The roll cage in my 1961 Impala was slated for retirement, because our rally racing days are behind us. Usually, for surgery like this, I'd grab my 4.5-inch angle grinder and a pack of cutoff wheels, or the torch. But, because the work was inside the car, parked inside the garage, I was a little leery of setting something— or everything—on fire. The Impala's interior is mostly stripped, but open flames, plumes of sparks, and hot shrapnel flying around in the cockpit of a vehicle freak me out a little. Actually, a lot. So, I did what comes most naturally in these situations: I sat around thinking of a new tool to buy. I've made it through the last 50 years without owning a reciprocating saw—though I've borrowed one from a friend a few times. I suspected some of the welds weren't going to surrender without a fight, so abusing a buddy's saw seemed like a jerk move—even by my low standards. I'd have to spring for my own saw, but I wasn't looking to spend my life savings, either.

A recent issue of Hemmings Motor News (HMN) included a coupon for Harbor Freight's Chicago Electric 6-amp reciprocating saw, priced at a startlingly low $19.99. I headed over to harborfreight.com and the reviews (more than 5,000) were positive. But would that thing have enough umph to plow through 15/8-inch (mild steel) roll-cage tubing and the welds gluing it to the floor? I opted instead for the 7.5-amp "Heavy Duty" Chicago Electric priced at $49.99 [Editor's note: Now $44.99 at the time of online publication], and then added two four-packs of Bauer 6-inch bi-metal blades, at $8.99 each, to my shopping cart. The grand total, with a 20-percent-off coupon from the ad in HMN, came to a reasonable $65.84 (which included tax and shipping).

The blades arrived first and then the saw followed about a week later. Everything looked okay and I was eager to see if it could do the job. The twist-style chuck made inserting the blade simple—it was actually harder to get the blades out of the plastic packaging. Armed and ready, I pulled the trigger—the saw and the Bauer blades blew through the tubing without any drama. Cutting out the cage's eight legs—a job I'd been dreading for weeks—took all of an hour. I thought I'd overbought purchasing eight blades, but I wound up using every one of them. I won't toss them out, because they appear to have some life in them. But the difference between a fresh blade and a blade with any use on it, was striking: The saw labored less, cut quicker, and was easier to control. (I'm impatient bordering on wasteful with consumables anyway—sandpaper, grinding discs, etc.—so your results may vary.) The saw's twist chuck gripped the blades tightly—I had only one pull free during a pretty nasty bind. One small gripe: I wasn't crazy about the location of the trigger lock on the handle, as I kept switching the thing on inadvertently.

I can't comment about the saw's longevity because this was its first and only outing, but it paid for itself already, by not being a fire hazard and stressing me out like cutoffs or the torch would've. I hope this thing holds up, because it cuts steel more quickly, neatly, and accurately than I'd imagined. It also has me sitting around thinking of another tool to buy: a cordless reciprocating saw.