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Viewing 1 - 12 out of 14 Columns.
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1942 Lincoln Continental A lot of us grow up in the shadows of our fathers, always looking for his approval or trying to upstage his accomplishments. Imagine for a moment if your father was Henry Ford the inventor of the Model T! He was one of the most pioneering men of the 20th Century and gave motoring the launching pad that it is today. Henry Ford’s only son Edsel did what any pioneers’ son would do, build a luxury car for the rich and call it the Lincoln Continental. The history of Detroit’s birth of the American automobile is intriguing and is interwoven with Ford’s accomplishments. Edsel, who was groomed to take over the family business always had to ask dad for permission to go ahead with projects and they would butt heads often. Apparently Edsel’s idea of a fine luxury automobile didn’t include his fathers Model T. So, in 1922 he purchased a bankrupt company affectionately named after the sixteenth president of the United States known as the Lincoln Motor Company. This car builder was known for making high-end luxury cars for the rich and the purchase price was a whopping $8,000,000 and that was basically to pay off any financial debts. In 1939 Edsel needed a cool car to drive around in on his vacations in Florida so he had has his Lincoln division build him one and they called it the Continental. This 1942 Continental spied here in my shop is very rare indeed. Since the car was useless as a war machine production stopped in early ’42 to support the war effort and only 400 were made. What makes this particular car even more rare is that it has been heavily modified with a late model V8 engine and drivetrain, electric windows, power disc brakes and even airconditioning! It definitely shows and goes! I remember my dad’s first Lincoln Continental. As a boy I would pretend to drive it all the time. That was because it sat in the driveway and never ran….. Happy Motoring!!!
Jaguar XJ6 Let’s talk about cats for a moment. I have two living in my house which may be two too many. The oldest cat, Sadie, kinda reminds me of a bulldog. You know short legs, stocky, and a cropped tail. She has mellowed over the years but touch her funny short tail and she’ll remind how sharp her teeth really are! The other cat showed up on our doorstep around Halloween last year. For lack of creativity on our family’s part we have graced her with the name “Newkitty”. We should have named her Pumpkin, or Boo, or better yet “Get lost”! My sister’s cat, Riku, who lives right behind us, is big and will punch you right in the eye given the opportunity. It’s hard to believe that these feline free loafers in my home are decedents of the very cunning, fierce, and gracious “big” cat known as the Jaguar. Just the name Jaguar in the automotive industry will send shivers up and down your whiskers, uh, spine. I don’t think there is a brand of automobile out there that produces so much luxurious desire that is associated with so much pain. It’s sort of like hips and chocolate or caffeine and your doctor visit. Lets face it, British cars are notorious for their “unreliability” and the Jag is not the exception but more the rule. The curse of this lack of dependability lies in the car’s electronic system, which in the earlier cars, was designed by Lucas. I think Lucas would have had better luck asking Benjamin Franklin how to design an automotive electrical system then what they came up with. The funny thing is Ford, feeling fat selling a billion trucks in the early 90’s bought Jaguar and had no better luck with reliability (or sales for that matter). I know, I seen them in my shop! This Jaguar spied here in Jacksonville is the XJ6 and was produced under Ford’s reign in the mid-late 90’s. It possesses the feel of luxury with leather appointed seats, a super smooth on the road feel, and wood interior trimmings, which Jag is notorious for. It’s powered by a 4.0-liter inline 6 producing around 235 horsepower and has the infamous cat leaping proudly on the front hood. So, if your feeling brave come by and pet my cat’s tail or give my sisters cat some love or better yet go out and buy yourself a Jaguar! Happy Motoring!!!
