oldshurst442

T-Tops Oh sure, we still have a car or 2 with manual removeable targa tops, like the C8 Corvette, but there was a time when there was another type of manual removeable top. The T-Top.

The actual successor to the original Cobra. Not the Viper. That one is a spiritual successor. And it wasnt a flop. It went away, but it didnt die quietly or unnoticed or unloved. The actual successor that Carrol himself designed and engineered. The Series 1 Shelby I think would make for a good story. It was engineered with all the usual high tech stuff of the day. Stuff that supercars today use. Aluminium tube chassis. Carbon Fibre in some body panels. A DOHC V8 (from Oldsmobile) producing 320 HP from 4 liters gets the HP per liter folk excited mounted completely behind the front axles for a front mid-engine design that supported a torque tube 6 speed ZF transaxle for optimal weight distribution. It had all the tech. It had the looks. It had the speed when the 4 liter Northstar variant produced a then almost class leading 450 horsepower making it get to 60 MPH in a blistering even for today 3.8 seconds and a 12 second quarter mile time. Just about the fastest in its era in those categories. It wasnt a track specialist of a car. Some other supercars of that time had slightly better spec in handling and braking, it was a very competent sports car. It looked the part of a Cobra successor. It had the speed and sound of a 1960s roadster, but perhaps the Viper that was launched earlier in the decade captured all the attention and had all the visceral performance that the Series 1 couldnt match. And it showed in the sales making it a flop. And even today, the Series 1, with only 249 of them produced, doesnt make anybody miss the car and their values are low. Vipers on the otherhand are starting to become desireable and quickly becoming quite expensive to obtain.

A historical account of why VW, mainly Piech, wanted to do a VW luxury car. The Phaeton. Where VW stood before the Phaeton and the lukewarm success of the Passat/A4 that got VW and Audi back on track from the not so good 1980s to where these brands are today and the success they have today. What cars were on its platform and the derivatives of that platform. Audi A8 and the various Bentleys, etc. Its a story that has been told many times before, but I think its a very relevant story that needs to be retold. This car has shaped VAG in many ways and elevated even Porsche. VR6, W8 and W12 engines would be another story or take on the Phaeton story to be told separetaly. Corrado and Golf GT VR6s, Passat W8s, Phaeton W12s and Bugatti W16s... The history of the Subaru SVX might be an intersesting story too. Its boxer 6 and intersting reasons for having split side windows makes for a pssible good story too.

I wonder what is more urgent for Elon to fix? The million unit recalls his cars are faced with last month and the transport and logistical problems or the free speech Twitter ownership thing? Great humanitarian, philanthropist and leader he is. Bless him.

No..the Rolls is disgustingly ugly 380 degrees all the way through. Yeah...380. Its not only ugly all around, but shall add another 20 degrees because you gotta do a double take to make sure you really did see an ugly POS... Call the ugly 1/4 rear of the Celestiq a MAJOR upgrade over the Rolls? I know you can do that. Because nobody in their right mind would say the rear 1/4 Celestiq is uglier than the whole Spectre car... Cool and all, but it IS the way some automotive parts are to be manufactured in the not so distant future... Many cars right NOW use 3D printing... Maybe you dont get all to excited by it, admittedley it aint that exciting. But I have a sneaky suspicion that you aint too excited by 3D printing is because Cadillac mentioned it. Had it been Mercedes mentioning it, you'de be shyttin' your pants with glee... You gotta be kidding, right? Maybe trolling? Because I doubt you are clueless... I KNOW you are not... So, perhaps playing that sheriff game you like to call @surreal1272 up on? Here, let me post a couple of pics to call you out on that dumb remark... That led to this The led to these adverts... Oh...if those are too old for you and antiquated. Anmd you are a Mercedes fanboy to boot... Something along the lines of...engineered like no other... I saw these posts a week ago... I refrained from answering. Its annoying as phoque reading this kinda shyte... The semantical bullshyte analysis. The fake gotcha moments...

