In Part 1 of this series, I outlined the plan for my stereo upgrade and completely removed the stock Bose stereo. In Part 2 of this series, I installed new MB Quart component speakers and crossovers into the front doors. In Part 3, I replaced the factory 6×9 package shelf speakers with speakers also from MB Quart and installed two MB Quart amplifiers.

In this post, I will be selecting and installing a new head unit and I will be installing an iPod and iPod controller cable.

Blaupunkt Toronto 400 BT Head Unit

There isn’t anything really wrong with the stock (Gamma) head unit, but I wanted some of the features found on newer model radios. Specifically, I was looking for a head unit that featured Bluetooth capability, iPod control, and visual compatibility with the sober interior of the S4. The first two items are easy to find; many new head units feature iPod control with Bluetooth becoming more and more common, as well. However, most new head units also feature vibrant visual designs, which appeal to the younger demographic most interested in upgrading their car stereos (not middle-aged men and their old cars).

Since the factory radio is a Blaupunkt, I liked the idea of replacing it with a new model from the same manufacturer. I checked the Blaupunkt website and immediately found one that met my specifications – the Toronto 400 BT.

The Good:

• Bluetooth, AUX input (x 2), USB input, Tuner, and a CD player.
• iPod control
• Simple design and VarioColour display is complimentary to S4 interior
• Plugs directly into factory harness*
• Price ($189)

The Bad:

• No iPod control
• Minimilistic screen limits information

iPod Interface Cables

Say, what happened to the iPod control? The spec sheet for the Toronto 400 BT says iPod (features): via interface. Thanks to some cryptography training that I had in the Air Force, I was able to pick-apart Blaupunkt’s horribly written user manual, and it does appear that they claim that their interface cable will allow an iPod to be controlled via the head unit, though in only a very basic way, using the CD-changer controls. That was acceptable to me, so I tried to order an interface cable, but I couldn’t find one at an authorized US dealer. So, I bought one from Europe. It didn’t work.

So, I went back to a US distributor, Midwest Electronics (ME), and ordered their interface cable. It had a different part number, so I assumed that I had ordered the wrong cable for this particular head unit. Imagine my surprise when I opened the envelope from ME and found their cable was not a factory cable at all, but a hacked cable, which I call Frankencable™.

Now, why would an authorized dealer sell a hacked cable? I tried the cable and while it would play music from my iPod (sort of), I still couldn’t control the iPod from the head unit. I went back to the ME website and read the spec sheet for the cable. That’s when I noticed that it says all functions are controlled by the iPod. Okay, that was my fault for not reading the spec sheet before ordering the cable, but does it really take something as impressive as the Frankencable™ to simply power the iPod and play it through an aux input?

I went to the Internets to do some detective work and that’s when it sunk-in that despite their impressive OEM work, Blaupunkt is a very small player in the aftermarket car stereo world and it is difficult to find good user information, BTDT, and support. Still, just based upon what I see on the Blaupunkt website, particularly the iPod interface cable support page, it appears that Blaupunkt is not heavily invested in supporting iPod control. For starters, the iPod interface cable is not even currently listed in their online accessories catalog. Another clue is that their iPod to head unit compatibility list is dated November 2005! The few times I could find BTDT on the forums, the reports were generally negative, with most people having some kind of issue with the iPod control.

I finally called Midwest Electronics and to their credit, they said that they tell people that Blaupunkt does not support iPod control, period. They told me that some users get lucky using the Blaupunkt cables with certain head units, but it is not a dependable system and it is best to assume those features are simply not available. You know what that means…

I could have cut my losses right then and just sent back the head unit and cable, but the head unit looks so good in the S4, that I decided I could try to live without iPod control and just use the Frankencable™ to play the iPod through the aux input. I wouldn’t be able to hide the iPod away like I wanted, but it was better than what I had before. So, I pressed-on and continued installing the system.

Installation

Initial installation of the Toronto was straightforward. One of the reasons I chose Blaupunkt, was because they are the manufacturer of the OEM radio in the S4. This means the factory connector should plug straight into the back of the new head unit without an adapter harness. As you will soon see, I am a wiring neatnik and I liked the idea of having a direct connection. There is also a packaging issue, since the new head unit would also have two pair of RCA cables coming from the head unit, which have to fight for space behind the center console. So, the fewer wires the better.

In this photo, you can see the similarity. The major difference is that connector C (top connector) has been changed to three small, separate connectors (C1, C2, and C3), which fit into the larger connector on the head unit. Connectors A and B are exactly the same style.

This is a pinout diagram for the Toronto 400 BT. According to the excellent Audi radio pinout spreadsheet here, pins 4 and 7 are reversed. I also discovered that pin 2 needs to be disconnected. If pin 2 is connected, the radio will stay in a permanent mute mode, as if there were an incoming telephone call. Better do this in bold for the casual reader:

Top Tip! In order to plug the factory harness directly into the Blaupunkt aftermarket head unit, you will need to swap pins 4 and 7! You will also need to disconnect pin 2. Use this diagram:

Once I made those changes, the factory harness plugged right in and the radio started right up. Connector B is not used at all in my application. Connector C (harness side) is also not used. Instead, connector C1 is occupied by a 5-channel, pre-amp out (RCA) cable and the C3 connector will be occupied by one of the two aforementioned iPod cables.

A SERIOUS Bosectomy

-ectomy – A medical terminology suffix from the ancient Greek εκτέμειν (ektemnein), “‘to cut out.”

While I was installing the stereo, I found it easier to pull the entire center console in order to properly run the iPod cables to the armrest. I was also running a remote bass level control for a future installation of a subwoofer. While doing all of this, I started to be bothered by all of the vestigial wiring. The analog telephone can never be used again, the (aftermarket) CD changer would never be used again, and the line level wiring (Connector B) to the Bose speakers would never be used again. So, I removed it. All of it.

