Half-life” (denoted in scientific equations as t½) is the principle typically used to measure how long radioactive decay takes to reduce something to half of its initial value. Scientists, of which I am certainly not one, seem to think t½ is constant. I, perhaps due to the previously mentioned lack of education in this realm, do not — at least not as it applies to old car parts. To me it seems like this half-life thing is accelerating at an Read More
Ijust bought a 1966 Chrysler New Yorker. Why? Pure, blind nostalgia.
I purchased my first “winter beater” when I was in high school. Yep, it was a 1966 New Yorker. Mine was a Town Sedan — the bottom-of-the-line 6-window, 4-door post car. It was your typical Midwestern Mopar, its white exterior under siege by rust, yet its bright red interior decidedly mint. But the real attraction was its 440-ci 4-barrel engine with 350 hp and 480 lb-ft of torque.
A few months ago, I wrote about my decision to sell one of the two 1965 Shelby GT350s I owned, also known as my Noah’s Ark problem, and tried to explain it as being more than a coin flip.
In the end, I kept the one I had a lot more history with: 5S249. As I wrote, I’ve owned it for 14 years and driven over 20,000 miles. I know every nut and bolt on the car.
I’m not the Read More
I’ve never had a decent garage.
That isn’t to say I haven’t had good shop space to keep cars in over the years, because I certainly have, but that is different. Of course I’m thankful for that ability, but I’ve always wanted a garage to keep cars in at home. Not just to easily grab something and go for a ride, but also the ability to wander out to a garage with a cup of Read More
I returned from Car Week in Monterey with a bad case of seller’s remorse. Why? Because I sold two cars I had never planned to sell.
First, a little background. I’ll admit I’ve always been a lot better at finding stuff I “have to have” then I’ve been at realizing I have stuff I should sell. That doesn’t mean I’ve never sold anything. Quite the contrary, as I’ve often sold one car to make room for a better or different Read More
I like to think I’m not getting old, but unless I stop looking in mirrors (and change my diet to 100% Ibuprofen), I can’t help but face the fact that I am. Along with that, I suppose, comes the responsibility to bitch about how much better it was in “the old days.”
Now, let me clarify, I’m not that old. But I did enter the collector car world in the mid-1980s, and if you Read More
All of us are guilty of it. We buy an old car or truck but secretly wish it didn’t perform like one. It is like adopting a stray pit bull and hoping it won’t bite your toddler, or drinking a case of beer and thinking you won’t have a hangover. But the truth is that vehicles of a certain age just aren’t ideal for today’s roads — or sometimes even today’s owners.
Take, for example, Read More