With less than six months before the start of the London Olympic Games, the British are preparing by competing in several non-Olympic sports. According to VisitEngland, the country’s national tourism group, those sports include shin-kicking, toe wrestling, black pudding throwing, coal carrying, cheese rolling, and conker knockout.
 
What’s conker knockout? Why, it’s a contest in which you tie a horse chestnut to the end of a piece of string and then swing your cocker around at a high rate of speed in an attempt to break an opponent’s nut, by which we assume they mean nut as in horse chestnut, not nut as in noggin.
 
Last weekend, Grand-Am Road Racing celebrated the 50th anniversary of sports car endurance racing at Daytona International Speedway. Just before the start of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, Grand-Am announced a new racing series, well, actually it’s a succession of races with no series championship. It’s for entry-level club racers -- in fact, no one currently holds a professional racing license can drive in lightly modified cars such as the Mazda2, Honda Fit, Ford Fiesta, Kia Rio (see photo), Mini and more.
 
Called B-Spec, the idea is that you can buy a car, install needed safety equipment, a suspension/wheel/tire kit and go racing after spending less than $30,000.
 
Races this year are scheduled at Homestead-Miami, New Jersey Motorsports Park, Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca and Lime Rock.
 
Boise State isn’t just a football factory. The school’s Greenspeed student club already has built the “world’s fastest vehicle that runs on vegetable oil” and now plans to take on the 215-mph record for petroleum-fueled trucks in the Diesel division.
 
In November, the team’s vegetable oil-fueled 1998 Chevrolet S-10 pickup reached 155 mph on the El Mirage dry lakebed in Southern California. This August, the team hopes to top 215 on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
 
Maserati also seeks a speed record, though there’s nothing dry about its course. In this case, Maserati isn’t a car but a yacht, a VOR (Volvo Ocean Race) 70 monohull, which in February will seek to set a record sailing from Cadiz, Spain, to San Salvador, The Bahamas.
 
Skipper Giovanni Soldini and a crew of seven will travel the 3,884-mile distance monitored by the World Sailing Speed Record Council, an organization which tracks modern speed runs on historical routes once sailed by clipper ships.
 
Believe it or not, there is a legal office in Sacramento, California, that specializes in livestock-vehicle collisions.
 
“Ranching and livestock breeding is still an active industry in California, but increasing urbanization creates an environment where the blending of land uses can result in serious accidents.  Cattle and horses are heavy animals, and a collision with them can result in serious injuries and even death of a vehicle's occupants,” says the press release announcing the new specialty.
 
“Livestock owners have a duty to properly control their animals so they do not wander onto highways... It is critical that an attorney handling these cases has investigators, fencing experts and animal behavior specialists at his disposal so that the evidence of negligence can be quickly and effectively established.”
 
Speaking of livestock and farming: A new company, Combine Motor Works, Inc., plans to launch the Combine 4.0 automobile.
 
CMW expects to capitalize on the fact that “Sports Combines are very well known today; the word Combine is synonymous with words like Athletics, Speed, Performance and Agility, just to name a few. A Sports Combine is one of the most exciting events today connected with sports. There are now Combines in all sports, the main and most recognized Combine today is the annual NFL Combine, which has a direct link to the NFL Draft. Whether it's a youth Combine, High School, College or Professional Combine, the main event is always the 40 yard dash. ‘The Combine 40’ is a very familiar term and will give instant name recognition to the Combine 4.0 automobile.”
 
Perhaps, but my first thought at reading the press release was “Why are they naming a car after a farm implement?”
 
-- Larry Edsall

If you’re invited to one of the Buick Discovery Tour stops, be sure to attend, even if you don’t think you’re interested in buying a new Buick.
 
I’m not in the market for a new vehicle, but a friend is, so when I received an email inviting me to the Buick Discovery Tour, and inviting me to bring a friend, I asked if she wanted to go and she said sure. She’d done a test drive of the Buick LaCrosse at a local dealership, but liked the idea of driving one without sales pressure, and there is none at the Discovery Tour events, which are held at nice resort setting, in our case the Montelucia resort and spa Camelback Mountain was just over our shoulders.
 
