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What's involved in setting up an indoor car show? Here's what...

The Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo in Toronto is finished now, but I went in early to see exactly what's involved in getting a massive car show set up in one day. My story and video can be found over at Driving.ca.

These eight vintage cars are rare and but not worth much

Some cars are rare and that makes them worth a bundle, and then some cars are rare and...well, you might pick some of them up for pocket change. Check out my story on eight "collectible" cars that never hit the resale jackpot over at Driving.ca.

What oil should you use in your classic or older car?

If you have an older vehicle - from the dawn of the auto age through to the 1990s - should you be using oil that reflects its vintage? Find out more about age-appropriate lubrication in my story at Driving.ca.

Here's what I love about my 1947 Cadillac...

Usually I do videos of new vehicles, but this time around, my editor said, "We want one on your old car." And so here I am, yapping about my 1947 Cadillac at the National Post (Driving.ca).

Some Canadian cars for Canada Day

Virtually all of the vehicles made in Canada right now are American or Japanese brands, but over the years, there have been various ones made or sold only in Canada -- such as Bricklin, Beaumont, and even the Ford GT. Find out more in my story at the National Post (Driving.ca).

Impressive Iron: Classic Cars at the Cobble Beach Concours d'Elegance

The Cobble Beach Concours d'Elegance Show draws some of the most beautiful cars ever built, and this year's event was no exception. Find out what was there in my story at AutoTRADER.ca.

Century-old cars are for driving...

That's the opinion of the Horseless Carriage Club of America, and recently, its Ontario chapter held a week-long event in Canada that was all about taking these cars on the road. They're all 1915 or older, and they're still in service. Find out more in my story at the National Post (Driving.ca).

Have you ever heard of a Fossmobile?

Most haven't, but it's likely it was the first gasoline-powered car built in Canada. Find out more in my story at the National Post (Driving.ca.).

The Rockabilly Rev Up: Cars, fashion, and fun

Before bobby sox and Happy Days, there was rockabilly, a raw American music that had a brief but glorious rise. But it's back, and in addition to music, it's also about cars and fashion -- and fun. I went to Port Dover, Ontario to the Rockabilly Rev Up show -- find out more in my story at the National Post (Driving.ca.)

New fuels and old cars -- what to do?

Fuel has changed over the years, but classic cars haven't -- and that combination can be asking for trouble. What do you need to know about ethanol, octane, and unleaded fuel? Find out in my story at the National Post (Driving.ca).

The history of early electric cars

Automakers are offering several different all-electric models these days, but they're nothing new. In 1900, the best-selling car in the United States was powered by batteries. So what happened? It all traces back to a broken jaw...find out more in my story at AutoTrader.ca.

The crazy stuff that used to be on cars

"They don't make 'em like that anymore" is a common phrase when people see old cars, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing -- not when old cars used to have crank handles, or coal heaters, or messy filters. Check out some of these from days gone by in my story at AutoTrader.

Woodward Avenue: It's all about the cruise

Now in its 24th year, the Woodward Dream Cruise in Michigan is one of the largest (if not the largest) car events in the country, with tens of thousands of cars cruising the street and an estimated 1.5 million people showing up for it. Find out more in my story at AutoTrader.

Overland: The company that led to Jeep

More than a century ago, a wheel manufacturer tried its hand at building cars. The result was Overland, a brand mostly forgotten today but the ancestor of today's Jeep. Find out more in my "Rearview Mirror" column at the National Post.

DeLorean: Stainless steel dreams and financial nightmares

John DeLorean was a rising star at General Motors in the 1960s and 1970s, but he wanted to build something completely different from what the automaker was sending out. The result was the stainless steel DeLorean sports car, a revolutionary idea plagued with the reality of actually producing it. Find out more in my "Rearview Mirror" column at the National Post.

Celebrating Porsche's 70th with a '73 Carrera RS 2.7

It's the car that basically catapulted the 911 to cult status, and at an event celebrating Porsche's 70th anniversary, the company handed me the keys and sent me out into the countryside. And yes, it's everything its fans say it is. Find out more in my story at the National Post.

Check out these flash-in-the-pan automakers

Putting together a car company is never a guarantee of success, and many of them did well for themselves before wobbling to their demise, but there were also several that barely stuck around long enough for the paint to dry. Check out some of the shortest-lived in my story over at AutoTRADER.ca.

