A Tesla has no soul. ... View more

Whenever I see an oncoming Tesla Model 3 or Y, I think of amphibious cars.  They look like boats out of water, or just not quite right. ... View more

I had a problem with the throttle bodies (there are two) in my Ferrari 360. The list price for to replace them (Ferrari demands that we replace in pairs) is $1750 EACH and I need two. Instead of just buying the new ones, I spent a lot of time figuring out exactly how these marvels work, how they fail and how they can be tested. In the process, I developed a Bosch Throttle Body testing system that can accurately determine if one of these gadgets has degraded or failed. I used it to successfully find the bad unit and bought a couple of used ones from eBay and was able to qualify one that matched the performance of my good throttle body.   Here's a video showing an early version of the tester in action.   The tester records the results on an SD card for later analysis.   Here's an example of two old vs. a new throttle body showing the lag in performance as a curve. The two "old" throttle bodies used in this test ultimately ended up in my car and are working just right.   All electronic gadget used in our cars are degrading. Some degrade gracefully, others, catastrophically. It's up to us to figure out how to keep these gadgets performing so our cars stay running in top shape.  ... View more

My fun car, a Ferrari 360, is notorious for having an unreliable gas gauge. For cars like this, a good question to ask oneself is "when did I get gas last?" While a seemingly ridiculously obvious thing, several folks on the FChat forum have had this exact problem. So check for obvious things as well as the impossible.   Gated Ferrari 360 Spider in Azzurro California / Crema ... View more

I have a CNC machine with a spindle that requires two wrenches to change an end mill. One wrench has a key attached to it that controls the power to the spindle. The key has to be in and turned for power to flow. The second wrench doesn't have a key. Well, naturally, one day while I was tired and in a hurry, I forget to remove the second wrench from the chuck and fired up the spindle to 14,000 R's. That second wrench became a missile and smacked right into my shop window. That was an expensive and messy experience. It could just as well have become an accessory to my forehead.   There's a lesson to be learned there somewhere... ... View more

I hate RV's. Had one for ten years, supposed to be one of the best made, a Newmar Mountainaire with a tag axle. What a piece of crap!   If you're going to get an RV, instead, get a nice truck and a 5th wheel unit. You'll save a BOATLOAD of money and have a nice truck for free. When you decide you've had enough of the RV insanity, you can dump the crappy 5th wheel and still have a nice truck.   RV's are for suckers. I was one for ten years and learned my lesson the hard way. ... View more

I had a 71 Capri that I bought for $1000 in 1975. It was a fine example but had been discounted because the clutch was just about shot. Up to this point, I had never attempted a major car repair but I figured "How hard can it be?"   I needed the car for work and school so drove it for a month with a shot clutch. I finally replaced the clutch over a holiday weekend. Turned out to be an extremely simple job that I was a able to do with my limited tool set lying on my back in the apartment complex parking lot.   Once the clutch was fixed, that tiny 4 cylinder engine proved to be quite a good match for the lightweight Capri.   The car met its end when an elderly women in a Cadillac Eldorado punched it from a stop sign, rammed me into another car, a telephone pole and a third car coming the other way.   After the carnage came to a stop, I jumped out of my smashed car, ran over to the Cadillac, flung open the door and exclaimed "Lady, Do You Have Insurance?" That was a bad moment. I had no concern for her wellbeing. She was fine though.   She told the police officer who finally showed up after an hour that I "Appeared out of nowhere and hit her car." She got the ticket. I got my money back for the car and I bought it back from the insurance company for $100. There wasn't much left worth salvaging except that nice engine, transmission and new clutch which I sold for $400.    My next car was an Opel Manta with a spun rod bearing. I bought it thinking "How hard can it be?" to fix. That repair was a bit more difficult but did it lying on my back in the apartment complex parking lot.  ... View more

I always like the Samurai. It's the ideal vehicle for tight and narrow conditions. I rented a Samurai twice on visits to the Virgin Islands and it was the perfect car for the islands. Sure, it may have incredibly poor handling and can tip over by leaning out the door but otherwise, a fine specimen. ... View more

My all time favorite British car is the TR-6. I had a Spitfire for a number of years and it was a pretty good car, everything considered. The TR-6 would even be better. People complain about the Lucas electronics and reliability problems with electrics. Sure, you may have trouble with light switches and the horn but the engine has a carb, a distributor and a coil. That's it. No fool injection, no ECU, virtually no emissions with the 70's versions. The pre-1972 models have regular steel bumpers too. Parts are cheap, plenty of enthusiast interest and lots of aftermarket upgrades available. What's not to like? ... View more

