So there I was, driving my family home in my wife’s car. We were just a couple of miles from our house when suddenly this demon-spawned monster sprang from the bowels of Hell itself and devoured the tires from our car, gorging itself on vulcanized rubber, its maw stuffed with steel-belted sinews and its razor-sharp teeth shredding our sidewalls.
Author: EMan Page 7 of 15
I wrote back in 2007 that the attendance for the Detroit auto show (North American International Auto Show—NAIAS) was down for the fourth consecutive year. The downward trend continued until 2009. Since then, it’s steadily grown again, hitting 795,416 attendees in 2013. That’s close to the all-time record of 808,833 in 2003[1].
So there I was, just a mile from my house when I felt the vibrations. After a few seconds, I decided to pull over and see if I had a flat tire. I went around the car, but all four tires seemed normal. As a precaution, I walked around again and checked the lug nuts by hand. As far as I could tell, those were okay, too.
One of my driving nightmares is flying off a bridge. Minnesota’s Department of Transportation (MnDOT) posted this traffic video of exactly that nightmare. It occurred on January 7, 2014 on I-694 in St. Paul. According to MnDOT’s post of the video, the driver walked away without serious injuries.
After shoveling snow all day, I don’t want to hear about all the snow in the 1970s and 1980s in Michigan. I came back to Michigan at the end of 2004, and after various snow-pocaly-geddons, four of the winters since then are in the top ten for snowiest winters in Detroit.
AUBURN HILLS — At a late holiday fancy pants party at Fiat’s home, it was announced that Fiat was taking Chrysler in. After some time in a government orphanage and debtor’s prison, Chrysler has finally found a home.
“Blimey! I’m so chuffed ter live in a noice ‘ome with a warm fire, guv’nor. Lots of coal makin’ lots of heat. Isn’t it loverly?”
I’m an idiot. I think I’ve done a good job proving this in the past, but I seem to like driving the point home. My most recent proof was particularly annoying. I damaged my car’s fender and a wheel. Once I remove all of the stupid and embarrassment off my face, I’ll probably write about it. My mistake cost me a significant amount of money, but luckily no one was hurt.
“It is amazing how may drivers, even at the Formula One level, think that the brakes are for slowing the car down.”
—Mario Andretti
I love brakes. I love the pretty colors brake calipers come in, from red to yellow to blue. I love the patterns on the rotors. I even love the blue brake fluid you used to be able to buy[1].
I read over the weekend that actor Paul Walker and his friend Roger Rodas died in a fiery, single vehicle car crash. They were driving a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, a 612 hp, mid-engine exotic.
What is sad for me is that three children lost their fathers in that crash, and that these two young men are no longer with us.