I cannot stress enough just how worthless the exercise was. I do NOT recommend that anyone else do this. It took many, many hours, necessitated the removal of much of the interior, you have to dig deep under the heavy carpet, and I was tattooed by the sticky, black wiring harness wrap. It was very frustrating. And for what? Just to satisfy my OCD? As I mentioned, there is some benefit to cleaning-up the wiring behind the center console, but it isn’t really necessary. Sure, I added some lightness, but not enough to make the effort worth it for anyone except crazy people, like me.

7.4 lbs. of wiring (including box). Not even enough to offset the weight of one of the amps, but man, it feels good. I might need medication.

Bring the Noise

Once everything was together, I discovered that there was a lot of system noise. I ground all components directly to the ground point at the battery’s ground strap, but the noise is persistent. I was also getting terrible noise and distortion, when using either of the iPod cables. I made this video to help Midwest Electronics help me with this problem:

The video is just a boring troubleshooting demo, but one interesting thing to note is that you can see one reason why I think the head unit is such a good fit for the S4 interior – the controls are backlit red and the screen can be made orange, which makes it the exact same color scheme as the climate control head unit. At night, the Toronto really looks like it could be a factory radio.

Anyway, after much troubleshooting, I determined that the problem was with the head unit itself, so I have sent back the radio and the adapter cable. Hopefully, Midwest Electronics will conclude the same thing and I will get a head unit that works properly.

I thought this might be the last chapter of the Bosectomy Chronicles, but it looks like there will be at least one more. In my next installment (LOL, again), I will showcase the final installation. It will either be anchored by a Toronto 400 BT…or it won’t. I can’t wait to find out.

jimmy

In Part 1 of this series, I outlined the plan for my stereo upgrade and completely removed the stock Bose stereo. In Part 2 of this series, I installed new MB Quart component speakers and crossovers into the front doors. In this post, I will be replacing the factory 6×9 package shelf speakers with speakers also from MB Quart. I will also be installing two MB Quart amplifiers.

Package Shelf Speakers

Like the tweeter installation from Part 2, this is easy. The Bose speakers located in the package shelf are very typical 6×9 speakers and can be replaced without much (if any) modification or fabrication at all. This is especially true if you plan to also replace the speaker grilles. However, I have decided that I wanted to do a stealth installation in the cabin, in order to maintain design congruity and for security. So, I wanted to use the Bose speaker grilles with my new MB Quart speakers.

First, I removed the speakers from the car. From inside the trunk, simply unplug the speaker wires going to the speakers and unscrew the three Philips screws holding each speaker in place. Then push the speakers out onto the package shelf and remove them from inside the car.

The speakers are sandwiched between a plastic mounting basket on the bottom and the plastic grille on top. In order to separate the two pieces, I drilled-out the plastic rivets.

I was a little careless drilling-out the plastic rivets (okay, they aren’t exactly rivets, but I don’t know what you call them), which left the mounting posts on the grille at various lengths. This would be mildly irritating later, so I would recommend drilling slowly and only just at the top of the rivet. That’s usually all it takes to break them free and then all of the mounting posts will remain at an approximately uniform size.

So, here is what we have in my office: Master Handbook of Acoustics (Second Edition) on the shelf, a B&W Matrix speaker, a new MB Quart speaker, and the old Bose speaker, which looks like it has a cone constructed of…butcher paper. Honestly, the tweeter looks like it is made of butcher paper, as well. Oh, dear.

Here is a good comparison photo. In this photo, you can also see the four 7 mm screws that secure the speaker to the mounting basket, which secures the speaker to the car. Notice that the mounting holes in the MB Quart are very similar. However, when I tried to install the new speaker into the mounting basket, the mounting holes were off just enough that I had to use a Dremmel tool to grind away enough material around the holes to allow room for a socket. Another solution would be to simply replace the hardware with Philips screws, or the like.

Notice that I used a cardboard shield in case the Dremmel jumped. I didn’t want to grind away anything important on the driver itself. Also, my diagram above isn’t exactly to scale; I didn’t have to grind away that much material. After I ground the clearance for a socket, the speakers fit into the baskets perfectly.

I secured the grille onto the mounting basket with a few screws inserted into the plastic “rivets” mounting posts. You can see a couple of unused posts peeking-out from under the mounting basket. The posts are fragile and break easily if you use a screw that is too big or if you over-tighten. This isn’t too important, since these screws only secure the grille. I used three on one speaker and four on another, but you could probably get away with two on each, unlike Audi/Bose, who used four screws to hold the speaker to the mounting basket, only three screws to hold the mounting basket and speaker to the car, but TWELVE plastic rivets to hold the grille down! They really, really, really did not want you to remove the grille and see their butcher paper speakers, which at least sound better than their invisible tweeters.

It’s difficult to see in the photo above, but the speaker connectors almost interfere with the mounting basket, so I will be using 90 degree connectors.

Reinstalling the speakers is as simple as dropping them into the package shelf and then screwing the mounting baskets down (three screws per side) from the trunk. Reconnect the speaker wires.

Finished!

Amplifier Installation

I’m not going to spend much time on this, because there are just too many individual choices and considerations when deciding on an amplifier setup. I’m also not going to explain how to plan, install, and wire an amplifier, since there are already so many resources available. I’m just going to explain a little about the factory setup and then discuss my design and installation choices.

The Bose amplifier is screwed to the underside of the package shelf. Remove the three connectors and the two screws to remove the unit. The unit itself contains two discrete amplifiers, one for each rear channel, which are identical to the individual amplifiers found in the front door modules.

I don’t know anything else about these amps, except that on ’91 Audi 200 turbo quattros, there were reports of these amps causing fires, some resulting in totaled cars. I have never heard this reported about a system in an S-Car, and according to this excellent page from Chris Miller’s archived site, Bose found the problem and changed one of their component vendors. No problems were reported after that.

