A Horse With No Name

As much as the economy in Ohio has (quite literally) gone south, I can't bring myself to leave. Although there are some really cool places out west. Were I to be a young man, I've heard Santa FE NM is a really wonderful place. Chris

I used to ride to work with a co worker who had been raised in a rather poor urban neighborhod and whose brother had been shot to death a few months before. Needless to say, he had a few "anger" issues. He used to keep rolled up change in his car, and would give someone like this a load of pennies out the window. That can do a lot of damage fast to someones car. I stopped riding with him when he almost got out and beat someones ass when traffic got held up. Chris

People don't know how to drive and don't care about other drivers...with the number of Toyotas on the road, your chance of having an asshole in a Toyota is just that much greater. Chris

Tabitha, one of my teen daughter's friends was standing with her sophomore english teacher next to english teachers car in the faculty parking lot, talking about school. Someone got under the car and cut the converter off while they were standing there talking! Thief's are getting really tricky with the price of scrap up. Chris

Let's keep the planet Safe for Holden! Chris

Friends don't let Friends drive Nissans! Chris

I just don't know how anyone stays sane in the car buisiness. Thanks for your response! Chris

I think the decline in buisiness ethics is a big part of the decline of western commerce. Just my two cents, but.... Chris

There is just something breathtaking about cars from the classical era... That Studebaker is the stuff dreams are made of. Chris

How do you figure out what a person can really afford? Our household annual Salary right now is at about $70,000 or $75,000, and I don't really feel comfortable spending more than about 15k for a car, maybe 20k in a few years if I save up some good down payment or have extra tucked away in case of a rainy day. ...and I have very minimal (in the high hundreds) credit card debt...and no other real debt other than a mortgage that is less by a fair chunk than what I qualify for. I was told that I could buy anything that took the payment to about $650 or $700 easily, but that is wayyy more than I am confortable with. So how should someone really decide how much of a payment they can take on? Chris

Never under-estimate human stupidity...and October might be a good time for my son Joel and I to take a little side trip to Michigan. Count yourself lucky though...I still love living in the midwest, and you have your wife and kiddo and you chebbbies... Chris

I'd still rather have an F-body or a Stang for sure though. Esp. an LS1 or Lt1 fourth gen, although I wouldn't kick a third gen F-body out of the garage. There are a few imports I really, really like, but in the end if I had my druthers (and you get beyond really small cars) I'd still rather have an F- body or Mustang. Chris

Keep us posted reg, and sorry to hijack the thread. Good luck with your new Ford! Chris

Probably a really crappy idea. In our neighborhood some scumbag has been breaking into vehicles...decided to break into a new Z71 in the neighborhood. Neighbor beats kid seriously with baseball bat, kid runs off bleeding, no one ever finds kid. Guy calls the Po-lice and tells them what happened. They explain how he could loose his home, etc. if the kid were ever to press charges for assault. No one ever heard from punk-o again, which is good, but still, I don't want to risk my home for a car. It is insured for a reason. This is why I no longer use classics as drivers. I used to drive my 55 Chevy 4-5 times a week or more, but I realized it was irreplaceable and after a minor incident with a teenager in a pickup trukc (irony or ironies another Z-71) I realized I was putting a classic car needlessly at risk. If something happens to my Miata I would be sad but there are lots of them in the world. I'll own another one withing 3-4 days of getting my check from State Farm. I do have a former co-worker who put Razor blades around his CD player (head unit) and kept them hidden. Someone broke into his Cutlass, and the insurance company paid for the window and the now ruined CD player...but not for removing badly blood stained seats and carpets from the car. It was really gross too, that particular thief lost parts of fingers. Good luck, and I wouldn't let your fiance run around at 3 or 4 AM unless she is really good at martial arts or something...not that you should try to control her life. It's just that lots of bad things happen to females, even in braod daylight... I got this story from one of the local Sherrif's deputies, didn't make much press up here. This happened right in broad daylight to a woman driving a Buick Lucerne in downtown Columbus. She was beaten severely when she went to get into her car for lunch, and mr. lowlife tried to abduct her. She fought him off and ran away. Thankfully, she had the composure to give the police her ON-Star number...mr lowlife didn't even make it out of downtown. From what I hear he's going to be sent away for a very long time, but as a husband and father of three daughters, and a brother of a sister, and a son, and an uncle of niecesthis bothers me in a huge way. I would say watch out for GF/Fiance every way you can, keep driving Mr. Focus, and we'll hook up someday and I'll get a good luck at your two fabulous Camaros. I'd rather buy you a beer ( or a few) at a hillbilly biker bar than visit you in prison. Chris

