Recalls are often just a normal part of car ownership, but some cars see recalls more frequently than others. Earlier on Friday, the Jeep world got hit with recall 68C. What’s recall 68C? It affects a number of 2020 to 2025 Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrids and 2022 to 2026 model year Grand Cherokee 4xe plug-in hybrids, and regards unexpected combustion. As the internal communication reveals:

Some of the above vehicles may have been built with a high voltage (HV) battery manufactured with cells which may be susceptible to separator damage. Separator damage, combined with other complex interactions within the cells, may lead to a vehicle fire. A vehicle fire can result in increased risk of occupant injury and injury to persons outside the vehicle.

Well, that’s not good. A separator sits inside a battery between the anode and the cathode, ensuring the two materials don’t contact each other. If it fails, the result would be an internal short circuit, which could lead to thermal runaway. Not every use of the word “thermal” describes a fire, but in this case? Yeah, fire. Although a recall report hasn’t hit the NHTSA website yet, recall 68C has appeared on the Transport Canada website which describes…huh, you aren’t going to believe this.

On certain vehicles, the recall repairs completed by an FCA dealer during recall 95B (Transport Canada recall no. 2024-566) may not be effective. As a result, another repair is required.

On certain vehicles, there could be a problem inside the high-voltage battery that can cause a fire, even while parked with the ignition off.

Yeah, it turns out this is sort of a recall of a recall. The last round of fixes in 2024 didn’t all work and didn’t apply to every affected vehicle, which is especially concerning when one potential result of this problem is a vehicle bursting into flames unattended. But it gets wilder: That recall from last year is also a fix for another recall, as the recall report for last year’s recall states:

• On June 25, 2024, the FCA US LLC (“FCA US”) Technical Safety and Regulatory Compliance (“TSRC”) organization opened an investigation after receiving two reports of fires originating from the high voltage (“HV”) battery in Jeep Wrangler plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (“PHEVs”) outside the scope of FCA US Recall ID B9A (NHTSA ID 23V-787) (“B9A”).

• From April 2024 through July 2024, FCA US received additional reports of fires originating from the HV battery in certain Jeep Wrangler PHEVs and certain Jeep Grand Cherokee PHEVs. FCA US has conducted further analysis of the battery packs from some of these vehicles with Samsung SDI in an effort to determine root cause.

• From June 2024 to July 2024, FCA US received three reports of fires originating in the HV battery in Jeep Wrangler PHEVs which received the B9A remedy software. FCA US has determined the B9A remedy is ineffective at detecting certain abnormalities within the HV battery that may lead to a fire.

Alright, so here’s what happened: Stellantis discovered that some Jeep Wrangler 4xe and Grand Cherokee 4xe plug-in hybrids were catching fire, so it started remedying the problem by updating the battery monitoring system. That update didn’t work as expected, so it decided to update the battery management systems again, “followed by a HV battery replacement if needed.” However, that now doesn’t seem to have worked as expected either, so Jeep is working on another fix.

So, what are you supposed to do if you own an affected 2020 to 2025 Wrangler 4xe or 2023 to 2025 Grand Cherokee 4xe? Well, in the words of the manufacturer, “To reduce the safety risk, FCA advises not to charge your vehicle, and to park it outdoors and away from other vehicles or structures until the recall repairs have been completed.”

Coming on the back of an over-the-air update that reportedly bricked several Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrids, this latest recall isn’t the sort of thing that inspires confidence, and it’s something that Jeep needs to get right. While NHTSA hasn’t published a full defect report for this latest recall, the last one revealed that multiple reports of fires came in the roughly six months after the initial B9A recall was launched. Needless to say, we’ll be keeping our eye on the situation as it evolves. Given the precedent, this isn’t the end of this story.

Top graphic image: Jeep

The post Jeep Just Recalled A Recall Of Another Recall Because Its Plug-In Hybrids Keep Catching Fire appeared first on The Autopian.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Friday said the state needs to slash spending on Medicaid to prevent the low-income health insurance program from forcing ongoing cuts to virtually every other service the state provides.

Over the last decade Medicaid spending has risen at a rate of 8.8% a year — about double what the state government is allowed to spend under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, according to the governor’s office. As a result, the rest of the state government has steadily shrunk to make room for the rapid growth in health care spending.

If the state doesn’t change course, Polis said, “the increases in Medicaid costs would crowd out essentially everything the state does. We would largely just fund schools and Medicaid — no money for roads, no money for public safety, no money for housing.”

Under the state constitution, the TABOR cap limits public spending to the combined rate of population growth and consumer inflation — averaging about 4.4% since 2015, Polis said. But critics of TABOR have long argued the formula used to calculate the spending cap is a poor match for public agencies, which spend money on things like health care and road construction, the costs of which have long risen faster than other consumer goods.

Polis’ remarks came during a Friday afternoon news conference where he released his budget proposal for the 2026-27 fiscal year, which starts July 1. The governor’s annual spending recommendations are just that — a series of requests to the Joint Budget Committee, which ultimately writes the budget each year, subject to approval by the rest of the General Assembly.

The legislature is expected to face another tight budget year. Lawmakers almost certainly won’t be able to maintain the current levels of government programs and services.

In September, nonpartisan fiscal analysts told the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee that providing the same level of government programs and services next fiscal year is predicted to cost $850 million more than the legislature will have available to spend.

The governor’s plan calls for increasing Medicaid spending next fiscal year by nearly $300 million. That’s less than half of the $631 million increase in projected costs if the state kept its Medicaid offerings the same. About 1.2 million Coloradans are covered by the program, which is funded by a mix of federal and state dollars.

The governor’s office said the savings could come in part from codifying an executive order Polis issued Friday cutting $12 million to $15 million in Medicaid spending this fiscal year, including by capping some reimbursement rates for providers and limiting how much recipients can receive in dental benefits. 

