THE LA CAR BLOG - NOVEMBER 2004

THE LA CAR BLOG

THE BOARDS SOUND OFF ON OVER-ZEALOUS TRAFFIC POLICE November 29, 2004

In our most recent blog entry, we reported on the reasons why Italian traffic police are gaining a reputation for being the most over-zealous in the world. According to some of the postings we've seen on the popular Internet bulletin boards, Italy doesn't have a monopoly on over-zealous traffic police. In response to the question, "have you ever been the victim of an over-zealous police officer?," readers on the popular boards have plenty to say. Parklife of VWVortex.com's Car Lounge says he was once ticketed for going 27 in a 25 mph zone. "It was a school zone, so the fine was doubled." Similarly, the Vortex's TheJoyof6 says, "I got a ticket for going 38 in a 35 mph zone a few years ago. The ticket was thrown out and I didn't pay anything. A year later, the cop was fired after an enema and diaper incident with some other police officers." Those are pretty close calls, but not as close as Honda-tech.com's Rhettster's call: "I got a ticket for 0-5 over once. That's right, ZERO to five over. Freaking prick told me I don't know how fast you game through that intersection, but it seemed kinda' fast to me. So just take this ticket down to the courthouse and tell the judge your side.' Basically, the ass set me up to have to deal with the hassle of going to court." "One cop pulled me over in my GLX for having an 'aftermarket exhaust' which was totally stock," says the Vortex's Kitty. "I told him it was all stock, to look under the car if he wanted, but he insisted he didn't want to look and it must be aftermarket. So my mother takes the car to inspection, the guy looks under the hood, under the car, looks at my mother, scratches his head and says 'that cop must have been insane, the car's totally stock.'" "Well, when I was in high school, I was given a seatbelt ticket and I was wearing my seatbelt," says Mr. Roboto of Blue Oval News. "I was in the center of a Ranger, which has only a lap belt for the center. I explained to the officer, but he basically told me that I was lying about wearing it. And I've never, ever driven without my seatbelt in a vehicle so equipped." When it comes to avoiding a ticket, women seem to do better than men. "Having dated two cops and a lawyer...I've been able to get away from getting a ticket with humor," says Antaus of Blue Oval News. "Since they are usually...brainwashed at the academy, they go into stand-by mode when stopping someone, since they do not know what to expect. So like any lunatic, I try to calm them down. So far, it's worked for me. Ticket-free since day one." Hockeynut of Bimmerfest swears that certain cars are proned to get hassled more. "I got a warning last night for 39 in a 30. The road's speed limit apparently was just dropped from 35 to 30. I bet if I was in my '94 Corolla, they wouldn't have bothered." The Vortex's Kaizenro seems to agree. "I was leaving Coronado Island at 10 pm using the Strand and the speed limit goes from 65 to 40 when nearing the city of Imperial Beach. I was doing about 55 about 20 ft before the 40 sign and others were either doing the same or faster. Everyone but me brakes like crazy when they saw the trooper on his bike. All of a sudden a Honda Civic Si (lowered and with a fart can exhaust) comes around the bin and whaddaya know? The trooper pulls him over in no time. Why did the trooper ignore the other cars doing 15+ over (me included but I was the slowest by far) and once a Civic comes around the bend, doesn't even hesitate for a second to turn on his seemed like racer profiling." Honda-tech.com's Didyouhearthat seems to be pleading guilty as charged, however. "Over zealous? Victim? Victim of what? Random and uncontrollable spasms in your right foot?"

- RN Your LA Car Blog comments can be sent to : Letter to the Editor.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: THE ITALIAN JOB November 26, 2004 Over-Zealous Italian Traffic Police End Up in Dock

In Rome, they've added a new meaning to the term "The Italian Job." According to Reuters, Italian traffic police are gaining a reputation for being among the most over-zealous in the world. "Driving in the bus lane - without a driver - is perhaps the most bizarre charge leveled at bemused motorists by Rome's over-zealous traffic police." reports Reuters. According to one public prosecutor, the police have also issued tickets to people who had never been in the city, and fined the same motorist for the same offense at the same time in different parts of town. "It seems like the set of an Italian Comedy: the craziest city in the world," said Vincenzo Piso, local leader of the National Alliance party. Reuters reports that Prosecutor Giuseppe Corasaniti opened investigations against 12 traffic police in response to hundreds of protests from outraged motorists. Your LA Car Blog comments can be sent to : Letter to the Editor.

