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December 29, 2005

I am wrong

I have a confession to make. I drive faster than the posted speed limit. Shocking, I know. But it is true. It may be hard to believe that someone would willfully violate the law of the land, but I freely admit that I am an outlaw.

Are you smirking with self-righteous indignation at my transgressions? Are you furrowing your brow with concern for my wanton disregard for the health and safety of the rest of the general public? Before you condemn me, ask yourself if your hands are completely clean. I suppose that none of you have EVER driven faster than the posted limit. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

No stoning? Just as I thought, you are all equally guilty. We all drive faster than the posted limit SOMETIMES. Some of us do it more often; some of us exercise better judgment than others when making the decision to speed down a street, road or highway. But we all do it. Some of us (me in particular) will ridicule a driver for slavishly adhering to the speed limit when the speed of traffic would logically suggest that a driving a bit faster may be courteous to the driver's stacked behind the good citizen poking along at the legal speed.

"But Scott, you are such a pain in the ass about street racing. Isn't it hypocritical of you to be so vehemently against all forms of street racing, including the "safe" forms of street racing, and then admit that you are common speeder yourself?"

Any kind of driving is inherently dangerous, even when you are driving down a quiet suburban side street there is a chance that injury can occur when you least expect it. Racing raises the danger quotient by several factors. With as many safety precautions as we take in organized racing, there still is no form of completely "safe" racing. When you race on the street, even on a "completely deserted road with no other traffic," you are endangering yourself plus innocent bystanders. Frankly, there is no justification for racing on the street and I have no problem with Prosecutors who pursue the harshest punishment for convicted street racers.

Going a little faster than the posted limit is not racing; racing involves more than one vehicle. Making a choice to exceed the posted limit, the limit that has been deemed to be the safest maximum for that road, is a choice to violate the law. The degree of how incorrect that choice is can be rated by the amount that you exceed the posted speed limit. The faster you go, the more wrong you are.

But if loving my car by driving a bit too fast is wrong, then I never want to be right.

Posted by Scott at 1:19 PM | Comments (2)

December 27, 2005

Throttle linkage to the past.

When you step on that long skinny pedal on the right, what does that thing do and what do we call it? I know that we step on that to make the car go and we commonly refer to that pedal as the Gas Pedal. But how does it make the car go and is it really connected to the gas? Like knowing how microwave ovens work or why windows-based PC need to crash every couple of days, how the "Gas Pedal" makes the car move is generally a mystery to most drivers.

The Brake and Clutch pedal are easy to understand because they are really connected to the items they are named for. OK, you nitpickers could drag me over the coals for not disclaiming that the Brake and Clutch pedal in most modern street cars are actually attached to a hydraulic system that in turn activates the Brakes and Clutch. But when you step on "The Brakes" friction materiel will convert motion into heat and in turn stop the car. If you have a car with a Clutch Pedal, stepping on it will activate the clutch, which is mechanical connection between the engine's flywheel and the transmission.

Mash down on the Gas Pedal and the car goes. But what is the pedal physically attached to? In the days before fuel injection, the gas pedal was physically linked through the car's firewall to the carburetor by a Rube Goldberg system of levers and rods that pushed, pulled and rotated to make the butterflies flutter open (perhaps the most poetic operation in all of mechanical engineering) in the throat of the carb to allow air to flow into the carburetor. Also invited to this party in the carb is gasoline, which arrives from by fuel jets that deliver pressurized fuel from a small pump in the carb. The swirling action of air and fuel meeting in the carb stirs the mixture to an explosive combination that is then delivered to the cylinders via the intake manifold. The spark plugs ignite this brew, explosions occur in the cylinders, pistons are thrust up and down, the crankshaft spins, power is transmitted to the wheels and the car goes. So way back in the day, the Gas Pedal was actually attached to the Gas (which was actually metered and mixed with air by the carburetor.)

That old-fashioned connection between the gas Pedal and the Carburetor of a series of rods and levers was perfectly adequate as long as it stayed aligned and lubricated. But as time passes the well-oiled connections in the linkage would get sticky and normal engine and road vibration could put the carefully arranged pieces out of whack. It was not uncommon for throttle linkages to get stuck, sometimes at open throttle with disastrous results. As a legacy of those times, technical inspectors for amateur car racing make a point of inspecting the throttle linkage of competing cars to insure safe operation.

The first improvement to the Gas Pedal to Carburetor connection was the introduction of the throttle cable to replace the linkage. A simple braided wire cable was used to supplant all that tricky throttle linkage. The throttle cable simplified the manufacturing process and made life for home hobbyists some much easier. One of my earliest memories was watching my Dad spread out the various linkage bits from a new four-barrel carburetor on the kitchen table so he could re-engineer it to work with the car he was trying to modify. If the throttle cable had been an available option to him the process would have taken minute rather than hours.

The Gas pedal stopped being attached to the fuel system when the electronic fuel injection system became common on modern automobiles. The Gas Pedal in the car's cabin was still attached to the engine compartment by a wire cable, but stepping on that pedal did not DIRECTLY (a special qualifier) induce more gas to enter the fuel mix. Stepping on "the gas" only opened a valve that allowed more air to enter the intake manifold. "Give her more gas": in fact became "Give her more air" The clever electronic fuel injection can sense the extra air entering the system and in turn order the fuel injection nozzles to squirt high pressure sprays of gas which atomizes and create a nearly perfect air/fuel mixture. The great leaps forward in fuel economy, performance and environmental protection that modern cars enjoy is largely due to advancements in fuel injection and precision ignition control that modern automobiles have enjoyed for the last 20 years.

