Some of the Most Famous Cars in Modern Film & TV

We’ve all experienced the magic. The popcorn is buttered to perfection and the lights are dimly lit.  The slow stir of anxiousness floods your body.  Watching a movie for the first time is an experience in itself.  The character interaction with trying situations creates a bond between you and the protagonist, but it doesn’t end there.  Movies have created certain characters that, even after the film is over, you still have a connection or admiration for.  In some cases, a protagonist’s car can be given this title.  A vehicle used by main characters in the plot have a mind and personality of their own, or are reflective of their character, creating a cool ensemble of on screen characters to watch.  Here’s a look at some famous cars in cinema:

Ford 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500.

This car, American muscle defined, starred in the film Gone in 60 seconds with Nicholas Cage in 2000.  The Mustang named ‘Eleanor’ in the film had 360-hp and in one scene launches 30 feet in the air over 15 feet of cars to land intact on the other side.  WOW

1981 DeLorean DMC12

Maybe one of the most classic movie cars of all time, the DeLorean starred in Back To The Future with Michael J. Fox.  It was able to break the law of quantum physics with a modified flux capacitor to travel through time at 88 mph.  The ill-fated Irish sports car had a good run.

1963 Volkswagen Beetle 

The distinguishable red and blue racing stripe, the number 53 on it’s hood and the human-like emotions of a Classic Volkswagen, all incorporated Herbie’s demeanor. The car star of several films of the same name, it was even able to drive himself from time to time!

1969 Dodge Charger

The General Lee was an icon.  The Dukes of Hazard car had a confederate flag painted on its roof, doors that were welded shut, and a trunk full of sandbags and concrete to let it fly over those hills.  The Duke boys had it good…

1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

This car was a super smart, crime-fighting machine built to protect its driver, (a young David Hasseloff) in the TV series Knight Rider.  The car, known as ‘KITT’ was backed by an ‘Alpha Circuit’, which only the producers of the show know where it came from or how it made KITT speak.

1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Ambulance

Who you gonna call?  The Ghostbusters was a national hit when it was released in 1984 and with the “Ecto-1”, a white end loading ambulance corroded with dust and ghost catching technology, the Ghostbusters were able to speed through New York to solve problems with the macabre. 

There are countless movies with unforgettable cars.  What are some of your favorites?  

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How Much Does An Electric Vehicle ACTUALLY Cost to Maintain?

The Jetsons is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of electric vehicles, not necessarily a floating utopia equipped with flying cars, but it’s definitely a wave of the future.  With countless manufacturers rolling our production vehicles and prototypes, it’s not difficult to get lost in the shuffle.  We’ve heard the conversation around electric vehicles: they’re quiet, cheap to maintain, and environmentally friendly.  Lets delve a bit deeper and get the actual price of maintaining one.

According to Edmunds: to figure out the cost of fueling an EV, start with the electric car's energy consumption rate, which is expressed as kWh per 100 miles (kWh/100m). This figure will be listed on the EPA's upcoming EV fuel economy label (the 2011 Leaf's preliminary label is shown here, complete with an erroneous 12-cent per kWh figure in the cost estimate that Nissan says it is correcting). The next figure is your home electric rate, assuming that's the primary charging site. Multiply the kWh/100m figure by the electric rate to get the cost per 100 miles. For instance, the Leaf's kWh/100m figure is 34. If electricity is 11 cents per kWh — the national average — it would cost $3.74 to go 100 miles.

Utility companies, and the time and level of use set the electricity cost.  You pay more for kWh at peak hours, making a lot of electric commuters pay more than the national average of 11 cents per kWh.  How do real individuals save on their electric vehicles? 

Tom and Cathy Saxon have two electric vehicles.  They installed separate electric meters for their EVs (electric vehicles) in July 2009 and have been tracking them since then.  The Saxton's Tesla is consuming at a rate of 30.8 kWh/100m (bettering its official EPA rating); the RAV4 is averaging about 35 kWh/100m.  They pay an average of 11.25 cents per kWh.  In other words, they drive about 30 miles on a dollar’s worth of electricity, it would be much more expensive to drive with gas.  Results do vary, depending on a couple factors like when and where you’re charging, but the true cost of filling up is a tad more complicated than expected.

7 Facts About Texting That Can Save a Life

Multitasking has increased in the last few years to astronomical heights.  With one hand and a smartphone you can watch a YouTube video, send an email, play a game, voice chat and place a call in a five-minute span.  However, with much power comes much responsibility because NOW that we have this access 24-7, it has carried over into our driving habits. 

For some time, researchers have been telling us to focus only on driving, quoting a greatly increased chance of accident, injury and death when we distractedly call a friend or answer a ringing cell phone.

Now, new research has revealed the most dangerous driver distraction of all: texting.

A study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, along with prior studies by Liberty Mutual Insurance and state-funded organizations located online, reveals the shocking statistics of texting behind the wheel:

•       Texting while driving increases the risk of accident 23.2 times over unimpaired driving.
•       Texting while driving results in longer response times than even drunken driving. While an unimpaired driver can respond quickly to changes in traffic and begin braking within half a second, a legally drunk driver needs four additional feet to begin braking—and a driver who’s texting needs 70.
•       In the moments before a crash or near crash, drivers typically spend nearly five seconds looking at their mobile devices—enough time at typical highway speeds to cover more area than the length of a football field.
•       Though 95 percent of drivers surveyed said texting behind the wheel was unacceptable and unsafe, at least 21 percent admit to doing it anyway.
•       Especially amongst teens, texting results in erratic driving behavior, like lane weaving and speeding up and down, increasing the likelihood of hurting pedestrians and running into other vehicles.
•       Texting behind the wheel is generational: 37 percent of drivers 18 to 27 admit to texting while driving, compared to 14 percent of 28 to 44 year olds, and 2 percent of 45 to 60 year olds.
•       An accident can happen in two to three seconds while texting.