Barbie killed in SUV rollover (Bongonews.com)

SUV ROLLOVERS ARE SUSTAINING THE TRIAL LAWYER INDUSTRY November 24, 2004 With all the criticism leveled at SUVs (sport utility vehicles) for their high center of gravity and the resultant proclivity to rolling over during accidents, there's one industry that has benefited from all of it. According to Justin Scheck of The Recorder, trial lawyers have found rollover litigation to be good business in the legal community. Attorney Michael Danko says he doesn't like SUV rollover suits. The injuries, he told The Recorder, are often sadly devastating, the clients physically and emotionally crushed. But the law firm of O'Reilly Collins & Danko has settled approximately 20 such cases since 1999. Rollover suits now account for about half the firm's annual revenue, according to Scheck. The firm is reportedly pursuing 15 more cases, including one set for trial next month in San Mateo County. Since O'Reilly Collins began handling SUV rollovers in 1999, the San Mateo firm has doubled in size. "The firm could not have sustained the growth it did if it did not have the SUV litigation," Danko told The Recorder. Christine Spagnoli, who specializes in such cases for Santa Monica's Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler, informed The Recorder that her firm has also profited from rollover litigation. "We've become more and more concentrated in doing these kinds of cases," said Spagnoli, whose firm has brought about 50 SUV suits since 1999. "For attorneys that can navigate the obstacles, SUV rollover cases have become a reliable vehicle for growth," says Scheck. "Case selection is probably the key," Spagnoli told The Recorder. "I look for cases where the passengers are seatbelted. I look for cases where there is no drinking or drugs, and no egregious driver error, such as falling asleep." Spagnoli points to the case of Jodie Schloss, a college student whose Geo Tracker rolled over with no apparent driver error, rendering her a spastic quadriplegic. "She had been on this television program just before the accident, and was so articulate and so beautiful," Spagnoli said. "To have this videotape from before the accident, and then to see this physically challenged person" made the case extremely difficult to defend. It settled in 2001 on the weekend before jury selection was set to begin. The cases that do end up in trial are often those where driving mistakes caused a rollover whose injuries, the plaintiff lawyers argue, should have been prevented by better engineering. Both defense and plaintiff lawyers agree that SUV rollover litigation shows no signs of stopping, says Scheck. "In fact, it's likely to increase, with Ford the leading target, as the number of Explorers on the road continues to grow." Your LA Car Blog comments can be sent to : Letter to the Editor.

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STUDENT FOUND GUILTY OF TORCHING SUVs November 22, 2004 Cal Tech Student Faces Five Years Or More In Prison A Cal Tech graduate student was convicted today of firebombing dozens of sport utility vehicles and causing more than $2 million in damage in an eco-vandalism rampage, but was cleared of the most serious charge against him. The Associated Press reports that William Jensen Cottrell, 24, was found guilty in U.S. District Court of conspiracy to commit arson and seven counts of arson. But the jury acquitted him of attempting to use a destructive device ## Molotov cocktails ## in a crime of violence. That charge carried a sentence of at least 30 years in prison. Cottrell, who is being held without bail, will be sentenced March 7. He faces at least five years in prison, according to the Department of Justice's local U.S. Attorney office. The charges against Cottrell, a doctoral candidate at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, stemmed from a series of firebombings in August 2003 at dealerships and homes in San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles. About 125 vehicles were damaged or destroyed, causing an estimated $2.3 million damage. Some vehicles were spray-painted with "polluter," "smog machine" and "ELF," an acronym for the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group. Defense lawyers argued that Cottrell had agreed with two friends to spray-paint vehicles but was shocked when they began hurling Molotov cocktails. According to AP, Federal prosecutors have identified former Caltech students Tyler Johnson and Michie Oe as "fugitive co-conspirators" in the case. Both are believed to have fled the country. But prosecutors said Cottrell was trying to minimize his role while placing blame on Johnson and Oe. Cottrell testified that SUV dealers were evil and that he had no "problem at a moral level" with spray-painting vehicles at dealerships. He also acknowledged that he had asked a friend he told about the vandalism to marry him "on paper" in order to prevent her from testifying against him. Cottrell was arrested in March after authorities said they linked him to anonymous e-mails that taunted the FBI and boasted about the firebombings. Cottrell's co-counsel, Marvin Rudnick, said the defense was pleased because Cottrell was cleared of the most serious count. "We're very happy that the jury threw out the 30-year mandatory minimum to life count, so Billy has a future in his profession of physics," Rudnick told AP. Your LA Car Blog comments can be sent to : Letter to the Editor.

