We had our first-ever British Leyland Index Of Effluency winner (the Mr. Bean 1962 Austin Mini was built prior to the British Leyland era) and the newest entry in LeMons history (2005). It was one of the cleanest races yet, at least in terms of cars bashing into each other, though we did have one of the highest black-flag totals in LeMons history; not quite up to Thunderhill or Buttonwillow levels, but close. We saw three different air-cooled Volkswagens (two of which were kaput fairly early), a Fiat Brava, and the usual Texas-style hordes of Mustangs, BMW E30s, and Nissan Zs.

Thanks to Nick Pon aka TheEastBayKid and RoadRunner for photographic help. Additional thanks to Team Tetanus Neon for letting me bolt the BumperCam to their car's C pillar.

Not enough LeMons action for you? Check out the top lemons of past races: Altamont '07 • Arse Freeze '07 • Altamont '08 • Ohio '08 • New England '08 • South '08 • Texas '08 • Arse Freeze '08 • Texas Spring '09 • South Spring '09 • Reno '09 • New Orleans '09 • New England '09 • Buttonwillow '09 • South Fall '09 • Ohio '09

1. Race Hard Race Ugly Soot, BMW 325iS
Overall Winner
Best Lap: 2:01.289

2. GT $500 Racing, Toyota Celica
Winner, Class Good
BS Penalty laps: 2
Best Lap: 2:05.539

3. Speed Racer, Y'all, Saturn SC2
Winner, Class Bad
Winner, Least Horrible Yank Tank Award
Best Lap: 2:05.731

4. Johansson Brothers- Flying Monkey Racing, Toyota Supra
Best Lap: 2:09.378

5. Race Hard Race Uglier HDGB.com, BMW 325iS
Best Lap: 2:03.139

6. Team JB Weld, Pontiac Grand Prix
Best Lap: 2:01.699

7. WARTHOG RACING, BMW 325e
Best Lap: 2:04.248

8. Guano By Desmodus Rufus Dump #2, Mazda RX-7
Best Lap: 2:06.963

9. Sheila and the Sheiks, Ford Mustang
Best Lap: 2:05.590

10. Swine Flew Raycing, Infiniti J30
Best Lap: 2:09.733

11. Prancing Donkey, Acura Integra
Quickest lap of race
Best Lap: 1:57.750

12. Schrödinger's Crapbox, Dodge Neon
Best Lap: 2:07.175

13. Team Blue Goose 2, Volkswagen Rabbit
Best Lap: 2:04.062

14. FUBAR Racing, Ford Escort
Best Lap: 2:05.099

15. Unintended Acceleration- Audi, Audi 90 Quattro
Best Lap: 2:06.188

16. Live Oak Nudist Resort II, BMW 320i
Winner, Highest Placing 70s Contender award
Best Lap: 2:12.873

17. Rolling Chicane Racing, Honda Civic
Best Lap: 2:09.465

18. Team Flying Wrench, Nissan 300ZX
Best Lap: 2:11.148

19. Rum Runners, Chevrolet Malibu
Winner, Grassroots Motorsports Most From The Least Award
Best Lap: 2:17.768

20. Polizei und Banditen, BMW 325e
BS Penalty laps: 30
Best Lap: 2:04.301

21. Team Festivus, Ford Festiva
Best Lap: 2:17.368

22. Los Cucaroches, Ford Mustang
Best Lap: 1:59.981

23. Piranha Racing, BMW 325e
Winner, Best Pit Party Animals award
Best Lap: 2:12.916

24. Inglorious Bastards Racing, Datsun 240Z
Best Lap: 2:05.333

25. Red Rocket Ratnest Revival, Ford Taurus SHO
Best Lap: 2:00.788

26. Property Devaluation Racing, Ford Mustang
Best Lap: 2:04.995

