Ken's 10 Most Underrated Cars

Here is my list of the most underrated cars. Bear in mind I'm a Kiwi and so this list will be biased toward cars that were available down under. They all held up well and I'm weighting for that fact principally, but also important is the car's utilitarian usefulness, reliability and cost of ownership. Without further ado, in ascending order:-

10. 1950's Standard Ten

A cute little car that held up well, they're still used on a daily basis in NZ, mostly by little old ladies who as we all know, know their cars. The great little Triumph Herald came later, and the Ten gets little mention as a result.

9. Lada Niva

Heh, the Suzuki Vitara copies this car, imitation being the sincerest form of flattery of course. The Niva people invented the crossover SUV with this brilliant car. It is almost never rated unless they're a serious off-road driver or German farmer.

8. 1960's Humber Super Snipe

These cars last forever and you would be foolish to discount it even today if you're looking for something cheap and indestructible.  Older versions have won just about every demolition derby, but the 60's models are great rides and are just modern enough to be acceptable still.

7. Jaguar Mk X

I just about wet myself whenever I see one of these. I've owned Jags, including a Mk1 and 1967 S-Type but always wanted a Mk X, I just never found one in good enough condition. They tended to get thrashed (they're very powerful).  A big car this.

6. Ford Ka with black bumpers (pre 1999)

Such a practical car and a good secondhand buy though you rarely see it mentioned.

5. Leyland P76 with the V8

Considered the biggest failure in Australian car manufacturing they're actually a good car. They have a boot that will take a couple of sheep.

4. Trekka

A useful New Zealand car and still in everyday use. They're powered by a Skoda engine. Usually mentioned is the Kiwi Duzgo (it does go...get it?) which was a dud to be honest, despite the hype and faithful few who promote it. Always overlooked is the Trekka, which was a success.

3. Vauxhall Velox LIP

The 6 cylinder car in the Wyvern body. Don't think about going over 70 mph and the suicide doors are a joy. Later Velox models get all the credit but this car is amazing. My father got a 1951 LIP as his first company car and he kept it until the early 1980's when he sold it for a few dollars. It was thrashed its whole life, got rarely cared for yet just kept on going.

2. Ford Anglia c. 1960

Bullet proof, just about.

1. Studebaker Champion c. 1950

My most underrated car. Reliable, robust, modern, own it today and it will go just fine. 

My Novel Basketball Obsession

My novel Basketball Obsession  will be available free from the Kindle store on Wednesday November 25, 2015. It's an easy read and suitable for age 14 and up. The story is set in a town at the top of the South Island in New Zealand where it isn't rugby the locals are crazy about, it is basketball.

Richie McCaw to fly helicopters

So much for all my earlier prognostication, Richie McCaw is to take up flying helicopters, working toward his commercial license. Well good on him and I wish him well in that pursuit.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/74143235/richie-mccaw-ends-all-blacks-career-with-retirement-from-professional-rugby

Canaries Roosting On The Backhoes

Following on from my earlier post about Caterpillar's troubles, JCB now report a huge plunge in sales.

>>Click Here<<

Quote:-

“In the first six months of the year, the market in Russia has dropped by 70%, Brazil by 36% and China by 47%,” said JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald in a press release.

Yeah, not so good.

Update on Caterpillar. Their share price continues to fall, from a high of just over $106 within the last year, they're now at $69.39 as at the close of trading in New York a few hours ago. That's a drop of about 34%. Caterpillar now fall into the buy territory with a P/E lower than 15. 


(Note: These opinions are information only and do not constitute investment advice. If you need investment advice on these stocks or anything else for that matter, talk to your recognised and professional investment adviser. Better still, do your own research and act on it confident in your own ability.)

Jihadi John Got His

An interesting view from the Express; Jihadi John was killed as a result of Russia getting heavily involved in Syria...

>>Link<<

Personally I think Russia is going about things the right way. First, they're mopping up the rats and mice before crushing ISIL. Then later on they'll likely stab Assad in the back.

Why Russia?

I'm getting a bit sick of the constant attacks on Russia. The latest is the cry to ban them from the Rio Olympics.

Doping in sport is widespread, back when Marion Jones and many other Americans were busted, was the USA banned? And what about all those British athletes. And is it just genetics and training that has those Jamaicans running so fast? Hmm?

It's all politics at the moment, and I'm sick of it. How about handicapping athletes who dope, or run separate races for those who do. 

Another Mining Fatality

It's been a bad year for mining in New Zealand. Another mine worker has been killed, this time in a Southland gold mine.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/73751507/Mining-operations-suspended-following-Waikaia-Gold-death

He was killed in the workshop - very dangerous places. 

