Random Thoughts Thread

[Drew Dowdell]

We we're 3 blocks away from the shooting at a different synagogue. We're safe, still on lockdown at the moment.

[A Horse With No Name]

6 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

We we're 3 blocks away from the shooting at a different synagogue. We're safe, still on lockdown at the moment.

Wow...that whole thing is nuts.

15 hours ago, dfelt said:

Interesting, looks constipated! 

Full of something...

[balthazar]

36 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Full of something...

Ford Truck know-how??

- - - - -
Man, would I love a rig like this; Cat Safari with Grand Prix front clip ~

[A Horse With No Name]

I love that old wagon!

[David]

8 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Demented dream:  I was on the shoulder of a suburban four lane highway, riding a simple metal stool with a padded seat, on little plastic wheels of course.  Motive power came from me, gyroscopically leaning in a forward direction (it is how I "fly" in my dreams too, with an inner gyroscope, not an outward spin).  I am perched on it on my knees.  I remember two of the vehicles that passed, a giant 10 wheeled truck (I felt the breeze) and a carload of thugs in a spider-eye, hooptified Integra.  A nice lady who lived along the road came out and gave me a gift in a plastic bag.  I accepted it, but then as I went I was thinking I did not want to carry it and I was looking to toss the bag in high weeds (so she wouldn't see it and feel insulted) along a creek that went under the road.  I remember thinking I was heading toward a car dealer row, I was heading out on my stool to look at new trucks.  Does the stool represent my Compass?  What direction am I going with this?

Why are you on your knees?

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

We we're 3 blocks away from the shooting at a different synagogue. We're safe, still on lockdown at the moment.

Stay Safe Drew, glad to hear your both OK. I hear 19 dead. RIP

[A Horse With No Name]

Wow...19...last I heard was eight.

[David]

6 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Wow...19...last I heard was eight.

The 19 figure was on a Tegna News outlet, but now I see depending on where you go visit it is either 6 or 8. Better than 19, but wish it was none. Have not seen a picture or heard anything about who the shooter was, but my gut says it is another crazy potus 45 white guy. 

Hit latest tweets of unity and love makes me sick as he continue to praise politicians who have attacked others.

We are in crazy times and I really hope things change for the better soon.

Wishing everyone a safe weekend.

@Drew Dowdell Please keep us updated on your mates and your safety. Safe trip home eventually.

[Drew Dowdell]

I'm back home now. I think 19 is the number of people shot, but only 8 or 9 dead.

[David]

Just now, Drew Dowdell said:

I'm back home now. I think 19 is the number of people shot, but only 8 or 9 dead.

Glad to hear your both safe at home. Hope you both can have a relaxing rest of the weekend. Take care! 

[A Horse With No Name]

5 hours ago, dfelt said:

The 19 figure was on a Tegna News outlet, but now I see depending on where you go visit it is either 6 or 8. Better than 19, but wish it was none. Have not seen a picture or heard anything about who the shooter was, but my gut says it is another crazy potus 45 white guy. 

Hit latest tweets of unity and love makes me sick as he continue to praise politicians who have attacked others.

We are in crazy times and I really hope things change for the better soon.

Wishing everyone a safe weekend.

@Drew Dowdell Please keep us updated on your mates and your safety. Safe trip home eventually.

Actually not that it makes a difference, but the shooter was actually quite critical of Trump in his social media thread. I disagree with Trump on many things, agree on a few things, and generally don't like any of the presidents Truman to Trump (post WW II) any more than I like the Ford Motor Company, the Penn State Nittany lions football team, or Brussels sprouts. 

Actually I don't like Eggplant either...dammit....

Let's keep C and G free from political talk. 

This really is horrific. I am retreating to a world of woodworking, historical reading, and nature.  Life is kind of over whelming this year. Loosing my father, finding my birth mother and two more sisters, turbulence at my wife's job, the lack of interesting new product in the automotive arena, and lots of things I don't want to talk about. 

I really need to gorge myself on vintage Pontiac pictures and videos, good music, and good food. 

Think tomorrow night I am going to try a new restaurant that has fantastic catfish. Catfish and Pontiacs....yeah...that is the answer. 

I also am getting close to ready to tear down my Oliver woodworking lathe so I can start the restoration, maybe within the next few months. Thinking of buying  JET 16-40 midsized lathe in addition to the Oliver  so i can have friends over to turn, also would like a little larger lathe. 

Edited October 28, 2018 by A Horse With No Name
clarity

[A Horse With No Name]

The people I feel most for are the people of Squirrel Hills, Pittsburgh-People will remember this violent act and feel it for decades.  So tremendously sad right now. 

Off to gorge myself on Vintage Pontiac. 

Ohhh...and Balthazar....I am in Lexington taking a locksmith class this week. Gentleman in my class has a 58 Buick Special and a 66 Cadillac. 

Drew-Same gentleman also had a 71 Eldorado. 

