Hindsight is 20/20: Why 90′s Cars are Now Cool December 15, 2010

A lot of times, you don’t appreciate something until it’s gone or so rarely seen. From CRT TV’s (I can’t play Duck Hunt on an NES with my Sharp Aquos) to mom and pop retailers (I hate going to Walmart with its cold shopping experience), there are objects or institutions that may have been frustrating [...]

The Best of Both Worlds – The Targa Top March 14, 2010

In a previous post, I discussed both the drawbacks and joys of open-top motoring. One of the chief drawbacks of convertibles is the weight gain that they have versus their coupe cousins. This is due to the fact that additional strengthening is needed to overcome the loss in chassis rigidity after removing the roof. As [...]

The Trouble with the Modern Car March 4, 2010

Jay Leno couldn’t be more correct when he says that the 1980′s were the last days of the old technology. By the early 1990s, mechanical carburetors had been phased out in favor of electronic fuel injection. Driver aids, such as electric boosted steering, anti-lock brakes, and traction control were increasingly implemented across the industry. Many [...]

Nothing Special: The Demise of Unique Car Design January 29, 2010

On the British show Top Gear, the hosts are always espousing cars that have passion and a “soul.” They often praise cars with monumental unreliability and precipitous depreciation such as the Alfa Romeo GTV-6 while denigrating bestsellers like the Toyota Corolla. The reason for this, they say, is that the Alfa was designed by an [...]

Al Fresco Motoring January 23, 2010

One of the most controversial topics in automotive design is the hardtop vs. the convertible. As most people know, once you remove the roof of a car, you lose substantial rigidity and some early Saab convertibles were known to possess terrible cowl shake characteristics (where you can feel the car body flex when you hit [...]

Why We Like Sports Cars November 21, 2009

These days, owning a horse seems like a ridiculous idea. The horse would cost a fortune to buy as well as feed. You’d have to buy a fairly large estate to give the horse enough room to roam about and a stable for it to live in. The fact that horses are not allowed on [...]