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Comments
Oh, now that is just nasty.
GOTTA STOP THINKING ABOUT DONUTS!
and if you've ever had Shipley Donuts still hot ... omg ....
Microwaved Krispy Kremes make a reasonable facsimile of the ones coming off the belt. KK, like Coors Beer, lost a lot of their cachet when they went national.
Oh yeah, we also managed to barely stay ahead of a strong low pressure system. We found out at one point that they had closed the Interstate due to blizzard conditions only 12 hours after we had passed through :surprise: The good news was the approaching front gave us a pretty significant tailwind for a good portion of the trip. Which certainly helped the mpg of our loaded Forester towing a trailer.
-Frank
Thank you, Lady Johnson. :shades:
Once I get settled in and unpacked, you, me and Bob will have to get together to compare rides
-Frank
Bob
Just be careful of driving in Montgomery County, MD, as there are speed cameras everywhere. I got a ticket when juice and I got together to compare rides.
Bob
Seriously, though, they are abundant. Red light cams, too.
So I guess if you live there you know were all the cameras are? Or do they move them around?
We only have the red light cameras so far, but I'm sure the speed cameras aren't too far behind!
tom
I saw a nasty wreck on Rt. 28 in MD, right at an intersection with a red light cam.
Guy in front hit the brakes to avoid the $40 fine, Volvo behind him went c-r-a-s-h.
Wonder how often that happens...
It's still the Volvo's fault, but you wonder if they really make the roads safer, or merely provide a source of revenues.
The have plenty of my money (and Bob's).
Thery have a sticker to that effect but they do 80+ just fine
-Frank
I left AZ not a moment too soon, it was getting to the point where there was a speed camera every 10 miles on the interstate
-Frank
Bob
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Bob
Traded the 03 Outback for an 09 Outback SE two weeks ago. The 2k cash back and 9 speaker Harman Kardon stereo pretty much sealed the deal. What a nice car! This is Subaru #6 for us. The dealer has already named it "Syx".
Hope all is well with everyone. Sorry to hear you are not well, Pat. Rob M.
Gee, you never miss a chat. :shades: Someone is paging you about your radio over in the Problems discussion:
dsarge663, "Subaru Crew Problems & Solutions" #18039, 22 Mar 2009 5:47 pm
Oil Seal 32X55X8.5
Oil Seal
Timing Belt
Gasket Rocker Cover RH
Gasket Rocker Cover LH
Gasket Rocker Cover #20
Washer Rocker Cover
Spark Plug 4
Quite a list...I need to replace leaking cam seals and valve covers...so since the mechanic is in there, he also suggested doing the timimg belt and plugs...lucky for me I owe the govt $650 in taxes!
Oh, well, it's only money :-(
Since I've been buying my own parts, the cost of parts should be more or less halved What kind of plugs should I get for the WRX?
Serge
* digg
I was going to say that MD's $40 tickets hardly cover the processing fee. It costs you almost $200 when you get your picture taken in AZ
-Frank
You can download a POI database for them and set up an alert on your GPS if it has that capability, but when I did that the thing went off every 15 seconds, so I disabled the feature.
I have not seen the cams on highways, yet, however.
Rob: congrats on the new OB!
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/27/2744.asp
Bob
So let's summarize, in case anyone missed it:
* They'll be everywhere
* They are an "essential means of reining in the state's run-away budget deficit" with no mention of safety goals
* "Traffic camera vendors also helped promote the effort with lavish gifts, parties and campaign donations"
* "School zone cameras can operate ... regardless of whether school is in session"
* it's all run by for-profit companies
* tax payers will get none of the $$$
* accuracy is not important so they won't be calibrated regularly
* state legislators can be exempt from paying these tickets
* they're hiding the names of the people who passed the bill
Nice! Welcome to MD. :sick:
1. FXT is up to 71K miles now. No more mechanical problems save for a shorted-out seat heater switch due to a spilled milkshake(!). The cloth upholstery (it's a non-premium XT) was picking badly on both front seats, however, so I sprung for aftermarket Katzkin leather for the seats and headrests. Impressive quality and it's holding up well; I'd always been leather seat averse but these are pretty nice. The 60K service went well but oddly enough I didn't require rear brake pads! I do now, though, and I'm tempted to go aftermarket and start upgrading as I've always felt this car is underbraked.
