501 Comments
User's avatar
Jack Baruth's avatar

Good evening, everyone.

Substack deleted "Speed" for reasons we don't understand. Trust me, he is coming back.

Another reader is taking a break, with no animosity involved.

I haven't banned ANYONE here.

We will get this straightened out.

Gene's avatar

Lest anyone think I jumped ship this is Amelius. I was just messing around with my substack settings and decided to start using my real name.

Ice Age's avatar

(Raises beer): Amen, brother!

-Nate's avatar

Does this mean you're the ACF'er formally known as 'SPEED' ? .

I've been unblocked, let's see how many days I get this time .

I hope all who are in the horrific snow storm are doing okay ! .

-Nate

Ice Age's avatar

Me? No. Been Ice Age since the word "Go."

-Nate's avatar

No ;

I meant the other person who replied, I'm not sharp on getting my replies to follow the correct post .

Hopefully SPEED with either re-up under a different name or be reinstated .

? Am I correct in thinking the many deleted posts were from SPEED ? .

That's odd as I keep getting blocked but my posts still seem to be here .

-Nate

linearphase's avatar

What got you blocked if you doing mind me asking? You don't seem controversial.

Jack Baruth's avatar

It's nothing Nate is doing -- I think it's his firewall/internet provider. Substack doesn't like to leave him logged in, or accept more logins.

-Nate's avatar

Sunday evening 2.1.26

_Finally_ able to log in again, I don't understand the problem either .

I tried turning off my VPN, doesn't help .

-Nate

Lynn W Gardner's avatar

It appears Speed is back…. The Canadian Mounties must have released him from „”banned” prison.

Speed's avatar

i cant be held down held back or held accountable for anything

Steve Ward's avatar

then you have a bright future in politics!

Speed's avatar

vote for me for literally any position of power

G. K.'s avatar

Car updates:

First off, thank you to everyone who made suggestions for my outdoor rodent problem. A large driveway rat caused $1,000 in damage to my 2025 Golf R, and $800 in damage to my 2005 Phaeton V8. Both are fixed, and I have them back. They are both in the garage right now, and I haven’t seen any more rodents, but I did put out lots of poison and have routinely sprayed all engine bays and undersides and tires with peppermint oil.

As for the Phaeton, specifically, I am embarrassed to disclose that the intermittent no-start issue was due to a loose battery terminal on the starting battery. It was an issue with unusual behavior because of the Phaeton’s unusual setup: there are two H8 batteries, one on each side of the trunk. The left one is the “comfort” battery and handles all cabin electronics. The right one is just for starting the car, and that’s the one that was loose. So when the terminal wasn’t fully connecting, the cabin electronics would turn on, but when trying to start the engine, it wouldn’t even attempt it and would just act like you were turning it to ON. Yet there wasn’t any kind of struggle with the cabin electronics or error message. You can flick the key the other direction and use the comfort battery to start the engine, but that didn’t work either, probably because the BMS prevented it. Oh, well, it’s solved now. Always check the simple stuff first.

The Phaeton now needs a bit of maintenance. The headliner fabric is beginning to sag, as it does, and I’m going to tackle that myself. I’ll reupholster the headliner, pillars and sunroof cover with a faux suede in a similar color to what the car came with, and then get a professional to sew the new headliner fabric onto the visors. It also needs the timing belt/water pump/thermostat service done, and I’m staring down the barrel of $2,500 minimum to do that, unless I do it myself. I think I will. I’ve never done it before, but if I do, it’s about $400 in parts and $200 in tools. A good learning experience, and it seems dead-simple to get the timing right and test spin the engine before trying to start it. And then spark plugs and coils. I think I’ll have to remove the plugs and coils anyway to do the belt change, so that’s half the labor right there.

The 2020 Range Rover Autobiography LWB was seriously annoying me and wasn’t even all that comfortable, plus it had a pretty bad interior-storage-space-to-footprint ratio. So I sold that for about what I paid and bought a 2026 Land Cruiser Premium, last month. I actually like the hybrid powertrain, which feels a lot like a diesel, and I’ve already taken it camping once. My one issue with it was how loud it was on the highway due to it being extremely boxy and not having laminated (acoustic) front door glass, so I retrofitted the glass from the Lexus GX 550 last week, and that worked a treat. All trims of the GX 550 other than the Premium and Overtrail (non-plus) have laminated glass.

I think I’m the first person in the world to do the glass retrofit and document it online, and a lot of people were saying you couldn’t, but I compared the GX and Land Cruiser parts diagrams and the only differences on the front doors were the glass itself, the retaining clips on the outside, and a forward door jamb seal that I don’t even think is necessary. It is *far* quieter now at ear-level.