The latest development in the "Gas Pedal" completely breaks the direct connection between the thingy down on the floor and the engine compartment. The very latest cars use a technology that was pioneered by NASA for the Apollo Program, refined in fighter jets and eventually trickled down to consumer use in our cars. Called Fly-by-Wire, the gas pedal no longer uses a wire cable or linkage to control the engine; instead a data stream is created by a sensor at the gas pedal that is sent to a central processor that evaluates a huge number of variables to sent a data message to the engine management system to add just the right amount of air and fuel to be mixed for the engine's needs. Pressing down on the "gas" is really just sending a signal to a computer that can be located anywhere in the car (usually hidden in the passenger compartment) and so that old-fashioned direct physical connection between the Gas Pedal and the Engine is completely broken.

Military Aircraft Manufactures are working hard to create a telepathic link between pilot and plane; a person would only have to think of the command and the aircraft will respond without any kind of physical input from a human. Eventually this technology could trickle down to consumer terrestrial vehicles. But hopefully the software will include a buffer to filter out random thoughts of road rage during commuting hours.

Posted by Scott at 9:12 AM | Comments (0)

December 24, 2005

Season's Greetings to everyone

My tradition is to compose a rhyming verse for the CRX community this time of year. This is this year's version:

'Twas the night before CRX-mas and all through the 'hood,
Not a creature was stirring, the bad and the good.

Away in their garage, carport or parking spot,
The Hondas were dry and secure, no chance of rust's rot.

Dreaming of a visit from an old jolly elf,
And of winning trophies to put on the shelf.

When from out of my sleep, a noise I did hear,
Someone was in the house, messing with my stuff, I did fear.

Out of bed and down the hall I did creep,
Getting the shotgun, and not making a peep.

Peering around the corner, who did I spy?
Some fat sweaty bastard, a red suited-guy.

Pointing my blaster, I told him to freeze.
And to put down my stuff, but move slowly if you please.

"You've got it wrong, I bring presents, I'm not here to loot
I am a good guy, I bring cheer, so please do not shoot."

Not wearing my glasses, I had to look twice.
Because his face looked familiar, he seemed kind of nice.

"Normally I work as a greeter at the Wal-Mart down the block,
I got a second job working for Santa, I got debt and I'm in deep hock."

"Santa would like to have been here, to travel his usual course.
But to save money and lower his costs, he used labor from an out-source."

"I've brought presents for the Car Guy in the family.
Parts that will bring performance, as you can clearly see."

My eyes lit up, at the sight of what he brought
The entire list of parts, stuff that I have so long sought.

With delight he described stuff that his sack did hold,
Although his voice was a bit rough, I think he was catching a cold.

"Sticky tires, light wheels and brand new bushings,
Because all cars, on the track or the road, can use those things."

"A turbo, NOS and a super charger
For those who need to go even harder."

But as he continued I thought I saw him nearly cry,
For the next thing phrase he said, he said with a sigh.

"For Ricers and Poseurs it is always hard to find stuff,
Because wings, stripes and stickers are never enough."

And so it was time for him to continue his rounds
He slipped out of the house, without making a sound.

And into his ride, a funky old car
I was not sure it would take him very far.

He fired it up and I could hear that it was actually a keeper
It was fixed up under the hood, the car was deceptively a sleeper.

So away he did drive, around the corner and out of sight
As he left I heard him say, "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night."

Posted by Scott at 2:59 PM | Comments (4)

More on kit cars

My recent postings about building a kit car apparently struck a nerve with a lot of readers because that has generated a lot of private email and comments on this site. Of the responses I have received, most of them are of the, "Gee, I always wanted to do that," variety. Others have been helpful with suggestions about donor car for major parts.

I have to admit that I have not done much research on currently offered kits before I wrote that posting, the last time I looked into building one was more than a few years ago. At that time, Lotus Seven kits came from England and used European-market engines and transmissions.

Regular reader Dave Darling wrote to tell me:

"There are a whole lot of (Lotus) Seven replica kits around. Grassroots Motorsports magazine (or their sister pub, Classic Motorsports, I forget which one) did a comparo of a half-dozen or so of them earlier this year. They even threw a real vintage Lotus 7 for grins."

I did some research and discovered that there are at least two kit car companies in the United States that offer a Lotus Seven clone. One is based upon General Motors S-10 pick-up truck mechanicals and features a pushrod V-6 engine. The other is based upon the guts of the Mazda Miata and its DOHC four banger. Both kits seem to be reasonably well engineered. And it is possible to coax a lot of power of either the GM V-6 or the Mazda I-4 with commonly available after market parts.

All of this new information changes my attitude toward the Lotus clone kits. I had previously said that I was leaning toward the Cobra kit from Factory Five, which has been demonstrated to be reasonably easy to put together and results in a fairly close interpretation of the original cobra with some cleaver modern revisions. The Cobra evokes a visceral reaction from most observers; it fairly bulges with muscles and suggests that it could deliver a brutal beating on unsuspecting drivers who do not respect its power potential.

More importantly, like a duckling that imprints upon the first creature it encounters out of the nest, the Ford-powered Cobra grabbed my imagination at and early age and sparked my first interest all things automotive as a child. I was born to be a Ford fan; the family cars were all Fords, Grandpa drove a Ford, the new Ford Mustang was wowing the country and Ford-powered Cobras were kicking Ferrari hinny on the sports car circuits of the world. The ultimate achievement in Ford-dom was the sexy Cobra roadster hand built by Carroll Shelby's company in relatively primitive conditions in Los Angeles.

But there was another facet to my Ford fascination; there is a English tinge to all of this. Dear old Dad and all of his family were born in England. The Cobra was only Ford-powered; the body came from the AC car company of England. And the Beatles were raising America's consciousness of all things happening with our cousins over the sea.