I doubt either the Jeep or the Prius did that well in real world terms...unless we are talking about diesel fuel and they are strapped to the back of a frieght train with GM EMD power up front... See, GM has the highest fuel efficiency yet! Sadly, cars like Schuby's Cool TA are passed over by 4 cyl turbo cars like the new Evo or Ralliart by Mitsu, which in real world testing get 13-16 m.p.g. I'd rather have the big, thumpin V8 and the fuel economy. The only bad part would be scraping the remains of the Mitsu out of the Trans Am's Catalytic converter after the TA sucked the Mitsu through its cold air intake...and tried spitting it out the tail pipe. I wonder if Ex-Lax works for Pontiacs? Chris

Actually buying a car I figure what they are selling for (real world fair market value) make things fair and make an up front offer. I find the words "I think this is fair, I'm ready to buy right now, my beacon score is 820, and I can be done in 15 minutes if you can write that fast"usually closes a sale pretty quickly. I don't like to screw around once I've decided on the car I'm going to buy. But I have found every car I've bought in the last 10 years Via the internet. Chris

We need to keep as many cool cars around as possible. With Kappa on the line, Miata might not pass 2011 safety regs, Demon not produced, Z4 selling slowly, only a trickle of some other models...Camaro, Mustang and Challenger subject to atough and declinging market and possible $5.00 per gallon fuel in a couple of years.... I just want to keep every specialty vehicle around for as long as we can. I don't think 2030 is going to be a good year for cars. Soemthing has got to give, be it emissions, safety regs, or fuel economy. We'll see what happens. Chris

...oh and 68, thanks for the pic of that gorgeous Chrysler in your post. That made my week! What a beautiful, wonderful car. Chris

Why do you think cars have back seats? NOW I know why you don't like B-pillars, you don't want to bust your shins while you and Julie are rolling around back there! Chris

Ever thought of Autocross-we had a blast with the Miata club this last Sunday. We held our event in the parking lot at the Ohio Historical center, and one of the rather elderly female historians wanted a ride. One of our members also has a beautiful black LS1 powered 2004 GTO, and we put her in a helmet and gave her an "A ticket" ride in that GTO. The LS1 Sounds WUUUUUNDERFUL under full throttle. Pure sex on wheels.... We'll see if she wants another ride when we go back for the September autocross. ...and keep enjoying that damned Mustang! Chris

SAAB is why I kind of discount cars like Lexus, Acura, and Infinity. There is just something about the "feel" of cars like SAAB (and Audi for that matter) that is head and shoulders above anything from asia. Chris

Go to a vintage sportscar race (for the 69's) or an SCCA American Sedan class race or a NASA Camaro-Mustang challenge race. These cars are way more fun when driven in anger on the track. I am not suggesting you risk either car by racing it, but watching these ole F Bodies and Mustangs do there thing is just one of the best car experiences one can have. I was at Mid Ohio Turn 7 flagging/corner working a Vintage race (few years ago) when a Jag E-type dumped it's entire crank case at the end of the back strait. Everyone managed to avoid everyone else, but we had Firebirds, Camaro's, Mustangs, Vettes and Cobras everywhere. But seriously, go out to the track. You will have fun...I promise. Chris

Damn fine pics, LOVED the Cougars and that Red Challenger...but the Studebaker was the best of the bunch! My old 71 Chevelle now lives in Massachusets so I was hoping to see pics of that! Chris

Awesome! Chris

I would agree. Along with the RX-8, the Volvo C-30, and the G6 convertible coupe I think this is one of the most unique, cool and stylish cars built right now. Chris