Chet Parsons, Car Guy

It is official.  I am no longer actively in the car business.  I finally got out and have taken a new position in the creative world.  Effective immediately, I am the Director of Client Relations for SemiBig Creative Industries, a full service design firm based in Oakland, California, and with a new office in Dallas, Texas.  Check out our website for more about the company and what we do. Don't worry, for all three of you who read this (thanks, Mom) I will continue to post my witty commentary.  Have no fear, I am still an "automotive enthusiast" and will continue to have opinions that I won't keep to myself.  Watch out for me on the roads in Dallas and Houston and all points in between.  I'll be the jackass on the side of the road with the Highway Patrol!

It's been a crazy couple of months, and I've almost escaped from the car business, but I don't know that I'll ever be able to do it completely. A close friend of mine had been looking for an air-cooled Porsche to have as a weekend and special occasions car, and my friends at RUF Auto Centre found a 993 Carrera 2S that ended up fitting the bill perfectly.  When my friend first drove it, he commented that it felt like an old-school Porsche, and felt classic without being an "old car."  I think he summed it up perfectly. We all know how I feel about newer cars, and Porsches in particular.  There is a certain lack of soul about them.  Don't get me wrong, technically and objectively they are amazing feats of engineering, but that doesn't make up for what's missing:  the raw, organic feel of a hand-built sports car. Looking at the current prices of 993's, E30 M3's, Ferrari 355's, and other cars of that era, it appears that I'm not the onl...

As you may have gathered, I took a road trip this week.  I picked up a car in Ontario and took it to El Paso, Texas.  The rough numbers are something like 1800 miles, roughly 30 hours of driving, one hotel, no speeding tickets, three airplanes, one can (12oz) of Red Bull, three fast food "meals," and many gallons of diesel fuel.  I do like a good road trip, but driving across West Texas I can live without. 8:00 AM Central Time, Depart Dallas and headed West 4:30 PM Mountain Time, Arrive El Paso 6:05 PM Mountain Time, Depart El Paso via Southwest Airlines 8:40 PM Central Time, Arrive Dallas Love Field 9:00 PM Central Time, Arrive back at home, sleep. Interstate 20 looks like this. And this. Interstate 10 looks like this. But only when it's about to rain. Did you know the speed limit on I-10 is 80MPH in many places? Ahh, the "comfort" of a SWA 737.

7:30 AM Central Time, Breakfast at hotel in Bloomington, IL 8:15 AM Central Time, Departed Bloomington 2:00 PM Central Time, first stop for fuel in Mt. Vernon, MO 2:15 PM Central Time, Nutritious lunch at McDonald's 8:15 PM Central Time, Arrive home in Dallas (suburbs) 12 hours, 780+ miles, one Red Bull, many gallons of diesel fuel Photographic evidence: St. Louis skyline, I promise. Almost in Missouri. Mighty Mississippi River Beautiful lake in Oklahoma

4:30 AM Central Time, Shuttle to DFW Airport 6:30 AM Central Time, Flight from DFW to Toronto, ON 12:55 PM Eastern Time, Flight from Toronto to London, ON 1:35 PM Eastern Time, Picked up VW Touareg at London airport 10:30 PM Central Time, Arrived at hotel in Bloomington, IL Looked something like this: Driving out of London, ON Heading out of Windsor Large Tire in Detroit Beautiful sky over Michigan Sunset going through Indiana to Illinois

If you don't know what Ridemakerz is (iz?), here's the quickie description.  Take Build-a-Bear Workshop, and replace the cute fluffy animals with cars and trucks.  Get it? About the size of a 1:18 scale model, the Ridemakerz cars and trucks are based on production and concept cars, a couple of Chip Foose designed models, and a work/fire/dump truck thrown in as well.  The look is caricatured, with exaggerated features and proportionally enormous wheels, but each model is faithful to the model upon which it is based, and ranges from Mini Cooper to Ford Super Chief with all manner of muscle car, sports car, and truck in between. The process is very straightforward, starting with the basic building blocks of body, chassis, and powerplant.  You pick out the body first, select from street or monster chassis, and decide if you want to spring for an R/C or be the motor yourself.  From there, you select tires and wheels, and then it's off to the assembly line.  With some professiona...

On Father's Day, I packed up my father's ML320 CDI and drove from Dallas to Houston with my daughter.  We had a lot of crap to haul, and managed to fit it all in the cargo area except a few bags and loose items that ended up in the back seat and up front with me.  Well, after three weeks in Houston and one less job, we were headed back. For this trip, I needed to get my '88 M3 back to Dallas.  And Chloe was coming with me again.  When we left on Father's day, I had one big duffle bag, Chloe had one big suitcase and one small one, and we took her portable keyboard (to practice piano) and an extra iMac (in its original box) with us.  Coming back, we had everything but the iMac, plus an extra large suitcase, two boxes from Ridemakerz (future post coming on this), two briefcases, a small cooler, a couple of small lunchbox sized coolers for drinks and snacks, and a small duffle bag.  I should have taken a picture.  I managed to fit all of this, keyboard included, in the M3. ...