So I suppose a name for your crew cab dually 4WD GMC truck (if you're into naming your vehicles) could be..."The Big Grabowski"? ... View more

8-track flashback indeed. Thanks for bringing back the memories: I don't miss the peanut farmer. I don't miss my household job after school on friday (or thursday) taking mom's car to the gas station to wait in line for gas. By 1980, things had improved a little: bought a brand new 1980 Datsun (last year for that nameplate) 200SX hatch with the 2.0 liter and 5-SPEED! That was something back then. But the quotas back then had the dealerships really jacking up the prices on everything Japanese. $7500 for a new car. Outrageous!! ... View more

Needed a replacement for the wife's wrecked 5-door '88 Integra late in the 90's. Looked at the 2nd gen Legend, but folks wanted crazy money for them at the time. Even the 4-door Legend was pretty sleek and well-proportioned for a front-drive platform. The V6 gave it a lot of pep, too. Ended up with a Vigor instead. Worked out, as it is still pretty-nicely proportioned and gets over 30 mpg on the highway. And it's a stick, to boot. Like the 929, parts can be a challenge to find, but fortunately they aren't required very often. I hope Mr. Payne's 929 sees lots of years ahead of it yet. ... View more

JB wants to be that "Big Toe". ... View more

As with most things automotive (or motorcycle), an acceptable job will work and not take an unreasonable amount of time to create. A more elegant and long-lasting job will take significantly longer to build. Note the above under-seat tray that Kyle made to contain his fuses, resistor pack (a guess), and what I suspect might be a kill switch disguised as a headphone jack. A non-trivial amount of work and planning went into that. I also suspect he may have used a piece of cardboard (as discussed in a previous article regarding necessary **bleep** of your work. ... View more

**bleep** ? (**bleep** tires/radiator/... ... View more

Cardboard is underrated. Two other uses: (1) As a template it's great, but going further, as a means to create a bracket or mounting for some other part. Make it in cardboard first to ensure that you have the dimensions/flanges/fitting right before making it in **bleep** mid-pipe/driveline in the hatch area while doing an engine swap. ... View more

I don't know how GM or Ford handled this, but Chrysler performance vehicles had blackout paint applied on the radiator yoke for cars that were light-colored. Dark colored cars didn't have the treatment, as the color generally couldn't be seen through the grille. I personally find it quite distracting, and a subtraction from the look of the car, to see body-colored paint on the yoke through the grille of the car. Richard Ehrenberg, a technical editor of Mopar Action magazine, and pretty much a guru of knowledge about Mopars, never fails to mention this on any car featured in the magazine that has this oversight. On white cars, the oversight looks particularly hideous. ... View more

Another example of hypocritical: having a co-worker tell you he thinks it's good that gas prices are high because it will force more folks to go out and buy EVs. I had to remind him that each of us was personally responsible for burning over 60,000 gallons of jet fuel each month at work, for a company that had to buy 700 million gallons of the stuff last year. Talk about "cognitive dissonance". ... View more

Oh brother... ... View more

Dad was an Olds guy also. He was in sales, so it was always a 98 for him, and a Vista Cruiser for mom. The first was a '66, dark blue. Not a bad looking car, but the '68 that replaced it was the bee's knees. Huge, lots of glass, wood-grain vinyl sides. The '73 Vista Cruiser that replaced it was a huge let-down. It handled better, but a disappointment in the torque and power department with the 350. And with the lame pop-up "sunroof" in front, not a real Vista Cruiser in my mind. Although these days, almost any wagon would be better than what's being offered now. Just put in a late model engine and trans, and up the power, fuel economy, and reliability at the same time... ... View more

Also not familiar with Cerakote vs. ceramic coating, but I have a Durango with ceramic coated headers on it. After 15 years and 50K miles, they only have a few small rust spots on the tubes near the flanges. They still look great otherwise. The header on the Supra was coated and has zero rust after 6 years. Worthwhile extra expense, IMO. ... View more

Maybe my wife's old '92 Acura Vigor with the 5 speed manual, that I'm currently using as my DD, is not quite as lame as I've always thought it was... ... View more

References to Joe Walsh and Pete Townsend. Me likey!! ... View more

And my neighbor wonders why I let my sisters park their old cars in my driveway. They bought new ones and didn't want to get scammed on the trade-ins. So now I have a choice of vehicles from which to purchase at a decent price, either for my soon-to-be-licensed daughter, or for myself, in the hopefully-unlikely event I get hit by a UIM. Dealerships don't make the purchase experience pleasant, but manufacturers don't help the matter at all with what they're offering these days. Wouldn't mind a Dodge Magnum R/T. Love those wagons, but oh, wait a minute, they stopped building in 2008. ... View more

