Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

abacomike

tjc78 said:

@stickguy
I'll be there!  Canals always has good prices on Yuengling! 

One of the most popular beers down here is Yuengling.  Ever since they built that brewery in Tampa, we have been blessed with the best beer made in this country.

I was first introduced to Yuengling when I worked in the Poconos near WilkesBarre and Scranron, PA.  Whenever I used to go to the local casino here, that was always available in the green bottle or on tap.  A marvelous brew, to be sure! 

stickguy

Pool is built in. No kiddie pool here!

We like Yuengling.

tifighter

stickguy said:

I was at that philly show too. I remember Andre, lemko and gerbeck (sp?). And Juice.

This may be common knowledge to others, but what happened to Juice?

jmonroe

Mike said:


My grandfather on my mother's side of the family Bought my brother and me Lionel electric trains.  I'm talking about "real" O Gauge original Lionel trains produced in the late 1940's through the late 1950's - the ones that are worth tens of thousands of dollars today.  Every Christmas, he would take my brother and me to F. A. O. Schwartz on 5th Avenue in Manhattan to buy additions to our train sets such as electric cattle cars, coal cars, oil tankers, etc., not to mention scenery items for our layout.  My Dad made a huge table out of plywood and set up tracks so we could create a miniature railroad with hills, bridges, railroad crossings, towns, trustles and the like.

I bring this up because my Mom was not a fan of taking over the living room for 4 weeks every Christmad with our trains and the huge table along with all the transformers necessary to operate all the functions of the trains and the peripherals. In fact, I kind of knew she hated those trains.

My brother and I would play with those Lionel's for hours at a time - train whistles blowing and when we put "smoke" tablets in the engine smoke stacks, white smoke would pour out.

I remember one time when I flew back home from Chicago to introduce my spouse-to-be to Mom and Dad one Christmas, anxious to set up my Lionel electric trains (we had three full sets - those locomotives must have weighed 5+ pounds each).  I went into my old bedroom to take the trains and table into the livingroom along with the peripherals and they had disappeared.

I went into Mom's room and asked her where "MY" trains were.  She responded that she donated them to Good Will!  I don't ever remember being more angry and upset than I was at that moment!  I had murder in my heart - for my mother?  Yes!  She had gone and destroyed the last vestige of my youth - just gave them away without first informing me so I could have the option of shipping them out to Chicago so one day my kids would be able to enjoy them as I did for many years.  But, alas, it was not to be.

If I remember correctly, I did not talk to my mother for three days - silent treatment with sneers and frowns.  My Dad finally intervened and I was forced to forgive her - but to this day all is not forgiven, may Mom rest in peace! 
_______________________________________________________________________________

My middle brother (may he rest in peace) and I had a near fortune invested in Lionel trains. My father started us off when we still lived in the Burgh before we became middle class American's and moved to the suburbs in the mid 50's. We got a large paper route of about 120 customers and we seemed to spend almost all of the money we earned tossing papers during the year and then the windfall tips we got at Christmas time buying new Lionel trains and accessories. You name it and I'm willing to bet we had it. Even the large Z style transformer wasn't enough to power everything we had. We had to have at least 6 smaller transformers. My father allowed us to take over the large basement we had with the train set up. IIRC the platform was something like 12 feet by 8 feet. It was too large to put up and down so it just stayed up year round for years.

I liked to do the new set ups, getting everything wired up and several trains running at the same time on one track and one elevated on the trestle set. Had lights all around the set up with lights in all of buildings and houses, these were powered by 120 vac. My middle brother just liked to run the train around the tracks and push the buttons to operated the active cars and the accessories. One time after a few weeks of this elaborate set up I even got bored with it and said we should change it. My brother said, "go up stairs and get bored watching TV because if you get out a screw driver I'm going to stab you with it". I figured he didn't mean it but I didn't want to find out for sure So, I went upstairs and watched TV.

My mother never threw out those trains. I guess the boxes were too heavy. When my sons were at the train age, since my brother did not have any children, he said you ought to set up the trains for the kids. So, I went to my parents house, found the many boxes and schlepped them to my house. Mrs. j didn't want the family room taken over with the trains so I put her car in the driveway and used her half of the garage for the set up. Unfortunately, what I remembered about those old trains was correct. They were on their last leg and I had to repair almost everything since we only got a few laps around the table before another problem surfaced. To repair them in the mid 70's would have cost more than I was willing to put into the effort. I called several collectors and they told me they were worth almost nothing in the condition they were in. All of them told me they buy trains like this for pennies to possibly get a part from one that may be good to rebuild a worn out train/accessory they had. I didn't have the heart to toss them, so back into the box they went.