Other Medicaid cost-saving proposals from the governor’s office include limiting home caregiver hours and changing how much is paid to people who supervise people with autism. 

“No one loses their coverage,” the governor said of his plan, though he conceded that his proposal would reduce the benefits Medicaid recipients receive. “There’s two levers on Medicaid. One is how many people you cover and two is what you cover. There have been a number of benefits that have been added in recent years and some of those aren’t sustainable over time.”

Polis pointed specifically to dental benefits under Medicaid. It used to be capped at $1,500 annually. Then the state did away with the cap. Now, Polis wants a cap reinstated, but at $3,000.

In the long term, Polis wants to tie increases in Medicaid spending to the TABOR formula that determines how much government spending can grow by year over year.

“That plan doesn’t have to be accepted by the Joint Budget Committee of the legislature,” Polis said. “But it’s an important exercise to show what sustainability in Medicaid looks like.”

Polis’ plan is unlikely to sit well with legislative Democrats, who control both chambers. Top leaders, including JBC Chair Jeff Bridges and House Speaker Julie McCluskie, have called for changes to the TABOR cap itself. But advocates for amending the constitution are still searching for a proposal that can both win approval from the electorate and pass legal muster.

The governor this year has already slashed some Medicaid spending to balance the budget after congressional Republicans’ federal tax and spending measure, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, blew a roughly $750 million hole in state finances.

In recent years, lawmakers have debated at length how to reduce spending on health care. But efforts to do so have consistently run into the same problem: Health care costs don’t go away if the state stops funding them. They simply get shifted to someone else — either patients or safety net health care providers that are already facing financial problems at today’s spending levels.

Some have already been forced to close in recent years due to rising uncompensated care. And health care administrators expect things to get worse under recent federal changes to Medicaid reimbursements.

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Education

Aside from Medicaid, education makes up the largest share of the state’s budget.

Polis has called for limiting tuition increases to 2.6% for in-state students and 3% for those from other states. But funding for higher education has long been a point of tension between Polis and university officials, who have said the governor’s proposals in years past didn’t provide enough money to meet his tuition targets.

This year, higher education institutions are especially vulnerable, in the wake of deep federal funding cuts and plummeting enrollment from international students.

For K-12, Polis proposes implementing 30% of Colorado’s new school finance formula, the rollout of which has been slowed down amid the state’s budget woes.

Other balancing proposals

Overall, Polis’ proposal calls for general fund spending to increase 2.3% to $18.6 billion, up from $18.2 billion in the current budget year.

Polis’ proposal would keep the state’s rainy day fund at 13% of what it spends on general expenses — down from the 15% lawmakers have sought to keep in reserve in recent years.

And, the governor is once again asking the legislature to privatize Pinnacol Assurance, the state-affiliated workers’ compensation insurer. Past estimates have suggested the sale of the insurer to private ownership could generate nearly $700 million for the state, which Polis wants to use to cover the cost of Colorado’s $200 million senior homestead property tax break next year. He suggests spending the rest on public building maintenance and to shore up other gaps in the budget or build up the reserve.

Lawmakers across multiple administrations have balked at the idea, arguing that it would leave Colorado without an insurer of last resort. Critics say it could lead to businesses being denied coverage. Supporters of the move say it would make Pinnacol more competitive in the modern insurance market. Under its current structure, it is prohibited from insuring out-of-state employees.

Do you own a lawnmower? A moped, or scooter, or motorcycle? A gas can you just like to keep topped off? A really huge lighter? A Citroën 2CV, which has a tiny 5.5-gallon gas tank? If so, then you have likely bought gasoline in quantities less than four gallons at a time. Did you know the government doesn’t want you to do that? In fact, you may have seen a sticker on a gas pump that says just that: there’s a minimum requirement to buy at least four gallons of gasoline or risk violating federal law. What’s going on here? Can this really be true? Well, it sort of is and it isn’t. Rather, it’s true, but only for one very specific context.

I suppose it’s worth mentioning that this has been a thing for well over a decade. I’ve only encountered it very recently, and in some informal asking around, I found that an awful lot of people weren’t aware of this four gallon minimum thing, so I figured it’s worth looking into. It’s kind of convoluted, so let’s see if we can explain what is actually going on here. It’s also worth noting that while this sounds like some draconian/kafkaesque bureaucratic nonsense, the whole idea of the minimum four gallon purchase rule was actually put in place to help protect everyday people and their gas-powered stuff.

First, let’s look at one of these stickers, which you can clearly see in this Reddit post:

Gas station in Ohio, 4 gal minimum “law”
byu/Bored_Amalgamation inOhio

Okay, so what is going on here, exactly? Why the hell would the federal government care if you bought less than four gallons of gasoline? To understand that, we need to look into the specifics here. The “federal law” is referring to an EPA regulation, and those four gallons are only referring to fuel dispensed from gas pumps that dispense both E15 (gasoline with 15% ethanol mixed in) and E10 (10% ethanol gasoline).

Ethanol has been used as an additive to gasoline for decades, as it is an octane booster, burns more cleanly, and is a renewable fuel, which can be made from crops like corn. It’s also less energy dense than gasoline, and higher concentrations of ethanol can cause corrosion and damage to fuel systems, especially in cars made before around 2001 or so. Ethanol-blended gasoline you may find at a gas station comes in two main forms, E10 and E15 mentioned above.

Since most gas stations do not feel like spending the considerable time and money to install entirely separate pumps for E10 and E15, they will usually use mixed-grade pumps that can dispense E10, E15, and other fuels like E85 FlexFuel. The EPA calls these “blender pumps,” but not in the sense that they could make, say, a smoothie, but because they, duh, blend fuels. The issue here is that equipment with small gasoline motors, like lawnmowers and mopeds and some motorcycles could be damaged by being filled with E15 fuel.

