More Cars Than You Can Shake a Stick At

This is a more timely report. I went to see the 48th Annual San Francisco International Auto Show. Kind of odd for a guy who's giving up on driving. My father wanted to go so I went with him. Plus, I wanted to see what was new in the world of hybrid, fuel cell, etc. technology. Yes, of course I took public transportation. We took BART to the Powell Street station and hoofed it to the Moscone Center.

It cost $8 to get in. You would think that all these auto manufacturers would pay for admission seeing as this is just one big advertisement for them. Capitalist pigs...

Anyway, I took pictures and had a good time so here goes...

This Porsche Carrera really caught my attention. Just look at the size of the brake calipers! Holy Moly!

OK, that car had absolutely nothing to do with fuel efficiency and low-emissions technology so, after I stopped drooling over the Porsche, we did some more walking around this vast cavern filled with four-wheeled internal combustion engine glory.

And speaking of engines, I found this little gem tucked away in a corner of the Moscone Center. It's called the Rotoblock Oscillating Piston Engine.

It's a revolutionary design in engines. The pistons slide back and forth in a donut-shaped cylinder. This eliminates the need for a valve train. They claim it also has no need for liquid cooling, has a high power-to-weight ratio, and best of all, releases significantly reduced emissions into the atmosphere. Woohoooo! Initially, they want to incorporate these engines for use in portable generators, atv's, watercraft, etc. but eventually they want to put them into cars like these...

I loved these little cars. They're from a company called ZAP which stands for Zero Air Pollution. The three wheelers are called Xebras and they travel at up to 40 mph with a range of 40 miles on a fully charged set of batteries. The four-wheeler is the OBVIO which is a "Trybrid" car that runs on gasoline, electricity, and alchohol (great at parties).

ZAP has another car named Worldcar H2(seen here on the right). It is a combination fuel cell/electric hybrid (total babe magnet). Ladies, please try to restrain yourselves when I pull up to the curb in this testosterone factory.

Well, as you can see, there was a lot to look at. We even ventured upstairs to the exotic car collection area where I spotted this Bentley on sale for the low, low price of $235,000.00

I'm thinking it's better to ride in the back of this car rather than be up front behind the wheel.

That's all folks. Thanks for stopping by. I'm headed out of town for Thanksgiving. I'll be back next week for another post on how my holiday went.