Comments by "John Luetjen" (@jehl1963) on "Tedward" channel.

  1.  @TassieLorenzo  Interesting. That I didn't know.
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  2. Recently while driving, I was mulling over how social travel, and driving is. In the time of Chaucer, if you went on a trip you walked, or rode a horse in the company of other people, and you would interact with those people. In the 19th century you might share a stage coach. People would chat, tell stories and just generally socialize with each other. Even in the time of the car, drivers would be interacting with other drivers. Drivers exchange signals, read "body language" and sometime verbalize with other drivers -- all forms of social interaction. But with the advent of self driving cars that interaction is completely gone. Essentially they dehumanize the experience of travel as the traveler moves along from one place to another with their face buried in their phone, completely disconnected from their surroundings and the people around them. The experience is no more social than riding alone in an elevator. It's sad how modern inventions which claim to improve our human existence actually dehumanize us.
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  3.  @Knamnlidd98633  That would only be acceptable in the rare case that 1) You're driving on an unrestricted stretch of Autobahn or highway, 2) You are driving the fastest car ever made and 3) you are driving it at it's top speed. In every other case you need to keep right except when passing. Why? There will always be a car that is at some point will want to pass you. The courteous thing to do is be out of the way to let them past. Just because you always drive 75+ doesn't exempt you. In my region 75 is the usual middle lane speed. If you are constantly faster than everyone on our highways you will be eventually ticketed, and it will be a big fine.
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  4. At 12:20 you say "I know that sometimes the Lexus badge doesn't scream sports car..." I'm sure that IMSA's Vasser Sullivan Racing would disagree!
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  5. I think by '69 the standard wheel was a big wheel with a thin black plastic rim. I believe the wood wheels were phased out (at least as standard) around '67, or maybe '68.
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  6. A flat-4 in in a Porsche? Bah. Sounds like a Subaru! 😉
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  7. I've never watched any of his stuff to date, so I looked up a recent video from 3 days ago. I wonder if prosecutors may revisit the charges based on his self documented driving history. My one sample showed 95 mph+ on a twisty 2-lane road with traffic in both directions. He was lucky to hit a parked car with nobody in it. If he had hit an oncoming car with a 120 mph closing speed, he wouldn't be so lucky, nor would the people in the incoming car. Believe it or not - this was a "lucky" warning. Cars can be fixed - even Carrera GT's. But families can't replace loved ones when they are dead. He needs to be removed from situations where he is putting other people's lives at risk until such time as he has demonstrated responsible behavior in lower stakes situations.
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  8. "It's got a recirculating ball steering system! That's what used in pick-up trucks" ... and most Mercedes Benzes.
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  9. OHHHHH! My favorite Ferrari (excepting maybe a 330 GTS and GTC). The Ferraris of that era aren't as "in your face" as the later V12's with their long noses and short rear-end, but much cleaner and svelter looking, and with more brawn than the earlier 250s. Just my $0.02. Not that I can afford any of them... :-(
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  10. Curiously -- this seemed to be very much the environment the 250SL was designed for. Even in 1967, I'm sure that it would cruise on a Autobahn at 100 plus for as long as the fuel would hold out. But Germany also has a lot of roads similar to what you were driving on at around 12:45.between the separate towns.. The 50 kph village speed limits would be cancelled and you could open the car up and be driving through forest or fields for about 3-10 miles until you came to the next town when you'd clamp on the brakes to slow down to 50 koh again. In the US they might be called "state roads". In those days (and even today) there is more to driving in Germany than Autobahns. The Mercedes SL would have been king of that environment.
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  11. Is it me, or does the top of the dash really reflect a lot up on the windshield?
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  12. Kilowatt to Kilowatt, an EV is no more efficient than a combustion engine. Aside from oil in changes, the big difference in the running costs is that the government is not taxing electricity at ~25% as they do gas or (sometimes more) diesel fuel. Historically politicians have hesitated taxing they way people heat their homes. When gas tax revenues fade with the rise of EV's -- how long do you think that this will continue? When some claim that EVs are "emissions free", this is false. All that you are doing is transferring your emissions to your local power utility. Unless they are nuke, they are emitting emissions. Wind and solar are not widespread enough to count for much. Still a nice car though.
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  13. Having just rebuilt a 901 -- yes, 1st gear is synchronized, but only in one direction. I don't think that it's synchronized when downshifting. Only when going into gear from a standstill.
