Famous Cars: Where Are They Now

Rosa Parks' bus? Kennedy's limousine? Bonnie and Clyde's death mobile? These are some of the most famous American cars, but whatever happened to them? These cars are almost as legendary as the people who drove them - but unlike their owners, the cars still reside in different locations all around the world. Some of them went through very interesting to journeys to get to their current resting spots.

AOL Autos explores the stories behind these legendary vehicles and lists where you can find them today, just in case you'd ever want to go on a journey yourself to see these famous vehicles.

Bonnie and Clyde's Death Car
When Bonnie Parker met Clyde Barrow it was, by all accounts, love at first sight. The love resulted in three years of haphazard robbery, kidnapping, murder and shootouts across the country. The pair met their end when police sprayed the stolen 1934 Ford Deluxe they were riding in with 130 rounds of bullets on May 23, 1934.

First, the car was towed to the local furniture store and funeral parlor in downtown Arcadia, La. The car was bought and sold by various promoters for use in sideshows at county fairs and circuses. There were many imitators, but the original car had various proofs of authenticity, including Barrow's torn and bloodstained shirt signed by his sister and several letters attesting to its authenticity. Theses items are on display, along with the bullet-riddled Ford, at Whiskey Jack's Casino in Primm, Nev. The casino operator bought the car, bloodstains and all, for $175,000 in 1973.

Elvis's Pink Cadillac
To say Elvis was a fan of the Cadillac is a bit of an understatement. The King gave away countless Cadillacs to family, friends and hangers-on. At his funeral, a 1977 Miller-Meteor Landau Traditional Cadillac hearse transported Elvis' body, with a silver Cadillac limousine leading the procession and 16 white Cadillac limousines behind filled with mourners heading to the Memphis Cemetery.

His favorite Cadillac of all was a pink 1955 Fleetwood 60 Special, which replaced a pink 1954 model after it caught fire due to faulty brake lining. Elvis would own his pink Cadillac for the rest of his life. He originally bought it for his mother, but she never drove it. The pink paint was mixed just for Elvis and is known as 'Elvis Rose'. The Fleetwood has been on display since 1982 at the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum at Graceland.

Rosa Parks' Bus
The bus that helped Rosa Parks launch her role in the Civil Rights movement survives to this day. On December 1, 1955, the 42-year-old Parks boarded the bus after a long day as a seamstress. When the "whites only" seats at the front of the bus filled up, a white man asked her to get up so he could sit. Parks refused, resulting in her arrest under Jim Crow laws. Her arrest helped sparked the famed Montgomery Bus Boycott, the first of many nonviolent protests staged by marginalized black populations in America.

The General Motor's bus rusted in a field for 30 years before The Henry Ford Museum spent $300,000 restoring it. The bus is currently on display at the museum. Visitors are welcome to sit in the bus, which is filled with interactive displays and teaching tools.

Kennedy's Limousine: SS-100-X
SS-100-X was the Secret Service name given to President John F. Kennedy's navy blue 1961 Lincoln 74A Convertible. The Lincoln featured $200,000 worth of modifications, but no bulletproofing. There were several domes that fit over the top of the convertible, but it made the cabin extremely hot and was also not bullet proof. It was in this Lincoln that Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, the Texas governor and his wife sat in on November 22, 1963, when three shots fired from a book depository ended the President's life.

Surprisingly, the Lincoln was kept in service another eight years after the Kennedy's death. After the assassination, a company called Hess & Eisenhardt added reinforcements and safety measures that were missing when Kennedy rode in the car. The Lincoln was outfitted with titanium armor plating, bullet-resistant glass, and a permanent bulletproof roof. The Lincoln was also painted black by incoming president Lyndon Johnson, who thought the original navy blue paint would be too reminiscent of the assassination. In 1967 the presidential limo was replaced, but the 1961 Lincoln was kept in the fleet, doing less important duties until it retired to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., in 1978. The car is still on display there and is rumored to be haunted.

Click the link to read the full article from AOL Autos and learn what happened to other legendary vehicles: http://aol.it/11G6oQR

Digital Technology In Your Car

Check out a timeline on the progression of the technology of cars over the years!

The ideal car is your way from point A to point B. But as time has passed, your car has evolved into something much more than just a motor vehicle.

In recent times, we’ve began to see cars that can park themselves, alert you of something or someone in your blind spot, and even come with Wi-Fi included. The infographic gives a timeline of improvement that ultimately make your car safer. You can see how rapidly we’re making headway in producing safer vehicles.

In a sense, cars are also becoming more travel friendly. You can sync your iPod or smartphone to a good number of cars being developed. What comes from that is access to a GPS navigation system, hands free communication, and a way to jam out when you’re on the go. What should be the next thing to lookout for in motor vehicle improvement?

Click here to read the full article at The Daily Infographic: http://bit.ly/P5FwCh

How to Properly Test Drive a Car

After months of researching the car of your dreams, now it is time to take it for a spin.  Check out this list to see how the pros evaluate a car!

With so many options for car shopping online and a general disdain for the dealership experience, consumers are willing to buy a new car -- the second most expensive purchase for most people -- without actually testing it out first.

The reality is there is no replacement for testing out a car, despite having so many shopping tools at one's fingertips. We absolutely recommend that you use our shopping tools to do your research, but you need to actually experience a car yourself.

If you're unsure of what to do or what to expect during a test drive, click through to see how you should evaluate a car. You don't have to be a pro to make the right decision

1.       Take your time

Remember, buying a new car is a major decision that involves a lot of money. And seeing as you'll most likely keep the car for several years, make sure to give the car a thorough test before pulling the trigger.

Drive along different roads at different speeds -- city streets, highways, residential roads, etc. Basically, you should try to replicate your daily driving to get as accurate idea of how the car is going to perform under your normal driving conditions.