Steve Ward's avatar

oh my, swapping out the door glass sounds like a real nightmare. glad it apparently went well for you.

Wyatt LCB's avatar

Dude, HELL YEAH on your GX glass swap! I don't know many people who would tear into their brand new vehicle in such a fashion, bravo sir!

Also I came across something on IG yesterday that may help prevent future rodent damaged wires. Honda 4019-2317 is a roll of loom tape impregnated with some sort of repellant and decorated with pictograms of dead mice. Might be worth wrapping the Phaeton harnesses while you're in the engine bay. I think you should try the timing job yourself, and I think you'll be successful!

Gianni's avatar

Had to go look for a picture of the tape with dead mice on it.

https://www.hondapartsnow.com/resources/encry/actual-picture/hpn/large/2a736bf8748eae2517f0c83549583429/2906a7091eda392dc2ddd684c49c72ed.jpg

A bit disappointing that they aren’t some sort of anime mice.

G. K.'s avatar

I did see that tape as a suggestion on Reddit, and if I take the entire front end off the car (what VW and Audi call “service mode”) to do the timing job, it’ll be easy to get at all the wires. That’s a fantastic idea!

Wyatt LCB's avatar

If they suggest pulling the front off, I'd suggest taking that suggestion. It will grant you full access to the engine and it'll be worth every minute pulling the front end apart. I could get the front of my e36 apart in under an hour, and in just a couple more hours, by myself in the driveway, the engine+trans were out (the hood had a full vertical setting which I'd also suggest using if your car has it).

G. K.'s avatar

It doesn’t have a vertical mode on the hood, to my knowledge (the only cars I had that did were Land Rovers), but with the engine so far forward in the engine bay (as is typical of longitude-transaxle VW/Audi products), it’s not as big an issue.

Wyatt LCB's avatar

Yeah, you're not pulling the engine so you don't need the clearance for a cherry picker, but the extra headroom is always nice when available. Best of luck, man!

Jack Baruth's avatar

Just reading the phrase

COMFORT BATTERY

brought my Phaeton PTSD right back up to the fore.

Ataraxis's avatar

I only thought Hitachi.

Henry C.'s avatar

ISWYDT.

That's a 'comfort woman' joke.

TOO SOON.

Jack Baruth's avatar

If only!

I had two Phaetons when they were new.. and even brand-new, they had issues with their second batteries, which would lead to a confounding array of basically phantom, untraceable problems in the car's one zillion electrical systems.

Lynn W Gardner's avatar

Jack, wonder why the Germans adopted the British Leyland rule of always buy a car in pairs so you would have one to drive while the other is at the dealer for repairs. I know that GM has adopted a similar concept because several of our club members have had their LYRIQ’s stuck at the dealer for months for warranty repairs. And to bet all one club member had them give him a new Escalade when his was at the dealer for three months of his first four months of ownership (caveat He his a white shoe attorney and he was willing to go to the expense of suing, and they knew it).

-Nate's avatar

Thanx for the honest update Sir .

-Nate

JPDFR's avatar

Nice work on swapping the OEM glass to acoustic glass. Did you only do the front windows or all four doors?

G. K.'s avatar
Feb 5Edited

Just the front glass, because that's all there was. The GX only has acoustic glass on the front doors, and that's not atypical. Even my prior car, a 2020 Range Rover Autobiography LWB costing $140,000 when new, only had acoustic glass on the front doors.

Speed's avatar

I M A L I V E

terribly sorry for my unplanned departure lads it appears that ive shitposted so hard i tripped a breaker at substack hq

i do appreciate everyones concern for my well being

also i will not be changing my behavior whatsoever cause i dindu nuffin

Wyatt LCB's avatar

Apparently you're the all time #1 ACF commenter! Kind of wild you made so many so fast yesterday to be mistaken for a bot lol (I'm assuming that's what happened from some of the context Jack provided)

Speed's avatar

hell yeah we numbah won baybee

but yeah based on the email and error messages i got i literally commented so fast i tripped their spam/phishing flags so i had to email substack to get a manual revision to my account. sorted now it looks like

Wyatt LCB's avatar

Bro is literally a bot haha

On the subject of dating apps though:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DUEXTqnEhYi/?igsh=MWk3d2wxZThzN29lZw==

Ataraxis's avatar

Speed Bot 3000 made the algorithm start smoking at Substack Central Command and the sprinklers went off.

Speed's avatar

natural born problem causer

Speed's avatar

find someone that can match your freak

Ataraxis's avatar

ACF Legend!

