Autoblog

Kobe Bryant showed up at UNDFTD this week to kick off the release of Nike's new McFly Hyperdunks. The McFlys are Back to the Future-themed basketball shoes, with a color scheme inspired by the shoes Michael J. Fox wore in Back to the Future II. They come complete with "2015" emblazoned on the right shoe's tongue, while the left one features the BTTF arrow logos. Kobe showed up at the completely-mobbed event in -- what else -- a DeLorean done up just like Doc Brown's movie car. The perennial All-Star posed for pics and signed shoes for the first 10 fans lucky enough to score a pair. Lest you think a special-edition sneaker launch like this is no big thing, know that there were people lined up outside the joint for as long as 24 hours. Nike's missing the boat if we don't get a viral of Kobe jumping over that DeLorean as a sequel to the Aston video. I mean, he's got big ups, but clearing that Mr. Fusion won't be easy. Follow the jump for a short clip of Marty putting on the shoes that started this madness some 19 years ago. Thanks for the heads-up, Steve.

[Hypebeast via Autofiends]

From Xinhua via our friends at China Car Times comes the above photo, showing Chinese counter-terrorism forces going through drills as they prepare to crush any dissent terror threat that might arise during next month's Olympic Games. The black ninja suits, fritz helmets, body armor, and submachine pistols all fit the profile of a specialized group like this. But... Segways?

UPDATE: Turns out, Engadget is having a caption contest. (Thanks, seoultrain.)

[Source: Xinhua via China Car Times]

Automakers understand that the buying public is struggling with high gas prices, and the entire industry is working on new technologies to ease our financial burden. Unfortunately, new fuel efficient products are going to take a while to develop on a large scale, so for now we're just going to have to grin and bear it. That is unless you want to follow the wisdom of Toyota, which has dug deep into its core of corporate genius to give the car-driving public this little tidbit of advice: drive less. Wow, the solution was right under our noses the whole time, and we just didn't figure it out. You know there is a problem with gas prices when automakers start telling you to buy a bicycle.

Head over to Autoblog Green to read up on some very real ways that you can save on fuel, and check out the site's fancy new diggs while you're at it.

[Source: Autoblog Green]

With the increasing value of gas and the multiple accounts of motorists having their fuel stolen, it's no surprise that people are finding ways to protect themselves from suffering the same fate. Stant, who sells locking caps through stores like NAPA and PepBoys, is benefiting from the high gas prices and says that their sales have tripled so far this year. They can be purchased for around $20, which is significantly less than a full tank of gas. While a locking gas cap won't protect you against someone drilling into your gas tank, it will probably discourage the average thief from stealing the liquid gold from your car.

[Source: CNN Money]

How much does color factor into your perception of how loud a car actually is? If a recently-conducted experiment is any indication, it plays a significant part, indeed. Sixteen individuals were told to listen to the sound of a car's engine while being shown photographs of identical cars in red, blue, light green, or dark green. The sounds were played at four different volume levels throughout the testing. The findings showed that the red car was perceived to be louder than the green or blue cars, even if the corresponding sound the others were shown with was of an equal level. This dovetailed with the results of a similar, earlier experiment which demonstrated that people felt red trains were louder than green ones. This is both good news and bad news for car owners. On the plus side, those Borlas you just installed are going to sound even louder (read: better) to folks if your ride's red. Unfortunately, when Officer Friendly pulls you over for having mufflers that are too noisy, good luck convincing him that it's really just his perception and not reality. Thanks for the tip, Buzz!

[Source: Acoustics.org]

It's been just about a year since we last heard anything about the Gibbs Aquada, which should be coming to American roads and shores near you shortly. Last we heard, Gibbs was looking for an American partner and a place to get some engineering work and production done. At least one of those goals seems to have been met, as reports are now coming in that Saleen, makers of super-fast Mustangs and exotic cars, has been tapped to provide design and engineering work for the U.K. based aquatic vehicle company.

Saleen will be working on the U.S. version of the Aquada, a vehicle which is intended to offer sportscar performance on land and speedboat thrills on the water. Other vehicles from Gibbs include an all-terrain Hummer-style aquatic utility vehicle known as the Humdinga and the Polish Quadski, which combines the capabilities of a four-wheeled ATV and a jet ski.