In the mid to late 80's the development my youngest brother lived in was having a street sale one weekend and he asked me if there was anything I wanted to get rid of. So, I called my middle brother and told him I was willing sell all of the trains/accessories, about a quarter mile of track and a dozen switches (those were the biggest culprits needing repaired. They hummed like you were at a cheap concert) if he was OK with that and we'd split the money. He said he forgot all about those trains and to go ahead and sell them and use the money to buy Son #1 a book or two when he went to Penn State.

I sold everything for about $400.

Mike, since you were in the scholastic biz, how many books should that have bought in the late 80's for a freshman. Driver, you peddled books so maybe you can chime in here too.

jmonroe

berri

Some years ago I picked up a book that was a replica of the old Sears, Wards and Penny's Christmas catalogs. I always loved looking at those trains, race car layouts and building sets like American Plastic Bricks and the old Girder and Panel or Bridge and Turnpike sets. There often was a train around the tree on the cover or in the toy section. I still take a look at that book once in awhile for a fun nostalgia trip.

explorerx4

Anyone had Yuengling ice cream? They made it during prohibition and have brought it back.

jmonroe

berri said:

Some years ago I picked up a book that was a replica of the old Sears, Wards and Penny's Christmas catalogs. I always loved looking at those trains, race car layouts and building sets like American Plastic Bricks and the old Girder and Panel or Bridge and Turnpike sets. There often was a train around the tree on the cover or in the toy section. I still take a look at that book once in awhile for a fun nostalgia trip.

I like looking through some of those old catalogs when I can find one. I can't remember how I came buy an old Sears and Roebucks catalog from 1949 (I think). It's not in good shape but you get the idea when you look through it.

I understand one of those catalogs even in bad shape is worth a good penny today.

Mrs. j knows to stay clear of that catalog when she decides to clean out closets.

jmonroe

abacomike

@jmonroe:

$400 in the 1980's didn't buy much in the way of texts for a freshman in college.  IIRC, it used to cost me about $250 for textbooks at the NYU Bookstore for 4-5 college level courses per semester.  Texts were about $25.00 used, so I always tried to buy used books rather than new, which were twice the price.  If you were to extrapolate using inflation to determine what books would cost in the 1980's, my guess books would cost about $350 per semester.  Just a guess JM.

jmonroe

explorerx4 said:

Anyone had Yuengling ice cream? They made it during prohibition and have brought it back.

I never heard of that before.

As for the beer, that's the only beer you'll find in both of my sons homes. Waaay better than the famous national brands.

jmonroe

abacomike

explorerx4 said:

Anyone had Yuengling ice cream? They made it during prohibition and have brought it back.

Never had the pleasure.  I don't know if I could tell the difference between Yuengling ice cream and Budwiesser ice cream.

jmonroe

abacomike said:

@jmonroe:

$400 in the 1980's didn't buy much in the way of texts for a freshman in college.  IIRC, it used to cost me about $250 for textbooks at the NYU Bookstore for 4-5 college level courses per semester.  Texts were about $25.00 used, so I always tried to buy used books rather than new, which were twice the price.  If you were to extrapolate using inflation to determine what books would cost in the 1980's, my guess books would cost about $350 per semester.  Just a guess JM.

Yeah, that's about what my Son said.

He said he bought used books every chance he got but there were too many times the professors went to new book just printed. Probably due to a friend at another universities that wrote the book. They would be repaid by friends when they wrote a book.

There otta be an investigation about these shenanigans.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

abacomike said:

jmonroe said:

PF_Flyer said:

stickguy said:

I was at that philly show too. I remember Andre, lemko and gerbeck (sp?). And Juice.

Yep, that's the group. I was the one with the yoyo

You too huh?

When I was around 11/12/13, not to brag, I was pretty good with throwing a yoyo around. Walking the dog, rocking the baby, around the world, man on the flying trapeze, loopty loop etc. Good enough that I got a few badges from Duncan and even Cheerios. The kind of badges that are meant to be sewn on a jacket like the jocks have on their football and basketball jackets. My meanie Mom said she wasn't going to sew any things like that to a good jacket. She would have preferred I got badges that said I was getting a scholarship to a good school. That she would sew on a jacket. I showed her alright, I got a jacket with a badge already sewn on from Duncan when I won another contest.

A few years ago one of my grandsons came over and had a yoyo. He barely knew how to use it. I put it on my finger and after a few minutes I was doing some tricks just like the old days. I guess you can say it's kinda like that riding a bike thing. He was impressed. Mrs. j sees all this going on and says, "why don't you teach him something worthwhile", reminded me of something my mother would say.

I wore out that jacket and it was thrown away. I put the badges in the same shoe box with my baseball/football cards and I had a few autographs I got from some local Pirate and Steelers players back then. I even had a few Roberto Clemente autographs. Just like a lot of mothers did on cleanout-the-closet-day when I was out of the house, that shoe box got tossed. Now I can't even prove to my grandsons that I was pretty darn good with a yoyo back in my day other than doing a few old tricks for them.

