Motorhead

I believe the saying goes: "The squeaky wheel gets the grease". Most commonly used as a metaphor, but it also is true when your auto starts acting up. In another life, many moons ago, I wrote service for vehicle repair. Service writing had long hours, but allowed you to build a nice rapport with the customer.

Today I still have friends asking miscellaneous questions about auto issues. Amazingly I still archive several typical, and even less common issues, away in my head from those years of service writing. A common one I want to share involves squeaky brakes.

The question is: "I think my brakes are squeaking, what should I do?" The answer is simple, get them inspected. While some shops charge, others due a free visual inspection of brakes. If you get them inspected when they first squeak, chances are you will save yourself hundreds of dollars. How, do you ask? Nearly all brakes today have what's called a squeak bar (or wear bar). This is a small metal tab that protrudes out from the pad itself. When the pad material gets down to a certain point (about 2/32 of an inch), this metal tabs starts to make contact with the brake rotor.

So what happens once the squeaking stops? If you don't get the brakes inspected after hearing a continual squeak, your repair bill may double. If the brake pad material wears down to the rivets, chances are you will be also need new rotors not just pads. The average brake job can range for $150 to $350 per axle. When it gets to the point of needing new rotors however, that price will likely double! So if the squeak stops, don't think "oh it just went away, I'm okay".

Always put brakes and tires atop your maintenance list. These are the things that help you keep your vehicle under control. Loss of control is one of the top reasons for most major (non-alcohol related) accidents in this country.

Happy Motoring,

Lance

In this day and age you need an Orphan Annie decoder ring to help understand the modern-day vehicle features. Decades ago you looked for simple acronyms like; PW (Power Windows), PD (Power Doors), or A/C (Air Conditioning). Today things are a little more advanced, mainly due to the increase in vehicle safety. Ever since the introduction of anti-lock brakes (ABS) in the late 60's, cars have been improving progressively on safety.

Today we are accustom to seeing SRS labels throughout a vehicle cabin. The supplement restraint system, known to most as "air bags", was the biggest deal since ABS. This easily made the difference between major and minor injuries in an accident. It's a feature that is not appreciated until it's needed. Other safety features have since been added, but many don't even know what these latest-greatest features are.

Take the traction control system for example. TCS, also known as ASR, is one of the neatest safety features yet. The earliest versions were released by BMW, Mercedes, and Toyota back in 1987. This part electronic/part hydraulic system makes sure traction is maintained at the drive wheels. It monitors when there's a loss of traction, this typically happens from excess torque or contact with slippery surfaces (i.e. snow, sand, dirt). While some retard spark to the motor, others reduce fuel delivery, apply brake to the wheel, or close off the throttle. In other wards; this system does what the driver may not know to do!

1955 S-class Mercedes w/ ESC

Now don't confuse TCS with ESC, or the electronic stability control. ESC has been around since the 50's and was years ahead of it's time. Thanks to a partnership between Mercedes Benz and Bosch, the first ESC system was applied to an S-class Benz. This system works in conjunction with a vehicles ABS and TCS systems.

In a nutshell, this system has sensors that recognize what the car is doing and what the driver wants it to do. If it feels the car is swaying right, yet the driver is steering left, the system will apply brake or reduce fuel to help with the end result desired by the driver. This is the system that saves you from losing control when you swerve to avoid say a deer at high speeds. In years past you would lose control from over-steer and swerve off the road. With ESC, the car intervenes and makes sure this doesn't occur.

The safety levels of todays autos have evolved to nothing short of brilliance. Long past are the days of the Model T and simpler times. While you may never know all these acronyms, do know that they are doing important things to help you keep the shiny side up!

Happy Motoring,

Lance

Ventura County's got some of the best back roads in Southern California. So why not come up with a fun bike rally to ride these roads on vintage bikes? That's what Danielle Quinn thought about when her and "uncle James" created the annual Harry Quinn ride.

Danielle stated this ride was created in part to commemorate her grandpa, Harry Quinn. Harry has ridden roads from "the old country" to SoCal. He is a big reason why nearly a dozen of the Quinn clan got into riding. Another big reason was to get those that owned classic two-wheels to pull them out for a good old ride in the canyons.

This year was the second-annual run and tons of fun. An estimated 250+ riders made the event riding everything from FZ's to Norton Commando's. This was by far the most eclectic and exciting bunch of bikes and riders I have ever seen!

