Not my personal experience, but a story that illustrates the stupid of bigotry in car dealerships. An acquaintance owned a very, very successful business that she sold for 8 figures a couple years after her effort to lease two Jaguars from a dealer in San Francisco. She did her research and went in to select exact…

Various very remote, desert-crossing stretches of the Interstate system have speed limits of 70-75. It is common practice to drive about 10 miles over the limit when there’s little to no traffic. One small benefit of living in the desert Southwest ... being able to legally drive at a decent clip when one gets far…

Because my other car was stuck in the shop, I had to take our ‘09 Smart Four-Two on a 1200-mile trip to Northern New Mexico. I don’t recommend it. However, I had plenty of room, just no wriggle room. It cruised along at 80-85 just fine, with only a bit of body sway when hit by a strong crosswind. In the mountains, it…

These actually seem plausible. Love this movie!

The wide part of Texas just goes on and on and on ... Add the heat and no A/C and it’s a bit o’ hell. Last time I had to do it was driving a Freightliner Classic pulling a load of rolls of insulation toward NOLA as a hurricane was coming in. Smooth, cool ride with a return load that was 1500 pounds over ... resorted…

Couldn’t resist. Sorry. Yes, I knew it had one. Bad joke. Sorry.

Don’t know where the eyehurt is worst. All this needs is a big ol’ Continental spare kit to finish off the horror show.

“ ‘Cuz you’ve got these big shoulders, Shoulders?”

Really? Try Rochester, NY to Temecula, CA in late May, 88 in a Yugo. National speed limit was 55. Stopped in Flagstaff in mid-afternoon to enjoy air conditioning. Otherwise, just driving and driving and driving ... 2600 miles ... took five days to visit family along the way (cheaper than motels).

I love the food, too. And, there are stories about Dick being a really generous tipper to paper delivery guys at Christmas, but my experience with him was as described. There are lots of other places to get Chicago Dogs or Italian Beef or ...

My first job was at a hot dog place which started in a circus wagon in a parking lot and is now part of a growing empire of themed restaurants still run by the founder. I came in to work after school one day after being off for a couple of days and everyone was whispering, "the boss is here." I got ready and went to…

A three-year-old, 1982 Ford "specialeditionpieceofcrap," Escort Wagon purchased against my will and my advice from my father by my first spouse. My father bought it at a credit union sale of rental fleet cars. It cost my father about $50-$100 a month in repairs of this, that, or the other thing. While we had it, the…

No, it's an old word, been around a long, long time. I first heard it used by Chicago cops in the 70s when they described some random person they accosted or arrested. When I asked about it, they said it's always been a cop word, cop slang. Common use might be, "we jacked up this jamoke during a stop when he refused a…

Married. To a woman. Big ol' dyke, actually. I blame learning how to change my own oil. Yep, that did it.

Stopped going to the nearest Jiffy Lube after they tried to sell me an air filter for $20 (which I had changed myself the previous week for $8) and they filled the washer fluid with plain water (while charging $2/gallon for it).

Yeah, except that our father taught us all (3 girls) how to change our own oil, how to change air filters, change a flat tire, check the fluids and tire air pressure monthly, and anything else we wanted to learn about cars beyond that. I learned to gap and replace spark plugs (Remember doing that? Or is everyone too…

Looks like an Imron paint job, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but for this much money one would hope for something more than Earl Scheib's least-pricey paint. Still, a sweet ride.