Cars and my Neighbourhood

[imwjl]

I like the antique car. What's the story there?

Someone in an area I go through has a black version of that Rolls Royce SUV, and late model white sedan. As much as I know it has impressive engineering and materials, I like sedan more. The sedan shape leaves a bigger impression.

The old couple I see in the RR SUV make me wonder about the electronics or make a good argument for a Tesla autopilot instead via not staying in between the white lines.

[joe white]

Steve, those old gassers were wicked cars and took a lot of guts and nerves to keep in their lanes. Must have been so cool to see, hear and smell those things running em' off on a warm summer night.

[Murphy Slaw]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

LOL. I just built a home in a beautiful fishing village so everyone around me has pickup trucks. I think I "need" one too.

Nobody drives cars here. Almost every vehicle is 4x4 trucks, Jeeps and SUV's.

Ours too.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Murphy Slaw

Nobody drives cars here. Almost every vehicle is 4x4 trucks, Jeeps and SUV's.

Ours too.

Something funny on pickup truck mentality: I heard department chat, break room chat, and saw Facebook chat on the week's death of the Impala that included some complaints on how much it costs just to drive to work. Very sure it was a conspiracy tone for the Chevy Impala's death. It was a big chuckle when the actually rather fit and macho department manager who drives a car called his mostly pickup truck driving staff a bunch of dummies for not realizing they created the two problems they were complaining about.

Some of the death of Impala chat seemed more inane - conspiracy tone - learning the plant is being retooled to assemble next generation vehicles. Not making next generation vehicles is what shuttered car plants near me.

I do understand the popularity of the CarUV type that is making it hard to sell sedans. They're made on same platform, have car-like operating costs, and more utility. My 88 year old mother changed a life of sedans and coupes and said she should have realized the hatch makes grocery getting in the rain a different story.

I thought the last generation of the Impala was very nice but confess the I am part of the problem. We've moved to keeping cars longer and mine is a wagon. I did take an honest look at having a pickup again but it was foolish. We got a diesel UTV and I'll keep renting pickup, specialty trailer or what's needed when needed.

[Silly Moustache]

I never gave much thought to Rolls Royces as they wouldn't /couldn't EVER feature in my life. Same with high powered sports cars - simply not interested.
My Dad was a BMC (Austin) dealer but always drove Jags.

However, they built the new RR factory near me on the local Lord's estate, and so we now see quite a lot of Rolls, around being road tested and before the Wraith was introduced we saw a number of them (disguised) being road tested and two guys bought hoses on our estate and would sometiems park two Wraiths side to side on their drives.

I often walked past them a sneaked a peek and they surely are impressive close up. I tried to get them to take me for a ride, but they didn't know me so they stuck to the rules.

here is a demo video of the Wraith - switch off the sound if like me, you can't stand the appalling whiney voice.
Also, bear in mind that this one was built for an American client.



I have a friend who has worked for the local Lord most of his life -starting as a mechanic for the estate vehicles then caring specifically for Charlie's private collection of cars and motor bikes.
He now also works for RR as a driver for VIPS coming to the factory. (every car is custom made to client's orders).

Charlie March (Duke of Richmond and a few other things) hosts the Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival every year - a "bit" of a Petrol Head !!

If interested - this is Charlie :

[AX17609]

Magnificent hair.

[The Growler]

Originally Posted by AX17609

Magnificent hair.

Ha! You'd think for all his billions, Bernie could afford a better haircut, wouldn't you?

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by joe white

Steve, those old gassers were wicked cars and took a lot of guts and nerves to keep in their lanes. Must have been so cool to see, hear and smell those things running 'em off on a warm summer night.