Ford's Edsel: The great new model that wasn't

Ford's new 1958 Edsel was considered such a move up that it was its own division, and was intended to give the company two new lines to compete with its rivals. Instead, it went down in defeat as one of the industry's greatest failures. Find out more in my "Rearview Mirror" column at the National Post.

History of the SUV

Sport-utilities are among the most popular vehicles in Canada and the U.S., but it wasn't always that way. They started out as rough, tough workhorses, built on truck frames and with a ride to match. Find out how they evolved in my "Rearview Mirror" column at the National Post.

Old-car owners: More ethanol may be coming

Canada currently allows a maximum of 10 per cent ethanol in fuel overall, but if a proposed amendment passes, it could go to 15 per cent. What does this mean for an older vehicle? Find out more in my story at the National Post.

Old cars and the Internet: Changing the way people restore cars

As I've been doing for many years, I went to Hershey, Pennsylvania recently, home of what's believed to be the world's largest antique auto flea market. It's still huge, but not what it used to be, and that's almost entirely because of the Internet. Find out more in my story at the National Post.

The Petersen: Auto heaven under one roof

TThere's not much of a sign outside the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles, but it's hard to miss, and you don't want to do that. Inside is a treasure trove of some of the world's famous cars -- and make sure you see the ones in the "vault" as well. Find out more in my story at AutoTRADER.

Preserving Canada's unique auto heritage

Ever heard of a Gray-Dort? A Brooks? A Galt? They were all Canadian automakers at a time when the country had an emerging and vibrant home-grown industry, and you can find them at the Canadian Automotive Museum.

I visited recently -- find out more in my story over at the National Post.

Just how old is front-wheel drive?

Many people think it arrived in the 1980s, but some auto manufacturers were working on it before the turn of the 20th century...and the first U.S. production car with it came out in 1929. Find out more in my "Rearview Mirror" column at the National Post.

Car and parts collecting at the Hershey flea market

It's believed to be the largest antique auto swap meet in the world, and even though many people buy their parts online these days, it still attracts fans from around the world--including me. Find out more in my story over at the National Post.

The Jalopy Jam Up

Take a whole bunch of traditionally-styled hot rods and custom cars, drop them into an old Western town, and you have the Jalopy Jam Up, one of my favorite shows. Find out more - and see some of these great cars - in my story over at the National Post.

Would you drive a century-old car?

The members of the Horseless Carriage Club of America do! They met in Ontario recently and covered some 650 miles over five days. Find out more in my story at the National Post.

Laying down lines: Here's what a pinstriper does!

In my Cool Auto Jobs column at the Toronto Star, I have a look at Rollie Guertin, one of the finest pinstripers anywhere. Not only does he paint the custom stuff as you see here, but he's put the finishing touches on cars that have won international trophies at the highest level. Find out more here!

My best moment of 2012 - thanks, Mercedes!

Each year, the Toronto Star asks its auto writers to describe their best moment of the year. Mine involved that 1956 gull-wing Mercedes that you see in the photo - one that the company invited me to drive. Read all about it (and be envious!) by clicking here.

Canadian cars: Yes, we built a few ...

The best-known  was probably the McLaughlin, pictured here, but Canada made quite a few cars in the earlier days. The Toronto Star has published a new Wheels magazine, and one of the stories I was asked to write was on the history of cars in Canada. Read it by clicking here!

Dodge Dart: Old versus new

I've seldom had as much fun with a story as I did with this one. When Dodge announced it was bringing back the Dart name, my ears pricked up, since we own the 1966 version. Which one's better? Find out in my Toronto Star story by clicking here.

Convertibles? Yes, we have convertibles!

Every car is better when the top goes down! The Toronto Star asked me to come up with a "top ten" list, and so I grabbed one from each decade. See what caught my eye - whether for beauty, or historical significance, or both!.

Old cars and safety: These are the good old days

I'm still getting letters over an opinion piece I wrote in the Toronto Star about how old cars are a lot of fun, but they're nowhere near as safe as the cars built today. The newspaper illustrated my story with pictures from a crash test performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), in which it banged up a 1959 Bel Air against a 2009 Malibu to show how far cars had come in the 50 years the IIHS had been around. (You can see the video here.)

What surprised me was how many readers said the test "wasn't fair," because the cars didn't hit precisely head-on. The reality is that the standard is what's known as the "frontal offset," where the cars hit with each vehicle's front quarter at the middle of the other vehicle's hood. It's done this way because this is how most so-called "head-on" collisions occur. The cars don't hit each other directly face-to-face. Rather, one driver veers across the line where he's hit by oncoming traffic, often by drivers who are swerving to avoid him, making the possibility of a straight-on hit even less likely.

