Jack Yan: the Persuader Blog: Now <i>this</i> is American talent

As if to remind readers of my point yesterday that young people had wise ideas that, if given the chance, could help all life on this planet, The Philadelphia Inquirer featured today West Philadelphia High School’s sports car undergoing trials for May’s Tour de Sol in New York.
The roadster took out the Tour de Sol, an environmental cars’ race, last year. What’s more impressive is that it was built by high school students who had to raise the ﬁnancing themselves. Then they had to build it from a K-1 kit car, Volkswagen and Honda bits. To top it off, it does 50 mpg with its turbo-biodiesel–electric hybrid system.
If the students were to take out a second Tour de Sol, scholarships, jobs and grants may be heading their and their school’s way.
And before you think it looks like a rough soap-box racer, think again (photos here). This is exactly the sort of spunky coupé Detroit should be turning out—not retro gas guzzlers—to beat the imports and to close the lead the Japanese have on hybrids. Electricity coupled with turbo-biodiesel sounds sensible and, as these students have proven, practicable. Why America doesn’t take that initiative and leap-frog everyone, rather than create cars that are just “good enough” to fend off the imports, I plainly do not know.

Del.icio.us tags: car hybrid energy environment youth innovation entrepreneurship automobile

Posted by Jack Yan, 11:43 permalink

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Comments:

I am learning a new thing about you,Jack.
Didn't know you like cars.Don't know much about you.
That's one nice car in that photo.

# posted by

ctrinity: 4/16/2006 08:07:00 PM

Hi C.: thank you for your ﬁrst comment here! Feel free to browse around. Cars are my “life”—they are one of the few things that I love and I cannot explain why.

# posted by

Jack Yan: 4/16/2006 09:35:00 PM

"This is exactly the sort of spunky coupé Detroit should be turning out" Amen!

I think leap-frogging is for people that think beyond this quarter and the approval of Wall Street.

But there is hope, and your posting proves it. Thanks for extending the conversation!

# posted by

Michael Wagner: 4/17/2006 03:51:00 AM

You are so right, Michael. The quarterly obsession—which leads to cost-cutting, a lack of innovation, ﬁrings and a loss of economies—can’t be much good for businesses. Maybe, just maybe, if Detroit gets dire enough, it may start listening to consumers.
Thank you for popping by! (Zipping over to Own Your Brand now—I hadn’t come across it before but I will link it shortly from my blog roll.)

# posted by

Jack Yan: 4/17/2006 05:23:00 AM

It was indeed my first comment to your blog,Jack.
I love cars too.A lot.But i love the European cars,BMW mostly.
One other car i love is Bentley.I know it's a man's car but...it's so beautiful.

# posted by

ctrinity: 4/17/2006 09:17:00 AM

If you like cars, you are the perfect girlfriend—your fella is a lucky man! I have a dislike of BMWs, with some exceptions—the old 850i, the 1988–95 5-series, and some of the early models. But Bentleys are beautiful—I love them all, especially the old Continentals with the James Young bodies. A friend of mine has two of the old ones …
But it would have to be an Aston for me, any vintage will do! Here’s me behind the wheel of the V8 Vantage; and you might be interested in what I have driven so far (list here).

# posted by

Jack Yan: 4/17/2006 10:26:00 AM

C., do you have a particular favourite?

# posted by

Jack Yan: 4/17/2006 10:27:00 AM

Oh,i am in love you Aston.
I follow TopGear sometimes and that car is just wonderful in every way.
As a favorite,from BMW i like 645 the most.
From Bentley and Aston...well,i like most of them.
So you say,that i am the perfect gf for liking cars.
How about also playing xbox war games with my bf.?Does that make me more perfect?

# posted by

ctrinity: 4/17/2006 07:03:00 PM

Ok.
Jack,that list is long.Too long.
The Aston though is the nicest.

# posted by

ctrinity: 4/17/2006 07:06:00 PM

I don’t play anything on Xbox, so I can’t comment on that! Yes, if I had to choose a BMW, it would probably be the 645 Ci; it looks the best and I have heard some good things about it. Might borrow a Mercedes-Benz CLS for a few days to play with this week.

# posted by

Jack Yan: 4/17/2006 09:54:00 PM

I meant i am in love with Aston.
Mercedes isn't really on my favs list so i won't comment on that.

# posted by

ctrinity: 4/18/2006 02:10:00 PM

I am no longer a fan of Mercedes, either, but I’m willing to give them a chance—and a friend bought a CLS and seems OK with it. I have seen some horror stories with their reliability, personally … I am in love with the Aston Martin marque, too!

# posted by

Jack Yan: 4/18/2006 09:32:00 PM

Jack,you love cars and so do I,but after you see this,you gonna love the Tanks.
http://ctrinity.wordpress.com/2006/04/23/top-gear-the-range-rover-sport-and-the-tank-chase/

# posted by

ctrinity: 4/23/2006 12:13:00 PM

Thanks, C. I think I saw this at the end of 2004 or beginning of 2005. But it was nice seeing it again—and I might have to borrow one of these to play with!
Picking up the Merc tomorrow morning.
Sorry, not really a tank boy!

# posted by

Jack Yan: 4/23/2006 01:40:00 PM

Hey C., you have to check out the new Mercedes S-Klasse. I had that S500 and while it’s a bit of an old-man car, the gadgets are amazing. Massaging seats, double glazing, infra-red night vision and even collision avoidance!

# posted by

Jack Yan: 4/25/2006 11:45:00 AM