Random Thoughts Thread

[USA-1]

3 minutes ago, balthazar said:

 

Circa. 1930's?. '33 Chevrolet 1 1/2 ton.

[balthazar]

Omaha NE 1938.
The truck; I don't know the year at a glance.

Edited April 30, 2020 by balthazar

[USA-1]

'33 Chevrolet Eagle. Thought it looked mid 30's you can tell by the door trim (shape and angle) mid door under the window and the sloping front fender, the wheels are spot on match too. I worked around a lot of classic cars and trucks years ago.    

https://classiccars.com/listings/view/1179549/1933-chevrolet-eagle-for-sale-in-cadillac-michigan-49601

 

Edited April 30, 2020 by USA-1

[daves87rs]

11 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Went to the vet and dog groomer yesterday, wore a mask and gloves.  My glasses kept fogging up....have a variety of mask types to try.  (took off the mask in the car, though). 

(hoodies and sweats are my work from  home colder weather uniform, need to invest in some track suits).

Kinda looked like me earlier today...had to go get a few things...

[David]

11 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Went to the vet and dog groomer yesterday, wore a mask and gloves.  My glasses kept fogging up....have a variety of mask types to try.  (took off the mask in the car, though). 

(hoodies and sweats are my work from  home colder weather uniform, need to invest in some track suits).

I also hate face masks as they fog up the glasses and make the face hot and uncomfortable.

I understand the logic and science behind why we should wear one, but I have to say that so far be it the type of mask you are wearing in this photo, more advanced ones that are being sold, cloth re-washable ones or even the commercial face masks with canister filters. They all make my face hot, sweaty and totally uncomfortable on top of fogging up the glasses.

Maybe we should all get Nasa outfits and just wear a spaceman helmet!  

[trinacriabob]

7 hours ago, dfelt said:

Finished up on Monday the latest edition to our garden, a 5 ft wide x 10 ft long x 2 1/2 ft tall vegetable garden bed. Organic and should serve a long life for us.

Nice.  Nicely sized back yard.  A lot of newer homes (Craftsman style, and unchanged for about 20 years) on the East Side of the lake have been built on these small 5,000 square feet lots.

I don't like the idea of wearing a mask, even the stupid dust masks I have.  Also, I got a bandanna and it keeps loosening up as you wear it.  The better masks have a little square box that is apparently where you breathe through.  Until they come up with a better solution,  I will accept wearing something.  Look at how some people dress in 110 F weather to adhere to their religious beliefs.  That's wild.

I have been on planes, buses, and trains with people I didn't choose to ride in proximity to me.  What can you do ...

Edited April 30, 2020 by trinacriabob

[ocnblu]

My Dad's wife grew up in deep Amish and Mennonite country, her sister alerted her to a group of Mennonite ladies out there who were sewing masks, so Dad called my brother and me and asked if we wanted a few.  Dad and stepmom drove out there, bought several, and delivered them to us.  Dad wouldn't take my money.  He's the best.

Because they're homemade with love, they are not perfect.  One of them is comfortable, I've been wearing (and washing) it every day.  The other one is too small, it pulls my ears off and makes me look like Alfred E. Neuman.

 

[ocnblu]

Went walking along the Mighty Susquehanna on the Enola Low Grade Trail yesterday after work.  The trail passes under two giant wind turbines, and being breezy, they were going at a good clip.  It was like being at an airport, they're so noisy.  Noise pollution.  But I'm thankful I live in such a beautiful part of our great nation.  If you look very closely, you can see a restored, bright red caboose on the trail.

 

 

[Robert Hall]

12 hours ago, dfelt said:

Well stocked wine cellar, about 900 bottles and a decent small batch liqueur cabinet.  

Sweet...my wine rack only holds about 25 bottles.  Thinking I may need a wine fridge.

[ykX]

@Robert Hall @dfelt You guys have your priorities wrong.  That money should go toward cars, not booze

 

[Robert Hall]

10 minutes ago, ykX said:

@Robert Hall @dfelt You guys have your priorities wrong.  That money should go toward cars, not booze

 

Heh-heh..the cars are just sitting, not going anywhere..maybe getting driven 2-3 miles a week.  They are fine.    A glass or two of wine w/ dinner, and an afternoon margarita or Bloody Mary while sitting out on the patio or by the fire pit in the evening makes staying home all the time much more pleasant... 

Edited April 30, 2020 by Robert Hall

[David]

1 hour ago, Robert Hall said:

Sweet...my wine rack only holds about 25 bottles.  Thinking I may need a wine fridge.

