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balthazar

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Everything posted by balthazar

  1. balthazar
    It's the lifting, which any tailgate design discussed here doesn't address. The sliding in & out is not the majority of back injuries. Frankly, the closer you can get to a heavy item the better, and a fold-down tailgate bridges any bumper protrusion, so that's a better scenario, not worse. I think Cubey & ccp nailed it- it's a product differentiating feature that answers a question no one is really asking.
  2. balthazar
    42-gal barrel of oil only yields 20 gals of gasoline. Rest~ ultra low sulfate distillates : 11 jet fuel : 4 heavy fuel oil : 1 hydrocarbon gas liquids : 2 heating oil : 1 other products : 6 IF there is a widespread move to a majority of EVs, this move is insurance against future fuel price spikes. Demand would be halved and prices would fall below where they are today. Gas might be 1.00 gal again.
  3. balthazar
    But they don't use buggy parts & typewriters to make 1000 other products, like they do with petroleums. Petroleums are irreplaceable for the foreseeable future- they will continue to be processed / refined. Their use will decline (slowly) in automobiles, but they aren't 'going away'.
  4. balthazar
    I only get into the bed of my truck (which I use nearly daily) not even once/quarter. Mostly when I carry long ladders- I use a tension bar near the head of the bed over the ladder as insurance, and the latch is in the center of the bar. I brought home 10 bags of mulch in the spring, I stacked them at the rear of the bed and reached them easily over the dropped gate. 2500HD bed floor is decently high and I'm not tall. Wednesday I had a table saw, chop saw, sawhorses/an old door, pile of small lumber and a compressor/air hose in the bed- all loaded/unloaded from the ground. The only time I am 'aware' of the tailgate protrusion is shoveling a bedfull of dirt/stone dust out. Even so, on a 6.5' bed, I do it all from the ground... but that's the one scenario I can see a swing out gate would be useful.
  5. balthazar
    Cheers and Mowers ™
  6. balthazar
    Like I said: I don't mow that frequently- there's no push mower 'tune-ups', I may have changed the oil in it like 3 times (right now it's a lovely clean amber color), and there's no other 'benefits' I can see in my garage. Storing gas- it's the garage. Oh- I do like how the Eco stands upright when folded up- there is that. But that's not worth me spending $200 for.
  7. balthazar
    Ya, it's the 16th already, but I had a boatload of sightings today. • white Lamborghini Huracan, slogging thru US Rt 1 traffic. • red Holden Commodore sedan with 'SAVE6MT' plate, slogging thru US Rt 1 traffic. • pale yellow '55 Cadillac hardtop coupe & white '60 Buick Electra 225 convert, sitting in rear of trucking yard looking forgotten. Must investigate further. • '62 Olds Cutlass convertible, 215 V8, buckets, floor shift auto, red w/ red interior, owned by customer & garage stored. 1 family owned, $3500 very good shape, no rust. • '54 Bentley 4-dr sedan, cream & burgandy, solid original, looked like a 1940 US vehicle, straight 6. Ugly. • This; squatting temporarily at my shop :
  8. balthazar
    interesting- every trailer I've pulled has been below tailgate level (the jack handle). Maybe a 1500-level issue.
  9. balthazar
    I have a lot of trees & don't fertilize, so I mow infrequently. If my 12-some year old Briggs & Stratton ever dies, I'd consider the Ego... if the price comes down. $350 sale price vs. $150 for gas powered...
  10. balthazar
    Having logged a few hundred thousand miles in pickups, I personally can't think of a use, but perhaps others can. A lot more sense on a wagon tho.
  11. balthazar
    BOF vehicles are much better suited, in general, for towing vs. unibodies.
  12. balthazar
    Right- we're maybe just seeing the leading edge of windshield of that boat; who knows how much farther rearward the trailer wheels are.
