Random Thoughts Thread

[Robert Hall]

43 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

* can't put this in spotting since it's a "lot" behind the 8 ball *

Here I am, walking through Savannah's historical district, minding my business, and a toad decides to cross the road in front of me ...

 

and then turn at the corner ...

 

I might add that it was a "healthy" looking toad.

Haven't seen a Maverick in forever...wowza.  Never been to Savannah (been past the exit on I-95)...looks scenic. 

[trinacriabob]

38 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

Haven't seen a Maverick in forever...wowza.  Never been to Savannah (been past the exit on I-95)...looks scenic. 

Every once in a while, I see a Maverick.  Most of the ones I see these days are somewhat kept up.  I think that all the ones that were subjected to ordinary use went to the scrap heap.

Very mixed on Savannah.  It's nice, laid out in a grid with all these squares.  Sort of like the French Quarter but without the rowdiness.  It's checked off the list.  I'm indifferent to returning.  There's a noted novel written about Savannah's underworld and illicit side.  They may have even made a movie about it.  Hilton Head Island SC is right there, too.  I'm sorry I missed that.  Charleston SC is also in that general area.

I was more interested in getting to Florida, so I only visited Savannah for about 4 hours.

Edited September 4, 2020 by trinacriabob

[Robert Hall]

10 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

Every once in a while, I see a Maverick.  Most of the ones I see these days are somewhat kept up.  I think that all the ones that were subjected to ordinary use went to the scrap heap.

Very mixed on Savannah.  It's nice, laid out in a grid with all these squares.  Sort of like the French Quarter but without the rowdiness.  It's checked off the list.  I'm indifferent to returning.  There's a noted novel written about Savannah's underworld and illicit side.  They may have even made a movie about it.  Hilton Head Island SC is right there, too.  I'm sorry I missed that.  Charleston SC is also in that general area.

I was more interested in getting to Florida, so I only visited Savannah for about 4 hours.

Yes, IIRC the book and movie was called 'Midnight in the Garden of Evil' I think...good movie w/ Kevin Spacey.   When I was driving my sister back from West Palm Beach in January, I did spend a couple hours in St Augustine, Fla---has a neat historic district...would like to visit again.   Spent the first night in Daytona Beach (I'd left WPB at about 9:30 pm) and the second night only made it just past Savannah to Yemasseee, SC.  

Edited September 4, 2020 by Robert Hall

[David]

We have a Maverick in our neighborhood, brought out from the Midwest. Guy moved out here for a job with Amazon.

[trinacriabob]

4 hours ago, David said:

We have a Maverick in our neighborhood, brought out from the Midwest. Guy moved out here for a job with Amazon.

What a hoot.  Is this a downmarket one or one with more trim?  It might also depend if it was an earlier MY or a later one.  With them being so basic, say with a 6 cyl., no air, and no power gizmos, it would be easy to imagine driving a maintained one cross country without much going sideways.

Usually, people who are driving an old Maverick, Comet, Nova, etc. today are characters.

8 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Yes, IIRC the book and movie was called 'Midnight in the Garden of Evil' I think...good movie w/ Kevin Spacey.   When I was driving my sister back from West Palm Beach in January, I did spend a couple hours in St Augustine, Fla---has a neat historic district...would like to visit again.   Spent the first night in Daytona Beach (I'd left WPB at about 9:30 pm) 

I just watched the trailer.  It might call for a rental.  St. Augustine is okay.  While Daytona Beach is famous for budget vacations and being able to drive on the beach, the county it's in - Volusia - tends to repeatedly hold a record for a not so great thing.

[ocnblu]

Haha, I drove a Hyundai Venue around the block today, one of our service department loaner vehicles with 2600 miles on the clock.  Actually pleasantly surprised.  It feels plenty peppy.  It rides well.  The seat height and sight lines are great.  The radio sounds really good.  It recently crash-tested to a Top Safety Pick level. It's an overall appealing little buggy.  I think I've found the car for my mom when the Forte is returned off lease, IF it can be swung on an affordable lease.

