You’ve seen it before: an online ad appears offering a classic car represented as being in beautiful condition, for an unbelievably low price. When contacted, the seller always has some story about having to move to England, but will ship the car free to your location.. Yeah, right.. If it seems too good to be true then, it’s likely, well, too good to be true.

I encountered such a situation recently when my shopmate forwarded me a Craigslist link offering a nice looking 1962 Mercedes 190SL for $16,500. Even IF I don’t closely follow the classic Mercedes market, I’m savvy enough to know that values for 190SL’s have recently skyrocketed, following on the coat-tails of their rarer step brother, the 300SL (these beautiful cars now routinely bringing strong 7 figure prices), and proving the old axiom “A rising tide raises all boats”. Sure enough, a quick search through eBay and Hemmings listings proved that even a beater, “good restoration candidate” 190SL easily changes hands for $50-75,000, while nicely restored examples can easily bring in $150k.

With my “Fake-dar” alarm ringing loudly in my head, I...

I have always been a car guy, dating back to when, at age 15,  my brothers and I bought a neglected 1936 Ford from my uncle for $50 (we never could get it to start on its own power, but had a lot of fun pulling it behind a truck to start, then bombing around our ranch in the old beast).

At last count, some 80 cars and motorcycles have resided in my garages over the years.  Of these vehicles, just a few stand out as my all time favorites:

If you follow this blog, most likely you personally perform some maintenance and/or repairs on your prized vehicle.

Sure, most of us car guys aren’t professional mechanics, but we do enjoy occasionally turning a wrench in the garage.  There is a collection of tools I have found over the years to be essential for the complete mechanic:

Leatherman...

When my wife and I began our search for a 1940 Buick Series 90 Limited, little did we know that we would wind up with TWO Buicks.  Well, to clarify, there is only one Buick “vehicle” in our garage, but it is a composite of two different cars:  the original Buick body and interior, combined with the running gear (engine/transmission/rear axle) from a 1972 Buick Electra. The Buick Electra drivetrain was pretty awesome for its time:  455 cubic inch V8, driving through GM’s TH400 automatic transmission.  But more about that later.

We had been looking...

You may have heard of Jeff’s Resurrections, of Taylor, Texas.  No, this isn’t a business that exhumes bodies from the cemetary.  Rather, Jeff’s is a nationally known and recognized classic car restoration facility. 

However, don’t th...

Back in the 60’s and 70’s, the Ace Cafe in London was THE place for motorcycling enthusiasts to hang out.  In fact, legend has it that the Ace constituted the origin of the term “cafe racer” (not necessarily racers at all, but stripped down bikes to “race” from cafe to cafe).  This was the heyday of the great British bikes.. Triumph, Norton, BSA, etc.  Of course, the big goal of period riders was to “do the ton” (100 mph), and manufacturers were competing to produce bikes that could do just that.

Fast forward 50 years to the home of Lago Vista...

You don’t want to miss attending the always popular Rolling Sculpture Car Show (my local favorite), held this year on November 1, at the Hill Country Galleria. A great location, and a great collection of cars, at just the right time of the year.  Click on the poster below to visit the show website:

2015 SHOW & SHINE CAR SHOW AT CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS

Austin-area residents are fully aware that only during  the months of March, April, October, and November, does the brutal climate of Central Texas allow top-down motoring or day-long motorcycle riding.

Although my biker buddy Nathan Gibson and I had recently returned from a 10-day biking adventure to Sturgis, SD in August, we were both eager to get in at least one more good ride before winter overcomes us.  So, when I suggested an overnight jaunt to the cutest town in the south, Natchitoches, LA, Nathan, as always, was eager to sign on.  Not only is the destination stellar, but the route from Austin has to be one of the most desirable rides in all of Texas… out Hwy 79 from Round Rock, through Taylor, Rockdale, Crockett, Lufkin, and beyond.  No freeways, no traffic, 70-75mph speed limits (err.. that is until you reach the Louisiana border, whereby the good governor Bobby Jindal presides over an inexplicable 55 mph limit, on the same exact highway!)

But, ...

Only 4 examples of this beautiful Maserati were ever built. When enthusiast Rex Butterfield first saw reference to this beautiful car, he knew he wanted one. Unfortunately, getting his hands on one of the 4 “real” coupes proved to be impossible. But that didn’t stop a determined guy like Rex.

In a quiet workshop just south of Austin, Rex is methodically constructing a replica of this car from scratch. Beginning with a full sized plywood mockup of the body, Rex has utilized the Italian “superleggera” style of construction.. a hand-fabricated tube frame covered with formed aluminum panels.

Rex utilizes the frame and engine of a donor Maserati Quattroporte. Virtually every thing else on the car is hand constructed in Rex’s shop. Click below to view a video of Rex’s project:

Let’s face it.. It’s still hot as hell here in Central Texas, forcing any rational person out of the garage and on to the couch. Well, as long as we’re all being sequestered indoors until Fall arrives, we might as well use that time to catch up on summer reading.

Honestly, most au...