What there is, however, is an opportunity to drive all the new Buicks -- LaCrosse, Enclave, Regal and Verano -- and, because Buick works with Food & Wine magazine to put the Discovery Tour together -- an opportunity to sample some great food and to hear from some of the country’s leading chefs, in our case including Food Network star Ming Tsai.
 
I rode in the back seat -- a Buick product specialist sat shot gun answering any product questions -- as my friend drove not only the LaCrosse, but the Verano and a pair of Regals, one with eAssist and the other with a turbocharged engine.
 
She discovered her shopping list had expanded. I discovered that these aren’t my parents’ Buicks. They had a Park Avenue that sort of wallowed along the highway. These new Buicks are even more luxurious, but also nimble and, with the turbocharger, even quick. And fuel efficient; the eAssisted Regal is rated at 25 miles per gallon in the city and at 36 on the highway, and you can get the same engine -- and the same mpg ratings - in the much-larger LaCrosse.
 
We came for the cars, but we stayed for the food -- and were glad we did.
 
Alessandro Stratta, formerly head chef at the Wyn in Las Vegas, showed us how to prepare (and then we each got to sample) his Porcini and Parmigiano Risotto with wild mushrooms. He also shared a secret -- that some of the best mushrooms in the United States come from the north rim of the Grand Canyon (though come to think of it, he didn’t share the precise location).
 
Ben Roche of Chicago’s Moto restaurant not only shared his S’mores Bombs -- think s’more in a frozen, bite-sized ball with a flaming fuse -- but showed us how to use liquid nitrogen (see photo) to make ice cream. For us, he prepared walnut and blue cheese ice cream, which may not sound as such but it’s an amazing taste treat.
 
Michael Green, who has done everything from corporate team building to creating the world’s first interactive wine-tasting musical, taught us an amazing amount about wine in an amazingly short time as we sampled a 2009 M. Chapoutier Cote-du-Rhone Belleruche Rouge and a 2010 Rodney Strong Charlotte’s Home Sauvignon Blanc.
 
And then its was “Simply Ming,” first preparing -- and sharing -- Chicken and Tri-Bell Pepper Chow Mein, and then showing us how to make Sweet and Sour Mango Pork.
 
We all drove home with our minds and our taste buds well entertained, with recipe cards for all we’d seen and eaten -- and even driven -- and with an autographed copy of Ming’s new One-Pot Meals cookbook.
 
And with a new appreciation for the work of the chefs (and did you know Ming has a degree in mechanical engineering from Yale?).
 
And a new appreciation for Buicks, which, Ming noted, are the favorite car in his ancestral homeland -- China. We suspect their favor is increasing here as well, especially among those who have discovered the Buick Discovery Tour.
 
-- Larry Edsall

The annual panel discussion at the Russo and Steele classic car auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, is both entertaining and informative.

Consider the following, shared this morning by panelist Randy Fox, founder of InKnowVision, which develops estate planning strategies for wealthy clients:

Fox said he asked a client what he wanted to have happen to his car collection after his death.

“My greatest fear,” the client responded, “is that my wife is going to sell my cars for what I told her I paid for them.”

In an arena filled by primarily male car collectors, the laughter was loud, but knowing and even pained. Like a former employer of mine -- who told his wife the hot rod he was building would cost $50,000 when he knew the actual cost would be three times that amount -- guys sometimes put two or three times the amount of money into a car purchase or restoration project than they’re willing -- or brave enough -- to admit to their wives.

At one point during the discussion, one of the panelists had a question for the crowd:

“How many of you have more than one classic car?”

At least half of the audience raised a hand.

“How many of you have more than five?” came the followup question.

Only a few hands lowered.

“How many of you want more garage space?”

Pretty much every hand in the place went up.

As much as car collectors cherish the cars, trucks and motorcycles in their garages, many know -- and the panel reminded them several times -- they’re merely custodians of vehicles that often have historic and always carry emotional significance to those who see them or even temporarily own them.

There was a lot of talk today about passing on that passion to the next generation, and that while classic cars tend to increase in value, they should be bought for the pleasure they bring, not for their potential as investments.

“Buy what you enjoy,” moderator, auto restorer and broadcaster Wayne Carini told the audience.

