Archive for category Car Insurance
Hummer Golf Carts
Posted by in Car Collection, Car Insurance, Hummer on July 4, 2011
If you have not yet seen the Hummer golf cart models that are available online, do yourself a favor and go look. Even if you know you cannot afford one, go look anyway. These vehicles are simply awesome and when it comes to imitating their big brothers, they truly do pull it off. In fact, of the several luxury golf cart models that available, the Hummer golf cart is perhaps the most accurate when it comes to replicating the original.
When you do your online search, you will find a lot of different model set ups or configurations. The name Hummer golf cart is actually a bit misleading because these vehicles have been customized for a number of uses besides being used on the golf course. This is not to imply that a lot of golfers have not bought these vehicles because they have, but other uses are also popular.
For example, one of the uses that seem to be popular with the Hummer golf cart is transportation within closed communities. You all know what these communities are like. They allow residents to use smaller gas or battery powered vehicles to get around the community. The old idea that these are mostly senior citizens is wrong. People of all ages are using these smaller vehicles are their main means of conveyance in closed communities. For some of these people, the Hummer golf cart is the vehicle of choice.
You can also find the Hummer golf cart being used in hotel and resort settings where guests are carried from one place to another by the staff. One would have to say that using this particular make of vehicle would certainly catch the attention of any guest who gets into one.
A couple of reasons hotels and resorts use this particular make, over and above it unique look, is its high quality standards. These are truly luxury golf carts, and there is little one can say to disprove that fact. But they are also versatile and rugged. They can carry up to six passengers in some configurations, and they can also haul a lot of cargo which is all but mandatory for vehicles that are used in this capacity. Read the rest of this entry »
Chevrolet Camaro – One of the Most Popular Cars for Modification in the Automotive History
Posted by in Car Insurance, Chevrolet Camaro on June 25, 2011
The Chevrolet Camaro was a compact car introduced in North America by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors at the start of the 1967 model year as competition for the Ford Mustang.
Although it was technically a compact (by the standards of the time), the Camaro, like the entire class of Mustang competitiors, was soon known as a pony car.
Though the car’s name was contrived with no meaning, General Motors researchers found the word in a French dictionary as a slang term for “friend” or “companion.” Ford Motor Company researchers discovered other definitions, including “a shrimp-like creature” and an arcane term for “loose bowels”! In some automotive periodicals before official release, it was code-named “Panther”.
Four distinct generations of the car were produced.
Generation 1
1967
Sharing mechanicals with the upcoming 1968 Chevrolet Nova, the Camaro featured unibody structure. Chevrolet offered the car in only two body styles, a coupe and convertible. Almost 80 factory and 40 dealer options including three main packages were avaible.
* RS Package included many cosmetic changes such as RS badging, hidden headlights, blacked out grill, revised taillights and interior trims.
* SS Package included modified 5.7 L (350 in³) V8 engine (first 350 in³ engine ever offered by Chevrolet), also L35 396 in³ “big block” was avaible. SS featured non-functional air inlets on the hood, special striping and blacked out grill. It was possible to order both – RS and SS packages to receive RS/SS Camaro. In 1967 Camaro RS/SS Convertible Camaro with 396 in³ engine paced the Indianapolis 500 race.
* Z28 option code was introduced in 1966. This option package wasn’t mentioned in any sales literature so was unknown by most of the buyers. The only way to order Z28 package was to order base Camaro with Z28 option, front disc brakes, power steering and Muncie 4-speed transmission.
Z28 package featured unique 302 in³ “small block” engine, designed specifically to compete in the Club of America Trans Am racing series (which required engines smaller than 305 in³ and public availablity of the car).
Advertised power of this engine was listed at 290 hp (216 kW) while actual dyno readings rated it at 360 to 400 hp (269 to 298 kW). Z28 also came with upgraded suspension and racing stripes on the hood. It was possible to combine Z28 package with RS package. Only 602 Z28′s were sold.
Generation 2
The larger second-generation Camaro featured an all-new sleek body and improved suspension. The 1970-1/2 Camaro debuted as a 2+2 coupe; no convertible was offered and would not appear again until well into the third generation.
Most of the engine and drivetrain components were carried over from 1969 with the exception of the 230 in³ (3.8 L) six cylinder — the base engine was now the 250 in³ (4.1 L) six rated at 155 hp (116 kW).
The top performing motor was a L-78 396 in³ (6.5 L) V8 rated at 375 hp (280 kW). (Starting in 1970, the 396 in³ big block V8′s actually displaced 402 in³ (6.6 L), yet Chevrolet chose to retain the 396 badging.) Two 454 in³ (7.4 L) engines – the LS-6 and LS-7 – were listed on early specification sheets but never made it into production.
Besides the base model, buyers could select the “Rally Sport” option with a distinctive front nose and bumper, a “Super Sport” package, and the “Z-28 Special Performance Package” featuring a new high-performance 360 hp (268 kW) 350 in³ (5.7 L) cid V8.
1972
The 1972 Camaro suffered two major setbacks. A UAW strike at a GM assembly plant in Ohio disrupted production for 174 days, and 1100 Camaros had to be scrapped because they did not meet 1973 Federal bumper safety standards.
Some at GM seriously considered dropping the Camaro and Firebird altogether, while others were convinced the models remained marketable. The latter group eventually convinced those in favor of dropping the F Cars to reconsider, and Chevrolet would go on to produce 68,656 Camaros in 1972, the lowest production numbers for any model year. Read the rest of this entry »
Specialist Car Insurance For Modified Vehicles
Posted by in Car Insurance, Car Modification on June 25, 2011
Owners of modified cars by their very nature appreciate personalisation and providers of modified car insurance realise this. It is surprising how few of these owners have omitted to plan for the additional insurance cost when first contemplating making modifications to the car, showing what is quite often meticulous interest in the detail that the majority of us would overlook when thinking about how to cover our car.
Car Insurers have therefore had to be equally ingenious in their underwriting methods to be flexible enough in modifying their rating structures to accommodate the varying needs of modified car insurance.
It is one area of the specialist car insurance sector which is constantly evolving. Whilst classic car insurance gets larger in its risk pool as each year more cars join the classification, modifications could today mean a thousand more different things than it did even ten years ago with the advance of technology and the use of components that didn’t exist before.
Modified vehicle insurance has had to be able to adapt to the ever increasing demands of twenty first century living.
Out of this need for flexibility while retaining competitive prices have arisen many modified specialist car insurers who actively seek out the hot hatch or boy-racer type risk that the main stream car insurance supermarkets would turn away as soon as they had discovered either the prospects car model, age or modification requirements.
Modified car owners are also by nature not as risk averse as the standard saloon driver with 2.4 children. Car Insurance has had to adapt to allow policy level underwriting for modified owners as individuals, to set their preferred levels of cover, rather than standard rating which takes an en mass approach. Insurance companies have had to realise that if they want the specialist car insurance market business, that they must take into consideration that as modified vehicle owners take pride in their vehicle and maintain their cars to the highest standards, they would expect nothing less from an insurance policy. Read the rest of this entry »