Before I learned how to wrench on my own cars, I brought my ‘88 Wrangler to my ‘mechanic’ to repair the rear diff I blew up when doing epic dirt to pavement burnouts. (don’t do that)

So not necessarily a horrible or expensive issue, but still entertaining nonetheless. I was still in college at the time in my 1986 Mustang SVO, and one of the classes I was taking for a business minor required a “business” calculator. So despite being an engineering student with quite the collection of calculators, I…

I had a 1998 Eclipse Spyder GS. Bought it a year old in 1999 with 18k miles. A week of ownership and it was ready for the shop. Camshaft position sensor went out. I knew at this moment, I should have walked away. But instead I went through various repairs about every 6 months until finally one day at lunch...I went…

I bought an 88 Mustang GT off Craigslist. I’m not the best wrencher, but I thought I could fix it up and have something to do burnouts in all the way to work. Initial Inspection: Ran great, had no visible leaks, there were some quirks but nothing too crazy, seller was "in a hurry" and didn't want to wait while I got…

First time I financed a car. The sales guy said here’s the trade value and here’s your monthly payment. No breakdown of the numbers, no sales tax, dealer fees, etc. I didn’t know any better. I happily signed my papers in the office and they offered me no products. Turns out...three years later once I had a job in…

I got the urge to have a motorcycle soooo bad back in 2011. I couldn’t be stopped and was my own worst enemy. Found a 2003 Harley Sportster in decent shape on....CRAIGSLIST. So you know where this is going. After going back and forth with the owner I drove out to take a look and (oh my God why) put a deposit down on…

Lesson #1: Don’t be poor!

1st place: Buying my first car straight from a dealer.

I once owned a Volvo 240 with 225k on the clock. I had replaced everything on the car, including welding in a new floor and rocker panels. Spending way more than a car such as that ever deserved. I had just “finished” it up with a home paint job and it really wasn’t looking too bad. Ran like a top and my girlfriend…

Not screwed, per se, but still frustrated by the Dealerships who only know how to replace and not repair. I get it. Kinda like GeekSquad: Yes, they could spend a few hours scanning & removing viruses to clean up your PC, but it’s much faster for them to do a system restore or OS reinstall for the same price (or more)…

My old 1993 Celica had the battery light come on while I was working in a new town on an internship in college, in a town of about 20,000 people. I was less than a mile from the Toyota dealer when the light came on, so I figured I would let them take a look. Discovered that the crank pulley was coming off, so they…

Got taken by a car finance guy. Can’t say that it wasn’t willingly though. I was young, just broke up with my girl (and her car), bad credit, no money in the bank, and desperate. Got one of those Capital One car checks in the mail and was on my way to the local VW dealer. The Rabbit seemed to be the best bang for the…

I’d taken my car to a reliable (and very well known) tune shop to get some upgrades done. Namely, install a new turbo, cams, and fix my head gasket. I’d started a new job that was taking up most of my wrenching time and I needed these things completed for the Auto-X season. Due to a number of issues ranging from them…

#COTD

Biggest subway failure since Jared.

They are to keep cars with different bumper heights from running into your body work when they tap your car while parking. My Dad’s Etype always had dings around the leading edge of the bonnet because some jerk driving a Rolls Royce at his work would always park by feel, and the bumpers on the Jag were a good 4-6"…

I hope you all choke on have an allergic reaction to your airplane peanuts mid-flight.

Now, now, now. Those of us who deal with peanut allergies really don’t actually want people to have the same type of reactions we fear. But we can certainly fantasize about it! :)

I've been on here forever and still am in the grey.

I wish ol’ Andy would pull me out of the greys... :P