There’s no accounting for taste, but it’s hard to argue with The Autopian when they declare that this Nixie tube dash by [David Forbes] is “the coolest speedometer of all time” — well, except to quibble that it’s also the coolest tachometer, temperature gauge, oil pressure indicator, and voltmeter. Yeah, the whole instrument cluster is […]
Headlights. Indicators. Trunk releases. Seatbelts. Airbags. Just about any part of a car you can think of is governed by a long and complicated government regulation. It’s all about safety, ensuring that the car-buying public can trust that their vehicles won’t unduly injure or maim them in regular operation, or in the event of accident. […]
We’ve all owned something where one tiny detail drives us nuts: a blinding power LED, buttons in the wrong order, or a beep that could wake the dead. This beautifully documented project fixes exactly that kind of annoyance, only this time it’s the climate-controlled seats in a 2020 Ram 1500. [projectsinmotion] wasn’t satisfied with adjusting […]
The eccentric shaft and rotor of the Mazda 12A rotary engine. (Credit: Baked Beans Garage, YouTube) In theory, Wankel-style rotary internal combustion engines have many advantages: they ditch the cumbersome crankcase and piston design, replacing it with a simple, single-chamber design and a thick, plectrum-shaped chunk of metal that spins around inside that chamber to […]
To our younger readers, a car without an all-touchscreen “infotainment” system may look clunky and dated, but really, you kids don’t know what they’re missing. Buttons, knobs, and switches all offer a level of satisfying tactility and feedback that touchscreens totally lack. [Garage Builds] on YouTube agrees; he also doesn’t like the way his aftermarket […]
Although most modern cars have moved to using proprietary components nearly everywhere, especially when it comes to infotainment systems, for a brief moment which peaked in the 90s and 00s most cars shipped with radios that fit in a standard size opening called a DIN slot. If you wanted a new Pioneer or Kenwood stereo […]
As a classic car enthusiast, my passion revolves around cars with a Made in West Germany stamp somewhere on them, partially because that phrase generally implied a reputation for mechanical honesty and engineering sanity. Air-cooled Volkswagens are my favorites, and in fact I wrote about these, and my own ’72 Super Beetle, almost a decade […]
Airbags are an incredibly important piece of automotive safety gear. They’re also terrifying—given that they’re effectively small pyrotechnic devices that are aimed directly at your face and chest. Myths have pervaded that they “kill more people than they save,” in part due a hilarious episode of The Simpsons. Despite this, they’re credited with saving tens […]
In the middle of the 20th century, the atom was all the rage. Radiation was the shiny new solution to everything while being similarly poorly understood by the general public and a great deal of those working with it. Against this backdrop, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company decided to sprinkle some radioactive magic into spark […]
When [upir] saw that you could buy tire valve stem caps that read pressure electronically, he decided to roll his own Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) like the one found on modern cars. An ESP32 and an OLED display read the pressure values. He didn’t have a car tire on his workbench though, so he […]