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Everything posted by balthazar
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indiana Indiana Slaps new fee on EV's.
balthazar replied to G. David Felt's topic in Electric Vehicles and Alternative Fuels
This is, again, my beef with the narrative. States are not "losing money"; (in some cases) they're simply not making as much as they did earlier. But that's never the way it's worded, is it? Where is it written that peak revenue is guaranteed? -
indiana Indiana Slaps new fee on EV's.
balthazar replied to G. David Felt's topic in Electric Vehicles and Alternative Fuels
That's exactly where Gov't, as highly-compensated professionals/experts (supposedly- there are some amazingly stupid people on the public payroll), need to come up with the means to address this by every other available means BEFORE 'squeeze the public again' is automatically gone to. It is not supposed to be about 'protecting revenue streams' but protecting & serving the interests of the American citizen. -
indiana Indiana Slaps new fee on EV's.
balthazar replied to G. David Felt's topic in Electric Vehicles and Alternative Fuels
What do they do with hybrids- there's revenue being 'lost' there with every electric mile. -
indiana Indiana Slaps new fee on EV's.
balthazar replied to G. David Felt's topic in Electric Vehicles and Alternative Fuels
Think a little bit for a change. Budget better. Trim administration. Review contract bids MUCH more stringently. Think long-term. Stop blowing money on pet projects that look good on executive's resumes. This is a little over half of the scratch REbuilt 23-lane toll plaza at the southern terminus of the Jersey Turnpike (a toll road). My wife used to travel down to Delaware for work on regular occasion a number of years back- she said the place was always empty. I went thru Mon this week around 9:30AM, the place was empty. I was unable to find a construction cost, I wouldn't be surprised if it was 100 million…. of toll money collected to maintain the roads. But oh- a 1000 Bolts are going to cost 'dollars we just don't have, unless tax' to maintain the roads. 'Lost revenue'- please. -
indiana Indiana Slaps new fee on EV's.
balthazar replied to G. David Felt's topic in Electric Vehicles and Alternative Fuels
It is NOT the business of Gov't to arbitrarily legislate simply for "lost" revenue! -
With the holidays & a bout of frigid weather, the truck has sat, snoozing. Got a little done recently tho : • mounted the battery cut-off switch, have 2 holes to drill to re-route battery cables to it. • finally re-installed the radiator hoses, filled the block, then the rest of the radiator. > brake bleeding still hanging out. Other than the aforementioned batt cables, it should be done.
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Toronado asking price was $9500. If the radiator is frozen & half empty- something split open & it lost water. Without getting it up in the air & looking underneath it, checking freeze plugs & degreasing the block, how to know if the block is cracked or not? IMO, it would be worth it around $4000 with the risk, but seller didn't know jack about cars and was therefore not going to be talked down. We didn't make a counter offer. oldshurst- I think the trip was like 360 miles round trip, not 500. the 6.5 hrs drive time was round trip.
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Nah- seller had a tow truck come out to pull it from where the bmw is, then snuck the bmw behind it. Didn't even bother to pump up the tire first. Seller claimed it was driving 3 years ago, but it has conventional plates on it from 2000 and a 1999 failed inspection sticker in the window.
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Drove 6.5 hrs round trip today to scope this baby out with a buddy of mine. Body & interior were very nice, nicer than you could expect on an unrestored 50 yr old car. 1 split in front seat, EXC door panels, headliner, uncracked dash, A/C, PW, PSeats, AM/FM, Pant, tilt & telescopic, factory Olds mats. Unfortunately the cooling system was half full, and of ice, not a single electrical thing could be coaxed to flicker, PS pump was empty, brake booster was frozen. It might as well have been an artfully painted cardboard cut-out of a '66 Toronado. Came home empty.
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^ I've seen that also, but have never done it myself. My trucks' DSLs (when they worked) are not the headlights; you aren't going to think their illumination is headlights either… thats the only way DSLs should be, IMO- enough light so others can see you, but not enough to illuminate your path. Making them basically low beams was a stupid, cost-cutting move IMO. I see plenty of cars driving in full on dark with ZERO lights on, and I have seen that their dashes are dark also. But it's like Reno in central Jersey; I guess it's possible for the oblivious.
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I'm not a proponent of DSLs, and I appreciate I am able to turn my headlights off if I decide the lighting conditions don't warrant them. A pet peeve, if you will. When the headlights come on automatically in broad daylight, I am irked. I have in conditions of dusk used running lamps before it was dark enough to use headlamps. - - - - - Delayed road trip to check out a '66 Toronado for sale is on for tomm. Checklist checked, truck loaded, truck plugged in for the night… hopefully it turns out to be worth the trip.
