bertbehrens.com

Awesomeness on the Tour. Its kinda cool and does its thing rather quickly which is awesome.

Every car I have owned has had its quirks, but my Magnum\’s requirement of a $130 wiring harness and a $150 dash piece just to install a radio is outrageous. Since I don\’t have navigation my radio opening is just slightly smaller than the required double DIN, and Since Chrysler decided to use CANBUS and external amps I need the harness. Dumb.

Today has been a busy day, I have helped cook and serve 400 orders of steak tips. Man they are tasty.\n\nAnd damn did they sell fast today.

A little handholding and a few filechanges from my blackberry got him on the road to blogging. Yay.\n\nAlso, meatloaf is awesome.

It might just be that I am too wordy in my mobile posts and the BlackBerry app just loses interest. I will keep playing with it till I figure it out. More updates to come.\n\nFeel free to let me know how dumb I am for not being able to figure this out on my own.

I guess that\’s why it\’s a Beta still. My recent posts haven\’t worked like they should and I think that it may be the fault of Tags. The posts I have added without Tags worked perfectly but tagging apparently made the software mad or something. I will fix.

Lately I have been obsessed. The curves, the chrome, the interiors, the blatant disregard for aerodynamics and ergonomics have taken me completely. I have been scouring the interwebs for oldness in the form of a VW Type 3 Squareback, or Variant as it was officially known. \\\\\\\\nToday\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s cars are shaped be computers to achieve maximum fuel efficiency and safety but end up looking like jelly beans. Back in the day they just drew it out and built what looked good. The quirky good looks of the Squareback has re ignited my flame for old school. Its lines are no beautiful, but honest and simple. Its engine is small enough to fit in your pocket and can be rebuilt on the coffee table if your wife is understanding enough and completely blind. And it is a great canvas to express your personality.\\\\\\\\nBut the best thing about old cars like this are the communities that spring up to honor and love them. The VW community is massive as far as collector car groups go, but it has to be when you are dealing with one of the best selling cars of all time. Just like most classic car groups it is supporting and friendly to most, but unlike some the VW community encourages people to be creative rather than slavish to the restoration or billetification of these old rides. Check thesamba.com and browse through the library of pictures and you will see rat rods, immaculate restorations, wild customs, low riders, drag cars, rally cars, and more all from a line of only 5 major body styles. First of course is the Beetle, then the Bus, and then the attempt at a mainstream look in the 3 Type 3\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s known as the Fastback, Notchback, and Squareback.\\\\\\\\nI encourage anyone reading this to take a look back and see if you can find that spark that\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s been hiding inside you to get back to a simpler automotive landscape of tail fins and chrome, of wood paneling and pin striping, of patina and primer, of the smell of carbureted engines and the sound of cherry bombs.

Yesterday we were blessed with photos of the next pair of supercars to grace bedroom walls.\\\\nWell, one will at least. \\\\nMcLaren unveiled their alphabet soup car which used to be called a much easier to say P11. It is sex on wheels, curvy, low, wide and vicious looking. I have a feeling it will require a waiver be signed before operating. It just looks ready to pounce on anyone that looks at it wrong.\\\\nThe other needs a muzzle. Mercedes released a metric ton of images of the new SLR gullwing which looks like a characature of the original draped over the most recent SLR. Hopefully in person it finds a way to be less ugly. Maybe they need to ship one to LA to get some rhinoplasty or put a giant wing on it to draw attention away from that snout. It will be fast enough that presumably you can save the driving public from the travesty by giving them a nice view of the tail lights.\\\\nAnyway, in this economy it is nice to see insane cars still are being made. Hats off to the mad scientists in both companies.\\\\nSee jalopnik.com or autoblog.com for pictures.

I just had a chance to read Car and Driver\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s article about the 10 Best Cars under $20k and was somewhat disappointed. They covered a few great cars including one of my personal favorites, the 2000 BMW M Coupe, but the missed the mark in general. \\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\nThe first car missing from the list is the Subaru Impreza WRX which can be purchased for considerably less than the Mitsubishi Evo and provides endless hours of fun on the dirt or snow which makes it a sporty car that can be enjoyed in the Great White North or the Gulf Coast equally. The first time you end up in a snowstorm you get a Joker grin on your face that has to be surgically remove with a tree. And with the amount of fun this car produces there is a fair chance that you may find just the tree to help with that problem.\\\\\\\\nAnother car missing is the C5 Corvette. This is the only muscle car America has been able to sustain over the years and has a great following which makes owning one more than just a fun car to drive. You get power, a decent ride, and a huge group of fan clubs that you can swap tips with. The C5 Corvette really raised the bar for Murican performance and had all the right moves to help us forget about the lackluster C4 and its lame duck performance. Without too much effort anyone can find a well cared for Vette that is quite comfortable for long drives or a track day. And unlike many other performance cars You can actually bring a couple bags with you in the car.\\\\\\\\nThere are many more great cars that car be had for $20k but those where two ommissions that just bugged me.\\\\\\\\n

Hi, its been a while but rest assured I have not died. If I had died I would be less likely to post to my interweb log or \”blog\” as the kids call it. I plan to post up here in a more regular fashion than I have in the past and see if I can provide some interesting commentary on the automotive world.\n\nSee you again soon.