Over in England another small time car builder and racer was tinkering with Ford power in a factory that was little more than a glorified barn. Colin Chapman's Lotus Motor Car Company was turning out clever little racecars, sporty roadsters and built-it-at home kits that used a variety of sturdy Ford four-cylinder engines. Most important of all, Chapman's Lotus racecars were using Ford power to dominate racing at the Indy 500 and Europe's Formula at the same time. The closest a consumer could come to driving an open wheeled Lotus was to build a Lotus Seven roadster from a kit. So while the "American" Cobra was the ultimate in my boyhood consciousness, the Lotus Seven from England was certainly on my mind.

So knowing that the Lotus Seven kit is equally available as the Cobra kit I have to reconsider my previous decision to lean toward the Cobra. From an assembly point of view, the more basic Seven is an easier to construct and the smaller size of components makes it easier for a lone workman to muscle the parts into place. And size would be a big factor for me because I have limited floor space in my suburban garage to assemble the kit.

Secondary considerations would be that the Seven would be easier for my lead-footed fiancee to drive, as she is a petite lady. The racing clutch on my 1.5 litre Honda is challenging enough for her; the clutch on a five-litre Cobra engine would probably beyond her comfort level. And it would not be fair to her if she were physically excluded from driving the new toy car in the garage. And the Seven kits and all the parts needed to complete the car are a lot cheaper than the corresponding Cobra kits. It is possible to drive a complete Seven kit car out of your garage for less than ten thousand dollars. Ten thousand dollars barely buys you the kit for a Cobra and realistically needs nearly twice that much money to put it in driving trim.

At this point I am a long ways from making a final decision about building a kit car. I have not mentioned that I have a bunch of other important life events coming up in the next year or so, including purchasing a new home, getting married and sending my oldest off to college. All of these considerations will be factored into the decision process and I will be sure to share that process with all of you.

But if you had to choose between a Cobra and a Seven, which would you build?

Posted by Scott at 2:58 PM | Comments (3)

December 21, 2005

A family outing to the junkyard

My lovely fiancée insisted that I take her to the junkyard. So what is a gentleman to do? I took her to the junkyard. Her 16 year-old son, who needs some parts for his 1978 Z28 Camaro, and I were going and so it seemed natural to her that she tag along. My fiancée's 19 year-old daughter thought that she might be missing an adventure, so she came along also. And when my fiancée's brother heard that we were going to the junkyard he jumped on board as well. In total there were five of us packed into the sedan for a family trip to the junkyard.

The junkyard in question is the local “pick ‘n pull” an automotive recycling facility that, for a nominal fee, allows members of the general public to wander through rows and rows of wrecked cars and pull the parts that they need to repair their cars. The common image of the junkyard is towering piles of hulks stacked five or six deep in a random piles, but the pick and pull yards are relatively tidy rows of individual cars up on blocks, segregated by company of origin. The Fords and their kin (the Lincolns and Mercurys) are in one section, all examples of Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge are in another and anything that came from General Motors is in another grouping. All cars made overseas are lumped into the “Foreign” banner so you have Hondas, beside Toyotas, beside Nissan with a healthy seasoning of European makes as well.

The original intent of the trip to the junkyard was for my 16 year-old son and me plus my soon-to-be-stepson, who is the 16 year-old keeper of the Camaro, to rummage around the junkyard to find a few parts for our cars. A bit of practical shopping with some male bonding thrown in. The plan was to do the modern equivalent of the hunter gathering foraging activities our ancestors enjoyed on the Serengeti Plain eons ago but in a contemporary urban setting. Afterwards we would emulate the feast of freshly killed meat that the ancients enjoyed after their hunt. In our case, we planned to stop for hamburgers at a favorite ‘burger pit on the way home.

Coordinating schedules for the three of us is always a challenge and we keep making and canceling the date for the three of us to go to the junkyard. The winter holiday break came and my son is off on a long anticipated trip. But the young man with the Camaro had an urgent need for so Camaro parts and so we decide to go as a duo. But once the date was set and we were figuratively on the way out the door, the Camaro driver’s Mom (and my fiancée) asked to join the expedition. “Honey,” I said, “it is just a dirty old junkyard.” “But I have heard you talk about it and I have read your posts about how much fun you have at the junkyard so I want to see for myself, “ my lovely intended replied.

At this point the trip to the junkyard stopped being about male bonding and more about family togetherness. The Camaro driver's sister, a 19 year-old Animal Behavior major, joined the party. Gammon cute and precious in her BoHo fashion, she felt that the opportunity to see Gear Head Rex in his natural setting was too good an opportunity to pass up. And to round out the party at the junkyard, my fiancée’s brother joined in to find a replacement for a busted taillight on his daily driver.

Before we left the house I had to give a few pointers about attire for the junkyard. In particular the ladies needed to trade their stylish footwear for more practical shoes and I cautioned that a flowing hippie-chick skirt would not peacefully coexist with ragged, rusty sheet metal. The shoes got changed but the skirt stayed on the Animal Behaviorist and so we were off for the junkyard.

Not to say that my fiancée and her family have led a sheltered life, but I think they were surprised to discover a section of town that contained junkyards, industrial warehouses and low-cost housing. They observed the new terrain as if visiting a foreign country.

Once we arrived and entered the junkyard itself the ladies were overwhelmed by the acres of junked cars before them. To them, all the hulks looked the same. But to the Camaro driver and I the individual models were obvious. We soon scouted out the parts we needed and lifted them from the hulks. My fiancée’s brother wandered the foreign section looking in vain for a car similar to his to yield a tail light. He soon learned that there is no guarantees of finding the exact part you seek; he got skunked on this trip.