2. I've jumped back into the old car hobby with a vengeance. Just a couple of months ago I bought a 1970 Porsche 911T coupe. The timing could've been better with the economy but it's the economy that made the deal available...that and the fact that the car is a bit of an oddball. It has a clutchless manual transmission, which Porsche called Sportomatic; it has a torque converter but you have to shift yourself. Not terribly popular at the time and a rare find today as many were converted over to full manuals. Still a good option for one with two bum knees and a bum ankle. In any case it's a nice solid driver, not show car condition but better than my old Studebaker. Unfortunately winter's lasted so long that I haven't put it on the road yet.
Hopefully I can catch up on everyone's news and start talking Subarus again without sounding ignorant. A lot of changes have been made since I was in the market - not all of which I like - and since I'm not shopping for another in the immediate future I feel like SoA no longer seeks my input. Maybe the love is gone?
Ed
Frank got Katskins on his Forester also, and said just about the same thing. I may put them on my new Miata (just got an 08 power folding hardtop). I've seen black/blue two-tone and they'd look sweet on mine.
Congrats on the Porsche. A friend of my dad's had a targa and growing up I always had a thing for those. Boxer engine, longitudinal layout, what's not to like? :shades:
Bob
I always had a thing for 911s too, I just never thought I'd be able to afford even a used one. They caught my eye in the early 1970s, when they came in bright colors like Skittles, not just silver, black, and dark blue metallic like they do now.
Having briefly read some of the last 6 months' posts I must say I should've been better about posting here. It was only a few years ago that some of you became like extended family to me. As I see you sharing your losses - of friends, family, jobs, cars, pets - and offering each other support (even if it's just posts on a board), I realize I should've done the same, both in giving and in sharing. It might've helped me deal with some of my own challenges, and maybe in some way I could've helped someone deal with theirs as well. So for that I apologize.
Ed
Wifey is driving around in a new PZEV 2009 Forester Limited. Pretty nice. The new Forester has pretty much increased Subaru's sales in a terrible market all by itself.
Hope all is well in Beantown!
BTW, what color did you get?
tom
You'll have to post some pics when you have the time!
tom
I recall the Sportomatic which was slightly oddball. I think it used a vacuum actuated clutch servo that was triggered somehow by a microswitch on the top of the gearshift. The weirdness was the action which threw the clutch out at the moment you stroked the gear lever,. There was also a torque converter and the thing could be driven in two gears (second and fourth, I think). You had to change driving style to avoid dramas. Overall was supposed to be as quick as a true manual but very different acceleration pattern. I thought it was mostly targeted at the US market where true manuals are less popular than Europe.
I have a hemophiliac mate who is an enthusiastic driver and we reckoned in the early 70's that this would be his dream car - manual but without clutch action - improvements in automatics make it seem a little pointless now.
I think there may have been a lengthy article on the system in Road and Track which I used to read assiduously in the local public library. Wonder if you can find old R&T on line - I used to love their last page photo articles which were always pretty quirky. I reckon my fondness for American writers traces to the lengthy and elegantly written articles which I could later see traced a literary path back to Hemingway, Fiitzgerald and more recently Vonnegut. It is so different to English or Australian writing.
Cheers
Graham
I remember in CAR the review of a new Kia model. The article headline was, "Her Name is Rio....and She's Crap!"
If it's slow they'll write something like "Acceleration is leisurely" or "power is adequate". Just say it's slow!
A brit would write "my mule is faster" or something more clever.
I'll do that. I don't really have the time to take care of it either; fortunately I found one that was well taken care of by its previous owner (I have the receipts to show for it!). Really this car is in excellent mechanical shape and can be driven as is. There are some minor cosmetics to be addressed - trim items mostly - that don't detract from the driving experience and, honestly, aren't likely to grab anyone's attention other than the hardcore restoration/concours crowd. Thankfully only routine maintenance in the near future.
