cars a to z

Friday, August 5, 2011

NEWS.FORD READY FOR ACTION

RUGBY UNION NEWS
FORD READY FOR ACTION
Ross Ford is ready to resume full-blown combat in tomorrow's EMC Test with Ireland after being refreshed by his extended absence.
The 27-year-old Edinburgh hooker was one of five Scotland players withdrawn from club service after the RBS 6 Nations, with the forthcoming Rugby World Cup in mind, but will pack down at Murrayfield for his first action since the victory over Italy on March 19.
Allan Jacobsen and Richie Gray will also start this weekend, while Alastair Kellock has been named on the bench and John Barclay has been left out of the 22 altogether.
And Ford is relishing a return to the Test arena, with Scotland seeking to avenge the 21-18 loss to Ireland in February.
He told Press Association Sport: "I'm excited to get on with it now.
"We've put in a lot of hard work over the past six to eight weeks. We're now looking forward to putting everything we've been doing into practice.
"It was a close game in the Six Nations. I'm excited to see how we've developed from there and I'm just looking forward to getting a hit out against another team.
"It's a good benchmark to see where you're at."
With Kellock, Scotland skipper during the Six Nations campaign, named among the substitutes, Rory Lawson has been handed the captaincy, with Ford promoted to vice-captain and leader of the forwards.
Ford does not anticipate the senior role will impact on him too much.
He added: "If there's something that needs saying during the game, I'll bring the forwards in and speak to them.
"Bar that, not much else will change for me. I'll try and lead from the front and put in a solid performance."
Despite his senior role, Ford is taking nothing for granted
With three hookers in the 38-man squad, which will be reduced to a 30-man World Cup party on August 22, Ford knows he must earn his place in New Zealand.
He added: "I've got to make sure my game's right to put my hand up and say to the coaches I'm good enough."
Part of Ford's preparation was his enforced break, which came as something of a relief.
"I was a little bit surprised but I was quite pleased because I wasn't performing as well as I like," he said.

ford

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

2011 cars new top

2011 cars

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Dacia Romanian car manufacturer

Automobile Dacia S.A.(Romanian pronunciation: [ˈdat͡ʃi.a]) is a Romanian car manufacturer, named for the historic region that constitutes much of present-day Romania. It is now a subsidiary of the French carmaker Renault. The company is the main exporter from Romania with a market share of 10% of total exports.
Contents
* 1 History
o 1.1 The beginnings
o 1.2 The 1980s
o 1.3 The 1990s
o 1.4 Acquisition by Renault
o 1.5 Logan project
o 1.6 Sales
* 2 Models
o 2.1 Prototypes
* 3 References
* 4 External links
History
The beginnings
Automobile Dacia company was founded in 1966 under the name Uzina de Autoturisme Pitești (UAP). The main Dacia factory was built in 1968, in Colibaşi (now called Mioveni), near Piteşti. Dacia acquired the tooling and basic designs of the Renault 12. However, until the tooling was ready it was decided to produce the Renault 8 under licence; it was known as the Dacia 1100. From 1968 to 1972, some 44,000 were produced, with a very minor cosmetic change to the front in early 1970. Also produced in very limited numbers was the 1100S, with twin headlamps and a more powerful engine, used by the police and in motor racing.
Dacia 1100
Dacia 1100S
A vintage photo of a Dacia 1300
1975 Dacia 1300
The first Dacia 1300 left the assembly line ready for the 23 August parade in 1969, and was exhibited at the Paris and Bucharest shows of that year. Romanians were delighted with the modernity and reliability of the car, and waiting lists were always lengthy. As early as 1970, there were several variants: the standard 1300, the 1300L (for Lux) and the 1301 Lux Super, which had novelties such as a heated rear screen, a radio, windscreen mirrors on both sides and a more luxurious trim. This was reserved for the Communist Party nomenklatura.
Changes soon followed as export markets opened up. In 1973, the estate variant, 1300 Break, was produced. There were 1300F (estate with no rear seats, for carrying goods) and 1300S (ambulance) variants, and in 1975 the Dacia 1302 pick-up was developed. 2000 examples were made until 1982. Dacia also produced the D6, a CKD version of the Renault Estafette van, in limited numbers, but given the competition of the Bucharest-made T.V. van, numbers were very limited. In the very early 1980s, the Renault 20 was also assembled as the Dacia 2000; because of the exclusivity of this model numbers were always very limited. The 2000 was only available in dark blue or black, and was reserved for the Party elite.
At the Bucharest show in 1979, the restyled 1310 models were presented. These had quad lamps at the front, larger lamps at the rear, re-profiled bumpers, and a new interior. The changes were heavily inspired by Renault's own restyling of its 12 in 1975. After a brief series of "crossover" cars in 1979 (for example, there were no more rectangular headlights available for the 1300, so the last models used the quad lamps of the 1310), the 1310 finally hit the Romanian market in late 1979. In the UK, where it was known as the Dacia Denem, the top of the range model included such luxuries as a five-speed gearbox, alloy wheels and electric windows. The advertising slogan used for the car was "The Very Acceptable Dacia Denem", but this proved not to be the case with the British buyers, who increasingly opted for the more reliable Japanese, South Korean and Malaysian models. Sales were very limited, and the number surviving are not thought to exceed single figures, although the Romanian Embassy in South Kensington kept a fleet running until the mid-1990s. Sales of the pick-up version, known as the Shifter, continued until about 1990, and the Aro 10 was also sold as the Dacia Duster. The plug was pulled on the Denem, however, in late 1982.
At the same time the Sport model was produced. At the 1980 show, crowds admired the Braşovia, a prototype of a sports coupé based on the 1310 and developed at a service station in Braşov. The go-ahead was given for a prestige model, and so from 1981 the two-door Dacia 1310 Sport (1410 Sport from 1983), was available for the gilded youth of the period. These were very popular for rallies, and racing drivers such as Nicu Grigoraş tuned them to extract extraordinary power from the old Renault engine.

Dacia

honda history

History
Wiki letter w cropped.svg This section requires expansion.
From a young age, Honda's founder, Soichiro Honda (本田宗一郎, Honda Sōichirō) had a great interest in automobiles. He worked as a mechanic at a Japanese tuning shop, Art Shokai, where he tuned cars and entered them in races. A self-taught engineer, he later worked on a piston design which he hoped to sell to Toyota. The first drafts of his design were rejected, and Soichiro worked painstakingly to perfect the design, even going back to school and pawning his wife's jewelry for collateral. Eventually, he won a contract with Toyota and built a factory to construct pistons for them, which was destroyed in an earthquake. Due to a gasoline shortage during World War II, Honda was unable to use his car, and his novel idea of attaching a small engine to his bicycle attracted much curiosity. He then established the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu, Japan, to develop and produce small 2-cycle motorbike engines. Calling upon 18,000 bicycle shop owners across Japan to take part in revitalizing a nation torn apart by war, Soichiro received enough capital to engineer his first motorcycle, the Honda Cub. This marked the beginning of Honda Motor Company, which would grow a short time later to be the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles by 1964.
The first production automobile from Honda was the T360 mini pick-up truck, which went on sale in August 1963. Powered by a small 356 cc straight-4 gasoline engine, it was classified under the cheaper Kei car tax bracket.[citation needed] The first production car from Honda was the S500 sports car, which followed the T360 into production in October 1963. Its chain driven rear wheels point to Honda's motorcycle origins.[citation needed]

honda