The Bel Air's driver probably wouldn't have fared much better in a direct head-on that these readers might have considered to be more in the car's favor anyway. In old cars, it's the "secondary collision" that was often responsible for death or serious injury. Since these cars didn't crumple up, crash force was sent straight into the cabin, where the driver was crushed by or crashed into the interior panels. New cars "disintegrate," as one reader put it, because they're supposed to do that. By crumpling up, they help prevent crash energy from reaching and deforming the cabin.

Fewer people are killed on U.S. roads these days, and it certainly isn't because we're all much better drivers. It's primarily because cars are doing a better job of protecting us.

None of that will probably get through to most of these readers, of course; you stand a better chance standing between a bear and her cubs than you do when you criticize old cars. Hey, I love old cars. I've played with them for almost 30 years now, and as you can see by clicking on the link to the right, I still own a couple. I'm also realistic about how time marches on. A 2009 car is vastly superior, safety-wise, to a 1959. And in 2029, we'll look back and say my goodness, look how far we've come in twenty years.

Why I really love my job ...

This is Alex Xydias, and I met him tonight, thanks to an event at Cadillac's design studio courtesy of General Motors. I'm not much of a car racing fan, but you better believe I know this particular vehicle .. and I certainly know of Mr. Xydias. What an honor to meet him.

And while waiting for my food to be served, I stood and talked a while with Jay Leno ... who also waited in line, no star ego here, for his. But I let him go first. "You go," he said. "No," said I, "you drive a Duesenberg to work, and I only own a Studebaker." So he said that that sounded good, and he went up and ordered his burger. A very classy gentleman, and certainly a night I'll always remember.

Nothing gets by you, does it?

I was at a car show today, driving an old car that doesn't have a working gas gauge. Car refused to start. So I got out, opened the trunk, and took out a can of gasoline.

I was standing beside the car, with a container of gas, feeding it into the fuel filler. And sure enough, someone came up to me, right on schedule, and said:

"Ran out of gas, huh?"

The 1948 Tucker

 

In today's Wheels Extra, I have a story on the 1948 Tucker. It's part of a series I'm writing for it, each featuring a car from a specific decade. You can find it by clicking here.

A trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania

  I just got back from a trip to the annual AACA show and swap meet in Hershey, Pennsylvania. If you've never been, it's something to see. It takes three days to walk by all of the 9,000 vendor spots, and there are hundreds of cars in the show.

It's not quite the same as in the bygone days -- it's been going since 1955, and I've been attending for 15 years -- which is understandable, given that it makes more sense to go to online to find that one missing part for your 1911 Pope-Hartford than it does to tramp around the fields hoping that someone might have one. A lot of the rare stuff isn't there anymore for that reason. And it's now all on pavement, which means that the days of sinking hopelessly into the mud are gone (the show cars are now on grass). But I still wouldn't miss it for anything. No matter how much the Internet has changed the old-car hobby, there is still a need for hands-on shopping, along with piles of rusty, unidentifiable car parts, impulse buys, and the thrill of the chase.

As usual, I spent most of my money on taxi memorabilia -- a metal Yellow Cab sign, some taxi plates, a cap badge from Flint, Michigan, and a Yellow Cab directory for Chicago, date unknown, although I suspect it's the 1930s.

Prices for parts were generally reasonable, but when it came to the cars for sale, I swear there's crack cocaine in the Hershey's chocolate there. Or else people were figuring they could pay off their mortgages and ride out the economy on the strength of a single sale. How else to explain a 1930 Austin Bantam for $37,900, a 1972 BMW 3.0 for $39,900, and a Ford Skyliner at $92,000? I did notice that on Saturday morning, the last day of the event, prices on the windshields were dropping faster than the stock market. It's usual to see them go down by a couple of hundred dollars, but I saw a huge number that were reduced by as much as $5,000 (and were still too high). Reality, gentlemen, reality.

I drove down in a 2009 Ford Flex, which proved to be an extremely impressive vehicle, and paid anywhere from $3.69 to $2.99 for gasoline. Speaking of which, if there's a fuel crisis in the US, it sure isn't evident; every vehicle seemed to be a full-size SUV, sedan or pickup truck, all of them exceeding the speed limit by at least 15 mph. But I sure noticed the restaurants: in one chain where we normally have to make reservations, we were one of about eight tables, and the server told us that she makes $2.83 an hour plus tips, and one night last week took home $18. For a full shift. Scary? You betcha.