“Your passion will be contagious -- and that will help their value,” added Corky Coker, whose family-owned company produces specialty tires for classic cars.

Speaking of value, the panelists were asked what they see as affordable buys in the current classic car auction market that have growth potential a few years down the road. After a warning about buying in a bubble economy from publisher Robert Ross -- who cited not only the Ferrari bubble of the late 1980s but the Dutch tulip bulb market of 1630 -- their list included early Dodge Vipers and early Lamborghinis (Miuras, Jaramas, Espadas), original Volkswagen Beetles and first-year GTIs, 1950 pickup trucks and station wagons, the late-model air-cooled Porsches, BMW E30 M3s and 2002s, Datsun 510s, classic motorcycles, and vintage travel trailers to pull behind your vintage car or truck.

Asked what to sell right now, few panelists had an answer.

“Why sell anything?” was the response from classic car insurer McKeel Hagerty.

Perhaps Fox put it best: “Buy what you love,” he said. “Hold what you still love. Sell what you don’t love anymore.”

-- Larry Edsall

Each January, a couple thousand classic cars cross the auction block at a week-long succession of sales here in Arizona’s Valley of the Sun. Those vehicles, spanning more than a century in production dates and ranging from Detroit classics to exotic sports cars, sell for prices ranging from a few thousand dollars to multiple millions.
 
But before contributing to the commercial success of the classic car marketplace, a group of classic car enthusiasts gathers not to buy and sell but to celebrate heroes, those who drive racing cars and the cars they’ve driven, especially cars of a certain vintage.
 
And while money is involved, it goes to charity. This year, the charities were The Wellness Community, a cancer education and support facility in Phoenix, and the Chip Miller Charitable Foundation, which is dedicated to finding a cure for Amyloidosis.
 
You may never have heard of Amyloidosis. It’s a rare disease, but it claims 3000 lies each year, the result of proteins going haywire and attacking the body’s own organs.
 
In 2004, one of the lives Amyloidosis claimed was Chip Miller’s. But not before he had helped build Carlisle Events and the Carlisle (Pennsylvania) Fairgrounds complex into a gathering place for post-war car enthusiasts in the United States, and not before he had found and restored the Chevrolet Corvette that won its class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1960 and thus became the first American car to do so.
 
Miller’s life and his mission to find, restore and reunite that Corvette with its drivers and the French track on the 50th anniversary of their victory is the subject of Michael Brown’s documentary film, The Quest, which was shown Sunday for the first time in the western United States.
 
It was fitting that the movie made its western premiere here since it was at an Arizona auction -- Barrett-Jackson -- that Miller’s son, Lance, and film maker Michael Brown first met.
 
Lance Miller was at Barrett-Jackson as part of his Carlisle Events duties and Brown was there scouting up Corvette collectors to feature in what he hoped would become a cable television series. But that series was put on hold once Brown learned about Miller’s father’s quest to take the Corvette back to Le Mans, a quest finally fulfilled in 2010 when Lance Miller reunited the car, driver John Fitch and the Le Mans racing circuit at the front of a parade of Corvettes.
 
Actually, The Quest is about multiple quests. There was the original effort to race Corvettes at Le Mans. There was the effort to keep one of those cars running through rain and ruin and the French rulebook to just finish the race, let alone win its class. In the process, the fiberglass-bodied car went from being derided by French fans as what Fitch termed “American plastic pigs” to being cheered wildly by those same fanatic if fickle Frenchmen.
 
Then there was the quest to find those Le Mans Corvettes years after they’d been converted back from racing cars to road cars and been sold and resold to various owners in various places. But Miller and other Corvette enthusiasts and historians were persistent in their pursuit and have found and verified three of the four Corvettes that raced that year at Le Mans.
 
Which means, of course, that The Quest isn’t over. There’s still one car out there somewhere, waiting to be recovered.
 
THE HISTORIC RACING CAR REUNION AND MOVIE PREMIERE were held at the Arizona Biltmore as a “bridge” event between the former Wheels of Wellness racing car and driver show and whatever happens next year. Changes in management at The Wellness Center were about to force a hiatus -- or worse.
 