This is how conspiracy theories start.

linearphase's avatar

Welcome back, buddy.

Speed's avatar

thanks man

glad to be back

Gianni's avatar

Glad it got sorted and you are back on ACF.

Speed's avatar

fairly easy to get it fixed thankfully

Steve Ward's avatar

did you have to take a sensitivity training class?

Gianni's avatar

Show me on the doll where the Substack admin touched you.

Jack Baruth's avatar

It's on MY wallet.

Speed's avatar

no but i would have cheated in that class anyway

Stan Galat's avatar

Welcome back, sir.

Speed's avatar

thank you sir

SBO-very online guy's avatar

I’d like to apologize…. TO ABSOLUTELY NOBODY!!!

We all missed you dearly. Our favorite cucknuck

Speed's avatar

its how i roll

also cucknuck? excuse me? the correct term is snow n[USER WAS BANNED AGAIN]

SBO-very online guy's avatar

I can think of no worse insult than calling one a Torontonian

Speed's avatar

two twos see crodie substack be straight gerbers see

that fuckass patois "accent" makes me homicidal

Steve Ward's avatar

Well given what a disaster my dating life was in college, maybe having an app would have been better. On second thought, likely NOT. I still don't know how we got engineering degrees given all the drinking that we did.

NoHyperbole's avatar

Maybe the institution you attended had a pilot program that allowed you to reverse-engineer your degree with real-world experience.

Dedischado's avatar

In your opinion, do those who demand that “the cheap labor must flow” not think about what comes with all that cheap labor? Do they not care? Or do they think that they will avoid the consequences?

Speed's avatar

no no and yes in that order

they hate you and want you dead (this applies to the invaders and those that invited the invaders in)

Steve Ward's avatar

They don't care, and are convinced they will avoid the consequences.

Ice Age's avatar

Because the guys you're talking about think you're talking about somebody else.

The first thing you gotta do if you wanna Win At Life is jettison any belief that either the odds or the rules apply to YOU.

-Nate's avatar

What Steve & Ice said .

It _IS_ possible to succeed at life once you put your mind to it .

Pretty much I didn't until I was 30, I was having too much fun 'on the loose' but decided I wanted to settle down and buy a house etcetera .

-Nate

Stan Galat's avatar

It's amazing how many "exceptional" people there are out in the big world.

Power6's avatar

Oh Caramel...I'm very ambivalent about my experience using them with my BaT purchase. Not horrible, but not great. Made me a little less nervous to wire a lot of money for a n00b at purchasing an old car, across the country, over the Internet. They surprisingly understood how to handle the electronic titling in my state properly. But I think the good experience was really down to the honest sellers and getting what was represented, which I am grateful for. I didn't need Caramel for that. And the resold shipping-broker resold shipping was totally a rip off.

Erik's avatar

From what I can tell, your 1000+ number of rapes is, literally, at least an order of magnitude too low.

Speed's avatar

and nobody with any power is doing anything to stop it

surely something must cook off at some point right

Ajla's avatar

I'm surprised the post about Amelia didn't mention Columbia at all.

Speed's avatar

the university or the outerwear brand

Jeff Winks's avatar

I hate that everything involves an internet middleman! Can’t be friends with anyone unless you use a middleman.

I’ve been ordered to sell my corvette and have no idea how to do that now.

User's avatar
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Jan 28
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Jeff Winks's avatar

I don’t want to deal with Mexican lowballers. That’s how I sold my wife’s Cherokee.

User's avatar
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Jan 28
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Jeff Winks's avatar

Fortunately the lowball was over what that POS was worth

Louis Nevell's avatar

But low ballers of another distinction would be OK?

Speed's avatar

white lowballers want to save a few bucks and negotaite fairly with you

indians and others just want it for free and dont care how bad it makes them look

Louis Nevell's avatar

Your view point is puzzling.

Speed's avatar

never had a white guy pretend to be a girl looking to buy a car for her sick father

Ice Age's avatar

Ah, but some people just want the discount. They don't really want the item, they just wanna feel like they beat the system.

Jeff Winks's avatar

I can’t believe you haven’t sold that yet!

Stan Galat's avatar

Ah, Faceplant Marketplace, how many deals have we done in South Chicago barrio supermercado parking lots?

FWIW, I just bought a race kart from a guy in Kenosha on Marketplace. As represented, smooth transaction. Zero cost to anybody.

User's avatar
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Jan 28
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Stan Galat's avatar

I dropped off 3 years ago. I log in to Marketplace, and then log out. It saved me a couple thousand bucks today.

You'd sell your Triumph in 3 days on that site.