Deaths are preventable, read my post concerning the death of Murray Taylor earlier this year http://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2015/06/quarry-operators-new-zealand.html

Where to now for Richie McCaw?

Richie McCaw has just captained New Zealand's All Blacks to their third Rugby World Cup, the first back-to-back championship since the event started in 1987 ( which NZ won). The All Blacks are now poised for a 'three-peat'. Heck at this rate they'll go four years unbeaten (hope so). New Zealand are getting so good at Rugby they're making everyone else look pedestrian. Maybe in future the World Cup will decide who gets to meet the Kiwis in a World Series?

But heh, let's not get too carried away.

Many have noticed McCaw has not retired as was expected. What's up? He wasn't named in the Crusaders squad that was recently announced and he'll have to be playing Super Rugby if he's to qualify for NZ and the chance to earn that 150th test cap (he's on 148).

Tempting to speculate, so let's do that...

* Maybe he's going to the Highlanders? He's from Otago and went to Otago Boys High School. The Press in Christchurch claimed him as a Canterbury son on their front page Saturday - well he isn't actually, so there.

* Maybe he's going up to Auckland to player/coach them?

* How about he's going straight in on the All Blacks coaching staff and then replacing (Sir) Steve Hansen when his contract expires.

* Then there's that Japanese Super Rugby franchise, maybe he's negotiating to player/coach them?

* He may have been recruited for the National Party list at the next election. It's no secret National have lusted after having him on their ticket (don't do it (Sir) Richie).

What do you think?

Concrete To Revolutionize Heating

Interesting stuff from the Swiss, Ettringite concrete, reported below from DW TV. Concrete blocks are made which heat when exposed to water. Copper pipes are threaded through the blocks, which act as a heat exchanger. The hot water then circulates through the house, heating it. 

DW TV Video

It would take only a few blocks to heat an average size home all winter. Would these blocks last? It appears they will, at least as long as the home will, which has got to be something worth considering. Are they expensive to produce? Simple answer - I don't know, but the process looks a little complicated, the blocks heat up when made, can they explode if you get the recipe wrong?

One of the guys featured in the video can be found here...

Frank Winnefeld of Empa - the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology

A Reminder - GM - Where Did The Money Go?

Found the following article which explains clearly what happened as a result of the General Motors bankruptcy back in 2009.

http://www.dailywealth.com/2125/gm-americas-biggest-bankruptcy

Put simply, the union got the money and the bondholders were screwed. Don't worry about the company not being able to make a decent car, or the chance to have capitalism go to work and make the GM assets available to new entrepreneurs, No, Obama had to win Michigan and the US taxpayer forked out. 

TPP Snowball Effect

The Trans-Pacific Partnership has been agreed, the actual value of which is now to be debated. What struck me is how something so small at the start can grow very fast, now covering 40% of the world's economy.

A rough timeline...

2001 - the process starts when New Zealand and Singapore conclude a free trade deal.
2002 - a year later Chile is on board, now called the Pacific Three Closer Economic Relations
2005 - now Brunei joins and we have the P4; the term Trans-Pacific Partnership begins
2008 - joined by USA, Australia, Vietnam and Peru, now this thing is big
2010 - Malaysia join
2012 - Canada and Mexico are now in
2013 - Japan join the party.

Caterpillar Lacklustre

Caterpillar have announced another rejig, this time letting 10,000 staff go in its quest to lower costs and get back on track. Caterpillar look to set a new low in 2016; setting the milestone of four years of lagging sales, unprecedented in its history  >>Link<<

Study the graph to get the picture...

Right now, with the slide ongoing, I'd say Caterpillar are a good buy. Hell, their market cap is under $40 billion.

Caterpillar have challenges ahead for sure, but my bet is they'll handle it. Those challenges include making headway in China. Right now that isn't the case, buyers there, like many other buyers in the emerging market countries, look at price and make their equipment procurement decisions on price alone. In North America, Japan and Western Europe, the whole of life cost is paramount and on that basis Caterpillar win hands down. They're by far the best machine in most categories; but particularly their medium to large Wheel Loaders and Dozers.

Caterpillar have never made a good excavator though and that must be addressed. Hitachi are the standard there and they link up with Deere, so on that front Cat has a real fight on its hands. Caterpillar had better knuckle down and develop strong excavators. Either that or buy someone out who does. They've acquired technology in the past, Perkins comes to mind, so this should not be a problem.

Caterpillar has a strong financing arm, but at the dealer level they need to be more engaged with the end-user. I've stopped counting the number of times contractors in the USA have told me they prefer John Deere due to the local Cat dealer being rude to them. Many Cat dealers in the USA have an attitude of you are privileged to be dealing with them and that has to stop. Consider 60% of Cat sales are in the USA and you can see they have a problem.

