With gas prices climbing quickly in response to the current upheaval in the Middle East, not to mention the annual "Summer Season" price changes, the rising cost of fuel is on everyone's mind - no matter what you drive.
You've no doubt noticed the increase of hybrid Toyotas and Hondas on the road in recent months. And as more and more people search for ways to extend their fuel dollar, there's been a lot of theories on how to do this ranging from fuel additives, to crazy gizmos in the intake track, to something called Hypermiling.
I've done some research, and while the first two are dubious at best, using Hypermiling techniques actually have some real merit and measurable results.
Hypermiling is a driving style that's used to get the most fuel economy out of a vehicle. While it's typically used by owners of already fuel efficient vehicles (there are some folks that are getting 95mpg in a Prius), it can be applied to any vehicle. The main techniques include drafting other larger vehicles, turning off the motor at idle, increasing the tire pressure to (or beyond) the tire manufacturer's recommendations, coasting in neutral, driving at or below the posted speed limit, and using a very gentle touch on the gas pedal.
There's no shortage of articles and web pages dedicated to Hypermiling (a Google search turned up over 245,000 results), and even legitimate news and media outlets will cover the subject from time to time. They'll interview automotive experts (mechanics and engineers), and discuss the best way to extend your vehicle's gas mileage.
After reading yet another interview with an "engineer" who talked about Hypermiling, I thought it was time to do an experiment to see what a real-world, "Average Joe" commuter and car owner could expect.
There's an awful lot of data, and a series of tests that I performed. So rather than writing a book here, be sure to check back for more info and results in upcoming posts.
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Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Monster Truck Rallies
I was recently talking with a friend of mine, and casually asked about her weekend.
"I went to see monster trucks," she replied with a smile. I thought for sure she was kidding, so I asked her to repeat it. "Yes, I'm serious!" she insisted.
Sure enough, Brighid and a friend found a deal on cheap seats at a monster truck show, and they had decided to take in a new adventure.
I still remember my introduction to monster trucks. It was around 1982, and my father and I stopped at a family friend's house. Seeing that I was bored, our friend handed me a magazine to leaf through. It was a cheap, mostly black-and-white photo-laden rag. But it was chock full of jacked up trucks, Jeeps, and even a '69 Mustang fastback that were ALL tearing through the mud on large tires.
I was hooked - and begged my parents to take me the next time a show was in town.
So the day of the show came (probably a "Sunday, SUNday, SunDAAAAAAY"), and the three of us headed to the Philadelphia Spectrum for an event full of mud and exhaust gasses.
Back then, monster trucks were still trucks. For the most part, they were still stock-bodied machines that had 4' of suspension travel, and a massively supercharged engine sticking out of the hood. They looked like a truck. They sounded mean. You could almost imagine the scary guy up the block building one in his backyard.
The evening consisted of tractor pulls, which were great for belching fire from exhaust manifolds and coating the first eight rows of spectators in a thick layer of mud. This, of course, just made you cheer louder.
Then during intermission, bulldozers started moving junkyard cars into lines in the center of the arena. They were mostly complete, and still had chrome, windows, headlights and such on them - just like the ones you'd see on the street.
The lights dimmed, and the one and only Bigfoot rolled out. It was just a truck - but to everyone there, the vehicle took on rock-star status.
With a roar from the engine, the truck accelerated forward towards the rows of cars. With a solid bounce, the front tires hit the first car, the truck reared back on its bumper, then came crashing down on that first car, flattening it to the fenders! Glass exploded for 15 feet, a hubcap flew off, and a metal roof became irreplaceable. Then, as if to prove the point that he was the greatest truck ever, Bigfoot drove down the row, smashing and crushing the cars underneath each of its 850 lb. tires.
The crowd roared, the driver waved, and for that moment, no one in the arena could have felt more American.
But the days of monster trucks have had to evolve with the times. Now that kids are used to video games, and short attention spans, and maybe even some loyalty to NASCAR, monster truck shows have evolved into races - not just blatant exhibitionism.
Even the trucks look generic. For safety reasons, the trucks are now essentially roll cages with big suspensions, and the engine resides behind the driver in the "truck bed" area. They've been given names of products and pro wrestlers, and even the long-standing fan favorite, Grave Digger, has been modernized to keep up with the competition.