Anyway, I will be replacing the Bose amplifiers with two new 2-channel amplifiers from MB Quart. Obviously, one will drive the door speakers and one will drive the package shelf speakers. Also, even though I decided on a stealth install in the interior of the car, I chose to display the amps in the trunk. They aren’t much to look at, just two black metal boxes, but I want to see them. It’s no different than looking under the hood of a car, I suppose. Also, the amp mounting board will serve as a cosmetic cover for the sub box that I will almost certainly install at a later date. Being open to the trunk will also help with heat dissipation.

This is the back of the unfinished board. It’s designed so that if I need to temporarily regain my trunk space, I can pull the board towards the back of the car, disconnect all of the wiring in one place, and pull the board out of the car.

This is the front of the board. The amps are designed so that all of the connections are beneath the outer cover, so there is no danger of FOD from loose material in the trunk.

In Part 4, I will discuss the new head unit and installation of an iPod and iPod control cable into the center console.

jimmy

In Part 1 of this series, I outlined the plan for my stereo upgrade, removed the door panels from the car, and removed the Bose speaker module, which was secured to the door with six Philip screws. I discarded the module, because I will be upgrading the woofer from 4″ to 5.25″ and I could not see how the module could be used to help secure the new woofer to the door. For some applications, it might be possible to reuse the Bose door module with a replacement driver. If chosen carefully, component speakers and a crossover could also be secured inside the door module. I had hopes for a truly stealth installation, but it was no use. The MB Quart crossover I am using is as big as a breadbox. I swear it looks like one of those Radio Shack science kits from the 70′s. More on this later.

On that note, the stereo components which I have chosen will dictate some of the design and installation parameters, in which I have to work. I will point these out whenever possible, but of course, your mileage may vary, according to the components which you select. If you read these articles before you buy, they might help you make a more informed choice. So, here is what he have so far:

Top Tip: For easier installation, select separate door speaker components that utilize a 4″ driver and a small crossover unit, so that the Bose door module can be reused.

However, for better sound quality, you will want to select a 5.25″ woofer. It will fit (with some work) and it will return a much better sound.

Tweeter Installation

Let’s start with something easy – tweeter installation. Take an X-Acto knife and cut away the soft plastic behind the built-in tweeter grille. Then fit the tweeter behind the grille and secure in place with a bracket. In non-Bose stereos of the era, there was an actual tweeter (Nokia!) mounted behind the grille, so there are factory mounting points.

Woofer Installation

Nothing too difficult here and not much that is UrS specific; these are just basic concepts. I started by making a cardboard template for the mounting board. This took awhile, because door panel isn’t perfectly square and I couldn’t figure-out how I was going to secure the mounting board. The secret was to square it up by using a spacer.

Once the spacer was in place, the mounting board would sit square and be closer to factory mounting locations that I could use to secure it.

I cut the mounting board with a jigsaw and mounted the woofer to the front with a supplied mounting frame and four screws. Try to use screws that barely extend past the mounting board. I had to cut-down one of the screws, because it interfered enough to keep the door panel from going back on the door.

I cut a piece of acoustic foam to fill the unused void around the woofer and behind the area where the tuned port used to be and then set the mounting board in place, on top of the foam. To secure the board in place, I used three different methods, two of which you can see in the photo above. On the left, that piece is directly above the spacer and the top fits within a groove that is already in the door for a very secure fit.

This simple metal bracket holds the bottom of the mounting board.

This is what it looks like from the front. I used an X-Acto knife to trim the opening so there isn’t any material blocking the speaker. I didn’t discover until later that the light-colored foam could be seen through the grille, so I put a piece of black foam over most of it and then went after the rest with a Sharpie.

Crossover Installation

The crossover was challenging. I had a couple of design hurdles and considerations. First, the crossovers are huge. I have no idea why, in this day and age, a crossover can’t be the size of a matchbox, especially in an automotive application. The second consideration is that the crossovers are adjustable. So, I needed to figure-out how I could make adjustments while listening to music, without having to remove both door panels. One option is to simply mount the crossovers inside the cabin of the car. The glove box might work, or maybe the trunk (where the amps will be going), but both of these options have other problems, including the amount of wiring that needs to be done.

My solution came to me after Cat-Cat found a good mounting location. I found a place with some factory mounting points nearby and where the crossover would not interfere with the window regulator.

Top Tip: Use the Bose door module as a template to see where there are cutouts for the window regulator. Avoid those locations for your components. This will help reduce the number of test fits you will need to make.

I noticed that the mounting location was mostly located behind the door panel’s storage bin. At that point, I thought it would be acceptable to me to cut an access hole for the crossover adjustment knob, through the door panel, but mostly hidden by the storage bin. Since, I would be cutting a hole in the door panel and through the factory vinyl insert, I knew that this design decision would also mean some project creep. If I were going to cut holes in the vinyl fabric, I might as well concurrently replace the vinyl with Alcantera. See? This is one of the reasons it takes me years to get anything done.

The first step was to mount the crossover and then test fit the door back into the car. Good thing I tested it, because I had to move the crossover down to clear the inner door frame. I had to cut off one of the factory mounting points to get it to fit. That was just as well, since the new location put the visible control even lower into the door bin. Once the crossover was mounted, I measured twice, removed the crossover, and cut the hole for the adjustment control. I could have made the hole smaller, so that it perfectly matched the diameter of the control, but then I would have had to find or fabricate a finishing bezel. Instead, I decided to use one of the unused tweeter mounting rings. This made the hole bigger, but I thought it would give the install a more professional look.

This is the proof of concept. I figured if I didn’t like it, I could just seal the hole back up and the door fabric would cover up my experiment. I decided to move forward, which meant first replacing the factory vinyl door liner with Alcantera.

Bonus Door Liner Replacement FAQ!