Very cool. The Continental is a looker, too - particularly the color. ... View more

"I was done turning..." Just a matter of time. Like the Airbus A320s with the nosewheel stuck sideways after t/o and forcing a return to landing with it stuck that way. Drive-by-wire, fly-by-wire: just another way of taking the operator out of the loop and making him/her even more disengaged from the operation. No thanks. ... View more

Bought one new car in my lifetime, and one used one from a curb-stoner (unbeknownst to me until I had to deliver a check - though I still have the car 25 years later). Never again. The rest of the cars (8 of them, approx.) have either been off CL with documented service records, or from people I knew. And, IMO, a car 3 to 5 years old is a pretty good value of cost (i.e. depreciation) vs. future maintenance costs. The dealership business model doesn't work for most of us - especially if you do most of your own maintenance. ... View more

A well articulated piece for why many of us have more than one vehicle sitting in the garage and driveway. And Lrac added a little piece of wisdom about why a particular car might stay in the fold a long time; you get the feeling of "zoom zoom". (Always loved those Mazda ads; especially because a kid is one who says it.) ... View more

Those mfg programs will help slightly with the more popular cars that break the same parts. But for lesser known and shorter run vehicles, we are mostly out of luck. The Acura Vigor, while not an enthusiast car by any stretch of the imagination, was only produced from '92 to '94, so parts for it are quite difficult to come by - even simple mechanical parts, never mind body or interior parts. The MkIII Supra was produced from late 86 to '92 - an over 6 year run - but parts for it are also extremely difficult to find. And used parts are through the roof, pricewise. The heritage program from Toyota may help, but the number of parts available can be counted on only two hands. ... View more

The Automoboat looked like it had enough room for "Jane, his wife", but not "daughter, Judy" or "his boy, Elroy". Astro will clearly be left behind. ... View more

My mother had a '68 Vista Cruiser when the siblings and I were kids. I don't remember the engine size, though it was the biggest one offered - a 455 maybe? Dad's policy was always buy the biggest engine offered in the car. Mom later replaced it with a '73 Vista Cruiser with the 350. The lame pop-up sunroof in the '73 was a poor replacement for all the glass in the '68. And what a slug, too. ... View more

Yet another reason to keep my 30 YO daily driver... ... View more

I'm with you. I'd rather watch the PGA, and I don't even play golf. ... View more

Didn't give much thought to the engagement zone until reading it. After you get used to a car's idiosyncracies, you take them for granted. Of our 3 manuals, the Toyota has a very tight engagement zone, the Acura fairly wide by comparison. Obviously the Acura (at least ours) is a better training platform, as it requires less foot finessing, though I suspect a larger engagement zone might result in more wear. Still not having much luck convincing my daughters to learn to drive either car, though. ... View more

The 2000GT looks better in race trim than as a rag top in You Only Live Twice. Probably the roof line improvement and fixed headlight delete. Although the color of the Packard is phenomenal. ... View more

Spent the first half doing yardwork. The second half cleaning the gutters. Didn't see any of the game or ads, and don't miss it at all. Once again made my kids' Instagram for "what your dad does if he doesn't care about the Superbowl" (which was the goal). If I want to see an ad, that's what youtube is for. ... View more

You can see the notch in the crossmember where the driveline passes under. So there is some sort of a practical limit to how much swivel it can manage. I'm guessing that's part of the reason Mr. Smith put the limiting chains on. Also, the swiveling probably introduced some weird u-joint angles. And does the engine exhaust terminate sideways or downwards under the cab? I don't see a stack. ... View more

Hm, I was really hoping I could push a "Dislike" button on this comment... ... View more

One day last year I got motivated and decided to tidy up/organize the loose bolt/screw/nut bin at home in the garage. Took all day, but only got as far as separating out the SAE from the metric. Need some more plastic tupperware-type cold cut containers to finish out the job. In the Portland (OR)/Vancouver (WA) area, we've got a few good places for hardware: Parkrose Hardware is okay, Vancouver Bolt and Supply is pretty good, and Tacoma Screw is quite good. The hardware match requirement determines the drive time... ... View more

The Supra doing its own drifting is impressive. And it's doing something I doubt I could do. These guys still have their work cut out for them, though. You see a lot of mishaps when driving in the mountains in wintertime. Road conditions can be quite variable with elevation changes, localized temperature inversions, and roadside plow berms and snow drifts (no pun intended). Will the car's sensors be able to determine if a berm is soft snow or heavy slush? One would be helpful for slowing the car during braking on a low-grip road, the other might make things worse. Hard packed snow and ice on a road surface is much different at 32 degrees than at 20. Those kind of conditions are going to be hard to replicate in a controlled environment. And whose car or cars are going to provide all the data needed for a system to "learn" what conditions require what actions? ... View more