“We felt it was important to keep that momentum going,” said Lyn St. James, the former Indianapolis 500 racer who joined with two other former members of the Wheels organizing committee -- vintage Corvette racer Scott Dames and Vintage Motorsport magazine chairman and chief executive Michael Silverman -- and with Biltmore general manager and car enthusiast Andrew Stegen to produce the “bridge” event. Which they did in a mere two months.
 
In addition to the western states premiere of The Quest, the day featured a showcase for more than a dozen historic racing cars, including the Le Mans class-winning 1960 Corvette, a Formula One car driven by Mario Andretti, a “birdcage” Maserati, a C-type Jaguar, the Porsche 934 that finished seventh overall at Le Mans in 1977, and the reunion -- after 50 years -- of two original Cunningham team 1958 Lister-Jaguars -- as well as several leading sports car drivers of 195s and 1960s.
 
While the car count may have been down some from the Wheels events, the quality was undiminished and the momentum not only is going, but looks to be accelerating toward whatever happens next year.
































































































From the top: Movie poster and cars. The Le Mans class-winning Corvette. Racer Dick Gulstrand inspects a pair of reunted Lister-Jags. 1976 Lotus Type 77 driven by Mario Andretti. 1976 March 76B Formula Atlantic racer. 1976 Porshce 937 that finished seventh at Le Mans. 1960 Maserati Tipo 61 "Birdcage." 1964 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS.

-- Larry Edsall

Arizona Auction Week already is upon us. A turbocharged 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix was the first car to cross the block earlier today at MotoExotica’s second annual Phoenix Classic & Exotic Car Auction here in Phoenix. The sale is taking place not very far from downtown, at the Dealers Auto Auction of the Southwest facilities.
 
Another auction also opened today at the Scottsdale International Automobile Museum. Both auctions continue tomorrow, when the “West Coast” debut of the documentary movie The Quest will be part of a gathering of historic racing cars and racing car drivers over at the Arizona Biltmore.
 
Sunday also marks the opening of Barrett-Jackson’s 41st annual auction, at WestWorld in Scottsdale, where it will be Family Value Day -- no bidding takes place, but families can get discounted admission to view all the cars that start crossing the block Tuesday.
 
Barrett-Jackson should be particularly interesting this year. The long-time king of classic car auctions has been challenged in recent years by Russo and Steele and taken some heavy punches at the high end in the classic car spectrum by RM and Gooding. The last time bidding reached a million dollars on a car at Barrett-Jackson was in 2008. But that figures to change this year with the launch of The Salon Collection, 32 cars that should generate the sort of headlines the auction enjoyed in its glory days.
 
Those vehicles several from the prestigious Blackhawk Collection, including a 1933 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow, a 1930 Duesenberg Model J Murphy Town Car, a 1940 Isotta Fraschini cabriolet, a 1959 Delahaye 135 MS prototype, and a 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL “gullwing” coupe. And Ron Pratte, probably Barrett-Jackson’s top bidder in recent years, is contributing his 1947 Bentley Franay, a 1948 Tucker Torpedo and other vehicles. So are folks such as Mark Hymen, Gordon Apker and others.
 
Wednesday, our Phoenix Automotive Press Association tries to help auction-goers sort through the full-to-overflowing schedule with our annual Arizona Auction Week Preview, which for the first time will be open to the public (you can buy tickets, they’re only $20 each, at www.papa-eventbrite.com). Each of the auction houses has been invited to discuss its consignments, and we’ve assembled a panel of experts to give their perspectives. Those experts are Jim Pickering of Sports Car Market and American Car Collector magazines; Ken Gross, a Pebble Beach selector and judge and former Petersen Museum director; and McKeel Hagerty, chief executive of Hagerty Insurance and founder of the Historic Vehicle Association.
 
Part of each ticket sale will benefit the classic car restoration education program at McPherson College, and also brings a goody bag and a visit to a big dessert buffet table at the conclusion of the evening.
 
Cars cross the block at Russo and Steele from Thursday and through Sunday, but takes time Friday morning for its annual panel discussion on the state of the collector car hobby.
 
