Frank Costanza and the Browncoats: Rolls-Royce Introduces Outstanding Phantom Serenity

Not content with the Jack White fab of the Al-Adiyat series of cars announced mere days ago, Rolls-Royce has pulled the wraps from a one-off fancy-plus-fancy sled whose name will have the tickers of Seinfeld and Firefly fans alike all aflutter: Serenity.

While the new Bugatti Veyron La Finale uses a leather called “Silk” to evoke luxury, this latest Phantom EWB uses actual silk. According to Goodwood, their muses were Rollers of days gone by—the sort of vehicles used by global potentates a century ago—contemporary furniture design, and the robes of Japanese bigwigs, both royals and merchants.

Unlike the functional-rattletrap interior of the Firefly-class transport that served as a setting for much of Joss Whedon’s short-lived space western, this latest Phantom is centered around a blossom motif. Like Whedon, who posited the language of the future would be a blend of English and Chinese, Rolls-Royce looked to the Middle Kingdom for inspiration. It wasn’t language they were after. In the tradition of wealthy European traders, it was raw material. In this case, silk thread. After being dyed, the thread was transported to the United Kingdom to be hand-woven into 10 meters of fabric at a rate of 2 meters per hour. From the mill in Essex, the Smoke Green fabric went to London for embroidery and “unconscious painting”, which sounds for all the world like one of Cosmo Kramer’s hare-brained schemes.

Serenity’s wooden accents are crafted from smoked cherrywood inlaid with bamboo. Mother of pearl marquetry uses a mixture of laser-cutting and hand application to mimic a Paul Reed Smith fretboard. MoP also finds its way to the clock’s face, as well as to the speedometer and power-reserve gauge. The stuff is inlaid with rubies, because Rolls is not screwing around. Further proof? Any old schmuck who buys a Rolls-Royce these days gets a pair of umbrellas that pop out of the doors, but only Serenity has a matched set of parasols fastened to the inside of the trunklid with leather straps. Opulence? Adequate. Serenity? NOW!

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At this moment, Goodwood would like to take pains to point out that the 3-stage mother-of-pearl paint job on this sucker is the most expensive one-off color they’ve ever developed and required a full 12 hours of color sanding, cutting, buffing, and polishing prior to its big debut at the Geneva Motor Show. For the sake of Frank Constanza’s delicate heart, we hope the car’s new owner doesn’t con his local automotive-registrar’s office into issuing an “ASSMAN” license plate.

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Frank Costanza and the Browncoats: Rolls-Royce Introduces Outstanding Phantom Serenity

LeMons Houston Car Inspections: Outstanding Quantities of Nissan Zs, Mustangs, plus Cookie Monster Warlord

The 24 Hours of LeMons Traveling Circus has been coming to MSR Houston since way back in 2008, when the 10th-ever LeMons race took place here. The LeMons Supreme Court inspected about 80 vehicles today, which meant— because this is Texas— something like a dozen apiece Fox Fords and Nissan Z Cars in addition to the usual assortment of weird machinery. Let’s see what we’ve got fixin’ to race on Saturday!

In honor of a beloved local creature, here’s the LeMons Supreme Court’s traditional BRIBED stencil for this race.

Speaking of generous bribes for the LeMons Supreme Court, what’s going on here?

As is always the case when we come to Texas, we have tremendous quantities of Mustangs and Nissan Zs. We’ve got early Foxes, late Foxes, a Mustang II, 240s, 280s, 300s, the works.

This bunch of Ford Focus fanatics could have convinced us that they sold enough parts off their insurance-totaled SVT to make it a legitimate $ 500 car, but they neglected to bring any sort of paperwork documenting the cost of stuff bought and sold. Uh-oh!

Also not convincing the LeMons Supreme Court of his team’s budgetary bona fides was automotive writer (and member of the winning team at the third-ever LeMons race) Jack Baruth and his team’s very clean Porsche 944 Turbo.

Speaking of car journalists with Porsche 944s, Stef Schrader is back with her Porsche 944.

The electric-powered Datsun Fairlady of Hoonatic Racing made its LeMons debut 2 years ago, and it appears that a battery upgrade may push the one and only LeMons EV up to a never-before-achieved top speed of 60 mph.

Another car that made its LeMons debut in 2012 was the Ratsun Racing Datsun 210ZX. 3 races later, this car has a KA24 engine swap, but has a total of 13 laps finished in its LeMons racing career. Class C, again!

Inspired by the famous Jihadist Cookie Monster Toyota painting, TARP Racing created the Cookie Monster Warlord BMW E36.

What makes a Porsche 914 slightly less reliable?

A Subaru 2.5 engine swap, of course! With automatic transmission, the LeMons Supreme Court felt compelled to put this car in Class C.

All the way from Vermont, the Bert One Racing Volvo 262C Bertone has come to Texas to pursue the elusive goal of an overall LeMons win.

This chop-top Volkswagen Transporter had some innovative features, but wasn’t quite ready to pass the tech inspection on its first try.

Once a few safety upgrades are completed, the center-drive VW Bus should hit the track on Saturday.

While all that was going on, the guys from Street Outlaws showed up with their “Pee On Neon” race car, complete with roof-mounted urinating mannequin. Will they do better in LeMons than Freiberger and Finnegan did with their ’73 Plymouth Fury? We’ll find out tomorrow!