WHY DEER DON'T MAKE GOOD PASSENGERS November 20, 2004 Deer Hit By Car Ends Up In Front Seat

In Southern California, we have more than our share of dogs, cats, squirrels, and possum crossing into our lanes. Luckily, large animal encounters are not that common. In Palmyra, Illinois, you have to watch out for deer smashing into a car and thrashing its way into the front seat - where it then fires up both the radio and wipers. This may sound like an inventive way to justify getting a new car, but the Associated Press reports that this actually happened. AP reports that Jim Trump, a 58-year-old high school teacher, was driving home from a card game last week when he saw a group of deer standing in the roadway near Palmyra (roughly 30 miles southwest of Springfield). "I couldn't go any direction to get away, so I just locked my arms down, hit the brakes and went straight ahead," said Trump, a physical education teacher and coach at Greenfield High School. According to AP, Trump's Ford Escort was reportedly going about 55 mph on Illinois 111 when it struck the 10-point buck. The huge deer hit the car's front windshield and rolled onto its roof before crashing through a rear window. "It started thrashing around and headed toward the front seat," Trump said. That's when he skidded to a stop and jumped out, leaving the keys in the ignition. "It had a real nice rack on it," Trump said. "When I slammed the door, it turned its head around and the antlers knocked out the side window." The deer, which authorities said weighed about 280 pounds, forced its way into the front seat, causing heavy damage to the car's interior, Trump said. "It turned the windshield wipers on and had the radio going," Trump said. AP reports that three police officers were needed to pull the animal out of the car. It had at least one broken leg and was later killed. "I've been a police officer since I was 17 years old, with military experience and everything, and it was the first time I've seen a deer in the vehicle," said Macoupin County sheriff's deputy Paul Bouldin. In Palmyra, these types of accidents are evidently most common between mid-October and mid-December - during the deer mating season. Illinois State Police said they often occur on roadways near wooded areas and fields. According to AP, the Illinois Department of Transportation said there were 25,660 vehicle accidents involving deer in 2003, up from 23,647 reported in 2002. Trump said his insurance company deemed the car totaled. "I really hated to lose that car," he said. "I was getting 35 miles-per-gallon." Your LA Car Blog comments can be sent to : Letter to the Editor.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: BEST OF THE WEEK November 19, 2004 The Latest in Car Sales Incentives - Car Salesman Offers Discounts For Sex

If you have a negative impression of car salespeople, this story will probably do nothing to change it. According to Local 6 News in Orlando, Florida, a car salesman was arrested earlier this week for allegedly offering discounted vehicle prices in return for sexual favors. Officers with the Longwood Police Department arrested the salesman after he reportedly requested an undercover female officer to perform sexual acts with him in exchange for a $100 discount on a vehicle she was attempting to purchase. According to an officer's report filed with the Longwood PD, the salesman works at Longwood's Metro Motor Sales Inc. The accused salesperson's alleged sales practices were discovered when a woman came to the Longwood Police with a complaint that he propositioned her while she was at the car dealership looking at purchasing a vehicle, according to the report. The victim stated in the report that the salesperson told her he'd knock $1,000 off of the price of the vehicle if she'll have sex with him. The salesperson is charged with two counts of solicitation of prostitution, one count of lewd and lascivious act and one count of battery. Your LA Car Blog comments can be sent to : Letter to the Editor.