Nevertheless, as long as there are people like Brighid who are interested in checking out a real piece of Americana, or just out looking for an unpretentious good time, Monster Trucks will remain a part of American culture.
Just be sure to bring earplugs and wear a mud-proof parka.
TRIVIA!!!
What vehicle is considered to be the first Monster Truck?
The "Lunar Dunar", built in the late 1960s by the father of SoCal Speed Shop's own Jimmy Shine.
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"I went to see monster trucks," she replied with a smile. I thought for sure she was kidding, so I asked her to repeat it. "Yes, I'm serious!" she insisted.
Sure enough, Brighid and a friend found a deal on cheap seats at a monster truck show, and they had decided to take in a new adventure.
I still remember my introduction to monster trucks. It was around 1982, and my father and I stopped at a family friend's house. Seeing that I was bored, our friend handed me a magazine to leaf through. It was a cheap, mostly black-and-white photo-laden rag. But it was chock full of jacked up trucks, Jeeps, and even a '69 Mustang fastback that were ALL tearing through the mud on large tires.
I was hooked - and begged my parents to take me the next time a show was in town.
So the day of the show came (probably a "Sunday, SUNday, SunDAAAAAAY"), and the three of us headed to the Philadelphia Spectrum for an event full of mud and exhaust gasses.
Back then, monster trucks were still trucks. For the most part, they were still stock-bodied machines that had 4' of suspension travel, and a massively supercharged engine sticking out of the hood. They looked like a truck. They sounded mean. You could almost imagine the scary guy up the block building one in his backyard.
The evening consisted of tractor pulls, which were great for belching fire from exhaust manifolds and coating the first eight rows of spectators in a thick layer of mud. This, of course, just made you cheer louder.
Then during intermission, bulldozers started moving junkyard cars into lines in the center of the arena. They were mostly complete, and still had chrome, windows, headlights and such on them - just like the ones you'd see on the street.
The lights dimmed, and the one and only Bigfoot rolled out. It was just a truck - but to everyone there, the vehicle took on rock-star status.
With a roar from the engine, the truck accelerated forward towards the rows of cars. With a solid bounce, the front tires hit the first car, the truck reared back on its bumper, then came crashing down on that first car, flattening it to the fenders! Glass exploded for 15 feet, a hubcap flew off, and a metal roof became irreplaceable. Then, as if to prove the point that he was the greatest truck ever, Bigfoot drove down the row, smashing and crushing the cars underneath each of its 850 lb. tires.
The crowd roared, the driver waved, and for that moment, no one in the arena could have felt more American.
But the days of monster trucks have had to evolve with the times. Now that kids are used to video games, and short attention spans, and maybe even some loyalty to NASCAR, monster truck shows have evolved into races - not just blatant exhibitionism.
Even the trucks look generic. For safety reasons, the trucks are now essentially roll cages with big suspensions, and the engine resides behind the driver in the "truck bed" area. They've been given names of products and pro wrestlers, and even the long-standing fan favorite, Grave Digger, has been modernized to keep up with the competition.
Nevertheless, as long as there are people like Brighid who are interested in checking out a real piece of Americana, or just out looking for an unpretentious good time, Monster Trucks will remain a part of American culture.
Just be sure to bring earplugs and wear a mud-proof parka.
What vehicle is considered to be the first Monster Truck?
The "Lunar Dunar", built in the late 1960s by the father of SoCal Speed Shop's own Jimmy Shine.
.
Monday, February 21, 2011
"Engine Heat"
If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, you're well aware that it's the middle of Winter. Whether you live in Barrow, Alaska or southern California, you're pretty aware of the fact that it's a bit colder this time of year.
And as anyone who knows me can attest, I truly, sincerely hate Winter. Not just a passing, "Ugh, it's cold out today." I tend to repeat my mantra of, "STUPID WINTER!" for about six months of the year, even when it's not even in season.
Fortunately, modern automobile heating systems are really quite efficient, despite their relative simplicity of design that has gone somewhat unchanged for the last 70 years or so.
It's a simple matter of filling an engine with a water/coolant mix, letting it circulate through the engine to not only cool it, but capture the radiant heat from the combustion chambers. This heated water, in turn, runs through a heat exchanger under your dashboard, and creates heat when you turn on the vent system in your car and allow a fan to blow that hot air through the vents and onto your toesies.