Let’s take a walk down memory lane for a moment. It was a cool day late in November, Thanksgiving as a matter of fact, when a boy-wonder was born. In the midst of labor while my mom surely was seriously questioning herself as to why she would even consider bringing a 4h child into this world – Detroit was also giving birth to it’s own wonder - one certain 1963 Split-Window Corvette. This month’s car actually came to me by way of an e-mail, phone call and lunch. The owner John Knoroski, met me for lunch to discuss his daily driver - a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Split-Window Coupe. We decided to meet at my shop and have lunch at a local diner whose wall’s are adorned with pictures of vintage muscle cars which appropriately suited his vintage “Vette”. After the niceties of introduction were over John showed me a note book that he has meticulously maintained about the history and technical information of his car since it’s purchase in late 1998. It is extremely detailed and has information about how many Corvettes were made that year, appropriate serial numbers on parts for that year, how much the car was originally sold for back in 1963, what sort of screws were used on the valve covers, and on and on. Truly amazing! However, the one thing that really jumped out at me in this painstakingly documented artifact was that the car was “Born on the 5th week of November in 1962”! Holy s___ that’s when I was born!!! I never met a car that was born exactly (well within a day or two) when I was born and on Thanksgiving no less! Well, John was gracious enough to give me a ride to lunch with my long lost twin!? The funny thing is, when I was in the car and John was giving me the run down about the coupe, I couldn’t help but compare myself with the car wondering who has aged better after 45 years? We both have pale white skin (I don’t get out of the shop much) and our interiors are bright red. I’d be willing guess that the car has had a repaint and reupholster at some point in it’s life, where as mine is all original. The car was a little stiff and noisy, kinda like me every morning and with a little prodding I bet the car could get downright ornery as with me. I think the car is definitely handsome kind of like, well, you’ll have to ask my wife about that one. I’m sure the car has a great sense of humor because any car from Detroit (or anywhere for that matter) that has been around for over 40 years has put it’s owner or owners through hell at some point in it’s long life and was laughing all the way to the classifieds. I’ve had many an old car that cost me a fortune and gave me nothing but grief in return and every time it left me stranded I swear I could hear it laughing at me as I reached for my wallet……
Happy Motoring!!!
There is no substitute. Everyone who has seen the movie Risky Business, with the not so well known at the time Tom Cruise, knows exactly what I’m talking about. It wasn’t the call girl who Tom’s character Joel fell in love with. It wasn’t the Faberge Egg that the mother cared more for than her own son. It wasn’t all that money Joel made as a Fraternity Pimp either. It was the fathers Porsche that Joel not only drove against his wishes but also outran the villains in the movie and later dumped in Lake Michigan. As far as I’m concerned, the Porsche 928 was the real star of that film!
So what is it about Porsche that evokes such a stir in car lover’s emotions? Even people who think cars are only a means to get from point a to point b know and understand what a Porsche is. A Porsche is riding and mastering a twelve-foot wave on a surfboard made of carbon fiber. A Porsche is the lead car of a monster roller coaster except you are in control of its speed and direction. A Porsche is dropping in on a powder filled bowl of your favorite mountain cornice on ski’s (or snowboard) made of exotic materials like titanium and carbon fiber. A Porsche is an IMAX view of a Napa Valley road filled with rolling hills of wild mustard flowers and grape vineyards. A Porsche is designed to grab hold of every visceral human sense, mix it with a massive dose of adrenaline, and drag you through a marathon of Oliver Stone and Quentin Tarantino movies only to let you down gently and safely like a cottonwood spur floating down highway 99 on a morning spring breeze. That’s what a Porsche is! This Porsche spied in Phoenix just north of Ashland is the 911 (996) GT3. Porsche has always offered a high performance version of their road going cars and that’s what the GT3 is to the base 911.They start by taking the base 911 and removing heavy things like sound deadening materials, air conditioning, and electrically controlled seats. They remove steel body parts and replace them with very cool looking carbon fiber bits. They add some big brakes and up the horsepower from 296 to 355 and hang a big spoiler on the rear of the car. What you end up with is an entry-level super car! The cool thing about a Porsche is you can always tell it’s a Porsche. Whether it is a 40 year old 356 or a brand new 997 Turbo you will always know it is a Porsche. The 911 has basically evolved from it’s original sixties design and has been improved upon over the years to what is the best road going sports car every built! Happy motoring!




The first thing that comes to mind regarding this month’s car is God Bless America. Even the greatest countries in the world can be automotively challenged and the USA is no exception. No one in my generation will ever forget the 70’s automotive faux pas known as the AMC Pacer, AMC Gremlin and of course the explosive Ford Pinto. These cars are burned into our memories like Jimi Hendrix’s purple haze. So what does America do for an encore? It produces the Chrysler PT Cruiser.
