The December car of the month is owned by the Davis County Sheriff’s Office in Utah. This 2008 SKY Redline is primarily a DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) car which was sold to the Davis County Sheriff’s Office by Saturn of Riverdale in Riverdale, Utah for 1 penny.  Local businesses donated the markings and the lights. Its primary function is as a DARE car. But it has a siren and all the lights it needs to perform as a police cruiser. Deputy Archibald is the lucky deputy that gets to drive it around during his shift. Deputy Archibald was gracious enough to come out on his own time to hang out with the Salt Lake Roadsters for the Davis Applied Technology Center car show.  If you think your SKY draws a crowd you should see the crowd that shows up when one has lights and sirens. 

Article prepaed by Detective Jim Gent

The GMR October car of the month goes to someone who has gotten a lot of attention in the past few months on the Sky Roadster Forum. Gary & Karen Isham went looking for a sports car about a year ago and fell in love with there Green Sky. Gary is a general contractor who has a passion for building beautiful living spaces for his clients and Karen is a retired pre-school teacher who loves to let her hair fly wild with the top down.

A few months later the factory turbocharged Redlines were released and Gary had to have one….So now he has two! He took his new 2008 Redline which he affectionately named the “Roadrunner” and started moding away, everything from the Suspension to GMR HID lights, and even the BSR tune….But he still had his first SKY and wondered what can I do with this one…He found out that Performance Autowerks had a new LS3 Hotcam motor that they could install in his first love….So after a few phone conversations with Dave it was off to Illinois. Almost 3 months later it was time to pick up his SKY, Gary flew in and saw Dave’s creation for the first time….Gary took his once stock Green SKY around the block with the new LS3 motor and came back very excited to get on the road home and give those 500+ Horsepower a real work out.

Gary named is first love “Kryptonite”, for obvious reasons. He now has two rockets in the garage and Gary’s biggest problem is deciding which one to drive each day!

For those of you who are always looking for a device that will make your comute just a little bit safer. We have found just such a device, it’s from the Cobra Electronics company. There XRS-R9 laser/radar detector is a must have for any driver! Along with it’s standard detection of all forms of standard and laser radar it also boasts a GPS (Global Positioning System) antenna. This unit will not only warn you about speed detection but warns you of “known” red light cameras, photo speed cameras, and even approaching school zones! That’s right,  no more getting caught on camera while you unexpectedly blow past a speed camera. The system works on GPS and a data base that Cobra is constantly updating so that your Radar Detector knows where you are and what is approaching ahead in the road.

A couple of folks have asked for a status report on my project Solstice after we installed the Diamondback front end.  Here is a photo as it appeared at the Las Vegas event.  Since that event, we have already made some changes, including some new wheels and more.

One of the hot topics at this year's Consumer Electronics Show is going to be Telematics. I am going to be focusing more precisely on Automotive Telematics, and to demonstrate just what is Telematics as it relates to the automotive industry, and more specifically, our roadsters.  During the next several months, we will be teaming up with some of the telematics industry component leaders to put together our next project car, a Telematics Solstice.

In March we will release the first of a three part series detailing the installation and integration of several Telematics components in a 2006 Pontiac Solstice Roadster.

So far, we are working with Flux Media who is providing us with a copy of there Centrafuse Software and Mobile Computing Solutions who is providing the hardware. At the heart of our Telematics Solstice will be a 2ghz PC that features an AM/FM Radio, XM Satellite Radio, GPS Navigation, and will allow hands free cell phone operation. Full infotainment capabilities such as on the go e-mail, TV, DVD playback, MP3/MP4, and close to 900gb of media storage, all controlled by a 7-inch touch screen display.

More information to come after the Consumer Electronics show in January.

Here’s a product that you can really get "behind." New from Rostra Precision Controls Inc. is their RearSight line of back-up cameras.

In the past, you had to deal with complicated wiring and the challenge of where to put the bulky monitor for your back-up camera. Rostra Precision Controls has solved this with their integrated rear view mirror. The color monitor is built right into your rear view mirror. They offer both a 2.5” and a 3.5” model.

We installed their 2.5” unit in a 2006 Pontiac Solstice roadster, and I don’t think we could have picked a more difficult vehicle to do this install in, because of the extremely tight spaces on this two-seater. However, Rostra has made installation extremely easy with their kits, and I had the entire camera system installed in under four hours.

