Best Ride 2008
DEADLINE IS IN 8 days! To all the presidents of the car clubs, you can forward this email/newsletter to your members for a chance to win $500 for the 2008 Best Ride Contest by clicking the link at the bottom of this newsletter.
Time is ticking! The 2008 Best Ride Contest was supposed to end in December, but because we were busy updating the site, the holidays getting in the way and the marketing push in January, we are extending the deadline to February 28th. We will then vote for the Best Ride in March and award the new winner in April.
To all the applicants that did not win in 2007, you MUST resubmit your ride to be eligible to win in 2008. However, what did we learn about the 2007 contest? The story is a major part of your ride. Just ask Chris Bednar, the 2007 winner.
So, get those submissions in ASAP. You must create an account or log on, then select the ‘Best Ride Contest’ link on the right side of the page (under the main header of Contests) and fill out the form. Remember you must own the car and submit the VIN so we don’t have any duplicate submissions. Times a tickin’….
Hybrid Muscle
I was sitting at my desk watching all the news about the economy and the future of our great country and was trying to come up with a good topic to write about for this week, and then it hit me...hybrid muscle.
Please understand that I am not referring to the new Mustang and Challenger being a hybrid, rather a cost effective way to convert our muscle cars to hybrid engines. First, I have to acknowledge that a member of the community wrote to me about this very issue a while back and I don't want to take anything away from him...so...you’re acknowledged.
On with the idea. What if there was a way to remove the engine, remove the tranny, remove the rear-end and install a bolt on hybrid? Would you do it? I did a little bit of research online and found out that the cost of the conversion well exceeds the value of the added MPGs. But let's break it down.
What are the two largest reasons to own a hybrid? Answer, added MPGs and concern about polluting the environment. So, let’s look at the first part of our answer, added gas mileage. Part of my research found that hybrids only add about 40% more gas mileage, which means if we were averaging 12 mpg then we can get close to 17 mpg. Is that worth it? A typical tank holds 20 gallons and at 12 mpg that’s 240 miles on one tank versus 17 mpg at 340 miles on one tank. Now, if we use our cars as daily drivers (that’s another one of my goals) and we fill up on average 3 times a month or 36 times a year, that’s a difference of 3600 miles. 3600 divided by the original 12 mpg equals 300 and at $2 a gallon, we save about $600 a year.
The second part of the answer is that we care about our environment. Here is my two cents. I live in the “Valley of the Sun”…the valley…a valley…which means there are mountains pretty much surrounding the city and when it hasn’t rained for a while you can actually see the pollution in the air. It doesn’t help that we don’t have a good transit system (yet) and everybody drives everywhere…once I drove to get my mail at the end of the block, pathetic I know. So, my point is, I would love to see my town clean, and everyday I wake up and drive to work, I don’t see that ominous cloud hovering over the city. For health reasons, earth reasons, hacking up a lung reasons, our kids future reasons I think we should all buy in that we should be cleaner. Now the question is, at what cost?
When my wife and I first got married we found ourselves always picking one thing over another. For example, one night friends of ours were having a little get together and the new Austin Powers movie came out. Obviously I wanted to see the movie (it was GoldMember) and she wanted to go to the party. It was then we came up with the “Do both” challenge. Why settle on picking the party over the movie? Why not go to an earlier show and then hit the party afterwards? Thus, the “Do Both” mantra began. In other words, we worked harder to do all that we want to do. With that, I am going to take an active role in making our great machines more green…and I’m going to “Do Both” and work it out how to do it for cheap. Imagine, great styling, great power, with great economy. Whether it means hybrids, alternative fuel, or fewer emissions, we can get it done. Needless to say, we don’t convert the rare hemi cars, or LS6s or Shelby’s, just the plain Jane ones.
More to come about hybrids!
Let’s recap, I want to provide a kick butt website for you all, have a half hour restoration show, convert all our cars green, and have a baby….next week I will talk about the great science of cloning!
