The Final Car
On the Beach is a post-apocalyptic novel by Nevil Shute. In it, Shute charts the final days of folk living in Melbourne, Australia – one of the last places on earth to remain free of radiation poisoning. Life in the northern hemisphere has been all but obliterated and it’s only a matter of time before the entire southern hemisphere suffers the same fate. It’s an immensely terrifying and heartbreaking book to read as Shute delves deep into the personal lives of the last few people on earth who witness the end of civilisation. Read more 
PetrolBlog looks at: The German Car Industry
On the face of it, a book by James Ruppert on the subject of German cars from the 1980s is always going to be of interest to PetrolBlog. The Bangernomics Bible has already inspired me to purchase the PetrolBlog Shed and I’ve got a long standing love affair with cars from the 1980s, particularly those from Germany, France and Italy. So you would hopefully excuse the mild excitement when I got my hands on a copy and clapped eyes on the cover, resplendent in the colours of the German flag and featuring an E30 BMW convertible. Read more
SMMT Day: Speed dating with cars
This week I was invited to the annual SMMT Day at the Millbrook proving ground in Bedfordshire. Put simply, the SMMT Day involves automotive journalists and bloggers getting together in a central place with the primary aim of driving as many cars as possible. Or as I like to call it, speed dating with cars. OK, there’s also the opportunity to mingle with the good folk of the UK press offices, but in truth, the real attraction is the vast selection of cars available to drive. Think ‘kid in a sweet shop’ and you’d have some idea as to how it felt to be there. Read more
Ponton physics – my encounter with an old Merc
My invitation to the launch of the new Range Rover Evoque sadly never arrived. I’m putting it down to the poor postal service on the moors. So instead, I made my way back from the office in frankly appalling weather conditions. The little Box of Frogs has an equally small air conditioning unit which failed to clear the mist from the windows so all in all it was a trifle tedious journey. My spirits were lifted when I caught sight of what I immediately recongised as a Mercedes, probably dating back from the 1950s. Unfortunately, my knowledge of cars dating back before the Swinging Sixties begins to get a little hazy, so this was all I could decipher through the torrential rain. Read more
The car’s the star (of the song)
Cars in popular culture? We all know about Prince’s Little Red Corvette and Wilson Pickett’s Mustang Sally, but what about cars that are contained within the lyrics?
Here’s Petrolblog’s rundown of the top tunes with cars within the lyrics. In true chart show style, we start with number 10. Read more
