Random Thoughts Thread

[A Horse With No Name]

18 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

 

Yeah, you too can live in the (would get me points or banned by Drew if I typed it) United States of America. 

[A Horse With No Name]

 

[A Horse With No Name]

Way ahead of its time. 

 

[A Horse With No Name]

 

The economy is going to tank, curious how this will affect the automotive industry. But things in this country are NOT GOOD!

 

Gorgeous old Buick. 

 

[A Horse With No Name]

 

[trinacriabob]

Very random thought:

I wonder what percent of Subaru owners voted for Agent Orange.  I bet it's low.

(this is an automotive, demographics, and marketing research issue)

[G. David Felt]

53 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

Very random thought:

I wonder what percent of Subaru owners voted for Agent Orange.  I bet it's low.

(this is an automotive, demographics, and marketing research issue)

All I ever see is Anti GOP stuff on Subaru products.

These are amazing and I love Steet Food, Korean Taco's are da bomb!!!

https://youtu.be/8WO_SN8FLfk

[A Horse With No Name]

2 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

Very random thought:

I wonder what percent of Subaru owners voted for Agent Orange.  I bet it's low.

(this is an automotive, demographics, and marketing research issue)

I want a Subaru but not a fan of the CVT transmissions. 

 

[trinacriabob]

7 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

I want a Subaru but not a fan of the CVT transmissions. 

Again, I have no problem with the brand.  I just want a vehicle that doesn't make statements or is about groupthink.  That said, only their Legacy sedan qualifies and its interior (including the dash) is very nice.  

Is it that their CVT is one that hasn't gone through teething or you just don't like CVTs?  Most people don't.

I'm just thinking back to that era when one could drive a silver American boulevardier with a plush burgundy cloth interior on a scenic country road in the Sierra Nevada or the Cascades and stop in a funky place for coffee and a pastry.  That's not about conformity and making statements.  That's about pleasure, serenity, and comfort.  That's what I have sought in my vehicles.

[G. David Felt]

19 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

Again, I have no problem with the brand.  I just want a vehicle that doesn't make statements or is about groupthink.  That said, only their Legacy sedan qualifies and its interior (including the dash) is very nice.  

Is it that their CVT is one that hasn't gone through teething or you just don't like CVTs?  Most people don't.

I'm just thinking back to that era when one could drive a silver American boulevardier with a plush burgundy cloth interior on a scenic country road in the Sierra Nevada or the Cascades and stop in a funky place for coffee and a pastry.  That's not about conformity and making statements.  That's about pleasure, serenity, and comfort.  That's what I have sought in my vehicles.

I honestly have not heard of issues with Subaru CVTs, but mostly I think it is a preference between the CVT versus traditional geared transmission for folks.

The bigger issue I have with ICE Subaru is that their motors seem to end up needing major rebuild work at 100,000 miles. I have two neighbors that love their Subaru's and have had to have the motors have major work done at 100,000 miles and then years later finally hitting 200,000 miles they went and bought brand new Subaru's which I find weird imho.

Kinda like Kia and their Oil consumption problem on their ICE engines. Some people just go back and buy another one, others move onto other brands.

So what ever model you do go for, I would say do your due diligence, check the recalls, check the major maintenance schedule and what people have had to deal with to see if it works or not for you and the way you drive.

[trinacriabob]

Thought I'd share ...

 

 

This is how we came back to the U.S. when I must have been all of 4 feet tall.  The ship, Italy's biggest transatlantic ever, built with a lesser known twin, was 902 ft. long.  They only served for 10 years.

This sort of experience changes how you view life and the world.

An architectonic dream per the footage at 3:05 *

* they have to pile on the cabins today and make them big and boxy ... these were made to look like big yachts

[oldshurst442]

Subaru but no CVT?

No problem!!!

I offer you

[A Horse With No Name]

22 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

Again, I have no problem with the brand.  I just want a vehicle that doesn't make statements or is about groupthink.  That said, only their Legacy sedan qualifies and its interior (including the dash) is very nice.  

Is it that their CVT is one that hasn't gone through teething or you just don't like CVTs?  Most people don't.

I'm just thinking back to that era when one could drive a silver American boulevardier with a plush burgundy cloth interior on a scenic country road in the Sierra Nevada or the Cascades and stop in a funky place for coffee and a pastry.  That's not about conformity and making statements.  That's about pleasure, serenity, and comfort.  That's what I have sought in my vehicles.