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  14.  @TedwardDrives  yeah. Responded while I was listening....
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  15. Watching the boost gauge while you were driving -- it was easy. Keep the engine above 3500 rpm, and you'll have almost no lag. But with those long gears, you've got to rev it to redline in order to keep it above 3500 RPM when shifting gears.
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  16. I was also driving around in the Boston Metro-North area this weekend and our roads are currently covered in salt, as you can see. Never the less, I still saw a couple of 992's out and about (but not Tedward in the 993RS). I cringed at the thought of all of the aluminum oxidizing in the bolt holes. I'm sure that the 993RS got a nice warm bath when it returned to the Bond Group.
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  17. Listening to it, I had a flashback to the ITB (SCCA Improved Touring B)) race car that I used to have.
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  18. Congratulations and enjoy the drive in your M5!
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  19.  @username8644  True. Heel&toeing at mild levels of braking (as usually seen on the street) doesn't often work very well and is kind of pointless, especially since often braking is to a complete stop at stop lights and stop signs.
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  20. Demand, I'd like to introduce you to Supply. Also, none of the Porsches of this era were galvonized. That started in 1974, just after the 914 went out of production. So a lot rusted out after being used as daily drivers when new. The more expensive 911s were often garaged by owners.
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  21. Indirectly true -- but most likely not the way that you think. Throughout the life of the Porsche 356, Porsche had the bodies made by a few firms, and then shipped in to Zuffenhausen to be finished. The companies were Reutter (Wilhelm Reutter as Stuttgarter Carosserie und Radfabrik), Karmann and occasionally Abarth. Being independant companies, they did business with Porsche, and also other makers like VW, Opel, etc. Reutter also patented a reclining seat mechanism. By the time that 1963 rolled around Porsche was doing so much business with Reutter (and vice versa) that Porsche bought the coach-building factory, which than became a captive body shop for Porsche. But the original owners of Reutter kept the seating portion of the business which became Recaro (REutter-CAROsserie).
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  22. What vehicle would I bring out to Nantucket or the Vineyard? A bike!
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  23. Watching and listening to this video reminds me of looking over the bus driver's shoulder in a Thomas school bus as a kid!
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  24. How would you compare it to modern small-bore options like a first-gen S2000, BRZ or later Miata?
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  25. At 75 mph, this SEL is hardly even flexing it's legs. The car is designed to cruise an autobahn at ~110 to ~125 mph for hours, stay safely on the road, and be able to safely stop from those speeds -- all while carrying the occupants in comfort. I have an uncle in Germany who had a 280 SEL (2.8 liter straight 6 with about 185 HP), and that car would cruise all day at 115 mph. I got to drive it once and I was surprised at how competent it was on the road, in spite of not being a "Sports sedan".
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  26. Sad to say, but it looked like the Tesla had the dumber of two driving systems engaged at that moment.
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  27.  @alexanderhamilton8585  True about the credit, but Tesla (the company) would never have gotten to this point without that vast wealth transfer to fund them. I'm sure that your boss will be happy to hear that you don't believe in measuring things in dollars. It will make the payroll calculations much simpler if they can just zero yours out in the future. ;-)
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  28. IBefore filming Tedward turns the side mirror down.) What is behind me --- issa No Importance!
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  29. A flat-4 powered Porsche? Nobody will ever buy it. It sounds just like a Subaru! ;-)
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  30. Forgive me if I'm repeating the obvious, but for the fuel filler, most modern cars have an indicator on the fuel gauge which tells you which side of the car the fuel filler is on. Next to the symbol for gas (usually a fuel pump icon) will be a small arrow or triangle. It will be to the right of the pump for cars with fillers on the right, and to the left of the pump for fillers on the left. By the way --- at 7:30, the use of the expression "silent killers" was very unfortunate given the recent Thanksgiving weekend's news.
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  31. If my memory is correct, the Le Mans race engine had a very un-racecar like 5000 RPM redline. This is because the FIA balanced engines' power by air restrictors. Because of the 7-liter's size, and the fact that it was competing against 4.5 liter V8's and 3.8 liter 6-cylinder engines, the rev range was severly truncated. As a result the Chevy engineers tweeked the design details and the torque curve was very diesel-like, but it did make a great noise down the Mulsanne Straight.
