What Car People Say (and What We Actually Mean)

" You keep using that watchword . I do not think it mean what you think it means . " – Mandy Patinkin , as Inigo Montoya inThe Princess Bride

Car finish has a linguistic process all its own sometimes . It ’s not quite as uttermost as thesecret language of truckers , but it ’s decidedly not without its phrasal idiom that tend to , um , shake off off non - car multitude . Anyone can say they ’re going topless in a convertible and the only reaction they ’ll get is an eye roll at such a tired pun . But tell apart someone you ’re thinking about meth injection or that you melted your cat is a whole other story . Consider the travel along a entrant ’s guide . Now you ’ll be able to fascinate a motorcar guy if he’stalking like a complete idiot .

“I’m almost finished with my project car”

Ask us again next class , and you ’ll get the same resolution . Five years ? Same . Ten years ? Still the same , but it might be an entirely Modern project car by that clock time , after we ’ve given up on the first one , sell it , regretted sell it , and buy a novel one to fulfill the void .

“I used to ride around in one of those all the time!”

I did n’t own it , a friend of mine had one for peradventure , like , six months , but I did ride shotgun a few times . Man that was fun .

“Ran when parked”

It run , but not terribly well , when I parked it behind the barn . In 1996 . I have n’t driven it in 20 years , but I ’m sure it ’s still fine . Probably .

“You’ve got an LSD, right?”

You have a limited slip differential gear , correct ? ( It facilitate put power to the pavement more efficiently . ) Without LSD , you ’re decease to have a hell of a time quicken out of those corners .

“She’s too rich”

In the process of modify the car and ensure everything ’s adjusted properly , the air - to - fuel mixture got a little out of balance . I ’ll save thestoichiometry - speak , but " too " rich means there ’s more fuel move into the piston chamber than there should be .

“She’s too lean”

This is only the opposite of being too productive .

“I melted my cat”

" Cat " is brusque for catalytic converter , which is central to any gondola ’s emission control system , but every so oftencats can faildue to several factors , include being too rich or lean ( see above ) .

“Don’t stare at the speedo”

Speedo is short for speedometer , and if you ’re on a racetrack , it ’s all too tempting to gaze at it to see how fast you’re able to go . Do n’t do it – because that ’s how clash happen .

“Are you injecting meth?”

We ’re call for if you ’re injecting a salmagundi of water and methanol into your engine ’s melodic line intake . It ’s a way of keeping breeze cooler before it goes into the railway locomotive , thus resulting in more power . To see something similar , check out the water injection system of rules BMW use on the newM4 GTS . It uses the same conception , just without the methyl alcohol .

“There’s no replacement for displacement”

This is the feeling that small engines with turbo or superchargers are inherently less worthy than larger engines without them . For many years , this famous phrase from W.O. Bentley ( as in , founder and namesake of the car company ) was the mantra of the muscle - car reality – it still is in some corners .

“I gutted my car”

Weight has a electronegative impact on performance , so one of the cheapest and easy way to make your railcar quicker is to start up exact unneeded things out of the interior . It ’s a slippery incline , and the next thing you know , you ’re drive around with no inside whatsoever , save for a dashboard and seats . At that point , you ’ve rive its guts out , or gutted your car .

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Aaron Milleris theCarseditor for Thrillist , and can befound on Twitter . He ’s been almost finish with two unlike project cars . Now he ’s just along for the journey .

What Car People Say