The PT Cruiser was designed and built by the now defunct company Daimler-Chrysler (don’t panic, Chrysler and Mercedes are still building cars just not together) and built in Mexico. The name “PT” stands for “Personal Transportation”. However, the PT could also stand for Plymouth Truck but Daimler was not going to build any car with the name Plymouth on it. PT also stands for Panel Truck which lends itself to the question is this thing a car or a truck? Well according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) it is a truck. It was also designed for young males as a demographic but sold more to women. So what we have here is a car with a severe identity crisis. It was conceived in America with a little German bloodline and born in Mexico and is man’s truck that is really a women’s car that isn’t a Plymouth! Doomed from the beginning. The good new is that the car really captured the “Retro” style that is quite popular these days (I credit VW and the New Beetle for that) and they sold over 1 million units. It also won North America Car of The Year in 2001 which is a lofty title. This Personal Transporter captured here at our Famous Rogue Valley Mall is trimmed out in the “Touring Edition” which is one of many trim levels the PT comes in. It has a 2.4l engine that boast 150hp that pushes this car, uh, I mean truck to freeways speeds in no time at all! If you need more zip there is a turbo charged version and if you like a little wind in your hair they make a convertible. The only catch is you better hurry because as of 2009 production of the PT Cruiser will stop. So, move over Pinto the PT is taking over your wall of shame. Happy Motoring!
If you are looking for a car that speaks longevity, quality, reliability, sterility, resale ability and your median age is 54 (no kidding I did the research), you most likely will buy a Toyota. If you have a few more bucks to spend and you want a little more luxury and performance, you may buy Toyota’s upscale brand, Lexus. If you are about 39 (most likely younger) and are more worried about audio equipment that is iPod compatible than what the car looks like, then you most likely will buy a Scion xB. Scion is Toyota’s marketing brainchild to offer a utilitarian vehicle to the generation Y crowd. This causes me confusion as a logical name for the car would be the yB but I guess that doesn’t roll off the tongue well. So, Toyota came up with the X car for the Y generation. It seems to me the designers became more concerned as to which generation they would build a car for than building a car that looks, well, not like a box. How clever is that? I’m sure the car is nice and roomy and has cool and clever storage space for your iPod, iPhone, and notebook computer. I bet it even has ac/dc power ports every 6 inches, but quite frankly I’ve seen more style in an egg carton! As far as options are concerned you have the option to either buy it or not buy it. The Scion has a “Pure Price” which basically says this is the price and this is what you get. You want upgrades you got to do them yourself. Of course, Toyota is more than happy to sell you their accessories. This Scion xB spotted here in the Rogue Valley is what I believe to be a Limited Edition (please correct me if I’m wrong) RS which is equipped with more than the standard options and includes the “Envy Green” paint job. It has an economical 1.5L engine that will probably outlast the Y generation and live well into the Z generation. I guess this post “boomer” has been a little critical of the xB and I’m sure it does what it was intended to do very well and that is to appeal to a crowd that likes a box on wheels. Now, if you look very closely at the picture you may notice the car very much resembles the building behind it! Happy motoring!!!
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MINI
on 03/20/08 11:15 PM
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Y2K. Remember the big scare of the turn of this century. Computer hard drives were going to crash, airplanes were going to fall from the sky, food and water couldn’t be purchased because of some wacky bar code that couldn’t be scanned and bank accounts were going to suddenly disappear overnight. I remember waking up on January 1, 2000 and much to my dismay all was normal. My TV worked, my clock still displayed the time, and oddly enough I was able to check my email. Everything seemed okay except for one thing. The automobile manufacture that produced the original Mini would cease production of a car that was as popular to Britain as the Volkswagen Beetle was to America. I’m sure most of you have seen those cute new MINI’s zipping around with multi-color paint jobs and bug eye headlights. What you may not know is this cute little car was designed and engineered by BMW. For those of you who are really young or could care less about automobile history this MINI was based on a post World War II British built econo-box. After the war Britain was feeling the pinch of fuel rationing (like we don’t know what that’s like) and they needed an economical car for the masses. So, a couple of brilliant engineers from the British Motor Corporation sketched out a 10’ box and literally designed a car to fit in that box. They raised a pint of warm Ale to their success and called it the Mini. During the history of the Mini its parent company British Motor Corporation merged and split with so many other British car builders it is hard to figure out who actually built the car (maybe some of you readers can enlighten me). What I do know is BMW obtained the rights to the Mini in 2000 and decided have a go with the car. BMW in all its prowess decided to change the name of the Mini. So what they did was use upper case letters in its new name M-I-N-I. How’s that for rocket science! They should have asked a fifth grader to name the bloody car! Anyhow, as with any BMW and all branding aside, the car is truly amazing. I think they hit the “retro” look spot on and the car performs as a perfectly balanced sports car should. It has just enough power to make it exciting, handles like a go-cart and actually has quite the roomy interior. When driving the car it feels like you are in the cockpit of a plane as opposed to a 4-wheeled transportation device. This MINI spied here in Ashland looks like the victim of a high school prank . Non the less it’s all MINI, German engineered and British built. The US spec base MINI has a 1.6 liter engine and if you need a little more zing the MINI S has a supercharger (the 2007 MINI S in now turbo charged ) which is the one I prefer. I have a few MINI customers and they love their car as much as we do. They are unique and a pleasure to work on. So, if you find yourself driving a MINI up the curvy road of Highway 66 on your way to Hyatt Lake you’ll only then understand the true meaning Austin Powers’ “Oh Yeah Baby!” Happy motoring!
