I can't remember a time when I wasn't intrigued by cars. As a child I had an obsession with counting Volkswagen Beetles as they drove up and down our busy street in the lovely Los Angeles suburb, Tarzana, named after its first famous land owner, Edgar Rice Burroughs (of Tarzan book fame). My favorite toys were things like a Tonka truck or a Jeep. When Hot Wheels came out in the late 1960s, I would go to the local toy shop and drool over the newest models that came out. I'd save my allowance and buy the latest model.
My first job was doing yard work for a nice old lady in Canoga Park. I was only 14 years old and I rode my crappy Schwinn 10-speed bike to her home. On my route, I always passed this beautiful 1966 Mustang convertible. It was all original, red, with a white top, 289 V8, pony interior, 3-speed automatic on the floor and the factory air conditioning hanging in the center. I soon learned all about Mustangs and the changes that took place during each model year. This was about that time that Ford almost destroyed the Mustang by making the big mistake called the Mustang II. Those were dark days in the mid-1970s for the slugs in Detroit. In LA, we just started to buy Toyotas, Hondas and diesel Mercedes-Benzes. I don't think the Big 3 (depending whether or not you count Chrysler or Toyota as the third) have ever recovered from those days.
I was never a big Chrysler fan. All I can remember is the horrible 1963 Plymouth Valiant, with push-button transmission, that my grandmother drove. To this day, the sound of those starters drives me insane. Aside from the cool tranny, the slant six was slow and the beast belched black soot. Why didn't Grandma drive a 300?
As a teenager, I learned to drive with my Dad's 1970 Chevy Concours wagon. It was pea green hideous, but it was our first car with air conditioning. That was a big car to navigate, but boy did it have good acceleration. I could get the venerable 350 cu in V8 to chirp the tires with GM's excellent turbohydromatic transmission. I was a wiz at driving that barge around town. When I turned 16, my parents were very generous and bought me a brand new car for me to use for work and to drive to school. It was a blue Honda Civic CVCC hatchback with Hondamatic semi-automatic transmission. I beat that car up during my last two years in high school and the first three years of college. In the end, the poor Honda was just too unreliable to be good transportation. It overheated on long grades and that damn thermostat kept malfunctioning, not to mention the 3 or 4 head gaskets I went through in 120,000 miles. Honda may make a good car now, but I think Honda was still working out the kinks for the American market in its early years.
My next car was a Mazda 626 Coupe, luxury edition. Damn, that was a great car. It was rear drive and had great balance. It also had all the luxury features I knew I deserved. Too bad Mazda decided to go to all front drive cars. Maybe Ford will let Mazda get back to fun now that the new, but woefully underpowered RX-8 is here.
After college, for fun, I purchased my first second car. It was a 1969 Mercury Cougar XR-7 convertible. It was Indian Fire metallic red with a white top and white leather interior. It had a 390 four barrel with a Hurst 4 on the floor. I spent the next few years restoring it and learning about its lack of structural rigidity and its inability to handle curves. I also learned how much I could lose by restoring a classic. I still love to waste money on old cars.
The list of cars I've owned defies explanation, but I'll try and memorialize the list here:
1. 1976 Honda Civic CVCC hatchback
2. 1982 Mazda 626 Coupe, Luxury Edition
3. 1969 Mercury Cougar XR-7 convertible
4. 1988 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.6
5. 1990 Saab 900 Convertible
6. 1987 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC
7. 1991 Mercedes-Benz 500SL
8. 1995 Chevy Tahoe Sport
9. 1973 VW Beetle Convertible
10. 1978 Mercedes-Benz 280CE
11. 1994 Porsche 986 Coupe
12. 1996 VW Cabriolet
13. 1996 Chevy Impala SS
14. 2001 VW Golf GTI GLX
15. 2002 Subaru WRX wagon
16. 1979 Mercedes-Benz 300SD
17. 1995 Mercedes-Benz E300 Diesel
18. 1974 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible
19. 1975 Porsche 914 2.0
20. 2002 Pontiac Aztek AWD
21. 2003 Nissan Murano AWD
Ok, so I'm a car junkie. That's why my partner Alan and I started this web site. The numerous US car magazines feed us car junkies an endless stream of almost identical articles and reviews. Sure, I love to read about all the new styles, engineering and technological advances and the cool electronic gizmos packed into new cars. I also drool over the great concept cars that never materialize or when they do, the translation from show car to production mule is a great disappointment. For all the good US magazines, the best magazine I read is from the UK. It's called AutoCar and it has a distinctively British view on things; however, the editorial staff doesn't seem nearly as beholden to the advertising dollar that permeates the US offerings.
The one thing I find missing is good editorial from non-insiders. We want to focus on cars, from an outsider's viewpoint, from the real car capitol of the world, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Since most people in Los Angeles are wedded to their cars for all aspects of life, we set the trends, buy the latest, most expensive and most advanced products and then buy a new or better version in a couple years. We have every high-end German car in abundance here. I see more M3s on my 10 mile round trip to and from the gym every day than most people see in a year in Springfield. I'm convinced that every Porsche dealer in the country ships their unsold Cayennes to LA dealers so that ever status-conscious army of entertainment attorneys, omnipresent revolving supply of producers/writers/directors and countless studio minions (whose only power is the word "no") can have it. Porsche sold 1,122 Cayennes in September 2003 and from the looks of it, most of the hideous beasts were sold here! We all know that not one of them will ever go off road. It's the SUV of the moment. Of course The H2 is already "out" as fast as the Escalade was "in". GM has been pushing its entire inventory with heavy rebates and low financing. Even the omnipresent G500 and G55 are ho-hum here. The one thing I haven't seen yet is a Maybach. Is that a message to the boys in Stuttgart from the idle rich in Beverly Hills?
I want to talk about what is right and wrong with the car business. I will talk about the local dealers and how they treat customers. I'm going to tell you just how bad my gas mileage is on my Murano because in-traffic mileage is never close to the EPA estimates. This is the real stuff a consumer and car enthusiast and financial guy like me is interested in. There will be praise and hard words, but all of it will be the truth and my real-life experience. I think you'll find it interesting and refreshing. Hang on for the ride!
