The Compliance Song . . .
Volare!
Back in ’76, it wasn’t just a cruise ship lounge song. It was Plymouth’s new “compact” car - which by today’s standards would have been considered a very large car, as...
Doomed: Subaru BRAT: 1977-1987
Imagine, if you can, a truck with factory-mounted seats in the bed - and spotlights the size of a 747’s landing lights mounted on its T-topped roof.
If you know this truck,...
The Off-Grid Car
The interest in tiny homes - and off-grid living - reflects a growing weariness with being carried along, unwillingly, by the rip-tide of "technology" as it makes life superficially easier but...
To Harass And Impose
It was a beautiful August Saturday night; high 70s, low humidity and mostly sunny. A local restaurant on the main strip of our town (honestly it's not that much of a...
Neglected Maintenance 101
Had it really been ten years?
No, longer than that.
I leafed through the maintenance log I keep for my '76 Trans-Am (I have one for all my vehicles; it's the only way...
It Could be Bad . . . But Sometimes Isn’t!
A good friend of mine called me a couple of weeks ago, worried about her '92 Toyota truck. The transmission was acting up. She couldn't shift it into - or out...
Doomed: Pontiac G8 (2008-2009)
There are many examples of too little, too late in the automotive world. The 2008-2009 Pontiac G8 is perhaps the only example of more-than-enough . . . when it no-longer-mattered.
Pontiac was...
The Last Pontiac V8
GM's Pontiac division ceased to be some 13 years ago. Because by that time, it had become a marketing facade for other GM vehicles, re-selling Chevys and Buicks that were largely...
Die-Hard vs. Exide
What makes a fast car appealing?
It’s not just that it’s fast. It’s equally other things, such as what makes it fast - the mechanical erogenous zone under its hood. Which is...
A Tale of Two Idles
Before there were computers in cars, all it took to adjust the engine idle speed was a screwdriver and five minutes or so.
You turned in - or out - a screw...