Thursday morning, the Collectors Foundation launches its first Bring Back Shop Class series featuring Corky Coker, president of Coker Tire, and Michael Schneider, president of McPherson, the only college in the country that awards a four-year degree in automotive restoration. Also Thursday are the Corvette Market Insider’s at Barrett-Jackson and three panels -- the World Shelby, Entry-Level Collector Cars, and Emerging Collectibles -- hosted by Hagerty at the Roger Penske’s Scottsdale dealership complex and motorsports museum.
 
Thursday also marks the launch of a new Arizona auction, a one-day sale by Bonhams, with a consignment list that includes a 1924 Isotta Franchini Tipo 8 Torpedo tourer, a Dietrich-bodied 1932 Packard Model 904 Victoria convertible, and a 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom I transformable convertible sedan formerly owned by movie star Marlene Dietrich. Bonhams also will sell automobilia collected by the late automotive journalist David E. Davis Jr., and Davis’s 9,000-mile 1951 Cadillac Series 62 coupe.
 
RM and Gooding and Company stage their top-of-the-market auctions Friday and Saturday with their usual array of dazzling consignments, more than a dozen of which should draw seven-figure bids.
 
Or, for those looking for classics at much more affordable -- four- and five-figure prices -- there’s Silver Auction’s annual sale at Fort McDowell.


































































From the top: First across the block at MotoExoticia is a 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix. A 1947 Lincoln Continental and 1954 Packard Cavalier await their turns. This 1958 Buick Caballero Estate Wagon proved its road-readiness by completing a recent 1000-mile roundtrip. A 1948 Buick convertible. A right-steered 1975 Datsun Fairlady 260Z. This fire truck saw duty at Bell Helicopter's heliport. A 1913 White roadster.
 
-- Larry Edsall

For car guys and gals in Arizona, the New Year begins January 1 -- well, I guess it actually begins on January 1 for everyone, everywhere, even if he or she isn’t a car guy or gal -- but for car guys and gals here in Arizona it begins with Bud and Stephanie’s annual New Year’s Day Drive. This year, the Drive included 22 cars -- Ferraris, Porsches, a vintage SL300 roadster and an XK-E coupe, even a Lamborghini -- and their custodians, who gathered at Bud and Stephanie’s house and then drove, as we say in these parts, “out Wickenburg way,” for lunch at the Rancho de los Caballeros, a dude ranch and resort.
 
This was the 11th year for the New Year’s Day Drive, and it’s a wonderful way to start not only the New Year but a month during which Arizona becomes the focus of the car world, classics division.
 
Yes, there’s a big international showcase for brand spanking new cars this coming week in Detroit, but automotive passions run strongest not when cars are factory fresh but when those cars reignite youthful memories or have historical significance well beyond next month’s 30-day sales figures.
 
January in Arizona is all about classic cars, whether they’re homebuilt rat rods or the carefully, painstakingly restored cars that sell for seven figures at the collector car auctions.
 
Today -- Saturday, January 7 -- we got to see both ends of that spectrum -- rat rods and million-dollar gems -- as we made our way to three classic car events.
 
The day started at the monthly -- first Saturday morning of each month -- Cars & Coffee gathering in the parking lot of the Gainey Village shopping plaza in Scottsdale, where you can see sights like we did -- an historic Jaguar XKSS parked between a mid-’50s Ford Thunderbird and a 1973 BMW 2002.
 
From Scottsdale, we headed down to Firebird International Raceway just south of Phoenix for the first 5 & Diner Rockabilly Bash Car & Bike Show, where street and rat rods, customs, gassers, leadsleds and motorcycles not only were there for show but for go. That’s go as in down the Firebird drag strip as fast as you can.
 
There also was a Miss 5 & Diner pageant -- think World War II-era pin-up pictures and post-war poodle skirts, but with plenty of tattoos showing -- and what was billed as Arizona’s largest sock hop with six bands taking shifts at providing live music throughout the day.
 
What a hoot!
 
Our classic car trifecta ended back in Scottsdale for the weekly car show at The Pavilions, where hundreds of classic cars (photo below) filled acres and acres of the shopping center’s parking lot, this week with prizes sponsored by the Russo and Steele classic car auction.
 
Now, hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s back to work the car guys (and gals) go,. But only for a few days. Preliminary auctions begin next Saturday and then, on Sunday the 15th, the “West Coast” premiere of the documentary movie The Quest will be held at the Arizona Biltmore in conjunction with a vintage racing car show and racing drivers reunion.
 
