Curbside Classic Archives
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Auto-Biography Archive
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xB EXBRO5 Preparation Update: How Steep Can It Climb? (With Video); How Much Gas Does The Roof Rack Suck? – And a Few Remote Waterfalls For Good Measure
Posted on May 28, 2021 | 20 CommentsI’ve been taking the xB EXBRO5 Edition on a number of local back road shakedown outings to get a sense of how the changes I’ve made are working in the […] -
Auto-Biography: The Cars of My Mother
Posted on May 9, 2021 | 76 CommentsIt’s Mother’s Day, and since I lost my mom this past year (not to Covid) I thought I’d pay her a little automotive tribute. -
Auto-Biography: The xB EXBRO Overland Edition Is Finished and Ready For Off-Road Adventure
Posted on May 6, 2021 | 42 CommentsSome of you apparently thought it was an April Fool’s joke when I announced 0n April 1st that I was turning my xB into an off-roader. Well, here it is, […] -
Shedside Massacre: Exterminating The Rats Under My Shed With Carbon Monoxide From My Lawnmower
Posted on April 22, 2021 | 40 CommentsThere is a serious rat infestation in our neighborhood. It started years ago thanks to all the diligent backyard gardeners, open compost piles and chickens. I’ve had them in our […] -
Curbside Outtake/Auto-Biography/QOTD: 1971 Ford F250 Pickup – Exactly Like The First Pickup I Ever Drove – What Was the First Truck You Ever Drove?
Posted on April 12, 2021 | 57 CommentsWhen I encountered this almost pristine ’71 F250 on a walk, I was instantly taken back to Towson in the fall of 1970 when I drove one identical to this, […] -
Who Needs 4WD? Update #1: Toyota RAV4 (Gen1) “TRD” – What I Should Have Gotten For My Off-Road Trip, But I’ve Already Started On the xB
Posted on April 11, 2021 | 26 CommentsIf I was smart and practical, I’d have looked for a cheap old RAV4 like this for my upcoming off-road adventure in Nevada in June. This one is all set […] -
Auto-Biography, Part 8: Childhood’s End
Posted on April 10, 2021 | 22 Comments“Death Defying Combat” which shows the 1905 Premier racing against the Winton (first posted in 2007) After five years living in the quiet, sheltered and nurturing environment of Iowa City, […] -
Auto-Biography: Loyalties Tested
Posted on April 3, 2021 | 53 Comments(first posted in 2007) As an immigrant back in the days of the “melting pot,” I was as eager to assimilate as a wide-eyed frat pledge amongst his potential brothers. […] -
Auto-Biography: The xBox Gets An Off-Roading Make-Over – Prepping It For The Nevada Backcountry Discovery Route – Who Needs 4WD Anyway?
Posted on April 1, 2021 | 54 Comments(note: this is not an April Fool’s post like the Voltswagen) This is almost exactly how my xB will look soon. Son Ted and his GF have been doing […] -
Auto-Biography: Tractor Driving Maniac
Posted on March 27, 2021 | 77 CommentsI took this picture of my future replacement “practicing” on the Farmall H; the Ford 8N is in the distance, and the soon to be doomed Studebaker pickup as well […] -
Auto-Biography: Autology – Advanced Studies In Automotive Obsession
Posted on March 20, 2021 | 55 Comments(first published in 2007) The University of Iowa’s reputation for intellectual excellence lured my family away from Innsbruck (it sure as hell wasn’t the skiing). Despite the fact that my […] -
Auto-Biography: The Facts Of Life Revealed
Posted on March 13, 2021 | 38 Comments(first published in 2007) As a boy in the pre-internet early sixties, I became obsessed with unveiling the secrets of that inexplicably alluring object of male interest. I had a […] -
Auto-Biography: 1962 Ford Fairlane – Sometimes It Is About The Destination
Posted on March 6, 2021 | 72 Comments(first posted in 2011) “It’s about the journey, not the destination”. Tell that to a family of six—one of them seven months pregnant—on the third day jammed into in a […] -
Auto-Biography: Getting Religion
Posted on February 27, 2021 | 70 CommentsLew Williams Chevrolet, Eugene, OR 1960 (first published in 2007) Three days after our psychedelic nocturnal arrival in America, my family arrived at our final destination: Iowa City. The transition […] -
Auto-Biography: High Speed Assimilation
Posted on February 20, 2021 | 19 Comments(First published in 2007)[The previous chapter] My first glimpse of America: looking down on a freeway at night, with glow-worm toy cars. It was just like the picture of GM’s […]