News stories tagged with "cars"

(05/25/12) Fans, friends and families have been coming to Plattsburgh's Airborne Park Speedway for stock car racing since 1955. Since those old days stockcar racing has become a national phenomenon, one of the nation's favorite spectator sports.

But on this popular regional track, the passion is more personal. The cars are mostly homemade and the drivers range from teens to retirees.

"Stock" doesn't really say it all about these cars, or the people who love them. Sarah Harris went to the track and sends this postcard. more

(11/15/11) The U.S. has worked to get lead out of gas and out of paint, but the biggest source of lead in a consumer product is still on roadways. It's in the form of wheel weights, used to balance the tires on our cars. The Environmental Protection Agency says about 1.6 million pounds of lead falls off of vehicles each year, and winds up in the environment. New York is among a handful of states that is leading the effort to ban lead wheel weights. Julie Grant reports. more

(05/25/10) We continue our new series -- the Adirondack Attic, with Andy Flynn. You may know Andy from his series of "Adirondack Attic" books on local history. He uses the objects people make, use and leave behind to tell stories about the life and times of the region. NCPR is collaborating with Andy and his sources at the Adirondack Museum and other historical associations and museums in the region to bring these stories to air.

(05/06/09) On Capitol Hill, there's growing momentum for legislation called "Cash for Clunkers." In fact, there are several bills circulating in Congress and the details are in flux. But the general idea is to use tax dollars to encourage people to trade their old gas guzzling clunker for a new fuel efficient car. The hope is to help the slumping auto industry and the environment at the same time. Tamara Keith gives the environmental claims a test drive.

(04/17/09) Chances are, you haven't bought a new car this year. Auto sales are down across the board, including in the small car and electric-gas hybrid markets. Now some dealers and automakers are proposing a way to move some of those more fuel efficient cars: increase the gas tax. Samara Freemark explains why the same people who sell cars might want to make driving them more expensive.

(07/25/08) The StoryCorps mobilebooth spent nearly a month here in the North Country this summer. During its time in Saranac Lake and Glens Falls dozens of people got to share their stories by interviewing each other. Nancy Currier and her husband David visited the booth in Glens Falls a couple of weeks ago to talk about the unusual way that they met.

(01/14/08) People have been talking about electric cars ever since cars first hit the road. But nobody's mass producing an electric car right now. General Motors says it's working on a gas-saving electric vehicle that could be ready in 2010. But some people aren't waiting around. Dustin Dwyer recently met someone who converted his pickup to run on batteries.

(01/03/08) General Motors killed their last electric car in the 1990s. Now the automaker is working on a new car that could go 40 miles on electricity alone. The car could be in showrooms in two to three years. Dustin Dwyer visited the shop where the new Chevy Volt is being designed.

(05/28/07) These days, hybrid gas-electric vehicles make up just a tiny fraction of total car and truck sales. But that's expected to change. With higher gas prices, demand for hybrids is going up. And car companies are stepping up their hybrid production. But there's a shortage of people who know how to fix hybrids. Rebecca Williams reports some mechanics are getting a crash course in hybrids.

(04/20/07) With growing consensus and concern about global climate change, there's more and more talk in Washington about new laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions. One major question right now is how the government will handle carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles. In federal court in Burlington, Vermont is defending its adoption of strict standards against a suit from a coalition of automakers and state car dealers. Any new regulation is expected to have some financial impact on automakers. And, as Dustin Dwyer reports, the carmakers are looking to share the burden.