I especially like it when the car's been warmed up a while, and some of that heat finds its way into the car's interior. My friend, Jake, once referred to it as, "Engine Heat."
Sometime after college, he and I were driving around in his old blue Cutlass sedan. We were marvelling at the chilly air that night, and he turned to me and said, "Don't worry - we'll have Engine Heat soon." Within a few moments, the car started warming up nicely. "How AWESOME is Engine Heat, man???" he proclaimed, as he looked at me with an excited, wild-eyed stare.
We both cracked up into hysterics, but to this day, I don't hit that heater button without thinking about Jake's Engine Heat comment.
On the flip side of the Engine Heat coin is my friend, Brian. He grew up in Iowa, which gets bitterly awful cold winters. For a time, he drove an old Subaru, which he'd purchased in late Fall. "The car ran GREAT," he told me once. "Except it never had heat."
But Brian was easy-going (and not mechanically minded), and simply bundled up to compensate for the lack of heat. One day, however, the car started acting funny, so he pulled it into a service station.
"You're out of antifreeze," said the mechanic. "I'll put some in for you."
Magically, the old Subaru suddenly had heat! It turned out that the bitterly cold weather was enough to keep the engine cool. "I just loved it that much more after that," Brian recalls.
But complain as I might, I'm often glad that I don't have to deal with the heating system in my parents' VW Beetle. They had a late '50s model painted gold that they used to run around Kansas City, Missouri in the late '60s. They loved the car, but often reminded me that no matter how cold I thought it was outside, I never had to scrape frost from the INSIDE of the windshield like they did.
Fortunately here on the east coast, it's been fairly warm the last few days. I've even had the windows down, and the sunroof open to glean a bit of Vitamin D from the ambient sunlight. And it feels like any day now, I should be able to pack away the ice scraper.
My only fear is that getting excited about warmer weather will only mean that there's more to come. In fact, there was a report of snow for tonight.
Maybe next February 2nd, I'll try poking my head out of the sunroof, like Punxsutawney Phil. If you hear me complain about my nose freezing up, expect six more weeks of Winter.
Either way, expect me to keep complaining until about May!
.
And as anyone who knows me can attest, I truly, sincerely hate Winter. Not just a passing, "Ugh, it's cold out today." I tend to repeat my mantra of, "STUPID WINTER!" for about six months of the year, even when it's not even in season.
Fortunately, modern automobile heating systems are really quite efficient, despite their relative simplicity of design that has gone somewhat unchanged for the last 70 years or so.
It's a simple matter of filling an engine with a water/coolant mix, letting it circulate through the engine to not only cool it, but capture the radiant heat from the combustion chambers. This heated water, in turn, runs through a heat exchanger under your dashboard, and creates heat when you turn on the vent system in your car and allow a fan to blow that hot air through the vents and onto your toesies.
I especially like it when the car's been warmed up a while, and some of that heat finds its way into the car's interior. My friend, Jake, once referred to it as, "Engine Heat."
Sometime after college, he and I were driving around in his old blue Cutlass sedan. We were marvelling at the chilly air that night, and he turned to me and said, "Don't worry - we'll have Engine Heat soon." Within a few moments, the car started warming up nicely. "How AWESOME is Engine Heat, man???" he proclaimed, as he looked at me with an excited, wild-eyed stare.
We both cracked up into hysterics, but to this day, I don't hit that heater button without thinking about Jake's Engine Heat comment.
On the flip side of the Engine Heat coin is my friend, Brian. He grew up in Iowa, which gets bitterly awful cold winters. For a time, he drove an old Subaru, which he'd purchased in late Fall. "The car ran GREAT," he told me once. "Except it never had heat."
But Brian was easy-going (and not mechanically minded), and simply bundled up to compensate for the lack of heat. One day, however, the car started acting funny, so he pulled it into a service station.
"You're out of antifreeze," said the mechanic. "I'll put some in for you."
Magically, the old Subaru suddenly had heat! It turned out that the bitterly cold weather was enough to keep the engine cool. "I just loved it that much more after that," Brian recalls.