There is no comparable domestic new car, and that is a shame.  I mean, a base (Korean built) Trax FWD might be near the price with inevitable rebates, but she is bored by the Trax.  She'd love to have another Soul, we'll see how it goes here in the next month or two.  She's not happy about reading she'll be responsible for a $400 lease return fee on her Forte.  I've got to delve into her "lease return kit" recently mailed to her from Kia.

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by ocnblu

[ocnblu]

[ocnblu]

[ocnblu]

[trinacriabob]

3 hours ago, ocnblu said:

This would be yesterday's spotting for me, except I couldn't get a photo.  It had the same grille and size of the lower photo, but it was a dark blue convertible.  It was definitely a Catalina, per the badge.  This is a Canadian ad and, yes, Pontiac Parisienne sounds cool.  But so does Catalina if you've lived in SoCal.  The French badging sure entrenched the Pontiac brand with (Eastern) Canada.

[ocnblu]

Well, the lease return fee takes effect if she dumps it at the dealer without getting into another Kia.  Sneaky, like a $400 extortion.

[riviera74]

3 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Well, the lease return fee takes effect if she dumps it at the dealer without getting into another Kia.  Sneaky, like a $400 extortion.

Another episode of the (Automotive) search for more money.

[balthazar]

All that Pontiac sheet metal would be grand wrapped around an AMerican chassis & powertrain!
 

- - - - -
Taking ID guesses on the car shown here. I know what it is, took about 5-7 seconds (I was being careful).

[daves87rs]

On 9/4/2020 at 8:48 PM, ocnblu said:

Haha, I drove a Hyundai Venue around the block today, one of our service department loaner vehicles with 2600 miles on the clock.  Actually pleasantly surprised.  It feels plenty peppy.  It rides well.  The seat height and sight lines are great.  The radio sounds really good.  It recently crash-tested to a Top Safety Pick level. It's an overall appealing little buggy.  I think I've found the car for my mom when the Forte is returned off lease, IF it can be swung on an affordable lease.

There is no comparable domestic new car, and that is a shame.  I mean, a base (Korean built) Trax FWD might be near the price with inevitable rebates, but she is bored by the Trax.  She'd love to have another Soul, we'll see how it goes here in the next month or two.  She's not happy about reading she'll be responsible for a $400 lease return fee on her Forte.  I've got to delve into her "lease return kit" recently mailed to her from Kia.

 

Wife really likes her Trax....

Like the soul though!

[ocnblu]

I like the Trax too.  I think mom's problem is the lack of "cool" color choices.  She's obsessed with orange cars right now.  Venue is not offered in orange in the U.S., but she would take an Apple Green one.  Soul is offered in Mars Orange, but she thinks it is not orange enough (looks red to me!)  She really likes Nissan's Monarch Orange, but the base model Kicks is relegated to white, silver, gray and black, sadly for her.  Seems like a GM move.

[ocnblu]

6 hours ago, balthazar said:

All that Pontiac sheet metal would be grand wrapped around an AMerican chassis & powertrain!
 

- - - - -
Taking ID guesses on the car shown here. I know what it is, took about 5-7 seconds (I was being careful).

1954 Coupe DeVille?

[balthazar]

Yeah- either ‘54 or ‘55. 
Well done.

[ocnblu]

2 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Yeah- either ‘54 or ‘55. 
Well done.

The "Cadillac" script is visible on the fender, and the greenhouse gave it away.  I am concerned, now that I posted, that the middle bodyline on the door goes to the end, and the '54 in my photo only goes about 4/5 of the way back.  Hmmm...

[ocnblu]

[Robert Hall]

5 hours ago, ocnblu said:

I like the Trax too.  I think mom's problem is the lack of "cool" color choices.  She's obsessed with orange cars right now.  Venue is not offered in orange in the U.S., but she would take an Apple Green one.  Soul is offered in Mars Orange, but she thinks it is not orange enough (looks red to me!)  She really likes Nissan's Monarch Orange, but the base model Kicks is relegated to white, silver, gray and black, sadly for her.  Seems like a GM move.

Trax *was* offered in orange in '15-16, IIR...not sure about now.  

[ocnblu]

[balthazar]

@ the community garden ~

[ocnblu]

Southern Style Sunday Dinner:  fried Spam, a mess of spinach, and scratch-made (no box!) honey cornbread.  Another dinner plate, in reply to numerous requests. 