The Lucid Air is a sports sedan. The Tesla Model S is also a sports sedan. These high performance cars need the range because the more speed in acceleration and high speed hijinks one does, the more power required and hence more juice you use... I dont know where the Mercedes EQS is on the luxury spectrum, but the Celestiq and the Rolls Royce Spectre EV coupe are for quiet, leisurely jaunts. These are not even daily drivers. 300 mile ranges is more than enough to get where you wanna go. The event you are going to in these vehicles dont start unless you have arrived. And then you go back home when everybody sees you owning these. Meaning, these are going to be event only machines. Dont get me wrong, I was kinda wishing Cadillac was showcasing 500 plus miles in these, to showcase the best of the best the Ultium platform and batteries and the Celestiq have to offer, but in reality, it aint necessary to have 500 plus miles.

During my quarantine time, I was also watching The Killer play his piano. I had to use my history to get the videos back, but I did succeed. The news is out, all over town... rest in peace Jerry Lee.

@David Although I LOVE that you LOVE Lego sets, especially the car sets. The joke is that the new BMW M2 is so blocky, it could be styled by Lego set engineers... Weirdly though, I actually like it...

I visited my local Lego store and I saw many Lego themed sets. (I didnt actually visit a Lego store, just a funny story at the end of it...) Star Wars, Lego City...motorized sets too. I also came across some very impressive automotive themed sets. Porsche and Corvette...among others But the most impressive set, the brand new BMW M2. Looks almost like the real thing. Less blocky than the others...

Then there is the other side of this. Although charging stations other than Tesla's are lagging. But only slightly. There is simply not enough EVs on the road to justify ubiquitous charging stations. But those numbers will come. And with what Im reading, charging stations will be up and running at the most perfect time when OEMs are ceasing their ICEV productions and EVs are being bought more and more. This will come because ICEV production WILL come to an end BECAUSE its a WORLD WIDE decision for it to be so. Ive siad it before and Ill say it again. Trillions of dollars WORLD WIDE in ALL aspects of EV adoption GLOBALLY is being spent. Charging networls and electrical grids will NOT be left to chance to see if it will work. GLOBAL engineering thoughts and solutions and monies spent have been made, is being made now and will continue to be made fot this EV transition to go through IN ALL KINDS of sectors. Someone will ask me for proof? Just in THIS thread alone there is enough links and proof that justifies my opinion...

What I wanted to say, and it came out attacking @ccap41 is that, and I understand that Freewire chargers and NASA are not available to us just yet and Ultium battery tech is just only now rolling out of gm is that even with EVs available today, right now, with right now tech, not yesterday's Chevy Bolt tech and Nissan's 1st and 2nd gen Leaf tech, but with Hyundai/Kia and gm ultium right now tech alongside with right now Audi/Porsche/VW and obviously Tesla EV tech and others with 280-320 EV mile ranges with right now EV charging stations anywhere in the US, even in the most hostile areas against EVs in the US, there are literally very minute compromises to be made over ICE. Anything contrary to what I said is just scare tactics. And with charging stations popping up more more as the days go by with Freewire chargers and NASA cable solutions and batteries inside their EVs gaining more and more range charging faster and faster... *SIGH* EVs having more than 500 mile ranges, losing less and less range due to weather and towing and the like charging up faster and faster is a reality that will be upon us by 2030. Someone will ask me to post proof of this? Ill just say to those people to read up on EV tech and where its heading. Because its not a heavenly like utopia fantasy. EV related sources straight from the tech websites. Not from sources against EVs or pro EV sites. Real engineering sources... Even now, with today today tech that offer us 300 mile EV range. The Hummer EV, as grossly ineffiecient as it is, its still rated at 319 mile range. That is as MUCH range as an ICEV. With superchargers popping up EVERYWHERE and WILL be ubiquitous as gasoline stations are, and charging times being going faster and faster LIKE AS FAST as gasoline cars be filling up, there is virtually NO NEED to have: 1. EV ranges MORE than 300 miles. Save weight. But batteries are gonna become less heavy. 2. Batteries becoming less heavy, ranges WILL increase to 1000 miles eventually, by 2035 or 2040, there is NO NEED for all these chargers everywhere... 3. Even right now now, too much is being said about range, charging times and all that shyte. The link @David gave us https://electrek.co/2022/10/08/2200mi-electric-roadtrip-it-was-easy-so-whats-the-big-deal/ is about a dude that did NO planning to drive his Tesla on a big trip. Its a Tesla. No planning necessary is because Tesla's charging network is as vast as a gasoline station network is. TRhe rest of the EV world is catching up. @David is giving us links to what Im saying that gasoline company gas stations are giving us EV charging stations... 300 mile range EVs with ubiquitous charging stations as gasoline stations are is what is needed and today's charging times is good enough. We all know all those parameters are being improved and by 2025 even, our EV driving needs will be met and even SURPASS those driving needs that we have with ICE. There is no need for folk like Tucker Carlson or @ccap41 to continue to dish out bullshyte about EVs...