Reliability

 

[trinacriabob]

When movies were stellar:

I love this scene ... I've put it up before ... it totally plays in to stereotypes about Germans ... not only that, the scenery, the plot, the music

[Robert Hall]

1 hour ago, trinacriabob said:

When movies were stellar:

I love this scene ... I've put it up before ... it totally plays in to stereotypes about Germans ... not only that, the scenery, the plot, the music

I like the cars in that movie also...loved that '69 Cougar convertible...and the Rolls Royce convertible (Silver Shadow Drophead Coupe)..the Aston Martin DBS..

Edited Tuesday at 09:12 PM by Robert Hall

[trinacriabob]

27 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

I like the cars in that movie also...loved that '69 Cougar convertible...and the Rolls Royce convertible (Silver Shadow Drophead Coupe)..the Aston Martin DBS..

Our gruff German villainess had no idea she was giving a lift to a major horndog who wanted to boink all those girls residing at that clinic-institute.

[A Horse With No Name]

 

[G. David Felt]

We'll if this guy is right, all hell is about to break loose.

Prolific investor and author Robert Kiyosaki says America’s poor listen to Suze Orman and the middle class follow Dave Ramsey — here are 3 tips from his playbook for creating real wealth

Robert Kiyosaki Issues Warning to Americans Who Own 401(K)S, IRAs ‘Filled With Stocks’ — Says Us Could Be On Brink of ‘Great Depression.’ Prepare Now

Robert Kiyosaki Warns of a ‘Greater Depression’ Coming to the US — With Millions of Americans Going Poor. but He Says These 2 ‘Easy-Money’ Assets Will Bring In Great Wealth. How to Get In Now

Robert Kiyosaki Warns of ‘Massive Unemployment’ in the US Due to the ‘Biggest Change’ in History — And Says This 1 Group of ‘Smart’ Americans Will Get Hit Extra Hard. Are You One of Them?

Pretty much we are screwed due to the incompetent leadership approach to tariffs and AI.

[G. David Felt]

Interesting read and I do not find fault with his thinking.

I Write About Cars All Day Long, Here's Why Kia Feels Like The Most Unstoppable Car Brand Right Now

[G. David Felt]

This is why NISSAN is FAILING. The failure is in confusing names of an auto with what the ability of said auto is supposed to be.

Nissan launches X-Trail NISMO in Japan

Here we have the press release for the X-Trail NISMO SUV. 

Name indicates off-road performance SUV, but in reality, as the press release states from the beginning, performance inspired Grand Touring SUV. Blending race-bred performance with everyday drivability and even the look is not Trail looking.

Does this look like a Trail based SUV?

[Robert Hall]

16 hours ago, G. David Felt said:

We'll if this guy is right, all hell is about to break loose.

Prolific investor and author Robert Kiyosaki says America’s poor listen to Suze Orman and the middle class follow Dave Ramsey — here are 3 tips from his playbook for creating real wealth

Robert Kiyosaki Issues Warning to Americans Who Own 401(K)S, IRAs ‘Filled With Stocks’ — Says Us Could Be On Brink of ‘Great Depression.’ Prepare Now

Robert Kiyosaki Warns of a ‘Greater Depression’ Coming to the US — With Millions of Americans Going Poor. but He Says These 2 ‘Easy-Money’ Assets Will Bring In Great Wealth. How to Get In Now

Robert Kiyosaki Warns of ‘Massive Unemployment’ in the US Due to the ‘Biggest Change’ in History — And Says This 1 Group of ‘Smart’ Americans Will Get Hit Extra Hard. Are You One of Them?

Pretty much we are screwed due to the incompetent leadership approach to tariffs and AI.

Kiyosaki's office in Scottsdale was down the street from my office about 10 years ago.  Had a yellow Lambo Murcielago roadster.  He was a Trump supporter in '16. 

[A Horse With No Name]

1 hour ago, Robert Hall said:

Kiyosaki's office in Scottsdale was down the street from my office about 10 years ago.  Had a yellow Lambo Murcielago roadster.  He was a Trump supporter in '16. 

All the reason not to listen to him now

 

[A Horse With No Name]

 

[A Horse With No Name]

 

I am thinking about giving it a shot. 

[A Horse With No Name]

Pet surrenders are way up, in the case of a Charlotte shelter up 43 % anyways. Another sign the economy is tanking. 

[A Horse With No Name]

https://sf.courts.ca.gov/system/files/news/25judgecheng_final.pdf

 

Write up  about my friend who died, he was best man at my wedding. 

[G. David Felt]

WOW, We all have to live within a budget of what we earn and can afford to spend, I just do not get why it is so hard for Idiot47 and his lemming to be so stupid that they cannot seem to understand this basic idea.