 

[balthazar]

THAT'S THE SAME DISHES!!
ARE YOU TRYING TO TAKE CREDIT FOR THE LIL WHITE SAUCER??

And; I didn't know people actually ate spam as a main component.  Pennsylvania!

[Robert Hall]

2 minutes ago, balthazar said:

THAT'S THE SAME DISHES!!
ARE YOU TRYING TO TAKE CREDIT FOR THE LIL WHITE SAUCER??

And; I didn't know people actually ate spam as a main component.  Pennsylvania!

Spam is a big deal in Hawaii...I saw dishes made with Spam on restaurant menus there. 

[balthazar]

I didn’t see any Spam when I was in Hawaii, but I was wining & dining when there...

[balthazar]

2366 CI diesel, 1700 torque. Interesting critter :

[ocnblu]

whoa

[trinacriabob]

I was doing some photo purging.  This one is not timely enough for a spotting thread.

It made me think.  And it made me sad.  Talk about a leapfrog from the version on the left to the version on the right (in terms of exterior styling, interior appearance and comfort, and ride and handling) ... they got it dialed ... and then ... it's gone.  

[daves87rs]

17 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

I was doing some photo purging.  This one is not timely enough for a spotting thread.

It made me think.  And it made me sad.  Talk about a leapfrog from the version on the left to the version on the right (in terms of exterior styling, interior appearance and comfort, and ride and handling) ... they got it dialed ... and then ... it's gone.  

The only real downside of those were the turbos....only good I’d folks took care of them.. The 1.8 was a great engine though. Other than that, pretty good cars. Also had nice seats for a compact car.

Not really sure why compacts are going away when they will come back as budget EVs......

[trinacriabob]

51 minutes ago, daves87rs said:

The only real downside of those were the turbos....only good I’d folks took care of them.. The 1.8 was a great engine though. Other than that, pretty good cars. Also had nice seats for a compact car.

Not really sure why compacts are going away when they will come back as budget EVs......

I'm totally with you on this.  I, too, would prefer a higher displacement N.A. engine over a small engine with a turbo. I know that there's CAFE and all these benchmarks the automakers have hurled at them and the turbocharger was one route toward compliance.  However, ten horses and 1 mpg don't mean much to me when you can have simpler and more hassle free powertrains in the engine bay of your small or medium-sized car.

Edited September 7, 2020 by trinacriabob

[Drew Dowdell]

10 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

I was doing some photo purging.  This one is not timely enough for a spotting thread.

It made me think.  And it made me sad.  Talk about a leapfrog from the version on the left to the version on the right (in terms of exterior styling, interior appearance and comfort, and ride and handling) ... they got it dialed ... and then ... it's gone.  

I actually preferred the look of the older one. It was much more distinctive compared to the competition.

9 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

I'm totally with you on this.  I, too, would prefer a higher displacement N.A. engine over a small engine with a turbo. I know that there's CAFE and all these benchmarks the automakers have hurled at them and the turbocharger was one route toward compliance.  However, ten horses and 1 mpg don't mean much to me when you can have simpler and more hassle free powertrains in the engine bay of your small or medium-sized car.

I’m done with small displacement turbos replacing larger NA engines myself, but this isn’t the best case scenario for that argument. The 1.8 was gutless and saw no noticeable fuel economy gain over the 1.4T. The 1.4T does roll on like a larger engine and would be perfectly suitable as a base engine in these. The 1.8 NA should have been dropped completely and a 1.8T should have been offered.

[trinacriabob]

I was looking forward to this weekend and then, all of a sudden, some moron shaped like a bowling pin had to wimpily (red, not a valid word?) utter the words, "He almost walks on water."  I'm sure this dude will go do down in the annals of televised interview history.

Nonetheless, I hope everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend, the last official holiday weekend of summer.

[Robert Hall]

Glad I did grilling yesterday...can't really do much of anything outside today...thunderstorms all day so far.

[David]

This is so cool!

 

[David]

21 hours ago, balthazar said:

I didn’t see any Spam when I was in Hawaii, but I was wining & dining when there...

That is so weird as Spam is everywhere even in high end places.

