Fob Off or Jack Off

Here's a fob with a Union Jack on it.

Yes, I know that is technically a Union Flag but that doesn't work with the Post title.

Actually, we are talking Car Key-fobs and axle-jacks.

Two consecutive Car+Driver stories caught my eye today.

A railway worker has been stealing the second keys from brand new cars being transported through the rail yard where he worked.  He took about 2000 and sold them on e-Bay for over $60,000.

The story is here.  The investigation started when Ford, FCA, and GM began to make claims to a rail vehicle transporter that vehicles were missing key fobs when they arrived at dealers.  This was back in Feb 2018 - they had noticed them going missing since the end of the previous year.  He was traced through his friend's e-Bay account after his own was suspended for selling fake headphones.

Meanwhile, the jack story has the potential to be serious.

Basically, a US company  is  recalling the three-ton jack stands that were replacements for their three-ton jack stands recalled in May.

They are offering replacements, refunds or a credit note.

If you don't trust the replacement make sure you aren't fobbed off with a credit note.

Constable Gummidge

See if you can spot this:

I didn't.

 

Until I came back the other way shortly after:

It's not a sneaky Policeman, it's a scarecrow.  They probably need to move him out a bit.

 

This is a sneaky Policeman:

I caught him back in February.

 

Note the jaunty way he's parked his unmarked car:

Obviously got his conniving head on.

Colour Me Bad

If you've facelifted and relaunched a boring SUV that looks a bit tank-shaped.

Don't paint it in military green!

The new Audi Q5, as in this story, looks like it should be towing a big green piece of artillery on wheels.

 

Now, if you've relaunched a very unboring SUV - one with a military history, it would look pretty good in military green.  It also looks good in this harking-back-to-the colours-Land-Rovers-ought-to-be shade of blue:

Especially with those wheels.

 

That story is here.

 

Now, I've felt a bit indifferent about the new Defender.  It is very expensive as a farm vehicle or general utilitarian dogsbody vehicle - but then again, farm vehicles and general utilitarian dogsbody vehicles wouldn't sell in big enough numbers nowadays to be viable.

 

Which is why we have an expensive Defender that will sell to whatever Yuppies are called these days.

 

This one being described today is the commercial version which is coming soon but not here yet.  It will be about £35K + VAT (VAT which you claim back if you are actually using it as a commercial vehicle)  It lacks the second row of seats - but not the second row of doors and you can add an extra seat on the front row if you wish to get cosy with your colleagues.

 

Unlike with the Audi, I'm looking forward to see the green one - here's a clue:

Talladega Not As Racist Way

I was always going to do a follow-up to yesterday's post.

But it was going to be how Scalextric wouldn't be able to sell my favourite car from my childhood any more:

That is, of course, The General Lee - named after a Confederate hero and sporting a Confederate flag on the roof.

 

Not that I understood the significance of that when I was 12.

 

But they stopped selling that a few years back - now they are advertising the Pratmobile and the Reliant van from Only Fools and Horses: 

Which is all now a complete digression from the news that while some NASCAR fans are still racist, they didn't actually go as far as putting a noose in Bubba Wallace's garage.

 

Apparently, it was a door pull rope "twisted into the shape of a noose" - the new story (or noose story) is here.  It doesn't say who twisted it into the shape of a noose.  Or why.  Or when - but it was probably months ago.  I bet the pit crew team member who found it on Sunday feels a bit of a prat right now.  I wonder if he drives a green Capri.

 

Unless this whole door pull story is because someone important left the noose there?

 

No, I'm not one for conspiracy theories and neither are the FBI:

Talladega Racist Way

Speaking as a fairly ignorant white bloke, I still understand what "Black lives Matter" means.

It doesn't mean that all lives don't matter and it doesn't mean that white lives don't matter.

It means that there are still a significant number of white, lowlife scum who think that black lives don't matter.  You may have detected from my tone that I have no time for such people.  I also get irritated by people who don't understand #BLM putting up messages stating that "All Lives Matter" on their Facebook accounts not because they are particularly racist but because they don't get what #BLM is about.

I was impressed by NASCAR the other week, banning the Confederate flag from the race meetings stating it was “contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans, our competitors and our industry.”

Remember that NASCAR was born out of the Southern States and Moonshine and the attitudes that prevailed down there.  A lot of the fans were not happy - as reported in this NY Times article.  And one toerag got a plane in the air with a large flag flying behind it and the caption "Defund NASCAR"

There was a similar event here last night as the footballers of Burnley FC and Manchester City took the knee to show respect and solidarity with the #BLM Movement, a small plane was heard flying overhead - it was towing a banner declaring that "White Lives Matter".  The company that owns the plane and made the banner have been identified and suspended from working at the airport they flew from and, as far as I'm concerned, can go bust but, apparently they haven't broken the law.  I suppose that saying that "White lives matter" isn't illegal - I happen to think that white lives matter too - but white lives are not under threat every day in the same way that black ones are.

They must have known, however, that they were inciting racial hatred?

Anyway, back to the States and NASCAR - the whole story took another sinister turn on Sunday, when a noose was found in the pit garage of the only African-American participant, Bubba Wallace:

The follow-up, as reported by Car+Driver is that all of NASCAR is backing him.  Good.  Although, given who had access, the guilty party could well be a member of staff at the raceway or of one of the teams.  The FBI are on the case.

Anyway, I'm with NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who simply said,

"Hope Bubba wins it tomorrow."