A technician's gift list is so predictable

BRIAN EARLY FOR THE TORONTO STAR

The Fast and The Furious movie collection appeals to Brian Early.

Brian Early

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

ME UNDER $50

As the family "car expert," resident mechanic and a firm believer in the benefits afforded by winter tires, I've been fitting them to my immediate family's three primary cars for over a decade. Seasonal storage, however, can be an issue. Canadian Tire's $130 wall-mount tire rack busts clean through my wish budget, but the company's vertical tire stand fits the bill. It spaces the mounted tires apart to prevent marking and corrosion.

I'll need three, please. $35, www.canadiantire.ca.

My cars are too old to have auxiliary inputs for iPods or other MP3 players, won't play MP3-encoded CDs, and often aren't happy playing burned CD-Rs. The Scosche FMTD3 Digital FM Transmitter plugs into your 12 V outlet, digitally tunes to a vacant frequency on your car radio, and has its own 1/8-inch (3.5 mm) headphone-style male plug. $29.84, Wal-mart.

Honestly, my commute to work is too brief to require it, and I have a microwave once I get there, but the Field and Streams heated lunch box just seems like too clever of an idea at too low of a price to resist – it's a 12 V heated lunch box. $24.44, www.princessauto.com.

PARTNER UNDER $100

CAA membership: If this seems like the automotive equivalent of giving Dad a tie, think again. I was out of town for my wife's last mechanical failure, and even getting a heck of a deal from one of my tow providers, it still cost me more than $100 to get her car to my shop. $64 basic, $101 Plus, www.caasco.com.

My wife's faithful '95 Nissan Altima had to move on this past year, as corrosion was beginning to form in places that concerned me. We replaced it with my mother's '96 Nissan Maxima, which is virtually rust-free. She had been rustproofing it religiously; while we'd done the Altima just once in 13 years. Any is better than none, but the mere existence of my '87 Nissan 200SX project car suggests that undercoating by Krown works. So that's where I'll go, even if it's slightly over budget. $109.95. www.krown.com.

She might not readily admit it, but Barb actually quite enjoys The Fast and The Furious movie series. The four-DVD box set sells for $40 to $50, but I like the green vibe you get buying previously viewed movies. Plus I'm cheap – and I have to account for the overages in my previous two items, after all. Prices vary, www. dejavudiscs.com.

PRICE UNLIMITED

In years past, I've asked Santa for European-delivered BMWs and trips to Germany's famed Nurburgring road course. Sadly, the Big Guy hasn't come through – perhaps there's a territorial conflict with Europe's Kris Kringle. Undaunted, this year I'd like to take my own car over for a European road trip in my 240SX, starting in Spain or Portugal, even if shipping it probably costs several times what it's worth. Estimated $3,000 to $6,000 plus shipping.

A distant second-best to doing real laps of road courses like the Nurburgring is doing virtual laps. With a Blu-ray-playing Sony PlayStation 3 replacing our broken DVD, I've been able to enjoy Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo 5 Prologue driving simulator. Unfortunately, I suck with a joystick. I'd like a Logitech G25 wheel controller – with 2.5 turns, force-feedback, a six-speed shifter and a drilled-metal three-pedal set, it's as close to a real vehicle's controls as you'll find.

Santa, please add New Zealand manufacturer VisionRacer's awesome VR3 seat/stand to mount them on, and a nice, crisp 50-inch Panasonic plasma-screen TV. V. Logitech G25 Controller, $379.99, www.logitech.com; VisionRacer VR3, $995 (U.S.), www.us.visionracer.com; Panasonic TC-P50V10, $2,499, Bay Bloor Radio.

Selection of auto scan tools: Computers control nearly everything in today's cars, even interior lights and horns. Really! Most automakers have their own specialized scan tools. "Generic" scanners from companies like Snap-On or OTC offer some basic and some additional features, but not all, which makes repairing cars frustrating or even impossible. I'd like one of each automaker's diagnostic tools. Estimated $3,500 to $8,000 each plus updates.

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