200 miles in 15 minutes. Ultium battery fast charging allows for 100 miles in 10 minutes https://www.motortrend.com/news/gm-ultium-platform-technology-explained/#:~:text=Voltage and Charging%3A Most Ultium,100 miles in 10 minutes. @ccap41 You want links? Because you said I dont give links. It is false...I give links. 'Tis you that chooses not to take in what is said by me... I wanna know, when you are sleeping in your hotel room, after driving 280 -320 miles, while on vacation or working in a city that is not your home city... I wanna know: 1. how in the hell does an EV charging at your hotel, because hotels DO have EV chargers, and I linked those as well, I wanna know how it is an inconvenience and worse than an ICE car when the EV is charging while you are sleeping? 2. Where in the hell are you driving 100 plus miles to and fro, from a vacation destination city or where the phoque does your employer room and board you to be 100 plus miles AWAY from the job site, that an EV is inconveniencing you and is a bothersome thing as compared to an ICE car? Right now... as you say, because it is YOU that hasnt given ANY rebuttal back on how an EV rental is trouble worse than an ICE car. And as you could see, many solutions are in progress to ease off the FUD, FUD that YOU also spread regardless even if you are NOT an anti-EV guy. Trolling or not. Knowingly spreading FUD are just plain ignorant...EV cars and their supporting technology is fast making ICE cars obsolete and dated. Even NASA, as @David posted for us to read for our education, has joined in on the fun to make ICE cars disappear by 2025. LOL Posted Wednesday at 08:03 PM Very cool Tech. Very cool read. NASA EV cable tech could charge electric vehicles in 5 mins - or less (usatoday.com) You dont have to answer, as I dont care, but I want YOU to know, that I see right through your BS... I call you out on it, and I dont care if you choose to troll me with wah wah wah responses that I dont post links or I troll you and Dave responds to you in kindness. Dave is nice that way. Im not so nice when I see idiocy and I let it be known. Anyway...olive branch Our Cowboys are 4-1 and I prefer for us to be on good terms rather than on bad!!!

During my quarantine... I was watching these videos/songs. I LOVE dancing and watching others dance. Brings a smile to my face! Go-Go dancing in the 60s must have been great! Love the bubble gum rock too. I got a Tommy Roe's greastest hits CD. Boought it in the early 1990s. I dont know miss Robin Mary Paris. But she is cute. Too bad Im happily married and its 2023 and not 1969. Id ask her out on a date had it been 1969. Shuffle dancing is a today thing. LOVE IT!!! Too bad I aint 19 anymore. Id join these awesome ladies. Love ELO. Many shuffle dancing vids exist and some of these people editing them do such an awesome job to time the shuffle dancing with the beat of the music. And this one is no exeption. Awesome video. Awesome song and the girls dance just...awesome! And Footloose. With classic Hollywood leading the way most of the time in this video. Very entertaining!

