The silver SUV apparently backed out into the street so fast that it struck and flipped the blue car, then mounted it. Nobody appears to have been seriously hurt, so we all have a guilt-free pass to mock the, um, compromising situation.

Found in Paula Wirth’s photo stream.

Last weekend, while I was putting an iPod interface into my Scion I did the same thing for my 2002 Honda Civic. Using Ben Johnson’s story as a guide, I bought a PIE HON98-AUX interface and dove in.

Aside from tools (screwdrivers and 8 and 10mm sockets), you’ll need:

• The interface adapter
• Audio wiring — I used a 6′ RCA to 1/8th inch cable from Radio Shack
• Power — I used a Belkin car charger plugged into this 12v extension cord I picked up from Radio Shack

I also recommend a sufficient quantity of good beer or other beverage. I used raspberry wheat for this project.

As I noted in my previous post, most people recommend unhooking the battery to guard against short circuits while doing this sort of thing. For my part, I usually skip that and let a fuse automatically disconnect things when it blows. Either way, though, you’d do well to find your factory radio’s 5 digit security code, as if the power gets disconnected, it won’t work again without it.

Underneath the dashboard is a panel with the car’s only power socket. The panel can be removed with some careful-but-stern pulling around the edges. Five friction clips (two on each side, one on the top center) hold it in place, but by working a flathead screwdriver around the sides I was able to pull it off.

Behind the panel are the screws that hold the dashboard console assembly in place.

With those two screws removed, I was able to push the assembly from behind and ease it out of the dashboard cavity.

Again, however, I had to fight these friction clips that held the top and sides of the assembly in place.

Once the assembly was out, I could plug in the interface adapter into the CD changer port.

I routed the interface adapter’s cable bundle behind the stereo and down to the accessory power panel. There’s enough space behind there for the adapter to sit, but first I wanted to test it.

Unlike the Toyota adapter, the Honda adapter has a separate ground wire. Fortunately, there’s another ground wire screwed in down there behind the 12v jack too.

To power my iPhone, I cut the plug end off the 12v extension cord and tapped it in to the wires leading to the existing 12v socket.

The inline taps are hugely useful.

I fished the cable for both the extension socket and the audio along the center console, hidden behind the plastic on the passenger side. The socket end of the extension emerges from the console at a convenient spot along with the audio cable. My old Belkin car charger plugs in there, the audio cable plugs into the base of it, and the dock-connector cable plugs in to my iPhone. The only thing I have to futz with is the dock connector cable, everything else is out of sight.

People have asked me why I chose to use the low-tech PIE adapter, instead of a smarter one that would allow me to control the iPod from the factory stereo. Up to the time I got my iPhone, I was sure that that was what I wanted, but the message I get every time I plug an old accessory into the dock connector is enough to make me cautious about building infrastructure around the interface. I don’t know what music device I’ll use next, but I would rather not have to take apart my car again to plug it in.

In my next post on this topic, I’ll explain how I replaced the rear speakers in this car.

Based on this story about an iPod interface install I purchased a PIE TOY03-AUX aux input adapter so I could finally listen to my iPhone without using the lousy FM transmitter. Sure, I coulda bought a new car, as the manufacturers seem to have finally come to their senses and started including such inputs, but I refuse to buy another car until I can have one that gets well over 40MPG.

The parts:

Thing is, buying all the parts is the easy part.

The dashboard:

Remove all three knobs and these two screws:

Pull the panel out from the bottom. As the hooks at the top of the panel are released, the panel should move freely:

Be careful of the wires to the A/C, defrost, and hazards. Thinking of electrics, most people recommend unhooking the battery to guard against short circuits while doing this sort of thing. For my part, I usually skip that and let a fuse automatically disconnect things when it blows.

Once the panel is clear, remove the four screws that hold the radio in place (two each side):

With the radio out, the interface adapter plugs in easily. There’s lots of room behind the dash to hide the box, and lots of open space to route the audio cable through.

But why spend so much time on this and still plug the iPhone into the dash’s 12V accessory socket? I wired the extension cable into the existing power. Getting at the wires to the power socket requires removing another panel. Easy enough, but it looks an awful mess:

With the audio cable and the new power jack, I simply plugged in an old Belkin car charger, plugged the audio cable 1/8th inch end into that, and now all I have to do is connect the dock connector to listen to my iPod in the car.

Total time for the job? If you don’t include having to run out for a new fuse, then it’s under an hour.

After all my agitating for small, cheap, fuel efficient cars (and automotive metaphors), I figured I had to post this picture (and a few others) from the demolition derby at the Hopkinton Fair a couple weeks ago. My video of the four-cylinder event is at YouTube.

