Category Archives: Cars

Customized Dodge Challenger

This weekend, I made a quick road trip to visit my mom and on the way back, I found this customized Dodge Challenger parked on the side of the road.  This bad boy is another example of one of those things that make you go “hmmmm”…

Mom has a very supportive network of family and friends in the little town where she lives.  She is handling our new “normal” quite well, but she does not drive and she needed to go to the grocery store.  So we took care of that this weekend by going to North Augusta, SC.  Mom is now set for another couple weeks and I had a chance to finally get out on the road and clear my mind from being in lockdown.

So back to the customized Dodge Challenger.  All I can say is that somebody put a ton of money on this Challenger.  The pictures don’t do the paint job justice – it is flawless.  While it is not my cup of tea, I do appreciate the hard work invested.  The Challenger was painted probably with ChromaFlair because as you move around, the thing changed colors.  Somebody then took the time to ghost-in the Mopar logos on the quarter panels.  You can barely see an edge in the photo above.

The hood was also highly customized:  it had the Mopar logo as well.  I’m not a big fan of the color shifting paint but that paint-job did the trick:  it caught my eye.  I had to drive back to this parking lot and felt compelled to take these photos.

And last but not least, the wheels and tires.  I didn’t get out of my car, and inspect them closely, but they are LARGE.  Again, there is no telling how man dead presidents are invested in this set of wheels.  Having said all this…  I have a few questions:

    • With a wheel/tire combo like this, what effect does it have on the drivetrain.  If we go by the relationship of a lever, I would suspect this is going to load up the gearbox and strain it.
    • What effect does a whee/tire combo like this have on brakes?  Suppose you are driving at highway speed, would braking efficiency become compromised?
    • Speedo.  The speedo reading would certainly be hosed.  This is when tuning software and/or a separate box would save the day.  I am not familiar with this type of setup but there is certainly a lot of work here…
    • If you have any info on this, let me know…

Stay safe!

Chevrolet Volt Fuel Stats

2013 Chevrolet Volt

My friend Lee purchased this 2013 Chevrolet Volt about 2 years ago.  Lee’s goal from the beginning was to achieve as much efficiency as could be obtained by driving as smooth as possible (more on this later, see below).  He has made it a priority to avoid gas stations!!

I’ve read much about hybrids and from my research there is a mind-shift one must make to meet the highest level of efficiency.  For yours truly, this would certainly be a steep learning curve but I digress.  Back to Lee’s Volt and the subject of this story.

You see, this week Lee texted me the following pair of photos when he filled the Volt’s tank with regular unleaded for only the third time since he bought the car!!  

Mileage since last fill up

This is the first photo of the Volt’s dashboard.  It shows mileage since the last fill up.  Lee explained he only resets the “B” odometer every time he fills up with fuel.  And here is the follow-up on the note in the first paragraph:  notice the indicator with the ball framed between the two brackets on the right of the picture.  Lee explained that is the indicator that helps you drive as efficient as possible:  the goal is the keep the ball in the middle the majority of the time.

Mileage since purchase

And this photo shows the “A” odometer, displaying total mileage since Lee purchased the 2013 Volt.  15,734 miles on exactly 23 gallons.

How the 23 gallons were used is an interesting story in itself.  Once the batteries are exhausted, the 4 cylinder engine kicks in and generates power to replenish the batteries.  During winter months, the engine helps provide heat and during summer months the engine provides help cooling the car.  The Volt’s computer also engages the engine when it “needs to run”.  On several occasions Lee has told me of the indicator that reminds the driver of this.  Pretty cool, huh?

Finally one of the neatest stories Lee has shared was shortly after purchasing the Volt.  You see, he bought the car in Asheville NC and drove around town a bit on electric power.  Then, on the way back to Greenville SC, the steep drive down I-26 provided enough braking (energy recovery) to recharge the battery almost to capacity.  Pretty cool stuff…

Needless to say, driving a Volt takes discipline.  Lee has proven with these results that a hybrid car is a very practical and real alternative.  I am a big offender because my Camaro is the complete opposite to the Volt.  It is downright embarrassing:  Lee has owned his Volt for almost 2 years and has filled up 3 times.  I have owned my Camaro 2 years (on the 10th of December) and I have filled up 70 times to travel almost the same distance.  Granted, we are missing the electric part of the cost of ownership but I think these stats are remarkable.

Thoughts?  Comments?

Can’t Fix Stupid

I am constantly amazed by the carelessness of drivers around me and in this particular case, that carelessness gets upgraded into the realm of “can’t fix stupid”.

Since I have had some issues with my internet service provider’s billing, I decided to stop by one of their offices.  Yes, I tried the phone but they were reluctant to help.  I thought a face-to-face visit might solve the problem, but no.  I was greeted by a very friendly person, but that is as far as it went.  The experience was a complete waste of time because the person on the other side of the counter gave me her minimum-wage’s worth of help.  But, I digress.

Back to my story…

On the way out of the internet provider’s office I noticed this parked sad and lonely SUV with a flat right-rear tire.  What struck me as odd was the ring on the sidewall showing evidence of severe wear.  It is very obvious, this tire had traveled a long distance completely flat.  So much so, that the sidewall material is showing through the rubber on the sidewall.  Just imagine how hot this sidewall got too!

Cord exposed on the tire’s sidewall due to severe under inflation

I suppose I am overly sensitive to stuff like this because I am very particular about the care of my automobiles.  However, in today’s world there are so many people who ignore the basics of automotive care.  Are drivers so oblivious they don’t notice issues with their vehicles?

Flat or under inflated tires are prevalent these days.  I’ve witnessed on several occasions SUV’s (driven by millennial soccer moms) with kids in tow and yet the tires on these vehicles are either low on air or past their prime (sometimes both!).  Then, I can just hear the conversations blaming tire quality when catastrophic failures like the one pictured above happen.

Can’t fix stupid.

Bedliner Clad Jeep

The other day, I walked to a little restaurant next door to the place I work at and in the parking lot saw this bedliner clad Jeep.  The olive drab paint job is indeed bedliner.  How cool is that!

I realize this is not something special.  This Jeep’s owner decided to treat this vehicle to an iron clad paint job that will quite frankly last forever.  Truth is to be told, I did the same thing (except in black) to the entire underside of bowtie6.

Think about it, this is one hell of a cool idea!  I walked up to the vehicle and touched it – the surface was far from “smooth”.  It was quite rough but looked awesome.  So much so, the material also covered all the emblems in such a way they could easily be read.

Pretty cool huh?

Ford Tough

Driving RedRock to work this week, I see this vehicle at a red light proudly wearing a Ford Tough sticker…

But wait a minute…  What is wrong here?  This is not a Ford Tough SUV!!  This is a Honda Pilot.  😯

I get a kick out of the different stickers people plaster on their cars…

  • Stick families (gotta include the dogs/cats)…
  • Holy rollers…
  • “My kid did this or the other special crap”…
  • Political affiliation – these are even more entertaining when comparing candidates vs car/SUV/truck…
  • Hardware (as in guns)…
  • In memory of…

And then, one of my favorites:  the ones that make no sense at all.  As in today’s featured picture making a Honda Pilot “Ford Tough”.  Wonder how the boys in Dearborn feel about that?

As we say here in the South, “Bless his heart”.  But it’s all good, after all he is a Clemson Dad.  😉