Red Light Cameras: Not Too Many People Love Them

Posted on Nov 8, 2023 in Safety | 1 comment

It’s like harassment, right? The gummint has just entered another area that should be private. And cash-starved cities have found another way to milk their citizens. Red light cameras have no fans among drivers, even those who drive safely. The devices have been springing up all over the U.S. for some years now, and their use has generated a lot of public...

Have you ever wondered why you really bought a vintage car?

Posted on Oct 14, 2023 in Featured | 4 comments

Though I’m partial to muscle cars, I like a lot of different vehicles for more than just their performance potential. Much of what draws me to them are specific visual cues—the way a certain area is styled or particular components or attributes that make me react like Pavlov’s dog to a dinner bell when I see them. Factory vacuum gauges and tachs, and Hurst...

How to Expose Hidden Problems in Used Cars

Posted on Sep 7, 2023 in Safety | 2 comments

People trying to sell used cars can be downright desperate to unload their driveway-bound sheet metal in order to pocket some quick cash. While scams or intentionally deceptive sales tactics from sellers aren’t particularly common, they do happen. More often, instead of trying to hide problems, sellers simply don’t mention them. When I, for example, was selling...

NASCAR Unveils Car of Tomorrow

Posted on Aug 4, 2023 in Racing | Comments Off on NASCAR Unveils Car of Tomorrow

I’ll admit, I don’t know much about NASCAR. Like most people in the Northeast, I figure we’ll leave hockey to the Canadians and auto-racing to our friends down South. In any event, racing has made its annual trip to the forefront of the sports page as NASCAR introduces the Car of Tomorrow for 16 races in 2007 and 36 in 2008. The news comes nearly 6 years after...

Luxury Car Companies Should Build Minivans

Posted on Jul 23, 2023 in Editorials | 2 comments

So I’m driving along the other day, and I get up behind this Toyota Sienna that looks like it has a body kit. And not just a body kit, but powder coated wheels, too. This thing looked like your standard airport rental Sienna had been turned over to the people in charge of making Hyundais appealing in their last model year before a redesign. It turns out that...

Toyota and NASCAR – Oh What a Feeling!

Posted on Jun 18, 2023 in Racing | Comments Off on Toyota and NASCAR – Oh What a Feeling!

When the green flag dropped this weekend on The Great American Race in Daytona, NASCAR’s Nextel Cup Series had what, at first blush, must have seemed like a distinctly foreign new flavor. The 2007 Daytona 500 served as the Nextel Cup Series debut of Toyota as some of NASCAR’s established stars such as Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarett, Jeremy Mayfield, and Brian...

Peter Brock and the ‘Original Venice Crew’ rethink the 1965 Mustang G.T. 350R for its 50th aniversary

Posted on May 12, 2023 in Featured | 6 comments

The donor K-Code Mustangs during disassembly. Photos by Randy Richardson, LA SAAC. Shelby American’s original racing Mustang, the G.T. 350R, captured the SCCA’s B-Production championship from 1965-’67, but its designers still believed the car could have been better. Next month, on the 50th anniversary of the G.T. 350R’s first win, Peter Brock (keynote speaker...

Stealing Cars for Fun and Profit: Cadillac Escalade Tops Most-Stolen List

Posted on Apr 25, 2023 in Safety | 1 comment

In Malaysia, they like to steal Protons. In the U.S., it’s the Cadillac Escalade, which has made the top of the theft-loss list (prepared by the Highway Loss Data Institute), for the last six of seven years. In 2005 there were an estimated 1.2 million U.S. vehicle thefts; in 2008, totals were declining, below 1 million. After the Escalade, the next-most-stolen...

Body Kits – Ramping Up Your Style

Posted on Mar 14, 2023 in Technology | 2 comments

Automakers are restrained from creating enormously aerodynamic vehicles with sport-tuned suspensions and powerhouse motors because they must cater to the average consumer. As a result, the tuning industry has grown up, providing consumers (tuners) with products that enhance their vehicles appearance and performance. Body kits are one of the most popular ways to...

Used-Car Shopping: How To Satisfy Man and Woman

Posted on Jan 11, 2023 in Safety | 1 comment

Men and women look for very different things when they shop for cars. I know, that’s not exactly shocking news, which is why I was surprised to read about a study by the brilliant minds at CNW Market Research. The firm conducted a study leading to the “discovery” that personal tastes in a vehicle vary greatly depending on gender and age. Groundbreaking stuff,...

Don’t Roll Your Car This Summer

Posted on Dec 25, 2022 in Safety | Comments Off on Don’t Roll Your Car This Summer

The white Tahoe sat in the median between the north and south lanes of the freeway. Personal belongings were scattered for dozens of feet in all directions. The rear window was broken out, and about 10 people milled around inspecting the damage. This could have been any of the accidents that are unfortunately all too familiar on American Interstates, except...

The Early Death of the 3-Wheeled Car?

Posted on Dec 23, 2022 in Safety | 3 comments

Starting a car company is probably one of the most difficult of all business ventures. Even the best ideas can fail due to a lack of funds or stifling government regulatory requirements. And yet, people still try. The people who start car companies do so because they believe they can change, or improve upon, the current state of automobile design,...

Hyundai N: The New Standard of Performance?

Posted on Dec 19, 2022 in Racing | Comments Off on Hyundai N: The New Standard of Performance?

Hyundai: maker of cheap, utilitarian cars or competitor to established high-performance brands? Most of us would agree that Hyundai, the South Korean automaker that introduced the 100,000-mile warranty, falls into the cheap, utilitarian category. The carmaker gained its fame for building inexpensive alternatives to the mainstream brands, but in the process...