[Source: WWJ Newsradio]

We've all heard of party buses, right? For some folks, even the best party bus isn't exciting enough. When Christine Morteh, in Miami, Florida, decided to start a party bus business, she offered open bar for $40, stops all along South Beach, and... girls in G-strings, lap dances, and for $100, oral sex. Well, that sex-for-money bit is called "prostitution," and even in Miami, it's illegal. Who knew? Undercover detectives took a ride on the big black bus, made sure everything was as illegal as promised, and then shut down the party. In addition to Madame Morteh, 75 employees and customers were arrested. The excuse "I'm just trying to get to Ft. Lauderdale, how many more stops is that?" apparently didn't cut it. Thanks for the tip, catgirlshyla!

[Source: Yahoo]

Prince Charles is not new to the environmental debate. His blue, 38-year-old Aston Martin, however, has had nothing to do with being environmentally friendly. Until now. The car, a gift from the Queen on Charles' 21st birthday, has joined the growing fleet of cars that run on bioethanol, having been converted to run on surplus British wine.

The wine comes from an English vineyard in Wiltshire, and the EU limits how much wine a vineyard can produce, so the vineyard sells the overage to Green Fuels, which turns it into biofuels and supplies it to the Palace.

The Aston can go ten miles on a gallon of gas, which would equate to 45 bottles of wine to go the same distance. The wine, though, puts out 85-percent less CO2 and costs £1.10 per liter, which is slightly less than the cost of gas. However, Charles only goes 300 miles in the car every year, and it's not like he's worried about gas prices, so the car won't make a difference by itself -- but he's got his royal heart in the right place.

[Source: Daily Mail]

Cars.com has updated its American Made Index, and the list has flip-flopped some models right off, while others have hopped onto the top ten. Cars.com uses the parts origin information from the window sticker, along with the location the vehicle is manufacture at and sales numbers to determine which vehicles have the most US-based content. Ford's F150 and Explorer are the chocolate wafer to the rest of the list's cream filling, sandwiching everyone else between their respective #1 and #10 rankings. General Motors has the most vehicles in the top ten list, with the quartet of Cobalt, Malibu, G6, and Silverado 1500. Not surprisingly, Toyota's Tundra, built in Indiana and Texas, makes the grade at #5. Chrysler's Sebring is that company's only placing on the list, though even the same generation of a particular model can place high one year and fall off the next as automakers juggle OEMs and running changes. If sales of light trucks continue their precipitous fall, the AMI may look radically different the next time around. Four of the ten are body-on-frame trucks, and there's also a pair of minivans, all set to suffer in sales as buyers start to move en masse to more efficient vehicles.

[Source: Cars.com]

It's not a surprise that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) would be backing a proposal that has the potential to lower the amount of damage vehicles sustain in crashes, and therefore lead to less costly repairs for insurers. What is surprising is the NHTSA's stubborn attitude about accepting outside suggestions. The proposal is simple enough; the IIHS recommends that trucks and cars use the same bumper standards for greater crash compatibility. Being cynical and following the money does lead one back to the fact that such a change would save the insurance industry a large sum, but so what? Saving the insurance industry money saves us poor saps a few nickels, too – or the rates continue to be just as expensive while the corporate robber barons pocket the increased profits.

NHTSA has heard this argument before, rejecting petitions for porting the car bumper standard to light trucks in both 1984 and 1991. The IIHS is hoping that this time around, the fact that it's an organization proposing the change, and their new research, will sway the regulatory body in a more favorable direction. The IIHS used the Ford Explorer and its more car-compatible bumpers to demonstrate in tests that both vehicles in a crash would sustain less damage without exacting any penalty in usefulness or capability. NHTSA is already on the case of vehicle compatibility in a broad sense, and will likely try to roll any bumper-centric work into that effort. It would seem like a no-brainer to have cars and light trucks with bumpers that match up, but it's taken the past century of automotive production and dependence to get the idea any kind of traction. With that kind of glacial pace, we should start petitioning now in anticipation of a super-tight oil supply and incoming waves of sub-A class vehicles. We sure wouldn't want to get mauled by an Explorer on our way to get milk and bread in our Nano in 2030. IIHS Press Release after the jump.