Daniel Patrascu
18,696 ARTICLES
Personal motto:
"I truly believe men and fish can coexist peacefully" – George W. Bush
Following several years off the grid, Daniel is back at autoevolution, and seeing how the great crisis of the past decade made the auto industry boring, he grew bored with it too, so he slowly shifted his focus to custom cars, custom motorcycles, and other weird stuff. He also loves ranting about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
During his time at autoevolution, Daniel put his name on more news articles, coverstories, auto guides, reviews, and editorials than we care count. To slow him down a bit, he was given more responsibilities not long ago, so he is now also in charge with coordinating the editorial team on autoevolution.com.
Long time ago, Daniel also translated Arthur C. Clarke’s novel “The Fountains of Paradise” to Romanian for Paladin Publishing.
USAF Builds From Scratch and Flies Autonomous Drone in 24 Hours, Must Be Some Record
7 May 2024, 10:52 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / It may not be pretty, big, or menacing, as many of the drones the U.S. Air Force (USAF) is presently using are, but this little contraption here has the honor of being (perhaps) the world's fastest drone when it comes to the time it needs to g...
1964 Chevy Malibu SS Is a Hunk of Cold Metal More Expensive Than a Mercedes-Maybach EQS
7 May 2024, 10:11 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / If you really want to get noticed in your neighborhood and money is not an issue, then you can definitely go for a brand-new Mercedes-Maybach EQS. Imposing and screaming luxury through all its seams, the $179,900 German electric SUV is at the top o...
Boeing Working on Refueling Drones Fighter Pilots Can Command From the Cockpit
7 May 2024, 08:33 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / It is obvious to anyone looking that drones of all shapes and sizes are rapidly taking over our world. From devices meant to shoot insane videos, these things have grown in a very short period of time into pieces of hardware able to do pretty much ...
Boeing Starliner Fails to Launch (Again), This Time Don't Blame Boeing
7 May 2024, 07:39 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / And here goes another failed attempt at launching the SpaceX Crew Dragon-rivaling Starliner spacecraft. For what it's worth, though, this time it was not something Boeing did (or didn't do), but a fault with the spacecraft's launch r...
DARPA Completes Testing of Underwater Drone That'll Give Sharks Nightmares
6 May 2024, 12:04 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / At the beginning of April the world got news of the first example of a brand-new breed of uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUV) being ready. The company that broke the news was Northrop Grumman, and it appears these guys only let us know about the dro...
1948 Chevrolet 5700 Ate Five Other Trucks to Become This Monster Custom COE
6 May 2024, 11:28 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Cab-over-engine (COE) trucks are a special breed of monsters. A fairly common design over in Europe and elsewhere, where they serve transportation and logistic needs on a daily basis, these things can be seen over in the U.S. performing mostly tras...
BMW Kills the Clutch Lever on Motorcycles, New Tech Still Allows for Manual Shifting
6 May 2024, 10:50 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Motorcycle riding is a relatively easy thing to do, once you get the hang of it. Even the two most challenging things for newbies, keeping one's balance and gear shifting, tend to fade into the background once some experience is gained, and, l...
This Is the SpaceX EVA Suit Civilians Will Test in Daring Spacewalk 430 Miles Above Earth
6 May 2024, 08:45 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Space tourism is a relatively new concept that is quickly catching on. Taking advantage of the advancements made in recent years when it comes to rocket and spacecraft design, several companies are presently offering trips to space in exchange for ...
World's Only 1965 Shelby Cobra Dragonsnake Factory Stage III Gunning for $1.7M at Auction
4 May 2024, 22:14 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Car auctions are events so common on the American automotive scene that the world at large rarely pays them a lot of attention. Yet from time to time a vehicle so special shows up that it makes such events the talk of the day in the industry. And t...
Harley-Davidson Grand American Touring Bikes: The Top of the Food Chain
4 May 2024, 21:08 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / It's not an easy thing for a company playing in the automotive industry (be it a maker of four- or two-wheeled vehicles) to be able to invent new segments, and it's equally hard to invent new names for existing segments. Yet such things d...
Rare Grabber Yellow 1969 Shelby GT500 Fastback Once Owned by Carroll Shelby Hits the Block
3 May 2024, 22:16 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Few people are as important for the American (but also larger) automotive industry as Carroll Shelby. The American is no longer among us, but the huge shadow he cast during his lifetime will probably still be noticeable for decades to come, and it ...
China Sent Something to the Far Side of the Moon to Bring Back Samples for the First Time
3 May 2024, 10:49 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The Moon is a peculiar thing in the skies of our world. A companion to Earth since times immemorial, it always shows us the same face, meaning there's an entire half of the satellite we know very little about. And China just sent a probe there...
This Is America's First Large Cargo Drone to Get an FAA Flight Corridor Approval
3 May 2024, 09:50 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Flight corridors are, if you will, roads in the sky. They're the invisible freeways aircraft follow to get from point A to point B while keeping safe and well away from other planes and helicopters. Flight corridors are mostly reserv...
Custom 1950 Chevrolet Bel Air Copies a Ride George Barris Made for a Car-Loving Priest
3 May 2024, 08:53 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Custom cars are always head turners, and depending on who made them and why, they can even turn in very valuable possessions. In this respect, you can't get anything better than a Chevrolet Bel Air that was touched, even marginally so, by an i...
Mario Andretti's IndyCar Winning Lola T800 Cosworth Could Have One Pay $450,000 for It
2 May 2024, 13:05 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Car racing is one of the most challenging (and, at the same time, rewarding) activities humans can engage in. Many have given it a shot over the years, but very few have climbed to the top of this exciting world. For many, Mario Andretti is the dri...
C-130J Super Hercules Makes Historic First Flight With External Fuel Tanks Under Its Wings
2 May 2024, 11:59 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / External fuel tanks, or drop tanks as they are sometimes called, are common in military aviation. Dating back to 1923, when the pilots of the Spanish Civil War used them to extend the range of their airplanes, external fuel tanks have become must-h...
USMC Gets Its First Extended-Range Reaper Drone
2 May 2024, 11:21 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The world of military drones is a very diverse one at the time of writing, and chances are the offer will continue to diversify as conflicts become more and more complicated. But many of today's drones owe their existence to the pioneers of th...
Humanoid Robot With AI Mind Is Meant to Think Just Like People, And It’s Learning
2 May 2024, 09:10 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Like it or not, robots of all shapes and sizes have been with us for decades now. They are meant to help us in factories, aid us in dangerous circumstances and environments, and overall make our lives easier. We like all these robots, and we’...
The Race Is On to Snatch a 2024 Dodge Durango SRT 392 AlcHEMI, Here's How to Get One
2 May 2024, 07:49 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / American carmaker Dodge started 2024 with a very exciting piece of news for fans of HEMI-powered SUVs: it let loose the Durango SRT 392 AlcHEMI Last Call. The news did have a darker side to it, though, as the model is to mark the final year of the ...
1953 Dodge Power Wagon Shares a Strange Thing With the Rolls-Royce Spectre: Its Price
1 May 2024, 11:00 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The Rolls-Royce Spectre is the most recent luxury land yacht made over in Britain. On the market for less than a year, the model is at the top of its game in terms of everything, and that's reflected in the thing's sale price: about $422,...