American’s like it big. We like big houses, big fries, big jugs of coke, big waists, big butts, block-buster movies and of course big cars. This couldn’t be more evident from the cars that were being pumped out of Detroit in the early 50’s. Giant Cadillacs adorning monstrous fins with lazy automatic transmissions. humungous Buicks the size of city blocks with engines that weigh almost as much as a Volkswagen Beetle. Americans just didn’t need a small car let alone a sports car. That was until the introduction of the Chevrolet Corvette! Apparently, when the American GI’s were returning home from the Big One (WWII) they brought back something with them. No, it wasn’t chocolate, French pantyhose or French brides but something more exotic. European sports cars. Porsches, Alfa Romeos and Jaguars were filling their automotive desires and garages. Fortunately, a very talented car designer by the name of Harley Earl was working for GM at the time noticed these imports arriving in America. He convinced his employer that a car does not need to be ginormous and can actually sport just two seats! And thus, America’s first sports car was born and what would be more fitting to name it after a small, maneuverable fighting frigate the Corvette. The Corvette with it’s innovative fiberglass body got off to a shaky start. It had a six cylinder truck engine, a 2-speed automatic transmission and drum brakes. All of which equates to a boring ride that doesn’t stop well. GM almost gave up on the car but it was saved by the invention of the V8 engine and a three speed manual transmission who’s marriage of the two components was the idea of GM employee Arkus-Duntov. This engine and transmission package gave new birth to the Corvette and made it a real sports car. Although the Corvette was Earl’s brainchild, Duntov was wrongly named “Father of the Corvette”. The first production Corvette, known as the C1, was introduced in 1953 and has gone through six model changes (C6) in its fifty plus year history. This fine example spied here in Ashland is the C5 convertible. The C5 was introduced in 1997 (the convertible came out a year later) and was produced through 2004. This bad boy has GM’s LS1 5.7 liter 345 horsepower all aluminum V8 engine with enough torque to win a tractor-pull competition. When Chevy came out with this model Corvette I finally accepted it as a true, American, sports car! It has the looks, the performance and the handling that has given Europe a run for it’s Euros. After all, if the Corvette is good enough for Prince to sing about then it’s good enough for me! 