This will be brief, because I don’t actually know what I am doing. I pulled off the original vinyl material (which was already coming off anyway), and discovered that Audi had chosen to affix the material to the door using…bee pollen. Why? I don’t know. Maybe because they knew that honey bees would soon be as extinct as unicorns and that their pollen would be as rare as the unicorn tears and dinosaur egg shells used in other parts of these cars. Thanks, Audi. Anyway, this bee pollen is nasty stuff. It’s sticky and it just disintegrates when you touch it. Even with judicious use of Goo-Gone (you guys know how much I love Goo-Gone) and a gasket scraper, I never could get rid of all of this stuff.

I keep saying Alcantera, but that’s a brand name. I really just went and bought some fake black suede from Hancock Fabrics. Then I found a roll of foam sheet from Michael’s hobby shop. I used the original vinyl as a template and cut the foam and pseudo-suede. Then I glued those two pieces together. I used a Krylon adhesive, based on a recommendation I got at Michael’s, but I already see where I have to go back and re-adhere some material, so I will be using some 3M 90 Heavy Duty Spray Adhesive.

Once I had the fabric sandwich together, I glued down the big, flat area first and then worked out to the edges, which I tucked into grooves at the edge of the panel. The foam was so thick that I kept having to trim it down so that the cloth and foam combo would fit into the groove. This was very aggravating, because if you trim too much, then the material won’t fold into the groove at all anymore and you either have to live with it, or start over. It might be easier if you don’t use the foam, but I didn’t think the fake suede material was thick enough to use on the door by itself. By gluing it to the foam, you also eliminate any wrinkling of the fabric.

Then I used magazines to press the fabric to the door, while the adhesive dried. It turned-out okay, but it is very difficult to reach the part at the bottom of the door, because of the storage bin. Luckily, you can’t see down in there very well.

This is the door, when it is almost finished. You can see the crossover control peeking-out from behind the storage cubby. You can also see that I hadn’t yet hit the acoustic foam with a Sharpie.

Here is a close-up of the crossover control after I have pressed-in the tweeter surround bezel. You can see some Dremmel marks, so I will probably hit it with some Plasti-Kote. The control dial looks off-center, but it’s not.

Finishing Up

All that’s left is to wire it together and reinstall the door. Nothing much to say here. You should probably know how to wire a stereo, if you are undertaking this project yourself. Besides, the instructions that come with your components will explain what you need to do. Because of the way I am going to wire the system, I will not be using any (or much) of the factory wiring. I have left it in place for now, but I made tidy little custom harnesses for the speakers and crossover.

Using heat-shrink tubing or other wiring wrap will help the wire fit securely into the factory clips, which you can see in the photo above. The clips are nice and can moved to various helpful locations on the back of the door.

This is the back of the door, which shows everything. Note the location of the crossover, which will not interfere with the door.

And this is the finished door.

I am very pleased with the results. The fabric refinishing isn’t perfect, but I can go back and either fix it or try again. It will be easier the second time around (or fifth time around, since I now have to do my other three doors). I like the crossover control, too. If I wanted to hide it further, I can click the unused tweeter grille into the bezel, though people might wonder why I have a tweeter inside a storage cubby.

In Part 3, I will discuss installing the rear speakers, amps, and more wiring.

jimmy

Part 1: Project Overview

Since my door panel is off the car until I fix the window regulator, I thought it would be a good time to begin Nessie’s Bosectomy by installing new component door speakers. So, what is a Bosectomy? My car, like all UrS cars, came standard with a Bose stereo system. A Bosectomy is the total removal of that system.

You might ask why in the world I would do that – Bose makes a great stereo! Actually, I will let you in on a little secret – no they don’t. I won’t belabor this point, but there is strong evidence to suggest otherwise. Other people have already done a fine job of articulating this point of view (here is one of the better pieces), so let’s just move on. Label me a hater, if you must.

There are several things going on here, so let me explain. First, there is my own history. When I was in high school, peer pressure (thy name is Charles Braden) unlocked my inner audiophile. This coincided with the very early days of good, aftermarket car stereo systems, so we spent a lot of time installing car stereos. My first (and only) new car, a 1985 VW GTI, had the full kit: Boston Acoustics component speakers up front, a bunch of subs out back, multiple amps and even a very rare, separate dbx noise reduction decoder so that my mix tapes would sound good.

That was the last of my good car stereos, mostly because I soon entered a long period of my life where my only mode of transportation was a motorcycle. Years later, when I finally bought a car again, I couldn’t afford to update the stereo. Years after that, when I could afford a stereo, I didn’t want to because I was only interested in spending money on performance upgrades. When I finally reached the point when I could afford a track car and a street car, too much time had passed, I had turned old, and I just couldn’t be bothered to mess about with the Bose stereo that was in my Audi A6. It sounds fine, I kept telling myself. Don’t mess with it.

Now that I have another Audi with a Bose stereo, what has happened to make me want to rip it out? Two things. The first is my job. Though this is only a small part of my duties, technically, I am now a professional live sound engineer (or technician, if you prefer). So, my ear is coming back and I’m starting to care about how things sound again. The same cannot be said of Bose. The other thing is the iPod (it’s not lost on me that these two things aren’t really complimentary – just work with me). I’m completely sold out to it and I use it to play all of my music, except when I am in the car. I need to have an iPod compatible stereo in my car and that is what brings me back to my Bose system.

Besides the poor audio quality, the biggest problem with a Bose car stereo is that it is a closed system. In other words, I can’t just replace the head unit with a model that is iPod compatible. The head unit, amps and speakers are all designed to work with one another, and Bose uses a unique impedance that prevents individual components from being swapped-out without unacceptable issues. Bose doesn’t play well with others, so either the whole system stays, or it all goes.

Bose Blose™, so it goes.

The plan:

• Completely remove all components of current Bose system.
• Replace door speakers with a component speaker system, utilizing separate drivers and a crossover.
• Replace package shelf speakers with higher quality units.
• Replace factory Bose amplifier with a higher quality unit.
• Replace stereo head unit with a higher quality unit that utilizes iPod/iPhone control, including Bluetooth.
• Hardwire iPod into arm rest.
• Maintain factory look (“stealth” installation).