So here’s the problem: if a blender pump just dispensed a lot of E15 into a car, there’s still about a quart to a third of a gallon of E15 in the pump’s hose. That means if someone comes along and wants to buy just one gallon of E10 for their gas-powered roller skates or leaf blower, that one gallon will actually be 33% E15, because of the fuel in the hose, and that much E15 could damage a machine not made to run it.

Here’s how the EPA themselves describes the issue:

On February 7, 2013, EPA approved an alternate blender pump configuration, submitted by RFA, for general use by retail stations that wish to dispense E15 and E10 from a blender pump with a common hose and nozzle. Blender pumps, or multiple-grade dispensers, are fuel dispensers that dispense multiple gasoline-ethanol blended fuels (e.g. E10, E15, and E85) typically through a common hose and nozzle. When two different gasoline-ethanol blended fuels are dispensed from the same hose and nozzle, residual fuel from a prior fueling of E15 may be commingled with a subsequent fueling of E10, resulting in the inadvertent misfueling of vehicles not covered by the E15 partial waivers with fuels containing greater than 10 vol% ethanol.

To mitigate this, the four-gallon minimum rule was decided. That way, whatever fuel was left in the hose would be satisfactorily diluted by the greater volume of the actually chosen fuel. As the EPA explains:

In an effort to address this potential misfueling issue, EPA approved an industry-submitted configuration that requires a minimum purchase of four gallons of fuel from blender pumps that dispense both E10 and E15 from the same hose and nozzle. Such an approach would prevent misfueling by diluting any residual E15 left in the hose from the previous sale of E15. However, groups representing motorcycle owners and lawn mower manufacturers objected to this configuration because their products have gas tanks that are normally two gallons or smaller. In response to these concerns, RFA developed and proposed a third configuration for EPA approval that retail stations may use as an alternative to the currently approved configurations.

At the end of that quote, you see the EPA referring to a “third configuration” to appease “motorcycle owners and lawn mower manufacturers” which is that gas stations must also have a pump that does not dispense fuels with more than 10% ethanol, and must have signage, described here:

“These retail stations must also prominently affix labels to their blender pumps which say “Passenger Vehicles Only. Use in Other Vehicles, Engines and Equipment May Violate Federal Law.” Passenger vehicles in this context do not include nonroad vehicles, engines, and equipment (e.g. marine engines, motorcycles, ATVs, lawnmowers, etc.). Retails stations must also post additional signage informing consumers of the availability and location of the dedicated E10 (or lower) fuel pump.”

I feel like the EPA could have handled this better if the sign on the blended E15 pumps said something like “Passenger Vehicles Only. Using less than 4 gallons in Other Vehicles, Engines and Equipment May Cause Damage” instead of leaping right to that “May Violate Federal Law” business, which just makes everything more confusing and causes articles like this one to be written.

Really, all of this is just to protect people from screwing up their lawnmowers, but of course it sounds far worse than that. And, back in 2012 when this mandate arrived, politicians wasted no time in making it seem like a colossal violation of the rights of Americans to have full tanks of gas. This is a quote from Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R) from Wisconsin:

The latest mandate handed down from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is so ridiculous, even I was shocked. The EPA has now mandated how much gasoline you must buy at certain gas stations. Say hello to the Obama Administration’s four gallon minimum.

Yeah, thanks a lot, Obama.

[Ed Note: The bigger question is how concerning a bit of E15 is mixed in with E10. It’s a 5% delta in ethanol concentration; if done only a few times, how harmful can this really be? -DT].

Of course, that statement isn’t remotely true. There’s never been a mandate that everyone has to buy at least four gallons of gas. The mandate is that for blended pumps that can dispense both E10 and E15, you should buy at least four gallons to ensure that you are getting the amount of ethanol that you actually want, so you don’t trash your stuff. You can buy gas by the ounce if you want from other, non blender pumps as much as you want. This is one of those cases where the government is actually trying to be helpful, but a strange lack of understanding how human beings seem to understand things has meant that this law — again, designed to help you not destroy your lawnmower — comes across as an obtuse bit of needless government overreach.

It’s not. It’s actually a decent idea. Pay attention to it, and you won’t kill your mower.

The post Why The Government Doesn’t Want You To Buy Less Than 4 Gallons Of Gasoline appeared first on The Autopian.

Can you think of any products for sale today that are fundamentally less advanced than some that were made fifty years ago? It’s not common, but motorhomes are a shining example.

In 1973, General Motors introduced a new-from-the-ground-up camper with front-wheel drive, air suspension, and a low-profile aerodynamic body. Giving the largest, richest auto maker in the world at the time a clean sheet of paper to make the ultimate camper in the space age of the sixties meant that you’d get something very hard to replicate, even decades later. General Motors came up with a no-holds-barred futuristic machine that makes today’s RV products of the cottage industry who builds them seem hopelessly outdated.

Now, don’t go immediately faulting the RV makers. There’s no way that small, low-volume manufacturers can accomplish what the largest automobile companies in the world with almost endless technical resources could do. However, if any of the Big Three or other major automaker decides to get back into the motorhome game, it’s fun to imagine the possibilities.

Our Mercedes Streeter presented this scenario a few weeks back as an Autopian Asks. We had a lot of interesting answers from commenters like Honda, Toyota, or even Tesla, but the one that Mercedes herself presented about a Stellantis solution seemed comical yet appealing. I can see a way to rather easily make her request a reality with a little help from another highly advanced design from the same early-seventies pre-gas crunch heyday of motorhomes. This one was just as radical looking as the famous GM camper, and it’s highly worth revisiting and cleaning up some details that had people calling it “ugly”.

Did I mention that it’s going to be extremely fast?

