Your Vehicle and Winter Driving

Winter is nearly upon us, is your car ready for the change of weather? According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), there are over 6,400,000 vehicle crashes each year and 24 percent of these crashes are weather-related. What kind of weather is the most dangerous? Believe it or not, statistically it is the rain. Because water reduces vehicle traction, maneuverability, as well as visibility - these three in combination can cause problems in rain and almost any kind of bad weather.

What are some things you can do to prepare your car for the highest degree of safety before inclement weather sets in? Here are a handful of items that you can add to your auto service checklist:

• Windshield Wiper Blades - Are your blades working properly. If you rarely use your blades during the summer and live in places where the sun can dry them out, it is most likely that the rubber will harden and the blades will not work as well when you need them. If you live in an area where you expect heavy snow during the winter, you may want to consider switching your blades for snow blades .

• Tires - This is a big one. There are many inspections to be made on your tires before winter sets in. The first is to make sure they are properly inflated. Under- or over-inflated tires can reduce the gripping action as the tread won't meet the road surface as it was designed to. If you are in a place where there is a lot of snow or ice, try using tires made just for this kind of weather. Snow and ice tires have a special tread compound and a unique tread design to increase road-gripping abilities.

• Your Shoes - Yes, your shoes. Snow and mud can compound on the bottom of your shoes, which can cause slippery braking. This and when the snow melts off of your shoes and gathers on the floor, can make your floorboard slippery and difficult for you to use your gas, clutch or brake accurately.

• Watch The Braking - If you have driven in ice and snow, this one is problem second nature to you, but so many people forget to retrain themselves and their driving habits during the winter. Avoid harsh use of your brakes while driving. If you need to make an emergency stop in a car equipped with an Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS), firmly press the pedal down and hold it to the floor.


• Coolant - Flush and refill your cooling system as recommended. Check the level, condition and concentration of the coolant periodically.

• Heater and Defroster - Make sure your cars heater and defroster are in good working condition before you have to depend on them. A failed heating system will leave passengers cold, while a broken defroster can dangerously reduce visibility.


• Battery - Nothing worse than getting caught in the cold with a dead battery and we all know how the weather can drain a battery. Before it gets too cold out, hire a technician to check your battery. Only professional equipment can detect weak batteries.

• Stay Prepared - Last, keep a blanket, shovel, flares and some high-energy snacks in the vehicle just in case you get hung up in the snow or cold weather. While it may be warm in your car and warm at the destination you will arrive at, anything can happen, leaving you without heat during your travels. When this happens you want to make sure you have something warm as a backup to wear until help comes.


Take precautions in checking over this list and hopefully your winter driving travels will be safe and warm.
Greg Chapman of Greg Chapman Motors is a knowledgable and leading provider of used cars, trucks, and SUV’s. Since 1959, Chapman motors has supplied reliable used car Austin and the surrounding area. For more information please visit http://www.gregchapmanmotors.com.

Aging and The Elderly Driver

Are the elderly safe to drive? For the most part, but if you have an aging parent, there are some things to look out for. Like anything that declines with age, so do driving skills. And yet, telling an elderly parent they aren't fit to drive can be one of the most difficult things to do. Driving represents freedom and independence. There are many things that can impair drivers who are elderly. They include: A slowdown in response time, a loss of clarity in vision and hearing, a loss of muscle strength and flexibility, drowsiness due to medications, a reduction in the ability to focus or concentration, and Lower tolerance for alcohol

Taken separately, none of these changes automatically means that elderly drivers should stop. But caregivers need to regularly evaluate the elderly person's driving skills to determine if they need to alter driving habits or stop driving altogether. So how can you tell if your elderly parent or friend may have a decline in their driving abilities? Signs include:

• Driving either too fast or too slow
• The need to ask passengers if it is clear to pass or turn
• Responding slowly to or not noticing pedestrians, bicyclists and other drivers
• Ignoring, disobeying or misinterpreting street signs and traffic lights
• Failing to yield to other cars or pedestrians who have the right-of-way
• Failing to judge distances between cars correctly
• Becoming easily frustrated and angry
• Appearing drowsy, confused or frightened
• Having one or more near accidents or near misses
• Drifting across lane markings or bumping into curbs
• Forgetting to turn on headlights after dusk
• Having difficulty with glare from oncoming headlights, streetlights, or other bright or shiny objects, especially at dawn, dusk and at night
• Having difficulty turning their head, neck, shoulders or body while driving or parking
• Having too little strength to turn the wheel quickly in an emergency
• Getting lost repeatedly, even in familiar areas

If you are a caregiver or have an elderly parent, find out whether the elderly driver has had their vision or hearing tested recently or have had a physical examination that tests their reflexes. Ask also whether they taking medications that might make them drowsy for confused?