Road warriors from Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome

ONE IN 10 ADMIT TO CUTTING OFF OTHER DRIVERS ...OR WANTED TO FORCE THEM OFF THE ROAD November 16, 2004 Los Angeles (PRNewswire) - More than 10 percent of drivers admit they have intentionally cut off other drivers or have wanted to force them off the road during the past year, according to a recent survey by Farmers Insurance Group. Of the 1,001 drivers surveyed, 14.3 percent said they had shouted at or had gotten into a honking match with another motorist. Furthermore, 24 of those surveyed said they had gotten into a fistfight with another driver, while 37 of the respondents admitted to having carried a weapon with them in case of a confrontation with another driver. Farmers notes that aggressive driving, such as speeding, tailgating, unsafe lane changes, failing to signal intent to change lanes, or other forms of negligent or inconsiderate driving, often escalates into what has commonly become known as "road rage." "Aggressive driving and road rage are both truly dangerous behaviors," said Jeff Beyer, senior vice-president, corporate communications for Farmers Insurance Group. "They put other motorists and passengers at risk, and should not be tolerated." Road rage is defined as an assault with a motor vehicle or other dangerous weapon by the operator or passenger(s) of one motor vehicle on the operator or passenger(s) of another motor vehicle, or is caused by an incident that occurred on a roadway and is considered a criminal offense. According to the Farmers survey, most road rage occurs among younger drivers. Nearly half (48 percent) of respondents who said they had shouted at or gotten into a honking match with another driver were in the 18-34 age group, which also ranked highest among those who said they had cut off another driver or felt like forcing them off the road (16.5 percent). Farmers recommends the following tactics on how to avoid becoming a victim of "road rage:" * Always use your indicators when changing lanes or merging. * Be courteous. If another driver is signaling to change into your lane ahead of you, let them. * Ignore drivers who make angry gestures at you. Separate yourself from them, if possible. * If a vehicle is tailgating yours, attempt to change lanes and let it pass. * If you are being followed, drive to a nearby crowded public place and call for help or drive to a nearby police station. You can also alert police via a cell phone as well. * Never provoke another driver. "Highway safety officials say that aggressive driving and road rage are very similar to impaired driving," Beyer said. "Motorists should try to distance themselves and their passengers from these perpetrators quickly, but safely." Your LA Car Blog comments can be sent to : Letter to the Editor.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO "YOU MEET THE NICEST PEOPLE ON A HONDA"? November 14, 2004

Back in the 1960s, Honda's slogan was "You meet the nicest people on a Honda." Volkswagen Beetle ads proclaimed "Hello," which later inspired Chrysler to run their Neon "Hi" ads. Those were the days. That was then; this is now. Today, the emphasis is on the rugged, the tough, the macho. Out with the jellybean look; in with the industrial-mechanical look. Minivans are for mommies. Real men and women drive SUVs. Ford markets its new F-Series Super Duty trucks with the slogan, "Meet the Beast." Even the "oh, what a feeling" folks at Toyota decide its elliptical logo is too wimpy. Expect Toyota's trucks to start sporting the rugged new industrial logo you see here. All this emphasis on the aggressive has come at a price. The streets are now a little meaner. "Road rage" has become part of the American lexicon. The horn is used more as an expression of anger than as a warning device. Does this have to be? Vancouver violinist David Shih thinks not. "Why not have an option on the horn button that says I'm sorry? It can be a soft tone that let's the other driver know you acknowledge the error," said Shih to LA Car. With traffic density at an all-time high, perhaps it's time to look at ways to ease the tension. The horn may be a good starting point. Presently, there's only one sound that a car horn emits, and it's both loud and unsettling by design. A my bad option on the horn could be the start of a trend to move away from traffic aggression. Maybe we can even convince Honda to bring back its old but endearing slogan. - RN Your LA Car Blog comments can be sent to : Letter to the Editor.

Ford targeted their new F-Series Super Duty campaign in red states

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: BEST OF THE WEEK November 12, 2004

"Throw Us A Bone" The good news for Democrats: John Kerry received the second highest number of votes in U.S. presidential election history. The bad news: George W. Bush received the highest. After one of the most divisive elections in recent times, just under half of the voting population seems to be going through a chronic malaise over the results of the election. Reuters reports that the number of U.S. citizens visiting Canada's main immigration website shot up six-fold as Americans flirt with the idea of abandoning their homeland after the election. The Internet has been brimming with information to console the defeated. The most amusing of these is a study attributed to J. Arthur Woodward of the University of California, Merced, purporting to show that the red states (those who went for Bush) have a statistically lower I.Q. than the blue states (those that favored Kerry). For our car-oriented blue readers, we offer one more: A Scripps Research Institute-based survey of red state drivers versus blue state drivers, which purports that states favoring Kerry have a lower number of traffic deaths per capital than states favoring Bush. In other words, blue state voters are statistically better drivers than red state drivers. It's a small consolation for our blue readers. But, hey, you read it here first! - RN Comment on this blog: Letter to the Editor.

