It’s been a long week. We’ve had some folks out, my wife and I have been caring for crying newborn and moving homes at the same time, I had to drive a Vector M12 yesterday because I’d be a fool to pass that up, I’ve been trying to help edit a book, and that’s all on top of my job as editor. But now it’s Friday, and it’s time to take a few minutes to reflect — not just on this week, but on the site overall and on our future. So, dear Autopian readers, let’s talk!
I always enjoy our “let’s chat’ sessions in which you not only tell us how you’re liking (or not liking) The Autopian, but also just generally talk about what’s going on in your car-worlds. Consider the comments section here a great place for both feedback and car-related discussion with fellow Autopians.
I’m about to drive to U-Haul to pick up a 6ft x 12ft trailer to tow with my 1989 Chevy K1500 because I’m too cheap to get the box truck (which has a per-mile fee) and also too cheap to hire movers. This weekend is going to be rough. I’m still trying to figure out how to transition from “single dude who did everything himself” to “married dad who hires things out.” The number of projects at this new house – plus all the cars I own (though I’ll whittle that down soon) — means I’m going to have to fundamentally change my mindset should I want to spend time with baby-Delmar (and I do; that’s my #1 priority).
So that’s what’s on my mind right now. What’s on yours?
The Autopian is now over three years old. We’ve gone from being literally just an idea into a site that outperformed The Drive back in March. That’s wild! And we have you to thank for it. As we look ahead at ways we can not only improve (we just cut autoplay videos for paying members!), but expand in different directions, we’re keeping our ears open to you, dear readers. How are we doing? How are you doing?
Regarding the site… To say I love it would be an understatement! I’ll happily read an article about a vehicle that otherwise wouldn’t interest me just because the writing is so darn good. And I still can’t believe that the comment section is generally civil and helpful. There really are some great people here! The Discord has been amazing too.
Moving? Definitely hire the pros. There’s nothing like watching an experienced team lift a giant armoire up through a stairwell and over a railing. I’ve also learned that if you can’t get people to take furniture you don’t want anymore (example: ancient sleeper sofa), and you have no way to leave it at the curb, it’s ok to hire a junk removal service. The ones I’ve used are reasonably priced.
What’s on my mind? The same thing that’s always on my mind (besides that Elvis song): packs of stray wild dogs that control most of the cities in North America. Also is there a way to leave my account logged in? My old phone left me logged in but my new one boots me whenever I close and open the browser. Unless the correct answer is “use the desktop version”, I don’t know what I’m doing differently
You all are firing on all cylinders.
I’m a bit gassy, I think it was the broccoli.
I’m about to lose my job designing engines, thanks in no small way to global politicians mandating that banning fossil fuels is best achieved by banning engines that can also run on green alternatives, rather than banning the thing that’s actually the problem. My final two projects both use green fuel, but long-term engines are dead, so no one cares.
I’ve been engineering ingenious engines for so long that I’m not sure who I am without this job.
I’ll be fine once I get settled in my new career, whatever it is, but the next year is probably going to suck.
However the likely increased commute means maybe buying a new motorcycle, and I am looking forward to that.
I’m sorry to hear that. How long have you been doing powertrain engineering?
25 years.
I’ve asked legal how much of my confidentiality contract is still enforceable after I leave…
How was the performance of the recent F1 content provided by Alanis? I’d love to see some content around F1 each race weekend.
Seems like it would make sense to ride the wave of popularity that F1 is having in the US.
A lot of F1 discussions turn toxic on the internet but I think The Autopian could host a great discussion given the current track record.
As a car-guy who likes EVs, Blackwing Cadillacs, IMSA, the alt-car universe that is the Brazilian auto industry as well as discussions on the finer points of 50’s GM taillights that move out of the way in order to add gas to one’s ride, this site truly has everything. As my daughter said awhile back when I was pointing out something cool here: “It’s nice that you’ve found ‘your people'”.
I’m glad you’re here, and compliments all around for having the best site, and the best writers, among all the other “current car news” sites. I still check the J site now and again, although there’s more chaff than wheat nowadays. And TTAC still has 2 good writers, but the rest is dreck.
I just want to know what happened to your truck.
Yeah, the continuim from believing “I think my truck just blew its engine up with no warning for no reason!!” to “seems to be working again and I don’t know why” to “In trust this truck to not break down on the 10 while hauling my family’s valuable possesions and heirloom Jeep manuals” seems like a rather broad one to traverse in such a short time. I’d be a little shy about depending on a bunch of parts you thought had been rent asunder that you can’t even see!
Did you ever hear the tragedy of Jatco Xtronic the CVT?
I thought not. It’s not a story The Autopian would tell you.
Jatco Xtronic was a continuously variable transmission, so continuous and so variable, it could even use the continuous variation to keep the engine at its most optimal speed.
It had such efficient power delivery that it could even keep the engine it was attached to, from revving.
The dark side of engineering is a pathway to transmission behaviors some consider to be… unnatural.
Have you heard the story about the capon?
The thing about CVTs is that when someone explains that instead of the 6 speeds a manual has, or the 9 speeds an auto might have, it has infinite speeds, and can always be in the perfect ratio for whatever you’re doing, it sounds like the perfect gearbox solution.
Then you see a diagram of how simple a mechanism it is, not the mess of cogs and shit you get in a normal gearbox, and you think this is somehow simple, light, cheap and functionally better than the alternatives by a huge margin.
Then you drive one and it is, at best, massively underwhelming.