I will say, cut the spam into little cubes, cook it up crunchy, then let it drain on paper towels. Make home made creamy mac n cheese, stir in Crunch Spam bits and enjoy.

Awesome Mac n Cheese.

[balthazar]

WINING & DINING = dropping coin.
Not sidewalk kiosk food fare.

Edited September 7, 2020 by balthazar

[trinacriabob]

1 hour ago, David said:

This is so cool!

 

I think there are hot springs or mud baths in the world that bubble and look dirty, but are good for you.  This is what this reminds me of.  I thought the people would be evacuating that pool.

3 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Glad I did grilling yesterday...can't really do much of anything outside today...thunderstorms all day so far.

A prolonged thunderstorm saves you the cost of having to drive through a car wash.

[oldshurst442]

8 minutes ago, balthazar said:

WINING & DINING = dropping coin.
Not sidewalk kiosk food fare.

Winning...and dining =  Charlie Sheen 

And if that is the case, Im guessing what happens in Hawaii stays in Hawaii?  👊

 

EDIT...  I SWEAR I SAW WINNING in there.  I had to restart my quote to you and before I knew it...winning was gone.  

Edited September 7, 2020 by oldshurst442

[Robert Hall]

36 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

 

A prolonged thunderstorm saves you the cost of having to drive through a car wash.

If your car is outside...my Jeep is nice and clean and in my garage.  If it were in the driveway during a thunderstorm, i'd end up with leaves and small twigs on it...

Edited September 7, 2020 by Robert Hall

[Robert Hall]

39 minutes ago, balthazar said:

WINING & DINING = dropping coin.
Not sidewalk kiosk food fare.

True, I did see spam at a couple fast food places and roadside stands...read an article about it's popularity there.   Otherwise, the food was great there...had dinner at the Benihana in my hotel (Hilton Hawaiian Village), the famous Roy's, a couple seafood places, and a really good Thai place in Waikiki....I need to go back eventually, want to go to Maui, the big island, and Kauai...both trips I've been, I've only been on Oahu.

[ocnblu]

[balthazar]

THIS is a proper Catalina   :

Edited September 7, 2020 by balthazar

[ocnblu]

My first car was a 1973 Pontiac Catalina.  I'm proud of that fact.

[balthazar]

Did you ever post a pic of the actual car you owned, blu?
If you did, I don't remember it.
Gonna guess it was... green.

[ocnblu]

Green it was.  With a green vinyl bench interior, and a white vinyl top.

There were a few pictures, lost.

[balthazar]

And so a preference was permanently ingrained.

- - - - -
I appreciate your sentimental recollection. My grandfather had a string of Pontiacs - I only have one memory of his gold '72 Grand Ville, and a few more of his '76 Grand Ville. He always traded in, so the '72 left for the '76 (and the '76 got T-boned, replaced by a '78 Sedan deVille).

My grandfather liked to recollect how his '72's 455 would pull. Said he was coming home early one morning from fishing, wanted to 'see what it would do'. He said it was still pulling strong at an indicated 120 MPH when he had to back out of it.

Basically the '72 was this, but I recollect a proper metallic gold, and this is more a beige :

[balthazar]

- - - - -
Found this while lookin for that: '74 Grand Ville coupe. 455, big 4bbl, cam, TH400, 3.90 gears, 91 octane...
Quarter mile in 11.5 @ 116.  She's thick :

[trinacriabob]

@balthazar Pontiac worked some wonders with the usually horizontal tail lamp assemblies of their cars.  This really ratcheted up the design quality of their vehicles from big to small.

So, every now and then, I might wander into a Costco's "Cafe 1.50" for a hot dog and a drink, having to consume it outside.

This leaves me wondering if and when there will be a return to a "proper" Costco Lunch.

 

[balthazar]

I no longer strongly care for Pontiacs in the '70s. Here, I'm talking about the big cars- Pontiac shifted their focus from the full-size to the intermediates once the GTO cemented itself in success. I sad.
The 'ice cube tray' taillights of above don't do anything for me; not much effort from a design standpoint. Nothing 'wrong' with them, they just fall far short of the decade earlier.

I think that focus shift cost Pontiac 3rd place in sales; it was #3 from '61 thru '70, but then #4 or #5 thru the '70s.