So you just bought a car at auction. You take it home, get it in your garage, and after owning it for a while, you decide it’s time to personalize it. The best way to change its look? A new set of wheels and tires.
There are thousands of wheel and tire combinations out there for buyers who want something different than OEM. But you really need to be careful, because the right rolling stock can take your car’s look Read More
Long drafting in the shadow of Corvette, Camaro, Mustang and Challenger — and now regrettably extinct — the Thunderbird was nonetheless Ford’s original post-war “sports car.” And at least until history passed it by, the T-bird forged a lasting presence in music and racing too.
Witness “Fun, Fun, Fun” by the Beach Boys (1964), Bob Seger’s “Makin’ Thunderbirds” (1982), Marc Cohn’s “Silver Thunderbird” (1991), and more recently, John Hiatt’s “Thunderbird” (2005). Sure, there have been some great Cobra, Corvette and Read More
Electronic fuel injection may be the wave of the future, but there’s nothing wrong with a properly tuned carburetor. The key is figuring out how to tune it.
Edelbrock carburetors have been a go-to for street-bound muscle cars and classics for several decades. The design itself goes back to the AFB carbs of the 1960s — a tried-and-true setup that offers plenty of adjustability while remaining reliably adjusted once set up. These things are everywhere — if your car isn’t Read More
Before my time as a magazine writer and editor, I spent my days fixing people’s cars. The small shop where I worked would fix just about anything, but my specialty was the old stuff — the cars our flat-rate auto technicians avoided. For me, as a young paid-by-the-hour car kid, it was great. I felt like all the classics and hot rods were mine.
Among these cars was a restored ’52 Chevy truck that perpetually 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
Acolleague once bought a rescue dog. It was a cute, bright-eyed thing that looked like a cross between an Australian cattle dog and a German bierwurst sausage. Unfortunately, this lovable mutt had numerous congenital problems, including seizures that required substantial doses of time and money to diagnose and treat. The good news is that with the right medication, the little guy is happy and healthy today.
This reminds me of what can happen when buying Read More
Chevrolet’s 1994–96 Chevrolet Impala SS created a performance following. This high-performance car built on a full-size 4-door platform generated an immediate cult following among those who wanted a potent LT-1 but needed the practicality of a sedan over a Camaro SS or Corvette. Today, the car’s status as a true collectible of the 1990s is cemented.
At Ford, there were occasional rumblings of a Police Interceptor for the masses to hit that 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
For me, Monterey Car Week started off with a bang. That bang was the sound of my brand-new Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, on loan from FCA for a review in ACC, getting punched in the rear bumper by a Honda CR-V in stop-and-go freeway traffic somewhere outside San Jose. I’d been in California for maybe an hour.
Nobody was hurt, and the damage was minor — just a few wrinkles in the Hellcat’s otherwise pristine purple bumper cover. The other Read More
Monterey Car Week is all about the high-dollar, high-profile, high-glamour cars. But for every multimillion-dollar Shelby Cobra, there has to be a vehicle sold on the opposite side of the spectrum. Here’s a look at the domestic car from each live auction venue that sold for the least amount of money. Being Monterey, there are no bad cars — just possible entrants for next year’s Concours D’LeMons.
Read More