Steve Ward's avatar

I never have and never will.

Stan Galat's avatar

I'm not selling it as a place to hang out. It IS however, the new ebay.

Donkey Konger's avatar

I gather it’s market by market and item by item, but Craigslist sucks here. Everyone moved to FB marketplace.

-Nate's avatar

Seems the same here in California, I still don't do facebok and only occasionally buy off craigslist, always at rock bottom prices for random crap I want / need .

-Nate

Speed's avatar

antagonize your nearest boomer and tell him the missus wants the corvette gone (a lie) and that barret jackson prices are going to skyrocket on your specific model and that youre selling it to him at a discount becuase hes a good guy

then profit

Jeff Winks's avatar

That’s how I ended up with it

Speed's avatar

well shit

do unto others and all that

Ataraxis's avatar

Before they do it to you!

Drunkonunleaded's avatar

Corvette Forum or Marketplace/Facebook groups. Everything else is a waste of time or money.

Even then, you have to filter out retards. There is nothing that I hate more than selling a car.

Jeff Winks's avatar

That’s why it’s still in the garage. But she’s putting the screws to me.

-Nate's avatar

Time for a new "she" .

My ex wife never let up in spite of me paying the bills by being a Mechanic and building and selling affordable used cars, my Sweet now never complains and knows she'll ride in comfort and safety if not necessarily style .

-Nate

Peter Collins's avatar

Which is why I exist at pond-life level; buy cheap, run for two/three years and then send it to the scrapper. No selling involved!

Ice Age's avatar

Ends up sold by the pound.

-Nate's avatar

With care one can usually buy by the pound too, I got my 1961 Corvair coupe for .10 cents / pound .

-Nate

Speed's avatar

for a california car it was probably worth 10 times that too

sgeffe's avatar

In the UK, more ways than one!

SBO-very online guy's avatar

Well, I hate to say it, but that’s why no reserve public auctions are amazing. You want it gone, you do the best you can to list it and be honest, it sells usually for a reasonable price and the buyer accepts responsibility for doing (or not doing) DD. I’ve disposed of many decent cars on public auctions and I can’t really imagine doing it any other way at this point.

Steve Ward's avatar

I'll give you a dollar and pick it up at your front door! easy-peasy!

Jeff Winks's avatar

I’m upside down anyway

Gianni's avatar

You don’t have to use Hearst-BaT’s escrow thing as a private party seller. You can refuse (although they probably put the hard sell on you) and the link isn’t on your listing.

SBO-very online guy's avatar

I had no idea people even entertained it as an option. Just tell em to get a cashiers check like a normal human being.

Stan Galat's avatar

Sí, señor Jeff. ¿Qué modelo de Corvette es?

Me gustaría ofrecerle 172.000*

*pesos

calm's avatar

That rich woman has the same mental acuity and awareness of the pomeranian in her purse

User's avatar
Comment deleted
Jan 28
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calm's avatar

There’s always money in the OJ stand

SChrisF's avatar

Why is the Pomeranian catching strays? It may have more awareness and acuity!

calm's avatar

I’ve never been a fan of purse dogs. And dogs usually take on the characteristics of their owners

Speed's avatar

theyre basically large rats at that point

not real dogs

Ice Age's avatar

Fancy rats are clean, quiet and smart. Yappy toilet brushes on the other hand...

I mean, I'd feel better if they had an actual giant rat on the other end of that leash.

"That's Lou the Giant Rat. He's from Queens."

MD Streeter's avatar

Traverse City is the perfect place for her. Just so long as she stays below The Bridge.

typopete's avatar

I helped my elderly friend deal with her wrecked car today. No more having the insurance adjuster come to the towing yard, it has to be moved to the auto auction site, so the adjuster can look at it there, and who knows how many days before the adjuster comes. It's three days from the wreck, and my friend is in limbo until the adjuster tells her whether her 2025 Kia Soul is totaled. And don't forget the matchmaker networks if you're looking for someone — work, school, church, relatives, etc. My son didn't need a dating service twenty years ago.

Louis Nevell's avatar

I've never used a dating service, been married to the same woman for 62 years, but can think of dozens of ways why one might be helpful. Time comes to mind, immediately. You like baseball, she doesn't. A wasted date avoided, what's wrong with that?

-Nate's avatar

This I think .

To me the chemistry between to is the critical thing, any woman I've been interested in I offer to take for coffee and a chat, things will go from there or not .

