Though it lies just a few miles off England’s southern coast, the curious, diamond-shaped Isle of Wight seems to exist in another era entirely. Once a beloved vacation destination for Victorian visitors, the island – still reachable only by boat from the mainland—remains a British family holiday favorite that capitalizes on the kitschy seaside charm of yesteryear.
But the end of an era on the Isle of Wight is approaching. The island’s train line, whose rolling stock has consisted exclusively of former London Underground carriages from the 1930s, is undergoing its biggest transformation in a generation.
Interest in electric cars was rekindled in the 1970s as energy prices began to soar to new heights. One of the new battery-powered cars that hit the market in the late 1970s was the Electrek Uncar, produced by Unique Mobility out of Englewood, Colorado. According to early 1980s Department of Energy data, the Electrek 2 2 wore a fiberglass and polycarbonate body, but was also available in hatchback form. Its design featured an enclosed battery tunnel running up the center of the vehicle, with a motor compartment almost completely enclosed on the underside. Propulsion came via 16 6-volt lead acid batteries, feeding a 32 hp General Electric motor via a Soleq controller. Regenerative braking was also a feature, and the car was designed to be recharged using a standard 110-volt household outlet. The listed top speed was 75mph, with a 0-30 of 9 seconds and an advertised cruising range of 100 miles at 30 MPH.
Beginning July 19, 2021, Californian automotive enthusiasts have yet another item to add to an ever-expanding list of dos and don'ts (mostly don'ts) regarding their mandatory biennial visits to certified smog facilities. Up to this point, if your car was armed with modified programming (software) on its ECU (Engine Control Unit), and as long as you passed a smog test, no one would raise an eyebrow. Come Monday, however, if your car's ECU program isn't verified as legal by a California Air Resources Board (C.A.R.B.) Executive Order, then your car won't pass smog, regardless of its emissions output
During that era of good times, Studebaker built a giant monument shaped with 8,000 pine trees. From the air, anyone flying overhead could see the trees spelled out “Studebaker" and it remains one of the largest living advertisements in the world. More than 80 years later, those trees are still standing and airplanes circling down to the South Bend airport will spot it plainly.?
This map shows NYS DOT-inspected bridges in Southern Albany and details about the status of the bridge, age, etc.
Data Source: NYSDOT, Bridges. https://gis.dot.ny.gov/hostingny/rest/services/NYSDOT_Structures/MapServer/