Thanks Mom.

jmonroe

My grandfather on my mother's side of the family Bought my brother and me Lionel electric trains.  I'm talking about "real" O Gauge original Lionel trains produced in the late 1940's through the late 1950's - the ones that are worth tens of thousands of dollars today.  Every Christmas, he would take my brother and me to F. A. O. Schwartz on 5th Avenue in Manhattan to buy additions to our train sets such as electric cattle cars, coal cars, oil tankers, etc., not to mention scenery items for our layout.  My Dad made a huge table out of plywood and set up tracks so we could create a miniature railroad with hills, bridges, railroad crossings, towns, trustles and the like.

I bring this up because my Mom was not a fan of taking over the living room for 4 weeks every Christmad with our trains and the huge table along with all the transformers necessary to operate all the functions of the trains and the peripherals. In fact, I kind of knew she hated those trains.

My brother and I would play with those Lionel's for hours at a time - train whistles blowing and when we put "smoke" tablets in the engine smoke stacks, white smoke would pour out.

I remember one time when I flew back home from Chicago to introduce my spouse-to-be to Mom and Dad one Christmas, anxious to set up my Lionel electric trains (we had three full sets - those locomotives must have weighed 5+ pounds each).  I went into my old bedroom to take the trains and table into the livingroom along with the peripherals and they had disappeared.

I went into Mom's room and asked her where "MY" trains were.  She responded that she donated them to Good Will!  I don't ever remember being more angry and upset than I was at that moment!  I had murder in my heart - for my mother?  Yes!  She had gone and destroyed the last vestige of my youth - just gave them away without first informing me so I could have the option of shipping them out to Chicago so one day my kids would be able to enjoy them as I did for many years.  But, alas, it was not to be.

If I remember correctly, I did not talk to my mother for three days - silent treatment with sneers and frowns.  My Dad finally intervened and I was forced to forgive her - but to this day all is not forgiven, may Mom rest in peace! 

Reminds me of the anger I felt at my father when he did touch up on my first car with a paint brush. He was a good engineer but a lousy body/paint man.

Still if I could see him one more time I tell him all is forgiven.

abacomike

@oldfarmer50 said:

"...me of the anger I felt at my father when he did touch up on my first car with a paint brush. He was a good engineer but a lousy body/paint man.

Still if I could see him one more time I tell him all is forgiven."

No question about that, OF, if I could be with Mom just one more hour to hug her, kiss her, and totally forgive her - that is my dying wish!

berri

It's sad how many families have issues and get mad at each other...and then it is too late. Aba and OF, sounds like you guys have your head screwed on right. Life can be short and it really took me until a few years ago to recognize that memories are far more treasured than any stuff you can own. No one takes those memories away, so I think it is usually a good idea to just suck things up, press on and focus on the positives.

Btw, my mother gave my collection of model promo cars away to my kid cousins when I was at college. They used them as toys. Hurts to think how much they are worth today, but that's life I guess.

roadburner

I'm glad I was an only child- as is my son. He will only have to deal with his crazy parents- and not one or more siblings...

driver100

Mike, since you were in the scholastic biz, how many books should that have bought in the late 80's for a freshman. Driver, you peddled books so maybe you can chime in here too.
jmonroe

I'll chime in by saying you have one great memory JM to remember me peddling books....hope you remember important things too. In the 1980s $400 was like almost a weeks pay for me, so yes, I think it would buy you about one semesters worth of books.

I never had true Lionel Trains....I got the no name brands, but, they were still fun. I would love to see the largest model train layout in the world in Hamburg Germany one day.

https://youtu.be/ACkmg3Y64_s

https://youtu.be/ACkmg3Y64_s

28firefighter

I miss Yuengling. I can't get it unless I'm traveling on business in the Northeast or in Florida. 

Off to San Jose this weekend to help my sister move. Rented a standard SUV from Avis in advance of the obligatory IKEA trip. 

oldfarmer50

Question for the gear heads.

I watch these "Power Block" type shows where they rebuild or mod engines. On most of the builds they slap on a carburetor.

I was wondering that if they put these engines into a street car how would they pass emissions standards? Sometimes the project involves old 60s classics which I assume would be exempt but others are fairly modern vehicles.

Could a carburetor equipped modern car pass?

jmonroe

oldfarmer50 said:

Question for the gear heads.

I watch these "Power Block" type shows where they rebuild or mod engines. On most of the builds they slap on a carburetor.

I was wondering that if they put these engines into a street car how would they pass emissions standards? Sometimes the project involves old 60s classics which I assume would be exempt but others are fairly modern vehicles.

Could a carburetor equipped modern car pass?

Farmer, I'm not an expert even though I rebuilt many a GM Rochester 4 barrel carb back in the day, but to meet todays emission standards I don't thing a carb will pass those tests.

Now, if you want one rebuilt for 60 thru 70's GM jobs, I could be your man.

