The Dog Sled

Well, apparently I am not supposed to have fewer than 4 cars in my life at any given time. My neighbors Bill and Ingrid, who are very cool people by the way, just recently moved to Austria. That's right, Austria. It was sad to see them go, but they did leave one piece of themselves behind. And that was Ingrid's 1993 Honda Civic DX. It's as base as base can get. It doesn't even have a tach or a passenger side rear view mirror:) But that's great. It's exactly the kind of vehicle I was looking for to just get around town using very little gas, while also providing a way to carry both of our dogs, since we also recently acquired a puppy. Which is why I call it the dog sled. But this isn't My Life With Dogs, so I'll just say that there wasn't enough space behind the seats in my truck to handle more than one dog at a time. So anyway, the car has been wonderful so far. It's got a lot of miles, over 200k. But like all Hondas it still runs like a champ. Sometimes I think Hondas are built by fairies who sprinkle special pixie dust on every car to insure years of problem free running. As you can probably tell by now I'm a big Honda fan. And why not, there's lots of reasons to like them. But I'll save that diatribe for another time. All in all I'd say this was a great purchase, and a perfect addition to our family of cars. So welcome to the family little Honda. Looking forward to a beautiful friendship.

Road Trip to St. Louis

So we just got back from St. Louis for our annual Christmas get together with Amanda's family. It was a good time. Lots of relaxing and forgetting about the "real world" back here in Detroit. Took the 3 series for the trip, and it was great. BMWs always impress on long trips. Solid, fast, quiet and secure. It was on winter tires though, which took some of the fun out of it since we ended up getting a warm front. Almost 70 degrees in St Louis, and not much colder here in Detroit. I had ordered a winter wheel and tire package for the bimmer out of fear that we might get stuck somewhere if it decided to dump snow on us while we were on the road. Not to mention I need them for winter driving here anyway. Well, looks like I could have waited an extra week before I put them on. As most people who have winter tires know, they don't perform real well unless it's freezing out with a bunch of snow and slush on the ground. The warmer it gets the greasier they seem to feel. Oh well, if I hadn't put them on it would have dumped a foot of snow on us during the trip, and we would have been on the side of the road somewhere with summer performance tires. Everything happens for a reason I guess. Nevertheless, the wagon performed flawlessly, and inspired with its confident driving nature the entire way. Sure beats last year's trip back from Portland in the 323 with no heater. So it looks like I'm hooked on BMWs for a while. If only I made enough money to have more of them:)

CRX has come home.

Alright. CRX number 3 has come home with a new motor. Unfortunately, it also came back minus a driver side window and all the stereo equipment. Apparently while it was waiting for its transplant, a bunch of cars were broken into. The CRX was one of them. Oh well. That's what happens when you leave the car at a shop in Detroit. No telling what's going to happen to it. So for anyone out there reading this, keep your car north of 8 mile:)

BMW Z8 Competition

BMW Z8 Competition
Originally uploaded by boywunder.

A digital sketch I did of a Z8 Competition Coupe. This vehicle never actually existed. Just an exercise in fun.

Goodbye 323

Well, looks like 323 number1 is about to move on. To Texas no less. Hopefully to a better life than the one it had here in the midwest. So now it's down to just 4 cars. Laugh if you will, but that's a pretty light fleet for this family. And it may get even lighter depending on what happens with 323 number 2. But I'm still waiting to make a decision on that one. All in all though things are following the master plan. And if all goes well, then we should be down to just 3 cars. An almost unprecedented event for this household. But there has been talk of acquiring a van for transporting the wife's paintings and such to art shows. So we'll just have to see where that one goes:)

The CRX Saga Continues

So CRX 3 is off to get a new motor. Sweet. It has been sitting in the garage with a blown head gasket for well over a year. Maybe even 2? Anyway, it will be good to get that thing back on the road. We traded CRX 4 in exchange for services from our mechanic friend who needed a new car when his CRX was hit by a drunk driver. Idiots. Don't get me started about drunk drivers. Anyway, now that the CRX is out of the garage, its spot has been taken temporarily by 323 number 1. So we finally have all the cars in the driveway and no cars parked in the street. A true milestone in our household:) So things are moving along in our automotive life. Good things, good things.

Ferrari 575 GTC

Ferrari 575 GTC
Originally uploaded by boywunder.

Digital sketch of a Ferrari 575 GTC competition car.

M3 In Motion

M3 In Motion
Originally uploaded by boywunder.

This is a digital sketch of an E30 M3 race car. Since the original M3 was specifically created for racing, I chose to depict it in its track form. Not to mention graphics are always really cool.