When I was 16 and just started driving, my mother went out and traded in her Toyota for a brand new 1974 Buick Gran Sport 455. What a monster of a car that was! I'd make every excuse in the world to drive that car and since it kind of frightened my mother with its unpredictable handling, she let me. I drove that car in all sorts of conditions, especially winter driving, which my mother feared the most. The car was unstable at best. The weight ratio was so out of whack that the car would spin out easily. In snow, it got stuck idling. The car was extremely dangerous for a stupid 16 year old but wow. What a looker.    I remember picking up a girl for a date, her name was Lucy, and her father came out to see the car. He was so impressed that he let me keep his daughter out to midnight. She normally was restricted to 9pm. Bad call dad!   We had the car for a couple of years before trading it in on a Firebird. By then, I had graduated high school and was on my own so I never got to drive that one. I learned a lot about driving high performance cars and poor handling cars with the Gran Sport.  ... View more

Two increasingly useful tools to have in addition to a multimeter are a high quality OBDII scanner and an oscilloscope. Pretty much every car made after 1996 is going to eventually have failing electronics and these two gizmos, in addition to a multimeter, can help figure out what is working and what isn't.   I really like the Autel AP200 OBDII scanner (~$70) which is just a dongle and a phone app and for an oscilloscope, the Pico series that can be had for less than $200 for a 2 channel unit. The Pico units use a PC as the display so they can be held to a low cost and offer world class performance. An oscilloscope is really just a souped up multimeter. ... View more

I've used the tape and magnet method numerous times but the grease is new to me. Great idea! ... View more

I resurrected a 1973 Spitfire when I found it in a backyard with a tree growing through it. Bought the car for $50 and proceeded to spend a large basket of cash bringing back to a Hagerty #2+. It was red with black interior, classic convertible colors. I got more honks and thumbs up in that Spitfire than any other car I've owned, bar none. ... View more

The comment about ignoring new noises is so important. With many parts unavailable, minimizing a problem by catching it before it literally explodes could mean the difference between continued enjoyment or a basket case.   Modern "vintage" cars have another horror. Electronics. If your 20 year old ECU craps out, then you're likely off to eBay to find a used one. Eventually, every ECU and electronic box for these older "new" cars is going to be gone and we'll be programming Arduino's to substitute.   Still, I have totally enjoyed my affairs with vintage cars. They are friends and companions. I talk to my Ferrari when I walk past it in the garage. I plead with it before starting to not throw a code or make a weird noise. I thank it when I pull into my garage after a spirited drive and all the parts are in the same condition as they were when I pulled out.    Who am I kidding? It's all about love.   Gated Ferrari 360 Spider with custom hardtop   ... View more

When you repair a friend/relative/coworker's car, you own it forever. If anything goes wrong with the car, even unrelated to the repair, it will be your fault and you'll get the blame. People are lunkheads. ... View more

On my first job after high school, I worked at a large construction site that had both a first gen Bronco and International Scout. Got to drive both in demanding and extremely muddy situations. The Bronco was best for light work and tight spaces. Seemed more nimble but fell down in heavy mud. I can remember pulling the Bronco out of a mud pit with the Scout. One time I got totally bogged down in a mud pit with the Scout and the Bronco came to pull me out, only to get totally mired to the point the doors wouldn't open. We both got pulled out by a D8. Took hours to wash off the sticky south Texas mud.   I favored the Scout for its better A/C, standard shift transmission and seemingly better 4WD system. I liked taking the Bronco home when I could as it was a better driving truck on roads, had an automatic and a decent radio.   One oddball thing with the Scout was the gas tanks. There's a switch on the floor controlling which tank gets the gas. The first week I drove the thing, I ran it out of gas because that little detail was left out when I got instructions on how to drive the thing. It was quite embarrassing to have to be rescued by the maintenance guy who merely flipped a switch and the engine started again. Never made that mistake again.   Both trucks were tough and strong. Both were useful on the job site and both could take a lot of punishment by a teenage idiot (me), and dozens of others. ... View more

Sounds optimistic but I'm hoping you're right. I have a gated Ferrari 360.   ... View more

The only one on that list that I see with legs is the Rubicon. Those things are always hot with the enthusiasts. I owned a 2006 Rubicon for about a year before I had to sell it when the little one came along. It took all of a week to get numerous full price (same as I paid a year before) offers and the purchaser wanted to buy it sight unseen. I told him I'd only sell it in person so he left that day to drive 500 miles to get it.   The ad generated calls for the next FIVE YEARS! It was an army green two door model. Very desirable from what I've been told. To me, the Jeep was difficult to drive, complained above 50 MPH and got horrible gas mileage. We towed it behind our motorhome and it had so much rolling resistance that it reduced the MPG of our motorhome by 20%. I got more attention driving the Rubicon than I get driving my Ferrari 360. I doubt the demand for these trucks will ever dissipate.  ... View more

