In 1975 (yes, I am an old fart), I took a 11,400 mile trip from Pennsylvania to Oregon in an Opel GT. It was one of the most memorable events of my life. The Opel had no trunk, but I managed to fit a sleeping bag, pup tent, pillow, and guitar behind the seat. The trip took three months and ranged from eastern Pennsylva…

Is that on the Middlebury College campus? I remember seeing something like that on a walk through the campus a few years ago.

Yes, I forgot about River Horse. Roads to Quoz was also good - but not as good as Blue Highways or River Horse.

I just started rereading Blue Highways, by William Least Heat-Moon (I read it the first time about 20 years ago, or more). It is more about traveling than automobiles, but I remember that it was an interesting read.

Yes - I was looking for this answer. Wranglers are incredibly easy to park, and they are a lot of fun to drive, especially with a soft top and half doors.. City potholes - no problem.

The race was held last November, so there would have been no C8s available.

Last fall (November 14, 2019), The Ghost was in Daytona for the Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) event. I honestly did not know anything about the car at the time, and there was no information available at the track. It was fun to see it compete:

Coincidentally, I just saw this parked on the street last Saturday.

“Ackerman Steering is what you are referencing.”

The decision to buy a car from a junkyard really depends upon the price and your expectations. Many years ago, I was low on funds, but definitely needed a car. I ended up buying a 6-cylinder Plymouth Barracuda from a junkyard. It had 4 different colored fenders and a front bumper that was definitely from some other…

Hey, I drove one of those for a while. The body was in pretty bad shape, and I really bought it for the engine to put in my 1963 Bus. You could shift it through all three gears, but it wasn’t a lot faster than just starting in third gear - at least, mine wasn’t. 

Over the years, I have worked on many automotive, aerospace, and rail projects that were designed in relative secrecy because they were part of a competitive contract. After the winner is announced and the contract is awarded, the competing designs are revealed; and it is often amazing to see the similarities in the…

Back in the early 1990s, I made a comment about how digital photography would replace film. A fellow engineer wholeheartedly disagreed, and showed me some calculations regarding theoretical semiconductor processing limits and sensor size. His calculations proved that digital photography could never replace film. Well,…

I understand that left foot braking works best for rally driving on loose surfaces. That makes sense. The recent article, however, claimed that it was also useful for street driving (I still can’t find it).

Yes, I agree, but the recent Jalopnik video showed left foot braking using a manual transmission. The driver, however, never shifted in the video.

I noticed that there was no left foot braking. Recently, in a Jalopnik article, a rally driver demonstrated left foot braking, but did not really show how to combine it with shifting a manual transmission. Although I definitely admire drivers skilled in left foot braking, this video makes far more sense to me.

When I first quit, I was constantly grabbing for a piece of candy as a replacement for the cigarette, and became quite dependent on sweets. I also gained a lot of weight, which took a long time to lose. For a while, I kept a supply of candy in my desk drawer, just in case the vending machine broke.

Yes, exactly. I feel sort of embarrassed about smoking again, and the feeling lasts well into my waking hours.

“It went with everything. It was a buddy.”

“...it’s actually cheaper than giving an annual raise of 50 cents per hour over a 4 year contract.”