Get Your Motorhome Running, Head Out On The Highway

I’m not sure about your neighborhood, but in mine, it seems like every corner now features some kind of retirement center. With the population getting older, people in their later years often want to downsize to free up money and time that they no longer want to spend on lawn crews or snow plowing. Plus, a lot of these Boomers want to spend much of their year now living out the Easy Rider fantasy of hitting the open road for long stretches of time.

Naturally, these seventy-somethings are for the most part not going to get on custom Harleys and ride for months straight across the country. No, they’ll want a camper for the job, even if they don’t use the area behind the seats for more than the bathroom and making coffee. However, I think a lot of them are going to be a bit shocked by the motorhomes available. They’ll need to adjust their expectations to understand that these things simply don’t provide a driving experience akin to a car or even a large pickup truck. Also, as Mercedes Streeter has pointed out, in many cases the engineering, assembly quality, and materials fall below what they’d expect to see on a passenger car from a major OEM product.

Plus, the vast majority of these things are just fiberglass boxes with slightly radiused edges decorated with the most lurid Mike-Tyson-face-tattoo graphics imaginable. You can see how these fresh retirees who are new to motorhomes might balk at spending six figures on something that doesn’t seem as well-designed or built as their granddaughter’s used Corolla.

With the recreational vehicle market supposedly growing, it would seem like a great opportunity for a Big Three maker to get back in the game with an OEM-level product. Or, at the very least, they could partner with an existing RV manufacturer to provide them with some components and know-how that’s a cut above the mainstream. Mercedes Streeter had the idea of getting Stellantis into the mix with some stunning mechanical components, and I’d like to resurrect and rehabilitate an underappreciated motorhome. The one I have in mind wasn’t from a major manufacturer but was the vision of a designer who had helped to create some of the Big Three’s greatest American car styling icons ever. Yes, we’re going to dredge up the Rectrans Discoverer.

Spock, My Shuttlecraft! My (Shatner Pause) Shuttlecraft!

When seasoned veterans of large car companies go off on their own, the results of their efforts are often otherworldly. Former GM executive John DeLorean’s gullwinged stainless steel sports car is proof of that. It was the same case with the man who had hired DeLorean at Pontiac: “Bunkie” Knudsen. Knudsen had left GM to become President of Ford; after getting fired by Henry Ford II, Bunkie decided to go after the growing RV market with a unique product that would be head and shoulders above the typical offerings (he was possibly aware of the upcoming GMC Motorhome).

Knudsen knew just who to hire to design this next generation camper: Larry Shinoda. Shinoda had been involved with high-profile projects under the legendary Bill Mitchell, including the Mako Shark I and II, which became the C2 and C3 Corvettes, respectively. Shinoda followed Knudsen to Ford, where he worked on the Mustang Boss 302. Together, the two had a goal in mind, as described by Mercedes Streeter in her excellent post on the Rectrans:

Rectrans Inc. was founded in 1970 by Knudsen and featured Shinoda as its designer. As reported by eBay Motors back in 2017, the two had one goal: Build a motorhome to score just 10 mpg.

Now, this doesn’t sound like much of a challenge. (However) the Rectrans Discoverer was a larger motorhome featuring a chunky V8 engine and built in the 1970s. With that in mind, 10 mpg might be a big ask. Old gas-powered large motorhomes are notorious for single-digit fuel economy.

To achieve this goal, it’s reported that the Rectrans Discoverer 25 was subject to wind tunnel testing, which resulted in the Star Trek shuttlecraft shape that you see here. The typical motorhome of the day was basically a rectangular box on wheels. And remember, this predates the GMC Motorhome by a couple of years.

The Rectrans Discoverer 25 rides on a Dodge M-300 chassis, which found itself under other motorhomes of the day. Power comes from a 413-cubic-inch Chrysler RB big-block V8. In this application, it’s making 265 HP. It’s unclear if the reported goal of 10 mpg was ever met. I found a few brochures for the Discoverer 25 and none of them even mention fuel economy numbers.

Interestingly enough, the wheelbase of that Rectrans 25 is almost identical to the current RAM pickup; a testimony to how large vehicles have become today. Does that mean that we could find the old fiberglass molds for the old Rectrans, or just digitize a decrepit for-sale example, and recreate the thing on top of a modern RAM chassis? I’m not sure what’s possible, but that’s exactly what we’re going to propose for our Hellcat-powered motorhome, the Hell Rec’R. Let’s begin..

Now The Name, That’s Ugly

Interestingly, the styling of the Rectrans has been frequently criticized by viewers who say “it’s so ugly it’s beautiful” and other such hackneyed quips. I don’t understand the dislike, but I do think the detailing on the thing is a bit horrific and negatively affects the shape.

First, the recognizable Dodge grille and what I can assume is a windshield from the same vehicle moved several feet apart make the front end appear to be a full-sized van that went all Stay-Puft marshmallow on us. Combined with the tiny-looking wheels, you get a cartoonishly bloated appearance. Also, the triangular flat glass panels on the upswept area behind the driving compartment look rather clunky and are almost certainly a victim of this small company’s inability to make a vast curved window for the space. Some minor tweaks will go a long way to fixing this.

I’ve modified the nose to be smoother and incorporate a Charger-style grille with an LED ring sunken into the front. The chrome bumper is gone, replaced by body colored fascia with brake vents and a splitter. Yes, it’s a Mopar, so you know we’ll have to keep the yellow splitter guards in place long after the thing leaves the dealer lot. Flared round wheel openings improve the appearance as well, but the biggest improvement to me is from painting the roof black from the windshield all the way over those disjointed triangular windows. This visually cleans up that space quite nicely and lets you experience Shinoda’s design without being distracted by all of those triangles.

How about an open-topped motorhome? Why not offer removable T-tops over the driver and front passenger; you could easily lift these up and stow them inside behind the dinette in the motorhome?

Here’s an animation of the original Rectrans and the Hell Rec’R.

