A few weeks back, I was at a party where the host approached me with an acquaintance in tow. I was introduced as “Jay, the car guy I was telling you about.” My plan to remain anonymous and keep the bartender company had been thwarted. Luckily, this guy, let’s call him Tom, was about as nice as they come. Unfortunately for him, he started in on specifics and asked for my opinion.

Tom had a desire to find an original Read More

In our last episode of “Horsepower,” I warbled along to this essential point: New cars just don’t really do it for me.

Editor Pickering, my Instigator in Chief, responded with, “That was great! And now I have a new car coming for ya!” I think he likes to watch me squirm. Having already piloted a Hellcat-powered Charger down the West Coast and back on one of his trips to Pebble Beach, I think he figured some seat time in a Read More

The 1993 introduction of the fourth-gen Camaro rocked me right to the depths of my puny pre-teen core.

Really, it was just that one commercial — the one with the red Z/28 drifting sideways across wet asphalt in slow motion — that did it for me. Long, low, and packing 275 horsepower, the car came with a 6-speed manual transmission and a cup holder big enough to hold a Slurpee. The hook was deeply set.

The idea that Chevrolet was Read More