But complain as I might, I'm often glad that I don't have to deal with the heating system in my parents' VW Beetle. They had a late '50s model painted gold that they used to run around Kansas City, Missouri in the late '60s. They loved the car, but often reminded me that no matter how cold I thought it was outside, I never had to scrape frost from the INSIDE of the windshield like they did.
Fortunately here on the east coast, it's been fairly warm the last few days. I've even had the windows down, and the sunroof open to glean a bit of Vitamin D from the ambient sunlight. And it feels like any day now, I should be able to pack away the ice scraper.
My only fear is that getting excited about warmer weather will only mean that there's more to come. In fact, there was a report of snow for tonight.
Maybe next February 2nd, I'll try poking my head out of the sunroof, like Punxsutawney Phil. If you hear me complain about my nose freezing up, expect six more weeks of Winter.
Either way, expect me to keep complaining until about May!
.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
CarGuyChristian has gone social!
Needing more car stuff and musings to fill the automotive entertainment void in your life?
Even if you're not, be sure to head over to Facebook, and search "CarGuyChristian". That's right - we have our own Facebook page, too!
Just be sure to "like" the page, and you'll be updated via your Facebook feed when there's a new post here on the blog. Plus, you'll get exclusive content, and a chance to post your own car stuff!
Or if you're addicted to Twitter, you can also follow us there, or just link your tweets with #CarGuyChristian.
What are you waiting for? Go to Facebook now, look up "CarGuyChristian", and like the page.
And I'll like you even more than I already do.
.
Even if you're not, be sure to head over to Facebook, and search "CarGuyChristian". That's right - we have our own Facebook page, too!
Just be sure to "like" the page, and you'll be updated via your Facebook feed when there's a new post here on the blog. Plus, you'll get exclusive content, and a chance to post your own car stuff!
Or if you're addicted to Twitter, you can also follow us there, or just link your tweets with #CarGuyChristian.
What are you waiting for? Go to Facebook now, look up "CarGuyChristian", and like the page.
And I'll like you even more than I already do.
.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Bench Racing, and Other Great Lies #4
Just in time for Valentine's Day, I figured I'd share an automotive love story. Enjoy!
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My friend, Don, is a car guy and family friend from way back. He's a great, jovial kinda guy who can keep you laughing for days, and has a wonderful appreciation for irony.
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My friend, Don, is a car guy and family friend from way back. He's a great, jovial kinda guy who can keep you laughing for days, and has a wonderful appreciation for irony.
Unfortunately for Don, he's never really owned his dream car. Much like a lot of us, there's always been great plans made, steps taken towards putting all the pieces together only to have something called "Life" cancel everything before the dream was finished.
But during the late 1970s, he came close. You see, Don was building a Bradley GT in his garage.
Bradleys were produced from 1971 through 1981 when the company went bankrupt. They were small, Italian-esque coupes that had gull-wing doors, were built on VW Beetle chassis, and even had some Corvair parts thrown in. Odds are, you've probably seen one. If you ever visit the Liberace museum, you can see his Bradley, complete with bass-boat gold metalflake paint, perfectly in vogue for both the 1970's and Liberace.
Nonetheless, Don spent quite a many years piecing his together, every day getting closer to having a cool car of his own to drive. His wife didn't quite share his vision, however.
One night over dinner, "Life" intervened. A loud discussion ensued, and several hours later, she announced to Don, "Either that damn car goes, or I go!"
Don stood there, stunned. His wife stormed off, and he quietly went to the garage to take a look at the yellow coupe that was nearly road-worthy after all these years. He had come so close, but he knew what he had to do. The car was put up for sale the next day.
And in the end, life was all candy and lollipops in Don's house from then on out, right?
"Nope," he says. "The bitch left anyway!"
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Photo courtesy of priceofhistoys.com
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Friday, February 4, 2011
How To: Proper Application of License Plate Decals
While most of my readers come here to read a regular bit of automotive story telliing, the other part comes here because I send them a regular check so they'll keep reading (and hopefully pass along the link to others).
But all good blogs should fulfill some sort of need with the reader, and, in the case of this blog, I'm hoping you're here because I'm helping fulfill the need in your life for a good break from reality and provide some entertainment. However, I'm also happy to help fulfill the need to help my fellow motorists.