Check out the ride here: VCS Wheels: Vintage Bike Run

Ride on,

Lance

It's official, GM has filed BK and to many this is no surprise. It's a day many said would come. It wasn't so much a matter of if, as it was when. I want to take a minute to look at what GM was, where they are, and what they may become.

Remembering-

My fans know I am a third generation gearhead, and GM has been a big part of my family. My grandpa raced them and fixed them. My dad managed the company that shipped them from the factories in SF Bay Area. I have restored them, raced them and written about them. Heck, I remember my dad saying he would kick me out of the house if I ever brought home a ford!

Present-

Yes, "The General" has been known well by mine and many other families in this country. But it doesn't stop there, GM has made an impact on the global market as well. Buick is the top selling make in China, owning almost 23% total market share. Holden, GM's counterpart in Australia, has made the top selling sedan there (the Commodore) for the past ten years. Then there is Opel in Europe, a familiar name I see whenever I'm over overseas.

This is a company that has greatly helped mold the auto industry as we know it today. Many import fans may look down on this day, but then again, Toyota wouldn't even be what they are without their strong ties with GM. These two now giants have partnered on projects from as far back as the eighties. GM learned from Toyota, Toyota learned from GM's mistakes. The student is now the teacher in this relationship.

Yes, this is a hard day for those close to, and in the auto community. But is it all bad? No, their is a silver lining to this storm. This bankruptcy is a restructure, not a liquidation. That means a future for this company does exist. Will they be stronger, bigger, better? Maybe not, but they will be leaner, smarter and more efficient. That's what happens in times like these to companies like GM. Poor management and lack of true market demand coupled with a crumbling economy is part to blame. Now they have a second chance to do it right, and lose the mentality of yester-years auto industry.

Future-

GM will be required to be efficient. Forget the fact that the government could have bought the company three-times over with the "bailout" money! Yes, the company was worth 15billion and the government threw over 45 billion at them. Much of it went to the outstanding bank debt GM carried. This was a methodical way for the government to prevent a domino effect for the companies tied to them financially.

This will free them from debt leftover from year's past. Pensions for people that worked the line twenty years ago. Do I blame the unions? No answer. I do know that the rules that apply to GM didn't apply to Toyota because of the union and that hurt us. Matter of fact, that hurt each of "the big three". Note: I only single out Toyota because their goal has been to knock GM from top position as the global giant for years now.

I see much potential on the horizon for this company. Trim down the models, stop offering the same car with different badges under different monikers. We all know a Tahoe is a Yukon and a Blazer. Exploit the cars that people love rather it be the Malibu, or the excellent valued G8. Learn from Toyota, the company that learned so much from you. Doing some, or all of these things can help GM be the successful company I remember from years ago.

Tomorrow's a new day, Lance

It's that time of year again folks. Yes, the season has officially kicked off for shows, cruise nights, and gatherings. To me it starts with the Lions Club Revving it up for Education Show here in Camarillo. We checked it out and have two VCSWheels videos to prove it! The first being the review of the 2010 Camaro (see previous blog entry), the other an overview of the show itself (see below).

Another cool event which started April 24th is the Classic Car Cruise Night in old town Camarillo. This cruise is open to all cars with a prior to 1980 build date. It happens in old town the fourth Friday of every month. One event I'm looking forward to is Ventura Harley Davidson's Endless Summer Bike Show August 23rd. I will be a guest judge for this event, so come out and join us for a day of cruisers, food and live music.

For more upcoming events, see the latest list at: VCSWheels Car Club News

Happy Motoring, Lance

Many know my past history with Mustangs. I was at one point the sales manager at Maximum Motorsports, a Mustang-exclusive suspension manufacturing company. That was many years ago and much has changed in the car scene since. While Challenger has been MIA for years and Camaro was killed off in 2002, the Mustang has lived on since 1964.

I will always have a love for the Mustang, but the original muscle car to win my heart was the 1969 Camaro. My friends Tyson and Brian both owned one in high school. Brian built his from the ground up with retro style, whereas Tyson and I teamed up on making his a modern masterpiece. As a gearhead, when you spend so much time with one car you etch a special place in your heart for it. Having said that, I'm beyond happy to see the Camaro once again on the street.

Why Camaro over the Mustang or Challenger? I actually have several reasons why I say Camaro takes the title of King in this venue:

1. Bang-for-buck
Equipped with the hottest rear-wheel drive global architecture (the Zeta platform) and a sick drivetrain (LS3 V8 Corvette motor and Tremec 6-speed), Camaro comes in first.