Something else I don't think you forget.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

OK, opinions. Worth a look? I miss my old '84 and wouldn't have sold it if it wasn't so miled up.

1986 CHEVROLET CORVETTE
$9,600



Stock #: N/A
VIN: 1G1YY0781G5107460
Color: Gold
Miles: 46,214
Engine: 8 Cyl
Trans: Automatic
Drive: RWD
Location: Ravena, NY 12143
- See more at: http://www.listingallcars.com/details/1986-Chevrolet-Corvette-Used/2631333148141976786#sthash.vYDwv2cU.dpuf

imidazol97

I misrepresented the Hankook tires on my Cobalt in a recent post. I said they showed dry rot too soon. When I started counting, it was at the 6-year mark. But the tread wear was still at about 44K and 60% left. Drying appeared to be early based on wear. The car did not drive a lot of miles during its first years with me. The tread seemed to have gotten less sticky, but they still were probably normal for their age.

That's the typical age for problems. Hankook has a dry rot warranty, but only for 3 years or something like that. So I put on Michelins, of course. LOL I really hated taking off tires with lots of tread left.

roadburner

jmonroe said:

<
Farmer, I'm not an expert even though I rebuilt many a GM Rochester 4 barrel carb back in the day, but to meet todays emission standards I don't thing a carb will pass those tests.

Now, if you want one rebuilt for 60 thru 70's GM jobs, I could be your man.

Something else I don't think you forget.

jmonroe

I still get an occasional request to rebuild a Quadrajet. That is an brilliant design that received a bad rap because most people didn't want to take the time to understand how and why it was designed the way it was. Solex even made a carburetor that was almost a direct copy of the Q-Jet. I even saw a Q-Jet mounted on a BMW prototype V8 at the BMW museum back in 1981.

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

OK, opinions. Worth a look? I miss my old '84 and wouldn't have sold it if it wasn't so miled up.

1986 CHEVROLET CORVETTE
$9,600



Stock #: N/A
VIN: 1G1YY0781G5107460
Color: Gold
Miles: 46,214
Engine: 8 Cyl
Trans: Automatic
Drive: RWD
Location: Ravena, NY 12143
- See more at: http://www.listingallcars.com/details/1986-Chevrolet-Corvette-Used/2631333148141976786#sthash.vYDwv2cU.dpuf

The only C4s I could see owning are a 1993-up ZR1 or maybe a 1996 Grand Sport- but that's just me.

dino001

verdugo said:

dino001 said:

I've done TurboTax Premier for years now. Purchased at Costco for $60 or so, often split the cost with a friend. .

I have to say that I'm surprised that you do that. You've always come across as smart, responsible, and having lots of integrity.

(mods, is this is considered an offensive post, feel free to delete it. It certainly wasn't meant to be offensive.)

The license agreement allows for up to five or six returns. There is no "no sharing outside if family" clause. Mine counts as one, my friend's and his wife's as two. I have not violated anything. My integrity is fine, thank you very much - at least as far as Turbo Tax license agreement is concerned.

Mr_Shiftright

roadburner said:

oldfarmer50 said:

OK, opinions. Worth a look? I miss my old '84 and wouldn't have sold it if it wasn't so miled up.

1986 CHEVROLET CORVETTE
$9,600



Stock #: N/A
VIN: 1G1YY0781G5107460
Color: Gold
Miles: 46,214
Engine: 8 Cyl
Trans: Automatic
Drive: RWD
Location: Ravena, NY 12143
- See more at: http://www.listingallcars.com/details/1986-Chevrolet-Corvette-Used/2631333148141976786#sthash.vYDwv2cU.dpuf

The only C4s I could see owning are a 1993-up ZR1 or maybe a 1996 Grand Sport- but that's just me.

I'd say 1992 on up, because you get the newer LT 1 engine, but ideally, 1994-96 is the sweet spot, with dual air bags, redesigned instrument panel, and better interior materials, among other things. The ZR1 is great but you'll pay a lot more for it.

snakeweasel

imidazol97 said:

I misrepresented the Hankook tires on my Cobalt in a recent post. I said they showed dry rot too soon. When I started counting, it was at the 6-year mark. But the tread wear was still at about 44K and 60% left. Drying appeared to be early based on wear. The car did not drive a lot of miles during its first years with me. The tread seemed to have gotten less sticky, but they still were probably normal for their age.

That's the typical age for problems. Hankook has a dry rot warranty, but only for 3 years or something like that. So I put on Michelins, of course. LOL I really hated taking off tires with lots of tread left.

Age can kill off a tire as well as miles. Age will kill tires on rarely driven vehicles long before the tread will go. 6 years may or may not be the time to replace them even with a lot of tread left. It all depends on the environment where the car is kept, how well the tires were maintained and how long it was between the tire being made and when it was placed on the car. It can be years between manufacturing and getting put on the car so your tires could be far older than 6 years.

