My Grandpa was in the Auto Body business and he was always buying and selling cars.  One car that he really took a shine to was the first generation Dodge Charger.  They were under appreciated back then as well as now, but he just adored them.  He had a 1966 with the base 318-cid and a '67 with the 383.  He would let me borrow them for the summers and I have so many fond memories of rolling around the city in them.  Here's a slideshow containing some retro shots from the late-80's.  Check out that teal cummerbund.  

The year was 1993 and my GLH Turbo was gone.  The kid I sold it to totaled it that very weekend.  But, once the dark clouds cleared, I started scouring the local Auto Trader for my next hot ride.  I kicked the tires of numerous Escort GT's, Rabbits, and RX-7's, but I ended up succumbing to the allures of a pristine 1984 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe.  My folks had owned a 1984 FILA Edition T-Bird in the late-80's and I loved it.  This car had a 2.3L turbo with a 5-speed and a host of options rarely seen in cars at that price range.  I ditched the factory rims for a set of meaty 16-inchers and installed a thumping sound system consisting of two 10" JL Audio subs.  I had a blast with that car until the throttle bottle started acting up.  I would be sitting at a light and the engine would just starting revving all on its own.  I took it to a couple of Ford dealers, but they wouldn't touch it.  They told me some story about how there could be ten different throttle bodies for that car and they wouldn't know which one was correct.  It was so bizarre.  One guy offered to do an engine swap with a totalled 5.0 Mustang.  I wasn't having any of that so I limped it to an independent used car dealer and got $1500 for it, wheels included.  End of story. 

I should also add that it was around this time that I developed a fascination with photographing my cars.  I had no qualms when it came to backing up the driveway of a nice house and capturing a few glamour shots with my 35mm Fuji camera.  I only ever had a guy yell at me once.  Rich jerk.  

I took a bit of abuse from people when I bought a 2011 Kia Optima.  It was light hearted, of course.  I am still proud that I owned that car.  My advice is drive what you want to drive.  

I was sifting through a whack of external hard drives and came across some grainy old pics of the garage.  They were taken not too long after we took possession of our house.  I think I had the Sony Ericsson S003 at the time.  These photos seem way older than five years, but that's because a lot has changed in that time.  Anyway, here are some photographs that capture some milestones in the evolution of my garage.    

The order has gone in.  Soon, I will be using one of these little beauties for various garage-related activities.  Be sure to drop by in a few weeks when it is ready to show off.  I can't wait.  

A friend of mine who is a pretty wicked bike mechanic took over the garage today to tune up neighbourhood bikes.  He was here all day and we are considering organizing another day in the next little while.  It's a convenient way to get your bikes tuned and people seem quite grateful that they don't have to endure the crazy wait times at the local bike shops.  

Are they called hubs?  Well, whatever they are called they are looking shabby.  I picked up a can of high heat spray paint and I'm going to tackle them.  Stay tuned for the result.  I doubt a coat of spray paint will be a permanent fix, but I'll just keep reapplying it.  If that doesn't work, I'll look for a more elaborate fix.  This should do for now.  

The engine compartment received some love over the weekend.  It had been a year since its last detail, but it wasn't too bad.  Entire process took a half hour.  Came out great.  I did a video last year that demonstrates the process I use in the engine bay.  I actually used my Tornador air foam gun with a mixture of Griot's Garage Engine Cleaner and water (1:20) and it made a nice frothy cleaning foam.  It was a quick and easy way to ensure the cleaner found its way to every nook and cranny.  Sorry, I didn't get a photo of that, but these photos do a good job of showcasing the before, during, and after phase of the process.