2. Price
The meager powered Mustang GT comes in at a $28,845 base price tag and boasts all of 315hp (20 more horses than my 350Z, and 450 pounds heavier!). The Challenger R/T comes in at $30,945 price tag with a 376hp V8. The Camaro SS cruises in at 30,995 punching out 426hp.

3. MPG
Yes, miles-per-gallon! While the Mustang GT averages 15cty/23hwy, the Challenger averages all of 16cty/25hwy and lastly, the top powered Camaro does 16cty/24hwy. That might not sound like much, but ain't bad for over 420horses.

I could go on about why I think it's the better car. They aren't a dime-a-dozen like the Mustang, they don't drive like a luxury car as a Challenger does. Long story short is that this car hits on all cylinders from horsepower, to platform and driveability.

Motor on, Lance

Most friends of mine rather work or personal, know the best conversation starter is the latest automotive news. Rather this be the unveiling of a new auto, or a factory closing in America. Anything auto related is a good topic to strike conversation with me. The past few weeks friends have brought up Pontiac, knowing this manufacture recently caught my liking since buying a late-model GTO in 2006.

My 2005 Pontiac GTO. Equipped with the Vette based LS2 motor boasting 400hp.

I'm sure most heard in the news of recent changes to be made with "the General". GM brought their latest plan to the table which they feel will carry them through these hard times. While some see potential for this company to carry on, some question if bankruptcy is a possibility as well.

Those of us closely tied to the industry new Hummer has been for sale for sometime and if not sold, would go away. Saab was inevitably going on the sale block as in my opinion GM never should have bought it in the first place. I will say the slashing of Saturn was a mild surprise, but made sense. Out of the five models in Saturn's line up, two are re-badged GM's while the other three are re-badged Opals and/or Vauxhalls from Europe. The one real shocker among the recent news was the ax being taken to the Pontiac line.

To many Pontiac is just another of the many lines put out by the biggest kid on the block. It fell somewhere around Oldsmobile and Buick to most. Little know about the history of this moniker and how it has always maintained the performance side of the GM roster.

While the name first came about with the Pontiac Spring & Wagon Works, it was not used by GM until 1926. It was created as a companion line to the Oakland Motor Car. Over the years Pontiac fought to separate itself from the pack bringing us such cars as the "Tri-power" '57 Bonneville, the Tempest and the famed Pontiac GTO. While many may argue, I see Pontiac as one of the top cars to make the muscle car segment in this country what it is today.

A beautiful sample of a 1st generation Pontiac Bonneville.

Bob Lutz is a big reason why Pontiac has come full circle in recent years. He knew the value and reputation of the Pontiac name. While most know his push behind the Chevrolet Volt and Camaro, the masses don't know how much his heart was with Pontiac. He knew this line could go to bat with the likes of BMW, Audi and more. In my opinion it was a success and I thank him for fighting to keep the line alive.

I fell in love with American cars all over with my '05 Goat. What better deal to get a modern mid-size car with creature comforts and a 400hp LS2 Corvette motor. I stepped into this car after my 540i BMW left me on the road stranded 2 times in as many months!

My heart even more so fell for the recently released Pontiac G8 GT. Pontiac turned to Holden (GM's counterpart in Australia) for help on the new full size car for the arrowhead moniker. The G8 used the beautiful Zeta platform architecture found under the Holden Commodore and recently released Chevrolet Camaro. They packed it with a 6.0 motor and either a GM 6-speed auto or 6-speed manual from Tremec (see blog entry The Great G8) . Here is a car that gives a BMW 550i a run for its money, yet has gone largely unnoticed by the masses.

Pontiac will go down in history with Oldsmobile, Plymouth, Eagle, Geo and DeLorean as a car maker no more, but I know after the end of 2010 this name will long live on in all gearhead's memory.

-Lance

Little known fact; the Pontiac name was taken from an American Chief.
Chief Pontiac was an Ottawa leader most famous for his role in Pontiac's Rebellion (1763-1766). This was an American Indian struggle against the British military occupation of the Great Lakes region.

It's official, as of March 30th the feds have announced a great new vehicle buying incentive. Brought to you by the exploiters of the buzz word "stimulus", you now have another great reason to get that new ride.

So how does this new program benefit you, the buyer? Well first off it gives you an excellent tax break on not only a new car purchase. This tax break applies to essentially anything with a vehicle identification number. So, if you have been looking for a new motorcycle or motor home, you qualify for this as well.