In the back, you can see how the original Rectrans has a sunken area to visually lighten up the mass and round off-the-shelf double-shot round taillights (a little bit of Corvette there, Larry?).

Our Hell Rec’R would paint that area a darker color to further break up the mass and add in wide taillights similar to a Charger. The chrome bumper is gone, replaced by the rolled body-colored pan.

The animation shows the differences:

Well, we’ve made the body changes, but how are we going to make this thing actually move? Well, as advanced as the GMC Motorhome was our reborn Rectrans will stay relatively conventional with the RAM frame and mechanicals. Of course, those mechanicals underpin a nice-driving pickup truck with four-wheel disc brakes and up-to-date suspension technology that the original Rectrans couldn’t dream of. I’m seeing complete pickup frames with essentially everything except the body shipped to a manufacturer in Elkhart, Indiana where a fiberglass monocoque with any needed aluminum reinforcements and steel frame extensions would be added on. Stellantis could provide the electronics, instruments, and wiring to basically make this a factory-sanctioned and even factory-warrantied project that just happens to be assembled in an off-site location by seasoned motorcoach makers. Actually, this whole thing seems remarkably and frighteningly producible.

I would imagine that we could make RAM Hell Rec’Rs in far less boisterous versions as well. A less-powerful Hemi V8 or better yet a Cummins turbo diesel combined with less aggressive tires and suspension might yield the more luxury-oriented RAM Home Rec’R:

Stellantis and whatever northern Indiana RV specialist would have you covered, regardless of your tastes, or lack thereof. If the journey is just as important as the destination, then either of these revived Rectrans products would be for you.

Yes, We’d Have Red LED Lighting Everywhere

Looking at the original floorplan of the Rectrans, we’d replicate much of it for the Hell Rec’R inside with a luxurious cabin designed basically for a traveling couple, though it could easily convert to something that would sleep a total of four people if you convert the dinette.

Mercedes Streeter requested that the interior of this Hellcat-powered camper be in tones of black and grey with prominent Hellcat logos on things like the bedspread, the walls, and countertops. That sounded like something that went well beyond the limits of good taste and common sense so I have no problem doing it.

Those Rectrans windows really lightened up the interior; if you ever needed a reason to believe that Larry Shinoda was a designer on par with more well-known names, this spacious-looking interior shell is more proof. Here’s a fun feature of the Hell Rec’R: those removable T-tops could come off at the campsite, and a screen net might stretch over the opening to keep out the ‘skeeters to give you a bug-free conversation “porch.” Note the dash taken straight out of a new RAM pickup and seats from a Hellcat Charger or Challenger.

Home Is Where The Hellcat Is

Some would say that the greatest injustice done to legendary designer Larry Shinoda was when Chrysler stole his concept of the Jeep ZJ without crediting him (they eventually settled out of court). To me, I think the worst crime is the lack of respect for his Rectrans design. I really wanted to rehabilitate the look of this misunderstood motorhome that gets far too much hate and not nearly enough of the recognition that it deserves, and glad that I got the chance here.

I tend to ignore the wisdom of people who own nearly two dozen vehicles they don’t even drive with much regularity, but with this Hellcat motorhome, I think Mercedes Streeter was on point. Or maybe I’m just getting caught up in the distorted vision of reality that affects most of the staff. Either way, I think that the Hell Rec’R is something that needs to exist right now. Am I wrong?

The post This Hellcat-Powered Rectrans Motorhome Is A Wonderful, Terrible Concept That Must Be Made Real appeared first on The Autopian.

The words “diesel” and “motorcycle” aren’t often seen paired together, and when they are, the results are sometimes questionable. One company tried to change that. The EVA Products Track T-800CDI was supposed to be the best of both worlds. It was a big touring bike that got the fuel economy of a small motorcycle, and did so using the teensy turbodiesel engine from a city car. This was supposed to be the world’s most advanced diesel motorcycle with 560 miles of range, yet there’s a chance that you’ve never even heard of it.

The diesel motorcycle is a strange branch on the tree of motorbike history. You would think that the two are incompatible. Diesel engines tend to be heavy, shaky, with low redlines, and with low power compared to gasoline motorcycle engines. Motorcycles themselves also tend to be ridden by folks looking to have fun, and not necessarily to save money.

It should be no surprise, then, that diesel motorcycles have never really caught on. I have written an extensive history series on all kinds of diesel motorcycles, and you’ll note that none of them are in production today. Most of them sold barely enough copies to be considered production vehicles. If you have some spare time this weekend, I highly recommend reading my stories on the Boccardo 1200 Aéro Diesel, the Star Twin Thunder Star 1200 TDI. Both of these are fascinating engineering projects, but have largely faded into the pages of history. There are plenty of smaller diesel ventures throughout history, and of course, people who still make their own diesels today.

Yet, there were really only two diesel motorcycles that could be classified as being mass-produced, and those were the HDT M1030M1 combat bike, which was built to help streamline the U.S. military’s fueling schemes, and the Royal Enfield Diesel, which was built for riders who wanted to save money above literally everything else. Of those two, only the Royal Enfield sold more than 1,000 copies.

The Track T-800CDI is interesting in part because it came after so many of the diesel motorcycles of the past failed to have staying power.

But this motorcycle was supposed to be better. It would have real, usable power, incredible riding range on a single tank, and be an adventure touring machine. Basically, the T-800CDI is more or less like a BMW GS or a Triumph Tiger, but diesel.

An Evolution Of An Old Idea

The Track T-800CDI was the brainchild of Erik Vegt, the CEO of EVA Products of the Netherlands. Prior to building the T-800CDI, Erik was known for building desert rally motorcycles with large fuel tanks and reinforced suspensions.