Hankook, as well as other tire manufacturers, warranty tire for dry rot for a much lower time frame since the warranty starts when the tire is attached to your car and the manufacturer has no control on how long they sit in inventory.

nyccarguy

Definitely the later model Grand Sport C4s would be my way to go!  

Mr_Shiftright

1996 only, with the new LT4 engine! Gonna cost you around $30K though.

oldfarmer50

roadburner said:

oldfarmer50 said:

OK, opinions. Worth a look? I miss my old '84 and wouldn't have sold it if it wasn't so miled up.

1986 CHEVROLET CORVETTE
$9,600



Stock #: N/A
VIN: 1G1YY0781G5107460
Color: Gold
Miles: 46,214
Engine: 8 Cyl
Trans: Automatic
Drive: RWD
Location: Ravena, NY 12143
- See more at: http://www.listingallcars.com/details/1986-Chevrolet-Corvette-Used/2631333148141976786#sthash.vYDwv2cU.dpuf

The only C4s I could see owning are a 1993-up ZR1 or maybe a 1996 Grand Sport- but that's just me.

Yeah, the L98 in the '85-91 only put out about 250hp vs the later years up to 375hp but I'm not sure I would buy a 30 year old car solely for it's power. I wouldn't reject a '96 C4 but the price of those is beyond my nostalgia budget.

I was just thinking there must be a good story on a car that was only driven 1500 miles a year.

jmonroe

burner said:

I still get an occasional request to rebuild a Quadrajet. That is an brilliant design that received a bad rap because most people didn't want to take the time to understand how and why it was designed the way it was. Solex even made a carburetor that was almost a direct copy of the Q-Jet. I even saw a Q-Jet mounted on a BMW prototype V8 at the BMW museum back in 1981.

______________________________________________________________________________

burner,

I remember you talking about rebuilding the old Quadrajet carbs way back on a couple of the old Edmund's forums. You and I and Shifty may be the only ones in here that know anything about these old beasts.

A couple months ago I was looking through a drawer at my tool bench for a manual for a facet that was leaking so that I could get the part number for the part that had to be replaced under the lifetime warranty (I keep all manuals and flyer sheets for this very reason). Low and behold I come across an old instruction sheet for rebuilding the Quadrajet. I looked at it for a minute or two just for old time's sake. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can still do it.

You've probably rebuilt one later than me. If I had to guess I'd say my last one was in the very late 80's.

How's the tracking going? Son #1 hung up his steering wheel about 2 years ago. I think more than anything else he wanted to prove to himself that he could pass the track test and go solo faster than most mortal beings. Plus, once he was told by a couple of experienced guys at the track that had the same body type (Camaro) that he had on his '95 Trans AM that he wasn't going to improve his times until he did some major suspension work, he had to be content with the times he was getting.

He asked them to drive his car to see if they could get better times than he got. Both of them drove his car and beat his times but not by very much. He even drove one of the other guys cars and could tell how well that car was nailed down to the track. He said there was no comparison to his car. So, this confirmed that he had hit the wall with that Trans Am as it sat and that's when he sold it and started to concentrate on tuition for his oldest son who is now 14. He said he even got a little more for it than what he had into it (tires, brakes and stuff like that).

The young guy that bought it was thrilled with his test drive of it.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50

Mr_Shiftright said:

1996 only, with the new LT4 engine! Gonna cost you around $30K though.

Those must be pretty rare seeing that you can get a late 90s C5 for under $20k.

graphicguy

Wow....Rover's back, too. Welcome back!

Was in Austin this week for work. Little crazy there with South by Southwest going on. Heard some good bands, though. Packed downtown was a pain in the derriere, though. Fortunately, UBER saved me from even messing around trying to get downtown and back to my hotel.

Still, I had a rental to go back and forth from my hotel to our office.

Brand new Jetta with about 1,600 miles on it. Liked the way it drove. Chassis was a good compromise between ride and handling. No "bad road shudder" ever hit the cabin....which is quite good for this class of car. Steering was a bit light, but no over-abundance of understeer was noticeable. Brakes were good. Electronics were wonky, particularly bluetooth. It kept dropping my iPhone connection. Plus, playing music via my iphone was a hit and miss proposition.

Clearly it was a base model. But, even at that, I was shocked at how bad some of the materials were on the inside. Lots and lots of hard plastics....it didn't take much to push and flex hard surfaces, either. They did nothing to even try to disguise the look of the materials on the inside, either.

Compared to a base Accord, Camry, Fusion, Malibu, Sonata, or any other rental I've driven in the same class, I'd rate it's build and materials dead last. Driving it would rank up there with the best of them though.

Mr_Shiftright

oldfarmer50 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

1996 only, with the new LT4 engine! Gonna cost you around $30K though.

Those must be pretty rare seeing that you can get a late 90s C5 for under $20k.