Extra: I don’t know where it fits in your stereotype of the demolition derby audience, but I was happy to find somebody wearing a css_descramble.c T-shirt.

derby, demolition derby, smashup derby, smashitup, fair, hopkinton fair, car, cars, demolition, video, photos

Will found this on the side of the road, and after he told me about it I begged him to show me.

It’s tiny, rusty, and a little older than I expected. Like a very, very small VW Bus, it has a rear-mounted engine. I think it’s a Subaru Sambar, but that’s mostly based on the details I gleaned from the Subaru 360 article, which reveals that engine was probably air cooled, displacing 330 CCs, and producing under 40 HP.

US imports began in the mid-60s, but by 1969 Consumer Reports magazine branded the automobile “Not Acceptable” because of safety concerns and lack of power.

To hell with safety and power, I love this little thing. I want a small, fuel efficient car like this.

subaru sambar, van, car, small, k car, kei car, subaru, sambar, little

I’m looking for a new car, but I’m finding that the market for cheap and fuel efficient cars is no better now than it was in 2005.

I drive about 140 miles round trip to work (all highway), so I’m looking for the best available highway fuel economy. I can drive a standard, but Sandee can’t, so we’ll need automatic. I like small cars, but no so much that I want to pay a lot for one. The only luxury items I’m hoping for are a decent stereo with some form of iPod integration (a line-in will work), and cruise control (improves fuel economy, helps me avoid getting tickets). I’m avoiding hybrids because I’m concerned about what happens when the batteries need to be replaced (and disposed of) and because the batteries do little to improve highway mileage.

The Toyota Yaris meets most of my requirements (the liftback isn’t available with cruise control), and the 40 MPG sticker on the 2007 model looks good compared to other available cars. It also helps that it’s cheap.

The Honda Fit is along similar lines, and the sport version has cruise control, but the fuel economy drops to 37 MPG (lower, in fact, than the Civic) and it’s a bit pricier (not much more, but the idea of paying more for less efficiency kills me).

The Mini scores 37 MPG. Cruise control and dozens of other features are options, and it’s available in so many cute colors, but it also demands a premium price.

The Smart Fortwo (a Daimler/Mercedes Benz brand) is coming to the US early next year (previously imported by Zap). The version Americanized by Zap was rated for 40 MPG, and the Smart site claims “the vehicle is designed to achieve 40 plus mpg under normal driving conditions and current standards.” We’ll have to wait to get the finalized details, but Daimler is claiming it’ll cost less than $12,000 for the base model. (All mileage ratings above were for highway/automatic.)

There are other cars, but, but the EPA’s list of the most efficient cars is pretty slim. The worst realization from that list, however, is that there’s really no super efficient, cheap economy box that we can point at any more (even considering the new EPA formula). In 1995 Honda offered a 50 MPG Civic hatchback and a 1990 Geo Metro scored 51 highway MPG (Pete comments that his 93 Metro is still getting 50 MPG).

Sure our cars are generally getting bigger and heavier, but what else is at work? Why don’t we see those little cheap cars anymore? (It’s not like they’re not making them in Japan.)

cars, car, fuel efficient, econo box, cheap, fuel economy, Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris

Even Bob Borchers, Apple’s senior director of iPod worldwide product marketing, calls most iPod car setups an “inelegant mess of cassette adaptors and wires.” Indeed, while Apple aparently doesn’t want to get into the car audio business, they do want to improve the in-car iPod experience:

What Apple really wants you to buy is a car that’s designed from the ground up to interface with the iPod,” the Web site said. “The 30-pin connector on newer iPods can transmit all the information displayed on the iPod screen to a remote display. This lets car manufacturers display track information on the dashboard.

Still, Apple has a long way to go in uncluttering the wires from the iPod ecosystem. After reviewing current iPod integration offerings from premium car makers like Audi, BMW, Mini, and from audio/accessory vendors Pioneer, Kensington, and Dension, Francois Planque gives up on the fancy tricks and reccommends the simplest solutions possible:

I could go on and on with other iPod integration solutions, but really, most of them are pure crap. The only thing they get right is charging your iPod while you drive!

However, if you seriously care about listening to your iPod in your car, if you want to listen to podcasts and not to the same old playlist again and again, I think the only effective solution today is to use the iPod’s native interface and get the analog sound out, either through the headphone jack, or through the dock connector with an adapter.