A subwoofer enclosure would be nice, but I don’t know if the momentum on this installation will take me that far.

So, let’s get cracking. I’m going to start with the doors. I removed the door panel like this:

Hello, what’s this? I discovered a little secret about these cars.

Audi engineers designed this lovely speaker grille, formed nicely to the contour of the door panel and almost certainly in anticipation of the best Bose had to offer for Audi’s most expensive car. What kind of tweeter did Bose see fit for a $50,000 car?

None!

That’s right, the Bose system is two 6″ x 9″ speakers on the package shelf and two 4″ full-range speakers in the door. These aren’t headphones, people!

To give some credit where it is due, I must say that the Bose door speaker module is very nice. It is a self-contained enclosure which holds the speaker, an amplifier, and a tuned port. It is shaped to fit around the window regulator. It is very good packaging.

I pulled the unit apart and took the harness. I will try to use factory wiring and connectors, where possible. In my next installment (LOL), I will show how I fit the speakers and crossovers to the doors.

Note: I wrote this post on April 12, 2008 and it has been sitting in my draft folder ever since! I don’t even have that job anymore! The car went into the hanger for mechanical repairs and it didn’t come out for months, so the Bosectomy project stalled. Let’s see if I can finish this project, before the two year anniversary. Let’s see if I can finish ANY project in less than two years.

jimmy

Since I was five years old, one of the greatest pleasures of my life has been to sit at the kitchen table almost every night before bed and have a bowl of cereal while reading. Because of the short time it takes to eat, some awkward dexterity requirements, and collateral damage from milk droplets, I found that it was not conducive to reading books in this manner (though I have certainly done so). I found that suitable reading material was similar in requirement to that perused while meeting another of our natural appointments. The “easily digestible” metaphor seems to lend itself almost too easily to resist, so there it is. Therefore, for the first ten years of this cereal-time experience, my reading material was exclusively the back of the cereal box itself and Marvel comic books.

However, at some point while I was an early teenager, probably through the influence of James Bond movies, I began to become interested in cars. So, my cereal-time reading material changed to car magazines and has largely remained so ever since. Simple arithmetic will show that I cannot possibly afford to keep a new car magazine propped-up in front of me every single night, even if there were that many available each month. This means that I read and re-read lots and lots of back-issues. Out of this familiarity with my back catalog has emerged a favorite issue. The November 1987 issue of Car and Driver magazine stands out as having featured an uncanny number of my all-time favorite cars all in a single regular issue.

I purchased this issue at the Sembach, AFB BX in West Germany, where I was stationed at the time. Despite the “Special Import Issue” title, it is a 160-page regular monthly issue, not a true special issue, like the “Road & Track Exotic Cars” series published around the same time.

Almost every page is special to me, causing sparks from cool car content and twinges of ordinary 80′s nostalgia. There, I haven’t even reached the contents page and I have come across a Pirelli ad featuring an UrM5, one of my all-time favorite cars. The Letters page features an almost full-page letter (all three columns) from a gentleman protesting a feature on Bernd Rosemeyer. The letter was written on behalf of Herr Rosemeyer’s widow and contains very interesting information about the famous Auto Union driver.

“The world has become a better place, thanks to the likes of the Audi Quattro Sport, the Ferrari GTO and F40, and the Porsche 959.”

The FYI section has some nice spy shots of the “King of the Hill” Corvette (the rare, Lotus-tuned ZR-1) and the restyled Lotus Esprit, another of my all-time favorites. “No word on whether the revised car can be driven underwater,” says C&D. There is also a preview of the Alfa Romeo 164, a car that I have always found handsome. The most interesting item to me though, is an article about Dr. Ferdinand Piëch planning to build an Audi hypercar. “The plan is to build a four-door sports-luxury automobile that will be to normal sedans as the Porsche 959 is to everyday sports cars. It will probably be powered by a twin-turbo version of the 32-valve, 3.6 liter V-8 that Audi is planning for it’s all-new 300 model, due in 1989.”

The first feature is a full five-page preview of the Ferrari F40. Despite only being a preview, the article is as detailed as a road test and features beautiful and detailed full-color photography of the supercar. “Wrap your reverie in artistic coachwork. Paint it red and let it blur.” Indeed. This feature alone is worth the magazine’s price of admission. But there is more to come. Oh so much more.

Next up we have a full road test of the E30 M3, another of my all-time favorite cars. All the full-page color money went to the F40, so with two exceptions, the M3 review suffers from bland b&w photography. Otherwise the review is well done and the editors fall all over themselves in praise of this car. “The M3 leaps through the corners like a cat, its feisty engine spinning and spitting until you snatch another gear or the rev limiter grabs it by the tail.” 80′s values are really apparent here as much of the article is devoted to exorcising the “yuppie” attachment to this BMW in particular. And, as with most other reviews in the magazine, a column-inch is devoted to the drag coefficient of the vehicle: 0.33 Cd, which as we find out later, is unimpressive by Audi and Honda standards.

The next article is a full review of the Toyota Celica All-Trac Turbo. While I can’t say that this is one of my favorite cars, I will say that this is a car that has always interested me. And why not? It is a 190 hp, turbocharged, four-wheel drive coupe. It’s also a Toyota. Could this be the answer to many of our dreams? Could this be…a dependable UrQuattro? C&D thinks so, calling it “a better Audi Turbo Quattro for fewer bucks.” Ouch. Still, my interest in this car, bolstered by this good review was enough for me to shop around for one once. Unfortunately, I found out that they (like older Audis) are rare in my area and they had held their value more than I had hoped (or could afford at the time). These days, I think they would make the good basis for an inexpensive AWD rallycross car.

Next we have the first real miss of the issue. A review of the Mitsubishi Galant Σ (Sigma). First of all, any car name that has me having to go to my character map utility in order to properly type the name, can’t possible reflect a well thought-out car. Is that a ONE-spoke steering wheel? The review claims that this is a decent car, but it suffers from the same cockpit techno-excess as the Isuzu Impulse and 300ZX Turbo Anniversary Edition. This is painful 80′s nostalgia.

