Category Archives: Just for Fun

Don’t Run Your Fort Worth Buick GMC on “Empty”

Sounds like a pretty hard thing to do, running your Fort Worth Buick GMC on “E”, it’s obvious not to be taken literally, but is referring to the practice of “Istillhaveafewmoremilesleftism”. Yes, I just made that up, but those of you that have it know who you are.

What is running close to empty bad for your Fort Worth Buick GMC?  So what can go wrong? A lot of things!

The fuel-pump motor starts to suck in air when you’re low on gas. This creates unwanted heat which can have negative effects on the fuel pump. In this case, gasoline acts like a coolant for the electric fuel-pump motor.

Fixing a fuel pump that has prematurely met it’s end will set you back a couple hundred dollars, that’s a couple hundred dollars you could have saved if you don’t push the limits of your vehicle too often.

Here are some helpful thoughts to keep your attention on your fuel levels:

  • Don’t let your tank less than a quarter tank full
  • To get the most bang for your buck, fill up when it’s coldest (mornings in the summer) and pump slowly
  • Download gas price apps so that you’re not driving all around town
  • Fill up before at the beginning of the work week or before a long trip

Keep an eye on your gas tank and don’t let it get to low!  Also, remember you can see some benefits in the miles per gallon department with regularly scheduled maintenance. Haven’t had your Buick or GMC looked at recently? Call and make an appointment with your Dallas Fort Worth Buick GMC service center.

The Best Road Trip You Will Ever Take

freeman grapevine, texas road trips, dallas buick, dallas gmc, fort worth buick, fort worth gmc, texas wineries, see texas, go texan

I realized something today. I don’t write about taking road trips around Texas in your Buick, or GMC nearly enough. Maybe it’s because I don’t ever have the time to do so. Maybe it’s because…yeah…I just don’t have the time. There really is no other reason why everyone shouldn’t just jump in their GM cars, trucks and SUVs and do a little exploring one weekend.

I mean, have you ever taken the time to really think about what Texas has to offer? I mean really think about it. We have nearly every type of climate from tropical humidity on the Gulf Coast, to the cold plains in the panhandle during the winter months. We have forests to the east of Dallas and deserts out west. We have 2 Major League Baseball teams, two football teams, soccer and hockey. We have multiple state universities with campuses spanning the state. We have some of the largest and most culturally diverse cities in the nation. We have huge music and art festivals and thousands of amazing restaurants. We even have 24 wineries! (I’ll bet you weren’t aware of that!)

https://www.youtube.com/user/gotexantv

So, why don’t we get out of our comfort zone and take a few days to explore Texas? Too busy? That’s a bad excuse. Make time. You will be absolutely astounded at the history and majesty of this great state.

If you need me, I’ll be on this computer at Freeman Grapevine hopefully planning my own Texas road trip soon…all I have to do is make the time.

 

How To Keep Your Kids Entertained and Keep Your Sanity

The summer is upon us and so are road trips.  While vacations are fun, getting to your destination may not always be enjoyable.  Whether you are going near or far  you will most likely hear, “Are we there yet?”  Luckily, I know a few ways to keep the kids entertained.

  • Movies!  If your Buick/GMC didn’t come with an in-car entertainment system, invest in a portable DVD player and few pairs of headphones.  The kids will love watching their favorite movie for a few hours and you will love the silence from the backseat!
  • Hit the library up before you go.  For a free mode of entertainment take your kids to the library the day before you leave and let them pick out a few books to bring on the trip.
  • Have an in-car scavenger hunt.  Make the kids a list of things to look for as you drive.  Examples: a red car, a license plate from another state, a horse, a pink flower, anything you might see as you drive.
  • Pack trivia cards. Each kid can take turns reading a card and guessing the answer.
  • Always pack music.  Even though the Barney sing-a-long may not be your favorite music, let the kids have 20 or 30 minutes of their favorite music.
  • Zitch-dog!  Every time someone sees a dog they yell zitch-dog! The person who sees the most dogs first wins a prize at the end of the trip.

Do you have any other suggestions for keeping kids entertained?

Everyone Needs A Battery Charger

Just because you have a dead battery, doesn’t mean you can’t get a few thousand more miles out of it. If you’ve never recharged your battery, then you’ve been throwing away money too soon. A battery drains for a myriad of reasons, including our own clumsiness (leaving lights on).  As we all can imagine, a dead battery on a cold day in not a fun thing to have, but with a decent battery charger, you can give a little extra life back to that “dead” battery.

How does a charger work? Check out the video.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEPuO8kZVE8&feature=player_embedded

How easy is it to use? This easy.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oSuz0T51Fs&feature=player_embedded

Now, you can’t recharge a battery an unlimited time. This is an indicator that you will eventually have to replace your battery. A battery charge cannot change the inevitable, just delay it for a while.

Bad Battery, or battery issues? I’d advise you take your car to your mechanic if your battery issues become problematic.