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  32. Funny - it sounds vastly better then the IMSA LMGT car, which is virtually silent when it goes by on the track.
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  33.  @TedwardDrives  True - But the 911 RSRs and Corvettes didn't seem to have any issues and they are noticably louder.
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  34. I never noticed until watching this video, but the front of the car definitely has shades of Ferrari 412.
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  35. As always, we need to respect the drive. We also need to not elect officials who feel it is their job to take your stuff away because --- well they just don't think you should have it.
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  36. I wonder how the driving experience is. Compared to a late-60's or early-'70s car? It seems like the later cars are karded up with airbags, padding and emissions controls. I got to drive a Fiat Spyder briefly back in the '80's and love it, but my sense is that they are very different cars. Historically Alfas we're significantly up market compared to Fiats.
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  37. Regarding the engine shots at 1:41, I wonder if Ford missed an opportunity. Look at a Porsche 911 motor from the late 1960s, or a Ferrari V12 from the same era. There was a certain artistic quality to the way that the different hoses and lines were dressed and finished which created an appealing look. An industrial designer with a good eye for flow and symmetry could do wonders! It could also include "design for serviceability" aspects which would be appreciated by anyone who has to work on the engine, or pay an hourly rate for someone else to work on the engine. There is nothing that says that an engine has to look like a "bundle of snakes". A little bit of thought and effort could yield results which anyone who opens the hood would appreciate and make the engine look as good as the exterior.
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  38. Eh. Sounds like a Subaru! 😉
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  39.  @makotohanazawa6560  Me too.
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  40. The engine, and indeed the whole car is just like a Beetle, except....the pistons are different, the crank-case was updated, the heads are different, the carbs are different, etc. But yeah, just like a Beetle. BTW -maybe you could find a Beatle to drive.
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  41.  @Eatinbritches  Thanks for catching that. Fixed it! 👍
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  42. I wonder if the rear brace in the trunk was bent in order to provide some support on a 2nd axis. BTW - I suspect that the Acton PD's phones were ringing off the hook while you were driving around. ;-)
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  43. Suggested 2021 resolution: organise a Tedward viewer get-together so your virtual viewers can visit in person, and maybe even see some of the cars that you've driven in person, and share their own cars. You might also find some leads on cars to drive in the future.
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  44. Whatever you do -- don't speed on the Lowell Connector!
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  45. Congratulations. I suspect that the Type R has a lot aluminum suspension components. Based on my experience, if you are going to be driving it in the winter and you want to keep the car a long time -- you are going to want to get it up on a lift and liberally coat the aluminum pieces with Tectyl or a similar sealent. Sure, aluminum will develop a thin layer of oxide as soon as it contacts air, which isn't a bad thing. But where the aluminum comes in contact with steels or iron, it will sacrificially oxidize. This is a specific problem where steel bolts and inserts come in contact with Aluminum. The aluminum oxide that is created in the holes is super hard and sharp (aluminum oxide is used on sand papers), and will seize the bolt.
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  46. I think that to truly appreciate the car, you need to be sitting in the back and somebody else needs to be driving it..
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  47. Does it come with the restrictor bypass option installed? I heard it allowed a significant increase in HP.
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  48. Condition? That car is better then new!
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  49. @verdict1163  True. Being an avowed Porsche fanboy, I was tempted to bring up MB's smaller cross town neighbor. I had the pleasure of visiting both company museums in the '80's. While Porsche's museum (at the time) was a big room packed with awesome race cars and prototypes, Mercedes was a vast building filled with race cars, trend setting cars and trucks (including the FIRST automobile!), airplane and U-Boot engines. The bredth and depth of the company's technical achievements was mind-boggling, not to mention the obvious cross-pollination which went on. Porsche, Lancia and Citreon are all innovative companies -- no doubt! But 2/3 of them essentially disappeared since that time. You could put all three of them together, and they might start to approach the scale of MB's innovation (Largely thanks to a former MB employee by the name of Porsche).
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  50. At about 7:30 you talk about relaxing a bit, chill and not try to rush a pass because you're anxious to get someplace faster. The results of failing to have that attitude can be seen in the recent deaths of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau. That is what happened. A car was in a rush to make a pass of a car that stopped ahead (to let the Gaudreau brothers cross I believe) ended up running into both of them on their bicycles and killing them. A completely needless tragedy. Folks -- calm down on the roads!
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