yippee-yi-oh-ki-yay!

Twenty years ago, I knew an art dealer in Toronto who specialised in native art and he was the first to tell me that Germans were nuts about Inuit soapstone carvings, Haida totem pole miniatures, and ceremonial drums. Never really got the connection; still don't get the connection but I can tell you it's for real and very much alive.

Just received notice that the 2013 Rieger Tuning calendar is almost ready for release and this year's theme is "cowboys and indians." Cars, models, crew, and production equipment were taken on location to the German tourist attraction Pullman City in Bavaria - a theme park re-creation of a 19th century town in the  American wild west. You can get an idea of the locale (there's lots of pix) off the news link http://www.rieger-tuning.de/de/news/RIEGER_Making_of_Kalender_2013.php

Coincidentally an article came to our attention at the same time featuring a story on Hartmut Lutz, a visiting scholar teaching at the University of Calgary. His course centers around German enthusiasm for North American aboriginals. The article in the National Post states: "Not far from The Lone Ranger and other Spaghetti Westerns, the writings of Karl May managed to inspire a fervor for North American aboriginal culture that survives in Germany today. There are an estimated 80,000 Indian enthusiasts in Germany: white people who dress up in war paint and feathers, live in tipi camps, bead artifacts, hold powwows and learn traditional dances."

Changes in Audi Models ALL.THE.TIME

Facelifts (if you're a first time Audi owner) are the subtle changes made to models (in between the complete makeovers that occur every 4 - 6 years) to ensure that new car buyers are getting the best shiny ever; this is easy enough as a marketing concept to understand because most new car buyers don't want to own last year's model.

Cars falling within a specific model span (indentified by version and chassis) can be more difficult to gauge as to whether they are "pre-face" or "facelift" models. The cosmetic stylings (apart from the invisible engineering changes) can be so subtle that only the owner will know. As an example, we provide this pictogram of the difference between the original Audi A5 and the Facelift Audi A5. You can nail this content down in 5 minutes and consider yourself an A5 B8 authourity.

Nicht Schparky autos!

No one in their right mind would stand up and declare themselves an enemy of the environment - in essence, an unpopular opinion bound to be considered an invitation to early departure from this earthly coil via an untimely synchronised encounter with a thousand bicycles. This has not stopped a couple of Germans from speaking up on the subject of electric cars.  Neither declares themselves for or against but clearly point out that government goals are not even registering on the scales. Shades of the Chevy Volt!

Read all about it in der Spiegel - we think that until Teslas cost about the same as a compact Ford and can go half as far without a recharge - the electric car is about as popular as it was a hundred years ago.

Update on a REPO MEN Touareg

One of the JE DESIGN body kit styling kits that formed the template for the VW Touareg vehicles (three kits were used altogether) in the brutal film feature "REPO MEN" turned up in Detroit. We came across the images at a blog written by Wallace who just happens to own a Touareg. He hasn't picked up any modifications from us (as far as we know) but it was nice to come across an article with some of our history in it. The story and pictures can be found about six articles down on his blog projektTOUAREG. The wheels and rubber on those machines were outrageous.