20 Things You Didn't Know About... Cars

[longknife]

| DISCOVER Magazine @ 20 Things You Didn't Know About... Cars | Technology | DISCOVER Magazine

http://discovermagazine.com/2012/oct/16-things-you-didnt-know-about-cars/gremlin70.jpg
1970 AMC Gremlin, often said to be one of the homeliest cars


1 In 1760 King George III housed around 30 horses in the Royal Mews stables in London. Today a typical compact car packs a 150-horsepower engine. So a suburban commuter has instant access to five times as much sheer muscle as the king who nearly crushed the American Revolution.

6 The first documented auto fatality in the United States was H. H. Bliss of New York City, who was struck by an electric taxicab on September 13, 1899, while alighting from a trolley car.

7 The motor vehicle fatality rate in the United States—the average number of deaths per passenger-mile of driving—has dropped by roughly 80 percent in the past half century.

20 What is the most beautiful car? Good luck getting any two people to agree, but the 1946 Cisitalia 202 GT was the first to be exhibited alongside the Picassos at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. If it does not make your heart jump, check your pulse...

I owned one once and it really wasn't that bad of a car!

 

[daveman]

While acknowledging the Gremlin's homeliness, I have to say the Pontiac Aztek is far uglier:

 

[daveman]

This Car Runs on Code - IEEE Spectrum

The avionics system in the F-22 Raptor, the current U.S. Air Force frontline jet fighter, consists of about 1.7 million lines of software code. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, scheduled to become operational in 2010, will require about 5.7 million lines of code to operate its onboard systems. And Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner, scheduled to be delivered to customers in 2010, requires about 6.5 million lines of software code to operate its avionics and onboard support systems.

These are impressive amounts of software, yet if you bought a premium-class automobile recently, ”it probably contains close to 100 million lines of software code,” says Manfred Broy, a professor of informatics at Technical University, Munich, and a leading expert on software in cars. All that software executes on 70 to 100 microprocessor-based electronic control units (ECUs) networked throughout the body of your car.

Alfred Katzenbach, the director of information technology management at Daimler, has reportedly said that the radio and navigation system in the current S-class Mercedes-Benz requires over 20 million lines of code alone and that the car contains nearly as many ECUs as the new Airbus A380 (excluding the plane’s in-flight entertainment system). Software in cars is only going to grow in both amount and complexity. Late last year, the business research firm Frost & Sullivan estimated that cars will require 200 million to 300 million lines of software code in the near future.​

 

[AquaAthena]

Did that article cover the main reason people buy new cars??

Most of them do so, to make themselves feel better.

 

[007]

20 What is the most beautiful car? Good luck getting any two people to agree, but the 1946 Cisitalia 202 GT was the first to be exhibited alongside the Picassos at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. If it does not make your heart jump, check your pulse...

Guess I better check my pulse, because that's one ugly car.

It would be VERY hard to say any ONE car is the most beautiful, but I'd have to say an 1970, LS6 SS Chevy Chevelle, red with black stripes has to be one of the best looking cars "overall" I've ever seen.

 

[007]

This is my desktop pic. Not a bad looking car either...

 

[editec]

Beautiful car? Here's my choice: 1937 Cord

 

[namvet]

my old truck was near its end so I traded for this a few mons ago. 2012 Jeep Compass latitude. these are 4 bangers and get close to 30 MPG. remote engine start, on demand 4X4 traction control etc. I always wanted a crossover.

 

[namvet]

This is my desktop pic. Not a bad looking car either...

Camero???

 

[DGS49]

Cadillac ELR...possibly the most beautiful car of the modern era. But that didn't save it from extinction.

 

[Canon Shooter]

What is the most beautiful car? Good luck getting any two people to agree, but the 1946 Cisitalia 202 GT was the first to be exhibited alongside the Picassos at New Yorks Museum of Modern Art. If it does not make your heart jump, check your pulse...

I owned one once and it really wasn't that bad of a car!

What a gorgeous machine that is!

I hate to break your heart, but even in fair condition those cares are commanding over $300K! In Concours condition you'd be looking at around $625,000...