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I recently got the full engineering lecture on the new GMC Terrain from Vehicle Chief Engineer for Global Compact SUVs at General Motors, Mark Cieslak, and you tech nerds will love what I found out.  And yes, because the front seat now folds down flat like all the back seats, you can slide a 10’ 2×4 all the way in and close the hatchback!  Home Depot, here I come. When designing any car or truck, especially a mid-sized crossover utility vehicle, you can either start by designing a frame that anticipates all the future requirements, or you can take an existing theme and “throw mass at it.”  For instance, if, using a frame that later turns out to be say, too flexible for the power plan you’ve decided to use, you simply beef up the frame with more metal – more mass.  And then you have a heavier, less efficient vehicle. “Decades ago, US car makers were basically designing refrigerators on wheels!  The consumer was demonstrating very little if any thought to styling,” said Cieslak.  “That all changed and for the last three years, we’ve been developing a winning strategy that combines styling with precise engineering.”  So with the Terrain, […]

Okay, I know this headline reads like a vulgar come-on, but who could resist?  The picture below gotta make you go, “Aww.” The New York International Automobile Show There is no end of ingenuity in marketing, especially at the last (and best) car show of the season – at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center in midtown Manhattan (well vertically midtown at least!).  Tica and I had a thoroughly intoxicating time attending the press events and each had a special thrill that the general public will note and enjoy when the show opens this weekend, Saturday April 15 at 10:00 AM. Nissan:  Featured Model: Rogue Crossover Two dog trainers, one with rad color tattoos (yay!), demonstrated the new Crossover dog friendly features which include a removable divider to keep dogs on the passenger side, leash anchors, special heating vents, a doggie bed, pass-through between hatch area and rear seats, quilted padding, a food and water set that folds out, doo-doo bag dispenser, canine first aid kit, heated water supply for washing dirty dogs before getting in the car, a fur-drier hose, and a ramp that extracts from under the cargo floor to make entry and egress easy. How many dogs of […]

Okay, this article is going to sound lame at first, but hear me out. Imagine that you had an inside track on a simple, weird technique that could work like a top-notch fishing lure, or a radar homing beacon, or like the smell of coffee and bacon in the morning when it comes to getting a woman to notice you – and not only just notice you, but not consciously realizing why she is noticing you.  On top of that, if you perfect this technique, you will magically increase your charisma and persuasiveness the moment you walk into a room. The secret is subliminal and it revolves around the colors of your clothing.  No shit. So powerful is this secret that the most successful companies in the world – not just clothing manufacturers – but those who make furniture, paint, cars, even top restaurants (!) pay strict attention to the colors they use in their products and the places in which present them.  They actually color their products to make them more desirable.  And so powerful is this secret that every year – every year – the specific “magic” colors change and all the great companies in the world jump […]

Many boomer-age Americans believe that the time is ripe for automobile insurance “reform.”  Current liability and collision coverage policies are built around the most costly, inefficient model – that is, multiple commercial insurances that drive wasteful complexity and high administrative costs. Commercial multi-payer auto insurances rely on public subsidies to preserve private insurance profits. The private auto insurance and automobile manufacturers together siphon off tens of millions of public dollars annually, to boost their profits. Commercial auto insurers further protect their bottom line by increasing premiums and deductibles, while limiting benefits and shrinking provider networks – thus shifting costs and risks to the insured. Auto insurance middlemen practicing “Denial Management” deny and delay claims in order to cut costs and increase their profits, while greatly adding to billing costs for providers, who often are required to submit a single claim multiple times. The uncertainty leaves too many Americans one accident or moving violation away from financial disaster. Public Single-Payer Insurance: A Boost for the Entire Economy Dozens of studies over the past 30 years have demonstrated that a single national automobile insurance – provides the most sustainable, comprehensive, universal auto coverage. By covering everyone in one large risk pool, single-payer insurance […]

If you like going fast but are tired of getting speeding tickets and risking a serious accident, there is a way that is legal, relatively safe and lots of fun. If you own a fast exotic car, like a Corvette, Ferrari or Lamborgini, you probably already know that you can take your car to a track, have it checked out for safety, and participate in all kinds of events that will get you regularly topping 110 MPH on the straightaways. But what if you’re not sure that the $100,000 to $400,000, burning a hole in your pocket is destined for a fast car instead of a boat or plane or month on Petit St.Vincent? What if you  just want a taste of the fast life and maybe even bring a date along who’s never driven fast before?  Can do? Can do! What you want is a Lead-and-Follow (L&F) driving experience. L& F’s are held at pretty much any racetrack at various times, hosted either by the track itself, a concession associated with and at the track, or a club that rents the track.  Your cost includes the track and all of the people required to operate the track safely; a […]

I was in the hospital recently for an ambulatory abdominal surgery that lasted 3 hours.  In the recovery room, I was feeling no pain and after the wooziness wore off, I showed that I could drink a cup of coffee and eat a tuna salad sandwich, which in my locality is the ticket to walk. But before I could get out of bed, the nurse handed me a pill and a cup of water. “What’s this?” I asked. “Something for the pain.” “I don’t feel any pain.” “You probably will after the full effects of the anesthesia wear off.”  She said, pushing the cup of water and the pill back toward me. Then she said, “We believe that you should take your pain medication before you feel any pain.” “Why?”  I asked. “Because once the pain starts, if you take the pill, it might be twenty or thirty minutes before you get any relief. You’ll be chasing the pain.” I pretended to take her logic and to get out of the hospital I took the pill too, but what she said got me thinking. A few years ago, I had a total knee replacement, and before I was sent to […]