In some states, things like vehicle inspections and registrations are handled via a decal on the car. Sometimes, it's on the windshield and is unceremoniously scraped off and replaced by a DMV employee with a large metal scraper.
In other states, like here in Maryland, it's up to the individual vehicle owner to apply their own renewal decals to specified places on the license plate. It's really a simple matter of receiving a small, red decal with a number on it for the month, and a small white decal with the year on it. There's even corresponding squares painted on the license plate, and handy instructions printed on the piece of paper onto which the decals are attached. You'll never get the old decals off the plate, so you simply peel off the new decals, and apply them directly on top of the old ones.
Despite all of the instructional planning that the Maryland DMV undertakes, there are a surprising amount of drivers that overthink this simple premise. Fortunately, their genius is put on display in front of the world to see.
Start watching license plates in states like this. In no time, you'll start to see decals that are placed upside-down. Or the decals are placed on the wrong sides. Or, my personal favorite, every renewal decal since 1978 is placed somewhere on the license plate, and resembles the football helmet of a future Heisman Trophy recipient. Once, I even saw one that had the decals cut carefully around the license plate numbers.
That's not a joke, friends. I really did see that.
The sheer creativity of these individuals never ceases to amaze me. I often wish I could be an onlooker when the renewal decals arrive in the mail at their home, just so I could watch the mental anguish that comes from them trying to figure out where they are going to place the newest two decals. I'll bet there are some car owners who even take the time to remove the plate, just so they can carefully place the decals and unknowingly screw it up for another two years.
"I wonder why no one else has this problem?" they'll ask themselves. "This is ridiculous."
Rather than walking to the next nearest car to compare plates, they'll simply find room to apply the new decals, just like they always do. Then they'll bolt the plates back onto the car, and go about life for another two years.
In the end, maybe it comes down to ignorance really being bliss.
So whether you needed entertainment today, or maybe you needed to learn something new, I hope that today's entry fulfilled your personal need. And hey, if you know a vehicle owner that is decal-applicably challenged, tell them they need to read this article.
But all good blogs should fulfill some sort of need with the reader, and, in the case of this blog, I'm hoping you're here because I'm helping fulfill the need in your life for a good break from reality and provide some entertainment. However, I'm also happy to help fulfill the need to help my fellow motorists.
In some states, things like vehicle inspections and registrations are handled via a decal on the car. Sometimes, it's on the windshield and is unceremoniously scraped off and replaced by a DMV employee with a large metal scraper.
In other states, like here in Maryland, it's up to the individual vehicle owner to apply their own renewal decals to specified places on the license plate. It's really a simple matter of receiving a small, red decal with a number on it for the month, and a small white decal with the year on it. There's even corresponding squares painted on the license plate, and handy instructions printed on the piece of paper onto which the decals are attached. You'll never get the old decals off the plate, so you simply peel off the new decals, and apply them directly on top of the old ones.
Despite all of the instructional planning that the Maryland DMV undertakes, there are a surprising amount of drivers that overthink this simple premise. Fortunately, their genius is put on display in front of the world to see.
Start watching license plates in states like this. In no time, you'll start to see decals that are placed upside-down. Or the decals are placed on the wrong sides. Or, my personal favorite, every renewal decal since 1978 is placed somewhere on the license plate, and resembles the football helmet of a future Heisman Trophy recipient. Once, I even saw one that had the decals cut carefully around the license plate numbers.
That's not a joke, friends. I really did see that.
The sheer creativity of these individuals never ceases to amaze me. I often wish I could be an onlooker when the renewal decals arrive in the mail at their home, just so I could watch the mental anguish that comes from them trying to figure out where they are going to place the newest two decals. I'll bet there are some car owners who even take the time to remove the plate, just so they can carefully place the decals and unknowingly screw it up for another two years.
"I wonder why no one else has this problem?" they'll ask themselves. "This is ridiculous."
Rather than walking to the next nearest car to compare plates, they'll simply find room to apply the new decals, just like they always do. Then they'll bolt the plates back onto the car, and go about life for another two years.
In the end, maybe it comes down to ignorance really being bliss.
So whether you needed entertainment today, or maybe you needed to learn something new, I hope that today's entry fulfilled your personal need. And hey, if you know a vehicle owner that is decal-applicably challenged, tell them they need to read this article.
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