27. Normal Y Ass Parade D, Toyota Paseo
Best Lap: 2:09.792

28. Apex Vinyl Driving then Drinking, Isuzu Impulse
Best Lap: 2:10.976

29. Junk Punch Racing, Ford Mustang
Best Lap: 2:18.873

30. I GOTTA P, Honda Prelude
Best Lap: 2:13.692

31. Tetanus Neon, Dodge Neon
Best Lap: 2:08.354

32. Team Screwdriver, Nissan Sentra
Best Lap: 2:16.439

33. Dirty Some Beaches, Honda Civic Wag-O-Van
Best Lap: 2:13.974

34. Rust Pirate Racing, Chevrolet Camaro
Winner, Class Ugly
Best Lap: 2:09.471

35. Team Israel, Opel GT
Best Lap: 2:03.594

36. BikiniRacer.com's Men Of LeMons, Mazda RX-7
Best Lap: 2:08.879

37. Ritual Killing Motorsports, Nissan 200SX
Best Lap: 2:14.425

38. Speed Racer & The Racing Rednex, Ford Mustang
Winner, Dangerous Homemade Technology award
Best Lap: 2:12.208

39. 800-2B-Petty
Best Lap: 2:09.459

40. Team Mazdarati, Mazda Protege
Best Lap: 2:15.833

41. TSOL- Totally SHIT OUTTA LUCK, Saab 9000
Winner, Über-Recidivist award
Best Lap: 2:09.775

42. Team Sour Puss, Acura Integra
Best Lap: 2:08.299

43. Team Iron Butt Racing, Toyota Supra
BS Penalty laps: 5
Best Lap: 2:06.224

44. Kung Fu and the Fu King Racers, Toyota Paseo
Best Lap: 2:10.359

45. Secret Society of Skanks and Bitches, BMW 5 Series
Best Lap: 2:14.647

46. Black Knight Racing: It's Just a Flesh Wound, Triumph TR7
Winner, Index Of Effluency
Best Lap: 2:08.014

47. Longhorn Raceworks, Toyota Celica
Best Lap: 2:04.664

48. Dogged Racing, Ford Probe
BS Penalty laps: 20
Best Lap: 2:06.479

49. TnT Racing, Volkswagen Golf
Best Lap: 2:03.506

50. Revolutionary Racing, BMW E36
BS Penalty laps: 48
Best Lap: 2:05.414

51. Lost In The Dark, Mazda Miata
Best Lap: 2:07.855

52. MJ-HAGBROS
Best Lap: 2:06.908

53. State Pooper, Ford Mustang
Best Lap: 2:04.402

54. Never Give Up, BMW 1602
Best Lap: 2:05.721

55. Starsky and Hooch, Nissan Sentra SE-R
Best Lap: 2:05.936

56. Brass Burro Racing, Ford Mustang II
Best Lap: 2:05.161

57. Cupcake Racing, Ford Thunderbird
Best Lap: 2:16.851

58. Prison Break Racing, BMW 325e
Best Lap: 2:23.060

59. The UNDERGROUND, Nissan 300ZX Turbo
Best Lap: 2:05.335

60. Guild Of Calamitous Intent, Mazda RX-7
Best Lap: 2:08.561

61. Team Miagra, Mazda Miata
BS Penalty laps: 50
Best Lap: 2:06.547

62. LBB Racing Presents: Magnum P.O.S., Nissan 240SX
Best Lap: 2:12.451

63. Airwolf Neon, Dodge Neon
Best Lap: 2:04.791

64. Broner Motorsports, Ford Probe
Best Lap: 2:17.897

65. Academics Drives Dreams, Geo Prizm
Best Lap: 2:10.136

66. Ghetto Motorsports, Mazda RX-7
Best Lap: 2:02.681

67. El Toro Loco, Ford Taurus SHO
Best Lap: 2:04.013

68. RustBucketRacers, Chevrolet Cavalier
Best Lap: 2:17.530

69. Hondookie, Honda CRX
Best Lap: 2:10.924

70. Team NAFTA, Ford Mustang
Best Lap: 2:11.698

71. Stick Pony Racing, Ford Mustang
Best Lap: 2:07.586

72. Mostly Harmless Racing, Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
Winner, Organizer's Choice
Best Lap: 2:19.192