‘The nation’s finances have deteriorated’ since Trump took office, CRFB says, gaming out the scenarios up to a $28.5 trillion deficit

As such, I now have to question the long term viability of living in this country or even making any large purchases which could very well cause auto companies to go bankrupt as people choose to not buy their second largest purchase behind a home. First biggest purchase for young people as most cannot afford to buy a home. So Sad.  

[G. David Felt]

Very cool that ChargePoint is now offering an adapter certified to handled the electron flow. Omni port

ChargePoint Eliminates EV Charging Connector Confusion with Omni Port Adaptable Charging Solution | ChargePoint

[trinacriabob]

On 8/21/2025 at 11:00 AM, A Horse With No Name said:

 

A very unique car ... best in white.  What could be a (Grand) Le Mans BUT with a funky front end, vaned triangular "opera" window, and the squashed down rear trunk.  Thankfully, the great dashboard is the one shared with the GP.  (Located in soulless Chicagoland suburbs that go on forever.)

We had a neighborhood family with this car in white.  They were never friendly to us.  I don't think they liked foreigners (like my parents).  They were transplants from Iowa ... the dad was a blue collar guy and the mom was the customer service desk lady at a nearby supermarket.  I'd laugh ... the kids in our family have more than one sheepskin to their names and look and act Americanized.  How about their kids?  Maybe some token community college courses?  I would never bring up this sort of stuff except that they were borderline white trash and a-holes.  They were the only people I ever knew with a first-gen Grand Am.

22 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

https://sf.courts.ca.gov/system/files/news/25judgecheng_final.pdf

 

Write up  about my friend who died, he was best man at my wedding. 

Condolences on the loss of this good friend ... he was taken from us way too soon.  He was apparently a brilliant and impressive individual.

[trinacriabob]

6 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

I am thinking about giving it a shot. 

Their situation has improved.  Twenty years ago, it was bad like Venezuela is today.

I have a friend who is married to a woman from here.  I bet he regrets it because he also "married" her very large overbearing Colombian family with very poor boundaries. 

[A Horse With No Name]

9 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

Their situation has improved.  Twenty years ago, it was bad like Venezuela is today.

I have a friend who is married to a woman from here.  I bet he regrets it because he also "married" her very large overbearing Colombian family with very poor boundaries. 

I am very fortunate to be married to a woman with a great family. Glad I didn't continue dating several women with insane families. 

Latin America draws me. 

 

Ford screwed the pooch on its small car and small SUV transmissions. Where are the small Fords now....ohhhhh wait.....they are out of production. 

 

[trinacriabob]

7 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Ford screwed the pooch on its small car and small SUV transmissions. Where are the small Fords now....ohhhhh wait.....they are out of production. 

Interesting that this was in an Escape.  The mid-2010s Focus and Fiesta, which I have enjoyed as econobox rentals, were vilified for their dual clutch automatic transmissions.  None of mine in rental cars acted up, except for one.  And it acted up in a big way.  I took it from Portland to Seattle to Vancouver BC and back. On the return trip, there were serious shudders in the automatic 1 to 2 shift, which is typical of one on the fritz.  It's too bad.  Dual clutch automatic is sort of standard for the VW umbrella overseas.

They quote crazy prices to replace transmissions.  I had a leaflet for GM Mr. Goodwrench factory rebuilt R&R units laying around.  This was for 4-speed THM 460 (E) transaxles, just to know my options.  The prices were palatable.  Fortunately, I never had to fix a transmission.  I did fluid changes every 30,000 miles.  These cars trans' remained in the pink for their entire service lives.

[ccap41]

7 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Ford screwed the pooch on its small car and small SUV transmissions. Where are the small Fords now....ohhhhh wait.....they are out of production. 

 

This guy is pretty absurd. "it needs more parts" to make it more reliable? 

"you can just tell by how small these transmissions are that they're under designed. there's not a whole lot of parts in here that make them work." "...In my opinion you need big durable and maybe even more parts to make these transmissions last more than 100,000 miles."

I'm not trying to defend the transmissions. I'm sure he has them in the shop all the time with failures, but his reasoning is possibly the most BS there could be. 100% made up. 

Has he ever seen a Rav4 transmission? 

Uh oh... it's tiny, too!

CRV transmission? Also small!

He probably also doesn't know that there are very few vehicles that DO have transmission dip sticks anymore.

i've wasted an awful lot of time on this guy's video. 🤣🤣

[Robert Hall]

8 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

I am very fortunate to be married to a woman with a great family. Glad I didn't continue dating several women with insane families. 

