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Opinion and analysis from MotorTorque.com

Folly Friday: Yoda strikes back, could get annoying

Posted by Conor Greenwood

July 9th, 2010

Uncategorized

This week in Folly Friday: Yoda guest spots for TomTom; cash-filled truck crashes; sun melts Chinese road; and Isuzu wants hardworking shepherds.

Yoda joins forces with TomTom

“With incredible Jedi powers, Yoda is the ideal voice to guide Star Wars fans on their journeys.”

Yes that’s right; Yoda is the latest ‘celebrity’ to follow in the illustrious footsteps of Billy Connolly and Alan Partridge in lending his voice to TomTom; which means much more of this:

“After 700 hundred metres hmm, keep to the right then take a sharp left. Control, control, if a Jedi you wish to be.”

But wait, there’s more:

“The Yoda voice also comes with ghostly encouragement from Obi-Wan Ben Kenobi.”

We love Star Wars – and Yoda for that matter – as much as the next person, but seriously, satnav?

Motorists cash in on crash

RAC reports:

“A security truck carrying 2.5 million Euros (£2 million) overturned on a motorway near Foggio in Southern Italy, shedding millions of coins on to the road.”

Passersby stopped their cars and helped themselves to almost 10,000 Euros before Police closed the highway.

I know what you’re thinking. 2.5 million Euros is laying on the road and only 10 grand goes missing? Looks like these things are actually working…

Road melts; cars stick

A road in Zhengzhou, China, that had recently been resurfaced melted under intense heat from the sun.

Dozens of cars – including an ambulance – were stuck, though nobody was actually hurt. Just a bit hot we suppose.

We believe that the following quote, courtesy of Orange Quirkies, manages to put into words what exactly happened.

“Motorist Lao Yang said his car seemed to get heavier and heavier as he drove along the street.”

It feels like we were actually there.

Isuzu seeks farmers

Are you a tractor driver, herdsman, milker, shepherd, game-keeper, sprayer operator, farm fitter, farm secretary or general worker?

If so then perk up, it’s your time to shine, because Isuzu is sponsoring the Farm Worker of the Year award.

Justifying this random move was Isuzu’s UK Marketing Director Kenyon Neads:

“The Farm Worker of the Year award seeks to reward the endeavours of those who make a real difference in their work place. That’s why we wanted to sponsor it.”

Hold on a minute, what on earth has that got to do with a Japanese car firm?

“We feel the Isuzu Rodeo pick-up is the perfect companion for these hard-working agricultural employees.”

Still don’t get it…

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#Carspotting: Lotus Elite

Posted by Robin Brown

July 9th, 2010

British marques, Car lifestyle, Old cars

Over on Twitter we frequently post images of cool cars we’ve spotted, whether they be supercars, classic or curios. Recent examples have included the Hummer H3, Ford Capri, Citroen BX and Vauxhall Chevette.

With MT Towers based in Liverpool, chances for a snap of the new Lamborghini Mental or Bentley Premiership are few and far between, but on regional byways there are, frankly, much more interesting sights to behold.

How about the pristine Austin Allegro MT keeps spotting around an area near the town centre; or the Porsche 944 and Ford Capri parked down the road from MT’s abode, virtually taunting us with their presence?

The Morris models, the old Triumphs and the 70s Rovers. Every now and then a Jaguar XJS or a Ford Escort RS or a Reliant Scimitar. Who could resist?

Age lends even run-of-the-mill volume cars an extra sheen: a Mark II Volkswagen Polo is often spotted around Aigburth; a Mark I Vauxhall Astra parked on a side street; a Saab 900 is still grumbling on.

And have you noticed all those mid-90s Japanese coupes that are still on the roads, resplendent in their smooth edges?

MotorTorque notices them all and gets of a snap where possible, to be posted to fellow nerds on Twitter, using the hashtag #carspotting. We’re not sure, but it might have been our invention. Now people carspot all over the world.

Every now and then a real gem comes to the fore though, a weird old classic from Jensen or TVR or Aston Martin or Ferrari. These are the ultimate carspots, and Liverpool came up with a stunner recently.

It’s a Lotus Elite Mark II – a bizarre shooting brake sports car, er, thing – and apparently it’s a V8. And this one is absolutely immaculate.

For this car spotter, this is almost as good as it gets. To see a fairly rare car is good, to see one in such pristine condition means a level of rapture than any girlfriend is going to find annoying very quickly.

A paparazzi friend of MT’s, Dave, sent it over while we was wandering the streets, indulging in a bit of carspotting himself.

So why not try a bit of carspotting yourself when out for a walk, a jog or a drive? People will think you’re a lunatic, but your inner car-geek will get a regular fix. And you might get a photo of an Austin Ambassador.

• You can follow MotorTorque on Twitter for regular #carspotting or view new cars spotted via Flickr below. You can also share your own #carspotting captures at the #carspotting Flickr group.

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Posted in British marques, Car lifestyle, Old cars | No Comments »

Get Carter car-park gets one last starring role – courtesy of Nissan

Posted by Robin Brown

July 8th, 2010

Multimedia, New vehicles

A hearty slap on the back to Nissan’s PR department, who have marked the end of the iconic Gateshead car-park featured in Get Carter with a stunning photoset and video of the Nissan Juke doing its stuff around the building.

The brutalist Trinity Square car-park, designed in 1962, is due to be pulled down by Tesco’s development subsidiary as part of a scheme to regenerate the area. Opened in the mid-60s, the car-park services a Gateshead shopping centre but was poorly-received and weathered badly. Rather poignantly, a cafe built into the structure on the roof never opened.

It did find a kind of fame though, when Michael Caine threw the bloke out of Coronation Street off the top of it during his vengeful search for his brother’s murderer. Get Carter paints a pretty bleak image of Newcastle and the north-east, but the flick has given the striking Trinity building a level of fame, even if there is little fondness for it.

Nissan has got the final use of it, with Wearside employee Nigel Sidney getting the car-park to himself for a spot of hooning in the new Juke, which is built down the road in Sunderland.

It’s a sign of how Nissan has become embedded in the area that the Juke drive has come to pass at all and even there’s not much to the article it’s a nice little story with some great images.

Leader of Gateshead Council, Councillor Mick Henry said, “This structure has dominated Gateshead Town Centre since 1969 and been a constant talking point. Today is the last time any car will drive on it, so it seems fitting that a model made in our region be involved in bidding farewell.

“It is the end of an era and we anticipate that travel to and around the new development in the town centre will change beyond recognition from what we built here in the 1960s.”

The demolition of the site seems rather a shame to us, with plans to redevelop the site coming to nothing, as one man’s derelict car-park is another man’s Barbican.

But perhaps that’s the price of progress. Something that, in the car industry, we’re constantly reminded of.

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