Nostalgia

Editorial: Winter Comes To Michigan

By HeBeGB
November 27, 2008 - I live in Michigan. Not on the Detroit side of things, around here it's mostly suppliers. I'm an engineer. As I write this, I'm off on unpaid furlough. I don't work in the auto business; my company is in an industry about 10 bailout levels down. But around here, it all looks the same. Two years ago the Delphi fuel injector plant was shut down; two months ago the big GM stamping plant was stamped for extinction. Winter even came a bit earlier this year. It's cold, damp, gray, and we got some snow before Thanksgiving. Not unheard of, but not exactly welcome. I think it was P.J. O'Rourke who remarked while flying over the "liberated" but still depressed Eastern Europe, "Communism is the only form of government you can see from 30,000 feet." This economy is like that. You can see it of course, but it's also cold and gray and it hangs in the Michigan air.

Editorial: Winter Comes To Michigan editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Features | Nostalgia | 39 comments

Land of Hope and Glory

By Adrian Imonti
May 17, 2008 -

Driving in London just for fun is as sensible as rollerblading on the autobahn. Enlisting a young fresh-off-the-boat Yank to indulge in such folly should be a felony. Yet there I was, strapped behind a steering wheel located where the glove box should be, with a carload of norteamericanos who had entrusted me with their sightseeing and their lives. As an avid reader of British car magazines who watched BBC documentaries on PBS, I convinced myself that I possessed the knowledge required for such an undertaking. I'd already shown courage under fire, surviving several days as a pedestrian on these streets without being hit, not even once. All we needed now was more petrol, and a bank loan to pay for it.

Land of Hope and Glory editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Nostalgia | 19 comments

Czech it Out: 1965 Buick LeSabre 400

By Jonny Lieberman
April 17, 2008 -

Pop quiz, hot shot: What's longer than a Ford Excursion, older than the Beatles' Revolver, blacker than midnight, totally devoid of seatbelts and soon heading to the Czech Republic? The pictures don't lie: a 1965 Buick LeSabre 400. Yes, the lure of a small finder's fee and my irrational obsession for anything with four wheels has once again seen me purchase a hunk of Detroit iron for a mysterious man somewhere north of Prague. Who am I to resist?

Czech it Out: 1965 Buick LeSabre 400 editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Nostalgia | 40 comments

Road Trip to Wenatchee

By Paul Niedermeyer
March 29, 2008 -

“You’re free to go.” With those hackneyed words, the Goldendale police officer returned my license. They were the very same words I’d heard in my head just a few hours earlier. At one-thirty last Sunday, my older son Ted called: “If you can drop Will [(his brother) here by three, we can take him back with us to Portland for a few days.” Cabin fever was at 103. The ninety minute deadline to pick a destination and pack the xB was just the tonic I needed. Time to head for… (flings open the atlas)… Wenatchee!

Road Trip to Wenatchee editorial continued »

Posted in Auto-biography | Editorials | Nostalgia | 20 comments

Non-Zen and the Art of MGB Maintenance

By Brendan McAleer
March 15, 2008 -

For some people, climbing into a car, starting it on the first try and driving off with reasonable confidence in actually arriving somewhere is as sacrilegious as getting communion wafers out of a vending machine. These zealots (let’s call them Tinkerers) regard motoring as a religious experience filled with arcane ritual, unfathomable mystery and fervent prayer (or at least frequent blasphemy). To members of The Church of The British Sports Car, there are few better altars than the MGB upon which to sacrifice one’s time and money. But perhaps MGB ownership is not so much automotive-hair-shirt-wearing as it is Guy Fawkes emulation: brilliant plan, ‘orrible execution.

Non-Zen and the Art of MGB Maintenance editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Nostalgia | 29 comments

400 Miles in a 1981 Corvette, Part 2

By Jonny Lieberman
March 13, 2008 -

When we last left our hero, I was dodging post-wine tasting Buicks and Caddys in a hair-brained sprint to Los Angeles before the sun went down. My steed was a sparkle-blue 1981 Corvette with non-functioning headlights. Until this point, I’d been lollygagging along in the right lane. I assumed that the ‘Vette’s engine would crap-out on me if I gave it the boot. But the fear of getting caught with no lights-- and then watching the DEA strip the car to the frame-- forced my foot to the firewall.

400 Miles in a 1981 Corvette, Part 2 editorial continued »

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Editorials | Nostalgia | 34 comments

400 Miles in a 1981 Corvette, Part 1

By Jonny Lieberman
March 11, 2008 -

By most accounts, I’m a good citizen. I work, I pay taxes, I keep my crimes to myself and I call my mother at least once a week. But I have a wild side. Like a vintage race, this part of my personality just begs to be taken out and let loose from time to time. I’m not going to tell you what I spent my first Bush tax rebate on. But I will tell you that when the $600 arrives in June, I will be at a $10/$20 No Limit table. So, when I was contacted by a guy in Prague to transport a 1981 Corvette from Oakland to a container ship in Los Angeles, I jumped at the chance. How could I lose?

400 Miles in a 1981 Corvette, Part 1 editorial continued »

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Editorials | Nostalgia | 29 comments

Corolla Memories

By Paul Niedermeyer
March 8, 2008 -

For me, driving bliss is all about the setting. Give me an empty road, spectacular scenery, good company and the freedom to explore without an itinerary or time constraints, and I’m in Heaven. Sure, a nice set of wheels enhances the pleasure. But if it came down to it, I’d take an inexpensive reliable car and an endless open road over a garage full of under-used toys that never really get off their leash. I knew the basic formula intuitively in my youth.

Corolla Memories editorial continued »

Posted in Auto-biography | Editorials | Nostalgia | 38 comments

TTAC Celebrates the Toyota Corolla’s 40th Birthday

By Paul Niedermeyer
March 5, 2008 -

Forty years ago, Toyota’s invasion of America (and effectively, the world) began in earnest. In 1968, the newly-minted Corolla was sent stateside to do battle with the perennially best selling VW Beetle. Only two short years later, the Corolla was the second-best selling car globally. By 1975, Toyota surpassed Volkswagen as the top import brand. The Corolla has taken all the global production crowns (1.5 million sold in 2007; over 33 million total). It has been the engine powering Toyota’s rise to the world’s largest carmaker. Has the Corolla achieved immortality, or will it eventually lose its way like its spiritual predecessors, the Model T and VW Beetle?

TTAC Celebrates the Toyota Corolla’s 40th Birthday editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Industry | Nostalgia | Sales and Marketing | 36 comments

Steven Lang Gets a Woody (Wagon)

By Steven Lang
March 1, 2008 -

The Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon was God's gift to Perry Como fans, the last of the great all-American trucksters. It was also my gift to the family for last year's Christmas road trip. I figured I’d nix my penchant for narrow European wagons to forestall the cantankerous habits of our two darling creatures. They needed space. We needed space... and boy, did this car have space!

Steven Lang Gets a Woody (Wagon) editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Nostalgia | 57 comments