Gullwing Grief - Hairdryer to the Rescue

People are undeniably seduced by gullwing doors, whether they're on a lowly DeLorean or the supreme Mercedes SLS.

DeLorean doors, powered by a Grumman-aerospace torsion bar plus a strut, want to rise upward by nature. The only thing holding them down are the latches. And my latches are worn out. In the cold they don't catch and the doors launch upward.

Since I can't drive the car in the cold specifically because of this problem, I decided to have DMC Midwest replace my latches. I made all the arrangements, ordered parts, booked hotels and even plane flights.

But the ONE day I have to drive to Crystal Lake, Illinois is a terribly cold day sandwiched between all the nice the weather. And the main reason I'm going, ironically, is so the Swingles can replace my latches that don't work in the cold! This means that on my nine hour drive I would not be able stop. Not to eat, pee or even get gas.

Now here's the absurd part. In addition to these woes, my driver's window is broken and stuck in the up position. This means I have to open my door every time I pay a toll or talk to the border guards. But once my door is open, my goose is cooked.

Solution: A one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five watt hairdryer. To make this work I bought a super-badass 2000 watt inverter for $199. I attached appropriate cables, clamped it to my battery, and plugged in the purple hairdryer.

As ridiculous as this sounds, it works. Now I'm thinking of bringing my 1000 watt microwave too. After all, what's a road trip without burritos!?

Buying a Hairdryer

It has been a long time since I did any sort of product review, so this seems like a good time to write about my hairdryer purchase experience.

I used to dry my hair with a super-awesome Philips 1200 hairdryer. But I took it for granted, from the power consumption to the handle design. Being approximately 17 years old though, it didn’t last, which forced me to go shopping in the girly aisle.

Zellers sells hairdryers right next to women's deodorant. Nearby is hair dye. It's the "Lookin' Good, Smelling Better" aisle I guess. There were only 2 brands for sale – Revlon and Conair. I preferred the Conair, since they are Canadian, but my biggest concern was the wattage.

I wanted a hairdryer that did not use much electricity, however, I was shocked (no pun intended) to learn that every hairdryer on the shelf was 1875 watts. There were no options, save for one small Travel hairdryer which only required the use of 1 coal-fired power plant at 1625 watts.

Since I do not like the gun-style, I settled for the only one that was the same style as my Philips. The Conair 1875 featured a thermal brush, a detangling comb, a styling comb, as well as dual ionic ports for frizz-free hair.

I don't know if this ion-thing is a gimmick or what, but I certainly did not feel my hair strands being soothed by a cloud of negative ions even though the LED light told me the ports were working. When finished, my hair did look pretty awesome though.

I really liked the way the motor sounded on both high and low settings. Sound is an important thing. I hate the wrist-slashing, sad, hollow whirl of the gun-style hairdryers.

The only thing I didn't like about the Conair (aside from the generous power suckage) was the handle design. Because the switch is recessed, and large, it leaves a gap when it is moved up or down. The black hole gap sucks my fingers in to the sharp edge left where the switch used to be - which digs into the tender flesh of my fingertips.

I predict my band-aid consumption will soon rise, and when it does, I'll post a review on them. For now, 1 Martini-thumb up for the $26.97 Conair 1875 with 'IonShine'.