Never Get In Another Fender Bender Again

Never get into another fender bender again! I mean it, you can virtually avoid road accidents by following 3 simple thoughts while you drive: Be Observant, Be Predictive, Be Reactionary.

Something I don’t think drivers put much thought into is understanding hazards actually happen. Have you ever dissected a driving hazard or a near-miss accident?. Can you observe, predict, and react in time enough to possibly avoid an accident altogether? You’ll notice that driving is a very active function and yet many of us seem to approach it like we’re headed out fro a drive in our lazy-boy.

Now this video was for examination purposes in Britain, but it bring up some very good points of note. Primarily the one we forget is the one we should remember the most and that is that driving is a very active thing to do. It’s not time to make phone calls, or text. Heck, it’s not even the time to relax! You should be observant, predictive and reactionary every time your get behind the wheel of your Buick or GMC.

How To Climb A Hill In The Snow

It doesn’t snow here very often. In fact, this last Christmas was the first white Christmas since 1975 I think. However, here in North Texas, we do get hit with snow from time to time and that snowfall pretty much paralyzes the DFW area. So, do you know how to climb a hill in the snow in your Buick or GMC?

I was talking to a friend who had a real problem getting out of his driveway on Christmas Day due to the snow (ice is a completely different problem). His driveway is a moderate incline which is generally easy to negotiate, however, when you dump a little bit of snow on it, getting out can be a real task.

However, there is a trick from climbing hills in the snow. This trick is primarily for front whee cars as the physics of the vehicle require the tires to pull the car up a hill, and therein lies the trick…turn your front wheel drive Buick or GMC into a rear wheel drive car, truck or SUV by climbing the hill in reverse. Check out the video below so see an example of what I’m talking about.

By going up a snowy hill in reverse, you essentially are moving all of the weight of the car, including the engine, over the front drive tires effectively turning it into a pseudo-rear wheel drive vehicle by going in reverse.

Now, this is just a little tip from Freeman Grapevine. If you can avoid driving in the snow altogether, then that would be ideal. However, if you have to climb a hill in the snow to get to work, or for emergency reasons, try going in reverse. It’s a secret maneuver not many Texans know about.

Freeman Grapevine Is Donating To Cook Children’s Health Care System

Hopefully it should take a motivational event to spark the spirit of giving in people. However, all it takes sometimes is for a community business to remind people that there are always people that need your help through a simple donation drive. Well, that’s exactly what Freeman Grapevine is doing. From now until December 31st, we will be donating $1 for every new fan that “likes” the Freeman Grapevine Facebook page to Cook Children’s Health Care System. Trust me folks, those $1 bill add up and all you have to do to secure your donation is to follow the link above and like our page. Our donation goal is $1,000 which should be too hard with your help!

It doesn’t take much to participate, in fac you can make your donation in less than 30 seconds.

About Cook Children’s

Cook Children’s Health Care System is a not-for-profit, nationally recognized pediatric health care organization comprised of eight entities – a Medical Center, Physician Network, Home Health company, Northeast Hospital, Pediatric Surgery Center, Health Plan, Health Services Inc., and Health Foundation.  Based in Fort Worth, Texas, the integrated system has more than 60 primary and specialty care offices throughout North Texas.  Its service region includes Denton, Hood, Johnson, Parker, Tarrant and Wise counties, with an additional referral area encompassing nearly half the state.

Cook Children’s traces its roots back to 1918, but throughout its continual change and robust growth, it still embraces an inspiring promise – to improve the health of every child in its region through the prevention and treatment of illness, disease and injury.  To live up to this promise, Cook Children’s combines the art of caring with the use of leading technology and extraordinary collaboration to provide exceptional care for every child, every day.  For more information, please visit www.cookchildrens.org.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97Hb_aVFL5o&list=UUxEyrzSbfOZVSgL2FLAKsww&index=7

Again, it doesn’t take much time to make your donation. I’ll be posting through out the month with stories from Cook Children’s that will hopefully inspire you to give a little of your time to help the kids at Cook. Remember, it costs you nothing and you have a chance to help Freeman Grapevine raise $1,000 for kids who need your donations immediately.

Fort Worth: Looking to upgrade your Car Audio…Start here first.

First, before you even open that Crutchfield catalog, you need to learn the basics of reproducing a clear and sonically well-rounded aural environment in your vehicle. To dumb that down, “How do I make my Car Stereo sound better?”

There’s no doubt that cars play a significant role in almost everyone’s lives. Everyday, people spend hours and hours inside their cars whether driving to and from work, running errands or simply being stuck in traffic. What’s the first thing you do? If you are anything like me, you hit the radio for some entertainment. I can’t drive 10 feet without getting the tunes going in my car.

So who should I thank for the hours of refocusing the days events while I use my car as an entertainment bubble? Well, that honor goes to the Galvin brothers who developed the first radio used in cars in the 1930s, drivers around the globe can now listen to music while on the road. Forty years and billions invested in audio technology later, the Galvin brothers system is still being used along with its different features to make drivers and passengers’ driving experience better.

