Car Throttle

So a while back, I did a post about the death of my Saab 900 SPG via transmission explosion. It was a tragic event for me; so tragic in fact, that I went out and bought the antithesis of my beloved C900 Turbo: a Honda Accord. And while I've grown to love the Honda over the 14,000 miles or so I've put on it since August (seriously), I've come to realize that man cannot subside on VTECs alone.  In fact, 'tis a meager existence to merely pilot a vehicle like the Accord.  Since I've owned it, I've upgraded a few minor things to make it more to my liking (metal shifter bushings and a Comptech short shifter to fix the awful stock shift mechanism,

There are a lot of things I love about Saabs.  You're probably tired of hearing about it by now. For that I apologize.  I tend to be a bit of a specific-interest writer, catering more towards the whole "old European Car" demographic than the "hey, there's a new Audi press release out!" demographic.  As far as what it is in particular I love about Saabs, it's a bit difficult to really nail it down because, frankly, there are a lot of things.  But one of the big things is how these cars sound. (Ed's note: I began work on this article a while before my Saab's gearbox bought the farm and I gave up on the whole concept of daily driving an archaic European sports coupe

Observe the intro image to this post.  That's my key-carrying carabiner, with a modern Honda automobile key attached to it. As I write this post inside my home-away-from-home Starbucks coffee, there's a 2007 Honda Accord sedan sitting outside which this key fits into the ignition switch of.  The title says "James Mackintosh," and if you look closely you can see the faint outline of a "CarMax" sticker on the back of it. ...WHAT?!? Me? The constant preacher of the joys of old-car ownership?  The person who said "I'll chew off my own foot before I own an OBD-2 car!!!"  Why do I, of all people, have the perfect example of car-as-transportation-appliance now?  Well, let me tell you.  It all started with a rattling noise... About three weeks

Apologies to third-wave Ska/Punk band Streetlight Manifesto for the title paraphrasal, but it seemed appropriate. I was driving around with a long-time friend of mine in North Raleigh when we came across what has to be the best night-time photoshoot location anywhere.  I can't say exactly what it is, except that it's a service bay at a local Audi dealer.  Oh, crap - I gave it away.  The lighting here was too cool to pass up, so we arranged the cars and did a little miniature photo shoot.  My friend's snazzy suit is entirely unrelated - he was headed back into Raleigh after a party, but it really seemed to fit the feel of the shot.  These images were shot with my Sony point-and-shoot as usual,

As a self-proclaimed DIY kinda guy, there's one thing I'm embarrassed to admit  I've never done: changed my own brake pads.  Illogical, sure.  But I've always thought of the brakes on a car as being a bit too important for a relative noobie like myself to dig into without risking massive consequences.  But in the never-ending quest to get my 900 SPG up to snuff, I finally realized I had to bite the bullet and do something about the brakes. The pads weren't totally worn out, sure.  But the brakes on my 900 were nowhere near up to par with the power it puts out; you can accelerate hard, but then you've got to really plan ahead with your braking.  Part of this is due to the

The reason old cars feel old and tired is that everything has a lifespan. Rubber bushings crumble and fail, hinges loosen and sag, plastics become brittle and rattly - sort of like humans.  Time may heal all wounds, but it's not a great beautician.  The best way to give an old car a new lease on life is to replace tired, worn out components - and the suspension is a fantastic place to start.  My SPG had a set of "God knows how ancient" KYB Gas-A-Just dampers on it when I bought it, and they've always made me pretty uneasy.  They've always felt a little floaty and underdamped, plus the serious terminal rust on the shock bodies I discovered when I mounted the new tires made

So recently, it came to my attention that my water pump on my '88 Saab 900 SPG was going bad. It wasn't exactly a difficult diagnosis.  The car was leaking coolant like a sieve, it was trying it's damnedest to overheat at every given opportunity, and the pump itself was making an awful grinding noise, much like an innocent clunker's crankcase being filled with sodium silicate mixture.

Now, like any sane person, I went and got an estimate on getting someone who knew what the hell they were doing to replace the water pump, from my friendly neighborhood eccentric Saab mechanic.  He quoted me two hours labor ($160) plus the pump ($129) and coolant ($35.)  Total cost: about $325, give or take. 

If you've been following my writing on CarThrottle, you know I obtained an old Saab 900 Turbo a few months ago. You haven't heard all that much about it since then, and here's the reason: this car has kept me very busy.  I know, I know: insert "Saab story" jokes here.  Well deserved.  I've gathered up a few observations on owning and daily-driving an old car, and I figured I'd share them with you, dear reader, so that you may come away feeling wiser.  Here's hoping I've succeeded. Observation 1: Old Stuff Breaks. I know this falls under the category of "no, duh?" but you'd be surprised exactly how much old stuff breaks.  To date, here's the list of broken stuff I've replaced on my 900 Turbo. -Thermostat -Right

So, one of my favorite automotive mind-stretchers is hypotheticals. "What if...?"  What would you buy if you had $500,000 to spend on automobiles, right now?  What's your favorite great car from an awful brand? (It's a toss-up between the Genesis Coupe and the Buick GNX)  What would you drive if you were Conan O'Brian?  You know, hypotheticals.  It's that tired conversation you have at Denny's at 1 in the morning over a cup of coffee with a car buddy.  It keeps your mind going. But they're usually far-fetched.  So let's be a little more realistic about it.  What's gonna be in your driveway in 5 years?  10 years?  What would you like, that you could feasibly attain?  That one's more challenging.  When the invisible hand of fate

Sometimes when there's nothing else to do, the best thing to do is get in the car and drive. So yesterday, myself and a group of car buddies went and did just that... Step one, meet up at a local burger joint and talk smack for a while: On the left is Patrick's Audi TT 1.8T Quattro with modifications, to the right is John's Nissan (S14) 240SX with a Skyline GT-T motor swap (for real!), and on the right is Brandon's Volkswagen GTI VR6.  Not pictured: my Saab. Here we are departing town, headed out to where the nice roads are.  And look!  The Saab hasn't even broken down yet! Another shot from inside John's car of us getting into traffic on I-98.  The weather was just