2.       Park it

In addition to driving, it's important to try parking the car you're testing out.
Is it easy or difficult to parallel park? Are there big blind spots that interfere with backing out of a space? Is it maneuverable enough to meet your daily parking needs? Can you get in and out with ease? These are aspects of car ownership that a lot of people don't think about, which can turn into issues after it's already too late.

3.       Play with the tech and other features

Familiarize yourself with the infotainment system. Is it easy to use or clunky and distracting? Play with the radio and see how the speakers sound. Take a minute and connect your phone to make sure the Bluetooth connection works, if it's available.

Additionally, it's important to ask about and test out other features that you think are going to be important to your ownership experience. Find out how the luggage rack works and see how easy the seats fold down, for instance. 

 

Click the link to read the full article from AOL Autos: http://aol.it/123U9rX

Fun Car Facts

Start your Monday off with a little humor and check the fun facts about cars that many people rarely know about!

Americans have been driving for over 100 years now. The United States is currently ranked first worldwide in cars per capita.  Along the years, there have been an abundant of funny facts on cars and the culture. Keep reading to see the most outrageous true facts!

The Early Days:

·         The first speeding tickets were given out in 1902.  The top speed of most cars then was approximately 45 miles per hour in that time.

·         Some of the first cars used a pair of levers to steer the automobile.  The invention of the steering wheel was not introduced for several years later.

·         Before the 1920s, cars were not equipped with gas gauges.  This forced the drivers to estimate their fuel level.

Drivers:

·         In 1914, Cleveland, Ohio was the first city in the United States to incorporate a traffic light for their roads.

·         On average, Americans will spend a total of two weeks of their life at red lights.

·         In order to drive on all paved roads in the United States, you will have to drive nonstop at 100 miles per hour for over four years.

Miscellaneous:

·         Most car horns play in the perfect pitch in the note of F.

·         The average car contains over 3,000 feet of electrical wires.

·         One out of every 7 seven cars sold in the United States were bought in Southern California.

 

Read more funny facts from the eHow article by clicking the link: http://bit.ly/hHH1RC

Car Seat Safety Tips

To ensure that your precious cargo is safe during the summer trips, check out theses helpful tips on car seats.

Engineers are working hard to ensure that cars and car seats are designed to keep kids as safe as possible. But it’s up to every parent to take full advantage of these innovations by making sure car seats and booster seats are used and installed correctly. Here’s what you need to know to ensure that your most precious cargo is safe in cars.

Hard Facts

Road injuries are the leading cause of preventable deaths and injuries to children in the United States. Correctly used child safety seats can reduce the risk of death by as much as 71 percent.

Top Tips

·    Seventy-three percent of car seats are not used or installed correctly, so before you hit the road, check your car seat. Here’s a quick car seat checklist to help you out. It takes only 15 minutes. If you are having even the slightest trouble, questions or concerns, certified child passenger safety technicians are able to help or even double check your work. 

·    Learn how to install your car seat for free. Safe Kids hosts car seat inspection events across the country where certified technicians can help make sure your car seat is properly installed. They will teach you so that you can always be sure your car seat is used correctly. Find a Safe Kids car seat checkup event near you. 

·    Buy a used car seat only if you know its full crash history. That means you must buy it from someone you know, not from a thrift store or over the Internet. Once a car seat has been in a crash, it needs to be replaced.

·    We know that when adults wear seat belts, kids wear seat belts. So be a good example and buckle up for every ride. Be sure everyone in the vehicle buckles up, too.

·    Never leave your child alone in a car, not even for a minute. While it may be tempting to dash out for a quick errand, the temperature inside your car can rise 20 degrees and cause heatstroke in the time it takes for you to run in and out of the store.

 

Learn More

While it may seem like you need an engineering degree to figure out which child safety seat is best for your child, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered.

 

Article courtesy of: http://bit.ly/14BaDZ9

 

Backseat Drivers

What’s worse than annoying driver? Someone telling you how to drive in your own car…aka, a backseat driver. This blog breaks down what the biggest annoyances are that backseat drivers cause.

On the road, other drivers have plenty of bad habits that irritate and distract us, but what about those coming from inside the car? The most annoying is "advice" from other passengers, and according to an Insurance.com study, spouses make the worst backseat drivers. 

The agency polled 500 drivers, and 34% of women said their husbands are the worst backseat drivers, followed by their mothers at 18% and friends at 15%. Men responded similarly: 40% said their wives are the worst passengers, with 17% listing friends and 15% mothers.

Both men and women ranked children fairly low on the list, especially teens. Only 7% of respondents listed adult daughters and 4% sons. Even lower, only 3% cited teen daughters and sons.

According to Insurance.com's study, the biggest annoyances include:

•    Comments on driving speed: 47%

•    Gives directions: 29%

•    Talks too much: 19%

•    Pushes imaginary "brake" with foot: 15%

•    Fiddles with radio or CD player: 10%

•    Talks on phone or texts: 7%

•    Sings: 6%

•    Eats: 3%

Family therapist Jane Greer recommends that passengers think before they speak. "Rather than commenting on how fast or how badly someone is driving, speak to the impact it is having on you. So instead of saying, 'You're going too fast,' say, 'I'm feeling scared and unsafe, this is making me uncomfortable, please slow down,' " she said in a statement. If that doesn't work, you can always try the ejector button.

Article courtesy of: http://bit.ly/14pp1Um

The Car of the Future

What does the car of the future look like? We have all wondered it at some point. Will it drive by itself, or communicate with other cars to avoid accidents? The infographic below from InsuranceQuotes.com paints a picture of what the car of tomorrow may possibly look like. Take a look and see how it compares to today’s cars.

Click the link to read the original article from Mashable: http://on.mash.to/107IRat