Almost daily, I get asked the question “what do you drive”? 15 years ago the answer was a Honda. I have lost count of how many Honda’s I have had. (somewhere in the mid teens) I was trained by Honda, lived and breathed Honda. My time at the Acura dealer in the mid ‘90‘s helped me put a fair amount of seat time in customers Acura NSX’s in for those “test drive for high speed vibration” type of work orders. Yes, I love old NSX’s, if I didn’t have my Super 7, I would most definitely be driving an older NSX.

But that is not the kind of answer that those people asking the question of “what do I drive” are looking for. My daily driver is now an 2001 Audi S4 Avant (Wagon) and yes that is quite the about face from from my Honda Heritage. Why… because there are very few cars that excite me and none of them are currently coming from Honda. When we hired Terry our Audi Technician I started test driving all kinds of Audi’s and fell in love with the way they drive. Now I have all the power of a NSX, all wheel drive and the ability to pick up the kids and get groceries at the same time. A winning combination if you are asking me?

cheers
Lou

Let’s say you could go back in time, about 20 years and somehow teleport a brand new 1992 Honda Accord into 2012.  (I know the first thing you are going to say is that if you could time travel you wouldn’t be wasting your time on a 1992 Accord.)  Just humour me  for a moment, you have a brand new 1992 Honda Accord sitting next to a 2012 Accord.    Besides the novelty factor of the ’92, which car are you taking home?

I was a young technician at a local GTA Honda dealer in the early 90’s so this car has a special place in my heart.  To me it showed off Honda’s engineering and manufacturing team and it was during this period that Japanese auto manufacturers really started taking a bite out of North American sales.

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There are two things I really get bent out of shape about, improperly installed car seats and people who refuse to even consider winter tires.  Since winter is just around the corner, let’s focus on the latter.

Every year during this time, I have countless conversations with customers over the importance of winter tires.  While perceptions are slowly changing, resistance still seems inherent to some.  My main argument has always been centered around the stopping distance advantage that a car equipped with winter tires has over a vehicle with all season tires. How many close calls did you have last winter?   Assume for a second that you could stop your car 20-30 ft sooner than the car in front of you.  What’s that worth to you?  The Ministry of Transportation in Quebec supports justification of their mandatory snow tire law stating that the use of winter tires shortens stopping distance by 25% and reduces fender-benders by 38%.

The fact is that below 7ºC all season tires start to show the first signs of loss of traction, at -5ºC they are essentially useless.   Enter the winter tire, engineered to start functioning at these lower temps.  These tires are made from special compounds designed to grip the road in the snow, the freezing rain and even those sunny yet bitterly cold dry pavement days.

There are countless other arguments that can be made coaxing you into a set of winter tires including various highly technical articles (here are a couple of my simpler favorite pitches).

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I can’t help it, whenever I get into a customers vehicle for a test drive and there is a car seat in the back I instinctively grab it and give it a wiggle test…and  I test drive a lot of cars, 5 per day * 260 work days per year = 1300 per year give or take a few and out of that 1300 at least %30 have car seats in them.   That brings me to approximately 390 wiggle tests per year…  so how many pass the “Lou Wiggle Test” … maybe %40.   That number still shocks me.  I use to approach the failing customer and kindly, gently ask them if they would like assistance to correct their car seat, but now I rarely do.  I’ve been told off by a few fathers “mind my own business and just fix their car”

So now I try to work with St John Ambulance at least once a year and  host a car seat installation clinic using the wonderful volunteers from St John Ambulance.  I am a registered car seat tech with them so it gives me a day to brush up and  catch up on the latest car seat scuttle butt.

So here are some facts and install tips from St John Ambulance to help you figure out if you are in the “pass” group.

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Took this photo last night at the “S” bend on the Forks of  the Credit rd that leads to Belfountain.  If your an automotive enthusiast and you live in this area, you need to visit this road.  Even if you are not a “driver” this part of Ontario offers some incredibly beautiful photo opportunities and the Bruce trail for hikers.

What is it about old Ferrari’s.

