Doane Yawger 17 posts 0 comments

By early next year, things will be dramatically different in a core block of downtown Merced that's undergoing some major renovation now. A representative for the company orchestrating new uses for the Hotel Tioga at Main and N streets, a completely repurposed Mainzer Theater just across the street and the transformed El Capitan Hotel at…

Golden Valley High School is 25 years old. The 1,750-pupil campus at 2125 E. Childs Ave., Merced, has embraced change, improvements and accomplishments…

One of the largest and most thriving segments of our old car hobby revolves around pickup trucks. It has been said the best-selling vehicles on the road…

The inventory of residential homes for sale in Merced is growing but slower than in recent months and houses are taking a little longer to sell, longtime real estate professional Loren Gonella reported at a recent Builders Forum hosted by the City of Merced. Gonella told a room full of builders, bankers, financing experts and business-city…

It's my theory many of the contemporary car designers must be enamored with "Star Wars" movies. That's because many of today's cars and trucks carry the…

One of the many benefits of summer is its time for car shows. We've been blessed with a number of fine showings of late. It's almost an "embarrassment of…

Modesto seems to be a mecca for old cars, especially during a long series of American Graffiti celebrations this month. Such was the case for the recent Modesto Area Street Rod Association’s 11th annual Graffiti Classic Car Show at the McHenry Village shopping center. The Sunday show featured more than 500 vintage vehicles. Not that this…

Car enthusiasts all have their favorite vehicles, myself included. I have loved the 1956 Mercury since I first spotted it 63 years ago. The Merc gets…

Sometimes custom car builders, or even the auto factories, get it wrong in their designs, to my way of thinking. In perusing the latest street rod…

Auto mechanics are amazing people. I am awed by the knowledge and skills mechanics have in making our cars run right. Cars have always been intricate and sophisticated creations. Even the primitive Ford Model T, which is more than 100 years old, is a vast array of parts and pieces. Just look at an "exploded" view of a Model T in a vintage…