Crypto News: Hit the open road

Hi! It's me again, Hannah Elliott, your trusty staff writer covering luxury cars and motorcycles here at Bloomberg.

As you might imagine, I have one of the more fun jobs among my news colleagues: Where other reporters and analysts at Bloomberg help you figure out how to make money, I help you figure out how to use it in fun ways.

Which brings me to my favorite work-related mantra: Cars are supposed to be fun. This isn't brain surgery, folks. It's speed. Style. Success. Sex. Self-determination. All which are on full display during summer months.

I have especially loved celebrating this beautiful kind of joy with our new series, How'd You Get That Car? The aim here is simple: Photograph people with interesting or unexpected cars, near their homes, and then find out how they got their special ride in the first place.

Adri Law tells the story of how she landed her unusual, champagne-colored 1965 Ford Ranchero pickup. Photographer: Stephanie Noritz/Bloomberg

There's Adri Law, the type of LA woman who exudes West Coast cool. She's a professional photographer and accomplished motorcyclist with a penchant for repairing and riding the vintage bikes not just anyone can handle. She bought her champagne-colored 1965 Ford Ranchero from a former flight attendant after she ending things with a boyfriend.

"I previously had a 1964 Falcon that I had worked on a bit," Law says. "It was a great first starter car, but after [the breakup] I felt like I was ready to let it go to, to move on. I wanted something that felt a little more me."

Then there's Caroline Cassini, a pre-war auto enthusiast who leads Bonhams auction house's online auction site called The Market. She's an East Coast native who earned a college degree in elite collector car restoration and now owns a 1948 MG TC—which she almost lost for good to a mysterious man who outbid her at auction.

"When I finally bought it, it felt really commemorative," she told me, and then mentioned how she next plans to use the open-top MG—to celebrate her upcoming nuptials with her fiancé, Jakob. "I think this will end up being our wedding car."

Caroline Cassini races her 1948 MG TC in road rallies. Photographer: Joyce Lee/Bloomberg

Next up is Inii King, the co-founder of King & Partners, who has one of the best eyes of anyone I've met in my 15-plus years of covering luxury. Inii knows when crystalline good taste is paramount – and when a little bad taste, with a dose of humor, is even more perfect. I can't wait to talk with her about her new forest green Fiat Panda 4X4.

One of the best things about all three of these women is that they actually drive their cars, rather than letting them sit in the garage to gather dust. Adri takes her Ranchero to the California desert and back; Caroline races her MG in grueling road rallies; Inii cruises in her Panda through the verdant orchards of upstate New York.

The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible is a whole lot of fun for $71,000. Source: Chevrolet

Summer is when we use our cars the most, whether it's filling them with flea market finds, as I wrote in a recent piece about visiting LA; cruising in an expensive convertible down some lone highway; or even honing our skills within the controlled confines of a racetrack.

So read on below about all the ways we can delight in festive auto-motttion—and then get out there and go for it!

You can connect with me on Twitter at @HannahElliott or on Instagram at @HannahElliottxo. You can read all of my automotive coverage here.

Electric vehicle news lately has felt dominated by one entity: The chaotic universe known as Elon Musk.

The polarizing billionaire's perpetual declarations on Twitter and the recent extensive layoffs, lawsuits and significant shutdowns and delays at his company Tesla have seemingly done little to dissuade the notoriously die-hard fans of his EVs. Our reporter Dana Hull has done heroic work covering every turn in the ongoing saga that is Musk/Tesla and providing a much-needed adult perspective on it all.

But Tesla's large footprint in the public eye belies the actual fact that almost every major automaker from Hyundai to Mercedes-Benz now offers a battery plug-in vehicle. Ford does; so does General Motors. Some, like Audi, offer as many as eight. Volvo sells them through its luxury brand, Polestar. We've got 9,000-pound electric Hummers and Patagonia-wanna-be trucks to boot. You can study and compare all of their specs here at this extensive new EV rater by Bloomberg Green.