Still less than halfway through the issue, we have a two-page “Driving Impression” review of the new Audi 80/90. “Although the Sahara is hardly an ideal environment for assessing a car’s capabilities, we did manage to learn a few things about the new Audis. They can run at redline all day long in temperatures of up to 127 degrees Fahrenheit without overheating.” Drag coefficient: 0.29 Cd for the 80, 0.30 Cd for the 90.

This is followed by a three-page, full-color “Driving Impression” review of the Honda CRX Si. Great car. Drag coefficient: 0.29 Cd for the HF, 0.30 Cd for the Si.

Only just now wading through the middle of the magazine and we have another two-page “Driving Impression” review, this time of the BMW 750iL. “Under its hood, however, lies a magnificent 5.0 liter V-12 – the first twelve-cylinder engine in a German production car since the demise of the Maybach Zeppelin in 1939.” This review is followed by three single-page impressions for the Mazda 929, the Toyota Corolla, and the beautiful, if unexciting, Mercedes-Benz 300CE.

The issue contains a “Charting the Changes” section, where all current import vehicles are listed with the changes for the model year. What is most noteworthy are all of the companies no longer importing to the US (or no longer in existence): Panther, Sterling, TVR, Citroen, Peugeot, Renault, Bitter, Merkur, Alfa Romeo, Bertone…and Yugo, among others.

Next is a feature article about vintage California Cadillacs…like I ever read this article knowing what follows.

How can they have held off until page 116? The sunglasses and sheepskin seat cover ads are just a few pages away. Can the full road test of the Porsche 959 really be buried behind a prancing horse and other such distractions (fine distractions, though they were)? Apparently so. But the shock of its position within the magazine is soon replaced by the shock of how much content is really in this magazine. It is the gift that keeps on giving.

“With rocket-sled acceleration and the highest top end we’ve ever measured, the 959 stands alone at the pinnacle of production-car performance.”

“If that sounds like hyperbole, how does a 0-to-60-mph time of 3.6 seconds strike you? The drill was to switch the 959′s programmable four-wheel-drive system into its locked setting, engage low gear, wind the engine to 7000 rpm, and drop the clutch. The result was a cloud of rubber dust from the four spinning Bridgestone RE71 gumballs, and a car that disappeared as if shot from a cannon.”

Whew. This is good 80′s nostalgia. Decades later and the 959 could still hold its own against the modern supercar. Having a full road test of probably my favorite car ever at a time when otherwise finding this information meant a trip to the library microfiche reader is truly priceless.

Let’s see here, a couple of short takes to finish things off. Here is one of the Shelby CSX and as a bonus, the Volkswagen Jetta GLI 16V. Less than two years after I bought this magazine, I would own the smaller version of that car – the Golf GTI 16V. Okay, here we go into the ad zone. C&D paraphernalia, radar detectors, an ad starring a girl in leg-warmers, the dubiously-named “Muf-Loc” (which is a locking cover for your tailpipe that supposedly keeps thieves from starting your car), an ad for Shokan that looks like it was made with an early dot-matrix printer, sunglasses, seat covers and…oh…my…God.

No way. No WAY! Just when I am tiring of the ads, just when I’m deciding not to turn to Patrick Bedard’s commentary on the last page, just when I’m about to lock this issue into a safety deposit box…I come across the “Sport” section. There, beginning with a stunning full-color photo, is a seven page article about Walter Röhrl’s record setting run to the top of Pikes Peak in the Audi S1!

The article was even written by Larry Griffin, who wrote one of the greatest articles I have ever read about the Audi quattro rally car. His writing for this article was almost equally as clever, “When they pounce up the heights, they annihilate the quiet. The fastest Open Rally cars are demonically, hideously fast. More than ever you regard performance as a relative thing. If Einstein could see Vatanen and Röhrl apply the sciences of turbocharging and aerodynamics and four-wheel drive, he would clap like a kid and rewrite his theory of relativity to allow for such pluperfect aberrations.”

Griffin’s interview with Röhrl also turns up some items of interest for the technoweenies, “Last year, Unser demonstrated the thrilling effect of a toggle switch on the dash. Audi remains reluctant to discuss the particulars, but Walter confirms that, as rumored, the switch kicks in a jet of compressed air that keeps the turbo singing even when the throttle is closed.” Walter goes on to amputate Bobby Unser’s previous record (also set in an S1) by eight seconds.

By the end of the article, I’m spent. This issue of Car and Driver is for sale for one meellion dollars (or you can probably find it sans milk spots on eBay for $5). It comes with my highest recommendation and with the hope that Car and Driver can rebuild itself and reclaim its former glory.

jimmy

How to Survive Friday the 13th (1981)

Highway 71 (2008)

Ring of Rocks (2009)

Janet Leigh, Drew Barrymore, Max Von Sydow, and Kevin Bacon (I have a Bacon Number of 2!) all got killed in horror movies and they never got typecast (well, except Janet Leigh a little). They had successful careers, so I shouldn’t worry. Still, maybe I should take matters into my own hands and make one feature-length horror film. I’ll make it really good so that I won’t complain about it being cheap and derivative, and this time, I’ll live.

jimmy

Happy Halloween! As a way of celebrating (lame excuse), I have decided to review one of my favorite breakfast cereals from my childhood – Franken Berry. I say from my childhood because like many middle-aged people, I have long graduated from colorful, sugary kid cereals to sober, unsweetened mixtures of granola, whole grains, and tree bark. I had a brief dalliance with sweet cereals not specifically marketed to kids (Honey Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Frosted Mini-Wheats come to mind), but I knew I wasn’t fooling anyone and so continued my grim march into hostile fields of fiber until I now find myself at the end of the line, eating a cereal that could only be for medicinal purposes – Grape Nuts. Next stop Colon Blow.