The only way you don't qualify is if your adjusted annual gross income is over $135K. Now most the people I know make less than that, so it's safe for me to say that this is for people that deserve a break on buying a new car!

You must also purchase the new vehicle after February 16th of 2009, but before January 1st of 2010. The deduction is good for up to $49,500 of the new vehicle purchase price. Being that the average new car cost $30k, I think most will benefit.

To find out more simply visit the Internal Revenue Service.

Happy Motoring,

Lance

It all started when Gretchen Macchiarella, my friend and fellow web caster in editorial, e-mailed me about the Fiesta. She mentioned Ford was hosting a media day at Port Hueneme for the 2010 Ford Fiesta, slated to be available here early next year.

Skimming through the e-mail a found myself smirking when I read "I know this isn't your kinda car but I still think you could have some interesting insights about how it stacks up for the money". I quickly replied that I had been following the stories and knew of this car well. I closed by stating "I would love to cover the story".

I did brush up on some fast facts about the car. I already knew this car was a brainchild of the notorious Lee Iaccoca. Lee responded to the gas crunch of '73 by searching out for what is known as a "B-segment" car. Europeans called these "superminis", the general category name coming from BMC's original Mini of 1959.

We got to see the Ford Fiesta stateside in 1978. It only had a three year run here before being replaced with the larger, and soon to be more popular, Ford Escort. I was very young back then and barely remember this little 66hp econo-car. One thing I do recall was an amazing resemblance to the VW GTI of the eighties.

Fast forward to current day and 28 years later we welcome the Fiesta in the U.S. yet again. Funny thing is this car never died in Europe. To date, Ford has created seven generations of this car and sold over 10 million worldwide! Yes it's true, the rest of the world loves small cars no matter what the price of gas.

I got to spend most the day with this latest generation "B-segment". One thing I have learned is this; We would love subcompacts if more were made like this. From push-button start to nice leather, integrated bluetooth, usb port and more, this car has all you need. Forget about that Ford wagon you hated growing up, or the horror stories of the Pinto. Ford of U.S. is finally taking pages from Ford of Europe and not a moment too soon. Take a minute and see my opinion of this car in the video below.

Happy Motoring,

Lance

Before the beloved Z car, there was the Datsun Fairlady. This was a roadster-style car built in Japan by Nissan (then Datsun) to directly compete with like cars from Europe. Such influences for this little roadster were the Triumph Spitfire and the MG Midget.

I owned an 1967 Fairlady 1600 several years ago and loved it. The Fairlady is the only convertible I have ever owned. The car was so easy to work on and a real blast to drive. The only complaint would be tuning the side-draft carbs. Up until owning that car I hadn't tuned a carburetor since 1997! Here it was 5 years later and I found myself flashing back to memories of helping teach auto shop class at Cal High.

The Fairlady moniker has lived on all these years with the Nissan Z line. First introduced in 1970 with the 240Z, many fell in love with the new style roadster from the land of the rising sun. Personally I was a bigger fan of the 4th generation 300ZX from the nineties.

fast forward to current day and we see the latest in a long line of Fairladies known as the 370Z. Never has this car had so much power, personality and panache. I recently took a few minutes to take a closer look at this car . It's no wonder the car mags are putting it up against the likes of Porsche and Lexus.

Watch my video below and see why this car hit my "top 10" of '09 new cars list. Bang-for-buck just might be an understatement for this ride.

Enjoy, Lance

Greetings,

As promised, I'm stepping it up a notch here! I pulled a video out of our vault that didn't make it to the webcast list last November. It's the Mini E, one of several new releases at the 2008 LA Auto Show last year.

I love this car for several reasons, the primary being this; It doesn't look funky. Unlike the Prius (lookout, here comes more hate mail from Prius owners!) or Insight, this car looks like any other car on the road. I feel it's proof that efficiency need not coexist with ugly. I know, "my car looks like that to minimize wind drag". The thing is many of us buy cars based on appeal, not just practicality. Nope, now you can get something that helps minimize your carbon footprint and looks cool.

Enjoy the video, and open your eyes to the future of cars and electricity.

Happy Motoring,

Lance

My videographer (Matt Gray) and I took an afternoon to visit Ladin Hyundai in the Westlake Auto Mall. I have been watching the energy grow around this car for over a year now. As many know, the all new Hyundai Genesis swooped up the North American Car of the Year award. Below is my take on this beautiful flagship from Hyundai.

-Lance