A coworker had one when we were in the aerospace biz back in the early 80's. Silver Turbo. He loved that thing. I never understood it. Too tall. Long overhangs front and rear. Weird shifter. Weird key location. Just weird. ... View more

Twelve minutes to Wapner, twelve minutes to Wapner! ... View more

Ditto. They're so busy making the product elegant that it's darn near unusable. The iPad issued at work is tolerated, but only because I have to use the 5 required apps. And the battery doesn't last all day, so I had to buy an external battery to get to the end of the day. ... View more

The neighbor is a Volvo guy. His wife drives a newer one, but he still drives his '89 wagon daily. I think it's a 240 (it's a 4 cylinder auto), but what do I know? ... View more

With a turbo, no less! ... View more

I can attest to the need to keep a spare ECU (and ballast resistor and voltage regulator) in the glovebox of a '70s Mopar. Easy fixes with a minimum of tools. ... View more

"Make no mistake, it’s still a front-wheel-drive Honda that sounds like a Dyson." I think that pretty much says it all... ... View more

Had a set of Dunlops (don't remember the model, but they were discontinued, and hence priced well) on a pseudo-daily driver for near twenty years ('98 to '18). Car sat outside all year - half the time facing east, half facing west. One finally starting developing a bulge defect that caused a vibration and tread wear abnormality. This was from tires that were outside 24/7. Now the wife's car gets new tires every 5-6 years, cuz they're down to the tread bars by then. But the rest of the cars either sit inside or the tires sit inside (garage or shed, bagged) for at least half the year. So I'm less likely to sweat over tires that are ten or more years old. And the climate in the PNW is pretty mild, to boot - rarely over 90 or under 20 degF. ... View more

Can't tell you how parts I threw out years back that I now wish I hadn't... ... View more

What's with the "bullet-hole" graphics on the holes in the trunk and fender fronts? They are strangely symmetrical. Some sort of factory front and rear rack set-ups that the owner has stashed away in his garage? Love the color and, of course, as a Mopar guy, I can't help but like the car! ... View more

The front wheel track width and front fender wheel openings on the Hornet look substantially different than what would have come from the factory. I never noticed that before. It appears the there is a roll bar installed and possibly the dash is different also. Now I have an excuse to take another look at that downtown/levee chase scene in the movie. ... View more

A co-worker from a previous life had a silver Starion while we worked for a government contractor in the '80s. I always thought it had great lines. He was cooler than the rest of us, so I guess it followed that his car should be cooler. I was in a 1980 hatchback Datsun (last year of that nameplate) 200SX with a 5-speed manual. ... View more

That theory worked fairly well on my Supra with the 7M motor that was notorious for blowing head gaskets. When the heater went cold, check the temp gauge. But the temp gauge would still indicate hot with hot air coming out of the head, so usually pulling over after a cold heater was mandatory. Although the last time it happened, I had already resolved to replace the engine with a 2JZ-GE (NA) engine, so I didn't care about the 7M engine anymore. When the HG finally went (with a demonstrative cloud of white and blue smoke), I simply kept driving until I found a decent place to pull over without getting knocked off the bridge into the river at night. Good riddance to that engine. ... View more

I would... Although those Bentleys are pretty darn cool, too. ... View more

1/2" flexible metal electrical conduit to cut to length for garage workbench power strip project.  Hacksaw works pretty good, but the dremel with a cutoff wheel makes a nicer cut. ... View more

All I could get back was $100 bills, gosh-darn-it! ... View more

Places out here in the west have gone corporate also.  LKQ parts bought out Foster Auto Wrecking who knows how long ago, so I don't go there anymore.  The Pick-n-Pulls out here are owned by Schnitzer Steel, so they have a source of scrap metal.  Even so, you can still wander around the yards panning for gold.  Can't tell how many times I've gotten ideas and parts off other cars for an engine swap or cooler project.  The cars only sit in the yard for 30 days before heading to the crusher, so waiting for the weather to improve is not an option.  Many layers of clothing, as well as light fabric gloves, have been needed at times, as more than once I've pulled parts when it was snowing.  The tool box is JY-only and JY-specific use; the box from Walmart and tools from Harbor Freight, so there's no delay in gathering my stuff to head to JY, and no worries if gets wet or lost.  SAE and metric sockets and combo wrenches, metric tubing wrenches, snips, pliers, screwdrivers, torx bits.  The large combo wrench serves as the ratchet cheater bar.  The screwdrivers have hex shanks. ... View more

Meh... ... View more

Thank you for reminding me how spoiled we are in Washington state regarding longevity of vehicles. And some of my non-gearhead type friends wonder why I still have 29 year old and 35 year old daily drivers.... ... View more