The Animal Behaviorist was bemused to discover the materiel possessions left behind in the cars now in the junkyard. She recreated whole life and lifestyles based upon the children’s toys, articles of clothing and empty cassette cases scattered across the floor of the cars in the lot. She found a lovely wool scarf in one car and declared that her trip to the junkyard was a success in spite of catching her skirt on a snag and putting a small tear in the fabric.

My fiancée daintily walked amongst the cars and took vicarious pleasure in the success her son had in finding the parts he needed. She came to recognize the cars as individuals and helped to scout out potential parts donors.

As the setting sun began to dip below the horizon, we gathered our junkyard treasures and checked out at the cashier’s window. For less than $40 (including admission) we carted off parts that would be several times more expensive if bought from the local parts store of dealer’s part’s counter.

And we celebrated the successful hunt by feasting. But rather than the roasted meat I had originally planned to share with the two young male hunter-gatherers, I ended up eating a vegetarian dinner of falafel, pita bread and eggplant with the Animal Behaviorist and her mother.

Posted by Scott at 9:02 AM | Comments (1)

December 20, 2005

Romance tips from the At Home Mechanic

Call me a romantic fool but I believe in taking my special lady out and showing her a good time. Just as we used to go on dates when we first met, we like to keep the romantic spark alive by treating ourselves to a special night out at least once a week. Dinner and a movie are our typical evening out, but we like to mix it up by socializing with friends, hunting for bargains at the antique fair or just strolling through the local mall. But I like to reserve a particular spot for one of those “special occasions.”

Nothing says, “I love you” quite like a trip to… the junkyard. Imagine if you will, walking hand in hand past the rusting hulks, pausing to pick through cast off parts, lingering over a promising wreck that may yield that Master Cylinder that you both had hoped to find. It chokes me up just to think of the fine time we could have sharing tools while stripping parts from derelict cars. Good times, good times.

Or maybe sharing a day of behind the wheel racing at the local track is the way to build a strong relationship. Bonding as a couple is assured when you walk the track together, discussing apex points, braking thresholds and course strategy. It takes a strong man to admit that his ladylove is faster and smoother through the double apex and negative camber turns. But think how much stronger your relationship will be when you surrender your ego and love without reservations.

And think of the happy times you and your sweetie can share in the garage under the hood together. “Honey, could you hand me that 10 millimeter socket?” “Sure dear. Do you want a short or a deep socket? And do you want it in half-inch or three-eights?” “Three-eights in a shorty will do Sugar Pie.” I bet all you hopeless romantics are wishing that you and your significant other could communicate so well.

I know it is unrealistic to expect your girlfriend/wife/occasional bedmate to share all of your enthusiasm for all things car-related in the same manner as the average Gear Head. But every once is a great while a fellow gets lucky and finds a woman who has at least an open mind when it comes to our car hobby. As long as you do not abuse that special quality (“Dear, do we have to go to the drag races again this weekend?”) and mix in a few chick flicks for date night you should be able to keep the romance alive.

As for me? Well, I have shared a racecar with my fiancée. And she is insisting that I take her to the junkyard today when her son and I look for some Camaro parts for his ’78 Z28. My Love is a good sport and is willing to give every new experience a chance so I expect that she will approach this as a learning opportunity. But I bet it would be delusional of me to think that she will make a second trip to the junkyard anytime in the future.

Posted by Scott at 9:39 AM | Comments (1)

December 13, 2005

Daydream'n 'bout cars

It is a slow day in the office and my mind starts to wander. Besides the topics that I cannot mention on a family web site like this one, I tend to daydream about cars. Cars that I have a realistic chance of owning. Cars I could own if feeding, clothing and educating my children were not important to me. And cars that would require matching six lucky numbers for me to own.

Owning a dream car would always be nice. But it seems to me that the act of purchasing that car and then driving it home would be only satisfying for the moment. A relatively brief feeling of Sisyphean pleasure would wash over me and then I would need to go find some other consumer satisfaction fix to keep my automotive Jones alive.

What is the alternative to the transitory pleasure of buying your dream car? Perhaps building your own dream car would be more satisfying. The process could take months or even years depending upon the level of sophistication of the car and the ability of the owner/builder. Certainly it could become a long-term process that has no definitive "end" but rather a never-ending journey of discovery. Sometimes the goal is not the destination but rather the passage to that destination is experience that one should seek.

All this philosophical claptrap leads back to a dream car that I could realistically own. And because I enjoy the process of improving existing cars yet seek a greater challenge, I am aiming toward building my own car from the ground up. It certainly will not be a transitory pleasure to build my own car; allotting only a few hours per week of my available discretionary time to the project could stretch out the completion date to some point years into the future.

If I am dreaming, let me dream big. And by big I mean a small power to weight ratio. If the typical econobox sedan weighs about 3,000 pounds and has an engine that makes about 120 horsepower, then that car has a power to weight ratio of 25:1. The new for 2006 Civic Si has 200hp in that same 3k lbs. package for a power to weight ratio of 15:1 and that is considered a snappy performer. And for comparison sake, a 3400 lbs Corvette Z06 with 500 ponies kicking under the hood has a power to weight ratio of 6.8:1 which puts that street car in the range of some race cars.

For my purposes, a power to weight ratio of 10:1 is good goal to shoot for. And I would like my dream car to have no more than 2,800 pounds of bulk to haul around (Colin Chapman's first law of automobile design: Add Lightness) so I only need 280hp to get the desired result.

The basis of any car is the engine/transmission combination and for my dream car I want to use the horizontally opposed flat-four turbo engine of the Subaru WRX. Coming from the factory with nearly 250hp, it is fairly easy to coax as much as 300hp from that engine. But rather than putting the engine in the front and driving all four wheels as the Subie normally does, I would put the engine in the middle, drive only the rear wheels and eliminate the transfer case, drive shaft and associated gear needed for Four Wheel Drive. If I had the resources of carbon fiber fabrication, I would whip up a fantastic plastic monocoque for the car's frame, but realistically I would have to settle for a triangulated tube frame construction. Two seats, down force-creating ground force body panels, double wishbone suspension and not much else.