Latin America draws me. 

 

Love the '62 Caddies with the fins and skegs..

[trinacriabob]

 

Good morning ...

[oldshurst442]

I remember @balthazar posting a couple of times a couple of pics of celebrities when they were young and beautiful with father time realities .  Some do age well and gracefully. Others not so much. In this case, Id rather have my teenage boy crush dreams preserved. 

 

Not that she has aged badly.   We all get to be old and wrinkly at one point in time. If we are lucky to get to that stage.  But Id rather remember her when she was young and perky. 

Edited Saturday at 08:42 PM by oldshurst442

[oldshurst442]

I was never the one to discern between the two Heathers.  I had a teenage boy crush on both of them equally.  

 

[oldshurst442]

Football season is on its way.  NFL.  Aside from all the Elbows Up talk I usually do

Im a hypocrite with this as I refuse to do the CFL. 

 

I still want to cheer for that certain NFL team.  I wont mention the team as Elbows Up also takes precedence. Confusing it is.  

But...I like me some cheerleaders no matter what country and team they represent.  Just a little sample of what Im talking about.

Im super happy that these wonderful women got a significant pay raise in June of this year. Good on them.  Stick it to Jerry. I hope Micah also sticks it to Jerry!

Anyway, back to the cheerleaders. There was this cute blonde one that piqued my interest.

 

 

Im soooooo phoquen happy that some in your God forsaken country are sooooo focused on both of them.   Crime in LA and in DC are at a low and male cheerleaders need to be put in check.

[trinacriabob]

Yesterday would have been Pussy Galore's 100th birthday.  Not exactly, but that of Honor Blackman.  I was surfing Bond trivia and clicked on this actress's bio.  

Feminists who have an axe to grind go as far as to waste their time in decrying Bond's seduction of her, as in lacking consent.  From what I recall, she gave in rather easily.

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, oldshurst442 said:

Football season is on its way.  NFL.  Aside from all the Elbows Up talk I usually do

Im a hypocrite with this as I refuse to do the CFL. 

 

I still want to cheer for that certain NFL team.  I wont mention the team as Elbows Up also takes precedence. Confusing it is.  

But...I like me some cheerleaders no matter what country and team they represent.  Just a little sample of what Im talking about.

Im super happy that these wonderful women got a significant pay raise in June of this year. Good on them.  Stick it to Jerry. I hope Micah also sticks it to Jerry!

Anyway, back to the cheerleaders. There was this cute blonde one that piqued my interest.

 

 

Im soooooo phoquen happy that some in your God forsaken country are sooooo focused on both of them.   Crime in LA and in DC are at a low and male cheerleaders need to be put in check.

Here is the Seattle Seahawks Cheerleader Roster.

Seahawks Dancers Roster | Seattle Seahawks – Seahawks.com

3 males have made the Roster, first time ever.

OUCH, this has got to hurt GM.

GM Orders Dealers To Stop Selling ZR1 And Z06 Until It Figures Out What’s Wrong

[oldshurst442]

I didnt realize that Seattle also has male cheerleaders. Good stuff!!!  That must make MAGA frothing at the mouth. 

About Corvette.  Its sucks.  But GM engineers wanted an exotic feeling Vette...now they got one.  Forget about mid-engined craziness and flat plane crank lunacy...you aint an exotic if you aint burnin' up baby!!! 

[G. David Felt]

So true, at least GM has the price tag a bit better than the Italian garbage and now with U.S. garbage burning equally strong! 

[oldshurst442]

Car safety has come a long way.  The philosophies regarding which engineering forces need to be examined and controlled for better passenger safety has vastly improved. Let us all be grateful that that we as a society along with the automobile industry listened to the guidance of what government safety boards were suggesting...

 

In the video it seems, weight and heft seem to be the only factor.  But Im not so sure passengers in the full sized sedans would be fairing that much better as opposed to the passengers of the compact cars.  And absolutely nothing was mentioned of what the results would be when two full sized sedans collided headed on.

Now, I love me some classic full sized sedans and coupes from the era of that video, but I sure do realize that I, as a passenger, is part OF the crumple zone in those cars.  My safety cage, ie my skull and my ribs, would do phoque all in absorbing all that kinetic energy.  We may bitch and whine about high belt lines and thick A pillars, but they sure do the trick in being part of an intricate plan of absorbing impacts.  

I do find it funny though, that football was the inspiration of passenger car safety in those primitive times.