Random Thoughts Thread

[balthazar]

Sharky ~

 

Shoddy ~

Edited March 1, 2019 by balthazar

[David]

2 hours ago, balthazar said:

Sharky ~

 

Shoddy ~

😢 Shoddy looks like a hacked Corvette. 

[balthazar]

Source said ad was from 1937 ~

[A Horse With No Name]

On 2/28/2019 at 7:35 AM, trinacriabob said:

The city (MIA) is a mess.  Too many neighborhoods with unchecked sawgrass and chain link fences, if you know what I mean.  As for what they call "the beach" (Miami Beach),  it's too full of people, new high rise condos packed in, and is now just too expensive.  I remember it at a much quieter and less trendy time and it used to be decent.  Find a meter, put in some coins, go to the beach, and get some Cuban food.  Rinse.  Repeat.  Not now.

All of south Florida, Save for the L in Fort Lauderdale and perhaps Palm beach, seems to have become a rathole.  Tampa seems to be the only civilized place in teh state, and I really despise Orlando.

 

[balthazar]

Have a 2nd cousin that lives in St Pete- heard some real 'rat hole' stories even in his immediate neighborhood.
- - - - -
House of Magic, 1955-1979 ~

[Robert Hall]

St Augustine seems like it would be a fun place to vacation.   I still like the Keys, though they are pretty vulnerable to hurricanes like last year.  

[ykX]

We have been in Siesta Key couple years ago.  Really liked it.

[Drew Dowdell]

Can everyone hear me again now? Sorry about the downtime, we had an important file go corrupt.

[A Horse With No Name]

5 hours ago, ykX said:

We have been in Siesta Key couple years ago.  Really liked it.

To visit, yes, to live, no.

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Can everyone hear me again now? Sorry about the downtime, we had an important file go corrupt.

Yes...

 

 

5 hours ago, balthazar said:

Have a 2nd cousin that lives in St Pete- heard some real 'rat hole' stories even in his immediate neighborhood.
- - - - -
House of Magic, 1955-1979 ~

No magic like this for 40 years.

[A Horse With No Name]

 

[ccap41]

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Can everyone hear me again now? Sorry about the downtime, we had an important file go corrupt.

Yessir

[David]

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Can everyone hear me again now? Sorry about the downtime, we had an important file go corrupt.

Data, Your Alive!  

[ocnblu]

11 hours ago, balthazar said:

Source said ad was from 1937 ~

Ooohhhh... a "helmet-top" cab.  Why does that intrigue me?

[balthazar]

Damntastic ~

[David]

9 minutes ago, ocnblu said:

Ooohhhh... a "helmet-top" cab.  Why does that intrigue me?

Maybe reminds you of your childhood and the home helmet-top haircuts? 🤷‍♂️

 

[ocnblu]

Just now, dfelt said:

Maybe reminds you of your childhood and the home helmet-top haircuts? 🤷‍♂️

 

Wanna take another guess?

[David]

22 minutes ago, ocnblu said:

Wanna take another guess?

Storm Troopers?

[ocnblu]

 

[balthazar]

[ocnblu]

Cadillac Custom Man Martian.  Rare bird indeed!

[balthazar]

:) I believe that's 'ViewMaster'. Hess & Eisenhardt built 6, I think 3 were 'Skyview's which had long glass panels in the roof. These were 4-row wagons.

[balthazar]

One-off prototype Studebaker : 1947  /  1970x  /  now ~

Edited March 2, 2019 by balthazar

[Drew Dowdell]

15 hours ago, ocnblu said:

 

That's pretty disappointing. I feel like my Encore does better than that. 

[Robert Hall]

Had a good time at the Cleveland Auto Show.    Pictures here.

The Blazer and XT4 look better in person than in photos.  And both as spec'd were close to $50k.  (Blazer Premier FWD was $48k).  

First time I'd seen the new Silverados (regular or HD) in person...they look huge and strange in person, esp. the weirdness of the front fender corners and that vertical vent below the lights.    The white Corvette ZR1 was striking.

At the Buick stand, they had not one but two Cascadas..maybe the same two as last year.  They had a red Regal GS, looked good though the seats looked weird with the grilles in the upper part w/ chrome surrounds. 

I guess I overlooked the GMC stand.  Saw them last year. 