But the truth of the matter is that I do not have the fabricating skills or tools to build that car. Within the walls of my 20' by 20' suburban garage I have the room to modify an existing car or maybe build a kit car. My current hobby car, a 1987 Honda CRX has been an exercise in car modification so I have Been There, Done That. Not that there is anything wrong with modifying an existing car, I have been doing that as a hobby for nearly 35 years. The next step up will be a kit car.

The term "kit car" has a lot of negative connotations, frankly there are a lot of schlocky kits being sold to an unsuspecting public. My earliest recollection of kit cars was the Fiberglas bodies slipped over VW platforms to create a hideous approximation of the Ford GT40. The best use of the resulting mess was the highlight of George Lucas' first feature film THX1138 in which a pair of them was smashed to smithereens.

I have always ha a romantic perception of open topped cars; the wind in my hair (what is left of it) the roar of the engine in my ears, the song of the tires on the road. I know that a roadster (a small two seat sports car with a canvas top that can only suggest weather protection) is not practical. That wind in your face is either blazing hot or bone chilling cold so the number of days that you can realistically use a roadster without a top is severely limited. But as we discussed earlier regarding the Zen concept that the journey to the goal may be more important than the destination, so in this case the construction of the car is more important than the actual use.

I am evaluating three very different kit cars that share the two-seat, roadster design. At the bottom end fop the spectrum is a kit that uses the frame, suspension, engine and brakes from an air-cooled VW Bug. There are quite a few manufacturers that sell kits based on the venerable People's Car and the variety of body styles that a kit builder can use is impressive. Of the open topped VW kits, the classic dune buggy, the "bathtub" Porsche from the 1950's and the 1950's Porsche Spyder racer replica are the most attractive to me. The down side is that the VW frame used is not particularly rigid, and the air-cooled engine may not be able to generate the necessary power to achieve the target of a power to weight ratio of 10:1.

The next step up would be a Caterham 7 kit. Imagine a classic English roadster, maybe looking something like an overgrown roller-skate, from the 1950's with bicycle fenders over the tires and a tight little cockpit and you will have the Caterham 7 in your mind. Based upon a design by Lotus' Colin Chapman, the Caterham 7 is a smile producer for drivers and for passers by. But the body kit is pricey because it has to be shipped from England and the mechanical bits that power the car are not as easy to find in the US as they are in old Blighty. So this kit is not as attractive as it could be.

The ultimate choice is a bit of a cliche these days. The very symbol of aging Baby Boomer nostalgia for an icon on our youth. You know it; you love it, the 1960's Shelby Cobra. The original Cobra was a hand-built confluence of English roadster technology with a huge honking American V8 shoehorned into it. There was nothing subtle about the Cobra; it was as defiant as the turbulent times that spawned it. Working on a tiny budget, Carroll Shelby created a production car that humbled the Corvette and the Ferrari. Every schoolboy wanted one then and every middle-aged grey beard wants one now.

There are a number of kit car companies that make a Cobra-clone and it is even possible to get a newly built Cobra from the descendent Shelby Car Company. Outside of time, space and a modest amount of money, all of the Cobra kits require a late 80's to early 90's Mustang to build a dream car. And the Cobra kits can easily achieve the desired 10:1 (or much better) power to weight ration of my dream car.

Daydreams are fun, reality is tough. It would take a major commitment of time and energy to build a kit car and continue to have a life beyond my garage. I will continue to ruminate upon this decision and of course I will keep you readers up to date on my progress.

Posted by Scott at 8:00 PM | Comments (3)

December 11, 2005

Subaru

Until recently I have never been much of a Subaru fan. My initial impression of Subaru was not very good. I remember when they began imported their weird little cars to America back in the early 1970’s. The Subaru Company was the bastard child of Fuji Heavy Industries (maker of industrial machinery) and Datsun (before they changed their name to Nissan) who united to create another automobile brand and to gain some front wheel drive experience for Datsun before they put their good name on a front driver. Sadly, Datsun did not wait long enough before introducing their first Front Wheel Drive model, the F10, which was lamented by the car magazines of the era as being a Datsun product development project that was subsidized by the consumer public.

When Subaru was introduced to the American market “Made in Japan” was still a pejorative label so skepticism was high. Compounding that disadvantage was Subaru’s exclusive use of Front Wheel Drive which was a novelty rather than the rule of the current auto industry. Open the hood and you found a horizontally opposed four banger, familiar to VW, Porsche and Aviation mechanics but exotic to most Americans. And the topper was that this collection of mechanical oddities was packaged in some of the ugliest cars to grace the roads of America.

Fate was kind to Subaru, the gas crisis years of the late 1970’s created a demand for all fuel efficient vehicles and they were able to sell even their monstrosities because they could squeeze a few extra miles per gallon of gas. Looking to market their car’s being just more than being merely good on gas, Subaru seized upon their front wheel drive advantage in low traction situations to target the snow states for emphasis. Adding a transfer case and rear wheel drive to assist the driving front axles, Subaru became a low-cost alternative to pricier all wheel drive cars that continued to gain popularity amongst the gravel and steeply sloped driveway market.

Subaru tried to move up market with a 6-cylinder model that failed to ignite any market attention. That engine’s opposed cylinder design aped much more expensive aircraft engines and a whole cottage industry emerged converting the 6 cylinder Subaru engines for use in home built aircraft. The rear axle assembly of the four-wheel drive Subaru’s borrowed the design of the independent rear axle used in the Datsun 510 and 240Z. Datsun enthusiasts are still combing junkyards searching for Subaru rear axles with the highly coveted Limited Slip Differential to bolt directly into their cars with no modifications necessary.