In an old video on YouTube, Erik explains that he started the Track project in 2006 as the vehicle for a new way to look at mobility. Check it out:

Erik, who often rode off-road motorcycles across entire countries on long adventures, thought that he could improve where he said other motorcycles fail. In his eyes, motorcycle manual clutches and transmissions are unnecessary failure points on a long journey. Erik also said that squeezing his clutch lever wore out his hand, and he didn’t like not knowing if he was in the optimal gear for his off-roading situation. So, his bike would have a CVT like a scooter.

Then came fuel consumption. Erik said that high fuel economy wasn’t necessarily a goal, but to him, a diesel made sense due to the energy density of the fuel. Sure, a diesel bike won’t win any races, but you don’t need a million horsepower to get across a desert, anyway.

Erik set out to create not just the best motorcycle for crossing vast distances, but also to be a thoughtful machine. In the video, Erik remarks about how heavy a big bike is to pick up after you drop it, so his bike would be easy to pick up.

The entire development of the T-800CDI was like this. Erik says his choice to go diesel wasn’t just because of the energy density, but because he once asked the driver of a diesel truck how far his engine had gone, and was told that a million kilometers had rolled through the odometer – and yet, the engine still started and ran fine. To Erik, this was great. Sure, nobody was going to ride a motorcycle that far, but to have an engine reliable enough to drive that far was appealing to Erik.

Unfortunately, developing your own engine is crazy expensive, so Erik chose the next best thing. He reached out to DaimlerChrysler for the 799cc turbocharged three-cylinder diesel engine from the Smart Fortwo CDI. This engine is roughly the size of a motorcycle engine and is known for its longevity. With 45 HP and 78 lb-ft of torque on deck, it would make for a decent bike engine, too. Apparently, Daimler was happy to sell Erik engines.

For the transmission, Erik decided to go with a 9-pound scooter-style CVT, and connected that to a shaft drive. In his eyes, a scooter CVT is easier to fix in the desert than a proper manual transmission, and a shaft drive is nearly maintenance-free.

The crazy part about all of this is that EVA Products was not a big company. There was Erik and four other employees, and the Track T-800CDI was the company’s debut product.

Yet, somehow, he made it work. Erik even managed to convince a designer from Aprilia and Alfa Romeo to pen the motorcycle’s minimal bodywork. Suspension was handled by Dutch company White Power (which rebranded to WP Suspension), and the ergonomics of the bike were setup to fit taller men, or specifically, the six foot height of Erik. The company claimed that the motorcycle would achieve 112 mpg at 55 mph, or 140 mpg at mixed speeds during daily commutes. Range was quoted to be as high as 560 miles on one tank of diesel. The bike’s weight was 485 pounds, which is not bad for a diesel. It also had a top speed of 109 mph, which was not fast, but more than quick enough for an adventure bike.

While 140 mpg doesn’t sound all that amazing — mini street-legal bikes like the Honda Grom claim as high as 166 mpg — keep in mind that this is a motorcycle designed to fit a big guy and ride across entire countries. It’s impressive for the kind of bike that it is. A BMW GS would be lucky to get half the MPG that the Track T-800CDI claimed.

The Weird Diesel Adventure Bike

EVA Products finished the first Track T-800CDI prototype in 2006, and then took the first example on grueling off-road trips, where the bike had proven itself to be as reliable and as capable as Erik had hoped for. Then, in 2009, he started loaning some out to the motorcycle press before putting them on sale. Here’s what Chris Newbigging of Motorcycle News reported:

Bizarre
Starting the Track T800CDI gives an unusual experience – it clatters into life like a tractor giving rumbling vibration and the disgusting-smelling exhaust gases rising from the small forward-facing silencer in front of the right footpeg will be familiar to anyone who’s ever got stuck behind an old school bus. You can’t blip the throttle either – doing so will engage drive and send you shooting forward.

Lazy
Open the throttle to pull away and the feeling is like a CVT scooter – the drive itself takes up smoothly but the rising revs are accompanied by rising vibration. The shaft drive has no anti-rising mechanism, so you can feel the torque reaction cause the back end to rise slightly. It’s not a problem, but it adds to the unusual feel.
Opening the throttle hard doesn’t give the rush of drive you’d get with a turbo charged car – acceleration is leisurely even though the engine responds quickly to throttle input. 45bhp still isn’t much despite the respectable torque.

Crude
It doesn’t get better with speed – vibration subsides a little but it’s still enough to be intrusive, and the CVT means the engine is always at the same revs giving a monotous tractor-like noise, which even on MCN’s short test ride became tiresome. Even with an open mind there’s no getting away from the fact is just isn’t quick or refined enough to be compared with petrol rivals on riding enjoyment.

Chris ended his review by saying that the Track was well-designed and seriously tough. However, he doubted that the motorcycle would be a mainstream product because all of the attributes that make the Track an absolute tank take the fun out of motorcycling.

Motorcyclist Magazine was hopeful:

The flat exhaust note makes you think there isn’t much punch, but there is. Once underway, the distinctive three-cylinder lilt develops a rough edge, overlaid with the trademark whistle of its Garrett turbo. There’s no throttle lag: that responsive CVT transmission helps to spool up the turbocharger as soon as you twist the right grip. Acceleration is surprisingly strong from 50 to 70 mph, and the ride-by-wire electronic throttle provides optimum response for any given condition. This is an unbelievably easy motorcycle to ride, especially at slower speeds. The turning circle is tight for a long motorcycle with relatively rangy steering geometry.

WP suspension makes easy meat of speed bumps, and ride quality is excellent. With very little engine braking, it takes a determined squeeze of the front brake lever to reign in 496 pounds of diesel from its 109-mph top speed, but the back brake is useless. There was an occasional loud grinding noise when I backed off the throttle: not enough clearance between the CVT belt and its metal housing. And you notice some vibration through the pegs under hard acceleration. The engine occasionally seemed like it was about to stall when braking to a halt; presumably an ECU mapping issue.