[A Horse With No Name]

 

 

Bonus video...vintage Soo Line freights...i grew up in Wisconsin...passenger action also.

[A Horse With No Name]

 

 

Guy with the Bullet mustang (original) talking about loosing his father really hit home...

[balthazar]

Horsey- Hope from now & thru 2019 it's much smoother sailing for you.

Would like to see pics when you tear down the Oliver. I've watched some turning vids and it looks really interesting/fun.

Specials are so common in that era of Buick, I'd always prefer an upper tier model, Century before '59.

What part of Wisconsin were you from?

Edited October 28, 2018 by balthazar

[A Horse With No Name]

7 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Horsey- Hope from now & thru 2019 it's much smoother sailing for you.

Would like to see pics when you tear down the Oliver. I've watched some turning vids and it looks really interesting/fun.

Specials are so common in that era of Buick, I'd always prefer an upper tier model, Century before '59.

What part of Wisconsin were you from?

Stevens Point.

I didn't get any pics from the 58 Buick  guy...all he had were cell phone pics....but a four door hardtop that hadn't been touched/molested/original paint-kind of a metallic blue with a white top two tone. 

Yeah...I know...one year newer and we would be magic. 

Edited October 28, 2018 by A Horse With No Name

[balthazar]

• I like other year Buicks, including '58. A Limited 2-dr hardtop would be wild. But managed to get the one I was willing to own.
• Stevens Point; I know of it, tangentially. We should talk in a sidebar...

[A Horse With No Name]

We should. Feeling much better than I was a couple of hours ago. Solitude and a rainy night can do wonders.

[ocnblu]

17 hours ago, dfelt said:

Why are you on your knees?

Well they say a person shouldn't sit too much.  You've seen those cool standing desks?  Some of them have stools for your knees.  I wish I had one @ work. 

Edited October 28, 2018 by ocnblu

[ocnblu]

That modern Bullit commercial is pretty cool.

[balthazar]

[A Horse With No Name]

1 hour ago, ocnblu said:

That modern Bullit commercial is pretty cool.

I love the Patina on the original Bullitt.

39 minutes ago, balthazar said:

I love the patina on that also.

[balthazar]

The '19s are much improved over the '18s, IMO.

 

- - - - -
But wait; I think I figured out my amorous feelings toward the '19s - CHECK THIS OUT :

Edited October 28, 2018 by balthazar

[Drew Dowdell]

I'm split.   On the GMC, I like the '19 better than the '18 though not by much.  On the Chevy, I much prefer the '18 over the '19 as long as it is in Z71 trim with the body color fascia and lacking most of the chrome. 

[balthazar]

IMO- the '18 Silverado is a mess. It looks somewhat bloated to my eye, and especially irksome are the too many seams in the front end trim. That center bar could have been 1 piece vs. 3. I'd still give the '18 a '6' (I give my '04 a '4', BTW). '19 cleaned a lot of that up, and although it's unconventional, it's cleaner. I give it (in the above pic) an '8'.

[David]

19 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

The people I feel most for are the people of Squirrel Hills, Pittsburgh-People will remember this violent act and feel it for decades.  So tremendously sad right now. 

Off to gorge myself on Vintage Pontiac. 

Ohhh...and Balthazar....I am in Lexington taking a locksmith class this week. Gentleman in my class has a 58 Buick Special and a 66 Cadillac. 

Drew-Same gentleman also had a 71 Eldorado. 

Pictures Please if possible.  

[Drew Dowdell]

has there ever been a 10?

[Robert Hall]

Way too much going on w/ the '18 and '19 Silverado front ends, IMO.  Too many cutlines and details.   The '14-15 is still much cleaner and better looking IMO.

As far as older Chevy pickup fronts, I'd rank these pretty high...at least an '8' or '9', IMO.   83-84, 73-74, 69-70. 

Edited October 28, 2018 by Robert Hall

[David]

Love to see a modern day pickup take on this from Ford:

Or a modern day take on this from Chevy

Even this for GMC

[ocnblu]

18 hours ago, balthazar said:

The '19s are much improved over the '18s, IMO.

 

- - - - -
But wait; I think I figured out my amorous feelings toward the '19s - CHECK THIS OUT :

This is what I see when I look at the new truck:  How the fender drops toward the bumper, the bumper itself drops at the ends, the general lighting and grille theme, it is just a modern interpretation of the '99.

Edited October 29, 2018 by ocnblu

[ocnblu]

Ford already paid homage to one of their classics, look at this 1950 F-1 and this Expedition:  The heavy bar grille, the way the headlight nacelles do a double curve down to meet the bottom of the grille, it is clear what they did here.

Edited October 28, 2018 by ocnblu

[balthazar]

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

has there ever been a 10?

Interesting question. I know I've seen a handful of recent Rams in person that had me fluttering. Some years/trims got pretty much everything 'right'. This is a fine-looking machine ~

[Robert Hall]

55 minutes ago, ocnblu said:

Ford already paid homage to one of their classics, look at this 1950 F-1 and this Expedition:  The heavy bar grille, the way the headlight nacelles do a double curve down to meet the bottom of the grille, it is clear what they did here.

