

Karting Revisited
One beautiful fall morning a few years ago I was driving out to my parent’s house for brunch with my brothers. As the leaves were turning, I decided that my normal route through the city would not do, and instead opted for the scenic route, taking me north of the city, through the hills, valleys and forests that make up northern Kalamazoo County. Shortly after passing through the tiny village of Alamo, I drove past a home having a yard sale. The yard was filled with hundreds


Sacrificial Lambs
I suppose it was inevitable. One morning a few weeks ago I was headed north to Gaylord, MI to inspect a ’66 GTO for a client, and I stopped for a little gas on the way out of town. While fueling up, it occurred to me that it had been some time since I last checked the oil in my old Ford. With a long road trip ahead of me, I decided it was a good time to check. Oil level was fine, but my hood, which was latching securely before, would no longer latch. For most of us, there com

Through the Lens- A look at the work of Jam Handy
It’s possible that some of you may have never heard of Jam Handy, but you’re likely familiar with some of his work. Few people deserve more credit for documenting the culture of American automobile manufacturing from the mid- 1930’s through the late 1950’s, but there is so much more to the man behind the camera. Born as Henry Jamison Handy in Philadelphia in 1886, Handy grew up in Chicago, the son of a newspaper editor. Handy attributed his early interest in engineering to hi


Resto-Mods: Coming of Age?
I had a long conversation with a classic car dealer recently about his inventory and customer demand. This dealer works almost exclusively in muscle cars, with occasional classics form the 50’s on his floor once in a while. We were talking about what moves and what sits in his inventory when he made an observation; resto-mods have been hot. If I’m writing about it, it’s probably not a new trend, but that dealer has a point. The classic car market is changing and car enthusias