text: Result? Seems clear to me that all-season tires are very much not the answer in winter conditions. Some drivers here believe otherwise. In fact, every winter, this is an ongoing debate. My take? Those drivers who believe that all-season tires are sufficient for winter driving here are wrong.
  Now: Last winter and the winter before that, we had Michelin X-Ice tires on my car. God, they worked well! But by the end of last winter, they were worn out. Winter tires by definition use really soft rubber, as well as specialized tread designs. So they wear quickly.
  I may have made a mistake by not putting Michelin X-Ice tires on Laura’s car. But I think the Blizzaks, rated above the Michelins by a little, will be fine. I hope.
  Oh, what about studded tires? They work really well on ice. But they work less well elsewhere. Plus they tear the hell out of the paved driving surface. So, no.
  Bottom line? Lack of traction can be very entertaining! But it is not the way to stay healthy, not the way to keep your vehicle on the roadway. There is no way I would do winter travel around here without winter tires.
  Probably we’ve all heard of the Lady of the Lake, but how many of us have heard of the Bugatti of the Lake?
  A few of us have, I would think, particularly if we are gearheads with a special interest in the classics. (Be sure to click on the photographs to see them full-size.)
  The story is true, of course. The Bugatti Brescia – a very early Bugatti model – you see in these photographs was dumped into Lago di Maggiore, in the Italian Lakes District, something like 80 years ago because its caretakers wanted to avoid fines associated with nonpayment of import duties by the car’s owner. One gathers that its location was always more-or-less known, and finally someone decided to retrieve it. Full story here:
  I caught up with the car at the Mullen Museum in Oxnard, California, a couple of years ago. Collector and kazillionaire Peter Mullen bought the thing – if memory serves, the purchase price, in the millions, went to charity – and decided that conserving what was left of it, rather than attempting a restoration, was the right thing to do.
  The car is very carefully and sympathetically displayed in exactly the condition it was in when it was resurrected from Maggiore’s depths. Check it out next time you’re anywhere near Oxnard.