You can then pump the audio into your car stereo in several ways:

• A cassette adapter (bit quality sound won’t be that good)
• A jack connector on your head unit if you’re lucky to have one
• RCA connectors at the back of some head units (you can get an optional box from some manufacturers, like Pioneer…)

Then of course, some kind of docking system to have your iPod accessible at a convenient position can also help, compared to leaving your iPod on the passenger seat.

If you can’t live without charging your iPod while you drive, then the Dension RDS solution may be the best deal.

Anything more “advanced” is currently a waste of money. It’s good for demos and showing off. It’s useless for daily use.

Jake Ludington agrees, saying “big fat deal” to the much vaunted iPod + BMW integration that displays only playlist and track numbers — not names! — on the car’s stereo.

Integration means the metadata attached to the song gets passed to the car stereo system. Buttons built into the steering wheel don’t really make this better; the iPod’s remote could have accomplished the same thing, with very little intrusion.

So, aside from putting an iPod Hi-Fi on the dash, what’s a person to do to get easy iPod control in the car?

Joe Padula posted some pics of a very classy-looking mod (picture above) that turned his car’s in-dash cassette deck into an iPod dock, but he doesn’t show how he’s controlling it.

The iStore offers an adapter that seems to offer some promise. The iPod connects to the stereo via a standard dock connector, users can control the tracks via the car stereo and the iPod’s built-in controls.

Unlike some other car solutions, iPod2Car does not disable the controls or display of your iPod, so you will still be able to view track details and playlist information on your iPod. You will still be able to control the iPod with its controls in addition to your radio controls.

DICE Electronics has a similar offering that promises the addition of song titles in the radio display as well as an additional auxiliary input.

The good news is that at $160, it’s less expensive than iPod2Car’s adapter while appearing to offer more features, and it’s available for my Scion XB.

Now, where did the simple line-in jacks that were common on stereos ten years ago disappear to?

ipod, car, integration, ipod integration, car kit, car audio, line in, adapter, mobile audio, in car ipod

If the DeLorean looks at all like a Lotus Esprit, it should. Both of them were designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, and much of the engineering work was done by Lotus founder Colin–to add speed, add lightness–Chapman. Amusingly, John De Lorean also owned a company that manufactured snowcats under the DMC name.

Owners and wannabes can join the fun at the DeLorean Motor Company open house, being held June 8 — 10 in Humble, Texas.

We have rented the Houston Motorsports Park and their 3/8 mile banked oval track… Attendees will have the opportunity to take their DeLoreans on the track and race against the clock for bragging rights. Time permitting, and drivers willing, we may be able to arrange some head-to-head competitions, as well.

I somehow doubt this monster DeLorean will be there, but you might get a chance to see one of the Back To The Future mods (check the license plate: OUTATIME).

Those interested in buying one of the gullwinged, stainless steel retro-cool status symbols can pick up a used (yeah, they’re all used) model for $20,000 to $60,000 or (cough) a newly rebuilt model starting at about $40,000 and rising to just under $60,000 with most of the options selected.

Creator John De Lorean died in 2005, but Tamir Ardon caught up with the man at his New Jersey home in 1999. In strangely familiar language, he described his plans for a new car:

He told me that the car would be made out of a special lightweight plastic and would have the signature DeLorean gull-wing doors. The performance aspect of the car would have zero to sixty times in the low three second range and the car would cost around $18,000.

Unfortunately, the only plastic DeLoreans I’ve been able to find are made out of Legos (and there are a lot of them: one, two, three, four, more), but you can make a paper DeLorean now (free if you print at work).

Colin Chapman, DMC, De Lorean, DeLorean, DeLorean Motor Cars, Giorgetto Giugiaro, John De Lorean, Lotus Esprit, car, cars, gullwing doors, outatime, sales

Not A Pretty Librarian has kicked things off well with a first post titled “It Is Not A Tool,” covering an argument about which has more value to a teenager: a car or a computer.

On one side is the notion that “She can’t drive herself to work with a computer.” While, on the other side is the growing likelihood that she won’t drive to work at all, but instead simply work at whatever computer she has available. But then, this is a teenager, and maybe practical matters like work don’t top the list. And that’s where Not A Pretty Librarian (who are you?) asks:

Can you imagine being nineteen right now without computer access?