By Oscar-nominated producer Michael Brown, The Quest documents the effort to find and to restore the first Corvette to win its class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and to reunite the car and driver John Fitch at Le Mans on the 50th anniversary of their victory. That effort was begun by Chip Miller, of Carlisle (classic car) Events, and was completed by his son, Lance, after his father died from a rare and incurable form of cancer. Here's the movie trailer (you'll want to have Kleenix handy as you watch it): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTfr6jaP1zI. If you're going to in Phoenix next weekend, here's the link for tickets to the premiere: www.cmcf.eventbrite.com.
 
-- Larry Edsall

(Photo above: Tony Sousa of Bonehead Striping pinstripes James Hoselton's 1946 StudeFord pickup truck at the 5 & Diner Rockabilly Bash.)

I’m told that writers need to be readers. I am, though not at a rapid rate. Oh, I can whip through a newspaper or magazine in a matter of minutes, sort of like driving on a highway when there’s no traffic to slow you. But when it comes to books, I approach them like a road trip on two-lane byways or even an off-road adventure, something to be taken at a slower pace, with frequent stops to savor the sights.

Early each New Year, I take this space to share with you the list of books I’ve read during the previous 12 months. If you’re a regular reader of this website, you’ll recognize some of them from the reviews we’ve posted. But many are not auto related, and we’ll get to them soon. First, however, the automotive and motorsports titles (in the order in which I read them):

The Michelin Man: 100 Years of Bibendum
The Crew Chief’s Son: A Trackside Memoir of Early NASCAR
Real Racers: Formula 1 Racing in the 1950s and 1960s
The Corvette in Literature and Culture
Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City
Road Hogs: Detroit’s Big, Beautiful Luxury Performance Cars of the 1960s and 1970s
My First Car
Percival Lowell’s Big Red Car
The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways
They Started in MGs: Profiles of Sports Car Racers of the 1950s
The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit
Custom Built by McFarlan: A History of the Carriage and Automobile Manufacturer, 1856-1928
Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed
Fast Lines: Memorable Moments in Motorsports
Living on the Edge: A History of Auto Racing in Michigan

Also included in that list above would be the following titles, except that I’ve separated them out because they all deal with a similar topic:
Witch Hunt: Essays on the U.S. Auto Industry and the Blithering Idiots Who Almost Killed It
Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of American Business
Punching Out: One Year in a Closing Auto Plant
Sixty to Zero: An Inside Look at the Collapse of General Motors -- and the Detroit Auto Industry
Once Upon a Car: The Fall and Resurrection of America’s Big Three Automakers -- GM, Ford, and Chrysler

I bought and read the following based, as best as I can recall, on reviews in the Sunday edition of The New York Times, a newspaper that reads like one of those savored slowly weekend two-lane road trips:

Mentor, a memoir
The Imperfectionists
An Accidental Sportswriter
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Black Hills
Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout
House of Prayer No. 2: A Writer’s Journey Home

Mentor, Imperfectionists, Sportswriter and House of Prayer all about writing and writers (and if you’re a student in the copy editing class I start teaching this week at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism, you’ll be hearing more about The Imperfectionists).

I read Great Railroad Tunnels of North America and Lilies in Moonlight: A Novel because their publishers offered review copies and I found both -- one a history, one a novel with baseball as a backdrop -- to be well worth the time it took to read them.

I can say the same thing about The Invitation, which I read because it was written by my oldest daughter’s neighbors and their experience adopting two daughters, and about Starvation Lake, which I picked up because of a newfound interest fiction set in northern Michigan, which is why Shadow of the Wolf Tree is in the waiting-to-be-read section of the bookshelf next to my desk.

Hmmm: Which book to open first in 2012: Shadow of the Wolf Tree or The Disappearing Spoon?