Is that a Hummer? No, maybe it’s a VW Thing on steroids. Remember the VW Thing? Wait a minute that looks like a Mercedes-Benz 3 pointed star in the grill. Well I’ll be, it is a Mercedes! Must be something left over from the Panzer Tank division from WWII. I think if General Patton came across one these he would have high-tailed it for the hills of Africa. Let me introduce you to the G-Class Mercedes-Benz G-500! It seems there is a lot of new “buzz” words hovering around the automotive industry these days. You got your Hybrids, BlueTec’s, Sport Wagons, TDI’s, Green Cars, SUV’s and for those of you that don’t know there is the CUV. The CUV, also know as the XUV, is a Cross Utility Vehicle which is a melding of a station wagon and an off road vehicle. Sort like a Chihuahua and a Pit Bull or maybe like a tennis shoe you run on the pavement in and should the road turn to dirt you can keep running without ever changing your shoes (I never really got the whole cross-trainer tennis shoe anyhow)! Yes ladies and gentlemen this cross over vehicle didn’t really cross over but did more of a monster truck dance on all the vehicles along the way. I should know, as my son is an MTE or Monster Truck Expert. I love acronyms. In the early seventies the Shah of Iran decided he wanted a do-all military vehicle and he had Mercedes build him one. How could they protest when he was a heavy shareholder and had Mercedes in his hip pocket or should I say wallet. Mercedes-Benz contracted the help of the Austrian car manufacturer Steyr-Daimler-Puch of which I never heard of except maybe the Puch part. I used to ride a moped built by Puch. They came up with the G-Wagen, a military purpose SUV. By the end of the seventies they started to produce them as civilian units, the G-Class, touting off-road prowess and durability for the common people. German engineering meets the mud! This fine example found here in Shakespeare’s den is powered by a 5.0 liter V8 putting out 296 hp and 336 ft-lbs of torque. It has full time 4WD and locking front and rear differentials and leather accommodations all for only $75k. So, if your looking for a vehicle to get you to MT-A in a straight line then the G-500 is your ride. Why chain-up and get stuck in the I-5 semi-truck winter grid lock. 2060 – bahhh, Katwok – whatever, White Rabbit – white meat, Toothpick – splinters; just blaze your own trail by making a straight path from the Plaza to the Soccer ball. So move over Rover, step aside Humvee hear comes the G-500 with a lot of class…..
  
What is it with Volvo’s? You’ve seen those boxy cars that are hard to distinguish from an oversized brick with wheels and their brakes shrieking in such a tone you think your teeth are going to shatter. It’s seems it’s the car that just won’t die. There are not too many cars running around with over 200,000 miles on the clock and still getting the soccer kid’s to practice and groceries in the fridge. I think the Swedish translation for Volvo stands for Vehicle Out Last Vehicles’ Owner. Or maybe it’s really the owners of Volvo’s who are the real secret to their immortality! These people tend to adorn their beloved car with affectionate names and treat them as partof the family. I have many customers with these older boxes on wheels that treat me like their trusted pediatrician. When they hand me the keys to their family member they sometimes look at me as if they just dropped off their baby at daycare and to call if car’s not feeling well or becomes upset. And of course there is a detailed list on how to care for the family unit. You know, talk nicely to the car, burp after oil changes, and use organic oil and filters, don’t park it near an Audi or Porsche because it may feel insecure, yadda yadda yadda. With that they are obviously well taken care of! I think what really set Volvo apart from other car manufactures is SAFETY. Volvo has been the industry leader in making the automobile safer for the masses. This has been a very successful marketing campaign for Volvo. Not only did they invent the 3-point (shoulder strap) safety belt they made it a standard option in their cars since 1957! I remember as kid the only belt I knew of was the one that held your pants up or the one my neighbor’s dad used on his kids when they stepped out of line. We never had them in our cars and if the car did have them we just sat on them as opposed to strapping in! Yes, Volvo proved that seat belts saved lives and started to design cars that, well for lack of a better term, crash better.
Volvo started building cars with “crumple zones” to absorb energy in crashes to protect it’s occupants. cavernous areas behind the engine allowed the car to crumple like an accordion all the while keeping the cabin intact and the engine in the engine compartment. They introduced laminated glass, padded dash boards, rear facing child seats all before the 1970’s.This forward thinking in safety caught the notice of other car manufacturers and they followed suit. Now all cars are designed with safety as a priority and is actually mandated by governments to pass certain crash criteria. I think we all owe Volvo a big thank you for their commitment to the seat belt and cars that crash good! This months car sighting is a classic Volvo indeed. It’s known as the Volvo 122 sedan. They were produced from 1957 through 1970 and were known as the Amazon back home in Sweden. It’s hard to say what year this one actually is but my inside source says it’s a "1967” and “cute like an older Mercedes Benz”. Powerplants in these cars ranged from 1600cc pushing a wopping 66 horsepower up to a 2000cc unit that tilted the dynometer to just over 100 horse power!!! I guess with all that power on tap one can conclude that at least it’s a safe car! 