LeMons Houston Car Inspections: Outstanding Quantities of Nissan Zs, Mustangs, plus Cookie Monster Warlord

Can a licensing authority refuse to renew a car license because of any outstanding fines ?

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Question:

Are there any possibility that a licensing authority can refuse to renew a car license because of any outstanding fines ?

Answer:

Yes there are but it must be made clear that this does not extend to traffic fines that have not reached legislated stages.

These stages are as follows:

• If an Enforcement Order has been issued in terms of the AARTO Act; or


• If a Warrant of Arrest has been issued in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act.

If you get an R114 statement of account from the licensing authority, you will note that it lists traffic fines, as well as licensing fees and penalties. Most commonly, licensing transactions are blocked because outstanding licensing fees and penalties thereon exist.

Regulation 59 of the National Road Traffic Regulations state the following

59. Arrear fees for licensing of motor vehicle or motor trade number

(1) If application is made for the licensing of a motor vehicle or motor trade number in a month following the

month in which liability for the licensing of such motor vehicle or motor trade number arose, arrear licence fees,

calculated at one twelfth per month of the annual licence fees from the first day of the month in which liability for

such licensing arose until the last day of the month preceding the month in which application is made, shall be

(2) If a person who owes any penalties or fees in terms of the provisions of this Act to any registering

authority or driving licence testing centre, applies for any transaction, the registering authority or driving licence

testing centre to whom such application is made, may refuse to effect the transaction applied for or, in the case of

an application for the licensing of a motor vehicle at a registering authority, refuse to issue a licence disc to the

applicant, until such penalties and fees have been paid, and may apply any amount tendered in settlement of such

penalties and fees due.

[Subr.(2) substituted by r. 25, GNR.1341 of 23 September 2003 w.e.f. 23 July 2004.]

(3) If a person who has committed an offence in terms of this Act failed to appear in a Court of Law and as a

result of such failure a warrant of arrest of such person has been issued, applies for any transaction, the registering

authority or driving licence testing centre to whom such application is made, may refuse to effect the transaction

applied for or, in the case of an application for the licensing of a motor vehicle at a registering authority, the

registering authority may refuse to issue a licence disc to the applicant.

[Subr.3 inserted by r. 16, GNR.404 w.e.f. 4 May 2007.]

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In simple terms, what this all means is that licensing transactions may be refused if:

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• Outstanding licensing fees and/or penalties on licensing fees exist;


• If a Warrant of Arrest has been issued against the name of the registered owner; and/or


• If an AARTO Enforcement Order been issued against the name of the registered owner.

A licence disc may also be withheld if the vehicle in question does not have a valid roadworthy certificate.

Licensing authorities MAY NOT withhold a licensing transaction because there are “outstanding traffic fines”. They may inform the alleged offender that they exist, but that’s about it.

But because eNaTIS automatically withholds licence discs when other conditions exist, licensing authorities who are part of the traffic authorities in the municipalities they operate, incorrectly tell people that it is the outstanding traffic fines that are causing the licence disk or other licensing transaction not being allowed. Effectively, the con people into believing that this is so, instead of being honest. It’s a very sad situation.

Best Regards,

Howard Dembovsky

National Chairman – Justice Project South Africa (NPC)

Can a licensing authority refuse to renew a car license because of any outstanding fines ?

Package insurance: Who gives outstanding worth?

Each year CANSTAR research and rate both building and contents insurance policies across Australia to determine which ones offer customers outstanding value for money. This year CANSTAR has obtained more than 14,900 quotes across 120 building, contents and package insurance products from 49 providers, to see which offer customers outstanding value, and for home & contents package insurance we congratulate CommInsure and AAMI on taking the national award.

The features offered by CommInsure clinched its win and the availability of a multi-policy discount is a welcome addition. It’s a combined package that finds a balance between price and features.

AAMI is strongly competitive on price, reducing its premiums by between 30% and 50% over the past 12 months. This competitive price is offered along with features that will suit budget-conscious households and has seen AAMI scoop 4 state home and contents awards.

Want to know more? Full details can be found in the 2014 Home and Contents Insurance star ratings report. 

Package insurance: Who gives outstanding worth?

Package insurance coverage: Who delivers outstanding worth?

Each and every year CANSTAR analysis and price both building and contents insurance policies across Australia to decide which ones offer consumers outstanding worth for funds. This year CANSTAR has obtained a lot more than 14,900 quotes across 120 building, contents and package insurance coverage merchandise from 49 providers, to see which supply clients outstanding value, and for home & contents package insurance we congratulate CommInsure and AAMI on taking the national award.

The functions supplied by CommInsure clinched its win and the availability of a multi-policy discount is a welcome addition. It’s a combined package that finds a balance among cost and features.

AAMI is strongly competitive on value, reducing its premiums by among 30% and 50% more than the previous 12 months. This competitive price is presented along with characteristics that will suit spending budget-conscious households and has observed AAMI scoop 4 state home and contents awards.

Want to know far more? Complete information can be found in the 2014 Home and Contents Insurance star ratings report. 

Package insurance coverage: Who delivers outstanding worth?