can even legally class them as mopeds to avoid requiring a motorcycle license.

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