By Nate Risch
06/13/2016
We interrupt the re-capitation of Otto for this important message: I didn’t get far enough this week with the reassembly of Otto’s head to eke out a full column. Well, that’s not true: At this point in my journalist career, I could pound out 5,000 words about lint.
By Nate Risch
06/05/2016
Sometimes drivers who have attended many high-performance driving schools—sometimes abbreviated HPDE for high-performance driving events—decide that they need more action and more competition, so they move into Club Racing. It’s a natural progression.
By Nate Risch
06/05/2016
A few weeks ago, Hal the machinist called to give me the bad news about my 1974 2002tii: Otto’s head was not only warped, but cracked in two places. No problem, I thought; I have an entire spare tii engine I bought for about $400 sitting under my porch. Plan A was to steal its head—but I do not know what shape that head (or the rest of that engine) is in, and the more I thought about it, appropriating the head would reduce the value of the block to near zero, both to me or to anyone else.
By Nate Risch
05/30/2016
A car club is all about marque fans, and fan is short for fanatic. Around these parts, that fanaticism translates into brand loyalty—sometimes blind loyalty, I must admit, as one who has occasionally poured about six times the value of a car into its restoration. (Okay, eight. Or maybe ten times—but who’s counting?)
By Nate Risch
05/30/2016
I was prepping the ’72 2002tii for the 2,100-mile round trip to the Vintage in Asheville, North Carolina, when my magic smart phone made an e-mail ding. I try to be hyper-responsive to everyone who wants something from me, so I checked my e-mail.