Subaru has worked hard to build a rugged reliable car that could withstand the rigors and hazards found on Third World roadways. Their sedans and station wagons are still not beauty queens but they are acceptably bland enough to blend into traffic without garnering any attention for homeliness.

Conventional wisdom in the auto industry is that “Racing improves the breed” and “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday” are keys to expanding market share. About ten years ago Subaru targeted the World Rally Championship (WRC) as the best place to race their sturdy cars in an international arena. Adding turbo power to four-wheel drive, the Subaru Rally team has had huge success racing on what would not pass for a rutted logging trail in the US but serve as major highways in the infrastructure-challenged portions of the world. Capitalizing on their unpaved road racing success, Subaru now sells the popular “WRX” (partially using the initials for the World Rally Championship so that consumers know where the model has had racing success) version of their small coupe, sedan and station wagons which packs over 200 horse-power of turbo power with the stick of four wheel drive in a package that sells for less than $30,000. In congruously, the sedate Subaru product line of granola hauling station wagons for the tweed and flannel set is now bipolar with a set of fire breathing hot rods for the generation that had its car consciousness raised by the Fast and Furious movies.

Today Subaru represents the best value in the entry-level performance segment of the car market; the WRX model is the high performance flag bearer for the Subaru product line and can be had from the factory with every boy racer item including flashy wheels, racing style seats, and a huge rear wing hovering over the trunk lid.

Subaru is offering a new model this year that is an exciting development in new car marketing and it represents a trend that I hope will spread throughout the entire automobile industry. Long ago in the 1960’s, it was possible to special order a stripped down compact or mid-sized car with the top-of-the-product-line power train springs and brakes for competitive purposes. Today Subaru has revived that choice for buyers by offering the modestly equipped TR version of the WRC that begs owners to modify it

“TR” stands for Tuner Ready and implies that the owner will customize (or “tune” in the parlance of the sport compact car culture) to his or her specific taste. The TR comes with a very plain interior, standard wheels, low-grade sound system and no exterior wings, stripes or stickers. But what it does have is the highest performance version of the Subaru turbo engine, suspension, and brakes in a plain brown wrapper. In effect, the TR is a blank canvas that allows the weekend enthusiast to build his WRX into a reflection of his own tastes.

Subaru has matured from the experimental arm of Datsun offering quirky oddities, to being a respected maker of solid family haulers that can brave an unplowed snowy suburban side street. But to a new generation of auto sport enthusiasts, Subaru is now the purveyor of pure pavement performance.

Posted by Scott at 9:09 PM | Comments (3)

December 9, 2005

Thinking of leasing a car?

Buy or lease a car? A lease will get you into a car cheaper than a purchase and the payments for a lease can be cheaper than a purchase. But is a lease always a better idea? The answer is: It depends.

A purchase is pretty straightforward; you and the dealer agree to a price, you either pony up the cash for the full purchase price or you finance the purchase with some sort of loan. Once the car is purchased for cash or the loan has been paid off, you own it. Or rather you own the residual value of the car known as equity. Because as we all know, a new car loses about 30% of its value as it leaves the dealer’s lot. And cars continue to lose value as time moves on. In EXTREMELY rare circumstances a car can actually appreciate in value, but this only occurs in the world of hand built Ferraris or similar limited production cars. This is such a rare and unusual event that we can safely assume that this will never happen to a car that the average guy can afford.

Yes some old and rare cars can appreciate as time passes. Old cars can evoke strong emotions in people with more disposable income than brains. Back during the Dot Com boom of the late 1990’s, with money flowing like water on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, collector car prices went through the roof as the newly wealthy geeks and traders sought to buy up the dream cars of their youth. But as the Internet bubble burst, the demand for and prices of specialty cars declined. The current bubble in Real Estate prices fueled by relatively low interest rates has put a lot of money back into the pocket of car collectors who feel that it is never too late to have a happy childhood. But unless you are willing to buy a Corvette Z06 and then never drive it for 20-30 years, a new car purchase is doomed to be a net money loser for you. That loss of money is also known as depreciation and that is a standard feature on every new car sold around the world. Even if your purchased car loses 90% of its purchase price over the time you own the car, you still own the 10% residual value of the car… and you get to keep the car.

A car lease is not a car purchase. But it is not a mere rental either. With a lease you lay out little or no money to start the agreement and your payments can be far less than a loan payment. That sounds pretty good, but what is the catch? The catch is that at the end of the lease you have no equity in the car you have been paying to use. And you have to give the car back

So is a lease a glorified rental agreement? No, because with a lease you are buying something, but it is not a very tangible commodity. A lease is actually the purchase of the depreciation of the car you have been using. The more your car depreciates the greater your lease payments will be. If you have the opportunity to lease a $30,000 Mercedes or a $30,000 Chrysler, it can be reliably predicted that the Mercedes will lose less of its value during the length of the lease and the lease payments will be lower on the German car. And the leasing company wants you to return their car in good condition so a lease comes with come clauses that stiffly penalizes excess mileage and less than adequate maintenance. So you get to use the car, but you better not drive it too far and you had better keep up with all the repairs or the leasing company can charge you a lot of extra money when you turn in the car at the end of the lease.

The big advantage of a lease is that self-employed people and people who use their car for business can usually deduct the cost of a lease from their income tax. Those same people can usually deduct the purchase of a car also, but the purchase price will be amortized over a depreciation schedule set by the Federal Government. Us folks who punch a clock at the behest of an employer are hard presses to find a legitimate way to deduct the cost of a lease and there is no deduction on the interest on a car loan any more (Ronald Reagan’s administration lowered the tax rates for most Americans but also reduced the number of expenses that could be deducted, including the interest on any kind of loan). The tax dodge for most home owning tax payers is to refinance their home and use any resulting cash to buy a car while deducting the new home loan interest.