73. NSF Racing, Honda CRX
Best Lap: 2:27.955

74. TDH Old School, Ford Mustang
Best Lap: 2:10.388

75. Jewish Defense League BMW, BMW 2002
Best Lap: 2:17.391

76. Team Heffer-Weizen, Volkswagen Scirocco
Best Lap: 2:16.513

77. Team Sensory Assault, Mazda RX-7
Winner, Judges' Choice award
Best Lap: 2:06.731

78. Fat Bastard Racing, Datsun 260Z
Best Lap: 2:15.862

79. HAR-HAR Racing, Toyota MR2
Best Lap: 2:07.361

80. Kentucky Fried Racing, Honda Civic
Best Lap: 2:19.524

81. Poage Ma Thoin Racing, Fiat Brava
Winner, "What's This? Do I Need One?" award (rear-view mirror)
Best Lap: 2:23.435

82. TiredBird Racing, Pontiac Firebird
Best Lap: 2:05.019

83. The SCHWING Team, Toyota Corolla FX16
Best Lap: 2:06.678

84. They Ain't Right Racing, Toyota MR2
Best Lap: 2:07.920

85. Nickels Or Nothing, Toyota 240Z
Best Lap: 2:05.255

86. Gideons Gone Wild (GGW) Racing, BMW 318i
BS Penalty laps: 47
Best Lap: 2:04.900

87. Hoosier Daddy, Mitsubishi Galant
BS Penalty laps: 20
Best Lap: 2:13.636

88. Advance Team, Honda Civic
Best Lap: 2:11.316

89. Pucker Factor Racing, Nissan Sentra SE-R
BS Penalty laps: 25
Best Lap: 2:06.220

90. Out Of Town Racing, BMW 325eS
Best Lap: 2:03.458

91. Live Oak Nudist Resort Inc, Ford Taurus SHO
Best Lap: 2:00.816

92. Shake and Bake (Dennit Racing), Ford Mustang
Best Lap: 2:04.982

93. Organic Z, Datsun 280ZX
Best Lap: 2:05.620

94. Property Devaluation Racing II
Winner, I Got Screwed award
Best Lap: 2:05.611

95. Team ROADKILL, Volkswagen Fastback
Best Lap: 2:19.408

96. Little Buckaroo, Volkswagen Beetle
Best Lap: 2:31.247

97. Team Zip Tie, Ford Taurus SHO
Best Lap: 2:02.922

98. FROGMASTERS, MGB-GT
Best Lap: 2:09.586

99. WT Motorsports, BMW 535i
Best Lap: 2:30.431

100. Team Kachow, Eagle Talon
Best Lap: 2:04.807

101. Weezer Racing, Ford Escort
Best Lap: 2:13.214

102. The Bastardos de LeMons, Lincoln Mark VIII
Best Lap: 2:07.603

103. Team Blue Goose I
Best Lap: 2:03.904

104. Turd Burglars, Toyota MR2
Best Lap: 2:07.219

105. Team Supraleggara, Toyota Supra
Best Lap: 2:16.111

106. Team RSC, Eagle Talon
Best Lap: 2:31.034

107. Ludicrous Speed!, Volkswagen Jetta
BS Penalty laps: 80
Best Lap: 2:10.349

108. Der Hoff, BMW 325
Best Lap: 2:18.767

109. SnafuRacing's Fancy Lawnmower, Plymouth Neon
Best Lap: 2:13.991

110. Alamo City Rollers, BMW 325e
BS Penalty laps: 17
Best Lap: 2:16.556

111. Shrimp Boots, BMW 325i
Winner, Best Pit Party Animals award
Best Lap: 2:21.434

112. Substandard Racing, AMC Gremlin
Best Lap: 3:13.321

113. Tobacco Advocacy Racing Program, Toyota MR2
Winner, Heroic Fix
Best Lap: 2:36.643

114. MustangIInicorn, Ford Mustang Cobra II
Best Lap: 2:28.977

115. Red or Green, Mitsubishi Eclipse
Best Lap: 2:23.094

116. The Whip-Its, Nissan 280ZX
Best Lap: 3:01.645

117. Team Clunker (Stimulus wuz denied), Nissan 300ZX
Best Lap: 2:56.444

118. Apex Vinyl TX Racing, Toyota Hilux
Best Lap: NA (didn't finish first lap)

119. Bayou Degradable, Ford Pinto
Best Lap: NA (didn't finish first lap)

120. Hooters Dirty South Racing Team, BMW 535i
BS Penalty laps: 169
Best Lap: 2:05.310

121. Unintended Acceleration- Miata, Mazda Miata