-Nate

Speed's avatar

"A friend of mine was approached about selling his very fancy NA Miata"

may i have more info on this miata for my own personal interest

"go back to your dorm room to swipe on the app"

its not perfect but the reason for the app is so that you dont have to wonder if saying hi to some girl is going to come off as creepy (be attractive/dont be unattractive rules aside). at least if theyre on the app theyre open to something. or maybe theyre just fishing for attention until mr perfect comes along

"“Amelia”, a purple-haired bigot fascist Nazi whatever"

they made the manic pixie dream girl but not ran through and incredibly based plus a staunch nationalist. obviously everyone fell for her immediately

the uk govt is full of childish and out of touch retards but maybe thats just what i can discern from the other side of the pond

Peter Collins's avatar

Re UK govt - too true! Much and widely loathed!

Tom Klockau's avatar

Wait it's Wednesday? Was about to post a Klockau Lust Object '76 Seville in Calumet Cream with tan leather, but I'll hold off a couple days. :)

Stan Galat's avatar

Dad really wanted a '76 Seville, but in our small town, such ostentatious displays of wealth were seen as unwelcome showmanship.

Instead, he bought a '76 Chevrolet Nova Councours, which was 85% of the way there in actuality, and 99% of the way there for everything that mattered to dad. He ordered it from the factory -- he'd done the plumbing on the dealership principle's house, and got a decent deal. It was the 350 4 bbl version of the General's small-block, and was everything a small-block should have been.

When I bought my first car a couple of years later ('68 Firebird from a police impound yard in STL), we'd already convinced dad to let us put a set of long-tube headers on it, along with some "righteous turbo mufflers".

I had no idea how deeply that car would stick in my psyche. It was comfortable, refined, and loud when you twisted it's tail. I can tell you of 100% certainly it would walk a '68 Firebird with a 326/Powerglide like the Poncho was dead weight... because it did, on the way home from buying said Firebird.

I drove the car into Dad's garage, put it on jackstands, and pulled the motor that night. It wouldn't move again for 18 months, but when it did -- it was my mission to make sure the old man's car never would never beat it again.

In that, I utterly failed. A '68 Firebird with a 400 Holly 4 bbl/TH400 and 3000 stall-speed torque converter was no match for it.

Dad's Nova had it goin' ON.

Tom Klockau's avatar

Don't worry, I'll write it up in a few days. Love the 76-79 Sevilles. Especially the 76 with the eggcrate grille.

Stan Galat's avatar

Dad did as well. I did not love the Oldsmobile engine in them.

I always felt like Tom Murphy could have fit a righteous 472 Cadillac engine in them, if he'd really wanted to.

Tom Klockau's avatar

That probably would have sucked the doors off a Mercedes 6.9, haha.

Pete Madsen's avatar

I know a guy who did, and he was quite happy with it.

But he was the guy who built my 71 Dodge pickup, which had the front subframe, drivetrain, gas tank, steering column, and half the instrument panel of a 1974 Custom Newport. It was pretty much a Chrysler that looked like a Dodge pickup.

April's avatar

The 751/2-76 eggcrate grill is the best!!!

Ted Mayo's avatar

When I graduated college and got my first real job I went car shopping. I found a beautiful jag xk8 from a lovely guy in the city who had just replaced it with a fresh xk (maybe xkr? It was sweet).

It was perfect. British racing green, tan interior, meticulous service records. My dad drove me down town for the test drive. The guy owned an unbelievable town house in Rittenhouse square and handed my dad and I the keys for a test drive. It all fell apart when I did a full pull getting on to the highway and realized it was slower than my dad's Oldsmobile aurora.

I ended up buying a 2004 Audi a6 with the 2.7. Substantially faster car.

Donkey Konger's avatar

For our info - was this a first gen or second gen (X150) XK?

If the second Gen, i must say I pine for one in the right colors… gorgeous and the backseat might work for under-10s

Ted Mayo's avatar

The car I was looking to buy was a x100. Beautiful looking car, genuinely pretty slow. From what I understand the second gen cars are substantially better performers but I've never driven one. I also don't think the x150 is quite as good looking as the x100 or later f type.

Speed's avatar

"an unbelievable town house in Rittenhouse square"

damn theyre naming squares after that kid

wild

LyriqalGenius's avatar

My father also special ordered a 1976 Nova, but went the other way. Base model 2 door, only options were automatic and the hatchback. He added a Sparkomatic am/fm radio and speakers. He called it his Seville...we called it "the bomb" back when that was an insult instead of a compliment.

Before that, he had a 1973 Triump Spitfire that he bought new a couple months before finding out their first child was coming (me). I would lie on the parcel shelf behind the seats as it was our only car. When my sister was due two years later mom directed him not to pick her up from the hospital in the Spitfire. So the Nova was ordered. He kept it until trading it in for a new 1983 Honda Prelude which felt like a spaceship in comparison.