When I was younger lad I loved to build my model airplanes and helicopters.   I mean, I did have a certain place for autos but airplanes and helicopters were my thing.    Cars were in third place.. makes you wonder how I got into the automotive trade, doesn’t it?    I grew up in Sault Ste Marie Ontario and we  never ever saw any kind of exotic cars on the road.   A Porsche 911 was the only thing I ever managed to approach in a parking lot with awe.   However, there was an abundance of muscle cars…  it seemed like every young man of driving age that pined for something cool ended up with a Chevy Chevelle with big fat rear tires and a cam shaft with more lift than push up bra.  I mean the cars could barely stay running the cam shafts were so lumpy…

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1966 Porsche 912

Interesting car in this week,  definitely on the “you don’t see everyday” list.   It’s amazing what people have stashed away in their garages.  Here is no exception… a relatively clean Porsche 912.   The 912 was an entry level model brought out in 1965 to bridge the gap between the 356 and the 911.  It featured the chassis and body work of the 911 and the 4 cylinder engine from the 356.  It initially out sold the 911 and was in production from 65 to 69.

This car was towed in last week as a no start having not been on the road in 6-7 years.  Overall the condition of the car is pretty reasonably considering its 45 years old.  Before it was parked it had some fairly extensive work done to it like the brand new tires (now 7 year old tires) that still have the stickers left on them.

I’m about to take it out for a spin, I’ve driven lots of 911’s but this will be my first 912.  I’ll try to get some video coverage.

There’s nothing more  frustrating than depending on something or someone that is un-dependable.   Current case…our Hunter P811 4 wheel alignment machine.  Five years ago…ok well maybe ten, this machine was all the rage… it signified the end of an aligner era… sounds epic doesn’t it… well its not really that exciting, I’m just trying to make it sound that way.   This machine was the last really large push by this manufacturer to get out one last update to a dated machine before the newer 3d imaging machines took over the market.

Oh well, who cares about the old stuff lets talk about the new stuff.

Enter the new, the bold, the handsome, the Brad Pitt of alignment technology.

The John Bean Arago V3d

The list of what this thing does is far to long and you probably don’t care either, all you need to know is that starting in a week or two we are going to be sporting the best darn alignment machine in the industry. Got a spare $32.000?  Yes, we are going to be paying this off  for a little while.

So this is where we left off..

When we checked in last, we saw the Super 7 being pulled up and onto a flat bed tow truck as I wasn’t about to take any chances driving it home.  I do wish I had the foresight to grab my video camera though because it sounded really bad and I know you would have loved to hear it.  We got it home to All About Imports in time for me to jump into my Audi and high tail it back to the auto cross event for couple of last minute runs with the Audi.  So the day wasn’t a complete waste.

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As I described in the previous post, the love/hate relationship that I have with my car is always taking me on new emotional adventures. This beast of a car can take me from one extreme to another in an incredibly short period. This Saturday June 18th was to be no different..
I had a special co-driver coming out for the day. Peter Cheney from the Globe and Mail was to spend the day auto crossing and have a general get to know you sort of day. We couldn’t have asked for better weather plus Scion Canada was in attendance with a couple of staff and demonstrator cars and to top it off Lorraine Sommerfeld from the Toronto Star was there too.
Peter came prepared with his helmet, his racing shoes to conquer my narrow foot box and loads of camera/video gear. Wow I was excited and truthfully all went well up until lunch. At least I got Peter and Lorraine in my car for several laps before all went wrong and I think Peter got just enough seat time to catch the auto crossing bug. Not that he didn’t struggle too… You see, racers who spend a lot of time at a race track don’t realize how easy it is to follow the track. At a race track, black pavement equals good and grass and tire walls equals bad. With auto crossing you have to memorize a course through a maze of pylons and then execute turns and find brake zones all the while trying to keep your speed up as fast as you dare, trying not to spin out or soil your undies.
Then the disaster came, I went for a lap and was having an almost “I love you moment” with the car when I mis-shifted and over revved the engine (and when I say I over revved it..I think I might have hit 9500 RPM) which for those of you know a Datsun inline 6 cylinder spells disaster.
So this is how the day ended for the Se7en.