What a great story. And two of my favorite cars, the E type and the Ferrari 275. The supportive Dad is right up there too. Not many really successful people without a supportive parent. Makes the whole effort so much more 2nd nature instead of constantly thrashing against your upbringing. ... View more

Great article. My brother in law sold cars and was chief financial officer (or whatever the title) for Toyota in LA for some time. Lots of stories. He helped us get credit checks on potential renters for our houses. Very similar tone, it's just business. Law of the jungle. He complained, but he thrived on it. He was a closer. In golf too. Lousy off the tee, "I got nuthin" "no good today" made you complacent, then on the green, he would sink the thirty footer to take the hole. And usually the match as well. Everybody loved him. ... View more

Jack Reddish, before hooking up with McQueen in film production (Bullitt, Le Mans, Thomas Crown Affair, Bonnie and Clyde, etc) was a world class downhill ski racer and jumper who (known as Red Dog Reddish) won many national championships, as well as participating in the '48 and '52 Olympics, finishing 7th in the slaloms. Old family lore. At any rate, he was inducted into the Alf Engen hall of Fame in Utah, and the National Ski Hall of Fame in Michigan. ... View more

Ok, so, during the filming of Le Mans, my brother in law Jeff was 11 years old. Step son of Jack (Red Dog) Reddish, who was the 2nd unit (action) director of the film. Some kind of partner in Solar productions. On Jeff's birthday, Steve and the other team drivers signed the steering wheel (with an engraving pencil) from one of the 917s they raced, and gave it to Jeff as a present. So Jeff kept it all those years. In 2008, he fell on hard times due to the recession, and approached Bonhams to auction it at a special Steve McQueen auction. Things were all set to go, then Bonhams canceled the auction due to the recession. I had taken photos (not professionally done) of the wheel for the Bonham folks to check out. The years went by, and in 2015 Jeff got cancer. Things progressed quickly, and Jeff died of a heart attack a few months in. We never found the wheel. We don't know what happened to it. ... View more

Yes! I think there should be an owner /builder category. How to separate them out would be necessarily problematic, but the subbing out of major work to pros seems to be logical. A guy who figures out all that stuff on his own retains the artistic control, and is on a different level than those who sub out the work. ... View more

Wow, hit some nerves with this one. The comments are fascinating. Consider this quote. "In a report published in 2002 by the National Research Council (NRC) of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the average total worldwide annual release of petroleum (oils) from all known sources to the sea has been estimated at 1.3 million tonnes." And that is just the spills, let alone the petroleum burned to make things go. So, Jack, your solution is to make more efficient gas engines, keep up the oil wars, and business as usual. I was raised on fast cars, regular cars, antique cars. Love em. So keep them if you want. No one will take them away. The world is evolving. Electric is happening. Let's move on. The world situation demands that we move on. I would like to see someone make some cool electric cars, without all the super high tech computer stuff that complicates customization. ... View more

An EV tax may well come about. Perhaps fossil fuel subsidies will wane. I suppose it's possible, though not likely. These are linked together by the gigantic lobbying power the oil and car companies wield in the US. They are going to great lengths to keep fossil fuels viable. As well as endeavoring to slow the transition to electric transportation. I have noticed a distinct sort of sneering at the trend towards electrification of transportation in these comments. Keep it up. Totally encourages me to keep writing. Electric buses? Hmm, really nice to not get blasted with diesel exhaust as the bus leaves the bus stop. Electric garbage trucks at 5am, much quieter. Electric Amazon, UPS, FedEx trucks? No starter motors, far less wear on brakes, no clutch, no fan belts, no radiators, hoses or exhaust systems. Cheaper fuel. Much less wearing on the drivers. So total cost of operation is far less, by a wide margin. Those guys who run those fleets can do the math. Those companies are buying electric delivery vans by the tens of thousands, and they are just getting started. As for coal generation, I believe you are correct. Energy generated by coal did go slightly up in 2021 vs 2020. However, the larger picture is set forth by this ​quote from the US Energy Information Administration. "Operators have scheduled 14.9 gigawatts (GW) of electric generating capacity to retire in the United States during 2022, according to our latest inventory of electric generators. The majority of the scheduled retirements are coal-fired power plants (85%), followed by natural gas (8%) and nuclear (5%). ​After substantial retirements of U.S. coal-fired electric generating capacity from 2015 to 2020 that averaged 11.0 GW a year, coal capacity retirements slowed to 4.6 GW in 2021. However, we expect retirement of coal-fired generators to increase again this year; 12.6 GW of coal capacity is scheduled to retire in 2022, or 6% of the coal-fired generating capacity that was operating at the end of 2021."" And that generating capacity is being replaced by what? Hmm, what could possibly be cheaper than coal or gas? Wind and solar, and again, by a wide margin, and getting wider. So economics and convenience ... View more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKv_N0IDS2A&t=0s So if this gal can do this, what is the problem? ... View more