There are some nice wine fridges that can hold 50 bottles with double doors so you can have reds on one side aging nicely and cold whites / Roses on the other. I did forget to mention my wife has a 50 bottle wine fridge full of her whites nicely chilled so any time she wants, she can get what she wanting in a white including her lovely but sweet Ice Wines.

Costco sells a couple fridges for this, Home Depot sells a few also. There is a wide selection online you can order. They really do make life nice to have a selection of wines chilled and ready especially with summer coming on.

[balthazar]

Dangerous work; guessing women's weight. Only 91 lbs here (perfect) : 

[ocnblu]

3 hours ago, balthazar said:

Dangerous work

Sure, she's smiling now...

[David]

1 hour ago, ocnblu said:

Sure, she's smiling now...

I think that is a Smirk of "Wait till I get you home!" 😏

[David]

Stupidity of teens on HWY 129. East coast.

 

[balthazar]

Pic I posted above was at a 1938 State Fair, I assume it was a 'booth' where the operator had to guess your weight within X pounds. Can't tell how tall she may be, but then again; just about EVERYONE was 'light' in the '30s. I'll bet 91 lbs for a young woman was common then. But if she's 'on the scale', he already guessed and her smirk must mean she won a prize.

[balthazar]

9-yr old Chevy, photographed in '39 in the high snow & road salt state of Texas :

[ocnblu]

They need to tighten up those turnbuckles.

[oldshurst442]

snow and road salt and old Chevy got my attention. Then I read...Texas. I got jealous. I wanted to share a Montreal pic with you folk. 

So I googled vintage Montreal and winter in Montreal and all that...

I wanted to somehow match Balthy's pic. This is what I got and Im very happy about it. I got a classic Montreal street, got the snow AND I got not 1 Chevy, but 2 in the pic.  Im so proud of myself!!!

Edited May 1, 2020 by oldshurst442

[Robert Hall]

I went looking for vintage Ohio winter pics, found these, some GMs incl. a big Buick in there..the 1950 pic has a Hudson.   Looks like a mid 70s Grand Prix and a '73-ish LeMans in the bottom pic (Blizzard of 78 in Cleveland).

 

Edited May 1, 2020 by Robert Hall

[David]

Vintage Seattle Winter 1916

[balthazar]

Detroit-Electric, Washington State, 1919 :

[ykX]

Well, bunch of people were let go in my company today.  That's in addition to one week of furlough we are going to take.  I am afraid it is just the beginning ...

[trinacriabob]

14 hours ago, dfelt said:

Vintage Seattle Winter 1916

 

Nice photos.  That same winter, the snow load was too much for the cathedral on First Hill to take and the dome's roof gave out. It is weird that, for being near the 47th parallel, like Montreal, more or less, Seattle can get through some winters without any white stuff. 

I once went into a movie theater at Northgate Mall to see "Godfather 3" with a friend, we left, and it had snowed so much that it was almost impossible to drive my dad's RWD Buick sedan back to his house.  

 

16 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

 a big Buick

Looks like a mid 70s Grand Prix and a '73-ish LeMans in the bottom pic (Blizzard of 78 in Cleveland).

Brings back memories of the ad slogan, "Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick?"  Ouch.  How does that even happen if a person is going slow enough?  Blame it on the RWD.

Which interstate is that in the bottom photo?  The car at the very left looks like an Eldorado.  Which one is the LeMans?

Edited May 1, 2020 by trinacriabob

[trinacriabob]

17 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

I wanted to share a Montreal pic with you folk. 

So I googled vintage Montreal and winter in Montreal and all that...

I wanted to somehow match Balthy's pic. This is what I got and Im very happy about it. I got a classic Montreal street, got the snow AND I got not 1 Chevy, but 2 in the pic.  Im so proud of myself!!!

Haha.  That is old school Montreal.  If you go more than 3 or 4 miles in any direction from Centre-Ville,  those houses with the tight, curved staircases up to the porch disappear.  I know you know that (I'm preaching to the choir ... sorry). I've never been to your city when it has been snowing.  

Every time I see those staircases, I wonder how many poor immigrants from warmer places slid on their behinds down those absurd staircases, got banged up something awful, and cursed that they ever came over to "la Nouvelle France."

[Robert Hall]

14 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

 

 

Brings back memories of the ad slogan, "Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick?"  Ouch.  How does that even happen if a person is going slow enough?  Blame it on the RWD.

Which interstate is that in the bottom photo?  The car at the very left looks like an Eldorado.  Which one is the LeMans?