  13. balthazar
    No one here disputed your historical timeline (tho it actually only took 9 years (minus '43-45) for everyone else to offer a true automatic, not 33). And the Rocket 88 barely edged out the I-6 Series 76 in '49, for whatever that's worth; (99K vs. 95K). But the only resistance in all your examples was monetary; luxury & premium cars were true rarities in the past; not like today when sold in the mega millions, and some of these advances were initially pricey. EV cars are the first example I can recall where there has been market resistance, and not just sales numbers-wise; actual discussion. There was none for automatics or fuel injection. Yes, as all have acknowledged (well; maybe except 1 ), they are the future. It is only the timeline that is up for debate. Increasing share? -Sure. How fast? -Not very. Again; it's not just pricing this time around.
  14. balthazar
    The higher EV sales edge, the less demand on fuel price spiking/speculation. I doubt we'll ever see a spike like when it rocket up to $140/barrel again.
  15. balthazar
    Here's a real world, industry comparison: toyota prius prime, overall length 183", MSRP $27100, projected 2017 sales : 20,018 toyota corolla, overall length 183", MSRP $18500, projected 2017 sales : 347,928 Seems like it would be easy-peasy to nudge their customer base into an PHEV the same size; despite the maybe 2 price tiers higher buy-in, it has an eMPG rating of 133.
  16. balthazar
    Everyone armchairing the future has been talking about the banning of IC, but I can see plenty of room for co-existence way into the future. Once IC in new vehicles becomes a minor percentage (for conversation- let's say IC gets to 20%), there's no longer a reason to ban them; they'll become a statistical non-factor. Regardless, I still believe the following 2 general things; that new EV vehicles WILL become a majority of vehicles sold, and that this 'flip' will take 50 years minimum. Again I remind; we've had a 'successful' PHEV from a major OEM for 15 years now, there are currently 3 dozen PHEVs/ EVs on the US market, and the marketshare is still only 1% at the end of this year. Those saying 'most of the market will be EVs in 12 years' are being woefully ignorant of the trending. A plethora of relevant examples exist; look at set belts- mandated for front passengers since January 1966, in everything built since (initially front outer passengers only), takes 2 secs to apply, has empirical evidence of effectiveness, most states (if not all) assign fines for non-use.... but only at (it's historical high) 90% useage in 2016. That's 50 years of trying to instill a habit that takes 2 seconds.
  17. balthazar
    There are 13 million HD trucks rolling across the EU. 75% of their freight goes by truck. F/S pickups are not prevented by road width in the EU. You'd have to specify when these "old days" you are talking about were, because at one point in time 4 or 5 of the "same" vehicles helped power GM to over 50% of the US market.
  18. balthazar
    Sniffed around, could not find the exact chain of events as far as someone sending money from Sweden to the US; the conversion would have to occur on their end or else people would consistently get the wrong amounts... but all the PP links I looked at didn't give that answer. Guy wanted a BIN number. I countered with a number $700 higher to stop it, we agreed to let the auction roll to the end (4 more days). Hopefully some fool buys it.
  19. balthazar
    Rebadges usually do have a very low break-even point.
  20. balthazar
    What do you think the ABA of the MBAMGGT is?
  21. balthazar
    Of course there'll still be 150 million used IC vehicles running around. Unless the Gov't is going to confiscate & crush them.
  22. balthazar
    I can say this- I've seen more Escalades towing than I have Tundras. Whatever that metric may mean.
  23. balthazar
    Currently have a car up for auction. Was contacted by eBay member who wants to bid, but is in Sweden. Auction ad states $500 deposit due within 48 hrs, balance in cash when picking up car. This potential buyer has been on eBay since 2015, has a 100% positive feedback but it only numbers (4). He gave his name, same named person in Sweden has a FB page, there are a few pics of cars there; apparently he recently sold a '58 Lincoln. He asked/offered other ways of payment, asked about bank transfer or paying in full thru PayPal. - - - - - There's no way for an in-full payment thru PP to go awry, is there? If the money appears, I transfer it to my bank account, THEN release the car, I'm in the clear, yes?
  24. balthazar
    ... and add like 100 HP- you forgot that point.
  25. balthazar
    Probably goes by trim level. When I glanced at Chevrolet.com under Silverado 1500 W/T, the only possibility was the 40/20/40. High Country prolly has a fixed console. Stupid in a truck, IMO.
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