

Sign up to receive the weekly newsletter featuring the very latest from Petrolicious. Don’t be left out—join the ranks of those who Drive Tastefully.
Already a member? Log in
We're glad you're back.
Not a member yet? Sign up
We'll get you back on track.
Photography by Yoav Gilad and courtesy of FCA
Some of you may have heard that our local Cars & Coffee, the one that started them all, shut down last week. It’s a sad fate for a Southern California institution, but we’re not too worried as there are a couple of other regular, local meets that have become quite popular such as Supercar Sunday, Morning Octane, and an upstart Cars & Coffee located in Malibu (about seventy miles away from the original, located in Irvine). It was as I pulled into the first Cars & Coffee Malibu that the upper radiator hose in my first-year Dodge Viper GTS finally gave up the ghost. I made quite an entrance as the blue Viper billowed steam like a nineteenth-century locomotive. I backed into a spot, steam escaping through the wheel wells, lower grill, and NACA duct and shut the engine down. There was a trail of coolant from the parking lot apron to my car, and little yellow-green droplets all over the Viper.
Another attendee happily offered “repair” tape and once the car cooled sufficiently, we wrapped the hose back up. It held for about six miles. Then I had to call a flatbed as there are no auto-parts stores remotely close to this part of the Pacific Coast Highway. Well, at least I wasn’t in the middle of the desert somewhere.
I’ve never replaced any of the Viper’s hoses and frankly they’re getting to the age where this should have been expected. So for 2015 I have resolved to be more pro-active about my cars’ maintenance. I change the oil, do the brakes, etc… regularly, but there are other wear-and-tear items that need to be inspected as well. Lesson learned. It isn’t earth-shattering but will hopefully help avoid a couple of headaches.
So have you made any automotive resolutions for the coming year?
I also owned a blue/white GTS for 8 years. Mine was a 97. Radiator hose blew while chugging up I-70 in heavy traffic approaching the Eisenhower tunnel. A friendly passerby provided duct tape for a patch and we made it home, another 200 miles. Next maintenance item was silicone hoses. A great lesson in preventative maintenance.
My resolution is to actually finish all the car projects I have before I turn 22! Slam the E28 and paint it (just rebuilt BBS’s for it). Put in the big turbo on my TT and aim for 400whp on E85. Swap my 49′ Chevy body onto my S10 (body already off the S10). Lower my MGB and get an exhaust and hardtop. Lastly, pick up the Volvo PV445 from a family friend who’s husband recently died (they had it sitting in their yard for the past 30 years.
I recently purchased a 1983 Mercedes 240D and have been driving it daily for the last couple of months. I plan to keep her for a while, and for 2015 I’ve decided to use it to get around on a couple of trips I have planned. The major goal is to visit every National Park up and down the West Coast (sans Alaska), which comes in at 16 parks from Arizona to Washington. Looking forward to it!