-- Larry Edsall

As each Old Year ends and each New Year begins, I use this space to rank order the vehicles I’ve tested in the previous 12 months. Usually, it’s a very long list. However, because of an unusual travel schedule in 2011, this year the list is relatively short. Here are my overall rankings based on what I most enjoyed driving in the past year:

1. Cadillac CTS-V station wagon
2. Porsche Cayman R
3. Mopar 11 Charger
4. Chevrolet Camaro SS convertible
5. Fiat 500
6. Chrysler 300 SRT8
7. Porsche Panamera 4
8. Mercedes-Benz SLK350
9. Audi A6 3.0 quattro
10. Nissan Xterra Pro-4
11. Kia  Optima EX
12. Honda CRZ EX
13. Chrysler 200 Touring
14. Ram Power Wagon
15. BMW X5M
16. Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid
17. Dodge Challenger SR8 392 Inaugural Edition
18. Lexus CT200h
19. Nissan Juke SL
20. Honda Civic Si
21. Toyota Prius v Five
22. Toyota Prius plug-in (prototype)
23. Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited
24. Hyundai Genesis coupe
25. Toyota Prius
26. Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG
27. Nissan Leaf SL-E
28. Infiniti QX56
29. Suzuki Kizashi Sport SLS
30. Nissan Pathfinder SLV
31. Cadillac SRX
32. Dodge Avenger LUX
33. Mitsubishi Outlander Sport SE

As you might expect, aggressively sporty performance vehicles top the ratings, which speaks very well of the more mundane machines that I particularly enjoyed, namely the Kia Optima and Chrysler 200.

Another observation: Of the 33 vehicles listed, seven -- more than 21 percent -- are either hybrids or electric.

The most expensive production car I drove was the Mercedes SL63 AMG, with an as-tested price of $147,675 (as a pre-production prototype, the Prius plug-in likely cost Toyota at least a quarter-million to create). The least expensive was the Fiat 500 at $17,500 base and $20,150 as tested.

Of course, purchase price doesn’t include what it will cost to fuel a vehicle. According to the EPA, fuel prices during 2011 ranged from a low of $2.80 to a high of $3.70, and that it would cost $3,000 a year to fuel the CTS-V wagon or SL63 AMG but only $561 (on your electric bill) to keep the Nissan Leaf on the road and only $900 at the gasoline pump to refuel the Toyota Prius for a full year.

Finally, if you’re wondering how I could pick a station wagon as my No. 1 vehicle over a truly track-ready sports car? It’s simply because the CTS-V is a muscle car marvel, right down to its clutch pedal and manual shifter. That’s right: A stick shift in a station wagon -- room for the family with 556 supercharged horsepower of vroom.
 
-- Larry Edsall

Can’t let 2011 escape without cleaning out my “blogable” file:

