Of all the cars I’ve owned, I miss my Yugo not quite as much as I’d like to think. I had good luck with it, and would love to get a ragtop model since that was the year they finally got their manufacturing quirks sorted out, sorta, mostly. Like all machines, if they were/are maintained, they should last a good long…

The heat in Arizona kills everything. It just takes a little time.

Hair. Velcro loves hair. Hair? Not so much with the returning the love.

AKA, “Why Detroit lost massive market share in the 1970s and 80s.

Bought an ‘85 Sedan deVille for a few hundred bucks many years ago. It came complete with a very saggy headliner. Easy, cheap solution since I didn’t want to head down the, “restored to showroom beauty,” route was to buy some decorative tacks, and create a faux-quilted-look pattern. It lasted about a year, then the…

Worked for a man who owned one of these in the mid-80s. His was automatic, though. But, he was able to make it to work on snow days because that thing just powered through. He even said that’s why he got it, so he could keep the business running no matter what.

It took the Japanese a while to figure out that their cars were fine for Japan, and the Japanese, but American tend to be physically larger than Japanese and so, we just couldn’t fit easily into their cars. The CRX was amazing in that regard because, by then, they, “got it.” I’m a six footer, and I slid neatly into…

Oh, the days when you could get a cute, fun, useful small truck.

No. Not at that price, since there’s a bit of work in cleaning up the headliner/hatch hinge point and ... it really needs a tailgate. Otherwise, interesting, to be sure.

Three? There are Phoenicians (residents of Phoenix, get it?) who regularly cut across 5 or 6 to dart onto their exit ramp ... in traffic, with no turn signal, of course.

Turn. Signals. Dammit.

Christopha!

French press remains one of the best ways to make an excellent cup of coffee. Decant the coffee once it’s brewed to avoid over-brewing and bitterness.

French press remains one of the best ways to make an excellent cup of coffee. Decant the coffee once it’s brewed to…

Alan Ginsberg reportedly once said, “if you’re going to alter your consciousness, stay home.”

Nope. Nopenopenope. If it has more than four legs, and it’s in house, it dies. Or, it gets caught and tossed outside. And, that last thing only applies to these hell bugs because ... they eat spiders:

One of my, “never should have sold it,” cars was a ‘72 E-150 van; three in the tree, it was wonderful. A cargo van is just a camper conversion waiting to happen. A cargo van with a five-speed is an amazing camper conversion waiting to happen.

After a year as a Hertz rental, the POS Ford Escort Wagon was bought by my father. He was always fanatical about maintenance on his cars. But, this POS Ford Escort Wagon actually had something break every. Single. Month. For example, in late spring, the wiper motor just burnt up while my parents were on their way home…

Once was forced to own a Ford Escort (first marriage, car was bought over my objections). The thing cost a minimum of $100 a month in repairs. Not maintenance, repairs. Things just kept breaking. The last straw for me was the call from ex-spouse during a cold snap of -30F and lower temps saying the radiator on that…

At the end of the day, it’s still an Escort, which translates as, “money-pit-joy-sucking-piece-of-crap.”

Best old-school electric car I saw was in 1992. A couple converted a Caddy sedan into an electric car with motors at each wheel and the engine bay and massive truck filled with conventional lead-acid batteries. They couldn’t run the AC, but since this was in San Diego, they really didn’t need it.