If the elderly person you know is having problems driving, there are programs that do help them adjust to their physical conditions. One program is AARP or the American Association of Retired Persons. AARP has the 55-Alive Mature Driver Program, which helps older people deal with issues such as how to compensate for vision problems associated with aging.

There are some steps the elderly can take to adjust their driving needs to their age as well. They include:

• Avoiding driving at night and, if possible, at dawn or dusk
• Driving only to familiar locations
• Avoiding driving to places far away from home
• Avoiding expressways (freeways) and rush hour traffic
• Leaving plenty of time to get where they are going
• Not driving alone

If you feel these steps aren't sufficient, you might encourage your elderly loved one to take public transportation such as buses or trains. There are often discounts offered to seniors.

When it comes to the elderly and driving, it doesn't have to be all or nothing, there are many steps that can be taken before the final one of having their license taken away. It just may take some time or patience.

Greg Chapman of Greg Chapman Motors is a knowledgable and leading provider of used cars, trucks, and SUV’s. Since 1959, Chapman motors has supplied reliable used car Austin and the surrounding area. For more information please visit http://www.gregchapmanmotors.com.

Aging and The Elderly Driver

Are the elderly safe to drive? For the most part, but if you have an aging parent, there are some things to look out for. Like anything that declines with age, so do driving skills. And yet, telling an elderly parent they aren't fit to drive can be one of the most difficult things to do. Driving represents freedom and independence. There are many things that can impair drivers who are elderly. They include: A slowdown in response time, a loss of clarity in vision and hearing, a loss of muscle strength and flexibility, drowsiness due to medications, a reduction in the ability to focus or concentration, and Lower tolerance for alcohol

Taken separately, none of these changes automatically means that elderly drivers should stop. But caregivers need to regularly evaluate the elderly person's driving skills to determine if they need to alter driving habits or stop driving altogether. So how can you tell if your elderly parent or friend may have a decline in their driving abilities? Signs include:

• Driving either too fast or too slow
• The need to ask passengers if it is clear to pass or turn
• Responding slowly to or not noticing pedestrians, bicyclists and other drivers
• Ignoring, disobeying or misinterpreting street signs and traffic lights
• Failing to yield to other cars or pedestrians who have the right-of-way
• Failing to judge distances between cars correctly
• Becoming easily frustrated and angry
• Appearing drowsy, confused or frightened
• Having one or more near accidents or near misses
• Drifting across lane markings or bumping into curbs
• Forgetting to turn on headlights after dusk
• Having difficulty with glare from oncoming headlights, streetlights, or other bright or shiny objects, especially at dawn, dusk and at night
• Having difficulty turning their head, neck, shoulders or body while driving or parking
• Having too little strength to turn the wheel quickly in an emergency
• Getting lost repeatedly, even in familiar areas

If you are a caregiver or have an elderly parent, find out whether the elderly driver has had their vision or hearing tested recently or have had a physical examination that tests their reflexes. Ask also whether they taking medications that might make them drowsy for confused?

If the elderly person you know is having problems driving, there are programs that do help them adjust to their physical conditions. One program is AARP or the American Association of Retired Persons. AARP has the 55-Alive Mature Driver Program, which helps older people deal with issues such as how to compensate for vision problems associated with aging.

There are some steps the elderly can take to adjust their driving needs to their age as well. They include:

• Avoiding driving at night and, if possible, at dawn or dusk
• Driving only to familiar locations
• Avoiding driving to places far away from home
• Avoiding expressways (freeways) and rush hour traffic
• Leaving plenty of time to get where they are going
• Not driving alone

If you feel these steps aren't sufficient, you might encourage your elderly loved one to take public transportation such as buses or trains. There are often discounts offered to seniors.

When it comes to the elderly and driving, it doesn't have to be all or nothing, there are many steps that can be taken before the final one of having their license taken away. It just may take some time or patience.

Greg Chapman of Greg Chapman Motors is a knowledgable and leading provider of used cars, trucks, and SUV’s. Since 1959, Chapman motors has supplied reliable used car Austin and the surrounding area. For more information please visit http://www.gregchapmanmotors.com.

States Prosecuting for Driving and Texting

Driving and texting used to just be a bad and dangerous idea. Now in many states it is illegal and can get you a DWT or Driving While Texting ticket.

Why are states cracking down on those who drive and text? Studies have shown it is extremely dangerous. Lawmakers began to notice the fact that the death rate amount distracted drivers began climbing since 2004, and that most of these drivers were inexperienced motorists.