Not sure why we are comparing an '81 Tercel with a 2015 Volt. So let's compare to a 2015 ICE to kind of level it out. I just looked up a 2015 Civic. (My daughter owns a 2017 Civic, generally comparable) They are going for $15 - $19k depending on mileage, etc. I bought the Volt two years ago for $13K with 40k miles on it. Car prices were lower then, so can we give that a wash? Civic mpg listed as 31/41, so 36mpg average. Gas in LA this morning was $5/gal, lets call it $4 cause gas prices fluctuate wildly, so $4/36 = 9.5 cents per mile + oil changes. So total cost of ownership (TCO) is looking favorable for the Volt. This is just math, no opinion. As for opinion, I do like the silent driving, and the smooth power of the electric drive. But jeez, I'm an old guy with a jillion miles on my old Norton 750 and Ducati 900ss, and ringing ears from tuning race engines with no ear protection. Now I kind of like gliding around without making a sound. It occurs to me that new ICE vehicles are just as tech heavy, full of chips, and uncustomizable as any EV. You are not going to beat a 60 year old anything for work-on-ability and customization-ablity. If anything, a pure EV, (BEV) is simpler than a modern ICE. So, in theory, should be more work-on-able. There are plenty of guys out there wrenching on them. It is a different world, for sure. I wonder what great Grampa said about Model T's when they came along. Probably wanted to stick to his horse as long as he could. Or maybe he just jumped right in. ... View more

1981 Tercel? Lovely car. Not a ton of amenities, but doubtless a runner. My Volt costs something like 4 cents per mile to charge the battery at home overnight. Plus tires and windshield wipers. Oh, and one oil change in 80k miles. So let's see, say the Tercel gets 42 mpg (36 town/48 hwy) at $3.50/gallon. That's $3.5/42 miles = 8.3 cents per mile. + oil changes every 5k miles. Costs twice as much to run, not half as much. Off by a factor of four. So the Lightning and Silverado capabilities I refer to are interesting to many, though to some just fluff, I am sure. They each have multiple 110v and 220v AC outlets capable of powering whatever you want to plug in, charge your electric ATV, or even charge your EV. I'm not sure about the Silverado, but the Lightning is capable of powering your home in a power outage. Maybe some truck buyers in Texas would find that of interest. Both have gigantic lockable, watertight Frunks, or front trunks, which a person can easily climb into with room to spare. So, yeah, lots of new and interesting capabilities which do not currently exist with ICE trucks. I am not asking you to like these trucks. Perhaps you prefer the Tercel. Stick shift, I'm sure. ... View more

I like old cars. My latest acquisition is 57 years old. Citroen 2cv. Arguably one of the simplest, most fixable cars ever made. I've installed new engine mounts, rebuilt the shifter mechanism, gone through the carburetor, changed out the plugs and wires, replaced the rag top, and I have a new old stock speedo to install next. All fun simple stuff done with a minimum of tools. This car is a real head turner, fun to drive downtown. By mistake I ended up in the local parade last summer down main street. Got lots of cheers and waving. Great car. My daily driver is a Volt. As a race car mechanic in my younger days, I am amazed to say I never even opened the hood before I bought it, and then not even till the windshield washer fluid ran out a couple months later did I realize I hadn't done so. When I did open it, I didn't recognize much of anything under there anyway. I suppose I do what I need to do, and leave the rest to sort itself out. There are guys out there who do really cool hotrodding of EV's. Tesla drive units (motor and axles) apparently make great drop ins, if you can figure out the electronics. I think if a guy takes the time to look around and see what's available and what other guys are doing, try to get past the notion that EV's are evil, there's hope out there. My problem is I don't understand electronics, or even advanced electrics. Watts, volts and amps, I just never got it. But plenty of guys do. So I just drive my EV the 30 miles of range I get before the gas powered generator kicks in, and then plug in at home. Definitely the cheapest car to drive I have ever owned. Economics and convenience are what's driving the shift to EV's. Indeed, nothing else COULD drive people to do so. My brother, a musician, not a car guy, happily saves a ton of money driving his Tesla around the Bay Area without a thought about range anxiety or the high price of gas. He could care less about opening the hood. There are a lot of people like him out there. I think when the electric Ford 150 and the Silverado come out, we will see some very interesting personal transitions in the ICE/EV debates. Ford and GM definitely know where the heart of the US market is, and they are plunging the knife deep with these two incredibly capable big trucks. Ford had to quadruple its production target, from 40,000 units annually to 150,000 units with the Lightning already, and it's not even in production yet. So there's that. We live in interesting times, guys. Whining doesn't change anything, and it's not a good look. ... View more