H2O. One hydrogen molecule and 2 oxygen molecules come together to create water. The planet is covered with approximately 70% of it and our bodies are made up of about 60%. Your car’s engine would protest quickly without it unless, of course, you own a Porsche 911 that was built prior to 1998. Yes, all of the older 911’s engines not only were (and still are) in the back of the car but cooled with a giant fan attached to the alternator and driven by a belt. It’s amazing that a company as talented, skilled and foreword thinking as the engineering giant Porsche is would continue to build a car that had no radiator, no water pump, no coolant hoses, no thermostats and no environmentally toxic antifreeze.
Well on second thought maybe that makes a lot of sense. Think of the weight savings by not adding all those parts that eventually fail anyway. Ask any true hard-core Porsche enthusiast about water cooling and he/she will quickly turn their nose in the air and tell you that a true Porsche 911 cannot be water cooled. There is nothing like the sound of that fan whirring away that gives the air cooled 911 it’s signature sound. Porsche has had a ridiculously successful racing career using the air-cooled engine platform so why change a good thing?
Well like everything in life there are compromises. Although you won’t find any antifreeze in an older 911 they carry a ridiculous amount of oil. How does 3 gallons sound to you? Imagine taking your car to QickyJiffySupperDon’tStop Lube for an oil change and they talk you into purchasing the synthetic oil. You would pay $100 just for the oil! Ouch! The car does have big oil coolers up front with electric fans to keep it cool in traffic so not too much gain there. Another problem is air cooled motors cannot run as efficiently as water-cooled ones due to looser internal clearances.
So, if you’re a Porsche purist and the thought of H20 running through the car’s veins makes you bend over like a punch in the stomach read no further. This month’s car is a 911 Carrera Cabriolet (coded 996 by Porsche) and is liquid cooled. It was probably built around 2000 and has a 3.4 liter flat six boasting 320 horse power which should get the car going to about 177mph. I have a customer with 2000 911 that I have had the pleasure of driving and I don’t care how the engine is cooled the car just plain kicks ass!
Lamborghini – That’s pronounced Lam-bor-ge-knee and is derived from the Latin word Laydowntherubber - it’s Italian translation: wicked fast, exotic, sexy, and very expensive. The definition: If you can afford it you won’t need to look it up in the dictionary. For those of you who have never heard of Lamborgini it is the other Italian super car manufacture. During the early sixties, Ferruccio Lamborghini, a successful tractor builder in Italy was apparently frustrated with the clutch in his new Ferrari 250GT. Like any high roller he went straight to the top of Ferrari and complained to the man himself, Enzo Ferrari, that the clutch in his car was not satisfactory. Enzo told Ferruccio to go back to driving tractors as he certainly cannot drive cars. The irony of this is Ferruccio decided to fix the clutch in his Ferrari at his own factory and discovered that the clutch was in fact made by the same manufacture that produced his own tractor clutches. Ferruccio at that point decided he was going to beat Ferrari at his own game. Thus the Lamborgini was born. My first Lamborgini sighting was the Countach. Wow! It looked like a space ship with wheels and was ready to break the sound barrier at it’s next outing. It’s giant rear wing and NASA ducting for sure meant that this thing could fly. It’s doors didn’t open outwards like a conventional car but swept up to the sky like some robotic creation form the latest Transformer movie! The V12 engine made sounds I never heard come form a car and it made the hair on my arms stand at attention. I will never forget the Bull standing proudly on the car’s emblem. The matador was going to loose the bullfight with this one for sure…. As with many small, exotic car manufacturers Lamborgini has endured an economic roller coaster ride in it’s 40+ year history. A big tractor deal gone bad in the early seventies allowed FIAT to acquire the name. They of course ran the company into the ground (ever heard of a GOOD running Fiat?). The late eighties saw Chrysler revive the Lamborgini name with the Diablo. They brought much needed technologies that a super car of today needed. But, of course, Chrysler couldn’t manage their own company and had to sell the Lamborgini rights to pay off their own debts. The good news is Audi now owns it and look what they built! The Lamborgini Gallardo. The one spied here in our own Rogue Valley is the Spyder version. Now everyone knows that if an Italian car has the word Spyder in it’s name it is a convertible. I won’t bother you with the specs as you can tell by the picture it’s wicked fast, exotic, sexy, and very expensive. Now if only I could talk the owner into giving me a ride…
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