I think they made 1,000 even, with the Grand Sport option in 1996. I bet most of them are still around. You can easily find them for sale.

I was sniffing around C4s last year and drove quite a few of them---but man, these cars are not well screwed together, and every one I tested had problems of one sort or another. Still, they are a great bang for the buck. Be prepared to fix 'em, though, and chances of getting one with a presentable interior aren't so good unless you pony up for a low mileage, late-run C4. The joke is that you measure a C4s interior in "dog years".

oldfarmer50

Mr_Shiftright said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

1996 only, with the new LT4 engine! Gonna cost you around $30K though.

Those must be pretty rare seeing that you can get a late 90s C5 for under $20k.

I think they made 1,000 even, with the Grand Sport option in 1996. I bet most of them are still around. You can easily find them for sale.

I was sniffing around C4s last year and drove quite a few of them---but man, these cars are not well screwed together, and every one I tested had problems of one sort or another. Still, they are a great bang for the buck. Be prepared to fix 'em, though, and chances of getting one with a presentable interior aren't so good unless you pony up for a low mileage, late-run C4. The joke is that you measure a C4s interior in "dog years".

LOL I agree with that. My cloth seats were a mess especially since the removeable roof seals leaked but tooling down the highway with the roof in the trunk was a sensation I miss.

abacomike

I was sitting in my recliner in my bedroom watching TV at noon time when I heard my doorbell ring. I got up and opened the door. It was one of my neighbors screaming and yelling and crying to come downstairs to her apartment to help out her husband. I told her to calm down and that I just need to put on a pair of shoes and I will go downstairs with her to help out. As I am tying my shoes, I asked her what the problem with her husband was. She responded that he is in the bathtub and can't get himself out of the tub!

So I began to think to myself, "...how am I going to get him out of the tub - and if I do get him out of the tub, I am afraid he will fall. What am I getting myself into here?" Unfortunately, I was not able to talk myself out of this mess, so I followed her downstairs. We go into the condo unit and as I approached the guest bathroom with the bathtub, I see the entire floor is completely flooded as was the living room and dining room, not to mention at least an inch of water on the floor near and in the bathroom. I hear splashing and laughter and I begin to wonder what the heck is going on here.

I open the door to the bathroom and low and behold, there's the husband splashing water against the walls and laughing out loud. He is also talking to himself, saying, "...I'll get you back for that; you can't get away with that; here, take this..." as he continues to splash water all over the place while the water faucet is filling the bathtub up as quickly as this guy is splashing the water out of the tub.

I turn to his wife and told her if he is going to keep splashing water all over the place, I am not going to get drenched - besides, with my luck he might pull me into the tub with him - and how am I going to get out of the tub? The wife tells me he has a touch of dementia and thinks he is at his summer camp when he was a boy in the middle of a water fight with the other boys. She yells at him to stop and I started yelling too. He stops his splashing, looks up to me and says, "...is it time to get out of the pool already?" I said yes, most definitely way past that time.

His wife turns off the water faucet and pulls up the drain plug to the bathtub can drain. I asked him to give me both his hands and I pull him up and he finally stands up. I asked his wife for a robe and towel, which she brings me and I escort him into his bedroom and lay him down on the bed. All this time, he is mumbling about how much fun the water fight was with the campers from the next bunk. Good Grief!

Of course, I am soaking wet from this activity and request a towel from the wife so I can dry myself off. She says all the towels are on the floor in the bathroom and she has no more dry towels. Holy mackeral! So I just walk to the front door, open it and walked over to the elevator and got back to my condo unit. I was soaking wet. I took a shower and as I am about to sit down in my recliner, the phone rings. I answer it and it's the wife asking me if I can come downstairs again - her husband had sneaked into the bathroom again and was in the tub splashing water all over the place. I just told her to wait until the swimming activity was over and the counselors blew their whistles to clear everyone out of the pool. I had done what I could but that I was not going to go through another lifesaving attempt this afternoon. She asked me what she should do? I told her to call the paramedics and have them help him out of the tub.

Like I always say, life is just precious down here in God's Little Waiting Room!

iluvmysephia1

abaco - ahh, what's a little extra water in your life, man?

roadburner

jmonroe said:

How's the tracking going? Son #1 hung up his steering wheel about 2 years ago. I think more than anything else he wanted to prove to himself that he could pass the track test and go solo faster than most mortal beings. Plus, once he was told by a couple of experienced guys at the track that had the same body type (Camaro) that he had on his '95 Trans AM that he wasn't going to improve his times until he did some major suspension work, he had to be content with the times he was getting.

He asked them to drive his car to see if they could get better times than he got. Both of them drove his car and beat his times but not by very much. He even drove one of the other guys cars and could tell how well that car was nailed down to the track. He said there was no comparison to his car. So, this confirmed that he had hit the wall with that Trans Am as it sat and that's when he sold it and started to concentrate on tuition for his oldest son who is now 14. He said he even got a little more for it than what he had into it (tires, brakes and stuff like that).