Cruise nights at Chrysler!

We slipped over the border last night into Michigan, to the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills. Throughout the summer, the museum's parking lot is the site of a series of six cruise nights, each with a special theme. Since last night's was Dodge Challenger night, we took the beast over to get in on the fun.

It really was quite a blast, with the front lot stuffed with all manner of cars -- every make is welcome -- in every configuration, from bone-stock to widely customized. There were also some very neat oddballs, including two Chrysler-Maserati TCs (perhaps the only two that were ever actually sold?) and these two cute little Metropolitans.

The cruise nights have wrapped up for the summer, but the museum is still worth a trip -- it contains a wealth of history, including all kinds of concept cars (there's even a Turbine), racing legends and some examples from the company's earliest days.

But the highlight of the evening wasn't even a car -- at least, not a full-size one. The big "O" sculpture outside the museum is actually made up of rings of channel steel, and on the far side, the end comes down to the base. And there was a little boy who looked up at the sculpture, looked down at his Hot Wheels car, looked up at the sculpture ... and then reached up as far as he could, set the toy on this ready-made track, and let it go ...

McLaughlin Day in Oshawa

It was McLaughlin Day in Oshawa today -- the city names the civic holiday for GM of Canada founder Sam McLaughlin, who set up his company in the city (and ironically, while many businesses were closed for the day, the GM factories toiled).

The McLaughlin-Buick Club of Canada hosts an annual meet that moves to various locations each year, but for the company's 100th anniversary, it came home to Parkwood, McLaughlin's home and now a museum. Some 95 cars paraded through Oshawa's streets and ended up at the estate for a show. I'll be writing a couple of stories on it, but for now, let me tell you, there were some magnificent cars there, including a 1937 model that was driven to the show from Indiana. This 1932 in the photo came in from Alberta, and there was one from Maine. Although they weren't sold in the US, they sometimes show up at auctions and sales there, and American collectors seem to love them for their rarity. We just love them up here 'cause they look so nice.

I learned how to drive!

That's me, at the wheel of a Model T Ford that I'd just learned how to drive. Okay, I could use a bit more time behind the wheel to really be proficient, but I managed to go up and down that field a number of times without stalling it, hitting anything, or turning my instructor's hair white, which I think is quite an accomplishment.

I did this at the T Party, and if you're anywhere near Richmond, Indiana from now until July 26, get yourself there. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Model T, and there are some 900 at the event, which is said to be the largest gathering of the cars anywhere since they originally left the factory.

The car I'm driving belongs to The Henry Ford and is used to shuttle visitors at the museum; it's an authentic replica built by Ford for the company's 100th anniversary.

The T was simple to drive compared to many vehicles of its day, but it requires some coordination and several moves that aren't familiar to the modern driver. Levers on the steering wheel control the spark advance and the throttle, while you use pedals for the gear (high or low), reverse and brake. On older ones, you crank it to start, but this T was equipped with an electric starter.

First, the handbrake must be all the way back, the spark advance all the way up, and the throttle halfway down. Crank it or push the starter button, and when it catches, retard the spark and adjust the throttle. When it's idling nicely, you push the handbrake halfway ahead and press the clutch pedal right to the floor. This is the tough part -- the car starts moving, but you don't take your foot off the clutch. You just drive along.

Once you're up to speed, you put your foot up halfway, push the handbrake all the way ahead, and take your foot off the clutch, and now you're in high gear. I'm told that if you're good at it, you can switch between the two by finding the "sweet spot" halfway on the pedal without the brake lever, but I figured I was lucky just to get it to go ahead.

I'd always wanted a Model T because I thought they were cool; now I want one 'cause I think they're fun. I'll be writing a lot more on this great show, which also included an "air parade" of some ten pre-1930s planes at a nearby airstrip. These T folks know how to have a blast.

Beverly Rae Kimes: In memorium

Beverly Rae Kimes has passed away. If my calculations are correct, she was 67. To say that the automotive world has lost a giant in the field is an understatement.

A writer and editor since 1963, Kimes had the helm of Automobile Quarterly for many years, and was a contributor for decades. She was the author or editor of more than twenty books, including the definitive history of such makes as Packard and Mercedes-Benz. She was also a rarity, a female writer and historian in a male-dominated field.

