Car News Articles

When The Robb Report decided they didn’t want to work with me anymore (surprise!), the Managing Editor cited my unauthorized off-road excursion in a Cayenne as one of the prime reasons I was persona non grata. Of all the shit I’d got up to, this was my cardinal sin. Huh? What red-blooded American doesn’t harbor a deep-seated urge to not do what a bunch of heavily-accented Germans tell him to do? And what automotive journalist who’s been on a meticulously-timed press launch doesn’t understand the compulsion to leave the “designated route” for, somewhere, anywhere else? And it’s not like I broke the thing– although, at the time, I thought I had. I’d simply embedded fist-sized rocks into the Cayenne’s tires in my [ultimately successful] attempt to rock the SUV free of knee-deep mud, that I’d mistaken for a hard surface. Still, I genuinely liked Robert Ross, and miss working with him. I appreciate real talent, and understand the stresses that serving two masters can put on a man. I broke my Porsche IWC watch that day, clearing the mud away from the tire with my bare hands. Somehow, I can’t bring myself to fix it. Go figure. 

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File this under “News That Effects Me Personally.” As in, “Those city hall pricks are taking tacos out of my mouth.” Where I live in North Eastern LA, there are– or rather were– six taco trucks with a one mile stretch along the same road. As The New York Time rightly reports, each one offers uniquely delicious fare. Except for that one up on 51st — their tacos suck. But the other five, man… So here’s the dirt straight from the hungry horse’s mouth. Restaurants are complaining (and have been complaining) that the “roach coaches” are stealing customers because their food is so cheap. My new mortal enemy, county supervisor Gloria Molina, is pushing through the ordinance that will require taco trucks to move every hour. Effectively putting them out of business. Why? Henchman Gerry Hertzberg claims the trucks represent a “big quality of life issue.” Whatever that means. Taco truck owner Jose Naranjo puts it best, “We are poor people feeding other poor people.” Yeah, and me! The ordinance goes into effect today. This is a total tragedy as one truck in particular serves-up the best carne asada tacos in all of Los Angeles. And trust me, I’ve looked. Anyhow, I wrote Molina a letter and signed the save our taco trucks petition. Though I fear you can’t fight city hall. Tasteless jerks. 

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One knee-jerk reaction begets another. As reported yesterday, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) wasn’t over the moon over the announced closure of GM’s Oshawa truck plant. Note: Oshawa IS General Motors. Chevrolet’s had a plant in the city since the early 1900s, before Oshawa itself was incorporated as a city. The local hockey team is named for GM. GM-Oshawa employed 2600 direct workers, and no doubt accounted for thousands of other peripheral jobs. So when GM CEO Rick Wagoner sounded the plant’s death knell, the CAW’s members immediately declared war. Today, CTVNews reports that defiant CAW members, fueled by a desperation that only comes when one has nothing to lose, are blockading the offices until further notice. There’s no news of reactions from workers at the other Oshawa plant where they build Chevy Impalas and Buick Lacrosses/Allures. Meanwhile, Toyota and Honda, just as recently as last month, announced billion-dollar investments in Ontario. Hyundai/Kia is also considering moving in. Of course, we all know this story, don’t we? Soon, Ontario will be another theatre of war that The General will cede to the Asians, during its long, tragic descent into oblivion.

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Computer industry pundit, columnist, documentary film maker, small airplane pilot, classic car enthusiast and former international oil industry correspondent Robert X. Cringely is talking up SwiftFuel. Just in case the name isn’t catchy enough (the fuel, not the author), Cringley calls sorghum-based go-juice “The Splenda of motor fuels.” “It has an octane rating of 104 (higher than the 100 octane fuel it replaces) yet contains no lead or ethanol. SwiftFuel mixes with gasoline, can be stored in the same tanks as gasoline, and be shipped in the same pipelines as gasoline.” Swift Enterprises claims the sorghum brew yields six times as much fuel per acre as corn and delivers get up to 20 percent better gas mileage than… gas. They’re currently selling the alt fuel as a replacement for leaded gasoline in small airplanes. Too good to be true? Cringely doesn’t address many of the problems associated with the whole agricultural feed-into-fuel deal: converting wilderness into farmland, fresh water consumption, the use of pesticides and fertilizers, energy required to convert the biomass into SwiftFuel, etc. Despite E85’s rough ride (here and elsewhere), look for more of this outside-the-oil-well thinking as oil prices escalate.