To prove a point, in an experiment, researchers enlisted 21 teens between the ages of 16 and 18 to take part in a series of simulated driving situations. Each teen sat in the bucket seat of a simulated car, driving the vehicle through simulated scenery, in rural, then urban settings in 10-minute time blocks. First the subjects drove through the virtual scenes without distractions of any kind. Then they drove through the same scenes while text messaging, talking on a cell phone, and finally while operating an MP3 music player. Except when the teens weren’t distracted by a device requiring finger movement, the driving was erratic with weaving in and out of lanes as well as running over virtual people.

Because the drivers in the experiment were looking down, most were not unable to stay within the lines nor were they able to respond quickly to obstacles. Researchers noticed that each person's driving was worse while they were texting. Add to this research from the University of Utah which adds that texting delays a driver's reaction time as much as a blood-alcohol content of 0.08% -- the legal limit.

According to a recent study by the American Automobile Association, the risk of a car accident increases by 50% for people who text message while driving. In another study by Nationwide Insurance, those who text and drive are often between the ages of 18 and 27. Those who drive while texting drops to 14 percent for those between the ages of 28 to 44 and two percent of drivers ages 45 to 60 admitted to it.

The problem is serious enough that even the Obama administration banned federal employees from text messaging while driving and said it would consider new restrictions on cellphone use by rail, truck and bus drivers. The executive order banned federal employees from text messaging while driving on the job or in a government-owned vehicle.

In states where it is illegal to drive and text, police are finding it difficult to enforce this new law but this doesn't mean when caught fines are light. Drivers in Washington have been fined $101 if found guilty of DWT. Drivers in Oregon face a much bigger fine with fees of close to $720.

What can you do if you have a client or boss who sends text messages to you and yet you are driving and unable to read the messages? One idea is to use companies that provide technology which transcribes your emails or text messages and send them back to you through your voice mail. But this technology is new and of course, isn't cheap.

For most people, receiving a text message that has to be read or responded back to can often wait until one is parked or stopped. Considering the danger rate, most are looking at the latter and asking themselves whether responding through text messaging while driving is that important. After all, it wasn't long ago text messaging technology wasn't even in existence and people seemed to survive quite well.

Greg Chapman of Greg Chapman Motors is a knowledgable and leading provider of used cars, trucks, and SUV’s. Since 1959, Chapman motors has supplied reliable used car Austin and the surrounding area. For more information please visit http://www.gregchapmanmotors.com.

History of the Woodie Automobile

The Woodie, or sometimes it is spelled Woody, was an early style of station wagon whereupon the rear portion of the car's bodywork was made of wood. This wood was typically visible and covered in a clear finish.

While few real Woodies are seen today as the concept was later replaced with replicated wood in the form of plastic or metal, the real Woodies are quite valuable, when found. The term Woodie came not only from its exposed wood panels but its design. In Britain, the vehicle was called a Shooting Brake due to the fact a 'brake' was another term for a sturdy horse-drawn wagon, which of course was where the Woodie concept got its start. 


In early days, when cars were built, most were made of aluminum or steel panels bolted on top of a wood frame. Woodies were cheaper to build as they didn't need these panels. They were also called station wagons in America due to the fact railway stations used the vehicles for hauling luggage and transferring shipments.
Although the Woodie was less expensive to build, it wasn't long before Woodies were built in luxury form as well, including Europe's Rolls-Royce Woodie.
In America in the 30s, the Woodie was used also by lodges, inns and country clubs to carry groups of people and their luggage. The idea of having a vehicle with large amounts of room, caught on with wealthy landowners who needed a vehicle suited for traveling in the suburbs.

During World War II, saving steel was important; this made the concept of using wood instead on vehicles ideal. After the war, a large amount of mass produced Woodie wagons became appealing to middle class families who needed a vehicle to haul all their children around in. The popularity of Woodies for personal transportation peaked by mid-century. And then it was on to something new. By the late fifties and sixties, used car dealers had plenty of cheap, poorly maintained wood-clad cars. Unfortunately, the wagon's most prominent feature, its wood body, was also its greatest drawback. Wood bodies required maintenance - not a problem for the wealthy with household staff. But as a 'do-it-yourself' chore, it was frequently neglected. Manufacturers responded by using less wood and more steel. In the early fifties, woodie resale values plummeted and new wagons of steel merely looked wooden. This is when the surfers discovered they could purchase an inexpensive car big enough for hauling their longboards. Thus, a sub-culture and a car became legend.