BS Penalty laps: 500
Best Lap: 2:08.998

122. Union Jack Racing, Mini Cooper S
BS Penalty laps: 1066
Best Lap: 2:09.793

123. Flying Hyoondai, Merkur XR4Ti
BS Penalty laps: 2000
Best Lap: 2:07.082

The son of a garage owner and car enthusiast, O'Quinn never lost his interest in automobiles and automobila. His collection rivals almost anyone's and includes hundreds of famous and well-known cars including half-a-dozen Duesenbergs, one of JFK's Continental limos, a Batmobile, FDR's Packard Limo, and a Ford Escort once owned by Pope John Paul II.

On a personal note, I've met O'Quinn and know his friends and they remember him as a big, powerful, gregarious man. He seemed every bit the big Texan his giant frame projected. [Chron] (h/t to Zerin)

In fact, several vehicles broke down during transponder testing, including a Pinto wagon, a "numbers matching" Mustang Cobra II, and the six-wheeled Toyota truck. We're sure they'll all be back in business... eventually. Check in later for a standings update!

The addition of audio recording makes these videos all the more enjoyable. There's the first individual, unable to stop laughing about how easy it was to steal the car... until he realizes why. Another individual calls a friend to brag about his good luck. Our favorite has to be the pair at the end with their promises of a police chase and "not going back to jail." Oh, and she claims to be pregnant. Classy!

Everyone seems to be smoking in this videos, which makes believe no one here is capable of making long-term decisions about their well-being. According to the police, they're a perfect 52-52 in arrests and convictions because it's hard to mount a defense when they have you on video calling someone to brag about stealing a car from inside a stolen car. Enjoy the video below.

[Houston Chronicle]

Some parts of Houston experienced 8-to-10 inches of rain overnight, on top of rain from two weeks of severe storms. Zerin Dube, at Speed:Sport:Life, was trapped in his house this morning as his driveway filled with water.

Cars, trucks, vans, and even a few police cars are floating around underneath the highways. Most major interstates are above water, but drivers exiting managed to plow right into the flooded feeder roads. It's a good day to own a monster truck with a snorkel. You still look like a jerk, but you're a dry jerk.

Photo Credit: Dave77459 @ Flickr, BaldHeritic @ Flickr, KHOU.com, Countryboytravels @ Chron.com, JCWard22 @ Chron.com, SakarBhusal @ Chron.com

The good news is 2008 saw a major decrease in traffic, with drivers in the 100 largest metropolitan areas dealing with a 29% decrease in congestion on average. The bad news is we're seeing it because of an increase in gas prices, which led to less driving and more carpooling, and a decrease in jobs, which led to more people sitting on the couch hoping their unemployment doesn't run out so they can afford to keep their benefits. It's a vicious circle. Much like the pain we're seeing in these community-by-community breakdowns of the most congested intersections in these 20 most congested metro areas.

