balthazar
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Everything posted by balthazar
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Was working on one job, private home, circa 2002. The ex-husband pulled up to talk to the x-W, had a "Desperation Red" ferrari 355 spyder. I was out in the garage making a custom dog door for her Bull Mastiff, and there were 2 'off the boat' old Italians guys there painting (in their 60s). When the guy came out & got into the car, I saw the 2 Italians watching the ferrari longingly from the garage. The guy cranks the sypder and it goes NeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNee and doesn't catch. One of the guys gestures toward the car and says to me in a heavy accent "Nice car, eh?" Naturally, I'm unimpressed. "Sounds like an old Chrysler!" I say back, and they scoff at me like I'm crazy. Guy cranks the ferrari again: NeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNeeNee and it starts, sputtering a bit. "See?" I say to the painter, and he waves me off, like when spending $100K (or whatever) and getting old MoPar starter motor in your car is somehow acceptable. Junk. -
Seat belts were newly mandated for '66, so they were automotively topical. Wonder what/how the other end was attached to in the car.
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This is completely untrue; there are loads of DOHC engines in drag racing & the equivalent of NASCAR- the valve actuators don't care if the front wheels are turning one way, both ways or steering straight.
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I believe only CT is a higher cost of living than NJ. Notorious for taxation- yes, but there's a LOT of income/employment here; huge for pharma. I'm in my 12th year of self-employment, work full-time/steady, currently have jobs booked into May, all with ZERO advertising. No web page/ phone listing/ network service/ etc. Our house is a 25-yr old ranch in VG shape, Zillow says it's worth $450K.
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Ready?? 2030 SF, .9 acres, $12,500 property tax. - - - - - No city/local taxes in Jersey (that I know of). In fact, there are urban tax zones where the sales tax is 3.5% instead of the 6.625%.
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Birmingham auto, Jamestown NY, Only existent from 1921-23, had several unique features but was unable to generate sufficient capital. About 50 built, none known to exist. Note independent front suspension ~
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I believe that's correct, that you can 'freeze' your tax bill once of a certain age. My MIL lived in the city I mentioned, New Brunswick, and she did so there. Not sure if it's available in all areas or what the qualifications of the program are. The Gov instituted a 2% property tax raise ceiling recently. My issue is- the cat is already out of the bag and EVERYTHING here is overtaxed. Interesting- I've never looked at dividends with investment dollars as the metric, only by 'per share'.
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The point of contention here is one of 2 intents- that of the OEM, and that of the private owner. Ferrari can yell all day long at how this is a track car, and the hardware very well may be there to be a serious track car. All I'm saying is- owners WILL drive these on the street, to some degree. "Designed" here is not reflective of tangible equipment, but a much more intangible 'intent'.
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True- it's not 'wee' for 1 or 2 people. But it's definitely on the small side for Princeton; one customer of mine's house in the same town is 12,900 SF. Yeah, I know. I love the boxy Art Deco look of it, I'd love to see inside/walk around.
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• Most 'modern houses' are built like crap with crap material. I'd rather a restored old house (pre WW2) for the bones. • Sales tax in NJ is in the process of going down, from 7.0 to 6.875, now is 6.625%. I like the direction there. • Property tax is nuts here, yes. I've long said it'll be the thing that pushes me out of state. • Zillow says the above house sold in 2004 for $432K, it's assessed @ $500K, but Zillow estimates it at $705K market value (I had it a bit off above). Taxes in 2017 were $11,3xx.
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This wee, 1240 SF house is a 1936 steel panel Art Deco unit (yes- those are large rust spots). I could easily see this in New Brunswick NJ (median household income: $38K), and it might be $60K there. But it's in Princeton NJ (median household income $116K), and it's in Princeton (yes: I know I said that already) so it's market value is just about $750K. Princeton is the most architecturally-diverse town I've ever been/worked in.
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For Moltar ~
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Cadillac News: Spying: 2019 Cadillac XT4 Discovers Physical Buttons!
balthazar replied to William Maley's topic in Cadillac
I thought he was referring to the physical "dash". -
Here's your Chevrolet sport truck, the 800HP Silverado Yenko SC :
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Cadillac News: Spying: 2019 Cadillac XT4 Discovers Physical Buttons!
balthazar replied to William Maley's topic in Cadillac
^ Why would Cadillac "have to"? -
^ No one can argue with those numbers! Yes, yes it was designed for public roads : it's street legal.
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Is the 488 street legal? Wipers, horn, lighting, etc? Yes, the article clearly states so. The idea that's any 488 is going to be trailered to & from a track, accelerated once and then drive at redline for X laps, coast down & get reloaded into it's trailer / back to the mothballs, is delusional. Everyone knows these will be driven around on public streets, regardless of how the ferrari ad men pitch it. ccap brought pushrods into the discussion.
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Guy I knew who built race Pontiacs V8s sponsored an early 70s T/A 455 car. That car turned 8900 RPM on the 1/4-mile strip, and was running somewhere in the 9's.
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Of course, discussion of auto stocks immediately brings Tesla to mind. A $344/share, it's a textbook study in the suspension of reality. The company's business metrics do not apply to Tesla, but in that such is the case, 'that which is given can be taken away' is potentially enacted all the faster. I debated buying Ford when it was about $2/share, at that price might have bought 1000 shares & been up 8 grand today, but I didn't pull the trigger.
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The '95-99, designed by long-time GM stylist Bill Porter. In general I like them, but they're almost TOO round. '90s stuff isn't my bag, anyway. Toro & Riv had another distinctive, extremely uncommon separation; from '66-78, tho both were E-Bodies, the Riv was on a RWD chassis and the Toro was of course FWD. It's a great illustration of the autonomy of the GM Divisions thru the '70s (along with the high-mounted brake lights - which BTW; the Eldorado never incorporated).
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1929 Cadillac V8 tow truck, pulling a bus ~
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Industry's first high mounted stop lamps, debuted on the '71 Toronado, adopted on the Riv in '74.
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Volvo News: 2019 Volvo V60 Adds A New Twist to the Swedish Wagon
balthazar replied to William Maley's topic in Volvo
It's got a nice, planted stance & I like the plaid cloth. -
