EXHAUST
There is something about a car’s exhaust that really does it for me. The sound, the look, and the smell... There is nothing else like it. The sound. The characteristics that are defined by an engine’s configuration and the way it's tuned are unleashed through the exhaust. It tells us if we are listening to a cobbled together time bomb, or a finely engineered work of art. We can detect ambition, purpose, and sheer power from the sound that a vehicle emits, and, if it sounds “right,” it excites me to the point of hypnotism. “I will do whatever it [...]
10 Rules for Driving Older Cars, Part 2
Picking up from where we left off in the conversation about driving older cars, here are rules 6 through 10 that one should abide by when spending time enjoying vintage vehicles from the driver's seat. Rule #6. Create some errands to run There is nothing better than having an excuse to be driving around in something that is involving, garners attention, and eclipses barriers. Fortunately, old cars check all of those boxes, so it only makes sense for the owner of a vintage pick up truck to help a friend move an item that won’t fit in the trunk of [...]
10 Rules For Driving Older Cars, Part 1
As most of us know, driving older cars is a lot different than driving a brand new ____ (fill in the blank) off the lot. The term “older” is subjective, of course, but for the purpose of this piece, we’re going to say any vehicle that was manufactured before 1980. The traits you’ll see described below are common to almost all cars from that era, and with that being 40 years ago, it certainly qualifies as vintage, classic, or just downright older. Rule #1. Give yourself a lot more braking room. A lot of older cars still have weak, wood-feeling [...]
The Family Car, Pt. 2
Since the last time I wrote about The Family Car, a lot has changed. As I mentioned in the last line of the story in ThisFastLife back in 2017, I had a vision in mind for the car. Being true to my word, the car is currently undergoing a bit of a transformation. Before I tell you about all of that, however, I want to give you a little background as to how we arrived at the point where we are now. In September of 2018, my brother-in-law, Washington, and I took a trip to Berkeley (California) to to visit [...]
Hellcatin’
Last week I coined a new verb that I would like Webster to add to his dictionary immediately. The word and its definition are: "Hellcatin' (verb) - Spelled without the last 'g' because it ain't proper; the act of raising hell on any of America's highways or byways in a manner that ignores the presence of physics, other vehicles, and the lawman who may be lurking around the next bend. An extreme amount of exhaust, tire, and supercharger noise must be being made, and the subsequent sounds must be echoing off of trees, buildings, tunnel walls, or all three in [...]
The Family Car, Pt. 1
This piece was written some time ago, so "last week" isn't last week. Last week I drove what used to be my family’s car the first couple hundred miles it’s been driven in the past several years, and I walked away feeling that it was definitely time well spent. The car is a 1985 BMW 535i, and I remember when my mother picked me up from school in it the first September afternoon she drove the car. The car was special at the time because the color it was delivered in (zinnoberrot) was not initially available on five series of [...]