Good management can solve any of the challenges I've highlighted. Have the senior managers looked in the mirror and asked themselves if they're up to the task?

(Note: These opinions are information only and do not constitute investment advice. If you need investment advice on these stocks or anything else for that matter, talk to your recognised and professional investment adviser. Better still, do your own research and act on it confident in your own ability.)

Japan Rugby Christchurch Connection

The media are not reporting a Christchurch connection with the Japan team that has upset South Africa 34-32 at this year's Rugby World Cup.

In the team is Kosei Ono, who grew up in Christchurch from the age of three, learned to play Rugby here and played for the Christchurch Boys' High School first XV. He now lives in Japan and plays there professionally. His father is still local to Christchurch, he owns a sports massage business called Ono Seitai Sports Clinic.

Journalists have likely flicked through the roster of this ground-breaking team and tried to spot the foreign names, and in the process missed a local lad doing well.

Kosei Ono at RWC 2015 

[ edit to add - Kosei Ono is now covered on Stuff...The Press got around to doing their job ]

Warren Buffett Nightmare

Those who have seen the Motley Fool internet advertisement about what makes Warren Buffett lose sleep at night will be wondering what it is. I can tell you they're talking about driverless cars and the impact that may have on the auto insurance industry. The argument goes that the Berkshire Hathaway owned Geico insurance will be impacted by these cars which are predicted to be commonplace within five years.

Motley Fool then recommend a computer chip maker that makes the type of chip for driverless cars.

A word of caution; while the insurance landscape may well change due to these cars, who is to say the business will be less profitable? Accidents will be fewer, meaning less claims and thus cost to the insurer, but car owners will still need to insure for those accidents that are unavoidable. 

Which chip maker will win in the race ahead is anyone's guess, invest carefully and only when you're confident, and the first thing to ignore I'd say, would be scaremongering of the Motley kind.

New Rifle For NZ Army

Looks like the new rifle for the NZ military will be from the Lewis Machine and Tool Co., of Marion, Illinois. It isn't clear what actual weapon has been chosen, but the below firearms blog has some information...

>> New Zealand Army Selects LMT To Replace Steyr AUG <<

Is this company any good? It would be handy to know, please comment. The weapon the army has been trying looks like one in the embedded image.

A few other upgrades are in the process, including upgrades to NZ's two (yes you read that right) frigates. Why don't they just buy new Frigates? Four would do.

More Cool Stuff

How about this airfield which appears to have been on the market for some time. It used to be a WW2 Spitfire base with some of the infrastructure still in place from that era.

Perranporth Airfield is used for general aviation and covers around 332 acres. It has buildings, tarmac runways, and can be had for the ballpark of £1.5 million. Has this been sold? If not, why not. I would have thought all those warbird guys out there would be champing at the bit to get their hands on this place.

>> Sale Brochure Here <<

And for the boaties, the same region, a port built in 1792. It has a cleverly engineered design and was used for the export of local clay. These days it's a film set and a place to park your very own square rigged vessel.

>> Charlestown <<

>> Real Estate Listing <<

No idea what they'll take but my guess you'd be talking seriously starting at the same price as the airfield above.

Here is a pic, it comes with the lock, some buildings, beaches etc

Stuff That's Kind Of Cool

From the strange but true file, I found this Soviet era submarine on the internet. It sits on a river in England, may be for sale, can it actually submerge? Note the interior is nothing like the movie The Hunt For Red October.

>>Check The Foxtrot Sub Out<<

>>Daily Mail Story<<

YouTube...




Then how about owning your very own T-34 Tank from the Second World War. They're pulling them out of the mud these days, and they start right up with little fiddling around to get them to go. The one in the below video shows German markings, it was captured and used by the Germans, then when they retreated and having no spares for it, they drove it into the lake, to be pulled out much later in the year 2000...

To the American - My Answers

I have reproduced the American woman's rant below and now come to the conclusion that she isn't genuine. Either the post was from someone who visited Kiwiland and didn't like the experience or she's simply repeating things told to her by someone she knows.

I'll deal with her comments as close as I can to the order in which they arise...

American Living In NZ - She's Trapped

I found the below at this link. What do you think, is she to be believed?

First off, they're living in Christchurch, why can't her American civil engineer husband find a job in the earthquake ravaged city? It doesn't stack up. Same with her nursing qualifications which would be easily recognised. There is a ring of truth to some of it though, here it is...

“Hi there,

I have been following this thread for a few days whilst I was on Holiday at Lake Tekapo. I guess it is my turn to chime in.

More About What Is Going On

Standard & Poor's today announced the downgrading of the big four banks in NZ. Confirmation about what I said earlier then,  the banks are becoming overheated...

>>LINK<<