The most reliable financial “smart move” in automobile ownership is to allow someone else to absorb the first year depreciation hit of a new car by buying a 1 or 2 year old used car that holds its value well like a Mercedes. Drive that slightly used car for a year or so and then sell it for nearly what you paid for it. You have the advantage of driving a different car every year and avoid the financial pitfalls of new car depreciation and the lease company’s restrictive clauses.

Posted by Scott at 1:17 PM | Comments (6)

December 7, 2005

Freedom of choice

"Back in the old days..." If your current age is younger than the average life experience of the cast of "The OC" you really must hate to hear us old folks use that phrase. "Get with the times old man, your era ended when the dinosaurs last roamed the earth," my children are fond of telling me. Well abuse me if you must, but there were some good times back in the old days.

No, the cars were not better back in the old days. Today's cars are environmentally cleaner, far safer, more fuel efficient and generally faster than anything you could buy back in the classic Muscle Car era of the late 1960's and early 1970's. And today's cars are lightyears ahead of the smog-choked monstrosities that were foisted upon the American Public during the Energy Crisis of the 70's and 80's. But way back in the day there was one fun feature of buying a new car that has largely disappeared in the modern automotive era, the long list of options that could be ordered from the factory 30 years ago.

In today's car buying environment the consumer has a fairly short list of choices once he gets inside the dealer's show room. As an example, let's examine the purchase of a mythical car that represents how most cars are sold in America these days:

If you want to buy a World Wide Wicket Belchfire, you will find that it comes in three levels of trim. The cheapest version of the Belchfire is what we used to call the "stripper model" because it does not have all the nice features and chrome trim of the next level up. Generally this lowly model is reserved for government fleet sales and rental car duty. The middle model of the Belchfire is the version mostly likely to be bought by the average consumer. It costs a bit more than the stripper, but it has a nicer stereo, plusher fabrics on the seats and shinier hubcaps. And at the peak of the Belchfire food chain is the luxo-version with a sunroof, leather seats, a bigger engine and four-wheel disk brakes.

The dealer will be happy to sell you chrome wheels, floor mats and other revenue enhancers from the showroom floor, but the basic list of choices when buying a new car today are stripper, basic and luxo. The manufacturers limit your choices not to prevent buyer information overload, but to simplify their supply and construction streams. It is far more efficient for the factory to crank out only a couple of versions of the same model than to try and customize a dazzling variety of features for every car sold. And if the factory can get all the consumers who want a sunroof to also buy the bigger engine model with the fancy stereo, etc. etc. the profit margin increases with every extra feature packaged onto the model with the sunroof.

But back in the old days (there is that phrase again) it was not so simple. When Mr. And Mrs. American Car Buyer found themselves in the dealer showroom circa 1967 they were given a very long menu of option choices they could select to create the car of their dreams. Interior and exterior trim options were only the beginning of the list, manufacturers allowed you to match as many as five different engine choices with multiple choices for rear axle, brake styles (Manual or power assisted, front disk or drums, heavy duty or standard and so on) and carburetors (single barrel, two barrel, four barrel or multiple carb setup) were available by checking off a box on the option list. At one point it was possible to order certain General Motors cars in ten thousand different variations by mixing and matching various option choices that could be custom ordered from the factory. Today, Muscle Cars from the classic era have a greater value to collectors if the original build sheet, list from the factory detailing every option ordered at purchase, is included in the car's documentation.

Consumers loved the choices but the factory eventually grew weary of stocking so many potential part combination and the dealers preferred to sell an existing car off in their inventory rather than taking a customer order and waiting 6-8 weeks for delivery and final payment from the buyer. American auto manufacturers believed that they needed to offer consumers a wide range of choices, but it was the success of the Japanese cars during the gas crisis years that proved that Americans were willing to buy a car with limited optional choices.

The long list of optional choices for consumers is not completely a thing of the past, the high-end German manufacturers are still willing to special order a car to a buyer's exacting expectations. They will even invite the buyer to come to the German factory to witness their car's construction and take delivery as it rolls off the production line. Porsche has a particularly impressive list of options available for order; maybe the most entertaining reading for a gear head is to imagine the possibilities that can be selected from the Stuttgart factory.

The next time you consider buying a new car know that you are getting a much better car than your father could have bought back in the day. But dear old dad had a lot more choice when he visited the dealership.

Posted by Scott at 6:58 AM | Comments (1)

December 4, 2005

Do you like your car?

Why do you like your car? You do like your car, don't you? If you don't like your car why are you still driving it? What compelled you to buy the car you are driving now? Was it a good price? Was the financing attractive? Does it have a flashy paint job, big wheels or a cool entertainment system? Is your car a fashion statement or a lifestyle statement? Do you care what other people think about your car? Are you driving the car you think other people think is a cool car?

The answer to these questions will shape the car buying decision made by the consumer. Every person who buys a car has a different set of values that they need a car to live up to; that is why the consumer has a choice of literally hundreds of makes and models to choose from. A car that I like may not be the car that you like. I will not assign a value to your choice and I ask you to please refrain from making a judgment about my choices.

Cars are important to me the way shoes are important to my fiancee. I own a pair of sneakers and a pair of generic black leather lace up... shoes. Shoes are such a low priority for me that I do not have the sufficient vocabulary to adequately describe the shoes that I wear for formal occasions. My lovely fiancee is a woman of taste and style that has closets full of the finest in Italian designer leather products. Every outfit in her fashionable wardrobe has a specific pair of shoes that compliments the ensemble.