1. Los Angeles	2. New York	3. Chicago	4. Dallas Fort Worth
5. Washington, D.C.	6. Houston	7. San Francisco	8. Boston
9. Seattle	10. Minneapolis-St. Paul	11. Philadelphia	12. Atlanta
13. Phoenix	14. Miami	15. San Diego	16. Denver
17. Baltimore	18. San Jose	19. Detroit	20. Riverside-San Bernardino

Though traffic does correlate to population rank, with the top four metropolitan areas also in the four worst cities for traffic, there are some anomalies. The Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria area is only the eighth most populous region in the country but is the fifth worst when it comes to traffic due to its high capacity of employment in the area and the lack of good housing stock for middle class families within "The Beltway" area.

Detroit is 11th largest in terms of population but only has the 19th worst traffic situation, primarily because of a 47% decrease in traffic year-over-year due to the economy and dramatic job loss. The collapse of the housing market hit Riverside-San Bernardino, a.k.a. the Inland Empire, hardest of all. The area saw a drop of 57% in traffic congestion, which is almost the same as the 55% drop in median home prices. While there's probably not a 1:1 ratio between the change in home values and congestion, they're likely connected.

Areas less affected by the housing market still experienced decreases in traffic, but at a lower level. For instance, home prices in Dallas remained stable and traffic congestion only decreased by 13% year-over-year, causing Dallas to move up to the fourth most congested city.

Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago are, as expected, still the worst cities for traffic in America. Los Angeles is so bad that peak hour congestion in Los Angeles is twice what it is in Chicago. The combination of a large population and low density makes L.A. even worse than the more populous New York. Compared to the Big Apple, Los Angeles also has fewer mass transit options.

Click on any of the cities above to see their current rank, population, congestion change and worst time of day for traffic. You can also view a gallery of the 100 worst intersections that fall within each city. A look at the hotspots reveal a few similar trends: intersecting highways, two-lane sections with onramps and merging lanes.

If you're reading this post it means you've actually made it home or made it to work. Congrats. There's probably someone still stuck in traffic.

[via Forbes, Google Earth]

We saw plenty of the usual LeMons suspects at MSR in Houston last weekend, with 10 Mustangs, 6 RX-7s, 6 E30s, 4 CRXs, 4 Neons, and 4 Miatas showing up, but we also had our first-ever Infiniti Q45, a pair of Toyota pickups, an Opel GT, and an MGB-GT (which managed to get around the track startlingly quickly, in between lengthy jail sentences in the Penalty Box). In addition to Mustangs coming in first and second, we saw some other world-turned-topsy-turvy events. How about a LeMons race in which four Saabs enter… and all four are still running at the end? Sure, all the Saabs earned the new-for-Houston punishment for hitting tire walls and/or cones (old tires bolted to the car's roof), but they didn't throw rods or send major suspension components skittering off into the weeds in the first 30 minutes of the race! A four-banger Mustang finished second, a Saturn came in third, an 80s Dodge Daytona managed to contend, and the majority of BMW E30s raced for two solid days without exhibiting the usual maddeningly undiagnosable electrical woes (blown head gaskets and axle failures, certainly, but we didn't see the all-too-common cruel drama of E30 crew members weeping over multimeters and wiring diagrams).

This time I'm going to include each team's best lap time, so y'all can see for yourselves how "fast" does not equal "win" in the 24 Hours Of LeMons. Those of you contemplating horsepower-enhancing cheats would do well to note that the four-cylinder Mustangs performed just as well as their V8 siblings, and you Miata and E30 guys can go ahead and keep thumping your chests about those absurdly quick lap times… but remember, your favorite cars got stomped by a Saturn! Those of you wanting obsessively complete lap info can go here; keep in mind that a few cars may be showing too-low best lap times due to having taken what the corner workers dubbed the "Neon Bypass" (in honor of the oft-penalized Blueballs Neons) off-road shortcut around the chicanes.

