Jesse James might be known for his bad bikes and monster machines, but when he set his sights on the world land speed record for hydrogen powered vehicles, he didn’t take no for an answer.
After reworking the body on the Dees Milodon Engineering Davis B Streamliner and packing in a 572-cubic-inch Chevy big block, Jesse took it to the salt flats and set a new record speed of 199.7 mph. (Just shy of his goal of 200 mph.)
When asked about the project and why he didn’t just build a car from scratch, Jesse said (in a very Jesse way) “I think it’s way cooler to take an old hunk of shit that many considered useless and make it haul ass. It has built-in soul and history. Plus, it’s recycling.”
Other details include a Liberty airshifted 5-speed transmission, Winters quick-change differential, and three tanks to hold hydrogen at an impressive 5,000 PSI. In all, it makes more than 780 horsepower and 900 foot-pounds of torque.
“I’m not so blinded by the things I build that I can’t see change is needed,” he said. “I’m in love with anything with wheels and a big engine. I hope my son will be able to love the same things. They’ll just be running on a different kind of gas.”
The Ariel Atom is the only car to ever destroy Jeremy Clarkson’s face:
However, despite its looks, this car isn’t the Ariel Atom:
No, this car is a home-built Ariel Atom clone that’s the end result of a gearhead with a garage and a dream. (And 800+ hours of work.)
Featuring stainless panels from old appliances, black body panels from an ancient kayak and an old doghouse, a throttle pedal from salvaged parts that were the result of a dumpster dive at a local engineering firm, and the k20a3 engine out of a wrecked RSX, it’s also an eco-friendly car that shows that recycling can be quick too.
Specs come in at 4.5 seconds to 60, and 35+ MPG, so it’s not bad in the performance department either.
A home-built dream car pieced together from scraps lying around the house?
Every year, 63 million tons of recyclables end up in US landfills.
Thankfully, technologies like wind sifters, optical scanners, magnets and electrical currents can help to divert up to 75 percent of that waste stream to recycling, conserving landfill space and cutting down on greenhouse gases.
Check out Wired Magazine’s Garbage In, Garbage Out infograph for a look at how Global Renewables hopes to help us rid our planet of needless waste.
The Bird-Electron EZ17-B iPod Recycling Speaker has got to be one of the coolest iPod accessories that I’ve seen in quite some time.
By utilizing the packaging from the 1st & 2nd Gen. iPod Nano or the 2nd & 3rd Gen. iPod Shuffle, you can turn what would normally become garbage into a usable accessory.
The speaker panel simply snaps in place, and then connects to your iPod without the need for an extra power source.
When you’re done, just tuck the wire and the iPod behind the speaker panel, and away you go.
If you recycle (and you should), then you probably separate out what’s recyclable from what’s not, put both on the curb, and never think about it again.
But what happens when you recycle?
How does it work? Is it worth the effort? Is recycling waste just going into a landfill?
The Economist decided to tackle all these questions [...]
Turning an old Mac into a Mac-O-Lantern is definitely the best recycling I’ve seen in some time.
To make your own, just find an old Mac, give it the proper paint scheme, load up a face image and proudly display.
Happy Macoween.
[Bad Banana Blog - Mac-O-Lantern]