Liked sitting in the CT6 and CTS.   I like the revised lighting and fascias on the CT6.  Sat in the back seat of the CT6, funny...there is a recessed area ahead of the rear window my head fits in, but if I lean forward my head hits the raised surround for the rear sunroof.  Lots of legroom in front and rear.   

As always, I enjoyed time at the FCA stand...they had a Gladiator on display.  Several new Wranglers, a couple GCs, a Compass Trailhawk (neat!), green Challenger GT, a couple Chargers, a 300.  The new Ram 3500 Mega Cab Limited was mega-huge.  And brown

The new Aviator looks really good in person.  As does the new Explorer ST.  Both were locked.   The Shelby GT500 was on display, locked w/ dark window tint.  Sat in a Bullitt (last year it was on a dais and locked).    The Edge ST looks good, in that same sharp blue as the Explorer ST.   They had an orange Ranger 4dr 4x4 on a dais, none you could sit in though. 

I hadn't paid much attention to them before, but the Accord and Insight look really good in person inside and out.

I really liked the Volvos, esp. the S90 and V90 CC.  Sat in both, along w/ the S60 and XC60...S60 felt tight inside, seat wasn't all the way back.   I like their interior colors and materials. 

The classic car display (in a separate section of the massive hall) was nice, some 60s-70s big Buicks and Pontiacs stood out. 

After leaving, I realized I had completely missed the Mazda stand, would have liked to have sat in a couple models.

 

 

Edited March 3, 2019 by Robert Hall

[ocnblu]

8 hours ago, balthazar said:

I believe that's 'ViewMaster'. Hess & Eisenhardt built 6, I think 3 were 'Skyview's which had long glass panels in the roof. These were 4-row wagons.

Ha, cannot read the script. 

[ocnblu]

1984 Fiero Spyder concept.  Factory job.  Two prime examples of Pontiac engineering prowess that were smacked down by corporate.

Edited March 2, 2019 by ocnblu

[ocnblu]

This thing is dear as heck.  Transit Custom Nugget! 

 

[ocnblu]

Found this today, at my favorite hippie drug store.  Happy little accident, it was!

[ocnblu]

[balthazar]

Aging... and genetics is a very funny/tricky thing.
Suzanna Hoffs, of the Bangles fame ~

 

Jamie Lee Curtis ~

 

Both born in 1954 sorry : 1958

Edited March 3, 2019 by balthazar

[oldshurst442]

I just googled Susanna Hoffs and this GIF appeared.

Its amazing...how just this moment in time...

has been etched in my memory. And right here as a GIF...as it seems, has etched many male's memories. 

And to think, how sexy she is in that one moment...without her sexualizing herself to the point of sleeziness, but because she is a very naturally sexy woman. Just giving us guy fantasies with only the movement of her eyes!!!  INCREDIBLE! 

[balthazar]

They're both 60 - try & tell me Curtis looks a day under 80. I don't know if Hoffs has had work done, but you look at her neck & her hands & I say no way. She could easily be Curtis' daughter... or granddaughter by appearance. 2018 :

Not that I was in the Bangles tent back then, but she's sort of a 'thing' from that video- to the point of the gif. Very hot, great eyes. Plus, she's doing the '80s/ big/ Jersey hair thing. Still looks great.

Edited March 3, 2019 by balthazar

[balthazar]

First I saw this, I thought it was steam-powered, but that's a conventional IC engine. Guy appears to be steam-cleaning / pressure washing it. Wood spoke wheels with non-pneumatic tires, weird quad leaf spring packs linked together, HD as hell. Make unknown.

[trinacriabob]

6 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Had a good time at the Cleveland Auto Show.    Pictures here.

 

Thank you!  Of the classics, I really like the mint green Buick Skylark 1970-ish convertible with the rally wheels.  Of the GM intermediate quartet, the LeMans/GTO and Skylark/GS were nicer than the Cutlass and Malibu of that year.

Also, in looking at the photos, I'm going to guess that the bright blue Charger had a V8 and the gray one had the standard V6.  I do not like the cheap looking blacked out plastic grille on the current Chrysler 300.  The 2014-2015 grille might just be the best of the lot for the current 300 model.

[Robert Hall]

The Skylark was a 72 IIRC.  Parked near the gold ‘70 LeMans Sport convertible.  I really liked the 67 LeSabre coupe and ‘69 Electra convertible.  The blue Charger was a V8 R/T.  It’s funny, the gray plastic engine cover on the smaller Hemi doesn’t look like it’s changed much from the ‘06 Charger R/T.   

