In 2017 my family set off for a 10,000 mile, 30 day trip from Baltimore to Glacier National Park in Montana with many, many destinations along the way. The van was a 2003 Ody with nearly 300k on the clock. I bought it for $1500 and had the whole thing gone over for another $2k. I then parked it in the alley and sprayed a Martini Racing Hippie Car psychedelic paint job on it, in homage to the Porsche 917 that finished second in the 1970 24 Hours of LeMans. This included all of the sponsorship decals and a huge number "3" on the doors. The van hauled us, two kids, four bicycles, camping/climbing/hiking gear, and the dog for a month with no complaints. That van is gone now, but has been replaced with a silver '12 that just got a full set of Martini Racing stripes, and yes, a big "3" on each door. It's almost road trip season... ... View more

I have been tinkering with motorcycles for decades, and I only learned about this a few years ago. This is information that should be far better known! ... View more

There is so much here that I agree with, and my general philosophy is "if you're into, then good on ya." I mostly don't care. Donk it, drop it, safari it, whatever. There are two points here, however, that I have problems with. The first is the idea that "rolling coal" is just another youth auto trend. It's not. It's a political statement. It says "I hate the values that drove your decision to buy your e-car, and I'm going to negate your value." That's not car culture. That's hate. The other point I find troubling is the idea that the pandemic response amounts to "a whim." The families of 448,000 dead Americans might take issue with such disrespect. ... View more

My Z4 3.0 6-speed Coupe (non-M) is a rarity with fewer than 900 made. The roadsters can be had cheap, but the hard top variant commands a premium--and lots of second looks and questions.  ... View more

I put a few moving blankets on the car UNDER the cover. This gives me, literally, an extra layer of idiot insurance for when something is dropped on the car or I need to stack something on it in a pinch. Remember, a good justification for having more cars is that each one provides 60-plus square feet of storage space on its horizontal surfaces! ... View more

An alternative to the CB750 is the CB400F "Super Sport" of 1975-77. These are adorable, nimble, classic, and have the amazing 4-into-1 factory side-swept exhaust headers. IMHO, far better looking and more fun than the 750. Yellow, Red, or Blue--you can't go wrong. (Yes, I had one back in the day, and have one now.) ... View more

If the question is why didn't T.E. Lawrence die on a Vincent, the answer is that the Vincent did not into production until well after Lawrence was dead. He, as we all (maybe not quite all) know, died on a Brough Superior.  ... View more