I had the opportunity to interview her by telephone in 2002 for Old Autos newspaper, and the first thing I mentioned was that when I first became aware of her writing, I assumed from her ambiguous name that she was a man. She said that just about everyone made that mistake, but in the early days, it was to her advantage: her meticulous work earned her a place on the page, and "By the time they found out I was a woman, (at a time) when women weren't regarded as favorably as they are today with regard to the workplace, I had already established myself," she told me. "I had been writing for several years, so they couldn't really take that out on me at that point."

Although she would gain a reputation as one of the top historians in her field, she told me that she'd known nothing about cars when she started. Fresh out of college, she first got a job with a theater magazine that folded shortly thereafter. Sent on a lead by her agent, the job turned out to be the fledgling Automobile Quarterly. Although she admitted her ignorance of automobiles, the editor hired her anyway, on the basis of the research she did for her Master's thesis. Her first story, on the Curved Dash Olds, sparked an interest in finding out the story behind the vehicles.

My story on her contained a minor error, which most readers would never have caught, but Kimes was mortified, especially when I showed her the transcript of our interview and she found the error was hers. I didn't realize it at the time, but she was recovering from a serious illness, which left her a little fuzzy at times. She requested (and received) a correction; her attention to detail would have allowed nothing less.

Kimes entered the field during the infancy of writing about automotive history, and along with a small handful of peers, she set the standard both for research, and for the stories that resulted. Every auto writer who's ever turned a key owes a debt to her, especially women writers, for whom Kimes put a foot in the door. I know I certainly do; all I can say is, thank you.

Those were the days ...

That's me, age 13, on my mother's new car, a 1972 Plymouth Scamp. (She just about had a bird when the photos came back from the drugstore.) I learned to drive on that car when I was 17, and not long afterwards, it became the first car I owned. Less than a year after I learned to drive, believe it or not, the city of Toronto gave me a taxi driver's license.

I was thinking about that Plymouth the other day, and the cabs I drove in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when I was assessing a brand-new car and marking against it because it had very few storage cubbies.

How times have changed. My Plymouth had a glovebox and an ashtray, and that was it. With the cabs, we'd sometimes buy plastic consoles that sat on the transmission hump. They could be a pain if someone wanted to sit in the middle, though, because most cars had front bench seats.

Cars didn't have cupholders back then, save for the inside of my glovebox's metal lid, which had a couple of indentations to hold a mug if you stopped at A&W for a root beer. I don't remember people drinking anything when they actually drove. We did in the taxis, because there wasn't time to stop. Coffee shops used styrofoam cups, not paper, and we'd wedge them between the dash and the windshield. Some guys bought cupholders that hung off the windowframe, but they were more trouble than they were worth. We'd put a lid on the cup and then tear out a hole so we could drink on the go, and sometimes passengers would marvel at such a great idea. Now the lids come with the holes already scored.

Cars didn't have door pockets. They didn't have a mirror on the passenger door, but they did have vinyl roofs that were definitely not the stylist's finer moment. If you ordered a rear defogger, it was a fan in the parcel shelf that blew warm air on the window, very noisily. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven the day I got a taxi that had air conditioning, power windows and power locks. It was like driving a Cadillac. And those were back in the days when the only thing better than a Cadillac was a Rolls Royce. Good heavens, I feel old.

Why I don't like car auctions

Last year, at a cruise night, someone came up and looked at my 1947 Cadillac. "That's worth about $80,000, right?" he asked.

That's about four times its value, but rather than give him a deal at $65,000, I asked what made him guess so high. Well, he said, one went at Barrett-Jackson the other night for that.

I don't like car auctions. They're too big, too noisy, and after a half-dozen go over the block, far too monotonous. But what I really don't like is that I think they're detrimental to the old-car hobby. Just as celebrity chefs have sent trendy fish to near-extinction, car auctions have sent otherwise ordinary vehicles into the stratosphere, from which they seldom return. Instead of people driving their cars to shows and cruise nights, piling in the family to go for an ice-cream run, and having fun with the old-car hobby, buyers have become speculators. They treat these machines like mutual funds, storing them away until the next sucker pays $150,000 for a 1958 Chevrolet and they bring them out in the hopes of getting rich.

