Quick Shifts

Each week I bring you the top stories in the auto industry along with my commentary or sometimes amusing thoughts about the craziness that goes on in the world of cars.

Stories you’ll find today:

• The Worst Wake-Up Call in Space History
• Snap-on Meets Ferris Bueller
• The Big Cat Safety Package
• This May Be the World's Most Expensive Bumper Decoration

The Worst Wake-Up Call in Space History. Long before Spotify playlists, NASA had its own way of waking astronauts, and in 1973 someone at Mission Control apparently decided the Skylab crew needed to start the day with "Paralyzed" by the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. If you've never heard it, imagine rockabilly being pushed down a flight of stairs while somebody plays a bugle. NASA's own wake-up-call chronology confirms the song was played for Skylab crews, including on Sept. 15 and Nov. 24, 1973. Astronaut Owen Garriott reportedly compared what he heard to Marine close-order drill, while historical accounts say the song irritated the crew enough that they pleaded with controllers to stop playing it. The man behind the recording was Norman Carl Odam, a wonderfully eccentric Texas performer whose 1968 song became a cult classic and was later covered and admired by some very famous musicians. The takeaway is simple: astronauts survived rockets, weightlessness and months confined inside Skylab, but apparently everybody has limits. Somewhere at NASA, somebody learned that just because Mission Control controls the radio doesn't mean it should.

Snap-on Meets Ferris Bueller. One of the more unusual pieces of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" memorabilia is looking for a new garage. A vintage Snap-on rolling toolbox used in the 1986 movie has surfaced for sale, instantly making it considerably more interesting than the average place to store your 10mm sockets. The red tool chest appeared in the garage belonging to Cameron Frye's father, home of the movie's unforgettable Ferrari 250 GT California. Of course, the "Ferrari" used for most filming wasn't actually a Ferrari but a Modena-built replica, because destroying a genuine 250 GT California would have turned a teenage comedy into a felony against humanity. Movie memorabilia from "Ferris Bueller" has commanded serious money over the years, including one screen-used Ferrari replica that sold for $396,000 in 2020 and the crash-scene prop that later brought $337,500. Now even the toolbox gets its moment. The takeaway is simple: nearly 40 years later, apparently anything that spent time in Cameron's garage has become collectible. Just don't use the toolbox to put the Ferrari on jack stands and run it backward. We already know how that turns out.

The Big Cat Safety Package. Researchers have discovered a surprisingly effective way to reduce deer-vehicle collisions: mountain lions. A new study published in Current Biology examined pumas and deer on Washington's Olympic Peninsula and found that deer changed their behavior dramatically when the big cats were around. Researchers using data from roughly 500 camera locations and GPS collars on about 60 pumas found deer spent more time away from roads and developed areas where pumas were present. The result was a 67% reduction in the likelihood of a deer-vehicle collision and an estimated 76% reduction in the total number of collisions over five years. Apparently deer that routinely wander into traffic without so much as looking up suddenly become remarkably safety-conscious when something nearby wants to eat them. The takeaway is simple: we've spent years developing deer whistles, warning signs, wildlife fencing and increasingly sophisticated collision-avoidance technology, while Mother Nature already had a system that works without radar, cameras or software updates. It has four paws, very large teeth, and apparently does an excellent job convincing deer that standing in the middle of the highway might not be their biggest problem.

This May Be the World's Most Expensive Bumper Decoration. A heavily modified Mansory Tesla Cybertruck was spotted cruising Dubai wearing something considerably more valuable than the truck itself: the famous "P7" license plate that sold at auction in 2023 for 55 million dirhams—about $15 million. The plate set a world record at the time, with proceeds from the charity auction going to the 1 Billion Meals Endowment campaign. Now it has appeared on a Cybertruck modified by Mansory, making the already outrageous truck look almost economical by comparison. Supercar Blondie estimates the plate is roughly 80 to 100 times more valuable than the vehicle wearing it, although Dubai plates generally belong to the owner rather than the vehicle, so P7 can move to another car whenever its owner chooses. The takeaway is simple: most of us worry about somebody dinging our car in a parking lot. With this thing, forget the Cybertruck—I'd be standing outside Kroger with a microfiber cloth guarding the license plate.