But, we of Generation X were born into a better time – the golden age of kid cereals. Kid cereals owned the cereal aisle. There were seemingly hundreds of cereals for kids and only Corn Flakes or Cheerios for the grown-ups. That’s it. It was also an honest time when the cereal manufacturers could just describe their product as it really was – brightly colored, 100% pure crack cocaine sugar. And when Sugar Bear couldn’t push enough of his Sugar Crisp cereal, he changed the name to Super Sugar Crisp. General Mills’ Monster Cereal commercials had Franken Berry (Franken Berry’s monster?) and Count Chocula arguing over who had the “world’s super sugar cereal.” We went wild! And by wild, I mean we got ADHD.

Now Super Sugar Crisp has become Super Golden Crisp, Sugar Corn Pops has become just Corn Pops, the Franken Berry box is covered with nutritional information (more on this later), and kid cereals fight for shelf space against a staggering variety of organic, sugar-free, gluten-free, heart-healthy, go-lean cereals. Of course, the ubiquitous prize in every box has all but disappeared.

Speaking of disappearing, Franken Berry is so rare that it is often thought to be discontinued, but it is still available in a few limited markets, directly from General Mills and of course, from Amazon. Wal-Mart and Target carry Franken Berry during the Halloween season and that was how I stumbled upon a box recently and decided to revisit my old friend.

The Box

The box has gone through some changes, since the cereal’s introduction in 1971. The changes have been mostly subtle with the front of the box usually featuring the goofy-looking Franken Berry’s monster eating or preparing to eat some cereal. However, in the mid-90′s, the monster got a terrible makeover. His skin was no longer pink, his metal eye sockets became flesh colored, and the box showed him levitating the cereal’s marshmallows using electricity or magic. The monster lost his goofy charm and instead, looked like he was high on his own supply.

The current box is better and goes back to a more lovable, cartoonish character, although the predominant color of the box is purple and there is no picture of the cereal. If you didn’t know any better, you might think you are going to get blackberry cereal.

The Cereal

The cereal itself has undergone some changes over the years, too. The cereal is a strawberry flavor, frosted grain cereal with strawberry flavor marshmallows. Originally, the cereal had a generic wagon wheel shape (shared with other cereals), the marshmallow bits were really tiny, and everything was strawberry pink. Early on, there was an emergency reformulation using a different red dye, after it was discovered that the original dye did not break-down in the body and resulted in what medical literature refers to as “Franken Berry Stool.” Use your imagination. This was so horrible and startling to parents that it ended-up in one of Stephen King’s books.

In the 80′s, the cereal became ghost shaped and thankfully, the marshmallows got bigger, but they did not get their own scary shape. In the 90′s, the marshmallows finally got scary shapes (ghosts, bats, etc.), but they also got new colors. New colors?

Part of the excellence of this cereal was its pure visual commitment to its strawberry flavor. The cereal was strawberry pink, the marshmallows were strawberry pink, and when you were done, the milk was strawberry pink. Now there are colored marshmallows, which is just lazy and derivative of Lucky Charms, even if the taste has been unaffected.

Nutrition

Wait, why would I even bother to talk about nutrition in this review? For starters, part of this review is comparing and contrasting what I used to eat, with what I currently eat. Secondly, it’s hard to avoid, since the box is covered with nutritional information. So, I did a quick comparison chart and…hello…what’s this?

Okay, I’m not a nutritionist, so I will let those facts stand on their own. However, there is a fact that the numbers don’t show. I can eat a bowl of Grape-Nuts and feel full. But Franken Berry is very light (it’s a puffed grain cereal), so I kept reaching for the box again and again in order to eat enough to feel full. That Franken Berry serving size isn’t likely to be realistic for me. Your mileage may vary.

The Experience

I have already mentioned some of my initial impressions – I don’t remember the cereal being such a vibrant, deep red color and of course, I was disappointment with the colored marshmallows. I conducted a separate, blind taste test and determined that marshmallows of different colors still tasted the same. The consistency of the marshmallows was firm, rather like that of tiny, foam packing peanuts, instead of the soft, spongy texture of full-sized marshmallows. In my experience, this is the case with all marshmallows found in breakfast cereals and I do not fault this standard.

As I mentioned before, mouth-feel is light, but this is definitely a cereal that will tear-up your palate. Another surprise was that the sweetness of the cereal did not shock me. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to even get through a single bowl. Not only do I not have quite the sweet tooth that many people have, but I actually went on a sugar fast earlier this year. For whatever reason, the sweetness wasn’t a problem and I have…er, gone through three boxes of Franken Berry while doing research for this review. (God, I hope Dee isn’t reading this.)

As for the taste, there is no complexity whatsoever. It is pure, artificial Strawberry flavor all the way through and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. A sick part of me wonders if I could construct a grown-up version of Franken Berry using one of those healthy cereals coupled with fresh strawberries and homemade marshmallows, but what would be the point? I complained earlier that there were no more prizes at the bottom of the box, but if you eat Franken Berry, there is a prize in the bottom of the bowl. Would an organic version of Franken Berry have such a prize? Could you look down after having eaten your fill and see that there was still half a bowl of rich, pink, strawberry milk left to drink? To me, even this prize alone was worth waiting for. See you next year, Franken Berry.

jimmy

We have all been there. We want need a computer, gadget, phone, camera, car, or girlfriend that is/has/does “this, this, this, and that”, but we won’t can’t wait and we just jump-in, even though the option available to us might only offer “this, this, and that” (and maybe even the that isn’t so great). It might not be what we want, but it’s close. This is what has been happening with me, as I have searched for a video camera to shoot in-car footage of our 24 Hours of LeMons endurance races.

Sure, I could buy from ChaseCam and call it a day, but their basic kit is almost $1000 and isn’t HD. This camera is for LeMons, not LeMans. I have bought a bullet camera coupled with a cheap portable video recorder, but the quality, usability, and durability of the recorder was poor. Then I tried a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8. The video quality was good (still not HD), but like many other digital cameras that also shoot video – it has a 2 GB file size limitation. In the case of the Lumix, that equates to about 20 minutes of footage. Perfect for a session at an HPDE or similar track event, but useless for seven or eight hours of continuous racing.