Before you go check out our 95 Texas racin' machines, I've got a video that true 24 Hours Of LeMons fans ought to find quite entertaining. First, we've got one of the hairiest Integra-jumps-BMW-wheel bits ever caught on film, courtesy of the Unintended Acceleration Audi's in-car camera:


Zerin Dube, editor of Speed:Sport:Life volunteered for judging duties at the race, and he also did a good job covering the goings-on at his site. You'll enjoy the Penalty Box Punishments and the rest of the SSL race coverage.

Thanks to Zerin Dube, TheEastBayKid, Myke Toman, and a whole bunch of race team members for many of the photographs below.
When you're done here, be sure to check out the participants of previous LeMons events, including Arse Freeze '08, Texas '08, Toledo '08, New England '08, South '08, San Francisco '08, Arse Freeze '07, and San Francisco '07. I'll put up some more LeMons stuff when I get back to my normal weekend schedule, too. And now, the racers of the 2009 Gator-O-Rama:

The judicial bribes reached an all-time high, as did the number of Mustangs and Saabs. In fact, this race draws so many Mustangs that a brand new award will be issued: the Mustang That Made Us Go "DANG!" Trophy. As for Index of Effluency, the Opel GT and MGB-GT are the clear leaders (along with a sucker-fan-equipped Toyota pickup; more on that fine machine later), but they still have to finish a respectable number of laps to stay in the running. I'm way too beat to go into any detail about the rest of what we saw, so here's a big gallery to give you an idea of the vehicles that will be racing in the morning. First, though, we have to finish inspecting the couple of dozen cars that, for whatever reason, didn't go through the inspection process on Friday.

Nothing Leaves
On any other Saturday at Bill Heard in Sugar Land, Texas, the dealership's main sales lot, one of the largest in the state, would be filled with salespeople and prospective buyers. This Saturday it's empty but for two armed security guards who claim they were hired by GM to make sure that "nothing leaves" the lot full of product. The two guards were out-of-state, called in to guard locations affected by the recent Hurricane Ike, and were reassigned to this shift last Thursday after the last dealership employees left.

A line of unsold trucks sitting unattended on the Bill Heard Chevrolet lot in Sugar Land, Texas.

Instead of protecting damaged banks and buildings along the Gulf Coast, the two guards are the only sources of information for customers driving up to the dealership looking for answers. There's not much the guards can tell people, other than the dealership is closed. For most people, it's just a matter of having to look elsewhere for a new car. But for others there are serious unresolved issues.

One man drove three hours from Corpus Christi with a check, expecting to pick up a truck for his son, sitting in the passenger seat. The resolution to that issue is fairly simple: they're going to have to try and get the same price somewhere else. Another man, a recent immigrant who only wanted to go by the name Eric, needs the license plates for the Chevy Express work van he recently purchased. There are numerous others in this exact predicament.

When Eric arrives at the dealership he pleads with the guard to let him inside to get his plates. The guard attempts to explain that he's sympathetic to the man's circumstances but there wouldn't be anyone there to help him even if he did go inside. Eric shows that he's paid for the van and then shows him the expired paper plates. To make maters worse, the maintenance light on the van has already illuminated, indicating that there could be a problem with it.

He's actually better off than some. Eric has ownership papers and should be able to get plates elsewhere. Those lacking those papers will have to go through other channels to get proof of ownership before they can go to the state to apply for permanent plates. Exacerbating the situation is the fact many people in the Houston area still don't have power and haven't seen the news that the dealership is closed. It isn't until they're stopped at the gate that they realize something is amiss.

Working Late To Help Customers?
Empty chairs, family photos and deflated balloons from the sudden closure and departure.

