I live in a small house with a one-car garage that’s nestled within the confines of a bustling city, but I dream of owning a giant shop someday.

My mechanical wares swamp my existing footprint to the extent that I’ve already overtaken one neighbor’s garage, and I’m working on the other neighbor now. I do the best I can with what I have, but something has to change.

When a friend recently asked me why, I realized the answer is a Read More

The crowd forming for our Friday afternoon flight was growing impatient. Families with small children, the elderly, and veterans had already disappeared down the jetway, and the rest of us began pushing forward with expectation. I looked down at my phone and checked the weather in Indianapolis again as Group A began boarding. “Not looking good for Sunday,” I heard someone say. “Yeah, might be in store for the first rainout since ’97,” another quipped. I almost checked another weather Read More

I shared a house with three friends during my last couple years of college. One day I managed to push one of them too far. Maybe I left my dishes in the sink or hadn’t mowed the grass when it was my turn. My friend, who liked to consider himself the house dad, decided it was his place to lecture me about whatever it was I hadn’t done.

I wasn’t the easiest 20-year-old on the planet to live with, but I Read More

I was invited to participate in ACC’s Buyer’s Symposium at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale sale this January, and I had such a great time last year that there was no way I was going to miss it. Editor Pickering recalled last year’s crew, which consisted of the two of us, Carl Bomstead, B. Mitchell Carlson and Sam Stockham. He also persuaded the legendary Ken Lingenfelter to join us as well.

When preparing myself for the trip, I found that although I Read More

One of the first questions I’m typically asked is which cars can be bought and sold quickly in order to turn a tasty profit. If the answer were straightforward and foolproof, I’d be writing this while floating in my private pool in downtown Margaritaville. Of course, I’m not.

The question I’m hardly ever asked, yet one that I ask myself constantly, is which cars can I buy and sell without losing money? Granted, the thought of not losing money certainly Read More

With the red rocky crags and metal-crunching monoliths fresh in my mind, I’d like to take a moment to talk about Moab.

This special place in Utah does everything it can to pulverize you, and the pulverized evidence of the place fills not only your ears and your eyes and your nose, but your soul, too. Moab is one of those few places on Earth that enchants with its harshness and implores with its desolation, which is why so many Read More

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

The Pacific Northwest isn’t exactly well known for being a hot-rod hot spot, but Portland International Raceway hosts what must be one of the best weekly cruise-ins in the country. From June to September, hundreds of classic and collectible cars converge at the racetrack every Wednesday evening for the Beaches Cruise-In (http://beachesrestaurantandbar.com/community/cruisin/) — a laid-back show-n-shine that takes place alongside PIR’s Wednesday night bracket racing.

On the last Wednesday of this past September, we Read More