The Buick probably didn't have snow tires..at first I thought the car on the far left was an Eldorado, but I think it's a '73 Grand Prix--can see the taillights under the snow.  The car in front of it in the center of the pic looks like a '73 LeMans ..might be a '64-65 Cutlass 2dr in front of it (dark car)...then a Beetle further to the right,   This looks like I-90/2 heading downtown from the east, along by the lakefront airport.. 

My Dad got through E. Ohio/Pittsburgh winters in the 70s in big Mercurys and Lincolns by putting snow tires on all 4 wheels and weighing down the trunk w/ a couple bags of Quickcrete mix.

[trinacriabob]

I am seeing photos of protesters at different state government capitols.  Why am I not surprised their redneck quotient is above average?  Right now, COVID-19 is spreading more rapidly in rural and isolated areas than it is in urban areas, percentage wise.  I was hoping things would look up in May.

[David]

3 hours ago, ykX said:

Well, bunch of people were let go in my company today.  That's in addition to one week of furlough we are going to take.  I am afraid it is just the beginning ...

With 30 million unemployed, the worst since the Great Recession of the 1930's, I think we are far from over. Things are going to get worse before they get better sadly. I actually think we could see about 35 million unemployed.

32 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

I am seeing photos of protesters at different state government capitols.  Why am I not surprised their redneck quotient is above average?  Right now, COVID-19 is spreading more rapidly in rural and isolated areas than it is in urban areas, percentage wise.  I was hoping things would look up in May.

Interesting is that in states that are opening up, the up tick in infections is also going up again. Reports from various Virus Medical professionals are saying expect 2 more years of Coronavirus problems. This is due to the fact that even if they find a cure in the next month or so, it will take 30 to 90 days to test on animals, then human trials. Once approved, they then have to ramp up production and then get the shots across the glob to inoculate people. So 24 months is totally understandable.

[frogger]

Our local library in 1930

Modern times..

 

[balthazar]

Blame it on the RWD.

There's a lot of factors involved, wheelbase being just one. Longer vehicles have more leverage to slide. Period RWD cars often had much wider tires than subsequent FWD cars- wider tires = shoeshoe.

It's largely an invalid comparison between 2 very different vehicles that started the narrative. What would be illustrative is comparing a -say- early 70s fulls-size RWD car vs. a period Toronado / Eldorado; similar weights, power, lengths & tire size.

Only issue I ever had winter snow driving was a regular cab / long bed RWD pick-up, which must be like 80/20 weight distribution. Everything else I had: Bonneville, Catalina, Safari, etc, etc all did fine in the snow.

[ocnblu]

[balthazar]

^ Of course; driver skill is #1. 🥴

[daves87rs]

8 hours ago, ykX said:

Well, bunch of people were let go in my company today.  That's in addition to one week of furlough we are going to take.  I am afraid it is just the beginning ...

I am worried about that too...

Just hoping I can still go back to mine.....

[trinacriabob]

5 hours ago, frogger said:

Our local library in 1930

Modern times..

 

Looks like it has been added onto in the back.  A lot of "Gallic" in this here building.  Wow.

Bloor W. near what?  Looks way quieter than Bloor and Yonge around these parts!

[frogger]

1 hour ago, trinacriabob said:

Looks like it has been added onto in the back.  A lot of "Gallic" in this here building.  Wow.

Bloor W. near what?  Looks way quieter than Bloor and Yonge around these parts!

The main intersection is Bloor and Runnymede, an inner suburb called Bloor West Village (some call it Bloor White Village) maybe 8km from Bloor and Yonge.  Most the homes, schools and this library were built between 1910 and 1930.  That library did have an addition about 15 years ago.

My son's school is older, same age as our home but not as nice as the library.

Kids playing there in the 30's, local high school in the background

 

[ocnblu]

[balthazar]

^ ‘63. Might be a ‘421’ emblem on the fender, but it’s mounted a bit high. Something going on non-factory in the rim department. 
Have seen a number of ‘car/aircraft’ interchanges that used ‘60s Pontiacs- they built some excellent powerplants.

EDIT :: a NASA site says the car had a Tri-Power 421, but it also stated ‘just like Daytona 500 cars did’ but the race circuit only used 4bbls, and there they were all Super Duty engines.

Edited May 2, 2020 by balthazar

[David]

Interesting read, very thought out on how to deal with what the medical community is saying will be a 24 month road map of Coronavirus. It will take that long to get to 60 to 70% immunity in society before they will consider the worst over.

https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/national-coronavirus-response-a-road-map-to-reopening/

https://ethics.harvard.edu/covid-19-response

Harvards paper is very in-depth but good info on this. They should be briefing the nation as they work with John Hopkins on what the best things are and how to work and move around safely.

