About ed

ed

Didn't a bunch of VW folks have serious trouble about "beating the system"? Why is OK for Bentley?

ed

The 'future' Corvette that I am interested in is the Z06. Been on the waiting list for a year, and they won't even start building them until sometime this summer. At least 2 years, unless I buy from a flipper.

ed

I was not a fan of the C8 styling either, until I saw the Z06 in person. It's wider, to accommodate wider tires and the front end has been tamed a bit. Overall, acceptable.

ed

Yes, you are the only one to point it out. That's because it is not a C8.

ed · ‎12-04-2022

I like 'Steering Assist fault - Service Required' in the instrument photo. I guess not much has changed after all. And ' suggesting a single pane integrating multiple displays'. Which will lead to multiple pains.

ed · ‎07-04-2022

I took the carbon fiber wheels off my GT350R and replaced with only-slightly-heavier forged wheels. A complete set cost less than a single CF wheel. I found it simply unnerving to drive it anywhere, much less on the track. I cannot imagine dealing with that on a truck. And no, they're not willing to pay.

ed · ‎06-04-2022

I use HAVOVOM on my SL63. Two things to consider: 1) New England states require front plates, 2) I live near Boston.

ed · ‎01-04-2022

I don't think it's good for the suspension to leave it completely unloaded during the winter. A good balance would be to get most of the weight off the tires, while still leaving them in contact with the ground to keep the suspension loaded.

ed · ‎14-03-2022

I have a 1-owner 1986 Hyundai Excel with 5 speed and AC. Beat that!

ed · ‎25-02-2022

Funny thing about opinions, everybody has one, and none are required to conform with another.

ed · ‎25-02-2022

In a word...hideous.

ed · ‎22-02-2022

Right. I am looking forward to seeing the IMSA mechanics at my dealership.

ed · ‎22-02-2022

I am on the waiting list, but my concern remains. After watching the mechanic at my local GM dealership try to figure out how to change the oil in my C6 LS7 with the dry sump, I cannot imagine what service challenges this new engine will raise for the 'legacy' mechanics.

ed · ‎22-02-2022

I think they started with the Voodoo, not the Coyote, for the flat-plane.

ed · ‎17-02-2022

Since 2005, I have owned 14 convertibles, all foreign but for a Corvette and my new Jeep Gladiator. For me, one advantage for the convertible is that the wife is all-in, too. So, I can buy toys with hardly a fuss as long as the top goes down, including the current Jeep, SL63 AMG and SLK55 AMG. Spring and summer are nice, but our fav is going into the New England fall with top down, heated seats and the air scarf. But the passion for top-down touring started much earlier, with a 1990 IROC-Z. Because of a short production run due to early introduction of the 1991 facelift, less than 1,300 1990 convertibles were produced. It was a beauty in Bright Blue Metallic, and the last year of the IROC-Z. We had 3 young kids at the time, and I added a 3rd seatbelt in the back seat so we could all go for a ride. Trophy winner at many Atlanta-area car shows, including 2nd place at my first-ever show, which was all Camaros (I didn't know to replace the locking gas cap with original before judging). I sold it in 1995 to start a business, and it would be 10 years before I would go topless again. I am now on the waitlist to order a Z06 convertible, but I think about that blue IROC-Z a lot. There was something special about it.

ed · ‎16-02-2022

I'm not sure how the market has developed like this, except that some people just have money to burn. If I am going to spend $250K for a vehicle, I can think of a hundred different things I would rather have than a resto-mod anything.

ed · ‎11-02-2022

Actually, for 150K to 789K over 22 years, the annualized return is less than 8% after compounding the return. I know you were comparing gross percentages, but that inflates everything. For the AAPL example, the annualized return is about 29%, which is still a whole lot better than 8%, which as you said, does not include insurance, storage, maintenance and for the big boys, security.

ed · ‎11-02-2022

It's like I tell my wife - if it wasn't for rich people, we could have anything we want. But seriously, price points on everything are moving up. It does not affect the uber rich, but it's pretty depressing when that dream I've been saving for all my life gets priced out of my range because suddenly a bunch of people with money that have never even cared about it decide they have to one-up each other.

ed · ‎08-02-2022

But so much of the fun is that part of clutch operation between all the way in and all the way out. The Ferrari F1 tranny is the same thing. Automation of a manual gearbox.

ed · ‎07-02-2022

That XJ220 looks like 1st gen NSX.