The Rear Site mirror looks just like the factory model until you put the car into reverse, which activates the rear mounted micro camera and the 2.5” color monitor embedded in the mirror. GM’s new roadsters are wonderful cars, but with the big back end and small ragtop window, the rear view is less than desirable. But, thanks to Rostra, I now have 180 degrees of visibility.

The current RearSight mirror is perfect for earlier model Solstices only.  However, if your roadster is equipped with OnStar, you will need to look into other options as the current Rostra product does not include the OnStar buttons in the mirror.  Rostra Precision Controls offers many other solutions that can work for your and your vehicle.

At SEMA in Las Vegas this month, we were able to find a number of new aftermarket products that are applicable to the Solstice, Sky, Opel GT and Daewoo G2X. We will be evaluating products over the next mew months and providing more details on these great new products as we complete our testing.

   

By day, I am an executive chef, but by night, I am a driving fool with more than 50,000 miles on my Solstice in just over a year.  At the Arizona Sky & Solstice club, our motto is, "Let's Drive Somewhere and Eat Something," which makes being a member of the club the perfect blend of my two favorite pasttimes.  Whereas many of my colleagues while away their kitchen hours daydreaming about hosting their own cooking show, what I dream about is already out in the parking lot, and I know that when I put away my white chef's jacket, there's a black racing jacket and a nitrous oxide fuel injection system awaiting me in my roadster.

Shortly after purchasing my Solstice sight-unseen off of eBay, Pontiac Performance Magazine contacted me to write an article about me and my new car.  If you want to read more about what inspired me to purchase my Solstice, I have excerpted the text of the PPM article below.

Solstice Intelligence - Owner File

SAVORING SOLSTICE

Executive Chef's recipe for happiness includes Pontiac roadster
by Susan Brohman

 When Martin Scott commits to something, he pours himself into it.

You can see it in the energy he mixes into hs career as an executive sous chef for the upscale Ocotilo Golf Club outside Phoenix.  "Being an executive chef is not a job.  It's truly a way of life because of the sheer dedication one has to exhibit to be a chef," Scott says.

It's also apparent in his pursuit to buy one of the first Solstice models ever built and his enthusiasm for ths car now that he owns.  Scott has already begun to put his personal imprint on the car by adding a cold air intake system, performance exhaust system and customized head lamps.  He immediately registered on the SolsticeForum.com owners website and has spearheaded the formation of the Arizona Solstice club -- an owners group that is slowly growing as more people eagerly buy the sexy new Pontiac roadster.

Club members held their firest meet-and-greet last November with five attendees.  Over the months, the clubs has grown to almost 30 members.

"Every time we get together at one of the local Saturday night car shows, our Solstices steal the night," Scott says.  "We had a $300,000 Ferrari parked next to my Solstice (at one event) and the owner left after 45 minutes because everyone wanted to get in to see my car and not his."

Scott fell in love with the Pontiac two-seater during its debut on The Apprentice, where Solstice figured prominently in one of the challenges.  He ordered a Solstice right away but with the car in early production, he would have to wait.  He checked on eBay, where he discovered a West Virginia dealership advertising a Mysterious (black) Solstice with VIN 357.  Less than a week later, Scott was on a plane heading east.

"Three days and 2,000 miles later, I was back in Arizona with my very own Solstice," he says.  "What a way to start its life -- a 2,000 mile trip over 11 states.  Everywhere I stopped, people crowded around the car.  Stopping for gas always became a show-and-tell about the car."

Scott isn't shy about attracting a little attention.  He's already converted the stock headlights to 8K HID and installed a Fujita Cold Air Intake System.  Then there's his dual outlet exhaust.  Knowing few aftermarket performance parts were available for such a new car, Scott heard that former Indy Car driver Billy Boat had a shop called B&B Performance Exhaust.

"When the B&B crew saw the car for the first time, they were just blown away," Scott recalls.  "They all loved the car, and were excited to be part of the project."  B&B used Scott's Solstice to fabricate the dual exhaust system and his car is featured on the shop's website (bbtriflo.com).

Matins' wife Rosemarie teases him that he spends more time with his Solstice than he does with her.  "Considering I have an hour's commute to work every day, she's almost right." he jones.  "She has driven it once for about five minutes and that's about it."

Scott's career as an executive sous chef began at age 17 when he served as a chef's apprentice at Hilton International in Guam.  Now 29, he plied his gourmet trade in several different kitchens before settling at the golf club.  "I have gone up to six months without a single day off and still love getting up in the morning for work."

Of course, driving to work in a Solstice might have something to do with keeping his internal fire lit.