Ed
The STi is great! Even though Edmunds hated it, I'm really happy with it. I've installed a bike rack on the roof, and with all seasons on it it's actually reasonably comfortable and not too noisy and very livable on a day to day basis. I also bought some summer tires and wheels (OZ Ultraleggeras) that I'm waiting to mount when it finally warms up! Then I'll have to decide whether to beef up the suspension and make it handle a little better, at the expense of comfort though.
Hope the Mustangs doing well- try not to leave too much rubber on the ground!
tom
I spent some time talking with the guys at a local garage that specializes in Porsches- and I mean specialize. They take care of all sorts of race cars, they have a CT scanner to look at carbon fiber parts and make sure they don't have hairline fractures in them, and they race these old cars as well. They told me the 911s will do well for years as long as you run them regularly, so they do well as daily drivers.
Hope you enjoy it!
tom
I have a fascination with language and the nuances of it. For odd reasons, I write for American, English and Australian readers and the styles of communication differ for each. That is not just spelling of words but things like the subtleties implied by shadings of meaning. Given that what I need to report, in my professional life, often needs to convey great subtlety, this can be challenging. Something written fro one audience may be offensive to another.
American readers, on the whole, expect a softer approach to criticism but need to have subtleties excised. Arguments need to be reduced to simple sentences to convey explicit meanings
The Brits are likely to respond to more explicit opinions, but expect subtle allusions.
Australians are a bit more complex. Oddly, for a country which presents a roughish image (eg Paul Hogan) the populace is generally well educated but anti-intellectual. Flowery allusions are wasted, but complex arguments well understood.
The difference in motor reporting is obvious. Car is probably the best of British motoring writing but Autocar, which is more newsy and factual, runs it a close second. This months Car has reinstated GBU or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Its totally unrepentant about callling a car Bad, if it warrants it.
In the US, I separate the writing of R&T from the 60's and 70's with the rather poorer style today. Generally, I am not impressed with current US motor reporting which, as someone mentioned above, seems to be more about appeasing suppliers, than sound journalism.
Australian motor writers are far more likely to say it like it is. Memorably, Wheels once portrayed a car (was it a Morris Marina?) as a Lemon with the headline "Lemon" plastered across the cover. Wierdly, many of the most influential UK motoring journalists including Steve Cropley and Evan Green, are actually Australian, having cut their teeth on Wheels.
On a similar topic (sort of) I am rereading Thornton Wilder's Bridge of San Luis Rey, one of the gems I stumbled upon as a teenager.
Cheers
Graham
...And a LEMON it was! We once had it towed to the dealer for repair, and on the work order the mechanic wrote "the carburetor fell apart."
Seats were comfortable though. This car used a single-carb version of the MGB engine.
Bob
For some reason, Morris decided to advertise the Marina by leaping it off a smal hill. It looked very impressive, only because the film was cut at the critical moment before touchdown where the bodyshell creased dramatically, the stresses being too great for the flimsy body.
The MGB motor was the best part of the Marina which seemed to start rusting even before they finished painting it. Electrics were typical English randomness.
Last sentence reminds me that we have an auto electrician friend who does remarkably well out of ancient British cars and luxury American imports. His workshop is fascinating. At last visit, it had two Rolls Royce, a Jaguar, couple of Aston Martins, two Lincolns (one a Bill Blass) and something else exotic. They are all prone to interesting (and expensive) electrical problems.
Cheers
Graham
Coupe or sedan?
How funny that she won it. Was it lucky, though?
Bob
http://www.morrismarinaecosse.com/ado28austin_01.jpg
Bob
Australian motor writers are far more likely to say it like it is. Memorably, Wheels once portrayed a car (was it a Morris Marina?) as a Lemon with the headline "Lemon" plastered across the cover. Wierdly, many of the most influential UK motoring journalists including Steve Cropley and Evan Green, are actually Australian, having cut their teeth on Wheels.
There was an issue of Car that featured a lemon on the cover, wearing a VW emblem. They were not happy about their long-term GTI.
I fondly remember their review of the Citroen Dyane. "In the morning, the starter motor and the engine have a race to see who can go faster. Eventually the engine wins." "When cornering, the door handles try to see what the wheels are doing." One of the funniest reviews I've seen.