Your author on top of the electric Hummer, new this year. Photographer: Matt Martian for Bloomberg Businessweek

Since I cover only the luxury automotive brands, I'm particularly interested in the more alluring versions of electric transport—the sports cars and super cars that happen to run on batteries but that are primarily meant to get your adrenaline going and turn your friends green with envy. Exciting EVs like these comprise a fraction of a fraction of the cars on sale today—fully electric vehicles in general make up fewer than 1% of all vehicles on the road in the US—but they comprise 100% of the type of thing I personally want to drive.

The best I can tell as someone paid to think about this stuff all day? The exciting stuff is coming. We just have to be patient. I'm already saving up.

Rimac Group Raises $537 Million to Build EVs, Porsches, Bugattis

Porsche Confirms First Electric Two-Seater Will Be a 718, Not 911

DeLorean Shows Off Electric Car, Says It Will Arrive in 2024

Mercedes-AMG Considered Cancelling Its F1 Supercar, Says Chief

The Cadillac Lyriq Electric SUV Is Not Worth Waiting For

These Are the Five Electric Motorcycles You Need to Know Now

All About Love: New Visions, by Bell Hooks. The world in recent years has felt increasingly disparate, tribal, chaotic, and militant. And that's just one neighborhood to the next. In New Visions, Hooks defines, frames, and re-contextualizes love as it relates to self, family, community, and romantic partners. Urging truth, courage, and hope, Hooks' words are like a salve on nerves frayed by grim national and global realities. I hope that in my life they can also be a beacon indicating how to move forward.
Sassy Mama, Live at the Rising Sun Celebrity Jazz Club. Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton had a front-row seat in the 1950s when white singers took elements of what had been predominantly black R&B music and slid them into rock music. Her guttural, joyous, brash original rendition of "Hound Dog" is included in this mesmerizing live performance at the Rising Sun jazz club in Montreal, but every song on the album is pure gold, from Rock Me Baby to the title track, Sassy Mama. Thornton made just $500 when she first recorded "Hound Dog" in 1953, even though her song hit the top of the R&B charts and sold 2 million copies. Elvis Presley made much more when he covered it in 1956.
Pause Studio, West Hollywood, Calif. Infrared saunas are nothing new, and their benefits are well-documented, but as a new-ish transplant to LA, it has taken some time to sort through lackluster venues in which to sweat my face off. Thank goodness I recently discovered Pause Studios, the closest thing on the West Coast I've found to approximate the bliss I got from Higher Dose when I lived and loved in New York City. Pause offers vitamin drips, float tanks, cold plunge baths and cryotherapy, too—but it's the wooden sweat boxes with the pretty lights that work best for me. I go every week.

What would need to be true for an EV convertible to come to market?

I love this question because it shows an optimism that (even) EVs can be fun. What would need to be true is that automakers would be making so many production EVs—and making enough money off each one—that they could afford to also make, market, and sell a non-essential vehicle like a convertible.

Since most people buy a drop-top as a second or third car of choice, not the primary one, convertibles are not on the forefront of must-do-right-now items for car companies to prove they're viable in the EV world. But your question indicates there is an appetite for them, and that's great to hear.

The Rivian R1T electric pickup is not a convertible, but with all its offroad capability and camping prowess, it will certainly connect you to the outdoors. Photographer: Elliot Ross

My car was towed. Now what?

Ugh. This is the worst feeling ever. I've had some cars towed in my day, and I still curse the unsavory snitches who were so petty as to orchestrate it. First thing: When you realize your ride is gone, look for a sign or posting nearby in the parking lot or on the street that has information about unauthorized vehicles being towed. There will be a phone number listed of the preferred towing company. Call them. Tell them they towed your car. Ask when you can come pick it up.

When you visit the impounding lot, bring your car keys, your drivers license, and some way to prove you actually own the vehicle (title, registration, maintenance records will do). Keep in mind: If you show up before or after business hours, you'll likely have to pay an additional "gate fee" ($100 or more) to retrieve your vehicle, if there is anyone at the gate at all. If they're not there—many tow yards are closed on the weekend—you're momentarily out of luck. Spend the down time considering what we learned about our parking choices. And be sure to stretch before you jump on that bicycle in the meantime.