It’s a government program which states it will provide car owners a $3,500 to $4,500 credit toward a replacement vehicle when they turn in their gas guzzler; alleged to conserve resources (oil) and “save the environment”.

This might be a good deal if you are planning on buying a qualifying car from a qualified dealer and you have a qualifying piece of junk to trade in.  But if you happen to have a decent economy car that gets decent mileage and you want to trade up, or if you want to purchase through an individual like I typically do, then forget it – you are on your own.

From back when car commercials intentionally showed that cars were made for having fun.

My own first car was a 1969 Pontiac Tempest.  Even with a 2 barrel carburetor and a stock single exhaust, it would do some serious performing.  Over 300 horsepower on the base model.

It’s a love-hate situation.  As much as I hate having to do oil changes, I love synthetic oil.  Those days of “three thousand mile” oil changes are now archived to the national automotive museum.

Short and sweet, I just went 19,300 miles on my last oil change in my 1997 Lexus LS 400 with 180,000 miles.  About a year’s worth of driving for me.  The car is doing great, and I want to keep it that way.  Catastrophic damage can occur from lubrication failure due to oil breakdown or loss of oil from dissipation or consumption.  So, the two important factors to consider are timing, and oil grade.  And, they each influence the other.

Sometimes you wonder when you see something: “How do they come up with that stuff?” the following gadget is just one of those things, it’s called the VroomBox.
Sounds interesting, but what the heck does it do you might ask? – Does it go vroom? What the heck is it?

Leepu and Bernie Fineman are still going at it, in Chop Chop series 2 they’re building super cars for super stars.

Again they’re making the impossible…possible, turning scraps into gems.

They’ve proved themselves already in the first Chop Series and they’re not ready to stop anytime soon, they’re moved out of their first workshop to a new and improved workshop to work together with their awesome team members to continue working their magic.

Usually I am skeptical about the marketing claims of so-called fuel-saving devices.  But recently I received an online flyer from JC Whitney featuring the “Tornado Performance Booster”.  Says it can help your fuel economy efficiency significantly in addition to increasing power.  Yeah, yeah, that’s what they all say.  But I decided to click through just to see a larger image of the picture, and I noticed that it had user ratings well above average.  Believing in the power of the consumer via social networking, the claimed benefits of the Tornado fuel saver took on a much more serious nature.

This week I watched gasoline prices get lower and lower as I commuted from Texas through Oklahoma and Arkansas.  From $3.80 last Sunday, down to $3.33 today in AR and OK.  Higher in Texas.  (By the way, I like to check gas prices before I buy in order to get the best deal).

A colleague of mine tells me his wife says there is no gas to be found in their area in North Carolina.  What?!  Getting lower in price for some while not available to others…

Well, if you are looking for all the answers about why the price of gas goes up and down every time the weather changes or violence is reported or the mortgage crisis peaks or Britney Spears gets in trouble, then you came to the right place!  That is because misery loves company, and you are in good company with all of us other folks who just don’t get it.

The call came in the middle of my meeting with my client.  Most of the time I let them go to voice mail, but I have learned to let calls from my wife take priority.  “Does the toll road have a bad surface?”  “Is there something wrong with the shocks?”  “Could the tires be out of balance?”.
 
We discussed all of these possibilities. 
 
 
 
She said the truck was suddenly handling extremely poorly.  “Slow down and get into the right lane if you are not comfortable,” I instructed her.

A couple of minutes later I stepped out the meeting room again to take her next call.  In a less than calm tone she conveyed that she just had a blow out.  I waited for the bad news (I mean the really bad news), but it never came.  She did not roll the vehicle full of kids.  And I was relieved that at that very moment a Texas State Trooper was pulling up behind her and telling her to get over to the right and off the road.

We’re proud to present you a new In The Headlights featured article, about Chad’s 1967 Chevrolet Camaro RS. Chad lives in Dallas, Texas, and is a husband, father, and seafood salesman.

The 1967 F Body is distinguished by the front vertical vent windows. This first generation of the F Body was used by the Camaro and the Firebird for 1967, 1968, and 1969. Chad’s ‘67 is mostly stock, and is shod with the factory Rally wheels.

Black with silver stripes, she is a real eye-catcher and draws lots of compliments at intersections (the original color was turquoise). Licensed as a “classic” in the state of Texas, Chad uses her in a limited fashion for weekend cruising and visiting with other car enthusiasts at the world-famous Keller’s Hamburgers drive-in in Dallas.

This guerrilla automobile tech tactic saved the day for me. It had worked before, and it worked again.

On a recent cross-country trip, we encountered extreme overheating out on the open road. A quick trip to the auto parts store, or a planned visit to the mechanic, were not options. Our family holiday weekend was in jeopardy. What to do?

Like a good boy, I had checked the oil and topped off the radiator the night before. So why, 45 miles later was the Beast chugging and lurching and about to sputter to a stop? I had just enough momentum to pull off the interstate and coast into the rest stop. The needle on the temperature gauge has gone off the scale, and an indicator in the instrument panel said “check gages”. There was no steam and no water leaking, but there was heat – lots of it. Though it was only May, summer was in full swing under the hood – it felt like an oven!