A Brief Background

Hey everyone, I'm Stephen. I'm assuming the first people to read this already know me, but I'm very into cars. This is just a way to get my name out, I'm hoping to someday have a career along the lines of an automotive journalist. That's obviously a while in the future, but I enjoy writing on most subjects that relate to cars in any way, so this should be a fun way to get a head start on the competition.
Since this is mainly about cars, I'll fill everyone in on my car background, and what I intend to cover in this blog, though I'm sure the purpose and posts will vary as time passes. I've been somewhat of a car fanatic since just before January 2004. I was driving to Toronto with my family for a New Year reunion, and we stopped at one of those ridiculously well-outfitted rest stops...the ones that have many restaurants, and at least one Hudson News store. I wanted to do some reading on the long drive, so I bought an issue of Car and Driver. The rest, as they say, is history. After a fantastic vacation in Toronto (where, oddly enough, none of my relatives live...it must have been a viable meeting point because many of them live in Michigan) I subscribed to Car and Driver. Since then, I have subscribed to Motor Trend, MPH, Super Street, and a number of other car magazines. The only continued subscription has been Car and Driver, for their mix of humor, information, and the way in which they explain the cars they test. I enjoy driving, and I have a decent choice of vehicles upon which to base my thoughts of car performance and purpose. My mom has a 2001 Toyota Corolla with a 1.8L, 125hp inline 4...maybe an LE model, but I'll check later. My dad has a 2002 Lincoln Continental with a 4.6L, 275hp V8. My dad also has a 2000 Ford Windstar with a 3.8L, 200hp V6. That's a decent list of options, because the Corolla is classified as a compact car, the Continental as a midsize luxury car, and the Windstar as, well, a minivan. Oddly enough, despite the far superior acceleration and comfort of the Continental, I enjoy driving the Corolla the most. It's so simple that it feels like an extension of the driver, and you don't have to wait for it to respond. It's light and reliable, and it handles simply. At the limit, it understeers as most FWD (front-wheel-drive) cars will. And the power isn't fantastic, but the engine is willing to do what you ask, and it returns great fuel economy when it's driven normally: up to 38 mpg.

It's already fairly late at night, and I'm hanging out at Will's house as I try to write this, so I'm sure I'll forget important things which should be mentioned in the first post of a blog, but I at least want to make this post. Something I should do, just to fill in the average non-car-obsessed person, is create a basic list of terms and abbreviations that I'll use to save time in future posts. If I forget to mention a term now, I'll try attempt to remember to define it when I use it. And of course, questions about anything relating to posts (or cars in general) will always be welcome. If you think you know a fair bit about cars...or even just the basics, you might want to save some time and skip over this next section. Alright, here goes for the list:
hp: Horsepower
lb-ft: a measurement of torque, which is the twisting power of an engine
DOHC: Double Overhead Cams (the camshaft is what controls the intake and exhaust valves of your engine...I'll go into more detail with that later as well)
SOHC: Single Overhead Cams
Cylinder: The chamber in which the gasoline explodes in an engine
I4, I6, V6, V8, V10, V12, V16, etc.: The layout of the cylinders of an engine
Piston: The metal device that fits inside the cylinder, and is driven down by the explosion. I'm hoping most people that read this will know that.
Hybrid: Any vehicle that has two methods of drive, such as an electric motor and a gasoline engine. I'm guessing you've heard of the Prius?
Supercar: Any vehicle which may be outrageously pointless except for incredible performance. And when I say performance, I mean speed and handling, not miles-per-gallon.
MPG: miles per gallon. The average distance that any vehicle can travel on a single gallon of fuel.

Now that I've gone through a basic list of terms, I think I'm done with this post. For anyone who is wondering, Will has just annihilated Patrick with a score of 20 to 6 in Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I'm going to join in the fun for a few minutes before I head home. If you read this far, I'm sorry you have so much free time...just kidding. I appreciate readers, if you have any questions, comments, or new ideas for anything, please let me know. I'll update this fairly frequently (no, not hourly, but weekly) so I'll get something interesting out here sometime soon. Thanks for reading, I'll catch y'all soon.


-Stephen