Liquidate a Hoarder House To date, I have liquidated the contents of four entire “hoarder” houses and dozens of apartments (deadbeat tenants often walk out leaving a lot if not everything behind!).  One house was so packed, I had to work from within two garbage cans to make enough room just to get in the front door! The biggest problem with liquidating the contents of any living space is separating trash from treasure in a reasonable amount of time.   The #hoarder house above took THREE MONTHS full time and 100 yards of dumpsters.  I made about $15,000 running weekend tag sales myself. I am sure a lot of valuable books, records, and who-knows-what-else went out into the dumpsters because I needed to empty the place and renovate it to sell.  And the Big Crash was just about to happen, so time, as it turned out, became very, very important. So…first step: Take a laptop into the space, log onto eBay, and search the “Sold” value of anything you think might be valuable.  Simply name the article (including the brand name helps) and in the left column, where #eBay lets you choose price ranges and locations, click the “Sold” choice. […]

Here is a paradox that is unique to Boomers:  As Google, Facebook, Amazon and other appworlds attempt to extract our “precious bodily fluids” to create a new world order based on the human race as inventory, we humble stone age nomads are stuck between two types of primitive data tools: Those we can hold up to our ears and eyes, and those we can type on. As a press reviewer, I get to play with any of these tools at no cost and consequently can not only refer my readers to the best of both, but I can also set aside cost as a limitation when defining “best.”  You may certainly not want to spend $3,200 on a laptop, but if you were shopping for a $300 laptop, you’d want to know what you were not getting that the $3,200 laptop had, right? Well, I’m writing this on what was once the top-of-the-line laptop, which I bought when I needed to go on the road and write, design 3-D animation, edit video, follow 4,000 business contacts, and do my bookkeeping – all at the same time.  That for me was worth $1,800 and I bought the  #Hewlett Packard HP 8560W mobile workstation.  […]

With the warm weather finally here, it’s time to take to the trails. So grab your pack, your walking stick(s), water bottles, snacks, hiking buddies, and go get some quality time with Momma Nature! In my younger days, I was a bit of a hardcore hiker, putting in serious mountain miles in upstate NY, Vermont, even (as a Boy Scout) at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.  That lapsed some during child-rearing years, and the lack of exercise began to show in my girth and fitness level.  So last year, my wife and I decided to start regular weekend hikes (sometimes weekdays too!).  We found some great trails in our region, the Lower Hudson Valley, and we quickly racked up a lot of miles.   Some favorite hikes we did last year: Bear Mountain State Park (Major Welch Trail to Perkins Drive) Anthony’s Nose (Peekskill, NY) Fishkill Ridge Ward Pound Ridge Reservation – particularly the Leatherman’s Cave Trail Of course, I was amazed at how the equipment available for modern hikers differs from what I had been used to years ago.  From shoes/boots to backpacks and daypacks to walking sticks to GPS devices…it seemed someone out there was constantly trying to seduce […]

Track Review: Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Named after the iconic WWII Grumman F6F fighter plane, the Dodge version drove up before me in the parking lot of the Monticello Motor Club producing as much anticipation as I might imagine getting if the real “ace-maker” fighter had appeared.  Although I’ve not yet flown a 2,000 hp F6F, I was about to drive the Dodge Hellcat at speed and the tingle of anticipation at stomping on the 707 hp supercharged hemi V-8 was no less overwhelming. The Dodge professional driving coach that escorts press reviewers such as I, nodded with approval as he opened the driver’s doors and pointed out the features.  This model was a fly-yellow, eight-speed automatic (front engine, rear drive) growler, with flared fenders, wide wheels and tires.  An incongruously comfortable interior that combined Dodge nostalgia with post-millennial technology allowed me to concentrate on the driving which was challenging enough.   The primary word of caution was not to stomp.  Aw.  Stomping, I was told, would certainly produce a dense cloud of white smoke and lots of noise, but the car would tend to madly fishtail in a way that only an experienced driver with lots of hours behind […]

  Two of your Boomerguys Editors, Will and George Avgerakis, are members of the International Motorsports Press Association or IMPA.  IMPA sponsors various events throughout the years where representatives of automotive products (like cars), demonstrate their goods and, well, we gen a chance to drive some. Now, the experience of getting behind the wheel of 20-30 cars in one day is pretty exhausting and a hell of a lot of fun too.  Therefore, we try, in the middle of all the fun, to do something that will benefit our Boomerguys viewers, especially with a consideration to the desires, dreams and well, limitations of being a bit older and more experienced than the average US citizen (or resident). Therefore, rather than spend a heck of a lot of our dwindling time on earth researching, writing and videotaping our impressions of these cars, we, instead figured out that the Mini Cockpit Review is the best way of making everyone – us and you – happy and somewhat better informed than if you just walked into dealerships and tried to get test drives in 20-30 cars! So here is the first, the Chevrolet Camaro Hot Wheels® Special Edition – right from the driver’s […]

Those of us who admire our oldest and bravest citizens – those who fought for liberty over the Nazi Fascism of World War II – are fewer than ever before and this will certainly be the last of the major anniversaries where some are still alive to tell the tales. All the more reason that every American owes it to these heros and to themselves to take at least a day to dedicate to a celebration of their sacrifices.  What better way, then, than to attend a 75th Anniversary event, such as the one staged at the Waterford-Oxcord Airport in Connecticut on Saturday, May 18, 2019. Several WWII airbirds were on display as well as landing and taking off amidst their most impressive sounds and smells!  Restored Army and Army Air Force equipment, from an armored Jeep that saw service on D-Day, to the touching Chaplain’s field kit were on display. This is a great way for anyone of any age, especially a Boomer – even more especially for a Boomer to take a s on or daughter or grandchildren.  Such an event is never boring (or as they say, “booooohhhhhring!”) and often the progenitor of cross-generation conversations, story telling […]