Oh, hello. I didn’t notice you standing there, in the shadows. You’re quite patient, considering how long it’s been since I’ve come around. Perhaps you should take up a hobby. Anyway, as long as you’re here, please allow me to share a cautionary tale. It’s a simple story about what happens when you reach a… Continue reading One of these things is not like the other, but I forget which
Category: Cars
“That thang got a hemi?” – Pt. 2
Wherein I get a Bentley mixed up with a Chrysler…but, really, who hasn’t?
Two Things: Venom / Dogma
We’re deep into the Christmas shopping season and some of you have been asking for gift hints. This post is for you. And by “you,” I mean, of course, Warren Buffet or The Sultan of Brunei. Hennessey Venom GT Forget 0-60. That’s soooo 1960s. Forget 0-100. That’s for wannabes. The new gold standard for vehicular… Continue reading Two Things: Venom / Dogma
Lo Beem
My friend LouAnn took her BMW coupe to the car wash today, and after paying and waiting in line for an hour (car washes in Midland are really busy, since hand washing at home is now illegal), she was told that her car’s ground clearance was too low to go through. Being the good guy… Continue reading Lo Beem
Sliding Into Place
This is for anyone who’s ever struggled to parallel park, as if we needed yet another reason to feel inadequate. This attempt set the world record for tightest parallel parking (is there anything for which a world record can’t be established?), said record measured by the clearance between vehicles. This attempt was 26cm. However,… Continue reading Sliding Into Place
Truck Ad Promises to Adhere to Natural Laws
I realize that picking apart the logic of any television ad is like taking candy from a fish in a barrel, but GMC’s recent “I Vow” series touting its Sierra pickup line seems to push the envelope for damning with faint praise. Here’s my cogent analysis of what the commercial says vs. what it really… Continue reading Truck Ad Promises to Adhere to Natural Laws
Brain Wracking Rack
One of the challenges of owning a bicycle with a wheelbase of more than 9′ is transporting it. Conventional bike racks just don’t work. In the past, we’ve used a Thule roof rack system along with a Thule tandem carrier that I extended with a length of square tubing and a second welded-on “foot” for… Continue reading Brain Wracking Rack
Hey, does that thang have a first stage booster rocket?
I don’t know what possessed someone to do an in-depth comparison of the new Ram 3500 Heavy Duty pickup with a Delta IV Heavy rocket…but I like it! The truck actually compares very favorably with the rocket when it comes to payload, defined for the pickup as towing capacity (25,400 pounds) and for the rocket… Continue reading Hey, does that thang have a first stage booster rocket?
Too smart for my own good
When we bought our new truck in July (has it been that long ago?) I didn’t get an extended warranty, but I did spring for a prepaid “oil changes for life” plan. And I’m beginning to realize one of the downsides of failing to keep up with automotive technology. When I did the mental calculation… Continue reading Too smart for my own good
To All the Cars I’ve Known
Our recent purchase of a new vehicle represented a rare event in our lives. In our almost-40 years of marriage, we’ve owned relatively few cars. We tend to keep cars for a long time (if not for high mileage; our commutes have generally been short to non-existent). Anyway, I made a deal to sell the… Continue reading To All the Cars I’ve Known