Welcome to the land of the open road! A cool breeze tussles your hair as verdant hillsides rush on by. The mountain pass ahead is lit by a resplendent scarlet sky. And yet, with the approach of each hairpin turn, your tires stay firmly planted on the ground. Total confidence, total control. With a vintage sports car, every mile means another smile.
Lately I’ve been amazed at the leaps and bounds automotive manufacturers have been making the last few years in regards to fuel economy, at least in relation to engine power. A few examples? A 2010 Chevrolet Camaro V6 rated with 305 horsepower and 29 miles per gallon (highway), and a 2011 Ford Mustang V6 also with 305 horses, but 31 mpg highway. These are just the base models with automatics, and yet their performance would put just about any Ferrari from the 80s or 90s to shame — all while sucking half as much fuel.
In light of this, I’ve been reassessing just how efficient my 2001 Audi TT Roadster Quattro really is. Once considered almost state-of-the-art, the 1.8-liter turbocharged engine puts out just 225 hp — a pretty amazing 125 hp/liter, but just two-thirds the output of the new pony cars’ larger-displacement base engines. And an EPA rating of 26 mpg highway. Not so impressive.
However, it seems like with any manual-transmissioned car, I can easily beat the EPA numbers. My TT does have a stick, so I wondered just what gas mileage I could get if I “tried.” Continue reading »
Isn’t this the coolest mailbox ever? It is outside Western Engines & Transmissions on N. College Ave. in Fort Collins. If you look closely at the photo, the engine serves not only as a base for the conventional mailbox, but is a mailbox itself! It even has a flag attached to one of the exhaust manifold bolts that can be raised.
Here is another photo: Continue reading »
Recently I’ve been noticing cracks the size of the Hayward Fault in people’s windshields around Northern Colorado, and I wondered when my Audi TT’s would experience its first boo-boo. Well, it finally happened. On the way to Denver’s airport, a bunch of stones kicked up by a semi-trailer flew at my car including one the size of an orange. The last rock hit the windshield squarely in the center resulting in a dollar-coin-sized, half-moon-shaped bruise. Continue reading »
Walking around the second floor of the Denver Convention Center, the Denver International Auto Show just felt different than it did in years past. Then it hit me — it was because GM’s floorspace was so small as a direct result of The General shuttering Pontiac, Saturn, and Hummer during the last year. While I certainly shed no tears over the loss of the Humvee, I did feel a tinge of sadness that two of my perennial sports car favorites — the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky — were nowhere to be found.
That said, there were several bright spots among the American Manufacturers’ displays. Continue reading »
I was driving down South College Avenue this morning when a pair of yellow hot hatches whizzed by on my left. The first one was a Mini Cooper — probably not the S model, because I did not see its characteristic dual exhaust tips in my cell-cam photos. More interesting was the car tailing it: a Fiat 500. The Italians are coming! Continue reading »
Having recently been able to look at (and sit in!) a friend’s red 1967 MGB roadster in Fort Collins, I wondered about how Goldie, the pale primrose yellow 1969 British roadster I enjoyed for 12 years, was faring. Happily, Steve (the MG’s new owner) just sent me an update.
As it turns out, the vintage sports car is hibernating during Montreal’s long winter. It also appears that she is in need of a bit of work to be roadworthy again, which is in contrast to last August when Steve reported she was running great. Her oil pressure relief valve may be sticking and the brake master cylinder is leaking now. Fortunately, Steve has a whole school bus of spare parts and the time and energy to tackle these issues. Continue reading »
 despite having over 300 horsepower! "The American car companies -- particularly Ford and GM -- are really pushing what's possible nowadays. Example: the 2011 Ford Mustang's base V6 engine gets 31 mpg on the highway (with automatic) despite having over 300 horsepower!")
 like I had to here in 2002. "Working on old British roadsters is a labor of love, something Goldie's new owner relishes. I hope he will not have to completely remove the engine (to solve an oil pressure problem) like I had to here in 2002.")