First Hands On The Oxygen Audio O-Car

Posted by admin in Mobile Audio Video on June 11, 2011

I was lucky enough to have a look at Oxygen Audio’s brand new concept, the O-Car, earlier this month at the M.E.N. Expo 2011. This is what I thought of possibly 2011′s product of the year.

To say I was looking forward to getting my hands on an O-Car was an understatement, I had actually contacted Oxygen directly months ago in the hope of securing a demo model. On first impressions the unit looks quite basic and unappealing unless you know what this product is all about. Once you dock your iPhone into the surprisingly sturdy docking system the whole things bursts into life.

The dock itself is nothing short of impressive. It comes with a special protective case for your iPhone which also helps you locate it when placing you phone into the dock. The dock comes out from the unit around 2 inches and allows you to swivel the iPhone in a 360 x 180 arc meaning that you can eliminate any glare or ensure that you can always see where your sat nav is taking you. Should you choose to, the dock will also go flat to the stereo allowing the iPhone to sit horizontally on the front of the unit creating the illusion that the iPhone is actually part of the stereo itself.

The O-Car’s greatest strength comes from its lack of features and controls. This may sound like I have lost my marbles but let me explain. Unlike conventional stereos where an iPhone connects via cable and you can select songs to play using the stereos controls, the O-Car does not have any controls. The only thing you can do is turn the volume up and down. The O-Cars features and controls are purely down to what apps you have installed onto your iPhone. If you have the TomTom or similar app then you have a fully built in Satnav, if you have a Pandora app then you have Internet Radio built into your car. Changing the features is as simple as visiting the Apple store and picking up the latest apps. Oxygen Audio have even released their own apps to allow you to control the basic radio and equalizer functions. Read the rest of this entry »

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The History of the Pontiac Lemans

Posted by admin in Classic Cars on June 10, 2011

The Pontiac LeMans is said to be the model name for an intermediate-sized car which was being created and manufactured by the Pontiac division of General Motors during 1962 until the early 80′s.

During this period the Pontiac LeMans was considered to be a top of the line version of their Pontiac Tempest because of its sleek and sporty design. The Pontiac LeMans continued to keep its quality as those found in the standard Tempest did as well. However, by 1982 the LeMans was replaced by the Pontiac Bonneville.

From 1988-1993 a new model was sold as a Daewoo LeMans which is from South Korea.

During the early sixties from 1961-1963, General Motors introduced a top of the line street rod model named the Tempest LeMans which was sportier and sleeker than the older Tempest which included bucket seats.

That same year its name was also used on a two door coupe. The following year they made additions to the coupe like manufacturing a convertible, a beautiful sedan and station wagon. As the years went by these cars were modified into a super duty car used for racing.

During the mid to the late 60′s, the street rod line was upgraded into a 215 CID six-cylinder engine as well as a redesigned 326 CID V8 and was distributed as a new performance package known as the GTO or a Gran Turismo.

The repackaging of the line helped improve sales of the Tempest and Lemans thus making the Pontiac one of the world’s leading car manufacturers. Indeed, revamping the old design with the use of a sleeker and more economical design while at the same time keeping the well-defined and well-recognized mark of the Tempest and Lemans helped the manufacturer keep their vision.

When the 70′s came along the Lemans and Tempest street rod designs provided a bigger engine which was normally seen as a GTO, bearing the same custom design of the two or four door pillared sedans, a four door hardtop sedan, a four door hardtop coupe and the usual convertible. Read the rest of this entry »

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