Ghosts of Newport

Despite the title, this is not a post about the Chrysler Newport.

An old friend (and soon-to-be owner of the toyoland.com site), John T. Brennan, has written an excellent book of Newport, Rhode Island history. While the focus is on, as the subtitle proclaims, “Spirits, Scoundrels, Legends, and Lore,” the book provides a large amount of background on Rhode Island, the Providence Plantations, and, of course, Newport itself.

If you ever go to Newport, one-time playground of the world’s wealthiest men, this book is almost essential; and even if you never plan to go, it’s interesting, well-written, and nicely illustrated. I was grabbed in the first chapter by the story of the Jailhouse Inn, a renovated colonial prison:

The Newport Jailhouse was not designed to be completely escape-proof. It was never considered particularly strong or secure. Especially early in Newport history, jail sentences were rare; colonists preferred public humiliation as punishment for crimes.

John is not just an old, old friend, or a lifetime denizen of Rhode Island (save for two mis-spent years in New Jersey). He is also a tour guide, actor, photographer, former caretaker of the mentally disabled, former car parts maker, and much more. Frankly, I’ve spent decades watching John and wondering when his unique talents and creativity would be put to good use, and it’s terrific to see his name finally appear on the cover of a book jacket - especially when the book is so well written. I was surprised myself to see just how good it was - and how good most of the photography was (though some photos are a bit muddy, which I believe is the publishers’ fault based on my experience with print).

I should also add that John is incredibly popular and probably has more friends than Allpar has regular forum posters, in an incredibly diverse set of groups. You can’t go anywhere with him unless you plan to spend half your time waiting while people say hello. None of this has ever gone to his head.

More to the point, John’s diverse background and travels with different groups of people - old sailors, actors, pub folk, historians, and others - have led him to have a rather well-rounded view of history and quite a diverse number of tales. I’m sure he also did considerable research, but then, he’s always been interested in Rhode Island history, and even when we were in college, I was fascinated by his stories of the little state.

It is, therefore, with some fervor that I recommend you visit your local book-sellers or the inevitable Amazon.com and pick up a copy of (here’s a clickable link!) Ghosts of Newport.

The big rigs: Class 4 and 5 trucks are coming

An engineer and communications man from Chrysler have been crossing the country, spreading the word about the new Dodge 4500 and Dodge 5500 trucks. These are very impressive trucks, and they follow on the heels of the Dodge Ram 3500 Chassis Cab which, amazingly, has taken the #1 sales position in Class 3 trucks for two months in a row - coming from out of nowhere to steal Ford’s long-standing sales lead (and GM’s long-standing #2 status).

Some say that people don’t buy a Dodge truck; they buy a Cummins diesel engine with a truck wrapped around it. That’s undoubtedly a huge part of these rigs’ attraction, but there’s more to it than that - though I wouldn’t have known exactly what else there was until today. Yes, Chrysler put out a long press release bragging about unique features, but some of them are “more than meets the eye.” One major draw is the fact that you can take a huge fitting developed for another truck, say a Ford F-450 that’s being retired, and just move it onto the Dodge and expect it to fit — because Dodge has not only gone with industry-standard electricals and rails, but has gone one step further and pushed everything, that is everything, beneath the rails, without the protrusions of some competitors. Part of that, the engineer explained (we’ll have his name and picture in an article next week), is because Dodge was developing the truck knowing what the emissions rules would be from 2007-2009 (and, indeed, past 2009, into the very tightly controlled realm that will see urea treatment become almost standard). Therefore, they were able to engineer the emissions controls into the body from the start - and nothing seems “added on” or “in the way.”

Another interesting story is the brakes. The press release noted that an engine brake is now standard, and the front brakes are the biggest in the industry. Not mentioned was why this is important - namely, cutting back on brake jobs. The Dodge was engineered with long-term cost of ownership in mind, and if you can cut the number of brake jobs in half, that gives you more productivity (the vehicle’s not out of service) and lower costs. Between the in-service items and the Cummins engine, which is powerful but surprisingly quiet - just a little louder than a Hemi - it’s no wonder the upfitters have been lining up to get behind the new Dodges.