I was away from here for a short while... Covid finally breached my defenses. My son caught it from school from his friend. He woke up with his throat scratchy 2 Saturdays ago, and we ignored it. He got a call from his friend that night that he tested positive. Sunday morning, his scratchy throat was still present so we did the Covid test thing. Positive. The whole family tested. All negative. He stayed home from school on Monday. My throat was scratch on Tuesday. I tested. Was positive. Stayed home for the next 5 days. My manager, God bless her, she took over the restaurant. Did a great job!!! I slept in the basement so I dont infect my daughter and wife. My daughter tested positive though, on Wednesday. Missed school for three days. My wife, nada. The only one to escape the cliutches of Covid. The worst my son had was a scratchy throat for 3 or 4 days. My daughter only for a day and a half with a scratchy throat. I, didnt have it that bad. I was just coughing for 4 full days. Hard dry coughing. THAT was rough. Not the coughing part, but because I was coughing for 4 days straight. And I had lost my taste for 14 or 15 days. I tasted sweet, salty and sour, no flavour. So it wasnt that bad. Eating was not bland because I did have some sort of sensory pleasure. Shot #4 awaits. It is avalaible. The new variant ones. My wife took her jab. The rest of us have to wait(?) or will wait because we do have the Covid anti-bodies still in our systems because...we caught it. So near XMAS time or shortly thereafter is when Im figuring we will get #4.

You know the crazy thing? Although I do speak French and English, and many Francophones and Anglos speak both languages as well, I do speak a third. Greek. THE crazy thing is that many many fellow ethnic Quebecois also speak a 3rd language (their native tongue whatever that may be. Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Hungarian, Polish...you get the idea) which in my neck of the woods, does NOT make me that special. I knew from an early age that Montreal, despite the English/French political and cultural struggle, I knew that Montreal was/is a true blue cosmopolitan city. When someone picks up a language at a young age, its easier. A lot easier. In my case, my first language that I spoke was Greek. My mom didnt speak a word of French and only understood a little English. She was a stay at home mom immigrated to Canada in 1967 at the age of 31. Therefore, my first words were Greek. Not just my first words, I spoke Greek and nothing else. I did have a hard time speaking English by the time I went to kindergarden. But by listening to English(American) TV (Sesame Street and some Canadian kids shows like Mr. Dressup...), English was never that far away from me communicating with the (English)locals. (I did go to English school...long story as to why that was. Laws protecting Anglos and my dad being Greek but born in Montreal going to English school when he was young...and that is even a longer story as to why he went to English school in Quebec...) French was learnt by reading THE French newspaper. Le Journal de Montreal. My dad bought the Montreal Gazette on Saturdays (for reasons that every Anglo Montrealer does did ) and he bought the Journal de Montreal on Sundays (for reasons that EVERY Montrealer does did) and so he taught me French by reading the sports spection in French. Hockey games were listened to in both languages and baseball in English. And so that is how I Iearned to speak, read and write all three languages. I did go to Greek school on Saturdays. I did have French language skills to speak to the other half of the locals while learning how to play hockey on the streets. By the time I got to highschool, all three languages were read, written and spoken with no problems. French Greek English Canadian

@trinacriabob I am humbled by your knowledge of aircraft. And our planet. You have visited many places and I am very envious of. My strengths used to be on military aircraft. I used to know a lot about them. From WW2 fighters and bombers to modern fighter jets, fighter/bombers but my knowledge acquisition stopped somewhere in the late 1980s. I was but a casual fan in the 1990s. Civilian aircraft was also a passion of mine at that time as well, but not as much as the military aircraft. I havent stopped learning about airplanes, but it aint as much of a passion to me as it once was. Cars took over. I appreciate your posts in this thread, and any airplane related subject you talk about. But the thing I appreciate most is your travel tales. I absolutely love those. Along with @Robert Hall and his travelling tales. Whether its about going to concerts in his own city or in another town or whatever. Thank-you guys!!! Yeah, the caption said it was a Boeing 777-300ER The picture was a snapshot of a video. Its impressive that you know the types of airplanes. An enthusiast will know. ? Its impressive in that you keep being an enthusiast of an industry that everybody seems to be taking for granted. Similarly as you continuing to be an automotive enthusiast. Nobody gives a shyte anymore about cars and planes. They have become too mundane for the average moron... And its a shame. About Aeroflot and Russian planes. Other than the military airplanes, I was never interested in learning about their civilian stuff. Only know, I am mildly entertaining myself with them.