ed · ‎21-01-2022

But you have to follow the same axiom as for the market: buy low, sell high. The buy high, sell higher approach can be expensive. A car that takes 10 years to double in value has earned about 7% annually, and that ignores inflation, insurance and storage costs/maintenance.

ed · ‎21-01-2022

I don't think so. His example: ideas like the twin overhead cams with four valves per cylinder came from France (birthed) and were later used by others, including Germany.

ed · ‎14-01-2022

My 2 AMGs and the GT350R are safely tucked away for the dreaded salty New England winter. My everyday is a Jeep Gladiator I bought new over a year ago, when the world still had chips. A guy has offered me $8k over the original window sticker, but that means I would have to go on the same search for a ride that may be temporary, but needed none the less. In the middle of winter. With the current state of used vehicles, I'm not sure I can make that work. I considered picking up something rebuilt, but the possibility of big maintenance and the certainty of re-sell could feast on the Jeep windfall. I work at home, so I am considering whether the time I could get on my wife's Subie (she doesn't work at home) would be enough to hold me over to sanity. But as she often reminds me, that bus has already left the station.

ed · ‎10-01-2022

I had the '89 Turbo Trans Am 20th Anniversary Indy Pace car that used the Turbo V-6 with smaller heads to fit it between the F-body shock towers and was rated slightly above the GN at 250HP, but less than the GNX. It was the first production car to pace the Indy 500 with only safety modifications. Only 1,555 were made, and a nice one of those can be had for a song, relatively speaking.

ed · ‎07-01-2022

Roger that. My 1st car was a '68 Mustang. Now I have an '18 GT350R. I will take that over ANY 'muscle' Mustang, except maybe a Boss 429. (I can always hope someone that lives under a rock will want to sell theirs for original sticker.)

ed · ‎07-01-2022

Over $2M? It may excite someone's muscle car market, but not mine. And to be clear, I grew up with these cars, and I am probably included in the market segment that buys a lot of these cars. But I play in the low 6 figure market, and I buy cars I can drive without worrying about falling off the 'collectible' cliff. Heck, this is an automatic with no AC. How useful is that? Ever been stuck in a convertible when the humidity is high and it is about to rain, with no AC?

ed · ‎06-01-2022

Yes, I keep holding off buying now, expecting the market to crash as soon as I've burned through my cash. But the higher prices are bringing out some cars that have been stashed away, and the temptation is great.

ed · ‎14-12-2021

I'm in New England, going into my 21st winter. Some have been pretty brutal. I have never swapped out tires for the season. But I am a southern transplant, and I don't enjoy the winter sports, etc, so I don't go into mountain country when weather is a problem. We've had as much as 4 feet on the ground, but the streets are either plowed, or I stay home. They are prepared for this stuff here, and nobody even notices a snowfall of 6 inches or less, compared to my home of Atlanta, where simply the talk of an inch shuts down the city for a week. Most of my cars are stored during the winter. I would never drive one of those in the liberally-applied road salt. My new Jeep has all-terrain tires, but they haven't been put to a good test as yet.

ed · ‎14-12-2021

I will be interested in Harley's EV success. Where I live, the HD culture is loud. I'm not sure how that will evolve in the world of EV. Maybe very fast and quiet is just as good as kinda fast and loud. As a resident, quiet would be nice, but I don't think my hog brothers agree.

ed · ‎08-12-2021

This is only the beginning. The manufacturers' rush to EVs and the ever-more use of technology occurs far faster than the education needed to service it. My 10 year old AMG has 49 computers in it, simple by some of today's standards - no cross-traffic detection, collision avoidance, blind-spot monitoring, rear-view camera. Without the right tools and the right experience, repair is a guessing game. We've all heard the stories - they replaced this and this and this, and it still didn't fix the problem until they replaced/did THAT. And, if the vehicle is out of warranty, the car owner probably paid for this and this and this and THAT.

ed · ‎08-12-2021

Setting up that JDM Camaro as a pricey import in 20 years.

ed · ‎06-12-2021

Been fighting the mice for years. After $3,500 worth of damage to an AMG, I began trying different stuff. For me: - mothballs never worked, leave too much bad smell after taking them out, and under certain conditions may dissolve over the winter. - Irish Spring actually attracted the buggers. - Dryer sheets, specifically Bounce, work sometimes. - Peppermint oil works sometimes. - Fresh Cab, a mix of herbs and whatever, works sometimes. My current solution - a paper plate covered with a dryer sheet, a Fresh Cab bag, and a couple of cotton balls with peppermint oil. One plate under the hood if covered (open the hood if not covered), one on each row of seats, and one in the trunk. This combo appears to work for me here in NH. And the bonus is the car(s) smell nice in the springtime.