Indeed, when college students are spending so much time on AIM and logging into Facebook daily, is a car really as important as a computer in a teenager’s social life? When 89 percent of students start their research in a search engine, isn’t the computer more important than a car to get to the library?

car, computer, computer use, importance, internet, lib20, libraries, library 2.0, not a pretty librarian, teen, teenagers, value, web

I pointed out this Jet Turbine Powered Toyota MR2 a year ago, but now I’ve discovered Ron Patrick’s Jet Powered VW Beatle. The story is well told in a San Francisco Gate article from April (with bonus video), which describes the builder:

Patrick is a 48-year-old Stanford-trained (Ph.D.) engineer who owns ECM (Engine Control and Monitoring), a Sunnyvale firm that makes electronic instruments used by auto manufacturers to calibrate their engines for performance, fuel economy and emissions. He knows cars. He knows how they work. He’s an animated man who has a seasoned sense of humor, a wry view of the world, mixed with a dash of the absurd and an absolute passion for things like, well, jet-powered cars. (Link added –Casey)

Toyotas, Volkswagons, heck, even wheelchairs, shopping carts, and scooters have seen jet or rocket powered mods (but could that picture look more ridiculous?). Bruce Simpson features a few such contraptions at his site, and a 1995 Darwin Award went to a story about a fool putting JATO rockets on his 1967 Chevy Impala. That story turned out false, but it formed the genesis of this unverified story by a supposed biology teacher, son of junkyard operator, and curious guy with a JATO rocket and crazy friends.

In a little over 25,000 words, the author neatly describes the discovery of the key ingredient (the rockets), the construction of the vehicle (a 1957 Impala body on rails), the event (car runs down rails, big mess), and the aftermath (run, run, run, tell nobody for many years). That the story may wrap up a little too neatly may trouble some, but if I can’t link to rumors or outright fiction at this site, what can I do?

Besides, I’m much more interested in the notion of Patrick’s proposed jet powered scooter.

Aside: the ideal powerplant for projects like this appears to be a General Electric T58 turbine, developed in 1953 and often pulled from helicopters. The Toyota and Volkswagen here both use them. Other options include the JFS 100, as used by Patrick for his scooter and this modified Honda Z Car (hmm, amusing cars, even without jetmods). Finally, let us not forget the excitement of an entirely homemade pulse jet.

, afterburner, car, cars, fireworks, flame, General Electric T58, go fast, jet, jet car, jet powered, jet powered bug, jet powered Volkswagen, jet turbine, jetcar, mod, Ron Patrick, speed, turbine, Volkswagen Bug

How crazy is it that we can get neither flying cars nor (affordable) fuel efficient cars today?

Anyway, the Reva (shown above) is a tiny little electric that seats two adults, can go 50 miles on a charge, and fully charges in five hours (two hours gets an 80% charge). It’s an Indian company, but they export to Europe and the website has some mention of test-marketing the cars in the US. The sticker price in Britain is equivalent to less than US$15,000. Aside from being rather energy efficient (they claim the equivalent energy consumption of 600 miles per gallon), you’ll save money by not having to maintain a clutch, transmission, or all the many components of an internal combustion engine. You will eventually have to replace the batteries (which could be both costly and environmentally unsound (but so is driving a traditional car)), but the rest of it should last quite a while.

Tip of the hat to Treehugger. More: The Energy Blog, Reva NXG, happy owner.

tags: automobile, batteries, car, commute, compact, compact car, eco-friendly, efficient, electric car, energy, energy efficiency, energy efficient, fuel economy, fuel efficient, fuel efficient cars, gas prices, green, hubbert peak, reva, reva electric car

A reader, Mike, wrote in to reccomend the Precision Interface Electronics aux input adapter to connect the audio from my iPod to my Scion’s factory head unit.

I don’t know if you ever found a solution to connecting your iPod to your Scion head unit, but if not, you can use this adapter to add an AUX input to the Scion factory head unit.

I asked Mike for followup and details, and he offered this:

I am not affiliated with myradiostore.com, I sent that link because I am comfortable recommending that retailer based on my past experience with them. That particular part is available from a variety of other retailers as well.

I myself have not used that particular part but I have installed similar products from that manufacturer in customer’s vehicles (I install stereos as a side job). Sound quality is just the same as if the receiver had its own AUX input jacks.

I have yet to try any input adapters, so it’s nice to get reader feedback. Thanks, Mike.

A quick glance at the PIE website shows that the adapter is available in several models for compatibility with cars and stereos from a the full range of manufacturers.

Also look here and here for related news.

Related iPod stories at MaisonBisson:
Integration: In Car iPod, In Car iPod Take 2, iPod Integration Kits Proliferate For Home And Car, Saab, and PIE iPod Input Adapter.
Hacks, laughs, and background: iPod Hacks, iPod Giggles, What Does Proprietary Mean Anyway?

Technorati Tags: adapter, apple, car, integration, integration kit, ipod, ipod mini, scion, stereo, stereos