It’s like the opposite of a Wankel engine, which on paper is an unreliable waste of fuel that only an idiot would waste money on, but is wonderfully stupid to actually use.
I wonder what a Wankel CVT would be like to drive?
An unreliable waste of fuel that was underwhelming to drive, I imagine.
Got to say David, I admire the willingness to move everything yourself. Used to do the same thing until about 10 years ago, I threw out my back loading furniture. That ain’t happening again. Now I throw it out lifting batteries out of cars.
My big car issues are there’s an old broken down BMW X3 sitting in the driveway. I could get it running, at a little expense, but over the winter when we got several heavy rains, the sunroof drains backed up and filled the car with water. By the time I realized what happened, mold was all over the leather. All over everything. Nope that ain’t happening. Scrap it is!
Also my wife just inherited a 90s Toyota Avalon that has barely moved in almost a year. It doesn’t look terrible, but its good days are long past. I know that V6 is probably just fine, but to get it to a decent level for everything else is not an expense I want to take. Maybe a charity will take it.
This site has been a daily read for me, even if time only allows minutes. Never know what you’re going to get.
I think I just strained my neck packing.
At least you’re going to have a truck and decent sized (I’m assuming) trailer – my last two moves were done solo using a 98 ZJ and 5×8 flatbed utility over the course of a couple weeks and few dozen trips…
Give it another 20 years, and you will wake up wondering how you injured yourself, in your sleep….
I broke my wrist 18 months ago, and my lawyer wants a report on how much pain it is now, as part of a settlement deal.
I’m in my early fifties, and while my formerly broken wrist hurts occasionally, so does everything else.
Sleep is dangerous over the age of 50.
Y’all are doing awesome and amazing work! This is definitely the best site on the net! Thank you
My life is in nearly as much turmoil as yours, DT! My youngest daughter is getting married tomorrow, and my youngest son graduates high school on Monday. Then, in about two weeks, my oldest daughter gets married!
My wife and I also just celebrated our 30th anniversary, so you could say we’re just about done with all the joy.
Congratulations! Empty nest around the corner.
Congrats! You should be so proud!
I guess my big car-related news is that I just got my car out of the body shop after being sideswiped on my way home from work about a month and a half ago. I was the victim of an improper lane change. Thankfully, everyone walked away, and both cars drove away. At the moment it happened, by the time I spoke to the occupants of the other car, I felt worse for the other driver than I did for myself.
Imagine how awful it would feel to cause an accident that was your fault, when you are
1) A 15 year old driver with a learner’s permit, with
2) your dad in the passenger seat, while driving
3) your big sister’s car.
Oof. I really felt for the kid. I wasn’t happy that my car was dorked up, but they had great insurance and so do I, so I wasn’t worried about it. I was more worried about what was waiting for this poor bastard when he got home. His dad was very cool about it and copped to it being their fault right away, as did the kid – you could tell he was raised right. Dad seemed to be thinking along the same lines as I was – “don’t worry about whether I’m mad at you, just wait till your sister gets ahold of you.” I really felt for him, as I told him while we waited for the police to show up, because I was in four fender benders that were 100% my fault before I graduated high school – three from inattention, one from trying to impersonate the guy in my profile picture. I don’t know if it helped that I told him I had been there, but I hope so. Even though I don’t think it would have helped me back then. He spent the whole time standing at the side of the road looking, in the words of the late great sales guru Zig Ziglar, “like somebody had licked all the red off his candy.”
Oh, and as a cherry on top, naturally the state trooper taking the accident report also wrote him a ticket for an improper lane change.
And here’s the punchline. The kid and his dad were Vietnamese, and when the kid handed me the insurance card to take down the information, I had to stifle a laugh when I saw his ironically funny-not-funny last name, which also served as a comprehensive final word the whole debacle:
Dang.
I mean, the whole thing does make you say, “Dang, man.”
Loving your content. Yours is the first site I’ve ever had a paid subscription for, and I don’t regret it for a second. I had abandoned Jalopnik quite a while before joining here, so this is the first place I’ve read content from some of the writers here, and I gotta say you have a great crew. Lots of diverse experiences and interests. I don’t always have time to read the longer articles, but I’m glad you have them.
Right now the biggest thing in my life car-wise is that I’m preparing my race car, The Homer, for a 24 Hours of Lemons race in 2 weeks. Likely its final one after having raced in the series on and off since 2008. Not just that, but a full 25 hour overnight race. I’ve been devoting most of my weekends since March to pulling the car out of mothballs after we blew the engine in 2023 and getting it race ready, which included having to install lighting on the car.
I’ve had some help from friends here and there, including several friends who came over and helped to get the engine and trans swapped in one day, but I’ve done the majority of work myself. Back when we started racing in my 20s, the idea of wrenching all weekend was great. Now in my 40s, not so much. I’m getting kinda burnt out, I’m pressing on regardless. I don’t have kids which admittedly allows me to do this, but even so, there are other things I’d rather do with my time.
That, plus we have a lot on the line this race – a 1200 mile round trip tow, multiple people traveling in from out of town, plus all the time and money I’ve put into it – so I’m pretty nervous about the car’s survival. I’ve prepped it as well as I possibly can (within a budget that’s in the spirit of Lemons) but anything can happen. The “new” engine I put in the car has 180K miles on it. And parts for BMW E30s (the chassis of our car) and E36s (the engine donor for our car) are getting hard to find and expensive.
So if it survives the race I’ll probably sell it. Not sure where or how, but it is a giant piece of Simpsons memorabilia so maybe some crazy fan will buy it for Matt Groening’s autograph on the quarter panel.