Showing posts with label Bowling Green. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bowling Green. Show all posts

Detroit Auto Show - 2012

Penulis : Admin Ashish Chaturevdi on Monday, 16 January 2012 | 04:25

Monday, 16 January 2012

Karrie's favorite car last year was still her favorite car this year...the Audi Q5. We sat in the Q7 and the station wagon but thought this one was the perfect size. Super nice inside and really comfortable. It even had cup holders that you can set to hot or cold.
Audi Q5 at the Detroit International Auto Show
We both liked this car, the Honda Accord Crosstour. It was really nice and functional inside. Just like the Audi Q5, it had USB and SD card slots so you can just plug in the memory and listen to music or books on tape. I think that it's a cheap feature that every single new car should have.
Honda Accord Crosstour at COBO Hall
The F1 Red Bull car was super cool. I could have looked at this car for an hour, every single inch of it had some crazy carbon fiber fin.
Red Bull F1 Formula 1 Race Car
Red Bull F1 Formula 1 Race Car at the Detroit International Auto Show
Close up view of the Red Bull F1 Car
I really liked the chars at the Ford display. They were simple, strong, comfortable and looked cool. Like the F1 car, a perfect combination of form and function working together. I think i might try and make two of these.
Unique blue chair at the Ford Display
one piece curved chair
The 100 year anniversary Corvette ZR1. This might have been one of the cars that i saw in the parking lot in Bowling Green last year. The guy at the Corvette plant said that the 100 year anniversary cars were lined up to get a special paint job.
100 Year Anniversary Corvette ZR1
This was a cool truck by Toyota, then modified by DCShoes. It had a compartment in the rear fender for extra storage and the entire thing was covered in that protective bed liner paint. It would probably help it last a long time. Another great idea that looked good too.
Toyota Truck DCShoes bed liner
This was the Volkswagen Bugster. It was dumb, i doubt that anyone will buy one, if they ever decide to make it.
Ugly Volkswagen Bugster electric white car
The thing i don't like about companies is that they make this really cool looking concept car then 90% of the time that's the end of it. Even if it's a great car it never gets built. Then on the 10% chance that they do build the car, it turns into this boring, scaled back version of the concept. Take the Chevy Volt for example. Here's what the concept looked like at the auto show a few years ago.
Chevy Volt Concept Car
Here's what the actual car looks like now. I like the way the Volt looks, but compared to the concept car it looks just like every other car on the road.
Chevy Volt Production Car
This year, the worst thing about concept cars is they were all electric. I guess companies figured, "what the hell, this concept car is never getting built, let's just make it electric and it will definitely never get built."

This was the BMW i8 concept. I really liked the way it looked, both doors and the roof were acrylic.
BMW i8 electric Concept Car sportscar
There was a lot of interesting people at the auto show this year.
Fat Guy in Overalls at the Auto Show

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GM - Tennessee and Kentucky

Penulis : Admin Ashish Chaturevdi on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 | 05:32

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

For work last week two of us got to go visit some more GM plants and look at their pavement. Last year i went to Reno, Denver and Ranch Cucamonga California.

We flew into Nashville Tennessee.
Our first stop after the Nashville airport was the exit right near Fiddlers Inn. The same place john and i stayed when we were in Nashville. Since that trip the hotel has taken on a mythical quality. Fiddlers Inn Motel, Nashville Tennessee Fiddlers Inn Motel, Nashville Tennessee
The Dukes of Hazard "museum" called Cooter's is right next door to the hotel.
Cooters, museum, dukes of hazzard, nashville tennessee
That day we drove to Bowling Green Kentucky.
Ale 8 1 is a ginger ale from down there and it's super good. Ale 8, Ale 81, a late one, kentucky, winchester, great soda, ginger ale
This is also from Kentucky. I didn't try it.
ol glory energy drink, kentucky
The GM plant that builds the Corvette is in Bowling Green. It seemed like every car in the lot was different. From one to the next they had different rims, different models (z06, z07, zr1) and different prices, starting at $64,000.
corvette plant, bowling green, kentucky, corvette plant, bowling green, kentucky, pictures, production,
These are the 100 year anniversary cars waiting to get a racing stripe painted on.
corvette plant, bowling green, kentucky, pictures, 100 year anniversary car
This one was my favorite. A turbo charged ZR1 with lots of carbon fiber and cost $128,000.
corvette plant, bowling green, kentucky, pictures, ZR1
This is one of the racks they use for paint. All that bubbling is from the layers of paint that has built up.
corvette plant, bowling green, kentucky, paint rack
I didn't know what it was until i broke off a piece and saw all the different layers of paint.
layers of paint from corvette paint rack
Here's the rejected body parts to be thrown out.
corvette plant, bowling green, kentucky, parts, panels
The next day we drove back to the old Saturn plant in Tennessee. It still had the
old plantation house that the GM plant is built on. saturn plant, GM, tennessee, house saturn plant, GM, tennessee, rock bridge
This is where they sucked up the different paint colors for the Saturn's.
saturn plant, GM, tennessee, paint tubes, colors
There are lots of turkey's at the Saturn plant.
saturn plant, GM, tennessee, turkey kentucky, piggly wiggly, store sign
Steak and Catfish
kentucky, parkway, steaks and catfish cafeteria
The last day we got done a little early and had time to go to the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg Kentucky. It was cool, the free tour lasted a couple hours. Some of the rooms we went in were near 130 degrees, where they were fermenting the barley and hops. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the buildings though.
Jack Daniels distillery, lynchburg kentucky, free tour Jack Daniels distillery, lynchburg kentucky, free tour, tank
Apparently Jack Daniels was only like 5'2"
Jack Daniels distillery, lynchburg kentucky, free tour, statue
This is where they make charcoal. The charcoal is put in huge barrels and the whiskey is filtered through it to remove impurities.
Jack Daniels distillery, kentucky, charcoal
Also on the trip i found some interesting seeds. The top one is Osage Orange. It looks and feels very much like a brain.
Osage Orange seeds, kentucky, tree
I'm not sure what this tree is but i saw a bunch of them in Tennessee.
weird seed pod, tennessee, tree weird seed pod, tennessee, tree Link
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