Gianni's avatar

I forgot we used to call stuff, especially a junky car, a bomb as an insult. Thanks for the reminder.

LyriqalGenius's avatar

Yeah I had forgotten it too until the 1976 Nova was mentioned. It really was a bomb after five or six years of Ohio winters, and suffocatingly hot in the summer. Dad didn't learn his lesson on that front...the dealer wanted some crazy price for adding AC to the Prelude (still no factory AC option in 1983!) so we suffered in that one too.

Louis Nevell's avatar

My Dad brought me home from the hospital in a Chrysler Air Flow. He then lost his business in the Great Depression. After that it was Ford for the duration.

Frank White's avatar

My wife’s first car was a 1979 Nova with a 305 and a slushbox.

Her aunt ordered it new, then she ended up with it when she turned 14.

She flogged the absolute shit out of it driving to and from school (Oklahoma Panhandle, so 22 miles each way mostly on gravel / dirt roads), then kept using it as a daily until 2005 when it got stuck in a barn on the ranch.

We pulled it out in 2020 and had it mechanically refurbished and NOS upholstery (not cheap) put in. It will wears original paint, and she still flogs the absolute shit out of it every chance she gets.

It’ll be the last car she’ll sell. Even the 1991 Miata will go first.

Stan Galat's avatar

I honestly think I'd find a home for Dad's Nova, if I ever ran across it. IT was absolutely loaded -- crushed velour interior, A/C, POWER WINDOWS!, 8-track tape deck.

Dad was smug as all get-out over that car. Flew directly under the town's "don't get to big fer yer britches" radar, all the while having Caddy-level features and righteous SBC push (for 1976). I never thought he'd sell it, but in the end traded

... for a huge swing-and-a-miss 1985 Chevette diesel (with a slushbox).

It was quite a comedown.

LyriqalGenius's avatar

They made the 'Vette diesel with a slushbox? A friend had a 5 speed 4door that was glacially slow.

Ataraxis's avatar

This is even weirder. A 1979 Olds Cutlass Calais diesel with a 5 speed manual! With T-Tops! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rs1NNmV86E

Frank White's avatar

I think its easy to not frame cars in the context of their era.

I've driven a Chevette diesel. It's a very slow car that had real usable space and used very little fuel.

Sure, he could have bought any number of Japanese cars in 1985 that were better in every way. I gather that you're from the same middle America that I now live in, and for him to not go with the home team would have raised eyebrows.

That trade probably made good sense at the time and place it went down.

Stan Galat's avatar

Yep. The ‘vette was everything the Nova was not (economical, “sensible”, frugal). It was American. It was the zeitgeist for the 1985-era Midwest.

Louis Nevell's avatar

I believe a book was written about that car, can't remember the author or title but it was along the lines of UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED.

Ataraxis's avatar

I was driving behind a VW Rabbit Diesel last week. It smelled like burning wax! How the hell did a Rabbit Diesel survive this long?

LyriqalGenius's avatar

Was this near Hendersonville, NC? Theres a beat up silver Rabbit diesel that smokes its way around my town. I remeber you or someone else here was from the Asheville area.

Ataraxis's avatar

Yes, in Hendersonville. I was on my way to the county dump, and so was the Rabbit. Too funny!

Steve Ward's avatar

Comedown??? That’s like being kicked out of a perfectly good airplane at 30,000 ft without a chute.

Stan Galat's avatar

I'm generally given to hyperbole when speaking --so when I write, I tend to bury the lede in an effort to remain understated.

That car was slower than any vehicle I've ever driven before or since. It was glacial. It was a tinny, uncomfortable, rattly penalty-box. It also got 60+ mpg.

-Nate's avatar

For 60MPG I'd give it a go .

-Nate

Speed's avatar

that almost seems tolerable if you live at the top of a very tall hill and only ever need to go down

Louis Nevell's avatar

Where was the room for 8 tracks in that car? CD's are one thing but 8 tracks?

Stan Galat's avatar

In 1976, CDs lived in the glove box. We had maybe 4 of them we listened to on closed loop.

-Nate's avatar

Now they're 'obsolete' so fantastic finds of rare and / or obscure music can be found for pennies .

Oops ~ I meant dollars, pennies have gone away .

-Nate

Steve Ward's avatar

you mean 8-track cassettes. or maybe compact cassette tapes. I don't recall CDs in 1976.

Steve Ward's avatar

There is an engineer at the office I occasionally go in to now, that daily drives a ‘78 ish Nova.