Luckily, thanks to YouTube and well, people like me, who like to upload racing videos, there has been an explosion of small, inexpensive video cameras from companies like Flip and GoPro. I have been watching carefully, trying to figure-out when to jump-in, when from out of nowhere, the perfect camera comes along from…Kodak. Kodak? I thought I would be buying a camera from a hip, edgy company from a tattooed kid skating up to me with a POV camera strapped to his helmet. Instead, I bought a camera from a guy with a top hat and monocle. Did he deliver?

The Camera

The Zi8 is about the size of an iPhone, but a bit thicker. The front has the fixed lens and a large plastic cover, behind which is the rechargeable Li-ion battery. The back of the camera has a 2.5″ color LCD screen, four buttons, and a joystick, which is also a fifth button. There is also a tiny speaker for playback. Around the edges of the camera are various ports and jacks, a macro switch, a standard camera mount, access to the SD card, and a built-in, flip-out USB dongle. The camera is intended to be held upright during filming, more like a cellphone, rather than a traditional camera.

Really? Everyone doesn't own a laptop, you know.

My overall impression is that it is a nice little design, but it is all plastic and it looks like it will break the first time it’s dropped. The flip-out USB dongle is also something that concerns me. I understand its inclusion, but it seems awkward in some situations and also seems like it might break over time. The benefits of the all plastic construction are that it is very light (about 4 oz.) and the camera is inexpensive.

The Specs

This camera meets every specification that I had for an in-car camera:

The camera also comes with an HDMI port and cable(!), so you can just plug into an HDTV and start watching your videos. This wasn’t a consideration for me, but it is a very nice feature at this price point.

Use and Performance

The camera cannot be easier to use, which is perfect for a driver or crew member wearing gloves. The camera boots very quickly and displays the resolution options on-screen for a couple of seconds (defaulting to the last resolution selected). The user can quickly change the resolution using the joystick, or he can ignore the prompt. Then he can press the red button to begin recording. That’s it.

Still, there was no time for a test video before installing this into our Miata for the 2009 Yee-Haw It’s LeMons Texas endurance race in October 2009. We hardwired the camera into the car and mounted it to an I/O Port camera mount, attached to the dash bar of the car. Again, I don’t like that the camera’s mount receiver is plastic, but since the camera is so light, I suppose there isn’t much force being applied to it.

Kodak Zi8 mounted in the Miata

We used a 32GB card, set the resolution to 720p/30fps and recorded the whole 13 hour race! Well, we would have recorded the whole race, but we left the camera unplugged on Sunday morning, so it ran on battery power until it died. When we noticed it wasn’t on, we plugged it back in and it started recording again. I have uploaded a sample video to Vimeo. This is a little over one lap of MSR Houston during the LeMons race. The raw .mov file was converted to .avi, which I then imported into Windows Movie Maker and exported as a Windows Media HD 720p file. There has probably been some video quality degradation, but since this is typical of how most of my videos will be uploaded, I thought this would be a more realistic example than providing raw, unedited, and uncompressed footage.

I will say that we watched the raw (.mov) files on a friend’s 16:9 TV and the quality was amazing.

Conclusion

This video camera met my specifications, exceeded my expectations, and performed admirably under racing conditions. And it did so for an unbelievably low price. I can highly recommend this camera for in-car videos.

Highs: HD video, SD memory, AC power, external mic input, image stabilization, good user interface, price
Lows: all-plastic construction, USB dongle, Quicktime file format difficult for PC users to edit

jimmy

Note: Like all Amazon.com links on this site, purchasing products through these links helps support this site. I was not provided a test camera to review.

Here is an announcement I made, using footage I shot on the trip with the new D90. We will be running this for the next few weeks, during the weekend services:

jimmy

Before I left for Africa, I asked Greg Vestri about how sensitive he thought people were about having their picture taken. He said that it was not much different than most places, just use common sense, and go ahead and ask the subject for their permission first, if possible. Then he mentioned that recently, there has been criticism leveled at photojournalism that focused on poverty. The claim is that a typical photograph of a hungry African child is decontextualized, sentimental, and exploitative.

Honestly, I can see the critics’ point. It’s easy to justify these photographs as a vehicle for spreading a worthwhile message that will inspire people to act in response. The message is probably well-meaning and truthful. Help this hungry child. But as a photographer, I will be the first to tell you that a photograph isn’t truthful at all, even if it is taken honestly, without (obvious) manipulation or modification. Part of it is truthful, but the context will (and should) always be in question.

This is a photo I took at a school near Jinja. I think this is a fair representation of the kind of picture you might see in a save the children campaign, designed to have people running for their checkbooks. This photo was not manipulated in any way, either at the time I took the shot, or in post production. I saw the child sitting outside a classroom and I walked over and took several pictures. In that sense (and in the sense that this child does, in fact, need help), the photo is honest.

What isn’t honest, or at least what is obscured, is the context. What we all forget is that a photographer is usually part of the context. In this case, I walked over to the child and he was looking right at me. What might be perceived as sadness or worry in his expression, might simply be curiosity at seeing a mzungu. The truth is – the child had that expression on his face, because…

…I hadn’t made him smile yet.

As a student of journalism and a photographer (and now, as someone who takes photographs of poor African children), I am very interested in this debate. If you have any thoughts about the subject, let me know in the Comments section. However, I would like to make a more important point – if these photographs or blog entries about Africa (or anything else) inspire you, then I would urge you to seek the truth for yourself and go see things with your own eyes. I can tell you that even with a lifetime of preparation, nothing was quite like I expected. No photograph, no book, no story could have prepared me for the things that took my breath away. They only inspired me. I didn’t see the truth, until I went to see for myself.

Full size versions of these photos are in the gallery.

jimmy