My horror story concerned a 1973 Triumph Spitfire which I found in a field with a tree growing through the floorboards. It required not only the floor but trunk liner, numerous brackets, headlight mounts and a number of other hard to find and expensive parts. I learned my lesson with that car. The next one I owned, a 1973 911T was completely rust free and from AZ. Nice car to work on as bolts just unbolted. A joy compared to the Spitfire. Rust is death. ... View more

We don't really need 100% autonomy to make a huge difference in the fatality and accident rate. The current fleet offerings include great tools to keep cars from crashing into things. Lane keeping, automatic braking, adaptive cruise control. These things are great for safety and are getting better every year. In ten years, new cars will be virtually crash proof. The problem will still be trying to avoid the 100% manual cars, which will be like random missiles to the computer.   ... View more

Just owning a Ferrari and doing my own maintenance puts me squarely in masochist column.   Ferrari 360 Spider with custom hardtop ... View more

I wouldn't mind getting a salvage title Ferrari 360. I'd love an operational parts car. That's the only thing I would use it for. ... View more

The only car on that list that even slightly interests me is the '67 Vette. Now that's a cool car. ... View more

These are great looking fun cars with one fatal flaw: They are just too small. I'm 6'0", 180lbs. and do not fit into these cars. I rented one years ago and I could barely drive it. I also have problems fitting into a Miata. Just too small for me. ... View more

The obvious issue with entertainment/travel that takes into account social distancing is the lack of density. Take an arena and cut out 80% of the people who can fill it and what happens? The ticket prices go through the roof. Nobody, or hardly anyone, would want to shell out $1000 to see a concert. Unfortunately, if social distancing becomes the norm, sports and other entertainment events will cease to be available to the common person. ... View more

@jrmedselExcellent! I didn't really learn my lesson from the Spitfire. Went on to buy a basketcase 911 and got really lucky that the dealer who sold it had no idea how to troubleshoot a Bosch mechanical fuel injection (K-Jetronic) which I took apart, figured out and fixed. Had that one for 15 years and continuously upgraded it. Sold it to a guy who hunted me down and made me an offer I couldn't refuse.   My latest car is a gated Ferrari 360 Spider that I bought completely original and in near perfect shape. This car is a real joy to work on as it's the first car I've ever owned that was hand built and made to be taken apart.   ... View more

Back when I was in my 20's, I purchased a basket case Triumph Spitfire that had a tree growing through the floorboards. Cost me $50 for the car and thousands to restore it to near perfect. If the project is what you're after, then a basket case might be fun. When I finally sold the car after 5 years of ownership, I got less for it than a reasonable original condition Spitfire. Thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours wasted in the end.   The reality is that if you can only afford a basket case, then you're making a huge mistake. Buy the best possible car you can afford and one that is original and in running shape. An original car, in good condition will be far easier to sell when the time comes and far easier to keep running than something that's been butchered by you and the previous 50 owners. ... View more

I love the Dino 246. It's the first Ferrari I came to love. The landlord at an apartment building I was living in had one. It was dark blue, and sounded incredible. I knew there was no way I'd ever be able to own a Ferrari. Wrong! I own one of these temperamental beasts. A Ferrari 360 Spider. When they are good, they are oh, so good and when they act up they are horrible!   Everytime I start the car, I wonder what's going to break this time. 99% of the time, nothing bad happens and then the 1% rears its ugly head. The positive about this is that I'm able to diagnose and fix virtually anything that goes wrong with these works of art. They are built to be taken apart and parts are readily (at a high cost!) available.   Once I'm rolling down the road, all thoughts of problems evaporate and I feel one with the machine. It's amazing to run through the gears to redline or downshifting heal-toe into a sharp corner. Nothing like it.     ... View more

I've been using a pressure cleaner with plain water for decades to clean engine compartments. It works very well, has no harmful chemicals and is efficient. The trick to using a pressure washer in the engine compartment is to know what components to stay away from and how close to a particular component one can get. The farther away, the less pressure. I don't recommend using this tool if you haven't done it before. Get a little carried away and you'll be replacing parts. ... View more

Three things I would hate for my family to do on that list: 1. Clean my garage. Hands off the materials folks! The last thing I want is for anything to be touched in my garage. Heck, it's already clean enough to eat off the floor.   2. Detail my car. My car is already detailed to perfection. Besides, it takes a trained hand to clean it. If you want to do something like this, detail the daily drivers, or just wash them. I keep my toys clean and the family car looks like it hasn't been washed in six months, coincidently, the last time I washed them.   3. Buy something car related. If I wanted it, I already have it. I'd have to fake that I like it. Very painful.   If you want to do something nice for Father's day, cook one of my favorite meals and clean up the dishes. That's all I want. Oh, don't hassle me about the $1000 I just spent for an Autel MS906BT. Maybe I'll just keep that one to myself.   ... View more