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Automobile Club of Southern California
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WESTWAYS MAGAZINE
- Table of
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Crazy for Catalogs
Most of us have drooled over glossy new-car brochures, but for some that passing fancy has become a lifelong fascination. Sharon and Rob McLellan, who run McLellan's Automotive History, a company dedicated to people who collect and preserve automotive literature, estimate that there are at least 100,000 automotive-literature collectors in the United States. "Some customers are looking for a brochure about a car that they own or remember fondly," Sharon says, "while others want absolutely everything they can find about cars from a specific year or manufacturer." For a more in-depth look at the hobby, log on to the company's website at www.automotivechronicles.com.
— Alan Rider
Please, Mr. Postman
Car lovers can rev up their correspondence with a new line of automotive stamps, America on the Move 50s: Sporty Cars, put out by the U.S. Postal Service. The collection features five of the earliest sporty cars from American manufacturers: the 1953 Chevrolet Corvette, 1955 Ford Thunderbird, 1952 Nash Healey, 1953 Studebaker Starliner, and 1954 Kaiser Darrin. Look for them this fall at your local post office or check them out online at www.usps.com/shop. Upon the stamps' release, you also can order custom-framed prints of the original stamp art at www.postalartgallery.com.
— A.R.
Tim Barker
Know Your Wheels: Piston
In internal combustion engines, a piston is fitted to each of the engine's cylinders and attached to the crankshaft by a connecting rod. Each piston moves up and down in its cylinder, transmitting the force of the combustion-chamber explosion to the crankshaft through the connecting rod. Pistons are fitted with rings to seal each piston in its cylinder.
Definitions are adapted from the Road & Track Illustrated Automotive Dictionary, by John Dinkel (Bentley Publishers, 2000, $19.95; 800-423-4595; www.bentleypublishers.com).
Biodiesel's Benefits
What smells like french fries and helps reduce air pollution? It's biodiesel, an environmentally friendly fuel produced from renewable resources such as soybeans or from recycled oils from deep-fat fryers. Mixed with conventional diesel fuel in ratios ranging from 2 to 20 percent, it can be used in virtually any diesel engine. Some of its advantages include:
- A significant reduction in harmful smog-forming emissions.
- Reduced engine wear, even when used in small amounts.
- Solvent properties that actually clean fuel-system components.
To learn more or to find a local distributor, log on to the National Biodiesel Board's website at www.biodiesel.org.
— A.R.
Temperatures in a parked vehicle can rise to 120 degrees in just 30 minutes on an 80-degree day. Sunshades can help keep car interiors cool.
— Tara Baukus Mello
Protect Your Paint Job
Bird droppings, tree sap, sprinkler spray, and other hazards of everyday life can do real damage to your vehicle's paint. Since you can't run to the car wash every time you get nailed, what can you do? Whip out a bottle of Meguiar's NXT Generation Speed Detailer ($6.99), spray the offending spot, and wipe it clean. Speed Detailer is designed to remove contaminants quickly and easily, before your paint gets permanently etched. For more information, see www.meguiars.com.
— Sue Elliott-Sink
Right Side Up
An important determinant of vehicle safety is rollover rating — the likelihood a vehicle will roll over during a single-vehicle crash. For model years 2004 and newer, the accuracy of rollover ratings has been improved. Ratings now combine a static measure of a vehicle's top-heaviness with results from a dynamic test simulating a high-speed emergency lane change. The lowest-rated vehicles (one star) are about four times more likely to roll over than the highest-rated vehicles (five stars). To find out more about auto safety, pick up the AAA/NHTSA brochure "Buying a Safer Car," free at local Auto Club offices, or log on to www.safercar.gov.
— T.B.M.
You are reading the July/August 2005 issue of Westways. Some information contained in this publication is time-sensitive, and the terms of some offers (cruise or vacation packages, for example) or services (provisions for roadside assistance, for example) might have been superseded by subsequent information and might no longer apply.