My collection of cars is numerically inferior to my sweet intended's horde of shoes, but they answer a wide variety of needs that a single car could never fulfill. I own a staid and conservative daily driver that comfortably transports my family with an acceptable level of speed and economy. This mundane family-mobile does not call attention to itself yet has enough quiet elegance that parking attendants do not hide it at the back of the lot at the trendy restaurants I have been known to frequent. But the family ride is not a performance car; it cannot accelerate, turn or stop with the vigor that I appreciate. So I have a hobby car that sacrifices comfort, quiet and convenience in exchange for speed. I cannot haul the family and it associated flotsam and jetsam in my family car. The family truckster cannot carve corners like my hobby car can.

The third and final car in my fleet is a compromise vehicle in every sense of the word. My 16 year-old son is driving now and his very specific set of needs demands a very special set of automotive features. As he is a new driver and likely to have some sort of road mishap as he gains driving experience, the first car he drives regularly should be vehicle that I have no emotional attachment or great financial investment in. Safety and economy are of paramount importance to me; a modicum of style and the appearance of performance are his greatest concerns. The family car is my ride to work, the hobby car is far too much car for a youngster to drive on the street, so the kid's car is a 15 year-old Honda Prelude in sound mechanical condition.

All three of the cars in my possession are made by Honda; I think I have firmly established that I like the Honda combination of engineering excellence at an affordable price. But beyond a nameplate my cars have nothing in common. Because no single car can fill all the needs in my automotive life, I own more than just one. I like them all for very different reasons. There is no single "best" car for me.

Posted by Scott at 3:10 PM | Comments (1)

December 1, 2005

Do you enjoy driving?

Do you enjoy driving? The chances are that if you are reading this article then you have an interest in cars and driving them. Of course that is not a guarantee. I knew a guy who was crazy about airplanes, his apartment was filled with airplane models and he had literature and canceled tickets from nearly every airline in the world. But he had no interest in learning to fly an airplane. For the purposes of this entry I will assume that you are a person who enjoys driving.

Do you like driving on an empty country road that meanders through rolling hills? How about a smooth stretch of road along a lovely beach or lake shoreline? Is it driving out in the desert along a dusty track that allows you to bounce from rock to rock in your off-road squirrel stomper? Maybe your idea of a good driving experience is a wide-open super highway that leads endlessly toward the horizon in a straight line. Or is your idea of happy motoring driving slowly down the boulevard so that everyone can get a good look at you in your candy apple painted dream machine?

I am sure that your idea of an enjoyable driving experience does not include crawling through rush hour stop and go traffic. Do you hate getting stuck behind a clueless driver with one hand on his cell phone and both eyes on his GPS screen as he slowly searches for another latte store? How about that left lane bandit who knows that the national speed limit is 65mph and there is no reason in the world why he should yield his position to faster moving traffic? Have you ever got stuck behind a cattle truck on a hot summer's day when your air conditioning is not working? Or maybe it is having your significant other telling you that you are lost, hopelessly lost, and that the only way to solve the problem is to pull into a gas station and ask for directions.

Is your favorite car to drive a flashy convertible? Do you like buttery soft leather seats, a silent seal against outside noise and a sound system that can reproduce sounds that will make a dog cry? Maybe you like to strap on a sleek sports car that responds to your thoughts before you can turn the steering wheel. Do you like a floaty ride that feels like your car is riding on clouds? Or maybe you prefer a firm grip road that transmits every imperfection in the pavement to your backside? Do you like being perched up high for a commanding view of the terrain or would you rather be slung low enough to fly below the radar?

Are there any kinds of cars you hate to drive? Would it kill you to be seen in one of those funny little foreign jobbies? Or would you never be caught dead in anything from Detroit? Are you an SUV person or a small car guy? Are trucks your thing; four-wheel drive and big knobby tires? Do you like a large hauler for the entire family/carpool/trailer hitch? Or would one of those European micro-cars suit your needs to get you ten miles to the office and back?

The point to this rant is that the definition of the phrase "enjoy driving" has many meanings to many people. If your ego needs to be stroked by a Silver Star emblem on your hood then a shiny new Mercedes Benz will be the only car you can enjoy. If your self-image is of a rugged, outdoorsy, individualist then you need a four-wheel drive rock crusher... just like all the other rugged, outdoorsy, individualists.

I love to drive, but I am more than happy to let someone else climb behind the wheel in city driving. I enjoy a stretch straight, un-crowded of highway, but I would much rather fly in an airliner than drive any distance beyond 100 miles. I enjoy my daily drive to work because it allows me a half-hour to psyche up for my 9-5 job and the evening commute home allows me to decompress from the rigors of the office. But I would hate to drive a taxi in my city because the traffic sucks

My favorite hobby is auto racing. This is my definition of driving enjoyment. A racecar, on race tires, on a racetrack is the most fun anyone can have with their clothes on. But I would hate to drive racecar in city traffic because it is loud, hot, and uncomfortable. Plus there is no stereo in my racecar.

But for me, a daily driver is a household appliance. As long as it starts when I turn the key, the climate controls work and the stereo receives my favorite stations I am 99% satisfied with nearly any production car meant for street driving sold in America within the last 10 years. The difference is tipped when you ask me to spend my own money to PURCHASE any particular car and PAY out of my own pocket for the maintenance to keep it rolling. Then the field of acceptable cars narrows considerably.

My view of the world divides all people into one of two groups: Those who race cars in safe controlled environments and those who have not had the experience yet. No credit for you morons who weave through traffic and drag race from stop light to stop light; you are a menace to society and hopefully you will remove yourself from the gene pool before you reproduce.

Until you have driven at speed in a car that is designed for maximum performance with no concessions for amenities, you can not even begin to form an opinion upon enjoying driving.

Posted by Scott at 11:18 AM | Comments (3)