Apart from those relatively minor niggles, the EVA Track is an impressive package. I really enjoyed the bike’s practical, real-world performance, coupled with ease of riding, economy and innovation. Audi has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times on 100 percent diesel SynFuel. It’s time for the motorcycle world to take notice, and the Track T-800CDI just might be the bike to make that happen.

When Erik took the bike on tours of Europe, he remarked that riders of limited mobility loved the lack of shifting. He also joked about the times when gas station attendants freaked out because they thought he was pumping a gasoline bike full of diesel.

On The Wrong Track

However, when it came time to put the bike on the market, things fell apart. The Track T-800CDI was first put on sale in Holland. However, per Erik’s own words, the only way his company was to survive was if it spread out across Europe, the developing world, and then to North America. The starting price of the Track T-800CDI was £15,000 in 2009, or what was roughly $23,000 at the exchange rates in 2009. According to Classic Driver, the price for the T-800CDI was €18,750 in 2011.

This put the Track at a disadvantage. A 2009 BMW GS was £11,250, and was built by a known company with a lot of history. EVA Products was asking buyers to pay more money to take a chance on an unknown brand and a weird concept.

Erik saw the T-800CDI as only the beginning. He projected that diesel was only going to get cleaner and more widespread. The Track bikes were supposed to advance with the times, getting lighter and accepting even more fuels, like natural gas. When talking about the future, Erik was sure that some of the big motorcycle names would work on hydrogen or electric, but that there almost had to be a place for diesel. After all, it’s not like you’re going to ride an electric motorcycle across any desert.

Unfortunately, these statements were made only a couple of years before Dieselgate took hold and changed the trajectory of diesel forever. Did diesel motorcycles even have a future before Dieselgate? Honestly, I doubt it. But Dieselgate certainly did not help.

Erik’s global expansion never came, and the motorcycle was sold in Holland until 2013. EVA Products went under shortly after. It’s believed that around 50 examples were built, and of those, few are on the road today. According to European motoring magazine Auto Motor Klassiek, EVA Products needed to sell at least 100 units a year, and, sadly, the company couldn’t do it. Amazingly, I know of one of these that made it to America, and it is still running today.

Thus, the dream of the diesel motorcycle, at least for the perhaps dozens of people who have such a dream, remains elusive. Nearly every single diesel motorcycle that has been pitched or has gone into production was a niche product that eventually failed. Even the mass-produced ones didn’t have staying power, either.

Still, I just love stories like this. The world would be a much duller place if there weren’t people like Erik trying out crazy ideas to see if they would work. So, the Track T-800CDI might have been a failure, but I’m glad it existed and, admittedly, it’s one of my white whales.

The post 16 Years Ago, A Company Tried Making A 140 MPG Diesel Motorcycle Using The Engine Of A Car appeared first on The Autopian.

Most car enthusiasts consider themselves lucky if they get the chance to own their dream car just once. Some of us, like me, consider ourselves extraordinarily blessed to have 15 of our favorite cars. Rarer than that is when someone owns hundreds of cars or more. One businessman in rural Alabama might have the largest car collection in America. Cardboard magnate Greg Rusk is said to own up to 1,300 cars, and at least half of them were purchased for way too much money to help local families in need. Now, in a massive multi-part auction, Rusk is selling his collection off in a no-reserve auction so all sorts of enthusiasts can enjoy his decades of finds.

Mass collectors can be a bit controversial in the car enthusiast world. Many folks believe that cars are meant to be driven, and even someone with just a dozen cars can’t drive them all like they should. I’m guilty of this, as most of my cars rarely drive more than 500 miles in a year, if that. Then you have folks who have even more cars than I, like Derek Bieri from Vice Grip Garage or Greg Rusk here, whose cars can sit for years, getting flat tires, varnished fuel, and inches of dust. Mr. Rusk is giving enthusiasts the chance to put his cars back on the road.

The first batch of Rusk’s cars, well more than 200 vehicles, will be sold in October in an auction that Hagerty Marketplace is calling the Generous Collection. Approximately 150 of these cars are for sale right this moment in auctions, with roughly another 50 posted by Tuesday. The variety in Rusk’s collection is impressive, and includes everything from old conversion vans to Mazda RX-8s, pickup trucks, and even plenty of German cars. Many of these cars have covered tons of miles, yet look fantastic. Some are projects, and some are garage queens. Rusk was not a typical rich guy car collector, which means that there’s something for everyone here.

But this begs the question. How does one guy end up with over a thousand cars in the most random car collection in America? Rusk has a pretty fascinating explanation.

From Cadillacs To Everything Else

Greg Rusk is currently the owner of Rusken Packaging, Inc., a cardboard packaging juggernaut headquartered in Cullman, Alabama. The company was founded in 1974 by Bobby Rusk and operated in a 6,000 square-foot facility. Ownership of the business transferred to Bobby’s son, Greg, in 1992, after Bobby passed.

Since Greg took control of the family business, he’s grown it into a titan that’s considered to be the pre-eminent independent supplier of corrugated packaging in the Southeast United States. Rusken Packaging has spread its wings across 19 facilities in 10 states and offers everything from standardized boxes to entirely custom printing, design, and packaging solutions. There’s a pretty good chance that if you live in the Southeast and purchased some sort of boxed product, that box came from Rusken.

Running the family empire has afforded Rusk a pretty heavy wallet, which has allowed him to follow his dreams.

A couple of days ago, Hagerty published its latest episode of Barn Find Hunter (embedded above), which opens with this line: “259 Chevys, 109 Fords, 105 Cadillacs, 96 Pontiacs, 55 Mopars, 48 Lincolns, 35 Buicks, 24 Oldsmobiles, and 12 Volkswagen Beetles.” The show’s host, Tom Cotter, joined Greg Rusk on a walkthrough of only a fraction of Rusk’s collection, and got the scoop as to how in the world one man even ends up with over a thousand cars.