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A 'blind eye' is one that sees hyperbole before fact, my friend. Is membership rising? OK, sure. If I have 5 apples and my inventory rises 100%, I gots 10. Am I any sort of force in the apple retail market now? 1.2m + 4m = 5.2m / 2 = 2.6m, the average of the estimate of KKK members in the '20s. Est. population in 1925: 115m. 2.6m out of 115m is 2.2%. 2.2% of 320m is 6,400,000 KKK members. They're currently @ an estimated 6,500. That's 130 people per state. Put another way; that's 1 KKK member for every 585 square miles of U.S. land area. For comparison's sake; estimates for isis fighters alone is 25K-30K. Is the KKK going to be a force anything like it once was, numbers-wise? Basically, that would be impossible. Estimate I saw of KKK killings was something like 3500 in 85 years. On the order of 40 deaths/yr. Horrific of course. Currently they are only part of the 48 deaths in the U.S. in the last 15 years. What's the actual number; a dozen? Less than 1/yr? Is the KKK any sort of 'force' in the terrorist category now? Like I said "Not that they should be ignored", but the influence & reach of them now is a pale shadow of what it once was. Numbers-wise, even more so RE terror/murder. The name is getting thrown around like this is going to happen again: A tiny membership uptick is not going to turn into a tide… but monitor it all the same.
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Caught my eye, so I poked around. Southern Poverty Law center estimates the current level of U.S. KKK membership is between 5000 and 8000. In the 1920s, it was between 1.2 and 4 million. "Diminished somewhat" - you think? KKK has a rally now and maybe 10 sheetheads show up. A study by a D.C. think tank called New America produced a report basically stating that home-grown terroristic fatalities eclipses that of Islamist terrorists here (as long as you start counting after 9/11 of course), and that all hate groups combined (KKK, Black Panthers, anti-Gov't militants, lone wolf racists, etc) have killed 48 people in the last 15 years. Isis kills more than that a month worldwide. These 2 fundamentalist groups (Isis & the KKK) aren't remotely on the same level.
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Cadillac News: 'Book by Cadillac' Is A Vehicle Subscription Service
balthazar replied to William Maley's topic in Cadillac
$850/mnth is for a lower-level Luxury Trim 2016. Most Eskys are Premiums (starts @ $83K), and the 2017 MY lease rate hasn't come out yet, I believe.- 25 replies
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Cadillac News: 'Book by Cadillac' Is A Vehicle Subscription Service
balthazar replied to William Maley's topic in Cadillac
But it's the SAME s-class, month in & month out, and they're everywhere. For the same cost & easier access, you get access to a FLEET of high end Cadillacs. It's not remotely a comparison.- 25 replies
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What car did you come home from the hospital in when you were born?
balthazar replied to Drew Dowdell's topic in The Lounge
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Friend of mine's wife has a pretty recent honda CRV, maybe 2 yrs old. He hates it. Horrible visibility, some real dumb-ass service obstacles. I haven't been in it to get an opinion, but for a small CUV, it's striking bloated on the exterior.
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Chevrolet News:2018 Chevrolet Corvette To Sport A 6.2L DOHC V8
balthazar replied to William Maley's topic in Chevrolet
• 99% of all vehicles out there are front engine- that doesn't define the Corvette. • Tons of vehicles are RWD- - that doesn't define the Corvette. • 2-seats, I'll give you that one. But most every mid-engined car ever conceived is a 2-seater also. • 5.7L / 350 first appeared for 1968, but it also had a 265, 283, 305, 327, 346, 364, 376, 396, 400, 427 and 454. Some of the most valuable & coveted ones are the 7.0Ls- displacement doesn't define the Corvette. There's no reason it cannot continue to evolve with a mid-engined variant. -
I'd certainly consider a newer truck, one of my customers works for GM Corporate and offered to set me up with his discount… but I cannot justify a new vehicle's price tag, esp for a truck. I'll save more buying a 1-2 yr old than any level of corp discount, and get the same truck. But I'm still working off my investment in this truck, and I like it's relative stone-age tech. I'd rather put money into my '59- the motor is going to be pricey.
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Chevrolet News:2018 Chevrolet Corvette To Sport A 6.2L DOHC V8
balthazar replied to William Maley's topic in Chevrolet
Corvette hasn't had any "Chevrolet" badging on it in DECADES, maybe since the 1960s. It's a "Corvette" above and beyond all else. Nice try saying a 'mid-engined Corvette isn't a Corvette', but it's not going to stick. You'd likely be saying 'a V8 Corvette isn't a Corvette' in 1955, were you around then. Cars evolve, Corvette is almost the poster child of that. -
I have been in the same truck for 10.5 years at this point- somewhat surprising from a guy who in the beginning bought 2 cars/year (a number of which saw no road duty, to be honest). I have entertained thoughts very recently on trading up, but then again perhaps some cosmetic upgrades to the current mule would suffice.
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You'd go for a Trablant in that same shade of green, and you know it. 'tough face, broad shoulders' - HA! This is nothing about the warranty, it's your automotive wanderlust talking. Get back in yer lil' Bowtie hauler and shush.
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It's still sprayed over a Honda. Massive pass.
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You're just smitten 'cause it's green.
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