ed · ‎06-12-2021

If you periodically start you car during the winter, you should let it run until the exhaust is hot end to end. If the tailpipe is dripping water (condensation), it is not hot enough yet. If you stop too early, hot water vapor will condense in the cooler exhaust, and over time the exhaust will rust from the inside out. About 40 minutes does it for an average car. Alternatively, you can start and let run for 1 minute and then stop. This will get the engine lubricated while minimizing the condensation problem.

ed · ‎06-12-2021

I was at Road Atlanta in 1979 when Paul Newman won the C Production national championship in the Bob Sharpe 280ZX. He repeated in 1985 and 86 in a 300ZX in GT1. The Z has been racing for a long time.

ed · ‎29-11-2021

...and stop for a fill up and a cheeseburger and be on the road again in 20 minutes.

ed · ‎03-11-2021

Although I have put my deposit in for a new Z06, this is my main concern with the C8...that the engineering is far ahead of the support. Heck, when I took my C6 in for an oil change, the tech seemed puzzled with the dry sump. Imagine a new belt on a C8.

ed · ‎01-11-2021

My first truck was a 2001 Dakota quad cab. I loved that truck, drove it until the rust took over. Followed it with a couple of RAM 1500 quad cab hemis. They were OK, but my wife didn't like driving them like she liked that Dakota (too big).

ed · ‎21-10-2021

As the previous owner of a C6/LS7, and the current owner of a GT350R, I was pretty sure that the new Z06 would have the Mustang in its gunsights, at least for the on-paper bragging rights. The rest remains to be seen. Will the '3 pedals required' crowd relent?

ed · ‎16-10-2021

I've never seen the Accord commercial. The right-hand drive example may explain that.

ed · ‎28-09-2021

I put this one in the 'who cares' category.

ed · ‎22-09-2021

The dash, door to door.

ed · ‎22-09-2021

Front end looks like the rear end of a 54 Ford.

ed · ‎02-09-2021

"good castors aren’t cheap and cheap castors aren’t good". Indeed. I bought some castors from a big box home improvement center, and the brake was marked backwards. When you pressed 'unlock', it actually locked. My wife damaged our new kitchen floors, and the big box store ending up paying for the floor to be ripped up and redone. "keep the thing from not moving". Sort of an odd-ball double negative. What you really meant was "keep the thing from moving" or "ensure the thing does not move".

ed · ‎21-07-2021

I recently changed the cabin filter in an Acura, and another in a Mercedes. I now understand why this really isn't a user-maintenance item.

ed · ‎21-07-2021

One can only hope. I can't get past front end.

ed · ‎14-07-2021

I'm on my 5th SL. I don't want an Etch-a-Sketch in my next one.

ed · ‎29-06-2021

Imagine that...a day at the drag strip without the need for ear plugs.

ed · ‎16-06-2021

I bought an '86 Excel new and drove it for 125K miles. Cost less than $7K with manual, radio, and AC. Other than regular maintenance and tires, it cost me $300 in service during its time. Gave it to a charity in 1998.

ed · ‎21-05-2021

Personally, I never understood the whole rebadging psyche. I put the Holden grill on mine, ran it for about a month, then went back to the bowtie with a carbon fiber wrap. I found that the Nascar fans were far more curious about the SS than the Commodore.

ed · ‎17-05-2021

For me, what was at the top of my list changed over time. I lived through the muscle car era, and thought I would want something from then. But as I grew older and got spoiled with 500HP with AC and ABS and leather and -real- performance and a sound system that rattles the windows in the neighborhood, the idea of driving a 50 year old car that has no AC, no disc brakes, and an AM-FM radio with the optional speaker in the rear shelf really has very little appeal to me. A few years ago, I bought a 71 RS/SS 396 Camaro, but honestly I much prefer both the technology AND the performance of something more contemporary. I think it's the difference between liking to remember how it was and liking to drive on the edge today. I would never attempt to drive a 'muscle' car the way I drive my Acura or my Mercedes AMG or even my Jeep. Sure, I'd love to have a Leno collection, but I don't have the pocketbook nor the garage space for something that doesn't literally move me. P.S. my first car was a '68 Mustang 302 4-barrel.