Rusk says that his collecting journey started 26 or 28 years ago. At first, he just wanted to collect a Cadillac from every year of the company’s history. He had this idea of possibly opening a museum, and spent his weekends in the early Internet era by going out, looking at cars, and bringing them home.

Rusk explains that, when he was younger, his friends were all into muscle cars. However, he just loved the elegance and ride of a Cadillac. So, old Cadillacs became his dream cars.

It wasn’t long before Rusk’s interests in cars branched out from Cadillacs. Soon enough, he began collecting Chevrolet Chevelles, Pontiac Firebird Trans Ams, Chevrolet Corvettes, and basically everything else. Rusk even has at least one Nash Metropolitan and a Mazda RX-7 with an LS swap.

In talking to Cotter, Rusk says that what would happen was that he’d get into collecting spells and just amass tons of cars. Apparently, Rusk would drive these cars for a weekend or two and then just stash them away in one of his many buildings or outside on his properties. So, a lot of the cars in this auction were last driven a decade or longer ago for just a single weekend.

The Hagerty crew estimates that there are between 800 to 1,300 cars here, but the true number is unknown. Rusk apparently has a paper-based inventory of the cars that’s more than an inch thick, but he doesn’t even know how many cars he has or how many buildings they’re all stored in. Rusk also doesn’t remember what the first car he collected was, but he says that his favorite is a 1959 Cadillac convertible.

As for how he chooses these cars? He just likes it when a car is cool or unique. He doesn’t care if the car is numbers-matching or even if it’s in good condition. If it were a neat car, he wanted it.

Doing Some Good

I think the really cool part of Rusk’s story is just how he collected these cars. Apparently, word started getting around that Rusk likes cars, and soon enough, members of the community and employees of Rusken Packaging started reaching out. These people often say that they want to sell their car to buy a house, or need to sell their car to pay for a medical bill.

Instead of bartering these people down, like people on Facebook would, Rusk would do the exact opposite. He’d ask the person how much money they actually wanted, and that’s the price he paid for the car. Rusk estimates that about half of his collection came from surrounding communities in Alabama. Hagerty says that Rusk “would regularly pay overly generous fees to acquire an interesting vehicle.” That suggests he’s almost certainly paid way more for these cars than they were even worth.

This is why Hagerty calls this auction the Generous Collection. Basically, Rusk used his love for cars to do some good in Alabama.

The Generous Collection

Alright, so you know Rusk’s story and why the man somehow ended up with a thousand-plus cars. What goodies are in this auction?

Before I continue, I will reiterate a point I said earlier. Rusk’s only standard for collecting a car was that it was unique and cool, or that someone in need was selling it. He didn’t really care about its history, its condition, or modifications. Lots of his cars are not minty, and many of them have tons of miles. Many of them really are like the kinds of cars that you’ll find on Facebook.

I dig that, because that should mean that regular people should be able to afford the cars in this auction. But it also means that you should look past the pretty paint to make sure there aren’t any issues that would be a dealbreaker for you.

The first car that caught my eye was this 1992 Cadillac Sedan DeVille Custom Funeral Flower Car.

I love flower cars. These cars tend to be luxury vehicles converted into a giant platform to carry flowers or a platform to carry a casket on a bed of flowers. They add style and dignity to a funeral procession, but as cars, they’re just plain cool. I mean, this thing is basically a Sedan DeVille pickup truck!

The other vehicle that immediately got my attention was this 1967 King Midget Model III. This car is being sold as a project because the auction team was not able to get it started.

Now, I’m just going to rapid-fire off some of the awesome vehicles from the auction:

1997 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 30th Anniversary Coupe

1953 Jaguar XK120 Roadster

1999 Chevrolet S-10 Xtreme 5-Speed

LS1-Powered 1989 Mazda RX-7 Turbo II 6-Speed

1981 AMC Spirit GT Liftback 4.2L

1987 Alfa Romeo Spider Quadrifoglio

2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS Intimidator

1995 Toyota Celica ST Coupe

1949 Cadillac Series 62

1973 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible

1967 Oldsmobile Toronado

1986 Chevrolet C10 Silverado

I think what’s really awesome is that, sure, my highlights here are some interesting cars, but there are also lots of just regular, everyday cars in this auction. There’s a 2001 Audi TT in the auction with 239,000 miles and an underbody of three different colors. There’s also a 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse, a 2011 GMC Yukon XL Denali, a 2002 Ford F-150 Lariat, and some other cars that some folks might consider to be “regular traffic.” That’s great!

This is why I’m saying that this auction has something for everyone. A little bit of everything is in here, from cheap project cars and high-mileage daily drivers to high-dollar Mustangs and Porsches. Also, stay tuned for future auctions, as this is only a fraction of Rusk’s collection.

If you’re interested in checking out the auction, head on over to Hagerty’s the Generous Collection. As I said before, most of these cars have between 11 and 13 days left in their auctions, so you have plenty of time to explain things to your significant other.

As for Greg Rusk, he tells Hagerty that this is the end of his obsession. He’s spent nearly 30 years amassing what could be America’s largest car collection, but now, he wants to see these cars go and have fun with other people. It looks like quite a lot of folks are about to get that chance.

What looks interesting to you? Let us know your favorite find in the comments.

[Ed Note: Hagerty Marketplace reached out to see if we’d be interested in partnering on a couple of posts to support this collection. Of course, we said that we’d love to. Look at these great cars! FYI: If you click on the links above to view this collection and, especially, if you register to bid, they’ll know you came via The Autopian. – MH]

The post A Cardboard Magnate Spent Decades Overpaying For Cars To Help People In Need, Now He’s Selling All 1,300 Of Them appeared first on The Autopian.