Inside the dealership's main offices it looks as though the entire showroom floor was frozen in time. Deflated balloons hang off of cubicle corners and showroom models. A loan application sits on a desk, unfinished. A framed picture of a family going down a roller coaster at Sea World hangs above an uncleared desk, one of many family photos that indicate the suddenness of the announcement.

If you're to believe one of the managers of this particular dealership, the employees stayed late into the night helping customers get their plates processed and out the door. Contradicting this is an article from Wednesday in the Houston Chronicle in which the operations manager of Bill Heard Sugar Land, Linda Patterson, claimed they were selling vehicles into the night and would continue to stay in business. But by the next morning it was announced they would be closing, possibly for good.

This leaves customers in the process of buying a car from the dealership, perhaps even ones sold cars on Wednesday night, without answers. This isn't unique to this one dealership. In Georgia, people are reporting unreturned deposits and cars locked in the company's shop.

A History Of Problems
An engine light shines in a truck recently purchased from Heard. The owner's paper plates are expired and he said no one let him know the dealership was closing.

The company claimed in a statement that "rising fuel prices, a product portfolio of mostly heavy trucks and sport utility vehicles, economic recession, unfavorable local market conditions for vehicle sales, the crisis in the banking and financing sectors, and other factors all combined to create a business environment in which the company simply did not have the resources needed to continue to operate." It would be hard to ignore, though, the many consumer issues the company has been famous for.

For the last few years, Bill Heard's dealerships generated numerous complaints for questionable business practices such as advertising cars they didn't have, selling lemons and sending out fake recall notices to attract customers. The online report from the Houston office of the Better Business Bureau includes numerous warnings, including this relevant passage:

The BBB worked in conjunction with Dateline NBC on an investigation of Bill Heard Chevrolet's advertising practices. It was alleged on film that this company did not have the cars in stock that they were advertising and that they immediately tried to sell a higher priced vehicle than the one advertised. Any time you make a purchase, it is best to comparison shop prior to making a purchase.

The Office of Consumer Affairs in Georgia issued 16 actions against Heard Enterprises in the past 15 years with total fines of approximately $280,000. There is at least one deceptive advertising case pending against Bill Heard, but the bankruptcy has thrown that into question.

What's Next?
A bankruptcy judge will have to determine what happens to the dealerships in the near future as filings show the company has between $500 million and $1 billion in assets and debts. Much of the money is owed to banks and various states in taxes. While other sources have pointed out the implications for the industry of this dealership failure, it isn't until you visit with customers on the ground that you realize how close to the consumer this failure is. In the meantime, customers who still have unresolved issues with Bill Heard will have to wait and see.

This crap makes our blood boil. We've been wrongfully towed, but due to lack of funds and time, we never pursued the issue. We were once rightfully towed as well, due to confusion about street signage. And we've been towed twice due to our vehicle being stolen. And let us tell you this: regardless of circumstances, it's a goddamn scam rife with collusion between municipalities and tow yards. A local Houston TV station dug into the corruption and found that despite court orders, tow yards aren't paying victims of wrongfully-towed vehicles. A new ordinance is in the works in the city saying that if tow yards don't pay illegally-towed citizens, their license could be revoked. What it should say is that the city is liable for the money owed.

Law Allows Wreckers To Take Cars, Money [Click2Houston]

Related:
Tigers to Tow Wilshire Parking Scofflaws [Internal]

Considering two in ten sales of Ford's Expedition come from Texas — and so not to distract from the company's environmentally friendly message at the Detroit show — Ford chose the Houston auto show to launch its newest large SUV late last week. Gaining much-needed cues from the latest F-Series pickups, the new Expedition gets similar upgrades as its Explorer did last year, including electronic rollover protection and six-speed transmission, plus an EL version that's long enough to compete with the Chevrolet Suburban. Ford's betting the market for truck-like SUVs will be decline slowly, with Texas likely being the last place it'll trail off.

Check out the press release at American Car Fans

Related:
Spy Photos: 2007 Ford Expedition, Only Bigger [internal]