@ccap41 You know dude... Your downvotes dont do anything to negate what I say about you... You downvote what I said, about you knowingly or mis-informingly transmitting FUD stupidly believing the shyte you write whether its done on purpose (trolling for your weekly entertainment) or just by you being ignorant... But yet you upvote @David for basically believing what I say. Maybe not about you, but about moronic people spewing FUD about EVs. Its funny to me. You are lining up to be the next BLU. No, your are NOT anti-EV, by the looks of it, on the surface, but you do like to spew some dumb a$$ anti-EV false rhetoric from time to time. You say to some other posters that living in the suburbs its easier to own an EV as these EV owners will most probably have a home charger yet FAIL to realize a worker dude travelling to a different city for a few weeks or so or a vacationing dude visiting a city will ALSO have a charger at their disposal via their hotel... Its the SAME freakin' scaenario and I have mentioned that with SCENARIOS. @Drew Dowdell used his OWN experiences to quell your idiotic notions but you fall back to an argument that has been squashed time and time again regarding range of EVs... 280-320 miles of average EV range today EQUALS ICE cars... Charging times have also been improved to where its not a problem... Dude, you are 34 years old today. Maybe its about time your internet persona acts his age... Facebook and MotorTrend pissing matches of who goads the other poster has been o thing of the past. Its been dead for a looong while. Maybe Facebook is still going on strong with that kind of childish environment. Keep that kind of crap there. Ill be civil towards you. Ill engage with you without the aggressive nature. But as soon as I see you engage in idiocy, I wont back down. Happy Birthday to you. Another olive branch has been sent to you. But its up to you to stop with the nonsense in here if you dont want me to be in your face.

Mercedes EV styling is horrendous. SUV or sedan, no difference in the amount of horrendousness. Actually, nothing they sell now, ICEV or EV, could be considered as pleasant. In recent years, they have managed to uglify even their most compelling designs of just a mere decade ago. The only Mercedes vehicles I personally like are the Sprinter vans and all their iterations. Electric versions intrigue me. With that said, not very inspiring when the only thing I see myself drive or be driven in is a van. It wouldnt have been a big deal if we were talking about GMC with its black and dark grey coloured 1983 Vandura from a certain TV show. But its Mercedes we are talking about. You know, the company that was inspired to do a Formula One 1.6 liter V6 hybrid supercar for the streets. But they phoqued up the looks of that as well... But that is just my lowly opinion. Many folk love the modern look of a Mercedes-Benz.

I like the picture. Something soothing about it.

This massive switch to EVs world wide wont be left to chance. Like I said, trillions of dollars are being spent to make this happen globally. This switch wont be left for the general population to have a failure on their hands. There will be compromises made. Maybe... The failures will be on some corporations not making it. But the ones remaining will be the new titans going forward in the future. Sears, Blockbuster, Duesenberg, AMC, SAAB are some of the past titans that didnt make it into our future. Amazon and Netflix and Tesla are some of the present and future titans to take us into the next 100 years... Ironically though, all the anti-EV rhetoric from fear mongering opportunists are actually making OEMs to produce EVs to be better than the ICEV ten fold. From acceleration times. To range. EVs, with all the FUD range anxiety crap that is STILL being presented to us with charging times and all, OEMs are trying to get batteries to have 1000 mile ranges. Batteries that do NOT degrade with heat or cold. Batteries to have an almost limitless times of recharging. To have EVs recharging on the go with solar power or on the road... These engineers are using all the whiny bullshyte to engineer unstoppable EVs to be one million times better, more efficient, faster vehicles than the internal combustion engined ones that they are going to replace. And all those improvements aimed for the next 5-10 years to boot...