Mr. Ford’s T: Versatile Mobility

WHEN Henry Ford started to manufacture his groundbreaking Model T on Sept. 27, 1908, he probably never imagined that the spindly little car would remain in production for 19 years. Nor could Ford have foreseen that his company would eventually build more than 15 million Tin Lizzies, making him a billionaire while putting the world on wheels.

But nearly as significant as the Model T’s ubiquity was its knack for performing tasks far beyond basic transportation. As quickly as customers left the dealers’ lot, they began transforming their Ts to suit their specialized needs, assisted by scores of new companies that sprang up to cater exclusively to the world’s most popular car.

Following the Model T’s skyrocketing success came mail-order catalogs and magazine advertisements filled with parts and kits to turn the humble Fords into farm tractors, mobile sawmills, snowmobiles, racy roadsters and even semi-trucks. Indeed, historians credit the Model T — which Ford first advertised as The Universal Car — with launching today’s multibillion-dollar automotive aftermarket industry. NYTimes...

17 Electric Cars

Scooter Mileage Picks Up With Latest Gas And Electric Scooters

We've been writing about all kinds of scooters for years, but because of high oil prices, they're now seeing a renaissance of sorts. With 30% of Americans saying they would consider riding a scooter--even some people we wouldn't expect to--and sales of scooters up by 200% (and that was as of two years ago), now seems like a perfect time to revisit some of our past scooter coverage and bring it all together. Following are our favorite electric scooters, including production models and concepts: Here.

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The End of Suburbia...

The End of Suburbia (2004) - 52 minutes
http://video.google.com

3 minute trailer

Life on the fringes of U.S. suburbia becomes untenable with rising gas costs
June 24, 2008 by Peter S. Goodman http://www.iht.com

ELIZABETH, Colorado: Suddenly, the economics of American suburban life are under assault as skyrocketing energy prices inflate the costs of reaching, heating and cooling homes on the outer edges of metropolitan areas.

But life on the distant fringes of suburbia is beginning to feel untenable. Boyle and his wife must drive nearly an hour to their jobs in the high-tech corridor of southern Denver. With gasoline at more than $4 a gallon, Boyle recently paid $121 to fill his pickup truck with diesel. The price of propane to heat their spacious house has more than doubled in recent years.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/