Say hi to Tim Burdick. Tim joins the small but growing group who advanced from lurkers to commenters to TTAC writers. As usual, please show your hospitality by warmly welcoming Tim.
I have been called a lot of things in my life. Some good, some not so good. Some labels I have grown into, and some I have grown out of. Recently I have become a redneck (more on that later). But one thing I have always been is a car guy. One of my earliest memories is my dad buying me my first Matchbox car. It was a red Porsche 911, and he handed it to me with such reverence and ceremony, I knew right then that cars had just become an important part of my life. Ever since that day I have been obsessed with them. My story is probably like yours – squandering enough money on go-fast parts and flipping rides every year or so, that I could probably bail out the economy of Greece today if only I had gravitated to a more sensible hobby like spoon collecting or shuffleboard. But I chose cars. Read More >
Plenty of builders of plastic car models do a pretty good job doing “weathered” kits, but most focus on romantic images of Route 66-drivin’ classics rusting beautifully behind a wholesome-looking 1951 service station. I think what we really need is more super-accurate models of iconic American hoopties, and I don’t just talk the talk! So, it brings joy to my heart to see that a professional modelmaker truly understands proper hooptieness. Read More >
I’d like to lend you a car for the weekend. It’s going to be sunny, and you can head off early before the crowds get out. Take a nice road-trip: maybe, as I just did, blast up the Sea-to-Sky and into the rolling foothills beyond the Pemberton Valley.
Your choice, take anything below. Car A: 0-60mph in 5.3 seconds Car B: 0-60mph in 5.7 seconds Car C: 0-60mph in 5.3 seconds Car D: 0-60mph in 5.7 seconds Car E: 0-60mph in 5.6 seconds
So, what did you pick? Click the jump to find out. Read More >
Giving gifts to 24 Hours of LeMons judges in order to ensure smooth turning of the gears of justice has been a tradition for several many years now. While jugs of quality booze remain the most common judicial bribe, keeping my liver at least semi-functional mandates that most of that stuff get passed on to track workers. Not so with bribes involving weird toy cars, however; I’ve got quite a collection of such gifts on my office bookshelves now. While I prize my Leyland P76, Nissan Prairie, and Impala Hell Project diorama, the car that now sits in the place of honor on my desk is one that I received from a Denver racer who couldn’t wait for the B.F.E. GP next month and came by Chez Murilee with this lovely Detroito-Tokyo icon of the early 1990s. Read More >
This being metro Detroit, you’d think that weekly car meets would be thick on the ground. But, perhaps because I spend too much time attached to a computer, I’m not aware of one in the northwest suburbs. So I was quite happy to trip across the inaugural event of the “Copper Canyon Classics” on Saturday morning at the Copper Canyon restaurant in Southfield, MI.
Yesterday was my day off, and by “day off” I of course mean, “day in which I work my ass off sans remuneration”. No doubt this’ll strike a chord with those of you who also have older houses with plenty of, uh, character.
It was a day no thumbs would die by accidental hammer-blow: there was work to be done on the car, and they don’t call me “Spanner” McAleer just because I’m a bit of idiot. Actually, maybe they do – well anyway, to arms! Read More >
Nearly two months have gone by since the last Name That Car Clock challenge (a Lincoln Town Car timepiece of uncertain vintage), but I’ve got dozens of additional car clocks in my collection of junkyard prizes. Today, we’ve got a tough one— a generic-looking analog flanked by oil-pressure and ammeter gauges in an underdash cluster. Quartz car clocks have been around since at least the early 1970s, and this one doesn’t show any country-of-origin identifiers. Before you make the jump, make your best guess about the year/make/model of the car from which I extracted this chronometer. Read More >
Derek Kreindler is pondering selling his lovely BRG Miata and using the funds as “a down payment on a home of my own.” *Sigh.* Here on the West Coast of Canada, I’d have had to sell my (imaginary) Aventador to pull off the same trick. Spend half-a-million bucks: get half-a-bunkbed in some split-level commune. Pot to piss in, not included.
But that’s not his point, it’s whether or not to let the First One go. The first car you paid for with your own money. That first taste of wheeled freedom. Be it ever so humble, you’ll never walk away from your first without a twinge of regret and many backwards glances.
If you’d like, you can read about my father’s MGB here, or find my thoughts on our Land Rover Series III here. The first taught me of the unspoken bond a father and son can feel when working side-by-side on a restoration project. The second’s lessons were mostly about swearing.
Both cars are still in faithful-if-intermittent service, the Landie as a sort of farm tractor, the MG as the tinkerer’s delight. However, if you’ve the patience, I’d like to tell you about my dad’s real car.
These days, the oul grey fellah pilots one hell of a boulevard-strafer: a six-speed-manual E60 550i M-Sport. It’s his sechste Funfer, and marks a quarter-century of 5-series ownership. To my mind though, he only ever had one. Read More >
I’ve started this series with all analog clocks, but I think I’m going to dip into my extensive collection of digital automotive timepieces pretty soon. For today, however, we’ll stay old-school with another hand-equipped unit. This one has some heavy-duty-upscale Roman numerals and the right-turn signal indicator built in, so you know it came from a car that at least aspired to prestige (though it’s not a Ford Aspire). Study this clock, make your best guess, and then click the “More” link to see if you had it right. Read More >
In yesterday’s Name That Car Clock challenge, we went all the way back to 1965 and admired a beautiful, though admittedly nonfunctional, Oldsmobile timepiece. Today, we’re going with something from my collection of junkyard-harvested clocks that’s a bit newer. Quick, what’s the year/make/model of the car that yielded this clock to my junkyard toolkit? Read More >
We saw a Porsche 944 clock in yesterday’s Name That Car Clock challenge, and today we’re going to dig even deeper into my big collection of automobile timepieces for a really tough one. I love the look of this clock so much that I bought it knowing it didn’t work (I bring a 12-volt battery pack to the junkyard when I’m hunting clocks). You decide what year/make/model vehicle gave me this clock, then make the jump to see if your guess was correct. Read More >
As we go through and attempt to identify the clocks in my junkyard-derived collection, our last NTCC challenger came from a 1987 Saab 900 Turbo. Today’s clock was also made by VDO, but it didn’t come from a Saab. This call will be tough, because plenty of cars got timepieces very similar to this one over the years. Make your guess as to the year/make/model, then make the jump to see how geeked-out a car-trivia expert you are. Read More >
Yesterday’s Name That Car Clock challenger came from a ’74 Fiat 124 Spider. That clock was very dignified, in a cool Italian sort of way. Today’s NTCC contestant is much more festive, though it’s not from a Ford Festiva. Decide what year/make/model vehicle produced this clock, then make the jump to see if you were right. Read More >
Plenty of builders of plastic car models do a pretty good job doing “weathered” kits, but most focus on romantic images of Route 66-drivin’ classics rusting beautifully behind a wholesome-looking 1951 service station. I think what we really need is more super-accurate models of iconic American 
Nearly two months have gone by since the last 
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We saw a Porsche 944 clock in 
As we go through and attempt to identify the clocks in my junkyard-derived collection, our last NTCC challenger 
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