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Here’s the scene: brand new pictures of the Ferrari California have just landed in the office and everyone’s gathered around the our art director’s computer looking at them.

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I like Germany and I like driving in Germany very much. The network of Autobahns is superb (there are still long tracts without speed limits) and the German countryside is much underrated. There are vibrant cities, historic towns, fairytale castles, the food’s great and the weather in the summer is pretty good.

But if you are driving to Germany and visiting some cities or large towns, bear in mind that a new ‘green’ circulation tax applying to certain urban areas has recently been introduced. You need to pay for a display badge (29.80 euros minimum as far as I can see) or risk a fine (which at 40 euros is only 10 more than the badge, so it’s maybe worth risking). Foreigners passing through briefly are not exempt.

At first glance it looks a little like fleecing the already hard-pressed motorist to me. A nice little earner? Is the explanation for this tax to the, ahem, happy ‘customer’ clear? Is this mainly about particulates? Congestion? CO2?

Whatever, if you live in Europe something like it will probably eventually come to a town near you.

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Why choose a Specialist over a Generalist? Independent over Dealer?

As a specialist we know your car better, especially when it comes to the right way to make economical repairs that a general repair shop wouldn’t know about or a Subaru dealer would never consider. Sometimes a vehicle will develop a pattern failure and a real solution needs to be found or a more economical repair procedure can be had.

Through the years we have found solutions to replacing expensive parts by making repairs to existing components rather than just blindly install new ones. We have been able to become very good at repairs and service work by specializing in Subaru and we try to share this experience with our customer with lower labor prices.

We know what parts we can use on your Subaru without sacrificing longevity. Most automakers have become pure design and assemble companies leaving the parts manufacture to other companies. These auto parts companies are free to sell the same parts in aftermarket channels with out the Subaru logo. While in some cases in only makes sense to stick with Subaru parts especially when it comes to slower moving items that may have not been introduced in the aftermarket by the companies that originally made the parts for Subaru. There is also a good chance that the exact replacement part can be found at a 20% savings if you know how to look (we do).

From top to bottom we really know your Subaru well and want to help you get as many trouble free miles out of it as possible. We have seen these cars go well over 300k and I am the owner of a 1992 Legacy with 292k and counting. We take pride in servicing cars with higher miles and often have suggestions to help keep them going. Even though your Subaru may be getting up there in miles don’t discount just how long they will run.

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MINORCA, Spain — Trevor Wilkinson, whose first name was abbreviated to form the name of his company, TVR, has died in Spain at age 85. Wilkinson reportedly had been in ill health for some time. Wilkinson’s history as a car-builder and fiberglass expert dated back more than 60 years; he started the company that was to become TVR in 1946.

Wilkinson left school at age 14 in his native town of Blackpool, England, and built his first car, a two-seater on the chassis of an Alvis Firebird, in the early 1940s before starting TVR Engineering. He and partner Jack Pickard built a fiberglass-bodied two-seater with a multi-tubular steel chassis in 1949 and christened it the Mark I. It was later to be called the Grantura. The basic concept behind that car remained the cornerstone of the small specialist firm for decades.

Wilkinson left TVR to start his own engineering firm in 1962 and had lived quietly in retirement in Spain. A later owner of TVR, Peter Wheeler, sold the company to Russian Nikola Smolensky in 2004, and it has since gone into receivership. Smolensky still owns rights to the brand.

What this means to you: Another grand name in the annals of English sports-car history passes on. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent

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