So, what do you need to understand about car audio before you go Mod crazy and start buying 1,000 watt power amps and 15″ woofers? Well, in actuality, your first car audio system can be quick and easy upon taking into account a number of factors that will determine a great outcome. First set a budget and research your brands. Check Consumer Reports for accurate and unbiased reviews. Blaupunkt, Pioneer, Bose, Denon and Kenwood are the more popular brands. Then you’ll want to consider all the functions you expect to get like the capacity to play MP3s and CDs. There are hundreds of options, layouts, controls and features available in the modern car receiver/deck, so figure out what you’d like to have. For example, do you need a line in to connect an MP3 player of some kind? Will it play MP3 CDs? Is there a hard drive for music storage? Nail these questions down before you start shopping.

Now this is actually the trick part: choosing the right speakers. What are the right speakers, you might ask? Speakers come in three types including the loud speaker, tweeters and the subwoofer. Loud speakers are for middle sound ranges and while being able to resonate a wide range of sounds, it is only able to do so in a limited manner. This is the reason it needs the other types. Mid-range is the tonal frequency that allows the music to be heard with clarity and cleans up some of the muddy nature of Bass heavy tracks.

Tweeters are small speakers that produce high notes. This is the very top end of the sound. It’s the top end that makes the sound “shimmer”. Tweeters make it possible for high notes to be heard in a fuller and clearer tone.

The third type is the subwoofer that allows for the lower sound range to be emitted. Bass as a tone is omnidirectional,so the bass feels as if it is surrounding you. Tweeters and Loud Speakers are, for the most part, mono-directional, meaning the sound quality will change hen moving left or right from dead center. Beautiful bass and clear baritone can be attributed to the subwoofer.

One other important thing to remember is the fact that your vehicle isn’t wired for extreme audio upgrades. Here is a good video to watch to educate yourself about audio wiring:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p82xRzCr-lc&feature=youtu.be

Like in purchasing anything of significant value, research can prove very helpful.  Check the numerous online shops that offer car audio systems and the different deals available. Reviews and tips from others who have purchased and used the same products can be very helpful. Pay particular attention to reviews that aren’t the glowing reviews, they are usually the most objective and honest.

If you have any questions or are looking for an audio system upgrade for your car, then don’t hesitate to give us a call…we can really help turn your vehicle to a rolling entertainment center.

A Multi-Million Dollar Garage Nice Enough For Texas

Now we all know the slogan, “everything is BIG in Texas”. Well this garage is big, but it’s not in Texas, it’s in Arizona. However I wanted to share it with you, because not only is it a multi-million dollar garage, but the cars that is houses are simply amazing.

You’ve gotta respect and admire a guy who loves his vehicles this much to construct a garage that is amazingly unique and a design marvel. Never mind that he has a 1 million dollar Bugatti, or an array of other vehicles, including a Barracuda worth approximately $2 mil. This garage is a fantasy garage, with leather clad walls and touch screen information centers.

Check this place out!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M0-xrF2kpA&feature=colike

Now I’m sure that somewhere in Texas there exists a garage that might rival this one, but I has yet to hear about it. I mean, let’s get serious here, a turntable that’s both functional and for show? That’s pretty extravagant.

Have you seen or heard of another garage that can rival this one? If so, show it to us! Freeman Grapevine loves stuff like this. I know it’s almost obnoxious to have a space like this, but at the same time, this multi-million dollar garage is certain worth all of the jaws it’s dropped.

Exercise Your Right To Vote

I know this isn’t my regular topic of conversation about Buick and GMC vehicles, in fact, I’d say it’s more important. I just wanted to remind you that you should exercise your right to vote tomorrow. Every 4 years, it seems like the voter seems to be getting smaller and smaller.

Now I’m not here to tell you to vote for, after all, this isn’t a political blog and I believe that everyone has the right to vote for whom they choose. I just wanted to remind you of the importance of turning out to vote and have your voice be heard. True, it is a voice among millions, but it is your voice none the less. This is your chance to support you government and your country and all you have to do is participate.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HfidYlUoMA&feature=relmfu

Think about it, how many countries in the world are there where the people are told who will lead them, regardless of the popular opinion? How many countries is it a crime for you to speak your mind, or voice your opinion? For those people, I’m sure they’d gladly trade places with you just so they are allowed to have an opinion and a hand in shaping the future of their country.

Even further, if you don’t vote, you are just letting others make the decisions for you. What happens when yo don’t agree with the guy “they” put in the White House? Do you have a right to complain? Sure. But since you decided to muzzled yourself instead of voting, do people have to ignore you? Yes. The point is, if you don’t vote, you give up your voice. That resounding American voice that billions of people across the world WISH they had.

The bottom line is, if you choose not to vote for the next leader of this country, then you are turning your back on the very principles that this great country was founded upon. Get up and vote, Dallas Fort Worth. Your vote matters…but only if you do it. An uncast vote is a wasted opportunity to change America for the better.

Vote.