By 1955, only Ford and Mercury offered a woody-like model, but without the real wood. The wood appearance was due to the use of simulated products including DiNoc (a vinyl product) to simulate broad expanses of wood. Known as the Ford Country Squire, this heavily-trimmed full-size wagon was a staple of the Ford line from the 1940s to the 1990s. In the 1960s the Morris Minor and Mini Traveller were more basic vehicles factory built in Woodie style.

Reintroduction of woody decorated station wagons by other makers in America began in 1966 when Dodge offered the look for the first time in 15 years. By 1967, simulated "wood" decoration was used exclusively on top line models, with unadorned vehicles denoting lower price and status models.

The nostalgia around the historic Woodies has driven the price up on these original station wagons, but those who preserve them are preserving a big piece of America's car history.

Greg Chapman of Greg Chapman Motors is a knowledgable and leading provider of used cars, trucks, and SUV’s. Since 1959, Chapman motors has supplied reliable used car Austin and the surrounding area. For more information please visit http://www.gregchapmanmotors.com.

The Station Wagon

Station wagons have come a long way. Many recall the station wagon as that faux wood panel sided vehicle from the 70s, loaded with kids, prepared for any vacation. Today's station wagons are quite luxurious and not the station wagon of old, as technically most SUV's are considered a modern form of a station wagons - just to name one way they have changed.

The definition of a station wagon is any passenger automobile whose body style has a roofline that extends into the rear cargo space. This does not include hatchbacks, as the full height of the cabin does not actually extend all the way to the back as it slopes into the hatch. Station wagons also have side windows over the cargo area, whereas some hatchbacks have thick "C" pillars and no cargo area windows. According to Wikipedia, there are only two exceptions to this rule which include Rambler station wagons (1952–62) on which the roof line subtly dipped down over the cargo area, and GM's Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser (1964–72) and Buick Sport Wagon (1964–69) on which the rear roof section was slightly elevated and combined with three (1968-69 Buick, 1968-72 Olds) or four (1964–67) skylights; the "sportwagon" name has been popularized again in recent years by some manufacturers. Certain models of Land Rover have also been described by the manufacturer as station wagons (even in British usage); as these vehicles had a tall wagon-like body with extra "alpine lights", or windows, above the cargo bay side windows.

The first station wagons got their name due to being used by train companies. The vehicles were originally called "depot hacks" because they were used around train depots as hacks (short for hackney carriage, an old name for taxis). They also came to be known as "carryalls" and "suburbans". The name "station wagon" is a derivative of "depot hack"; it was a wagon that carried people and luggage from the train station to various local destinations.

Prior to the mid-1930s, hardwoods were used by most automotive companies in framing the passenger compartments of their passenger vehicles. In automobiles, the framing was sheathed in steel that was then covered in colored lacquers for protection. Eventually, all steel bodies were adopted because of their strength, cost and durability.

Because early station wagons were used for commercial purposes, for many years they were considered commercial vehicles rather than consumer vehicles. In 1922 Essex introduced the first affordable enclosed automobile, which then shifted the auto industry away from open vehicles towards meeting consumer demand for enclosed automobiles. Station wagons too, began to be enclosed, especially in higher price categories.

As time went by, the car companies themselves began building their own station wagons. Star (a division of Durant Motors) is usually credited as being the first car company to offer a factory-built station wagon, beginning in 1923. By 1929 Ford was by far the biggest seller of station wagons. Since Ford owned its own hardwood forest and mills, it began supplying the components for a Model A wagon (although initially some final assembly would still take place away from the factory. The same year, J. T. Cantrell put woodie bodies on Chrysler vehicles (persisting until 1931).

Traditionally, full-sized American station wagons were configured for 6 or 9 passengers. The basic arrangement for seating six was three passengers in the front and three passengers in the rear, all on bench-type seats; to accommodate nine, a third bench seat – often facing backward, but sometimes facing forward or sideways – was installed in the rear cargo area, over the rear axle. In Ford and Mercury wagons built after 1964, the configuration was changed to two seats facing each other, placed behind the rear axle.

Newer models are usually built on smaller platforms and accommodate five or six passengers (depending on whether bucket or bench seats are fitted in front). Full-size SUVs such as the Chevrolet Suburban and Ford Expedition have similar features to the aforementioned full-size station wagons; such as 9-passenger seating with bench seating in the front.

Despite the size or year, station wagons have come a long way since originating at train stations. People have come to enjoy having enough room in their vehicles of which they can carry family, friends and belongings anywhere they would like.

Greg Chapman of Greg Chapman Motors is a knowledgable and leading provider of used cars, trucks, and SUV’s. Since 1959, Chapman motors has supplied reliable used car Austin and the surrounding area. For more information please visit http://www.gregchapmanmotors.com.