2005 Toyota Prius

HYBRIDS IN THE CARPOOL LANE & THE ENERGY BILL November 10, 2004

Republican Victory Increases Chances of Hybrids in the HOV Lane

Environmentally conscious owners of the Honda Civic Hybrid, Honda Insight and Toyota Prius in California may soon be able to thank the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress for bringing them one step closer to the carpool lanes. Earlier this year, California passed legislation allowing certain hybrid car owners to travel in the carpool lanes without a carpool (see Governor Signs Carpool Bill for Hybrids). However, the measure requires approval from the Federal government, since Federal law restricts single-occupant vehicles in the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to certain "inherently low emissions vehicles" - i.e., vehicles operating on pure electric power or compressed natural gas. The approval can come in two ways: The U.S. Department of Transportation can grant a waiver to the state. Thus far, however, the DOT has been reluctant to grant a waiver to other states that have passed similar legislation. The second way is for the law to be changed. The bill that will change the law has been stalled in the U.S. Senate for months, due to concerns from most Democratic and some Republican senators that it will open Alaska's National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Others have concerns about the bill's provision limiting the liability of manufacturers of a gasoline additive blamed for contaminating water supplies. Although the House of Representative passed their version of the energy bill, the senate version only garnered 48 votes - two short of allowing Vice President Dick Cheney to cast a tie-breaking vote. In the elections earlier this month, Republicans gained four more seats in the Senate - increasing their number to 55 when the new Congress convenes in January. They will need five more votes, instead of nine, to overcome filibusters and force votes on legislation. Thus, even with the additional seats, it appears that some concessions will be necessary in order for the energy bill to become reality. If and when the Federal energy bill finally becomes law, hybrid owners in California may need to also thank the lobbyists supporting Alaskan oil drilling for indirectly providing the means to enter the carpool lanes without a carpool. - RN Comment on this blog: Letter to the Editor.

Gillian Tan's Asian women drivers spoof has made the Internet rounds

DWA: DRIVING WHILE ASIAN November 7, 2004

Does the Stereotype Match the Reality?

One of our LA Car road warriors teaches Asian American studies at Pasadena City College. On this lazy afternoon, she was driving her turbocharged (and chipped) VW a little on the slow side. The hot rod behind her was getting impatient. Finally, it pulls up next to her and the young passenger in the car shouts out, "Asian driver!" The professor looks over and smiles. She took it as a compliment ("hey, they called me Asian, and not oriental or chink or worse"), but the guy in the other car didn't mean it as a compliment.

On another day, one of our editors was talking to his attorney. The attorney's Asian American wife had just gotten into an accident in the San Gabriel Valley. The attorney laments, "Both drivers are guilty of DWA." No, it's not driving with alcohol. In this case, DWA stands for Driving While Asian. The "Driving While" term as it applies to ethnic groups has its roots in the racial profiling of African and Latin Americans. Although the term is sometimes used to describe the profiling of Asian street gangs, DWA is more commonly used as a stereotype of poor driving behavior by Asians - particularly Asian women.

