Beep! Beep! That familiar sound comes from one of your favorite childhood television characters as well as this weeks American Muscle Monday focus. The 1968 Plymouth Road Runner was designed to run the quarter mile in under 14 seconds and run the consumer less than $3,000. Mind you that $3,000 in 1968 is equivalent to over $20,000 today, the quality and overall appeal of the Road Runner justifies the price.
This commercial is one of the originals that were used to sell the Plymouth Road Runner in 1968. Plymouth forked over $50,000 to Warner Bros to earn the rights to the road runner name, and spent an additional $10,000 to create their signature horn, which mimicked the "Beep! Beep!" noise of the famous cartoon character himself.
The 1968 Plymouth Road Runner model featured:
A spartan interior with a basic cloth & vinyl bench seat (there were no carpets in the early models)
Power steering
Front disc brakes
AM radio
Air conditioning
Automatic transmission
A floor mounted shifter (four speed only)
The earliest models were only available as two door coupes, and the 383 CID (6.3 L) road runner V8 engine came standard on all Plymouth Road Runner models.
More conveniently refereed to as The SSP, Super Secret Project is a New Hampshire based comedy group that infuses catchy beats with their own unique sense of humor to create internet gold. Group members Christian Wisecarver, Billy Donohoe, and Darby Dechristopher have been bringing out the laughs in people for years, and today I had the pleasure of talking with Christian to learn a little more about the group's origin, inspirations, and internet success.
"We started out by singing in bars, and when we realized that we had something special we decided to take our comedy to Youtube", Christian explained.
Usually when one of us has an idea for a song we'll shoot the others an e-mail, and if we can keep the ideas flowing back and forth without losing interest in the idea, we know that we should go through with the project."
I personally came to hear about SSP when my co-worker showed me their "One For You, New England" video. This particular video encapsulates dozens of jingles from New England area based companies, and I was thrilled when I heard the shout out to Town Fair Tire at the 1:25 mark.
Christian expressed some surprise when he found out that I was calling about the "One For You, New England" video, because it was posted to Youtube over a year ago.
"It's awesome how some videos will draw attention, fade away, and then come back just as strong the second time around."
It makes sense that the New Hampshire based group's number one hit is about... New Hampshire. These guys clearly had fun making "Granite State of Mind", a parody to rapper Jay-Z's well known track, "Empire State of Mind". This song had incredible Youtube success, and upon hearing it for myself its easy to tell why.
I'm not from New Hampshire myself, but I still found this video hilarious. I can only imagine the hysterical effect that it had on the residents of the state. "Granite State of Mind" has drawn nearly 2.4 million Youtube views to date since it was posted back in 2010. Super Secret Project has also been recognized by major media outlets such as the Boston Globe and The Tonight Show.
If you want to hear more from SSP visit their Youtube page. Stay current with any new releases or appearances by following the group on Facebook and Twitter, and be sure to check out Christian's personal favorite SSP jam, "Realistic Love Song" the first chance you get.
Keep up the good work SSP, I'm looking forward to your next release!
What a mess. The Tony Stewart/ Kevin Ward racing incident at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in New York has gotten plenty of media attention over the last few days. Last Saturday, August 9th, Stewart and Ward were involved in an on-track altercation that escalated far beyond what it should have. Below is a 53 second raw video clip taken by Youtube user Pete Laslow at the track that night.
Warning: The video footage below is disturbing and may not be suitable for all viewers.
As you can clearly hear from the concerned racing fans in the video, Tony Stewart struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. with his car. While only Stewart knows what really happened out there on the track, the rest of us are left to debate whether or not Stewart's actions were intentional or not. One might argue that Tony didn't see Kevin walking towards his car. You can also believe the total opposite, and think that there's absolutely no way that he couldn't have seen him.
While racing fans are left to converse amongst one another, the real story lies with the passing of a young driver. The headlines will focus on Stewart and his penalty (or not) over the course of the next few weeks, but what's important here is to respect the privacy of the friends and family of Kevin Ward Jr.
Changes In NASCAR
It didn't take long for NASCAR to come out and make some changes to their rule book. Effective immediately, NASCAR drivers will no longer be allowed to get out of their car on the track to confront another driver. While such behavior seems to be common sense to fans and viewers, we truly do not know or understand what really goes on out there on the track.
What do you think really happened that night? Is Tony Stewart innocent or guilty of killing Kevin Ward Jr?
Regardless of intention, everyone at Town Fair Tire extends their thoughts and prayers to the friends and family of Kevin Ward Jr.
Can you imagine winning $1,000,000? Now imagine spending all of it on a car. This may seem like a ridiculous price to pay, but when you're talking about an ultra-rare 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda Convertible it doesn't seem so outrageous. Some cars are more than just cars, and for this American Muscle Monday, we dig into one of the finer mobiles to ever hit the market.
In January of 2013, this vibrant purple 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda was sold for $1.3 million at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale.
