Honda, sure has come a long way

Guldstrand vs stock Vette in the looks department

the difference between "nice try, you're half way done" and "Nice Job!" is who else shows up to the car show that you get compared to

nearly the same car, steering wheel, and small gauge on the far left, tach in the same place... but having the detachable steering wheel and Pro Comp speedometer  puts the lower photo in the awards race

color and a wing make a big difference in the attractiveness of a car, if I'm right, you;ll spend more time looking at the yellow one

old and cool vs new that anyone can buy.... but why would you for the same amount? Archie astutely points out the obvious in the comments

Archie said You could drive the new one harder and worry about it less.

comparison of Avanti nose design and rims

great infographics from Auto Web Media, a well done visual guide to Ferrari and Lamborghini

Found on http://www.autoweb.co.uk/infographics/

K&N air filter for my Veloster comparison

From K&N .com it's 59 plus shipping http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?prod=33-2472
From Amazon its 34 w/o shipping http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B006DA34VI/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1378879535&sr=8-1&keywords=K%26N+33-2472&condition=new

25 dollar savings.

Aston Martin, from simple beginnings to a highly evolved sports luxury car

found on http://www.napiszar.hu

changing the oil filter comparison, old car (my 1969 R/T) vs new car (my 2012 Hyundai Veloster)

above, a 426 cubic inch max wedge 8 cylinder , below, a 1.2 liter 4 cylinder

 

the old engine has an oil filter location right in front where you can see it and reach your arm in and unscrew it, and remove the filter, from either above the bumper or below

but below, the Veloster doesn't even have enough room for a hand to wrap around and grip the oil filter

 so you have to use tools like these on a new car with such limited area around the filter, and the bottom wrench is great, I use it a lot, and recommend it http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/01/how-men-and-women-change-cars-oil.html

 

a word about oil filter tools, the upper right aluminum filter socket? Might be the best at getting an oil filter off your engine. Also, in tight spaces, it can't be beat. Now, keep in mind you can pay more for oil filters that have a nut welded onto the cap, they are 10 dollars more, every time you replace them, or you can buy the 4 dollar range filter and only get one of these filter sockets once. The upper left tool? Useless, but I don't throw away tools, and it was handy to have to use as an example of a tool I won't bother using and don't recommend

 

another big difference, I have no space under the old car to get the oil pan (above) and have to get the floor jack and jackstands to get the drain plug to flow into the oil pan.... but the new car has lots of clearance and no jack w/ jack stands are needed

 Size of the new Purolator oil filter relative to a normal 12 oz Coke can. It's a big one! This filter must hold at least half a quart of oil, (this is the PL30001 for big block Mopars)

and there you can see the oil filter mount on the engine block, and it's leaking into a big trans pan under the car... because I need that big catch pan to stop the old car from marking it's territory with horsepower sweat

 

I bought a Purolator after learning that they are said to be the inventors of the oil filter, and Wikipedia backs that up... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_filters   in 1923 two inventors named their oil filtering device the Purolator. How about that!

 

Ford and Chrysler have given the Purolator awards for quality, and it's an ISO 14001 certified company:  http://www.pureoil.com/displaytab.aspx?tid=5 

 

So, what's in an oil filter that makes some cost 15 dollars, and others 4 dollars? http://www.waynesgarage.com/docs/oil_filters.htm points out the two valves, by-pass, and anit-drain back, plus the filter material are big factors



Hot Rod Magazine just did a great comparison of ratchet wrenches, online, and in the newest issue

http://www.hotrod.com/feature_stories/1310_ratchet_handles_torture_test/ for the results... the last one on the left is a Proto, which started out as the company Plumb. No Snap On, SK, or Blackhawk, just some ordinary swap meet wrenches, except for that Proto

"Shop around" so said the Capt and Tenille, and they were right... tire comparison 2013, this time Tire Depot on Adams Ave beats all the rest

With a classic Coke bottle vending machine and a 60's juke box in the customer service area, you gotta love a place like this. They even have a koi pond!

The tires on the Veloster were good for 40 thousand miles, now they're near bald

215/45r17 Nexen Cp671came from Hyundai on it, and stangely, can still be bought from places but not at the Hyundai dealership

So, the prices and tires from the places in order of  best price to worst, with out the door prices, and extras that impressed me

Tire Depot http://www.tiredepotinc.com/  and I doubt any company can beat the reviews on Yelp http://www.yelp.com/biz/tire-depot-san-diego-2

376 out the door

SD tire and wheel
430 out the door

Kearny Mesa Hyundai
same brand etc, but part number CP672
520 out the door

Discount Tire
normally my go to for buying but the prices were way too high this time
440 plus extra costs for install and road hazard which is something I value from them, but can't afford this time. 610 out the door with the road hazard

Evans Tire
420 out the door with some nonsense about buy 2 get 2 free

EXP Tires
buy 4 Cooper tires, and get 4 MLB tickets to the Padres
I don't need to waste that much time talking to people at a ball game. They bore me as I wait for the next ball to be thrown and only to see a strike. Yippee. Hooray. 15 bucks a beer.
550 for Cooper Zeon RS3a

Walmart
Very cool, the nice guy behind the counter insisted on looking at the tire and verifying he would be getting the right tire for me. Wow. I am impressed with that from the place I expected to be the worst
575 Eagle Authority tires

Costco
They impressed me by looking up the car to see what it should get. Yes, they were the only ones!
They only had Bridgestone Euopa. Fine tire, but 300 more than Tire Depot. 65k mileage warranty
671 out the door

Mach 1 and Boss 302 comparison

the grill, tail panel, and rocker panel trim, and shaker hood versus hood scoop are about the only differences.  Oh, and the angle on the rear wing... what the hell is the Mach 1 doing? I choose the Boss 302 as the better looking

racing track oval comparison from http://megadeluxe.com/

the compared speeds of GT racing series vs F1 on the same track, side by side... I'll take showcase number 2 Bob

thanks to Christine ! 

Edsels, a couple of the models were at the Knotts Berry Farm annual Ford show, here to compare the tailights at the Pacer, Corsair, and Villager

 

Comparison of Cougar grills and tail panels

also besides the grill, it's the center section on these two for the most part, though the head light covers are slightly different, they are very similar I noticed that the right hand side of the photos has Cougar or Mercury, and the left hand side has a rectangular badge with a cougar in the green cars headlight cover