Her name was Karen, before it became an epithet. She lived in a corner of California called Burney, a spot between Redding and Nevada on 299. She worked at a radio station, spinning country greats for the folks who lived in the burg, along with a guy whose name I forget who had the morning …
Author Archives: Damian
The Question.
The kid was in the office, his lube tech duties done for the day. “So what’s your next car?” The kid asked. Kiddo had just traded a ratbucket Jetta for a ’21 Camry XSE. A Camry that’s fast, and handles. Fast Camrys that went around corners weren’t a thing a decade ago, so I was …
Reverie.
It’s natural and good to engage in reverie. I was remembering the sheer joy that I got from driving a 105/115 Alfa GTV. An 80 pound lighter me would post in the close coupe and wiggle my nonexistent butt into the chair then cinch myself into the car. The shift was a handspan from the …
New Year’s Day.
That was the last spot of 2024. December 30, a bit after 8 in the morning, a cold (for the Sacramento valley) morning. It took a second for me to notice the old brick, because these things were everywhere when the world was a seemingly quieter place. The 200 series Volvo was the anticar of …
John
John, like me, hates talking on the phone, but he’ll talk your ear off when it comes to the subjects he and I have in common, which are many. A shared passion is motorcycles and riding, with me gravitating towards the hotrod Kawasaki motos of the Era, while John stuck with Euro motos, BMW foremost, …
The Lost Sierras Drive.
I missed last year’s drive, but headed out early for this one, meeting at the Rocktane Gas Station/Smokeshop/Lesser Den of Iniquity at the Hard Rock casino in scenic Wheatland, redeemed becuase you could pay for your purchases, rather than spin a wheel, pull a slot handle or otherwise make the mundane a game of chance. …
Cobras, and what is Real?
Really, all Ol’ Shel was interested in was winning races and making a pile of money while doing so. One of his first efforts was the Cobra, a hybrid of an AC Ace Roadster and Ford’s 260 C.I. V-8. This car was so successful that Ford helped engineer a bigger, faster Cobra called the 427 …
From 2012. The story of the first time I went from a Mercedes to an Asian car…
This is an import from my original Google Blogger space “Past Issues”. It’s been edited a smidge: This is my Supra. Celica Supra properly, but it’s “The Supra” to me. I bought this car from a CL ad about four years ago. When I picked it up, it was suffering from those dreadful “TruWhite” headlights …
Continue reading “From 2012. The story of the first time I went from a Mercedes to an Asian car…”
Saturday Morning
I was visiting the bird space. A rare visit since doofus took over and trashed the place, but I slum every now and again and while I was there, I saw a Car and Driver comparo from 1992. One of the cars featured was the iconic Mercedes 500E which was appropriately oohed and aaahed over …
Cars I’d reconsider.
This list has been floating around in my head with various titles, but I’m just gonna say reconsider. This is also an ongoing list, with additions being made when the whimsy is there. My criteria are simple: I must have either owned or driven said vehicle for a period of time, say at least six …
The Department Of Past Issues 