The young guy that bought it was thrilled with his test drive of it.

jmonroe

I sympathize with your son in that I took quite a few years off when my son was younger. Last year I was kind of between track cars but now I'm ready to start back with the 2 Series. My first outing will be at Putnam Park in June. My local chapter is conducting an event at the National Corvette Museum track on Easter weekend, but-aside from not wanting to be away from home on Easter-I am just too old to try and learn a car AND a track at the same time. On top of that, NCM has more than a few "unforgiving" corners- meaning if you screw up you will likely hit something. At Putnam there's really only one corner where a screw up might bend something.
My son wants to attend the same event if he's not working. We'll see...

driver100

abacomike said:

I was sitting in my recliner in my bedroom watching TV at noon time when I heard my doorbell ring. She responded that he is in the bathtub and can't get himself out of the tub!
RFLOL at that - those are words no one wants to hear!
I turn to his wife and told her if he is going to keep splashing water all over the place, I am not going to get d She asked me what she should do? I told her to call the paramedics and have them help him out of the tub.

Mike, I think it is time for you to move!

That was one of the funniest stories I have heard in awhile. It was nice of you to help out, but, I guess it is a job best left to the professionals.

Hope the rest of your weekend is a little quieter.

imidazol97

abacomike said:

The wife tells me he has a touch of dementia and thinks he is at his summer camp when he was a boy in the middle of a water fight with the other boys.

I had to laugh at the picture you painted. I apologize.

As for the dementia, there but by the grace of God go the rest of us eventually. I just imagine how stressful this is for his wife. She definitely needs help in handling this.

At first I thought it was going to be like a friend of my ours who was a teacher friend of my wife. She is larger than I am and has kidney failure. She also has something wrong in her muscle control at times and was falling. Then she couldn't get up. After a time, the muscle control would return. She called one day asking me to come over to help her get up. Couldn't pull her up even with the help of a wooden dining chair. Eventually used the laws of physics and had her crawl to the couch and helped he crawl onto it. Then eventually she was able to sit upright with my help pulling her up. Then her muscle weakness slowly left.

jmonroe

abacomike said:

Like I always say, life is just precious down here in God's Little Waiting Room!

Mike,

The sight of you helping that guy would be a real hit on YouTube. Maybe you should go back and help that guy if he is still in the tub. Give the guy's wife your phone to record the next episode of your humanitarian effort and get back to us real soon, OK?

jmonroe

abacomike

jmonroe said:

Like I always say, life is just precious down here in God's Little Waiting Room!

Mike, The sight of you helping that guy would be a real hit on YouTube. Maybe you should go back and help that guy if he is still in the tub. Give the guy's wife your phone to record the next episode of your humanitarian effort and get back to us real soon, OK? jmonroe

I guess if I had to go down there again, I would bring my whistle.  I'd blow it and yell, "...swim is over, everybody out-of-the-pool!" 

jmonroe

abacomike said:

I guess if I had to go down there again, I would bring my whistle.  I'd blow it and yell, "...swim is over, everybody out-of-the-pool!" 

OK get down there with your whistle.

It's a slow day in here today, so we'll settle for just about anything, really.

jmonroe

isellhondas

When I was in the tool business I was in the process of training a new dealer who had just sold his shop. His shop just happened to be one of if not the best shop in Oakland CA at the time.

We walked into a shop and immediately got thrown out because of some conflict the owner had with the previous dealer. My guy noticed that the owner had a Quadrajet totally torn apart on his workbench. He asked him if he was having difficulty and the angry shop owner told him it was a comeback for the third time and that he was stumped. My guy told him "Go outside and have a smoke...I know everything there is to know about a Quadrajet"..I watched his hands fly through the parts! He bent a couple of pieces in a vise and fifteen minutes later it was ready to back on the car. The shop owner installed it and the car roared to life. My dealer than gave him a few tips and gently informed him of a couple of mistakes he had made. " How do you know so much" the owner asked. " Well, I just sold my shop and we did a lot of those. He then told him the name of his well known shop and the guy about fainted.

He became a great customer who gave us 100% of his business!

ab348

Had to post this because this is simply mind-boggling.