Lynn W Gardner's avatar

Steve, re read your wording here: “There is an engineer at the office I occasionally go into now.” Steve i do not think. And hope you do not go into an engineer at the office occasionally. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Steve Ward's avatar

Ok there’s a bloody comma missing there or something. I’m an engineer for cripe sakes, not an English major, and yes I have the stupid grammar checker OFF in MSWord. And I’ll probably get banned soon also.

Lynn W Gardner's avatar

I certainly hope you don’t get banned. First time I read it I was laughing so hard because I know what you ment but it read completely different.

Stan Galat's avatar

Pipefitter here -- Steamfitters 353 (bows his head, twice smacks his fist on his own chest), baby. Maybe it makes me seem a little girl, but I love my native tongue, and like to write as a way of blowing off steam.

Try: "At the office where I occasionally work, there is an engineer who drives a '78-ish Nova".

Consider me just like ChatGPT, but more gruff.

Ronnie Schreiber's avatar

I've always been fond of the 9C1 police special Novas that came out in the mid '70s in response to the need for better fuel economy. "Four-door Z28" is how I've heard them described.

Andrew White's avatar

There was an occasional ringer built back in the smog days. Your Dad might have gotten one.

I can recall running across smog era cars that were much quicker than they should have been with stock engines and unflipped breather lids. But they were like hens teeth, so my theory is they were factory ringers built with a cherry picked hand assembled engine and turned out into the world.

But the Nova was also light and short wheelbased, and a problem even with a normie engine. What a cool story. I wonder if anyone recognized how special it was and saved it?

Stan Galat's avatar

No idea, but that car defined all explanations. We desmogged it (of course) when we put the headers on it -- but it was fast before then, and even faster afterward. It absolutely had the flipped air-cleaner. It had a beautiful low rumble at idle, and didn't really drone (at least not to my car-addled ears) too badly on the highway.

It was one of the weirdest things ever -- as you say: faster than it should have been. Dad loved that car, mom tolerated it. I was allowed to take it on a date exactly twice (both proms).

Andrew White's avatar

I ran across a mid 70s square body half ton owned by a local apple farmer that was like the Nova. The old guy that owned it had simply gone down to the dealer, as he told it, and ordered a nice going to town rig with a 350 4v but nothing special. It wound up being so fast he put a row of dead farm batteries in the bed (secured with angle and carriage bolts) to keep it from swapping ends. He hadn’t ordered anything extra fast. It just showed up that way. It also had nice seats and power everything, tape stripes, and some optional wheels instead of poverty caps. He desmogged it also and ran true duals, but that was it. He had to put a throttle stop on it when his sons started driving for fear they’d faceplant into a mountain or ditch.

Stan Galat's avatar

I love that story. Dad absolutely should have put throttle stops on that Nova on the rare occasions when I was allowed to drive it. I guarantee he lost 1/8 of tread on the back tires each of the two times I was allowed behind the wheel.

Andrew White's avatar

Yes, especially since it could be delivered with more engine but not with more brakes. 70s brakes were super okay for cars that ran a 15 second quarter mile on a good day. Once you got something that would do 13s or 12s they got easily overwhelmed. Square bodies and Novas both came with the world's okayest brakes. Great way for a teenage boy to get over his head via testosterone encephalopathy.

-Nate's avatar

Stan ;

Drag speeds are nice but knowing how to out drive the Old Man (and most others) is, IMO far better .

-Nate

erikotis's avatar

I’ve legitimately thought it’s Wednesday all day so I thought nothing of this post showing up. Thanks for the reminder that it’s only Tuesday. It’s going to be a long week. Please post the Seville as a much needed distraction!

Jason Kodat's avatar

Maybe I just don't go out to breakfast very often, but where in the US can you get legit fresh-squeezed OJ for $4? I'm not even sure you could get a glassful out of $4 of oranges that you squeeze yourself.

gt's avatar

I recently watched a report on just how much less citrus is grown in Florida now as compared to 20-25 years ago, it's staggering. Explains why it's gotten so damn pricey. When I was a kid in the 90s-00s all you saw were nonstop ads for OJ.

Louis Nevell's avatar

When I was a kid in the '40s, all you saw were orange groves, we lived in SoCal. Now they have been replaced by Disneyland and Anaheim.

"Where have all the (oranges) gone....."

-Nate's avatar

Many are laughing but citrus groves and grape vineyards used to be just a few miles outside of Los Angeles, all gone now to housing .