Then there’s another advantage - flexible manufacturing. Apparently these rigs can be built on the same assembly line as regular Dodge trucks and the Class 3 chassis-cabs, interchangeably; the diesels take a little longer to build, but they don’t need a separate line (presumably lowering costs) and they don’t need to be run in huge batches, which means that if a customer orders a truck in November, they can get it in November or December. Turnaround time is important in this industry, and Dodge has it.

By the way, these Rams are also sold as the Sterling Bullet; earlier I said that this was a joint effort, but I’ve been corrected — it’s a 100% Dodge engineering feat. That makes it even more impressive.

If you want my guess, this will be a winner - a truck that puts Dodge onto the commercial-vehicle map for the first time since the 1970s. Yes, it looks good, inside and out; but to many the beauty is where you can’t see it (at least not after it’s been fitted out).

Caliber SRT-4 and Allpar

On Thursday, a Dodge Caliber SRT-4 was dropped off. On Sunday, we filed it; on Monday, we edited the film, wrote the review, and posted both; and on Tuesday I went into surgery, in case you were wondering why I haven’t answered my e-mail or forum PMs. I’m still mainly out of it, but the good news is that I should be around for quite a while after this. On the down-side, it looks as though we’ll be having a fairly minor update on Monday…

But it was quite exciting to be one of the first to review an SRT-4, and I think we did a fair job - both pro and con. Please pass around the URL on any forums and blogs you may visit:

http://allpar.com/reviews/2008/caliber-srt4.html
http://allpar.powertvonline.com/video/2500

Now it’s time to go back to sleep - good night!

Playing with the Caliber SRT-4

We just had a Caliber SRT-4 delivered. It’s got more features and amenities than the Neon SRT-4, but when you put your foot into it, there’s a pause while the World Engine winds its way up into its effective operating range, and then it tosses the car a bit to the side and a good distance forward. While the car seems to be trying to change lanes whenever it’s under full power, it is controllable within reason. The sound is quieter than the original SRT-4, but it is tuned to sound surprisingly like the original while idle. Cornering is quite good, as one would expect, and the seats are more comfortable and probably better tuned to larger drivers and passengers. A handy new feature is the built-in accelerometer, which provides (on demand) 1/8 mile, 1/4 mile, and 0-60 times; but it doesn’t track them unless you’re in accelerometer mode. We’ll get you some times later, but right now the roads are busy and wet.

Here’s the video. The full review is coming soon.

Dodge A-100 pickup video

Though we were going to wait until we finished the A-100 story, we realized that we’re also going to have Caliber SRT-4 video next week, so we’re releasing our A-100 video a little early. The narrator, Dave Edwards, owns more than one A-series vehicle, and has been profiled in one of the major Mopar magazines. I hope you enjoy it.

Allpar/Slant Six meet

Before any more time passes I want to thank everyone that was instrumental in pulling off the Allpar/Slant Six meet. It really was a fun time and I hope to come back next year. There was a nice variety of vehicles and everyone seemed to take an interest in each others’ rides. Probably the question that surprised me most was whether or not mine was a factory color - though it’s true I don’t see many Plum PT’s. This was the first show I’ve particpated in, but the ones I ’spectate’ at locally have many one or two ‘token’ Mopars, so to be surrounded by them was nice. We got to stay through the awards but unfortunately had to split before the raffles were done. Next year we’ll try to stay to the very end…

I really do recommend it, especially if you’ve never shown a car before. Dave advertised it as a ‘low pressure’ meet and it certainly was, If you’re in the Jersey area definitely consider attending, you’ll have fun. Plus, you’ll put faces to (screen) names that you’ve been chatting with here on Allpar!