For sure - although we had a number of Fuel Dragsters in the area (as well as the Snizek-Dodge "Pacers" AA/Fuel Altered - those were by and large a West Coast thing) the Northeast was always doorslammer country; thing is, when the Gasser Wars ended in the late-60's many of the former heavy hitters followed the money and went over to the match-race Funny Car circuit (viz. the "Holeshot" Mustang and "Ingenue" Buick GS above - the latter powered by an honest-to-GM Buick engine). FYI there was a drive-in located directly across the street from the Eastern Automotive shop, where the local car guys would hang out most summer evenings, and one of the treats of an evening visit was watching them trailer up the photo car (actually a drop-dead gorgeous candy yellow over gold basecoat in person - the pic makes it look muddy) before heading off to a regional/national event - although they never achieved the nationwide fame of a Stone-Woods-Cook/Mazmanian et al., they were highly respected and justly feared wherever they showed up. Late one Thursday afternoon they decided to fire up the engine outside the shop before loading up: needless to say they brought traffic to a standstill (we're talking about a major Brooklyn thoroughfare at rush hour here), the drive-in emptied of customers, and this then 15-year-old just soaked up the ear-splitting rasp and whine of a blown small-block Chevy on Sunoco 260 from about four feet away - took me a couple hours to recover my hearing and a week to wipe the smile off my face...

Yeah Joe, them was the days...

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

them was the days...

Sunday Sunday Sunday!!!

[Lkristians]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=illR...ature=youtu.be

[Fogducker]

Frankmcr,

It went something like;

...sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY, Detroit Dragway at Sibley and Dix, Big Daddy Garlits, Conny Kalitta and Art Arfons with the Green Monster,...blah, blah, blah...
Somehow this is up in my sludge from Summer of 1959.

Fog

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Fogducker

...sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY, Detroit Dragway at Sibley and Dix, Big Daddy Garlits, Connie Kalitta and Art Arfons with the Green Monster...blah, blah, blah...
Somehow this is up in my sludge from Summer of 1959...

Here in the NYC Tri-State area it was "...New York National Speedway, Exit 56 off the Sunrise Highway in Center Moriches, Long Island..." - small wonder, since it was the same guys (Gil Kohn and Ed Eaton) who operated both tracks. BTW you'll be pleased to know that Connie's still going strong as a team owner/crew chief at 82 years of age (just made his 60th consecutive NHRA Winternationals appearance), and former Midwest opponent Chris Karamesines - believed to be in his late-80's - still gets behind the wheel of his own Top Fueler on a limited basis, often running at the same events as his granddaughter...

Once you get this stuff in your blood, you never get rid of it...

[joe white]

Oh man, Big Daddy Don Garlits and his Swamp Rat, Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowny and her Chi-Town Hustler, The Mongoose and The Snake, Soxx and Martin, Grumpy's Toy. The list goes on and on. I really don't follow any of it these days but in my youth it was front and center.

[Pitar]

I was born minus the gene for rolling stock appreciation. I couldn't tell you one car from another from the time I could drive to now. Periodically I pay attention if the subject comes up in conversation but my attention span for that is short to none. Those conversations are usually about creme-de-la-creme makes/models, their various performance specs, yada-yada, and still not as rewarding as time spent focusing on a decent hamburger.

I have 4 vehicles and I maintain them all from minor to major (engine change/rebuild) maintenance. Two Jeep Cherokees, a Hyundai Elantra and a Honda Pilot. I restored both Cherokees in my garage to factory condition. They were given to me by well-intentioned project starters who gave up.

Both the Honda and Hyundai have been bullet proof, save for trans-axle changes on the Hyundai. It's an off-lease buy and had been driven hard so I had a little bit of work to do on it. But, I negotiated the car down to where my time and parts still made it a good buy. The Honda was bought new and remains very close to that condition 12 years later.

The Jeeps...well...they're Jeeps. The '96 has 235,000 miles on it and the '98 is right at 190,000. I can say that the quality of design of the parts of the '96 surpasses that of the '98, hands down, having gotten rather deep into both of them for various maintenance reasons.

When I'm not working performing home-owner chores or playing music in my spare time I'm tinkering with the cars. For me, the hobby of performing my own car maintenance has a huge ROI considering the cost of work charged by the stealerships.

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by Fogducker

Frankmcr,

It went something like;

...sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY, Detroit Dragway at Sibley and Dix, Big Daddy Garlits, Conny Kalitta and Art Arfons with the Green Monster,...blah, blah, blah...
Somehow this is up in my sludge from Summer of 1959.

Fog

There was a parody version that was played on WGN round about '63, '63. I still remember one out of an escalating list of amazing things that were promised for SundaySundaySunday:

"SEE Arnie the Farmer Medwick set fire to his nose hairs and drive to Milwaukee!"

Wish I could find the whole recording somewhere.