[trinacriabob]

Without looking at the map of T-O, I'm going to guess Bloor West is near High Park.  When I'm in town, I always try to get this photo.  It's great if you take photos here when there are some crepe myrtle trees doing their thing and other colors are optimal.

This was not "optimal."  It was in November.  But the "idea" is still there.

[frogger]

1 hour ago, trinacriabob said:

Without looking at the map of T-O, I'm going to guess Bloor West is near High Park.  When I'm in town, I always try to get this photo.  It's great if you take photos here when there are some crepe myrtle trees doing their thing and other colors are optimal.

This was not "optimal."  It was in November.  But the "idea" is still there.

You are right, we are just west of High Park and walk there pretty often.  My parents actually had their wedding reception in part of the park that photo was taken over 50 years ago.   They lived downtown but could not afford a wet wedding so they had it at the park where alcohol was not permitted.

The park is actually barricaded and closed as of yesterday to ensure too much crowding does not occur during the cherry blossom bloom about to occur.  They set up a live Webcam in lieu but the quality looks like a 2009 setup.

 

 

[David]

Those of us that have been around in the auto industry for a while remember the Ford Maverick car. Some loved it, some hated it.

Now it would seem that evidence is mounting based on trademarks, filings, etc. that Ford is bringing out a mini pickup truck to the US market and the name chosen for the Ford Rangers little brother is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

MAVERICK

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ford-ranger-maverick-small-pickup-truck/

https://www.tfltruck.com/2020/04/leaked-2022-ford-maverick-truck-could-this-be-the-next-ford-ranger-or-bronco-based-pickup/

[riviera74]

Does anyone really NEED a small pickup truck?  I thought midsize pickup trucks could take care of what would be overkill with a fullsize pickup truck.

[trinacriabob]

1 hour ago, dfelt said:

Those of us that have been around in the auto industry for a while remember the Ford Maverick car. Some loved it, some hated it.

Now it would seem that evidence is mounting based on trademarks, filings, etc. that Ford is bringing out a mini pickup truck to the US market and the name chosen for the Ford Rangers little brother is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

MAVERICK

Laugh. Out. Loud.

Hate might be a strong word here.  I did not like the Maverick but was definitely amused by it and how it looked like a "toad."

I think enough time has passed to where they can bring back the nameplate and put it on something else.  The connotation behind the word "maverick" is good, I suppose.  Ford wasted it on a relatively wimpy car.

How about some Mopar spy shots?  I am still anxiously awaiting spy shots or tangible clues that stick about the next Dodge Charger.  I have no freaking clue as to the disposition of my GM point earnings the way the auto industry is going.

Edited May 2, 2020 by trinacriabob

[David]

25 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

Does anyone really NEED a small pickup truck?  I thought midsize pickup trucks could take care of what would be overkill with a full size pickup truck.

Naw, Mid Size trucks are still way too big for inner city ownership and parking. I know many coworkers who live in Seattle and ended up buying old Chevrolet Luv, Datsun, Original Mini Ford Rangers as they only wanted a 2 person pickup to use for going to Home Depot, running the occasional garbage run, etc. Mini Pickups I believe have always had a place in society.

Just look at the Ford ranger long life and how many bought it while it was still a mini pickup compared to the bloated mid size version now. 

I believe there is room for all 3 size trucks. If done right on a global platform, then the truck is a winner winner chicken dinner.

[ocnblu]

Keen interest in the Maverick here.  Colorado/Ranger have grown too much over the years, imo.  A minitruck is needed in the US.  I've always admired from afar the minitrucks available south of the border.

[David]

Guess I am not alone in hating to pay tolls. Seems this trucker who drives between NJ and NY hated it so much he would flip his license up to avoid having it snapped at the toll booths.

 

[ocnblu]

[ocnblu]

[riviera74]

3 hours ago, dfelt said:

Naw, Mid Size trucks are still way too big for inner city ownership and parking. I know many coworkers who live in Seattle and ended up buying old Chevrolet Luv, Datsun, Original Mini Ford Rangers as they only wanted a 2 person pickup to use for going to Home Depot, running the occasional garbage run, etc. Mini Pickups I believe have always had a place in society.

Just look at the Ford ranger long life and how many bought it while it was still a mini pickup compared to the bloated mid size version now. 

I believe there is room for all 3 size trucks. If done right on a global platform, then the truck is a winner winner chicken dinner.

Who would SELL a small pickup truck?  Not even Nissan or Honda or Toyota will sell one here.