Last night there was a single-car accident in St. John's, Newfoundland. Take a look at the Mazda3 that was involved:









The amazing thing is that the driver WALKED AWAY. Literally. When first responders arrived there was no driver to be seen. They searched the area off the highway thinking that he or his remains would have been ejected. Later on he was discovered to be OK and uninjured. Sitting at home, or on a curb or in a bar, I do not know. I can only imagine the speed he was traveling. Not sure what this says about the structure of the 3, but by disintegrating as it did it likely dissipated much of the energy of the crash.

http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2016-03-19/article-4471236/Driver-at-first-missing-after-car-found-split-in-two/1

http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?mn=2&id=61302#.Vu0kByBsfog.facebook

https://youtu.be/Bo-IGFizPsY

isellhondas

abacomike said:

I was sitting in my recliner in my bedroom watching TV at noon time when I heard my doorbell ring. I got up and opened the door. It was one of my neighbors screaming and yelling and crying to come downstairs to her apartment to help out her husband. I told her to calm down and that I just need to put on a pair of shoes and I will go downstairs with her to help out. As I am tying my shoes, I asked her what the problem with her husband was. She responded that he is in the bathtub and can't get himself out of the tub!

So I began to think to myself, "...how am I going to get him out of the tub - and if I do get him out of the tub, I am afraid he will fall. What am I getting myself into here?" Unfortunately, I was not able to talk myself out of this mess, so I followed her downstairs. We go into the condo unit and as I approached the guest bathroom with the bathtub, I see the entire floor is completely flooded as was the living room and dining room, not to mention at least an inch of water on the floor near and in the bathroom. I hear splashing and laughter and I begin to wonder what the heck is going on here.

I open the door to the bathroom and low and behold, there's the husband splashing water against the walls and laughing out loud. He is also talking to himself, saying, "...I'll get you back for that; you can't get away with that; here, take this..." as he continues to splash water all over the place while the water faucet is filling the bathtub up as quickly as this guy is splashing the water out of the tub.

I turn to his wife and told her if he is going to keep splashing water all over the place, I am not going to get drenched - besides, with my luck he might pull me into the tub with him - and how am I going to get out of the tub? The wife tells me he has a touch of dementia and thinks he is at his summer camp when he was a boy in the middle of a water fight with the other boys. She yells at him to stop and I started yelling too. He stops his splashing, looks up to me and says, "...is it time to get out of the pool already?" I said yes, most definitely way past that time.

His wife turns off the water faucet and pulls up the drain plug to the bathtub can drain. I asked him to give me both his hands and I pull him up and he finally stands up. I asked his wife for a robe and towel, which she brings me and I escort him into his bedroom and lay him down on the bed. All this time, he is mumbling about how much fun the water fight was with the campers from the next bunk. Good Grief!

Of course, I am soaking wet from this activity and request a towel from the wife so I can dry myself off. She says all the towels are on the floor in the bathroom and she has no more dry towels. Holy mackeral! So I just walk to the front door, open it and walked over to the elevator and got back to my condo unit. I was soaking wet. I took a shower and as I am about to sit down in my recliner, the phone rings. I answer it and it's the wife asking me if I can come downstairs again - her husband had sneaked into the bathroom again and was in the tub splashing water all over the place. I just told her to wait until the swimming activity was over and the counselors blew their whistles to clear everyone out of the pool. I had done what I could but that I was not going to go through another lifesaving attempt this afternoon. She asked me what she should do? I told her to call the paramedics and have them help him out of the tub.

Like I always say, life is just precious down here in God's Little Waiting Room!

Oh, just a "touch" of dementia huh?

tjc78

That will buff right out.......

wow!

@oldfarmer50 I like those Vettes, not the fastest thing but fun. You could do worse for 10K

jpp75

@ab348

That is one lucky person who survived that accident, much less walked away from it without injury.

jmonroe

tjc78 said:

That will buff right out.......

wow!

With that guys' luck I 'm sure it will.

I don't know who he prays to but I want that guys number, amazing !!!!

jmonroe

jmonroe

isellhondas said:

When I was in the tool business I was in the process of training a new dealer who had just sold his shop. His shop just happened to be one of if not the best shop in Oakland CA at the time.

We walked into a shop and immediately got thrown out because of some conflict the owner had with the previous dealer. My guy noticed that the owner had a Quadrajet totally torn apart on his workbench. He asked him if he was having difficulty and the angry shop owner told him it was a comeback for the third time and that he was stumped. My guy told him "Go outside and have a smoke...I know everything there is to know about a Quadrajet"..I watched his hands fly through the parts! He bent a couple of pieces in a vise and fifteen minutes later it was ready to back on the car. The shop owner installed it and the car roared to life. My dealer than gave him a few tips and gently informed him of a couple of mistakes he had made. " How do you know so much" the owner asked. " Well, I just sold my shop and we did a lot of those. He then told him the name of his well known shop and the guy about fainted.

He became a great customer who gave us 100% of his business!

isell,

I'm sorry I forgot about you when I mentioned the guys in here who would know anything about a Quadrajet carb. Now that Rover is back, I'll have to add him to my list too.

Anyone else I owe an apology to ?

The last thing I need is for my dues to go up because of false posting.

jmonroe

isellhondas

I seem to recall that the Q-Jet had a couple of brass plugs underneath that looked like tiny freeze plugs. I believe these could fall out and get sucked into the engine doing huge damage. Am I dreaming about this?