This year at the Mecums Auctions event in Seattle, the blue beauty below is expected to go for around $2 million. Cuda's have sold for upwards of $3.5 million in the past, and something as rare as this blue 4-speed has a chance to push that number even further. With only 11 of these models ever made, the 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda 4-speed Convertible can become the center piece for an American Muscle enthusiast's collection.
When you're shopping for tires, the hefty price tag often weighs heavily on your mind. At Town Fair Tire we believe in making the tire buying experience a little less painful for our customers. We make it a point to ALWAYS have tire rebates and tire coupons available so that you can keep some extra money in your pocket.
Town Fair Tire is one of the largest tire dealers in New England, with 87 stores spread throughout Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Our strong relationships with tire manufacturers help us to purchase tires from them at a nice low price. Instead of stashing that extra money into our pockets, we relay the savings to you.
In addition to the tire rebates that we have available, you can also shop for the most popular name brand tires, and buy them for less using our Found It Lower application. If a competitor is advertising a specific tire at a lower price than we are, simply fill out the Found It Lower form and we will beat the competition's price. It's as simple as that.
Town Fair Tire Rebates (Updated August 7, 2014)
Click to see how much you can save on your next tire purchase
Be aware that our tire rebates are updated frequently so bookmark this page to stay up to date on all tire rebates and savings opportunities. Also be sure to read the full terms and conditions for the rebate that you choose. Happy tire shopping!
This week for American Muscle Monday we're going to try to solve a mystery. Who does the Mustang actually belong to in the video below?
I stumbled upon this gem the other day and came to the conclusion that most people would react in a similar manner if their Mustang was stolen. Even though the miniature Mustang can fit into the palm of his hand, the young gentleman attempting to retrieve the small Mustang is treating it as if it's a brand new 2014 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500. Yes, the drivable kind.
An all black 2014 Mustang GT500
2014 Mustang GT500 interior. Now this is nice.
This year's Mustang model is jammed packed with power, and looks as "Mustangy" as ever (which is a good thing). The GT500 will get you 15/24 mpg (city/highway), and although it isn't a designated winter vehicle by any means, with the right tires you can accomplish anything. This beast can reach from 0-60mph in 3.5 seconds, packs a whopping 662 horsepower engine, and hits top speeds that lie just below 190 mph. The $60k+ price tag seems intimidating until you get behind the wheel and feel the power for yourself. You won't be able to forget this car once you've tried it.
So who's Mustang was that anyway? I don't really know, but I cant blame either of these fellas for putting up such a fight. Whether they were fighting over the GT500 model or not, the important thing here is that they both have good taste.
I would also like to extend a big thank you to Youtube user WiLL02724. This Mustang meltdown video is internet gold.
Although it is likely years away, there is a distinct possibility that we may be driving around in cars covered in morphable skin one day. This technology would not allow your car to become invisible, nor will it help it to transform like Optimus Prime. Despite these disappointments, the technology that lead inventor Pedro Reis is bringing to the table could be useful in a variety of ways. Most notably, morphable skin can help your car to accelerate and drive at faster speeds. Now who doesn't like fast cars?
Reis is a mechanical engineer at MIT who, with the help of his team, has been able to design a ball with a morphable surface texture. The ball is able to wrinkle into a dimpled pattern similar to that of a golf ball, and maintain similar aerodynamic properties. The team refers to this nifty morphing ball as a "smorph", which stands for smart morphable surface. The smorph technology works by sucking the air out of its hollow core, and pulling the exterior skin of the ball closer towards the center like a suction. As the core shrinks, the squishy outer layer is able to contract smoothly, but is also forced to wrinkle. This is where Reis' expertise comes into play.
Reis is well known for studying and developing new ways to make structural failures more useful. The wrinkling activity of the smorph comes down to precise measurements, beginning with the thickness of the smorph's outer skin. If the skin is too thick it won't be able to wrinkle, and if it's too thin it will be crushed like a ping pong ball under the pressure. Once Reis and his team are able to find that happy medium, they can then adjust the thickness of the outer skin to form dimples similar to those found on a golf ball.
The dimples on a golf ball help it to fly further when struck. The air passing over the dimples creates tiny vortices, preventing the air from clinging to it and bringing it back to the ground. The smorph works the same way except it has the additional ability of existing with a smooth outer skin if need be. The vortices are only effective at relatively low speeds, and if the smorph were to move fast enough, it would gain more speed with a smooth outer surface. Reis' system allows he and his team to adjust the size of the dimples, thus controlling the amount of resistance that the smorph encounters.
So how can this technology help to make your car faster? Imagine aerodynamic dimples along the curves of your car. They would not look like the little pink ball seen above, but the technology would function the same way. The result would be faster accelerating, and more fuel efficient cars. Right now we depend on proper maintenance and the right tires to get us from place to place as safely and efficiently as possible. Imagine if the body of your car did some of that work for us?