• According to the Synthetic Turf Council, artificial playing fields save three billion gallons of water, eliminate the use of nearly a billion pounds of fertilizers and pesticides and recycle more than 105 million used tires, which otherwise were likely to end up in landfills.
• Roland Berger Strategy Consultants predicts that by 2025, there will be a “dramatic” shift in vehicle production -- and sales -- to Asia, with “disproportionately strong growth” in the no-frills, small-car category; that young people will continue to “demotorize,” or at least opt for car-sharing programs; that half of all new vehicles will have internal combustion engines, with another 40 percent employing hybrid powertrains and 10 percent relying only on electricity, and that many of those vehicles will be built by car companies yet to be established.
• Maybe that impending vehicle mix explains in part a study by Ricardo Strategic Consulting that finds the demand for oil peaks before 202 and by 2035 returns to levels “significantly below 2010 demand.” Ricardo says national security issues and increased use of bio-ethanol and other fuels, including natural gas, are big factors in reduced global demand for imported oil. Meanwhile, study involving four graduate schools commissioned by Delotte finds that young buyers don’t pick their vehicle on fuel efficiency or comfort or appearance or power or such traditional factors but primarily on its in-car technologies, especially audio, Bluetooth and voice-to-text so they can keep up with emails and texts while driving.
• J.D. Power & Associates predicts that by 2020, India will rank only behind China and the United States in annual vehicle sales and will be the hub of small car production.
• According to research by the Society of Automotive Engineers, vehicle crashes are the largest cause of death for pregnant women in the United States and the leading cause of “traumatic fetal injury mortality.” SAE adds that some 160,000 pregnant women are involved in vehicle crashes each year, with a toll of 160 women and 865 fetal deaths.
• According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 7000 people die each year in this country in crashes at intersections, and more than 700 of those deaths are the result of someone running a red light. However, researchers at MIT are working on technology -- already tested at one intersection in Virginia -- that can identify such red light runners as long as two seconds before they reach an intersection and provide a warning to other drivers -- through “smart” technology -- and thus prevent many of those crashes.
• Founded as the American Seat Belt Council, the Automotive Safety Council celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011. See www.automotivesafetycoucil.org to learn what’s been accomplished in the last half century. As if we weren’t damaging our ears enough at rock concerts and by listening to loud music through head phones and ear buds, the Journal of Laryngology and Otology reports on a study that finds that driving a convertible for prolonged periods at speeds in excess of 55 miles per hour can cause hearing loss.
• Ford and Scotts Miracle-Gro are working on the use of coconut husks for fiber reinforcement in molded automotive plastic parts, thus reducing component weight and the use of petroleum byproducts. In the past decade,
• Ford reduced water usage in vehicle production by 62 percent -- a saving of 10.5 billion gallons. Now, it plans an additional 30 percent reduction by 2015 Ted Turner no longer is the largest private land owner in the United States.
• According to a report by Fay Ranches, Turner slipped to second behind his friend and business partner John Malone of Liberty Media. In the last year, Malone bought more than a million timbered acres in Maine and New Hampshire to boost his overall property holdings to 2.2 million acres. Turner owns a mere 2-million acres.
• What would James Bond sail? Probably the Voyage, a 55-foot boat design study (see photo above) by Miami-based naval architect Luiz de Basto, who was inspired by various Aston Martin vehicle design elements, including roof line, window shapes, front and rear lights, side ventilation, spoiler, hood and grille.
• However, Double-Oh Seven better not drink and drive any boat in Finland. Former F1 racer JJ Lehto was sentenced to two years and four months in prison after being found guilty of drunken driving in a fatal accident in which Lehto’s boat struck a bridge support.
• Speaking of Scandinavia, for a mere $1.8 million, Zenvo Automotive will sell you one of the 15 Zeno ST-150 S super sports cars (see photo at right) it’s building in Denmark, each with a turbocharged and supercharged, 1250-horsepower, 7.0-liter V8 engine. Let’s see: $1.8 million X 15 cars = $177 million. Wasn’t that about what they needed to save Saab?
• A 1976 Porsche 930 Turbo reported stolen more than 20 years ago in Las Vegas more was discovered and recovered through a VIN check at the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport, where the car was in a container scheduled for export to The Netherlands. Between October 2010 and August 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recovered 24 such stolen vehicles that were heading overseas from the LA/Long Beach port.
• Whatever happened to the Ford Snow-Motor? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBjlSJf4274&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLBA1DD5D8B49CEC88

 
-- Larry Edsall

As much as I try to keep up with technology...
 
O.K., those of you who know me can stop laughing now. I know you think I’m technologically challenged, still need the written instruction sheet my son prepared so I can switch from watching television to watching a DVD, and am about as tech-savvy as was my horse-riding, roll-his-own cigarettes grandfather.
 
But as I was saying before the laughter, as much as I try to keep up with technology, I just cannot get the hang of trying to manipulate the cursor on my computer by means of the touch pad. Call me old-fashioned -- Hey, Edsall, you’re old-fashioned! -- but I like using a mouse.
 
However, I have progressed to the point that I prefer a wireless mouse -- shouldn’t that be a tail-less mouse? -- and since I’m a car guy, my wireless mouse looks like a miniature Porsche. (See: www.izoom.com/blog.aspx?bid=1&date=6/4/10).

Officially, my mouse is a Classic Sports Car from www.motormouse.us.com. Until recently, this Porsche-inspired Motor Mouse was the only one available, though in addition to my red one it was available in silver, black or pink.
 
But now there is another model available -- a Mini Cooper S. I got to do a test drive of a modern Mini Mouse (in white, red and black also are available) and it works just like my Porsche. Interestingly, the Mini Mouse arrived for a test drive at the same time as I was test driving a Mini Countryman.
 
Mini Mice are available from Avant Garde of Marco Island, Florida. Pricing ranges from $49.95 to $54.95.
 
-- Larry Edsall