Look around you: old-car owners are old. When I ask what it'll take to keep this hobby going into the next decade, the answer's always the same: "We need younger people to get involved." But if you're determined that your hot-rodded '32 Ford won't change hands for less than $75,000 -- because that's what they're all asking in the National Street Rod Association's classifieds -- what younger person do you think is going to buy it? And if they do invest that much into it, where do you think they're going to drive it?

I saw it in the money-soaked 1980s, when cars ran on cash instead of gasoline; it wasn't uncommon for speculators to buy and flip them without even seeing them. In 1982 I turned down a 1959 Cadillac at $5,000 because it was overpriced; five years later, they were trading at $60,000. Not every car that crosses the auction block is ridiculously priced, but these are soft-porn TV shows, and they're going for the money shot. If you can get someone to pay you eight times what your car is worth, well, good for you. But then don't complain when you go to a "classic" car show, and a Chrysler K-Car is the oldest thing there.

Viva Las Vegas!

I sure would like to be in Las Vegas today. It's the annual Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend, and what a great event that is.

I've only been once, in 2006, but I loved every minute of it. It's primarily a music weekend that has a car show attached to it, but being a fan of all aspects of the event -- rockabilly music, tattoos and hot rods -- I was in heaven.

The car show is primarily for rat rods, those rough-and-tough unfinished beauties that have burrowed their way into my heart. And I also love the fact that the show isn't about the "traditional" 1950s music -- which has been so done to death at car shows that I now loathe Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper -- but the raw music that seldom made its way to the mainstream.

And I love the people. Unlike the average 1950s car show, where older men and women squeeze into poodle skirts and jeans and pretend to be teenagers, these folks go for grown-up glamor (this lovely lady is Tanya Harris, who looked just marvelous beside a 1929 Ford). To the day I die, one of my favorite moments is sitting at the tiki pool party, watching young women in Betty Grable swimsuits posing poolside and listening to a band singing Rock Around the Clock in Spanish.

You can read my full report here. And next year, try your best to get there. I promise it'll be more fun than you can possibly imagine.

The Year of the Car

This is a big year for the history of the automobile. In 1908, General Motors of Canada was founded, and the Model T first went on sale. Cadillac won the coveted Dewar Trophy for the interchangeability of its parts -- a big deal back in the days when most parts had to be individually machined before they'd fit -- and the Thomas Flyer won the New York-to-Paris race.

The Fisher Body Company was organized, the first four-wheel-drive motor vehicle was built, most cars went to left-hand steering, and Oakland was introduced, a nameplate that would eventually become Pontiac.

It was a pretty exciting time for the horseless carriage, and to that end, Michigan has a full range of activities planned to celebrate what it's calling The Year of the Car. This includes events at The Henry Ford, Meadowbrook Concours d'Elegance, the Detroit Festival of Speed and Style, and the Woodward Dream Cruise.

You can find it all under one roof at MotorCities. Cruise on over and have a look.

A most generous donation ...

This is my good friend James C. Mays, noted automotive historian, author of eight books on the Canadian auto industry, and now, a most generous donor of his extensive collection.

Starting with a Rambler brochure when he was twelve (he's a Rambler nut, but I love him nevertheless), James acquired a collection of sales brochures, factory photos, taped interviews, production figures, books and other goodies that's conservatively estimated to be worth $85,000. And he just gave them all to the University of Windsor, where they'll be catalogued, kept for posterity, and ultimately available to the public for research and viewing.

This is all the sort of stuff that no one ever thought to keep way back when, which is what makes it all the more important now. Most people aren't aware of it, but Canada has played a huge role in the automotive industry, and has a substantial history, both of indigenous auto companies and those tied in to foreign interests. To corporations, it's all just paperwork that costs them money when they need to empty the back rooms. Part of James' collection is material that Renault was ready to throw in the trash when it acquired AMC in 1979. Employees took it home, and when James interviewed them for his book, he received a fair bit of it. That's all now part of the collection, and it's now around for good.

The collection is now with the University of Windsor's Leddy Library, and you can visit their Web site here.

James, I'm going to speak for everyone in the world of cars when I say ... thanks.

Something new: glossaries

I'm slowly compiling glossaries that will help explain some of the terms related to new and old cars. Bear with me, as it's an ongoing process, but you can find them through the new links to the right. I've tried to keep the definitions as simple as possible -- cars are complex and the last thing you need is an equally confusing description!