When I went last year I didn’t go in the classic car section...didn’t realize it was there last year. 

[balthazar]

My picks from Robert's great batch would be the '56 DeSoto & the '62 GP.
- - - - -
I've had this magazine (cover & article) since 1983, when my grandfather & I were doing some light pilfering at the junk yard/shop next door, once the woman who owned it passed away and it was unoccupied. GF felt he was justified, having to look out his kitchen & dining room windows at rusting stoves, mattresses, crates, metal and all other sorts of debris maybe 20 feet from his house, for decades (they lived there starting in 1948- I don't know when the junk shop started up). I only know it was '83 because I just looked them up; the husband passed in Dec '82 and she passed in April '83.

 

I also am in possession of this double-sided porcelin dealership sign that might have come from the same establishment. Thinking recently I might sell it- it's hanging on a wall inside my shop, down at the far end. If I look at it once a year, it's by accident. I believe it's worth around $500.

Edited March 3, 2019 by balthazar

[Robert Hall]

1 hour ago, balthazar said:

My picks from Robert's great batch would be the '56 DeSoto & the '62 GP.
- - - - -
 

Both were really sharp.  The GP would have looked better with whitewalls and 8-lug Pontiac wheels, IMO.  Did you see the pics of the one owner 63 Bonneville?  

[ocnblu]

Memories resurface from time to time, jarring our version of reality:  I was into Subarus in the late 70's.  Weird and wonderful back then, but rust buckets in the extreme.

Ha, their version of the Cutlass Supreme: 

[Robert Hall]

Can't recall when I last saw a 70s Subie..those were weird looking...I vaguely remember seeing a few early wagons in Colorado in the oughts...and they were white or beige.  I don't recall ever seeing the 2dr hardtop body style. 

[ocnblu]

I wanted one of these for a hot minute back in the day: 

 

[ocnblu]

 

[balthazar]

8 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Both were really sharp.  The GP would have looked better with whitewalls and 8-lug Pontiac wheels, IMO.  Did you see the pics of the one owner 63 Bonneville?  

Agreed on the GP.
Bonne certainly was creamy- but 2 strikes for me; I hate 'baby blue' and the chromed, non-factory fender skirts simply ruin it. 60 secs and 2 discus throws later and the car would rise 2 full letter grades.
- - - - -
RE Subaru in general- they certainly have cultivated a long history of being torturously ugly.

Edited March 3, 2019 by balthazar

[Robert Hall]

4 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Agreed on the GP.
Bonne certainly was creamy- but 2 strikes for me; I hate 'baby blue' and the chromed, non-factory fender skirts simply ruin it. 60 secs and 2 discus throws later and the car would rise 2 full letter grades. 

Yeah, I hate fender skirts on vehicles that didn't come with them..but the guy was in his 80s so who knows...at least he didn't go full JC Whitney on it. 

[balthazar]

Ya- I don't get the long-running fashion of slapping skirts on cars that didn't come with them- it's almost universally a worse look.
And in the custom arena- 101% of the 'cruiser / bubble' skirts look awful.

Here's the same body shell '63 vs. 64 Eldorado- the '63 looks fine but I prefer the '64 ~

[Robert Hall]

Yeah, that was one year only quarter panel for the Eldorado, I believe?  Regular '64 Cadillac convertibles still had skirts. 

[balthazar]

Correct- only on the Eldo. A nod to when they had completely unique rear clips ['55-'58], in a small way. ALL other '64 Cads had skirts.

Edited March 3, 2019 by balthazar

[Robert Hall]

Speaking of vintage Cadillacs, I recently watched a TV show from a few years ago set in Miami Beach in 1958-1960, 'Magic City'...had a bunch of neat cars..the lead character drove a white '58 Eldorado convertible and then a white '59 Cadillac..the main villain was chauffeured a black '58 Fleetwood Sixty Special 4dr ht.  Lots of late 50s eye candy cars for various characters and background scenes..  

[balthazar]

^ Automotive Royalty.
- - - - -
W. T. F. ~

[Robert Hall]

3 minutes ago, balthazar said:

^ Automotive Royalty.
- - - - -
W. T. F. ~

Ah...the 1985 GMC Denali...had it existed w/ 50s inspired trim.

Edited March 3, 2019 by Robert Hall

[balthazar]

Shawangunk Mountains, Ulster County NY ~