Camaro ZL1 is no longer Corvette’s poor little cousin

Chevrolet people recently announced that the new Camaro Zl1 is now officially a member in the 11 seconds club. A stock ZL1 with an automatic transmission ran a quarter mile in 11.93 seconds reaching 116 miles per hour speed.

"The ZL1 is great at everything, and we're very proud of that," said Tony Roma, Camaro ZL1 program engineering manager: "You can take it to the drag strip and run 11-second quarter-miles all day long. You can also take it to a road course, where it's balanced, handles well, and does exactly what you want."

General Motors officials recently stated that 2012 Camaro ZL1 could accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in four seconds using street legal components.

Taking a phrase burning rubber to a new level the new ZL1 is a throwback to a special-order 1969 Camaro ZL1 that was renowned for its performance on the drag strip.

“We know many of customers will take their ZL1 to the drag strip,” said Gordon Rojewski, driveline development engineer – and who is also an experienced drag racer and owner of a turbocharged, 920-horsepower street car. “Some may just go once, to experience the full potential of the 580-horsepower LSA engine. Others may be more serious, going every other weekend with a set of slicks in the trunk. As such, we set out to make sure the ZL1 would perform for them – on the first pass and on the 100th.”

I had to take a look at a newly constructed ZL1 which would give any corvette a run for its money at a local dealership, Community Chevrolet. 580 horsepower engine and a sleek exterior took my breath away.

Texting and Driving

One would think that creating a law that bans texting while driving is a no brainer, especially considering that texting is a preferred form of communication for our youth. Yet only thirty eight out of fifty states of our country have implemented that law. The latest state, Alabama which will have a ban on texting behind the wheel effective August 1^st, will fine first time offenders $25.00, second timers $50.00 and $75.00 for all subsequent offences. In California where texting while driving ban went into effect on January 2009, first time violators are subjected to a $20.00 fine. All subsequent convictions are subject to $50.00 fine. Note that even though these convictions will appear on your DMV record they will not cost you a point or adversely affect your insurance premium. Are these fines severe enough to enforce the law? How serious is this situation?

Yesterday I went to take a look at the Honda that belongs to the City of Burbank. It was smashed beyond repair. The car was parked while it was hit by a young motorist who destroyed two other vehicles at the same time.” He was going thirty five miles per hour and he didn’t even stop,” exclaimed Tim, city supervisor:” There were no tire marks. The kid swore up and down that he wasn’t texting.”

Fortunately all three vehicles were parked and the young kid walked away unharmed. But how many accidents of this nature end up with fatalities? Are you talking to your children about texting and driving? My twenty year old son likes to text at the dinner table or even while he is talking to me on the phone.  He says he doesn’t text while he drives, but he checks his messages. Do you check your messages while you drive? Is it safe? No!

A cause of a major train wreck in Chatsworth several years ago was attributed to a train engineer texting while on the job.  How scary it would be to think that our airline pilots are texting while in the air? How many more fatalities do we need to stop ignoring potentially life altering dangers associated with texting and driving?

“Now more than three quarters of our states outlaw one of the riskiest behaviors behind the wheel- texting and driving,” said U.S transportation Secretary Ray La Hood. What about the rest of the country? For more information on text messaging law click on http://dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/

Replace versus Repair.

They say there is more than one way to skin a cat. There is also more than one way to repair your automobile. In this article we will review a never ending debate of replace versus repair.

In a perfect world every damaged part would be replaced by original part made by manufacturer of your vehicle. Cost, availability and quality of repairs are three major factors when considering the best way to restore your automobile to pre accident condition. Of course if you live in Africa finding a replacement fender for Chevy Impala might be a bit of a challenge. I have recently interviewed a body man from Ghana who took pride in being able to straighten almost any panel and showed me pictures of parts he was forced to repair due to unavailability. With twenty five years of experience in collision repair industry I was simply amazed.

Fortunately we do not have the same problems in Southern California. Aside from few minor instances, such as trying to get a performance Porsche wheel through customs or having a wiring harness for a corvette on back order for several months, one can get any auto part imaginable in a timely manner. Should we then replace every damaged part?

Just the other day a proud owner of Chevy Suburban told me while dropping it off for repairs:” I don’t want any Bondo on my car and I want all new parts.”

“That is preferred Modus Operandus at Burbank Body Shop,” I replied.

Unfortunately it was 1998 Suburban and if I was to adhere to my customer’s wishes the cost of repairs would exceed the value of the vehicle. On the other hand an appraiser employed by State Farm Insurance, while negotiating a price of repairs with me said: “This door cost thirteen hundred dollars. Can we try to repair it? I will give you sixteen hours to do it.” Other words, insurance guy was willing to pay a body man to spend two days to repair this door. Is it reasonable?

Obviously the cost of repairs is important, but what about quality? What are the criteria’s to use when deciding repair versus replace? Generally when the cost of repairing of an existing panel approaches the price of replacement part, the new panel is recommended. Several different formulas are used in the industry to decide on repair versus replace. They take into account painting of the damaged panel along with blending adjacent panels and other operations as well as time required or as we call it cycle time. These formulas are complicated. There are also formulas on how much Bondo can be used on a panel, considering that it shrinks with time and prone to creating cracks on paint.

Ultimately, the decision whether to repair or replace a panel should be made with participation and best interest of one person in mind, vehicle owner. Transparency and communication between shop owner and vehicle owner is the key to successful repair, because just as often as I get requests for all new parts, customers say:” I don’t care what you do, just make it cheap. I am paying cash.”

Replace or repair? You be the judge, but remember that “ The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of the cheap price is forgotten.”