Chapter 77

8/16/2005

Ch 77 Next Big Thing Honda Civic Hybrid

The pressure to meet the self-imposed deadline for this week’s story nearly took its toll as riders block was a real possibility. Having no idea what to look for I kept the theme in the back of my mind as I wanted to live up to the high standards set by Ross Perrots web blog. I did get central air at home this week so I feel like I’ve at least joined the 20th Century.

Then it hit me on Friday as I left my development. Took time to stop and photograph a brood of turkeys as other cars whizzed by oblivious in the fast lane. Hi birds! Was this an omen. As I arrived to pick up my swap vehicle; it turned out to be a Hy Brid! Could this be the Next Big Thing? Would audience be ripe to shed their ugly gas guzzling pounds? The numbers were strong.

Met old college roomie for $3.28 full breakfast in Saugerties at Starway Café on the way to swap, whereupon he loaned me old ghostly photo fifty pounds ago - as they say we are mere shadows of our former selves, and visa versa. Yeah, I could rep 10# in those days.

One of my early prototypes is shown at Virgil home with dog Brownie and young brother Bill- he was always such a cry baby when I wouldn’t let him drive. We used a detachable trailer/motor system so that we could experiment with various propellant systems. Wheels were specially designed for our dirt roads but braking was still crude in those days (stick mechanism) as we built to go, not to stop. Upholstery was also an afterthought. Ole Leslie Hutchings farm in background across the valley has a new owner who is trying to revitalize and make it into a working farm- I think as a hobby?

Tech note: Upon acceleration the Integrated Motor Assist gage goes red as battery is draining, feeding electric motor to give extra horsepower to supplement gas engine. Battery level not fully charged as I had just left dealership. This gage shows green bars for charging the battery during decelerating. First attempted photograph with flash caused glare- second photog w/o flash caused blur- macro with and w/o flash no good- Finally used flash with telephoto zoom holding camera at longer distance while decelerating around Thruway ramp to obtain usable image. Only a professional should attempt this.

Although our hybrids drive just fine, I’d opt for the gas engine instead for long term economy. If you want to get up to 250 mpg you can use the plug in modifications but my companies don’t want you to know about this.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/08/13/state/n091301D38.DTL

Clean Vehicles Program enlightenment http://www.ucsusa.org/hybridcenter/page.cfm?pageID=1703

Another alternative is to join James Woolsey’s http://www.setamericafree.org/ unless you are afraid of the CIA involvement.

Added 2 tardy or retardy’s to mail list this week.