Time Marches On

This is my pride and joy, my 1947 Cadillac known affectionately as Lucille. She's one of a few older vehicles I've owned, along with the 1949 Studebaker I still have, and long-departed models including a 1948 Chevrolet and 1962 Pontiac Acadian. I learned to drive on a 1972 Plymouth Scamp, and there was one at the Antique Automobile Club of America's show last year, so I guess that qualifies these days, too.

I love old cars dearly, but I'll say this: I'm realistic, too. Whenever I take Lucille out and park her somewhere, I'm guaranteed that someone will come up and say, "They don't make 'em like that anymore."

And my immediate reply is, "That's not a bad thing."

I don't know what it is about old cars, but they sure bring out the rose-colored glasses in a lot of people. Save for the odd Amish wannabe, I can't think of too many people who would prefer shovelling coal into the furnace over tapping the thermostat, or hauling ice to the icebox instead of opening the refrigerator, or biting on a bullet as opposed to surgery in a modern hospital. But mention automobiles, and as far as these people are concerned, there hasn't been a single improvement in the industry since Henry Ford brought out the Model T.

Too many people in the old-car hobby are blinded by nostalgia. Sure, I make my living with new cars, but that's not the reason why I think they're so much better. It's because they are.

People rap on Lucille's thick fenders and say, "These new cars just crumple up when you hit them." Well, that's because they're supposed to; they absorb the crash energy instead of passing it through to the occupants, unlike the the old cars where you hosed the blood off the dash and sold 'em to the next guy. People say you can't fix a new car in your garage anymore, and that's true, but you're also not doing the numerous repairs that older cars needed, like tune-ups twice a year. And as for their longevity, well, most old cars had a three-month warranty. Some manufacturers now guarantee their vehicles for ten years. 

And as for the hobbyists who say all new cars look the same ... if you've gone to the trouble of learning that a groove in the bumper differentiates a 1946 Olds from a 1947, but you'll proudly proclaim that you can't tell a 2008 Buick from a BMW, that's just wilful ignorance.

Don't get me wrong -- there's nothing fundamentally wrong with nostalgia. When the time machine's invented, you can put a martini in my hand and ship me back to the Las Vegas strip, circa 1960, with a ticket for a Rat Pack show. It'll be great fun, and yes, pick me up at the door in whatever land yacht is available. But when I finally come back home in the middle of winter, you can leave that lovely model's vacuum wipers, manual choke, four-wheel drum brakes, single-chamber master cylinder and bias-ply tires back in the garage where they belong.

And happy birthday, Ford

It's a big year for a little car, as the Ford Model T turns 100 years old in 2008. The first production model built for sale was turned out on October 1, 1908. (Some people cite September, but that's the date Ford gives, and I guess they should know.)

It's hard to believe today just what effect this car had on North America. Henry Ford didn't invent the assembly line, as some believe, but he did revolutionize the process when he made it move seamlessly between the workers. That moving line meant a lot of cars could go out the door very quickly -- more than 15 million, in fact, before production ended on May 26, 1927.

It's doubtful Henry ever said "any color the customer wants, as long as it's black", especially since the early ones came in several colors; the story goes that they finally went to black because that color dried the fastest and so the line could keep moving. They were spindly and flexible and so worked very well on the very poor roads of the day, and they were relatively inexpensive. And if you've ever had the chance to ride in one, as I have and can attest, the Tin Lizzy's bare-bones performance is all part of the charm.

There are a number of events planned for the car's centenary, and the big one right now seems to be the T Party 2008, put on by the Model T Ford Club of America this coming July in Indiana. You can find out all about it here.

Happy Birthday, GM

On September 16, 1908, William Crapo Durant filed incorporation papers that formed a new company he called General Motors.

He was already involved with Buick, and he'd agreed to license their production to the McLaughlin Motor Car Company in Oshawa, Ontario. Its founder, Sam McLaughlin, sold his company completely to GM in 1918 (it became GM of Canada) but stayed on as president and as a board member of the U.S. company. He also built a little place in Oshawa that he called Parkwood.

The 55-room mansion is now a public museum and national historical site, and if you spend any time watching movies, you've probably seen it; it's been the backdrop for such films as X-Men, Hollywoodland, Chicago and Billy Madison.

In honor of GM's 100th anniversary, it'll be holding a number of events throughout the year. The one I'm most looking forward to is the McLaughlin Buick Club's Homecoming on August 4, when it's expected that 200 vintage vehicles will drive up Oshawa's main street and into the grounds.

All the info on Parkwood can be found here.