As folklore has it, this latter use of DWA stems from the migration of non-driving middle-aged Asian women into this country. Once here, they were forced to learn how to drive in our car-dependent society. Those who propagate the stereotype insist that this represents a disproportionately high number of Asians in America. In reality, the number of first-time driving middle-aged Asian American women is relatively small compared to the overall population of Asian Americans. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, roughly 30 percent of the Asian population in the United States are immigrant women - and a good many of these are under the age of 25. If DWA is running rampant in the community, someone forgot to tell Nadine Toyoda. The Arcadia, California-raised Asian woman road racer, auto-crosser, and mother is recognized as one of the top sports car exhibition drifters in the country. Toyoda, along with her female colleague Yoshie Shuyama, founded Drifting Pretty, the nation's first all-female drifting team. They also forgot to tell champion drag-racer Lisa Kubo of Rosemead, California. Kubo likes to take her front-wheel drive Honda from zero to nearly 170 miles per hour in less than nine seconds. A recent University of Toronto-Stanford University study examined the impact of traffic citations. Among the findings: Compared to men, women are involved in far fewer fatal traffic accidents. The California Department of Motor Vehicles also says women are involved in far fewer accidents in general, but they cite the fact that men drive more miles as a contributing factor. The DMV also says teen drivers have far more accidents than middle-aged women or men - and being young and male are the greatest risk factors for predicting your likelihood of being involved in a future accident. The bottom line: There is no credible statistical information to corroborate the existence of DWA. This is not to say that there are no Asian women in need of more skill behind the wheel. However, the jury is still out whether the numbers proportionately exceed that of the general population. - RN Comment on this blog: Letter to the Editor.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: THE BEST OF THE WEEK November 5, 2004

Israeli Women Motorists Dance Nude in India?

NEW DELHI - India's northwestern state of Rajasthan has punished local officials after residents complained a group of Israeli women motorists had danced in the nude near a town revered by Hindus, according to The Indian Express. The newspaper says the incident took place during a party organized just outside the temple-studded town of Pushkar last month to celebrate the end of the Desert Queen rally in which 45 women rallyists from Israel took part. Local lawmakers and residents told Indian Express reporters that the women "got drunk, threw their clothes on the stage and danced naked under the moonlight." The local administrator and tourism officials have since been replaced. Organizers of the Indian leg of the motor rally denied there was any nude dancing and said the incident had been blown out of proportion. For more details, see the story in Reuters. Comment on this blog: Letter to the Editor.

SATELLITE RADIO GETS SIRIUS - PART TWO November 2, 2004

Howard Stern's Move to Satellite Radio May Improve Car Sales? Not!

All right. In the October 31, 2004 edition of the LA Car Blog, we speculated that Howard Stern's jump to satellite radio could increase new car sales. Not all on the LA Car staff concur. Here's a fresh take. I'm sorry. Satellite radio will not increase vehicle sales. Not even in a car executive's most fantastic dreams. To listen to satellite radio, no one needs to buy a new car. A couple hundred bucks gets you a receiver that plugs into any in-dash audio system. Find them at appliance retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City and Radio Shack ## and of course at XM Radio and Sirius Radio. I suspect no one will buy one brand of vehicle over another because of the factory-installed satellite receiver. Can you hear a couple in a dealership saying, "Oh, honey. Let's get the Explorer rather than the TrailBlazer because it has Sirius"? I can't. The car industry seems agog recently over satellite radio, but I'm not signing up. Not yet anyway. XM and Sirius have a few hurdles to clear first, including profitability. The two companies have invested something like $3 billion so far, and I wonder how long it will take them to get out from under that debt. It's possible one or both services could go bankrupt, leading to a merger ... and to receivers that pick up both satellite signals. Technically, it's a piece of cake. And consider that the concept of pay radio might not catch on. If it doesn't, look for satellite radio to become free, supported by a proven broadcasting business model: advertising. So I'm going to wait. In a few years we might have receivers that pick up both XM and Sirius. Without monthly subscription fees. Maybe even without Howard Stern. The future's looking brighter already. - Chuck Dapoz Comment on this blog: Letter to the Editor.

A JOURNAL OF LOS ANGELES & ITS CAR CULTURE

That was LA Car's subtitle when it started back in 1997. Since then, it became Reporting From Car Culture Ground Zero, then From The Heart of Car Culture, to today's The Cars and Culture of Southern California. At all times, however, we aimed to chronicle the Southland's spirit - much like a journal. Now, the diary goes daily. LA Car has always been a great source to come back to from month-to-month, to see what articles and reviews have been added to our rather staggering database. With the LA Car Blog, we give you a reason to come back virtually every day, as we will be posting new blog entries virtually every day or two (well, there will be occasional vacation breaks).

So, go ahead and bookmark www.lacar.com. We'll be sure to always provide a link to the latest blog entry. In the meantime, welcome to the journal and journey into the cars and culture of Southern California.

- Roy Nakano

For past LA Car Blog entries, click the following: October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004