Interesting...would never have noticed that if you hadn't pointed it out.  The F150 did that also w/ a grille and lights similar to that, maybe 10-15 years ago.

As far as Sunday randomness,

Went to a clambake for dinner.  It's more of New England/North East thing, but very popular in the Cleveland area.  A dozen clams, drawn butter, chicken, asparagus, mashed potatoes, stuffing.  I went to two last fall--one at an Italian restaurant and one at a seafood restaurant on the lake.  The one today was at a restaurant from Montana that has a location here, looks like a Western lodge inside. A bit odd of a setting for a clambake, but delicious...

Edited October 28, 2018 by Robert Hall

[Robert Hall]

Saw an ad for Lincoln MKX...seems a bit late..shouldn't the Nautilus be on sale by now? 

[ccap41]

9 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I'm split.   On the GMC, I like the '19 better than the '18 though not by much.  On the Chevy, I much prefer the '18 over the '19 as long as it is in Z71 trim with the body color fascia and lacking most of the chrome. 

100% my feelings. The '19 Sierra looks GREAT but the 18' Silverado looks better than the '19.

[daves87rs]

8 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Way too much going on w/ the '18 and '19 Silverado front ends, IMO.  Too many cutlines and details.   The '14-15 is still much cleaner and better looking IMO.

As far as older Chevy pickup fronts, I'd rank these pretty high...at least an '8' or '9', IMO.   83-84, 73-74, 69-70. 

Interesting, as I would choose them in the opposite way...love the early 70s ones....

[Robert Hall]

5 hours ago, daves87rs said:

Interesting, as I would choose them in the opposite way...love the early 70s ones....

I didn’t really have a ranking, just reverse chronological order. 

[daves87rs]

59 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

I didn’t really have a ranking, just reverse chronological order. 

Ah, my bad...still all good choices though! 🙂 

[David]

Freaking Fantastic, I would so love this Pontiac!

 

 

[David]

 with only 24,979 miles on the odometer, someone in Texas thinks their bubble sealed SRT4 Neon is worth $100,000 

https://jalopnik.com/help-this-poor-dodge-neon-srt-4-escape-the-bubble-its-e-1830056068

What do you think?

[David]

@balthazar You will love this story: 

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/10/23/ford-ranger-bronco-michigan-assembly-plant-history/#slide-7452300

The story is about using the Ford Michigan assembly plant and their $850 million dollar investment they spent to start building the Ford Ranger and the soon to be built Bronco. The win for us car nuts is the awesome history of auto's in pictures they have there that were produced at the site starting with this station wagon below. Check out the awesome pictures.

[David]

Seems Hot Wheel on Nov 6th will re-release their original set of 16 cars that started it all:

http://www.thedrive.com/news/24528/hot-wheels-to-re-release-its-original-series-of-16-cars 

Complete set will be sold for $499.99. Order now.

[balthazar]

Packard X-24 ~

[David]

23 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Packard X-24 ~

I liked this view of that engine.

Very cool history on this monster engine. Thank you for posting it.

https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/packard-1a-2775-x-24-engine 

[David]

Have to say that Sema 2018 should be amazing this year. I love this story of this custom SpeedKore Charger that will be shown.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/sema/sema-2018-–-speedkore-evolution-charger-is-a-muscle-car-masterpiece/ar-BBP5O9t?li=BBnb7Kz&fullscreen=true#image=14 

Has a 966HP SRT Demo Motor, as one can tell by the picture above, they faithfully built every body panel and the core body out of carbon fiber for a lightweight 3,200lbs total weight as you see it with 966 Rear Wheel HP. I have to agree, this is a Muscle Car Masterpiece. Wonder how much the body cost to build? 🤔

 

[ocnblu]

These guys have a lot of fun.  I agree with Andre.

 

Edited October 30, 2018 by ocnblu

[ocnblu]

So nice and it's got work steps

[Robert Hall]

They should have the steps in the front bumper also, for climbing up to check the oil, replace the air filter, etc. 

[ocnblu]

How about this brown Custom?

[David]

 Jalopnik has this story that Acura has the only American Supercar factory.

https://jalopnik.com/inside-the-only-supercar-factory-in-america-1830088702

 If looking at North America, you have the Ford GT plant in Toronto, Corvette ZR1 supercar plant in the US, past plants were the Viper plant and what about all those super fast EV plants.

[Robert Hall]

25 minutes ago, dfelt said:

 Jalopnik has this story that Acura has the only American Supercar factory.

https://jalopnik.com/inside-the-only-supercar-factory-in-america-1830088702

 If looking at North America, you have the Ford GT plant in Toronto, Corvette ZR1 supercar plant in the US, past plants were the Viper plant and what about all those super fast EV plants.

And the mid engined C8 will be presumably built in the US, but it's not here yet.