-Nate

gt's avatar

In that report I watched it was the explosion in residential building that took over a lot of the groves. But also disease pressure (high humidity environment vs growing out in CA).

gt's avatar

Yep that's the one

Speed's avatar

gee thanks china

a country we totally arent in any kind of war with

Ice Age's avatar

China, makers of delicious lead paint and factories with suicide nets.

Steve Ward's avatar

The groves are now in the central valley.

linearphase's avatar

The suspected leg-up Mercedes and Red Bull engines have over the rest is interesting. A larger coefficient of thermal expansion in the conrod vs. that of the cylinder increases the compression ratio, BMEP and power without changing displacement when the engine is hot. I don't know how the FIA will address this if true, but they can always invoke the "extra-development" relief to the other engine suppliers. Doesn't sound like and easy thing to verify.

Speed's avatar

"larger coefficient of thermal expansion in the conrod"

if thats what it was they arent they still limited by quench height?

i know somebody tried to get clever with conrods in the past but that was ti rods requiring a greater clearance becuase theyd stretch at high rpms so some midrange power was lost compared to the heavier steel rods

linearphase's avatar

If the quench height is specified at operating temperature and max RPM, it would simply be bigger when the engine is cold. BTW, I'm not an engine designer, having a degree in another engineering discipline, so I may be all wet.

silentsod's avatar

Comment removed is downright prolific for a Wednesday OT!

G Jetson's avatar

Yes, I count 4 removed comments.

Makes me curious about the content and sorry I didn't get here before removal.

User's avatar
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Jan 28
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Gianni's avatar

Seems like speeds account got zapped. All of his comments seem to be removed.

User's avatar
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Jan 28
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anatoly arutunoff's avatar

too many rules comment #600+

-Nate's avatar

Well ;

The first two 6 inline cylinder Diesel engines Mercedes did were rather problematic ~ one liked to bend the connecting rods, the other cracked cylinder heads at a prodigious rate .

My big brother has a '87 (?) 300SDL with the OM603 engine the original # 14 head cracked and I was able to find a nice #18 head in my local Pick-A-Part yard, had it spiffed up a bit and it's still going strong several years later although his cars look like mobile dump annexes .

-Nate

Rick T.'s avatar

Isn’t it interesting that our side does a massively better job of jujitsu on these things. I wonder why.

Ataraxis's avatar

For humor to be funny, it has to have an element of truth to it, and the right is better versed in the truth about human nature. Think of the many lefties unable to answer “what is a woman?” They can’t say the truth about human nature because it clashes with their identity politics.

Then, the right knows all of the left’s arguments, but the reverse is not true.

Put these two together and the right can mock and joke about ridiculous lefty positions effectively with genuine humor.

The interesting part is that there are a bunch of hypocrites on the right, and hypocrites are easy to mock, but the left is unable to effectively joke about them, whereas the right does a good job mocking their own.

Not being able to use the truth about human nature is what holds the left back and makes them unfunny. They are, however, really good at being scolds, since that is power based and not truth based.

Henry C.'s avatar

I find that offensive.

.

.

.

That is not a goth chick.

Ataraxis's avatar

Agreed, but they made her very likeable!

Steve Ward's avatar

For some reason she looks like the dumbest blonde imaginable.

Ice Age's avatar

Yeah, goth chicks always have dyed black hair.

MD Streeter's avatar

There's a very pretty goth chick who is always at the Tokyo sumo grand tournaments, usually behind the rikishi on the left side of the TV screen. She does not need to dye her hair black, but being Japanese in this case is cheating a little.

Louis Nevell's avatar

How do you get Sumo on TV?

MD Streeter's avatar

We use youtube. The NHK World channel shows highlights from the six major tournaments.

Speed's avatar

oh so "welcome to the nhk" was based on a real channel

MD Streeter's avatar

This is one of the best things I've seen the past two weeks.

Ataraxis's avatar

Right? It’s perfect.

Peter Collins's avatar

I was searching for that to post it, so well done for saving me the faff!

-Nate's avatar

I wish it had closed captioning .

-Nate

-Nate's avatar

You guys made me dig out my earbuds and listen, this was funny and very well done .

-Nate

Drunkonunleaded's avatar

Relevant because they just confirmed a woman as the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Speed's avatar

it just never stops does it

Speed's avatar

"This Amelia video is fantastic"

if the guy who made it was in england he probably got arrested for that (becuase the cops are gay)

"There’s a German version with “Maria” but it’s not as good"

i really thought she would be named erika

Ataraxis's avatar

It was Maria in the Sound of Music.

Henry C.'s avatar

A French one named 'Joan' is needed.

Ataraxis's avatar

Oh yeah! In full armor!

Ice Age's avatar

An American one named Jenny would be nice as well.